Beijing is positioning itself as the defender of free trade as Washington’s tariff hikes disrupt the global economy and Trump skips the economic summit.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for efforts to promote economic globalisation and multilateralism at an annual economic regional forum pointedly snubbed by United States President Donald Trump.
Xi took centre stage at the two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit that began Friday in the South Korean city of Gyeongju, as Trump left the country a day earlier after reaching deals meant to ease the escalating trade war with China.
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“The more turbulent the times, the more we must work together,” Xi said during the opening session. “The world is undergoing a period of rapid change, with the international situation becoming increasingly complex and volatile.”
The Chinese leader positioned his country as the defender of free trade systems that observers say are being threatened by Trump’s tariff hikes and “America first” policy.
Xi called for maintaining supply chain stability, as opposed to US efforts to decouple its supply chains from China, and expressed hopes to work with other countries to expand cooperation in green industries and clean energy.
Chinese exports of solar panels, electric vehicles and other green tech have been criticised for creating oversupplies and undercutting the domestic industries of countries it exports to.
The US president left the country before the summit, after reaching several deals with Xi meant to ease their escalating trade war. Trump described his meeting with Xi on Thursday as a roaring success, saying Beijing had agreed to allow the export of rare earth elements and to start buying US soya beans in exchange for slashing tariffs.
The US president’s decision to skip APEC, a forum that represents nearly 40 percent of the world’s population and more than half of global goods trade, fits in with his well-known disdain for big, multi-nation forums that have been traditionally used to address huge global problems, with his preference for grand spectacle one-on-one meetings that generate blanket media coverage.
Al Jazeera’s Jack Barton, reporting from Gyeongju, said Xi was “filling the vacuum left by Trump”.
While on his first visit to South Korea in 11 years, Xi is scheduled to meet South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi separately on Friday. Xi and Lee are scheduled to discuss denuclearisation on the Korean Peninsula on Saturday.
Barton said the meeting with Japan’s Takaichi would be “setting the diplomatic tone for the foreseeable future”. The Japanese prime minister is described by Chinese media as a far-right nationalist who has visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine.
The site, dedicated to 2.5 million Japanese who died in wars beginning in the 19th century, is a political lightning rod in East Asia. Among those honoured are World War II leaders convicted as “Class A” war criminals, some of whom committed their atrocities under the Imperial Japan flag in China in the 20th century.
“South Korea and China share some of these historical issues with Japan,” Barton said. “They came out essentially saying, we’re going to put legacy issues on one side and diplomacy on another, so there is scope for a positive outcome.”
Xi also met Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday to discuss trade. “We’re expecting perhaps the biggest substantial economic deal to come out of that meeting,” Barton said.
Leaders and other representatives from 21 Asian and Pacific Rim economies are attending the APEC meeting to discuss how to promote economic cooperation and tackle shared challenges.
The APEC region faces an array of issues, including strategic competition between the US and China, supply chain vulnerabilities, ageing populations and the effect of AI on jobs.
South Korean officials said they have been communicating with other countries to prod all 21 members to adopt a joint statement at the end of the summit, so as not to repeat the failure to issue one in 2018 in Papua New Guinea due to US-China discord over trade.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said last week that issuing a joint statement strongly endorsing free trade would be unlikely because of differing positions among APEC members.
Al Jazeera’s Barton said the result might be a “watered-down version”.
“The question really is, can APEC survive this age of US-China rivalry?” he added.
Oct. 20 (UPI) — An artillery shell fired during a Marine Corps demonstration on Saturday detonated prematurely over California’s Interstate 5, striking a California Highway Patrol vehicle with debris, authorities said.
No injuries were reported, but the vehicle was damaged, CHP said Sunday in a statement.
The live-fire event at Camp Pendleton was part of the U.S. Marine Corps’ 250th Amphibious Capabilities Demonstration at Red Beach.
The incident occurred over a stretch of the I-5 where CHP officers were supporting a traffic break during the live-fire training demonstration.
The live shell was said to have detonated prematurely mid-air.
The Marine Corps has been notified of the incident, and additional live-fire demonstrations were canceled, CHP said.
“This was an unusual and concerning situation,” CHP Border Division Chief Tony Coronado, who identified himself as an active Marine, said in a statement. “It is highly uncommon for any live-fire or explosive training activity to occur over an active freeway.”
The demonstration involved elements of I Marine Expeditionary Force and U.S. Third Fleet, highlighting the Navy-Marine Corps’ “ability to project combat power globally, from ship to shore, with speed and precision,” the I Marine Expeditionary Force said Saturday in a statement.
“The CHP has filed an internal report on the incident, with a recommendation to conduct an additional after-action review into the planning, communication and coordination between federal, state and local governments around the event on Saturday, October 18, to strengthen protocols for future demonstrations and training events near public roadways,” it said.
Spokesperson Capt. Gregory Dreibelbis told CNN in a statement that the Marine Corps was investigating.
“We are aware of the report of a possible airborne detonation of a 155mm artillery round outside the designated impact area during the U.S. Marine Corps Amphibious Capabilities Demonstration,” Dreibelbis said.
“The demonstration went through a rigorous safety evaluation, and deliberate layers of redundancy to ensure the safety of fellow citizens,” he added. “Following established safety protocols, firing was suspended.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom had closed the section of I-5 ahead of the event as a precaution.
Ahead of the event, the Democratic governor lambasted President Donald Trump for scheduling the demonstration over the civilian transportation route.
“This president is putting his ego over responsibility with this disregard for public safety,” he said in a statement. “Firing live rounds over a busy highway isn’t just wrong — it’s dangerous. Using our military to intimidate people you disagree with isn’t strength — it’s reckless.”
Newsom, a potential Democratic presidential candidate, and Trump have been in a very public feud for years. During Trump’s second term, Newsom has especially targeted Trump with criticism over his immigration policies and deployments of the military to Democratic-led states.
On Sunday, Newsom said, “this could have killed someone.”
“This is what the White House thought was fine to fly over civilians on a major freeway,” the California governor’s press office said in its own statement on X, which included a picture of a soldier carrying the large munition on his shoulder.
In the early days of President Trump’s second term, the U.S. appeared keen to cooperate with Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s authoritarian leader. Special envoy Ric Grenell met Maduro, working with him to coordinate deportation flights to Caracas, a prisoner exchange deal and an agreement allowing Chevron to drill Venezuelan oil.
Grenell told disappointed members of Venezuela’s opposition that Trump’s domestic goals took priority over efforts to promote democracy. “We’re not interested in regime change,” Grenell told the group, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.
But Marco Rubio, Trump’s secretary of State, had a different vision.
In a parallel call with María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia, two leaders of the opposition, Rubio affirmed U.S. support “for the restoration of democracy in Venezuela” and called González “the rightful president” of the beleaguered nation after Maduro rigged last year’s election in his favor.
Rubio, now also serving as national security advisor, has grown closer to Trump and crafted an aggressive new policy toward Maduro that has brought Venezuela and the United States to the brink of military confrontation.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio whispers to President Trump during a roundtable meeting at the White House on Oct. 8, 2025.
(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)
I think Venezuela is feeling the heat
— President Trump
Grenell has been sidelined, two sources told The Times, as the U.S. conducts an unprecedented campaign of deadly strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats — and builds up military assets in the Caribbean. Trump said Wednesday that he has authorized the CIA to conduct covert action in the South American nation, and that strikes on land targets could be next.
“I think Venezuela is feeling the heat,” he said.
The pressure campaign marks a major victory for Rubio, the son of Cuban emigres and an unexpected power player in the administration who has managed to sway top leaders of the isolationist MAGA movement to his lifelong effort to topple Latin America’s leftist authoritarians.
“It’s very clear that Rubio has won,” said James B. Story, who served as ambassador to Venezuela under President Biden. “The administration is applying military pressure in the hope that somebody inside of the regime renders Maduro to justice, either by exiling him, sending him to the United States or sending him to his maker.”
In a recent public message to Trump, Maduro acknowledged that Rubio is now driving White House policy: “You have to be careful because Marco Rubio wants your hands stained with blood, with South American blood, Caribbean blood, Venezuelan blood,” Maduro said.
As a senator from Florida, Rubio represented exiles from three leftist autocracies — Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela — and for years he has made it his mission to weaken their governments. He says his family could not return to Cuba after Fidel Castro’s revolution seven decades ago. He has long maintained that eliminating Maduro would deal a fatal blow to Cuba, whose economy has been buoyed by billions of dollars in Venezuelan oil in the face of punishing U.S. sanctions.
In 2019, Rubio pushed Trump to back Juan Guaidó, a Venezuelan opposition leader who sought unsuccessfully to topple Maduro.
Rubio later encouraged Trump to publicly support Machado, who was barred from the ballot in Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election, and who last week was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her pro-democracy efforts. González, who ran in Machado’s place, won the election, according to vote tallies gathered by the opposition, yet Maduro declared victory.
Rubio was convinced that only military might would bring change to Venezuela, which has been plunged into crisis under Maduro’s rule, with a quarter of the population fleeing poverty, violence and political repression.
But there was a hitch. Trump has repeatedly vowed to not intervene in the politics of other nations, telling a Middle Eastern audience in May that the U.S. “would no longer be giving you lectures on how to live.”
Denouncing decades of U.S. foreign policy, Trump complained that “the interventionalists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand.”
To counter that sentiment, Rubio painted Maduro in a new light that he hoped would spark interest from Trump, who has been fixated on combating immigration, illegal drugs and Latin American cartels since his first presidential campaign.
Venezuelan presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, right, and opposition leader María Corina Machado greet supporters during a campaign rally in Valencia before the country’s presidential election in 2024.
(Ariana Cubillos / Associated Press)
Going after Maduro, Rubio argued, was not about promoting democracy or a change of governments. It was striking a drug kingpin fueling crime in American streets, an epidemic of American overdoses, and a flood of illegal migration to America’s borders.
Rubio tied Maduro to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan street gang whose members the secretary of State says are “worse than Al Qaeda.”
“Venezuela is governed by a narco-trafficking organization that has empowered itself as a nation state,” he said during his Senate confirmation hearing.
Meanwhile, prominent members of Venezuela’s opposition pushed the same message. “Maduro is the head of a narco-terrorist structure,” Machado told Fox News last month.
Security analysts and U.S. intelligence officials suggest that the links between Maduro and Tren de Aragua are overblown.
A declassified memo by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence found no evidence of widespread cooperation between Maduro’s government and the gang. It also said Tren de Aragua does not pose a threat to the U.S.
The gang does not traffic fentanyl, and the Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that just 8% of cocaine that reaches the U.S. passes through Venezuelan territory.
Still, Rubio’s strategy appears to have worked.
In July, Trump declared that Tren de Aragua was a terrorist group led by Maduro — and then ordered the Pentagon to use military force against cartels that the U.S. government had labeled terrorists.
Trump deployed thousands of U.S. troops and a small armada of ships and warplanes to the Caribbean and has ordered strikes on five boats off the coast of Venezuela, resulting in 24 deaths. The administration says the victims were “narco-terrorists” but has provided no evidence.
Elliott Abrams, a veteran diplomat who served as special envoy to Venezuela in Trump’s first term, said he believes the White House will carry out limited strikes in Venezuela.
“I think the next step is that they’re going to hit something in Venezuela — and I don’t mean boots on the ground. That’s not Trump,” Abrams said. “It’s a strike, and then it’s over. That’s very low risk to the United States.”
He continued: “Now, would it be nice if that kind of activity spurred a colonel to lead a coup? Yeah, it would be nice. But the administration is never going to say that.”
Even if Trump refrains from a ground invasion, there are major risks.
“If it’s a war, then what is the war’s aim? Is it to overthrow Maduro? Is it more than Maduro? Is it to get a democratically elected president and a democratic regime in power?” said John Yoo, a professor of law at UC Berkeley, who served as a top legal advisor to the George W. Bush administration. “The American people will want to know what’s the end state, what’s the goal of all of this.”
“Whenever you have two militaries bristling that close together, there could be real action,” said Christopher Sabatini, a senior fellow for Latin America at the think tank Chatham House. “Trump is trying to do this on the cheap. He’s hoping maybe he won’t have to commit. But it’s a slippery slope. This could draw the United States into a war.”
Sabatini and others added that even if the U.S. pressure drives out Maduro, what follows is far from certain.
Venezuela is dominated by a patchwork of guerrilla and paramilitary groups that have enriched themselves with gold smuggling, drug trafficking and other illicit activities. None have incentive to lay down arms.
And the country’s opposition is far from unified.
Machado, who dedicated her Nobel Prize to Trump in a clear effort to gain his support, says she is prepared to govern Venezuela. But there are others — both in exile and in Maduro’s administration — who would like to lead the country.
Machado supporter Juan Fernandez said anything would be better than maintaining the status quo.
“Some say we’re not prepared, that a transition would cause instability,” he said. “How can Maduro be the secure choice when 8 million Venezuelans have left, when there is no gasoline, political persecution and rampant inflation?”
Fernandez praised Rubio for pushing the Venezuela issue toward “an inflection point.”
What a difference, he said, to have a decision-maker in the White House with family roots in another country long oppressed by an authoritarian regime.
“He perfectly understands our situation,” Fernandez said. “And now he has one of the highest positions in the United States.”
Linthicum reported from Mexico City, Wilner from Dallas and Ceballos from Washington. Special correspondent Mery Mogollón in Caracas contributed to this report.
It has been used as a location for a number of blockbuster movies and TV shows known for the stunning views and ‘timeless architecture’ with lots to do for everyone to enjoy
The infamous castle recognisable to Potterheads(Image: Getty Images)
A Northumberland castle, known for its appearances in blockbuster films and hit TV shows, has been named one of the top film locations to visit in the UK.
The castle has been praised for its ‘timeless architecture’ and ‘stunning’ surroundings. For years, the cast and crew of the popular drama Vera have descended upon the North East each summer to film new series of the beloved show.
While Gateshead, Newcastle and South Shields have all featured, it’s Northumberland that has been the primary filming location, with numerous spots in the area taking centre stage as Brenda Blethyn retired from her iconic role earlier this year.
Northumberland also made waves on the big screen in 2025, following the release of Danny Boyle’s zombie sequel 28 Years Later. The film shot straight to the top of the UK film charts after its summer release.
The Oscar-winning director utilised various locations in the region for his story, including Rothbury, Kielder and Holy Island, reports Chronicle Live.
While it didn’t make an appearance in 28 Years Later, Alnwick Castle is no stranger to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, having now been named one of the top film locations in the UK by travel gurus at Holiday Cottages.
The castle, which served as the backdrop for key scenes in the first two films, including the iconic flying lesson in The Philosopher’s Stone, has also played host to the cast and crew of big-budget blockbuster Dungeons and Dragons, as well as the acclaimed period drama Downton Abbey and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
In their glowing review of the famous landmark, Holiday Cottages wrote: “Northumberland has long been a favourite location for filmmakers because of its captivating history and landscapes that seem almost otherworldly, and one of its most famous landmarks is Alnwick Castle, which will be instantly recognisable to fans of a certain wizarding franchise as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the first two films.
“Visitors can wander through the Outer Bailey, where Harry first learned to fly on a broomstick with Madame Hooch, and children and adults alike can experience the magic themselves by taking part in the castle’s Broomstick Training Lessons, while the courtyards recall the memorable scenes when the flying car came crashing down in the early films.”
The travel site heaps praise on Alnwick, describing it as a ‘joy to explore’ with its enchanting cobbled streets, unique shops and stunning coastline, all contributing to its ‘magical’ staycation appeal.
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Sept. 12 (UPI) — More than 3,000 Boeing Co. machinists in St. Louis remain on strike after rejecting the latest contract offer from the aerospace company that seeks to end the strike that began on Aug. 4.
The defense contractor’s machinists rejected Boeing’s third contract offer on Friday and instead will continue the first walkout in nearly 30 years at the Missouri facility, CNBC reported.
“Boeing’s modified offer did not include a sufficient signing bonus relative to what other Boeing workers have received, or a raise in 401(k) benefits,” officials for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said in a statement, as reported by CNBC.
“The democratic vote underscores the determination of approximately 3,200 IAM Union members to continue their stand together until their voices are heard,” union officials said.
Friday’s vote nixed a proposed five-year contract that would have raised wages by 45% and paid each worker a $4,000 signing bonus, St. Louis Public Radio reported.
If approved, the St. Louis Boeing machinists would have had their average annual pay rise from $75,000 to $109,000, according to CNBC.
The contract offer would not have changed available vacation time or other benefits offered in two prior contract proposals.
The union said 57% of workers voted to reject the contract offer, which improved upon a prior offer that would have raised their wages by 20% and paid a $5,000 signing bonus.
Boeing Air Dominance Vice President Dan Gillian told CNBC that no additional contract talks are scheduled.
“We’ve made it clear the overall economic framework of our offer will not be changed,” Gillian said. “We have consistently adjusted the offer based on employer and union feedback to better address their concerns.”
Boeing is hiring workers to replace those who are on strike to help the firm meet rising demand for its products, which Gillian called its “contingency plan.”
The Boeing facility produces F-15 fighter jets and missile systems.
Boeing workers in Illinois also walked out on Aug. 4 after rejecting the company’s initial contract offer.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
After a long hiatus, the Bayraktar TB-2 twin-tail boom medium altitude, medium endurance (MAME) drone is once again carrying out strike missions against Russian forces. The most recent example came on Wednesday, in an attack on a Russian boat and troops on the Black Sea coast.
Though limited in numbers, these strikes mark a resurgence of sorts for a weapon so effective in the early days of the all-out war against Russian land convoys and vessels that a song was written about it. While still used to surveil less contested areas, the propeller-driven drones had receded from the front lines as a strike weapon due to their vulnerability to Russian air defense and electronic warfare.
“The Navy destroyed another high-speed boat of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which was trying to deliver an airborne troops unit to the Tendrivska Spit. 7 occupiers were destroyed, 4 wounded,” the Ukrainian Navy said on Telegram. While the Navy did not say how the strike took place, a video on the post shows the surveillance and attack from the view through the Bayraktar’s distinctive video feed symbology.
Several weeks earlier, the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR) released a video of a TB-2 strike on another small Russian boat, this time near Zaliznyi Port in the Kherson region, about 30 miles southeast of the Spit. TB-2s drop small guided weapons, allowing them to strike multiple objects on a single sortie.
In June, the Ukrainian Navy showed a video of a TB-2 attack on a Russian landing craft on Kherson’s west coast.
Before that, however, there was a long pause in the use of the TB-2 to carry out attacks.
Ukraine began using these drones, made by the Turkish Baykar company, even before the onset of the full-on war. The first reported strike came in October 2021 when it was used to destroy a 122mm D-30 howitzer belonging to Russian-backed separatist forces in the country’s eastern Donbas region that Ukrainian authorities said was responsible for killing one of its soldiers and wounding another.
The TB-2 would go on to play a big role for Ukraine in the early part of the full-on war as an unmanned platform able to conduct both strike and reconnaissance missions. Bayraktar attacks were pivotal to stopping the long Russian mechanized columns heading toward Kyiv.
The TB-2s also helped Ukraine recapture Snake Island in the Western Black Sea by attacking targets on the rocky outcropping and ships trying to access it.
This success gave Ukraine a rare glimmer of hope during a time when its future as an independent nation was on the line. In February 2022, Ukrainian artist Taras Borovok released a catchy song about the Bayraktar drones that went viral online.
By March 2022, at least 26 TB-2s had been destroyed, according to the Oryx open-source tracking group. The actual figures could be significantly higher because Oryx only tabulates losses for which there is visual evidence.
“Russia began adapting to the TB2 threat,” the Ukrainian United24 media outlet noted in June. “Improved electronic warfare and layered air defense systems made it increasingly difficult for large, slow drones to operate safely. Ukrainian officials acknowledged that TB2s had become highly vulnerable to Russian systems like Pantsir-S1, Buk, and Tor.”
By 2023, the Ukrainian military had largely withdrawn the Bayraktars from attack roles, instead focusing on “reconnaissance, target designation, and rare strikes in lightly defended areas,” United24 pointed out.
You can see one example of a TB-2 destroyed by Russian air defenses in the following video.
The recent return of the Bayraktars as strike weapons has been made possible by constant Ukrainian attacks on Russian air defenses in Crimea and Kherson, both Ukrainian and Russian sources note.
Yesterday’s Bayraktar attack “is particularly significant given that Ukraine’s Defense Forces appear to have systematically worked to make such missions possible by suppressing Russian air defense systems — interestingly, also through the use of unmanned technologies,” the Ukrainian Defense Express news outlet noted on Thursday.
“Previously, the ‘Bayraktars’ had already operated in the Spit area, but were used exclusively in reconnaissance mode from a distance, not risking getting close to strike, as they would inevitably become victims of air defense,” the Russian Military Informer Telegram channel posited on Wednesday. “Now, apparently due to regular strikes by Ukrainian drones [launched from boats] with Starlink on air defense and radar on the coast of Kherson region and Crimea, Ukrainian Bayraktar TB2s have received a corridor for freer operation.”
The following video shows one example of Ukraine’s attacks on Russian air defenses and radar systems.
Ukraine’s Special Services has released a video from the past few days of dismantling Russia’s anti-aircraft and radar networks in Crimea.
— SPRAVDI — Stratcom Centre (@StratcomCentre) March 19, 2025
Ukraine has also been executing an ongoing suppression/destruction of enemy air defenses (SEAD/DEAD) campaign for years now, including using fighter-launched AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARMs) and guided glide bombs to reach across the front lines and takeout anti-air systems. This is backed by persistent intelligence gathering, especially across the radio-frequency spectrum. TB-2s operating near the far western reaches of Russian-held territory would make sense as this is an area where these anti-air defense tactical jet operations would have occurred regularly.
Ukraine’s long-range campaign against highly-prized Russian air defenses in Crimea is also topic that The War Zone has also frequently addressed. As we noted in a previous story: “Taking out these systems potentially opens holes in Russia’s air defense overlay of the peninsula and the northwestern Black Sea. This could go a long way to ensuring the survivability of standoff strike weapons, like Storm Shadow and SCALP-EG, and other attacks, such as those by long-range kamikaze drones.” The loss of these systems could also help via a reduction in situational awareness over the skies of southern Ukraine.
Openings for use of the TB-2 may have also increased because of fighting for the Tendrivska Spit. This is a narrow stretch of land in Russian-occupied Kherson Oblast on the shore of the northern Black Sea. It is also the furthest west Russian troops have reached so far. The littoral nature of this area and its terrain may also limit the deployment of Russian short-range air defense systems.
Ukraine has been repeatedly attacking the Tendrivska spit because Russians are reportedly using it to place relay stations to extend the range of their drones.
Beyond land-based air defenses, interceptor drones are increasingly used by both sides to attack enemy drones.
“Russian military forces use the Tendra Spit as a stronghold for observation and conducting operations in the northern part of the Black Sea,” the Ukrainian Militarnyi media outlet noted on Wednesday. “In particular, the invaders deploy relay stations there to extend the flight range of reconnaissance and strike drones.”
While the TB-2’s use for strike missions in this area points to a safer block of airspace to operate in, it is surely not without major-risk. The advantage of the TB-2 is that if it is shot down no crew is lost. No combat search and rescue effort is needed. And a precious manned tactical aircraft is not stricken from the Ukrainian Air Force’s roster. In other words, the TB-2s can be risked where manned platforms cannot. This is especially important as the TB-2s, like manned tactical aircraft, can dynamically attack moving targets of opportunity, something most standoff weapons cannot.
Another factor for the use of TB-2s for a wide variety of missions, including risky ones, is that they are now being produced in Ukraine. Of note is that Russia recently attacked the facility near Kyiv where these are being made. This was the fourth strike in six months at a factory where tens of millions of dollars had been invested.
NEW: Last night, Bayraktar factory in Kyiv was hit with two Russian strikes; causing serious damage.
Despite the war and previous attacks, the company had invested tens of millions, trained staff, and nearly completed production facilities.
A few uses of the Bayraktar as a strike weapon don’t mean that these drones are now going to be a regular feature of Ukraine’s aerial strike force. However, these attacks show Ukraine’s ability to quickly adapt to battlefield conditions and take advantage of seams and openings created in Russian air defenses. It also puts into question the exact state of Russia’s vaunted air defense overlay that extends into Ukrainian-help territory. After years of being battered, significant cracks could be showing.
A farmer found pieces of a drone and a crater in his field and called authorities, the head of Estonia’s Internal Security Service (ISS) told reporters Tuesday morning. There were no injuries or major property damage, however Estonian authorities warned that if the drone hit a residential building, the consequences could have been far more severe. Destruction of civilian buildings and infrastructure and resulting loss of life is a frequent occurrence in Ukraine.
A Ukrainian military drone veered off course and crashed in Estonia. Authorities say they have no claims against Ukraine.
Wreckage and a blast crater were found in Tartu County. According to officials, the drone was likely Ukrainian.
“Based on very preliminary data, we estimate that the drone came down already in the early hours of Sunday, around 4 a.m. to 5 a.m.,” ISS Director General Margo Palloson told reporters on Tuesday, according to the official Estonian ERR news. “We have reason to believe that this may be a Ukrainian drone that was [targeting] inland Russian sites but was diverted from its course by Russia’s GPS jamming and other electronic warfare measures, causing it to veer into Estonian airspace. At this time, there is nothing to indicate that it could be a Russian drone.”
Russia “is using very strong GPS jamming and spoofing near our borders,” Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur told the Estonian Postimees newspaper. “As a result, one day a drone ends up in Lithuania, the next day in Latvia, and now one has reached Estonia. These objects fly at very low altitudes to avoid detection by Russia, and that’s precisely why they are difficult to detect.”
The suspected Ukrainian drone was found about 50 miles inside Estonian territory. (Google Earth)
Also on Sunday, another drone crashed into the Russian side of Lake Peipus, a large body of water separating eastern Estonia and western Russia, Estonian officials said. That same day, Ukraine carried out a drone attack on the Novatek gas processing complex. Located in the port of Ust-Luga, this is Russia’s largest liquefied gas producer, located about 20 miles from the Estonian border. Video emerged from the scene showing an explosion followed by a massive fire that is still burning.
You can see the results of that attack in the following video.
❗️🇷🇺Novatek gas condensate processing plant in Ust-Luga port suspended operations after 🇺🇦UAV strike, — Reuters pic.twitter.com/ai0I01r9oG
Speaking at the press conference, Pevkur said these incidents highlight the need for sensors that can detect low-flying drones.
“Can this create full blanket coverage?” he asked rhetorically. “Theoretically, yes — it depends on how many resources we put into it. Our capabilities will improve significantly. Whether it will be 100 percent coverage, time will tell. At the same time, the war in Ukraine shows that 100 percent coverage does not exist anywhere.”
Estonia’s Prime Minister Kristen Michal called for a “layered air defense” to prevent further incursions. While neither official offered specifics about what these sensors and defenses would be, a layered defense can help plug surveillance gaps, but the most effective way of surveilling for low and slow-flying drones, as well as other low-flying aircraft, is by providing persistent look-down radar capabilities. Airborne early warning and control aircraft can provide this but keeping one airborne continuously is extremely resource intensive. Poland is working to build a network of aerostats that carry look-down radars. They are designed to detect low-flying drones, as well as aircraft and cruise missiles. You can read more about that in our story here.
A drone wreck with signs of explosion was found in Southern Estonia yesterday. No injuries reported.
Russia has long used GPS jamming and other EW tactics to disrupt regional air and sea traffic.
Estonia will respond by building layered air defence, including a drone wall.
Polish Gen. Dariusz Malinowski, deputy commander of Armed Forces Operational Command, said it was a military drone propelled by a Chinese-produced engine, according to The Guardian. As we have previously reported, Chinese engines are a basic component of many Russian drones.
“I’ll say one thing that is certain: Russia will never admit to this,” said Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. “Just as it hasn’t admitted to any of the eight incidents in Moldova, three incidents in Romania, three in Lithuania, two in Latvia, or the one drone incident in Bulgaria.”
A drone crashed and exploded in a field in eastern Poland, near the village of Osiny, just 40 km from Warsaw and 120 km from Ukraine’s border.
Rzeczpospolita reports that it was likely a Russian Shahed kamikaze drone, the same type it uses to strike Ukrainian cities. pic.twitter.com/YcEr2sKYTh
In January, Norwegian scrambled two of its F-35A stealth fighters during a Russian attack on Ukraine. (Forsvaret) Forsvaret
While this appears to be the first time a Ukrainian drone went off course into a non-combatant’s territory in more than three years, an errant Ukrainian air defense munition was suspected of killing two in Poland in 2022.
PM @MorawieckiM: Ukrainian forces, countering a massive Russian attack, launched their missiles yesterday to shoot down Russian missiles. There are many indications that one of these missiles fell on Polish territory without any intention on either side. pic.twitter.com/9Dm7jq3aU1
— Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland (@PremierRP_en) November 16, 2022
Beyond having errant weapons landing on neighboring countries, Ukraine’s drone campaign on Russia is playing havoc with civil aviation there. The latest example took place Sunday, when a passenger plane carrying Russians heading to St. Petersburg was forced to make an emergency landing in Estonia early Sunday morning due to the aforementioned Ukrainian drone attack, Postimees reported.
“The aircraft was rerouted to land in Tallinn, as it could not land at Pulkovo Airport due to a temporary closure,” Margot Holts, head of Communications and Marketing at Tallinn Airport, told the publication. The aircraft, operated by Egyptian carrier AlMasria Universal Airlines, had departed from Sharm El Sheikh and landed in Tallinn at 5:33 a.m. local time. It was able to continue its journey to St. Petersburg nearly six hours later.
The suspected Ukrainian drone crash also raises the specter of another major problem affecting countries outside the war zone. European governments have repeatedly accused Moscow of jamming GPS in recent years. The issue has been so concerning that last month, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) warned that Russian GPS jamming and other commercially-used signals near the Baltic Sea posed a “serious threat” to civilian aviation, especially in Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland and Sweden.
In addition, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Luxembourg and Ukraine filed complaints last year after Russian interference reportedly “disrupted air traffic control systems and hijacked television broadcasts, including children’s programming, replacing them with war propaganda,” according to the Moscow Times.
BREAKING: Lithuania recorded 1,022 pilot reports of GPS interference in June a 22-fold increase year-on-year. Authorities trace the jamming to over ten Russian sites in Kaliningrad. Disruptions affect aviation, maritime navigation, and science across the Baltics, Poland, Finland,… pic.twitter.com/b1XXUHXj0t
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a member of the UN, “demanded that Russia stop interfering with the satellite systems of European countries,” the publication reported. The ITU blamed “ground stations located in the areas of Moscow, Kaliningrad and Pavlovka” and demanded that Russia immediately cease its actions and investigate the incidents.
As we previously reported, last year, U.K. authorities confirmed that a Royal Air Force Dassault 900LX business jet transporting Grant Shapps, at the time the U.K. defense secretary, experienced GPS jamming while flying near Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave.
From our story at the time: “It’s critical to note that GPS jamming can be executed over a broad area. So it is difficult to ascertain with any degree of certainty whether Shapps’ aircraft was specifically targeted and the U.K. has offered no evidence that directly points to that being the case. Still, its flight path would have been easily tracked via Russian radar and visible on flight-tracking websites.
It has also been pointed out that a very large number of other aircraft — some 511 according to open-source intelligence analyst Markus Jonsson — were also jammed on the same day in the region. Jonsson has also questioned the likelihood of jammers being directed against individual planes in a targeted fashion.”
The aircraft transporting UK Sec of Defense Grant Schapps was jammed yesterday. So too were 511 other aircraft.
The RAF transport, hex 407d8f, flew in the area by me dubbed Baltic Jammer, known since Dec -23. It got jammed going in and going home.
All this comes as both Russia and Ukraine are doing everything they possibly can to produce as many long-range standoff attack weapons as possible. This also includes developing missiles and drones with increasing range and payloads. As we recently reported, Ukraine’s new Flamingo ground-launched long-range cruise missile is said to have a range of 1,864 miles (3,000 kilometers) and a warhead weighing 2,535 pounds (1,150 kilograms). That would make Flamingo a much farther-reaching and more destructive weapon than any missile or one-way-attack drone available to Ukraine now.
Russia, too, is making advances in its missile and drone technology.
The goal to all this is to ratchet-up the pace of long-range cross-border attacks. This snowballing race to field newer, deadlier and longer-reaching weapons and strike more frequently will only raise the risk of munitions straying into neighboring countries, and the possibility that a major inadvertent destructive event could add new volatility to the conflict.
The Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) has said Air Canada’s ongoing strike, in which 10,000 cabin crew members have walked off their jobs, is illegal after strikers ignored orders to return to work.
The regulatory board made the call on Monday after it previously declared that workers must return to the job as of 2pm ET (18:00 GMT) on Sunday.
The cabin crew for the Montreal-based carrier had pushed for a negotiated solution, saying binding arbitration would take pressure off the airline. Workers have said that the proposed wage hikes are insufficient to keep up with inflation and match the federal minimum wage.
The attendants are also calling to be paid for work performed on the ground, such as helping passengers to board. They are now only paid when planes are moving, sparking some vocal support from Canadians on social media.
A leader of the union on strike against Air Canada said on Monday that he would risk jail time rather than allow cabin crews to be forced back to work.
“If it means folks like me going to jail, then so be it. If it means our union being fined, then so be it. We’re looking for a solution here,” said Mark Hancock, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) national president, at a press conference after a deadline by the board to return to work expired with no union action to end the strike.
Air Canada’s CEO Michael Rousseau told the news agency Reuters that he was “amazed” that the union was not following the law, adding, “At this point in time, the union’s proposals are much higher than the 40 percent [hike we have offered]. And so we need to find a path to bridge that gap,” he said, without suggesting what that process would be. “We’re always open to listen, and have a conversation,” he said.
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney voiced his support for the cabin crews, saying that they should be “compensated equitably at all times”.
Pushing for a resolution, Carney said, “We are in a situation where literally hundreds of thousands of Canadians and visitors to our countries are being disrupted by this action.”
The airline normally carries 130,000 people daily during the ongoing peak summer travel season and is part of the global Star Alliance of airlines.
On Monday, Air Canada suspended its third-quarter and annual profit forecasts as its planes remained grounded.
The union said it would continue its strike and invited Air Canada back to the table to “negotiate a fair deal”.
A government nudge
The government’s options to end the strike now include asking courts to enforce the order to return to work and seeking an expedited hearing.
The minority government could also try to pass legislation that would need the support of political rivals and approval in both houses of the Parliament of Canada, which are on break until September 15.
“The government will be very reticent to be too heavy-handed because in Canada, the Supreme Court has ruled that governments have to be very careful when they take away the right to strike, even for public sector-workers who may be deemed essential,” said Dionne Pohler, professor of dispute resolution at Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations School.
Another option is to encourage bargaining, Pohler said.
The government did not respond to requests for comment.
On Saturday, Carney’s Liberal government moved to end the strike by asking the CIRB to order binding arbitration. The CIRB, an independent administrative tribunal that interprets and applies Canada’s labour laws, issued the order, which Air Canada had sought, and unionised flight attendants opposed.
The previous government, under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, intervened last year to head off rail and dock strikes that threatened to cripple the economy, but it is highly unusual for a union to defy a CIRB order.
Travellers at Toronto Pearson International Airport over the weekend said they were confused and frustrated about when they would be able to fly.
Italian Francesca Tondini, 50, sitting at the Toronto airport, said she supported the union even though she had no idea when she would be able to return home.
“They are right,” she said with a smile, pointing at the striking attendants.
The dispute between cabin crews and Air Canada hinges on the way airlines compensate flight attendants. Most, including Air Canada, pay them only when planes are in motion.
In their latest contract negotiations, flight attendants in both Canada and the United States have sought compensation for hours worked, including for tasks such as boarding passengers.
New labour agreements at American Airlines and Alaska Airlines legally require carriers to start the clock for paying flight attendants when passengers are boarding.
American flight attendants are now also compensated for some hours between flights. United Airlines’ cabin crews, who voted down a tentative contract deal last month, also want a similar provision.
On the markets, Air Canada’s stock is down 1.6 percent as of 12pm in Toronto (16:00 GMT). US carrier United Airlines – another Star Alliance member, which does not have a striking cabin crew and which serves several major Canadian cities – is up 1.4 percent.
US President Donald Trump had placed Washington’s police department under federal control earlier this week.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has reversed course and agreed to leave the Washington, DC police chief in control of the department, after Washington officials and the United States Justice Department negotiated a deal at the urging of a federal judge.
Trump had placed Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) under federal control on Monday and ordered the deployment of 800 National Guard troops onto the streets of the capital, claiming a surge in crime.
On Friday afternoon, a deal was hammered out at a federal court hearing after Washington, DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb had sought a court order blocking Trump’s police takeover as illegal.
Trump administration lawyers conceded that Pamela Smith, the police chief appointed by DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, would remain in command of the Metropolitan Police Department, according to the accord presented by the two sides to US District Judge Ana Reyes.
But US Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a new memo, directed the district’s police to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement regardless of any city law.
Meanwhile, the precise role of Drug Enforcement Administration head Terry Cole, who had been named by Bondi as the city’s “emergency police commissioner” under Trump’s takeover bid, is still to be hashed out in further talks.
In a social media post on Friday evening, Bondi criticised Schwalb, saying he “continues to oppose our efforts to improve public safety”.
But she added, “We remain committed to working closely with Mayor Bowser.”
Legal battle
Friday’s legal battle is the latest evidence of the escalating tensions in mostly Democratic Washington, DC.
As the weekend approached, though, signs across the city — from the streets to the legal system — suggested a deepening crisis over who controls the city’s immigration and policing policies, the district’s right to govern itself and daily life for the millions of people who live and work in the metro area.
Bowser’s office said late on Friday that it was still evaluating how it can comply with the new Bondi order on immigration enforcement operations. The police department already eased some restrictions on cooperating with federal officials facilitating Trump’s mass-deportation campaign but reaffirmed that it would follow the district’s sanctuary city laws.
In a letter sent Friday night to DC citizens, Bowser wrote: “It has been an unsettling and unprecedented week in our city. Over the course of a week, the surge in federal law enforcement across DC has created waves of anxiety.”
She added that “our limited self-government has never faced the type of test we are facing right now,” but added that if Washingtonians stick together, “we will show the entire nation what it looks like to fight for American democracy – even when we don’t have full access to it.”
The police takeover is the latest move by Trump to test the limits of his legal authorities to carry out his agenda, relying on obscure statutes and a supposed state of emergency to bolster his tough-on-crime message and his plans to speed up the mass deportation of undocumented people in the United States.
While Washington has grappled with spikes in violence and visible homelessness, the city’s homicide rate ranks below those of several other major US cities, and the capital is not in the throes of the public safety collapse the Trump administration has portrayed.
The president has more power over the nation’s capital than other cities, but DC has elected its own mayor and city council since the Home Rule Act was signed in 1973.
Trump is the first president to exert control over the city’s police force since the Act was passed. The law limits that control to 30 days without congressional approval, though Trump has suggested he would seek to extend it.
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Winning two of three doesn’t feel as good when you lose the third game. But beating the team with the American League‘s best record two of three is good.
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Random thoughts
—We could talk about the bullpen again, but really, there’s nothing new to talk about. Just waiting for Kirby Yates, Tanner Scott, Michael Kopech and Brusdar Graterol to get healthy. And there are no guarantees then. The last two World Series the Dodgers won, there was a starting pitcher on the mound in relief for the final out. Closer Clayton Kershaw anyone?
—Kopech, Scott and Yates threw bullpen sessions Friday.
—Bobby Miller has been moved to the bullpen in the minors, because he was still having trouble as a starter. Since moving to the bullpen: Six innings pitched, no hits, no runs, one walk, five strikeouts. He could end up as a valuable bullpen addition.
—Roki Sasaki is scheduled to begin his rehab assignment with Oklahoma City this week. The plan is to build him up to five innings before he returns.
—Hyeseong Kim has resumed baseball activities and will start a rehab assignment possibly this week.
—Tommy Edman should return when rosters expand in September.
—Shohei Ohtani has 41 home runs this season. The list of Dodgers who have had 40-home-run seasons:
5 times Duke Snider (1953-57)
2 times Shawn Green (2001-02) Gil Hodges (1951, 1954) Shohei Ohtani (2024-25)
Once Cody Bellinger (2019) Adrian Beltré (2004) Roy Campanella (1953) Mike Piazza (1997) Gary Sheffield (2000)
Ohtani has the season record with 54 last season. He is on pace for 56 this year.
—Ohtani has scored 111 runs this season. It is the 54th time a Dodger has scored at least 111 runs. The top 11 in runs scored since 1901:
—That points to one reason Ohtani bats leadoff. He gets on base more often, so he scores more often. Yes, he’d probably drive in more if he batted lower, but he’d also score fewer runs. Is it a fair trade-off? Well, they won the World Series with him there last season.
—The Dodgers surprised many by bringing outfielder Justin Dean up from the minors last week, sending Esteury Ruiz down.
Dean was a 17th-round pick of the Atlanta Braves in 2018. He played in the minors for the Braves, and in the Mexican League, before signing with the Dodgers as a minor league free agent before this season. It has been a long road for Dean, 28.
“I had thoughts that maybe it’s not for me,” Dean told Cary Osborne of Dodger Insider. “It’s not for everybody. So I definitely had those thoughts. But I don’t know what else I would do, so I’m going to keep doing this. And my parents really encouraged me to continue to do it. They’re my backbone and who I would fall back on when things didn’t feel right, and they just continued to push for me and continued to pray for me.”
So why did the Dodgers call him up instead of other, younger players with better offensive numbers? One word, a word that has been missing in a lot of the Dodgers’ outfield this season: defense.
“Justin is a really plus, plus center fielder,” Dave Roberts told reporters. “So we’re just giving him a look out there as a defensive replacement, to pinch run, be a guy off the bench that we think there’s a lot of utility in that.”
We forget sometimes the struggles some of these players go through to reach the majors. Players such as Ohtani make it look so easy and glamorous. It’s easy to forget that for some guys it can be a grind, with many never making it. So give Dean a couple of extra seconds of applause the next time you see him.
—Since saying in Friday’s newsletter that Mookie Betts should be moved down in the order, Betts has gone five for 14 (.313) with a home run and five RBIs. I must remember to use the power of the newsletter for good and not evil.
—I get a couple hundred emails after each newsletter. I try to respond to as many as I can. If I don’t respond to yours, forgive me. I read them all, and appreciate them all, even the ones who disagree with me. Lately, I’ve gotten a lot of emails a bit anxious over the fact that the Dodgers are striking out so much. So, are they striking out more than usual? Let’s look at the strikeout percentage for each batter this season, compared to career norms. We’ll focus on the 13 Dodgers with the most plate appearances.
The average strikeout percentage for a player in the majors this season is 21.9%. In 1988, just to go back to a season we all remember fondly, the rate was 14.7% (and that was with the pitcher batting for almost half the teams).
Striking out less this season Max Muncy, -5%, 21.3%, 26.3%, 24.4% Teoscar Hernández, -3.9%, 24.9%, 28.8%, 29.2% Andy Pages, -3.6%, 20.8%, 24.4%, 22.6% Tommy Edman, -2.4%, 17.2%, 19.6%, 16.7% Michael Conforto, -1.2%, 23%, 24.2%, 23.7% Will Smith, -0.1%, 19.2%, 19.3%, 18.6% Mookie Betts, 0, 11%, 11%, 13.5%
Team strikeout % this year: 21.4% Team strikeout % last year: 22%
So, the Dodgers are actually striking out less often this year, and it’s pretty consistent across the board, no matter the game situation.
The only two people who are truly having a bad strikeout year are Freeman, who has already struck out more times this season than last season, and Kiké. Ohtani is close to career norms, and Rojas is striking out more, but still far less than most. They’ve scored 5.18 runs per game this season, 5.20 last season. If the Dodgers don’t win it all this season, it probably won’t be because of strikeouts, even if Ohtani did have a crucial strikeout with one out and the bases loaded in the ninth inning of a one-run loss to Toronto on Sunday. The final pitch was out of the strike zone.
—Dave Robertsgave a rare criticism of Ohtani after the game: “The last thing I was thinking was he was going to strikeout. We’ve got to come up with one right there. Chasing the ball down is something we can’t have happen.”
—The Dodgers travel all the way to Orange County to take on the Angels for three games starting tonight. For those of you wishing for a cheaper way to go to a Dodger game without a big traffic hassle getting in and out of the stadium, now is your chance.
—If the postseason started today, these would be the 12 teams to qualify:
NL 1. Milwaukee 2. Philadelphia 3. Dodgers 4. Chicago 5. San Diego 6. New York
AL 1. Toronto 2. Detroit 3. Houston 4. Seattle 5. Boston 6. New York
The top two teams in each league get a first-round bye. The other four teams in each league play in the best-of-three wild-card round, with No. 3 hosting all three games against No. 6, and No. 4 hosting all three against No. 5.
The division winners are guaranteed to get the top three seeds, even if a wild-card team has a better record.
In the best-of-five second round, No. 1 hosts the No. 4-5 winner and No. 2 hosts the No. 3-6 winner. That way the No. 1 seed is guaranteed not to play a divisional winner until the LCS.
It would behoove the Dodgers to finish in the top two in the NL.
These names seem familiar
A look at how some prominent Dodgers from the last few seasons are doing with their new team (through Saturday). Click on the player name to be taken to the baseball-reference page with all their stats.
Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
July 1 (UPI) — The Justice Department is appealing a federal judge’s order striking down a President Donald Trump executive order targeting the law firm of former political opponent Hillary Clinton.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has used his executive orders to attack more than a half-dozen premier law firms, suspending their security clearances, revoking federal contracts and even restricting their access to federal buildings for being associated or linked to people and supporting interests that do not align with the president or his policies.
Several law firms made deals, including preemptive agreements, worth a combined nearly $1 billion in pro bono commitments, while others, including Perkins Coie, have fought back. Critics have accused Trump of using his presidential authority to attack his perceived political opponents and as part of a larger attack on the U.S. justice system.
In March, Trump terminated government contracts and revoked security clearances for Perkins Coie via an executive order that cited the firm’s work for Clinton during the 2016 presidential election — when she ran against him and lost — as the reason for the punitive measure.
In early May, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell struck down the executive order, which she said was unlike any that an American president had issued before.
“Using the powers of the federal government to target lawyers for their representation of clients and avowed progressive employment policies in an overt attempt to suppress and punish certain viewpoints, however, is contrary to the Constitution,” she said.
Other, similar rulings have followed, giving victories to Jenner & Block, WilmerHale and Susman Godfrey, for a total of four executive orders naming specific law firms being turned aside.
The appeal filed Monday by the Justice Department suggests it will continue to fight for Trump’s executive orders.
“We look forward to presenting our case to the D.C. Circuit and remain committed to ensuring that the unconstitutional Executive Order targeting our firm is never enforced,” Perkins Coie said in a statement.
“In the meantime, we will continue to practice law, as we have for over a century, and remain guided by the same commitments that first compelled us to bring this challenge: to protect our firm, safeguard the interests of our clients and uphold the rule of law.”
