Month: January 2023

The ministry said three drones were involved but there were no casualties.

One drone was destroyed by air defence systems and two were caught by “defence traps”, causing minor damage to a building, the ministry added.

The extent of damage to the site has not been confirmed by the BBC, and there has been no immediate claim of responsibility.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s foreign minister, said the “cowardly” incident was an attempt to destabilise the country.

But he added that the incident would not impact Iran’s “determination and intention regarding the peaceful nuclear progress”.

Pentagon spokesperson Brig Gen Patrick Ryder said the US military played no part in the strikes, but declined to speculate further, the Reuters news agency reported.

The attack comes amid heightened tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme and its supply of arms to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The country has also been wracked by internal turmoil in recent months, spurred by the death of a woman who was detained for violating Iran’s strict dress code.

In a statement to Iranian state media, the defence ministry said the drone strike happened on Saturday night at around 23:30 local time (20:00 GMT).

Local authorities did not comment on activities at the site, but called it a “workshop”. The IRNA news agency said the strike had targeted “an ammunition manufacturing plant”.

Isfahan province is home to a large air base and several nuclear sites, including Natanz, which is at the centre of Iran’s uranium enrichment programme.

In a separate incident on Saturday, the IRNA news agency reported a fire broke out at an oil facility near the north-western city of Tabriz. No details about the cause have been revealed.

In recent years, there have been a number of explosions, fires and cyber attacks on Iranian military, nuclear and industrial facilities.

After Iran accused Israel of sabotaging the key nuclear facility near the city of Natanz in 2021, Israel’s defence chief said the country’s operations in the region “are not hidden from the eyes of the enemy”.

And in 2020 Iran alleged that Israel was behind the assassination one of its top nuclear scientists, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

He criticised Sweden’s refusal to extradite dozens of people allegedly tied to Kurdish militant groups and other critics of his government.

“If you absolutely want to join Nato, you will return these terrorists to us,” said Mr Erdogan.

His comments come days after Turkey suspended talks to accept the two Nordic nations as members.

The move was prompted by a series of controversial protests in Stockholm, including one during which a copy of the Koran was burned.

Swedish officials have condemned the protests, but defended the country’s free speech laws.

In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland applied to join Nato last year, ending decades of military non-alignment.

Their application must be unanimously approved by all current Nato members, but Turkey and Hungary have failed to ratify their bids.

In his speech, Mr Erdogan suggested Turkey might now “give a different response concerning Finland,” adding that “Sweden will be shocked”.

“We gave Sweden a list of 120 persons and told them to extradite those terrorists in their country,” said Mr Erdogan. “If you don’t extradite them, then sorry about that.”

Sweden has a larger Kurdish diaspora than Finland, and its talks with Ankara over Nato membership have been heated.

Turkey has called on Sweden to distance itself from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is regarded as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the EU.

In response, Sweden approved a constitutional amendment which allows it to create tougher anti-terror laws demanded by Turkey.

Both Sweden and Finland have also lifted bans on the sale of military equipment to Turkey, introduced after Ankara’s military intervention in Syria in 2019.

But Turkey has heavily criticised Sweden over recent protests in Stockholm, including one by a Kurdish support group which hung an effigy of Mr Erdogan from a lamp-post.

Earlier this month, Mr Erdogan said Turkish elections had been brought forward by a month to 14 May.

Helsinki’s Foreign Minister, Pekka Haavisto, has since suggested the “pressure” of the looming ballot has caused discussions to become “heated” within Turkey and that negotiations should be paused.

The diplomat also stressed his country should join at the same time as Sweden – appearing to backtrack on his earlier suggestion that Finland could be forced to join without its Nordic neighbour.

The then-prime minister said Mr Putin told him it “would only take a minute”.

Mr Johnson said the comment was made after he warned the war would be an “utter catastrophe” during a “very long” call in February 2022.

Details of the exchange are revealed in a BBC documentary, examining Mr Putin’s interactions with world leaders.

Mr Johnson warned Mr Putin that invading Ukraine would lead to Western sanctions and more Nato troops on Russia’s borders.

He also tried to deter Russian military action by telling Mr Putin that Ukraine would not join Nato “for the foreseeable future”.

But Mr Johnson said: “He threatened me at one point, and he said, ‘Boris, I don’t want to hurt you but, with a missile, it would only take a minute’ or something like that. Jolly.

“But I think from the very relaxed tone that he was taking, the sort of air of detachment that he seemed to have, he was just playing along with my attempts to get him to negotiate.”

President Putin had been “very familiar” during the “most extraordinary call”, Mr Johnson said.

It is impossible to know if Mr Putin’s threat was genuine.

However, given previous Russian attacks on the UK – most recently in Salisbury in 2018 – any threat from the Russian leader, however lightly delivered, is probably one Mr Johnson would have had no choice but to take seriously.

Nine days later, on 11 February, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace flew to Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu.

The BBC documentary Putin Vs the West reveals Mr Wallace left with assurances that Russia would not invade Ukraine, but he said both sides knew it was a lie.

He described it as a “demonstration of bullying or strength, which is: I’m going to lie to you, you know I’m lying and I know you know I’m lying and I’m still going to lie to you.

“I think it was about saying ‘I’m powerful’,” Mr Wallace said.

He said the “fairly chilling, but direct lie” had confirmed his belief that Russia would invade.

As he left the meeting, he said Gen Valery Gerasimov – Russia’s chief of general staff – told him “never again will we be humiliated”.

Less than a fortnight later, as tanks rolled over the border on 24 February, Mr Johnson received a phone call in the middle of the night from President Zelensky.

“Zelensky’s very, very calm,” Mr Johnson recalled. “But, he tells me, you know, they’re attacking everywhere.”

Mr Johnson says he offered to help move the president to safety.

“He doesn’t take me up on that offer. He heroically stayed where he was.”

Putin Vs the West will be broadcast on Monday 30 January on BBC 2 at 21:00, and will be available on the iPlayer in the UK.

Auckland is said to have received 75% of its usual summer rainfall in just 15 hours.

A local state of emergency was declared as authorities managed evacuations and widespread flooding.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Chris Hipkins thanked emergency services for their swift response to the disaster.

The new prime minister travelled to Auckland, where he also expressed his condolences to the loved ones of those who died in the floods.

“The loss of life underscores the sheer scale of this weather event and how quickly it turned tragic”, he said in a news conference on Saturday afternoon.

The downpour flooded the airport, shifted houses and resulted in power cuts to homes for hours.

New Zealand’s defence forces were mobilised to assist with evacuations and emergency shelters were set up across the city.

Ricardo Menendez March, a Green MP and Auckland resident, told the BBC that the area he lived in was quickly flooded and he had to evacuate, but was given shelter by a friend nearby.

“There were people who were unfortunately not as lucky – low-income communities, disabled people, migrant communities as well,” he said.

Footage online showed people trapped in waist-deep floodwater and rescuers carrying out evacuations on kayaks. Other pictures showed grocery items floating down the aisles of several flooded supermarkets.

International departures were grounded from Auckland airport until at least 05:00 local time on Sunday, with no international arrivals before 07:00.

Auckland Emergency Management (AEM) said they had shifted their focus from evacuations to the clean-up effort after the rain.

They reminded locals not to travel unless it was necessary and said in a tweet to “not let today’s ‘less rain’ trick you into planning a weekend day out”.

More severe weather is forecast across Auckland until Tuesday, according to the MetService.

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), the country’s climate science body, said Friday was the wettest day on record for a number of locations in Auckland. Heavy rains were forecast in various parts of the city for at least the next five days.

“It goes without saying that we need to have a conversation about how climate change is making these events more frequent and how cities like Auckland are massively underprepared,” said Mr March.

While climate scientists have cautioned against attributing individual weather events to climate change, research by NIWA has found the warming planet is leading to more extreme weather in New Zealand.

The attacks took place after an Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank killed nine people.

The new measures also include depriving an attacker’s family members of residency and social security rights.

The full cabinet is due to consider the measures on Sunday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised a “strong” and “swift” response ahead of the security cabinet meeting.

Israel’s army also said it would be reinforcing troop numbers in the occupied West Bank.

“When civilians have guns, they can defend themselves,” the controversial far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, told reporters outside a Jerusalem hospital.

The measures will revoke the rights to social security of “the families of terrorists that support terrorism”, the security cabinet said.

The proposals are in step with proposals from Mr Netanyahu’s far-right political allies, who allowed him to return to power last month.

The announcement came after Israeli police said a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was behind a shooting in Jerusalem’s Silwan neighbourhood on Saturday that left an Israeli father and son seriously wounded.

An Israeli police force spokesperson previously said the assailant ambushed five people as they made their way to prayers, leaving two in a “critical condition”. The 13-year-old was shot and injured by passers-by and is being held in hospital.

In a separate shooting on Friday at a synagogue in East Jerusalem, seven people were killed and at least three more injured as they gathered for prayers at the start of the Jewish Sabbath. The gunman was shot dead at the scene.

The man behind Friday’s synagogue attack was identified by local media as a Palestinian from East Jerusalem.

Police have arrested 42 people in connection with that attack.

Israeli police commissioner Kobi Shabtai called it “one of the worst attacks we have encountered in recent years”.

Palestinian militant groups praised the attack, but did not say one of their members was responsible.

Mr Netanyahu called for calm and urged citizens to allow security forces to carry out their tasks, while the military said additional troops would be deployed in the occupied West Bank.

“I call again on all Israelis – don’t take the law into your hands,” Mr Netanyahu said. He thanked several world leaders – including US President Joe Biden – for their support.

Tensions have been high since nine Palestinians – both militants and civilians – were killed during an Israeli military raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Thursday.

This was followed by rocket fire into Israel from Gaza, which Israel responded to with air strikes.

Since the start of January, 30 Palestinians – both militants and civilians – have been killed in the West Bank.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas suspended its security co-operation arrangements with Israel after Thursday’s raid in Jenin.

Friday’s synagogue shooting happened on Holocaust Memorial Day, which commemorates the six million Jews and other victims who were killed in the Holocaust by the Nazi regime in Germany.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack, saying that one of the victims was a Ukrainian woman.

“Terror must have no place in today’s world – neither in Israel nor Ukraine,” he said in a tweet.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly wrote on Twitter: “To attack worshippers at a synagogue on Holocaust Memorial Day, and during Shabbat, is horrific. We stand with our Israeli friends.”

President Joe Biden talked to Mr Netanyahu and offered all “appropriate means of support”, the White House said.

Shortly after the incident, Mr Netanyahu visited the site, as did Mr Ben-Gvir.

The controversial national security minister promised to bring safety back to Israel’s streets, but there is rising anger that he has not yet done so, the BBC’s Yolande Knell in Jerusalem said.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “deeply worried about the current escalation of violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory”, a spokesperson said.

“This is the moment to exercise utmost restraint,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

On Saturday, the European Union expressed alarm at heightened tensions and urged Israel to use lethal force only as a last resort.

“The European Union fully recognises Israel’s legitimate security concerns – as evidenced by the latest terrorist attacks – but it has to be stressed that lethal force must only be used as a last resort when it is strictly unavoidable in order to protect life,” said the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell.

Israel has occupied East Jerusalem since the 1967 Middle East war and considers the entire city its capital, though this is not recognised by the vast majority of the international community.

Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the future capital of a hoped-for independent state.

Mr Sharp’s appointment is under review following successive reports in the Sunday Times that he helped Mr Johnson secure a loan before getting his job.

The paper’s latest story cites a leaked Cabinet Office memo from December 2020. Officials have declined to comment.

Both men deny any wrongdoing.

They have separately said that Mr Sharp was not involved in arranging a loan for the then-prime minister, and say that neither man acted with any conflict of interest.

In the wake of the Sunday Times’s fresh report, a spokesman for Mr Johnson insisted to the BBC that he had never received or sought financial advice from Mr Sharp.

Mr Sharp has resisted calls to stand down from his job – saying he expects to be exonerated, as he was appointed “on merit”.

BBC News has been told Mr Sharp’s position remained unchanged following the latest Sunday Times reporting.

However, his appointment is to be investigated by the public appointments commissioner as well as an internal panel. He also faces a grilling from MPs.

The Conservative government has also faced attacks from opposition parties over the appointment of Mr Sharp, whose role as BBC chairman is to uphold the broadcaster’s independence.

Mr Sharp has previously acknowledged that he had contacted Cabinet Secretary Simon Case in late 2020 – to discuss an offer of financial assistance for Mr Johnson.

That offer came from his wealthy Canadian friend Sam Blyth – also a distant cousin of Mr Johnson.

Mr Sharp – who worked as a government adviser at the time – has said he “simply connected people”, and that his involvement in the loan facility ended at this point.

The warning to Mr Johnson was sent on 22 December 2020 – about two weeks before his government unveiled Mr Sharp as the new BBC chairman, the Sunday Times wrote.

This leaked Cabinet Office memo was reportedly sent after the two men asked for advice on Mr Johnson accepting an £800,000 loan from Mr Blyth.

It reportedly came from Mr Case, a top civil servant, around two weeks before Mr Sharp was announced in his BBC role on 6 January 2021.

Mr Johnson is said to have secured his loan the following month.

The memo allegedly requested that Mr Johnson “no longer ask [Mr Sharp’s] advice about your personal financial matters”, making specific reference to Mr Sharp’s “imminent announcement” as BBC chairman.

The then-prime minister was reportedly told he could take out the loan – without declaring it – as long as his guarantor Mr Blyth had no “business or personal interests in the UK” beyond his family ties.

But Mr Blyth was on a government list of recommended candidates for the British Council, without senior figures in the public body realising his relation to Mr Johnson, the Sunday Times reported.

Mr Blyth told the paper that his name was suggested by others, that he never formally decided to apply, and that he ultimately ruled himself out of the running.

Mr Johnson’s spokesman told the BBC that he and his team had been unaware that Sam Blyth was being considered for a role at the British Council.

After the first questions were raised about his appointment, Mr Sharp stressed that he had been “comfortable” with the way the process had been carried out.

He said his discussion with Mr Case had been about avoiding conflicts of interest, and to ensure the correct process was followed “exactly by the book”.

But, in an email sent to BBC staff, he apologised and said the row had become a “distraction”.

A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office declined to comment on the leaked memo cited by the Sunday Times, of which the BBC has not seen a copy.