U.S. TO SEND ADVANCED ROCKETS TO UKRAINE

The Biden administration says it will send Ukraine a small number of high-tech, medium-range rocket systems, a critical weapon that Ukrainian leaders have been asking for as they struggle to stall Russian progress in the Donbas region.

The rocket systems are part of a new $700 million tranche of security assistance for Ukraine from the U.S. that will include helicopters, Javelin anti-tank weapon systems, tactical vehicles, spare parts and more, two senior administration officials said on Tuesday.

Mr. Biden said on Monday that the U.S. would not send Ukraine “rocket systems that can strike into Russia”. The aid package expected to be unveiled on Wednesday would send what the U.S. considers medium-range rockets — they generally can travel about 70 km, the officials said.

The Ukrainians have assured the U.S. officials that they will not fire rockets into Russian territory, according to the senior officials.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that the U.S. is “deliberately and diligently pouring fuel on the fire”. He added that the Kremlin doesn’t trust Kyiv’s assurances that the multiple rocket launch systems supplied by the U.S. will not be used to attack Russia.

Biden Assures Putin US Not Seeking Nato-Russia War

Meanwhile, in his article published online by New York Times on Tuesday, Biden described his administration’s resolve to sup- port Ukraine in its attempts to repel Russian invaders. But he offered specific assurances for Putin that the US does not intend to provoke a wider conflict or the use of weapons of mass destruction. Biden stated bluntly in his article that he did not seek to overthrow Putin, despite his off-the-cuff remarks during a speech in Poland earlier this year, when he said the Russian president “cannot remain in power. ” “We do not seek a war between Nato and Russia,” he said. “As much as I dis- agree with Putin, and find his actions an outrage, the US will not try to bring about his ouster in Moscow. So long as the US or our allies are not attacked, we will not be directly engaged in this conflict, either by sending American troops to fight in Ukraine or by attacking Russian forces. ” “Standing by Ukraine in its hour of need is not just the right thing to do,” he wrote. “It is in our vital national interests to ensure a peaceful and stable Europe and to make it clear that might does not make right. ”

CHINA CONDUCTS MILITARY ‘READINESS PATROL’ AROUND TAIWAN

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Wednesday announced the third large-scale military exercise around the self-ruled island of Taiwan in less than a month, calling it a “combat readiness patrol” against what it says is “collusion” between Taipei and Washington.

“This is a necessary action against the US-Taiwan collusion,” the PLA’s eastern theatre command said, announcing the exercise, and adding that it is putting Taiwan in a “dangerous position”.

While the PLA did not release details of the exercise, the formal announcement of the drill came a day after more than 30 Chinese fighter aircraft violated Taiwan’s airspace.

The Taiwanese air force scrambled its own jets following the incursion.

Chinese state-run media connected Wednesday’s exercise with the visit of US Senator Tammy Duckworth to Taiwan during which President Tsai Ing-wen said that a cooperation plan between the US National Guard and Taiwan’s armed forces was in the works, further roiling Beijing.

RUSSIA WARNS OF ‘NEGATIVE EFFECT’ OF EU OIL EMBARGO

The EU’s decision to ban most Russian oil imports by the end of the year will have adverse consequences for both Russia and Europe, said Dmitri Peskov, the Russian presidential spokesman, in the first official Kremlin reaction to the move. “These sanctions will surely have a negative effect for probably the entire continent — for Europeans, for us and the entire energy market,” he told reporters at a briefing. Europe was an important market because of the volume of sales, Peskov said, but Russia will try to minimise the damage by selling the crude to other markets. Every time sanctions are tightened, senior Russian officials say that the negative impact will rebound on the Western public. The EU agreementis expected to cost the Kremlin billions of dollars a year in revenue while also strategically decoupling it from Europe. It will likely hit Europe hard, as households, businesses are already facing steeper energy prices.

NOT COMPETING FOR INFLUENCE, SAYS CHINA

China has insisted that it has “no intention to compete” for influence in the South Pacific as Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Australian counterpart Penny Wong again jetted around the region Wednesday on duelling diplomatic charm offensives.

In a statement distributed by the Chinese embassy in Canberra, Beijing said it “does not seek exclusive rights” in the region.

The claim comes as Mr. Wang nears the end of a contentious 10-day visit to Pacific Island nations that has seen China pitch a radically increased role in regional security, much to the concern of the United States and Australia.

Although Mr. Wang failed to secure support for a regional security deal that would have seen Beijing play a much bigger role in areas including policing and cybersecurity, he has inked a series of country-specific agreements on his trip.

Australia’s new government is playing catch-up after years of relations with the Pacific being hampered by the former administration’s foot-dragging on climate change.

ERDOGAN THREATENS NEW INCURSION INTO SYRIA

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey will rid northern Syria’s Tal Rifaat and Manbij areas of terrorists, confirming the targets of the new incursion for the first time and saying it will continue into other regions.

His comments, in a speech to lawmakers from his ruling AK Party, came a week after he pledged a new military incursion on Turkey’s southern border against the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militia YPG, which Ankara views as a terrorist group.

“We are going into the new phase of our determination to form a 30-km deep safe zone along our southern border. We will clear Tal Rifaat and Manbij of terrorists, and we will do the same to other regions step-by-step,” he said.

“Let’s see who supports these legitimate steps by Turkey and who hinders them,” Mr. Erdogan added.

TURKEY HALTS TALKS WITH GREECE AGAIN

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey was halting talks with Greece, partly over a dispute with the Greek Prime Minister and what Ankara calls airspace violations, marking the latest reversal in the neighbours’ long-testy relationship.

Last year, after a five-year hiatus, the two NATO members resumed talks to address their differences, but have made little progress. Tensions flared again last week when Mr. Erdogan said Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis “no longer exists” for him, accusing him of trying to block sales of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey during a visit to the United States.

Mr. Mitsotakis said that he had briefed his EU counterparts over Turkey’s “aggressiveness”.

IMRAN KHAN’S PTI ASKS UN TO PROBE ‘STATE EXCESSES’ DURING PROTESTS

In an unusual move, ousted PM Imran Khan-led opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Wednesday sought the UN’s help to hold an “independent and impartial” investigation into what it called the “state excesses and human rights violations” by the government during a protest last week.

Khan’s supporters violently protested on May 25 in Islamabad to force the government to announce early elections and police had to resort to teargas and batoncharge to keep them under control. Shireen Mazari, a senior PTI member and human rights minister in Khan’s government, in a letter to UN high commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet alleged that the government used force against protesters and also launched “politically motivated” cases against party leadership.

She demanded for an “independent and impartial investigation into these state excesses and human rights violations”.

NEW OZ GOVT INCLUDES RECORD 13 WOMEN MINISTERS

Australia’s new government sworn in on Wednesday includes a record 13 women, including the first female Muslim to serve in the role and the second indigenous person named indigenous affairs minister. The ceremony conducted by governor-general David Hurley in the capital, Canberra, came 11 days after new PM Anthony Albanese led the center-left Labor Party to an election victory over the incumbent conservatives. “Proud to lead an inclusive government that is as diverse as Australia itself,” Albanese wrote on Twitter. “Welcome to all these new Labor members. ”

Youth minister Anne Aly is Australia’s first female Muslim minister, while industry and science minister Ed Husic is the first Muslim to serve in cabinet. Linda Burney became the first woman, and only the second indigenous person, to serve as indigenous affairs minister. Albanese and foreign minister Penny Wong were sworn in early last week.

Of the 30 ministers appoin- ted to the new government, nearly half are women. Women also hold a record 10 spots out of 23 in core cabinet roles. With some votes still to be counted from last month’s election, the Labor Party has secured enough seats to hold an outright majority in the 150-seat House.

DEPP COMES OUT TOP IN DEFAMATION CASE AGAINST HEARD

A US jury has found Amber Heard defamed ex-husband Johnny Depp with an article in which she claimed she was a victim of domestic abuse.

Jurors awarded Mr Depp - who denied abusing Ms Heard - $15m (£12m) in compensatory and punitive damages.

Ms Heard, 36, won one of three counter-claims against Mr Depp, 58, and was awarded $2m in compensatory damages.

The Hollywood stars, who divorced in 2017, presented conflicting versions of their doomed relationship in the trial.

Over six weeks, the court in Fairfax, Virginia, heard tawdry details of Mr Depp and Ms Heard's tempestuous marriage, and its unhappy ending.

Polls suggested many Americans were more interested in the legal drama than the war in Ukraine or a potentially historic ruling on abortion expected any day from the US Supreme Court.

Coverage of the trial - which was televised and livestreamed - hit billions of views on social media.

After nearly two days of deliberations, jurors found on Wednesday that Ms Heard's statements about her marriage were "false" and she had acted with "actual malice".

But they also found that Mr Depp had defamed Ms Heard when his lawyer gave a statement to the Daily Mail in 2020 calling her abuse allegations a hoax.

On the eve of the verdict, Mr Depp received a standing ovation after performing with Mr Beck at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

In a statement on Wednesday, he said: "The jury gave me my life back. I am truly humbled."

He added, in Latin: "Truth never perishes."