Category: 2. World

A small passenger plane has crashed after taking off in Essex, police said.

The Beechcraft B200 aircraft crashed at about 4pm on Sunday, soon after taking off from London Southend airport, and was seen in flames with dark smoke billowing from it, according to photos circulating on social media.

Essex police said they were at the scene of a serious incident.

A statement from the force said: “We were alerted shortly before 4pm to reports of a collision involving one 12-metre plane. We are working with all emergency services at the scene now and that work will be ongoing for several hours.

“We would please ask the public to avoid this area where possible while this work continues.”

Essex County fire and rescue service said four crews along with off-road vehicles had attended the incident.

The East of England ambulance service said four ambulances and four hazardous area response team vehicles were at the scene, in addition to an air ambulance.

The cause of the crash is not yet known. London Southend airport announced on Sunday evening it was closed until further notice.

According to the flight-tracking service Flightradar24, the plane took off at 3.48pm and was bound for Lelystad, a city in the Netherlands.

The aircraft, operated by Zeusch Aviation, was equipped with medical systems for transporting patients. The Dutch company specialises in medical evacuations and transplant flights and also runs private charters.

It is unclear whether the flight from Southend was a medical evacuation or whether any patient was onboard at the time of the crash.

ESN Report wrote on X: “Just witnessed a Beechcraft crash on takeoff at Southend airport about 40 minutes after a Cessna also left the runway. Thoughts are with those on the aircraft. Absolutely tragic. Was waving to the aircrew just moments before.”

David Burton-Sampson, the Labour MP for Southend West and Leigh, posted on X: “I am aware of an incident at Southend airport. Please keep away and allow the emergency services to do their work. My thoughts are with everyone involved.”

Police said they had evacuated the Rochford Hundred golf club as a precaution because of its proximity to the incident.

London Southend airport said: “Due to a serious incident today at London Southend airport, we regret to advise that the airport is closed until further notice.

“All flights to and from the airport have been cancelled while police, emergency services and air accident investigators are attending the incident.

“We ask that any passengers due to travel tomorrow (Monday, 14 July) via London Southend airport contact their airline for information and advice.

“Our thoughts are with those affected by today’s events and all passengers impacted by this disruption.

“We will restart flight operations as soon as possible and will continue to update the public on developments.”

EasyJet earlier said all of its flights to and from Southend had been “diverted to alternative airports or are no longer able to operate”.

John Johnson from Billericay was at Southend airport with his family at the time of the incident. He told PA Media: “We all waved at the pilots, and they all waved back at us. The aircraft then turned 180 degrees to face its takeoff, departure, powered up, rolled down the runway.

“It took off and about three or four seconds after taking off, it started to bank heavily to its left, and then within a few seconds of that happening, it more or less inverted and crashed just head first into the ground.

“There was a big fireball. Obviously, everybody was in shock in terms of witnessing it. All the kids saw it and the families saw it.”

James Philpott, a bartender at Rochford Hundred golf club, which is next door to Southend airport, told the BBC: “I was just basically in a hut like in the middle of the course and I didn’t even see any plane go down or anything, and I just felt like a big heatwave come through and I looked up and there was just a massive fireball basically 100 foot in the sky.

“It was more the heat really just kind of hit me as I was sitting there, just like feel like I’m baking.”

The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, said her thoughts were with “all those involved” in the Southend airport crash and that she was receiving regular updates.

In a post on X, she said: “I’m aware of the tragic incident at Southend airport this afternoon.

“My thoughts are with all those involved. The emergency services are on scene and are advising the public to avoid the area where possible. I am monitoring the situation closely and receiving regular updates.”

Zeusch Aviation, based at Lelystad airport in the Netherlands, confirmed late on Sunday that one of its aircraft was involved in the crash.

A statement from the firm said: “We can confirm that Zeusch Aviation flight SUZ1 was involved in an accident today at London Southend airport.

“Our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected.”

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‘Defend European interests’

A new Senate committee report on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year, described the events as a “cascade of preventable failures” and called for more severe disciplinary action to be taken with the Secret Service in the future.

In the 31-page, highly critical findings released on Sunday, the Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee lamented the mishandling of communications around the rally and said Trump was denied extra security on the day.

“A 20-year-old gunman was able to evade detection by the country’s top protective agency for nearly 45 minutes,” the committee stated, adding that “not a single person has been fired”.

The publication of the report comes exactly a year after the attempted assassination of Trump, when he was wounded after a bullet grazed his ear on 13 July 2024. One rally-goer, Corey Comperatore, was killed before the shooter, a 20-year-old nursing-home worker from Pennsylvania named Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead by a Secret Service agent. Crooks scaled a building overlooking the rally and opened fire using an AR015-style rifle.

The image of Trump defiantly raising his fist in the immediate aftermath of the attack became a political touchstone, helping push Joe Biden out of the race and fuelling support around his presidency in a heightened, accelerated manner.

The committee behind this latest report, chaired by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, conducted 17 interviews with members of the Secret Service and reviewed thousands of legal documents before it reached its conclusion. While it offers no new information on Crooks’s motives, which are still ambiguous almost a year on, it does shine light on the supposed disorganization and disarray of the security agency as the assassination unfolded.

The investigators found that the Secret Service “denied or left unfulfilled” multiple requests for additional staff and assets, and despite acknowledgements of vulnerabilities at the venue, assigned an inexperienced operator to oversee operations.

“What happened was inexcusable,” the committee stated, adding that “the consequences imposed for the failures so far do not reflect the severity of the situation.”

Six Secret Service agents have since been suspended without pay after the events last July. Their suspensions range from 10 to 42 days, with a loss of both salary and benefits during their absence.

This disciplinary action comes nearly a year after the shooting. The agency’s deputy director, Matt Quinn, told CBS News that the Secret Service would not “fire our way out of this” crisis.

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he will send Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine, saying they are necessary to defend the country because Russian President Vladimir Putin “talks nice but then he bombs everybody in the evening.”

Trump did not give a number of Patriots he plans to send to Ukraine, but he said the United States would be reimbursed for their cost by the European Union.

The US president has grown increasingly disenchanted with Putin because the Russian leader has resisted Trump’s attempts to negotiate a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked for more defensive capabilities to fend off a daily barrage of missile and drone attacks from Russia.

“We will send them Patriots, which they desperately need, because Putin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice and then bombs everybody in the evening. But there’s a little bit of a problem there. I don’t like it,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington.

“We basically are going to send them various pieces of very sophisticated military equipment. They are going to pay us 100 percent for that, and that’s the way we want it,” Trump said.

Trump is set to meet NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte this week to discuss his plan to sell NATO allies US weaponry that they can then pass on to Ukraine.

Rutte will be in Washington on Monday and Tuesday and plans to hold talks with Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as well as members of Congress.

“I’m gonna have a meeting with the secretary general who’s coming in tomorrow,” Trump told reporters as he arrived in Washington on Sunday night. “But we basically are going to send them various pieces of very sophisticated (weapons) and they’re gonna pay us 100 percent for them.”

“Inflection point”

A top ally of Trump, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said Sunday that the conflict is nearing an inflection point as Trump shows growing interest in helping Ukraine fight back Russia. It’s a cause that Trump, who during his campaign made quickly ending the war a top priority, had previously dismissed as being a waste of US taxpayer money.

“In the coming days, you’ll see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves,” Graham said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” He added: ”One of the biggest miscalculations (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has made is to play Trump. And you just watch, in the coming days and weeks, there’s going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the table.”

The Rutte visit comes after Trump last week teased that he would make a “major statement” on Russia on Monday and as Ukraine struggles to repel massive and complex air assaults launched by Russian forces. Trump on Sunday declined to offer further details on his coming announcement.

“We’re going to see what we will see tomorrow,” he said.

“It’s time to do it”

Graham and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who also appeared on CBS, said there is also growing consensus on Capitol Hill and among European officials about tapping some of the $300 billion in Russian assets frozen by Group of Seven countries early in the war to help Ukraine.

“It’s time to do it,” Blumenthal said.

Rubio said Friday that some of the US-made weapons that Ukraine is seeking are deployed with NATO allies in Europe. Those weapons could be more quickly transferred to Ukraine, with European countries buying replacements from the US, he said.

French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, in an interview published Sunday in La Tribune Dimanche, said European officials have been making the case to the Trump administration to bolster air defense capabilities with any coming packages.

He added that France is in a “capacity hole” and will have to wait until next year before being able to provide Ukraine new ground-air missiles.

Hitting Russia’s enablers

Trump is also facing calls from Republicans and Democrats as well as European allies to support legislation in the Senate that aims to cripple Russia’s oil industry and hit Moscow with US sanctions for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The legislation, in part, calls for a 500 percent tariff on goods imported from countries that continue to buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports. It would have an enormous impact on the economies of Brazil, China and India, which account for the vast majority of Russia’s energy trade.

“The big offender here is China, India and Brazil,” Graham said. “My goal is to end this war. And the only way you are going to end this war is to get people who prop up Putin — make them choose between the American economy and helping Putin.”

That revenue is critical in helping keep the Russian war machine humming as the US and Europe have imposed significant import and export bans on a wide range of goods to and from Russia, affecting sectors like finance, energy, transport, technology and defense.

Trump for months had threatened, but held off on, imposing new sanctions against Russia’s oil industry.

Congress has been prepared to act on the legislation, sponsored by Graham and Blumenthal, for some time.

The bill has overwhelming support in the Senate, but Republican leadership has been waiting for Trump to give the green light before moving ahead with it.

The White House had expressed some reservations about the legislation. Trump made clear he wants full authority over the waiver process to lift the sanctions, tariffs or other penalties, without having to cede control to Congress.

Under the initial bill, the president “may terminate” the penalties under certain circumstances, but immediately reimpose them if the violations resume. Graham has said the president would be allowed to waive the sanctions, for 180 days, and could also renew a waiver.

Some Democratic lawmakers have expressed concerns about the waivers. But Blumenthal downplayed the differences and said the legislation would give Trump a “sledgehammer” to utilize on Putin.

“The waiver language we will have in this bill is very much like the provisions have existed in past similar measures,” Blumenthal said. He added, “What I think is most important right now is our unity.”

 

A separatist group in India’s northeast said that the Indian army conducted drone strikes on its camps inside Myanmar on Sunday, killing three senior commanders and injuring several others.

In a series of statements on Sunday, the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) — one of insurgent groups in India — said that a top commander was killed and 19 others were wounded in a drone attack near the border.

Some rebel groups in northeastern India often maintain a presence across the border in Myanmar, citing shared ethnic, linguistic and cultural ties with minorities in the region. These cross-border connections allow the groups to establish camps and operate in remote areas.

“Two more senior commanders were killed” in subsequent strikes, the ULFA said, adding: “Several other members and civilians were also wounded.”

Indian authorities have yet to confirm the strikes.

Camps belonging to another rebel group, the People’s Liberation Army, were also targeted, the ULFA added.

The ULFA is one of several insurgent groups in India, and wants independence for the northeastern state of Assam, while the PLA advocates for the secession of Manipur state.

One faction of the ULFA laid down arms and signed a peace deal with the Indian government in 2023.

Rebel attacks have drastically reduced in recent years but the insurgent violence has killed thousands of people, mostly civilians, over the last three decades.

DUBAI (Reuters) – Syria’s General Authority for Land and Sea Ports on Sunday signed a $800 million agreement with UAE’s DP World to bolster Syrian ports infrastructure and logistical services, Syrian state news agency SANA reported.

The agreement follows on from a memorandum of understanding signed between the two sides in May.

The deal with DP World, a subsidiary of United Arab Emirates investment company Dubai World, focuses on developing a multi-purpose terminal at Tartous on Syria’s Mediterranean coast and cooperation in setting up industrial and free trade zones.

The signing ceremony was attended by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Last month, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order terminating a US sanctions programme on Syria, paving the way for an end to the country’s isolation from the international financial system and for the rebuilding of its economy shattered by the civil war.

The removal of US sanctions will also clear the way for greater engagement by humanitarian organisations working in Syria, easing foreign investment and trade as the country rebuilds.