International
NATO begins unprecedented air drill in ‘show of strength’
NATO will begin the largest air force deployment exercise in Europe in the alliance’s history on Monday in a display of unity toward partners and potential threats such as Russia.
The German-led “Air Defender 23” will run until June 23 and include some 250 military aircraft from 25 NATO and partner countries including Japan and Sweden, which is bidding to join the alliance.
Up to 10,000 people will participate in the drills intended to boost interoperability and preparedness to protect against drones and cruise missiles in the case of an attack on cities, airports or sea ports within NATO territory.
Presenting the plans last week, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz of the German Luftwaffe said “Air Defender” was conceived in 2018 in part as a response to the Russian annexation of Crimea from Ukraine four years before, though he said it was “not targeted at anyone”.
He said that while NATO would defend “every centimetre” of its territory, the exercise would not “send any flights, for example, in the direction of Kaliningrad,” the Russian enclave bordering alliance member states Poland and Lithuania.
“We are a defensive alliance and that is how this exercise is planned,” he said.
US Ambassador to Germany Amy Gutmann said the drill would show “beyond a shadow of a doubt the agility and the swiftness of our allied force” and was intended to send a message to countries including Russia.
“I would be pretty surprised if any world leader was not taking note of what this shows in terms of the spirit of this alliance, which means the strength of this alliance, and that includes Mr Putin,” she told reporters, referring to the Russian president.
“By synchronising together, we multiply our force.”
Russia’s war on Ukraine has galvanised the Western military alliance set up almost 75 years ago to face off against the Soviet Union.
Finland and Sweden, which long kept an official veneer of neutrality to avoid conflict with Moscow, both sought membership in NATO after Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
Under NATO’s Article Five, an attack on one member is considered an attack on all.
– ‘Great power competition’ –
The exercise will include operational and tactical-level training, primarily in Germany, but also in the Czech Republic, Estonia and Latvia. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit pilots based at the Schleswig-Jagel airfield in northern Germany on Friday.
General Michael Loh, director of the US Air National Guard, said NATO’s duties were at an “inflection point”.
“A great deal has changed on the strategic landscape throughout the world, especially here in Europe,” he said.
The exercise will focus on “supplementing the permanent United States presence in Europe” as well as providing training “on a larger scale than what was usually accomplished on the continent”, Loh added.
He said many of the alliance pilots would be working together for the first time.
“It’s about fostering the old relationships that we have but also building new ones with this younger generation of airmen,” he said.
“And so this is about now establishing what it means to go against a great power in a great power competition.”
Gutmann said that while there were no plans to make “Air Defender” a recurring exercise, she added: “We have no desire for this to be the last.”
Asked about potential disruption to civilian air transport during the exercise, Gerhartz said the planners would do “everything in our power” to limit flight delays or cancellations.
German authorities had warned that flight schedules could be impacted by the drills.
Veteran American actor Harris Yulin, widely known for his memorable roles in Ghostbusters II and Scarface, has passed away at the age of 87.
According to reports, Yulin died of cardiac arrest on Tuesday, June 10, 2025.
His manager, Sue Leibman, confirmed his death in a statement to The Post on Thursday.
Leibman described Yulin as part of a generation of actors deeply committed to their craft.
“Yulin was part of the vanguard of a generation that passionately cared about the craft of acting.
This lifelong dedication led to extraordinary, resonant performances that were a gift to actors he worked with, audiences, and the art of acting itself,” she stated.
International
‘I walked out of rubble’: Survivor on how he escaped Air India wreckage
But Mr Ramesh, a businessman from Leicester who has a wife and four-year-old son, said the section he was sitting in landed near the ground and did not make contact with the building.
The British man who was the sole survivor of Thursday’s Air India plane crash said he managed to escape the wreckage through an opening in the fuselage.
“I managed to unbuckle myself, used my leg to push through that opening, and crawled out,” Vishwashkumar Ramesh told Indian state media DD News.
Mr Ramesh, 40, was in seat 11A on the London-bound Boeing 787 flight when it went down shortly after take off in Ahmedabad, western India on Thursday.
Air India said all other passengers and crew were killed – including 169 Indian nationals and 52 British nationals.
More than 200 bodies have been recovered so far, though it is unclear how many were passengers and how many were from the ground.
Speaking from his hospital bed, Mr Ramesh said the lights inside the aircraft “started flickering” moments after take off.
Within five to 10 seconds, it felt like the plane was “stuck in the air”, he said.
“The lights started flickering green and white…suddenly slammed into a building and exploded.
“The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed into a building used as accommodation for doctors at the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College and Civil Hospital.
But Mr Ramesh, a businessman from Leicester who has a wife and four-year-old son, said the section he was sitting in landed near the ground and did not make contact with the building.
“When the door broke and I saw there was some space, I tried to get out of there and I did.”No one could have got out from the opposite side, which was towards the wall, because it crashed there.”
(BBC)
The Israeli military confirmed the airborne assault, alerting its citizens that an Iranian retaliation was actively underway. The Israeli military confirmed the airborne assault, alerting its citizens that an Iranian retaliation was actively underway.
Tensions between Iran and Israel have escalated sharply as Iran launched more than 100 drones toward Israeli territory late Thursday night in what it described as a retaliatory operation.
The Israeli military confirmed the airborne assault, alerting its citizens that an Iranian retaliation was actively underway.
“This is a different event to what we’ve experienced thus far, and we’re expecting difficult hours,” said IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari in a late-night briefing.
“All aerial defense arrays have been operating to intercept the threats.”
The attack follows a series of Israeli airstrikes earlier this week targeting Iranian military installations.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) stated that the strikes, carried out under the codename Operation Rising Lion, were a “pre-emptive, precise, combined offensive based on high-quality intelligence.”
According to reports, dozens of Israeli airstrikes struck multiple locations across Iran, including high-level military targets.
One of the most significant casualties of the operation was Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s chief of staff for the armed forces, who was reportedly killed in the Israeli strikes.
Iranian authorities have not issued an official statement confirming Bagheri’s death or detailing the extent of the damage from the Israeli offensive, but state-affiliated media have vowed that a “decisive response” would follow.
Air raid sirens were heard across multiple regions in Israel, and emergency protocols were enacted nationwide as the military attempted to intercept the incoming drones.
Early reports suggest that Israel’s Iron Dome and other defense systems were actively engaged, though the full impact of the drone assault remains unclear at this time.
International leaders have urged both nations to de-escalate, warning that continued retaliation could spiral into a broader regional conflict.
Meanwhile, citizens in both countries have been urged to remain vigilant as military tensions appear far from resolved.
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