Key Points
- British fighter jets fly in planned sortie over Poland
- Estonia says Russia testing NATO capabilities
- Oscar Piastri crashes into barriers at Azerbaijan Formula 1
TRANSCRIPT
British fighter jets have flown their first NATO air defense sortie over Poland as part of NATO's Eastern Sentry mission.
The mission aims to strengthen the Western alliance's defences following a Russian drone incursion earlier this month.
Two Royal Air Force Typhoons took off from a British base in eastern England on Friday night to patrol Polish skies and deter and defend against aerial threats from Russia, including drones.
The British government said it was a response to the "most significant violation" of NATO airspace by Russian President Putin to date since his military invasion of Ukraine.
British Defense Minister John Healey said the mission, announced by the U-K government in the immediate aftermath of the incursions into Polish airspace, sends a clear signal that NATO airspace will be defended.
“This Eastern Sentry response by NATO is the NATO nations together saying ‘you threaten NATO, we respond as one.”
---
Estonian officials are adamant that an incursion by Russian warplanes was deliberate, and have dismissed Russian denials of the incident.
Russian MIG-31 fighters entered Estonian airspace in the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea around 10am local time Friday, Estonian officials said.
Russian pilots ignored signals from the Finnish airforce and Italian jets from NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission.
The Estonian military says the violation was confirmed by radar and visual contact.
The 12-minute incursion was the latest test of the alliance's ability to respond to Russian airborne threats after around 20 Russian drones entered Polish airspace just over a week ago.
Estonia's Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said the Russian incursions were a deliberate provocation to test NATO’s response.
“I see here a very clear link that Russia is provoking not only in Poland, not only in Estonia, all NATO, in the cyber field, in airspace, and the reason behind that is that we should, they think, that we should talk more about our own defence and mot so much about Ukraine.”
---
Optus customers claim the company did not notify them of service outages and in some instances, took more than 24 hours to attempt to connect them with emergency services, after failed attempts.
Deaths have been linked to a telecommunications outage that lasted hours on Thursday, blocking dozens of customers' triple-zero calls.
Optus customer, Simone Porcaro, attempted to call an ambulance to her Adelaide home, to urgently treat her unconscious husband.
She and her young daughter were forced to use his thumb to open his phone, which used a different service, before they could reach help.
"The next day Optus called me at 12:15. I missed the first call and they called me the second time. They were offering me emergency services. It was a bit of a scripted call, they were offering me emergency services over 26 hours later."
Optus CEO has apologised and the company is conducting its own internal probe, along with the Federal and State governments.
The incident was attributed to a technical failure after a routine upgrade.
---
Police are searching for two people involved in a police chase with a stolen vehicle overnight.
The driver and occupant of the car - who were both reportedly wearing balaclavas - were pursued by police from Western Sydney to the inner-west.
Police say the car reversed into a police officer who was attempting to stop it in the suburb of Leichhardt.
The officer then fell and hit his head and the car was later dumped in a nearby area.
Leichhardt Area Commander, Acting Superintendent Adam Solah said investigations are ongoing.
"During the attempted arrest, a single shot was fired from a New South Wales police-issued firearm and also a taser was deployed in an attempt to stop the occupants of the vehicle. The vehicle then drove away on James Street, Leichhardt, nearly colliding with residents on the street and hitting the front fence of a resident. Before driving to Crystal Street, Petersham - where the vehicle was dumped on the side of the road. "
---
The World Health Organization says a new outbreak of Ebola virus has resulted in 31 deaths in southern Congo, from a total of 38 confirmed cases.
Public health experts fear the disease is spreading rapidly, with more than 900 contacts identified according to the WHO.
The organisation's Program Area Manager for Emergency Response, Dr Patrick Otim, says vaccinations have begun.
"We currently have 3,500 doses available in the country, with 760 already delivered to Bulape, more than 500 healthcare workers and contacts have received their vaccination, offering them crucial protection. Additionally, a further 45,000 doses are expected to arrive in Kinshasa soon."
—-
And in motorsport, Australian Formula One driver Oscar Piastri has crashed into the barriers during the final qualifying session at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Piastri hit the wall as he pushed it too hard in a corner on Baku's street circuit on Saturday… but it won’t do too much damage to his push to win the Formula One world title.
Piastri came into Azerbaijan qualifying 31 points ahead of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris - who also had a brush with the barriers.
Norris managed to finish his lap but will start only seventh on the grid, while Piastri, who hadn't been out of the top four in qualifying all season, will start from ninth on Sunday.
“Yeah, I’ll go back and have a look at where it all went wrong today, but I’ve been much happier with the car today which is a good thing so yeah, hopefully we can claw back some progress tomorrow.”
