Swedish JAS 39 Gripen jets intercepted Russian Su-24 and Su-34 aircraft twice on 13 June 2026, with allied combat aircraft also scrambled, the Swedish Armed Forces reported.
Sweden's territorial integrity has faced repeated pressure from Russian military activity over the Baltic Sea, with NATO allies intercepting Russian strategic bombers and fighters over the same waters in April 2026.
What happened
Sweden's air force carried out two interception operations on Saturday, 13 June, each involving two pairs of JAS 39 Gripen fighters, according to the Swedish Armed Forces on X and Nordic Defence Sector. The intercepted aircraft were a Su-24 Fencer supersonic bomber and a Su-34 Fullback fighter-bomber.
Allied combat aircraft were also scrambled during the incidents. Swedish airspace was not violated, the Swedish Armed Forces said.
Officials' response
"Russia's behavior is serious and indicates a repeated pattern that threatens both our territorial integrity and security. Swedish and allied fighter aircraft acted swiftly, decisively, and clearly, intercepting the Russian aircraft," said Eva Skoog Haslum, head of the Swedish Armed Forces' Joint Operational Command.
In April 2026, NATO countries intercepted Russian strategic bombers and fighters flying over the Baltic Sea. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys recently said the Alliance must be ready to neutralize Russian military facilities in the Kaliningrad region in the event of a conflict with Russia.
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More than 100 UK lawmakers urge government to cancel London event, warning it is linked to land ‘stolen from Palestinians’
More than 100 UK lawmakers have called for the cancellation of an Israeli real estate event scheduled to take place in London on Sunday, which had appeared to advertise the sale of land in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
In a letter sent to the foreign secretary on Friday, 101 parliamentarians and members of the House of Lords, warned the event was “firmly embedded in Israel’s project of colonial expansion by facilitating the sale of land that has been stolen from Palestinians” and called on the government to take “all necessary steps” to stop the event from going ahead in the capital.
Chris Farrell was given benefit for six months despite his repeated requests for payments to stop
A former unpaid carer has urged welfare officials to “get their act together” after they continued to pay him carer’s benefit for six months after the death of his husband, potentially landing him with debts of more than £1,300.
Chris Farrell, 65, who claimed carer’s allowance for four years while providing full-time care for his late husband repeatedly tried to get the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to stop paying him the £86.45 a week benefit.
A carer who has accumulated more than £2,000 of unwanted carer’s allowance since their mother went into a care home 10 months ago. They said they had contacted the DWP to cancel the benefit five times, by phone and online form, to no avail.
A carer who found it impossible to get the DWP to stop carer’s allowance payments despite reporting over a year ago she had taken on a new work contract and was no longer eligible for the benefit. She had been overpaid more than £2,650.
A man trying to manage work and care for his father, who claimed carer’s allowance for several months after being made redundant, has been unable to stop the benefit despite telling officials repeatedly he no longer needed it after finding a new job.
Hard-line conservatives in the House are mounting an uphill push to codify President Trump’s border policies, demanding a vote by July 4 and warning that policies that have significantly cut down crossings at the southern border could be easily reversed once he leaves office. “The president has given us the most secure border that, literally,…
Hard-line conservatives in the House are mounting an uphill push to codify President Trump’s border policies, demanding a vote by July 4 and warning that policies that have significantly cut down crossings at the southern border could be easily reversed once he leaves office. “The president has given us the most secure border that, literally,…
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has been restored to its proper name.
President Donald Trump’s name was officially cleared from the marble facade of the storied cultural institution on Saturday, the Kennedy Center said, after last-minute attempts by the Trump administration to delay a federal judge’s ruling that the name cannot be changed.
The center’s executive director, Chris Matthew Flocka, said in court documents filed Saturday that the organization has “removed all physical signage on the Kennedy Center building and grounds, including the front portico, that purports to rename the Kennedy Center after President Trump or any other individual besides President Kennedy.”
Flocka also said that the center has withdrawn trademark applications officially referring to the organization as the “Trump Kennedy Center,” removed references to Trump from all paperwork.
Workers removed the lettering of Trump’s name after stormy weather in Washington late Friday caused delays. A large tarp was left hanging overnight covering the scaffolding and obscuring the view of which name — or names — remained. The tarp remained up on Saturday afternoon
No trace of the current president’s name remained, in spite of his fight to the end.
Shortly after midnight, the Kennedy Center asked a judge to extend Friday’s legal deadline to remove Trump’s name until noon on Saturday because of the storms. The deadline extension was granted Saturday morning, buying the organization a few more hours to complete the erasure.
The removal of Trump’s name from the building marked a stinging defeat for the president a day before his 80th birthday. After being sworn in last year, Trump swiftly took over the institution, installing loyalists on the center’s board, upending its programming to align with his political preferences, slapping his name on the building, its website and merchandise. He also pushed for a renovation that would have shut the center down for two years.
Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, an ex-officio board member, sued to have Trump’s name removed from the center. On May 29, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the Kennedy Center board of trustees must change its name back by Friday, June 12.
“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” Cooper wrote in his decision.
Trump fumed about the court ruling in a lengthy post on Truth Social in late May, criticizing Cooper — an Obama appointee — and suggesting that he would no longer be interested in it “unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else.”
Still, the Kennedy Center began making moves to drop Trump’s name from its website and in marketing material.
On Friday, the administration made several last-ditch efforts to halt Cooper’s ruling before the deadline, to no avail. However, the legal battle is not entirely over. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is considering the administration’s appeal of the May 29 ruling, is expected to rule on whether to issue a stay in the next few weeks.
Fallon Gallagher contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Nearly 90 personnel, supported by seven aerial resources, are this afternoon battling a fire in an agricultural area in the municipality of Aljustrel, Beja district. A source from the Baixo
US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will take part in the same working session at the G7 summit in Evian, France, and "could very well cross paths" on the sidelines, a senior US official said, according to Suspilne's correspondent and Le Figaro with AFP.
The G7 summit takes place from 15 to 17 June in Evian. Trump will hold a bilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on his arrival on Monday, one-on-one meetings with the leaders of Qatar, the UAE, Egypt, and India on Tuesday and Wednesday, and will take part in the G7 leaders' working session on Tuesday alongside Zelenskyy.
No bilateral meeting scheduled
Asked whether a bilateral meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy was planned, the US official said the two leaders "could very well cross paths" on the margins of Tuesday's session, while specifying that no formal bilateral meeting was on Trump's agenda.
The official, speaking anonymously, described ending the Russo-Ukrainian war as a top priority for Trump: "We want the war to end as soon as possible. This is what President Trump prioritizes, one of his top priorities."
A separate US official called the 79-year-old president the "only" world leader capable of ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, without elaborating.
Versailles dinner marks US anniversary
On Wednesday, after the summit concludes, Trump will have dinner with Macron at Versailles. According to the French presidency, the dinner marks the 250th anniversary of US independence at a "high place of Franco-American friendship where the treaty consecrating it was signed in 1783."
Other agenda items
The official sought to downplay tensions between Trump and NATO allies over US commitment to the alliance: "It's a very easy conversation. It has nothing to do with the hysterical way it's being presented in the press, and we are very pleased with the burden-sharing efforts underway and we want to see more of it."
A second US official praised France's "very smart" and "relevant" decision to put trade imbalances on the summit agenda. According to the White House, Trump intends to discuss artificial intelligence, immigration, innovation, and energy with G7 partners. The G7 comprises Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom; Trump has repeatedly argued for including Russia to restore the former G8 format.
The last meeting between the American and Ukrainian presidents was at the Davos forum in January 2026.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Saturday that a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran could be finalized “in the next 24 hours.” Pakistan has been mediating the peace talks between the two sides, and Sharif wrote in a social media post that the nations “are closer to a peace deal than ever…
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