I'm not worried about Covid inquiry messages, says Rishi Sunak - BBC

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By Paul Seddon

Politics reporter

Rishi Sunak says he is not worried about being embarrassed by messages seen by the Covid inquiry, despite a legal wrangle over their disclosure.

The government has taken the unprecedented step of suing the inquiry over its demands to see unredacted WhatsApps sent during pandemic.

But the prime minister insisted he was being transparent in his approach.

He added that he was personally providing information, and it was taking up "a lot of my own time".

The inquiry has asked to see unredacted messages on former prime minister Boris Johnson's phone, between him and around 40 politicians and officials, including Mr Sunak.

But the government says some of them are not relevant to the inquiry's work, and could compromise individuals' privacy if handed over unredacted.

• Covid inquiry criticises government evidence
• Johnson to bypass government on Covid WhatsApps

Last week, it launched legal action against the inquiry over its demands to see the unredacted WhatsApps, as well as Mr Johnson's notebooks.

Speaking to BBC political editor Chris Mason during a two-day trip to the United States, Mr Sunak said he could not comment on the specifics as the case was ongoing.

But he insisted the government had acted with "candour and transparency", including disclosing more than 55,000 documents so far, with "more to come".

Asked directly whether he was worried about something coming out that would embarrass him personally, he replied: "No, not at all.

"I as well am co-operating and providing information to the inquiry," he added. "It's actually taking a lot of my own time, and that's right that I do that."

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner questioned his response, writing on Twitter: "So why are you taking legal action to hide them [the messages]?"

WhatsApps wrangle

The inquiry, set up in May 2021, is investigating the government's handling of the pandemic and is due to begin public hearings next week.

Mr Johnson has said he is happy to hand over unredacted WhatsApps on his phone dating back to May 2021, around a year into the pandemic response.

He says he is unable to hand over messages prior to that point, because the messages were on his old phone, which he changed for security reasons.

However, he has said he is happy to co-operate with security officials to find a way to ensure the messages are passed to the inquiry.

On Tuesday, a lawyer for the Covid inquiry said it had written to the Cabinet Office to get hold of the old device and confirm how it will be "accessed fully".

PA Media

Elsewhere in his BBC interview, Mr Sunak said it was too early for a "definitive answer" about who was responsible for damage to the Kakhovka dam in Russian-occupied Ukraine, with British security officials continuing their investigations.

But he added if Russia was found to be responsible, it would fit with a "pattern of behaviour" it had displayed throughout the war to "deliberately attack" civilian infrastructure.

Ukraine has blamed Russia for the collapse of the dam, which has prompted the evacuation of thousands of people. Moscow has denied responsibility, instead blaming Ukrainian shelling.

Mr Sunak also said the UK should "have confidence" in its ability to act as a global leader in regulating artificial intelligence (AI), a topic he is set to discuss with President Biden at a White House meeting on Thursday.

The prime minister is hoping to put post-Brexit UK in the driving seat of efforts to set new global rules for the emerging technology.

Some experts have questioned the extent to which the UK will be able to shape new global rules outside the European Union, with the UK now shut out of key gatherings between European and American regulators such as the Tech and Trade Council.

But Mr Sunak said the level of AI investment in the UK, and the quality of British research, meant it could "shape the conversation" on future rules.

"Other than the US, there's no other democratic country that has that strength in AI," he argued.

Related Topics

• Coronavirus public inquiry
• Rishi Sunak

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Chaos on frontlines as Ukraine war threatens to come home for Russia - The Guardian

If Vladimir Saldo was trying to project a sense of calm among the deluged frontline towns and villages of Russian-occupied Kherson region, he was failing miserably.

The Kremlin-installed “governor”, dressed in camouflage and helmet and sitting in front of the flooded remains of the town centre of Nova Kakhovka, claimed that the city was “alive”.

“People are calmly walking around the streets,” said Saldo, as the flood waters rose up the walls of the city hall behind him. “I’ve just driven around the streets, people are working, the gas stations are open, some stores are open.”

The reality of the catastrophe was playing out around him: people stranded on the roofs of their houses and flats, begging for those with boats to come and save them. Dozens missing and whole towns downriver washed away. And reports that Russian troops were blocking access to the frontline towns on the left bank of the Dnipro river by installing new checkpoints even as the flood waters continued to rise.

“Everyone is left to fend for themselves, there is no organised evacuation,” said Gleb, a resident of Nova Kakhova who was looking for ways to leave the city.

As an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive looms, Russia’s frontlines appear to be in serious disarray, as local mismanagement, military infighting, and callous disregard seem to point to serious problems as the war threatens to come home for Russia.

If Russia bears responsibility for the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, as many suspect, it is an act of supreme desperation that the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has equated to an “environmental bomb of mass destruction”.

Weeks before the waters of the Dnipro River were unleashed on the town south of Nova Kakhovka, there were signs that Russia was dangerously overextended along the potential frontlines of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

In Russia’s Belgorod border region, Russian troops have effectively abandoned a number of small towns and villages as irregular Ukrainian-backed insurgent groups carry out cross-border raids. Once a sideshow, the paramilitaries, including many Russians with far-right connections fighting against the Kremlin, have managed to capture and hold territory inside Russia.

Shebekino, a Russian town of about 45,000 people, has effectively become a frontline city and come under heavy shelling, with all but about 500 residents fleeing from the border area.

“The city is empty, there are signs of destruction all around, there are no soldiers there,” Oleg, a volunteer who had travelled to the town to bring food and medicines, told the Guardian. “They are completely devastated, it’s hard to think sensibly in such stress. Even worse is the lack of water and light.”

“We have left everything,” Olga, who has lived in Shebekino for 40 years with her husband, told the Guardian from a temporary shelter in Belgorod. “We feel like nobody is protecting us.”

The Russian Volunteer Corps, an anti-Kremlin militia, claimed it had captured Novaya Tavolzhanka, one of the largest villages in the region. It had even taken prisoners, including a 23-year-old chef from the Pskov region who said he was a mobilised soldier. Vyacheslav Gladkov, the regional governor, admitted on Monday that Russian troops “cannot reach the village”, effectively confirming that they had temporarily lost control over a Russian town. In many ways, the border area appears largely unprotected.

“It’s a big question, why is the national guard not all over this, it is their job to protect the border areas, and its completely unclear why they aren’t there,” said Dara Massicot, a senior policy researcher at RAND who specialises in Russian military strategy. “If Russia has to bring in the military to protect its borders it will be a huge embarrassment. The national guard has armoured equipment and some 300,000 people; where are these people?”

Reporters working in Shebekino described conditions similar to those in frontline towns in Russian-occupied Ukraine, noting that the war had never been closer. “It’s very unusual to be in a flak jacket and helmet inside of Russia, old Russia,” said Maryana Naumova, a Kremlin-aligned journalist who visited Shebekino this week.

Those involved in evacuations have described getting little to no help from the authorities, who have been conspicuously absent in managing the tumult near the border.

“The situation in Shebekino is bad,” Sergei Apanasenko, a resident, told the Guardian. “I have evacuated 20 people since last week. There is a feeling that people are forgotten and the authorities aren’t helping with evacuations. We have to do everything ourselves.”

Propaganda pundits have gone on television to calm the population. Margarita Simonyan, the head of state-financed RT, called the cross-border raids “information attacks” meant to sow panic and said it was “working with many people I know”.

“It is being done for us all to see these scary pictures, that the war is already on our territory,” she said. Asked why the army had not yet launched a serious counterattack, she said: “I don’t know when, I am not our army, all I can do is to pray.”

Inside the city, locals have grown so desperate that many are beginning to call for Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Putin-connected warlord, to take over its defence.

“Shebekino is destroyed. It feels like Moscow has forgotten that Shebekino is Russia. We would like for Prigozhin to come and help us,” Evgeny, a local who had also shared a post saying #Prigozhinhelpus, told the Guardian.

Prigozhin himself had raised his hand to enter the city, continuing a longstanding feud with the Russian army over the distribution of ammunition and general prosecution of the war. “If the ministry of defence does not stop what is happening in the Belgorod region … where Russian territory is in fact being captured, then obviously we will arrive,” he said in an audio message published by his press service.

“We will defend … Russian people and all those who live there.”

Prigozhin has increasingly thumbed his nose at the military leadership, ridiculing them for failing to stop last week’s drone attacks against Moscow and for a recent video of the purported destruction of a Leopard tank that he said looked more like a Ukrainian combine harvester.

In the biggest sign of a schism, Wagner troops beat and humiliated a serving Russian officer in command of the 72nd Brigade for allegedly ordering his soldiers to fire on a Wagner convoy. The rifts in Russia’s war machine have grown as Wagner has pulled out of positions in Bakhmut after spending eight months to take the city, leaving regular troops to guard the frontlines while his mercenaries may seek to avoid the opening blows of Ukraine’s coming counteroffensive.

“The Russian army will now be properly tested, they won’t be able to hide behind Wagner like they did in Bakhmut,” said Marat Gabidullin, a former Wagner mercenary who knows Prigozhin. He has written a memoir about his time in the paramilitary organisation.

“Prigozhin has built a very strong personal brand. He has positioned himself as the leader of the silent majority that isn’t heard. Many trust him more than the defence ministry. They see Prigozhin as their saviour.”

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Blinken expected to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - CNN

Washington CNN  — 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during his upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia, a US official told CNN, the latest step toward rapprochement between the US government and the de facto leader of a key US ally.

Relations between the two countries have been strained in recent years following the torture and murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, for which a US intelligence report held the Crown Prince responsible. But in the wake of fluctuating oil prices over the past year – Saudi Arabia this week said it will slash oil output starting in July as part of an effort by producers to shore up crude prices – the Biden administration has sought to reengage with the kingdom.

Blinken will “meet with Saudi officials to discuss US-Saudi strategic cooperation on regional and global issues and a range of bilateral issues including economic and security cooperation,” and also participate in meetings of the US-Gulf Cooperation Council and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, the State Department’s travel summary said.

Speaking to the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC on Monday, Blinken also said that normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia would be a topic of conversation during his trip.

The production cut announced by Saudi Arabia over the weekend was its biggest in years and will depress its output to 9 million barrels per day. It came after a meeting in Vienna of the alliance known as OPEC+, which includes members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and other smaller producers.

Asked to comment on the decision to slash production ahead of Blinken’s visit, deputy State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel noted that gasoline prices have generally fallen in the US from heights reached a year ago.

“We believe that supply should meet demand, and we’ll continue to work with all producers and consumers to ensure that energy markets support economic growth and lower prices for American families,” Patel said at a briefing. “That’s what we’re focusing on.”

On the campaign trail, then-candidate Joe Biden promised to make Saudi Arabia “the pariah that they are” on the world stage and “make them pay the price” for Khashoggi’s murder. But he reneged on that vow by visiting the country last year and giving the crown prince a fist bump, providing a photo opportunity for the Saudi government and outraging human rights groups.

At the time, the president defended his actions by saying his Saudi trip was critical to US security.

“As president, it is my job to keep our country strong and secure. We have to counter Russia’s aggression, put ourselves in the best possible position to outcompete China, and work for greater stability in a consequential region of the world,” Biden wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post.

“To do these things, we have to engage directly with countries that can impact those outcomes,” he wrote.

Months after Biden’s visit, the US determined that bin Salman should be granted immunity in a case brought against him by Khashoggi’s fiancée.

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Ukraine war: Wagner boss rubbishes Russian claims of Ukrainian casualties - BBC

PRESS SERVICE OF "CONCORD"

By Matt Murphy

BBC News

A fresh row has broken out between the Wagner Group and the Russian military, as long-simmering tension between the groups threatens to spill over.

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin dismissed Russia's claims to have inflicted heavy losses on Ukraine in the Donbas when Kyiv attempted offensive action.

Prigozhin said the claims were "simply wild and absurd science fiction".

But Russia's defence ministry doubled down on the claims on Tuesday, saying Ukraine suffered over 3,700 casualties.

Russia said the attack was part of a Ukrainian "long-promised offensive" in the Donetsk region, which took place over Sunday and Monday.

Ukraine's military said on Monday that it had no information about a major attack in the region, and that it wouldn't comment on claims it called "fake".

Speaking to state media, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu insisted that his forces had inflicted over 3,715 casualties on Ukraine during the attack and destroyed dozens of pieces of military equipment.

"The attempts at an offensive have failed. The enemy has been halted. Russian soldiers and officers displayed courage and heroism in the battles," Mr Shoigu said, adding that 71 Russian troops died in the fighting.

However, Prigozhin was quick to hit out at the defence ministry's claims on Monday evening, saying the claims of a huge success would amount to a "massacre".

"Therefore, I think that these are just some wild fantasies," he wrote on Telegram. He also accused Russian forces of "slowly" withdrawing from the village of Berkhivka on the outskirts of Bakhmut, calling it a "disgrace".

Moscow rejected Prigozhin's claims in a statement on Tuesday. It said his allegations did "not correspond to reality" and insisted that the suburb remained under Moscow's control.

Officials in Kyiv have admitted to shifting to "offensive actions" in some parts on the country and on Tuesday a US official told the BBC's American partner CBS News that it is accurate to say that the Ukraine counter offensive is in its opening phases, but that the main thrust has not yet begun.

On Monday, Kyiv's Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said some offensive operations had commenced around the eastern city of Bakhmut, which she called an "epicentre of hostilities".

In a video address late on Monday, President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Ukrainian fighters for delivering "the news we are expecting" in the Bakhmut region.

Bakhmut has for months been at the heart of fierce fighting. It has little strategic value - but is important symbolically both for Kyiv and Moscow.

Prigozhin's fighters were heavily involved in the battle for Bakhmut, and he regularly criticised Russian officials for what he said was a lack of front-line support. But at the end of May he said his forces were withdrawing from the city in order to transfer control to the Russian army.

He is believed to hold his own political ambitions, and his forces' objectives have not always aligned with the military's, resulting in tension between the factions.

On Monday, the paramilitary group said it had detained a regular Russian army officer, who allegedly opened fire on a Wagner vehicle in Ukraine.

In a video released by the group, the officer said that the incident happened while he was drunk, and that he had opened fire due to his dislike for Wagner.

Related Topics

• Russia-Ukraine war
• Russia
• Ukraine

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Chinese warship passed in 'unsafe manner' near US destroyer in Taiwan Strait, military officials say - Reuters.com

WASHINGTON, June 4 (Reuters) - A Chinese warship came within 150 yards (137 meters) of a U.S. destroyer in the Taiwan Strait in "an unsafe manner," U.S. military officials said, as China blamed the United States for "deliberately provoking risk" in the region.

U.S. and Canadian navies on Saturday were conducting a joint exercise in the strait, which separates the island of Taiwan and China, when the Chinese ship cut in front of the U.S. guided-missile destroyer Chung-Hoon forcing it to slow down to avoid a collision, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement.

The People's Republic of China (PRC) has claimed self-ruled Taiwan as its territory since the defeated Republic of China government fled to the island in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong's communists. Taiwan's government says the PRC has never ruled the island and U.S. President Joe Biden has said the U.S. would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.

China's military rebuked the United States and Canada for "deliberately provoking risk" after the countries' navies staged a rare joint sailing through the sensitive Taiwan Strait.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the Chung-Hoon and Canada's Montreal were conducting a "routine" transit of the strait when the Chinese ship cut in front of the American vessel.

The Chinese ship's "closest point of approach was 150 yards and its actions violated the maritime 'Rules of the Road' of safe passage in international waters," the U.S. command said.

Video footage broadcast by Canadian website Global News showed the close encounter between the ships.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The maritime encounter was the latest close call between the Chinese and U.S. military. On May 26, a Chinese fighter jet carried out an "unnecessarily aggressive" maneuver near a U.S. military plane over the South China Sea in international airspace, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said on Tuesday.

The spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, did not comment on the specifics of the jet incident, but said the U.S. had "frequently deployed aircraft and vessels for close-in reconnaissance on China, which poses a serious danger to China’s national security."

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a pre-recorded interview that aired on CNN on Sunday that the U.S. is seeking to maintain the "stable, cross-strait dynamic" between China and Taiwan and avoid a conflict "that would end up cratering the global economy."

The interview for "Fareed Zakaria GPS" on CNN took place on Friday.

Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu told Asia's top security summit on Sunday that conflict with the United States would be an "unbearable disaster" but that his country sought dialogue over confrontation.

Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Grant McCool

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Shangri-La Dialogue: India no threat to China’s military, PLA delegation says - South China Morning Post

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India train disaster: Signal fault the likely cause, minister says - BBC

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By Soutik Biswas in Delhi & Adam Durbin in London

BBC News

India's railway minister has suggested a signal fault led to the Odisha rail disaster, with a "change in electronic interlocking" the likely cause.

Ashwini Vaishnaw later said the cause and people responsible for the deadly three-train crash in eastern India had been identified but did not elaborate.

India's Railway Board said there had been "some kind of signalling interference" rather than failure.

A report into India's worst rail accident this century is due later.

Meanwhile the death toll has been revised down to 275 after some bodies were counted twice, officials said.

Of the 1,175 injured people taken to hospital, 793 have been discharged. Some families are still searching for their loved ones.

In railway signalling the electronic interlocking system sets routes for each train in a set area, ensuring the safe movement of trains along the track.

The crash saw a passenger train collide with a stationary goods train and derail, after being wrongly directed onto a loop track by the side of the main line. Derailed carriages then struck the rear carriages of a second passenger train passing in the opposite direction.

At a press conference on Sunday, Jaya Verma Sinha from India's Railway Board said both passenger trains had approached a Balasore district station under a green signal - indicating it was safe - within seconds of each other at the correct speed of under 130kph (81mph).

She said the passenger trains had been supposed to pass each other on the main lines but the Coromandel Express rammed into an iron ore-laden freight train on the loop line, causing the engine and some coaches to lift over the top of the heavy goods carriages.

The passenger train took the entire impact on collision and the freight train was not derailed, or even moved, she told reporters.

The Howrah Superfast Express had nearly crossed in the opposite direction, but two of its rear coaches were struck by the derailed Coromandel Express.

Ms Verma Sinha said there was "no issue with the electronic interlocking system" and said investigations indicated "some kind of a signalling interference" rather than failure.

"Whether it was manual, whether it was incidental, whether it was weather related, whether it was because of wear and tear related, whether it was a maintenance failure, all that will come out after the inquiry," she added.

Reuters

Infrastructure expert Partha Mukhopadhyay told the BBC it should not be possible for green signals to display on the main line if the track is set for the loop.

"Signal interlocking is supposed to be failsafe and this level of failure is quite unprecedented," Mr Mukhopadhyay, from the Delhi-based think tank Centre for Policy Research, said.

On Saturday Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the crash scene and vowed that anyone found guilty would be "punished stringently".

Around 2,000 people are thought to have been on board the two passenger trains - the Coromandel Express, travelling between Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and Chennai (formerly Madras) and the Howrah Superfast Express travelling from Yesvantpur to Howrah - when the crash happened at about at about 19:00 (13:30 GMT) on Friday.

Odisha state official Pradeep Jena told the BBC that at least 187 bodies remained unidentified and officials were uploading pictures of the victims on government websites and would carry out DNA testing if needed.

• Why do trains in India go off the tracks?
• How did three trains collide?
• Eyewitness: 'My mother was missing; I got a picture of the body'

Rescue work was completed on Saturday and efforts were underway to clear wreckage and restart train traffic, officials said.

India has one of the largest train networks in the world with millions of passengers using it daily, but a lot of the railway infrastructure needs improving.

Trains in India can get very packed at this time of year, with a growing number of people travelling during school holidays.

The country's worst train disaster was in 1981, when an overcrowded passenger train was blown off the tracks and into a river during a cyclone in Bihar state, killing about 800 people.

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• India

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