World
NATO to bolster Baltic military presence after power cables cut
NATO’s Secretary General Mark Rutte pledged to send drones, frigates and aircraft to the region as he highlighted a concerted campaign of ‘cyber-attacks, assassination attempts and sabotage.’
NATO will increase its military presence and technological innovation in the Baltic Sea to protect critical infrastructure from sabotage, the head of the transatlantic alliance said at a Helsinki Summit on Tuesday.
Safeguarding infrastructure “is of utmost importance,” Mark Rutte told reporters, citing energy from pipelines and the 95% of internet traffic that is secured through undersea cables.
In the last two months alone, there’s been damage to one cable between Lithuania and Sweden, another between Germany and Finland, and others between Estonia and Finland.
Investigations are underway, but NATO’s Secretary General believes there is cause for grave concern.
“We have seen elements of a campaign to destabilise our societies through cyber-attacks, assassination attempts and sabotage,” Rutte said, with Russia the presumed culprit.
In response, NATO is increasing surveillance via a small fleet of maritime drones, while an enhanced surveillance operation called “Baltic Sentry” involves frigates and maritime patrol aircraft.
“We will respond decisively when critical infrastructure in our neighbourhood is at risk. Protecting it requires both national and international action,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb said.
Leaders of NATO countries in the Baltic region also pledged to push for robust enforcement, especially when it comes to the Russian shadow fleet of tankers used by Moscow to evade Western sanctions on oil sales.
“We need to make full use of the possibilities allowed by international law to take action against suspicious vessels,” Stubb stressed.
Last month, Finnish police seized a tanker carrying Russian oil, citing suspicions the ship had damaged the Estlink-2 power cable which connects Finland and Estonia by dragging its anchor along the seabed on Christmas Day.
“Ship captains must understand that potential threats to our infrastructure will have consequences, including possible boarding, impounding and arrest,” Rutte said.
Ahead of the meeting, Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs said monitoring was difficult in practice, as around 2,000 ships pass through the Baltic every day.
“Let’s face it, we can’t ensure 100% protection, but if we send a bold signal, I think such incidents will decrease or even stop,” Rinkēvičs told journalists in Helsinki.
Germany will also participate in the Baltic Sentry mission, Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed in separate remarks to reporters.
“We will participate with everything we have in the way of naval capabilities; that will vary, as far as the concrete possibilities of deployment are concerned,” Scholz said, when asked if Germany had made a specific promise on the contribution of ships or planes.
Additional sources • AP
new video loaded: Moscow Tanker Blast Most Likely Russian Missile, Video Shows
By James McManagan, Paul Sonne, Malachy Browne and Jackeline Luna
June 19, 2026
World
Man charged with attempted murder, released after allegedly forcing toddler into crocodile enclosure at zoo
Man FORCES child into crocodile enclosure
A British man has been arrested after allegedly forcing a 3-year-old boy into a crocodile enclosure at a zoo. The child suffered critical injuries, and authorities say the suspect did not know the boy as the investigation continues.
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A man was released from custody on Friday after he was charged with attempted murder for allegedly forcing a 3-year-old boy into a crocodile enclosure at a zoo.
Cambridgeshire police said that the man, who remains unidentified, wasn’t fit to be interviewed.
The boy suffered critical injuries in the incident at Johnsons of Old Hurst, a farm and zoo in Huntingdon, England, north of London.
The 30-year-old man will remain on bail until Sept. 30, pending further inquiries.
GEORGIA MOM’S WALMART TRIP DEVOLVES INTO ‘TUG-OF-WARRING’ IN DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO SAVE HER SON
A crocodile rests inside an enclosure at Johnsons of Old Hurst, a farm and zoo in Old Hurst, Cambridgeshire, Britain, on April 14, 2026. (Dorota Dee Trajdos/Reuters)
“The man, who is not known to the victim, was assessed as not being fit for interview,” police said in a statement.
The boy is in stable condition, after reportedly suffering a broken arm and pelvis.
He was saved from the crocodile by Tracey Johnson, the wife of the zoo’s owner.
MOTHER JUMPS INTO WATER TO SAVE 4-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER WHO FELL BETWEEN CRUISE SHIP AND DOCK
“I know Tracey very well and she’s a lovely lady and it’s nothing more than I’d expect from her,” a local told BBC News. “She’d always put her own life at risk to save someone else. She’s an extraordinary lady and very brave.
The villager added that Johnson put herself in “immense danger” during the rescue.
The owners said their tropical house would remain closed until further notice.
Crocodiles rest inside an enclosure at Johnsons of Old Hurst farm and zoo in Old Hurst, Cambridgeshire, Britain, on April 14, 2026. (Dorota Dee Trajdos/Reuters)
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the boy and his family following the incident that occurred today,” the owners wrote on social media.
Johnsons of Old Hurst is a farm and zoo north of London in Huntingdon, England. (Google Maps)
Huntingdonshire district councillor Charlotte Lowe said she couldn’t “fathom how it’s happened because they’ve got all the right protection and safety equipment, for want of a better word, in there,” The Guardian reported.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Cambridgeshire Constabulary for comment.
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US President Donald Trump has doubled down on his comments on Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, saying she asked him “over and over” for a photo when the pair met at the G7 summit in France earlier this week.
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Following the summit, Trump told an Italian journalist that he “felt sorry for Meloni” after she “begged me to take a picture with her”.
Meloni hit back in a video posted to social media, branding Trump’s claims as “completely made up” and insisting that neither she nor Italy begs anyone for anything.
The once close pair’s relationship has grown increasingly fractious in recent months, particularly since Rome refused to provide the US support for its operations in Iran and after Meloni defended Pope Leo XIV, who was criticised by the Trump administration over his remarks on the war and the US’s immigration policies.
“Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G-7 meeting in France,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account on Saturday. “She is doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity, possibly because she turned down the United States of America, a Country that truly loves and protects Italy, when it came to denying Iran from obtaining or developing a Nuclear Weapon”.
“Now, after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again in order to get her “numbers up.” No thanks!!!” Trump added.
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