GURUN, June 16 — Two military personnel are believed to have died following a grenade explosion during a training exercise at the Hobart Camp Shooting Range here today.

The victims, a male and a female personnel member, were reported to have succumbed to their injuries while being transported to Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital (HSAH) in Sungai Petani.

Kuala Muda police chief Assistant Commissioner Hanyan Ramlan, when contacted, confirmed the incident and said police received information regarding the case at about 12.30pm today.

Details surrounding the circumstances of the explosion and the type of training being conducted have yet to be officially disclosed.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence is expected to issue an official statement regarding the incident soon. — Bernama 

Prime minister says British armed forces intercepted a Russian shadow fleet vessel in the early hours of Sunday morning

• British armed forces intercept Russian shadow fleet oil tanker in Channel

As my colleagues report in this story, teenagers under the age of 16 are expected to be banned from accessing “high-risk” social media apps while safer platforms will be subjected to restrictions, under a sweeping government crackdown.

Under-18s will also be banned from using romantic or sexual AI chatbots after a consultation on keeping children safe online.

I don’t want to get ahead of the prime minister’s announcement (expected on Monday). But when we launched the consultation, it was a question of how we better protect young people online, not if we do so.

And one of the things that a social media ban does and has been shown to do in Australia is that although it doesn’t stop all young people going online and onto social media apps, it does mean that you change the presumption at a very early age to stop the situation where kids as young as eight, nine, 10, 11 are going on to social media sites because all of their friends are on them at an age when, frankly, they’re not really emotionally equipped to be able to cope with it.

KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 — The Ministry of Defence (Mindef) remains committed to strengthening the capabilities and readiness of the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) through the development of assets, technology and human capital to ensure the force remains at the forefront of defending the country’s airspace.

Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said that over the past 68 years, the RMAF has shouldered the responsibility of safeguarding the nation’s sovereignty with professionalism, courage and dedication.

“The RMAF plays a vital role in ensuring the security of the country’s airspace and supporting various operations to protect the nation’s interests and sovereignty,” he said in a Facebook post today in conjunction with the RMAF’s 68th anniversary celebration.

Mohamed Khaled also expressed his appreciation and gratitude to all serving and retired RMAF personnel for their contributions, sacrifices and dedicated service in defending the country’s sovereignty.

The history of the RMAF began when the Air Force Ordinance was passed by Parliament on June 2, 1958, with the force initially known as the Royal Federal Air Force.

Following the formation of Malaysia on Sept 16, 1963, the force was subsequently renamed the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF). — Bernama

Shots fired within 500 metres of vessel near Isle of Wight amid heightened tensions between London and Moscow

A Russian warship fired warning shots within a few hundred metres of a British pleasure yacht sailing across the Channel on Tuesday morning amid a period of heightened tensions between London and Moscow.

The rare incident took place at 11.40am more than 20 miles south of the Isle of Wight and less than 40 miles north of Normandy, France, when the yacht, identified as the private vessel Bright Future, sailed close to the Admiral Grigorovich and ignored at least one warning.

SINGAPORE: A dashcam video showing a Malaysia-registered Nissan Teana running a red light at a school zone along Ubi Avenue 1 has gone viral. As of writing, the video has racked up nearly 90,000 views, over 100 shares, and more than 350 reactions since it was posted on the Facebook page SGRV ADMIN.

According to the post, the incident occurred at around 8 a.m. on June 11, with the footage showing the Nissan Teana overtaking the dashcam vehicle in an apparent attempt to beat the red light, before failing to conform to the signal altogether.

Why school zones matter

School zones in Singapore are subject to stricter speed limits precisely because of the high volume of young children crossing roads on their way to and from school. Running a red light in such an area carries heightened risk, given how easily a child crossing on a ‘green man’ signal could be caught off guard by a vehicle barrelling through against the light.

Beating a red light is a serious traffic offence under Singapore law, given its potential to cause high-impact collisions at junctions. This risk is amplified further when the junction in question sits within a school zone.

Netizens call for action and raise enforcement concerns

The video drew strong reactions from commenters, many of whom expressed concern over the safety implications of the manoeuvre.

“A split-second failure to conform to a red light can cost a child’s future. Red means stop, especially when little lives are crossing. Do not fail the light,” one commenter wrote.

Others pointed towards the appropriate course of action. “Please report this to the Traffic Police via their online submission for disciplinary action, especially since it’s a school zone,” another user said.

Some comments leaned more cynical, questioning whether enforcement would actually follow through given the vehicle’s foreign registration. “This one is VIP, lah,” one commenter remarked sarcastically, while another added, “He knows the traffic police cannot do much to Malaysians, that’s why he did it.”

Ultimately, incidents like this tap into something most road users can agree on: running a red light, especially near a school, isn’t a matter of bad luck but a split-second decision that can have life-altering consequences.

It’s this shared understanding that explains the strength of the reaction online. Regardless of where a vehicle is registered, the expectation that drivers stop at red lights, especially in school zones, is one that cuts across nationality and background. The collective call from netizens to report such incidents reflects less an anger directed at any one driver, and more a broader, widely shared insistence that basic road safety standards shouldn’t be up for debate.

This article (‘Do not fail the light’ — Netizens react to Malaysia-registered car getting caught beating red light at school zone) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.

Starmer ‘can’t sack him or let him resign’, says ally of Dan Jarvis after predecessor’s resignation

The new defence secretary is to revisit a controversial plan for funding the armed forces and may return to demand more cash from the Treasury, allies have said.

Multiple government sources said Dan Jarvis would look to “reprioritise” aspects of the defence investment plan (Dip), which was delayed until July after the resignation of John Healey following a disagreement over its funding.

Dan Jarvis says vessel tracked for several days as opposition suggest decision linked to his predecessor’s resignation

Dan Jarvis has told MPs that the Russian oil tanker seized on Sunday had been monitored for several days as he deflected suggestions that its seizure had been ordered by a prime minister under pressure after the resignation of John Healey last week.

The new defence secretary, flanked supportively in the Commons by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said the Smyrtos had been “closely tracked” as he faced a question from the Conservatives as to why the capture took place over the weekend.

Pejasar posted a photo:

In a bird house? With a horse shoe? And a shoelace? And a metal steering wheel?

Jane and Alan Kelvey’s holiday yacht met a warship in the Channel – at a tense time for Anglo-Russian relations

“We actually had right of way,” said Jane Kelvey, a little crossly, though keeping it civil. “But we weren’t going to argue with a warship.”

The dramatic standoff in the Channel on Tuesday morning between Admiral Grigorovich, a 125-metre (409ft) battle-hardened Russian frigate, and Bright Future, a 12-metre (40ft) pleasure yacht owned and helmed by Jane, 69, and her husband, Alan, 71, has rather caught the nation’s imagination.

ISTANBUL, June 13 — The death toll from a powerful earthquake that struck the southern Philippines earlier this week has risen to 61, authorities said today, as search and rescue teams continued operations in the worst-hit parts of Mindanao.

The Office of Civil Defence (OCD) said the number of fatalities increased after more bodies were recovered from affected areas.

Broadcaster GMA News reported that 33 people remain missing while 1,221 others have been injured.

Authorities said search, rescue and retrieval operations are ongoing as emergency crews continue looking for survivors and recovering victims trapped by landslides and collapsed buildings.

The Disaster Response Operations Monitoring and Information Center (DROMIC) reported that the earthquake affected 553,068 people across the Mindanao region.

Children react as the roof of a structure at Deped Mahayahay Elementary School collapses during an earthquake in Digos, Mindanao Island, Philippines, June 8, 2026. — Screengrab from handout video by Deped Mahayahay Elementary via AFP

According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, about 9,393 people are staying in evacuation centres while another 54,274 are sheltering with relatives and friends outside official relief facilities.

Initial assessments showed that 8,865 houses were destroyed while a further 36,691 suffered partial damage.

Rescue efforts have been slowed by persistent aftershocks, unstable structures and damaged roads that have made some communities difficult to reach.

The magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Mindanao earlier this week, triggering widespread panic and causing extensive damage to homes, schools, hospitals and public infrastructure.

General Santos City and parts of Sarangani province were among the hardest-hit areas, prompting authorities to declare states of calamity to speed up relief and recovery efforts. — Bernama–Anadolu

The latest quake comes days after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck southern Philippines, affecting hundreds of thousands of people in Mindanao, with tremors felt in parts of Tawau and Semporna in Sabah. — Picture via Facebook/MetMalaysia

Keir Starmer says operation involving National Crime Agency has delivered ‘yet another blow’ to Russia and Putin

Keir Starmer said he directed British troops to seize a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker in the Channel in the early hours of Sunday, the first time the UK has led a naval capture since the start of the war in Ukraine.

The prime minister released a video on TikTok early on Sunday showing heavily armed Royal Marine commandos boarding the oil-laden Smyrtos tanker, which had been sailing south of the Isle of Wight en route from Russia to India.

SUBANG, June 18 — The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) is progressively strengthening its Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities to enhance monitoring of the country’s maritime zones, particularly in the South China Sea.

Chief of Air Force, General Tan Sri Muhamad Norazlan Aris, said the second phase of the initiative will involve procuring three additional ANKA Medium Altitude Long Endurance-Unmanned Aerial System (MALE-UAS) units.

He said the Ministry of Defence has agreed in principle to the procurement and is awaiting funding for this phase, which will also include Electronic Warfare (EW) and ISR suites.

“(With the) three existing units and an additional three (from phase two), our long-term target is to operate a total of nine (ANKA UAS) aircraft,” he told reporters at the RMAF’s 68th Anniversary Parade here today.

Muhamad Norazlan said the RMAF is scheduled to receive its first P-72M maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) from Italy next April, further strengthening air surveillance operations.

He said the MPA platforms have improved capabilities compared to the three existing CN-235 maritime surveillance aircraft (MSA), especially in operational range, integrated mission systems and monitoring effectiveness.

“Its (MPA) monitoring effectiveness is superior, and it will progressively enhance the RMAF’s capability in executing ISR mission sets,” he said.

He added that the responsibility for safeguarding the sovereignty of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea does not rest solely on the RMAF but is supported by joint operations with other national security agencies.

Muhamad Norazlan also said that the RMAF is in the final review stage of procuring a Medium-Range Air Defence (MERAD) system to complete the country’s multi-layered air defence network.

“The procurement of the MERAD system is critical to complete the country’s air defence umbrella. It acts as a protective shield that plugs the capability gap between short-range air defence (SHORAD) systems on the ground and the combat air patrol (CAP) radius of our fighter aircraft,” he said.

He added that the main factor in selecting the MERAD system is its ability to integrate with the RMAF’s modern Command and Control (C2) grid. — Bernama