Peru lawmakers remove interior minister amid crime wave
LIMA, March 21 (Reuters) - Peruvian lawmakers voted on Friday to oust the country's interior minister, Juan Jose Santivanez, who has faced criticism amid a spike in crime in the South American country.
Santivanez was removed from his post for "his political responsibility and inability to address the wave of citizen insecurity the country has been facing," according to a post on the Peruvian Congress's official X account.
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Scottish Sun
16 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Putin will exploit Middle East chaos to hit Europe with never-seen-before attack, Ukraine warns as tyrant meets Iranians
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) VLADIMIR Putin could be plotting to exploit the crisis in the Middle East to launch an attack on Europe, a Ukrainian government insider has warned. The alarm was raised as today Putin became the first world leader to meet the Iranians after US President Donald Trump launched a wave of strikes on the Ayatollah's nuclear sites. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 7 Vladimir Putin is feared to be plotting an attack on Europe Credit: Getty 7 Putin met today with the Iranians Credit: Reuters 7 An explosion of a drone lights up the sky over the city during a Russian drone strike in Kyiv Credit: Reuters 7 Planes are left burning on a runway during operation Spiderweb, which Putin could take inspiration from Russia has warned Trump has opened up a "Pandora's Box" with his B-2 bomber blitz over the weekend - which Vlad himself slammed as "unprovoked aggression", despite his own illegal war in Ukraine. However, a senior Ukrainian insider warned Putin will be rubbing his hands with glee as he plans to exploit the crisis while the West's eyes are turned to the Middle East. The cunning tyrant may even attempt to mimic Ukraine's elaborate Spiderweb operation that blitzed strategic targets inside Russia. A Ukrainian source told The Sun: "The West should be prepared that the Spiderweb operation may be reconfigured and deployed by Russia as a hybrid attack on any Nato Eastern flank nation. "That would be the major Article 5 test that the Alliance has not experienced yet." Humiliated Putin was left reeling after Ukraine's spectacular raid that - after 18 months of planning - inflicted billions of pounds worth of damage, leaving his bomber fleet in tatters. Daring agents smuggled drones and explosives deep inside the sprawling country before unleashing a coordinated assault on June 1. More than 100 drones were hidden in trucks across Russia before being deployed to five air bases - thousands of kilometres from the Ukrainian border. At least 41 of Putin's prized aircraft were wrecked in the attack - including Tu-95, Tu-22M3, and Tu-160 bombers and A-50 spy planes. Delivering such a decisive blow has left Ukraine's enemy scrambling. Bodies pulled from under rubble after Vladimir Putin bombs Kyiv killing 28 as EU chief says 'fight or learn Russian' But a Ukrainian government insider has warned it would also have left Putin's cronies eager to learn from the clandestine operation - and look to mimic it. The source said it could spell disaster if Vlad uses it as a blueprint to launch an attack on a European country. They told The Sun: "We have seen how quickly Russia managed to adapt and learn from Ukraine. "It's not only Nato states that are learning lessons from Ukraine, it's the adversaries too. "There was a time when Russia was two months behind Ukraine in its drone technology, now it is ahead with fibreoptic drones. "Ukraine is catching up and trying to develop techniques to best tackle those. "We have already seen Russian espionage and sabotage acts in Europe. "We can now be almost 100 per cent sure that they have taken on the Spiderweb as an example of something they can mimic in, for example, one of the Baltic states. "That's where the attribution of the operation will be very hard to achieve, but the consequences could be quite significant both for the country/countries in question and for the unity of Nato." The insider believes conniving Putin could sign off an assault while world leaders grapple with the spiralling conflict in the Middle East. With the Trump administration turning its sights to Israel and Iran, and security challenges in China, Europe has largely been left to fend for itself. After more than a week of Israel and Iran trading blows, Trump unleashed bombs on three nuclear sites in Iran - with Tehran threatening to retaliate. 7 Combat work by an M109 A3 gun crew on June 17, 2025 near Kostiantynvka, Ukraine Credit: Getty 7 It comes as the EU's top diplomat warned Moscow has a plan for long-term aggression against Europe. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas last week said Putin's determination to throw huge sums of money at his military suggests he is scheming to use his armed forces elsewhere. She pointed to the fact Russia is spending more on defence than the EU's 27 nations combined. Megalomanic Putin is set to invest more on defence than his nation's heath care, education and social policy combined, Kallas said. She warned lawmakers in Strasbourg, France: "This is a long-term plan for a long-term aggression. You don't spend that much on military if you do not plan to use it. "Europe is under attack and our continent sits in a world becoming more dangerous." Both Kallas and the Ukrainian source noted a series of acts of sabotage and cyberattacks - including Russian airspace violations and attacks on energy grids, pipelines and undersea cables. The insider added: "Russia never misses out on devious and cunning techniques. Especially with the upcoming Nato summit. 'UK must bolster defence or pay will blood of its people', Penny Mordaunt warns by Katie Davis, Chief Foreign Reporter (Digital) BRITAIN will pay with the blood of its people if more money isn't spent to bolster the UK's defence, Penny Mordaunt has warned. The ex-defence secretary has urged the government to "wake up" and fund the UK's security properly before it's too late. Former Navy reservist Mordaunt argued that Britain is "emboldening our enemies" if we fail to invest in other forms of deterrence. She warned the consequences with be "incalculably grave" if the government does not open up the treasury purse. Ms Mordaunt told The Sun: "I'm confident that if you prepare for war, you invest in it, you train for it, then conflicts don't start. "Because your foes know it is not worth them doing that. They're going to lose. "The consequences of retaliation against them are too great." READ MORE HERE "During last year's summit, China was conducting military exercises in Belarus, sending a clear signal. "Russia may be distraught with the fact that one of its strongest allies in this war against Ukraine is getting bombarded, but at the same time, they may well use the opportunity of Europe being distracted and the US fully withdrawn to conduct a hybrid attack on Europe." Acts of sabotage have previously been pegged at attempts to undermine Europe's support of Ukraine by military officials and experts. But there are fears Russia could test Nato's Article 5 security guarantee that pledges an attack on any of the allies would be met with a collective response. And with no sign of a peace deal being thrashed out between Moscow and Kyiv despite international pleas after more than three years of war, an assault on the EU appears to loom closer. Germany's foreign intelligence service (BND) Bruno Kahl last week warned against underestimating Russia's threat to the West. He told the Table Today podcast: "We are very certain, and we have intelligence evidence for this, that Ukraine is just a step on the path to the West. "They want to catapult Nato back to the state it was in at the end of the 1990s. They want to kick America out of Europe, and they'll use any means to achieve that." It comes as Nato heads of state are set to meet at a crunch two-day summit this week in The Hague - with setting a new target for allied defence spending the primary issue up for discussion. Allied nations are expected to agree a new defence investment pledge and pour billions of dollars into elevating security-related spending.
Scottish Sun
3 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
From Trump's feint to decoy bombers…Web of deception that kept Midnight Hammer blitz secret so Iran didn't fire ONE shot
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) DECOY and deception and were at the heart of the US's Operation Midnight Hammer against Iran's nuclear sites. Through meticulous planning and artful bluff, the stealth bomber squadron glided in and out of Iran without ever being detected or fired upon. 11 A B-2 spirit bomber refuelling mid-air - as the Operation Midnight Hammer planes did Credit: AFP 11 Trump threw the world off the scent with a series of bluffs Credit: Getty 11 Satellite pictures show the Fordow nuclear plant before and after the US strikes, on June 20 and June 22 Credit: Reuters 11 The US began spinning a web of deception at the start of the conflict - and it culminated in the "obliteration" of three of Iran's nuke plants, including the mountain fortress Fordow. Trump's public statements were curated to keep the regime and the rest of the world guessing about whether the US would collaborate in strikes. On Wednesday, the President maintained the smoke-and-mirrors, telling reporters at a flagpole opening ceremony: "I may do it, I may not do it. Nobody knows what I'm gonna do." The masterstroke came on Thursday when the White House tossed out a "two-week" deadline for Trump to make his decision, supposedly to give Iran another chance to return to negotiations. read more on the operation HAMMER BLOW Inside Trump's unprecedented Operation Midnight Hammer This was widely interpreted as kicking the can down the road - and Trump has been known to announce a two-week deadline for events that never materialise. We now know that, as this was announced, Operation Midnight Hammer was in fact in its final planning stages. Israel stuck to the script, evening feigning frustration and vowing to strike Fordow without the US support they must have known was coming. Government sources leaked to The Times of Israel that Netanyahu's administration had a "tense" call with the White House expressing their concerns. This too appears to have been a ruse to lull Iran into a false sense of security. As the operation kicked off at midnight on Friday night, the misdirection continued. The Sun reports from inside as Israel as tensions flare following US air strikes A decoy fleet of B-2s flew west over over the Pacific and towards Guam. Their only purpose was to throw intelligence off the scent of the actual operative fleet - which at the same moment was gliding quietly east, bound for Iran. Only "an extremely small number of planners and key leaders" knew the truth, General Caine said. The strike group consisted of seven B-2 bombers each loaded with two of the 14-ton "bunker-buster" bombs. 11 A B-2 bomber returns to the Whiteman air base in Missouri after completing the mission Credit: Reuters 11 US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed details about the operation after it had completed Credit: Getty 11 The round trip was 37 hours, so an armada of more than 100 support aircraft was needed to help them refuel on the wing. Strict instructions were issued to keep communications to a minimum to avoid detection. Then at half past midnight Iranian time, a US submarine launched more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles at the Isfahan nuclear site in east Iran. An hour later, the bomber squadron entered Iranian airspace - still undetected, but in perilous enemy territory. 11 Two dozen tomahawk missiles were launched from US submarines during the air-and-sea operation Credit: AP 11 Damage in the Ramat Aviv neighbourhood of Tel Aviv after Iran hit back following the US strikes Credit: Getty 11 Iranian missiles being intercepted over Israel the morning after Midnight Hammer Credit: Reuters More decoy and scout planes swooped out ahead of the main unit to distract any awaiting Iranian defence jets - but they encountered none. The escort group stood ready to launch preemptive fire on any surface-to-air missiles or jets, but not a single shot was fired at the operatives. The first bombs dropped at 2:10am Iranian time - the darkest hour of the night - and 25 minutes later it was all over. Officials revealed that around 75 precision-guided weapons were unleashed in total, with 14 of the "bunker-busters" dropped on Fordow. The B-2s were programmed to drop one bomb first, followed by another shortly afterwards onto the exact same impact site. point of impact.
Scottish Sun
15 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Trump says US took ‘bomb out of Iran's hands' and caused ‘monumental' damage as Tehran vows to retaliate
BRACING FOR STRIKES Trump says US took 'bomb out of Iran's hands' and caused 'monumental' damage as Tehran vows to retaliate DONALD Trump said that the US military took the "bomb out of Iran's hands" and caused "monumental" damage to Tehran's nuclear ambitions. The Islamic Republic - hurt and wounded - has vowed to retaliate by striking US targets in the Middle East. 5 United States President Donald J Trump addresseed the nation after bombing Iran Credit: AP 5 A satellite view shows an overview of Fordow underground complex after the US strikes Credit: Reuters 5 Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is expected to retaliate against US and its allies 5 Iran's murderous terrorist wing, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps 5 Slamming Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman who opposed the US miliatry intervention in the region, Trump said: "We had a spectacular military success yesterday, taking the 'bomb' right out of their hands (and they would use it if they could!) but, as usual, and despite all of the praise and accolades received, this 'lightweight' Congressman is against what was so brilliantly achieved last night." Trump last night hailed the US military bombing on Iran's key nuclear facilities, saying the strikes "obliterated" Tehran's doomsday program. He said: "The damage to the Nuclear sites in Iran is said to be 'monumental'. The hits were hard and accurate." Tehran retaliated to the US bombing by approving steps to close the Strait of Hormuz - a bottleneck entrance to the Gulf where nearly a quarter of the oil shipped around the world passes through narrow waters. Iran's Press TV said closing the strait would require approval from the Supreme National Security Council, a body led by an appointee of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Attempting to choke off Gulf oil by closing the strait could send global oil prices skyrocketing and derail the world economy. It would also invite an almost certain conflict with the US Navy's massive Fifth Fleet based in the Gulf, which is tasked with keeping it open. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it a "suicide mission," adding it would be a massive escalation that would merit a response from the US and others. Meanwhile, Ali Akbar Velayati, an advisor to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said bases used by US forces could be attacked in retaliation. 'Any country in the region or elsewhere that is used by American forces to strike Iran will be considered a legitimate target for our armed forces,' he said in a message carried by the official IRNA news agency. 'America has attacked the heart of the Islamic world and must await irreparable consequences.' Tehran has so far not followed through on its threats of retaliation against the United States - either by targeting US bases or trying to choke off global oil supplies. But that may not hold up. Trump warned that further action could be taken if Tehran doesn't agree to an adequate peace deal, or tries to harm American interests. He said in a nationally televised speech at the White House: "Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier." "There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days." 'Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight's was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most lethal. 'But if peace does not come quickly we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill." Stay up to date with the latest on Israel vs Iran with The Sun's live blog below...
