South African President Cyril Ramaphosa apologized, apparently jokingly, on Wednesday to US President Donald Trump that he does not have an aircraft to present as tribute to the American leader.

"I'm sorry I don't have a plane to give you," Ramaphosa said in the Oval Office as Trump hosted him for a bilateral meeting and lunch.

"I wish you did. I'd take it," said Trump. "If your country offered the United States Air Force a plane, I would take it."

The light-hearted exchange comes after Qatar gifted Trump with a luxury 747 jetliner to use as Air Force One. The Pentagon formally announced that the plane had been accepted just as Trump was hosting Ramaphosa.

The gift of a plane estimated to cost $400 million has raised questions of ethics and legality from Republicans and Democrats alike.

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President Donald Trump unveiled at the White House Tuesday afternoon his plans to build a massive missile shield system to protect the United States against threats from North Korea and elsewhere.

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Under a draft of the 25-year agreement (signed on 24 June 2020 in Beijing) previously obtained by The New York Times, China is to invest US$400 billion in Iran's economy over that time period in exchange for a steady and heavily-discounted supply of oil from Iran.

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The Israeli army on Wednesday fired shots at a delegation of regional, European and Western diplomats visiting the West Bank city of Jenin, sparking condemnations from the Palestinian Authority and several European capitals. An IDF statement said its troops fired "warning shots" and that the delegation "deviated from the approved route". No one was injured in the incident.

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Israel Fires “Warning Shots” at EU Diplomats — Day After UK Suspends Trade Talks

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Poland's military intervened after a ship from the Russian "shadow fleet" was seen performing suspicious maneuvers near a power cable connecting Poland with Sweden, the Polish Prime Minister said on Wednesday.

NATO has stepped up security in the Baltic following a string of incidents in which power cables, telecom links and gas pipelines have been damaged in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

"A Russian ship from the 'shadow fleet' covered by sanctions performed suspicious maneuvers near the power cable connecting Poland with Sweden," Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X.

"After the effective intervention of our military, the ship sailed to one of the Russian ports."

The term "shadow fleet" refers to vessels used by Russia to ship oil, arms and grains in violation of international sanctions imposed after the invasion.

Speaking later to reporters, Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said a patrol flight scared the ship off and the Polish Navy's ORP Heweliusz was sailing to the scene.

Vice Admiral Krzysztof Jaworski, Poland's Maritime Component Commander, told Reuters that the tanker in question was called Sun and that it sailed under the Antigua flag.

The Russian Embassy in Warsaw declined to comment. In the past, Moscow has denied its involvement in undersea sabotage in the Baltic, saying the West was using such claims to curb its seaborne oil exports.

The 600-megawatt undersea cable links the Swedish coast near Karlshamn with Ustka in northern Poland and allows both grids to rely on cross-border supplies when electricity is cheaper in the other system.

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