Update: ‘Solaris’ reports that it is no longer destined for Istanbul but is “awaiting orders”. It is still steaming slowly but steadily south and is now between the heel of Italy and the coast of Albania. Istanbul it is, then?
‘Eclipse’ has briefly activated and then switched off its AIS several times during the night. It is now 50nm north of Algeria and continues to move slowly eastwards. There are no vessels transmitting AIS signals in its vicinity, not even refuelling tankers.
Meanwhile, today’s Times reports that yesterday Mr A flew from Tel Aviv to Istanbul in a private jet. Following the lead of the BBC, it also reports that he was a little over-enthusiastic in the 1990’s about the privatisation of ex-USSR state assets. In other shock developments, bears have been spotted behaving unhygenically in the woods and one-legged ducks have been discovered to swim in circles……