US, Japan and Philippine forces jointly patrol in South China Sea after hostilities involving China

US, Japan and Philippine forces jointly patrol in South China Sea after hostilities involving China
A China Coast Guard ship, right, deploys water cannon at the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessel BRP Datu Pagbuaya near Scarborough Shoal in disputed waters of the South China Sea on Dec. 4, 2024. (NTF-WPS/AFP)
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Updated 06 December 2024
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US, Japan and Philippine forces jointly patrol in South China Sea after hostilities involving China

US, Japan and Philippine forces jointly patrol in South China Sea after hostilities involving China
  • Two Philippine security officials said the patrol was staged about 74 kilometers from Scarborough Shoal
  • Scarborough Shoal is a fishing area hotly disputed by Beijing and Manila off the northwestern Philippines

MANILA: The United States deployed a reconnaissance aircraft while Japan and the Philippines sent navy ships in a joint patrol in the disputed South China Sea on Friday, two days after the allied forces condemned actions by Chinese coast guard vessels against Philippine patrol ships.
The US Indo-Pacific Command said the joint patrol was conducted in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone by allies and partners to “uphold the right to freedom of navigation and overflight” and “other lawful uses of the sea and international airspace.”
Those phrases are used by the US, Japan and the Philippines to oppose China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed waters.
Two Philippine security officials said the patrol was staged about 40 nautical miles (74 kilometers) from Scarborough Shoal, a fishing area hotly disputed by Beijing and Manila off the northwestern Philippines. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they didn’t have authority to discuss such details publicly.
China claims the South China Sea virtually in its entirety and has guarded it assertively with its coast guard, navy and suspected militia fleets. They have confronted forces from rival claimant states including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.
Indonesia also has had faceoffs with Chinese coast guard ships escorting fishermen in the gas-rich Natuna waters in the southern fringes of the South China Sea.
The joint naval patrol, the latest in recent months by the Philippines, the US and their security partners, was delayed by several typhoons that battered the region and was not in reaction to a confrontation on Wednesday that involved Chinese and Philippine ships off Scarborough Shoal, the two Philippine officials said.
The Philippine coast guard said Chinese coast guard vessels, backed by navy ships, fired powerful water cannons and blocked and sideswiped a much smaller Philippine bureau of fisheries vessel escorted by coast guard ships off Scarborough Shoal.
The Philippine vessels were delivering fuel, food and other aid to Filipino fishermen in the shoal, which has been closely guarded by the Chinese coast guard since a tense 2012 territorial standoff with Philippine ships.
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs protested the Chinese actions.
The Chinese coast guard provided another account of the incident. It said the Philippine vessels encroached on China’s territory, prompting it to take action. It said, without offering proof, that a Philippine vessel maneuvered in a way that led to a collision.
The United States, Japan, the European Union and other Western allies expressed alarm over the hostilities, which have increased in frequency since last year.
Japan, which also has territorial conflicts with Beijing in the East China Sea, said the “use of water cannon and obstructive maneuvers undermine the safety of ship and crew.” It’s ambassador to Manila, Endo Kazuya, said “Japan upholds the rule of law and opposes any actions which increase tensions.”
Japan is providing 1.6 billion yen ($10.6 million) in security assistance this year to provide the Philippine navy with coastal radars, inflatable boats and other defense equipment to strengthen surveillance of Philippine sea lanes, including in the South China Sea. Japan has also helped improve the Philippine air force’s aerial surveillance radar, the two countries said Thursday.
The US has warned that it is obligated to defend the Philippines, a treaty ally, if Filipino forces come under attack in the South China Sea.
The US defense commitment to the Philippines has received strong bipartisan support in Washington, which Philippine officials say they expect will continue under the incoming Trump administration.


Trump to meet Putin in Saudi Arabia on Ukraine

Trump to meet Putin in Saudi Arabia on Ukraine
Updated 43 min 10 sec ago
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Trump to meet Putin in Saudi Arabia on Ukraine

Trump to meet Putin in Saudi Arabia on Ukraine
  • US President: A date for the meeting “hasn’t been set” but it will happen in the “not too distant future”

RIYADH: US President Donald Trump will see his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia for their first meeting since taking office in January.

Trump’s announcement came after an almost 90-minute phone conversation with the Russian leader, where they discussed in ending the nearly three-year Moscow offensive in Ukraine.

“We ultimately expect to meet. In fact, we expect that he’ll come here, and I’ll go there, and we’re gonna meet also probably in Saudi Arabia the first time, we’ll meet in Saudi Arabia, see if we can get something something done,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

 

 

A date for the meeting “hasn’t been set” but it will happen in the “not too distant future,” the US president said.

He suggested the meeting would involve Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “We know the crown prince, and I think it’d be a very good place to meet.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov earlier announced that Putin had invited Trump and officials from his administration to visit Moscow to discuss Ukraine.

“The Russian president invited the US president to visit Moscow and expressed his readiness to receive American officials in Russia in those areas of mutual interest, including, of course, the topic of the Ukrainian settlement,” Peskov said.

The invitation followed Trump’s announcement Wednesday that peace talks would start “immediately” and that Ukraine would probably not get its land back, causing uproar on both sides of the Atlantic.


Unions sue Trump, fearing mass firings of federal employees

Unions sue Trump, fearing mass firings of federal employees
Updated 13 February 2025
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Unions sue Trump, fearing mass firings of federal employees

Unions sue Trump, fearing mass firings of federal employees
Reuters

Five unions sued the Trump administration on Wednesday, seeking to block what they called the possible mass firing of hundreds of thousands of federal employees who resist pressure to accept buyouts.
In a complaint filed in Washington, D.C. federal court, the unions accused the White House and others in the Executive Branch of undermining Congress’ role in creating and funding a federal workforce, violating separation of powers principles.
The plaintiffs include the United Auto Workers, the National Treasury Employees Union, the National Federation of Federal Employees, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers.
Ten defendants were named, including Trump, the heads of agencies, the Department of Defense, Internal Revenue Service and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the acting director of the Office of Personnel Management.
Last week, some unions sued the Trump administration to block the buyouts. On Monday, US District Judge George O’Toole in Boston kept in place a block of the buyout plan for federal employees, as he considers whether to impose it for a longer period of time.
The decision prevents Trump’s administration from implementing the buyout plan for now, giving a temporary victory to labor unions that have sued to stop it entirely.
On Tuesday, meanwhile, Trump ordered US agencies to work closely with billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to identify federal employees who could be laid off.

Russia, Ukraine trade blame for IAEA disruptions at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

Russia, Ukraine trade blame for IAEA disruptions at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
Updated 13 February 2025
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Russia, Ukraine trade blame for IAEA disruptions at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

Russia, Ukraine trade blame for IAEA disruptions at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

KYIV: Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday accused each other of blocking the rotation of staff from the International Atomic Energy Agency at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.
Moscow’s troops seized the facility — Europe’s largest nuclear power station — in the first days of its invasion of Ukraine, and both sides have repeatedly accused the other of risking a potentially devastating nuclear disaster by attacking the site.
Staff from the UN nuclear watchdog have been based there since September 2022 to monitor nuclear safety.
Fighting meant the IAEA staff could not be swapped out as part of a planned rotation on Wednesday — the second such delay in a week — both Kyiv and Moscow said, trading blame for the incident.
Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy said in a statement: “Russia has once again deliberately disrupted the rotation of IAEA experts at the Zaporizhzhia plant.”
Inspectors spend around five weeks at the plant in stints before being swapped out in a complex procedure that involves traveling across the front line under supervision from the Russian and Ukrainian militaries.
Tykhy accused Russia’s army of opening fire near where the planned rotation was taking place, saying Moscow’s goal was to force the IAEA team to travel through Russian-controlled territory and “violate Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the Ukrainian army blocked the IAEA team from traveling to an agreed meeting point and were attacking the area with drones — at which point the Russian military withdrew its support team and returned to the station.
“On their return, the convoy carrying Russian military personnel and IAEA experts... came under attack by drone and mortar strikes,” Zakharova said in a statement.
The IAEA staff members were supposed to leave the station on February 5 in a rotation that was also delayed.
IAEA head Rafael Grossi was in both Ukraine and Russia last week, where he discussed the issue of rotations with officials from both countries.
In a statement, Grossi expressed his “deep regret” over the cancelation of the “carefully prepared and agreed rotation” due to excessive danger, calling the situation “completely unacceptable.”
“As a result of these extremely concerning events, I am in active consultation with both sides to guarantee the safety of our teams,” he said.


Suspect charged in killing of French schoolgirl, 11

Suspect charged in killing of French schoolgirl, 11
Updated 13 February 2025
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Suspect charged in killing of French schoolgirl, 11

Suspect charged in killing of French schoolgirl, 11
  • The body of the girl, named as Louise, was found on Saturday close to her school
  • French police on Monday arrested a man aged 23 and his DNA was found on Louise’s hands, according to prosecutors

EVRY, France: The prime suspect in the murder of an 11-year-old French schoolgirl, who was found in the woods with multiple stab wounds, was charged after confessing to the crime, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
In a killing that shocked France, the body of the girl, named as Louise, was found on Saturday close to her school. She had been missing since leaving school in the suburban town of Epinay-sur-Orge about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Paris on Friday afternoon.
French police on Monday arrested a man aged 23 and his DNA was found on Louise’s hands, according to prosecutors.
“The main suspect admitted to the charges against him while in custody,” public prosecutor Gregoire Dulin said in a statement. Later Wednesday, the prosecutors’ office said he had been charged and that they would ask a judge to approve keeping him in detention.
The man’s parents and girlfriend, 23, had also been detained on suspicion of failing to report a crime, prosecutors said.
On Saturday, prosecutor Dulin had said that “there is no evidence to suggest that sexual violence was committed.”
French media described the suspect as a “video game addict,” and Dulin said on Wednesday that he may have been looking for “somebody to rob” in an attempt “to calm down” after an altercation during an online video game.
But he “panicked” when Louise began to scream, Dulin added.
Le Parisien daily had earlier pointed to “the possibility of a sadistic act.” Although he was not known to suffer from psychiatric disorders, the suspect could be “very violent” and was known to have repeatedly beaten his younger sister, the newspaper added.
The killing comes at a time when law and order, and in particular crime against children, are major issues in French politics and society. Speaking on Wednesday, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau expressed “deepest sympathy” to Louise’s family.
The hard-line minister has vowed to tighten law and order in France.
“The whole establishment is in shock,” Education Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Tuesday.
Flowers and candles have been placed in front of the Andre Maurois school that Louise attended, as well as at the foot of a tree where the body was found.
A woman, who provided only her first name, Josephine, said she felt “upset all weekend.”
“I wasn’t well, it made me think of my granddaughter and my grandson,” she said in the town where the body was found on Tuesday. “We’re not at peace anywhere.”
“As soon as I was told about it, I said it’s the little girl with long hair,” she added.
A psychological support unit has been set up in Epinay-sur-Orge.


Turkiye’s president arrives in Pakistan’s capital on a 2-day visit to boost trade, economic ties

Turkiye’s president arrives in Pakistan’s capital on a 2-day visit to boost trade, economic ties
Updated 12 February 2025
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Turkiye’s president arrives in Pakistan’s capital on a 2-day visit to boost trade, economic ties

Turkiye’s president arrives in Pakistan’s capital on a 2-day visit to boost trade, economic ties
  • According to the ministry statement, HLSCC will provide “strategic direction to further strengthening the bilateral relations between the two countries”

ISLAMABAD: Turkiye’s president, accompanied by a high-level delegation, arrived in Pakistan’s capital late Wednesday night on a two-day visit to discuss how to boost trade and economic ties between the nations, officials said.
When his plane landed at an airport near Islamabad, Turkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan was received by his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and other senior government officials.
Erdogan is visiting Pakistan at the invitation of Sharif, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It said the Turkish president will jointly chair “the 7th Session of the Pakistan-Turkiye High Level Strategic Cooperation Council (HLSCC)” and the sides are expected to sign a number of agreements.
Erdogan will have bilateral meetings with Zardari and Sharif on Thursday.
According to the ministry statement, HLSCC will provide “strategic direction to further strengthening the bilateral relations between the two countries.”
The statement said “Pakistan and Turkiye are bound by historic fraternal ties” and the visit by Erdogan “would serve to further deepen the brotherly relations and enhance multifaceted cooperation between the two countries”.
Pakistan, which has witnessed a surge in militant violence in recent months, has deployed additional police officers and paramilitary forces to ensure the security of the Turkish leader and his delegation.
The visit comes hours after the US Embassy issued a travel advisory, citing a threat by Pakistani Taliban against the Faisal mosque in Islamabad and asked its citizens to avoid visits to the mosque and nearby areas until further notice.