HANOI: The US says it’s concerned by reports of China’s interference with oil and gas activities in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, where Vietnam says Beijing violated its sovereignty.
State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus says in a statement that China’s “repeated provocative actions aimed at the offshore oil and gas development of other claimant states threaten regional energy security and undermine the free and open Indo-Pacific energy market.”
Vietnam on Friday demanded China remove a survey ship from Vanguard Bank, which it says lies within Vietnam’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone. China claims the South China Sea almost in its entirety.
Chinese coast guard vessels have also been reported near a drilling rig in the same area where Vietnam has contracted Russia’s Rosneft to develop gas fields.
US concerned over China’s ‘interference’ in South China Sea
US concerned over China’s ‘interference’ in South China Sea
- Vietnam on Friday demanded China remove a survey ship from Vanguard Bank
- Chinese coast guard vessels have also been reported near a drilling rig in the same area where Vietnam has contracted Russia’s Rosneft to develop gas fields
Intense heat wave grips Australia, fans bushfires
- Communities evacuate as authorities warn of ‘catastrophic’ danger
SYDNEY: Uncontrolled fires burned through bushland in the Australian state of Victoria on Thursday, forcing communities to evacuate and authorities to warn of a “catastrophic” fire danger rating for Friday.
Amid temperatures that exceeded 40 degrees Celsius in parts of the state, two large bushfires were raging near the towns of Longwood and Walwa.
The fires have destroyed at least two structures and are expected to continue to spread on Friday as heat and wind pick up, authorities said.
The Longwood fire has grown to more than 25,000 hectares in size, while the Walwa fire is 10,000 hectares and has created its own weather system, with a pyrocumulonimbus cloud causing lightning and thunder. Residents in dozens of neighboring towns have been told to evacuate.
Friday’s fire danger rating will be set at “catastrophic,” the highest level, and both fires pose a real risk of loss of life and property, authorities said.
“Tomorrow is a very, very dire bushfire day in the state of Victoria,” Country Fire Authority Chief Officer Jason Heffernan told a news conference.
The bushfires come amid an intense summer heat wave in Australia’s south.
Meteorologists have said conditions are on par with 2019, when bushfires destroyed wide swathes of southeastern Australia, killing 33 people, in what became known as the Black Summer.
Some 450 schools in Victoria are set to close on Friday and many regional train services will be canceled.
For Thursday, total fire bans have been issued in several districts. A total fire ban will be imposed across the whole state on Friday.
In New Zealand, the country’s weather provider, MetService, also warned of record warm temperatures over the weekend as the heat wave moves across the Tasman Sea.
It has issued heat alerts for parts of the eastern coast of New Zealand and the north of the South Island.
