US renews warning it will defend Philippines after China spat

A Chinese coast guard ship hit a Philippine coast guard vessel with a military-grade laser and temporarily blinding some of its crew in the disputed South China Sea. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)
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Updated 14 February 2023
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US renews warning it will defend Philippines after China spat

  • Chinese coast guard ship allegedly hit a Philippine patrol vessel with military-grade laser that briefly blinded some of its crew
  • China’s ‘dangerous operational behavior directly threatens regional peace and stability’

MANILA: The United States renewed a warning that it would defend its treaty ally if Filipino forces come under attack in the disputed South China Sea, after a Chinese coast guard ship allegedly hit a Philippine patrol vessel with military-grade laser that briefly blinded some of its crew.
The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila sent a strongly worded diplomatic protest to the Chinese Embassy Tuesday that “condemned the shadowing, harassment, dangerous maneuvers, directing of military-grade laser, and illegal radio challenges” by the Chinese ship.
The incident took place Feb. 6. when the Chinese coast guard ship beamed high-grade lasers to block the Philippine patrol vessel BRP Malapascua from approaching Second Thomas Shoal on a resupply mission to Filipino forces there, according to Philippine officials.
China claims the South China Sea virtually in its entirety, putting it on a collision course with other claimants. Chinese naval forces have been accused of using military-grade lasers previously against Australian military aircraft on patrol in the South China Sea and other spots in the Pacific.
Despite friendly overtures to Beijing by former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in January in Beijing, tensions have persisted, drawing in closer military alliance between the Philippines and the US
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Monday that a Philippine coast guard vessel trespassed into Chinese waters without permission. Chinese coast guard vessels responded “professionally and with restraint at the site in accordance with China’s law and international law,” he said, without elaborating or mentioning the use of laser.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said China’s “dangerous operational behavior directly threatens regional peace and stability, infringes upon freedom of navigation in the South China Sea as guaranteed under international law and undermines the rules-based international order.”
“The United States stands with our Philippine allies,” Price said in a statement.
He said that an armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft, including those of the coast guard in the South China Sea, would invoke US mutual defense commitments under a 1951 treaty. The treaty obligates the allies to help defend one another in case of an external attack.
Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims in the resource-rich and busy waterway, where a bulk of the world’s commerce and oil transits.
Washington lays no claims to the disputed sea but has deployed forces to patrol the waters to promote freedom of navigation and overflight — moves that have angered Beijing, which has warned Washington to stop meddling in what it says is a purely Asian dispute.
The contested waters have become a volatile front in the broader rivalry between the US and China in Asia and beyond.
Price said the Chinese coast guard’s “provocative and unsafe” conduct interfered with the Philippines’ “lawful operations” in and around Second Thomas Shoal.
In July, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on China to comply with a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated Beijing’s vast territorial claims in the South China Sea and warned that Washington was obligated to defend the Philippines under the Mutual Defense Treaty.
On Monday, Price reiterated that the “legally binding decision” underscored that China “has no lawful maritime claims to the Second Thomas Shoal.” China has long rejected the ruling and continues to defy it.
The Philippines filed nearly 200 diplomatic protests against China’s aggressive actions in the disputed waters in 2022 alone.


Mozambique observers warn against vote irregularities

Updated 4 sec ago
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Mozambique observers warn against vote irregularities

  • The ruling Frelimo party “disproportionately benefited from the use of state resources, including vehicles and public servants, during the campaign,” said an IRI statement

MAPUTO: Election observers in Mozambique have warned against irregularities after a vote expected to renew the ruling party’s grip on power, with some in the opposition already claiming fraud.
After a largely peaceful election on Wednesday, tensions were simmering in the southern African nation, though official results are not expected for another two weeks.
“Observers reported stacks of folded ballot papers in 10 counting processes followed, indicating possible ballot stuffing,” the EU’s election observation mission to Mozambique said.
Along with the US-funded International Republican Institute, also deployed in Mozambique, observers were critical of the context in which the vote took place.
The ruling Frelimo party “disproportionately benefited from the use of state resources, including vehicles and public servants, during the campaign,” said an IRI statement.
The party has been in power since independence 49 years ago.
Both the EU and IRI raised legitimacy issues with the voter roll.
“Overall, the registration rate in-country was 104 percent,” the EU said, while IRI said, “inflated voter rolls exceeded population estimates, particularly in Frelimo strongholds.”
The IRI went further, saying “the electoral process itself has, so far, fallen short of international standards for democratic elections.”
Observers from the Commonwealth, in their statement, called on “appropriate institutions provided by law to look into these matters.”
They urged “political party leaders and their supporters to continue to show restraint.”
Although outgoing President Filipe Nyusi, 65, is stepping down after the two terms allowed by the constitution, his party’s candidate, Daniel Chapo, 47, is widely expected to win.
One of the main opposition candidates, Venancio Mondlane, 50, warned that the “regime will do everything to ensure it does not lose the elections.”

 


Zelensky says Ukrainian forces ‘holding the line’ in Kursk

Updated 6 min 56 sec ago
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Zelensky says Ukrainian forces ‘holding the line’ in Kursk

  • Ukraine has held on to swathes of Russia’s Kursk region since early August
  • “Regarding the Kursk operation, there were attempts by Russia to push back our positions, but we are holding the lines,” Zelensky said

KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that Moscow had attempted to push back Ukrainian positions in the Russian Kursk region but that Kyiv was “holding the line.”
Ukraine has held on to swathes of Russia’s Kursk region since early August.
“Regarding the Kursk operation, there were attempts by Russia to push back our positions, but we are holding the lines,” Zelensky said.
Russia earlier this week said it had recaptured two villages in the Kursk region, and vowed to continue to push Ukrainian forces out of its territory.
Ukraine has said its offensive is intended to create a buffer zone in the region to stop shelling of its border areas.
Zelensky also acknowledged that the situation for Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donetsk region and southern Zaporizhzhia region was “very difficult.”
Kyiv said earlier that Russian attacks Saturday had killed two people in the eastern Donetsk region: a 19-year-old traveling in a civilian car and an 84-year-old pensioner.


Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, who sought Scotland’s independence from UK, dies at 69

Updated 25 min 40 sec ago
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Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, who sought Scotland’s independence from UK, dies at 69

  • Died in North Macedonia lake-resort town of Ohrid where he was delivering speech at conference, local media reported

LONDON: Alex Salmond, the former first minister of Scotland who for decades championed Scotland’s independence from the UK, has died. He was 69.
Salmond, who was a divisive figure in British politics and who as the then leader of the Scottish National Party took Scotland to the brink of independence in a 2014 referendum, died in the North Macedonia lake-resort town of Ohrid, local media reported.
“Unfortunately, Alex Salmond, the former first minister of Scotland who was one of the panellists at yesterday’s cultural diplomacy forum that was held in Ohrid, died suddenly today,” according to a statement from the office of former North Macedonia President Gjorgje Ivanov.
Tributes poured in from across the political spectrum, with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the Labour Party calling him a “monumental figure” of both Scottish and British politics.
“He leaves behind a lasting legacy,” Starmer said. “As first minister of Scotland, he cared deeply about Scotland’s heritage, history and culture, as well as the communities he represented.”
Salmond served as first minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014, and was leader of the Scottish National Party on two occasions, from 1990 to 2000, and from 2004 to 2014. Salmond, as then leader of the Scottish National Party, led the independence campaign in the referendum in 2014, but lost, gaining 45 percent of the vote. Salmond resigned from the SNP in 2018 in the wake of sexual harassment allegations.
He subsequently formed a new party called Alba — the Scottish Gaelic word for Scotland — and was acquitted of the charges.
The current SNP first minister, John Swinney, said that he was “deeply shocked and saddened at the untimely death” of Salmond.
“Over many years, Alex made an enormous contribution to political life, not just within Scotland, but across the UK and beyond,” he said. “He took the Scottish National Party from the fringes of Scottish politics into government and led Scotland so close to becoming an independent country.”
Former UK Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that Salmond was a “huge figure in our politics.”
Salmond said that he learned to dream of a better Scotland at his grandfather’s knee, and chose to join the SNP at university in 1973 when his English girlfriend poked too much fun at his separatist sentiments.
Salmond’s academic and professional background prepared him to become Scotland’s most economically optimistic and visionary politician. At St. Andrew’s University. he double-majored in medieval history, reflecting his love of a Caledonia lost, and economics. In his 20s, he worked as an economist first for Britain’s regional government in Scotland and then at the Royal Bank of Scotland, where he analyzed the country’s most dynamic industry, North Sea oil.
He won a seat in the UK Parliament in 1987, and within three years was party leader. He supported Tony Blair’s Labour government in the late 1990s to create a devolved Scottish parliament in Edinburgh, a reform that stopped short of independence, but gave his homeland a taste of self-government for the first time since its 1707 union with England.
Salmond then had a very public forum to push his dream of full independence forward — his government had an array of powers especially on social issues — and managed to convince the government of Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron to call a referendum. Up until the results were known, it had been considered a close call.
Though the independence campaign lost, Salmond’s SNP managed to capitalize its support and has dominated Scottish politics since. The SNP has been the Edinburgh-based government since, though it suffered a huge setback in this year’s UK-wide general election, when it lost a vast majority of the seats it held in the House of Commons to Labour. The next Scottish election is due to take place in 2026.


Sister of North Korea’s leader threatens South Korea over drone flights

Updated 12 October 2024
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Sister of North Korea’s leader threatens South Korea over drone flights

  • The ministry said North Korean forces will prepare “all means of attack” capable of destroying the southern side of the border and the South Korean military
  • “The moment a South Korean drone is discovered once again in skies above our capital, a terrible calamity will surely occur,” she said

SEOUL: The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Saturday accused South Korea of deliberately avoiding responsibility for the alleged flights of South Korean drones over the North’s capital, and warned of a “terrible calamity” if they continue.
The statement by Kim Yo Jong came a day after North Korea’s Foreign Ministry claimed that South Korean drones carrying anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets were detected in the night skies over Pyongyang on Oct. 3, and Wednesday and Thursday this week.
The ministry said North Korean forces will prepare “all means of attack” capable of destroying the southern side of the border and the South Korean military, and respond without warning if South Korean drones are detected in its territory again.
South Korea’s defense minister initially denied the accusation, but the South’s military later adjusted its response, saying it couldn’t confirm whether or not the North’s claims were true.
In comments published through state media, Kim, one of her brother’s top foreign policy officials, said that the South Korean military’s vague statements should be taken as proof that it was “either the main culprit or accomplice in this incident.”
“If the military stood by while its own citizens employed drones, a widely recognized multi-purpose military tool, to violate another country’s sovereignty, thereby increasing the risk of armed conflict with a potential adversary, this would amount to intentional acquiescence and collusion,” she said.
“The moment a South Korean drone is discovered once again in skies above our capital, a terrible calamity will surely occur. I personally hope that does not happen.”
South Korea’s military and government didn’t immediately respond to Kim’s comments.
Tensions between the Koreas are now at their worst in years as the pace of both North Korea’s missile tests and the South’s combined military training with the United States have intensified in tit-for-tat. The animosity has been exacerbated by Cold War-style psychological warfare campaigns between the Koreas in recent months.
Since May, North Korea has sent thousands of balloons carrying paper waste, plastic and other trash to drop on the South, in what it described as retaliation against South Korean civilian activists who flew balloons with anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border.
South Korea’s military responded to the North’s balloon campaign by using border loudspeakers to broadcast propaganda and K-pop to North Korea.
North Korea is extremely sensitive to any outside criticism of the authoritarian government of leader Kim Jong Un and his family’s dynastic rule.
South Korean officials have been raising concern that North Korea may seek to dial up pressure on Seoul and Washington ahead of the US presidential election in November. Experts say Kim’s long-term goal is to eventually force Washington to accept North Korea as a nuclear power and to negotiate security and economic concessions from a position of strength.
In written answers to questions by The Associated Press this month, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said North Korea is likely preparing major provocations around the US election, possibly including a test detonation of a nuclear device or flight-test of an intercontinental ballistic missile test, as it tries to grab Washington’s attention.


Nelson Mandela’s grandson reportedly denied entry to UK ahead of pro-Palestine speaking tour

Updated 12 October 2024
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Nelson Mandela’s grandson reportedly denied entry to UK ahead of pro-Palestine speaking tour

  • Zwelivelile Mandla Mandela, a former South African MP, was due to attend events in eight cities

LONDON: The grandson of the late South African president Nelson Mandela has reportedly been denied entry to the UK ahead of a planned speaking tour supporting the Palestinian cause, it was reported this weekend.

Zwelivelile Mandla Mandela, a former South African MP, was due to attend events in eight cities, including London, Edinburgh and Brighton, as part of Black History Month.

However, he was forced to join remotely for a Sheffield event after being informed that he required a visa, The Independent reported on Friday.

The Sheffield Palestine Coalition against Israeli Apartheid said in a statement that British officials had initially informed Mandela he did not need a visa due to his South African government passport.

However, on Monday, he was informed otherwise, and despite efforts from senior ANC figures, no visa has been issued.

Mandela, who has openly expressed support for the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, said during the Sheffield event: “It seems that there are those who are intent on preventing me from being physically with you in Britain.”

He added: “I have been criticized for statements that I have made in support of the Palestinian resistance and its various formations.”

Some of Mandela’s remarks have attracted controversy, including his praise of late Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, whom he called “one of the great freedom fighters,” according to Iranian state media.

The UK Home Office has faced pressure regarding Mandela’s entry into the country, with concerns raised over his past statements. A Home Office spokesperson responded by saying: “The UK has robust safeguards to ensure visas are only issued to those who we want to welcome to our country.”

Mandela is expected to visit the Irish capital, Dublin, later this month, and his visa requirement has reportedly been waived.

His grandfather, Nelson Mandela, was an outspoken supporter of the Palestinian cause.