MANILA: The Philippines and the United States are discussing conducting joint coast guard patrols, including in the South China Sea, a Manila official said on Monday.
With overlapping sovereign claims in the strategic waterway, the Philippines has ramped up rhetoric against what it describes as China’s “aggressive activities” in the South China Sea, which has also become a flashpoint for Chinese and US tensions around naval operation.
Jay Tarriela, the Philippine Coast Guard’s (PCG) spokesperson on South China See issues, told CNN Philippines that talks with the United States have advanced beyond the infancy stage and the likelihood of carrying out joint patrols is high.
Tarriela did not provide details on the scale or timing of the proposed patrols, which come after the Pentagon said this month the United States and the Philippines had “agreed to restart joint maritime patrols in the South China Sea.”
“There is already a clear path of possibility since the Defense Department of the United States has also supported the joint patrol with the Philippine navy and the US navy so there is a certainty for this particular joint patrols to happen between the coast guard of both countries,” Tarriela said.
“There is also a possibility that it will be conducted in the South China Sea in support of the freedom of navigation of the United States government,” he said.
Rommel Jude Ong, former vice commander of the Philippine Navy, told Reuters on Monday, the idea of a coast guard deployment in the South China Sea instead of the navy will “mitigate any miscalculation and prevent China from finding an excuse to escalate tension” in the waterway.
Earlier this month, the PCG accused China’s coast guard of aiming a “military-grade laser” against its vessel supporting a resupply mission for troops on an atoll, temporarily blinding its crew, prompting expressions of concern from other countries including Japan, Australia and the United States. China has refuted the PCG’s account, which it said did not reflect the truth.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the joint patrols.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr last week summoned China’s ambassador to relay his concern over the frequency and intensity of China’s actions in the South China Sea.
Philippines, US discuss joint coast guard patrols in South China Sea
https://arab.news/v7bkk
Philippines, US discuss joint coast guard patrols in South China Sea
- Details were not provided on the scale or timing of the proposed patrols
- Chinese coast guard earlier accused of aiming a ‘military-grade laser’ against a Philippine coast guard vessel
US Republicans eye two-step Trump legislative agenda
WASHINGTON: Republicans in the US Congress are discussing a two-step plan to push ahead on President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda when they take control of both chambers next year, potentially starting with border security, energy and defense before turning to tax cuts.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, whose Republicans will hold a 53-47 majority, laid out a plan in a closed-door party meeting on Tuesday that included a call from Trump himself. It aims to use a parliamentary maneuver to bypass the chamber’s “filibuster” rule that requires 60 senators to agree to advance most legislation.
According to the Senate plan, the first bill would focus on Trump’s agenda for border security, energy deregulation and defense spending, while the second would extend tax cuts from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed during the first Trump presidency, which are due to expire next year.
Thune told reporters that the plan amounted to “options, all of which our members are considering.”
To enact Trump’s agenda, the Senate will have to work closely with the president-elect and the House of Representatives, which is expected to have a razor-thin Republican majority.
“We were always planning to do reconciliation in two packages. So we’re discussing right now how to allocate the various provisions, and we’re making those decisions over the next couple of days,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, who joined Senate Republicans at their meeting.
“There are different ideas on what to put in the first package and what in the second, and we’re trying to build consensus around those ideas,” Johnson told reporters.
The speaker also said that he believes Congress in coming weeks will pursue a continuing resolution, or CR, that would fund federal agencies into March. Current funding is set to expire on Dec. 20.
Before moving a first reconciliation bill, the House and Senate will need to agree on a budget resolution to unlock the “reconciliation” tool they plan to use to bypass the filibuster. Aides said senators hope to do that by the end of January and then move quickly to complete the first bill by March 31.
“We have the trifecta for two years. About 18 months is all we’re really going to have to really get things done,” Republican Senator Mike Rounds told reporters.
Democrats also leaned heavily on reconciliation to pass legislation when they held control of both chambers during the first two years of President Joe Biden’s term.
Republican Senator Rand Paul, a fiscal hawk, raised concerns about the plan’s cost.
“This is not a fiscally conservative notion,” Paul said. “So at this point, I’m not for it, unless there are significant spending cuts attached.”
Extending Trump’s tax cuts for individuals and small businesses will add $4 trillion to the current $36 trillion in total US debt over 10 years.
Trump also promised voters generous new tax breaks, including ending taxes on Social Security, overtime and tip income and restoring deductions for car loan interest.
The tab is likely to reach $7.75 trillion above the CBO baseline over 10 years, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a non-partisan fiscal watchdog group.
Russia’s UN envoy accuses Ukraine of aiding militants in Syria
- Militants fighting with radical group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) “have not only not concealed the fact that they are supported by Ukraine, but they are also openly flaunting this,” Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council
UNITED NATIONS, United States: Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday accused Ukrainian intelligence services of aiding militants fighting Syrian leader Bashar Assad’s government, saying some fighters were “openly flaunting” the association.
Militants fighting with radical group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) “have not only not concealed the fact that they are supported by Ukraine, but they are also openly flaunting this,” Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council, saying there was an “identifiable trail” showing Ukraine’s GUR was “providing weapons to fighters” in northwest Syria.
Trump urges judge to dismiss hush money case due to election victory
- Trump’s lawyers argue having the case loom over his four-year presidential term that begins on Jan. 20 would cause “unconstitutional impediments” to the Republican businessman-turned-politician’s ability to govern
NEW YORK: Donald Trump on Tuesday asked a New York state judge to dismiss the criminal case in which he was convicted in May of 34 felony counts involving hush money paid to a porn star in light of his victory in the Nov. 5 US presidential election.
Justice Juan Merchan last month delayed Trump’s previously scheduled Nov. 26 sentencing indefinitely to give him the chance to seek dismissal. Trump’s lawyers argue having the case loom over his four-year presidential term that begins on Jan. 20 would cause “unconstitutional impediments” to the Republican businessman-turned-politician’s ability to govern.
Prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office supported delaying the sentencing to give Trump the chance to make his case for dismissal, though they said they would oppose that bid. The prosecutors have until Dec. 9 to respond.
The judge has not indicated when he would rule on Trump’s motion to dismiss, and has not set a new date for sentencing. Bragg’s office has suggested he defer all proceedings in the case until Trump, 78, leaves the White House in 2029.
The New York case stemmed from a $130,000 payment Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she has said she had a decade earlier with Trump, who denies it.
A Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records to cover up his reimbursement of Cohen. It was the first time a US president — former or sitting — had been convicted of or charged with a criminal offense.
Trump pleaded not guilty in the case, which he has sought to portray as a politically motivated attempt by Bragg, a Democrat, to interfere with his presidential campaign.
Falsification of business records is punishable by up to four years in prison. Before he was elected, experts said it was unlikely — but not impossible — that Trump would face time behind bars, with punishments such as a fine or probation seen as more likely.
Trump’s victory over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election made the prospect of imposing a sentence of jail or probation even more politically fraught and impractical, given that a sentence could have impeded his ability to conduct the duties of the presidency.
Trump was charged in three additional state and federal criminal cases in 2023, one involving classified documents he kept after leaving office and two others involving his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
He pleaded not guilty in all three cases. None have gone to trial.
A Washington judge on Nov. 25 dismissed the federal criminal case over his attempts to hold onto power. Prosecutors had moved to drop both that case and the classified documents case due to a Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Trump also faces state criminal charges in Georgia over his bid to reverse his 2020 loss in that state, but that case remains in limbo.
As president, Trump would have no power to shut down the New York or Georgia cases because they were filed in state courts.
Trump in November nominated his defense lawyers in the hush money case, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, to serve senior roles at the Justice Department during his administration.
Spain’s Canary Islands break migrant record in 2024
MADRID: The number of migrants arriving in Spain’s Canary Islands by boat from West Africa hit a new annual record in 2024 for the second year in a row, official data showed on Tuesday.
With controls tightening in the Mediterranean, the Canaries route has become a favorite for people fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa, mostly on overcrowded, barely seaworthy vessels and without sufficient drinking water.
A total of 41,425 migrants entered the seven islands located in the Atlantic off the northwestern coast of Africa between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30, Interior Ministry data showed.
With one month of 2024 still to go, that is already more than the previous record of 39,910 migrants who arrived in the archipelago of 2.2 million people during all of 2023, a level that smashed the old mark set in 2006.
So far this year, a total of 610 boats carrying migrants have managed to arrive in the Canaries, up from 530 during all of 2023.
The regional government of the Canaries says it is overwhelmed, and Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in August went on a tour of West African countries in a bid to boost local efforts to curb illegal migration from Mauritania, Senegal and the Gambia, the main departure points for migrant boats headed to the archipelago.
Chinese man arrested in US for smuggling arms to N.Korea
- The Justice Department said law enforcement seized two devices in August at Wen’s home that he planned to send to the North — a chemical threat identification device and a hand-held broadband receiver that detects eavesdropping devices
LOS ANGELES, United States: A Chinese man was arrested in California on Tuesday for allegedly exporting guns and ammunition to North Korea, the Justice Department said.
Shenghua Wen, 41, who was living illegally in the United States after overstaying his student visa, is charged with violating long-standing US sanctions against North Korea.
Wen and unidentified co-conspirators allegedly concealed firearms and ammunition inside shipping containers that were shipped from Long Beach, California through Hong Kong to North Korea.
The Justice Department said law enforcement seized two devices in August at Wen’s home that he planned to send to the North — a chemical threat identification device and a hand-held broadband receiver that detects eavesdropping devices.
In September, law enforcement seized 50,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition that Wen allegedly obtained to send to North Korea, the department said.
Wen also attempted to obtain a civilian plane engine from a US-based broker, it said.
He faces up to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to violate US sanctions laws.