Philippines remains open to diplomatic discussions with China: National security advisor - CNA

Two Chinese navy vessels had shadowed Philippine and US ships conducting the recently concluded joint patrols, the Philippine military said on Thursday.

The two-day maritime exercises involved four vessels from the Philippine navy and four ships from the US Indo-Pacific fleet, including Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson. The patrols ended on Thursday and the US vessels called at the port of Manila on Friday.

The joint patrols were the second held by the Philippines and the US in less than two months in the South China Sea, where tensions over disputed territorial claims are flaring.

"The Philippines remains open to diplomatic discussions with China and reaffirms its commitment to fostering good relations with all nations," Ano said.

"We believe that through peaceful dialogue and adherence to international law, we can achieve a resolution that serves the best interest of all parties involved in the region," he said.

China lays claim to almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than US$3 trillion in annual ship commerce. China's claims of sovereignty overlap territorial waters claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague said China's claims had no legal basis. China has rejected that ruling.

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2024-01-05 10:03:06Z
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Japan quake death toll rises to 92, with 242 missing - CNA

ANAMIZU, Japan: The death toll from a devastating earthquake in central Japan rose to 92 on Friday (Jan 5), regional authorities said, with the number of missing jumping to 242.

Two elderly women were pulled from the rubble, but hopes of finding other survivors faded as thousands of rescuers raced against the clock four days after the 7.5 magnitude quake on New Year's Day.

Thousands of rescuers from all over Japan have been battling aftershocks and roads littered with gaping holes and blocked by frequent landslides in the Ishikawa region to reach hundreds of people in stranded communities.

On Thursday afternoon, 72 hours after the quake, the two older women were miraculously pulled alive from the remains of their homes in Wajima, one of them thanks to a sniffer dog called Jennifer.

The port city of Wajima on the Noto Peninsula was one of the worst hit, with a pungent smell of soot still in the air and faint columns of smoke visible from a huge fire that destroyed hundreds of structures on the first day.

"I was relaxing on New Year's Day when the quake happened. My relatives were all there and we were having fun," Hiroyuki Hamatani, 53, told AFP amid the burnt-out cars, wrecked buildings and fallen telegraph poles.

"The house itself is standing but it's far from livable now ... I don't have the space in my mind to think about the future," he told AFP.

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2024-01-05 02:38:00Z
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Iran holds day of mourning for 84 killed in twin blasts - CNA

"DESPERATE ENEMY"

Regional tensions have surged amid the Gaza war, drawing in Iran-backed armed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

Hamas fighters infiltrated Israel on Oct 7, killing around 1,140 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

In response, Israel launched a relentless offensive that has reduced vast swathes of Gaza to rubble and claimed over 22,300 lives, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Iranian authorities called for mass protests over the Kerman blasts after weekly prayers on Friday, the day when local officials also said the victims' funerals will be held.

Revising down the death toll, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi cited forensic data and said "the number of martyrs ... has been announced as 84 so far," official news agency IRNA reported.

Iran's emergency services chief Jafar Miadfar pointed to difficulties identifying dismembered bodies and said some victims were mistakenly counted "several times".

He said 284 people were wounded and "195 are still hospitalised".

Revered by many Iranians, Soleimani oversaw military operations across the Middle East, and millions came to his funeral in 2020.

Current Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani suggested the Kerman crowd was "attacked by bloodthirsty people supplied by the United States and the Zionist regime".

He pointed to two recent killings widely blamed on Israel - a Beirut strike on Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Aruri, and the killing near Damascus of senior Guards commander Razi Moussavi in December.

"The killing of Aruri and people like Razi Moussavi and the crime in Kerman show how desperate the enemy is," Qaani said.

Tehran regularly accuses its arch-foes Israel and the United States of inciting unrest in the country, and authorities last month executed five people convicted of collaborating with Israel.

In July, Iran's intelligence ministry said it had disbanded a network "linked to Israel's spy organisation" that it said had been plotting "terrorist operations" across Iran, IRNA reported.

In September, the Fars news agency had reported that an IS-affiliated key "operative", in charge of carrying out "terrorist operations" in Iran, had been arrested in Kerman.

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2024-01-04 12:39:45Z
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S'pore joins 12 other countries in joint statement to Houthi rebels, warning of consequences - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE – The Republic has joined 12 other countries in condemning attacks by Houthi militants on commercial ships in the Red Sea, warning of consequences if they continue.

In a joint statement issued through the White House’s briefing room on Jan 3 (US time), the 13 countries called for an end to the ongoing Houthi attacks, which are “illegal, unacceptable, and profoundly destabilising”.

“There is no lawful justification for intentionally targeting civilian shipping and naval vessels,” the statement said.

The attacks, including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles, threaten freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most critical waterways, the statement added.

“These attacks threaten innocent lives from all over the world and constitute a significant international problem that demands collective action.”

Nearly 15 per cent of global seaborne trade passes through the Red Sea, which acts as the entry point to the Suez Canal – the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

As a result of the attacks, which began in November, major shipping companies have had to reroute their ships around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, adding costs, delaying deliveries, and jeopardising the movement of food, fuel and humanitarian assistance throughout the world, said the statement.

“Let our message now be clear: We call for the immediate end of these illegal attacks and release of unlawfully detained vessels and crews. The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways.”

Besides Singapore, the statement was signed by the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Britain.

It came shortly after members of the United Nations Security Council called for a halt to the Houthis’ attacks during its first formal meeting of the year on Jan 3.

The attacks are an attempt to pressure Israel into stopping its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. On Dec 31, the militants attempted to board the Singapore-flagged Maersk Hangzhou, a container ship owned and operated by Denmark.

US forces sunk three ships and killed 10 of the Iran-backed militants then, with Maersk pausing all sailing through the Red Sea for 48 hours after the attack.

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2024-01-04 11:20:00Z
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Hundreds cut off after Japan quake that killed 78 - CNA

NANAO, Japan: More than 50 people were reported missing on Thursday (Jan 4) as Japanese rescuers battled to reach hundreds still cut off from help three days after a devastating earthquake left at least 78 dead.

As the frantic search for survivors continues, more than a dozen communities remained isolated by landslides and blocked roads in central Japan, where the 7.5-magnitude quake struck on Monday.

The powerful main tremor, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, injured at least 330 people, local authorities said.

Authorities also published a list on Thursday of 51 people whose whereabouts could not be confirmed.

Further scenes of destruction were seen by AFP in the coastal town of Anamizu, including cars crushed under crumbling concrete and whole facades torn off three-storey structures.

Thousands of soldiers, firefighters and police officers from across Japan combed through the rubble of collapsed wooden houses and toppled commercial buildings for signs of life.

About 29,000 households were without electricity in Ishikawa prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast, and more than 110,000 homes across Ishikawa and two neighbouring regions had no water.

Access was blocked to small communities in the hardest-hit Noto Peninsula region - with 300 people desperately waiting for aid at a school in the town of Ooya in the Suzu area.

"Even if I give my food to my children, it is not enough at all. I have eaten almost nothing for the past two days," a woman in her 30s with three children in Suzu told the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

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2024-01-04 03:58:00Z
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Japan Airlines pilots had no 'visual contact' before collision - CNA

TOKYO: Pilots on a Japan Airlines plane that burst into flames just after all 379 passengers and crew escaped had no "visual contact" with the other aircraft in the collision, the airline said on Thursday (Jan 4).

The three pilots were also unable to see the fire from the cockpit when it first broke out and were informed of it by cabin crew, a JAL spokesman told AFP.

The airliner hit a coast guard plane after landing at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Tuesday evening. All but one of the six people on the smaller aircraft were killed.

A ball of flame erupted from the airliner before it came to a halt and was consumed by a huge blaze, eventually leaving a charred husk on the tarmac.

But the pilots said they had no "visual contact" with the other plane, although one of them spotted "an object" right before impact, according to JAL.

"After the plane landed and around the time when the front wheels touched or were about to touch the ground - during those few seconds, they said they felt an impact," the spokesman said.

The chief flight attendant, one of nine on board, reported to the cockpit that the plane was burning as the cabin crew needed permission to open the emergency exits, broadcaster NHK reported.

By this time, the cabin was filling with smoke and getting hotter, with babies crying and people begging for the doors to be opened, footage showed.

In one video clip, a young voice can be heard shouting: "Please let us out. Please. Please open it. Just open it. Oh, god."

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2024-01-04 06:25:32Z
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UN Security Council members call for Houthis to stop attacks on shipping - CNA

UNITED NATIONS: Members of the UN Security Council on Wednesday (Jan 3) called on Yemen's Houthis to halt their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, saying they are illegal and threaten regional stability, freedom of navigation and global food supplies.

Addressing the council's first formal meeting of 2024, members also demanded that the Houthis release the Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-operated cargo ship linked to an Israeli company, and its crew, which the group seized on Nov 19.

Some members urged the council to take action to halt the Houthi missile and drone attacks. But the body took no formal steps in the open session before going into closed consultations.

The United States believes the situation has reached an "inflection point", Chris Lu, a US representative to the United Nations, told the council.

"These attacks pose grave implications for maritime security, international shipping and commerce, and they undermine the fragile humanitarian situation in Yemen", threatening aid deliveries to the war-torn country, Lu said.

The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control much of Yemen, have launched drones and missiles at more than 20 ships since Nov 19, saying that in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, they were targeting vessels with Israeli links or were sailing to Israel.

But many vessels have had no Israeli connection and were not bound for Israeli ports, and major shipping lines have suspended their operations through the Red Sea.

The United States and other countries last month formed a naval task force, Operation Prosperity Guardian, to protect civilian vessels. US warships have shot down Houthi-fired weapons, and on Sunday sank Houthi speed boats.

Hours before the Security Council met, the United States and 12 other countries warned in a joint statement that the Houthis "will bear the responsibility of the consequences" should the attacks persist.

During the session, the US, British and Israeli representatives accused Iran of supporting the Houthi strikes, a charge Tehran has denied.

"The Houthis would struggle to effectively track and strike commercial vessels" without Iran's backing, said Lu.

Japanese Ambassador Kazuyuki Yamazaki was among those calling for the council to act to halt the attacks, although he did not specify what steps it should take.

"Japan believes the Security Council should take an appropriate action to deter additional threats by the Houthis and maintain international peace and security," he said.

Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia urged Houthi leaders to ease any actions posing threats to commercial vessels and their crews.

But, he said, the root of the issue was that it was an extension of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and he criticised Washington for blocking resolutions calling for a ceasefire.

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2024-01-03 23:32:00Z
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