Vice Admiral Eduardo Santos was in charge of the Philippine navy at a time of ‘creeping invasion’ by China. Then along came an unusual idea

More than 25 years ago, the BRP Sierra Madre was sent off for one final, secret voyage. In the darkness of night, the Philippine navy ship sailed from Manila Bay into the remote waters of the South China Sea. Then, to the surprise of many, it ran aground, and hasn’t moved since.

“I did it as quietly as I could, so I would not raise any hackles among anybody,” says retired Vice Adm Eduardo Santos, who was chief of the navy at the time. To him, it was a case of mission accomplished. His plan had been to run the ship on to a small reef known as Second Thomas Shoal, one of the world’s most fiercely contested maritime sites, without China knowing. The move would help the Philippines defend the area for decades to come.

“The first reaction was the Chinese ambassador knocking at my office early in the morning when they heard about it … I said, ‘well, it was supposed to be on the way [to a mission], and it ran aground’,” says Santos. With hindsight, Santos, who is now 80, can smile about it, though he, more than most, is keenly aware of how delicate the issue remains.

If the shoal had been left unoccupied, it would have been lost to Beijing, he says, because the Philippines was already facing a “creeping invasion” by China.

Beijing had already seized Mischief Reef, an atoll just 21 nautical miles away, despite being within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) – an area that stretches 200 nautical miles from a state’s coast, giving it special rights to build or exploit resources in the area. Second Thomas Shoal is also with the Philippines’ EEZ.

The Philippines Coast Guard is setting up a massive operation to contain an oil spill after the Terra Nova tanker sank in Manila Bay with 1.4 million liters of industrial oil on board.

Philippines' authorities on Friday were racing to contain an oil spill from a tanker that sank in Manila Bay on Thursday. 

The ship, transporting some 1.4 million liters (370,000 gallons) of industrial oil, faced stormy seas as Typhoon Gaemi passed by the Philippines on the day before.

The tanker's crew was hoping to steer the vessel to port, but the ship capsized and sank.

Fires on French railway tracks have delayed journeys for 800,000 travelers in what the transport minister described as “coordinated attacks of malicious intent.”

A co-ordinated arson attack on the French rail system is turning the first weekend of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris into a nightmare for hundreds of thousands of travelers. 

French rail company SNCF announced on Friday its high-speed train system had been hit by "deliberate arson attacks to damage [its] facilities" causing delays and cancellations which are expected to last all weekend.

The disruptions are affecting trains heading East, North and West of Paris, and travelers have been asked to postpone their plans.

The leader and co-founder of Mexico's notorious Sinaloa cartel, along with a son of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, were arrested Thursday by the FBI, federal authorities announced.

The Justice Department confirmed that Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez were arrested in El Paso, Texas. One senior official familiar with the arrest told CBS News that Zambada was taken into custody by the FBI without incident along the U.S. border.

In a shocking move on Wednesday, the International Olympic Committee moved to crush U.S. inquiries into a Chinese sports doping scandal, by threatening to reject Salt Lake City's bid to host the Winter Games in 2034.

In a series of fierce statements coordinated by IOC President Thomas Bach, top IOC committee members blasted U.S. officials for opening probes into handling of the China case by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Ingmar De Vos, an IOC committee member from Belgium said a probe by the U.S. Congress and a criminal investigation launched by the U.S. Department of Justice"are extremely worrying and basically, for us, unacceptable."

In an unprecedented move, the IOC demanded that officials in Utah — along with U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) — sign a contract affirming "respect" for the authority of WADA in exchange for Wednesday's agreement to hold the 2034 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

Three Chinese students are under investigation over footage captured by a drone of a United States aircraft carrier and naval facilities in South Korea in June, local police said on Wednesday.

The suspects are aged between 30 and 49 and are studying in Busan, a port city located on the southeastern coast of South Korea, where U.S. Navy aircraft carriers frequently visit.

The Chinese nationals were caught flying a drone toward South Korea's Naval Operations Command in Busan where aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt was docked on June 25, local police said. They are accused of illegally filming the vessel and military facilities.

Japan’s total population declined for the 15th straight year in 2023, dropping by more than a half-million people as the population ages and births remain low.

Births in Japan hit a record low of 730,000 last year. The 1.58 million deaths last year were also a record high. Japan’s population was 124.9 million as of Jan. 1.

The data released Wednesday by Japan’s Internal Affairs Ministry also showed that the 11% increase in foreign residents helped their population surpass 3 million for the first time. They now make up nearly 3% of the total population and are mostly of working age from 15 to 64.

Surveys show that younger Japanese are increasingly reluctant to marry or have children, discouraged by bleak job prospects, the high cost of living — which rises at a faster pace than salaries — and a gender-biased corporate culture that adds a burden only on women and working mothers.

The pilot who survived a deadly plane crash in Nepal was saved after his cockpit was sheared off by a freight container seconds before the rest of the aircraft crashed in flames.

Captain Manish Ratna Shakya, the sole survivor of the disaster that killed 18 people at Kathmandu airport, is being treated in hospital but BBC Nepali has confirmed he is talking and able to tell family members he was “all good”.

…

Nepal's civil aviation minister Badri Pandey described how the aircraft had suddenly turned right as it took off from the airport, before crashing into the east side of the runway.

CCTV footage shows the aircraft in flames careering across part of the airport before part of it appears to fall into a valley at the far edge of the site. 

"It hit the container on the edge of the airport... then, it fell further below," Mr Pandey said. "The cockpit, however, remained stuck inside the container. This is how the captain survived.”

Germany is planning to nearly halve military aid for Ukraine next year, from around €8bn (£6.7bn; $8.7bn) to around €4bn, according to a draft budget approved by the government. 

Finance Minister Christian Lindner said Ukraine's financing was "secure for the foreseeable future" due to a G7 group of rich nations scheme to raise $50bn from interest on frozen Russian assets. 

Germany is Ukraine's second biggest military donor, after the US. In 2024, Berlin's budget for Kyiv is set at nearly €7.5bn.

German producers have sparked a dispute by filing an opposition to a Turkish application to grant the döner kebab's special status at the EU level, initiating a six-month period to resolve disagreements.

A Turkish application to the European Commission for the döner kebab to be given similar EU recognition as the Neapolitan pizza and Spain's jamon serrano has been opposed by Germany, sources close to the issue have told Euronews.

As reported, in April Türkiye filed an application to register the name döner in Europe so that it can be used only by those producers conforming to the registered production method and product specifications.

Group of finance ministers call for sanctions to be ratcheted up amid signs Moscow’s war machine is weakening

Vladimir Putin is “peddling lies” about the strength of the Russian economy that must be refuted, finance ministers from eight EU member states have said, with growing signs of deterioration in the face of biting sanctions.

They say there are signs that the economy is being “sovietised” with many hallmarks of the former USSR including expropriation of private assets to fund public spending, a “total disregard to the social and economic wellbeing of the population” and reorientation of the economy towards its war in Ukraine.

“If Putin stays on this path, the long-term damage to the Russian economy will be significant,” they wrote in a joint article in the Guardian.

• The UK said it test-fired a laser beam weapon in a "groundbreaking" trial.
• The Ministry of Defence said it could neutralize targets for just $0.12 a shot.
• Countries are racing to develop weapons that can combat drones and missiles.