MANILA: The Philippine government said Tuesday it has filed a diplomatic protest against Beijing after Chinese jets flew dangerously close and fired a volley of flares in the path of a Philippine air force patrol plane over a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.
The Chinese air force jets’ hostile actions against the Philippine military’s NC-212i light transport plane Thursday over the Scarborough Shoal was the first such aerial encounter since high-seas hostilities between Beijing and Manila in the busy seaway started to flare last year.
Philippine military chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. did not report any injuries or damage but condemned the Chinese actions, which he said could have had tragic consequences.
“If the flares came into contact with our aircraft, these could have been blown into the propeller or the intake or burned our plane,” Brawner told reporters. “It was very dangerous.”
Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Teresita Daza said without elaborating that a diplomatic protest has been transmitted to China.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said over the weekend that the actions by the Chinese air force jets were “unjustified, illegal and reckless.”
“We call on the government of the People’s Republic of China to cease all forms of provocative and hazardous acts that could undermine the safety of Filipino military and civilian personnel in the waters or in the skies, destabilize regional peace, and erode the trust and confidence of the international community in the PRC,” a Philippine government task force overseeing the South China Sea said Monday.
Despite the encounter, Philippine monitoring of its airspace would be intensified, the task force said.
The Southern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army said Saturday that a Philippine air force aircraft “illegally” entered the airspace above the shoal, which China claims, disrupting its combat training activities.
The command sent jets and ships to identify, track and drive away the Philippine aircraft, it added.
The command warned the Philippines to “stop its infringement, provocation, distortion and hyping-up.”
The United States, Australia and Canada have reported similar actions by Chinese air force aircraft in the past in the South China Sea, where those nations have deployed forces to promote freedom of navigation and overflight.
China has bristled at military deployments by the US and its allies in the disputed region, calling it a danger to regional security.
In 2013, China announced a new Air Defense Identification Zone over the East China Sea that covers a chain of disputed islands also claimed by Japan. Beijing said then that all aircraft entering the zone must notify Chinese authorities and they would be subject to emergency military measures if they did not identify themselves or obey orders from Beijing. However, Washington and its allies said the move was invalid and refused to recognize it.
Chinese officials had warned that Beijing could establish a similar air defense zone over the South China Sea if its sovereignty over the sea passage, a key global trade and security route, was threatened.
Jay Batongbacal, a law professor and director of the Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea at the University of the Philippines, said the air defense zone is not an exercise of territorial rights over the area it covers.
“What is happening is that they are flexing their capabilities to intimidate the Philippines, to give the impression to non-Chinese audiences and countries that they have control of the air in the South China Sea,” Batongbacal said.
Aside from China and the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand have overlapping territorial claims in the busy sea passage,but hostilities have particularly flared between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and navy forces in the Scarborough Shoal and another hotly disputed atoll, the Second Thomas Shoal, since last year.
Washington has repeatedly warned that it’s obligated to defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.
Philippines protests Chinese air force jets’ firing of flares in the path of patrol plane
https://arab.news/8vmd2
Philippines protests Chinese air force jets’ firing of flares in the path of patrol plane
- Chinese jets flew dangerously close and fired a volley of flares in the path of a Philippine air force patrol plane
Nestle to pay 2m euros to close France water probes
- The deal ends preliminary probes into the use of wells without authorization and fraud for filtering its mineral waters
- The non-prosecution agreement was justified as Nestle had cooperated with the probe
STRASBOURG, France: Nestle’s water subsidiary, which produces brands such as Perrier, will pay 2 million euros ($2.2 million) to close French probes over illegal wells and treatment of mineral water, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The prosecutor in the eastern town of Epinal, Frederic Nahon, said the non-prosecution agreement was the “biggest concerning the environment signed in France to date.”
The deal ends preliminary probes into the use of wells without authorization and fraud for filtering its mineral waters — a practice that is illegal in France where mineral waters are supposed to be natural.
The Swiss group, whose water brands also include Vittel and San Pellegrino, will in addition spend 1.1 million euros over two years on projects to restore the environment in several French towns where it operates.
The prosecutor said the non-prosecution agreement was justified as Nestle had cooperated with the probe, had brought its practices into compliance and there were no public health consequences.
The deal, “while sanctioning the unauthorized activities that were found, encourages a faster conclusion, remediation of the environmental damage and compensation of several parties,” he said.
A local environmental group welcomed the deal but consumer groups criticized it.
“It’s a scandalous decision which sends a very bad message about a climate of impunity: Nestle Waters can deceive consumers around the world for years and get away with it by pulling out its checkbook,” said Ingrid Kragl, a fraud expert at Foodwatch.
Four Italian and South Korean climbers are found dead close to Mont Blanc’s summit
- The Chamonix-Mont Blanc search and rescue team found the two pairs of climbers at an altitude of 4,700 meters
PARIS: French rescue officials said Tuesday they found the bodies of two Italian and two South Korean climbers close to the peak of Mont Blanc on the French side after they went missing on Saturday in bad weather.
The Chamonix-Mont Blanc search and rescue team found the two pairs of climbers at an altitude of 4,700 meters (over 15,400 feet) on the Alps’ highest peak. They died of hypothermia, rescue officials said.
The unaccompanied climbers had alerted rescuers on Saturday afternoon, but weather conditions continued to deteriorate, preventing rescuers from reaching their location from the ground or by helicopter.
Two other Korean climbers were successfully rescued on Sunday morning at an altitude of 4,100 meters (over 13,400 feet) after rescuers deployed a highly complex operation.
French authorities have opened an investigation.
E3 and US slap sanctions on Iran over missiles for Russia
- “Taking immediate steps to cancel bilateral air services agreements with Iran,” UK, France, Germany said
- London, Paris and Berlin: “We now have confirmation Iran made these transfers”
BERLIN: Germany, France and Britain on Tuesday condemned what they said was Iran’s delivery of ballistic missiles to Russia for use in the Ukraine war and declared new sanctions targeting air transport.
“We will be taking immediate steps to cancel bilateral air services agreements with Iran,” they said in a joint statement, adding that they would also “work toward imposing sanctions on Iran Air.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had said earlier, on a visit to London, that Russia had received shipments of the ballistic missiles and “will likely use them within weeks in Ukraine.”
London, Paris and Berlin said that “we now have confirmation that Iran has made these transfers.”
“This is a further escalation of Iran’s military support to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and will see Iranian missiles reaching European soil, increasing the suffering of the Ukrainian people,” they said.
“This act is an escalation by both Iran and Russia, and is a direct threat to European security.”
The three countries said they “will be taking immediate steps to cancel bilateral air services agreements with Iran.”
“In addition, we will pursue the designations of significant entities and individuals involved with Iran’s ballistic missile program and the transfer of ballistic missiles and other weapons to Russia.
“We will also work toward imposing sanctions on Iran Air,” they said, echoing a step also taken by Washington.
Blinken said Washington had privately warned Iran that providing ballistic missiles to Russia would be “a dramatic escalation” and said new sanctions would be imposed later on Tuesday.
The US later identified nine Russian-flagged vessels it said were involved in the delivery of weapons from Iran to Russia, designating them as “blocked property” under Washington’s sanctions regime, according to the Treasury Department’s website.
It also imposed additional measures on previously sanctioned airline Iran Air, the department said in a statement.
Blinken said Iran has trained dozens of Russian military personnel to use its Fath-360 close-range ballistic missile system, which has a maximum range of 75 miles (121 km).
The UK also said on Tuesday it had started terminating “all direct air services between the UK and Iran” as part of the new sanctions.
London said it was acting alongside international partners to “cancel its bilateral air services arrangements with Iran,” which would “restrict Iran Air’s ability to fly in to the UK.”
Iran Air operates direct flights between London and Tehran three days a week, according to the schedule listed on its website.
* With AFP and Reuters
Doctors in Kolkata defy court order, protest for safety after medic murder
- Protesting junior doctors vow to end strike when safety measures are in place
- Top medical body in West Bengal gives ‘unconditional’ support to protesters
NEW DELHI: Junior doctors in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal defied a Supreme Court order requiring them to return to work on Tuesday, as they vowed to continue a weeks-long strike for workplace safety following the gruesome murder of a female doctor.
The 31-year-old trainee doctor was raped and murdered in early August inside the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in West Bengal’s capital, Kolkata, where she worked.
A police volunteer also working at the hospital has been charged with the murder and arrested, but the case has since triggered daily demonstrations by medics calling for greater protection and workplace safety.
On Monday, the Supreme Court, which took up the matter in the wake of nationwide outrage over the incident, ordered the protesting doctors to return to work by 5 p.m. the next day and the state’s authorities to ensure the safety and security of doctors in hospitals.
The West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front, which represents about 7,000 physicians in the state, said it would follow the court’s order only if their safety demands were met by the state.
“The Supreme Court has said that the state can take action after 5 p.m., if they want to. At the same time, the Supreme Court has also asked the state to increase the security measures which has not been done at all,” Dr. Anustup Pal, the association’s member, told Arab News, as protesters gathered in front of the state’s health department to demand the resignation of its key leadership.
“We will continue till the demand is met,” Pal said. “We are unhappy at the representation done by the state at the Supreme Court.”
The protest is supported by the West Bengal chapter of the Indian Medical Association — the country’s top physicians’ body — which issued a statement after the court’s order, saying that no steps were being taken to deliver justice after the brutal murder and that the protest “will not die down.”
Dr. Sourav Datta, member of the association’s central committee, told Arab News that “almost no demand” from the protesting doctors had been fulfilled so far.
“Whatever decision they will take, the IMA will unconditionally give support to them,” he said. “The IMA will be with them.”
EU vows retaliation if Hungary sends buses of migrants to Brussels
- Asked about Hungary’s plan, commission spokeswoman Anitta Hipper said: “It is unacceptable”
- “In addition, it will also undermine the security of the Schengen area as a whole,” she said
BRUSSELS: Hungary’s threat to send a bus convoy of migrants to Brussels in protest against European Union policies is unacceptable and would prompt EU retaliatory action, the bloc’s powerful executive branch warned on Tuesday.
Hungary’s anti-immigrant government signaled last week that it is serious about giving migrants free one-way travel to Brussels, a measure meant to pressure the European Commission into dropping heavy fines imposed on Hungary over its restrictive asylum policies.
In June, the European Court of Justice ordered Hungary to pay a fine of 200 million euros ($216 million) for persistently breaking the bloc’s asylum rules, and an additional 1 million euros per day until it brings policies into line with EU law. The government in Budapest is delaying payment.
Asked about Hungary’s plan, commission spokeswoman Anitta Hipper said: “It is unacceptable.”
“This action, if carried out, would be in clear breach of the EU law, but also it would be in clear breach of the principle of sincere and loyal cooperation, but also of mutual trust,” Hipper told reporters. The commission has its headquarters in the Belgian capital.
“In addition, it will also undermine the security of the Schengen area as a whole,” she said, in reference to the 29-country zone where people and goods can cross borders without document checks.
The commission is in contact with the Hungarian authorities and those in any neighboring countries that the convoy might pass through should it leave.
Traveling overland, the buses would have to cross either France or Germany – which along with Luxembourg and the Netherlands surround Belgium – and possibly other EU member countries like Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia or the Czech Republic.
“We are also standing ready to use all our powers under the treaty to ensure that EU law is respected,” Hipper said. But the most effective step would certainly be for other member countries to stop the buses by reintroducing border checks.
Hipper did not elaborate on what action the commission is able to take, but it is difficult to see what kind of punishment might dissuade Hungary given that the country is already defying a court order to pay 200 million euros in fines.
On Monday, Belgium’s top migration official, Nicole de Moor, said Hungary’s threat “undermines solidarity and cooperation within the Union.” Her office said the Belgian authorities will “not provide access” to any such migrant arrivals.
