BEIJING/MANILA: The Philippines and China accused each other on Monday of ramming vessels and performing dangerous maneuvers in the South China Sea, the latest flare-up after the two nations had agreed to try to ease tensions and manage disagreements at sea.
China’s Coast Guard said in a statement a Philippine vessel which had ignored its repeated warnings “deliberately collided” with a Chinese vessel in an “unprofessional and dangerous” manner in the disputed waterway early on Monday.
The Philippines disputed Beijing’s account, saying two of its coast guard vessels “encountered unlawful and aggressive maneuvers” from Chinese vessels near Sabina Shoal while on their way to supply Filipino personnel stationed in two occupied islands.
“These dangerous maneuvers resulted in collisions, causing structural damage to both PCG (Philippine Coast Guard) vessels,” said Jonathan Malaya, a spokesperson for the national security council and Manila’s South China Sea task force.
Manila said coast guard vessels Cape Engano and Bagacay were on their way to resupply personnel stationed in Flat Island which Manila calls Patag and Lawak Island and which China calls Nanshan, when the at-sea confrontation happened near Sabina Shoal.
A collision occurred between Cape Engano and a Chinese coast guard ship at around 3:24 a.m. on Monday (1924 GMT on Sunday), Manila said.
Around 16 minutes later, the Philippine coast guard ship Bagacay “was rammed twice” by a Chinese coast guard vessel, which resulted to “minor structural damage,” Manila added.
The Chinese coast guard posted a short video of the incident which showed the collision with what it said was one of their vessels.
China’s maritime security said the same Philippine vessel involved in the collision then entered waters near Second Thomas Shoal after being prevented from entering Sabina Shoal waters.
Sabina Shoal is in the Spratly Islands, which are claimed by China, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Two Philippine Coast Guard vessels “illegally intruded” into waters adjacent to Sabina Shoal without permission in the early hours on Monday, according to China Coast Guard spokesperson Gan Yu.
“The Philippines has repeatedly provoked and caused trouble, violated the temporary arrangements between China and the Philippines,” Gan said, referring to Philippines’ supplies missions to a vessel grounded on Second Thomas Shoal.
China’s Coast Guard said it took control measures against the Philippine ships in accordance with the law in the incidents early Monday, and warned the Philippines to “immediately stop infringement and provocation” or “bear all consequences.”
The Philippine task force said both of its vessels will continue with their mission to supply personnel in Flat Island.
“The National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea urges restraint and adherence to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and other relevant international laws to prevent further escalations and ensure the safety of all vessels operating in the region,” it said.
The incident came less than two weeks after an air incident between the Chinese and Philippines militaries in Scarborough Shoal.
The two countries reached a “provisional agreement” in July after repeated altercations near the Second Thomas Shoal. China has been sharply criticized by Western nations for aggression in blocking Philippine efforts to resupply troops aboard a navy ship it intentionally grounded 25 years ago.
Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea, including both shoals, rejecting a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that Beijing’s expansive claims had no basis under international law.
Philippines, China trade blame after vessels collide in the South China Sea
https://arab.news/rysv8
Philippines, China trade blame after vessels collide in the South China Sea

- China’s Coast Guard said a Philippine vessel “deliberately collided” with a Chinese vessel in an “unprofessional and dangerous” manner
- Manila said it was the Chinese vessels that made “unlawful and aggressive maneuvers” against the Philippine ships on their way to supply Filipino personnel stationed in two occupied islands
Shock in Jakarta, MPs demand action after Israel assassinates Indonesian hospital director

- Dr. Marwan Al-Sultan, renowned cardiac surgeon, was killed in targeted Israeli airstrike
- Israel has killed at least 492 doctors and health workers in Gaza since October 2023
JAKARTA/DUBAI: Israel’s assassination of Dr. Marwan Al-Sultan, director of the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza, has sparked shock in Jakarta, with parliamentarians calling for new international accountability mechanisms to hold Israel legally responsible for its crimes in Gaza.
A renowned cardiac surgeon and one of Palestine’s most senior doctors, Dr. Al-Sultan graduated from Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences in Hyderabad, Pakistan, in 2001.
He was killed along with his wife and children in an Israeli airstrike on their temporary residence in northern Gaza on Wednesday.
His surviving daughter, Lubna, told the media that the missile “targeted his room exactly, right where he was.” Her testimony confirmed statements from the Gaza Ministry of Health and the Jakarta-based Medical Emergency Rescue Committee — which funded the Indonesia Hospital in Beit Lahia — that the attack was a targeted assassination.
“The attack on Dr. Marwan was utterly savage and barbaric,” Dr. Sarbini Abdul Murad, chairman of MER-C’s board of trustees, told Arab News.
“It was a shock to hear the news. I couldn’t believe it. He was the only heart specialist left in the north. This is a huge loss.”
The Indonesia Hospital in Beit Lahia, one of the biggest health facilities in Gaza, was one of the first targeted by Israel when it started its deadly war on the Palestinian enclave in October 2023.
Dr. Al-Sultan had never left his post, remaining with patients through multiple Israeli offensives on the hospital and personally overseeing repairs to restore essential services, MER-C said in a statement recalling how in December 2024, he evacuated the facility while under Israeli siege.
The moment was recorded on a mobile phone, showing Dr. Al-Sultan leaving only after he had ensured the safety of every patient.
The Indonesia Hospital opened in late 2015. Coordinated by MER-C, its construction and equipment were financed from donations of the Indonesian people, with dozens of engineers and builders volunteering to design and build the facility and to prepare its operations.
The killing of Dr. Al-Sultan has spurred outcry in Indonesia, with the government issuing an official condemnation and lawmakers from the Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation calling on parliamentarians around the world to “push for international accountability mechanisms” to ensure that “crimes against humanity be immediately brought to international forums, including global parliamentary bodies, so that Israel can be held legally and morally accountable for its actions in Gaza.”
Israel has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 133,000 others, since October 2023. The true death toll is feared to be much higher, with research published in The Lancet medical journal in January estimating an underreporting of deaths by 41 percent.
The study says the death toll may be even higher, as it does not include deaths caused by starvation, injury and lack of access to health care, caused by the Israeli military’s destruction of most of Gaza’s infrastructure and the blocking of medical and food aid.
Data from the UN and international health organizations shows that Israel has killed at least 492 doctors and medics in Gaza since October 2023.
Dr. Al-Sultan is the 70th health care worker to be killed in the last 50 days, according to Healthcare Workers Watch.
“He was a prominent medical figure, both as a heart specialist and director of the Indonesia Hospital,” Dr. Hadiki Habib, chairman of MER-C’s executive committee, told Arab News.
“We had feared that this could happen, but he had said that he would remain in Gaza and, if he were to be martyred, it would be in his homeland.”
Austria deports Syrian convict in EU first since Assad fall

- “The deportation carried out today is part of a strict and thus fair asylum policy,” Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said
- It was the first deportation of a Syrian directly to Syria in about 15 years
VIENNA: Austria on Thursday deported a Syrian criminal convict back to Syria, becoming the first EU country to do so officially “in recent years,” the interior ministry said.
Austria has been pushing to be able to deport Syrians back since the ouster of Syria’s leader Bashar Assad in December.
“The deportation carried out today is part of a strict and thus fair asylum policy,” Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said in a statement sent to AFP.
The ministry said it was the first deportation of a Syrian directly to Syria in about 15 years, and Austria was the “first European country to officially deport a Syrian criminal directly to Syria in recent years.”
Karner traveled to Syria with his German counterpart Nancy Faeser in April to discuss deportations, among other topics.
Karner, from the governing conservative People’s Party (OeVP), on Thursday vowed to “continue this chosen path with hard work and determination.”
Austria was among European Union nations that suspended all Syrian asylum applications after Assad’s ouster. It also stopped family reunifications.
Some 100,000 Syrians live in Austria, one of the biggest diaspora in Europe.
Austria’s anti-migration far right topped national elections in September though they were unable to find partners to govern, leaving the runner-up conservatives to form a new government.
Indonesian rescuers search for dozens of missing passengers after ferry sinks off Bali

- Authorities dispatched a helicopter, 9 boats, 13 underwater rescuers to find missing passengers
- KMT Tunu Pratama Jaya is second passenger ferry to sink off Bali in the past few weeks
JAKARTA: Rescuers were racing on Thursday to search for dozens of people missing after a ferry sank overnight near Indonesia’s resort island of Bali, leaving at least five people dead.
The KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya, which carried 53 passengers, 12 crew members and 22 vehicles, sank about half an hour after leaving Ketapang port on Indonesia’s main island of Java for a 50-km trip to Bali’s Gilimanuk port late on Wednesday.
Crew members on the ferry sent a distress call around 20 minutes after departure, but sank about 15 minutes later, said Mohammad Syafii, chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency.
As of Thursday afternoon, 31 people had been rescued as search operations continued for 29 others who were missing.
“Identities of the victims are still under data collection and verification by our team members on the field,” Syafii said during a press conference.
The agency has dispatched a helicopter, nine boats and a team specializing in underwater rescue to search for survivors, with assistance from local fishermen.
“Rescue efforts are facing challenges in the form of strong waves between 2 to 2.5 meters, and strong winds and currents,” the Indonesian Ministry of Transport said in a statement.
The ferry from Java to Bali usually takes about an hour and is often used by people crossing between the islands by car.
Authorities have yet to disclose whether any foreigners were onboard when KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya sank.
It is also common for the actual number of passengers on a boat to differ from the manifest in Indonesia, so there may be other passengers who are unaccounted for.
Some families were gathered at Ketapang port, located in the East Java city of Banyuwangi, for updates on the missing passengers, while survivors were taken to nearby medical facilities, including the Jembrana Regional Hospital in Bali.
Ferries are a common mode of transport in Indonesia, an archipelagic country comprising more than 17,000 islands.
However, they are prone to accidents due to bad weather and lax safety standards that allow vessels to be overloaded and operated without adequate lifesaving equipment.
In 2023, a small ferry capsized near Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, killing at least 15 people.
KMT Tunu Pratama Jaya was the second passenger ferry to sink off Bali in the past few weeks.
A fast boat carrying 89 tourists, including 77 foreign travelers, capsized in early June after it was hit by a big wave upon leaving a port on a smaller island off Bali. All the passengers aboard were rescued.
Danish police deploy to Israeli embassy in Copenhagen to examine a suspicious package

- Danish public broadcaster DR showed photos of several police and emergency vehicles near the embassy
- Police wrote on X that they had blocked roads near the embassy
COPENHAGEN: Danish police said Thursday they have deployed officers to the Israeli embassy in the Nordic country’s capital to examine a suspicious package.
Copenhagen police wrote on X that “we are present at the Israeli embassy, where we are investigating a shipment received.”
They added that “we currently have no further information.”
Danish public broadcaster DR showed photos of several police and emergency vehicles near the embassy, including what they reported was a hazmat emergency response team vehicle.
Police wrote on X that they had blocked roads near the embassy.
Anders Frederiksen, duty chief at the Copenhagen Police, told Danish daily Ekstra Bladet that “ordinary citizens in the area should not be worried.”
Security officials in many European countries have increased surveillance and protection of Israeli and Jewish institutions after a 12-day war broke out between Israel and Iran in June.
Last week, security officers arrested a man in the Danish city of Aarhus on suspicion of gathering information on Jewish locations and individuals in Germany for Iranian intelligence.
Prosecutors said the man was tasked by an Iranian intelligence service early this year with gathering information on “Jewish localities and specific Jewish individuals” in Berlin. They didn’t elaborate.
He spied on three properties in June, “presumably in preparation of further intelligence activities in Germany, possibly including terrorist attacks on Jewish targets,” prosecutors said.
German Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig said that “if this suspicion is confirmed, we are dealing with an outrageous operation,” adding in a statement that “the protection of Jewish life has the highest priority for the German government.”
Germany has requested the extradition of the suspect.
5 dead, 29 missing after ferry sinks on way to Indonesia’s Bali

- Java-based Surabaya search and rescue agency head Nanang Sigit told AFP that a fifth victim was found dead on Thursday
- “Thirty-one victims were found safe, five died, 29 people are still being searched for,” Nanang said
DENPASAR, Indonesia: At least five people were dead and dozens unaccounted for Thursday after a ferry sank in rough seas on its way to Indonesian resort island Bali, according to rescue authorities who said 31 survivors had been plucked from the water so far.
Rescuers were racing to find 29 people still missing at sea after the vessel carrying 65 passengers and crew sank before midnight on Wednesday, as it sailed to the popular holiday destination from Indonesia’s main island Java.
“The ferry tilted and immediately sank,” survivor Eka Toniansyah told reporters at a Bali hospital.
“Most of the passengers were from Indonesia. I was with my father. My father is dead.”
Java-based Surabaya search and rescue agency head Nanang Sigit told AFP that a fifth victim was found dead on Thursday afternoon.
“Thirty-one victims were found safe, five died, 29 people are still being searched for,” Nanang said.
President Prabowo Subianto, who was on a trip to Saudi Arabia, ordered an immediate emergency response, cabinet secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya said, adding the cause of the accident was “bad weather.”
Nanang said earlier Thursday efforts to reach the doomed vessel were initially hampered by adverse weather conditions.
Waves as high as 2.5 meters (8 feet) with “strong winds and strong currents” had affected the rescue operation, he said, adding conditions have since improved.
A rescue team of at least 54 personnel was dispatched along with inflatable rescue boats, he said, while a bigger vessel was later sent from Surabaya city.
Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency chief Mohammad Syafii told a news conference that the agency sent a helicopter to help the effort.
Nanang said rescuers would follow currents and expand the search area if there were still people unaccounted for by the end of the day.
“For today’s search, we are still focusing on search above the water where initial victims were found,” the Surabaya search and rescue chief said.
The ferry’s manifest showed 53 passengers and 12 crew members, he said, but rescuers were still assessing if there were more people onboard.
It is common in Indonesia for the actual number of passengers on a boat to differ from the manifest.
It was unclear if any foreigners were on board.
The ferry crossing from Ketapang port in Java to Bali’s Gilimanuk port is one of the busiest in the country and takes around one hour.
It is often used by people crossing between the islands by car.
Four of the known survivors saved themselves by using the ferry’s lifeboat and were found in the water early Thursday, the Surabaya rescue agency said.
It said the ferry was also transporting 22 vehicles, including 14 trucks.
Marine accidents are a regular occurrence in Indonesia, a Southeast Asian archipelago of around 17,000 islands, in part due to lax safety standards and sometimes due to bad weather.
In March, a boat carrying 16 people capsized in rough waters off Bali, killing an Australian woman and injuring at least one other person.
A ferry carrying more than 800 people in 2022 ran aground in shallow waters off East Nusa Tenggara province, where it remained stuck for two days before being dislodged with no one hurt.
And in 2018, more than 150 people drowned when a ferry sank in one of the world’s deepest lakes on Sumatra island