U.S. and Philippine forces, backed by an Australian air force surveillance aircraft, have unleashed a barrage of high-precision rockets, artillery fire and airstrikes and sank a mock enemy ship as part of large-scale war drills in and near the disputed South China Sea that have antagonized Beijing. Military officials and diplomats watched the display of firepower from a hilltop on Wednesday. Washington and Beijing have been on a collision course over China's increasingly assertive actions to defend its vast territorial claims in the South China Sea. Last year, the Philippines approved a wider U.S. military presence in the archipelago. China opposed the move, which puts U.S. forces across the sea from Taiwan. The Philippines countered it has the right to defend its sovereignty.
A crane that can lift 1,000 tons has appeared near the site of a collapsed highway bridge in Baltimore as crews prepare to begin clearing wreckage. The debris has stymied the search for four missing workers and blocked ships from entering or leaving the city's vital port. Cranes will be used to clear the channel of the twisted metal and concrete remnants of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and the cargo ship that hit it.
Ukraine's navy spokesman says that Ukrainian forces have sunk or disabled a third of all Russian warships in the Black Sea, a major blow to Moscow's military capability as the war has dragged into a third year. Ukraine's Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk told The Associated Press Tuesday that the latest strike on Saturday night hit the Russian amphibious landing ship Kostiantyn Olshansky that was resting in dock in Sevastopol in Russia-occupied Crimea. The ship was part of Ukraine's navy before Russia captured it after annexing the Black Sea peninsula in 2014. Pletenchuk has previously announced that two other landing ships of the same type, Azov and Yamal, were also damaged in Saturday's strike along with the Ivan Khurs intelligence ship.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has underscored Washington's "ironclad commitment" to help defend the Philippines in case of an armed attack against its forces. Clashes between Chinese and Filipino coast guards in the disputed South China Sea recently turned more hostile. Blinken held talks with his Philippine counterpart, Enrique Manalo, and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Tuesday in Manila. Next month, United States President Joe Biden will host Marcos and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in a White House summit. Their talks will likely include the growing concerns over increasingly aggressive Chinese actions in the South China Sea, as well as North Korea's nuclear program.
Yemen's Houthi rebels claim to have a new, hypersonic missile in their arsenal. That's according to a Russian state media report on Thursday. That potentially raises the stakes in their ongoing attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways amid Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The claim was reported by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency. It cited an unnamed official but provided no evidence for the claim. Moscow has maintained an aggressively counter-Western foreign policy amid its grinding war on Ukraine. However, the Houthis have for weeks hinted about "surprises" coming onto the battlefield to counter the United States and its allies.
President Vladimir Putin says that Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons if its sovereignty or independence is threatened. It was another blunt warning to the West just days before an election in which the Russian leader is all but certain to win another six-year term. Putin has repeatedly talked about his readiness to use nuclear weapons since launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Putin was asked in an interview with Russian state television released early Wednesday if he has ever considered using battlefield nuclear weapons in Ukraine. He responded that there has been no need. But Putin said that Moscow is ready to use nuclear weapons in case of a threat to its sovereignty or independence.
The NATO military alliance is working to turn its diversity into strength as its membership grows in response to Russia's threat. More than 20,000 soldiers from 13 member nations are currently in drills that are part of NATO's largest maneuvers since the Cold War. They include new members Sweden and Finland, who now have the guarantee that an attack on any one member would be considered as an attack on them all. Participating troops assume that Russia and other potential adversaries are watching for any weaknesses in NATO defenses and unity as the drills unfold in the frigid Nordic seas.
