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Philippines Summons Chinese Envoy over Sea Confrontations

Philippine Coast Guard ship Melchora Aquino watches over a Philippine civilian ship (L), loaded with provisions for Filipino fishermen and troops. Ted ALJIBE / AFP
Philippine Coast Guard ship Melchora Aquino watches over a Philippine civilian ship (L), loaded with provisions for Filipino fishermen and troops. Ted ALJIBE / AFP
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Philippines Summons Chinese Envoy over Sea Confrontations

Philippine Coast Guard ship Melchora Aquino watches over a Philippine civilian ship (L), loaded with provisions for Filipino fishermen and troops. Ted ALJIBE / AFP
Philippine Coast Guard ship Melchora Aquino watches over a Philippine civilian ship (L), loaded with provisions for Filipino fishermen and troops. Ted ALJIBE / AFP

The Philippines said it had summoned China's envoy on Monday and flagged the possibility of expelling him following the most tense confrontations between the countries' vessels in years at flashpoint reefs in the disputed South China Sea.
Videos released by the Philippine Coast Guard showed Chinese ships blasting water cannon at Philippine boats during two separate resupply missions to fishermen at Scarborough Shoal and a tiny garrison at Second Thomas Shoal on Saturday and Sunday.
There was also a collision between Philippine and Chinese boats at Second Thomas Shoal, where a handful of Filipino troops are stationed on a grounded warship, with both countries trading blame.
Diplomatic protests had been filed and "the Chinese ambassador has also been summoned", foreign ministry spokeswoman Teresita Daza told a news conference on Monday.
Daza said declaring China's ambassador Huang Xilian as "persona non grata" in the Philippines was also "something that has to be seriously considered".
China's ramming and water cannoning of Filipino boats as well as the use of a long-range acoustic device was a "serious escalation" of their tactics, Jonathan Malaya, assistant director general of the National Security Council, told reporters.
The China Coast Guard, however, said one of the Philippine supply boats deliberately hit its vessel after "disregarding our multiple stern warnings".
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, including waters and islands near the shores of its neighbors, and has ignored an international tribunal ruling that its assertions have no legal basis.
It deploys boats to patrol the busy waterway and has built artificial islands that it has militarized to reinforce its claims.
- 'Dangerous and destabilizing' -
On Sunday, the US State Department called on China to halt its "dangerous and destabilizing" actions in the sea, while foreign diplomats in Manila also criticized China's behavior.
The confrontations at Scarborough Shoal and Second Thomas Shoal were the most intense between Philippine and Chinese vessels in years, analysts said, as the countries seek to assert their competing maritime territorial claims.
"I expect that this will become even more frequent and persistent," said Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines' Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea.
"We should use the opportunity to build up our alliances and partnerships, and to prepare for the worst as it is clear that they will continue to deprive us of access to our rights and resources as a country," Batongbacal told AFP.
Song Zhongping, an analyst and former officer in the Chinese military, said US support for the Philippines was making Manila feel "emboldened to provoke China", which was exacerbating tensions.
"If the Philippines clings to its course and feels that it can provoke China with the support of countries outside the region... then conflict or some other contingency could erupt at Ren'ai Reef or Huangyan Island," Song said, using the Chinese names for Second Thomas Shoal and Scarborough Shoal.
China seized Scarborough Shoal from the Philippines in 2012 following a tense standoff, while the Philippine Navy deliberately grounded a World War II-era navy ship on Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 to check China's advance in the waters.
Relations between Manila and Beijing have deteriorated under President Ferdinand Marcos, who has sought to improve ties with traditional ally Washington and deepen defense ties in the region, while also pushing back against Chinese actions in the South China Sea.
In a statement late Sunday, Marcos said the Philippines remained "undeterred" following the latest incidents.
"No one but the Philippines has a legitimate right or legal basis to operate anywhere in the West Philippine Sea," Marcos said, using Manila's term for the South China Sea waters to the immediate west of the Philippines.

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World

‘We Choose Denmark,’ Says Greenland Ahead of W. House Talks

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen attend a press conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, January 13, 2026. (Reuters)
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen attend a press conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, January 13, 2026. (Reuters)
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‘We Choose Denmark,’ Says Greenland Ahead of W. House Talks

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen attend a press conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, January 13, 2026. (Reuters)
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen attend a press conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, January 13, 2026. (Reuters)

Greenland would choose to remain Danish over a US takeover, its leader said Tuesday, ahead of crunch White House talks on the future of the Arctic island which President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened.

Trump has been talking up the idea of buying or annexing the autonomous territory for years, and further stoked tensions this week by saying the United States would take it "one way or the other".

"We are now facing a geopolitical crisis, and if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark," Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said at a press conference.

"One thing must be clear to everyone: Greenland does not want to be owned by the United States. Greenland does not want to be governed by the United States. Greenland does not want to be part of the United States."

He was speaking alongside Danish leader Mette Frederiksen, who said it had not been easy to stand up to what she slammed as "completely unacceptable pressure from our closest ally".

"However, there are many indications that the most challenging part is ahead of us," Frederiksen said.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt are to meet US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday to discuss Greenland's future.

Lokke said they had requested a meeting with Rubio, and Vance had asked to take part and host it at the White House.

Vance made an uninvited visit to the island in March where he criticized Denmark for what he said was a lack of commitment to Greenland and security in the Arctic, and called it a "bad ally".

The comments enraged Copenhagen, which has been an ardent trans-Atlantic supporter and which has sent troops to fight US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

- 'Misunderstandings' -

For Nuuk and Copenhagen, Wednesday's meeting at the White House is aimed at ironing out "misunderstandings".

These relate to Greenland's defense, Chinese and Russian military presence in the Arctic, and the relationship between Greenland and Copenhagen, which together with the Faroe Islands make up the Kingdom of Denmark.

"To the uninformed American listener, the ongoing (independence) talks between Denmark and Greenland might have been construed as if Greenland's secession from Denmark was imminent," said Greenland specialist Mikaela Engell.

For these listeners, "I can understand that, in this situation, it would be better for the Americans to take hold of that strategic place", the former Danish representative on the island told AFP.

But this "discussion has been going on for years and years and it has never meant that Greenland was on its way out the door", she stressed.

Denmark's foreign minister said the reason Copenhagen and Nuuk had requested Wednesday's meeting was "to move the entire discussion... into a meeting room, where you can look each other in the eye and talk through these issues".

Greenland's location is highly strategic, lying on the shortest route for missiles between Russia and the United States. It is therefore a crucial part of the US anti-missile shield.

Washington has accused Copenhagen of doing little to protect Greenland from what it perceives as a growing Arctic threat from Russia and China, though analysts suggest Beijing is a small player in the region.

Denmark's government has rejected US claims, recalling that it has invested almost 90 billion kroner ($14 billion) to beef up its military presence in the Arctic.

The Danish prime minister on Tuesday called for stronger cooperation with the US and NATO to improve the region's security.

She also called for NATO to defend Greenland, and said that security guarantees would be "the best defense against Chinese or Russian threats in the Arctic".

Diplomats at NATO say some Alliance members have floated the idea of launching a new mission in the region, although no concrete proposals are yet on the table.

Rutte said on Monday that NATO was working on "the next steps" to bolster Arctic security.

Greenland's foreign minister and Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen are to meet NATO's Secretary General Mark Rutte on January 19 to discuss the issue.

"We are now moving forward with the whole issue of a more permanent, larger presence in Greenland from the Danish defense forces but also with the participation of other countries," Lund Poulsen told reporters.

World

ICJ Hears Gruesome Violence Against Rohingya in Myanmar Genocide Case

A view of the courtroom during the first hearing in which Myanmar is accused of committing genocide against the country's Muslim minority, the Rohingya, at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, The Netherlands, 12 January 2026. (EPA)
A view of the courtroom during the first hearing in which Myanmar is accused of committing genocide against the country's Muslim minority, the Rohingya, at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, The Netherlands, 12 January 2026. (EPA)
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ICJ Hears Gruesome Violence Against Rohingya in Myanmar Genocide Case

A view of the courtroom during the first hearing in which Myanmar is accused of committing genocide against the country's Muslim minority, the Rohingya, at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, The Netherlands, 12 January 2026. (EPA)
A view of the courtroom during the first hearing in which Myanmar is accused of committing genocide against the country's Muslim minority, the Rohingya, at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, The Netherlands, 12 January 2026. (EPA)

Myanmar soldiers rampaged door-to-door, systematically killing, raping, and burning Rohingya men, women and children, the International Court of Justice heard on Tuesday, on day two of a genocide hearing.

ICJ judges are hearing three weeks of testimony as they weigh accusations by The Gambia that Myanmar committed genocide against the Rohingya in a 2017 crackdown.

Tafadzwa Pasipanodya, a lawyer for The Gambia, laid out harrowing evidence of an alleged attack on a village in northern Rakhine State in Myanmar.

Soldiers decapitated old men, gang raped women and girls, threw infants into rivers.

After killing everyone in the villages, they "systematically" burned the buildings following the so-called "clearance operations", alleged Pasipanodya.

"The totality of this evidence... convincingly show that Myanmar, through its state organs, acted with the intent to destroy the Rohingya," said Pasipanodya.

Myanmar has always maintained the crackdown by its armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw, was justified to root out Rohingya insurgents after a series of attacks left a dozen security personnel dead.

The violence forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh.

Today, 1.17 million Rohingya live crammed into dilapidated camps spread over 8,000 acres in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh.

Lawyers for Myanmar will begin their response on Friday.

A final decision could take months or even years, and while the ICJ has no means of enforcing its decisions, a ruling in favor of The Gambia would heap more political pressure on Myanmar.

The Gambia is taking Myanmar to the ICJ, which rules in disputes between states, alleging breaches of the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, under which any state can haul another before the ICJ if it believes genocide is being committed.

Legal experts are watching this case as it could give clues for how the ICJ will handle similar accusations against Israel over its military campaign in Gaza, in a case brought by South Africa.

World

US Designates Three Muslim Brotherhood Chapters as Global Terrorists

Tourists stand next to the fence of the White House in Washington, DC, US December 26, 2025. (Reuters)
Tourists stand next to the fence of the White House in Washington, DC, US December 26, 2025. (Reuters)
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US Designates Three Muslim Brotherhood Chapters as Global Terrorists

Tourists stand next to the fence of the White House in Washington, DC, US December 26, 2025. (Reuters)
Tourists stand next to the fence of the White House in Washington, DC, US December 26, 2025. (Reuters)

The United States on Tuesday designated the Egyptian, Lebanese and Jordanian branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as global terrorists, citing in part what it called their support for Palestinian group Hamas.

The ‌move, which ‌Washington formally ‌set ⁠in motion ‌last November, will bring sanctions against one of the Arab world's oldest and most influential Islamist movements.

The Treasury said it ⁠was labeling the three chapters ‌as specially designated global ‍terrorists. ‍It has accused the ‍trio of supporting or encouraging violent attacks against Israel and US partners.

"Chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood purport to be legitimate civic organizations while, ⁠behind the scenes, they explicitly and enthusiastically support terrorist groups like Hamas," the Treasury Department said in a statement.

Republicans and right-wing voices have long advocated for and considered terrorist designations for ‌the Muslim Brotherhood.