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Philippines Says China Has No Right to Object or Interfere with Its ‘Lawful’ Activities in South China Sea 

In this handout photo grabbed from video provided by the Philippine Coast Guard/Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (PCG/BFAR), a Chinese Coast Guard ship, left, uses a water cannon and sideswiped a Philippine fisheries vessel on a research mission near one of three sandbars called Sandy Cay in the disputed South China Sea on Wednesday May 21, 2025. (PCG/BFAR via AP)
In this handout photo grabbed from video provided by the Philippine Coast Guard/Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (PCG/BFAR), a Chinese Coast Guard ship, left, uses a water cannon and sideswiped a Philippine fisheries vessel on a research mission near one of three sandbars called Sandy Cay in the disputed South China Sea on Wednesday May 21, 2025. (PCG/BFAR via AP)
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Philippines Says China Has No Right to Object or Interfere with Its ‘Lawful’ Activities in South China Sea 

In this handout photo grabbed from video provided by the Philippine Coast Guard/Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (PCG/BFAR), a Chinese Coast Guard ship, left, uses a water cannon and sideswiped a Philippine fisheries vessel on a research mission near one of three sandbars called Sandy Cay in the disputed South China Sea on Wednesday May 21, 2025. (PCG/BFAR via AP)
In this handout photo grabbed from video provided by the Philippine Coast Guard/Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (PCG/BFAR), a Chinese Coast Guard ship, left, uses a water cannon and sideswiped a Philippine fisheries vessel on a research mission near one of three sandbars called Sandy Cay in the disputed South China Sea on Wednesday May 21, 2025. (PCG/BFAR via AP)

The Philippine foreign ministry said on Thursday that China has no right to object to or interfere with its lawful and routine activities in the South China Sea.

The ministry said it also "rejects and refutes" recent statements of the Chinese embassy in Manila that Beijing has indisputable sovereignty over the Spratly islands.

The Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and China between them have claims and a presence on dozens of features in the Spratly archipelago, ranging from reefs and rocks to islands, natural and artificial. China's manmade islands there include runways, radar towers, ports and missile systems.

"We urge China to respect the Philippines' sovereignty and jurisdiction, even as we continue to pursue peaceful and legal means to manage differences and the situation at sea," foreign ministry spokesperson Teresita Daza said in a statement.

China and the Philippines traded accusations last week following a confrontation between two of their vessels in contested waters of the South China Sea, the latest incident in a long-running row in the strategic waterway.

The Philippines' fisheries bureau said the lives of a civilian crew were put at risk when the Chinese coast guard fired water cannons and sideswiped a vessel as it conducted marine research around a disputed reef.

The Chinese coast guard said two Philippine vessels had illegally entered waters near Subi Reef, a Chinese-built artificial island, and organized personnel to land on the unoccupied sandbars of Sandy Cay.

"The Philippines is clearly within its rights to conduct routine maritime operations and scientific research in and around these features, and will continue to do so," Daza said. "China has no right to object much less interfere with these lawful and routine activities."

China claims sovereignty over nearly all the South China Sea, including parts of the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. An international arbitral tribunal in 2016 said Beijing's expansive claim has no basis under international law.

The Chinese embassy in its statement sent to media on Monday said the Philippines had since January made 27 "unauthorized landings" on features, despite a 2002 agreement among Southeast Asian countries and China to refrain from doing so.

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World

New French Protests Focus on Children and Police

A protester waves a French flag amid tear gas smoke during a demonstration in Lyon, France. (Getty Images/AFP)
A protester waves a French flag amid tear gas smoke during a demonstration in Lyon, France. (Getty Images/AFP)
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New French Protests Focus on Children and Police

A protester waves a French flag amid tear gas smoke during a demonstration in Lyon, France. (Getty Images/AFP)
A protester waves a French flag amid tear gas smoke during a demonstration in Lyon, France. (Getty Images/AFP)

France faces more rallies on Saturday with demonstrators venting frustrations ranging from inflation to opposition to a new police bill at the latest protests.

The European Union's second largest economy has been gripped by high-school blockades and cost-of-living demonstrations for more than a month, ahead of presidential elections next year that the far right sees as its best chance of seizing power.

Some of the largely peaceful rallies have seen fringe violence, as well as accusations of police brutality.

People were to take to the streets for the fifth Saturday in a row, with a main rally in Paris from 1:00 pm (1200 GMT) and dozens of other gatherings across the country.

In the capital, the Yellow Vest movement would join high-school students, unions and other activists fighting for children's rights or opposed to a bill to give police more protection in their use of weapons.

"Society's in bad shape," said Claire Bourdille, from a collective battling violence against children and teenagers. "We can't focus on one cause more than another."

Activists have in recent months demanded better protection for children against sexual abuse.

Others will be protesting against a new bill in parliament to grant police who use their weapons a presumption of legitimate self-defense.

Backers, including the far-right National Rally party of presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen, say it is necessary to avoid police being automatically suspected of using disproportionate force.

- 'License to kill' -

Activists argue the bill, approved by the lower house and soon to go to the Senate, amounts to a "license to kill".

They say it would make holding security forces accountable even harder in a country where most cases of alleged police brutality rarely reach a criminal court.

Lawyers last week denounced alleged police violence at recent protests that led to "mutilations" including hand, foot and eye injuries.

Karl Ghazi, of the CGT union, said Saturday's protest in Paris might be different with "real activist fatigue" after a month and a half of protests.

"It'll essentially be child rights activists on one side and people against the 'license to kill' on the other," he said.

Around 146,000 people took part in demonstrations across France on Saturday last week, according to authorities, far lower numbers than on previous weekends.

The largest protests in recent weeks occurred during a union-led strike on Thursday last week, when more than half a million people took to the streets nationwide, according to official figures.

Unions have called for a new day of strikes on Tuesday, after rejecting a government promise to increase the minimum wage by 0.6 percent as "crumbs".

World

US Forces Responded to Suspected Drone Activity Over Base in Britain

The main entrance at the RAF Lakenheath airbase, which hosts United States Air Force (USAF) personnel, amid reports of a security threat in Lakenheath, Britain, November 13, 2026. (Reuters)
The main entrance at the RAF Lakenheath airbase, which hosts United States Air Force (USAF) personnel, amid reports of a security threat in Lakenheath, Britain, November 13, 2026. (Reuters)
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US Forces Responded to Suspected Drone Activity Over Base in Britain

The main entrance at the RAF Lakenheath airbase, which hosts United States Air Force (USAF) personnel, amid reports of a security threat in Lakenheath, Britain, November 13, 2026. (Reuters)
The main entrance at the RAF Lakenheath airbase, which hosts United States Air Force (USAF) personnel, amid reports of a security threat in Lakenheath, Britain, November 13, 2026. (Reuters)

US forces responded to possible unauthorized drone activity over a military base in Britain Friday, spokespeople from the two countries said, in the latest security incident at a facility hosting American warplanes.

"No personnel, aircraft or infrastructure were affected" at the RAF Lakenheath base, a US Air Force spokesperson said in a statement.

"We continue to work closely with our host nation counterparts to ensure the safety and security of our US service members, US and host nation civilians, contractors, and all of our families," the statement added.

A spokesperson for Britain's Ministry of Defense confirmed that account in a statement that said "the situation is now resolved."

A post on the official RAF Lakenheath Facebook page earlier this week urged people to report "suspicious activity, including unauthorized drone activity."

"Our strongest security asset is an observant community," the post said.

The possible drone incident at Lakenheath came after the US Justice Department announced charges earlier in the week against three men it described as "Iranian operatives" over their role in an alleged terrorist plot at RAF Fairford, another British base.

The three men allegedly helped plan and direct the September incident at the base, which came to light when police were called after a local farmer reported seeing a group of men with several white vans engaged in "suspicious" activity.

- Iran war fallout -

A US charging document stated that a man identified as Mohammad Ali al-Hassani directed unnamed individuals to drive to the base in the vans, some of which contained barrels of fuel, and that he earlier paid the group to buy metallic objects that could be used as shrapnel.

Days later, the United States withdrew all its B-1 bombers from the base.

UK police last month charged two British men with national security offenses related to the RAF Fairford incident.

One was charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service, believed to be in Iran, and another with entering a prohibited place for a purpose "prejudicial" to the UK.

Flight-tracking data meanwhile showed Tuesday that the US military had removed at least a dozen aircraft from another British airbase, RAF Mildenhall, following what the Wall Street Journal said was a threat from Iran.

The United States has flown military aircraft from bases in Britain as part of the US-Israeli war against Iran sparked earlier this year, which saw Tehran respond by launching missiles and drones at countries across the region, while the militant groups it backs also entered the fray.

In an interview broadcast Wednesday, Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei threatened to strike US bases beyond the Middle East, including in Europe, if they are used for attacks against the country.

Iranian officials have previously threatened to expand the geographic scope of the conflict should the US attack again.

In late September, an adviser to Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei publicly mused that the war could "expand even further, reaching the Indian Ocean and perhaps beyond."

World

Rubio Says Further US Military Action Is Not Needed Against Economically Weakened Iran

Secretary Marco Rubio delivers a keynote speech at Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention, in Washington, DC on November 13, 2026. (AFP)
Secretary Marco Rubio delivers a keynote speech at Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention, in Washington, DC on November 13, 2026. (AFP)
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Rubio Says Further US Military Action Is Not Needed Against Economically Weakened Iran

Secretary Marco Rubio delivers a keynote speech at Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention, in Washington, DC on November 13, 2026. (AFP)
Secretary Marco Rubio delivers a keynote speech at Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention, in Washington, DC on November 13, 2026. (AFP)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that further US military action against Iran is unnecessary because the economic pain the US is inflicting on a weakened country is so great.

Rubio's comment in a speech to the Federalist Society reinforced a statement by US President Donald Trump earlier in the week that the war “militarily is effectively over.”

“And right now, frankly, the economic pain that we are inflicting on that regime is so great that there’s no need for military action because we’ve weakened them so much,” Rubio said. “But I think victory is ensuring that they never have a nuclear weapon.”

Rubio also acknowledged the economic pain Americans have experienced as a result of the war, which has driven up fuel costs and affected nearly every sector of the global economy.

It would have been easy for Trump to ignore the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program, avoid an unpopular war and “leave it for the next person to worry about,” he said, adding that the president decided he was “not going to leave it unaddressed.”

“But it’s hard,” Rubio said. “It’s not easy and it’s difficult. And oftentimes it inflicts, you know, pain, economic pain and otherwise. So we recognize that.”