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Philippines, Australia, Canada Hold Joint Sail in South China Sea 

Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense, Richard Marles (L), and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro (R) shake hands before holding a meeting at a hotel in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines, 22 August 2025. (EPA)
Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense, Richard Marles (L), and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro (R) shake hands before holding a meeting at a hotel in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines, 22 August 2025. (EPA)
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Philippines, Australia, Canada Hold Joint Sail in South China Sea 

Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense, Richard Marles (L), and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro (R) shake hands before holding a meeting at a hotel in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines, 22 August 2025. (EPA)
Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense, Richard Marles (L), and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro (R) shake hands before holding a meeting at a hotel in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines, 22 August 2025. (EPA)

The navies of the Philippines, Australia and Canada were conducting a joint sail in the South China Sea on Tuesday, an area of flaring tensions following a collision between two Chinese vessels last week.

The Philippine frigate BRP Jose Rizal, Australian destroyer HMAS Brisbane and Canadian frigate HMCS Ville de Quebec were participating in the operation, which a Philippine military official said was not directed at any country.

"Our activity is based on the premise that the exercise is anchored on the free and open Indo-Pacific with peace and prosperity in the region," colonel Dennis Hernandez told a media briefing, adding that the joint sail was taking place within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.

The activity, which began on Sunday off the western province of Oriental Mindoro and will end in Palawan, is part of the ongoing military drills between the Philippines and Australia.

Called ALON, a Filipino word for "wave", the 15-day joint exercises, which began on August 15, include amphibious and land operations as well as live fire exercises designed to enhance the abilities of the two militaries to cooperate better.

This year's iteration is the largest joint activity to date, with 3,600 troops from both sides joined by a Canadian Navy contingent, as well as US Marines.

ALON started in 2023, the same year Australia and the Philippines elevated their ties to a strategic partnership in order to address the rising security challenges in the region, including in the South China Sea, where $3 trillion of annual shipborne commerce takes place.

Manila aims to increase the frequency of joint sails with foreign partners, Philippine navy spokesperson Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad told reporters, saying that such activities help deter China's aggression in the South China Sea.

Since late 2023, the Philippines has conducted "maritime cooperative activities" with allies, including joint passages with treaty ally the United States.

Early this month, the Philippines and India also sailed together for the first time in the South China Sea.

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World

Nicaragua Arrests Dozens for Reportedly Supporting Capture of Maduro

People go through a checkpoint near Fuerte Tiuna (Fort Tiuna), which houses the headquarters of Venezuelan Ministry of Defense, in Caracas, Venezuela, 03 January 2026, after multiple explosions were reported across the capital. EPA/MIGUEL GUTIERREZ
People go through a checkpoint near Fuerte Tiuna (Fort Tiuna), which houses the headquarters of Venezuelan Ministry of Defense, in Caracas, Venezuela, 03 January 2026, after multiple explosions were reported across the capital. EPA/MIGUEL GUTIERREZ
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Nicaragua Arrests Dozens for Reportedly Supporting Capture of Maduro

People go through a checkpoint near Fuerte Tiuna (Fort Tiuna), which houses the headquarters of Venezuelan Ministry of Defense, in Caracas, Venezuela, 03 January 2026, after multiple explosions were reported across the capital. EPA/MIGUEL GUTIERREZ
People go through a checkpoint near Fuerte Tiuna (Fort Tiuna), which houses the headquarters of Venezuelan Ministry of Defense, in Caracas, Venezuela, 03 January 2026, after multiple explosions were reported across the capital. EPA/MIGUEL GUTIERREZ

Authorities in Nicaragua have arrested at least 60 people for reportedly celebrating or expressing support for the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, a human rights watchdog group and local media outlets said Friday.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo are staunch allies of Maduro, who was captured by US military personnel in Caracas last Saturday and taken to New York to face trial on drug and weapons charges.

Since the arrest of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, "at least 60 arbitrary arrests" have occurred over alleged support for the operation, the NGO Blue and White Monitoring, which compiles reports of human rights violations in Nicaragua, said in a post on X.

The group said 49 people remained in detention Friday "without information about their legal status," while nine people have been released and three others were temporarily detained, reported AFP.

"This new wave of repression is carried out without a judicial order and is based solely on expressions of opinion: comments on social media, private celebrations, or not repeating official propaganda," the group said.

According to Confidencial, a Nicaraguan newspaper published outside the country, the arrests took place under a "state of alert" ordered by Murillo following Maduro's capture -- including surveillance in neighborhoods and on social media.

La Prensa, another local newspaper, said the arrests occurred due to "posts in favor" of the US operation.

World

Death Toll Climbs After Trash Site Collapse Buries Dozens in Philippines

A huge mound of garbage that collapsed Thursday afternoon at a waste segregation facility in Binaliw, Cebu city, central Philippines is seen on Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Hernandez)
A huge mound of garbage that collapsed Thursday afternoon at a waste segregation facility in Binaliw, Cebu city, central Philippines is seen on Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Hernandez)
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Death Toll Climbs After Trash Site Collapse Buries Dozens in Philippines

A huge mound of garbage that collapsed Thursday afternoon at a waste segregation facility in Binaliw, Cebu city, central Philippines is seen on Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Hernandez)
A huge mound of garbage that collapsed Thursday afternoon at a waste segregation facility in Binaliw, Cebu city, central Philippines is seen on Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Hernandez)

Hard hat-wearing rescue workers and backhoes dug through rubble in search of survivors on Saturday in the shadow of a mountain of garbage that buried dozens of landfill employees in the central Philippines, killing at least four.

About 50 sanitation workers were buried when refuse toppled onto them Thursday from what a city councillor estimated was a height of 20 storeys at the Binaliw Landfill, a privately operated facility in Cebu City.

Rescuers were now facing the danger of further collapse as they navigated the wreckage, Cebu rescuer Jo Reyes told AFP on Saturday.

"Operations are ongoing as of the moment. It is continuous. (But) from time to time, the landfill is moving, and that will temporarily stop the operation," she said.

"We have to stop for a while for the safety of our rescuers."

Information from the disaster site has been emerging slowly, with city employees citing the lack of signal from the dumpsite, which serviced Cebu and other surrounding communities.

Joel Garganera, a Cebu City council member, told AFP that as of 10:00 am (0200 GMT), the death toll from the disaster had climbed to four, with 34 still missing.

"The four casualties were inside the facility when it happened... They have these staff houses inside where most people who were buried stayed," he said.

"It's very difficult on the part of the rescuers, because there are really heavy (pieces of steel), and every now and then, the garbage is moving because of the weight from above," Garganera said.

"We are hoping against hope here and praying for miracles," he said when asked about the timeline for rescue efforts.

"We cannot just jump to the retrieval (of bodies), because there are a lot of family members who are within the property waiting for any positive result."

At least 12 employees have so far been pulled alive from the garbage and hospitalized.

"Every now and then when it rains, there are landslides happening around the city of Cebu ... how much more (dangerous is that) for a landfill or a mountain that is made of garbage?" Garganera said in a phone call with AFP.

"The garbage is like a sponge, they really absorb water. It doesn't (take) a rocket scientist to say that eventually, the incident will happen."

Garganera described the height from which the trash fell as "alarming", estimating the top of the pile had stood 20 storeys above the area struck.

Drivers had long complained about the dangers of navigating the steep road to the top, he added.

Photos released by police on Friday showed a massive mound of trash atop a hill directly behind buildings that a city information officer had told AFP also contained administrative offices.

Garganera noted that the disaster was a "sad, double whammy" for the city, as the facility was the "lone service provider" for Cebu and adjacent communities.

The landfill "processes 1,000 tons of municipal solid waste daily", according to the website of its operator, Prime Integrated Waste Solutions.

Calls and emails to the company have so far gone unreturned.

Rita Cogay, who operates a compactor at the site, told AFP on Friday she had stepped outside to get a drink of water just moments before the building she had been in was crushed.

"I thought a helicopter had crashed. But when I turned, it was the garbage and the building coming down," the 49-year-old said.

World

China, Russia and Iran Join South Africa for Naval Drills as Tensions Run High

The Chinese guided-missile destroyer Tangshan, left, and the Russian corvette Stoikiy, right, in the Simon's Town harbor, in Cape Town, South Africa, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP)
The Chinese guided-missile destroyer Tangshan, left, and the Russian corvette Stoikiy, right, in the Simon's Town harbor, in Cape Town, South Africa, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP)
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China, Russia and Iran Join South Africa for Naval Drills as Tensions Run High

The Chinese guided-missile destroyer Tangshan, left, and the Russian corvette Stoikiy, right, in the Simon's Town harbor, in Cape Town, South Africa, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP)
The Chinese guided-missile destroyer Tangshan, left, and the Russian corvette Stoikiy, right, in the Simon's Town harbor, in Cape Town, South Africa, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP)

Chinese, Russian and Iranian warships launched a week of naval drills with host South Africa off the Cape Town coast Friday as geopolitical tensions run high over the United States' intervention in Venezuela and its move to seize tankers carrying Venezuelan oil.

The Chinese-led drills were organized last year under the BRICS bloc of developing nations and South Africa's armed forces said the maneuvers will practice maritime safety and anti-piracy operations and “deepen cooperation.”

China, Russia and South Africa are longtime members of BRICS, while Iran joined the group in 2024.

The Iranian navy was taking part in the drills while protests grow back home against the country's leadership.

It was not immediately clear if other countries from the BRICS group would take part in the drills. A spokesperson for the South African armed forces said he wasn't yet able to confirm all the countries participating in the drills, which are due to run until next Friday.

Chinese, Russian and Iranian ships were seen moving in and out of the harbor that serves South Africa's top naval base in Simon's Town, south of Cape Town, where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean. China's ships include the Tangshan, a 161-meter (528-foot) -long destroyer class vessel. Russia's Baltic Fleet said it sent a smaller warship, the Stoikiy, and a replenishment tanker to South Africa.

South Africa also hosted Chinese and Russian ships for navy drills in 2023.

The latest drills were meant to happen in late November but were delayed for diplomatic reasons because South Africa hosted Western and other world leaders for the Group of 20 summit around the same time.

The drills are bound to further strain ties between the US and South Africa, which is the most advanced economy in Africa and a leading voice for the continent but has been especially targeted for criticism by the Trump administration.

US President Donald Trump said in an executive order in February that South Africa supports "bad actors on the world stage" and singled out its ties with Iran as one of the reasons for the US cutting funding to the country. China and Russia have often used BRICS forums to launch criticism of the US and the West.

South Africa has long claimed it follows a nonaligned foreign policy and remains neutral, but Russian presence on the southern tip of Africa has strained its relationship with the US before. The Biden administration accused South Africa in 2023 of allowing a sanctioned Russian ship to dock at the Simon's Town naval base and load weapons to be taken to Russia for the war in Ukraine. South Africa denied the allegation.

South Africa's willingness to host Russian and Iranian warships has also been criticized inside the country. The Democratic Alliance, the second biggest political party in the coalition government, said it was opposed to hosting drills that included “heavily sanctioned” Russia and Iran.

“Calling these drills ‘BRICS cooperation’ is a political trick to soften what is really happening: Government is choosing closer military ties with rogue and sanctioned states such as Russia and Iran,” the Democratic Alliance said.