The Chinese military announced on Tuesday that it had sent forces to “track and monitor” a US Navy ship that sailed in disputed waters in the South China Sea, according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse.
The Chinese People's Liberation Army reported that the US littoral combat ship USS Charleston "illegally infiltrated the waters adjacent to Xianbin Jiao," using the Chinese name for Sabina Shoal in the Spratly Islands.
China, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Taiwan each claim parts or all of the island chain off the coast of the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
The Chinese Army's Southern Command said, in a statement on social media, that the "People's Liberation Army" sent forces "to track and monitor the American ship in accordance with laws and regulations."
It accused the US Navy of violating Chinese sovereignty, calling on the American side to “immediately stop such activities.”
Washington is a close ally of Manila and US forces are frequently active in the disputed waters.
On Tuesday, the Philippines refuted Beijing's allegations that the American ship entered its waters illegally.
Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad told reporters: “No single country has the authority to request advance permission to pass legally through international waters.”
On Tuesday morning, he warned China, calling on it to put an end to “coercive and aggressive practices,” without explicitly confirming the whereabouts of the USS Charleston.
The US Pacific Command has not yet responded to Agence France-Presse’s request for comment.
North Korean official media published pictures of leader Kim Jong Un during a visit to a clothing and shoe exhibition in Pyongyang, at a time when unconfirmed allegations spread on social media platforms that he suffered a severe brain hemorrhage, entered a coma, and even died in a hospital in the Chinese capital, Beijing.
Pictures published by the South Korean Yonhap Agency showed Kim walking around the exhibition with his daughter, Jo Ae, after it was reported that he visited the exhibition on Monday. North Korean media did not directly address the rumors regarding his health condition, while diplomatic and security officials in South Korea said they had not received any information to support these allegations.
Foreign media outlets, including the British newspaper The Sun and the American New York Post, reported stories circulating on social media platforms claiming that Kim suffered a severe cerebral hemorrhage, lost consciousness, and was transferred to a hospital in Beijing, before his condition deteriorated and his death was unofficially announced.
According to the South Korean Yonhap Agency, rumors began to spread on social media platforms abroad, based on posts that claimed that the North Korean leader suffered a severe cerebral hemorrhage, entered a coma, and was then transferred to the Beijing Federal Medical College Hospital due to weak medical capabilities in North Korea.
One of the circulating stories goes back to Xie Wangjun, a Chinese dissident residing in the United States who identifies himself as the head of the Chinese Democratic Party, which is banned in China. Shih wrote on the “X” platform that Kim lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital in Beijing, before later claiming his death and secretly returning his body to North Korea, while keeping the news secret.
Xie did not provide evidence to prove the accuracy of what he published. Posts containing unconfirmed allegations have also previously been circulated, including speculation about the death of Chinese President Xi Jinping and the use of a body double.
Fires in Indonesia destroyed more than 1.9 million hectares of land between January and the end of September this year, an observatory that analyzes satellite images said Monday.
The Indonesian government has not provided official figures for the areas affected by the fires since it announced at the end of July that the fires had destroyed 202,000 hectares.
David Gafo, founder of the Nusantara Atlas website, which specializes in monitoring deforestation, indicated that the actual scope of the fires may be much larger than the area of 1,916,588 hectares that his organization has monitored so far.
He said: “Our estimates of burned areas are conservative for two reasons: first, because we exclude individual fire hotspots with an area of less than 6.25 hectares...and second, because we place a priority on avoiding any false monitoring.”
This year's calculations were also affected by heavy smog, which sometimes obscured satellite images.
“Therefore, the total reported burned area is less than the actual area burned,” Gafo added.
However, Nusantara Atlas data shows that the area burned by the end of September this year is 38 percent greater than in the same period in 2019.
The satellites used by the site were not available during the severe fires that broke out in 2015, so there is no comparable data available.
But Gafo believes this year will be just as bad. He added: “My intuition says the situation could be just as bad.” If we look at the huge number of fire spots, we find that it continues to rise, time after time,” according to Agence France-Presse.
