MANILA: The Philippines said Wednesday there was no evidence that the country was being used for terrorist training, a day after it was revealed the men behind Australia&#39;s Bondi Beach mass shooting had spent November on a southern island known for Islamist insurgencies.&nbsp;&quot;(President Ferdinand Marcos) strongly rejects the sweeping statement and the misleading characterisation of the Philippines as the ISIS training hotspot,&quot; presidential spokeswoman Claire Castro said at a press briefing.&nbsp;&quot;No evidence has been presented to support claims that the country was used for terrorist training,&quot; she added, reading from a National Security Council statement.&nbsp;&quot;There is no validated report or confirmation that individuals involved in the Bondi Beach incident received any form of training in the Philippines.&quot;&nbsp;On Tuesday, the country&#39;s immigration office confirmed that Sajid Akram and his son Naveed, who killed 15 people and wounded dozens of others at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney&#39;s Bondi Beach, entered the country on November 1 headed for the southern province of Davao.&nbsp;The island of Mindanao, where Davao is located, has a long history of Islamist insurgencies against central government rule.&nbsp;Australian authorities are investigating whether the two men met with extremists during their <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/bondi-beach-shooters-arrived-as-indian-nationals-philippine-immigration" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philippines trip</a>.&nbsp;The Philippine military, however, said Wednesday that armed Muslim groups still operating on Mindanao had been largely degraded in the years since the siege of Marawi.&nbsp;The five-month battle for the city that pitted government forces against pro-Islamic State Maute and Abu Sayyaf militants claimed more than 1,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.&nbsp;&quot;We have not recorded any major terrorist operations or training activities &hellip; since the beginning of 2024,&quot; Philippine military spokeswoman Colonel Francel Padilla said at a morning press briefing.&nbsp;&quot;They are fragmented, and they have no leadership,&quot; she added of the insurgent groups.&nbsp;Colonel Xerxes Trinidad told reporters the father-and-son duo&#39;s November trip to the Philippines would not have provided adequate time for significant training.&nbsp;&quot;Training cannot be acquired in just 30 days ... especially if you are to undergo marksmanship (training),&quot; he said.&nbsp;But Rommel Banlaoi, a Manila-based security analyst, told AFP that while many insurgent groups were &quot;on the run,&quot; they were far from eradicated.&nbsp;&quot;There are still many active training camps in (central) Mindanao. Those did not disappear,&quot; he told AFP, adding even weakened insurgent movements maintained connections &quot;locally and globally online.&quot;

Asia

Australian authorities are investigating whether the two gunmen met with extremists during their Philippines trip.

Philippines says no evidence of 'terrorist training' after Bondi gunmen's visit

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: A powerful magnitude-7.4 earthquake struck off the southern Philippines on Friday, killing at least three people and triggering regional tsunami warnings that were later lifted, AFP reported. The quake hit about 20 kilometers (12 miles away) from Manay in the Mindanao region at 9:43 am (0143 GMT), the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said. The earthquake damaged a hospital and schools, the Associated Press reported.<div class="fr-embed"><div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1976467238350737834&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F&sessionId=d8731f6535d992d54a9eb1924ee5f10b1e306b33&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 248px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;"></iframe></div></div></div>&#39;Shaking was so strong&#39;&nbsp;Christine Sierte, a teacher in the town of Compostela near Manay, told AFP she was in the middle of an online meeting when the violent shaking started. &quot;It was very slow at first then it got stronger.... That&#39;s the longest time of my life. We weren&rsquo;t able to walk out of the building immediately because the shaking was so strong,&quot; she said. &quot;The ceilings of some offices fell, but luckily no one was injured,&quot; she said, though some of the school&#39;s 1,000-odd students &quot;suffered panic attacks and difficulty in breathing&quot;. Kath Cortez, a local journalist based in Davao city to the west of Manay, told AFP the ground floor walls of her family&#39;s house were showing small cracks. &quot;I was surprised by the strength. I had just woken up and was about to take a shower,&quot; she said, adding members of her family ran out of the house. Another earthquake&nbsp;Around the same time as the Philippine quake, USGS reported a shallow 6.2 magnitude temblor just over 140 kilometres southeast of Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.<div class="fr-embed"><div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1976486142896644270&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F&sessionId=d8731f6535d992d54a9eb1924ee5f10b1e306b33&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 248px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;"></iframe></div></div></div>A 99-kilometer-deep quake struck on Tuesday near the Pacific island nation&rsquo;s second-largest city of Lae. No major damage was reported. Damage in last earthquake&nbsp;The latest Philippine quake struck just 11 days after a 6.9-magnitude quake killed 74 people and destroyed or damaged about 72,000 houses in the central island of Cebu. Earthquakes are a near-daily occurrence in the Philippines, which is situated on the Pacific &quot;Ring of Fire&quot;, an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

The latest Philippine quake struck just 11 days after a 6.9-magnitude quake killed 74 people and destroyed or damaged about 72,000 houses in the central island of Cebu. 

7.4 magnitude quake off southern Philippines kills three people

Reuters

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; float: none; display: inline !important;" id="isPasted">MANILA:&nbsp;The death toll from a 6.9-magnitude earthquake that hit the central Philippines has risen to 69, a disaster official said on Wednesday as the government mobilized agencies to search for survivors and restore power and water supplies. In Bogo city in the north of Cebu province, which was near the epicentre of the shallow quake that struck off the coast just before 10 p.m. on Tuesday, the hospital has been &quot;overwhelmed,&quot; Civil Defense official Raffy Alejandro told reporters. The death toll of 69 was based on data from the Cebu provincial disaster office and was subject to validation, said Jane Abapo, an information officer at the regional Civil Defense office. Another official said more than 150 people were injured. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr assured survivors of swift assistance, saying cabinet secretaries were on the ground directing relief operations, as he expressed his condolences to those who lost loved ones. Cebu, one of the Philippines&#39; most popular tourist destinations, is home to 3.4 million people. Despite the damage, Mactan-Cebu International Airport, the country&#39;s second busiest gateway, remained operational. Another hard-hit town, San Remigio was placed under a state of calamity to help the response and relief efforts. Vice Mayor Alfie Reynes appealed for food and water for evacuees, as well as heavy equipment to aid search and rescue workers. &quot;It is raining heavily and there is no electricity, so we really need help, especially in the northern part because there&#39;s a scarcity of water after supply lines were damaged by the earthquake,&quot; Reynes told DZMM radio. In the nearby town of Pilar, resident Archel Coraza said most of his family were asleep when their house began to shake violently. &quot;I woke them up and we all rushed outside into the street,&quot; he told DZMM. Coraza, who lives close to the shoreline, said he saw seawater recede after the tremor. Local media posted videos of people rushing out of their homes as the ground shook and buildings collapsed, including a church that was more than 100 years old. Reynes said among the deceased were some people who had been playing basketball in a sports complex in San Remigio when it partially collapsed due to the quake. Earthquake monitoring agencies estimated the quake&#39;s depth at around 10 km (6.2 miles) and recorded multiple aftershocks, the strongest of which had a magnitude of 6. There was no tsunami threat following the quake. The Philippines lies in the Pacific &quot;Ring of Fire,&quot; an area characterized by frequent volcanic activity and earthquakes. The country experienced two major earthquakes in January, with no reported casualties. In 2023, a 6.7 magnitude offshore earthquake killed eight people.

Earthquake monitoring agencies put quake's depth at around 10 km; record multiple aftershocks, the strongest having a magnitude of 6.9

Philippines quake death toll rises to 69, official says

<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MANILA: Philippine police arrested 49 people suspected of hurling rocks, bottles and firebombs at officers and blocking heavily guarded roads and bridges leading to the presidential palace Sunday while a peaceful anti-corruption rally took place in the capital, officials and witnesses said.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The melee outside the country&rsquo;s seat of power unfolded as more than 33,000 other protesters rallied in a historic park and at a democracy monument in Manila.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They expressed outrage over a corruption scandal involving lawmakers, officials and construction company owners who allegedly pocketed huge kickbacks from flood-control projects in the impoverished Southeast Asian country that is regularly buffeted by storms and typhoons. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The hours-long rampage by about 100 mostly club-wielding people, some of whom waved Philippine flags and displayed cardboard posters with anti-corruption slogans, wounded about 70 Manila law enforcers, according to the Manila police. Schools were canceled due to the violence. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Police said they deployed tear gas to try to disperse the attackers, who sprayed graffiti on walls, toppled steel posts, shattered glass panels and ransacked the lobby of a budget inn along a busy road lined with university campuses, banks and restaurants before dispersing at night. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hours after the assault, police had yet to identify the attackers, some of whom carried black flags with a skull-and-crossbones caricature. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was also unclear if they had earlier participated in the peaceful protests before heading toward the presidential office. It was not immediately known if President Marcos Jr. was in the Malacanang presidential palace during the chaos.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Police said in a statement after the arrests that the situation was &ldquo;contained&rdquo; but warned that violence and vandalism would not be tolerated. <h4 style="line-height: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Protesting corruption</h4><span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&ldquo;I feel bad that we wallow in poverty and we lose our homes, our lives and our future while they rake in a big fortune from our taxes that pay for their luxury cars, foreign trips and bigger corporate transactions,&rdquo; student activist Althea Trinidad told The Associated Press in Manila. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trinidad lives in Bulacan, a flood-prone province north of Manila where officials said the most flood-control projects were being investigated either as substandard or nonexistent. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&ldquo;Our purpose is not to destabilize but to strengthen our democracy,&rdquo; Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, the head of the Catholic Bishops&rsquo; Conference of the Philippines, said in a statement. He called on the public to demonstrate peacefully and demand accountability. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Marcos first highlighted the flood-control corruption scandal in July in his annual state of the nation speech. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He later established an independent commission to investigate what he said were anomalies in many of the 9,855 flood-control projects worth more than 545 billion pesos ($9.5 billion) that were supposed to have been undertaken since he took office in mid-2022. He called the scale of corruption &ldquo;horrible&rdquo; and accepted his public works secretary&#39;s resignation. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Public outrage erupted when a wealthy couple who ran several construction companies that won lucrative flood-control project contracts showed dozens of European and American luxury cars they owned during media interviews. The fleet included a British luxury car costing 42 million pesos ($737,000) that they said they bought because it came with a free umbrella.

clashes with anti-corruption protesters in Manila, Philippines

49 arrested in Manila unrest over $9.5B flood-control scandal

Philippine police arrest dozens in anti-corruption protest clashes

<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MANILA: &nbsp;Thousands of protesters took to the streets in the Philippine capital on Sunday to express their outrage over a corruption scandal involving lawmakers, officials and businesspeople who allegedly pocketed huge kickbacks from flood-control projects in the poverty-stricken and storm-prone Southeast Asian country. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Police forces and troops were put on alert to prevent any outbreak of violence. Thousands of police officers were deployed to secure separate protests in a historic Manila park and near a democracy monument along the main EDSA highway, also in the capital region, where organizers hoped to draw one of the largest turnouts of anti-corruption protesters in the country in recent years. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The United States and Australian embassies issued travel advisories asking their citizens to stay away from the protests as a safety precaution. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A group of protesters waved Philippine flags and displayed a banner that read: &ldquo;No more, too much, jail them,&rdquo; as they marched in the Manila protest and demanded the immediate prosecution of all those involved in the scandal. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&ldquo;I feel bad that we wallow in poverty and we lose our homes, our lives and our future while they rake in a big fortune from our taxes that pay for their luxury cars, foreign trips and bigger corporate transactions,&rdquo; student activist Althea Trinidad told The Associated Press in Manila, where she joined a noisy crowd that police estimated at around 8,000 people by midday. &ldquo;We want to shift to a system where people will no longer be abused.&rdquo; <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trinidad lives in Bulacan, a flood-prone province north of Manila where officials said the most flood-control projects were being investigated either as substandard or nonexistent. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&ldquo;Our purpose is not to destabilize but to strengthen our democracy,&rdquo; Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, the head of the Catholic Bishops&rsquo; Conference of the Philippines, said in a statement. He called on the public to demonstrate peacefully and demand accountability. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Organizers said protesters would focus on denouncing corrupt public works officials, legislators and owners of construction companies, along with a system that allows large-scale corruption, but they would not call on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to step down. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Marcos first highlighted the flood-control corruption scandal in July in his annual state of the nation speech.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He later established an independent commission to investigate what he said were anomalies in many of the 9,855 flood-control projects worth more than 545 billion pesos ($9.5 billion) that were supposed to have been undertaken since he took office in mid-2022. He called the scale of corruption &ldquo;horrible&rdquo; and has accepted his public works secretary&#39;s resignation. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Public outrage erupted when a wealthy couple who ran several construction companies that won lucrative flood-control project contracts showed dozens of European and American luxury cars and SUVs they owned during media interviews. The fleet included a British luxury car costing 42 million pesos ($737,000) that they said they bought because it came with a free umbrella. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Under intense public criticism, the couple, Sarah and Pacifico Discaya, later identified during a televised Senate inquiry at least 17 House of Representatives legislators and public works officials who allegedly forced them to pay huge kickbacks so they could secure flood-control projects in an explosive testimony. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Two prominent senators were later implicated in the scandal by a former government engineer in a separate House inquiry. All those named denied wrongdoing but they face multiple investigations. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Senate President Francis Escudero and House Speaker Martin Romualdez separately stepped down in a widening fallout from the scandal, as both chambers of Congress face intensifying criticism after several legislators were implicated in the corruption allegations. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At least three government engineers were dismissed and 15 others were being investigated prior to dismissal. All face criminal complaints and their bank accounts, houses, cars and other assets will be frozen, Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon said.

Central Asia

Scandal tied to $9.5 billion in flood-control projects.

Protest erupts in Manila over Philippines flood control corruption scandal

<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ISLAMABAD: China&rsquo;s coast guard accused a Philippine vessel of ramming near the disputed Scarborough Shoal, but Manila denied it, alleging Chinese forces used water cannons that damaged its ship and injured a crew member.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In a statement, China&rsquo;s coast guard said more than 10 Philippine government ships approached from several directions and entered waters around the shoal, which Beijing calls Huangyan Island. It said Chinese units deployed water cannons against the vessels.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The encounter came six days after China designated part of Scarborough Shoal a national nature reserve. The Philippine government, which calls the feature Bajo de Masinloc, filed a diplomatic protest.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Philippine Coast Guard said two Chinese coast guard ships hit a Filipino fisheries vessel, the BRP Datu Gumbay Piang, with powerful water cannons for nearly 30 minutes, causing &ldquo;significant damage&rdquo; to the captain&rsquo;s cabin and the bridge.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A shattered glass window injured one crew member, it said, while flooding triggered a short circuit that affected electrical outlets and five outdoor air-conditioning units, AP reported.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Philippine Coast Guard added that a Chinese navy warship broadcast a radio notice &ldquo;announcing live-fire exercises&rdquo; at the shoal, which it said caused panic among Filipino fishermen.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Philippine coast guard and fisheries ships were deployed to the shoal on Tuesday to provide fuel, water, ice and other aid to more than 35 fishing boats in the area. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A statement from the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the Chinese action &ldquo;yet another coercive move to advance sweeping territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea at the expense of its neighbors.&rdquo; <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The U.K. and Australia also expressed concern, and the Canadian Embassy in the Philippines said it opposed attempts to use environmental protection as a way to take control over the disputed Scarborough Shoal.

China

China’s coast guard accused a Philippine vessel of ramming near the disputed Scarborough Shoal, but Manila denied it, alleging Chinese forces used water cannons that damaged its ship and injured a crew member

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