Philippine VP Duterte Criticizes Marcos for Leaning Towards US

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte slammed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for leaning towards the US, while signaling openness to friendlier ties with China.
Duterte particularly criticized Marcos' move to allow an American missile system on Philippine soil that has angered Beijing, saying Manila has nothing to do with tensions between the US and China.

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Yahoo

35 minutes ago

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Iran's supreme leader asks Putin to do more after US strikes

By Parisa Hafezi and Guy Faulconbridge ISTANBUL/MOSCOW (Reuters) -Iran's supreme leader sent his foreign minister to Moscow on Monday to ask President Vladimir Putin for more help from Russia after the biggest U.S. military action against the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution over the weekend. U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel have publicly speculated about killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and about regime change, a step Russia fears could sink the Middle East into the abyss. While Putin has condemned the Israeli strikes, he has yet to comment on the U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear sites though he last week called for calm and offered Moscow's services as a mediator over the nuclear programme. A senior source told Reuters that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was due to deliver a letter from Khamenei to Putin, seeking the latter's support. Iran has not been impressed with Russia's support so far, Iranian sources told Reuters, and the country wants Putin to do more to back it against Israel and the United States. The sources did not elaborate on what assistance Tehran wanted. The Kremlin said that Putin would receive Araqchi but did not say what would be discussed. Araqchi was quoted by the state TASS news agency as saying that Iran and Russia were coordinating their positions on the current escalation in the Middle East. Putin has repeatedly offered to mediate between the United States and Iran, and said that he had conveyed Moscow's ideas on resolving the conflict to them while ensuring Iran's continued access to civil nuclear energy. The Kremlin chief last week refused to discuss the possibility that Israel and the United States would kill Khamenei. Putin said that Israel had given Moscow assurances that Russian specialists helping to build two more reactors at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran would not be hurt in air strikes. Russia, a longstanding ally of Tehran, plays a role in Iran's nuclear negotiations with the West as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and a signatory to an earlier nuclear deal Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018. But Putin, whose army is fighting a major war of attrition in Ukraine for the fourth year, has so far shown little appetite in public for diving into a confrontation with the United States over Iran just as Trump seeks to repair ties with Moscow. (Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

CNBC

an hour ago

• CNBC

The Iran-Israel conflict isn't denting Chinese business optimism in the Middle East

BEIJING — The recent flare-up in Middle East tensions isn't denting Chinese business optimism about opportunities in the region. Chinese shipments to Dubai's logistics hub have risen by 20% this month from a year ago, as locals stock up on batteries and daily necessities, according to estimates from Bear Huo, China general manager at FundPark, a fintech startup that lends money to small Chinese businesses selling overseas via internet platforms. "Overall, Chinese merchants are relatively optimistic," he said Monday in Mandarin, according to a CNBC translation. That's partly due to the relatively recent rise of the Middle East as a fast-growing market, he added. Chinese companies have increasingly turned to the region in the last few years — whether to raise money from local investors or to tap a new market for electric cars — amid trade tensions with the United States. On the geopolitical front, Beijing helped Riyadh and Tehran restore diplomatic relations in 2023. Huo's view is that the Iran-Israel tensions will end relatively soon, given that even the U.S. strikes have targeted specific strategic sites, and as fighting isn't spread out along a border as in the drawn-out conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Nevertheless, risks remain elevated as the Dubai port is right across the Strait of Hormuz from Iran. Ships are moving more slowly and there are fewer flights, Huo said. He said he does not know where products from Chinese sellers go to after they arrive in Dubai, and added that the company doesn't directly do business with Iran because of sanctions. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it "strongly condemns" the U.S. attacks on Iran over the weekend, while calling on all parties involved to "reach a ceasefire as soon as possible." China's trade with Iran has dropped sharply in the last two years, according to customs data accessed via Wind Information. The U.S.-sanctioned crude exporter has relied significantly on Beijing's purchases. "A more stable Middle East serves China's economic and strategic interests," said Yue Su, Beijing-based principal economist for China at the Economist Intelligence Unit. "Beijing will be interested to position itself as a constructive power capable of contributing to global stability," she said. She noted that Chinese businesses will likely interact cautiously with Iran, given concerns over possible secondary sanctions. State news broadcaster CCTV aired interviews Sunday of Chinese citizens grateful for Beijing's efforts to evacuate them from Iran. While there are strict warnings on U.S. citizens traveling to Iran, Chinese citizens have been able to visit Iran without a visa for three weeks, for tourism or business. Most Chinese nationals who were in Iran have been evacuated, the Chinese Embassy in Iran said Monday. On an even more optimistic note, if the latest escalation results in a relaxation of U.S. sanctions on Iran, tens of thousands of Chinese businesses would likely rush to the Middle Eastern country to build up its tourism, real estate and overall infrastructure, said Qin Gang, Beijing-based founder of a consultancy that translates as Ode & Song Cultural Industry. He said he visited five cities in Iran in 2013 at the invitation of Mahan Air, a private-sector Iranian airline.

Washington Post

an hour ago

• Washington Post

Okinawa marks 80 years since end of one of harshest WWII battles with pledge to share tragic history

TOKYO — Okinawa marked the 80th anniversary of the end of one of the harshest battles of World War II fought on the southern island. With global tensions escalating, its governor said on Monday it is the Okinawan 'mission' to keep telling the tragic history and its impact today. The Battle of Okinawa killed a quarter of the island's population, leading to a 27-year U.S. occupation and a heavy American troop presence to date. Monday's memorial comes one day after U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities , adding to a sense of uncertainty on the island about the heavy American military presence and in its remote islands , already worried about getting embroiled in a potential conflict in Taiwan. Gov. Denny Tamaki, noting the escalating global conflicts and nuclear threats, made a resolve to contribute to global peace studies, disarmament and the preservation of war remains. 'It is our mission, as those living in the present, to preserve and pass on the reality and lessons to future generations.' U.S. troops landed on the main Okinawa island on April 1, 1945, beginning a battle in their push toward mainland Japan. The Battle of Okinawa lasted nearly three months, killing some 200,000 people — about 12,000 Americans and more than 188,000 Japanese, half of them Okinawan civilians including students and victims forced into mass suicides by Japan's military. Okinawa was sacrificed by Japan's Imperial Army to defend the mainland, historians say. The island group remained under U.S. occupation until its reversion in 1972 , two decades longer than most of Japan. Monday's memorial was held at the Mabuni Hill in Itoman City, where the remains of most of the war dead reside. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba was in a hot seat when he attended Monday's ceremony. Weeks earlier, one of his ruling party lawmakers Shoji Nishida, known for whitewashing Japan's wartime atrocities, denounced an inscription on a famous cenotaph dedicated to students as 'rewriting history' by portraying the Japanese army as having caused their deaths, while Americans liberated Okinawa. Nishida also called Okinawa's history education 'a mess.' His remark triggered an uproar in Okinawa, forcing Ishiba days later to apologize to the island's governor, who had criticized the remark as outrageous and distorting history. The Himeyuri Cenotaph commemorates student nurses who were abandoned near the end of the battle and killed, some in group suicides with teachers. Japan's wartime military told the people never to surrender to the enemy, or die. Nishida's remarks add to concerns about the whitewashing of Japan's embarrassing wartime past as memories of the tragedy fade and ignorance about the suffering grows. Ishiba, at Monday's memorial, said Japan's peace and prosperity is built on the sacrifices of Okinawa's history of hardship and that it is the government's responsibility to 'devote ourselves to achieve a peaceful and prosperous Okinawa.' Okinawa remained under U.S. occupation from 1945 until the 1972 reversion to Japan. The U.S. military maintains a heavy presence there due to Okinawa's strategic importance for security in the Pacific. Their presence serves not only to help defend Japan but also for missions elsewhere, including in the South China Sea and the Middle East. Private properties were confiscated to build U.S. bases, and the base-dependent economy has hampered the growth of local industry. Fear of a Taiwan conflict rekindles bitter memories of the Battle of Okinawa. Historians and many residents say Okinawa was used as a pawn to save mainland Japan. There are also ancient tensions between Okinawa and the Japanese mainland, which annexed the islands, formerly the independent kingdom of the Ryukus, in 1879. Okinawa remains home to the majority of about 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan under a bilateral security pact. The island, which accounts for only 0.6% of Japanese land, hosts 70% of U.S. military facilities. Even 53 years after its reversion to Japan, Okinawa is burdened with the heavy U.S. presence and faces noise, pollution, aircraft accidents and crime related to American troops, the governor said. Nearly 2,000 tons of unexploded U.S. bombs remain in Okinawa, with some regularly dug up. A recent explosion at a storage site at a U.S. military base caused minor injuries to four Japanese soldiers. Remains of hundreds of war dead are still unrecovered on Okinawa, as the government's search and identification effort is slow to make progress.