China orders its air force, navy to track U.S. and British warships as they pass through Taiwan Strait; North Korea calls U.S.-South Korean-Japan military exercise ‘reckless show of strength’; and Marco Rubio visiting Israel as it intensifies attacks on Gaza.
1. China ordered its air force and navy to track U.S. and British warships as they passed through the Taiwan Strait on a recent joint patrol that Beijing said sent the “wrong signal.” The guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins and the guided-missile frigate HMS Richmond on Friday passed through the 110-mile-wide strait that separates Taiwan from mainland China. China’s Eastern Theater Command said it sent naval and air forces to “track and monitor” the two ships, the command wrote Friday on its Weibo social media account. “These actions by the U.S. and U.K. send the wrong signal and undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” wrote spokesman Col. Shi Yi. “The theater command’s troops remain on high alert at all times, resolutely safeguarding national sovereignty and security and regional peace.”
2. The United States, South Korea and Japan opened an air and naval exercise off a South Korean island Monday in their latest joint drill condemned by North Korea as a “reckless show of strength.” The exercise called Freedom Edge is aimed at strengthening the countries’ combined operational capabilities in the sea, air and cyberspace and is necessary to counter North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threats, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said. The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the exercise will include U.S. Marine and Air Force aerial assets and feature enhanced ballistic-missile and air-defense drills, medical evacuations and maritime operations training, making it “the most advanced demonstration of trilateral defense cooperation to date.” The exercise off South Korea’s southern Jeju Island runs through Friday.
3. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Israel on Sunday as its military intensified attacks on northern Gaza, flattening multiple high-rise building and killing at least 13 Palestinians. Rubio said before the trip that he would seek answers from Israeli officials about their view of a path forward in Gaza, following Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Qatar last week that upended efforts to broker an end to the conflict. His two-day visit also represents a show of support for the increasingly isolated Israel as the United Nations holds what is expected to be a contentious debate next week on commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly opposes the recognition of a Palestinian state.
4. Ukrainian drones have struck one of Russia’s largest oil refineries, sparking a fire, Russian officials and Ukraine’s military said Sunday. The overnight strike on the Kirishi refinery, in Russia’s northwestern Leningrad region, follows weeks of Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil infrastructure that Kyiv says fuels Moscow’s war effort. The facility, operated by Russian company Surgutneftegas, produces close to 17.7 million metric tons per year (355,000 barrels per day) of crude, and is one of Russia’s top three by output. More than three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, drones continue to be a key weapon for both sides. Multiple Russian drones crossed into Poland on Wednesday, prompting NATO to send fighter jets to shoot them down and underlining long-held concerns that the fighting might spill over beyond Ukraine’s borders.
5. Personnel from a U.S. warship boarded a Venezuelan tuna boat with nine fishermen while it was sailing in Venezuelan waters, Venezuela’s foreign minister said on Saturday, underlining strained relations with the United States. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tensions between the two nations escalated after U.S. President Donald Trump in August ordered the deployment of warships in the Caribbean, off the coast of the South American country, citing the fight against Latin American drug cartels. While reading a statement on Saturday, Foreign Minister Yván Gil told journalists the Venezuelan tuna boat was “illegally and hostilely boarded by a United States Navy destroyer” and 18 armed personnel who remained on the vessel for eight hours, preventing communication and the fishermen’s normal activities. They were then released under escort by the Venezuelan navy.
- Security