CBS News
U.S. and Philippines launch war games as Taiwan detects record number of Chinese military aircraft around island
Thousands of U.S. and Filipino troops launched joint exercises in the northern and western Philippines on Tuesday, after China held huge drills around Taiwan and a Chinese vessel collided with a Filipino patrol boat.
The exercises came as Taiwan detected a record 153 Chinese military aircraft around the self-ruled island, official data showed Tuesday. The aircraft were spotted in the 25 hours to 6:00 am on Tuesday, the defense ministry said in a statement — the most for a single day.
The annual Kamandag, or Venom, exercises are focused on defending the north coast of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon, which lies about 500 miles from self-ruled Taiwan.
Beijing considers Taiwan part of its territory and has vowed it will never rule out using force to take it, calling Monday’s drills a “stern warning” to “separatist” forces on the island.
Taiwan condemned China’s actions as “irrational and provocative”, and the U.S. called them “unwarranted”.
“This military pressure operation is irresponsible, disproportionate, and destabilizing,” Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement.
Tingshu Wang / REUTERS
The joint U.S.-Filipino exercises also come days after a collision between a Chinese and a Philippine vessel in the South China Sea.
It was the latest in a series of confrontations between the two countries in the strategic waterway claimed almost entirely by Beijing.
Philippine Marine Corps commandant Major General Arturo Rojas stressed at Tuesday’s opening ceremony in Manila that Kamandag was long planned and had “nothing to do with whatever is happening in the region.”
The drills’ primary focus will be live-fire exercises along Luzon’s north coast, while other activities will be conducted on tiny Philippine islands between Luzon and Taiwan.
“It’s a coastal defense doctrine. The doctrine says that a would-be aggressor might be directed towards our territory,” Filipino exercise director Brigadier-General Vicente Blanco told reporters.
“We are not exercising to join the fight (over Taiwan),” he added.
U.S. Marines representative Colonel Stuart Glenn said the exercises were aimed at helping the United States and its allies respond to “any crisis or contingencies.”
The western Philippine island of Palawan, facing the South China Sea, will also host part of the drills.
The U.S. and Philippines are fielding just over 1,000 participants each, while smaller numbers of Australian, British, Japanese and South Korean forces are also taking part.
An amphibious landing and training on how to defend against chemical and biological warfare were also among the activities planned, according to a press kit.
Ship “deliberately sideswiped” by Chinese vessel
As the war games began Tuesday, the Philippine government announced that the BRP Datu Cabaylo, a civilian patrol vessel, had sustained minor damage on October 11 when it was “deliberately sideswiped” by a “Chinese Maritime Militia” vessel.
The collision dented the 100-foot vessel’s front right section, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources said in a statement. It took place about 5.8 miles from Thitu, a Philippine-garrisoned island in the Spratly group.
Prior to the collision, the Chinese vessel also “conducted dangerous manoeuvres and tried to block the path” of the Filipino boat, which was conducting routine patrol, the bureau said.
The crew were unhurt and later sailed the vessel to Thitu.
“What they did to us is against international law and violates our sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea,” Nazario Briguera, the spokesman for the fisheries bureau, told AFP, using Manila’s term for its claimed sections of the South China Sea.
He said the Datu Cabaylo was the third vessel owned by the bureau that was damaged in clashes with Chinese vessels this year.
China has repeatedly rammed Philippine ships and blasted them with water cannons over the last two years. A “60 Minutes” crew got a close look at the tense situation when traveling on a Philippine Coast Guard ship that was rammed by the Chinese Coast Guard.
Beijing has for years sought to expand its presence in contested areas of the sea, brushing aside an international ruling that its claim to most of the waterway has no legal basis.
PLA EASTERN THEATRE COMMAND
China has in recent months deployed military, coast guard, as well as what the Philippines and its allies describe as “maritime militia” forces in a bid to eject the Philippines from a trio of other strategically important reefs and islands in the South China Sea.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
A so-called “doomsday fish” has washed up on a Southern California beach — typically an extremely rare occurrence, but this is the second time this year it has happened. The rare oarfish found on Grandview Beach in Encinitas measured roughly 9 to 10 feet and was spotted by a doctoral candidate at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, the school wrote on social media.
The doomsday fish got its name because it looks like a mythical sea creature, with a long, ribbon-shaped body that can grow up to 30 feet, according to Ocean Conservancy.
After doctoral candidate Alison Laferriere found the odd-looking fish — which resembles a larger-than-normal eel with a monstrous face — Ben Frable, manager of the Scripps Oceanography Marine Vertebrate Collection, contacted the NOAA Fisheries Service team to bring the animal to its Southwest Fisheries Science Center.
This oarfish is smaller than the one found in La Jolla in August 2024. Researchers are not yet sure why the rare fish has washed up on California beaches recently, and there have been few studies on the species.
Only 20 oarfish have washed up in California since 1901, according to the Scripps Institute. And these deep-sea dwellers usually only come ashore when they are sick, dying or disoriented, Ocean Conservatory says.
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
“It may have to do with changes in ocean conditions and increased numbers of oarfish off our coast,” Frable said, according to the institute’s social media post. “Many researchers have suggested this as to why deep-water fish strand on beaches. Sometimes it may be linked to broader shifts such as the El Niño and La Niña cycle but this is not always the case. There was a weak El Niño earlier this year. This wash-up coincided with the recent red tide and Santa Ana winds last week but many variables could lead to these strandings.”
The researchers at Scripps took samples and froze the specimen to further study the oarfish and its biology, anatomy, geonomics and history, according to Frable.
In a comment on the post, the institute cleared up a myth surrounding doomsday fish. “There have been many questions and comments about the connection between oarfish and earthquakes,” the comment states. “While oarfish have a mythical reputation as predictors of natural disasters and earthquakes, experts have debunked this as folklore. A 2019 study found no correlation between oarfish or ribbonfish strandings and earthquakes in Japan.”
The aforementioned study, published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, looked at reports of oarfish and slender ribbonfish in Japanese newspapers. Japanese folklore says the appearance of these fish means an earthquake is coming, but the researchers found there was hardly a relationship between these fish and the occurrence of earthquakes and that newspapers likely reported the fish sightings “because rare appearances might attract readers,” according to the study.
Oarfish typically live in the mesopelagic zone — the area of the ocean least explored by scientists. They float vertically through waters 3,280 feet deep, where there is little light. Their silvery, reflective bodies help them blend in if they do hit patches of light, according to the conservatory.
Washington — An “unknown and unauthorized third party” has gained access to two dozen depositions of witnesses tied to the various investigations into former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, CBS News has learned.
The leaked materials are part of a civil defamation case filed by Chris Dorworth, a lobbyist who is close to Gaetz. These materials include the sworn deposition of the minor with whom Gaetz allegedly had sex.
According to a source familiar with the matter and an email viewed by CBS News, the person who gained access went by the name “Altam Beezley.”
Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.
The New York Times first reported on the alleged leak.
This is a breaking story. It will be updated.
