China has denied that one of its fishing vessels abandoned 22 Filipinos after their boat sank in the South China Sea.
The incident has resulted in increased pressure on Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte to take a tougher stance.
In a statement, the Chinese embassy in Manila said the crew had initially intended to rescue the Filipino fishermen.
However they aborted the mission when they were “suddenly besieged by seven or eight Filipino fishing boats”.
Fire breaks out at Kuwaiti refinery after drone attacks
The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) has announced that the Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery, operated by Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC), came under drone attacks early on Friday, with a fire breaking out at several units as a result.
Four countries condemn Iranian attack on Ras Laffan in Qatar
France, Spain, Bahrain, and India have condemned the Iranian attack that targeted Qatar's Ras Laffan Industrial City during separate phone calls with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Trump compares Pearl Harbour to strikes on Iran in meeting Japan's leader
President Donald Trump has drawn a parallel on Thursday between US strikes on Iran and Japan's 1941 attack on Pearl Harbour, as he defended the war he launched against Tehran while meeting Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Washington.
Netanyahu says Iran no longer has uranium enrichment capacity
Iran no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium or make ballistic missiles after 20 days of US-Israeli air attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a news conference on Thursday.
US objectives in Iran have not changed, says Hegseth
The US objectives in its war against Iran have not changed since strikes started on February 28, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday, and he accused the media of stirring up concerns that the country risked being locked in an open-ended conflict with shifting priorities.
