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The US was responding to a near-miss between Chinese and Philippine vessels off the Spratly Islands - the latest in a long string of maritime incidents between the two countries in the restive South China Sea. We call upon Beijing to desist from its provocative and unsafe conduct. We stand with our Philippine allies in the face of the People’s Republic of China’s continued harassment and intimidation in the South China Sea. “The United States stands with our Philippine allies in upholding the rules-based international maritime order and reaffirms that an armed attack in the Pacific, which includes the South China Sea, on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft, including those of the Coast Guard, would invoke US mutual defense commitments,” Miller said in the statement. The State Department also warned that an attack on Philippine security forces or public vessels would trigger a US response. “We call upon Beijing to desist from its provocative and unsafe conduct,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement on Saturday, just two days before President Joe Biden is to host his counterpart, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, in Washington, DC.

A UN committee said it was deeply concerned about human rights violations by Russian forces and private military companies in Ukraine, including enforced disappearances, torture, rape and extrajudicial executions.The United States has accused China of “harassment and intimidation of Philippine vessels” and called on Beijing to end “provocative” action in the South China Sea after a recent near-collision between a Chinese vessel and a Philippine Coast Guard boat.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Putin had received a letter from United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on continuing exports of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea but that an extension of the deal was unlikely.

Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia agreed to a deal to allow the transit of Ukrainian food exports, the European Commission said, after temporary bans were imposed on the foodstuffs amid farmer protests.

Russia said on Thursday it had rejected the request in response to Washington’s refusal to grant visas to a group of Russian journalists. The United States said it was “deeply disappointed” by Russia’s rejection of a US embassy request to visit Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in prison.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree formally increasing the maximum sentence for treason to life in jail, part of a drive to suppress dissent since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.It was not immediately clear when Prigozhin had spoken and how serious he was being. Russia’s private Wagner mercenary force, which is leading the assault on Bakhmut city, could soon cease to exist, founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said in video remarks to a blogger released on Friday.President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged allies to provide Ukraine with better air defences, including fighter jets after a barrage of Russian missiles hit residential areas.The Kremlin said troops that fought in Ukraine will be represented in a parade in Moscow on May 9 to mark the anniversary of the Soviet victory in World War II, Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency reported.Ukraine is making final preparations for a counteroffensive which will begin “as soon as there is God’s will, the weather and a decision by commanders”, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said.The Russian-installed mayor of Donetsk city said seven people were killed when Ukrainian shelling hit a minibus.Russia, which regularly denies targeting civilians, said its strategic bombers carried out precision missile attacks on Ukrainian army reserve units to prevent them from getting to the front line. Russian carried out the most extensive air raids in months that killed at least 25 people, including five children, Ukrainian officials say.Here is the situation as it stands on Saturday, April 29, 2023: Fighting