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An appeals court on Wednesday granted the Hong Kong government's request to ban a popular protest song, overturning an earlier ruling and deepening concerns over the erosion of freedoms in the once-freewheeling global financial hub.

"Glory to Hong Kong" was often sung by demonstrators during huge anti-government protests in 2019. The song was later mistakenly played as the city’s anthem at international sporting events, instead of China’s "March of the Volunteers," in mix-ups that upset city officials.

It is the first time a song has been banned in the city since Britain handed the territory back to Chinese rule in 1997.

CHINA URGES HONG KONG TO 'TIGHTLY HOLD' NATIONAL SECURITY LINE

Critics have said prohibiting broadcast or distribution of the song further reduces freedom of expression since Beijing launched a crackdown in Hong Kong following the 2019 protests. They have also warned the ban might disrupt the operation of tech giants and hurt the city’s appeal as a business center.

Judge Jeremy Poon wrote that the composer intended for the song to be a "weapon," pointing to its power in arousing emotions among some residents of the city.

"We accept the assessment of the executive that prosecutions alone are clearly not adequate to tackle the acute criminal problems and that there is a compelling need for an injunction," he said.

He said the injunction was necessary to persuade internet platform operators to remove "problematic videos in connection with the song" from their platforms. The operators have indicated they are ready to accede to the government's request if there is a court order, he added.

The ban would target anyone who broadcasts or distributes the song to advocate for the separation of Hong Kong from China. It would also prohibit any actions that misrepresent the song as the national anthem with the intent to insult the anthem.

The song can still be played if it's for lawful journalistic and academic activities.

Failure to comply with the court order may be considered as contempt of court and could be liable for a fine or imprisonment.

Authorities have previously arrested some residents who played the song in public under other offenses, such as playing a musical instrument in public without a permit, local media reported.

As of mid-afternoon on Wednesday, "Glory to Hong Kong," whose artist is credited as "Thomas and the Hong Kong people," was still available on Spotify and Apple Music in both English and Cantonese. A search on YouTube for the song also displayed multiple videos and renditions.

Google said in an email to the AP that it was "reviewing the court’s judgment." Spotify and Apple did not immediately comment.

George Chen, co-chair of digital practice at The Asia Group, a Washington-headquartered business and policy consultancy, said it would be most practical for tech companies to restrict access to the content in question in a certain region to comply with the order.

Chen called on the government to consider how to ease public concerns over the order's chilling effect on free speech.

He said he hoped such bans will not become "the new normal" and establish a precedent. "This will get people really worried about how free Hong Kong’s internet will be like tomorrow," he said.

Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law in 2020 to quell the months-long unrest. That law was used to arrest many of the city’s leading pro-democracy activists. In March, the city enacted a home-grown security law, deepening fears that the city’s Western-style civil liberties would be further curtailed. The two laws typically target more serious criminal acts.

After the judgment was handed down, Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, said stopping anyone from using the song to incite division and insult the national anthem is a necessary measure for the city to maintain national security.

Eric Lai, a research fellow at Georgetown Center for Asian Law, said that even though judicial deference to the executive on national security matters is common in other jurisdictions, the court has failed to balance the protection of citizens' fundamental rights including free expression.

"It disappointingly agreed to use civil proceedings to aid the implementation of national security law," he said.

The government went to the court last year after Google resisted pressure to display China’s national anthem as the top result in searches for the city’s anthem instead of the protest song. A lower court rejected its initial bid last July, and the development was widely seen as a setback for officials seeking to crush dissidents following the protests.

The government's appeal argued that if the executive authority considered a measure necessary, the court should allow it unless it considered it will have no effect, according to a legal document on the government’s website.

The government had already asked schools to ban the protest song on campuses. It previously said it respected freedoms protected by the city’s constitution, "but freedom of speech is not absolute."

After three decades selling homemade buns on the streets of the Chinese city of Xian, 67-year-old Hu Dexi would have liked to slow down.

Instead, Hu and his older wife have moved to the edge of Beijing, where they wake at 4 a.m. every day to cook their packed lunch, then commute for more than an hour to a downtown shopping mall, where they each earn $552 monthly, working 13-hour shifts as cleaners.

The alternative for them and many of the 100 million rural migrants reaching retirement age in China over the next 10 years is to return to their village and live off a small farm and monthly pensions of $17.

CHINA'S YOUNG ADULTS QUIT JOB MARKET TO BECOME 'FULL-TIME CHILDREN' AMID HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT

"No one can look after us," said Hu, still mopping the floor. "I don't want to be a burden on my two children and our country isn't giving us a penny."

The generation that flocked to China's cities at the end of last century, building the infrastructure and manning the factories that made the country the world's biggest exporter, now risks a sharp late-life drop in living standards.

Reuters interviewed more than a dozen people, including rural migrant workers, demographers, economists and a government adviser, who described a social security system unfit for a worsening demographic crisis, which Beijing is patching rather than overhauling as it pursues growth through industrial modernization. At the same time, demand for social services is growing rapidly as the population ages.

"The elderly in China will live a long and miserable life," said Fuxian Yi, a demographer who is also a senior scientist at University of Wisconsin-Madison. "More and more migrant workers are returning to the countryside, and some are taking low-paid jobs, which is a desperate way for them to save themselves."

If these migrants were to rely solely on China's basic rural pension, they would live on less than the World Bank's poverty threshold of $3.65 a day, though many supplement their earnings by laboring in the cities or by selling some of their crop.

China's National Development and Reform Commission, the human resources and civil affairs ministries and the State Council did not respond to faxed requests for comment.

China's latest statistics showed some 94 million working people - around 12.8% of China's 734 million labor force - were older than 60 in 2022, up from 8.8% in 2020.

That share, while lower than in wealthier Japan and South Korea, is set to skyrocket as 300 million more Chinese reach their 60s in the coming decade.

A third of this cohort are rural migrants, who typically lack the professional skills for an economy aspiring to move up the value chain.

The main reason China has not built a stronger safety net for them is that policymakers, fearing the economy might fall into the middle-income trap, prioritise growing the pie rather than sharing it, the government adviser told Reuters.

To achieve that, China is directing economic resources and credit flows towards new productive forces, a catch-all term for President Xi Jinping's latest policy push for innovation and development in advanced industries such as green energy, high-end chips and quantum technology.

U.S. and European officials say this policy is unfair to Western firms competing with Chinese producers. They have warned Beijing that it stokes trade tensions, and that it diverts resources away from households, suppressing domestic demand and China's future growth potential.

China, which has rejected those assessments, has instead focused on upgrading production, rather than consumption, as its desired path toward prosperity.

"It would be easier to solve the equality problem if we could first solve the productivity growth problem," said the adviser, granted anonymity to speak freely about pension-policy debates happening behind closed doors.

"People have different views" on whether China can make that leap in productivity, the adviser said. "Mine is that it may be difficult if we do not reform further and remain at odds with the international community."

TEMPLE VISITS UP IN CHINA AS UNEMPLOYED COLLEGE GRADUATES PRAY TO FIND JOBS

Pensions in China are based on an internal passport system known as hukou, which divides the population along urban-rural lines, creating vast differences in incomes and access to social services.

Monthly urban pensions range from roughly 3,000 yuan in less-developed provinces to about 6,000 yuan in Beijing and Shanghai. Rural pensions, introduced nationwide in 2009, are meagre.

In March, China increased the minimum pension by 20 yuan, to 123 yuan per month, benefitting 170 million people.

Economists at Nomura say transferring resources to the poorest Chinese households is the most efficient way to boost domestic consumption.

But the rural pension hike amounts to an annual effort of less than 0.001% of China's $18 trillion GDP.

China's Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) estimates the pension system will run out of money by 2035.

Beijing has introduced private retirement schemes and is transferring funds to provinces with pension budget deficits which they cannot replenish due to high debts.

Other countries have tried to increase pension funding by lifting the retirement age. In China, it is among the lowest in the world, at 60 for men and 50-55 for women, depending on their line of work.

Beijing has said it plans to raise the retirement age gradually, without giving a timeline.

Government concerns that the population would perceive raising the threshold as benefiting "vested interests" at the expense of ordinary citizens are holding up the implementation of those plans, the adviser said.

Chinese think "officials want to retire later to fatten up their own pensions," he said.

CASS surveys show the level of healthcare funding for urban workers was in some cases about four times higher than for those with a rural hukou.

"There aren't enough social services to solve the problems of these people, who are prone to falling back into poverty," said Dan Wang, chief China economist at Hang Seng Bank.

More than 16% of rural residents older than 60 were "unhealthy", compared with 9.9% in the cities, according to an October article by Cai Fang, a CASS economist and former central bank adviser, published in the Chinese Cadres Tribune, a Communist Party magazine.

Sixty-year-old Yang Chengrong and her 58-year-old husband, Wu Yonghou, spend their days collecting piles of cardboard and plastic for a recycling station in Beijing, earning less than one yuan per kilogram.

Yang said she has heart issues, while Wu has gout, but they can't afford treatment. They fear their 4,000 yuan monthly income is unsustainable as "people consume and waste less."

"Villagers like us work ourselves to near-death, but we must keep working," said Yang, her shoulders covered in snow after a day of scavenging.

Wu, next to her, said they do not dare to retire.

"I only feel secure if I have work, even if it's dirty work," he said.

Traditionally in China, children have been expected to support the elderly.

But most of those retiring in the coming decade, a group almost as large as the entire U.S. population, only had one child due to birth limits enforced from 1980 to 2015.

High youth unemployment compounds the problem.

"Relying on families for elderly care is no longer feasible," Cai wrote in his article.

The silver lining for some of the elderly is that younger Chinese, despite struggling to find the services jobs they went to university for, reject hard labor.

"The mall can't find younger people," said Hu, the cleaner. "As long as I can still move, I'll keep working."

A prominent Berlin politician was violently assaulted and suffered injuries to her head and neck, police said Wednesday, in the latest attack on elected officials that raises concern over rising political violence in Germany.

Franziska Giffey, the city's top economic official, a former mayor and an ex-federal minister, was attacked at an event in a Berlin library on Tuesday by a man who approached her from behind and hit her with a bag containing a hard device, police said.

Giffey was taken to a hospital and treated for head and neck pain, police said. A 74-year-old man was detained and police searched his home, police said. They said the suspect was known to police, but did not give any indication for a motive.

GERMANY RECALLS AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA IN RESPONSE TO ALLEGED CYBERATTACK TARGETING CHANCELLOR'S PARTY

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner strongly condemned the attack.

"Anyone who attacks politicians is attacking our democracy," said Wegner, according to German news agency dpa. "We will not tolerate this. We will oppose all forms of violence, hatred and agitation and protect our democracy."

Giffey wrote on Instagram that "we live in a free and democratic country in which everyone is free to express their opinion ... and yet there is a clear limit. And that is violence against people who hold a different opinion, for whatever reason, in whatever form."

"They are a transgression of boundaries that we as a society must resolutely oppose," she said.

RUSSIA WILL FACE CONSEQUENCES FOR 'ABSOLUTELY INTOLERABLE' CYBERATTACK, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS

Later on Wednesday, Giffey, protected by several bodyguards, told reporters at a public event in Berlin that she was feeling fine but that "we also have to make it possible for us to live in a country where those who bear social and political responsibility can move freely."

Last week, a candidate from the party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz was beaten up in the eastern city of Dresden while campaigning for next month's election for the European Parliament and had to undergo surgery.

Police detained four suspects, aged between 17 and 18, and said that the same group had apparently attacked a Greens party worker minutes before they attacked Matthias Ecke. At least one of the teens is said to be linked to far-right groups, security officials said.

Also on Tuesday, a 47-year-old Green Party politician was attacked by two people while putting up election posters in Dresden, dpa reported.

The incidents have raised political tensions in Germany.

Both government and opposition parties say their members and supporters have faced a wave of physical and verbal attacks in recent months, and have called on police to step up protection for politicians and election rallies.

In February, the German Parliament said in a report there were a total of 2,790 attacks on elected representatives in 2023. Representatives of The Greens were disproportionally affected in 1,219 cases, those from the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, in 478 cases and representatives of the SPD in 420 cases.

The country's vice chancellor, Robert Habeck, who is a member of The Greens, was prevented from disembarking a ferry for hours by a group of angry farmers in January, and the vice president of the German Parliament, Katrin Goering-Eckardt, also from The Greens, was prevented from leaving an event in the state of Brandenburg last week when an angry crowd blocked her car.

Germany's federal interior minister, Nancy Faeser, said after a special meeting of the country's 16 state interior ministers on the issue of violence on Tuesday that possible measures included tightening Germany’s criminal law in order to "punish anti-democratic acts more severely,"

Many of the incidents have taken place in the former communist east of the country, where Scholz’s government is deeply unpopular. The Interior Ministry in the state of Saxony said it had registered 112 election-related crimes so far this year, including 30 against elected officials or representatives.

Mainstream parties have accused AfD of links to violent neo-Nazi groups and of fomenting an intimidating political climate. One of its leaders, Bjoern Hoecke, is currently on trial for using a banned Nazi slogan.

Alternative for Germany, which campaigns against immigration and European integration, is expected to make gains in the European polls as well as in elections in Saxony and two other eastern German states in the fall.

Ukrainian authorities suspect jailed tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky of being behind the attempted murder of a lawyer in a corporate dispute more than 20 years ago, the national police said on Wednesday.

Kolomoisky, who backed President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the 2019 election and faces charges of fraud and money laundering, has previously denied any wrongdoing in those cases. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the attempted murder case.

"Police investigators have served a notice of suspicion to a well-known Ukrainian oligarch for ordering a premeditated murder," the police said in a statement.

FORMER ARMY SOLDIER CONVICTED OF MURDERING PREGNANT SOLDIER ON GERMANY BASE IN 2001

They did not identify him by name, but posted a photograph of a man with a lightly blurred-out face, which was easily identifiable as Kolomoisky, one of Ukraine's richest men, who was detained last autumn.

The alleged murder attempt carries a maximum punishment of life in prison.

National police said the suspect had threatened and failed to win over a lawyer who refused to help him overturn an unfavourable shareholders' decision at a metallurgical plant in 2003.

Through his bodyguard, the suspect, the police statement said, ordered four members of a criminal group to attack the lawyer in the summer of 2003 in the Crimean city of Feodosia.

The assailants beat the man with a metal rod and stabbed him in the chest, stomach and back, but his wife prevented the attackers from killing him and doctors managed to save his life, the statement said. The assailants were caught and jailed.

Serhiy Leshchenko, a former investigative journalist and lawmaker who works as an adviser in Zelenskiy's office, said on Telegram that the corporate dispute in the statement referred to the Dniprospetsstal enterprise in Zaporizhzhia.

Twenty-three searches were ongoing in four Ukrainian regions on Wednesday to collect additional evidence related to the case, the police said.

Kolomoisky is a former owner of PrivatBank, which was nationalised in 2016 as part of a clean-up of the Ukrainian banking system. He built up a fortune after the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union, amassing power and media control to become one of Ukraine's most influential oligarchs.

Kolomoisky is under U.S. sanctions and faces multiple allegations relating to fraud, money laundering and embezzlement. He has denied these accusations.

Nearly 40 construction workers were still missing Wednesday in the rubble of a building that collapsed in South Africa on Monday as rescue teams continued to search for survivors for a third day in the wreckage of the unfinished five-story apartment complex.

Seven workers have been confirmed dead, while authorities in the city of George on South Africa's south coast released new information on the injuries, saying 16 of the 29 people rescued from the debris were in a critical condition in hospitals and another six had life-threatening injuries. They said 39 workers were still unaccounted for and buried in the rubble of concrete and mangled metal scaffolding.

The collapse of the building that was still under construction sparked a desperate rescue effort that has seen specialist disaster response teams brought in from other towns and cities to help. A total of 75 construction workers were at the building site when it came down, the George municipality said.

40 WORKERS TRAPPED AFTER BUILDING UNDER CONSTRUCTION REPORTEDLY COLLAPSES IN SOUTH AFRICA

More than 200 rescue personnel continued to search for survivors using sniffer dogs and underground cameras. Cranes and other heavy lifting equipment were brought in to lift some of the huge concrete slabs that came crashing down on workers, while rescuers formed lines to remove the smaller rubble by hand.

Rescuers said some of the survivors had used their cell phones while trapped under the debris to contact family members and that had helped emergency responders find them.

There were cheers and applause when some survivors were brought out Tuesday night.

The George municipality continued to call for donations of water, energy drinks and food for the rescue personnel, who had been working in shifts for more than 40 hours. The provincial Western Cape government has sent emergency response teams from Cape Town and other cities to help with a rescue effort that officials said would likely last at least until Friday.

George is a city of around 150,000 people on South Africa's picturesque coastal Garden Route and is more renowned as a vacation and golfing destination.

Authorities have announced multiple investigations into the cause of the building collapse, including by police, the provincial government and the national department of labor.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met Wednesday with the Serbian president, with both sides expressing optimism that the visit will further boost the "ironclad" friendly relations between China and the Balkan country.

Xi arrived in Serbia to a warm welcome on Tuesday evening from France, where he had a high-stakes state visit dominated by trade disputes and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Thousands of people chanting "China-Serbia" and waving flags were bused in from across Serbia to attend a welcoming ceremony for Xi on Wednesday in front of the Serbia Palace, in the new part of Belgrade where the talks are being held.

DURING FRANCE VISIT, CHINESE PRESIDENT URGED TO INFLUENCE RUSSIA TO END WAR IN UKRAINE

Serbia's populist President Aleksandar Vucic addressed the crowd from a balcony, calling Xi an "ironclad" friend. He said hs visit to Serbia is "historic" because it opens the path for even closer ties.

"We are writing history today, although it doesn’t seem so to many (people)," Vucic said. "We thank President Xi. He hasn’t come to Europe in five years and he has again chosen our little Serbia."

At the start of the official meeting on Wednesday, Xi said "we are first-hand witnesses that the Serbian people view Chinese people as ironclad best friends."

"This is truly two-sided and truthful friendship ... I truly hail this and it really made an extremely deep impression on me," Xi said, according to the state RTS television.

Xi will proceed to Hungary later on Wednesday. Like Serbia, Hungary is seen as one of China's more friendly partners in Europe.

Signs of pro-China sentiments were clearly visible throughout the Serbian capital. A huge Chinese flag was placed on a skyscraper along a roadway leading into the city from the airport. Smaller Chinese and Serbian flags could be seen downtown and along a highway.

China has poured billions of dollars into Serbia in investment and loans, particularly in mining and infrastructure. The two countries signed an agreement on a strategic partnership in 2016 and a free trade agreement last year.

Serbia, a landlocked nation in the heart of the Balkans, has been a key country in China's Belt and Road initiative designed to increase Beijing's influence in Europe through economic investment. Critics say it could serve as a Chinese Trojan horse and gateway to Europe.

Xi also arrived in Serbia on a symbolic date — the 25th anniversary of the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade by U.S. jets during NATO’s air war over Kosovo, when three Chinese citizens were killed.

The incident has helped forge close political ties between China and Serbia.

Chinese companies run Serbia’s biggest copper mine and a steel mill, and are also building scores of roads and highways across the country, along with a railway toward northern neighbor Hungary.

"Our bilateral relationship has stood the test of changing international environment and become a fine example of state-to-state relations," Xi said in a statement published by China's Foreign Ministry.

"Standing at a new historical starting point, China will work with Serbia to jointly stay committed to the original aspiration and forge ahead together to open up a new vista dcChina-Serbia cooperation," added Xi. "I am confident that this visit will be a fruitful one and will open up a new chapter in China-Serbia relations."

In 2014, Hungary and Serbia concluded an agreement with Beijing to modernize the railway between their capitals of Budapest and Belgrade, part of a Belt and Road plan to link up with the Chinese-controlled port of Piraeus in Greece to the south, an entry point for Chinese goods to Central and Eastern Europe.

The more than $2 billion project is expected to be completed in 2026, after numerous delays.

In 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Serbia took semi-secret delivery of a sophisticated Chinese anti-aircraft system flown in on Chinese Air Force Y-20 transport planes.

The arms delivery over the territory of at least two NATO member states, Turkey and Bulgaria, was seen by experts as a demonstration of China’s growing global reach.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday rejected China's argument that Australia was responsible for a dangerous weekend encounter between their military aircraft in international airspace over the Yellow Sea.

Both China and Australia lodged official protests and blamed each other for a Chinese warplane’s extraordinary use of flares against an Australian navy helicopter on Saturday.

The Seahawk’s pilot had to "take evasive action" to avoid the flares, which were dropped in the helicopter’s flightpath by a Chinese Chengdu J-10 fighter jet, Australian officials said.

AUSTRALIA ACCUSES CHINA OF RECKLESS BEHAVIOR AFTER FIGHTER JET DROPPED FLARES IN FRONT OF HELICOPTER

There were no injuries or damage, although experts warned the helicopter could have been forced to ditch at sea if an engine had been struck by a flare.

Australia accused China of unprofessional and unacceptable behavior, while China retorted that the Seahawk deliberately flew close to China’s airspace in a "provocative move."

Albanese said he rejected China’s argument that the Australians had been at fault.

He highlighted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian’s statement that the helicopter "flew within close range of China’s airspace."

"That’s a confirmation that this chopper was in international air space," Albanese told Perth Radio 6PR.

Albanese also noted the helicopter had been upholding international law at the time as part of the crew of an Australian air warfare destroyer that was enforcing U.N. Security Council sanctions against North Korea.

"This was unprofessional and unacceptable. And the Chinese spokesperson’s comments do nothing to undermine or to question what is the Australian Defense Force’s assessment of the P.L.A.’s unsafe behavior," Albanese said, referring to China’s People’s Liberation Army.

China’s Ministry of National Defense added an accusation that the Australian destroyer had sent helicopter missions to carry out "close-in reconnaissance and disturbance" of a Chinese navy training exercise.

China issued warnings and forced them to leave, ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang said. He called the steps legitimate and in accordance with international law.

"We firmly oppose the Australian side’s statement confusing black and white and making unfounded countercharges," Zhang said in a statement.

The Australian government did not immediately respond to the Chinese suggestion of spying.

It was the most serious encounter between the two nations’ forces since Australia accused the Chinese destroyer CNS Ningbo of injuring Australian navy divers with sonar pulses in Japanese waters in November.

Albanese said the weekend encounter would be raised with Chinese Premier Li Qiang when he visits Australia next month.

Russian authorities have revealed that an American soldier being held on a theft charge in which he allegedly caused "significant damage" will remain in pretrial detention until July 2. 

Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, who enlisted in the Army as an infantryman in 2008, and most recently, was assigned to the Eighth Army U.S. Forces Korea at Camp Humphreys in South Korea, traveled to Vladivostok, Russia "for personal reasons" prior to his arrest, the Pentagon says. 

The Pervomaisky District Court of Vladivostok said "When choosing the preventive measure in the form of detention, the court came to the conclusion that US citizen B. (Black) -- under the weight of the charges -- could hide from the preliminary investigation authorities and the court to avoid responsibility," according to Reuters. 

It reportedly added that Black will be detained until July 2 for "secretly stealing the property of citizen T., causing the latter significant damage." 

PENTAGON OFFICIALS SAY US ARMY SOLDIER DETAINED IN RUSSIA REMAINS IN PRETRIAL DETENTION FACILITY 

Russian officials in Vladivostok said a 32-year-old woman had filed a complaint against the 34-year-old Black, Reuters also reports. 

The news agency cited the officials as saying that the pair met in South Korea before Black came to visit her in Russia, during which they became involved in an argument. She then reportedly filed a police report accusing him of stealing money and Black was taken into custody at a hotel. 

"On April 10, Black out-processed from Eighth Army and signed out on permanent change of station, to leave en route to Texas," Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said on Tuesday. "However, instead of returning to the U.S., Black flew from Korea through China, and then to Vladivostok, Russia, for personal reasons." 

The Army opened an administrative investigation to determine the facts and circumstances around his travel, Singh noted, and part of the investigation will involve looking into consequences for his actions. 

"But, official or any leave to Russia is strictly prohibited, and that’s pursuant to the DoD [Department of Defense] foreign clearance guide, which, of course, is also informed by the State Department guidelines," Singh said, adding that she believed the status was set to Category Four, which does not allow travel to Russia. 

FORMER ARMY SOLDIER CONVICTED OF MURDERING PREGNANT SOLDIER ON GERMANY BASE IN 2001 

On Tuesday, Black’s mother, Melody Jones, told ABC’s "Good Morning America" (GMA) that she believed her son was "set up" by the woman, described as his girlfriend. 

She told "GMA" her son met a Russian woman when she was tending bar near his Army base in South Korea, and she was later deported back to Russia. 

"I knew something was going to happen," Jones told "GMA." "I felt like he was being set up by her." 

Jones described her son's relationship with the Russian woman as "volatile," and even suspected she might be a spy. She said she told her son not to travel to Russia when he was supposed to be returning home to the U.S. while on leave. 

Black deployed to Iraq from Oct. 2009 through Sept. 2010, and to Afghanistan from June 2013 until March 2014, Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith also said.  

Fox News' Greg Wehner, Pilar Arias and The Associated Press contributed to this report.  

U.S. and Philippine forces, backed by an Australian air force surveillance aircraft, unleashed a barrage of high-precision rockets, artillery fire and airstrikes Wednesday and sank a mock enemy ship as part of largescale war drills in and near the disputed South China Sea that have antagonized Beijing.

Military officials and diplomats from several countries watched the display of firepower from a hilltop along a sandy coast in Laoag City in Ilocos Norte, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s northern home province.

More than 16,000 military personnel from the United States and the Philippines, along with a few hundred Australian troops and military observers from 14 countries, were participating in annual combat-readiness drills called Balikatan, Tagalog for shoulder-to-shoulder. The drills, which started April 22 and end Friday, include a scenario of a foreign invasion of the Philippine archipelago.

US, AUSTRALIA, JAPAN AND PHILIPPINES VOW TO DEEPEN DEFENSE COOPERATION AMID SOUTH CHINA SEA TENSIONS

It’s the latest indication of how the United States and the Philippines have bolstered a defense treaty alliance that started in the 1950s amid their concern in recent years over China's increasingly aggressive actions in disputed territories in Asia.

Marcos has ordered his military to shift its focus to external defense from decades-long domestic anti-insurgency operations as China’s actions in the South China Sea become a top concern. That strategic shift dovetails with the efforts of U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration to reinforce an arc of alliances in the Indo-Pacific region to counter China.

China has angered the Philippines by repeatedly harassing its navy and coast guard ships with powerful water cannons, a military-grade laser, blocking movements and other dangerous maneuvers in the high seas near two disputed South China Sea shoals. They have led to minor collision that have injured several Filipino navy personnel and damaged supply boats.

"We’re under the gun," Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Romualdez told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

CHINA REVEALS ALLEGED 2016 'SECRET AGREEMENT' WITH PHILIPPINES REGARDING SOUTH CHINA SEA

"We don’t have the wherewithal to be able to fight all of this bullying coming from China so where else will we go?" Romualdez said. "We went to the right party, which is the United States and those that believe in what the U.S. is doing."

China has accused the Philippines of setting off the hostilities in the disputed waters by encroaching in what it says are its offshore territories, demarcated by 10 dashes on a map. It says the Chinese coast guard and navy have been forced to take action to expel Philippine coast guard and other vessels from those areas. The Philippines has repeatedly cited a 2016 international arbitration ruling based on the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea that invalidated China’s claim over virtually the entire South China Sea on historical grounds.

China did not participate in the arbitration complaint filed by the Philippines in 2013, and has rejected the ruling and continues to defy it.

After being hit repeatedly by missile and artillery fire and bombs dropped by U.S. and Philippine warplanes during the combat drills, the mock enemy ship sank as black smoke billowed from its stern. The target ship was made in China but decommissioned by the Philippine navy in 2020 due to mechanical and electrical issues, according to the Philippine military.

Philippine military officials said the drills were not directed at any country. China has opposed military drills involving U.S. forces as well as increasing U.S. military deployments in the region, which it warned would escalate tensions and endanger regional stability.

For the first time in years, the combat exercises were staged in and near the fiercely contested Spratly Islands area, which China has closely guarded with its coast guard, navy and suspected militia flotillas.

On Monday, U.S. and Filipino marines transported by Black Hawk helicopters practiced securing an airfield in the country's northernmost town of Itbayat along the Bashi Channel near southern Taiwan. A small group of journalists, including from the AP, was invited to witness the air and ground combat maneuvers.

"They're not operating in safe areas. They're operating slightly further to the western bounds and they're doing that in order to practice in ways that they might have to work for real," said British Defense Attaché to Manila Bea Walcot, who watched the ship-sinking drill.

Washington and Beijing have been on a collision course over China’s increasingly assertive actions to defend its territorial claims in the South China Sea, and Beijing’s stated goal of annexing Taiwan, by force if necessary.

In February last year, Marcos approved a wider U.S. military presence in the Philippines by allowing rotating groups of American military forces to stay in four more Philippine military camps. That was a sharp turnaround from his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who feared that a larger American military footprint would antagonize Beijing.

China strongly opposed the move, which allows U.S. forces to establish staging grounds and surveillance posts in the northern Philippines across the channel from Taiwan, and in western Philippine provinces facing the South China Sea.

China has warned that the deepening security alliance between Washington and Manila and their ongoing military drills should not harm its security and territorial interests or interfere in the territorial disputes. The Philippines countered that it has the right to defend its sovereignty and territorial interests.

"An alliance is very important to show China that you may have all the ships that you have, but we have a lot of firepower to sink all of them," Romualdez said.

Julia Paredes believed her move to the United States might be now or never. Mexico was days from requiring visas for Peruvian visitors. If she didn't act quickly, she would have to make a far more perilous, surreptitious journey over land to settle with her sister in Dallas.

Mexico began requiring visas for Peruvians on Monday in response to a major influx of migrants from the South American country, after identical moves for Venezuelans, Ecuadorians and Brazilians. It effectively eliminated the option of flying to a Mexican city near the U.S. border, as Paredes, 45, did just before it was too late.

"I had to treat it as a emergency," said Paredes, who worked serving lunch to miners in Arequipa, Peru, and borrowed money to fly to Mexico's Tijuana, across from San Diego. Last month smugglers guided her through a remote opening in the border wall to a dirt lot in California, where she and about 100 migrants from around the world shivered over campfires after a morning drizzle and waited for overwhelmed Border Patrol agents to drive them to a station for processing.

WHITE HOUSE SAYS IT’S PUTTING US FIRST IN FACE OF MEXICO'S MIGRANT DEMANDS

Senior U.S. officials, speaking to reporters ahead of a meeting of top diplomats from about 20 countries in the Western hemisphere this week in Guatemala, applauded Mexico's crackdown on air travel from Peru and called visa requirements an important tool to jointly confront illegal migration.

For critics, shutting down air travel only encourages more dangerous choices. Illegal migration by Venezuelans plummeted after Mexico imposed visa requirements in January 2022, but the lull was short-lived. Last year Venezuelans made up nearly two-thirds of the record-high 520,000 migrants who walked through the Darien Gap, the notorious jungle spanning parts of Panama and Colombia.

More than 25,000 Chinese traversed the Darien last year. They generally fly to Ecuador, a country known for few travel restrictions, and cross the U.S. border illegally in San Diego to seek asylum. With an immigration court backlog topping 3 million cases, it takes years to decide such claims, during which time people can obtain work permits and establish roots.

"People are going to come no matter what," said Miguel Yaranga, 22, who flew from Lima, Peru's capital, to Tijuana and was released by the Border Patrol Sunday at a San Diego bus stop. He had orders to appear in immigration court in New York in February 2025, which puzzled him because he said he told agents he would settle with his sister on the other side of the country, in Bakersfield, California.

US-MEXICO MIGRATION TALKS INCLUDED BENEFITS OF 'REGULARIZING' ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS LIVING IN US

Jeremy MacGillivray, deputy chief of the Mexico mission of the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration, predicts that Peruvian migration will drop "at least at the beginning" and bounce back as people shift to walking through the Darien Gap and to Central America and Mexico.

Mexico said last month that it would require visas for Peruvians for the first time since 2012 in response to a "substantial increase" in illegal migration. Large-scale Peruvian migration to Mexico began in 2022; Peruvians were stopped in the country an average of 2,160 times a month from January to March of this year, up from a monthly average of 544 times for all of 2023.

Peruvians also began showing up at the U.S. border in 2022. The U.S. Border Patrol arrested Peruvians an average of about 5,300 times a month last year before falling to a monthly average of 3,400 from January through March, amid a broad immigration crackdown by Mexico.

Peru immediately reciprocated Mexico's visa requirement but changed course after a backlash from the country's tourism industry. Peru noted in its reversal that it is part of a regional economic bloc that includes Mexico, Chile and Colombia.

Adam Isacson, an analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, said Peru's membership with Mexico in the Pacific Alliance allowed its citizens visa-free travel longer than other countries.

It is unclear if Colombia, also a major source of migration, will be next, but Isacson said Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is in a "lovefest" with his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, while his relations with Peru's government are more strained.

Colombians are consistently near the top nationalities of migrants arriving at Tijuana's airport. Many find hotels before a guide takes them to boulder-strewn mountains east of the city, where they cross through openings in the border wall and then walk toward dirt lots that the Border Patrol has identified as waiting stations.

Bryan Ramírez, 25, of Colombia, reached U.S. soil with his girlfriend last month, only two days after leaving Bogota for Cancun, Mexico, and continuing on another flight to Tijuana. He waited alongside others overnight for Border Patrol agents to pick him up as cold rain and high winds whipped over the crackle of high-voltage power lines.

The group waiting near Boulevard, a small, loosely defined rural town, included several Peruvians who said they came for economic opportunity and to escape violence and political crises.

Peruvians can still avoid the Darien jungle by flying to El Salvador, which introduced visa-free travel for them in December in reciprocation for a similar move by Peru's government. But they would still have to travel over land through Mexico, where many are robbed or kidnapped.

Ecuadoreans, who have needed visas to enter Mexico since September 2021, can also fly to El Salvador, but not all do. Oscar Palacios, 42, said he walked through Darien because he couldn't afford to fly.

Palacios, who left his wife and year-old child in Ecuador with plans to support them financially from the U.S., said it took him two weeks to travel from his home near the violent city of Esmeralda to Mexico's border with Guatemala. It then took him two months to cross Mexico because immigration authorities turned him around three times and bused him back to the southern part of the country. He said he was robbed repeatedly.

Palacios finally reached Tijuana and, after three nights in a hotel, crossed into the U.S. A Border Patrol agent spotted him with migrants from Turkey and Brazil and drove them to the dirt lot to wait for a van or bus to take them to a station for processing. Looking back on the journey, Palacios said he would rather cross Darien Gap 100 times than Mexico even once.

Both sections of the temporary floating pier intended to be placed off the coast of Gaza Strip for the delivery of humanitarian aid have been completed, though weather and sea conditions are preventing delivery of the parts to the embattled region, Pentagon officials tell Fox News.

Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said during a press briefing on Tuesday that the U.S. Military completed the offshore construction of the Trident Pier section, or the causeway, which is the component that will eventually be anchored to the Gaza shore.

The second element of the project, the floating pier section, has also been completed.

"So, as of today, the construction of the two portions of the JLOTS [Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore], the floating pier and the Trident pier are complete and awaiting final movement offshore," Singh said. "As you know, late last week, CENTCOM [U.S. Central Command] temporarily paused moving the floating pier and Trident pier toward the vicinity of Gaza due to sea state conditions. Today, there are still forecasted high winds and high sea swells, which are causing unsafe conditions for the JLOTS [Joint Logistics Over-The-Shore] components to be moved."

MORE AID IS SUPPOSED TO BE ENTERING THE GAZA STRIP. WHY ISN'T IT HELPING?

The components are still sitting at the Port of Ashdod, and CENTCOM "stands by" to relocate the pier sections to Gaza, Singh added.

Once off the coast of Gaza, the U.S. military and USAID will work together to deliver humanitarian assistance using military support vessels and trucks.

Singh could not provide an exact date for when the pier would be maneuvered into place, mainly because of the weather and security conditions.

"As CENTCOM stands by to move the pier into position in the near future, and again, in partnership with USAID, we’re loading humanitarian aid onto the MV Sagamore, which is currently in Cyprus," she said. "The Sagamore is a cargo vessel that will use the JLOTS system and will make trips between Cyprus and the offshore floating pier, as USAID and other partners collect aid from around the world."

GROWING CONTROVERSY OVER BIDEN'S GAZA PIER FUELS CONCERNS OVER COST, SECURITY

The unloading of the aid will be, as she called it, a "crawl, walk, run scenario."

Once fully operational, 150 trucks will be available to move aid into Gaza. At first, though, a small number of trucks will be used to make sure the distribution system works.

BIDEN'S VISION FOR A PALESTINIAN STATE DOOMED, EXPERTS SAY: 'AN EXPLICIT RECOGNITION OF HAMAS'

Last week, U.S. Central Command posted photographs on X of the pier under construction by U.S. soldiers in the Mediterranean Sea, saying that the hulking metal platform "will support USAID and other humanitarian partners who will receive and deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza."

The Pentagon has said the estimated cost would nearly double the original estimate of $180 million. It also said the project will only be in use temporarily, for a period of three months.

The pier will be able to process up to two million meals a day for the people in Gaza, U.S. Central Command said.

Ruth Marks Eglash of Fox News contributed to this report.

Rescue teams trying to find dozens of construction workers missing since a multi-story apartment complex collapsed in a coastal city in South Africa have made contact with 11 people buried alive beneath the mangled wreckage, authorities said Tuesday.

One man called his wife from underneath the rubble of the five-story building that had been under construction when it collapsed Monday, the head of the rescue operation said. That enabled emergency responders to locate the man, although he was still trapped and hadn't yet been brought out.

Six workers have been confirmed dead and there are fears that the death count could rise sharply. There is no news on 37 other people unaccounted-for amid the huge slabs of concrete and metal scaffolding that came crashing down when the building collapsed in the city of George, about 250 miles east of Cape Town.

5 CONFIRMED DEAD, 49 MISSING AFTER BUILDING UNDER CONSTRUCTION COLLAPSES IN SOUTH AFRICA

Twenty-one other workers were rescued from the site and taken to various hospitals, with at least 11 of them suffering severe injuries, the George municipality said.

Colin Deiner, head of the provincial Western Cape disaster management services, said the search-and-rescue operation would likely take at least three days.

"We are going to give it the absolute maximum time to see how many people we can rescue," Deiner said at a press conference. "It is very, very difficult if you are working with concrete breakers and drillers close to people."

Deiner said it would take most of Tuesday to rescue the 11 workers that rescue teams were in contact with, some of whom had limbs trapped under concrete and couldn't move. Four of the workers are in what was the basement of the building, Deiner said.

"Our big concern is entrapment for many hours, when a person’s body parts are compressed.," Deiner said. "So, you need to get medical help to them. We got our medics in as soon as we possibly could."

Deiner said it was possible that there were more survivors deeper in the wreckage and a process of removing layers of concrete would begin after the 11 located workers were taken out.

More than 100 emergency services and other personnel worked through the night, using sniffer dogs to try to locate workers. Large cranes and other heavy lifting equipment were brought in to help with the rescue effort and tall spotlights were erected to allow search-and-rescue personnel to work in the dark.

Deiner said a critical part of the rescue operation came when they ordered everyone to remain quiet and shut off machinery so they could listen for any survivors. That's when they located the 11 workers, he said.

"We were actually hearing people through the rubble," Deiner said.

Several local hospitals were making space in their trauma units in anticipation that more construction workers might be brought out alive. More than 50 emergency responders had also been brought in overnight from other towns and cities to help, including a specialized team that deals with rescue operations in collapsed structures.

Family and friends of the workers had gathered at the nearby municipal offices and were being supported by social workers, the George municipality said.

Authorities were starting investigations into what caused the tragedy, and a criminal case was opened by police, but there was no immediate information on why the building suddenly collapsed. CCTV footage from a nearby home showed the concrete structure and metal scaffolding collapsing at 2.09 p.m. Monday, causing a plume of dust to rise over the neighborhood.

People came streaming out of other buildings after the collapse, with some of them screaming and shouting.

Alan Winde, the Premier of the Western Cape province, said there would be investigations by both the provincial government and the police.

Authorities declined to give out any information on the construction company involved but said that under city law the private company's engineers were responsible for the safety of the building site until its completion, when it would be handed over to the city to check and clear.

Winde said the priority was the rescue effort and investigations would unfold after that.

"All the necessary support has been offered to emergency personnel to expedite their response. At the moment, officials are focused on saving lives. This is our top priority at this stage," Winde said.

The national government was being briefed on the rescue operation, Winde said.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa released a statement offering his condolences to families of the victims and also called for investigations into the cause of the collapse.

Two of the three men charged in the slaying of Canadian Sikh separatist leader Singh Nijjar in June made a brief first court appearance on Tuesday morning.

The killing of the prominent activist became the center of a diplomatic spat after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in September that there were "credible allegations" of Indian involvement.

Canadian police said Friday they arrested the three Indian nationals in Edmonton, Alberta for shooting and killing the 45-year-old in his pickup truck after he left the Sikh temple over which he presided in the city of Surrey.

CANADIAN POLICE MAKE ARRESTS IN KILLING OF SIKH SEPARATIST THAT CAUSED DIPLOMATIC SPAT WITH INDIA

Kamalpreet Singh, 22, Karan Brar, 22, and Karanpreet Singh, 28, have been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

On Tuesday, Brar and Karanpreet appeared in court via a video link and agreed to a trial in English. They were ordered to appear in British Columbia Provincial Court again on May 21.

Kamalpreet didn’t attend the court session as he waited to speak to a lawyer.

The small provincial courtroom was filled with spectators. Others crowded into an overflow room to watch the proceedings via video.

Richard Fowler, the defense lawyer representing Brar, said the case will eventually be moved from the British Columbia Provincial Court to the Supreme Court and combined into one case.

About 100 people gathered outside the courthouse waving yellow flags and holding photos of Indian government officials whom they accuse of being involved in Nijjar’s killing.

Canadian police say the three suspects had been living in Canada as non-permanent residents.

Nijjar — an Indian-born citizen of Canada — was a plumber and a leader in what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland in India, known as Khalistan, for which he had heavily campaigned. He organized unofficial referendums around the world about Punjabi independence. The separatist leader was called a human rights activist by Sikh organizations and a criminal by India’s government.

India had accused Nijjar of links to terrorism, but angrily denied involvement in the slaying. In response to the allegations, India told Canada last year to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country. Tensions remain but have somewhat eased since.

A bloody decadelong Sikh insurgency shook north India in the 1970s and 1980s until it was crushed in a government crackdown in which thousands of people were killed, including prominent Sikh leaders.

The Khalistan movement has lost much of its political power but still has supporters in the Indian state of Punjab, as well as in the sizable overseas Sikh diaspora. While the active insurgency ended years ago, the Indian government has repeatedly warned that Sikh separatists were trying to make a comeback.

Pentagon officials said Tuesday that a U.S. Army soldier detained in Vladivostok, Russia, last Thursday is currently in a pretrial detention facility and will remain there until his next hearing, though the date of that hearing was not immediately known.

Pentagon Deputy Press Secrearty Sabrina Singh told reporters during a press briefing that Staff Sgt. Gordon Black enlisted in the Army as an infantryman in 2008, and most recently, he was assigned to the Eighth Army U.S. Forces Korea at Camp Humphreys in the Republic of South Korea.

"On April 10, Black out-processed from Eighth Army and signed out on permanent change of station, to leave en route to Texas," Singh said. "However, instead of returning to the U.S., Black flew from Korea through China, and then to Vladivostok, Russia, for personal reasons."

She added that Black is currently in a pretrial detention facility, where it was her understanding he will remain until his next hearing.

US ARMY SOLDIER DETAINED, CHARGED IN RUSSIA WITH CRIMINAL MISCONDUCT: OFFICIALS

The Army opened an administrative investigation to determine the facts and circumstances around his travel, Singh noted, and part of the investigation will involve looking into consequences for his actions.

"But, official or any leave to Russia is strictly prohibited, and that’s pursuant to the DoD [Department of Defense] foreign clearance guide, which, of course, is also informed by the State Department guidelines," Singh said, adding that she believed the status was set to Category Four, which does not allow travel to Russia.

On Tuesday, Black’s mother, Melody Jones, told ABC’s "Good Morning America" (GMA) that she believed her son was "set up" by his girlfriend.

MOTHER OF AMERICAN SOLDIER DETAINED IN RUSSIA WHILE VISITING GIRLFRIEND BELIEVES HE WAS ‘SET UP’

She told "GMA" her son met a Russian woman when she was tending bar near his Army base in South Korea, and she was later deported back to Russia.

"I knew something was going to happen," Jones told "GMA." "I felt like he was being set up by her."

Jones described her son's relationship with the Russian woman as "volatile," and even suspected the longtime girlfriend might be a spy. She said she told her son not to travel to Russia when he was supposed to be returning home to the U.S. while on leave. 

"Did she cause the argument? Did she start the fight to get him arrested?" Jones asked. The charges Black faces involve beating a woman and stealing money from her, according to "GMA," which cited Russian television reports. 

AMERICAN ACCUSED OF BREAKING INTO CHILDREN'S LIBRARY SENTENCED, HELD IN RUSSIAN PRISON

Black deployed to Iraq from Oct. 2009 through Sept. 2010, and to Afghanistan from June 2013 until March 2014, Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said. 

Smith said that Black, an infantry soldier, did not request official clearance and did not receive authorization to go to those countries. 

"There is no evidence Black intended to remain in Russia after his PCS leave period ended," Smith said.

The State Department strongly advises U.S. citizens not to go to Russia and advises those already there to leave.

EVAN GERSHKOVICH MARKS ONE YEAR IMPRISONED IN RUSSIA AS FRIENDS CAN ONLY WAIT FOR ‘NIGHTMARE’ TO END

Several other Americans, along with Black, remain detained in Russia. 

William Nycum, an English instructor in Russia on a six-month tourist visa, was found in a Moscow children's library Friday after breaking a window to gain entry, the Associated Press reported. Russian newspaper Izvestia says there is CCTV footage capturing Nycum partially naked breaking into the children's library, according to British publication The Daily Mirror. He was sentenced to 10 days in jail.

Corporate security executive Paul Whelan, who was convicted of espionage, and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested in March 2023 on espionage charges, are two Americans held by Russia. The U.S. government has designated both as wrongfully detained and has been trying to negotiate their release.

Others detained include Travis Leake, a musician who had been living in Russia for years and was arrested last year on drug-related charges; Marc Fogel, a teacher in Moscow who was sentenced to 14 years in prison, also on drug charges; and dual nationals Alsu Kurmasheva and Ksenia Khavana.

Fox News Digital’s Pilar Arias and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Belarus on Tuesday launched drills involving missiles and warplanes capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons, which close ally Russia has deployed there amid tensions with the West over Ukraine.

The Belarusian maneuvers began a day after Russia announced plans to hold similar drills simulating the use of battlefield nuclear weapons in what it cast as a response to statements by Western officials signaling possibly deeper involvement in the war in Ukraine. It was the first time such an exercise had been publicly announced by Moscow.

RUSSIA ANNOUNCES NUCLEAR DRILLS IN RESPONSE TO 'PROVOCATIVE' COMMENTS BY WESTERN OFFICIALS

Belarus' Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said a unit of Iskander short-range missiles and a squadron of Su-25 fighter jets will take part in the drills.

The maneuvers, held jointly with Russia, began as Russian President Vladimir Putin was inaugurated to a fifth term on Tuesday, vowing to ensure Russia's security.

Last year, Russia moved some of its tactical nuclear weapons into Belarus, which also borders Ukraine and NATO members Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko has relied on close ties with Russia and provided his country as a staging ground for the war in Ukraine.

Moscow has emphasized that the tactical nuclear weapons deployed to Belarus remain under Russian military control.

Unlike nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles that can destroy entire cities, tactical nuclear weapons intended for use against troops on the battlefield are less powerful. Such weapons include aerial bombs, warheads for short-range missiles and artillery munitions.

The deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, which has a 1,084-kilometer (673-mile) border with Ukraine, would allow Russian aircraft and missiles to reach potential targets there more easily and quickly if Moscow decides to use them. It also extends Russia’s capability to target several NATO allies in Eastern and Central Europe.

Both Putin and Lukashenko said that the Russian nuclear weapons' deployment to Belarus was intended to counter perceived Western threats.

Lukashenko on Tuesday cast the drills as "exclusively defensive," arguing that the Russian nuclear weapons are intended to deter any potential aggression against Belarus. "This is a weapon of deterrence, a defensive weapon," Lukashenko said.

The Belarusian leader said the drills will involve the delivery of tactical nuclear weapons from storage to military units where they will be mounted on missiles and attached to warplanes. The missile units will practice covert deployment to firing positions to simulate a response to an attack on Belarus, he said.

Belarus' opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who was forced to leave the country under official pressure after challenging Lukashenko in an August 2020 presidential vote, met on Tuesday with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and denounced the Russian nuclear weapons' presence in Belarus.

"Nuclear weapons turn Belarus and Belarusians into targets," she said. "The Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus raise a direct threat to lives and health of citizens of all Europe."

The Olympic torch will finally enter France when it reaches the southern seaport of Marseille on Wednesday. And it's already been quite a journey.

After being lit on April 16 in Ancient Olympia, the torch was carried around Greece before leaving Athens aboard a three-mast ship named Belem, headed for Marseille.

OLYMPIC TORCH-LIGHTING CEREMONY EXPLAINED: WHAT TO KNOW AHEAD OF THE PARIS GAMES

The Belem was first used in 1896, the same year the modern Olympics came back. It will be accompanied by more than 1,000 boats as it parades around the Bay of Marseille, before arriving at the Vieux-Port, or Old Port, and docking on a pontoon resembling an athletics tracks.

Torch bearers will carry the flame across Marseille the next day, the last stretch running on the roof of the famed Stade Vélodrome, home to Marseille's passionate soccer fans.

After leaving Marseille, a vast relay route will be undertaken before the torch's odyssey ends with the opening ceremony of the Games on July 26 in Paris.

Here’s a look at where the torch goes before reaching Paris:

MONT-SAINT-MICHEL

The torch is due to reach the famed and visually stunning site of Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy on May 31.

Located in an area of raised land surrounded by water, the island fortress looks like it was created for a Game of Thrones film set. But it's real, and very old.

So old that it already existed during the Hundred Years' War between England and France, from 1337 to 1453. An English attack was even fended off. Later it became a prison, and in 1979 it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Every years swarms of tourists are in awe of its raw and haunting beauty.

ACROSS THE OCEANS

The torch travel route is even more unique considering it takes a detour through France’s overseas territories called the Relais des Océans, or Ocean Relay. Riding the waves of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean, it will be in French Guiana on June 9 before hitting New Caledonia on June 11.

Next is the island of Réunion at Saint-Denis — coincidentally the same name as the Paris suburb with the Olympic village — before reaching Papeete in the surfing realm of Tahiti, then Baie-Mahault in Gaudeloupe and finally Fort-de-France in Martinique.

The torch comes back to France on June 18 in the southern city of Nice.

FROM SEA BREEZE TO HEAVY CHEESE

Just five days after landing on French shores, the torch heads up the Alpine mountain pass of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc for Olympic Day on June 23.

The Haute-Savoie region is known for its outstanding Chamonix ski resort, which hosts World Cup races, for sweeping views across glacier fields to nearby Italy, and — some would say more importantly — as a producer of fine cheese.

A Cheese Olympics, should it be invented, would feature a sturdy crew of eight competitors from Savoie: Abondance, Beaufort, Chevrotin, Emmental, Reblochon, Tome, Tomme and the heavy-duty Raclette.

HEADING FOR PARIS

After leaving fromage-friendly Savoie, torch bearers will digest in the Doubs region of eastern France, and then visit the Alsace city of Strasbourg in the northeast.

Three days later the torch will reach Verdun, the site of one of the most horrific battles of World War I. From February to December 1916, more than 700,000 French and German soldiers were killed or wounded at the Battle of Verdun.

BASTILLE DAY ARRIVAL

The torch is to arrive on the streets of Paris on July 14 — hardly surprising, considering it's Bastille Day, France’s national day.

The torch will stay the following day in Paris, then exit again before snaking back to the French capital via Versailles — home to the resplendent Royal Palace — and the suburbs of Nanterre on July 24 and Seine Saint-Denis on July 25.

From there, it's to travel a very short distance back to Paris on July 26 for the grandiose opening ceremony where athletes will parade on more than 80 boats at sunset on the Seine River.

FINAL DESTINATION?

After the nearly four-hour ceremony ends shortly after 11 p.m., the cauldron will be lit at a location that is being kept top-secret until the day itself. Among reported options are such iconic spots as the Eiffel Tower and the Tuileries Gardens outside the Louvre Museum.

FLAME PROTECTION

A total of 10,000 people will carry the torch along its route. Local police forces on each section of the relay will help to ensure security is high, providing a security bubble around the torch and its carrier.

ECO-FRIENDLY

The torches have a lower environmental impact than those used at previous Games. They burn biogas instead of propane and are recharged when fuel runs out.

Around 2,000 torches will be used compared to more than 10,000 before, according to Georgina Grenon, the director of environmental excellence at Paris 2024. The torches are made with recycled steel and not new aluminum.

The governor of the Italian region surrounding the port city of Genoa was placed under house arrest Tuesday as part of a corruption investigation by prosecutors alleging he granted political favors in exchange for money.

ITALIAN PM MELONI ALLY FIRES BACK AGAINST CRITICISM SAYS POLICIES THE SAME BUT 'EUROPE HAS CHANGED'

Giovanni Toti, president of the Liguria region, was "serene and convinced he’ll be able to explain everything," said his lawyer, Stefano Savi.

According to the judge’s order signing off on the arrest, Toti was accused of doing favors for local figures in exchange for money to fund four local elections in 2021 and 2022. Members of Toti’s staff and Genoa businessmen, including some involved in the city’s all-important port, were implicated in the investigation.

In a statement, the regional government of Liguria said it was certain that Toti had "always acted in the exclusive interests of Liguria." The council named the vice-president of the region to temporarily take over all administrative functions.

Justice Minister Carlo Nordio said he was "perplexed" by the decision to place Toti under pretrial house arrest, saying such restrictive measures are rarely used for an investigation of this type, the LaPresse news agency reported.

China said on Tuesday its military took steps to warn and alert an Australian aircraft after Australia blamed a Chinese fighter jet for endangering one of its military helicopters during an "unsafe" confrontation over the Yellow Sea.

The incident could create a new rift between the nations trying to rebuild ties following a 2020 low, when Canberra called for an independent investigation into the origins of COVID-19, and Beijing responded with trade barriers.

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said the Chinese air force J-10 jet dropped flares above and several hundred meters ahead of an Australian MH60R Seahawk helicopter on a routine flight on Saturday.

US, AUSTRALIA, JAPAN AND PHILIPPINES VOW TO DEEPEN DEFENSE COOPERATION AMID SOUTH CHINA SEA TENSIONS

No one was hurt in the incident, which happened during an operation to enforce sanctions against North Korea.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was "unacceptable" for Australian defense personnel to be put at risk in international airspace.

On Tuesday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said the Australian aircraft deliberately flew within close range of China’s airspace in a "provocative move" that endangered maritime air security.

"The Australian military aircraft flew near China's airspace in a threatening way," the spokesperson, Lin Jian, told a regular news briefing.

"The Chinese military took necessary measures at the scene to warn and alert the Australian side," he said, adding that the situation was handled in a manner consistent with China's law and regulations, and was professional and safe.

"China has lodged serious protests with the Australian side over its risky moves," Lin said. "We urge the Australian side to immediately stop the provocations and hype to prevent misunderstanding and miscalculation."

China has also been accused of unsafe behavior in the skies by other countries, including Canada and the United States.

Australia has also previously charged China with "unsafe and unprofessional" actions at sea.

In Sydney, Albanese told broadcaster Nine's Today Show the Australian Defence Force personnel were "in international waters, international airspace," as they worked to ensure that the U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea were enforced.

"They shouldn't have been at any risk," he said, adding that the Australian public expected an explanation from China about the incident, and Australia had made "very strong representations at every level to China".

Chinese Premier Li Qiang is expected to visit Australia next month, he said, adding, "We will make our position clear as well in discussions."

The helicopter, flying from destroyer HMAS Hobart, dodged the flares. The confrontation put the aircraft and those on board at risk, although no one was hurt, Australia's defense department said in a separate statement.

The incident is the second in six months to mar what has otherwise been a growing rapprochement between the two countries after years of strained relations and trade disputes.

In November, Australia said a Chinese naval vessel injured some of its divers in Japanese waters using an underwater sonar. China denied it had used its sonar; however Australia rejected the explanation.

In 2022, Australia protested after a Chinese navy vessel pointed a laser at an Australian military aircraft close to Australia's northern coast.

In a separate incident in 2022, Australia said a Chinese fighter aircraft dangerously intercepted an Australian military surveillance plane in the South China Sea, releasing a "bundle of chaff" with pieces of aluminum that were ingested into the Australian craft's engine.

Liu Jianchao, head of the international department of the Chinese Communist Party, said during a visit to Australia in November the Australian navy's movements in the South China Sea and East China Sea appeared to be an effort to contain China.

Australia has rejected this, saying it respects the right of all states to exercise freedom of navigation and overflight in accordance with international law.

China claims sovereignty over much of the South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. An international tribunal in 2016 said China's expansive claim had no legal basis.

Chinese navy vessels have been tracked off Australia's coast several times in recent years, including monitoring exercises with the U.S. military.

Rumbling out of its forest hideout, the hulking German-supplied howitzer has only a few minutes to fire before slipping back under cover to evade Russian surveillance in the skies above.

Across the hills and valleys of the east, Ukrainian artillery units play a cat-and-mouse game with Russian drones hunting high-value artillery weapons such as this self-propelled Panzerhaubitze 2000.

Moscow's troops have stepped up ground attacks along the 621-mile front in the south and east of Ukraine, threatening some of the industrialized Donetsk region's last big cities held by Kyiv more than two years after Russia's full-scale invasion.

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Counterbattery efforts are crucial to suppressing enemy fire that rains on Ukrainian lines and artillery units, and paves the way for Russian advances.

Crews including the one Reuters recently visited, part of the 43rd Artillery Brigade, say they face increasing harassment from enemy drones that have become a staple of Russia's arsenal.

"There were (attacks) before, but not the same amount," said battery commander "Lyova", 27, using his call sign. "Now it's really scary."

Lyova, who is from western Ukraine, said his unit had been directly hit four times by Russian high-tech Lancet attack drones. Crew members remained largely unharmed thanks to the Panzerhaubitze's armor.

Russian reconnaissance drones such as the Orlan or the more advanced Supercam are a particular nuisance, said senior battery officer Andriy Stavnychyi.

"Sometimes it happens that there's lots of work for the day, but we can't move because something is always flying above," Stavnychyi, 31, told Reuters during a visit to the unit's underground command post.

Enemy surveillance drones often pose a greater risk to Ukrainian artillery units than Russian counterbattery radar, according to Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI).

The Panzerhaubitze rotates among multiple hiding spots around the unit's position, which the Ukrainian military requested not be disclosed. They are nestled deep in tree cover and feature hand-built wooden frames that shroud the vehicle.

Stavnychyi echoed other Ukrainian troops and senior officials who have called for more electronic warfare systems to jam Russian drones.

Western-supplied artillery such as the Panzerhaubitze is a priority target for Moscow, which has pledged to focus its strikes on such weapons.

Battery commander Lyova said Russian forces have at times piled pressure on their unit, including through the laser-guided Krasnopol artillery system that eventually struck one of the hideouts. It was not critically damaged.

"Before that, they fired around 50 (standard) shells throughout a day and a half, but couldn't hit it," he said.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said last month Moscow would intensify strikes on Ukrainian storage bases that house Western-supplied weapons.

Lee, the FPRI expert, said weakened Ukrainian counterbattery capabilities meant Russian forces "can be more aggressive about how they employ artillery."

"They can move it closer, they don't have to necessarily change positions that often," he said.

Like other Ukrainian artillery units, the 43rd Brigade battery faces a critical shell shortage that limits the Panzerhaubitze's potential.

Ukrainian troops across the sprawling front are anxiously awaiting shipments from a long-delayed $61-billion U.S. military aid package.

The Panzerhaubitze gunners said they lacked the proprietary 155mm shells designed to maximize its efficiency and range of around 40 km.

Longer-range ammunition would allow them to target analogous Russian self-propelled guns far behind the front line, and keep them further back to protect from Russian counterbattery fire.

Although well-supplied during a failed Ukrainian counteroffensive last year, Lyova's unit now fires far fewer shells per day - only between eight and 15, he estimated.

Repairing the vehicle is also a challenge, with availability of spare parts limited and a navigation system that frequently malfunctions but is difficult to fix on the battlefield.

Stavnychyi, the senior officer, said some parts could be swapped among the Italian and Dutch artillery pieces also under his command.

"But even if there were parts and shells, you'd have the problem of enemy 'birds'," he said, referring to drones.

"So everything needs to work together in a system: electronic warfare and surveillance, (and) artillery. Then our hit percentage would be much higher."

In the jungles of southeastern Burma's Dawna Hills, rebels from an armed ethnic group are fighting to hold back columns of reinforcements sent by the country's ruling junta to try to reclaim Myawaddy, a critical trading outpost on the Thai border.

What happens in the next few weeks in the scramble for Myawaddy and other strategic locations in Burma could determine the next phase of a bloody conflict that has dragged on for more than three years and ultimately dictate the fate of the junta.

Burma has been plunged into chaos since a military coup in February 2021 led to the rise of an armed resistance that is now working alongside ethnic minority rebel groups, some of which have been fighting the military for decades.

ETHNIC KAREN GUERRILLA FIGHTERS WITHDRAW FROM BURMESE BORDER TOWN ARMY LOST 2 WEEKS AGO

The junta and the resistance have a limited window to make gains or hold their ground, as rain-laden monsoon clouds begin rolling across Burma around early June. Such weather particularly hampers the military that is strung out on multiple front lines by blunting the advantage of its air power, analysts said.

In the balance lie vital trade and military outposts, including Myawaddy in the southeast, the western Rakhine region where the powerful Arakan Army has battered the junta and pockets of other provinces along the border with China and Thailand.

Some of these are areas that the junta will look to retake or hold on to before the rains arrive, even as the rebels seek to maintain their momentum, said Zachary Abuza, a professor at the U.S. National War College and a specialist on Southeast Asia.

"There are a couple of really important strategic objectives for the military in the coming weeks," he said, referring to key ongoing battles, including those for Myawaddy and towns in Rakhine state.

A junta spokesman did not respond to calls from Reuters.

Since October, the junta has faced a string of battlefield defeats and, together with a hemorrhaging economy, is grappling with its biggest challenge since taking power.

It has lost control of around half of its 5,280 military positions, including outposts, bases and headquarters, and 60% of territory it had previously controlled in ethnic minority areas, according to estimates by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP).

The military could within the next six months lose control of all major borderlands with Bangladesh, China, India and Thailand, areas where it is currently battling a mix of rebel groups, a Thai official and a diplomatic source told Reuters, based on their assessment of the ongoing fighting.

Stretched thin across frontier territories that are slipping out of its grip, the junta may look to consolidate resources and prioritize key areas, they said.

Both asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak to media.

But they added that although the junta was weakened and bleeding troops, it had retained the firepower to inflict significant damage to resistance groups and hold the central lowland region, home to the majority Bamar people.

Even hemmed in, government forces could mount a robust defense and prolong the conflict, said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a Bangkok-based regional political analyst.

"I think that this could drag on," he said, referring to the turmoil in the country. But he added the junta's control was in the long run "untenable".

"The writing is on the wall," Thitinan said, pointing to the battlefield losses, emboldened resistance and lack of popular support.

After losing control of Myawaddy, the military has mounted a counter-offensive to take back the town, a conduit for border trade of over $1 billion annually.

The Karen National Union (KNU), one of Burma's oldest ethnic armies, which initially dislodged the military from Myawaddy, is now battling to hold back the junta assault.

"More than 1,000 troops are approaching and moving forward to Myawaddy but KNLA joint forces still trying hard for intercepting, blocking and attacking them," KNU spokesman Saw Taw Nee told Reuters, referring to the fighting between junta troops and the group's armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army.

"Fierce fighting is taking place everyday."

Some 600 miles to the west of Myawaddy, the junta is battling the Arakan Army that is pushing to gain control of Ann, a key regional military headquarters.

The 491-mile Burma-China Gas Pipeline also traverses Ann, with a major pump station located near the town, which analysts say the military will do everything to hold.

The monsoon rains will complicate the deployment of the military's air power - a key advantage for the junta - with low cloud cover impacting the use of unguided munitions that are typically used by its air force, said Richard Horsey, the Crisis Group's senior Burma adviser.

"It's also harder and more dangerous for helicopters to operate in the monsoon - for transporting troops, resupplying bases that are cut off by anti-regime forces, and providing fire support," Horsey said.

Military defections across the country in recent months have indicated that the junta's failure to resupply troops with food, water, ammunition, and medical supplies has led to collapsing morale, according to Abuza at the National War College.

The rains will hand an advantage for the resistance forces that have the momentum of multiple victories but they remain a diverse set of ethnic armies and grassroots resistance groups lacking critical coordination, analysts said.

"Facilitating strategic coordination among the plethora of groups will take time, but it will be a decisive factor in determining the outcome of the conflict in Burma," USIP's Ye Myo Hein said in a recent report.

Kyaw Zaw, a spokesman for Burma's shadow National Unity Government, said the junta currently only retained control over big cities in the heartland.

"Even there, they are getting threatened."