By JIM GOMEZ

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The United States plans to deploy more high-tech missile systems to the Philippines to help deter aggression in the South China Sea, where the treaty allies on Tuesday condemned what they called China’s “illegal, coercive, aggressive, and deceptive activities.”

Beijing has repeatedly expressed alarm over the installation in the northern Philippines of a U.S. mid-range missile system called the Typhon in 2024 and of an anti-ship missile launcher last year. It said the U.S. weapons were aimed at containing China’s rise and warned that these were a threat to regional stability.

China has asked the Philippines to withdraw the missile launchers from its territory, but officials led by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. have rejected the demand.

FILE -U.S. troopers in battle gear walk during a joint military exercise on May 8, 2024, in Laoag, Ilocos Norte, northern Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File)

U.S. and Philippine officials held annual talks Monday in Manila on broadening security, political and economic engagements and boosting collaboration with regional security allies.

The U.S. and the Philippines outlined in a joint statement Tuesday specific defense and security plans for this year, including joint military exercises, Washington’s support to help modernize the Philippine military and efforts “to increase deployments of U.S. cutting-edge missile and unmanned systems to the Philippines.”

The longtime allies “underscored their support for preserving freedom of navigation and overflight, unimpeded lawful commerce and other lawful uses of the sea for all nations,” the statement said.

“Both sides condemned China’s illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive activities in the South China Sea, recognizing their adverse effects on regional peace and stability and the economies of the Indo-Pacific and beyond,” it added.

Confrontations between Chinese and Philippine coast guard forces have spiked in the disputed waters in recent years. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan are also involved in the territorial standoffs.

Neither side elaborated on the planned missile deployments but Philippine ambassador to Washington, Jose Manuel Romualdez, who took part in Monday’s talks, said U.S. and Filipino defense officials discussed the possible deployment this year of “upgraded” types of U.S. missile launchers that the Philippines may eventually decide to purchase.

“It’s a kind of system that’s really very sophisticated and will be deployed here in the hope that, down the road, we will be able to get our own,” Romualdez told The Associated Press.

The Typhon missile system that the U.S. Army deployed to the main northern Philippine region of Luzon in April 2024 and an anti-missile launcher called the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System that was deployed in April last year also to Luzon have remained in the Philippines, Romualdez said.

During joint drills, U.S. forces have exhibited the missile systems to batches of Filipino forces to familiarize them with the weapons’ capabilities and usage, military officials said.

Romualdez said the U.S. missile deployments to the Philippines did not aim to antagonize any country.

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“It’s purely for deterrence,” he said. “Every time the Chinese show any kind of aggression, it only strengthens our resolve to have these types.”

The Typhon missile launchers, a land-based weapon, can fire the Standard Missile-6 and the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile. Tomahawk missiles can travel over 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers), which places China within their target range, from the northern Philippine region of Luzon.

Last year, the U.S. Marines deployed the anti-ship missile launcher, the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, to Batan island in the northernmost Philippine province of Batanes, which faces the Bashi Channel just south of Taiwan.

The sea passage is a critical trade and military route that the U.S. and Chinese militaries have tried to gain strategic control of.

By SYLVIE CORBET

PARIS (AP) — Gisèle Pelicot’s memoir was released Tuesday in 22 languages worldwide, sharing details of the horror she went through and sending a powerful message of hope and support to victims of sexual abuse.

“I wanted my story to help others,” Pelicot told French national channel France 5 last week ahead of the release of her book, “A Hymn to Life, Shame has to Change Sides.”

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Pelicot recounted her story of survival in the book and in her first series of interviews since the landmark 2024 trial that turned her into a global icon against sexual violence and imprisoned her husband who knocked her out with drugs so other men could assault her inert body.

“Today I’m doing better, and this book allowed me to engage in self-reflection, to take stock of my life,” she said. “I had to try to rebuild myself on this field of ruins. Today I am a woman standing strong.”

Pelicot said her book is meant to deliver “a message of hope to all the women who are going through a very complicated period in their lives.”

The shocking case — and Pelicot’s decision to waive her anonymity and speak publicly — prompted a reckoning over rape culture in France and beyond, as her dignity and strength impressed many across the world.

Gymnastic superstar and Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles, herself a survivor of sexual abuse, paid tribute to Pelicot in a message broadcast by the BBC.

“Gisèle has demonstrated to the world that it’s not for victims of sexual abuse to feel shame — it’s the perpetrators,” Biles said. “By waiving her anonymity and refusing to feel shame, Gisèle paves the way for other victims to come forward.”

In December 2024, Pelicot’s ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, and 50 other men were convicted of sexually assaulting her between 2011 and 2020 while she was under chemical submission. Dominique Pelicot was sentenced to 20 years in prison, while the other defendants received sentences ranging from three to 15 years. An appeals court later increased to 10 years the sentence of the only defendant who challenged his conviction.

Dominique Pelicot, whom Gisèle Pelicot had been married to for nearly 50 years, acknowledged that for years he mixed sedatives into her food and drink so he could rape her and invite other men to do the same.

The unprecedented trial exposed how online pornography, chat rooms and distorted notions of consent can fuel sexual violence.

In October, France passed a law defining rape and other sexual assault as any non-consensual sexual act in the wake of the Pelicot case, joining many other European nations that have similar consent-based laws, including neighboring Germany, Belgium and Spain. Until then, rape under French law was defined as penetration or oral sex using “violence, coercion, threat or surprise.”

By EMMA BURROWS and JAMEY KEATEN

GENEVA (AP) — Delegations from Moscow and Kyiv were in Geneva on Tuesday for another round of U.S.-brokered peace talks, a week before the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor.

However, expectations for any breakthroughs in Geneva were low, with neither side apparently ready to budge from its positions on key territorial issues and future security guarantees, despite the United States setting a June deadline for a settlement.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his government’s delegation was in Switzerland and Russian state news agency Tass said the Russian delegation had also arrived. Talks, to be held over two days, were expected to start later in the day.

Discussions on the future of Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory are expected to be particularly tough as U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, sit down with the delegations. That’s according to a person familiar with the talks who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to talk to reporters.

Russa is still insisting that Ukraine cede control of its eastern Donbas region.

Also in Geneva will be American, Russian and Ukrainian military chiefs, who will discuss how a ceasefire monitoring might work after any peace deal, and what’s needed to implement it, the person said.

During previous talks in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, military leaders looked at how a demilitarized zone could be arranged and how everyone’s militaries could talk to one another, the person added.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov cautioned against expecting developments on the first day of talks as they were set to continue on Wednesday. Moscow has provided few details of previous talks.

Ukraine’s short-handed army is locked in a war of attrition with Russia’s bigger forces along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) front line. Ukrainian civilians are enduring Russian aerial barrages that repeatedly knock out power and destroy homes.

The future of the almost 20% of Ukrainian land that Russia occupies or still covets is a central question in the talks, as are Kyiv’s demands for postwar security guarantees with a U.S. backstop to deter Moscow from invading again.

Trump described the Geneva meeting as “big talks.”

“Ukraine better come to the table fast,” he told reporters late Monday as he flew back to Washington from his home in Florida.

It wasn’t immediately clear what Trump was referring to in his comment about Ukraine, which has committed to and taken part in negotiations in the hope of ending Russia’s devastating onslaught.

Complex talks as the war presses on

The Russian delegation is headed by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s adviser Vladimir Medinsky, who headed Moscow’s team of negotiators in the first direct peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul in March 2022 and has forcefully pushed Putin’s war goals. Medinsky has written several history books that claim to expose Western plots against Russia and berate Ukraine.

The commander of the U.S. military — and NATO forces — in Europe, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, and Secretary of the U.S. Army Dan Driscoll will attend the meeting in Geneva on behalf of the U.S. military and meet with their Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, Col. Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for the U.S. commander said.

Overnight, Russia used almost 400 long-range drones and 29 missiles of various types to strike 12 regions of Ukraine, injuring nine people, including children, according to the Ukrainian president.

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire in private houses following a Russian air attack in Sumy region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

Zelenskyy said tens of thousands of residents were left without heating and running water in the southern port city of Odesa.

Zelenskyy said Moscow should be “held accountable” for the relentless attacks, which he said undermine the U.S. push for peace.

“The more this evil comes from Russia, the harder it will be for everyone to reach any agreements with them. Partners must understand this. First and foremost, this concerns the United States,” the Ukrainian leader said on social media late Monday.

“We agreed to all realistic proposals from the United States, starting with the proposal for an unconditional and long-term ceasefire,” Zelenskyy noted.

The talks in Geneva took place as U.S. officials also held indirect talks with Iran in the Swiss city.

Burrows reported from London. Associated Press writer Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.

By JAMEY KEATEN and STEPHANIE LIECHTENSTEIN

GENEVA (AP) — The U.S. and Iran held their second round of talks about Iran’s nuclear program on Tuesday in Geneva as Iran said it will close the Strait of Hormuz for several hours for live fire military exercises and the United States ramps up its military forces in the region.

As the talks began, Iranian media announced that Iran had fired live missiles toward the Strait of Hormuz, and said it will close the Strait for several hours for “safety and maritime concerns.”

This is the first time that Iran has closed parts of the Strait, an essential international waterway, since the U.S. began threatening Iran with military action. Iran on Monday announced a maritime military exercise in waterways that are crucial international trade routes through which 20% of the world’s oil passes. Iran previously held a live fire drill in the Strait of Hormuz several weeks ago but did not announce closures.

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The semi-official Tasnim news agency, which is close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, said missiles launched inside Iran and along its coast had struck their targets in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian state TV later reported that the latest round of talks had ended after almost three hours.

Another round of indirect talks

Iranian state TV reported Tuesday that the negotiations with the U.S. will be indirect and will focus only on Iran’s nuclear program, not domestic policies including its bloody crackdown on protesters last month.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to compel Iran to agree to constrain its nuclear program. Iran has said it would respond with an attack of its own. Trump has also threatened Iran over its deadly crackdown on recent nationwide protests.

The first round of talks Feb. 6 were held in Oman, a sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, and were indirect. Similarly to the last round of talks, the Iranians appeared to be meeting with Omani mediators separately from the Americans on Tuesday.

Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were traveling for the new round of talks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is leading the talks for Iran, met with the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency Monday in Geneva.

“I am in Geneva with real ideas to achieve a fair and equitable deal,” Araghchi wrote on X. “What is not on the table: submission before threats.”

Talking to reporters Monday night aboard Air Force One on his way to Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump said he planned to be involved in the talks, at least indirectly. “I think they want to make a deal. I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal,” he said.

The U.S. is also hosting talks between envoys from Russia and Ukraine in Geneva on Tuesday and Wednesday, days ahead of the fourth anniversary of the all-out Russian invasion of its neighbor.

Iran fires missiles into Strait of Hormuz in drill

Iran announced that the Revolutionary Guard started a drill early Monday morning in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, which are crucial international shipping routes. It was the second time in recent weeks that Iran has held a live fire drill in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stepped up his warnings to the U.S. over its buildup of military forces in the Middle East.

“Of course a warship is a dangerous apparatus, but more dangerous than the warship is the weapon that can sink the warship into the depths of the sea,” Khamanei said, Iranian state TV reported.

He also warned the U.S. that “forcing the result of talks in advance is a wrong and foolish job.”

US increases military presence

Last week, Trump said the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, was being sent from the Caribbean Sea to the Mideast to join other warships and military assets the U.S. has built up in the region.

The Ford, whose new deployment was first reported by The New York Times, will join the USS Abraham Lincoln and its accompanying guided-missile destroyers, which have been in the region for over two weeks. U.S. forces already have shot down an Iranian drone that approached the Lincoln on the same day last week that Iran tried to stop a U.S.-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

Gulf Arab nations have warned any attack could spiral into another regional conflict in a Mideast still reeling from the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

The Trump administration is seeking a deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program and ensure it does not develop nuclear weapons. Iran says it is not pursuing weapons and has so far resisted demands that it halt uranium enrichment or hand over its supply of uranium.

The U.S. and Iran were in the middle of months of meetings when Israel’s launch of a 12-day war against Iran back in June instantly halted the talks. The U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites during that war, likely destroying many of the centrifuges that spun uranium to near weapons-grade purity. Israel’s attacks decimated Iran’s air defenses and targeted its ballistic missile arsenal as well.

Iran has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Before the June war, Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels.

Iran marks 40 days since deadliest part of protest crackdowns

Iran is marking 40 days, the traditional Muslim mourning period, since one of the deadliest days in the crackdown on protests that swept the country last month. Activists say at least 7,015 people have been killed, many in a bloody crackdown overnight between Jan. 8 and 9.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which offered the latest figures, has been accurate in counting deaths during previous rounds of unrest in Iran and relies on a network of activists in the country to verify deaths.

The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll, given authorities have disrupted internet access and international calls in Iran.

Iran’s state news agency said the government would hold a memorial marking 40 days at the Grand Mosalla mosque in Tehran, and blamed the demonstrations on “violent actions by armed groups allegedly directed by foreign intelligence agencies.”

Liechtenstein reported from Vienna. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman contributed from Tel Aviv, Israel.

The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ___ Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape: https://apnews.com/projects/the-new-nuclear-landscape/