MANILA, Philippines — A Chinese coast guard ship and an accompanying vessel rammed a Philippine coast guard ship and a military-run supply boat Sunday off a contested shoal, Philippine officials said, in an encounter that heightened fears of an armed conflict in the disputed South China Sea.

A top Philippine security official told The Associated Press there were no injuries among the Filipino crew members and an assessment of the damage to both vessels was underway.

The official said that the two incidents near Second Thomas Shoal, where China has repeatedly tried to isolate a Philippine marine outpost, could have been worse if the vessels were not able to maneuver rapidly away from the Chinese ships. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to a lack of authority to publicly discuss the matter.

China’s sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea, including over islands closer to Philippine shore, have raised tensions and brought in the United States, a longtime treaty ally of the Philippines, into the fray.

The U.S. ambassador to Manila, MaryKay Carlson, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “the United States condemns the PRC’s latest disruption of a legal Philippine resupply mission to Ayungin shoal, putting the lives of Filipino service members at risk.”

She used the initials for China’s formal name, the People’s Republic of China, and the name the Philippines uses for Second Thomas Shoal. She added that Washington was standing with its allies to help protect Philippine sovereignty and to support a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

The Chinese coast guard said the Philippine vessels “trespassed” into what it said were Chinese waters “without authorization” despite repeated radio warnings, prompting its ships to stop them. It blamed the Philippine vessels for causing the collisions.

“The Philippine side’s behavior seriously violates the international rules on avoiding collisions at sea and threatens the navigation safety of our vessels,” the Chinese coast guard said in a statement posted on its website.

The Chinese authorities said that they were stopping Philippines ships that carried “illegal construction” materials.

A Philippine government task force dealing with the South China Sea said the collisions occurred as two Philippine supply boats escorted by two Philippine coast guard ships were heading to deliver food and other supplies to the military outpost that has been under a Chinese blockade.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said he’s fully recovered from health issues that led him to freeze in public and he prodded House GOP members to agree on a new speaker to end the paralysis of the U.S. legislative branch.

Questions about the 81-year-old McConnell’s health have lingered since he suffered a serious fall at a political fundraiser in March, then abruptly halted speaking twice within two months at events.
“I’m completely recovered, and I’m just fine,” he said in an interview airing Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation. “I’m in good shape, completely recovered and back on the job.”

While Democrats are in control of the U.S. Senate, Congress has been hamstrung for almost three weeks by a speakership vacancy in the Republican-led House, where a group of right-wing dissidents instigated the ouster of Kevin McCarthy. Two other candidates failed to win enough support and new candidacies are due by noon Sunday.

“It does send a poor message to our allies and our enemies around the world,” McConnell said on Fox News Sunday. “And we also have work to do. We have appropriation bills to pass. We have a supplemental to deal with.”

McConnell reaffirmed that he’s broadly aligned with President Joe Biden on immediate foreign-policy matters. He said he’s “generally in the same place” as Biden on U.S. aid for Israel and Ukraine, and that he opposes decoupling the two issues.

“I just think that’s a mistake,” he said. “I know there are some Republicans in the Senate, and maybe more in the House, saying Ukraine is somehow different. I view it as all interconnected.”
Biden said last week he’s requesting almost $106 billion in emergency funding for aid to Ukraine and Israel and to reinforce the U.S.-Mexico border. Meanwhile, the U.S. government is approaching its next funding deadline in November.

McConnell said that he and fellow Senate Republicans will give the supplemental budget request a “serious look,” while adding “I would recommend some changes as well.”

The last time the Ravens played the Detroit Lions, they needed a record-setting field goal in the final seconds to pull out a dramatic victory. The only drama this time was how many touchdowns Baltimore would score.

A week after struggling to find the end zone and kicking six field goals, the Ravens (5-2) scored a touchdown on each of their first four possessions and never looked back en route to a 38-6 blowout of Detroit (5-2).

Lamar Jackson completed 21 of 27 passes for 357 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 36 yards and another score. Unlike last week in London, where the Ravens were just 1-for-6 on scoring touchdowns from the red zone, Baltimore had little trouble finishing off one drive after another against the Lions.

The Ravens’ 28-point halftime lead matched the largest in a home game in franchise history, and it tied for the third-biggest halftime lead overall in team history.

Baltimore came into the game having outscored opponents 41-6 in the first quarter this season and didn’t waste any time adding to that.

On the opening possession of the game, the Ravens marched 75 yards in seven plays, with Jackson hitting a wide-open Zay Flowers over the middle of the Lions’ zone for a 46-yard gain that moved the ball to Detroit’s 16. Three plays later and facing a fourth-and-1 from the Lions’ 7, Jackson faked a handoff to Gus Edwards up the middle and waltzed around the left side untouched for an easy touchdown.

It turned out Jackson was just getting started.

On the Ravens’ next possession, Jackson connected with receiver Rashod Bateman on back-to-back passes for 16 and 20 yards and later scrambled to a first down on third-and-3 from the Lions’ 22. Facing another third-and-3, this time from the 12, Jackson scrambled and ducked and dodged defenders before finding Nelson Agholor in the back of the end zone. Jackson’s time to throw of 9.24 seconds is the longest on a touchdown pass since Week 14, 2018, and the third-longest in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016).

Following another three-and-out by the Lions and a 61-yard punt by Jack Fox, the Ravens needed just eight plays to go 92 yards for their next touchdown, with Jackson finding Odell Beckham Jr. for 20 yards, Flowers for 22 and fullback Pat Ricard for 28 along the way. He capped the drive with a short pass to tight end Mark Andrews, who took it 11 yards for the score.

That put the Ravens up 21-0 just two minutes into the second quarter.

Baltimore then drove 80 yards in six plays, sparked by a 20-yard run by Edwards and a 27-yard burst by Justice Hill. Edwards took it the final 2 yards for a touchdown.

The Lions, meanwhile, barely moved the ball the first 30 minutes, totaling just 97 total yards in the first half.

Quarterback Jared Goff was 11 of 18 passing for 99 yards but was sacked three times, while rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who took the bulk of the carries with David Montgomery out with a rib injury, had just 9 yards on three carries. Detroit didn’t get its first first down of the game until 7:32 left in the first half.

Things didn’t go much better for Detroit in the second half, either.

After taking the first possession of the third quarter to the Ravens’ 6-yard line, Goff’s pass to receiver Josh Reynolds in the back of the end zone on fourth-and-goal was broken up by inside linebacker Roquan Smith. The Ravens then went 94 yards in just four plays, highlighted by a short pass to Edwards, who raced 80 yards up the right sideline. Two plays later, Jackson hit Andrews in the back of the end zone for an 8-yard score.

The Lions finally broke through with a 21-yard touchdown run by Gibbs, but a pass from Goff to the back on a 2-point try fell incomplete.

Detroit entered the game having surrendered an NFL-low 64.7 yards rushing per game, but were gashed by the Ravens, who tallied 146 yards on the ground. Edwards led the way for Baltimore with 64 yards on 14 carries, while Andrews and Flowers finished with six catches apiece for 63 and 75 yards, respectively.

The Ravens’ defense also ended the Lions’ NFL-best streak of having scored 20 or more points in 15 straight and held them under 350 total yards for the first time this season.

This story will be updated.

Week 8

Ravens at Cardinals

Sunday, 4:25 p.m.

TV: CBS

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM

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