By JIM GOMEZ

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The U.S. deployed two warships Wednesday in a disputed South China Sea shoal where two Chinese ships collided earlier in the week while trying to drive away a smaller Philippine ship in a high-seas accident that raised alarms about maritime safety.

Related Articles

McDonald’s Japan’s Pokemon card Happy Meals promotion comes to an unhappy end

New draft of global plastic pollution treaty would not limit plastic production

Britain, France and Germany threaten to reimpose sanctions on Iran as nuclear program deadline nears

Israeli gunfire kills at least 25 in Gaza as Netanyahu says he will allow Palestinians to leave

French president says Trump wants to achieve ceasefire at upcoming Alaska summit

Both China and the Philippines claim Scarborough Shoal and other outcroppings in the South China Sea. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also lay overlapping claims in the contested waters.

The USS Higgins, a guided missile destroyer, and USS Cincinnati, a littoral combat ship, were shadowed by a Chinese navy ship while sailing about 30 nautical miles from the Scarborough Shoal. There were no reports of any untoward incident, Philippine coast guard Commodore Jay Tarriela said, citing information from U.S. officials and a Philippine surveillance flight.

The U.S. Navy has staged what it calls freedom-of-navigation voyages and overflights in the South China Sea for years to challenge China’s restrictions and its demand for entry notifications in virtually the entire stretch of the disputed waters that it claims. That has angered China and its forces have had close runs-in with U.S. warships and aircraft on such patrols in international waters and airspace.

The deployment happened after Washington’s ambassador to Manila, MaryKay Carlson, on Tuesday condemned “the latest reckless action by China directed against a Philippine vessel” in Scarborough. The rich fishing atoll off the northwestern Philippines has been the scene of increasingly tense confrontations between the Chinese and Philippine coast guard, fishing and other ships in recent years.

The Philippines is the oldest treaty ally of the U.S. in Asia. Washington has repeatedly warned that it’s obligated to defend the Philippines if Filipino forces come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.

In this photo, provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, United States Navy USS Cincinnati (LCS 20) conduct freedom of navigation operations (FONOP) at the South China Sea on Wednesday Aug. 13, 2025. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)

On Monday, a Chinese navy destroyer and a Chinese coast guard ship accidentally collided while trying to block and drive away a smaller Philippine coast guard ship, the BRP Suluan, about 10.5 nautical miles from Scarborough. Video footages made public by the Philippine coast guard show the Chinese coast guard ship blasting its powerful water cannon and a number of Chinese personnel standing at the bow shortly before that section was hit by the fast-turning Chinese navy ship.

Shortly after the collision, the video shows the heavily shattered bow of the Chinese coast guard ship without the Chinese personnel, who were standing on deck before the crash. The Chinese navy ship sustained deep dents and what appeared to be linear gushes on its hull.

Japan, Australia and New Zealand expressed alarm on Wednesday over the dangerous maneuvers that led to the collision in the busy waters, a key global trade route.

“Japan upholds the rule of law and opposes any actions which increase tensions. Our concern goes to the repeated actions in the South China Sea,” Japanese Ambassador to Manila Endo Kazuya said in a post on X.

The Australian Embassy in Manila expressed concern “by the dangerous and unprofessional conduct of Chinese vessels near Scarborough Shoal involving the Philippine Coast Guard,” saying in a statement the incident “highlights the need for de-escalation, restraint and respect for international law.”

“This is a learning experience for the People’s Republic of China,” Tarriela, the Philippine coast guard commodore, told a news conference in Manila. “For so many years, we have been reminding them to stop dangerous maneuvers, to stop risky blockings, to adhere to the (anti-)collision regulations because if there is a very high chance of miscalculation, this kind of collision incident would happen.”

Tarriela spoke a few hours after a Chinese fighter jet flew as close as 500 feet to try to drive away a Philippine coast guard plane on a surveillance flight on Wednesday over the Scarborough with invited journalists on board. The Chinese jet carried out dangerous maneuvers for about 20 minutes, including flying about 200 feet above the small Philippine aircraft, Tarriela said.

Associated Press writers Joeal Calupitan and Aaron Favila in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report.

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided panel of appeals court judges ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration can suspend or terminate billions of dollars of congressionally appropriated funding for foreign aid.

Related Articles

Trump names Strait, Stallone and Kiss for Kennedy Center Honors and says he’ll host the awards show

French president says Trump wants to achieve ceasefire at upcoming Alaska summit

VA hospitals are finding it harder to fill jobs, watchdog says

Andrew Cuomo swipes at Zohran Mamdani over a classic New York topic: rent

National Guard rehearsed show of force against immigration raid protesters, general testifies

Two of three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that grant recipients challenging the freeze did not meet the requirements for a preliminary injunction restoring the flow of money.

In January, on the first day of his second term in the White House, Republican President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to freeze spending on foreign aid.

After groups of grant recipients sued to challenge that order, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali ordered the administration to release the full amount of foreign assistance that Congress had appropriated for the 2024 budget year.

The appeal court’s majority partially vacated Ali’s order.

Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson and Gregory Katsas concluded that the plaintiffs did not have a valid legal basis for the court to hear their claims. The ruling was not on the merits of whether the government unconstitutionally infringed on Congress’ spending powers.

“The parties also dispute the scope of the district court’s remedy but we need not resolve it … because the grantees have failed to satisfy the requirements for a preliminary injunction in any event,” Henderson wrote.

Judge Florence Pan, who dissented, said the Supreme Court has held “in no uncertain terms” that the president does not have the authority to disobey laws for policy reasons.

“Yet that is what the majority enables today,” Pan wrote. “The majority opinion thus misconstrues the separation-of-powers claim brought by the grantees, misapplies precedent, and allows Executive Branch officials to evade judicial review of constitutionally impermissible actions.”

The money at issue includes nearly $4 billion for USAID to spend on global health programs and more than $6 billion for HIV and AIDS programs. Trump has portrayed the foreign aid as wasteful spending that does not align with his foreign policy goals.

Henderson was nominated to the court by Republican President George H.W. Bush. Katsas was nominated by Trump. Pan was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden.

By YURI KAGEYAMA

TOKYO (AP) — Fast-food chain McDonald’s Japan has canceled a Happy Meal campaign that came with coveted Pokemon cards, apologizing after resellers rushed to buy the meals and then discarded the food, leaving trash outside stores.

Related Articles

New draft of plastic pollution treaty would not limit plastic production

Britain, France and Germany threaten to reimpose sanctions on Iran as nuclear program deadline nears

Israeli gunfire kills at least 25 in Gaza as Netanyahu says he will allow Palestinians to leave

French president says Trump wants to achieve ceasefire at upcoming Alaska summit

Today in History: August 13, East Germany closes Berlin border

The meals, called Happy Sets in Japan, were meant for children. They came with a toy, such as a tiny plastic Pikachu, and a Pokemon card. They sold out in a day, according to Japanese media reports.

Mounds of wasted food were found near the stores.

“We do not believe in abandoning and discarding food. This situation goes against our longtime philosophy that we have cherished as a restaurant to ‘offer a fun dining experience for children and families.’ We sincerely accept that our preparations had not been adequate,” the company said in a statement Monday.

McDonald’s said it was working on ways to prevent such a situation from happening again, such as limiting the number of meals each person can buy and ending online orders. It said it might deny service to customers who fail to abide by the rules.

“We vow to return to the basics of what lies behind the Happy Set, which is about helping to bring smiles to families so we can contribute to the wholesome development of the hearts and bodies of children, who are our future,” the company said.

Collecting Pokemon cards is popular among adults and children in many places, with the most popular cards selling for $1,000 or more.

Unusually large crowds were seen flocking to McDonald’s stores when the meals with Pokemon cards went on sale. The cards were later being resold for up to tens of thousands of yen (hundreds of dollars) online.

McDonald’s has been selling Happy Meals for more than 40 years. In Japan, they usually sell for 510 yen ($3.40).

Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

Homeowners are cashing in on years of home equity gains, even as mortgage rates remain elevated.

The trend sent cash-out home refinancing activity to a nearly three-year high in the April-June quarter, according to data from home loan data tracker ICE Mortgage Technology.

In a cash-out refinance, a homeowner takes out a loan for more than they owe on their mortgage and then pockets the difference. The funds are often used to consolidate debt, finance home improvement projects and pay for big-ticket purchases.

The average cash-out refinance in the second quarter resulted in the homeowner pulling $94,000 in home equity, increasing their monthly payment by $590. On average, they also raised the interest rate on their home loan by 1.45 percentage points, according to the report.

To qualify for a cash-out refinance, homeowners must have at least 20% home equity, have owned the home for at least six months and have at least a 620 credit score, among other criteria. Borrowers who got a cash-out refinance in the second quarter had an average credit score of 719, ICE noted.

Years of rising home values have made tapping their home equity a tempting option for many homeowners. The median price of a previously occupied U.S. home climbed to an all-time high of $435,500 in June. That’s a 48% increase from just five years ago.

Total homeowner equity in the U.S. hit an all-time high of $17.8 trillion in the second quarter, with $11.6 trillion of available for homeowners to draw upon by refinancing, ICE said.

All told, cash-out refinances accounted for roughly 60% of all home loan refis in the second quarter.

A cash-out refinance can give a borrower more financial flexibility, especially if they can reduce their mortgage rate and use the funds to lower higher-interest debt. However, the borrower is signing up for a larger loan, possibly at a higher interest rate than they previously had, and they’re often extending the loan repayment term by several years.

That can be risky, because if a borrower can’t pay back the loan, they may not have enough equity left to avoid foreclosure.

Often, a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, may be a better option for homeowners, as they generally come with lower interest rates and the borrower isn’t giving up their equity, just borrowing against it.

Related Articles

Wall Street climbs again as a worldwide rally comes back around

Amazon expands its perishable delivery service, putting pressure on traditional grocers

Crypto mogul Do Kwon, known as ‘the cryptocurrency king,’ pleads guilty to fraud charges

Mississippi Market and River Market co-ops propose merger

What to know about Trump’s potential change in federal marijuana policy

Stubbornly high mortgage rates have helped keep the U.S. housing market in a sales slump since early 2022, when rates started to climb from the rock-bottom lows they reached during the pandemic. Home sales sank last year to their lowest level in nearly 30 years.

The market has remained in a slump this year, and while prices have kept rising nationally, the rate of growth has been slowing or falling in many metro areas, including Atlanta, Austin and Tampa, Florida.

The slower pace of home price appreciation, especially for homes in Sunbelt and Western markets, have led to home equity growth slowing by its lowest rate in two years, ICE said.

As a result, tappable equity has dropped by at least 5% in nearly one-quarter of U.S. markets. And about 1% of homeowners with a mortgage, or roughly 564,000 borrowers, now owe more than their homes are worth, ICE said.