Joint Typhoon Warning Center issues tropical cyclone formation alert for disturbance 95W Invest. Early models indicate a track southeast of Tokyo as a possible tropical depression or storm.

The Philippine coast guard said its Chinese counterpart harassed a vessel that was distributing fuel to Filipino fishing boats around the Scarborough Shoal, which is located within Manila’s 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

A top Beijing official overseeing Hong Kong affairs on Saturday warned of persisting threats in the city as a China-imposed national security law approaches its fifth anniversary, while seeking to allay concerns about the law’s impact on the financial hub’s openness.

It’s official. All seven members of the massively popular K-pop group BTS have completed South Korea’s mandatory military service.

During World War II, an entire island in the Seto Inland Sea vanished from the map. It didn’t sink into the sea - rather, Okunoshima Island in Hiroshima Prefecture was kept shrouded in secrecy because it was home to a facility where the Imperial Japanese Army was producing poison gases.

The Navy announced it has awarded an $8 billion contract to 11 companies for a series of construction, maintenance and renovation projects to facilities, as well as the demolition of old facilities, in Hawaii and on Wake Island.

A Japan Airlines flight bound for Osaka was delayed approximately 45 minutes after the F-16 landed around 11:30 a.m., a Tohoku Defense Bureau spokesman said. The bureau protested the landing.

It wasn’t clear why so many planes were scrambled between late Thursday and early Friday. It came a day after Taiwan “welcomed” the transit of the British patrol craft HMS Spey through the Taiwan Strait.

China was quick to condemn Israel after its assault against Iran and has warned against escalation. But it has yet to offer any material support to Iran beyond continuing its normal trading relationship, an approach it also took with Russia.

The offshore patrol vessel HMS Spey carried out the passage as part of a freedom-of-navigation operation that was welcomed by Taiwan, shortly after a Japanese destroyer made a similar trip. The transits come amid rising regional tensions.