Rosie Brown / Yankee-Brown Productions

A U.S. Navy landing craft arrives at Thailand's Hat Yao beach during Cobra Gold 2013, a military exercise involving 13,000 military personnel.

HAT YAO, Thailand -- An ear-thumping explosion reverberates around the bay as a plume of water shoots hundreds of yards into the air.

Two Marine F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets scream by overhead, while Huey and Super Cobra helicopters bank hard, simulating bombing runs. Heavily armed, amphibious assault vehicles churn up the sand as they unleash hordes of U.S. Marines onto one of Thailand's idyllic eastern beaches.

Cobra Gold 2013 -- the largest multinational military exercise in the Asia-Pacific region -- is officially under way.

Rosie Brown / Yankee-Brown Productions

A Thai marine waits patiently for instructions in the midday sun during Cobra Gold 2013.

The annual exercise is in its 32nd iteration and involves 13,000 military personnel countries, including Japan and South Korea, as well as observers from China and, for the first time, Myanmar.

For 10 days, these forces will conduct a variety of field exercises, from amphibious assaults and jungle warfare to humanitarian and civic assistance projects.

Leading the exercises are more than 1,000 Marines and sailors from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, part of Amphibious Force 7th Fleet.

Many of these servicemen and women will play a major role in America's new "Asia pivot" defense strategy, which calls for the strengthening of U.S. military power in the region.

"The pivot to the Pacific that President Obama has talked about is a refocusing of assets and efforts after over 10 years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq," said Capt. Cathal O'Connor, commander of Amphibious Squadron 11. "But the actual relationship of being out here in the Pacific goes back to the time of the Civil War."

Cobra Gold itself is a holdover from the Cold War when it was one of the key pillars of U.S. regional security.

'A deterrent'
During the height of the Cold War, the exercise regularly simulated invasions of Thailand from its northern and eastern borders.

Now with U.S. once again focused on the Pacific, Cobra Gold has taken on renewed significance, explained Jon Grevatt, an Asia-Pacific analyst for IHS Jane's.

"It has new purpose to show the strength of military collaboration between the U.S. and its partner nations, creating a deterrent to Chinese and North Korean ambitions," he said.

Tensions have been rising in the region with the dispute between China and Japan over the Senkaku Islands – known as Diaoyu in Chinese -- and North Korea's latest nuclear test.

Rosie Brown / Yankee-Brown Productions

Plumes of smoke rise from simulated bombing runs over Hat Yao beach in Thailand.

This strengthening has already begun with the Navy sending a newly upgraded, guided-missile cruiser, USS Antietam, to join the 7th Fleet based in Japan. The Antietam gives the Navy a more sophisticated air-defense system, particularly against ballistic missiles.

More ships will be arriving in the region in the near future as the Pentagon continues its plan to shift around 60 percent of all Navy warships to the Asia-Pacific theater by 2020.

And it's not just the Navy getting in on the action, the Marines have deployed two battalions -- nearly 2,000 troops -- to Okinawa in the last six weeks with more scheduled to arrive this summer. There are now more than 17,000 U.S. Marines based in Japan -- the most in over a decade.

Both Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta have visited Southeast Asia in recent months, reinforcing how critical the Asia-Pacific theater has become to U.S. strategy.

"We all know that the Asia-Pacific is the traffic highway of so many goods and services. A great many things are manufactured in this part of the world," said Rear Adm. Jeffrey A. Harley, commander of Amphibious Force 7th Fleet. "The United States has been a presence in the Pacific for many, many years… and they will continue to be so."

Sheila A. Smith, an expert on regional security in Asia for the Council on Foreign Relations, said that despite the fact China had accepted an invitation to observe Cobra Gold "military exercises always raise eyebrows."

“The president is a Pacific president," she said. "I think he realizes that the region has been overlooked. It’s not threat-based or military-driven. The large part is an adjustment of diplomatic focus."

Rosie Brown / Yankee-Brown Productions

US Marines assault Hat Yao beach during an exercise as part of Cobra Gold 2013.

Matt Stumpf, an expert on U.S.-Asian relations at the Asia Society think tank, added: "I think what’s notable about this year’s exercise is in the context of the rebalancing of U.S. policy toward Asia.

"The president and [former Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton have both spoken in depth on their views that Asia is critical to the United States in the 21st century. And with the drawdown in Afghanistan and the end of the war in Iraq, there was an opportunity in Asia to refocus diplomatic, defense and development tools for U.S. goals in the region."

NBC News Staff Writer John Newland contributed to this report.

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Tuwaedaniya Meringing / AFP - Getty Images

Thai police stand guard after a suspected insurgent attack at a military base in southern Thailand on Wednesday. Scores of heavily armed gunmen stormed the base in a major assault that left 16 militants dead.

BANGKOK -- A pre-dawn raid on a Thai military base ended with 16 militant Muslim insurgents killed on Wednesday in the deadliest violence in the country's south in nine years, marking a dangerous escalation in one of Asia's least-known conflicts.

Acting on a tip-off, marines lit flares and opened fire as up to 60 insurgents wearing military fatigues approached the base at about 1 a.m. local time in Narathiwat province on the Malaysian border, Internal Security Operations Command spokesman Pramote Phromin said. No Thai military members were hurt.

Violence is common in Thailand's south, but the scale of the attack and targeting of a marine base illustrate the difficulty Buddhist-majority Thailand faces in preventing the low-intensity Muslim insurgency from turning into a more dangerous conflict.

Surapan Boonthanom / Reuters

Thai security personnel investigate around bodies of insurgents at the site of an attack on a military base in the troubled southern province of Narathiwat on Wednesday.

Although there is no indication of the fighting spreading beyond the provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, just a few hours' drive from some of Thailand's most popular tourist beaches, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra appears powerless to quell the almost daily gunfights and bomb attacks.

"It was only going to be a matter of time before this type of incident happened," said Anthony Davis, a Thailand-based analyst at security consulting firm IHS-Jane's.

"The insurgents have been moving towards larger attacks on military bases since 2011. At the same time, there has been more proactive security intelligence work."

Experts say the insurgency is becoming better organized. Wednesday's death toll was the biggest since security forces stormed a mosque, known as the Krue Se mosque, in 2004, killing 32 Muslims in a raid that intensified the insurgency.

Since then, more than 5,300 people have been killed in the three provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, where insurgents are seeking greater autonomy.

About 94 percent of the region's 1.7 million people are Muslim, the main religion in neighboring Malaysia and in nearby Indonesia, and about 80 percent of them speak a Malay dialect as a first language, according to a 2010 survey by the Asia Foundation.

In recent weeks, attacks have appeared bolder. Five soldiers were killed by suspected insurgents on Sunday. That followed a spate of attacks on civilians, including one this month in which four fruit traders from outside the region were found shot dead with their hands and legs bound.

The government is considering imposing a curfew in parts of the south, where the military already has wide-ranging powers of search and arrest under an emergency decree.

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MAKASSAR, Indonesia -- A mob of wild monkeys has gone on a rampage in a village in eastern Indonesia, entering houses and attacking residents, injuring seven people.

One of the victims was listed in critical condition.

Ambo Ella, a spokesman for Sidendeng Rappang District in South Sulawesi province, says the surprise attack by about 10 monkeys happened in Toddang Pulu village.

He said late Wednesday that a 16-year-old boy was badly bitten in Monday’s attack and is being treated at the hospital.

He believes the troop came from a nearby forest protected by a local tribe.

It is unclear why the monkeys, which are usually afraid of humans and flee when they hear human voices, emerged and attacked.

Local authorities are investigating to find out what prompted the attack, which caused panic among villagers.

By The Associated Press.

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Reuters file

New Zealand businessman Gareth Morgan claims cats have contributed to the extinction of nine native bird species and were affecting 33 endangered bird species.

The domestic cat should be eradicated from New Zealand because it is a “natural born killer” that is wiping out native wildlife, according to a prominent economist in the South Pacific country.

Gareth Morgan, whose blog also describes him as a businessman, philanthropist and “motorcycle adventurer," has set up the “Cats to Go” campaign, urging people to “make this cat your last.”

On a website set up to promote the campaign, Morgan said that cats were killing native birds “faster than they can possibly breed” in New Zealand’s cities.

He claimed cats had contributed to the extinction of nine native bird species and were affecting 33 endangered bird species.

“If we are serious about conservation, protecting and enhancing New Zealand’s native fauna, even supporting a predator free New Zealand, then we must overcome our denial and acknowledge that we are harboring a natural born killer,” Morgan wrote.

He said that cat owners should put a bell on their pet, saying “they may be less than 50 percent effective but every bit counts,” have their cats neutered, keep them inside and not replace them when they die.

'Just love killing things'
Morgan is also calling for new laws requiring cats to be registered and micro-chipped.

In an interview with New Zealand’s 3 News, Morgan said that cats “just love killing things – and that’s your cat we’re talking about.”

“Your cat does a lot of damage. If you want to love your cat, that’s fine, keep him in your house,” Morgan told the station.

“If you let him onto my property, I want the right to trap that cat and get rid of it,” the businessman added, saying he would rather have native birds and other animals on his land instead.

Bob Kerridge, chief executive of the country’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, told the New Zealand Herald newspaper that the idea of getting rid of cats was “a bit radical, over the top and completely wrong.”

"People consider cats to be a member of the family. So he's trying to, quite frankly, take away the civil liberties we all have to choose who we want in our home,” he told the paper, and questioned some of Morgan’s claims about cats’ effects on wildlife.

"Gareth Morgan is way out of line because very few native birds fall at the hand of cats, domestic cats,” he added.

A poll on Morgan's website suggested most people were unlikely to join Morgan's campaign. Asked "Will you make your current cat the last one you own?," 72 percent of respondents said no.

China Daily via Reuters

Wang Xianxiang carries two buckets of water with his eyelids during a provincial festival for migrant workers in Shaodong County, Hunan province, Saturday.

BEIJING – Wang Xianxiang’s talent is an eyeful.

The 42-year-old fireworks maker from the central Chinese province of Hunan was photographed last weekend performing his signature trick: Suspending two water buckets with a combined weight of 9 pounds on plastic hangers hooked to his eyelids for a minute.

China Daily via Reuters

Wang says he is hoping to increase the amount of weight he can carry with his eyelids.

Wang entertained local migrant workers at a provincial festival near his hometown of Liuyang Saturday.

“When I first started it was extremely painful,” Wang told NBC News about his unique talent, “but after a lot of practice it’s just uncomfortable today.”

Among other talents he’s developed for the show? Having two men wrap a metal wire tightly around his neck while he talks to the audience, which he says has been in the thousands.

Wang, who is married with two children, said he has been doing his eyelid trick for five to six years and started doing it purely out of boredom. 

But as he increased the weight on his eyelids, he started to train – practicing for 30 minutes each morning and two hours at night. 

Wang’s family initially frowned upon his hobby, but slowly came around as his stature grew within the community.

When asked what his aspirations for the future were, Wang kept it simple. “I can currently hold 4.5 pounds on each eyelid, I’d like to push that to 11 pounds per eyelid.”

He was optimistic that he could accomplish that eye-popping feat by the end of the year.

NBC News’ Le Li contributed to this report.

Chester Baldicantos / AP

Police examine the scene where prosecutor Maria Teresa Casino was wounded at the Regional Trial Court building in Cebu city in central Philippines on Tuesday.

A Canadian man shot dead a doctor who was suing him and the doctor’s lawyer in a court in the Philippines on Tuesday, according to reports.

Police said the man had smuggled a pistol into the court in the central city of Cebu, the AFP news agency reported.

The report said the Canadian had been accused of petty mischief.

A government prosecutor was also injured and the Canadian was shot and wounded during a melee, police told local radio DZBB. His condition was not clear Tuesday.

BBC News reported that the 65-year-old had been accused of mischief by his neighbors.

AFP said there was a public debate in the Philippines over stricter gun-control laws after a number of gun-related deaths in January.

As "tornadoes of fire" roared toward their home, the Holmes family fled and then jumped into the sea, clinging to a jetty for three hours to escape wildfires that have devastated Australia.

The blaze spread swiftly in the Tasmanian town of Dunalley, Tim Holmes said. "The next thing we knew everything was on fire, everywhere, all around us," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Holmes said he sent his wife Tammy and their five grandchildren -- who are aged between almost 2 and 11 --  to the jetty to seek refuge from the flames, which destroyed three homes owned by the family. "There was no other escape," he added.

Holmes sent a text message to his daughter, Bonnie Walker,  showing her children in the water.

"It's still quite an upsetting image," Walker told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "It's of all of my five children underneath the jetty, huddled up to neck deep sea water, which is cold. I knew that that would be a challenge to keep three non-swimmers above water and with only my mom, dad and our eldest daughter.

Read more on this story from Britain's ITV News

"I spent a lot of time with good friends and prayed like I never prayed before and I think those prayers have been answered."

Australia's record-breaking heatwave has sent temperatures soaring, melting road tar and setting off hundreds of wildfires - as well as searing new colors onto weather maps.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has added dark purple and magenta to its weather forecasting map to represent temperatures of 51 to 54 degrees Celsius (123.8 to 129.2 Fahrenheit), officials said.

PhotoBlog: Heat, high wind create 'catastrophic' fire condition in Australia

Temperatures on the map were previously capped at 50 degrees Celsius, represented by the color black.

Tim Holmes / AP

Tammy Holmes and her grandchildren take refuge under a jetty as a wildfire rages nearby in Dunalley, Australia, on Friday.

No deaths have been reported, although around 100 people haven't been accounted for since last week when a fire destroyed around 90 homes in Dunalley, which is located east of the state capital of Hobart. On Wednesday, police spokeswoman Lisa Stingel said it's likely most of those people simply haven't checked in with officials.

Wildfires are common during the Australian summer. Fires in February 2009 killed 173 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes in Victoria state.

ITV News is NBC News' UK partner. Reuters contributed to this report.

Firefighters battled scores of wildfires raging across southeast Australia on Tuesday as authorities evacuated national parks and warned that record-level, blistering temperatures and high winds had led to "catastrophic" conditions in some areas.

"We are shaping up for one of the worst fire danger days on record," New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said. "You don't get conditions worse than this. We are at the catastrophic level and clearly in those areas leaving early is your safest option."

Catastrophic threat level is the most severe rating applicable.

Firefighters hope cooler weather sweeping up the Australian east coast late Tuesday, which dramatically dropped temperatures in a matter of hours in some coastal towns, would ease the incendiary conditions. Monday was the hottest day on record for Australia, with the average temperature across the continent reaching 104.6 degrees F., Australia's 7 News network reported.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the unprecedented temperatures left weather forecasters having to add new colors - deep purple and pink - to their charts.

No deaths had been reported, although officials in Tasmania were still trying to find about 100 residents who had been missing since a fire tore through the small town of Dunalley, east of the state capital of Hobart, last week, destroying around 90 homes. On Tuesday, police said no bodies were found during preliminary checks of the ruined houses.

Australia faces 'catastrophic' days

Wildfires have razed 50,000 acres of forests and farmland across southern Tasmania since Friday. In New South Wales, the country's most populous state, the fires had burned through more than 64,000 acres of land.

More than 130 fires were blazing across New South Wales, though only a few dozen houses were under threat by early evening. One fire was threatening about 30 homes near the small town of Cooma, south of the capital of Canberra. Cooma-Monaro shire mayor Dean Lynch told Australia's Sky News some residents had evacuated to the nearby town of Nimmitabel.

Strong winds were hampering efforts to bring the fires under control. Wind gusts more than 60 mph were recorded in some parts of the state.

PhotoBlog: Wildfires in Tasmania

Arsonists have been responsible for some of the fires, 7 News reported. In western Sydney on Tuesday, three people were charged with deliberately starting a fire, the network said.

All state forests and national parks were closed as a precaution and total fire bans were in place with temperatures surpassing 113 degrees F. in some areas.

One volunteer firefighter suffered severe burns to his hands and face while fighting a grass fire near Gundaroo village, about 140 miles southwest of Sydney, on Monday. He was flown to a hospital in Sydney for treatment, and his condition had improved Tuesday, Fitzsimmons said.

More coverage from 7 News

Wildfires are common during the Australian summer. In February 2009, hundreds of fires across Victoria state killed 173 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes.

The Associated Press, Reuters and 7 News contributed to this report; 7 News is NBC's Australian partner.

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