Temperatures in the Great Lakes region are starting to warm up a bit and that means ice is thinning across the frozen waterfronts leading to potential breaks the United States Coast Guard is warning.

A U.S. Coast Guard cutter crossing the Tasman Sea as part of maritime security cooperation with Australia and New Zealand knew Chinese naval ships were in the area but had no interaction with them, its commanding officer said on Tuesday.

With temperatures climbing into the 50s in some areas, the Coast Guard is warning people to stay off the ice or take precautions.

The illicit drug haul came from 11 interceptions of suspected drug smuggling vessels in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

A Coast Guard crew returned 23 undocumented immigrants off the coast of the Key Biscayne on Saturday including a suspected smuggler.

The SS United States is now off the coast of Florida. After a series of delays, the 990-foot ocean liner left Philadelphia last week, on its way to become the world's largest artificial reef off the Okaloosa County coast.

In the past two weeks, the Coast Guard has conducted at least seven C-130 Hercules flights that spanned California, Texas and Washington state. The service conducts regional flights to expulsion hubs where Air Force cargo planes await to remove them from the United States.