Drone strike killed three U.S. service members in Jordan
Three U.S. service members had been killed in Jordan yesterday and not less than 34 others had been injured in what the U.S. mentioned was a drone strike from an Iran-backed militia. The deaths had been the primary U.S. navy fatalities from hostile fireplace within the turmoil spilling over from Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
The assault occurred at a base close to the Syrian border. The deaths of U.S. service members will virtually actually put extra strain on President Biden to reply extra forcefully as turmoil grows within the Center East.
“Whereas we’re nonetheless gathering the information of this assault, we all know it was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant teams working in Syria and Iraq,” Biden mentioned in an announcement.
This month, not less than 4 U.S. service members stationed in western Iraq had been injured when their base got here underneath fireplace from what the U.S. mentioned had been Iran-backed militias. Per week in the past, the U.S. declared two Navy SEALs useless after their disappearance throughout an operation at sea to intercept weapons headed to Houthi fighters, who’ve fired on business ships off Yemen since November.
New particulars on the U.N. employees accused of aiding Hamas
The U.N. mentioned on Friday that it had fired a number of workers of the United Nations Aid and Works Company, the U.N. company that aids Palestinian civilians within the Gaza Strip, after Israel claimed 12 workers performed a task within the Hamas assaults towards Israel on Oct. 7 or of their aftermath. Israel offered a file to the U.S. detailing its claims, however little was identified concerning the accusations till the paperwork had been reviewed yesterday by The Instances.
One individual was accused of kidnapping a lady. One other is claimed to have handed out ammunition. A 3rd was described as collaborating within the bloodbath at a kibbutz the place 97 folks died.
The Israelis described 10 of the workers as members of Hamas, with seven of the accused additionally mentioned to be academics at UNRWA faculties, instructing college students in topics like math and Arabic. The file mentioned Israel tracked and monitored lots of the accused workers via their telephones.
Fallout: The U.S. and several other different nations mentioned yesterday that they had been suspending some funding for UNRWA. António Guterres, the top of the U.N., implored the main donor nations to proceed their help. He mentioned that, with out it, UNRWA would run out of cash subsequent month. Fears of famine are rising within the enclave, and two million Gazans depend upon the company for meals, water and important providers.
Three African juntas left a regional financial bloc
Navy juntas who seized energy in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso mentioned that they had been withdrawing from the Financial Group of West African States, or ECOWAS, due to sanctions the group imposed after the coups had been carried out.
The three juntas mentioned that the sanctions had been “inhumane,” and that the bloc had “change into a menace to its member states and their folks.” West African commentators mentioned that the nations’ departures may have an effect on commerce relations and regional stability, and trigger ache for the bloc’s remaining 12 member states.
Background: In recent times, coups have erupted throughout an space south of the Sahara, forming an unbroken strip of military-run nations stretching coast to coast throughout the continent. ECOWAS didn’t reverse a few of these coups and later imposed sanctions, inflicting intense hardship for hundreds of thousands of individuals.
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ARTS AND IDEAS
At Sundance, causes to like films
Reporting from Park Metropolis, Utah, our chief movie critic, Manohla Dargis, wrote that she was transported into the Sundance Movie Competition she all the time hopes for, “the one through which a film surprises and strikes and perhaps delights me.”
The movie in query, which introduced down the home, is “Will & Harper,” a documentary through which the actor Will Ferrell and his longtime pal Harper Steele, a trans lady, set off on a momentous cross-country journey of discovery.
