Reuters, Washington:
Four of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) vessels “harassed” a US warship on Tuesday near the Strait of Hormuz, a US defense official said, amid Washington’s concerns about Iran’s posture in the Gulf and in the Syrian civil war. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said on Wednesday that two of the Iranian vessels came within 300 yards of the USS Nitze in an incident that was “unsafe and unprofessional.”
Germany to pullout from Turkish airbase’
AFP, Berlin
Germany’s military is preparing to pull out from a Turkish airbase as a row between the two NATO partners escalates, Der Spiegel magazine reported Thursday. Germany in December agreed to send Tornado surveillance jets and tanker aircraft to the Incirlik base in southern Turkey to aid the multinational coalition fighting the jihadist Islamic State group and currently has about 240 soldiers stationed there.
Palestinian shot dead in WB
Reuters, Jerusalem
An Israeli soldier on Wednesday shot dead a Palestinian motorist who had stabbed him and threw rocks from his car at a military vehicle in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army said. An Israeli army spokeswoman said the assailant hurled rocks from his moving car at an oncoming military patrol vehicle, which then gave chase, forcing the car to a standstill shortly afterwards.
Colombia, FARC rebels reach peace deal
Reuters, Bogota
Colombia’s government and Marxist FARC rebels reached a final peace deal on Wednesday to end a five-decade war which once took the resource-rich country to the brink of collapse.
