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US to Move Carrier Strike Group Closer to Israel

FILE - An F/A-18 E is launched from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford during flight deck operations on Oct. 5, 2022, off the Virginia Coast. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
FILE - An F/A-18 E is launched from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford during flight deck operations on Oct. 5, 2022, off the Virginia Coast. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
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US to Move Carrier Strike Group Closer to Israel

FILE - An F/A-18 E is launched from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford during flight deck operations on Oct. 5, 2022, off the Virginia Coast. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
FILE - An F/A-18 E is launched from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford during flight deck operations on Oct. 5, 2022, off the Virginia Coast. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

The United States will be moving a carrier strike group closer to Israel, which includes the Ford carrier and ships that support it, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Sunday.

Austin also added that the United States will provide munitions to Israel, and that its security assistance will begin moving on Sunday.

The Pentagon will also be adding fighter jets in the region.

Israel said it is at war as its soldiers battled Hamas fighters in the streets of southern Israel and launched airstrikes on Gaza, the day after an unprecedented surprise Hamas attack.

Israel’s minister for strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, said American citizens are among those who were taken captive by militants but gave no details about them, nor about Americans who might have been killed.

“Unfortunately I can’t. We have a lot of dual citizens in Israel. I suspect there are several, but we’re still trying to sort through all of all this information after this horrific surprise attack and we’ll make sure to put that information out so that the loved ones of these people who were killed and who are held hostage, they know as quickly as possible,” Dermer told CNN’s ‘’State of the Union.’’

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World

US Tanker Approached by Iranian Gunboats in Strait of Hormuz

An Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessel watches an American warship in the Strait of Hormuz, May 19, 2023. (AP)
An Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessel watches an American warship in the Strait of Hormuz, May 19, 2023. (AP)
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US Tanker Approached by Iranian Gunboats in Strait of Hormuz

An Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessel watches an American warship in the Strait of Hormuz, May 19, 2023. (AP)
An Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessel watches an American warship in the Strait of Hormuz, May 19, 2023. (AP)

British maritime security firm Vanguard Tech said Tuesday that a US-flagged tanker was approached and challenged by Iranian gunboats in the Strait of Hormuz, before continuing on its way.

The Stena Imperative was approached by three pairs of small armed boats belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards while transiting the strait approximately 16 nautical miles (30 kilometers) north of Oman, the company said.

The gunboats hailed it by radio, ordering the captain "to stop the engines and prepare to be boarded", but the ship increased speed and maintained course, the firm added, stressing it did not enter Iranian territorial waters.

"The vessel is now being escorted by a US warship," Vanguard Tech said.

Earlier, the British maritime security agency UKMTO reported the incident without specifying the nationality of the ship or the boats that approached it.

The Iranian news agency Fars said a vessel, whose nationality it did not specify, had entered the country's territorial waters in the Strait of Hormuz illegally, at which point Iranian units "requested" that it present the necessary permissions.

"The vessel had no legal authorization to be in these waters," Fars said. "It was therefore warned and immediately left Iranian waters."

The strait, a key passage for the global transport of oil and liquefied natural gas, has been the scene of several incidents in the past.

A senior Iranian official from the naval forces of the Revolutionary Guards threatened last week to block the passage in the event of a US attack.

World

NATO Says ‘Planning Underway’ for New Arctic Mission

The Danish Navy ocean patrol vessel F357 Thetis is pictured during a visit of Denmark's Defense Minister at the army contribution in Nuuk, Greenland, on January 31, 2026. (AFP)
The Danish Navy ocean patrol vessel F357 Thetis is pictured during a visit of Denmark's Defense Minister at the army contribution in Nuuk, Greenland, on January 31, 2026. (AFP)
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NATO Says ‘Planning Underway’ for New Arctic Mission

The Danish Navy ocean patrol vessel F357 Thetis is pictured during a visit of Denmark's Defense Minister at the army contribution in Nuuk, Greenland, on January 31, 2026. (AFP)
The Danish Navy ocean patrol vessel F357 Thetis is pictured during a visit of Denmark's Defense Minister at the army contribution in Nuuk, Greenland, on January 31, 2026. (AFP)

NATO said Tuesday that military planning has started for a new mission to bolster security in the Arctic, after US President Donald Trump made protecting the region central to his demands for Greenland.

"Planning is underway for a NATO enhanced vigilance activity, named Arctic Sentry," said Martin O'Donnell, a spokesman for NATO's Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe.

"The activity will even further strengthen NATO's posture in the Arctic and High North," he added, without providing further details.

Trump's threats against Greenland last month plunged the transatlantic alliance into its deepest crisis in years.

The unpredictable US leader backed off his desire to take control of Denmark's autonomous Arctic territory after saying he had struck a "framework" deal with NATO chief Mark Rutte to ensure greater American influence.

NATO said it would take steps to boost its presence in the Arctic after Trump used the alleged threat of Russia and China to justify his designs on Greenland.

Meanwhile Denmark and Greenland have kicked off talks with the United States over the territory and are expected to renegotiate a 1951 treaty governing American troop deployments on the island.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said that NATO countries back having a "permanent presence" in the Arctic, including around Greenland, as part of efforts to step up security.

World

WHO Appeals for $1 Bn for World’s Worst Health Crises in 2026

Displaced Palestinian children gather at a tent camp in Gaza City, February 3, 2026. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinian children gather at a tent camp in Gaza City, February 3, 2026. (Reuters)
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WHO Appeals for $1 Bn for World’s Worst Health Crises in 2026

Displaced Palestinian children gather at a tent camp in Gaza City, February 3, 2026. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinian children gather at a tent camp in Gaza City, February 3, 2026. (Reuters)

The World Health Organization on Tuesday appealed for $1 billion to tackle health crises this year across the world's 36 most severe emergencies, including in Gaza, Sudan, Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The UN health agency estimated 239 million people would need urgent humanitarian assistance this year and the money would keep essential health services going.

WHO health emergencies chief Chikwe Ihekweazu told reporters in Geneva: "A quarter of a billion people are living through humanitarian crises that strip away the most basic protections: safety, shelter and access to health care.

"In these settings, health needs are surging, whether due to injuries, disease outbreaks, malnutrition or untreated chronic diseases," he warned.

"Yet access to care is shrinking."

The agency's emergency request was significantly lower than in recent years, given the global funding crunch for aid operations.

Washington, traditionally the UN health agency's biggest donor, has slashed foreign aid spending under President Donald Trump, who on his first day back in office in January 2025 handed the WHO his country's one-year withdrawal notice.

Last year, WHO had appealed for $1.5 billion but Ihekweazu said that only $900 million was ultimately made available.

Unfortunately, he said, the agency had been "recognizing ... that the appetite for resource mobilization is much smaller than it was in previous years".

"That's one of the reasons that we've calibrated our ask a little bit more towards what is available realistically, understanding the situation around the world, the constraints that many countries have," he said.

The WHO said in 2026 it was "hyper-prioritizing the highest-impact services and scaling back lower-impact activities to maximize lives saved".

Last year, global funding cuts forced 6,700 health facilities across 22 humanitarian settings to either close or reduce services, "cutting 53 million people off from health care", Ihekweazu said.

"Families living on the edge face impossible decisions, such as whether to buy food or medicine," he added, stressing that "people should never have to make these choices".

"This is why today we are appealing to the better sense of countries, and of people, and asking them to invest in a healthier, safer world."