US News
- The US will allow the sailors on the USS T Roosevelt to quarantine sick sailors in Guam. The Captain of the aircraft carrier wrote a letter warning about a catastrophic situation on the ship as he was unable to stop the spread of coronavirus. [Link]
- Trump orders the Pentagon to engage in additional counter-narcotic operations in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. [Link]
- Trump orders anti-narcotic ships to patrol off the coast of Venezuela. [Link]
Afghanistan
- The Afghan government and the Taliban will begin a prisoner swap by releasing 100 Taliban captives, and the Taliban will release 20 Afghan government prisoners. [Link]
- A roadside bomb in Afghanistan kills eight members of a family. [Link]
Israel
- Israeli conditions any coronavirus aid to Gaza on the recovery of the remains of two Israeli soldiers who died in Gaza in 2014. [Link]
- Netanyahu says all Israelis must wear masks in public. [Link]
Middle East
- An attack on a pipeline halts natural gas transfers from Iran to Turkey. Iran believes the PKK is behind the attack. [Link]
- The US issues sanction waivers for Iran to continue to have international companies work on their nuclear reactors. [Link]
- Germany uses the EU-made INSTEX system to sell medical equipment to Iran for the first time. The system was set up last year and has gone unused as the US threatened it with secondary sanctions. [Link]
- Trump warned Iran not to carry out a sneak attack on American forces in Iraq. [Link]
Africa
- The US killed two civilians in two drone strikes in Somalia in February. The US claimed to kill al-Shabaab militants in each strike. However, an investigation by Amnesty International reveals the US lied. [Link]
- The EU will deploy warships off the Libyan coast to enforce a UN arms blockade of the country. [Link]
