U.S. military

A missile strike damaged a merchant ship in the Red Sea off Yemen, marine security monitors said Friday, as the country's Iran-backed Huthi rebels threatened to expand their months-long harassment campaign which has disrupted global trade.

With Haiti's capital spiraling deeper into gang violence, members of several diplomatic missions, including staff from the United States and the German ambassador, began leaving Port-au-Prince Sunday.

The United States plans gathered pace on Friday to get aid by sea into Gaza, where the U.N. has repeatedly warned of famine and Israel has been accused of limiting aid as it battles Hamas militants.

An average of 63 women are killed every day, with 37 of them being mothers "who leave their families behind" in the Gaza Strip, where the war between Israel and Hamas entered sixth month, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said on March 8.

U.S. President Joe Biden warned Israel on Thursday that it cannot use aid as a "bargaining chip" in its fight against Hamas and called for an immediate temporary ceasefire in Gaza, where fears of a looming famine have multiplied.

A ship attacked by Yemen's Houthi rebels has sunk in the Red Sea after days of taking on water, officials have said, the first vessel to be fully destroyed as part of their campaign over Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

American forces shot down three attack drones near commercial ships in the Red Sea Friday and destroyed seven anti-ship cruise missiles positioned on land, the U.S. military said.

American forces launched "self-defense strikes" Wednesday against Huthi missiles and launch positions in rebel-controlled Yemen that posed threats to commercial shipping and naval forces in the Red Sea, the U.S. military said.

An American air strike in the Iraqi capital killed a senior commander from a pro-Iran armed group who was involved in attacks on Washington's troops in the region, the U.S. military has said.

Russia and China accused the United States during a U.N. Security Council meeting on Monday of stoking already high tensions in the Middle East with its recent retaliatory strikes on Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria.