Qatar's diplomatic isolation by the other Gulf states, accused of supporting terrorism in the region, heightens contradictions for the Pentagon's use of the critical al-Udeid Air Base.
The US military plans to station ground troops in Libya to help local forces fight the ISIS faction there, and also seeks greater scope to target insurgents in Somalia.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization warned that the Middle East and North Africa risk becoming uninhabitable in a few decades, with water reserves falling dramatically.
Somalis who captured an oil tanker later released it with no ransom paid, and said they had seized it to protest toxic waste dumping and over-fishing in their waters.
More than 40 Somali refugees were killed when an Apache helicopter fired on a boat in the Red Sea off war-torn Yemen, but the Saudi-led coalition denies responsibility.
Trump has restored the CIA's authority to conduct secret drone strikes, reversing the Obama policy of transfering responsibility to the Pentagon in the interest of greater transparency.
At least 100 Somali refugees previously cleared for resettlement in the US are stranded in Kenya in the wake of President Trump's travel ban.
A Brooklyn federal judge blocked Trump's order barring immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, as activists occupied JFK and several other US airports.
With a Trump despotism looming, CounterVortex offers its final assessment of Barack Obama's record in addressing the oppressive legacy of the Global War on Terrorism.
The White House said that up to 116 civilians have been killed by drone and other US strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya since Barack Obama took office in 2009.
Ethiopia has completely halted the flow of water into Somalia by closing the gates on irrigation dams along the Shabelle River—leaving dry a key agricultural region.
US drones and warplanes killed more than 150 al-Shabab militants in Somalia, with the Pentagon citing an "imminent threat" to US and African Union forces.
