US Navy thwarts attack on Israeli-linked tanker, pursues assailants

The events unfolded as you slept. Here are the events world agencies reported between Sunday night and Monday.

• The US Navy repelled attackers who had taken over an Israeli-linked tanker, leading to the firing of two missiles from Yemen. The Associated Press reported that armed insurgents took control of an Israeli-linked tanker off Yemen's coast on Sunday. The US Central Military Command said that on Monday morning, US forces and their allies, including the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Mason, intervened in the raid and demanded the tanker's release. "Subsequently, five armed individuals retreated from the ship and attempted escape on a small boat," the US Command reported. "The USS Mason pursued the attackers, ultimately compelling their surrender," it continued. The identities of the attackers remain unknown. The Command also revealed that two rockets launched from Houthi-controlled Yemen landed near the American warship assisting the tanker in the Gulf of Aden on Monday morning. Yemen’s internationally recognized government attributed the assault to Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The rebels controlling the capital, Sana'a, neither claimed responsibility for the tanker seizure nor the missile attack.

• Six teenagers face trial over the beheading of a French teacher - according to Reuters. The minors stand accused of involvement in the beheading of French history teacher Samuel Paty by an Islamist in 2020. Paty had showed caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in a class about freedom of speech, an act that outraged many Muslim parents as they view any mockery or caricature of the Prophet Mohammed as sacrilegious. A 15-year-old girl is among the accused. She had supposedly informed her parents that the teacher displayed such an image in her class. She was charged with making false accusations - it was established she wasn't present in school at the time. The remaining five teenagers, aged 14 to 15, face charges of intentional conspiracy and ambush. They are suspected of pointing out Paty to the killer or assisting in monitoring his movements after he left school.

• North Korea deploys army and weapons near South Korea border - reported by the Polish Press Agency. The dissolution of the 2018 inter-Korean agreement came in response to the launch of a spy satellite by Pyongyang. Seoul announced it will no longer observe the clause banning military reconnaissance at the shared border. The North Korean Ministry of Defense responded by saying they will deploy new types of weapons at the South Korean border. The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that Pyongyang has kept their promise.

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly assured the ruler of Qatar that Mossad won't target Hamas leaders living in the Emirate capital, Doha -  according to the Polish Press Agency. The assurance was supposedly a condition for Qatar's participation in negotiations with Hamas. Leaders of the Palestinian militant group have been living in Doha, the capital of the Emirate in the Persian Gulf, for some time. Among them is the main leader of Hamas and head of the Political Bureau of the organization, Ismail Haniya. The Polish Press Agency noted that last week, Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Mossad to target Hamas leaders residing abroad. He clarified that no clause in the ceasefire agreement prohibits this action.

• China responds to the WHO. The surge in respiratory illnesses in China, recently highlighted by the World Health Organization, is due to the flu and other recognized pathogens, not a new virus - according to a report by the Associated Press. A spokesperson for China's National Health Commission clarified on Sunday that the rise in infections is the result of various known viruses, such as influenza, rhinoviruses, respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.