North Korea denounces U.S.-South Korean military exercise, Trump repeats pledge to take control of Gaza and Marine killed in Philippines crash identified.
1. Machine gun and artillery fire echoed through a barren valley Monday as U.S. and South Korean troops trained together in freezing temperatures, just 16 miles from the border with North Korea. AH-64 Apache helicopters from the U.S. Army flew over the Rodriguez Live Fire Complex as American M-777 howitzers and South Korean K-1 tanks pounded distant targets. The 21-day exercise, which kicked off Feb. 4, aims to enhance combat coordination between the allies. North Korea routinely denounces U.S.-South Korean military exercises, calling them rehearsals for an invasion. On Sunday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency criticized the latest drills, saying they were “escalating the regional tension.”
2. New details and growing shock over emaciated hostages renewed pressure Sunday on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend a fragile Gaza ceasefire beyond the first phase, even as U.S. President Donald Trump repeated his pledge that the U.S. would take control of the Palestinian enclave. Talks on the second phase, meant to see more hostages released and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, were due to start Feb. 3. But Israel and Hamas appear to have made little progress, even as Israeli forces withdrew Sunday from a Gaza corridor in the latest commitment to the truce. Netanyahu sent a delegation to Qatar, a key mediator, but it included low-level officials, sparking speculation that it won’t lead to a breakthrough. Netanyahu, who returned after a U.S. visit to meet with Trump, is expected to convene security Cabinet ministers on Tuesday.
3. A U.S. Marine from California was identified by military officials Sunday as one of four people killed when a plane contracted by the U.S. military crashed in a rice field in the southern Philippines. Sgt. Jacob M. Durham, 22, of Long Beach, died Thursday in the crash of an aircraft that was conducting a routine mission “providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support at the request of our Philippine allies,” officials at Camp Pendleton, California, said in a statement. Officials said the cause of the crash was under investigation. Three defense contractors also were killed in the crash, military officials have said.
4. A petition calling for the National Medal of Honor Museum to include a dedicated exhibit for Air Force Master Sgt. John Chapman has revived longstanding criticism that the Navy SEAL community sought to “diminish his contributions.” More than 24,000 people have signed the Change.org petition requesting that the museum add Chapman’s story to approximately 200 focused presentations when it opens next month in Arlington, Texas. Chapman, a combat controller, was killed in action on March 4, 2002, during the Battle of Takur Ghar in Afghanistan. He was the first airman to receive the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War and only the 19th in the service’s history.
5. They helped the U.S. military order airstrikes against Taliban and Islamic State fighters and worked as drivers and translators during America’s longest war. They were set to start new lives in the United States. Then President Donald Trump issued executive orders that put an end to programs used to help Afghans get to safety in America. Now those same Afghans, who underwent a yearslong background check, find themselves in a state of limbo. “I was shocked. I am still in shock because I have already waited four years for this process, to get out of this hell and to get to a safe place and live in peace and have a new beginning,” said Roshangar, one of the Afghans whose life was upended by Trump’s action. Roshangar requested that The Associated Press only use his first name because he was afraid of Taliban reprisals.
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