WASHINGTON: The Navy’s next amphibious assault ship will be named after the city of Fallujah, which saw some of the bloodiest battles in the Iraq war when US Marines fought Al-Qaeda extremists in deadly house-to-house combat.

Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said the USS Fallujah will commemorate what have become known as the “First and Second Battles of Fallujah,” following the tradition of naming the assault ships after Marine Corps battles or other early sailing ships and aircraft carriers.

TUNIS: Tunisian prosecutors asked the top judicial body to strip 13 judges of immunity so they can be tried on terror charges, their lawyer said Wednesday, describing the case as “purely political.”

The move comes nearly seven months after President Kais Saied sacked 57 judges, accusing them of corruption and blocking enquiries into two left-wing political figures in 2013, among other purported transgressions.

Defense lawyer Ayachi Hammami said the 13 were among 49 judges reinstated in August.

BEIRUT: A drug used to treat cancer patients has been banned from sale in Lebanon following a World Health Organization alert on a contaminated batch of the product, which officials believe was smuggled into the country.

The WHO on Tuesday cited adverse effects in pediatric patients receiving the drug, and said that its product alert referred to a batch of substandard Methothrex (methotrexate), which had been identified in Yemen and Lebanon.

The drug, an immunosuppressant used to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases, is on the WHO model list of essential medicines.

JERUSALEM: Israel could attack Iranian nuclear sites in two or three years, its defense minister said on Wednesday, in unusually explicit comments about a possible timeline.
With international efforts to renew a 2015 nuclear deal having stalled, the Iranians have ramped up uranium enrichment, a process with civilian uses that can also eventually yield fuel for nuclear bombs — though they deny having any such design.

ALMATY: An Iranian chess player on Wednesday took part in an international tournament in Kazakhstan without a hijab for the second day running, according to a Reuters journalist present.
A Reuters witness at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan, saw Sara Khadem competing without a headscarf, a violation of Iran’s laws governing female dress code.