Iran-backed Houthis fire missiles at Saudi Arabia in response to airstrikes in Yemen. AIRO — Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said Saturday that they fired missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia in response to Saudi airstrikes on the strategic Red Sea city of Hodeida, in an escalation over vital shipping routes in the Middle East while the United States and Iran vie for control of the Strait of #Hormuz.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, the Houthis’ military spokesperson, said in a prerecorded statement that the attack targeted facilities in the Red Sea cities of Yanbu and Jizan that belong to Aramco, the world’s largest oil company.

Saudi Arabia’s civil defense said alerts sounded multiple times early Saturday in both cities, but the kingdom didn’t comment further.

There were no reported strikes overnight in Iran, in an apparent break from nearly two weeks of consecutive nights of U.S. attacks.

Red Sea escalation further threatens global shipping

The Houthis have said they would close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Saudi-linked shipping in retaliation for the kingdom’s blockade on Yemen and a recent attack on the international airport in Yemen’s rebel-held capital, Sanaa.

“Nothing short of ending the aggression and lifting the blockade, otherwise, it’s all illusion and mirage,” Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the Houthi-led Supreme Political Council governing rebel-controlled territories in Yemen, said of what it would take for the Houthis to not blockade the Bab-El-Mandeb.

That strait, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is a vital shipping chokepoint connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Around 12 per cent of the world’s trade, including a quarter of its container traffic, passes through the narrows.

The Houthis targeted two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea this week. In response, Saudi Arabia struck Hodeida, the Saudi-led coalition opposing the rebels said Saturday. The strikes late Friday hit the port and the state-run telecommunications corporation, injuring two people, said Anees al-Asbahi, a spokesperson for the Houthi-run health ministry.

The Saudi-led coalition said it didn’t hit the port but struck “legitimate military targets” in Hodeida province that “were linked to threats to commercial vessels in the Red Sea.”

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, called for “diplomacy and dialogue” to solve the Yemen conflict without “military confrontations” in an interview published Saturday by the state-run newspaper called Iran.

#Bolsonaro’s son secures presidential bid despite headwinds. SAO PAULO — #Brazilian senator Flávio Bolsonaro, one of the sons of former President Jair Bolsonaro, was confirmed as the presidential candidate of his father’s Liberal Party on Saturday in a bid against incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva even as his campaign faces many headwinds.

The younger Bolsonaro still seeks a running mate and does not enjoy the support of centrist parties as his father did. Few Brazilian political heavyweights were in attendance, in yet another sign of his troubles forming an alliance against Lula.

The 45-year-old senator’s popular stepmother, Michelle Bolsonaro, a leader for many evangelical voters, was one of the notable absences among about 500 people cheering him on at the Arena Mercado Livre Pacaembu in Sao Paulo. Recently, the two exchanged barbs in public.

Still, Flávio Bolsonaro managed to bring in Argentina’s President Javier Milei and expects to get endorsements from several members of the U.S. President Donald Trump administration. But most notable damage to his campaign will be noted in those absent rather than present.

Bolsonaro has so far failed to recruit a high-profile female running mate after attempts to lure former Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina.

Her Popular Party, which has a stronghold in Congress and was key for Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency, was not expected to field a presidential candidate but its distancing from Sen. Bolsonaro has been surprising.

“That’s not necessarily bad for us,” lawmaker Zé Trovao told journalists before the convention began. “We can have a more ideological campaign and when time comes it will be them coming to us, having to agree to our agenda if they want to get rid of Lula and the Workers Party.”

Flávio Bolsonaro “has faced a problem each week, sometimes two problems,” said political consultant Thomas Traumann, based in Rio de Janeiro. “This convention might be the moment in which he says what he thinks, what he intends to do as president. So far, he has been on the defensive, saying the campaign only starts in August.”

#Brazil probe shows severe icing contributed to 2024 plane crash that killed 62. SAO PAULO — Brazilian air force investigators on Thursday published their findings about the 2024 Voepass airplane accident that killed 62 people after it spiraled into a crash outside metropolis Sao Paulo.

The probe confirmed that a combination of severe icing conditions, as well as mechanical system failures and pilot distractions, contributed to the country’s most deadly air crash since 2007.

The Voepass ATR 72-500 twin-turboprop crashed into a residential neighbourhood in the city of Vinhedo on Aug. 9, 2024, killing all aboard.

The flight en route from the city of Cascavel to Sao Paulo’s international airport encountered severe atmospheric icing while cruising at 17,000 feet, the probe showed. That caused the aircraft to lose lift and enter an unrecoverable “flat spin.”

Flight recorders indicated that the crew recognized heavy ice accumulation on the airframe. But the plane’s de-icing system experienced recurring technical faults and was repeatedly switched back and forth during critical phases of the trip.

Investigators said during a press conference in capital Brasilia that a systemic “culture of normalizing deviations” took place within Voepass and noted there were preexisting mechanical issues, which included known de-icing faults, that were tolerated before takeoff.

The probe also showed the crew was distracted by routine radio communications and administrative tasks during severe icing warnings and did not make correction maneuvers in time.

The findings were presented to the victims’ families before public release.

Mauricio Savarese, The Associated Press

#Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has arrived on a visit to Kyrgyzstan, where on July 24 he will take part in a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states.

The ministers are expected to discuss current issues of the international and regional agenda, including the situation in the #SCO space, ensuring security and stability, and sustainable growth in Eurasia. It is planned that Lavrov will hold a number of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the event.

The Russian minister arrived in Kyrgyzstan from the Philippines, where he took part in ASEAN-related events and also held talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Judges at the International Criminal Court terminated proceedings against the former leader of an armed group in Darfur on Thursday after prosecutors withdrew the charges against Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain.

A record pile of yuan in Hong Kong is making its way to corporate loans while driving a surge in capital market activity, signaling that China’s drive to internationalize its currency is advancing

At least two people were killed and another 11 injured in a US strike on the Shalamcheh border crossing between Iran and Iraq, the Islamic Republic’s state broadcaster reported, citing local authorities.

The checkpoint continues to operate, with assistance being provided to the injured on-site, according to the authorities.

A new threat by Yemen's #Houthis could widen the Iran war and put another trade chokepoint at risk

President Donald #Trump’s super political action committee is sitting on $401 million in cash, more than any other super PAC, but has spent just $2.3 million — 0.6% of that total — to help Republicans win elections.

#Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is adding $100 billion to its investments in Arizona to meet strong demand from US customers and to ward off ambitious rivals, a senior executive said this week