Houthi attack destroys Belize-flagged vessel traveling near Red Sea
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels that damaged a Belizeflagged ship traveling through the Bab el-mandeb Strait that connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden has forced the crew to abandon the vessel, authorities said Monday.
Another ship reportedly came twice under attack in the Gulf of Aden.
The Iran-backed Houthis also claimed they shot down an American MQ-9 Reaper drone, something not immediately acknowledged by U.S. forces in the region. However, the Houthis have downed U.S. drones before.
The U.S. military said it was conducting new airstrikes targeting the rebels, including one that targeted the first Houthi underwater drone seen since they began launching attacks on international shipping in November.
The ship targeted in the Houthi attack Sunday reported sustaining damage after “an explosion in close proximity to the vessel,” the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center reported.
“Military authorities report crew have abandoned the vessel,” the UKMTO said. “Vessel at anchor and all crew are safe.”
Houthi Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree issued a statement claiming the attack, saying the vessel later sunk.
There was no independent confirmation the vessel sank.
“The ship suffered catastrophic damages and came to a complete halt,” Saree said. “During the operation, we made sure that the ship’s crew exited safely.”
The private security firm Ambrey reported the British-registered, Lebaneseoperated cargo ship had been on its way to Bulgaria after leaving Khorfakkan in the United Arab Emirates.
Ship-tracking data from Marinetraffic.com analyzed by The Associated Press identified the vessel targeted as the Rubymar. Its Beirutbased manager could not be reached for comment.
The Houthis later also identified the ship as the Rubymar, as did the U.S. military’s Central Command.
Japan to aid Ukraine: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has pledged Monday his country’s long-term commitment to Ukraine’s reconstruction, calling it a future investment, while stressing support for the war-torn country about to mark the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
In his keynote speech at The Japan-ukraine Conference for Promotion of Economic Growth and Reconstruction, Kishida said Japanese public and private cooperation will be a long-term partnership based on inclusivity, humanitarianism as well as technology and knowledge.
Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, who led his country’s delegation of more than 100 people, thanked Kishida and said that “today is the new start of cooperation between the two countries.”
California storms:
The latest in a series of wet winter storms gained strength in California early Monday, with forecasters warning of possible flooding, hail, strong winds and even brief tornadoes as the system moves south over the next few days.
Gusts topped 30 mph in Oakland and San Jose as a mild cold front late Saturday gave way to a more powerful storm Sunday, said meteorologist Brayden Murdock with the National Weather Service office in San Francisco.
“The winds are here and getting stronger, and the rains will follow quickly,” he said Sunday afternoon.
California’s central coast is at risk of “significant flooding,” with up to 5 inches of rain predicted for many areas, according to the weather service. Isolated rain totals of 10 inches are possible in the Santa Lucia and Santa Ynez mountain ranges as the storm heads toward greater Los Angeles.
Thunderstorms in valleys around the state capital Monday could bring “brief tornadoes, large amounts of small hail, heavy rain, lightning, and gusty winds,” the weather service warned on X, formerly Twitter.
Firefighters on Monday rescued two people from the top of their vehicle, which had stalled in flood waters in Sloughhouse, a community about 20 miles southeast of Sacramento, the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District said.
Eiffel tower closed: Visitors to the Eiffel Tower were turned away Monday because of a strike over poor financial management at one of the world’s mostvisited sites.
A sign was posted at the entrance in English, saying: “Due to a strike, the Eiffel Tower is closed. We apologize.”
The hugely popular landmark in central Paris has seen soaring visitor numbers in the lead-up to the Summer Olympics in the French capital.
Tourists planning to visit the Eiffel Tower on Monday were warned of disruptions in multiple languages on its website. Visitors were advised to check the website before heading to the monument or to postpone their trip.
Electronic ticket owners were told to check their inboxes beforehand.
The landmark’s operator also said on its website that visits to the Eiffel Tower will be disrupted Tuesday.
Campus shooting suspect:
A suspect was arrested Monday on murder charges in the shootings of two people found dead in a dorm room last week at the University of Coloradocolorado Springs, police said.
The Colorado Springs Police Department said Nicholas Jordan, 25, was arrested without incident on two counts of first-degree murder. The victims were identified as Celie Rain Montgomery, 26, and Samuel Knopp, 24, a student at the university about 69 miles south of Denver.
After getting an arrest warrant, the police’s motor vehicle theft unit found Jordan in a car, and the tactical enforcement unit took him into custody in Colorado Springs, police announced on the social media platform X.
Brightest quasar:
Astronomers have discovered what may be the brightest object in the universe, a quasar with a black hole at its heart growing so fast that it swallows the equivalent of a sun a day.
The record-breaking quasar shines 500 trillion times brighter than our sun. The black hole powering this distant quasar is more than 17 billion times more immense than our sun, an Australian-led team reported Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.
While the quasar resembles a mere dot in images, scientists envision a ferocious place.
The rotating disk around the quasar’s black hole — the luminous swirling gas and other matter from gobbled-up stars — is like a cosmic hurricane.
“This quasar is the most violent place that we know in the universe,” lead author Christian Wolf of Australian National University said in an email.