International
US, UK bomb Houthi sites in Yemen amid surge in Red Sea ship attacks
US, UK bomb Houthi sites in Yemen amid surge in Red Sea ship attacks
The United States and the United Kingdom have bombed more than a dozen Houthi sites in Yemen, officials said, as the Yemeni rebel group stepped up its attacks on ships in the Red Sea in protest against Israel’s war on Gaza.
In a joint statement on Saturday, the US and UK said their military action targeted 18 Houthi sites across eight locations in Yemen, and included attacks on underground weapons and missile storage facilities, air defence systems, radars and a helicopter.
The operation marked the fourth time that the US and UK militaries have carried out joint attacks against the Houthis since January 12.
Apart from the joint action, the US has also been carrying out almost daily raids to take out Houthi targets, including incoming missiles, rockets and drones targeting commercial and other Navy vessels.
The raids, however, have so far failed to halt the Houthis’ attacks, which have upset global trade and raised shipping rates.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the latest wave of strikes were meant “to further disrupt and degrade the capabilities of the Iranian-backed Houthi militia”.
“We will continue to make clear to the Houthis that they will bear the consequences if they do not stop their illegal attacks, which harm Middle Eastern economies, cause environmental damage and disrupt the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen and other countries,” he added.
The attacks were supported by Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand.
The Houthis responded with defiance.
Yahya Saree, a spokesman for the group, pledged that the rebels would “confront the American-British escalation with more qualitative military operations against all hostile targets in the Red and Arab Seas”.
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The Houthis will “persist in upholding their religious, moral and humanitarian duties towards the Palestinian people, and their military operations will not stop unless the aggression stops and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted,” he added.
According to a tally by The Associated Press news agency, the Houthis have launched at least 57 attacks on commercial and military ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November 19.
And the pace of attacks have picked up in recent days.
A spokesman for the Houthis claimed an attack on MV Torm Thor, a US-flagged, owned and operated chemical and oil tanker, on Saturday, saying the group targeted the vessel using a “number of appropriate naval missiles”.
The US Central Command confirmed the attack, saying its forces downed an antiship ballistic missile launched from Houthi-held areas in Yemen towards the Gulf of Aden, adding that the missile was likely targeting MV Torm Thor.
The tanker was not damaged and there were no injuries, it said.
British maritime security agency UKMTO also reported another attack on an unspecified ship near the port of Djibouti on Saturday night, saying there had been an “explosion in close proximity to the vessel, no damage is reported to the vessel and there are no injuries to the crew”.
“Vessel is proceeding to next port of call,” it added in a bulletin.
The Houthis meanwhile claimed responsibility for an attack on a UK-owned cargo ship and a drone assault on a US destroyer last week, and said they also targeted Israel’s port and resort city of Eilat with ballistic missiles and drones.
No ships have been sunk nor crew killed during the Houthi campaign.
However, there are concerns about the fate of the UK-registered Rubymar cargo vessel, which was struck on February 18 and its crew evacuated. The US military has said the Rubymar was carrying more than 41,000 tonnes of fertiliser when it was hit, which could spill into the Red Sea and cause an environmental disaster.
The turmoil from Israel’s war on Gaza has also spilled over to into other parts of the Middle East.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group has traded fire with Israel along the Israel-Lebanon border and pro-Iran Iraqi militia have attacked bases that host US forces.
US, UK bomb Houthi sites in Yemen amid surge in Red Sea ship attacks
International
$100m coin collection buried for decades to be auctioned
$100m coin collection buried for decades to be auctioned
A coin collection, much of which remained buried underground for over 50 years, is expected to surpass $100 million at auction, according to experts.
Named the Traveller Collection, this extraordinary assemblage is believed to be the most valuable coin collection ever brought to auction.
The coins will be sold gradually over the next three years, with the first auction set for May 20.
Beyond its immense value, the collection’s origins make for a fascinating tale.
Spanning over 100 territories and encompassing coins from ancient times to the modern era, the collection is being auctioned by Numismatica Ars Classica.
What sets it apart is that most of the coins remained hidden underground for half a century before resurfacing.
According to a press release shared with CNN, the anonymous collector behind the collection began acquiring gold coins after the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
Over time, he developed “a taste for coins with great historical interest, beauty and rarity” and eventually amassed approximately 15,000 coins.
During the 1930s, he and his wife traveled extensively across the Americas and Europe, acquiring rare and historically significant coins while meticulously documenting their purchases.
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Despite settling in Europe at a time when Hitler’s Nazi party loomed over the continent, the collector sensed the impending danger. In response, he carefully packed the coins into cigar boxes, which were then placed inside aluminum containers and buried underground, where they remained undisturbed for five decades.
Among the collection is a 50 Toman coin, part of an “exceedingly rare” set minted in Tehran and Isfahan during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
International
AI will replace doctors, teachers, others in 10 years – Bill Gates
AI will replace doctors, teachers, others in 10 years – Bill Gates
Bill Gates, a co-founder of Microsoft, has claimed that improvements in artificial intelligence (AI) over the next decade may render humans superfluous for the majority of work.
In a recent interview with comedian Jimmy Fallon on NBC’s The Tonight Show in February, the billionaire philanthropist discussed how AI may take over many facets of life and business.
Gates remarked that expertise is currently “rare”, emphasising the continuous reliance on human specialists in industries such as medicine and education.
For example, we continue to rely on highly trained individuals, such as “a great doctor” or “a great teacher”, whose knowledge cannot be simply replaced by AI.
However, “with AI, over the next decade, that will become free, commonplace — great medical advice, great tutoring,” Gates said.
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In other words, Gates believes that the world is entering a new era of “free intelligence”, as he described in a recent interview with Harvard University professor and happiness specialist Arthur Brooks.
According to Gates, this transition will result in rapid breakthroughs in AI-powered technology, making them more accessible and affecting almost every part of our lives.
These breakthroughs will vary from more effective treatments and diagnoses to widely available AI instructors and virtual assistants.
“It’s very profound and even a little bit scary — because it’s happening very quickly, and there is no upper bound,” Gates told Brooks.
The discussion of how humans will fit into an AI-powered future continues.
Some analysts suggest that artificial intelligence will improve human productivity rather than completely replacing labour, hence driving economic growth and creating new jobs.
However, Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman cautions that technological improvements in the coming years will disrupt the nature of most occupations across nearly all industries, potentially exerting a “hugely destabilising” influence on the workforce.
AI will replace doctors, teachers, others in 10 years – Bill Gates
International
Poland suspends migrants’ right to apply for asylum
Poland suspends migrants’ right to apply for asylum
Poland has temporarily suspended the right of migrants arriving in Poland via its border with Belarus to apply for asylum.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced it would be happening after the controversial bill, which will allow Polish authorities to suspend this right for up to 60 days at a time, was signed into law by President Andrzej Duda.
Tusk had said it would be adopted “without a moment’s delay” while Duda said the changes were needed to strengthen security on the country’s borders.
But the law has been criticized by rights groups including Human Rights Watch, which said the EU should take legal action against Poland if it was implemented.
The group urged the country’s parliament last month to reject the bill, saying it “flies in the face of Poland’s international and EU obligations” and could “effectively completely seal off the Poland-Belarus border, where Polish authorities already engage in unlawful and abusive pushbacks”.
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The government said previously the suspension would only be applied temporarily to people who pose a threat to state security, for example large groups of aggressive migrants trying to storm the border.
Exemptions will be made for unaccompanied minors, pregnant women, the elderly or unwell, anyone exposed to “real risk of serious harm” by being returned and citizens of countries accused of conducting the instrumentalization of migration – like Belarus
Tusk has dismissed criticism from human rights groups.
“Nobody is talking about violating human rights, the right to asylum, we are talking about not granting applications to people who illegally cross the border in groups organised by Lukashenko,” he said in October.
Since 2021, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Finland have seen a huge increase in the number of people crossing into their countries illegally from Belarus and Russia.
Polish authorities have sent thousands of troops and border guards to police its border with Belarus and built a 5.5-metre-high steel fence along 186 km of the frontier where at times several thousand migrants have been left stranded.
Rights groups estimate more than one hundred people have died on the borders between Belarus and Poland, Lithuania and Latvia since 2021.
EU eastern flank countries and the European Commission have accused the Belarusian and Russian authorities of weaponising migration to create a new route into the EU to destabilize the bloc.
Poland suspends migrants’ right to apply for asylum
BBC
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