U.S. Central Command stated that 100 commercial vessels have been redirected over the past 60 days under its enforcement of a maritime blockade against Iran, asserting that no ships pass without U.S. authorization. The conflict, which began in late February, has heightened security concerns in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global energy transit, though the full scope of the blockade's impact remains under assessment.

The Iran-backed Houthis yesterday controlled Yemen’s entire Red Sea coast after capturing three strategic islands in a lightning offensive the previous day, cementing their hold on a vital shipping corridor linking Europe and Asia. The developments are likely to deepen the Middle East war’s impact on international commerce as Saudi Arabia shut down an oil pipeline following attacks, and after months of Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Following a week-long offensive that has killed hundreds, government officials said the Houthis seized the Yemeni side of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the southern gateway to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. Photo: AP A local official with Yemen’s Saudi-backed government on Friday said that the Houthis had “completed their takeover of the Bab al-Mandab area and Mayyun Island.

” A government military official later reported the group had also seized Greater and Lesser Hanish, the last two islands in the narrow waterway not under their control, as well as all of the neighboring Red Sea coastline. “Everything that was under our control on the western coast has fallen,” the military official added.

A witness said that gunmen were “deploying along the Bab al-Mandab shore and are driving around in military vehicles.” The capture of the islands heightens the Houthis’ ability to attack Saudi tankers, which they have been targeting since July. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, has relied on the Red Sea ever since Iran’s Hormuz blockade choked off its shipments via the Gulf.

Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, on Friday congratulated the Houthis on their “resounding victory.” Oil prices soared past US$100 a barrel last week, while average US diesel prices topped US$6 for the first time on Friday — a potential headache for US President Donald Trump ahead of midterm elections.

The Houthis’ military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said navigation through the Bab al-Mandab Strait was “safe” for all but Saudi Arabia following the latest advances. The Houthi offensive has killed more than 500 people, according to sources on both sides.

It has also displaced about 46,000 people, the UN’s International Organization for Migration said on Friday. It is part of renewed hostilities in Yemen’s civil war that began with the group’s takeover of the capital Sanaa in 2014. Houthi supporter Abdulhamid Dhaifallah lauded the group’s “great victories” in and along the strait.

The Saudi Ministry of Energy on Friday announced that attacks led to the closure of the pipeline — which it had been increasingly using to bypass Hormuz — adding that some people were injured. “The East-West pipeline in the Riyadh and Medina regions was subjected to several attacks on Thursday morning,” a ministry official told the SPA news agency, adding that “the pipeline was stopped as a precaution, and the attacks resulted in some injuries.

” The office of Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi announced the dismissal of the commander in charge of the southern Maysan province following “confirmation that the attacks targeting our brethren in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia originated from a location within the governorate.

” Bahrain, Jordan and Qatar also condemned the attacks on the Saudi pipeline, while the Gulf Cooperation Council denounced “a dangerous escalation and an unacceptable threat to the security of the Kingdom.” Taiwan, which accounts for more than half of the global outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing market, is well-positioned to develop copackaged optics (CPO) and manufacture precision silicon photonics chips, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

Silicon photonics are emerging as a mainstream optical communications technology and is seen as key to overcoming bottlenecks in AI computing power. The technology is a key project under the government’s New 10 Major AI Infrastructure Projects, with industry, government, academia and research institutions working to overcome critical technological hurdles and build a self-reliant silicon photonics supply chain, the ministry said.

Nvidia Corp in March invested US$4 An unauthorized drone intrusion over Ching Chuan Kang Air Base (清泉崗基地) at Taichung International Airport on Tuesday night forced the temporary closure of the base, diverting eight fighter jets and delaying a commercial flight, authorities said.

Air Force Command Headquarters said that clear weather had allowed for scheduled night training exercises, but after a drone was spotted entering the airspace, the control tower declared an emergency closure of the airport, forcing eight Indigenous Defense Fighter jets in the air to divert and land at Hsinchu Air Base (新竹基地).

Taichung airport director Chang Jui-shu (張瑞澍) said the airspace intrusion lasted from 7:37pm to The air force plans to build 26 more hardened aircraft shelters as the number of F-16Vs stationed along Taiwan’s east coast is expected to reach 120 when the final shipment of 66 jets procured from the US arrives.

The incoming jets would be stationed at Chihhang Air Base in Taitung County, augmenting the F-16V Block 20s operated by the 5th Tactical Fighter Wing in Hualien County, officials said yesterday. The air force plans to allocate more than NT$6.88 billion (US$218.

1 million) from next year to 2031 to build the shelters in Hualien and Taitung as part of the implementation of a “one Indonesian rescuers searched for eight people who went missing at sea while heading to a volcanic island to report on an eruption there, officials said yesterday.

Anak Krakatau initially erupted for about 25 hours over the weekend, and it has since continued to erupt intermittently with explosions ejecting lava, ash and incandescent volcanic material from the crater, the Indonesian Geology Agency said in a statement.

A speedboat carrying five photojournalists, two crew members and a route guide lost contact after leaving Carita, a coastal town in Banten Province, for the volcanic island, Banten Province Search and Rescue Office Chief Al Amrad said.

On September 12, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Moscow will not cease military operations during peace negotiations, referencing prior truce violations. Concurrently, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed willingness to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit, a proposal Lavrov appeared to dismiss by reiterating the Kremlin’s position that any direct talks must take place in Moscow.

A recent report questions the US administration’s claims of significant degradation of Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities, noting that Tehran has continued launching large-scale salvos at Gulf states, including Jordan, following US-Israeli strikes.

While official statements have asserted that the majority of Iran’s arsenal and launch platforms were destroyed, the sustained frequency of recent missile attacks suggests that Iran retains substantial operational capacity.