AFP Asia Business

The UK, Japan and South Korea sweltered this year through the hottest summers since each country began keeping records, their weather agencies said Monday.Temperatures the world over have soared in recent years as human-induced climate change creates ever more erratic weather patterns.The UK’s provisional mean June-August temperature was 16.1C, which was 1.51C above the long-term …

UK, Japan, South Korea endure hottest summer on record Read More »

Europe’s main stock markets held broadly steady on Monday after strong gains for Chinese indices, as trading entered a traditionally weak month for Wall Street.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed with a gain of 2.2 percent, fuelled by the share price of Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba soaring almost 20 percent on bumper results which included …

European stocks steady after robust gains for Chinese equities Read More »

Yemen’s Huthi rebels held a funeral on Monday for their prime minister and 11 other senior officials killed in an Israeli air strike that decimated its political cabinet.Twelve coffins draped in flags were displayed at Sanaa’s Al-Shaab mosque, as masked gunmen patrolled the area and thousands of mourners flooded in.Huthi prime minister Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser al-Rahawi, nine ministers and two cabinet officials were killed as they attended a government meeting in the Sanaa area on Thursday.It was the highest profile assassination to be announced in Yemen in months of attacks by Israel during the Gaza war. The United States also waged an intense bombing campaign against Huthi targets from March to May this year.The Huthis have repeatedly launched missiles and drones towards Israel throughout the Gaza war.On Monday, the Israeli military said it had intercepted a drone launched from Yemen before it entered Israeli territory.On Sunday, the Huthis detained at least 11 United Nations workers as part of a round-up, prompting a protest from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.A Yemeni security source told AFP on Saturday that Huthi authorities had arrested dozens of people in Sanaa and other areas “on suspicion of collaborating with Israel”.The Huthis also fired a missile at an Israeli tanker in the Red Sea on Sunday, reprising a campaign they have waged throughout the Gaza war.The missile landed close to the Liberian-flagged Scarlet Ray with a “loud bang”, the UK Maritime Trade Operations monitoring agency said.- ‘Bad day’ for Huthis -The Huthis, part of Iran’s “axis of resistance” of anti-Israeli groups, vowed to step up their attacks on Israel following Thursday’s killings.Their campaign of missile and drone strikes at Israel and on shipping in the Red Sea, a major cargo route, has persisted throughout the Gaza war, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians.Last week’s Israeli strike wiped out about half of the 22-strong Huthi cabinet, which plays a mainly administrative role.Rahawi, the late prime minister, was from the southern province of Abyan, which is not part of the large swathes of Yemen under Huthi control.The Huthis, who hail from divided Yemen’s rugged north, have traditionally reserved the premiership for southerners in an attempt to win hearts and minds.US-based Yemen analyst Mohammed Al Basha said Thursday’s strike may signal an Israeli shift towards targeted killings, an approach that gutted the leadership of Gaza rulers Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon.The attack could mark “the beginning of a campaign of targeted assassinations against both civilian and military Huthi leadership, even at informal gatherings”, he posted on X, calling it a “bad day” for the group.