AFP USA

Nine people were killed in strikes on Yemen’s capital on Saturday, Huthi rebels said, after US President Donald Trump announced an attack on the Iran-backed group.Another nine people were wounded in the first US strikes on the Huthis, who have attacked Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, since Trump took office in January.An AFP photographer in Sanaa heard three explosions and saw plumes of smoke coming from a residential district in the north of the rebel-held capital, Sanaa. Security forces cordoned off the area immediately.”Nine civilians were killed and nine others were injured, most of them seriously,” the Huthis’ health and environment ministry said in a statement on their Saba news agency.The rebels’ Al-Masirah TV station said an “American-British aggression raided a residential neighbourhood in the Shuub district” in Sanaa. It later reported such a strike on the Huthi stronghold of Saada.There was no immediate comment from British authorities.In a post on social media, Trump vowed to “use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective”, citing the Huthis’ threats against Red Sea shipping.The Huthis hit back in a statement on Al-Masirah vowing that the strikes “will not pass without response”.”Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation,” the rebels’ political bureau said.Trump also warned Iran that it must “immediately” cut support to the rebels. The rebels, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the “axis of resistance” of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel and the United States.They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks at ships passing Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden during the Gaza war, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians. The campaign crippled the vital route, which normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies into a costly detour around the tip of southern Africa.- ‘Hell will rain down’ – In response, the US has launched several rounds of strikes on Huthi targets, some with British support. After halting their attacks when Gaza’s ceasefire took effect in January, the Huthis announced on Tuesday that they would resume them until Israel lifts its blockade of aid to the shattered Palestinian territory.Trump’s statement did not reference the dispute over Israel, but focused on previous Huthi attacks on merchant shipping.”To all Huthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” he said.”Do NOT threaten the American People, their President… or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”Earlier this month, the United States reclassified the Huthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, banning any US interaction with it.The Huthis captured Sanaa in 2014 and were poised to overrun most of the rest of the country before a Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year.The war has largely been on hold since a 2022 ceasefire but the promised peace process has stalled in the face of the Huthi attacks on Israel and Israel-linked shipping.

At least 18 people were dead and dozens injured after  tornadoes raked  across the central United States, officials said Saturday.Local news showed roofs torn off homes and large trucks overturned, as forecasters warned of more tornadoes to come this weekend.The Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed 11 “storm-related fatalities” in a statement on X, saying local authorities were “working tirelessly to assist those in need and assess the damage.”The state police reported downed trees and power lines, as well as damage to residential and commercial buildings, with some areas severely impacted by “tornadoes, thunderstorms and large hail.”Six fatalities were reported in Missouri’s Wayne County, three in Ozark County — where multiple injuries were also reported — and one each in Butler and Jefferson counties, police said.Further south in Texas, local authorities told AFP that four people had died in vehicle accidents linked to dust storms and fires that reduced visibility on the roads.In the neighboring state of Arkansas, officials said three people had died and 29 had been injured in the storm.More tornadoes were forecast Saturday in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee.

The United States has launched “decisive and powerful military action” to end the threat posed to Red Sea shipping by Yemen’s Huthi rebels, President Donald Trump said Saturday.In a social media post that came after Huthi media reported strikes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa, Trump also warned that Iran must “immediately” cut support to the rebels. “We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective,” he said.In Huthi-held Sanaa, AFP correspondents reported hearing distant explosions and al-Masirah TV said “an American-British aggression raided a residential neighborhood in the Shuub district.”The new US strikes came shortly after the Huthis announced that they would target all Israeli ships in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Baba al-Mandab Strait, and the Gulf of Aden.Their threat came in protest at Israel’s blockade of aid into the Palestinian territory of Gaza.Trump’s statement did not reference the dispute over Israel, but focused on previous Huthi attacks on US and international warships and commercial tankers.”To all Huthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” he said.In addition to announcing action against the Huthis, who regularly harass international shipping off Yemen’s coast, Trump issued a stern warning to the group’s backer.”To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY!” he said.”Do NOT threaten the American People, their President… or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”Since November 2023, a month into the war between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip, the Huthis have waged a campaign against shipping that they say is in solidarity with Palestinians.They have attacked ships in the key waterways of the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea with drones and missiles, saying they are targeting vessels linked to Israel, the United States and Britain.In January, after the ceasefire was declared in Gaza, the Huthis said they would limit their attacks to vessels linked to Israel.The attacks have disrupted commercial shipping in a zone vital for trade, and dealt huge losses to cash-strapped Egypt, which depends on the Suez Canal for foreign currency.Earlier this month, the United States re-classified the Huthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organization,” banning any US interaction with the group that controls swaths of Yemen.

Anger was rising in the Democratic ranks Saturday after the party’s top US senator led a band of lawmakers in reluctant support of a Republican measure that prevented a government shutdown.Congressional passage of the controversial spending bill was being seen as a setback for Democratic backbenchers — and the latest illustration of party leaders’ political impotence in their opposition to President Donald Trump as he takes a wrecking ball to the US federal bureaucracy.In New York, more than a thousand people protested against Trump’s layoffs, and their anger was no longer directed only at Trump and his chief waste hunter, Elon Musk.Michelle Vaughan, a 53-year-old artist, carried a sign that read “Elon out! – You too, Chuck!” referring to House Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who supported the bill along with several colleagues.”The budget was our only leverage,” Vaughan told AFP at the protest in Manhattan. “It was a way to show the base of Democrats and the world that there’s a resistance to this authoritarian takeover.”The measure slashes billions of dollars from public spending at a time government agencies are already reeling from the dismissal of thousands of civil servants by Trump and Musk.Despite stark warnings from Democrats, including popular House progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the resolution passed the Senate late Friday with the support of 10 Democrats, including Schumer.The 74-year-old top Democrat from the state of New York had claimed earlier this week that his camp was united in opposition to the Trump-backed Republican proposal. But on Thursday he relented and declared he would vote to keep the government’s lights on.Trump signed the bill into law Saturday afternoon.- Disunity -Schumer justified his position as the least-worst path, and “the best way to minimize the harm that the Trump administration will do to the American people.”His close Senate ally Dick Durbin agreed.”With Donald Trump and Elon Musk taking a chainsaw to the federal government’s workforce and illegally freezing federal funding, the last thing we need to do is plunge our country into further chaos and turmoil by shutting down the government,” Durbin said.But within their camp, it was a bitter pill to swallow.Aimee Reeves, who was laid off from her private non-profit following cuts to the federal humanitarian agency USAID, said tens of thousands of people have already found themselves without a job.”The government is not functioning as it should, and the fact that they put forth a narrative that we needed to vote for this bill to continue the government to function is normalizing something that’s entirely not normal,” Reeves told AFP at the New York rally.In an angry post on the Bluesky platform shortly after the bill was passed, New York progressive Ocasio-Cortez voiced a similar view, saying Senate Democrats had “destroyed” their chances of future cooperation with their House counterparts through their “fear-based, inexplicable abdication.”She added: “They own what happens next.”Still, top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries sought to play down the divisions.”Our party is not a cult, we are a coalition,” he said in a statement after the Senate vote. “On occasion, we may strongly disagree about a particular course of action.”- ‘No more cowardice’ -Earlier this week progressive congresswoman Pramila Jayapal warned on CNN that Democratic senators who vote for the GOP plan would face a “huge backlash.”Schumer has already felt the heat, with some 100 demonstrators protesting outside his New York home on Friday.Members of the Sunrise Movement, an association of young environmentalists, also gathered outside the senator’s Washington office “demanding he fight for our generation and block Trump’s disastrous budget.””No more cowardice,” the organization vented on X. “Step up or step aside.”The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, voiced similar sentiments, warning that Democrats who voted yes “just handed Musk and Trump free rein to destroy our environmental agencies and gut the civil service.”Meanwhile, Republicans led by Trump are rejoicing at the opposition’s disarray.”Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing,” the president trumpeted from his Truth Social account Friday, saying it took “‘guts’ and courage.” 

Canada is reviewing a major purchase of US-made F-35 combat planes amid serious tensions with the Trump administration, a spokesperson for the Canadian defense ministry told AFP on Saturday.That announcement came two days after Portugal said it too was reexamining a possible purchase of American F-35 fighter jets amid rising international anger over the tariff war President Donald Trump has launched and his wavering support for the Atlantic alliance.Trump rattled America’s northern neighbor by imposing 25 percent tariffs on all Canadian products before agreeing to suspend levies on Canadian exports covered by a North American trade pact. And he has regularly infuriated Canadians by suggesting their country become the 51st US state.In one of his first official acts since taking office Friday, Prime Minister Mark Carney has asked the defense ministry “to determine if the F-35 contract, as it stands, is the best investment for Canada, and if there are other options that could better meet Canada’s needs,” according to an email from Laurent de Casanove, the ministry spokesperson.The Canadian government in January 2023 signed a contract with giant US defense company Lockheed Martin to purchase 88 F-35s for a total of Can$19 billion ($13.2 billion). It has already paid for a first shipment of 16, set for delivery early next year. The deal has not been canceled, but “we need to do our homework given the changing environment, and make sure that the contract in its current form is in the best interests of Canadians and the Canadian Armed Forces,” the statement said.Portugal indicated Thursday that it was studying both American F-35s and European aircraft as it looks to replace its air force’s aging F-16s.  Outgoing defense minister Nuno Melo raised those options in an interview Thursday in the daily Publico, referring to the “predictability of our allies” and “the recent position of the United States, in the context of NATO and on the level of international geostrategy.” 

At least 14 people were dead and dozens injured after violent tornadoes swept across the central United States, officials said Saturday.The Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed 11 “storm-related fatalities” in a statement on X, saying that local authorities were “working tirelessly to assist those in need and assess the damage.”The state police reported downed trees and power lines, as well as damage to residential and commercial buildings, with some areas severely impacted by “tornadoes, thunderstorms and large hail.”Six fatalities were reported in Missouri’s Wayne County, three in Ozark County — where multiple injuries were also reported — and one each in Butler and Jefferson counties, police said.In the neighboring state of Arkansas, officials said three people had died and 29 had been injured in the storm.Further tornadoes were forecast Saturday in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk said Saturday its massive Starship rocket would leave for Mars at the end of 2026 with Tesla humanoid robot Optimus onboard, adding that human landings could follow “as soon as 2029.””Starship departs for Mars at the end of next year, carrying Optimus. If those landings go well, then human landings may start as soon as 2029, although 2031 is more likely,” Musk said on his X social network. Musk, who is also the Tesla CEO, brought out the company’s Optimus robots at an event last year. He said the dancing robots would one day be able to do menial tasks, as well as offer friendship, and expected them to retail for $20,000 to $30,000.Starship — the world’s largest and most powerful rocket — is key to Musk’s long-term vision of colonizing Mars. Standing 403 feet (123 meters) tall — about 100 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty — Starship is designed to eventually be fully reusable.NASA is also awaiting a modified version of Starship as a lunar lander for its Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon this decade.But before SpaceX can carry out those missions, it must prove the vehicle is reliable, safe for crew, and capable of complex in-orbit refueling — critical for deep space missions.- Setback -SpaceX faced a setback this month when its latest test flight of the Starship prototype ended in a fiery explosion, even as the booster was successfully caught in its orbital test.It was a near replay of the previous attempt. Minutes after liftoff and booster separation, a live video feed showed the upper stage tumbling uncontrollably before the signal abruptly cut.Dramatic footage circulating online showed red-hot debris raining down over the Bahamas.It marked its eighth uncrewed orbital test.The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said SpaceX will be required to conduct an investigation before it can fly again.Despite the setback, SpaceX’s “fail fast, learn fast” approach has helped it become the world’s dominant launch services provider.But Musk’s status as one of President Donald Trump’s closest advisors, and his influence over federal regulators, are raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest.During Joe Biden’s presidency, Musk frequently clashed with the FAA, accusing it of over-regulating SpaceX over safety and environmental concerns.Trump vowed in his inauguration speech in January “to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars.”

The US decision to expel South Africa’s ambassador was “regrettable,” the office of the South African president said Saturday, after Washington’s top diplomat accused the envoy of hating America and President Donald Trump.Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that South Africa’s ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool, was “no longer welcome” in the United States.Rasool is “a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS,” Rubio posted on X, referring to Trump by his White House X account handle.”We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA.”South Africa’s presidency said in a statement it had “noted the regrettable expulsion” and urged “all relevant and impacted stakeholders to maintain the established diplomatic decorum in their engagement with the matter.””South Africa remains committed to building a mutually beneficial relationship with the United States of America,” the presidency said.The expulsion of the ambassador — a very rare move by the United States — is the latest development in rising tensions between Washington and Pretoria.Trump in February froze US aid to South Africa, citing a law in the country that he alleges allows land to be seized from white farmers.- Rising tensions -Last week, Trump further fueled tensions, saying South Africa’s farmers were welcome to settle in the United States after repeating his accusations that the government was “confiscating” land from white people.Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that “any Farmer (with family!) from South Africa, seeking to flee that country for reasons of safety, will be invited into the United States of America with a rapid pathway to Citizenship.”One of Trump’s closest allies is South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, who has accused South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government of having “openly racist ownership laws.”Land ownership is a contentious issue in South Africa, with most farmland still owned by white people three decades after the end of apartheid and the government under pressure to implement reforms.During a G20 event in South Africa last month, Ramaphosa said he had a “wonderful” call with Trump soon after the US leader took office in January.But relations later “seemed to go a little bit off the rails,” he said.In his X post, Rubio linked to an article from the conservative news outlet Breitbart, which addressed Rasool’s remarks via livestream to a foreign policy seminar on Friday.”He said that white supremacism was motivating Trump’s ‘disrespect’ for the ‘current hegemonic order’ of the world,” Breitbart reported, adding that Rasool noted that Trump’s Make America Great Again movement “was a white supremacist response to growing demographic diversity in the United States.”Rasool, an anti-apartheid campaigner in his youth, has expressed anger toward the Israeli government for its war in Gaza. In February in an interview with news site Zeteo, he said what South Africans experienced during apartheid rule “is on steroids in Palestine.”

Facebook parent company Meta is seeking to silence a former employee who has made scandalous allegations in a new tell-all book, obtaining a ruling to temporarily bar her from promoting the memoir or bad-mouthing the tech giant.In “Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism,” released on Tuesday, Sarah Wynn-Williams recounts working at the tech titan from 2011 to 2017.Her book includes claims of sexual harassment by longtime company executive Joel Kaplan, a prominent Republican and ally of President Donald Trump who took over as head of Meta’s international affairs team early this year.She also wrote of Meta, then known as Facebook, exploring the possibility of breaking into the lucrative China market by appeasing government censors there.”The suggestion was that as part of the negotiations for the company to enter into China, the data of users in Hong Kong could be put in play,” Wynn-Williams said in an interview with NPR.An idea was to flag content in Hong Kong or Taiwan that went “viral” and refer it to a censorship body for review, according to Wynn-Williams.Meta quickly took the matter to arbitration, contending the book violates a non-disparagement contract signed by Wynn-Williams when she worked with the company’s global affairs team.An arbitration court this week granted Meta’s request to bar Wynn-Williams from promoting the book or making derogatory statements about the companyShe also must retract previous critical comments about Meta or its executives, according to the ruling, which will remain in place until the dispute is settled in a private arbitration process.”This ruling affirms that Sarah Wynn-Williams’ false and defamatory book should never have been published,” Meta communications director Andy Stone said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.”It’s no secret we were interested in China; we explore lots of ideas,” Stone said.”You know what didn’t happen? We didn’t start offering our services in China.”- Talk nice -Stone said Wynn-Williams was “fired for poor performance and toxic behavior,” having made a series of unfounded allegations that the company investigated.The order by the arbitration body, the International Centre for Dispute Resolution, does not however stop Macmillan Publishers from distributing copies of the memoir.Macmillan said it was “appalled by Meta’s tactics to silence our author through the use of a non-disparagement clause in a severance agreement,” adding it would “absolutely continue to support and promote” the book.Emergency arbitrator Nicholas Gowan noted that Wynn-Williams failed to appear for a hearing in the case, but also that the ruling did not address the merits of the case.Meta has recently been criticized for stepping back from workplace diversity efforts and from battling misinformation in what critics say appears to be an alignment with Trump.Meta early this year announced it was replacing its fact-checking program, of which AFP was a part, with “community notes.”

Not long to go now: After more than nine months on the International Space Station, two astronauts are a step closer to returning home following the launch of a crew swap mission on Friday.A Falcon 9 rocket with a Crew Dragon fixed to its top blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:03 pm (2303 GMT), carrying a four-member team bound for the orbital outpost.”We celebrate the countless individuals all over the world that have made this journey possible,” said astronaut Nichole Ayers, the designated pilot of the Crew-10 mission, just before launch.But the real focus is what their arrival enables: the long-overdue departure from the ISS of NASA duo Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.The two former US Navy pilots have been stuck aboard the orbital lab since June after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they were testing on its maiden crewed voyage suffered propulsion issues and was deemed unfit to fly them back to Earth.Instead, Starliner returned empty, without experiencing further major issues — and what was meant to have been a days-long roundtrip for Wilmore and Williams has now stretched past nine months.That is significantly longer than the standard ISS rotation for astronauts of roughly six months. But it is much shorter than the US space record of 371 days set by NASA astronaut Frank Rubio aboard the ISS in 2023, or the world record held by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who spent 437 continuous days aboard the Mir space station.Still, the unexpected nature of their prolonged stay away from their families — they had to receive additional clothing and personal care items because they hadn’t packed enough — has garnered interest and sympathy.- ‘Maybe they love each other’ -What began as a technical failure has also spiraled into a political flashpoint, as President Donald Trump and his close advisor, Elon Musk — who leads SpaceX — have repeatedly suggested that former president Joe Biden “abandoned” the pair intentionally and rejected a plan to bring them back sooner.That accusation caused uproar in the space community, especially since Musk did not provide any specifics.The plan for the duo’s return has been unchanged ever since they were reassigned to SpaceX’s Crew-9, which arrived in September aboard another Dragon carrying only two crew members — instead of the usual four — to make room for Wilmore and Williams.When Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen pointed this out on X, Musk lashed out at him, using a slur for mentally disabled people.Some retired astronauts rushed to Mogensen’s defense — while Wilmore appeared to back Musk, saying his comments must have been “factual,” though he admitted he was not privy to any details.Trump, meanwhile, has drawn attention for his bizarre remarks about the situation, referring to Williams, a decorated former naval captain, as “the woman with the wild hair” and speculating about the personal dynamic between the two.”They’ve been left up there — I hope they like each other, maybe they love each other, I don’t know,” he said during a recent White House press conference.Only after the Crew-10 spaceship docks — scheduled for 11:30 pm Saturday — can the Crew-9 team begin preparing for departure and their ocean splashdown off the Florida coast, no sooner than March 19.Along with Wilmore and Williams, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will also be aboard the returning Dragon capsule.Space remains an area of cooperation between the United States and Russia despite the Ukraine conflict, with cosmonauts traveling to the ISS aboard SpaceX Crew Dragons and astronauts doing the same via Soyuz capsules launched from Kazakhstan.The Crew-10 team consists of NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi, and Russia’s Kirill Peskov. During their mission, the new crew will conduct a range of scientific experiments, including flammability tests for future spacecraft designs and research into the effects of space on the human body.