The strikes capped a week of escalating threats to merchant shipping, with at least nine commercial vessels targeted across the Middle East Gulf

Houthi forces have captured Yemen’s Red Sea port of Mokha and are reportedly advancing towards islands overlooking the Bab el Mandeb Strait, raising fears that the Iran-backed group could tighten its grip on a critical maritime chokepoint already disrupted by conflict and energy market turmoil

The hijacking of Glamor off Yemen is the latest sign that Somali pirate groups are regaining the capability to strike commercial vessels far from shore, despite years of international naval patrols

President Xi Jinping called for swift search and rescue operations at the yard, with five people still thought to be missing

India’s largest port operator secures a 30-year concession at Paradip, expanding dry bulk capacity and underlining the long-term importance of coal- and steel-related cargo flows in the country’s industrial heartland

These two incidents follow the five Iranian crude oil tankers hit by the US, taking the number of vessels attacked in the region over recent days to at least seven