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Houthi strikes kill dozens in Yemen, officials say, as Saudi Arabia warns of further attacks

Attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthis on a military camp in Yemen and in Saudi Arabia have sparked concerns that the Middle East crisis will continue to spiral. Yemen is being increasingly drawn into the US-Israeli war with Iran, with the Houthi rebels stepping up attacks against both government forces inside the country and neighbouring Saudi Arabia, a key US ally and supporter of the internationally recognised Yemeni government. On Thursday, at least 30 Yemeni government troops were killed in Houthi attacks on military ⁠camps in Yemen, government sources said, warning the death toll could rise. Some reports have put the death toll as high as 58. The ⁠Iran-aligned Houthis claimed they carried out the missile and drone strikes in Marib and Hadramout provinces after observing a large Saudi military buildup. The Houthis claimed military ‌camps, weapons depots and ‌vehicles were destroyed. Yemen’s defence ministry said in a statement only that its armed forces would respond to the attacks “at the appropriate place and time”, while the health minister ordered medical facilities to increase readiness to treat wounded soldiers. Yemeni sources said recently they believe Saudi Arabia is preparing for a major military offensive against the Houthis by sea and possibly by land in central Yemen, in a move to break their chokehold on Saudi oil exports through the southern Red Sea. In a separate attack early on Friday, a Saudi official accused the Houthis of indiscriminately shelling civilian areas in Saudi Arabia, injuring 11 civilians, including a four-year-old child. Maj General Turki al-Maliki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led military coalition supporting Yemen’s government, said the coalition would continue taking all necessary ⁠measures to protect civilians. The attack was in southern Najran province, and injured seven Saudis, one Yemeni, two Egyptians ⁠and one Pakistani national, he said. Neither the Houthis nor Iran immediately commented on Friday’s attack. Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have been vying for control of Yemen for more than a decade but over the past month an uneasy status quo has unravelled, with the Houthis mounting attacks against Saudi Aramco oil facilities. The Houthi movement, which controls Yemen’s capital Sana’a and much of its Red Sea coastline, declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea last month. A senior ⁠Saudi official on Thursday said the kingdom was expecting imminent coordinated attacks from the north and ⁠south by Iraqi militias and the Houthis in Yemen under the supervision of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said intelligence reports from Saudi Arabia, the US and other regional ⁠countries indicated civilian and economic sites could be targeted, including energy infrastructure, ports and airports. Saudi Arabia had also observed ⁠drones and missiles being moved, suggesting coordinated operations from both directions, the official said. It comes as Iran and Oman said negotiations on an agreement over the strait of Hormuz was in its “final stage” of drafting. The agreement is likely to be contingent on the US lifting its blockade on Iran’s ports. The strait is crucial to global shipping and energy supplies. Before the war, which began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran in February, about one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed through the waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. With Reuters, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse

Ukraine war briefing: We will build missiles the way we built drones – Zelenskyy

Volodymr Zelenskyy has said he wants “concrete results” by the end of this year on producing an anti-ballistic missile defence system for Ukraine. Zelenskyy referred to Ukraine’s role in the Freyja programme to jointly develop a European anti-ballistic system as an alternative to Patriot. “Ukraine is capable of producing its missile and launcher, while our partners will provide the necessary components and critical elements – radars, sensors, and everything else required … Others spent decades developing their systems. Ukraine must do this as quickly as possible, with concrete results already in place by the turn of 2026–2027.” Zelenskyy said on Thursday night that he had met with senior officials on how to accelerate development “so that Ukrainian weapons manufacturers and developers can deliver real results … We are creating all the necessary conditions to make that happen.” On the offensive side, “Ukraine is also working to develop ballistic missiles of its own. The tests have shown strong potential. We need to turn this into a real weapon.” The Kyiv region observed an official day of mourning on Thursday after a Russian missile and drone blitz killed 17 people the previous day. In the first six months of this year, 1,396 civilians were killed and 7,978 injured in Ukraine, the UN office in Kyiv said on Wednesday. That was a 37% increase from the same period last year and a 114% jump over 2024, it said, attributing the rise to more long-range aerial attacks by Russia. On the day that Kyiv mourned its dead, the head of the UN appeared to put the blame for civilian casualties on both sides. “These latest series of attacks follow an alarming pattern of escalating strikes against populated areas,” said Farhan Haq, a spokesperson for António Guterres, the UN secretary general. “The secretary general strongly condemns the latest large-scale missile and drone attacks by the armed forces of the Russian Federation on Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine … [Guterres] also condemns the recent Ukrainian drone attacks on several regions of the Russian Federation.” Russia has adjusted its rhetoric lately to claim that its evident strikes killing Ukrainian civilians are targeting military facilities, or militarised civilian sites such as warehouses, ports and logistics depots, while portraying Ukrainian strikes on military and economic targets in Russia as being aimed at civilians. Russian forces have continually bombarded civilians with anti-personnel explosive FPV drones in Ukrainian centres including Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv. A drone carrying explosives that was found at Leipzig airport had come down near a Ukrainian aircraft loaded with military ammunition, according to a classified police report quoted by the German public broadcasters WDR and NDR and the Süddeutsche newspaper. Deborah Cole reports from Berlin that the German interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, said only an apparently “ripped” detonator had prevented the device going off near Ukrainian cargo planes on the tarmac at the shipping and military hub. Ukraine hit more oil facilities deep inside Russia, Zelenskyy said on Thursday. Targets included a refinery in Russia’s Bashkortostan region, more than 1,300km (800 miles) from the frontline, as well as a refinery in the Yaroslavl region, almost 700km into Russia. The Yaroslavl governor, Mikhail Yevrayev, confirmed an attack on a refinery, saying oil reservoirs were set on fire. Ukrainian forces hit two Russian military patrol boats in the Black Sea, Zelenskyy said, along with vessels belonging to Moscow’s so-called shadow fleet, which Russia uses to evade western restrictions on its oil exports. He did not give any details. The Russian defence ministry said its air defences shot down 605 Ukrainian drones over its territory. Ukraine will provide assistance to farmers hit by Russian attacks on ⁠shipping and port facilities, Zelenskyy said. Subsidised credits and other assistance with financing would “begin to be implemented in the coming days”. The governor ‌of Ukraine’s Odesa Region, ‌Oleh Kiper, said on Thursday that a Russian attack had damaged a foreign-flagged ship loaded with ‌wheat in Ukraine’s Black Sea area, killing one crew member and causing a fire. Ukraine’s seaports authority identified the ship as sailing under the flag of Guinea-Bissau. Ukraine had established a Black Sea corridor for safe passage of shipping along the coast towards Romania, but ships have recently come under attack in the area. Zelenskyy will on Saturday make his first visit to Serbia since Russia’s invasion. “We need to pull the Serbs away from Russia’s side,” a senior Ukrainian official told Agence France-Presse, calling Zelenskyy’s visit to Belgrade a “slap in the face for the Russians”. Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vučić, has held talks with Vladimir Putin and maintained friendly relations with Moscow while also trying to join the European Union. Vučić’s office confirmed what it described as an “official visit” by Zelenskyy. While Zelenskyy would state his position, Serbia’s policy “will remain the case until further notice”, it added. Sweden will hand over to Kyiv a seized Russian “shadow fleet” cargo ship which Ukraine says transported grain stolen from its occupied territory, Swedish court documents obtained by AFP on Thursday showed. The supreme court on 4 August dismissed an appeal by Caffa Shipping Ltd, which owns the 96-metre (315-foot) Caffa, to block the transfer requested by Ukraine and approved by two lower courts in Sweden. The Caffa, sailing under a false Guinean flag, was headed for St Petersburg, Russia when armed Swedish police boarded it on 6 March off Trelleborg on its southern coast. Ten of the 11 crew on board were Russian nationals.

After decades of decline, New Zealand’s wool industry is making a comeback

John Hargreaves’ family has farmed sheep and beef in Kaiwaka, north of Auckland, for generations. In the 1960s they had 3,000 ewes but in the decades since, as the value of wool declined and shearing costs grew, his flock slowly decreased to just over 1,700. But now, for the first time in roughly six years, his wool is making money. New Zealand’s once-famous wool industry is showing signs of a comeback, after the mounting costs of producing synthetic fabric triggered global demand for natural fibres. “We’re now covering our shearing costs and making some sort of a profit,” Hargreaves says. Sheep farming and wool production dominated New Zealand’s agricultural industry for nearly a century, with the number of sheep peaking at more than 70m by the 1980s – or roughly 22 sheep to every human. The economic policies of the 1980s, and a drop in global demand driven by the uptake of synthetic alternatives, drove down the price of wool. More recently, farmers have converted their pasture into more lucrative forestry blocks and dairy farming. There are now just over 23m sheep, or 4.5 sheep to every human, according to StatsNZ. But Dave Burridge, national wool auction manager for PGG Wrightson, says the tight supply of wool globally and rising oil prices driven by the Middle East conflict are pushing up demand for wool. “The raw material used to produce nylon and polyester fibres, they’ve all gone up in price,” pushing buyers from countries such as China and India towards natural fibres, he says. Major global brands are also seeking out New Zealand wool. In April, French luxury brand Chanel signed an investment deal with Central Otago’s Lammermoor Station, to part-own and support the production of premium wool. American outdoor clothing giant Patagonia visited New Zealand in June to eye up wool partnerships, and in May, Turkish carpet manufacturer Kalida Hali struck a deal with Wools of New Zealand. In June, the country’s wool fetched the highest prices in 15 years at the PGG Wrightson national auction – ranging from NZ$6.47 to NZ$6.80 a kilogram for crossbred fleeces, with top-quality, good-colour fleeces reaching nearly $8 a kilogram. There is still volatility in the market. Wool prices dipped at the most recent national auction, held in Christchurch on 30 July. The drop, partly driven by buyers stepping back after filling their commitments earlier in the season, was unsurprising, Burridge says. “There was always quiet concern by wool industry players that the price had gone up very quickly, like unparalleled rises that we’d never seen before, and … that things were going to probably come off at some stage.” But prices are still up $2 on a year ago and Burridge is optimistic for the industry’s future. “I feel really excited about the long-term prospects for wool, and convinced that wool will have its day in the sun again.” Federated Farmers’ wool and meat manager, Richard Dawkins, says the strong wool prices have buoyed farmers and there is cautious optimism for the future. “That continued awareness globally of sustainability and the attributes of wool – that is a positive outlook,” he says. Meanwhile, demand for New Zealand’s high-quality wool is increasing within India, New Zealand’s second-largest wool market, Dawkins says. A recent trade deal between the two countries will eliminate tariffs on wool, which is expected to strengthen exports. New Zealand’s culture now needs to re-embrace wool, to help bring stability to the market, Dawkins says. “This nation was built off the back of a sheep, built off wool … and that story’s been lost over the decades. It’s one thing asking the world to buy our product, but we need to embrace it ourselves as well.”

Typhoon Dim-sum: how Hong Kong put a tasty snack on the storm map

A “Typhoon Dim-sum” could one day be on the horizon after the name was added to the Asia-Pacific region’s official list of tropical cyclone names this week. It features among nine names to be added to the list of future tropical cyclones, with each name contributed by a country. The names of tropical storms are generally recycled, replacing those which have caused serious casualties and economic loss. So how does a mouth-watering snack come to be endorsed by the UN-backed Typhoon Committee? Why will a storm be called Typhoon Dim-sum? Dim-sum was Hong Kong’s contribution to the nine new tropical cyclone names introduced in 2026 to the list in the western North Pacific and the South China Sea. It was part of a “reserve list” of tropical cyclone names with regional characteristics developed by the Hong Kong Observatory with the help of the public in 2023. Dim-sum came fourth, with “milktea” coming out on top of the poll which attracted more than 20,000 votes. What are the usual naming protocols for typhoons? There are 140 names on the list compiled by the Typhoon Committee, formed jointly by the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization to help Asia Pacific countries prepare for tropical storms. Tropical cyclones are also called hurricanes or typhoons, depending on the region. The names of tropical storms are generally recycled and used again, but new names are introduced to replace those which are retired after a cyclone has caused serious casualties and economic losses. Since 2000, each of the 14 member countries provides 10 names, selected from the local language and culture of the area. The change was introduced to better raise cyclone awareness through use of familiar words – such as animals, plants, historical figures and food – that populations could recognise. The first named storm in 2000 was called “Damrey”, meaning elephant in Cambodian, while the US contributed names of Palauan, Marshallese, and CHamoru (also known as Chamorro) origin. Before then, English names had been used. The practice of naming storms started during the second world war when meteorologists from the US defence force named Pacific ocean storms after their wives and girlfriends. What are the other names for tropical cyclones that have just been approved? Nations whose previous contributions are retired, are responsible for proposing new ones but they have to be endorsed by the Typhoon Committee. They cannot be indecent, carry negative connotations in other languages, or be named after public figures. Dim-sum will be joined by North Korea’s contribution of “Gaeguri” (meaning a frog), “Hoaban” (a typical flower of the north-west mountains of Vietnam), and “Tirou” (Micronesia’s contribution, a respectful way of greeting in Chuukese culture). Japan contributed two new names: “Hebi” meaning snake, and “Tomo” meaning stern, while Cambodia chose “Koki” (a large tree), the Republic of Korea “Narae” (the wing of a bird or an insect), and Thailand “Burapha” (East). In 2005, Hong Kong had two proposed names knocked back. Thailand rejected Hong Kong’s suggestion of “Kapok” (meaning a silk-cotton tree in Hong Kong) because it sounded like a Thai slang word for an intimate part of the male anatomy, while “Tai Chi” was opposed by Japanese officials who said it sounded like a child’s name.

Iran says a deal with Oman to reopen the strait of Hormuz is close to being finalised – as it happened

Iran said a deal with Oman to reopen the strait of Hormuz is close to being finalised, with reports suggesting Tehran would have control over ships entering the Gulf through the strategic waterway. But despite reports of potentially one of the biggest concessions yet to Iran, Reuters said Iranian sources ⁠rejected Donald Trump’s claims that a deal to reopen the strait was imminent, saying important details were still to be agreed. Iran has made a concerted diplomatic push with Gulf states, warning them explicitly that Tehran will hit their oil, power and water plants unless they convince Trump to end US strikes on Iran and seek a negotiated end to the war, Reuters reports. Sources told Reuters that the message was delivered through a flurry of high-level diplomatic contacts after Trump threatened on 28 July to strike Iran’s energy network and infrastructure. “The Iranian warning was unequivocal: if America targeted Iran’s infrastructure, they would retaliate by striking Gulf energy facilities and other regional targets,” one Gulf source said. Yemeni authorities said on Thursday that they would retaliate to several Houthi rebel attacks earlier in the day, which medical sources told AFP had killed at least 38 government troops and injured 29 in the deadliest toll since the 2022 truce between both sides. The defence ministry of Yemen’s internationally recognised government said in a statement that its armed forces would respond to the missile and drone attacks “at the appropriate place and time”. The Iran-backed Houthis had earlier confirmed that they were behind the attacks on military camps in Yemen that left dozens dead. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had deployed ballistic missiles and drones on what they described as Saudi mobilisation in the Al-Ruwyk, Al-Abr, and Al-Thaniyah areas of Yemen. The attacks, he said, were in response to “large Saudi military buildups in their final stages, aimed at escalating the aggression against the liberated provinces”. “We will continue the ‘siege for siege’ equation until the siege on our country is lifted,” Saree added. Meanwhile, Donald Trump insisted that he is “extremely happy” ⁠with the work his defence secretary Pete Hegseth is ⁠doing at ‌the Pentagon, ‌dismissing a ‌report that the two clashed over concerns about US munitions shortages ‌after five months of war against Iran. It comes after the Washington Post (paywall) reported that the US president and Hegseth clashed during a cabinet meeting at Camp David last Friday over the munitions shortages, with Trump reportedly demanding answers after being under the impression the issue “had been fixed”. The shortages were part of the reason that Trump had to call off what he said would be “the biggest attack since World War II” in recent days, sources told the paper. Hegseth reportedly blamed his deputy for the shortages and for Trump not being fully informed on the matter. It came after Trump hit back on Wednesday night at media reports suggesting the US was running low on weapons. The US has “massive amounts of munitions, especially of certain types,” he said in a Truth Social post, adding: “Additionally, large amounts are being manufactured and shipped to the U.S. as needed.” He continued: “Defense companies are building the largest number of plants and factories in our country’s history. The ‘leakers’ of these treasonous statements are being hunted down.”

How private schools could help Afghan girls – and justify their charitable status | Letters

Here is another plan for Gordon Brown (After five brutal years of Taliban rule, Afghan women and girls need our help – and I have a plan, 4 August). In a very few years Afghanistan will have no female doctors, nurses or midwives. For the Taliban have not only stopped girls’ education and codified child marriage, but have banned contraception and forbidden women and girls to access male health providers. Inevitably, there will be a huge increase in maternal and neonatal mortality. One way the UK could help is by its well endowed independent girls schools offering A-level science bursaries to those Afghan girls who wish to study medicine, have learned English online and can show that they have the ability to follow such a course. I have been corresponding with such a girl, now 15, who longs to become a doctor so she can care for her sisters. Even if passports, visas, travel, etc may be problematic, just offering such bursaries would be a way of keeping this gender apartheid in Afghanistan in the spotlight. Independent schools enjoy questionable charitable status. Here is a way of justifying it. Margaret Owen President, Widows for Peace Through Democracy • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

Words we should staff the barricades against | Brief letters

As someone working in human resources who has spent years encouraging colleagues to use the word “staffing” rather than “manning”, I find it ironic that in reviewing the TV series Furious, which is “powered [by] female rage” (27 July), Lucy Mangan wrote that its lead character Alice Black “is manning the FBI tip line”. Kathy Ashton York • Mark Lawson states that Jimmy Cricket’s “retained native accent allowed him to rhyme ‘faffing’ with ‘laughing’” (No smut, no swearing, wrong-feet wellies and a silly hat: the gentle comedy world of Jimmy Cricket, 4 August). As most of the UK’s English speakers would say, these words do rhyme. It is only some from southern England and a few other areas who pronounce laughing incorrectly. Gordon Glassford Corby, Northamptonshire • As Kemi Badenoch still supports Joshua Bonehill-Paine because he has been deradicalised (Kemi Badenoch gives former neo-Nazi advisory role after he withdraws as Tory candidate, 5 August), perhaps she’ll now campaign to allow Shamima Begum to return to the UK. Mary Hutty Bath • “Vertical drinking” is not the problem (Council wants pubs in London’s Soho and West End to ban standing, 6 August). It is the inability to remain vertical while drinking that is where the trouble begins. Austen Lynch Garstang, Lancashire • I will only accept a safety driver in a self-driving taxi if it is Ann Droid (Leicester Square, please guv’: Self-driving taxis cleared for London streets ‘later this summer’, 5 August). Margaret Squires St Andrews, Fife • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

Ebola virus behind massive outbreak in DRC could be mutating, officials say

The virus causing a massive outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could be mutating, health officials fear, as confirmed cases pass 4,000. Africa’s public health watchdog said the time for incremental action was over as they announced plans to scale up every aspect of the response and go “door to door” looking for patients. The Ebola outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, was first reported on 15 May, although there are suspicions the disease could have been spreading since January. There have been 3,973 cases and 1,801 deaths recorded as of 4 August, according to the DRC’s national public health institute. Speaking on Thursday, Dr Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), told a press briefing cases had topped 4,000. The outbreak is now the second-largest Ebola outbreak on record. There are eight times more cases, and six times more deaths than were recorded 11 weeks into the West Africa Ebola outbreak in 2014-18, which infected more than 28,000 people and killed at least 11,000. Kaseya said he had spoken to the director general of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and they planned studies “to check if there is no additional issue, or maybe if the virus is not mutating. Because the level of severity of this Bundibugyo outbreak is unprecedented.” More than two-thirds of Ebola deaths are happening in the community rather than in treatment centres. In a treatment centre run by MSF in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, 90% of admitted patients do not appear on authorities’ lists of contacts of known cases. Both factors indicate high levels of untracked transmission. Kaseya said contact tracing in the DRC was insufficient, with only 10 contacts identified for every Ebola patient, when about 40 would be the expected number. Ebola is a viral haemorrhagic fever that can cause vomiting, diarrhoea, organ damage and internal bleeding. The outbreak is centred on the conflict-affected mining province of Ituri, but has spread to Nord-Kivu, Sud-Kivu, Haut-Uele and Tshopo. There were 20 cases recorded in neighbouring Uganda before it brought its outbreak under control. Dr Wessam Mankoula, acting head of emergency preparedness and response at Africa CDC, said response teams planned a shift “from contact tracing to active case search”, which would mean community health workers “moving from door to door” asking households if they had anyone sick with Ebola symptoms. He added: “I think the time for incremental action is over and we’re starting now the phase for scaling up.” Kaseya promised a “village-centered response” that would involve communities, more use of digital tools and greater action in the camps for people who have been internally displaced by conflict in affected provinces. Officials also said they planned to begin using antiviral remdesivir on a compassionate use basis to treat patients. They will also start testing whether Ervebo, a vaccine licensed for use against a different strain of Ebola, should be offered in the affected province, after receiving data suggesting that Bundibugyo caused less serious disease and “zero death” among people who had received that jab. “Seeing the expansion of this outbreak, only the public health measure will not be enough to quickly control or stop this outbreak,” said Dr Placide Mbala Kingebeni, Africa CDC director of research, clinical trials and innovation. DRC authorities said they were investigating a suspected Ebola death on a boat heading to the capital, Kinshasa, from the north-east of the country, and that the other passengers on board would be quarantined and tested. Unicef warned that essential healthcare was being disrupted by the outbreak as fear of infection and service disruptions kept families away from clinics. In the outbreak’s centre, the mining town of Mongbwalu, the proportion of children receiving their first measles dose has fallen 69%.