Yemen's Houthi rebels target a Liberian-flagged ship in Red Sea with missiles, authorities say
Dubai (AP/PTI): Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted a Liberian-flagged container ship in the Red Sea with missiles on Monday, producing an explosion near the vessel but causing no damage, authorities said.
The master of the vessel reported the explosion and said no one was hurt, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. The UKMTO later identified the vessel as the Pinocchio, managed by a Singaporean firm.
The Houthis used two anti-ship ballistic missiles in the attack, the U.S. military's Central Command said.
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed the attack early Tuesday in a prerecorded statement, claiming the Pinocchio was an American ship without offering evidence to support the assertion.
He said the Houthis would continue their attacks, aimed at pressuring an end to the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. However, the Houthi attacks targeting vessel since November have increasingly had little or no connection to Israel, the United States or other nations involved in the war.
Monday's attack comes after a Houthi missile struck a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden last week, killing three of its crew members and forcing survivors to abandon the vessel.
It was the first fatal strike in a campaign of assaults by the Iranian-backed group over Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis say the attacks are intended to pressure Israel into stopping the war, but their targets increasingly have little or nothing to do with the conflict.
Other recent Houthi actions include an attack last month on a cargo ship carrying fertilizer, the Rubymar, which later sank after drifting for several days, and the downing of an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars.
The U.S. has lead a series of airstrikes targeting the Houthis since January, but they have yet to stop the rebels' attacks on shipping, which have disrupted trade through the Red Sea, a crucial waterway for energy and cargo shipments between Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
On Monday, U.S. forces carried out six strikes destroying an underwater Houthi drone and 18 anti-ship missiles, Central Command said. The Houthi's Al-Masirah satellite news channel reported U.S. strikes in Yemen's Houthi-held Hodeidah and Saada provinces.
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LPG crisis triggers migrant worker exodus from Kerala ahead of Ramzan, polls
Kochi (PTI): The ongoing LPG crisis, which has led to the mass closure of restaurants and hotels across Kerala, has triggered an exodus of migrant workers returning to their native places, as Ramzan approaches and elections are to be held in West Bengal and Assam.
Restaurant and hotel operators are trying to retain their staff from other states, fearing that if migrant workers leave now, they may not return until after the election.
G Jayapal, state president of the Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association (KHRA), told PTI that migrant workers from West Bengal and Assam were expected to return home a week before the elections in their respective states.
“However, with the LPG crisis forcing hotels and restaurants to shut down, migrant workers will start returning to their native places early. They will return only after the elections. Also, Ramzan will be celebrated next week, and people who were working in restaurants will start returning to their states due to the lack of jobs here,” he said.
Jayapal said that, in addition to exploring alternative cooking fuels, restaurant operators are also trying to prevent workers from leaving early, expecting that the LPG crisis will be resolved soon.
“A majority of the workforce in hotels and restaurants are migrant workers. Restaurants are desperate to keep them here. However, small-scale restaurant operators find it hard to maintain staff when their shops are closed,” he said.
Binoy Peter of the Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development (CMID), which closely monitors migrant worker movements, told PTI that around 50 per cent of Kerala's migrant workforce comes from the poll-bound states of Assam and West Bengal.
“With hotels closed, migrant workers in the hospitality sector have started moving to their native places. Apart from restaurant closures, the movement is also triggered by Ramzan and the elections in West Bengal and Assam. Reserved tickets in trains to these states are already in the waiting list,” he said.
Usually, migrant workers from Kerala return home mainly during the local body polls in their state.
However, this time, due to the SIR procedure, workers are anxious and want to cast their votes in the Assembly elections in West Bengal and Assam, Peter said.
“Usually, once migrant workers return to their native places, they come back only after one or two months. This will put all sectors in Kerala that depend on them in a crisis,” he said.
Shibin, owner of KLR Facility, which supplies workers, especially housekeeping staff, to major malls and hotels, said that after the LPG crisis, migrants have already started returning home.
“The LPG crisis is only one factor for their movement. The major factor is the elections in West Bengal and Assam. We have already started facing the heat as a number of workers have moved back to their native places,” he said.
Shibin said he used to provide 25 migrant workers for housekeeping at a major mall in Thiruvananthapuram.
“Now we have only five workers from other states there. We are managing the situation by recruiting local women for the work. We have already informed the companies to which we supply manpower and requested their cooperation until the elections in West Bengal and Assam are over,” he said.
