UN News Today 12 August 2026 — UN News

A new strike on a merchant ship off the southern coast of Yemen that reportedly killed several seafarers has reignited deep concerns about global trade, amid the ongoing Iran-US war. In a statement condemning Tuesday’s attack, the head of the UN maritime agency Arsenio Dominguez expressed his sadness that “innocent seafarers” had died in an “indefensible attack on international shipping”. Mr. Dominguez warned the assaults there and in the Strait of Hormuz in recent months “only serve to escalate tensions and threaten global supply chains on which everyone depends”. The strike on the deck cargo ship Tihamah has been attributed to Yemen’s Houthi fighters. The non-State armed group is formally known as Ansar Allah; it receives backing from Iran and is at war with Yemeni Government forces, who are supported by a Saudi Arabia-led coalition. The group has also threatened to blockade the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key shipping route to the Red Sea. On 23 July, they claimed to have struck two Saudi oil tankers, according to media reports. Five years since Afghanistan’s de-facto rulers seized power, the exclusion of women and girls has become normalised. That’s according to analysis from gender equality agency UN Women showing that one in two women interviewed leave home only once or twice a month, because of the severe restrictions on their movement…