Ship under attack from men 'firing guns and grenades' in Red Sea
No-one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes as tensions remain high in the Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said that an armed security team on the ship had returned fire and that the 'situation is ongoing'.
'Authorities are investigating, it said.
Ambrey, a maritime security firm, issued a warning saying that a merchant ship had been 'attacked by eight skiffs while transiting northbound in the Red Sea'. It said it believed the attack was ongoing.
The Houthi rebels have been launching missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group's leadership has described as an effort to end Israel's offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The group's al-Masirah satellite news channel acknowledged the attack had occurred, but offered no other comment on it as it aired a speech by its secretive leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi.
Between November 2023 and January 2025, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. This has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees one trillion US dollars of goods move through it annually.
The Houthis paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the US launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March. This ended weeks later and the Houthis have not attacked a vessel, although they have continued occasional missile attacks targeting Israel.
Meanwhile, a wider, decade-long war in Yemen between the Houthis and the country's exiled government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, remains in a stalemate.
Pirates from Somalia have also operated in the region, although typically they have sought to capture vessels either to rob or ransom their crews.
MORE: Melania Trump joins Donald in welcoming Gaza hostage who was 'very important' to her
MORE: Trump says Israel agreed to 60-day Gaza ceasefire and threatens Hamas to accept
MORE: Zelensky suits up for Trump meeting and congratulates him on 'successful operation' on Iran
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The Herald Scotland
23 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Is ICE the first ominous harbinger of a Trump ‘secret police'?
The Iceman Cometh, the 1939 drama by American writer Eugene O'Neill, has at various times been described by reviewers as set in a stark, ruthless world and a play that 'blisters with intensity'. In the eyes of some, such observations could just as easily apply to today's America, a country where under the presidency of Donald Trump there is an almost palpable sense of unease and potency. Today's America, too, is a country where that phrase 'The Iceman Cometh' has taken on an all too real and equally menacing connotation. For the ICE men of today's America – agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – have become the calling card of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Alhough ICE now occupies a 'noble' place in Trump's hierarchy of law enforcement, its detractors view it very differently. A modern day 'Gestapo', or 'domestic stormtroopers for the MAGA agenda', say some. 'Trump's de facto private army – his security state within the state and a threat to democracy', say others. What's certainly in no doubt is that Trump has propelled ICE into America's best-funded law enforcement agency. As the Financial Times' US national editor Edward Luce recently highlighted, Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' (BBB), signed into law by the president on July 4, lifted ICE's budget to an estimated $37.5 billion a year, a sum higher than Italy's entire defence budget and just below Canada's. Writing a message of 'THANK YOU' to the ICE workforce over the Independence Day holiday, Trump made clear that the BBB spending commitment would give the agency 'ALL of the Funding and Resources that ICE needs to carry out the Largest Mass Deportation Operation in History'. A demonstrator waves an American-Mexican flag near National Guard members and federal agents blocking protestors during an ICE immigration raid at a nearby licensed cannabis farm on July 10 £37.5 billion annually The money set aside for ICE is eye-watering. The $37.5bn a year for operations aside, the spending bill includes a $170bn package for Trump's border and immigration crackdown, which includes $45bn for new detention facilities including hiring thousands more officers and agents. In the eyes of Trump, ICE officers can do no wrong. 'The toughest people you'll ever meet,' he insists. His gushing reverence for ICE is also reflected in what Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, described as 'well-deserved bonuses'. Trump officials have said they'll provide $10,000 annual bonuses for ICE personnel as well as Border Patrol agents, along with $10,000 for new hires. As Nick Miroff, staff writer at The Atlantic magazine who covers immigration issues recently pointed out, as far as Trump sees it, the '20,000 ICE employees are the unflinching men and women who will restore order. They're the Untouchables in his [Trump's] MAGA crime drama'. So just what is ICE, what exactly does it do and, perhaps more significantly, to what extent are fears over its growing power and perceived threat to democracy justified? Established in 2003, ICE is one of the agencies under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) created in 2002 in the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks. Initially, the DHS's focus was counter-terrorism. But soon the presence of certain foreign groups began to be framed as a national security issue. DHS encompasses two law enforcement directorates: Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Read more Tears and trauma: David Pratt in Ukraine DAVID PRATT ON THE WORLD: Whatever happens in Brazil's resentful and rancorous election, the result will have major repercussions for us all David Pratt in Ukraine: It's hard to comprehend this level of destruction David Pratt: Kremlin's protestations have a hollow ring as atrocities mount up ERO is charged with enforcing US immigration laws and has 6,100 deportation officers. HSI has about 6,500 special agents who conduct transnational criminal investigations and do not usually participate in domestic immigration operations. ICE was also created alongside Customs and Border Protection (CBP). CBP controls the borders, while ICE operates inside the country – and it's this operation across America that has become the focus of controversy According to the agency's own website, ICE, along with its ERO officials, is tasked with identifying, arresting, detaining and removing immigrants without authorisation in the US. Back during his 2024 presidential campaign when outlining his vision for deportations of undocumented migrants, Trump said he would focus on expelling those with criminal records. But since entering office this has rapidly widened to include anyone without legal status, ICE officers, often masked and not wearing uniforms or displaying badges, have now been arresting people outside courtroom hearings, during traffic stops, in workplace sweeps, and even from hospitals. The agency's aggressive tactics are striking terror throughout America's immigrant communities, especially in Democrat-run cities. National Guard members and a federal agent block people protesting an ICE immigration raid at a nearby licensed cannabis farm on July 10, 2025 near Camarillo, California Deportation efforts JUST these past weeks, Trump ordered ICE to step up its arrests and deportation efforts in Democratic strongholds, doubling down on a politicised anti-immigration drive after major protests against ICE in Los Angeles. 'We must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America's largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside,' Trump said on his Truth Social platform. 'These, and other such Cities, are the core of the Democrat Power Center,' Trump claimed, citing debunked right-wing conspiracy theories that undocumented immigrants are voting in US elections in significant numbers. With every week that passes ICE operations are gathering momentum. For its part, the administration says its moves –which include hundreds of deportation flights, the expansion of third-country removals, and Trump's invocation of the seldom-used 1798 Alien Enemies Act – are necessary to stem unauthorised immigration to the United States. The law is a wartime authority that gives the president sweeping powers to detain or deport non-citizens with little or no due process and ICE has become its enforcers, much to the disquiet of many Democrat politicians, human rights activists, and ordinary citizens. ICE is now arresting four times as many non-criminals as those with criminal convictions each week, according to David Bier of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank who was cited by the Financial Times. The number of immigrants in detention with no criminal charges or convictions jumped 1,300% from January to mid-June, he wrote in an analysis. Numbers matter here, for ICE is under tremendous pressure to make more arrests to meet quotas set by senior White House aide Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump's immigration crackdown. Miller set an aggressive quota of 3,000 arrests per day in late May, and the efforts to meet that goal have pushed ICE officers into more communities and businesses. But not everyone within the ranks of ICE is happy with this and other aspects of the policy. According to The Atlantic magazine's immigration writer Nic Miroff, who has interviewed many current and former ICE agents who spoke on condition of anonymity, many described 'a workforce on edge, vilified by broad swathes of the public and bullied by Trump officials demanding more and more'. Some ICE employees, according to Miroff, 'believe that the shift in priorities is driven by a political preoccupation with deportation numbers rather than keeping communities safe'. With deportations becoming a top domestic priority for the Trump administration, some Homeland Security Investigation officers, along with those from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, have been put on immigration enforcement duties. It's a shift in duties many do not agree with. One veteran HSI agent complained to Miroff that his division, which usually focuses on cartel drug-trafficking operations, has had agents moved to immigration enforcement arrests as part of ICE operations. 'No drug cases, no human trafficking, no child exploitation. It's infuriating,' the agent told Miroff, adding he is thinking of quitting rather than having to continue 'arresting gardeners'. Targeted by agents But complain as some ICE agents do, many Americans currently reserve their sympathies for those being targeted by the agents. Stories emerging from detention facilities where those arrested by ICE are being held are only adding to that sympathy as well as a sense of outrage. Earlier this month, Trump held a tour of one facility that's been dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz'. Its name is a reference to both the local reptile population and the former maximum-security Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in San Francisco Bay, California. Constructed in a little over eight days and meant to accommodate up to 3,000 detainees, since then accounts and reports from the facility point to appalling conditions. They suggest, too, that the design of the site is flawed and will compromise the safety of people being held there. Stories relayed to the Miami Herald by the wives of detainees housed in the makeshift Florida detention centre for migrants in the Everglades made for grim reading about the conditions detainees endure. 'Toilets that didn't flush. Temperatures that went from freezing to sweltering. Giant bugs. And little or no access to showers or toothbrushes, much less confidential calls with attorneys,' were among some of the accounts detailed by the Miami Herald. The newspaper also told of lights being left on inside the facility 24 hours a day, with detainees saying there are no clocks and there is scant sunlight coming through the heavy-duty tents, making it difficult for them to know whether it is day or night. Currently, ICE is holding nearly 60,000 people in custody, the highest number ever, even though funding until the latest boost was available for only 41,000 detention beds. This means that processing centres are packed with people sleeping on floors in short-term holding cells. Worrying as such reports are, it's the growth of ICE, its increasingly politicised role, and the fact that it appears beyond accountability that concerns many Americans. Earlier this year, ICE's in-house watchdog was scrapped and, for the time being, America's lower courts are hamstrung in their efforts to reign it in. As the FT's Edward Luce recently observed, given that the Supreme Court last year gave Trump sweeping immunity from 'official' acts he takes as president… 'that makes ICE Trump's de facto private army – his security state within the state'. Although ICE is ostensibly still bound by constitutional limits, the way it has been operating bears the hallmarks of a secret police force in the making, insist some experts on authoritarian regimes. Lee Morgenbesser is an associate professor with the School of Government and International Relations at Griffith University, Brisbane, and fellow with the Australian Research Council. Having studied historical and contemporary secret police forces, Morgenbesser says they typically meet five criteria. First, they're a police force targeting political opponents and dissidents. Second, they're not controlled by other security agencies and answer directly to the dictator. Third, the identity of their members and their operations are secret. Fourth, they specialise in political intelligence and surveillance operations. And finally, they carry out arbitrary searches, arrests, interrogations, indefinite detentions, disappearances, and torture. 'Meets criteria' In a recent article in the online platform The Conversation and using these criteria to assess how close ICE is to becoming a secret police force, Morgenbesser concludes that 'overall, the evidence shows ICE meets most of the criteria'. While ICE has yet to target political opponents, which Morgenbesser defines narrowly as members of the Democratic Party, and it is not directly controlled by Trump, he maintains that ICE's 'current structure provides him with plausible deniability'. In short, he says that while ICE is 'far from resembling history's most feared secret police forces, there have so far been few constraints on how it operates'. 'When combined with a potential shift towards targeting US citizens for dissent and disobedience, ICE is fast becoming a key piece in the repressive apparatus of American authoritarianism,' Morgenbesser warns. As ICE makes its presence felt in a growing number of American communities, the controversy over its role is likewise certain to escalate. While a majority of Americans support deporting violent criminals, they also back allowing migrants who came to the country as children, or who arrived many years ago, to stay. Americans polled by The Economist and YouGov in mid-June showed that only 42% viewed ICE favourably, an eight percentage-point drop from February and the start of Trump's term. For now, the ICE men continue to cometh and America, a nation of immigrants, faces an altogether different reckoning over its future democratic credentials.
Scotsman
29 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Why Palestinians in Gaza are protesting with photos of Israeli children killed by Hamas
Gaza Youth Committee founder Rami Aman says many people in Gaza do not support Hamas, only want peace and mourn for the Israeli children who have been killed, as well as their own Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... We in Gaza love life and want to see an end to this war. We love others living their lives too and most people in Gaza do not support Hamas, despite its claims that it has the backing of the people and that it constitutes the majority. This is the wrong image. People have been demonstrating against Hamas's rule for many years. We also appreciate receiving Scotland's love and support for the Palestinians, some of whom are football fans who follow the derby matches between Glasgow Rangers and Celtic. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad For years, the Israeli army has been killing thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, saying this is necessary to eliminate Hamas. However, there have been credible claims – from people like the former European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell – that Benjamin Netanyahu's government actually provided funding for Hamas, helping to build its headquarters and offices and purchasing everything necessary to ensure its rule. Netanyahu needed Hamas to win the support of Israeli voters under the pretext of protecting them from danger. His government is always trying to show the people in Gaza as criminals who dream all the time of killing Jews and teach our children nothing but hatred. This is not true. Hatred is born of wars and killing only creates killing. Two men in Gaza hold photographs of two-year-old Omer Siman Tov and nine-month-old Kfir Bibas, who both died as a result of the October 7 attack on Israeli by Hamas | Picture courtesy of Gaza Youth Committee Solidarity with all Israelis The Hamas movement knows very well that, in the event of elections in Gaza, only a few thousand people would vote for it. Hamas began to lose the sympathy of the people in Gaza years ago, but the media does not show that. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The Israeli army has now killed more than 60,000 people in Gaza, wounded hundreds of thousands, and destroyed our future, but it will not be able to eliminate our humanity and our rights. Amid the ongoing devastation in Gaza, the Gaza Youth Committee launched a courageous and compassionate campaign called 'We Live Together, We Die Together', signalling a bold departure from entrenched narratives of division. This initiative extends heartfelt messages of solidarity to all Israelis, regardless of faith or background. We mourn with every Jewish, Christian, and Muslim family that has lost a child in this war. Our pain does not blind us to the suffering of others, and we are against the killing of children, whether Palestinian or Israeli. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Despite living under siege, enduring hunger, death, and displacement, the youth of Gaza remain steadfast in their belief in peace. We have not turned away from our responsibility to speak for peace, even when the world turns away from us. We at the Gaza Youth Committee appreciate everyone who carries pictures of our children and commemorates them and does not consider them to be just numbers. We saw many Israelis holding photographs of Palestinian children killed in the war. So we decided to tell them that we are also with you, that we want to end the war and stand in solidarity with every family that lost a child by protesting in Gaza with pictures of Israeli children, like Ariel Bibas, four, and his nine-month-old brother, Kfir, killed by Hamas. Palestinian children line up to receive a hot meal at a food distribution point in Nuseirat in the Gaza Strip on June 30 (Picture: Eyad Baba) | AFP via Getty Images Not superheroes, not terrorists This campaign is in keeping with the legacy of earlier efforts. In May 2018, 50 of our committee members gathered at Gaza's eastern border and released 150 white doves, each carrying a message of peace for Israelis. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad One key organizer, who participated in that event, has since lost three children and eight family members in an Israeli airstrike. Still, he has not lost faith in the transformative power of reconciliation and human dignity. We at the Gaza Youth Committee have always been trying to network school students in Gaza with others in European schools so that people there know the truth about their lives. Some people believe we are superheroes, others that we are terrorists. The majority do not seem to believe we are ordinary people. We always try to convey Gaza's true message and call on people in other countries not to believe those in the Israeli media who want to make us appear as terrorists. We held many meetings between the Palestinians in Gaza and the Israelis, to the point that the Hamas government arrested me more than once. In 2020, I was jailed for six-and-a-half months after holding a meeting between more than 300 Israelis and ten people from Gaza. It is important that these messages come out of Gaza, carried by brave young men who declare their commitment to peace on behalf of the large number of Palestinians who completely reject all the killing because they are the people who suffer most through the loss of their dearest children. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Smoke rises after Israeli attacks on areas east of the Tuffah neighbourhood in Gaza City on June 18 (Picture: Bashar Taleb) | AFP via Getty Images Partners for peace This war must stop for the sake of the lives of the innocent victims who have died since October 7, and the whole world must know that all the residents of Gaza want an end to the war, the release of the hostages, and the opening of the Rafah crossing to allow people to receive medical treatment. People who want to leave in search of a new life and those stranded outside Gaza who want to return to what remains of their homes should be allowed to do so. We also need new Palestinian elections. We in the Gaza Youth Committee consider ourselves partners with every person who wants to end the war, release the hostages, and open a political path to peace in all Palestinian territories. We do not want anyone to be the next victim; we want everyone to be the next hope.
Scotsman
29 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Why John Swinney needs to pander to Donald Trump just like Keir Starmer
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... How political leaders should deal with Donald Trump will be the subject of much head-scratching in the corridors of power worldwide. But it basically comes down to this: fake smiles and bonhomie, accompanied by bucket-loads of overly lavish praise. At least in public. Too much in private and he'll probably think you're weak. Better to operate on his level and try to cut some kind of deal. He might even see you as a kindred spirit. Perish the thought. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The US President's many character flaws are well known, and his refusal to accept the result of the 2020 US election, his incitement of the angry mob that attacked the US Capitol, and his refusal to rule out taking Greenland from Nato ally Denmark by force demonstrate an alarming attitude towards democracy. READ MORE: Why UK needs to pander to Trump but should not necessarily believe him There is much at stake for Scotland's businesses in his dealings with politicians like John Swinney (Picture: Joe Raedle) | Getty Images Trump's attitude changing over Ukraine? Furthermore, his imposition of swingeing new tariffs on most countries could also be viewed as economic warfare against the democratic world at a time when it is trying to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian despot Vladimir Putin's actual warfare. However Trump's attitude towards that conflict is hopefully changing to one more supportive of Kyiv, and the most important role of other Western leaders is to encourage him to do more to help defeat Putin and less to damage their economies. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad After Trump treated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky disgracefully in the White House, John Swinney suggested his UK state visit should be cancelled. He may have had right on his side, but it was a diplomatic mistake. Keir Starmer is obviously no Trump fan but he has been doing everything he can to placate Trump for the simple reason that it is in the national interest. Swinney needs to swallow his pride and do much the same in the interests of Scottish businesses struggling to cope with Trump's tariffs. Given his mother was Scottish and he likes to call this country 'home', we might be able to get special treatment.
