Houthis tighten squeeze on crucial shipping route

Houthi rebels have seized the Yemeni port of Mokha and an island in the Bab el-Mandab Strait, threatening critical global shipping routes and providing Iran with increased geopolitical leverage. The 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks highlights persistent political divisions in the United States, while MI5 head Ken McCallum warns that national security now requires a "whole-of-society" approach to counter evolving, internet-inspired, and state-backed threats. Simultaneously, Anthropic’s latest threat intelligence report identifies malicious attempts to use AI models for developing biological and conventional weapons, fueling urgent calls for international AI safety governance. In other developments, six Nigerian nationals are being extradited from South Africa to the U.S. for orchestrating sophisticated online romance scams, and the NFL successfully hosted its first regular-season game in Melbourne, Australia, drawing over 100,000 fans.