According to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, Iran’s Alborz warship has entered the Red Sea amid rising tensions in the region following attacks on commercial ships by the Iran-backed Houthis as the Israel-Hamas war intensifies. The warship entered the Red Sea via the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The news agency said that Iranian warships have been operating in the region to secure shipping lanes, combat piracy, and carry out other tasks since 2009.
On Monday, a court in Bangladesh sentenced Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus to six months in prison for violating labour law. The 83-year-old and his banking initiative, Grameen Bank, won the 2006 Peace Prize for their microcredit scheme, under which they granted loans of under $100 to the rural poor in Bangladesh and helped lift them out of poverty. Yunus, along with three of his employees, was convicted for failure to form a welfare fund for his employees. While PM Sheikh Hasina accused Yunus of “sucking blood from the poor,” his supporters have criticised the conviction as politically motivated. Yunus, who is facing more than 100 charges over corruption and labour law violations, has the support of several human rights groups who have accused the Hasina Government of targeting political dissent.
Dutch chip machine manufacturer ASML said on Monday that the government had partially revoked an export licence for the shipment of some chip-making equipment to China, following American export restrictions. The shipments included certain lithography systems, which use lasers to make chip circuitry. “ASML is fully committed to comply with all applicable laws and regulations including export control legislation in the countries in which we operate,” the company said in a statement.
South Korea’s opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck during a visit to Busan on Tuesday and was airlifted to a university hospital for treatment. An unidentified man attacked Lee while he was touring the site of a proposed airport, which left him with a wound about 1 cm deep on his neck.
Russian drones attacked a university and a museum associated with two of the most known 20th-century supporters of Ukrainian national identity on Monday. According to reports, the windows and a roof of the National Agrarian University, where Stepan Bandera studied, were damaged first; later, a nearby museum dedicated to Roman Shukhevych was also damaged. Both men were prominent figures in nationalist resistance to Soviet rule, and they were members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which fought Soviet forces in World War II.
The Israeli Supreme Court struck down a controversial bill on Monday, which was part of PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul, limiting the court’s jurisdiction to review government decisions, policies, and appointments on the basis of “reasonability.” The Court struck the law down in an 8-7 vote, saying that the law should be cancelled because it severely and unprecedentedly harms Israel’s democratic character.