ADEN, Yemen/JERUSALEM -- The Israeli military said Thursday that it launched "intelligence-based" airstrikes targeting Houthi-controlled military targets on Yemen's western coast and inland Yemen.
The Israeli warplanes hit Houthi-used infrastructures in the Sanaa International Airport, and the Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations, both located in Houthi-controlled areas, as well as the ports of Hodeidah, Salif, and Ras Kanatib on the western coast, the military said in a statement, claiming that those sites were used by Houthis to smuggle Iranian weapons into the region and for the entry of senior Iranian officials. (Israel-Airstrikes-Houthi Targets)
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GAZA -- At least 15 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others injured on Thursday evening in Israeli airstrikes targeting two residential houses in Gaza City, according to official Palestinian sources.
Mahmoud Basal, Palestinian Civil Defense spokesman in Gaza, told Xinhua that 13 people were killed and 40 others were injured as a result of an Israeli shelling that targeted a house for displaced people in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City. (Gaza Strip-Israeli Attacks-Casualty)
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CAIRO -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said Thursday that the Suez Canal revenues fell more than 60 percent year-on-year in 2024 amid regional challenges, according to a statement by the Egyptian presidency office.
Egypt lost around 7 billion U.S. dollars of the canal's revenues in 2024, amid current events in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait region, which negatively impacted the canal's navigation traffic and the sustainability of world trade, al-Sisi said in a meeting with Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA). (Egypt-Suez Canal-Revenue Drop)
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ANKARA -- Türkiye's central bank on Thursday cut its benchmark interest rate by 250 basis points to 47.5 percent, marking its first rate cut after keeping rates steady for months.
"The underlying trend of inflation was essentially flat in November. Leading indicators point to a decline in the underlying trend in December," the bank's Monetary Policy Committee said in a statement, adding, "Indicators for the last quarter suggest that domestic demand, standing at disinflationary levels, continues to slow down." (Türkiye-Central Bank-Policy Rate)
