News in Brief-(2024-02-14)

FE Team | Published: February 13, 2024 23:19:09

Houthi rebels fire two missiles
at ship bound for Iran
DUBAI, Feb 13: Yemen's Houthi rebels fired two missiles at a ship carrying corn bound for a port in Iran on Monday, causing minor damage but no injuries to its crew, authorities said. The attack on the Marshall Islands-flagged, Greek-operated bulk carrier Star Iris shows just how widely the Houthis now target ships traveling through the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait connecting the two waterways. The Star Iris had been heading from Brazil to Bandar Khomeini in Iran, the main backer and armer of the Houthis in Yemen's yearslong war. — AP
Modi in UAE on 2-day visit
ABU DHABI, Feb 13: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the UAE on Tuesday on a two-day visit during which he will hold wide-ranging talks with the Gulf nation's top leaders to take forward the bilateral strategic partnership and inaugurate the first Hindu stone temple here. This is the Indian prime minister's seventh visit to the UAE since 2015. He was given a guard of honour on his arrival in the country. — PTI
Australia's Victoria state loses power as storm
hits electricity transmission line
SYDNEY, Feb 13: Large chunks of Australia's Victoria state lost power on Tuesday afternoon when a major power plant shut down because a storm knocked out parts of the state's electricity transmission network. AGL's Loy Yang A power station, responsible for about a third of the state's power, was forced to shut down on Tuesday afternoon after several towers along a major section of the state's transmission network collapsed in bad weather. More than 500,000 homes or businesses had lost power, state energy minister Lily D'Ambrosio said in a social media post. — Reuters
US records 15,000 flu deaths this season
LOS ANGELES, Feb 13: There have been at least 22 million flu illnesses, 250,000 hospitalizations, and 15,000 deaths from flu so far this season in the United States, according to the latest data released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). —Xinhua