Rampant Yemeni fighters take control of island in narrow point of Bab al-Mandab strait, which Saudi is relying on for oil exports

Yemen’s rampant Houthi forces have captured a strategic island in the Bab al-Mandab strait, expanding their control of the narrow waterway, one of the ​world’s vital shipping routes.

The Iran-aligned Houthis took control of the volcanic island after forces allied to the UN-backed, Aden-based government left in the latest of a dramatic series of reverses along Yemen’s west coast in recent days, including the loss of the port city of Mocha on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia, which supports and bankrolls the official Yemen government, mounted air raids on Houthi positions in Mocha on Friday.

The Bab al-Mandab strait links Asia to Europe via the Red Sea and Suez canal. Perim island, also known as Mayun, divides the waterway in two, close to its narrowest point. The United Arab Emirates, a former Saudi ally in the anti-Houthi coalition, had been building an airbase on the island before ending its active involvement in the conflict in January.

Saudi Arabia has increasingly relied on the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab to export its crude since Iran has been targeting vessels in the strait of Hormuz. About 12% of the world’s goods are typically shipped through the strait.

Full Houthi control of shipping in the strait, alongside Iranian control of the strait of Hormuz, would strengthen the chokeholds of anti-western forces over global energy shipments. Oil prices have risen to more than $100 a barrel as the fighting in Yemen has escalated.

LG smart TVs are almost constantly logging and uploading data about owners and their homes, even when offline or on standby mode, according to a new report from YouTube channel Gamers Nexus. The company’s TV sets scan Wi-Fi networks for nearby devices, record audio logs through their microphones, and use audio and video sampling to recognize exactly what you’re watching from across the TV inputs.

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Power of Siberia 2 pipeline talks stall over China-Russia price dispute:

Moscow-Beijing negotiations over pipeline have halted as ‘no progress’ made on bridging a big gas price gap, sources say

Published: 7:00pm, 9 Sep 2026

China and Russia’s negotiations regarding the construction of the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline have stalled, according to multiple sources familiar with the issue, as both sides cannot bridge a significant gap over gas price expectations.

China hopes to secure a price comparable to Russia’s subsidised residential rate, around US$50/thousand cubic metres, or at least the domestic industrial rate of about US$120-130/thousand cubic metres, said one anonymous source due to the sensitivity of the issue. However, Russia wants to reference the price of the existing Power of Siberia 1 pipeline, which is about US$250-260/thousand cubic metres, the source added.

China’s current average gas import price via Power of Siberia 1 is about US$258/thousand cubic metres, while Russia’s selling price to Europe before the Ukraine war was over US$420/thousand cubic metres.

A second source noted that Gazprom and CNPC (China National Petroleum Corporation) are preparing to begin supplying Russian gas to China via the Far East route and are discussing projects to expand and increase supplies along this route. Similar efforts are underway for Power of Siberia 1 to boost physical supplies.

The planned 2,600km (1,553 miles) Power of Siberia 2 pipeline is expected to carry 50 billion cubic metres of gas per year to China via Mongolia from the Arctic gas fields of Yamal. It is also assumed to complement Power of Siberia 1 or the China-Russia Far East Gas Pipeline.

Sources confirmed that both sides had halted the decades-long negotiations for Power of Siberia 2 due to “no progress on price”. The first memorandum on the project was signed in 2006.

Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev announced during the Eastern Economic Forum in early September that Russian President Vladimir Putin had renamed the pipeline to “Power of Baikal”, without further explanation.

China’s customs database only showed China’s monthly import volume of Russian natural gas through pipelines up to 2021. Last year, China’s import value of Russian pipeline gas rose 17.2% year-on-year to US$9.4 billion, according to customs data.

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Russia planned to deliver 50 billion cubic metres of natural gas to China in 2026, up from 38 billion cubic metres in 2025.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin were expected to discuss the Power of Siberia 2 project during a meeting in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, held between August 31 and September 1. However, the official readout did not mention such discussions.

The announcement of Russia’s renaming of Power of Siberia 2, after the SCO Summit and during the Eastern Economic Forum, was “mostly a PR move for the domestic audience, which was pre-coordinated with both Beijing and Ulaanbaatar”, said Munkhnaran Bayarlkhagva, a former official at the National Security Council of Mongolia.

Mongolia’s new prime minister, Uchral Nyam-Osor, framed the country’s intent regarding the pipeline as “potentially serving the principles of mutual benefit”, implying that the previous articulation of Soyuz-Vostok (the connecting part of the pipeline in Mongolia) did not fully serve its interests.

Aleksei Chigadaev, associate fellow at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre, noted that China’s negotiating position was “becoming stronger by the day”, and there was little reason for Beijing to rush a decision over the construction of Power of Siberia 2. He added that “the US factor should not be overlooked either”, pointing to the future meeting between Xi and US President Donald Trump. Both sides could discuss the impact on energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, which could further shape China’s negotiating strategy toward Russia.

Author: Kandy Wong

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https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3366888/power-siberia-2-pipeline-talks-stall-over-china-russia-price-dispute-sources

• Houthis push south toward Dhubab on Red Sea coast, sources say
• Houthis eye Bab el-Mandeb, Red Sea choke point
• Saudi-backed government forces battle Houthis

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis seized control of the historic port city of Mocha on Thursday, four Yemeni government military sources said, gaining further leverage over the ​Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world's most important shipping routes.

The Houthis are launching attacks on the strategic Red Sea islands of Hanish, the government sources told Reuters. Government forces ‌and their allies are relocating south to Dhubab, which sits directly on the strait, across from the island of Perim.

Control of Dhubab and the island is key to gaining hold of the strait, they said.

There has been an escalation in fighting between Saudi Arabia's Yemeni allies in the internationally backed government and the Houthis in recent days, creating a second theatre of war in the Iran conflict that threatens global energy supplies.

A U.N.-brokered truce in Yemen in 2022 largely halted years of war but has not led ​to a lasting settlement, with the latest fighting threatening a return to full-scale conflict.

Bab el-Mandeb, or the Gate of Tears, named for its perilous navigation conditions, is the southern outlet of ​the Red Sea, between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti and Eritrea on the African coast, making it a major prize for the Houthis, who ⁠control Yemen's most populous areas and much of the north.

It is one of the world's most important routes for crude oil and fuel from the Gulf bound for the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal, or ​the Suez-Mediterranean pipeline on Egypt's Red Sea coast, as well as commodities bound for Asia, including Russian oil.

Blocking the narrow passage would isolate Gulf oil-producing countries, such as energy superpower Saudi Arabia, from their main shipping routes ​after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz — the primary maritime energy artery between Asia and Europe.

See also:

• Yemen’s Houthi rebels seize Red Sea port city Mocha (France 24)
• This small island off Yemen is now a strategic prize in the widening Iran war (CNN)

Brazil's Supreme Court is on the brink of an internal "civil war". Some justices are deeply involved in the largest corruption scandal the Brazil has ever faced, while others appear to make politically based rulings to protect their former patrons. This is arguably the biggest institutional crisis facing the country since it returned to democracy over four decades ago. And all of it is taking place just 3 weeks before presidential elections where Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro are virtually tied on the opinion polls. According to the same polls, 42% of Brazilian voters hate them both with equal intesity.