US Navy destroyer ‘shoots down drone launched from Yemen’ after reports of attack on commercial ship
The US Navy has shot down a suspected Houthi drone which was headed in the direction of a warship after being launched from Yemen, according to a defence official.
The USS Mason destroyer took out the targetted drone, according to the US military source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Houthi rebels had attacked a commercial ship, the defence official said, and the Mason was responding to that attempted raid when it took out the drone.
No one was hurt in the attack, they added.
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The official said the commercial vessel Ardmore Encounter was attacked by small boats and then by two missiles that missed the ship.
The two missiles were launched from territory held by Yemen‘s Houthi rebels and missed the tanker near the Bab al Mandeb Strait – a maritime trade route between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.
The Ardmore Encounter was transporting jet fuel to Europe from Mangalore in India when guards opened fire to drive off skiffs loaded with men trying to board the vessel, according to the private intelligence firm Ambrey.
“No one boarded the vessel and all crew members are safe and accounted for,” a statement from Ardmore Shipping Corporation said.
“The vessel remains fully operational with no loss of cargo or damage on board.”
“Ardmore is in close contact with the relevant authorities and military assistance is now in the area providing support as required,” it added.
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The assault was part of an escalating campaign by the Iranian-backed Houthis to target ships near the Bab al Mandeb Strait.
Nearly 10% of all oil traded at sea passes through it, which equates to an annual estimation of $1trn (£789bn) in goods.
The rebel group is suspected to have carried out a series of attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.
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Earlier on Wednesday, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations – which provides warnings to sailors in the Middle East – reported a separate incident off the coast of Oman.
It said a vessel had been followed by smaller boats carrying machine guns and men in grey uniforms before escaping unharmed.
This followed a strike on a Norwegian-flagged tanker in the Red Sea off the coast near Yemen on Monday.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the attack and said the Norwegian-owned ship was heading to Israel.
The group has blamed Israel for instability in the Middle East, saying the “circle of conflict” in the region was driven by its “continued crimes”.
There was no immediate link found between the Ardmore Encounter and Israel.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
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