Ship escapes suspected Houthi attack
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- A suspected attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels on Friday set off explosions ahead of a vessel in the Gulf of Aden, authorities said.
No one was hurt on the ship, which continued on its way, according to the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Operations center, which watches over the Middle East's waterways. The private security firm Ambrey also separately reported the attack.
The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack; it typically takes them several hours before they acknowledge their assaults.
Friday's explosions came after a Houthi missile struck a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, killing three of its crew members and forcing survivors to abandon the vessel.
It was the first fatal strike in a campaign of assaults by the Iranian-backed group over Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis describe the attacks as trying to pressure Israel into stopping the war, but their targets increasingly have little or nothing to do with the conflict.
3 face charges in deaths of U.S. couple
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Three escaped inmates from the eastern Caribbean island of Grenada were charged in the killing of a U.S. couple whose catamaran they hijacked, police said Thursday.
Ron Mitchell, a 30-year-old sailor; Atiba Stanislaus, a 25-year-old farmer; and Trevon Robertson, a 23-year-old unemployed man, were charged with capital murder, escaping lawful custody, housebreaking, robbery and kidnapping. Stanislaus also was charged with one count of rape, according to a statement from the Royal Grenada Police Force.
The men appeared in court Thursday and were ordered held in prison until their hearing in late March.
They were accused of escaping from a police holding cell on Feb. 18 and hijacking a catamaran owned by Ralph Henry and Kathy Brandel while they were aboard. Authorities said they believe the couple was thrown overboard as the suspects sailed to nearby St. Vincent, where they were arrested on Feb. 21.
The three men were ordered deported from St. Vincent on Monday.
Ex-army chief new Ukraine envoy to U.K.
KYIV -- Ukraine's former military chief has been appointed the country's new ambassador to the United Kingdom, a month after he was sacked as head of the armed forces by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy announced that he has approved the appointment of Valerii Zaluzhnyi to one of Ukraine's most important diplomatic positions. Britain is a key supporter of Ukraine in its war with Russia.
Zelenskyy fired Zaluzhnyi as military commander-in-chief in February, part of a shake-up aimed at reigniting momentum in the deadlocked war. The president said at the time that Ukraine must be led by individuals who are "convinced of victory" against Russia.
Zaluzhnyi is widely respected among Ukrainian troops and considered a national hero. He is credited with stalling Russia's full-scale invasion in the early days of the war and expertly pushing back Moscow's troops.
Reported tensions between Zaluzhnyi and the president grew after Ukraine's much-touted 2023 counteroffensive failed to make major territorial gains.
Zelenskyy said Thursday on Telegram that Zaluzhnyi "told me this is the direction he would like to take -- diplomacy."
"Our alliance with Britain should only strengthen," Zelenskyy added.
New trial starts for 2 Americans in Italy
ROME -- A new trial opened Friday for two American men in the slaying of an Italian plainclothes police officer during a botched sting operation after Italy's highest court threw out their convictions.
Italy's highest Cassation Court ordered a new trial last year, saying it hadn't been proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants, with limited Italian language skills, had understood that they were dealing with Italian police officers when they went to meet an alleged drug dealer in Rome on July 26, 2019.
Finnegan Lee Elder, 24, and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, 23, sat side by side as an appeals court judge made opening remarks in the new trial. The two are being held in separate prisons in Italy.
The friends from California were found guilty in the killing of Carabinieri Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega and on four other counts and sentenced to life in prison, Italy's harshest punishment. The sentences were reduced to 24 years for Elder and 22 years for Natale-Hjorth on appeal.
Prosecutors alleged Elder stabbed Cerciello Rega 11 times with a knife that he brought with him on his trip to Europe, and that Natale-Hjorth, then 18, helped him hide the knife in their hotel room. Natale-Hjorth testified that he grappled with Cerciello Rega's partner and was unaware of the stabbing when he ran back to the hotel.
The two friends had arranged to meet a small-time drug dealer, who turned out to be a police informant, when they were confronted by the officers.