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CAIRO (AP) — Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said Saudi airstrikes hit Sanaa International Airport on Monday, while the internationally recognized government in Yemen said they were meant to prevent an Iranian plane from landing. For years, a Saudi-led coalition based in Yemen’s south, including the internationally recognized government, has been fighting the Houthis in the north. Saudi Arabia did not immediately acknowledge carrying out airstrikes in Yemen, and its officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gen. Taher al- Aqili, the government’s defense minister, said on X that the airport’s runway was struck to stop the plane carrying the Houthi delegation after attending the funeral of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In a video statement released shortly before the strikes, Al-Aqili warned against infiltrating Yemeni airspace with Iranian aircraft. “At this moment, we say that our patience has run out. Accordingly, we will respond appropriately to this treacherous and brutal act, and we will confront and deal with the hostile aircraft violating Yemeni airspace and sovereignty by all available means,” he said. The Houthis said the plane changed its route and landed at Hodeida Airport. There were no immediate reports of damage to the airport in Sanaa. A Houthi official, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, said on Telegram that Saudi Arabia launched the airstrikes in what he called an “end to the de-escalation phase.” He warned that “this aggression will not go unanswered or unpunished.” The Yemeni defense ministry issued orders to evacuate the airport and surrounding areas. Rashad al-Alimi, who leads Yemen’s ruling Presidential Leadership Council, said Iran had requested to operate a flight by Iranian airline Mahan Air from Tehran to Sanaa to return the Houthi delegation. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

LONDON (AP) — The killing of former British politician Ann Widdecombe is being investigated as a terrorist act, police said Monday. A 28-year-old man in custody on suspicion of murder was rearrested on suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, Counter Terrorism Policing South East said. Devon and Cornwall Police originally said the killing was not believed to be a terror-related crime and there was nothing to suggest it was politically motivated. “We now have new information and evidence that means Counter Terrorism Policing is now leading the investigation,” head of National Counter Terrorism Policing, Laurence Taylor, said. “We are pursuing multiple lines of inquiry to establish the motivation for this attack.” Widdecombe, 78, a former member of Parliament, was found dead last week in her isolated rural home in a southwest England village. Police did not disclose a cause of death, saying only that she had sustained “serious injuries.” The death sent shock waves through British politics, where Widdecombe had been a prominent voice for decades, known for her robust personality and socially conservative views opposing abortion and the expansion of LGBTQ+ rights. The suspect, who has not been named because he hasn’t been charged, was arrested Saturday in South Yorkshire county in northern England, more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) from the village of Haytor on the edge of Dartmoor National Park, where Widdecombe was found dead Thursday. Police said they believe Widdecombe was attacked at around 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Concerns were raised for her after she failed to appear for a scheduled TV interview on Wednesday afternoon. Widdecombe was a lawmaker in the House of Commons from 1987 to 2010, serving in roles including prisons minister in Prime Minister John Major’s 1990s Conservative government. Widdecombe found fame after leaving Parliament as a contestant on the reality television shows “Strictly Come Dancing” and “Celebrity Big Brother.” She later joined the Brexit Party, briefly serving as a member of the European Parliament before Britain left the European Union in 2020. Most recently, she joined the anti-immigration Reform UK party, often appearing in the media as a spokesperson. Friends and colleagues contrasted her pugnacious political statements with her personal kindness and good humor. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

It’s been 135 days since the start of the Iran War, and a diplomatic solution seems shakier than ever. President Donald Trump said Monday that “we’re taking over the Strait of Hormuz,” a day after announcing that “we bombed the hell out of them.” Iran also asserted control of the formerly freely navigable waterway after retaliating with attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Oman. And Congress is returning following the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham. His death after a tear in his aorta Saturday leaves Republicans with just 51 members, with Mitch McConnell still recovering and South Carolina’s governor needing to appoint Graham’s interim successor. The Latest: Mohammed Mokhber, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, says Tehran will fight for the Strait of Hormuz. “We defend it so that in the future, for the passage of our ships, we are not forced to pay tribute to the enemy!” he wrote on X. “Retreating from this vital matter has no place in the mind of any friend of Iran.” That’s what Trump said Monday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends.” Both the U.S. and Iran asserted Monday that they controlled the Strait of Hormuz after a weekend of attacks stretching across the wider Middle East, further threatening any diplomacy to end the war. Trump also said that “everything was agreed to” in an 11-hour meeting Sunday, but Iranian negotiators called back later “and they say, ’we had to make a couple of changes.” He didn’t specify details. The latest exchange was sparked by an Iranian attack on a container ship on Sunday in the strait, a critical waterway for international oil and gas over which Iran has asserted control since the United States and Israel started the war on Feb. 28. Congress is returning after a summer break, with the Senate convening following the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham. His death after a tear in his aorta Saturday leaves Republicans with just 51 members, with Mitch McConnell still recovering and South Carolina’s governor needing to appoint Graham’s interim successor. This makes Trump’s already contentious congressional agenda even more uncertain. It also leaves Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy without a key ally who had Trump’s ear: Graham was a strong supporter of Ukraine, pressing the president to be firmer on Russia President Vladimir Putin. Now Zelenskyy and Kyiv are reeling from his death. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

LONDON (AP) — A series of arson and vandalism attacks on Jewish sites in Britain were the work of a proxy group backed by Iran, the U.K. government said Monday. The government said it is banning the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, or IMCR, also known as Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia. It also banned Iran’s powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as a threat to national security. Committing sabotage on behalf of the groups will be punishable by up to life imprisonment after Parliament approves the legislation, which the government expects to take place by the end of the week. Security Minister Angela Eagle said in a statement that the IMCR has claimed seven attacks in the U.K. The group had said online that it was responsible for a string of arson attacks on Jewish sites in London in recent months, including fires at synagogues and Jewish charity ambulances, as well as a Persian-language media organization critical of Iran’s government. No one were injured in the blazes. “Sitting behind IMCR were members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force, who almost certainly directed IMCR attacks across Europe,” she said. Quds, or Jerusalem, Force is the Guard’s expeditionary unit. The group sprang up online earlier this year and has also claimed responsibility for synagogue attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands. Law enforcement officials and intelligence experts say Iran-backed proxy groups are behind a growing number of attacks in Europe, most targeting the Jewish community and Persian-language media critical of Iran’s Islamic government. They typically work by recruiting members of criminal groups to carry out sabotage and other attacks. Authorities said Monday that Britain is also designating the GRU Volunteer Corps, a group controlled by Russia’s military intelligence agency, as a national security threat. The U.K. says the group conducts foreign intelligence collection and hostile covert operations on behalf of the GRU. Authorities said the new measures will make it easier for police and intelligence agencies to tackle what they call “thugs for hire,” or anyone supporting the proxy groups. “We have already taken tough action against the Iranian regime and those linked to it, and against Russian operatives and networks targeting our country. These new powers will make it easier to prosecute and lock up anyone carrying out their dirty work here in Britain,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement. The bans come under a new U.K. law that took effect last week, giving the government powers to tackle proxy organizations carrying out hostile activity on behalf of foreign states. Earlier this month, two Romanian men were given prison sentences over the stabbing of a journalist from a Persian-language television station, an attack the judge said was carried out on behalf of the Iranian state. There was no immediate comment from Iran. The European Union in January listed the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization over Tehran’s bloody crackdown on protests. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court on Monday sentenced ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol to two years in prison for illegally receiving manipulated opinion polls for free from a political broker, potentially helping him secure his party’s 2022 presidential bid, in return for political favors. The case is one of seven trials facing the former conservative president, who was impeached last year following a brief imposition of martial law in December 2024 that triggered South Korea’s biggest political crisis in decades. Last week, the country’s Supreme Court upheld a seven-year prison sentence against Yoon, his first case to reach the country’s highest court since the ouster. Yoon has appealed some convictions, including a February life sentence for the most serious rebellion charge stemming from his botched power grab. His lawyers said they would also appeal Monday’s ruling, calling it based on insufficient evidence. The Seoul Central District Court said Monday Yoon violated the country’s political funding law. The political broker Myung Tae-kyun was handed 1 1/2 years in prison for the same charge. Myung was accused of conducting 14 free opinion polls for Yoon between June and October 2021 using manipulated data, potentially helping Yoon win his party’s presidential nomination before his election win in March 2022. The political broker wanted former lawmaker Kim Young-sun to be the conservative People Power Party candidate in the 2022 legislative by-election. The court said Yoon had exerted undue influence on his party to fulfill Myung’s request in exchange for the manipulated polls. Yoon’s surprise late-night martial law declaration on Dec. 3, 2024, which lasted only a few hours, threw the country into turmoil. Lawmakers broke through a blockade of heavily armed soldiers and police at Seoul’s National Assembly and voted to repeal the measure, forcing Yoon’s Cabinet to lift it. Yoon was impeached by the liberal-led legislature later that month, before his formal removal by the Constitutional Court. After being released from custody earlier in 2025, he was re-arrested in July last year and has since stood trial in multiple criminal cases while in detention. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com