The Pentagon has added Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University to a list of foreign institutions deemed a threat to US national security, extending Washington’s research-security crackdown to two of China’s most prestigious civilian universities. The updated list identifies 88 institutions in mainland China and bars US Department of Defence-funded researchers from collaborating with them, or using their equipment, under restrictions taking effect in the 2026 financial year. The...

The Houthi militia in Yemen appears to be allowing some ships to pass through the Bab al-Mandab strait at the mouth of the Red Sea, despite its blockade of shipping to Saudi Arabia, experts said on Thursday. A Chinese oil tanker, Cosco Shipping’s VLCC Xin Long Yang, has been granted permission to pass through the waterway, according to the trade publication Lloyd’s List. It said Chinese tankers returning from the Saudi port of Yanbu in the Red Sea may be able to negotiate passage with the...

US President Donald Trump promised on Thursday “major military punishment” for Iran and its Houthi allies, after Yemeni fighters struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, extending the Middle East war to a second major shipping chokepoint. Fears that disruption could widen further to block another sea route sent global oil prices surging in one of the steepest rises of the war. Brent crude rose more than 6 per cent, breaking through US$100 a ‌barrel for the first time since May. Two weeks...

Greece on Thursday approved the multibillion-dollar purchase of Israeli anti-missile, anti-aircraft and anti-drone weaponry to set up an “Achilles Shield” protective dome, a defence ministry source said. Around €3 billion of a broader €4.2 billion (US$4.8 billion) spending spree will go towards Israeli-made systems for the new shield, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Greece has entered a new era, a new reality,” Defence Minister Nikos Dendias said on social media, confirming...

The EU has watered down its latest round of sanctions on Moscow after concluding that banning Greek companies from transporting Russian gas to third countries could hand strategically important shipping assets to China. To remove a Greek veto against the 21st package of measures aimed at hobbling Russia’s war machine, the bloc’s member states agreed to allow EU operators to continue transporting Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) to third countries for one year. Officials explained that China’s...

German police on Thursday detained a 20-year-old man after he fatally stabbed another man inside a bank branch in the southern city of Regensburg, in an incident that initially raised fears of a hostage-taking. Special forces officers detained the German national inside the building about three hours after the incident was reported, a police statement said. Paramedics had earlier managed to administer first aid to the victim before he was transferred to hospital, where he died. It remains...

A friend of a man who went on a deadly stabbing spree at a Manchester synagogue was jailed for life by a UK court on Thursday for planning a separate terror attack with him. Jihad Al-Shamie went on a knife rampage targeting a mosque in the northwestern city last October that killed two people. Al-Shamie was later shot dead by police. His friend Mohammad Bashir, 31, last month pleaded guilty to the preparation of terrorist acts. Last August, he drove Al-Shamie on a trip to spy on the UK’s Defence...