胡塞武装否认拟向红海船只收费 称封锁只针对沙特

2026年7月30日 14:48 / 联合早报

7月27日，隶属于也门（亚丁）国际承认政府的海军水兵在一艘巡逻舰艇的机枪阵位上守卫。舰艇当时正在红海哈尼什岛附近的海上航道执行巡逻任务。 （法新社）

路透社等多家媒体近日报道，伊朗支持的也门胡塞武装正考虑“效仿”伊朗，计划向途经红海和曼德海峡的船只收费，但胡塞武装随后公开否认有关报道。

胡塞武装高级官员阿萨德星期四（7月30日）接受《新阿拉伯人报》采访时说，胡塞武装无意向途经红海和曼德海峡的船只收费，并强调目前在红海的行动“仅限于封锁沙特船只”。

阿萨德还说：“对沙特船只在红海、曼德海峡及亚丁湾的禁令将持续有效，直至针对也门的封锁被解除为止。”

他宣称，胡塞武装拥有“多种军事升级选项，足以迫使沙特阿拉伯寻求和平，并解除对也门人民的围困”。

曼德海峡位于红海南端，是一条狭窄但极具战略意义的海上通道。在伊朗事实上掌控霍尔木兹海峡能源出口通道之后，曼德海峡已成为中东海湾国家向国际市场输出原油的关键动脉。

胡塞武装否认拟向红海船只收费 称封锁只针对沙特

2026年7月30日 14:48 / 联合早报

7月27日，隶属于也门（亚丁）国际承认政府的海军水兵在一艘巡逻舰艇的机枪阵位上守卫。舰艇当时正在红海哈尼什岛附近的海上航道执行巡逻任务。 （法新社）

路透社等多家媒体近日报道，伊朗支持的也门胡塞武装正考虑“效仿”伊朗，计划向途经红海和曼德海峡的船只收费，但胡塞武装随后公开否认有关报道。

胡塞武装高级官员阿萨德星期四（7月30日）接受《新阿拉伯人报》采访时说，胡塞武装无意向途经红海和曼德海峡的船只收费，并强调目前在红海的行动“仅限于封锁沙特船只”。

阿萨德还说：“对沙特船只在红海、曼德海峡及亚丁湾的禁令将持续有效，直至针对也门的封锁被解除为止。”

他宣称，胡塞武装拥有“多种军事升级选项，足以迫使沙特阿拉伯寻求和平，并解除对也门人民的围困”。

曼德海峡位于红海南端，是一条狭窄但极具战略意义的海上通道。在伊朗事实上掌控霍尔木兹海峡能源出口通道之后，曼德海峡已成为中东海湾国家向国际市场输出原油的关键动脉。

Trump is stuck in Iran. Here’s one idea that could offer a way out

2026-07-30T04:01:25.312Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/30/politics/trump-iran-strait-of-hormuz-tolls

The US war in Iran is in desperate need of new thinking.

Despite new US strikes Wednesday following President Donald Trump’s f-bomb warning that Iran is due another “beating,” he has yet to show he can blast Tehran back to talks.

But diplomacy that he hailed as bringing historic peace to the Middle East also failed when a vaguely worded memorandum of understanding collapsed.

And his options for changing the equation — risking the lives of hundreds of US troops in a ground war or recognizing Tehran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz — are so unpalatable that the phrase “no good options” has become a cliche.

“We are really in a fix,” said Lyle Goldstein, director of Asia Engagement at the US-based Defense Priorities think tank.

The costs of the Iran war are not confined to the participants. The political and economic backlash is mounting in the Middle East and Europe — escalating pressure on outside parties to try to jolt diplomacy into life.

If the strait remains a no-go zone for most civilian ships, grave reverberations from the war will get worse, as global oil reserves erode, the prices of oil-based products like diesel and fertilizer spike, and a potential liquid natural gas shortage looms in Europe this winter. The emergence of Gulf states as luxury tourist and expatriate havens has been shattered by the war. Weakened European governments are being punished by war-related cost-of-living hikes.

In the US, the war is threatening to define Trump’s second term. A new CNN/SSRS poll released Wednesday showed public approval of his policies on Iran and gas prices at lower than 30%. Such numbers threaten to be disastrous for Republicans in November’s midterm elections and to repudiate the bargain Trump made with voters in 2024 to make life more affordable.

The art of diplomacy, when classically practiced, lies in opening space, offering incentives and spotting the moment when adversaries might be persuaded to step back.

As with many conflict situations, the eventual framework needed to quell fighting and open the way for talks on the most fundamental issues, like Iran’s nuclear program, is possible to visualize. Here, it might involve a compromise wherein the United States could avoid admitting it suffered a strategic defeat through Iran’s effective control of the strait, and Iran could argue it preserved its main takeaway from a war that ravaged its leaders and military.

But building a political and diplomatic path to that point will be treacherous. And the process to deescalation would require a plan for future management of the strait and likely the involvement of outside powers to guarantee the safety of civilian maritime traffic.

At a barren diplomatic moment, there are two flickers of hope.

One is an emerging concept for an international institution under which Gulf nations, including Iran, would eventually jointly manage and monetize the trade, but in such a way that would stabilize global oil prices. Ironically, the way forward might be hiding in plain sight in the scrapped MOU, which called on Iran and Oman to “define the future administration and maritime services in the Strait of Hormuz, in discussions with other Persian Gulf Littoral States.”

The other eventual opening might also come from outside the US. A plan reported this week for an international conference hosted by Britain to discuss safeguarding ships in the strait did not materialize. But the general idea of broadening diplomacy will likely return, not least because third-party nations, especially those in Europe and East Asia, have a lot to lose from the status quo.

The only publicly announced diplomacy in recent days has been discussions at the deputy foreign ministry level between Iran and Oman, which also borders the strait, about potential ways to manage sea traffic if it is reopened.

CNN reported this week that Oman has resisted the imposition of transit fees for oil tankers in the strait, favored by Tehran, on the grounds that international law stipulates free and safe passage through straits used for international navigation. But the government is touting a compromise that envisages a fee for “maritime services” that may provide a workaround.

The idea of a “Hormuz fee” is examined in an article published by the London-based think tank Bourse and Bazaar Foundation. The idea is not for a toll for shipping to use the strait, but for a contribution to the management of the waterway by states with Persian Gulf shorelines. One model would be similar arrangements in the Strait of Malacca, which connects the Indian Ocean with the Pacific Ocean, and involve Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.

The article also cites fees charged by the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands to model the possible scope of revenues. There, the largest tankers are liable for a “sustainability” fee of around $0.08 for each gross metric ton of cargo. If a similar charge was levied in the Persian Gulf, the new institutional body would make around $26 million a year, the authors calculate. The idea might be workable, even if Iran demanded far higher returns since even the addition of a couple of dollars per barrel of oil would be economically preferable to the volatility in oil prices — which spiked nearly 8.0% Wednesday alone to above $90 a barrel.

Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, one of the authors of the article, said Tehran may be more flexible about the monetary potential of such a scheme than some outsiders believe. “To the extent that Iran cares about its economic situation, there are much bigger goals than trying to impose a fee in the Strait of Hormuz,” he said. Any diplomatic opening with the US could result in the lifting of sanctions, for instance, or the free flow of Iranian oil exports.

Batmanghelidj also suggested the arrangement could offer Tehran a strategic boost and “make the point that the strait is not going to go back to the status it had before the war, as a way of underlining that it was not defeated, that it was able to preserve its agency and its power through the conflict with the US.”

More broadly, a multinational plan for managing the strait could begin to answer a growing question in the Gulf region: How will states answer the challenge posed by a more confident Iran after the war and shore up any eventual peace?

Still, Trump’s return to attacking Iran means meaningful diplomacy will remain on hold. And even a deal to stabilize the strait would only address a new crisis thrown up by the war while not come near meeting US concerns over Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.

But Goldstein said Trump’s paucity of options may mean a compromise becomes inevitable despite its considerable downsides.

“This is going to be the most painful of all compromises precisely because we as a nation, we in the West, as the leading powers of the world have for a very, very long time insisted that freedom of navigation was one of our signature principles,” he said.

Most modern presidents would have turned to US allies for help on Iran already as a way of broadening diplomatic pressure. Europe, for instance, was a vital driver of diplomacy that led to the Obama administration’s nuclear deal. It has diplomatic links that the US severed after the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

But Trump has deeply damaged the transatlantic alliance, treating longtime allies like adversaries with his barrages of tariffs and insults. He refused to consult many US allies before launching a war that they regarded as illegal and unwise. But he also berated them for not joining US military action.

The result is that political weak European leaders have little incentive to help him now. And there’s a limit to what NATO allies can do. Offers by European powers to deploy their significant mine-clearance assets to the strait, for instance, have been conditioned on an end to all hostilities.

But any European initiative in the Middle East would also come up against the same impediment as Oman’s — a fickle and confusing diplomatic strategy from a superpower whose foreign policy seems to change with Trump’s moods.

“It’s one thing to ask Europe to help with an agreed strategy, but there is no agreed strategy. Indeed, it’s not clear what American strategy is at this point,” said Ian Lesser, a distinguished fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States who is based in Brussels.

Similar mistrust over American motives could also hamper diplomacy.

“My conversations with stakeholders in Tehran suggest that they’re not rejecting this proposal that Oman has brought forward,” Batmanghelidj said. But he added that Iran was concerned about giving up control of the strait while the US was still escalating. “Iran probably will allow the strait to normalize at some point. It’s in their interest to do so. They’ll probably do so in some regional format, but they are not going to do it until they think the Americans learned their lesson.”

Like Oman, the other Gulf States and European powers face a huge price for Trump’s inability to end his war. If Washington and Tehran can’t escape their self-reinforcing destructive cycle soon, others will have no choice but to help them.

Consumers, AI spending likely supported US economic growth in the second quarter

2026-07-30 / reuters.com

WASHINGTON, July 30 (Reuters) – The U.S. economy likely maintained a steady pace of growth in the second quarter, supported by stronger consumer spending and robust business investment in equipment tied to the buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The Commerce Department’s advance gross domestic product report on Thursday is expected to show the economy largely weathering the Middle East conflict, in part thanks to bigger tax refunds this year, which provided a cushion for consumers against higher gasoline prices stemming from the war.

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But economists warned that the U.S.-led war with Iran, now in its sixth month, posed a downside risk to growth in the second half of the year.

“The U.S. has been much more insulated from the economic fallout from the conflict in the Middle East than other parts of the world have been,” said James Knightley, chief international economist at ING. “The consumer is still spending and we have the ongoing frenzied tech investment cycle that we’re seeing.”

A Reuters survey of economists forecast GDP likely increased at a 2.1% annualized rate last quarter, which would match the January-March quarter’s pace. Estimates ranged from as low as a 0.8% rate to as high as a 2.9% pace.

The survey was, however, conducted before the release of June’s advance economic indicators report, which showed a moderate contraction in the goods trade deficit and retail inventories unchanged. Economists at JPMorgan lowered their GDP growth estimate to a 1.5% rate from a 2.0% pace after the data.

Trade could subtract as much as a full percentage point from GDP growth, economists estimated. Inventories were a wild card.

Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, likely accelerated after abruptly slowing to a 0.5% growth pace in the first quarter. In addition to generous tax refunds from President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” higher-income households who are benefiting from strong growth in asset prices are also driving spending.

The recently ended FIFA World Cup tournament also helped to spur spending as did midterm election-related spending by nonprofits. Economists are bracing for a slowdown in consumer spending as some of these tailwinds fade.

Average gasoline prices have risen back above $4 a gallon amid renewed hostilities in the Middle East. Households have been tapping savings and saving less to maintain spending as wages have barely kept up with inflation, a situation that economists said could not continue indefinitely. The saving rate is near a four-year low of 3.0%.

STRONG GROWTH IN DOMESTIC DEMAND

“While the boost from higher tax refunds and lower tax payments appears to have provided a $140 billion boost to household income during the 2026 tax-filing season, we expect that higher energy prices will erode household spending power for the rest of the year, particularly for lower-income households that spend a larger share of their budget on energy,” said Joseph Briggs, an economist at Goldman Sachs.

Briggs forecast the saving rate increasing to 3.5% by year-end, “on the back of a stronger precautionary saving motive.”

Another quarter of double-digit growth in business spending on equipment was expected, with the AI investment boom showing no signs of slowing despite investor concerns that valuations of many technology companies have become stretched.

The rapid growth in AI is masking weakness in business investment in structures, like factories, which is expected to have contracted for a 10th straight quarter.

Still, the strength in both consumer and overall business spending was expected to have lifted domestic demand last quarter. Final sales to private domestic purchasers, which exclude government, trade and inventories, increased at a 1.7% pace in the first quarter.

This measure is closely watched by officials at the Federal Reserve. The U.S. central bank on Wednesday left its benchmark overnight interest rate in a 3.50%-3.75% range. Three members of the Fed’s policy-setting committee dissented. They “preferred” a quarter-percentage-point hike.

Economists expect the Fed to raise interest rates as soon as September to quell inflation, which also factors into their expectations for slower growth in the second half.

” The Fed is going to become increasingly impatient with inflation, thanks to this war,” said Brian Bethune, an economics professor at Boston College. “We’ve already had an effective tightening of monetary policy because of the steepening of the (Treasury) yield curve and mortgage rates are up at least a half a point since the start of the war. “

Residential investment, which includes homebuilding and sales, is expected to have contracted for the sixth consecutive quarter. No boost to government spending was expected from the war, with defense outlays expected to have been flat.

“Action against Iran mostly has drawn on existing personnel and military assets, and running down pre-existing stockpiles of munitions, rather than on a widespread recruitment drive or heavy investment in new equipment,” said Samuel Tombs, chief U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. “The 1990-91 Gulf War had a barely perceptible impact in the national accounts, despite being a far bigger operation.”

Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci

回应强烈反弹 印度西孟加拉邦宣布恢复学校午餐供蛋

2026年7月30日 15:38 / 联合早报

印度西孟加拉邦首席部长阿迪卡里星期三（7月29日）宣布，将从8月起恢复在公立学校免费午餐中供应鸡蛋。 （法新社档案照片）

在经历社会各界的强烈抵制后，印度西孟加拉邦政府做出政策调整，宣布自8月起恢复在公立学校免费午餐中供应鸡蛋。

这场风波源于西孟加拉邦新上台的印度人民党政府。今年5月执政后，人民党6月悄然删除部分公立学校午餐中的鸡蛋，转而指定一家印度教慈善机构全面接管并提供素食。此举随即点燃了关于“饮食与宗教”的敏感神经，批评者指责这是政府借行政权力推行“强迫素食”。

随之而来的是来自教师、营养专家和家长的声讨。他们警告，对于许多贫困家庭的孩子而言，学校提供的免费鸡蛋几乎是日常最关键的蛋白质来源，取消鸡蛋无异于损害儿童健康。

面对巨大压力，西孟加拉邦首席部长阿迪卡里星期三（7月29日）宣布，将从8月起重新向学生提供鸡蛋。根据新方案，慈善机构将继续提供“纯素”主餐，鸡蛋则由妇女福利团体单独派发。

阿迪卡里告诉记者：“此前有部分家长向政府反映，希望确保午餐中保留鸡蛋。”

作为全球规模最大的同类项目，印度的学校免费午餐计划长期广受好评，在提高儿童入学率、遏制营养不良与发育迟缓方面发挥不可替代的作用。

回应强烈反弹 印度西孟加拉邦宣布恢复学校午餐供蛋

2026年7月30日 15:38 / 联合早报

印度西孟加拉邦首席部长阿迪卡里星期三（7月29日）宣布，将从8月起恢复在公立学校免费午餐中供应鸡蛋。 （法新社档案照片）

在经历社会各界的强烈抵制后，印度西孟加拉邦政府做出政策调整，宣布自8月起恢复在公立学校免费午餐中供应鸡蛋。

这场风波源于西孟加拉邦新上台的印度人民党政府。今年5月执政后，人民党6月悄然删除部分公立学校午餐中的鸡蛋，转而指定一家印度教慈善机构全面接管并提供素食。此举随即点燃了关于“饮食与宗教”的敏感神经，批评者指责这是政府借行政权力推行“强迫素食”。

随之而来的是来自教师、营养专家和家长的声讨。他们警告，对于许多贫困家庭的孩子而言，学校提供的免费鸡蛋几乎是日常最关键的蛋白质来源，取消鸡蛋无异于损害儿童健康。

面对巨大压力，西孟加拉邦首席部长阿迪卡里星期三（7月29日）宣布，将从8月起重新向学生提供鸡蛋。根据新方案，慈善机构将继续提供“纯素”主餐，鸡蛋则由妇女福利团体单独派发。

阿迪卡里告诉记者：“此前有部分家长向政府反映，希望确保午餐中保留鸡蛋。”

作为全球规模最大的同类项目，印度的学校免费午餐计划长期广受好评，在提高儿童入学率、遏制营养不良与发育迟缓方面发挥不可替代的作用。

韩国海警今年上半年查扣非法作业中国渔船同比减逾四成

2026年7月30日 11:14 / 联合早报

韩国海警通报，今年上半年查扣非法作业的中国渔船同比减少逾四成。

据韩联社报道，韩国海洋警察厅星期三（7月29日）发布的数据显示，海警今年上半年查扣的非法捕捞中国渔船数量同比减少43.2%。

数据显示，今年1月至6月，韩国海警查扣非法作业中国渔船21艘，较去年同期37艘少，为2021年以来的最低水平。过去六年，韩国海警查扣中国渔船的数量，依序为2020年18艘、2021年66艘、2022年42艘、2023年54艘、2024年46艘、2025年57艘。

韩国海警今年以来大幅加紧中国渔船非法捕捞行为的严打力度。依据5月起施行的《经济水域渔业主权法》修正版，韩国海警对非法捕捞中国渔船征收的罚款上限从3亿韩元（26万7900新元）大幅上调至15亿韩元。海警还在17天内展开五次专项整治活动，对664艘渔船实施登检。

另外，韩国海警还启动建造500吨级执法舰，专门用于打击非法捕捞中国渔船，并计划在2028年至2030年每年列装两艘。按照总统李在明指示，韩国海警正计划与海军携手在西部海域北方界线（NLL）水域展开打击活动。

乌干达前总统孙子 共运会拳击赛头撞对手被取消资格

2026年7月30日 11:26 / 联合早报

阿卜杜勒（红衣）因为在共运会男子90公斤以上拳击复赛的第三回合中用头撞击他的英格兰对手汤姆斯而被直接取消资格。 （法新社）

（格拉斯哥综合电）乌干达前总统伊迪·阿敏（Idi Amin）的孙子阿齐兹·阿卜杜勒（Aziz Abdul），星期三（7月29日）在格拉斯哥共运会一场拳击赛中因头撞对手而被取消资格。

阿敏曾在1976年自称为“苏格兰之王”。他对这个国家的兴趣之浓厚，后来还启发了2006年获得奥斯卡奖的电影“The Last King of Scotland”。影片通过一名苏格兰医生的视角，讲述了伊迪·阿敏的故事。 阿敏在成为总统之前，也是一名颇具实力的拳击手。

阿卜杜勒抵达格拉斯哥时也曾说，他的梦想是成为“新的苏格兰之王”。

然而，在与英格兰选手达马尔·汤姆斯（Damar Thomas）的超重量级拳击复赛中，这场充满火药味的对决却让他最终在嘘声中离开拳台。

他在第三回合因为用头撞击对手而被直接取消资格，他的对手汤姆斯得以直接晋级四强。

阿卜杜勒怒斥裁判判罚不公

赛后阿卜杜勒怒斥裁判判罚不公，他说他的英格兰对手在场上耍了很多小动作，但裁判视而不见。他只是挨了一记很轻的拳，裁判就给对手计分，而当他一记重拳打在对手身上时，裁判不仅没有加分，反而扣他的分。

他愤怒地对记者说：“这名裁判的判罚是不正确的，我对此非常不满。

“当然，这不公平。你看看英格兰此前的比赛，他们的拳手也有很多犯规行为。”

新航再登本地最具吸引力雇主榜首

2026年7月30日 11:42 / 联合早报

新加坡航空公司再次获选为本地最具吸引力的雇主。2019年至2023年新航也曾三度登榜。 （吴先邦摄）

新加坡航空公司凭着良好的企业声誉、善用现代科技和创新，以及卓越的领导和管理能力，今年再度登上最具吸引力雇主榜首。

全球人力资源咨询公司任仕达（Randstad）星期四（7月30日）发文告公布排行榜。这是任仕达2026年雇主品牌调查的部分结果。任仕达早前访问了2500名新加坡受访者，了解他们对14个领域的看法。

除了新航，获选2026年新加坡十大最佳雇主的公司依次为：樟宜机场集团、星展集团、生物科技公司因美纳（Illumina）、新加坡半导体业者联合科技（UTAC）、滨海湾金沙、普惠公司（Pratt & Whitney）、NTT集团、英飞凌（Infineon Technologies）及法国制药公司赛诺菲（Sanofi）。

任仕达新加坡总监布拉斯科（David Blasco）说，雇主要想成为高价值人才的聚集地，必须投入大量资源培训员工，并解决人才驱动的核心要素。

他指出，新航就是很好的例子，把品牌与信誉、创新和清晰的领导力紧密联系起来，这与新航希望吸引并留住的人才产生了强烈的共鸣。

以创新为例，新航2024年宣布斥资11亿元翻新旗下长程和超长程客机，为乘客带来更好的飞行体验。

新航人力资源高级副总裁黄慧玲说，新航很荣幸获评为本地最具吸引力的雇主，并由衷感谢员工多年来的支持，通过专业精神、共同承诺，以及卓越服务，为乘客带来充满活力的新航体验。

她说：“新航会继续在这强大的基础上，倡导创新文化，投资学习和发展机会，帮助员工获得有满足感的新航职业生涯。”

2019年至2023年，新航也曾三度获选为本地最具吸引力的雇主。

任仕达的调查也显示，生命科学行业是本地最具吸引力的领域，其次是酒店和休闲服务业，包括保安、设施和饮食业。排名第三的是半导体制造业。

俄军导弹袭击乌克兰多地 至少七死14伤

2026年7月30日 11:49 / 联合早报

乌克兰西部城市利沃夫星期四（7月30日）在俄军持续对乌克兰多地发动空袭后，冒出滚滚浓烟。 （法新社）

乌克兰官员星期四说，俄军当天凌晨向基辅及中部城市克里维里赫发动弹道导弹袭击，造成至少7人死亡、14人受伤，死者包括两名分别为5岁和12岁的女童。

综合法新社和路透社报道，克里维里赫（Kryvyi Rih）国防委员会主席维尔库尔星期四（7月30日）说，一枚从俄罗斯沃罗涅日州发射的弹道导弹击中当地一栋民宅。此次袭击造成一家六口中的四名成人及两名女童丧生，另有八人受伤，死亡人数可能进一步上升。

乌克兰首都基辅星期四凌晨也遭俄军导弹袭击，至少一人死亡，多地传出爆炸声，数栋非住宅建筑起火；西部城市利沃夫两栋公寓因俄军空袭受损，六人受伤。

乌克兰总统泽连斯基警告，俄罗斯可能发动新一轮大规模空袭，并呼吁盟友尽快提供更多防空导弹。

受俄军空袭影响，与乌克兰接壤的北约成员国波兰紧急出动战斗机和预警机，地面防空系统和雷达系统也进入戒备状态，以防空袭波及波兰领空。