A deadly strike targeting the Liberian-flagged and Greek-operated bulk carrier Eternity C has claimed the lives of two crew members and wounded at least two more. The vessel came under attack near Yemen, marking a violent resurgence of maritime hostilities in the Red Sea.

According to Liberia’s delegation at a United Nations maritime gathering, the attack involved both sea drones and armed speedboats, and occurred just hours after a separate assault on another Liberia-registered, Greek-managed ship in the same region. This is the second such maritime incident reported in a single day after months of reduced activity.

The Red Sea, a vital corridor for global energy and goods, has seen a major decline in commercial traffic since November 2023 when the Houthis, a Yemeni armed group backed by Iran, began targeting vessels in protest of Israel’s actions in Gaza.

The deadly attack on Eternity C marks the first fatal incident involving merchant shipping in the area since June 2024. This raises the total number of seafarers killed in Red Sea-related maritime assaults to six.

Prior to the Eternity C incident, the Houthis claimed they had targeted the MV Magic Seas, another Liberian-flagged, Greek-run cargo vessel, allegedly sinking it during a strike off Yemen’s southwestern coast. However, no official confirmation regarding the ship’s sinking has been made.

All individuals aboard the Magic Seas were rescued by another merchant ship in the vicinity and have since arrived safely in Djibouti.

The Houthis have not issued any statements regarding the attack on the Eternity C.

“Just as Liberia was processing the shock and grief of the attack against Magic Seas, we received a report that Eternity C again has been attacked, attacked horribly and causing the death of two seafarers,” Liberia’s delegation told a session of the United Nations shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization, held in London this week.

Since the Houthis began their maritime campaign in late 2023, they have launched hundreds of aerial and sea-based weapons at passing vessels, claiming they are focused on ships tied to Israel.

Although a ceasefire agreement was reached with the United States in May, Houthi leadership has remained defiant, vowing to continue attacking vessels they suspect are affiliated with Israel.

“After several months of calm, the resumption of deplorable attacks in the Red Sea constitutes a renewed violation of international law and freedom of navigation,” IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said on Tuesday.

“Innocent seafarers and local populations are the main victims of these attacks and the pollution they cause.”

Both ships involved in the recent incidents have been linked to commercial shipping lines with records of docking in Israeli ports within the past year.

“The pause in Houthi activity did not necessarily indicate a change in underlying intent. As long as the conflict in Gaza persists, vessels with affiliations, both perceived and actual, will continue to face elevated risks,” said Ellie Shafik, head of intelligence with the Britain-based maritime risk management company Vanguard Tech.

Additional injuries were reported among Eternity C’s crew, as confirmed by the vessel’s operator and maritime safety sources. The ship was said to be listing following the impact of the attack.

The bulk carrier had 22 people aboard, 21 Filipino nationals and one Russian when it was struck. According to maritime security insiders, the assailants used unmanned sea vehicles and rocket-propelled grenades launched from small, crewed speedboats.

In light of the situation, the Philippines’ Department of Migrant Workers advised Filipino seafarers who make up a significant portion of the global shipping workforce to consider declining assignments through high-risk maritime zones like the Red Sea.

The volume of shipping through this crucial trade corridor has fallen by roughly half since the first wave of Houthi assaults began last year, noted a senior official from a global shipping safety organization.

“This reduction in traffic has persisted due to the ongoing unpredictability of the security situation. As such, BIMCO does not anticipate the recent attacks will significantly alter current shipping patterns,” Larsen said.

The latest strike occurred approximately 50 nautical miles southwest of Hodeidah, Yemen, and is being reported as only the second such incident in the region involving merchant shipping since November 2024, according to an official involved in the European Union’s naval protection mission.

A woman in Australia has been convicted of fatally poisoning three of her former in-laws and attempting to kill a fourth after serving them a mushroom-laced meal, concluding a high-profile court case that has captured national attention.

Erin Patterson, 50, now faces the possibility of spending the rest of her life behind bars. A panel of 12 jurors, who spent a week reviewing the evidence under court-ordered isolation from media coverage, delivered the verdict on Monday. Her sentencing date has yet to be announced.

The case centers around a meal Patterson hosted nearly two years ago in the small community of Leongatha, where she prepared beef Wellington and invited several members of her estranged husband’s family to lunch.

Although her husband, Simon Patterson, declined the invitation, his parents Gail and Don Patterson, along with Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson, attended.

Three of the four guests died within days, showing symptoms aligned with toxic mushroom exposure. Ian Wilkinson became critically ill but survived and later gave testimony during the proceedings.

During the two-month trial, over 50 individuals gave testimony. Prosecutor Nanette Rogers did not provide jurors with a concrete reason behind Patterson’s actions, but she introduced material suggesting a troubled relationship between Patterson and her husband, including disagreements over parenting costs.

Despite the absence of a stated motive, Rogers insisted that Patterson’s guilt was made evident by numerous attempts to mislead including telling falsehoods about having cancer to justify hosting the lunch, pretending to fall ill herself, and taking steps to cover her involvement afterward.

Following the incident, Patterson allegedly got rid of a food dehydrator she used to dry mushrooms and initially misled investigators about its disposal. She also repeatedly reset her phone to factory settings, according to witness testimony.

“She, alone, chose what to cook, obtained the ingredients and prepared the meal,” Ms. Rogers told jurors in her closing arguments. “That choice to make individual portions allowed her complete control over the ingredients in each individual parcel.”

No response had been issued by Patterson’s legal team as of Monday afternoon regarding the jury’s decision.

Taking the stand in her own defense, Patterson insisted that the tragedy was accidental. She claimed she may have unknowingly combined wild mushrooms she had once gathered with store-bought varieties, unaware of their toxicity.

She also stated she had eaten the same food personalized servings of beef Wellington but later indulged in cake and vomited, a detail her defense argued might explain her survival. Her disposal of the dehydrator and initial dishonesty about it, she said, were due to fear and panic after her guests became sick.

One detail that stood out to the jury came from Ian Wilkinson, the only surviving guest, who pointed out that Patterson’s serving plate looked different in size and color from those used by the others.

The deeply unsettling nature of the incident set against the backdrop of a peaceful town, involving a familiar home-cooked dish and a seemingly ordinary murder amplified public interest far beyond typical criminal trials.

Daily conversation across the country reflected intense speculation and fascination with the story, from the meal’s details to the investigation’s digital trail.

Podcasts dedicated to breaking down each day of the court proceedings attracted millions of listeners, and public curiosity about the case eclipsed that of nearly any recent criminal trial in Australia.

US President Donald Trump has issued a strong warning nations aligning themselves with BRICS in ways that contradict American interests could soon face an added 10% tariff.

“Any country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy,” Trump wrote on social media.

Trump has maintained a longstanding opposition to BRICS, a geopolitical bloc that includes major players such as China, Russia, and India.

While the US had initially provided a deadline of July 9 for countries to finalize trade deals, officials now say duties will be enforced starting August 1. Trump stated he would notify countries in writing of the new rates should no agreements be reached before the deadline.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking on Monday, suggested that the final days before the cut-off would be packed with negotiations.

“We’ve had a lot of people change their tune in terms of negotiations. So my mailbox was full last night with a lot of new offers, a lot of new proposals,” he said.

To date, the US has completed formal trade deals with the United Kingdom and Vietnam, and reached a partial agreement with China.

Still, ongoing talks between the US and the UK have yet to resolve disputes over American tariffs on British steel.

Since returning to the presidency in 2025, Trump has introduced multiple waves of import duties, arguing these measures will revitalize domestic manufacturing and safeguard employment.

Back in April, during what he dubbed “Liberation Day”, Trump revealed a series of aggressive tariff hikes, some as high as 50% targeting a wide range of foreign products. However, he quickly paused the most severe measures to allow three months for dialogue, with July 9 as the final date for compromise.

In the meantime, most imports into the US have been subject to a flat 10% charge.

Talks between the US and the European Union remain active, with EU officials pushing to extend the temporary 10% rate beyond the July deadline.

Other discussions are underway aimed at lowering a 25% duty on European automotive goods and a 50% surcharge on metal products entering the US market.

A spokesperson noted that President Trump and the head of the European Commission had a “good exchange” during recent talks. It comes weeks after Trump warned that failure to reach an accord could lead to a 50% levy on EU exports.

Just last week, the President also indicated that Japan may be hit with a 30% to 35% tariff if no trade pact is sealed by the upcoming Wednesday deadline.

When asked if tariff changes would happen on July 9 or August 1, Trump said: “They’re going to be tariffs, the tariffs are going to be tariffs.”

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick later clarified that the measures would begin taking effect on the first day of August.

Trump further announced that between 10 and 15 official notifications would be sent out Monday, informing nations of the potential new tariff rates in the absence of finalized deals.

Bessent described the letters as “just ‘thank you for wanting to trade with the United States of America. We welcome you as a trading partner, and here’s the rate, unless you want to come back and try to negotiate’.”

In 2023, BRICS welcomed new members expanding its circle beyond Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa to now include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Ethiopia, and Indonesia.

Together, these nations account for over half of the global population and were originally brought together to challenge Western dominance in global affairs, including economic and financial systems.

Last year, Trump had threatened tariffs of up to 100% on BRICS states if they moved forward with launching a new joint currency intended to compete with the US dollar.

Trump’s most recent warning came after BRICS finance ministers publicly condemned US tariffs and proposed overhauls to international institutions such as the IMF, while raising concerns about how currencies are valued worldwide.

Following a summit in Rio de Janeiro, the finance ministers released a joint statement accusing protectionist tariffs of destabilizing global markets and creating “uncertainty into international economic and trade activities”.

Andrew Wilson, a senior trade official from a global business chamber, noted the difficulty many countries would face in cutting economic ties with China.

He said: “Shifting away from China…in a number of sectors is far more difficult to achieve in the world in practice.

“You look at the dominance China has in a number of sectors – EVs, batteries [and] particularly rare earths and magnets, there are no viable alternatives to China production.”

Summary of U.S. Trade Deals as of July 7:

United Kingdom: US agreed to slash duties on UK car imports from 27.5% to 10%, covering up to 100,000 vehicles annually. Tariffs on aerospace parts were also removed. In return, the UK scrapped duties on US ethanol and beef.

Vietnam: Goods sent from Vietnam to the US will face a 20% import tax. American products entering Vietnam will be exempt from tariffs. However, items routed through Vietnam from third countries and sold in the US will be taxed at 40%.

China (Partial Deal): Import taxes on select Chinese goods were cut from 145% to 30%, while Chinese duties on American items dropped from 125% to 10%. China also lifted several non-tariff measures, including export restrictions on key minerals.