Sanaa, Aug 9 (Prensa Latina) Seven people were killed and about 35 were wounded today in an attack by the Houthis against the port of Mocha and residential areas of that western Yemeni city, government sources reported.

The attack hit port facilities and nearby neighborhoods in Mocha, in the Taiz governorate and close to the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait.

Media outlets linked to the Yemeni government cited medical sources who initially placed the number of dead at seven and the number of wounded at around 35.

Hours earlier, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed responsibility for an operation using ballistic missiles and drones against what he described as Saudi troop concentrations and weapons depots in the Mocha area.

Saree claimed that the attacks achieved their objectives and caused human and material losses, although those claims could not be independently verified.

For his part, the director of the port of Mocha, Abdul Malik al-Sharabi, reported that the offensive caused damage to civilian facilities and left workers injured.

The port of Mocha is located in an area under the control of forces aligned with the internationally recognized Yemeni government and constitutes a strategic facility due to its proximity to Bab al-Mandeb, one of the main maritime routes between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The new attack comes amid escalating fighting in Yemen and Houthi operations against Saudi interests and maritime routes in the region.

In recent days, the Houthis also claimed responsibility for attacks against Saudi Arabian oil targets and vessels linked to that country, while Riyadh responded with military operations against positions of the movement in Yemeni territory.

The intensification of hostilities raises concerns about a larger-scale reactivation of the Yemeni conflict, following the period of relative calm that followed the UN-brokered truce in 2022.

Tehran, Aug 9 (Prensa Latina) Negotiations between Iran and Oman on new mechanisms for commercial navigation through the Strait of Hormuz have entered their final stage and an agreement could be reached soon, Iranian sources said today.

Fada Hossein Maleki, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, noted that the talks are being held bilaterally between Tehran and Muscat and are focused on the use and management of this strategic maritime route.

The legislator argued that the United States is attempting to enter the process as a third party, although Iranian authorities insist that the negotiations are solely between Iran and Oman, as they are the two states bordering the strait. This position aligns with recent statements from the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

Maleki stated that the talks are close to an agreement and assured that Tehran intends to preserve its participation in the control and management of maritime traffic once the new mechanisms are implemented.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry reported this week that both countries are working on a joint declaration based on the main points agreed during the negotiations.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi also confirmed that the agreement is nearing its final stage and specified that it will establish new procedures for the movement of commercial vessels.

Iranian authorities clarified, however, that any eventual agreement with Oman would not automatically entail a complete reopening of the strait under the same conditions that existed before the recent regional escalation.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei explained that the consultations aim to establish safe corridors for commercial navigation while simultaneously protecting the security interests and sovereign rights of the two coastal countries.

Tehran and Muscat have been holding political, technical and legal talks for nearly two months on maritime transit through Hormuz, whose security has become more important after the recent military clashes in the region.

The strait is one of the most important routes for the international transport of hydrocarbons and connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean, so any prolonged disruption of its traffic has repercussions on energy markets and world trade.

Paris, August 9 (Prensa Latina) Former President François Hollande is threatening today to run in the 2027 presidential elections, in a kind of revenge for what happened a decade ago when Emmanuel Macron left his government and won the elections.

According to the newspaper Le Monde, Macron’s “betrayal,” whom Hollande appointed as Minister of Economy in 2014, was his decision to leave the government in 2016 to create the En Marche party and run with it in the 2017 elections.

Macron defeated the socialist candidate Benoît Hamon at that time, the newspaper recalls.

The publication comments that the return of the experienced socialist politician causes a reaction ranging from sarcastic and unbelievable to worrying, especially when it comes to an atomized center-right.

Among Macron supporters, Édouard Philippe is the best positioned, with almost 20 percent of the voting intentions, while the young president of Renaissance (Macron’s party), Gabriel Attal, has 15.

HOLLANDE’S STRATEGY

One of Hollande’s tools would be waiting, because although he has hinted in different ways at his intention to fight again for the Élysée Palace, he still maintains his phrase “I am preparing myself”.

Experts from the CNews channel believe that the Socialist Party’s (PS) proposal to hold primaries for the presidential elections next October is not a suitable plan for the experienced politician.

Hollande is looking for a path that can be under his control, and the primaries are far from being that, but another matter, as Le Monde comments, is turning expectation into reality.

For the moment, the possibility that the former president will run in the elections next April is worrying the French political center, as Hollande could seek to go beyond the Socialist Party and establish himself as a candidate of social democracy.

Le Monde believes this possibility opens doors among various sectors, including the center-right, although this is far from being supported by the polls.

OPTIONS FOR THE FORMER PRESIDENT

This could be due to the contradiction between Hollande’s status as the candidate with the most political experience and the history of his own time in power, when at one point he only had three percent support.

A recent experimental survey by the Elabe institute indicates that, should the socialist politician run, he would now have nine points of voting intentions.

That result would place him well below the far-right Marine Le Pen, with almost 35 percent, Philippe, with 19.5, the leader of La France Insoumise (LCI), Jean-Luc Mélenchon, with 16, and Attal, with 15.5.

However, Hollande has other options. The same polling firm placed him at 41 percent among left-wing voters, almost tied with the leader of the French Communist Party, Fabien Roussel.

Above them is François Ruffin, of the Debout party, which came from the LCI, with 45 points, and Mélenchon, with 42, but Hollande is ahead of the 40 of Raphaël Glucksmann, a progressive and pro-European social democrat.

For now, the steps taken by Hollande fall within the scheme of much of the French political class: to prevent a victory of the far right, after Macron won in the second round in 2022, with 58.55 of the votes, against Le Pen (41.45).

Lima, Aug 8 (Prensa Latina) A former president and two former foreign ministers joined today in expressing their approval of the departure of the former Peruvian prime minister who sought asylum in Mexico, which led to the resumption of bilateral diplomatic relations.

Former foreign minister and career diplomat Óscar Maúrtua welcomed the granting of the safe-conduct pass that yesterday allowed former Prime Minister Betssy Chávez to travel to Mexico.

“International law has been respected and a good message has been sent to the international community,” he said.

He added that “the law has been respected; one cannot interpret a treaty, an international instrument that one has signed by sovereign mandate,” he said, in obvious allusion to the argument invoked by the ephemeral government of José Jerí in November 2025 to deny safe passage, claiming that Chávez had been sentenced.

He also said that the Peruvian State could have continued to deny safe passage, but that would be following a policy of disrespect for treaties that would have consequences for the country.

For his part, former neoliberal president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (PPK) said that the best outcome has been the extension of safe passage to Chávez, since the Government has respected the Caracas Convention on asylum.

“What the critics say is that she was being tried, that she has fled, that is not what the Caracas Convention says; what it says is: someone asks for asylum, the applicant’s government must give them safe passage,” he said.

Meanwhile, former conservative foreign minister Javier Gonzalez Olaechea, politically distant from Chávez like Maúrtua and Kuczynski, ruled out the possibility of a possible extradition request for Chávez succeeding, a request which the government of Keiko Fujimori reserved the right to eventually raise.

Once a State, in accordance with the Caracas Convention on

The Diplomatic Rights of 1954 grants that safe conduct, having recognized the status of asylee as such, extradition is not warranted, he explained.

“There is no possibility of extradition, from a legal or political point of view, because it would be contrary not only to the Convention, but to the very spirit of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Peru and Mexico,” he said.

On the other hand, Senator Ruth Luque stated that economic factors and business pressures for the mutual reopening of embassies and consulates have influenced the reestablishment of relations with Mexico.

In this regard, economist Pablo Moreyra explains that the resumption of relations between Peru and Mexico is also due to economic and commercial factors.

He specified that during the nine months of diplomatic rupture between the two countries, trade with Mexico remained at about 2.5 billion dollars per year, with a record of Peruvian exports to the northern country of 1.036 billion dollars in 2025.

In addition, Moreyra indicated that Mexican investments total 14 billion dollars, from Grupo México in mining, América Móvil in telecommunications, and to a lesser extent Bimbo, Femsa, Mabe and Cinépolis, which makes Peru the second destination for Mexican investment in the region.

Lima, Aug 9 (Prensa Latina) Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori is approved by 60 percent of citizens, according to the first private survey that assesses the impact of her arrival at the Government Palace less than two weeks ago.

The Datum poll indicates that the percentage is higher than the previous elected ruler, Pedro Castillo, who began his brief and turbulent term with 44 percent, although it is lower than that received by the four presidents before him.

The initial support for the president contrasts with the margin of less than one percent with which she won the presidential runoff against the progressive Roberto Sánchez and with nearly 90 percent of the voters who, in the first round of elections, did not vote for her, although the dispersion of the vote among more than 30 candidates gave her the first place with which she qualified for the decisive stage.

Datum’s director, Urpi Torrado, argued that the majority approval shows that “even among those who did not vote for her there seems to be a certain willingness to first observe the results of her administration” and highlighted that 62 percent expressed optimism for the future of the country.

On the other hand, the poll anointed former presidential candidate Sánchez as the leader of the opposition made up of his party Together for Peru and the centrist parties Good Government Party, Now Nation and Works.

Torrado noted, on the other hand, that “historically the beginning of a term is usually accompanied by a dose of optimism and an initial period of confidence.”

“Sixty percent represents a good starting point, but also a responsibility. Citizens tend to be pragmatic, and initial trust will depend on the results they perceive in the coming months,” he added.

He also said that the Datum poll showed that almost half of those surveyed predict a confrontational relationship between the Executive and Congress.

The four opposition groups, although not unanimous, have a large majority in the Chamber of Deputies and half of the seats in the Senate, while the other half is in the hands of the ruling party, Fuerza Popular, and its ally, Renovación Popular, of the extreme right.

On the other hand, on the day of the first poll on his term, he reaffirmed his main campaign promise, that of restoring order in the face of rampant crime, and praised seven police officers for the capture of a group of hitmen.