Houthis in Yemen said 25-member crew of Galaxy Leader had been freed ‘in support’ of the Gaza ceasefire agreement

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Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have released the crew of the Galaxy Leader more than a year after they seized the Bahamas-flagged vessel off the Yemeni Red Sea coast, Houthi-owned Al Masirah TV has reported.

It said on Wednesday the crew were handed to Oman “in coordination” with the three-day-old ceasefire in Gaza’s war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.

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© Photograph: Houthis Media Center/HANDOUT HANDOUT/EPA

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© Photograph: Houthis Media Center/HANDOUT HANDOUT/EPA

The Iranian-backed rebel group in Yemen had earlier said they would scale back attacks given the cease-fire in the conflict in Gaza.

© Yahya Arhab/EPA, via Shutterstock

The pronatalist movement in the US is gathering pace once again, rekindled by Silicon Valley personalities and hard-right conservatives who are becoming increasingly vocal about whether or not women are having enough babies. But it's not just in the US, some governments in other countries have launched marketing campaigns encouraging people to have more children, while others have offered financial incentives. But while many of these policies claim to be about halting population decline, there are other factors at play. Josh Toussaint-Strauss interrogates efforts around the world to boost birth rates, as well as the underlying political motivations, from bodily autonomy to immigration

• Birth rates are plummeting worldwide. Can governments turn the tide?

• When desperate measures to persuade women to have children fail, it’s time for fresh thinking

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© Photograph: The Guardian

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© Photograph: The Guardian