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Panama Ship Freed After Blocking Suez Canal for Days

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A massive container ship which had blocked the Suez Canal since Tuesday has been freed and re-floated, maritime service provider Inchcape Shipping said on Monday.

The Panama-flagged ship, Ever Given, had veered off its course in a single-lane stretch of the canal during a sandstorm.

“The MV Ever Given was successfully re-floated at 04:30 [0230 GMT] 29/03/2021.

She is being secured at the moment,” Inchcape Shipping tweeted.

The high tide overnight, which was accompanied by a full moon helped to free the ship, the service provider indicated.

The vital waterway is expected to be ready to resume traffic by 11:00 a.

m.(0900 GMT), an Egyptian presidential advisor on the Suez Canal projects said on Monday, according to the Dubai-based television CNBC Arabia TV.

So far, there has been no official confirmation from the state Suez Canal Authority (SCA).

Online footage showed the vessel repositioned.

Ten giant tug boats were engaged in “pulling manouvres” to refloat the vessel, (SCA) head Osama Rabae, said earlier on Monday.

Dredgers and tug boats had been working around the clock to free the massive 400-metre-long-vessel.

The blockage of the canal led to disrupted supply chains and sent ripples through global markets.

According to the canal authority, around 370 ships were waiting for passage on both sides of the canal, including 25 oil tankers.

Financial news wire Bloomberg reported there could even be 450 waiting ships.

The Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, provides the shortest shipping route between Asia and Europe.

The blockage cost the canal operator 13 million to 14 million dollars in losses per day, according to the head of the state Suez Canal Authority (SCA).

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi had ordered preparations for the possibility of reducing the load of containers on the vessel to help free it.

At least 18,840 ships passed through the canal last year.

The Suez Canal provides one of Egypt’s main sources of income, alongside tourism and remittances from expatriates.

Revenue from the waterway reached 5.6 billion dollars last year. (dpa/NAN)

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Foreign News

Russian Army Fires Ballistic Missiles at Kiev from Crimean Peninsula

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The Russian Army has hit the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, with ballistic missiles, injuring four people and damaging an uninhabited three-storey building, according to officials.

Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said  that two of the injured  people were in a central neighbourhood and  had been taken to hospital.

Rocket debris also fell in two other neighbourhoods.

According to the Ukrainian air force, two ballistic missiles were fired at the city of millions, from the Russian-controlled Crimea Peninsula.

Both were shot down.

Half a dozen explosions from anti-aircraft missiles had previously been heard in the city centre.

The air raid warning was only triggered a few seconds beforehand, it said.

Ukraine has been facing  Russian invasion for over two years.

Since then, the Ukrainian air defence system has been massively reinforced with Western systems. (dpa/NAN)

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Cambodia Arrests 2 Foreigners for Smuggling 2.27 kg Narcotics

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Cambodian customs police at the Phnom Penh International Airport said they have arrested two South Korean nationals for an attempt to smuggle 2.27 kg narcotics to South Korea.

The duo, a man and woman, were caught Sunday night while they checked in for a ZA215 flight bound for Seoul.

The General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia said in a news release on Monday.

In their body searches, our customs officials found many packs of drugs wrapped around their waists, the news release said.

“As a result, some 1.29 kg of crystal methamphetamine and 0.98 kg of ketamine were seized from the two suspects’ possession.’’

The Southeast Asian country has no death sentence for a drug trafficker.

Under its law, someone found guilty of trafficking more than 80 grammes of illicit drugs could be jailed for life.

According to the country’s Anti-Drug Department (ADP), Cambodia nabbed 3,899 drug-related suspects, including 106 foreigners, in 1,659 cases from Jan. 1 to March 3, 2024.

According to the report they confiscated a total of 2.79 tonnes of narcotics.

Most of the seized drugs were ketamine, crystal methamphetamine, methamphetamine tablets, heroin, ecstasy, and cocaine. (Xinhua/NAN)

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February Ends with Extreme Heat – WMO

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The UN weather agency, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), says February saw more extreme heat and unusually high temperatures in both hemispheres.

Summarising the state of the climate, it said the month ended with extreme heat in the southern hemisphere where it is summer, while high temperatures atypical of the northern hemisphere winter prevailed.

Parts of North and South America, northwest and southeast Africa, southeast and far eastern Asia, western Australia and Europe all saw record-breaking temperatures, either on a daily basis or for all of February.

“The anomalous heat is consistent with the persisting warming observed since June 2023, with seven consecutive new global monthly temperature records, including January 2024,” Alvaro Silva, a climatologist working with the WMO, said in a statement.

Global sea surface temperatures were record high. While the El Niño weather pattern “has stoked temperatures in some parts of the world, human induced climate change is the long-term major contributing factor,” he added.

Conversely, a large part of northwestern Canada, central Asia – and from southern central Siberia to southeastern China – witnessed exceptional cold during the last week of the month.

The meteorological winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the southern hemisphere finished officially at the end of February.

Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) raised increasing concern on Friday that more refugees would cross into Chad from Darfur in the coming weeks amid a worrying lack of food and other essentials.

Almost a year since the start of the civil war between rival militaries in Sudan, neighbouring Chad urgently needs more humanitarian aid and significant development investment, the agency reported, especially in its eastern areas which are hosting the refugee influx.

This investment will allow the country to continue its generous open-door stance towards refugees.

“Chadian officials are concerned that many more hungry Sudanese families will come in the next weeks,” said Kelly Clements, UNHCR’s Deputy High Commissioner, who is in the country to review the relief operation.

“The country is committed to keeping its borders open, despite the fragility of this region.

“But, doing so will put even more strain on Chad, which has so graciously been hosting refugees from Sudan’s war – now raging almost a year – and other refugees still here from earlier emergencies.” (NAN)

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