Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — The enormous container ship blocking the Suez Canal for almost a week has been turned 80 percent in the right direction, officials said Monday, raising hopes the vital trade route could soon be clear. But its owner said that while the giant ship “has turned”, it was still not yet fully unwedged. The MV Ever Given, longer than four football fields, became wedged diagonally across the canal during a sandstorm last […]
by Bassem Aboualabass CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — The owner of a megaship blocking Egypt’s Suez Canal hopes to refloat it as early as Saturday, as the crisis forced companies to re-route services from the vital shipping lane around Africa. The MV Ever Given, which is longer than four football fields, has been wedged diagonally across the span of the canal since Tuesday, blocking the waterway in both directions. At a press conference in Japan Friday […]
by Farid Farid with AFP bureaus CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — The owners of a giant container vessel blocking the Suez Canal said Thursday they faced “extreme difficulty” refloating it, as Egypt temporarily closed one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s advisor on seaports, Mohab Mamish, told AFP late Thursday that “maritime navigation will resume again within 48-72 hours, maximum”. “I have experience with several rescue operations of this kind and […]
CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — The owners of a giant container vessel blocking the Suez Canal said Thursday they were facing “extreme difficulty” refloating it, prompting Egypt to suspend navigation through one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. Shipping analysts warned the suspension could last days or even weeks, forcing businesses to consider diverting their cargos to the much longer route round the tip of Africa in a blow to global supply networks. The Suez Canal […]
by Guillaume Lavallee Agence France-Presse GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) — The densely populated Gaza Strip has long lacked sufficient drinking water, but a new project helps ease the shortage with a solar-powered process to extract potable water straight from the air. Unusually, the project operating in the Islamist-run Palestinian enclave, which has been blockaded by Israel since 2007, is the brainchild of a Russian-Israeli billionaire, Michael Mirilashvili. The company he heads, Watergen, has developed […]
CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — Egypt has approved the use of a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharma giant Sinopharm with its rollout to start later in January, the health minister said. “The Egyptian pharmaceutical authority approved on Saturday the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine,” Hala Zayed said late Saturday, on the local MBC Masr channel. The first batch of the vaccine was delivered in December, with further doses expected this month. “The second shipment of this vaccine […]
by Sammy Ketz Agence France-Presse KHARTOUM, Sudan (AFP) — On Sudan’s Tuti Island, where the Blue and White Nile meet, the highest river waters since records began have left people struggling to hold back the rising floods. Wedged between the twin cities of Khartoum and Omdurman, people on Tuti fill bags with sand and small stones in an often futile bid to stop the lapping water from swamping their homes. The world’s longest river is […]
CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — A fire at a hospital in Egypt’s coastal city of Alexandria on Monday killed seven coronavirus patients, security and medical sources said. Seven other people were injured in the blaze, believed to be caused by a malfunctioning air conditioner in an area designated for isolating COVID-19 patients, the sources said. Firefighters stopped it spreading to other hospital buildings, and ambulances were dispatched to transfer patients to other medical facilities, the state-run […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — The UN on Monday urged Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to “work together” to resolve differences over Addis Ababa’s Nile River mega-dam which has been a long-running source of regional tension. At Egypt’s request, the Security Council was scheduled to hold an informal videoconference Monday afternoon to address the dispute. Recent talks failed to produce a deal on the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which will […]
CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — Egypt’s main cancer institute has confirmed 15 cases of the novel coronavirus among its medical staff, the facility’s chief said Saturday, sparking fears of exposure among vulnerable patients. “Three doctors and 12 nurses were infected by the virus,” Hatem Abulkassem, the director of Cairo’s National Cancer Institute, told a private Egyptian TV channel, adding that the 15 had been isolated. The facility will be sterilised over three days and patients […]
CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — A second senior military officer in Egypt has died of the new coronavirus, state television reported Monday, as the officially declared death toll stood at 14 from 327 cases recorded nationwide. Major General Shafee Dawood, head of major infrastructure projects at the military engineering authority, became the latest high-ranking figure in Egypt to die from COVID-19 in hospital. His death comes after Major General Khaled Shaltout, the army’s chief of water […]
CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — Thirteen people were injured when two passenger trains collided Thursday in the Egyptian capital, the health ministry said, triggering a brief suspension in nationwide rail services. It said the casualties of the crash involving passengers from Upper Egypt were ferried to Cairo hospitals. The signals tower was not functioning because of bad weather conditions, the rail services said, leading to one train crashing into the other which was stationary. Rail authorities […]
