‘We need an official to come see what has happened. They can’t remove the people from underneath the trains, it’s a shame, look at the children,’ an unidentified man yelled from a site where two trains collided in central Egypt on Friday. At least 32 people were killed and 91 injured, health ministry officials said. Unknown individuals triggered the emergency brakes on one of the trains causing it to stop, the rail authority said. The second train, which was travelling in the same direction, crashed into the first from behind, it added
Continue reading...Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa
Dozens killed in train crash in southern Egypt, say authorities
At least 32 people and 100 injured after collision between two trains in Sohag province
At least 32 people were killed and more than a hundred injured when two trains collided in southern Egypt. Authorities blamed a passenger activating the emergency brakes.
Two passenger cars flipped on their side from the force of the collision, the latest in a series of deadly accidents along Egypt’s troubled rail system, plagued by poor maintenance and management.
Continue reading...Efforts to dislodge Ever Given in Suez canal continue – video
Efforts to dislodge the stricken container ship blocking the Suez canal continue as fears mount that the operation could take weeks. The 400-metre-long Ever Given ran aground on Tuesday and has blocked traffic through one of the world's busiest shipping routes
- Suez canal: shipping companies start rerouting as crisis drags on
- Muddy the waters: Egyptian authorities struggle with Suez canal blockage
- Suez canal: fears grow that efforts to free ship could take weeks
‘Ugliest crime’: Outcry in Sudan over lack of justice for killing of teenage girl
Death of Samah el-Hadi, allegedly shot by her father, has led to outpouring of women sharing own stories of domestic violence
Thousands of people have signed a petition urging the Sudanese government to take action against a man released without charge by police after his 13-year-old daughter was shot dead.
Samah el-Hadi was shot three times and run over by a car, reports said. Neighbours have taken to social media to blame her father, who was briefly questioned by the authorities but released after telling them Samah had taken her own life. No postmortem was carried out on the girl’s body.
Continue reading...Diversify or risk unrest, oil producers warned in report
As world shifts to green energy, Iraq and Nigeria among those vulnerable to ‘wave of instability’
Oil-dependent countries that are not preparing to adapt to the global shift away from fossil fuels risk their own stability, warns a new report.
Algeria, Iraq and Nigeria are the most vulnerable to “a slow-motion wave of political instability”, according to the risk analysts Verisk Maplecroft.
Continue reading...Saudi accused of threat to Khashoggi UN investigator is human rights chief
Awwad al-Awwad, former aide of crown prince, denies threatening to ‘take care of’ Agnès Callamard
The Saudi official who is alleged to have twice issued threats against the independent UN investigator Agnès Callamard is the head of the kingdom’s human rights commission, and formerly served as an aide to the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
Awwad al-Awwad is alleged by a person familiar with the matter to have twice threatened to “take care of” Callamard at a January 2020 meeting with senior human rights officials in Geneva.
Continue reading...Gaza’s Covid vaccine doctors: ‘If there is a power outage, what can we do?’ – video
The Covid vaccination programme has begun in the Gaza Strip amid daily power cuts, and supply and capacity problems in the health system. Dr Ayman Rahma is part of the team responsible for the distribution of vaccines. The territory has only received 62,000 doses so far for a population of more than 2 million. With Israel disputing that it bears responsibility for vaccinating Gazans or for letting vaccines enter Gaza, Rahma explains how the political situation is impacting the health sector
Continue reading...Suez canal: Dutch and Japanese teams brought in to help free ship
Salvage teams from Netherlands and Japan called in to help refloat Ever Given, which is blocking canal
Salvage teams from the Netherlands and Japan have been enlisted to redraw plans to free a giant container ship blocking the Suez canal, as fears grew that the operation could take weeks.
Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine Corp, which leased the vessel, said the Dutch firm Smit Salvage and Japan’s Nippon Salvage had been appointed by the ship’s owner and would work alongside its captain and the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) on a plan to refloat the ship and let traffic resume on one of the world’s key trade routes.
Continue reading...Suez canal drama – and a tiny bulldozer – inspire wave of memes
Big ship getting stuck in a too-narrow waterway has spawned invocations of poetry, the pandemic and Austin Powers
It is the David and Goliath story of our times: one of biggest container ships in the world got stuck in the Suez canal, blocking a route through which 12% of the world’s trade passes – and sent to rescue it was a very small bulldozer.
2 guys and a bulldozer on site to dislodge a ship stuck in the Suez Canal. pic.twitter.com/APAIU7sCv6
Continue reading...Suez canal blocked: attempts continue to free stuck megaship Ever Given – video
Efforts to free the giant container ship are continuing after the 400m-long vessel became stuck in the Suez canal. Local authorities attempted to dislodge the 220,000 ton vessel from the banks of the canal using tug boats, but the megaship remains stuck more than one day after it ran aground. The blockage has caused an extensive traffic jam, with more than 100 ships laden with cargo including oil, automotive parts and consumer goods waiting to get through one of the world’s key trade arteries
- Suez canal traffic jam builds as work to move megaship continues
- Suez canal drama – and a tiny bulldozer – inspire wave of memes
Israel election: near-complete results suggest extended deadlock
With close to 90% of votes counted, Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party leads but will struggle to form government
Near-complete results from Israel’s fourth snap election suggested yet another stalemate, with Benjamin Netanyahu scrambling to cobble together a coalition by partnering with extreme nationalist, hardline religious and far-right parties.
With close to 90% of votes counted by Wednesday evening, the prime minister’s Likud party was clearly leading with about 30 seats. The opposition head, Yair Lapid, had roughly 18.
Continue reading...How a container ship blocked the Suez canal – visual guide
The Ever Given, a 220,000-ton, ‘megaship’, became lodged in sand on eastern bank of canal on Tuesday
A container ship nearly 100 metres longer than the height of London’s Shard ran aground on Tuesday morning in the Suez canal, blocking one of the most vital arteries of the global economy.
Continue reading...A small Islamist party could decide Benjamin Netanyahu’s fate
Analysis: Israel’s election is pushing the PM towards a historic and incongruous political move
He built a hugely successful career scaremongering among Israelis about politicians from the country’s Arab minority presenting a threat from the inside. Now, Benjamin Netanyahu’s rhetoric might have come back to haunt him: election results suggest the leader’s fate may have fallen into the hands of a small party of Islamists.
With most votes tallied, the latest national election – Israel’s fourth within the span of two years – looks on course for further deadlock. Neither Netanyahu nor the opposition leader, Yair Lapid, have a clear majority to form a coalition government.
Continue reading...Giant ship blocking Suez canal partially refloated
Tugboats work to free 400-metre ‘megaship’ Ever Given as vessels gather at either end of key waterway
One of the largest container ships in the world has been partially refloated after it ran aground in the Suez canal, causing a huge jam of vessels at either end of the vital international trade artery.
The 220,000-ton, 400-metre-long Ever Given – a so-called megaship operated by the Taiwan-based firm Evergreen – became stuck near the southern end of the canal on Tuesday. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said it had lost the ability to steer amid high winds and a dust storm.
Continue reading...Suez Canal gridlock highlights its impact on oil and shipping prices
Analysis: blockage of route through Egypt provides a reminder of its importance to global trade
The impressive span of Al Salam Bridge at El Qantara in Egypt gives a unique view over the Suez canal.
On a normal day a procession of bulk carriers in convoys can be seen for miles creeping into the hazy distance on both sides.
Continue reading...The world has a vested interest in Somalia. Will it act to stop its collapse? | Vava Tampa
Starvation, al-Shabaab and postponed elections have made the country a ready gun. If the trigger is pulled, global trade is at risk
Frantz Fanon once quipped: “Africa is shaped like a revolver, and Congo is the trigger.”
More than 60 years later, I think the French philosopher’s assessment is only half true. It leaves out Somalia – which once held the crown as the “Switzerland of Africa”, but is now again on the verge of political disintegration.
Continue reading...Israel election results: Netanyahu ahead in exit polls
Ruling Likud party leading but short of decisive parliamentary majority to end political deadlock
Exit polls from Israel’s fourth election within two years suggested Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party was ahead but still short of a clear parliamentary majority needed to form a government and end the political deadlock.
Unofficial figures from three major television channels released late on Tuesday evening showed the Likud party with around 31-33 seats in the 120-seat parliament, the Knesset. That was far more than the opposition head, Yair Lapid, predicted to take about 16-18 seats.
Continue reading...Top Saudi official issued death threat against UN’s Khashoggi investigator
Senior official twice threatened to have Agnès Callamard ‘taken care of’ in meeting with UN colleagues in Geneva in January 2020
A senior Saudi official issued what was perceived to be a death threat against the independent United Nations investigator, Agnès Callamard, after her investigation into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
In an interview with the Guardian, the outgoing special rapporteur for extrajudicial killings said that a UN colleague alerted her in January 2020 that a senior Saudi official had twice threatened in a meeting with other senior UN officials in Geneva that month to have Callamard “taken care of” if she was not reined in by the UN.
Continue reading...Alone in Oman: Covid worsens abuse for trafficked women
Women from Sierra Leone tricked into servitude find themselves sold on under Gulf’s kafala system
Isha knew she was in trouble when her passport was snatched from her hands. The 27-year-old from Sierra Leone had just arrived in the Omani capital, Muscat, believing she was to start a well-paid job at a restaurant. Instead, her recruitment agent bundled her into a car and drove her to a house where she was told she would be working as a live-in maid.
“My agent told me he could take my passport because he had bought me,” she says. “I was confused. How can you buy a human being?”
Continue reading...Open season in Sudan as trophy hunters flock to shoot rare ibex
Conservationists fear for endangered Nubian ibex in Sudan as westerners sold permits to hunt
Sudanese conservationists have accused trophy hunters of exploiting the country’s political transition to hunt the country’s unprotected rare animals.
Photographs posted online of westerners posing with the body of a rare Nubian ibex angered Sudanese wildlife campaigners this week. They called for Facebook to remove the pages of tour groups promoting such hunts.
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