Tag: Africa

Traffic in Suez Canal Resumes After Stranded Ship Refloated

ISMAILIA, Egypt—Shipping was on the move again late on Monday in Egypt’s Suez Canal after a giant container ship which had been blocking the busy waterway for almost a week was refloated, with more than 400 ships waiting to pass through. After the 1,300-foot Ever Given was dislodged, 113 ships were expected to transit the…


Obama Family Matriarch Has Died in a Kenyan Hospital at 99

NAIROBI, Kenya—Sarah Obama, the matriarch of former U.S. President Barack Obama’s Kenyan family, has died, relatives and officials confirmed Monday. She was at least 99 years old. Mama Sarah, as the step-grandmother of the former U.S. president was fondly called, promoted education for girls and orphans in her rural Kogelo village. She passed away around…


Ship Backlogs From Suez Chaos Could Take Months to Clear, Container Lines Say

COPENHAGEN/LONDON—The stranding of a container ship in the Suez Canal has created disruptions in the global shipping industry that could take weeks and possibly months to clear, top container shipping lines said. Around 30 percent of the world’s shipping container volume—including goods like sofas, consumer electronics, apparel, and shoes—moves through the 193 km (120 mile)…


Giant Container Ship That Blocked Suez Canal Set Free

SUEZ, Egypt—Salvage teams on Monday set free a colossal container ship that has halted global trade through the Suez Canal, bringing an end to a crisis that for nearly a week had clogged one of the world’s most vital maritime arteries. Helped by the peak of high tide, a flotilla of tugboats managed to wrench…


Giant Container Ship That Blocked Suez Canal Finally Free

SUEZ, Egypt—Salvage teams on Monday freed a colossal container ship stuck for nearly a week in the Suez Canal, ending a crisis that had clogged one of the world’s most vital waterways and halted billions of dollars a day in maritime commerce. Helped by high tide, a flotilla of tugboats wrenched the bulbous bow of…


Rebels Besiege Town in Northern Mozambique for 5th Day; Dozens Killed

JOHANNESBURG—Rebels fought the Mozambican army Sunday for the fifth straight day for control of the strategic northern town of Palma, as reports came in that dozens of civilians have been killed and bodies were littering the streets. The fate of scores of foreign energy workers was also unknown. Some of the dead had been beheaded,…


Ship Stuck in Suez Canal Refloated

CAIRO, Egypt—The stranded container ship blocking the Suez Canal for almost a week has been re-floated, Inchcape Shipping Services said on Monday. The ship is currently being secured, raising expectations the vital waterway could soon be reopened. The ship was successfully re-floated at 4:30 a.m. local time on a high tide, Inchcape, a global provider of marine…


2 Tugboats Speed to Egypt’s Suez Canal as Shippers Avoid It

SUEZ, Egypt—Two additional tugboats sped Sunday to Egypt’s Suez Canal to aid efforts to free a skyscraper-sized container ship wedged for days across the crucial waterway, even as major shippers increasingly divert their boats out of fear the vessel may take even longer to free. The massive Ever Given, a Panama-flagged, Japanese-owned ship that carries…


Building Collapse in Cairo Leaves 5 Dead

CAIRO—Five people were killed and 24 injured when a Cairo apartment building collapsed in the early hours of Saturday, Egyptian state news agency MENA reported. Witnesses told Reuters many people were still trapped under the rubble of the 10-story building. By Mai Shams Eldin and Omar Fahmy


Maritime Traffic Jam Grows Outside Blocked Suez Canal

SUEZ, Egypt—A maritime traffic jam grew to more than 200 vessels Friday outside the Suez Canal and some vessels began changing course as dredgers worked frantically to free a giant container ship that is stuck sideways in the waterway and disrupting global shipping. One salvage expert said freeing the cargo ship, the Ever Given, could…