Author: Steven Sahiounie

At least eight ships have been assaulted in recent weeks in the key waterway linking the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea Two global shipping majors, Denmark’s Maersk and Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd, halted their vessels’ passage through the Red Sea on Friday, citing security risks. In their statements, both companies said the measure comes in response to a string of attacks by Yemen-based Houthi rebels on ships traversing the area. “We are deeply concerned about the highly escalated security situation in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The recent attacks on commercial vessels in the area are alarming and…

Exports of light sweet crude have surged with increased deliveries by rail, data shows Russian oil companies have boosted exports of ESPO (Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean) grade crude to China through the port of Kozmino, with deliveries hitting a record high this month, Kommersant reported this week citing tracking data. Shipments of Russia’s ESPO grade oil from the Far Eastern port reached an all-time high of 925,000 barrels per day (bpd) in December, 85% of which is headed to China, the outlet said, citing energy analytics firm Kpler. Industry experts attributed the surge in exports of this type of crude to increased railway…

Packages will be confiscated if they contain sanctioned goods Germany may confiscate gift parcels sent from Russia ahead of this year’s festive season, the country’s Federal Customs Service announced in statement on its website this week. According to the statement, gift parcels are regulated by the same sanctions legislation as any imports, as they may contain sanctioned goods such as paper, pulp, precious stones and metals, cigarettes, chemical and plastic products, cosmetics, etc. “There is no exception to the prohibitions covered by an Annex XXI to the Sanctions Regulation for gift consignments sent from a private individual in Russia to another private…

The French Foreign Ministry employee who was killed in an Israeli air strike on southern Gaza had remained in the strip to report on what was happening on the ground. “France always kept cultural diplomatic antennas in Gaza through a French centre,” Renaud Girard, chief foreign affairs correspondent for Le Figaro, told Al Jazeera. Girard said the employee worked for that centre, while his family had left Gaza. “France is very concerned by the humanitarian situation in Gaza that’s why it was useful for France to have a reliable witness to tell the French embassy what was happening there,” Girard…

Pope Francis appealed on Sunday for an end to the war ravaging the Holy Land, praying especially for Christians holed up in the Holy Family Catholic Parish in Gaza. At the Angelus prayer, the Pope said he continues to receive troubling news from Gaza, where “unarmed civilians are the targets of bombings and gunfire.” Pope Francis condemned an attack on the compound of the Catholic parish, “where there are no terrorists, but families, children, people who are sick and have disabilities, and nuns.” “A mother, Mrs. Nahida Khalil Anton, and her daughter, Samar Kamal Anton, were killed, and others were…

Ranking diplomats from Iran, China and Saudi Arabia held a trilateral meeting in Beijing to discuss a range of regional and international issues. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Baqeri, Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed Abdulkarim El Khereiji, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held the meeting in Beijing. In the gathering, Wang Yi hailed the holding of the first meeting of the deputy foreign ministers of Iran, Saudi Arabia and China in Beijing. Voicing China’s support for closer cooperation between Tehran and Riyadh, Wang Yi said Beijing wants to help strengthen economic, security and cultural relations as well as…

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for President Mahmoud Abbas, has strongly condemned the ongoing assault by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right extremist government on the Palestinian National Authority. He criticized Netanyahu’s boastful statements about preventing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, stating that such actions “align with the frenzied campaign led by certain Western media outlets to undermine the Palestinian national project, led by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the legitimate and sole representative of the Palestinian people.” Abu Rudeineh added that “these statements and the suspicious campaign are part of the all-out war waged by the…

UK MP Layla Moran says her relatives are among hundreds of people trapped inside Gaza’s only Catholic church as Israeli forces operate in the vicinity. Moran, the foreign affairs spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, said that four members of her extended family, including a grandmother and 11-year-old twins, have been sheltering at Holy Family Parish for weeks. “I’m now no longer sure they are going to survive until Christmas,” Moran told the BBC on Saturday. Moran, whose mother is Palestinian, said a sixth member of her extended family died last month after not being able to get to hospital for…

Catherine Colonna has arrived in Israel where she was due to press for an “immediate and durable” truce. The truce should lead to a lasting ceasefire with the aim of releasing all captives and delivering aid to Gaza, read a statement from the Foreign Ministry. Colonna will meet her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in Tel Aviv before moving to the occupied West Bank where she is scheduled to meet her Palestinian counterpart, Riyad al-Maliki. The visit comes as France condemned the Israeli bombing of a civilian building in southern Gaza that killed one of its diplomatic staff. Source: AlJazeera

Twenty Palestinians have been arrested across the occupied West Bank since Saturday night by Israeli forces, according to a joint statement published by the Prisoners Affairs Authority and the Prisoners’ Club. The detentions took place in cities including Hebron, Nablus, Ramallah, and Tulkarem, the statement said, adding that the number of Palestinians arrested by Israeli forces since October 7 is now 4,540. Source: ALJazeera