Strait of Hormuz closed, 3000 vessels, 20,000 seafarers stranded in Middle East – IMO
The IMO disclosed that the Strait of Hormuz was closed after a tugboat assisting another vessel in the strait on Friday morning was struck killing four seafarers.
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO)says no fewer than 3,000 vessels and 20,000 seafarers are stranded in Middle East over the ongoing war by the US and Israel against Iran.
The crucial Strait of Hormuz global shipping corridor marking the entrance to the Persian Gulf, is essentially closed due to the threat of strikes from Iran and elsewhere, IMO declared.
IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez, warned of the global “knock-on”effect from the closure of the sea lane responsible for 20 per cent of the world’s oil.
Mr Dominguez disclosed that the Strait of Hormuz was closed after a tugboat assisting another vessel in the strait on Friday morning was struck killing four seafarers.
The UN shipping agency chief condemned the attack and that the overall situation was “deteriorating” and urged ships to avoid navigating in the region.
He urged member states to “find solutions through dialogue in order to de-escalate” and restore free and safe movement across the region.
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher further warned that the widening conflict in the Middle East could trigger far-reaching humanitarian consequences well beyond the region.
Fletcher said disruptions to key maritime routes such as the Strait of Hormuz could drive up food prices.
The UN relief chief added that the disruption could strain health systems and make humanitarian supplies harder to deliver, hitting the most vulnerable people first.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards say the escalation in fighting in the region means the Strait of Hormuz is no longer safe and is essentially closed to traffic, according to media reports. In a statement carried by the Tasnim news agency, the Guards said ships had been warned to stay away "due to the insecure atmosphere around the strait because of the military aggression by the US and Israel and the responses of Iran." "With the cessation of passage of ships and tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, the strait has been basically closed," the statement added.
DW speaks to military analyst Marina Miron, King's College London, about the implications of closing the Strait of Hormuz
Iran war threatens prolonged impact on energy markets as oil prices rise
The conflict has already led to the suspension of about a fifth of global crude oil and natural gas supply.
The United States-Israeli war on Iran could leave consumers and businesses worldwide facing weeks or months of higher fuel prices even if the conflict, which is now in its eighth day, ends quickly, as suppliers grapple with damaged facilities, disrupted logistics, and elevated risks to shipping.
Global oil prices have surged by more than 25 percent since the start of the war, driving up fuel prices for consumers worldwide.
The national average petrol price reached $3.41 per gallon ($0.9 a litre) on Saturday, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA), rising by $0.43 over the past week. Goldman Sachs warned oil prices could climb above $100 per barrel if shipping disruptions continue.
The conflict has already led to the suspension of about a fifth of global crude and natural gas supply, as Tehran targets ships in the vital Strait of Hormuz between its shores and Oman, and attacks energy infrastructure across the region.
A nearly complete shutdown of the strait means the region’s top oil producers – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Kuwait – have had to suspend shipments of as much as 140 million barrels of oil – equal to about 1.4 days of global demand – to global refiners.
More than 80 percent of global trade moves by sea, according to the World Bank, meaning disruptions in the waterway could increase freight costs and delay deliveries of goods.
Storages in the Gulf filling
As a result of these developments, oil and gas storage at facilities in the Gulf is rapidly filling, forcing oilfields in Iraq and Kuwait to cut oil production, with the UAE likely to cut next, analysts, traders and sources told Reuters.
“At some point soon, everyone will also shut in if vessels do not come,” a source with a state oil company in the region, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has apologised for attacking neighbouring countries, in a pre-recorded address released on state television. Within minutes of the statement’s release, an explosion was heard over Doha, as attacks on Gulf nations continue.
Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu was elected on promises to tackle the nation’s widespread violence and address two of its root causes: Poverty and corruption. But with the country going to the polls next year, has he delivered on his "Renewed Hope" agenda?
Mehdi Hasan goes head-to-head with Daniel Bwala, Tinubu’s once staunch critic-turned-Special Adviser on Media and Policy Communications, on the administration’s record in office and where he stands on his past accusations against his current boss.
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President Donald Trumpsaid Thursday on social media he was firing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and would name Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace her.
Trump thanked Noem for her service, saying in his Truth Social post she “has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!)” and that she “will be moving to be Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere.”
He said Mullin would take over the position March 31.
Trump loves watching Mullin on TV, aides said, which played a role in the president’s decision to tap him for the position. Trump has called Mullin following combative interviews to praise him and White House staffers have often dispatched the senator to do cable news hits around big moments for the administration.
Noem learned of her firing as she was arriving at an event in Nashville, Tennessee, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Two of the sources said Trump called Noem directly to inform her of his decision.
She thanked the president in a social media post shortly after the announcement.
Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo GCFR (born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian general and statesman who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its president from 1999 to 2007. Ideologically a Nigerian nationalist, he was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from 1998 to 2015, and since 2018.
Umunna clock it, Governor Soludo's son tells Anambra people to rate his new hairstyle. But instead of clocking it, they are calling him and his father out.
Renowned Congolese singer Koffi Olomidé has married his longtime partner, Cindy Le Coeur, after nearly 20 years together.
The couple, aged 69 and 43, tied the knot in a civil ceremony on February 28, attended by close family members and a government official. The private event has since sparked reactions from fans across social media.
The ‘Legende’ singer donned a customised golden blazer, gold shirt, cream white wide leg trousers, white shoes and shades.
Cindy wore a cream-white trouser suit, paired with a matching blouse with a touch of pink, and a shiny tiara neatly set atop her hair.
Sharing moments from the ceremony on Instagram, Olomidé wrote, “We were all beautiful and elegantly dressed, radiant as ever. Tasty as ever.”
The couple arrived at their high-end private venue in a luxury Mercedes S-Class.
Olomidé made his entrance walking down the aisle hand in hand with his daughter, Minou, while Cindy followed shortly after, smiling brightly. The venue was decorated with pink and white flowers, setting the tone for the celebration.
As they exchanged vows before a government official, the atmosphere turned playful when Olomidé slid a ring onto Cindy’s finger.
Husband, 19, fatally shot wife, 24, himself at Alabama hospital moments after welcoming their first child
A husband fatally shot his wife before turning the gun on himself at an Alabama hospital just moments after they welcomed their first child on Sunday.
Kynath Terry Jr., 19, gunned down 24-year-old Precious Johnson before fatally shooting himself inside the Baptist Health Brookwood Hospital around 9:30 p.m. Sunday night, WTVM 13 reported.
Johnson delivered a healthy baby just before she was murdered. It’s not immediately clear if the baby was present during the shooting, but police said that Terry and Johnson were the only ones injured.
Terry’s mother told the outlet that the couple were having some marital issues leading up to Johnson’s due date, but nothing that made her fear her son would become violent.
She told the outlet that Terry completed Army National Guard training before tying the knot with Johnson.
She noted that Johnson didn’t want Terry’s side of the family at the hospital for her child’s birth, but it’s unclear if anyone from the mother-to-be’s own family was there.
The hospital was plunged into a lockdown “out of an abundance of caution” while police investigated reports of a shooting. It wasn’t lifted until hours later when they determined there was “no active threat to patients, team members or the public,” the outlet reported.
The Homewood Police Department described the tragedy as “an apparent murder-suicide and is domestic in nature.”
Danne Howard, the president of the Alabama Hospital Association, told the outlet that the chilling attack “was an isolated incident” unlike anything she’d encountered during her three decades working in the state.
Howard said, in the wake of the tragedy, the Baptist Health Brookwood Hospital would undergo a security overhaul implementing “lessons learned” from a mandated after-action report.
Pakistan defence minister says country in 'open war' with Afghanistan after strikes
Pakistan's defence minister has said the country is in "open war" with Afghanistan, after Islamabad launched airstrikes on Kabul as part of a wave of attacks across the country.
"Our patience has now run out," said Khawaja Muhammad Asif following the attacks.
The strikes came after the Afghan Taliban announced a major offensive against Pakistani military posts near the border on Thursday night.
The latest attacks follow months of clashes between the two neighbouring nations, despite agreeing to a fragile ceasefire in October.
Last year's negotiations failed to reach a broader agreement for a complete end to hostilities, with both side blaming each other for not engaging seriously with talks.
The Taliban said a "retaliatory operation" had been launched at around 20:00 local time (15:30 GMT) on Thursday.
It said it had captured 19 Pakistani military posts and two bases, adding that 55 Pakistani soldiers had been killed. The BBC has not been able to verify these claims.
Pakistan quickly retaliated, saying the Taliban had "miscalculated and opened unprovoked fire on multiple locations" across the border in its north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which had been met with an "immediate and effective response" by Islamabad's security forces.
It then launched a series of bombing raids on Afghanistan in the early hours of Friday morning, striking targets in Kabul, Kandahar and Paktika in response to what they called "unprovoked Afghan attacks".
All three cities are close to the shared Pakistani-Afghan mountainous border that spans 2,600 km (1,615 miles).
Pakistan's military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said it had hit 22 Afghan military targets and killed more that 200 Taliban fighters. At least 12 Pakistani soldiers had died, he added.
But the Taliban's spokesman Mujahid said just 13 Taliban fighters had been killed and 22 others injured, while 13 civilians had been injured and an indeterminate number killed.
The BBC has not been able to verify these numbers. During these hostilities, both sides have claimed to have inflicted heavy losses on the other while suffering little damage to their own.
In response to the strikes, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Afghan Taliban spokesman, published - then subsequently deleted - a post on X that the group had launched strikes early on Friday on Pakistani military positions in Kandahar and Helmand, two provinces in Afghanistan.
The Afghan Taliban has said it carried out air strikes on several targets within Pakistan, on Friday morning. Sources in the Taliban government told the BBC these were with drones launched from Afghanistan.
Pakistan's Information Minister Atta Tarar said its military thwarted Afghan drones targeting Swabi, Nowshera and Abbottabad, which is a military garrison city housing the army's military academy.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his country's forces had "the full capability to crush any aggressive ambitions", vowing that there would be "no compromise" in defending their "beloved homeland".
Foreign Affairs › Re: Iran's New Supreme Leader Is "In A Coma" And Has Lost A Leg — Report by nlfpmod(mod): 7:36pm On Mar 12
