16m ago U.N. says Houthis’ escalation risks expanding conflict The U.N.’s most powerful body said late Friday that the Houthis’ military escalation, attacks and threats “risk further expanding the conflict, threatening maritime security and international trade” while undermining regional and international efforts to secure peace in Yemen. It warned that continued escalation would exacerbate…
The global shipping industry is facing a “genuinely unprecedented” convergence of maritime crises, with vessels and seafarers increasingly used as “leverage” in conflicts that have nothing to do with them. Four regions – the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, the waters off Somalia, and the Black Sea – are now simultaneously active theatres of…
Iranian officials privately told Trump advisers that they made a mistake in shooting at commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, that the attacks stemmed from an “errant” sect of hardliners who are trying to undermine negotiations, and that they want to keep talking, senior U.S. officials said on Friday. The White House wants the…
Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has released a statement saying he didn’t like Iran-U.S. peace deal, but allowed the president of Iran to sign it, “safeguarding the rights of the Iranian nation.” Khamenei took a shot at President Trump, writing, it was “the American president who, out of desperation, used all kinds of leverage to…
Cruise ships are convenient floating hotels by which to see far-flung parts of the world – but as an epidemiologist, I know they are also everything an infectious pathogen could want: thousands of strangers packed into enclosed spaces for days or weeks, sharing dining rooms and high-touch surfaces such as elevator buttons and handrails, breathing…
Cruises are sold as floating holidays, but they are also useful for understanding public health. Cruise ships are carefully designed places where many people live, eat, relax and move through the same shared spaces for days at a time. They show how easily illness can spread when people are packed into a single interconnected environment….
The leader of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah has reiterated the group’s rejection of an ongoing ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that was brokered by the U.S. “There is no ceasefire in Lebanon, but rather continuous Israeli-American aggression,” declared Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem in a written statement Monday, vowing that Hezbollah would “remain patient and continue…
Oil tankers are remaining cautious about sailing through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran declared Friday that the sea lane is open to commercial ships, video footage shows. Oil futures contracts tumbled Friday as the market interpreted the announcement from Tehran as a major breakthrough that will ease the massive disruption to global energy supplies….
World shares were mixed Friday even after Wall Street set another record, as investors watched for signs of more U.S.-Iran talks and an extension of the ceasefire of the Iran war that is expiring next week. Oil prices fell Friday, while U.S. futures edged up. President Trump suggested Thursday that he’s open to extending the…
The war in Iran has dominated headlines with reports of airstrikes and escalating military activity. But beyond the immediate devastation, the conflict has also illuminated a quieter and rapidly growing danger: the vulnerability of ships, and the people who operate them, to disruption of their navigation systems. Modern shipping depends heavily on GPS satellite navigation….
