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Egypt finishes trial run of new Suez Canal channel extension
Egypt said on Saturday it had effectively evaluated a brand-new 10 km channel near the southern end of the Suez Canal, even as its profits from the waterway has plunged considering that Yemen's Houthi militants began attacking vessels in the Red Sea. The Suez Canal Authority stated in a declaration that during a. trial run two ships travelled through a brand-new stretch of the canal's. two-way area without event. Following the 2021 grounding of the container ship Ever. Considered that obstructed the important waterway for 6 days, Egypt. sped up strategies to extend the 2nd channel in the southern. reaches of the canal and broaden the existing channel. Its revenue from the waterway, the entrance to the fastest. path in between Europe and Asia, has nonetheless tumbled considering that. Yemen's Houthi militants began attacking ships in the Red Sea in. November 2023 in what they say is uniformity with Palestinian. militants in Gaza. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Thursday. that due to local challenges, the nation had actually lost. roughly $7 billion in Suez Canal income in 2024, marking. more than a 60% drop from 2023. According to the Suez Canal Authority, the current growth. extends the overall length of the canal's two-way section to 82 km. from a previous 72 km. The canal is 193 km long in total. This growth will boost the canal's capability by an. additional 6 to 8 ships daily and enhance its ability to deal with. possible emergency situations, the Suez Canal Authority said in its. statement. Previously this year, Egypt said that it was thinking about an. extra expansion task different to the 10 km channel. extension.
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Gazprom states it will stop gas exports to Moldova from January 1
Russian energy giant Gazprom stated on Saturday it would suspend gas exports to Moldova from 0500 GMT on January 1 due to unpaid debt by Moldova. It said the business booked the right to take any action, including terminating the supply agreement with Moldova. The supply suspension is a precursor for an overall shutdown of Russian gas exports through Ukraine and to Europe, where it streams even more to Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and Italy, as soon as the existing transit handle Ukraine ends on Dec. 31. Russia supplies Moldova with about 2 billion cubic metres of gas annually through Ukraine. This is piped to the breakaway region of Transdniestria which utilizes the gas to produce low-cost power, which it sells on to the rest of Moldova. Moldova's population of 2.5 million has been preparing for long power cuts since Kyiv stated it will not extend its transit contract with Gazprom.
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Putin apologises to Aliyev over 'terrible event' with Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash
Russia's Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologised to Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, for a awful incident which happened in Russian airspace including an Azerbaijan Airlines guest aircraft that crashed on Wednesday. Flight J2-8243 crashed on Wednesday in a ball of fire near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia where Ukrainian drones were reported to be assaulting numerous cities. A minimum of 38 individuals were killed while 29 survived. ( President) Vladimir Putin apologised for the terrible incident that happened in Russian airspace and once again revealed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wanted a speedy recovery to the injured, the Kremlin said in a statement. It was kept in mind in the conversation that the Azerbaijani passenger aircraft, which was taking a trip according to its schedule, repeatedly tried to land at Grozny airport. At that time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial cars, and Russian air defense systems warded off these attacks, the Kremlin said.
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Cyber attack on Italy's Foreign Ministry, airports declared by pro-Russian hacker group
Hackers targeted around 10 main websites in Italy on Saturday, consisting of the websites of the Foreign Ministry and Milan's 2 airports, putting them out of action briefly, the country's cyber security agency said. The pro-Russian hacker group Noname057( 16) claimed the cyber attack on Telegram, stating Italy's Russophobes get a well was worthy of cyber reaction. A representative for Italy's cyber security firm said it was possible that the so-called Dispersed Denial of Service ( DDoS) attack might be linked to the pro-Russian group. In such attacks, hackers try to flood a network with abnormally high volumes of data traffic in order to paralyse it. The representative stated the company supplied quick support to the institutions and companies targeted which the attack's. impact was alleviated in less than 2 hours. The cyber attack has actually not caused any interruptions to flights. at Milan's Linate and Malpensa airports, a spokesperson for SEA,. the company which handles them, stated. While the sites were unattainable, the airports' mobile. apps continued to work, the SEA representative added.
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Finland moves tanker suspected of undersea cable damage closer to port
Finnish authorities said on Saturday they are moving an impounded tanker closer to port after boarding the vessel carrying Russian oil previously today on suspicion it had actually harmed an undersea power line and four telecoms cable televisions. Baltic Sea nations have actually been on high alert after a string of failures of power cable televisions, telecom links and gas pipelines because Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022, and NATO said on Friday it would enhance its presence in the region. The Cook Islands-registered ship, named by authorities as the Eagle S, was boarded on Thursday by a Finnish coast guard team that took command and cruised the vessel to Finnish waters, a coast guard official said. Finnish authorities think the Eagle S might have triggered the damage to undersea cable televisions the previous day by dragging its anchor along the seabed. The police start an operation to transfer the Eagle S. tanker from the Gulf of Finland to Svartbeck, an inner anchorage. near the port of Kilpilahti, the Helsinki authorities department. said in a statement on Saturday. This would be a much better place to perform. examinations, it added. Finland's customizeds service believes the ship becomes part of a. shadow fleet of ageing tankers being used to avert sanctions. on the sale of Russian oil. The Kremlin stated on Friday Finland's seizure of the ship was. of little concern to it. In the past, Russia has actually denied. participation in any of the Baltic infrastructure incidents.
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Russia's pipeline gas exports to Europe up 13% in 2024, calculations show
Pipeline gas exports by Russian energy giant Gazprom to Europe increased by 13% in 2024 to around 32 billion cubic metres (bcm), Reuters estimations showed on Saturday, slightly more than the 31 bcm supplied to China. Gazprom's average daily pipeline exports have actually been stable this December, at 91.3 million cubic metres (mcm), in contrast with November, but rose by 7% from December 2023, estimations based upon data from European gas transmission group Entsog and Gazprom's everyday reports on gas transit by means of Ukraine revealed. Its overall supply to the European Union stood at about 2.8 bcm in December, the preliminary data showed, including 1.5 bcm, or 49.2 mcm each day, sent via Turkey. Gas transit by means of Ukraine has actually reached around 1.3 bcm this month, or 42.1 mcm each day, nearly unchanged from November despite Russia stopping gas exports to Austria's OMV in mid-November over a legal conflict. Gazprom's exports to Europe through Ukraine this year have reached about 15 bcm. The transit agreement between Moscow and Kyiv ends in the end of the year and is not likely to continue as Ukraine has repeatedly stated it hesitated to do so amid the armed force conflict. President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday there was no time left this year to sign a new Ukrainian gas transit offer, and laid the blame securely on Ukraine for refusing to extend the contract that brings gas to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria. Gazprom, which has actually not published its own month-to-month stats because the start of 2023, did not respond to a request for comment. Russia provided about 63.8 bcm of gas to Europe by various routes in 2022, Gazprom data and Reuters computations show. That fell by 55.6% to 28.3 bcm last year. At their peak in 2018-2019, annual flows to Europe reached between 175 bcm and 180 bcm.
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WHO chief explains ordeal during Israeli strike on Yemen airport
The head of the World Health Company said on Friday he was not exactly sure he was going to survive an air strike on Yemen's primary airport carried out by Israel a day previously throughout a series of attacks on the Iranaligned Houthi movement. Speaking after his ordeal at the Sanaa International Airport on Thursday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the surges that rocked the building were so deafening that his ears were still ringing more than a day later on. Tedros said it rapidly became apparent the airport was under attack, describing people running in disarray through the website after roughly four blasts, one of them amazingly close to where he was sitting near the departure lounge. I was not exactly sure really I might make it through because it was so close, a couple of meters from where we were, he told Reuters. A. minor variance might have led to a direct hit. Tedros stated he and his colleagues were stuck at the airport. for the next hour approximately as what he believed were drones flew. overhead, feeding issue they might open fire again. Among the. particles, he and associates saw rocket fragments, he stated. There (was) no shelter at all. Absolutely nothing. So you're just. exposed, just waiting for anything to occur, he said. The Israeli strikes on Yemen followed Houthis repeatedly fired. drones and missiles toward Israel in what they describe as acts. of uniformity with Palestinians in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated afterwards. that Israel was just starting with the Houthis. The Houthi-controlled Saba News Agency said three people. passed away in the strikes on the airport and three were killed in. Hodeidah, with 40 others injured in the attacks. Speaking by telephone from Jordan, where he flew on Friday,. helping to evacuate a U.N. associate seriously hurt at the. airport for additional medical treatment, Tedros stated he had. received no caution Israel might be about to strike the airport. The hurt male, who worked for the U.N. Humanitarian Air. Service, was now OK and in a steady condition, he stated. Tedros took a trip to Yemen over Christmas to attempt to negotiate. the release of U.N. personnel and others held there. He acknowledged. that he and colleagues knew the trip was dangerous due to high. stress in between Israel and the Houthis. However such was the window of opportunity to work for the. release of the U.N. workers that they believed they had to. take it, stated Tedros, a previous Ethiopian foreign minister. He said talks with Yemeni authorities had actually worked out which. he saw a chance that the 16 U.N. staff along with workers of. diplomatic missions and NGO employees held there might be released. He decreased to take part in recriminations over the attack however. stated his schedule had actually been shared publicly and expressed. surprise that civilian facilities must have been targeted. So a civilian airport should be protected, whether I am in. it or not, he said, before observing there was nothing. special about what he had actually dealt with in Yemen. Among my colleagues. stated we narrowly escaped death. I'm just one human being. So I. feel for those who are facing the very same thing every day. But at least it allowed me to feel the method they feel. I'm concerned about our world, where it's heading, Tedros. included, advising world leaders to interact to end global. disputes. I have never ... as far as I can keep in mind, seen the. world actually remaining in such a really dangerous state..
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Bezos' Blue Origin gets FAA license for its very first New Glenn rocket launch
The Federal Aviation Administration stated on Friday that it has actually released a business space launch license for Blue Origin's-- Jeff Bezos' rocket company-- New Glenn launch. Blue Origin entered into an extremely competitive area it has actually long looked for to sign up with, as the U.S. Department of Defense chose the company, along with Elon Musk's SpaceX and Boeing-Lockheed joint venture United Launch Alliance, to compete for nationwide security area missions. The Pentagon had made initial selections under a $5.6 billion program in June. The five-year license permits Blue Origin to conduct orbital missions from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida with the recyclable New Glenn very first phase landing on an intrude the Atlantic Ocean, the FAA stated in a statement. The New Glenn launching will be an accreditation objective required by the U.S. Area Force before the company can start launching nationwide security satellites. The launching objective was formerly indicated to launch a pair of NASA spacecraft to Mars before late October, but New Glenn had not finished its advancement by then, triggering NASA to move the spacecraft off the rocket. Rather, New Glenn will release innovation related to its Blue Ring program, a line of service that will provide maneuverable spacecraft to the Pentagon. SpaceX has dominated the launch market with its partly multiple-use Falcon 9 rocket and is in the procedure of checking its next-generation rocket, Starship, which is designed to be fully recyclable. Throughout a flight test in October, Starship's towering first-stage booster had the ability to return from the edge of area to its Texas launch pad for the first time. Blue Origin, on the other hand, has struggled to bring its giant New Glenn rocket to market. In December last year, it tapped Amazon veteran Dave Limp to speed up development of its New Glenn rocket.
What we understand about the Azerbaijan Airlines airplane crash
A guest jet operated by Azerbaijan Airlines crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, after diverting from an area of southern Russia where Moscow has actually consistently utilized air defence systems against Ukrainian attack drones.
At least 38 people were killed while 29 endured.
Here is what we know so far:
WHAT HAPPENED?
Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 from Azerbaijan's capital Baku flew numerous miles off its arranged route to Grozny, in Russia's southern Chechnya region, and crashed on the opposite coast of the Caspian Sea around 3 km (1.8 miles) from Aktau in Kazakhstan.
It is not understood why the aircraft drifted off hundreds of miles throughout the Caspian Sea. Russia's air travel guard dog said on Friday the aircraft had decided to reroute from its initial destination amid dense fog and a. regional alert over Ukrainian drones.
WHAT CAUSED THE CRASH?
This is not yet referred to as a main investigation gets. underway. Four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of. Azerbaijan's investigation told Reuters on Thursday that Russian. air defences had actually wrongly shot it down. Pictures of the plane. wreckage revealed what seemed shrapnel damage to the tail. area of the aircraft.
Kremlin representative Dmitry Peskov stated on Friday he had. absolutely nothing to include and did not want to give any evaluations until. the main investigation made its conclusions. Russia's aviation watchdog stated on Wednesday the emergency may. have actually been triggered by a bird strike. Russia has said it is. important to wait for the official investigation to finish its. work to understand what took place.
On Friday, Azerbaijan Airlines stated preliminary outcomes of. an examination revealed the aircraft experienced external physical. and technical interference, without offering information. 2 travelers on the airplane informed Reuters that there was at least. one loud bang as it approached its initial destination Grozny.
EXAMINATION
Kazakhstan is leading the examination which will be. performed under worldwide rules known throughout the. industry by their legal name Annex 13, governed by the United. Nations aviation body ICAO.
The airplane's black box, which consists of flight information to help. figure out the cause of a crash, had actually been found, Interfax. reported on Wednesday.
The governments of passengers and crew on board - Azeri,. Kazakh, Russian and Kyrgyz - and Brazil, which is home of the. planemaker Embraer will likely be included. The. United States, where the aircraft's engine was made, might also. get involved. Brazil sent three Air Force detectives to Kazakhstan to take. part in the probe. Embraer representatives are likewise on the. ground, according to Kazakhstan's president, local media. reported. Under Annex 13 guidelines, an initial report will be. released within one month of the occurrence and a final report. within 12 months. The final report on the unexpected downing of a jet in Iran took. over a year to be released by Iran's civil air travel body.
IS THERE A PRECEDENT FOR THIS KIND OF EVENT?
If confirmed, it would be the third major fatal downing of a. passenger jet linked to armed conflict because 2014, according to. the Flight Security Structure's Aviation Safety Network, an international. database of mishaps and events.
Previous disasters include the shooting down of Ukraine. International Airlines Flight PS752 in 2020 by Iran's. Revolutionary Guards, killing all 176 people on board.
In 2014, Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over. eastern Ukraine by a Russian BUK rocket system with the loss of. 298 passengers and crew.
EFFECT ON AIRLINES' OPERATIONS. Azerbaijan's civil aviation body stated flights from Baku to. Russia would be suspended for security reasons till the release. of the last report. Flydubai has suspended flights to 2. southern Russian airports considering that the crash.
(source: Reuters)