Frances Kerry News

Houthi forces in Yemen said on Sunday they had launched rockets and drones at British, U.S. and Israeli ships, the latest in a campaign of attacks on shipping in support of Palestinians in the Gaza war.The Iran-aligned group said it had targeted a British ship and a number of U.S. frigates in the Red Sea, while in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean it had attacked two Israeli vessels heading to Israeli ports.The operations took place during the last 72 hours, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a televised statement…

Seventeen people were injured when a Bulgarian cruise ship crashed into a concrete wall in a sluice on the River Danube in the northern Austrian town of Aschach an der Donau, local police said on Saturday.Some 160 passengers were aboard the ship traveling from Bavaria in Germany to the Austrian city of Linz, a spokesperson for police in the nearby town of Eferding said.Eleven of the injured were taken to hospital and the ship was able to continue onwards after the accident, the spokesperson said.It was not immediately clear how serious the injuries were, the spokesperson said.Local media said

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis claimed responsibility for an attack on a UK-owned cargo ship and a drone assault on an American destroyer on Thursday, and they targeted Israel's port and resort city of Eilat with ballistic missiles and drones.The statement by a Houthi representative on social media site X came shortly after the group's leader said it was ramping up attacks on ships in the Red Sea and other waters - including with new "submarine weapons" -to mirror Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip.Houthi militants have launched repeated drone and missile strikes in the Red Sea…

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis claimed responsibility on Saturday for an attack on the oil tanker M/T Pollux, which U.S. officials said the previous day had been hit by a missile."The naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a targeting operation against a British oil ship (Pollux) in the Red Sea with a large number of appropriate naval missiles," Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement, adding the strikes "were accurate and direct".U.S. Central Command…

Commodities trader Trafigura said on Saturday it was assessing the security risks of further Red Sea voyages after firefighters put out a blaze on a tanker attacked by Yemen's Houthi group a day earlier.The U.S. military said a U.S. Navy ship and other vessels provided assistance after the Marlin Luanda was hit by a Houthi anti-ship missile."No further vessels operating on behalf of Trafigura are currently transiting the Gulf of Aden and we continue to assess carefully the risks involved in any voyage…

U.S. helicopters repelled an attack by Iran-backed Houthi militants on a Maersk container vessel in the Red Sea, sinking three ships and killing 10 militants, according to accounts by American, Maersk, and Houthi officials on Sunday.The naval battle occurred around 0330 GMT on Sunday as the attackers sought to board the Singapore-flagged Maersk Hangzhou, Maersk and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said. Helicopters from the USS Eisenhower and USS Gravely joined the ship's security team in repelling the attackers after receiving a distress call…

Israel is prepared to let ships deliver aid to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip "immediately" as part of a proposed sea corridor from Cyprus, the Israeli foreign minister said on Sunday, naming four European countries as potential participants.Under the arrangement first suggested by Nicosia in November, cargo would undergo security inspection in the Cypriot port of Larnaca before being ferried to the Gaza coast, 370 km (230 miles) away, rather than through neighbouring Egypt or Israel.If the plan goes ahead…

The United States believes that Iran is involved in the planning and execution of drone and missile attacks by Yemen's Houthi group on Israel and ships in the Red Sea, a senior aide to U.S. President Joe Biden said on Thursday.The comments by deputy White House national security adviser Jon Finer are among the most explicit to date by a U.S. official alleging Iranian involvement in the Houthi attacks.Finer spoke hours after the United States imposed new sanctions aimed at throttling what U.S.

A vessel carrying steel products to Africa has left Ukraine's Odesa port through a temporary Black Sea corridor, the second ship to do so since Russia withdrew last month from a U.N.-brokered deal that allowed for grain to be safely exported, a senior Ukrainian government official said on Sunday.Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said the Liberian-flagged ship Primus had begun sailing through a temporary corridor set up for civilian vessels, confirming a report on Saturday by a Ukrainian lawmaker."The second vessel blocked due to the war has left the port of Odesa and is now sailing through a temporary corridor," Kubrakov posted on the social media platform X, formerly called Twitter.Kubrakov said the ship had been at the port since Feb.

A Ukrainian sea drone full of explosives struck a Russian fuel tanker near a bridge linking Russia to annexed Crimea, the second such attack in 24 hours, both sides said on Saturday.No one was hurt, but the Crimean Bridge and ferry transport were suspended for several hours, according to Russian-installed officials in Crimea, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014.A Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters that the drone with 450 kg of explosives hit the SIG vessel as it transported fuel for the Russian military in Ukrainian territorial waters."The tanker was well loaded with fuel, so the 'fireworks' were seen from afar," the source said…

The United States envoy to South Africa said on Thursday he was confident that a Russian ship had picked up weapons in South Africa last year, in a possible breach of Pretoria's declared neutrality in the Ukraine conflict.The rand and South Africa's 2030 government bond extended losses after the U.S. assertion as currency traders said they were worried that South Africa could now face Western sanctions.The government is launching an independent inquiry led by a retired judge into the alleged arms shipment, the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement.Earlier, Ramaphosa did not confirm or deny the shipment took place when an opposition leader asked him about it in parliament.The U.S.

A containership that broke down in Egypt's Suez Canal on Sunday causing some traffic to be diverted has resumed its journey, the Canal Authority said.The authority said in an earlier statement that the MSC Istanbul, sailing under the flag of Liberia, became stranded while transiting the canal on its way from Malaysia to Portugal.Four tugboats had been working to move it, and traffic in the vital waterway had not been affected, the statement said."All the ships that are coming from the north have normally passed and navigation from the south also proceeded normally after the ships were diverted

Turkey emerged as a critical stumbling block to a complex international plan to deprive Russia of wartime oil revenues as the number of tankers waiting to exit the Black Sea through Turkish straits continued to rise on Friday.Ankara has declined to scrap a new insurance inspection rule it implemented at the beginning of the month despite days of pressure from Western officials frustrated by the policy.A total of 28 oil tankers are in a queue seeking to leave the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, the Tribeca shipping agency said on Friday.G7 wealthy countries, the European Union and Australia agreed to bar providers of shipping services…

The United Nations, Turkey, and Ukraine are pressing ahead to implement a Black Sea grain deal with a transit plan in place for 16 ships on Monday, despite Russia suspending its participation in the pact that has allowed the export of Ukrainian agricultural products to world markets.Russia, which invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, halted its role in the Black Sea deal on Saturday for an "indefinite term" because it said it could not "guarantee safety of civilian ships" travelling under the pact after an attack on its Black Sea fleet.The United Nations and Turkey…

Israel gave its preliminary nod on Sunday to a draft U.S.-brokered deal demarcating a maritime border with Lebanon that may lead to profit-sharing in a disputed Mediterranean gas prospect. Hoping to defuse one source of conflict between the hostile countries and prod them toward accommodation, U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein last week submitted a new proposal that would pave the way for offshore energy exploration.After years of stop-start shuttle diplomacy, agreement seems closer than ever.

Divers sealed two tank vents that leaked fuel from a bulk carrier that was damaged and beached after a collision off the British enclave of Gibraltar on the southern tip of Spain, local authorities said on Thursday.The hull of the bulk carrier OS 35 broke after the collision with an LNG tanker and started leaking fuel oil on Wednesday, but the vessel has not broken into two parts."The Captain of the Port confirmed that the leak of low sulphur fuel oil from the tank vents is fully under control," the Gibraltar government said in a statement.The LNG tanker was not significantly affected by the c

Just under 500 seafarers remain stuck onboard 109 ships at Ukrainian ports - skeleton crews who were left on board to enable their crew mates to be evacuated amid the conflict with Russia, shipping officials said on Friday.Those remaining should be allowed safe passage out too, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) association said.Two seafarers have been killed and six merchant vessels have been hit by projectiles - which sank two of them - around Ukraine's coast since the start of Russia's invasion on Feb.

Long queues of holidaymakers and lorries built up on Saturday outside the Port of Dover, Britain's main gateway to Europe, and officials said the disruption could be worse than the logjam seen on Friday.Travelers setting out at the start of the British school summer holidays, as well as the usual flow of goods lorries, have faced long delays because of slow border checks.The Kent Resilience Forum, which brings together local councils and emergency services, declared a "major incident"…

Four ships carrying Ukrainian foodstuffs sailed from Ukrainian Black Sea ports on Sunday as part of a deal to unblock the country's sea exports, Ukrainian and Turkish officials said.The four bulk carriers were loaded with almost 170,000 tonnes of corn and other foodstuffs, Ukraine's sea ports authority said on Facebook.The resumption of grain exports is being overseen by a Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul where Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and U.N. personnel are working.The United Nations and Turkey brokered the deal last month after U.N. warnings of possible outbreaks of famine in parts of the world due to a halt in grain shipments from Ukraine that had squeezed supplies and sent prices soaring.On Saturday…

More than 30 ships from the Russian Black Sea fleet have started training exercises near the Crimea peninsula as part of wider navy drills, RIA news agency reported on Saturday citing the fleet, as Western nations warned that a war in Ukraine could ignite at any moment.Russia's military moves are being closely scrutinized as its massing of troops near Ukraine and a volley of hawkish rhetoric have rattled the West and sparked concern it plans to invade Ukraine.

Libyan oil output will resume from all shuttered fields and ports, the Tripoli government's newly installed head of National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Friday after meeting groups that have blockaded the facilities for months.The decision to lift force majeure on production could mean a return of 850,000 barrels per day (BPD) of oil to the market that has been shut off by the groups aligned with eastern commander Khalifa Haftar.Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah of the Government…

Russian missiles hit Ukraine's southern port of Odesa on Saturday, the Ukrainian military said, threatening a deal signed just a day earlier to unblock grain exports from Black Sea ports and ease global food shortages caused by the war.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the strike blatant "barbarism" showing Moscow could not be trusted to implement the deal. However, public broadcaster Suspilne quoted the Ukrainian military as saying the missiles had not caused significant…

Iran's state maritime body said on Saturday the crew of two Greek tankers seized by its Revolutionary Guards on Friday had not been detained, and were in good health and being cared for on board their vessels.Iranian forces seized two Greek tankers in the Gulf on Friday, shortly after Tehran warned it would take "punitive action" against Athens over the confiscation of Iranian oil by the United States from a tanker held off the Greek coast."The crew of the two Greek tankers have not been arrested, and all crew members ... are in good health and are being protected, and provided with necessary services while on board, in accordance with international law…