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Larry King News

20 Nov 2020

WTO Sees Trade Rebound, But Likely Year-end Slowdown

© Hor / Adobe Stock

The World Trade Organization said on Friday global trade in goods had rebounded in the third quarter from COVID-19 lockdowns, but predicted a slowdown at the end of 2020.The WTO said its goods trade barometer had risen to 100.7 points from a record low of 84.5 points in August, driven by a surge in export orders. A reading greater than 100 indicates above-trend growth.“The latest reading indicates a strong rebound in trade in the third quarter as lockdowns were eased, but growth is likely to slow in the fourth quarter as pent-up demand is exhausted and inventory restocking is completed…

14 Feb 2019

French Minister says Government Backs Fincantieri's Deal

The French government is in favour of Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri's acquisition of rival Chantiers de l'Atlantique, foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the newspaper Corriere della Sera in an interview."It's a good deal ... As far as the French government is concerned, we're in favour of this accord," Le Drian said.(Reporting by Valentina Za, editing by Larry King)

18 Oct 2018

Croatia May Pay $651.6 Mln to Uljanik Shipyard

(File photo: Uljanik)

Croatia may have to pay 4.2 billion kuna ($651.57 million) for the costs of state guarantees extended to an ailing Adriatic shipyard that has been struggling to survive in recent months, Finance Minister Zdravko Maric said on Thursday.The figure is close to 1.2 percent of Croatia's gross domestic product."This year we will have to pay 2.5 billion kuna on the basis of state guarantees for Uljanik," Maric told an economic conference in the northern Adriatic town of Rovinj.Several…

09 Aug 2018

Italy Uncovers Massive Load of Hash in Ship's Fuel Tanks

Italian police said on Thursday they found 20 tonnes of hash worth as much as 200 million euros ($232 million) in the fuel tanks of a Panama-flagged ship that was stopped in international waters and escorted to Sicily.The entire 11-person crew, all from Montenegro, was arrested for international drugs trafficking, Italy's finance police said in a statement.The research and survey vessel Remus left the Canary Islands bound for Egypt and Turkey, but police surveillance showed it had turned off its position transmitter near the coast of North Africa, raising investigators' suspicions.With the permission of Panamanian authorities, Italian finance police seized the vessel in international waters on July 31 and escorted it to Palermo.

25 Jul 2018

Saudi Oil Tanker Attacked Off Yemen Coast

© Anatoly Menzhiliy / Adobe Stock

Yemen's Houthis attacked a Saudi oil tanker in the Red Sea, causing slight damage, an Arab coalition said on Wednesday, after the Houthis reported targeting a Saudi warship in the area.Saudi Arabia and its coalition of Sunni Muslim allies have been fighting in Yemen for three years against the Iran-aligned Houthis, who control much of north Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa, and drove a Saudi-backed government into exile in 2014.One of the coalition's main justifications for its intervention is to protect shipping routes such as the Red Sea…

04 May 2018

Sri Lanka Approves LNG Plant Near Chinese-controlled Port

Sri Lanka's state-run investment body has approved a $500 million liquefied natural gas plant by China Machinery Engineering Corp near a Chinese-controlled port and industrial zone, the development strategies minister said on Friday.The state-run Board of Investment has approved investment projects worth $1 billion in the first quarter, Malik Samarawickrama said, the largest of which was the LNG project in Hambantota, where China Merchants Port Holdings controls a Chinese-built port on a 99-year lease.The port, which is leased for $1.12 billion, is near the main shipping route from Asia to Europe and likely to play a major role in China’s "belt and road" initiativeChinese control of Hambantota…

15 Mar 2018

Seatrade Convicted for Scrapping Ships on Indian Beach

© knovakov / Adobe Stock

The Dutch shipping company Seatrade and two of its directors were found guilty by a Dutch court on Thursday of illegally sailing ships to India to have them demolished, the first criminal case of its kind in the Netherlands. The company and the directors were fined up to 750,000 euros ($925,275). The directors were also banned from executive roles at any shipping company for a year. They did escape the prison sentences prosecutors had asked for. The court said Seatrade had violated European Union rules by sending four ships to India for demolition in 2012.

01 Mar 2018

W. Africa Crude-Angolan Oil Trades on Spot

Nigerian crude sells into tenders, while Angolan trades more quickly on spot. * ExxonMobil had purchased two of the three Olombendo cargoes sold this week, traders said. * All three are likely to sail to the Mediterranean or the United States rather than China, the usual destination. * Angola's Sonangol sold its cargo of Dalia, which it had been offering at dated Brent minus 70 cents a barrel. The buyer was not clear, but traders said it was a western company rather than Asian. * Statoil had also sold a cargo of Angola's Saturno. * Sonangol was still offering another cargo of Dalia at dated Brent minus 70 cents a barrel and a cargo of Saxi at dated Brent plus 75 cents a barrel. * Nigerian crude cargoes Erha and Forcados were selling into tenders, but spot trade was limited.

26 Feb 2018

Israeli Navy Kills Palestinian after Boat Breaches Sailing Limit

© Rafael Ben-Ari / Adobe Stock

A Palestinian from the Gaza Strip died on Sunday after the Israeli navy fired on the boat he and two others were sailing in, a military spokeswoman said. The navy opened fire after the boat ignored warnings and strayed from a permitted fishing area in the northern Gaza Strip towards Israel, the spokeswoman said. One of the men in the boat was seriously wounded and later died. But the Gaza fishermen’s union said the boat was targeted as it was making its way back to Gaza, and Nizar Ayyash…

27 Apr 2017

Philippines Completes Scientific Survey in Disputed Sea

The Philippines has completed an 18-day scientific survey in the South China Sea to assess the condition of coral reefs and draw a nautical map of disputed area, a top security official said on Thursday. Two survey ships, including an advanced research vessel acquired from the United States, conducted surveys around Scarborough Shoal and on three islands, including Thitu, in the Spratly group, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon said. "This purely scientific and environmental undertaking was pursued in line with Philippine responsibilities under the U.N. Convention of the Law of the Sea to protect the marine biodiversity and ensure the safety of navigation within the Philippines' EEZ," Esperon said in a statement.

24 Mar 2017

Pirates Seize Somali Vessel to Use as Floating Base

Pirates have seized control of a Somali fishing boat to use as a base from which to attack larger ships, police said on Friday, a week after Somali pirates hijacked their first commercial vessel since 2012. Ten Yemeni crew aboard the boat were dumped on shore, officials told Reuters. "We understand that pirates hijacked the fishing vessel to hijack a big ship off the ocean," said Abdirahman Mohamud, head of maritime police forces in the semi-autonomous northern region of Puntland. "They dropped its 10 Yemeni crew and a Somali guard inland and disappeared with the boat together with the food, cook, captain and engineer," he told Reuters. Residents of Marrayo, a northern village near the pirate lair of Eyl, confirmed that pirates from their village had gone to hunt potential targets.

24 Oct 2016

EU to Continue Libyan Coast Guard Training after Attack on Migrants

The European Union will go ahead with training for the Libyan coast guard this week, days after a coast guard vessel allegedly attacked a boat carrying migrants, causing four of them to drown. The German humanitarian group Sea-Watch recovered the four bodies after an attack on Friday that its members say was carried out by a vessel with the markings of the Libyan coast guard. "The aim was to start the training this week, and this week it will start," the spokesman for the EU's Operation Sophia, Antonello De Renzis Sonnino, told Reuters. The bodies of the four migrants reached Palermo, Sicily, on Monday aboard the Norwegian rescue vessel Siem Pilot, which carried 1,100 rescued migrants and 13 other bodies.

21 Oct 2016

Seven Migrants Die on Day of Libyan Coast Guard Attack

The crew of a speedboat labelled "Libyan Coast Guard" attacked a migrant boat packed with some 150 migrants, beating them with sticks and causing many to fall into the water and at least four to drown, humanitarian group Sea-Watch said on Friday. Rescuers recovered three more dead bodies on a different rubber boat and picked up a total 3,300 survivors from 24 different boats during the day, Italy's coast guard said. Germany-based Sea-Watch, one of several non-governmental organisations operating vessels off the coast of Libya, said the speedboat swooped in just as they were about to go to the aid of the overcrowded rubber boat in the early hours of Friday.

17 Aug 2016

Spain Rescues 50 Migrants Drifting between South Coast and Morocco

Spanish authorities said on Wednesday they had rescued 50 migrants from Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa who were found the day before drifting in two boats off Spain's Mediterranean coast. Spain's maritime rescue service said it first spotted an inflatable boat with six Moroccan men stuck in high winds as it tried to cross the from Morocco's northern coast to the southern Spanish region of Almeria. A second boat with 34 men and 10 women from sub-Saharan African countries later was found in the same area. One woman was treated for burns but the rest of the migrants were in good health, the service said in a statement. All of the migrants were taken aboard a medical ship and transferred to Spain.

05 Jul 2016

Italy Rescues 4,500 Migrants in Mediterranean in one day

In the Mediterranean Sea in 2014, Lt. Kathleen Kostka, from Memphis, Tenn., and Lt. John Yosay, from Boardman, Ohio, both attached to Fleet Surgical Team 4, provide medical attention to migrants aboard the multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5).  (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Julie Matyascik/Released)

ROME, July 5 (Reuters) - Some 4,500 migrants were rescued from rubber dinghies and a wooden boat in the Mediterranean on Tuesday, Italy's coast guard said, as the sea calmed after a rough weekend. More than 67,000 migrants have arrived in Italy by sea so far this year, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said before the coast guard reported the latest rescues. Arrivals are down from the same period of 2015, but the number of deaths on the perilous route has jumped. Ten women were found dead in the bottom of a rubber boat last week .

11 Apr 2016

Pirates Kidnap Six Crew from Tanker off Nigeria

Six Turkish members of a cargo ship's crew have been kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Nigeria, a spokesman for the Nigerian navy said on Monday. The crew members of the merchant tanker M/T Puli were abducted some 90 miles from the coast at around 1:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) on Monday, navy spokesman Chris Ezekobe said. "Six crew members were abducted. They included the captain, the chief officer and chief engineer," Ezekobe said. The spokesman said the navy was going to board the vessel to speak to other crew members. Last month, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea agreed to establish combined patrols to bolster security in the Gulf of Guinea. The gulf is a significant source of oil, cocoa and metals for world markets, but pirates pose a threat to shipping companies.

01 Mar 2016

Mombasa Port Traffic up 7.5% in 2015

Container traffic through Kenya's biggest port grew by 7.5 percent in 2015 after new cargo-handling infrastructure was built, shortening the turnaround time for ships, port management said on Tuesday. The Indian Ocean port of Mombasa, the biggest in east Africa and the region's trade gateway, handles imports of fuel and consumer goods and exports of tea and coffee from landlocked neighbours, such as Uganda and South Sudan. Its traffic considered a measure for economic activity in east Africa. Acting managing director Catherine Muturi told a news conference in Mombasa that the port handled 26.7 million tonnes of cargo between January and December 2015, compared with 24.88 million tonnes handled during a similar period in 2014.

16 Feb 2016

South China Sea Takes Center Stage at US-ASEAN Summit

U.S. President Barack Obama and Southeast Asian leaders turned their attention to China on Tuesday on the second day of a summit intended to improve commercial links and provide a united front on maritime disputes with Beijing. After a first day discussing trade and economic issues at the Sunnylands resort in California, Obama and his Association of Southeast Asian Nations counterparts were to try to arrive at a common position on the South China Sea, where China and several ASEAN states have conflicting claims. Not all the 10 ASEAN nations agree on how to handle the disputes and U.S. officials want a statement calling for China to follow international law and handle disputes peacefully.

03 Sep 2015

Libya Plans to Sell Ex-rebel Tanker

Libya plans to sell a tanker that a former rebel group used in an attempt to bypass the Libyan government and export oil on its own last year, the Tripoli-based state prosecutor said on Thursday. The group had loaded crude on the "Morning Glory" at the eastern port of Es Sider and sailed in March 2014. U.S. Navy SEALs stopped the tanker off Cyprus and returned it to Tripoli. "The office of the prosecutor general announces the sale of the Morning Glory tanker," the prosecutor said on its website, the accuracy of which was confirmed by an official at the prosecutor's office. An auction is scheduled for next Thursday. The incident typifies the chaos in Libya since the uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

11 Aug 2015

'Sea Monster' Figurehead Salvaged from Baltic Sea Wreck

A wooden figurehead of a sea monster with ears like a lion and a crocodile's jaw was carefully lifted from the sea in southern Sweden on Tuesday by divers bringing up treasures from the wreck of a 15th-century Danish warship. The figurehead came from the wreck of the Gribshunden, which is believed to have sunk in 1495 after it caught fire on its way from Copenhagen to Kalmar on Sweden's east coast. Although the hull suffered extensive damage, the remaining bits make it one of the best preserved wrecks of its kind, dating from roughly the same period as Christopher Columbus's flagship, the Santa Maria. "Last time it looked at the world…

06 Aug 2015

France to Pay Russia Under €1.2 bln Over Warships

The total cost to France of reimbursing Russia for cancelling two warship contracts will be less than 1.2 billion euros, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Thursday. Le Drian said on radio RTL the initial price for the two Mistral helicopter carrier warships had been 1.2 billion euros, but France will have to pay less than that because the ships were not been finished and the contract was suspended. "Talks between President Putin and President Francois Hollande have concluded yesterday. There is no further dispute on the matter," he said. He added that the discussions had been held in an amiable way and that there were no further penalties to pay over the contract, which was cancelled because of Russia's role in the Ukraine conflict.

01 Jul 2015

Striking Ferry Workers to Ease Blockade of Calais Port

Striking ferry workers blocking access to Calais port in northern France agreed on Wednesday to let some boats through, partly lifting a blockade in its third day. Workers at ferry service MyFerryLink are trying to prevent job cuts after their company was sold to a Danish company earlier this month. They agreed to let some boats go after their representatives were invited to meet with Transport Ministry officials on Thursday morning, following a threat to disrupt traffic through the Channel Tunnel for 48 hours. "We've accepted to lift the blockade of the port from 20:00 (1800 GMT) to let P&0 boats through one by one," union official Eric Vercoutre told journalists.

16 Jun 2015

Tropical Storm Bill Pelts Texas Coast

Tropical Storm Bill punched the Texas coast with heavy rains and strong winds on Tuesday, the National Weather Service said, just three weeks after floods killed about 30 people in the state. The second named tropical storm of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season made landfall near Matagorda, a sportfishing town near the South Texas Nuclear Generating Station in Bay City, a coastal nuclear power plant. Spokesman Buddy Eller said the plant had prepared for the storm and operations were normal with full staffing. Companies said output from oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, which pumps about a fifth of all domestic crude, was unaffected. But BP Plc shut its Mad Dog and Atlantis fields early on Tuesday after a pipeline outage that was expected to be fixed soon, a source said.