Cargo ship still stuck across Suez Canal, and it may be going nowhere for "weeks"
CBSN
Cairo — Marine traffic through the Suez Canal remained blocked on Thursday for the third consecutive day, with dozens of ships stuck at both the north and south entrances to the shortest route between Asia and Africa. One of the world's largest cargo vessels turned sideways and got stuck across the narrow canal on Tuesday, and one of the teams in charge of dislodging the vessel has said it could take weeks to get freight moving again.
Egypt's Suez Canal Authority (SCA) announced that navigation through the canal was "temporarily suspended" until the hulking Panamanian-flagged container vessel MV Ever Given can be re-floated. Despite the more dire predictions from the teams brought in to facilitate operation, the SCA said Thursday that it was still hopeful the ship could be moved within 24 hours. On Wednesday the SCA allowed 13 ships to enter the canal's northern end, from the Mediterranean, hoping the Ever Given would be un-stuck quickly and the other cargo vessels would be able to continue on their journeys. But those ships only made it as far as a lake in the middle of the canal, and they may be going nowhere fast.Zhytomyr, Ukraine — Exactly 1,000 days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, Russia's defense ministry accused Ukrainian forces on Tuesday of firing six U.S.-made and -supplied ATACMS missiles at the Russian region of Bryansk. If confirmed, it could be the first time Ukrainian troops had taken advantage of President Biden easing restrictions over the weekend on Ukraine's use of the U.S.-made missiles to strike targets deeper inside Russian territory.
President Biden's decision to allow Ukraine to fire U.S.-made and supplied missiles deeper into Russia — a major policy shift announced over the weekend after months of intense lobbying by Kyiv — has drawn a furious response from Moscow. While there was no immediate reaction directly from the man who launched the nearly three-year war on his neighboring nation, lawmakers aligned with President Vladimir Putin in Russia said Monday that the move was unacceptable and warned it could lead to a third world war.
Tel Aviv — After more than a year of bombing and homelessness, Gazans are looking to a new administration in Washington for help. President-elect Donald Trump's election victory has raised hopes and fears among the five million residents of the Palestinian territories — the warn-torn Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.