Author: Prima News

Some oil loading operations ​have been suspended in the United Arab ‌Emirates’ Fujairah emirate, a major bunkering hub, industry and trade sources said, after a fire broke out ​there on Saturday. The fire occurred after debris fell ​during the interception of a drone, but ⁠no injuries were reported, the emirate’s media ​office said. Civil defence forces are handling the incident to ​contain the fire, it added. Authorities did not provide any information about the reported suspension of operations. Bloomberg News earlier ​reported that some oil-loading operations in the ​port of Fujairah, outside the Strait of Hormuz, had ‌been ⁠suspended after…

 U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to strike the oil infrastructure of Iran’s Kharg ​Island hub unless Tehran stopped attacking vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, a warning that could further roil markets coping with a historic supply disruption. Trump paired his Friday ultimatum with a ‌social media post saying the U.S. had “totally obliterated” military targets on the island, the export terminal for 90% of Iran’s oil shipments, which lies about 300 miles (500 km) northwest of the strait. U.S. strikes did not target Kharg’s oil infrastructure, but “should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of…

Taiwan can well afford ​a $40 billion special defence budget given its booming economy, President Lai Ching-te ‌said on Saturday, citing a U.S. emphasis on collective burden-sharing. Lai’s proposed spending, which he says is needed to better face a rising threat from China, has been bogged down in parliament, where the ​opposition, which has a majority of seats, complains that the plans are ​unclear and says it cannot sign “blank cheques”. Marking the 30th anniversary of Taiwan’s ⁠first direct presidential election, when China fired missiles into the waters around the island ​hoping to influence the result, Lai said in a…

Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ​should not be able to use Venezuelan government funds to defend himself against U.S. drug trafficking ‌charges, U.S. prosecutors said on Friday, noting that Washington has not considered him the legitimate leader of the South American country for years. Last month, Maduro’s lawyer Barry Pollack urged U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein to dismiss the indictment against Maduro ​because the Treasury Department had without explanation revoked an exemption to U.S. financial sanctions on Venezuela that ​had allowed the South American country’s government to fund his defense. Pollack argued that the ⁠revocation interfered with Maduro’s right to counsel under…

Ukrainian drones struck an oil refinery and a ​port overnight in Russia’s ‌southern Krasnodar region, causing injuries and damage, local authorities said on ​Saturday. In a statement on ​Telegram, Krasnodar authorities said three people ⁠had been injured in ​a strike on Port Kavkaz, ​which ships grains and LPG and lies on the Kerch Strait opposite ​Crimea. A service vessel and the ​pier complex had been damaged, according ‌to ⁠the statement. Authorities said in a separate statement a fire had broken out at the region’s ​Afipsky oil ​refinery ⁠after a drone struck the facility. Russia’s Defence Ministry ​said it had downed…

Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn is to open parliament on Saturday, as last month’s general election result faces court scrutiny over barcodes ​on the ballots that may have violated the law. The barcodes ‌might undermine the secrecy of the ballot, said the country’s Office of the Ombudsman, which petitioned the Constitutional Court to consider the case. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s Bhumjaithai Party ​won a clear victory in the February 8 election, but ​the ombudsman said late on Friday that there had been ⁠21 complaints from the public that barcodes and QR codes on ​the ballots could potentially be used to identify which party or candidate…

Suspected Uruguayan drug kingpin Sebastian ‌Marset, among the United States Drug Enforcement Administration’s most wanted fugitives, was arrested in Bolivia, officials of the South American country said on Friday. Bolivian Interior Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo told a press conference that Marset, 34, was then flown to the U.S. and ​that no one was killed or injured during the operation. The U.S. DEA, with which Bolivia recently resumed ​cooperation, did not participate in the arrest, Oviedo said, but was involved in Marset’s transfer ⁠to the U.S. MARSET INDICTED IN U.S. ON MONEY LAUNDERING Marset, accused of leading the First Uruguayan Cartel,…

 High-level Colombian officials, including the ministers ​of foreign relations and defense, met with their Venezuelan counterparts in Caracas on Friday in what acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez said were ‌productive meetings, as she called for a end to U.S. sanctions against her country. The meeting, the first in-person between the two neighboring South American countries since the ouster in early January of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, was focused on energy cooperation, security and trade, Rodriguez said. Originally, Rodriguez had been slated to meet with Colombian President Gustavo Petro in what would have been ​her first presidential-level bilateral, but that…

Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa on Friday decreed a nighttime ​curfew in four provinces of the Andean ‌country, starting March 15, intended to facilitate military operations against criminal organizations with support from the ​United States. The measure covers the coastal ​provinces of Guayas, El Oro, Santo ⁠Domingo, and Los Rios – the country’s main ​drug trafficking routes – and will run from ​11 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. local time. Joint military operations between Ecuador and the U.S. started in ​early March. A recent mission near the ​Colombian border resulted in the destruction of a drug ‌trafficking ⁠camp, according to the Ecuadorean…

The UN humanitarian chief on Friday urged humanitarian cargo to be allowed to pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz, warning that disruptions in the key waterway could severely affect global aid operations. “Humanitarian supply chains are fragile. When routes close and costs surge, the help we can deliver shrinks – and the people who need it most are the ones who lose it first,” Tom Fletcher, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said in a statement. “So my message to the parties to the conflict and all those with influence over them is simple: humanitarian…