Iran and US hit tankers in biggest wave of attacks on shipping since war began

By Enas Alashray, Idrees Ali and Jana Choukeir Reuters Iran said on Wednesday it had attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. sank five Iranian oil tankers, in the biggest wave of attacks on shipping by both sides since the start of the six-month-old war. The attacks sent the price of ‌oil surging, with benchmark Brent crude futures breaching $100 a barrel for the first time since July. At least one seafarer aboard a tanker was reported killed and another listed as missing. The ‌incidents follow a month of relative calm, during which the U.S. has sought to pressure Iran through economic means. Iran said it had fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. military base in Jordan. Jordan said it intercepted 18 missiles, with the remaining two ​falling harmlessly in unpopulated areas. A U.S. official said all American troops were accounted for. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it would sharply escalate its response to any further attacks, and said I...

Death toll from Uganda garbage landslide climbs to 35

The number of people killed when a mountain of garbage collapsed in Uganda’s capital last week has risen to 35, 12 of whom were young people, police said on Friday.

At least 28 others are still missing.

The accident occurred late last Friday, when a large chunk broke off the mound of trash at the Kiteezi landfill on the northern outskirts of Kampala. Dozens of homes near the dump were buried while residents slept.

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Nine more bodies have been retrieved since Wednesday, when 26 were reported dead.

Police said in a statement on the tragedy that it had been hard to identify some of the new bodies as they were in such bad shape.

The landslide followed torrential rains that have battered parts of the East African country in recent weeks, triggering extensive flooding and damage.

Residents near the landfill, which has for decades served as Kampala’s only waste dump, have long complained of hazardous waste polluting the environment and posing a danger.

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Similar tragedies elsewhere in Africa from poorly managed mountains of municipal trash include a 2017 incident in Ethiopia in which at least 115 people were killed.

SOURCE: REUTERS AND AGENCIES



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/l2x7vHG

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