التصنيف: جديد

A drone boat packed with explosives has detonated in the Red Sea.

The US navy says the vessel belonged to Houthi rebels, and no damage or casualties have been reported since the blast.

Houthis, who control much of Yemen and are aligned with Iran, have launched multiple attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea since November.

The group say the attacks are a protest against Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

International shipping has been severely disrupted as a result, with multiple companies suspending journeys through the Red Sea and taking a long diversion around Africa.

Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads US naval forces in the Middle East, said the latest explosion happened in dense shipping lanes.

“It came within a couple of miles of ships operating in the area – merchant ships and US navy ships – and we all watched as it exploded,” he told reporters.

The attack happened a day after 12 countries – including the US and UK – warned the Houthis of “consequences” unless it stopped targeting commercial vessels.

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Vice Admiral Cooper has warned “there are no signs that their irresponsible behaviour is abating”.

US President Joe Biden has been under increasing pressure to respond militarily, something his administration has been reluctant to do in case it escalates tensions in the region further.

Although the Houthis have claimed their attacks specifically targeted vessels that had ties to Israel or were travelling there, many of the ships had no connection to Israel at all.

There are fears that the unrest could exacerbate the cost of living crisis here in the UK, affecting everything from energy bills to the price of consumer goods.

The route through the Red Sea is used by ships to access Egypt’s Suez Canal – a major shortcut linking the Mediterranean and Asia without the need to travel around Africa – to transport natural gas, electricals, and food and drink.

Ships are now being forced to travel south to the Cape of Good Hope and then north again around the Horn of Africa – adding 10 days and 3,500 nautical miles onto journeys.

One of the largest supermarket chains in France is refusing to sell PepsiCo products on the grounds they have become too expensive to stock.

A spokesperson for Carrefour said the move would apply to its network of more than 9,000 stores across France, Spain, Italy and Belgium.

The chain said it had deployed signs in-store that blamed “unacceptable price increases” for the move.

It marks the latest high-profile spat between European supermarket chains and major grocery producers since the cost of living crisis began in the wake of Russia’s war with Ukraine.

Surging wholesale costs for energy and many commodities meant producers were forced to charge more for their goods – often resulting in so-called shrinkflation in an attempt to limit the increases.

Last year, Carrefour hung signs to warn customers if goods had been cut in size but grown in price.

Suppliers to UK supermarkets remain under the scrutiny of a Competition and Markets Investigation.

Grocery inflation is running at a higher rate in France than in the UK.

Across the Channel, there have been several attempts by the government to bring the pace of grocery inflation down through negotiations with brands – with limited success.

Further talks are due to conclude by the end of this month.

Carrefour’s decision not only impacts Pepsi’s eponymous soft drink brand but also products such as 7up, Cheetos and Lay’s crisps.

The Reuters news agency said some products were already not available to customers in Paris.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all,” shopper Edith Carpentier said of the boycott.

“I think there will be lots of products left on the shelves because they have become too expensive, and they are all things we can avoid buying.”

PepsiCo, which has raised its profit forecast for 2023 three times, responded: “We’ve been in discussion with Carrefour for many months and we will continue to engage in good faith in order to try to ensure that our products are available.”

The US firm had warned last year that shoppers could expect to see “modest” price increases in 2024.

A mother and her child have died after being caught in an avalanche in northern Finland, after temperatures dropped to -20C and the wind blew their skis away, police have said.

The woman, who has not been named, was found on Tuesday at 10pm local time, buried in an avalanche in the Pyhakuru Valley in Finnish Lapland, close to the border with Sweden.

The child, who has also not been identified, was found nearby at around 11.30am on Thursday.

The pair, who were not from Lapland, were heading for a local hotel after spending several days on a self-guided ski hike in the nearby Pallastunturi area, Lapland Police said on Thursday.

Temperatures in the area fell as low as -20C and the wind was strong, “which reduced visibility significantly”, police said.

Rescuers began searching for the pair on Tuesday after the woman raised the alarm at around 2pm.

The woman told emergency responders that wind had blown away their skis and ski poles, the Lapland rescue services chief Harri Paldanius, said, and that she said “it was really cold, and it was getting dark.”

Conditions were so bad, the two snowmobile operators said they “don’t recall experiencing something like this before. Driving a snowmobile on the fell was challenging, the mobiles were almost turned over by the wind,” Mr Paldanius added.

The woman had put her phone in her jacket pocket in order to save the battery, he added, but said “when we tried to reach them again, there was no answer, but the phone did ring.”

Last week a British mother and son were killed in an avalanche on Mont Blanc in France.

Their family said they are “beyond heartbroken” following the “tragic accident”.

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In the Lapland search, efforts were focused on an avalanche about 400m wide in Pyhakuru, despite the size of the avalanche area and the risk of another one.

Packed snow and strong winds made for poor visibility and rescue dogs could only be used for very short periods at a time because of the frost.

The search had to be paused due to dangerous weather conditions on Tuesday and Wednesday night as safety was the priority, Lapland Police crime commissioner said.