We start with the situation in gaza. A ship carrying humanitarian aid is expected to set sail to the territory from cyprus this weekend as part of a planned maritime aid corridor. Its a joint operation between the eu, us, uk and United Arab Emirates aiming to bring supplies from cyprus to the coast of gaza. The un says a quarter of gazas population is on the brink of famine, and children there are starving to death. Organisers hope the plan could allow large amounts of extra aid, but say it will be complex and continue to press israel to allow more deliveries by road. These are the latest pictures from larnaca, in cyprus, where, as you can see, aid is being loaded onto a ship, which is due to depart in a couple of hours. Earlier i spoke to hiba tibi shes the Country Director of Care International palestine and she explained the challenges of getting aid into gaza. Any plan that is being taken currently to increase aid in gaza is welcome. These are, unfortunately, aiming to save as many
Prime minister leo varadkar says it was a comprehensive defeat. We return now to the situation in the middle east. The us military says its ships and aircraft have shot down more than a dozen drones In The Red Sea after coming under what it called a sustained attack by iranian backed houthi forces in yemen. Us Central Command said the drones represented an imminent threat to merchant vessels, and us and coalition warships. Here s david waddell. The singapore registered propel fortune is the latest commercial ship to be targeted by the houthi movement. The bulk carrier departed india just under two weeks ago, with her automatic Identification System signalling that she was not connected to israel supposedly to deter this kind of attack from yemen. The uk Maritime Trade Organisation said the captain reported no Collateral Damage to the ship and that she was bound for her next port. These attacks have been ongoing since october, both In The Red Sea and in the gulf of aden, causing many c
italy and spain, among others. this is notjust a us issue, this is an international problem and it deserves an international response. and that s why i m convening a meeting tomorrow, a ministerial meeting, with fellow ministers in the region and beyond, to address this threat. for more on what the shipping disruption might mean for the global economy, i m joined from washington by hung tran, a senior fellow at the atlantic council and former deputy director at the international monetary fund or imf. thank you so much forjoining us on the programme. firstly, if you can explain how important this area is to global trade? important this area is to global trade ? important this area is to global trade? important this area is to ulobaltrade? , ., ., ., global trade? this area of the red sea leading global trade? this area of the red sea leading to global trade? this area of the red sea leading to the - global trade? this area of the red sea leading to the suez l red sea le
havoc to global trade. speaking in bahrain, the us defense secretary lloyd austin said participating countries include the united kingdom, bahrain, canada, france, italy and spain, among others. this is notjust a us issue, this is an international problem and it deserves an international response. and that s why i m convening a meeting tomorrow, a ministerial meeting, with fellow ministers in the region and beyond to address this threat. for more on what the shipping disruption might mean for the global economy, i m joined from washington by hung tran, a senior fellow at the atlantic council and former deputy director at the international monetary fund. this area of the red sea leading to the suez canal is quite important in terms of the volume of trade passing through it. about 12% of global trade passes through the red sea, including 30% of the container shipping. altogether, it accounts for about us$1 trillion per year of trade, so it is quite significant, and a disruption
a few hours ago, maersk also announced it will re route some of that red sea vessels around the cape of good hope, on a case by case basis. around 10% of global trade passes through the red sea, that s around 17,000 ships a year. but several major freight companies have now stopped passing through here. instead they are taking much longer route all the way around africa by the cape of good hope. that adds costs and delays. here is the us defence secretary lloyd austin. these attacks are reckless. they are dangerous and they violate international law and so we are taking action to build international coalition to address this threat and i would remind you that this is not just a us issue, this is an international problem and it deserves an international response. well that international response being asked to resolve those concerns? we are nowjoined by russ mould, who is an investment director at aj bell. the question, is it enough? will it work? i the question, is it enough?