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Shipping Traffic Via Strait of Hormuz Slips Below 10-day Average

FILE PHOTO: Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, December 21, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, December 21, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo
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Shipping Traffic Via Strait of Hormuz Slips Below 10-day Average

FILE PHOTO: Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, December 21, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, December 21, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo

Seven commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, down from 17 a day earlier and below the 10-day average of 15, preliminary shipping data showed on Friday.

Among the seven vessels that transited were two medium-range tankers, one very large gas carrier (VLGC), one Ultramax vessel, one intermediate ‌tanker and ‌two chemical tankers, initial ‌data from ⁠shiptracker Kpler showed ⁠at 0315 GMT.

Four of the vessels were exiting the strait, including the two chemical tankers, the medium range and intermediate tanker. The VLGC, Ultramax and the other medium range tanker were entering the ⁠strait.

The figures could change as ‌some ships ‌typically switch off transponders during the voyage.

Iran war mediators ‌have placed renewed emphasis on ‌reopening the Strait of Hormuz, with Tehran agreeing to draw up a list of conditions to restore normal traffic after a Qatari emissary pressed ‌the Iranians to respect freedom of navigation.

Earlier on Wednesday, a ⁠senior ⁠Iranian source said Iran and Oman were still working on details of an agreement on the waterway after Iran's Revolutionary Guards said the two countries had agreed on how to share control of the strait and its revenues.

Meanwhile, 17 commodity vessels transited through the Bab el-Mandeb, another major maritime chokepoint in the Middle East, with six vessels entering and 11 exiting.

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World

Iran Presses Other Countries to Refrain from Implementing US Sanctions

A pro-government demonstrator waves an Iranian flag during a gathering in a square in Tehran, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP)
A pro-government demonstrator waves an Iranian flag during a gathering in a square in Tehran, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP)
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Iran Presses Other Countries to Refrain from Implementing US Sanctions

A pro-government demonstrator waves an Iranian flag during a gathering in a square in Tehran, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP)
A pro-government demonstrator waves an Iranian flag during a gathering in a square in Tehran, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP)

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said all countries were obliged to refrain from implementing US sanctions against Tehran, adding that participation in them amounted to complicity in imposing ‌one state’s ‌unlawful will ‌on independent ⁠states.

In a statement ⁠published on its X account on Friday, the ministry described new US economic measures ⁠as illegal and reprehensible "state ‌terrorism" ‌and a crime ‌against humanity, saying they ‌put the health and livelihoods of millions of civilians at serious ‌risk.

It called on the international community ⁠to ⁠uphold the rule of law and said Tehran would use all its capabilities to defend itself against what it called a combined US-Israeli military and economic assault.

World

Russia Strikes Ukraine’s Capital with Waves of Drones

Parts of a shot-down kamikaze drone at a site of a Russian strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the town of Vyshneve in Kyiv region, Ukraine, August 28, 2026. (Reuters)
Parts of a shot-down kamikaze drone at a site of a Russian strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the town of Vyshneve in Kyiv region, Ukraine, August 28, 2026. (Reuters)
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Russia Strikes Ukraine’s Capital with Waves of Drones

Parts of a shot-down kamikaze drone at a site of a Russian strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the town of Vyshneve in Kyiv region, Ukraine, August 28, 2026. (Reuters)
Parts of a shot-down kamikaze drone at a site of a Russian strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the town of Vyshneve in Kyiv region, Ukraine, August 28, 2026. (Reuters)

Russia launched waves of drones at Ukraine's capital Kyiv and surrounding region on Friday, damaging warehouses and homes in a second consecutive day of strikes Ukrainian officials said were an attempt to derail daily life for millions of residents.

At least one person was killed outside Kyiv, said Governor Tymur Tkachenko, adding that 14 warehouse premises, 16 homes and three blocks of apartment buildings had been damaged.

Frequent air-raid sirens blared throughout the city on Friday morning, a day after an hours-long missile and drone attack on Ukraine that targeted major retailers and consumer ‌logistics in Kyiv ‌and elsewhere.

Those strikes continued on Friday, destroying sorting centers ‌belonging ⁠to Ukraine's top ⁠private courier Nova Poshta near Kyiv and in the northern city of Sumy, the company said.

In the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, a Russian drone tore into major home-improvement store Epicenter, wounding at least four people, Governor Ivan Fedorov said on Friday.

GOAL IS TO 'PARALYSE' KYIV

Ukraine's state emergency service said Russia had attacked the Kyiv region 38 times during the past 24 ⁠hours, warning residents not to approach areas where firefighters ‌were still battling blazes.

Friday's attacks appeared aimed ‌at prolonging the snarl-up sparked by strikes a day earlier, which delayed trains across several ‌regions and left passengers stranded for long periods.

"The enemy is ‌launching small numbers of jet-powered UAVs in waves with the aim of paralyzing Kyiv," said Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD), a branch of the National Security Council.

"The aim - to wear down the air defenses and the population."

Ukraine's ‌state railway said on Friday that delays were gradually decreasing, but that the effects of frequent strikes and ⁠air-raid alerts ⁠would be felt at least another day. Kyiv spent nearly 15 hours under air-raid alert on Thursday, according to Ukraine's foreign ministry.

NEW STRIKES ON RETAILERS, LOGISTICS

Russian forces also attacked a shopping center in the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine, said Mayor Ihor Terekhov, the second such attack there in two days.

Russia and Ukraine have stepped up strikes in recent weeks on consumer logistics and online retailers in a bid to dent each other's economies and weaken their respective war efforts.

Also on Friday, a Russian drone attack destroyed a warehouse in Kyiv region for a major book retailer that shipped thousands of titles per day, the company said.

World

Congo Starts Ebola Vaccinations for Health Workers

A Uganda Red Cross Society worker in protective gear sprays disinfectant at the home of a suspected Ebola victim in Kampala on May 26, 2026. (AFP)
A Uganda Red Cross Society worker in protective gear sprays disinfectant at the home of a suspected Ebola victim in Kampala on May 26, 2026. (AFP)
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Congo Starts Ebola Vaccinations for Health Workers

A Uganda Red Cross Society worker in protective gear sprays disinfectant at the home of a suspected Ebola victim in Kampala on May 26, 2026. (AFP)
A Uganda Red Cross Society worker in protective gear sprays disinfectant at the home of a suspected Ebola victim in Kampala on May 26, 2026. (AFP)

Democratic Republic ‌of Congo on Thursday began vaccinating frontline health workers with a vaccine approved for a different Ebola species, as authorities seek to contain the country's largest and deadliest Ebola outbreak on record.

* Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said Congo had received more than 50,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine and would begin vaccinations in provinces affected by ‌the outbreak, ‌prioritizing health workers.

* Ervebo is licensed ‌against ⁠the Zaire species ⁠of Ebola and was used successfully in previous outbreaks. The current epidemic is caused by the Bundibugyo species, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment.

* Early animal studies suggest Ervebo could provide ⁠some protection against Bundibugyo, and authorities ‌are using 20,000 of ‌the 70,000 doses allocated to Congo in ‌a clinical trial to assess its effectiveness ‌in humans.

* Several vaccines specifically targeting the Bundibugyo species are also under development, including candidates from the University of Oxford and the International ‌AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI).

* Vaccinations began in the northeastern city of Kisangani, the capital ⁠of ⁠Tshopo province, one of six provinces affected by the outbreak.

* Kamba said the campaign would first cover provinces surrounding Ituri, where the outbreak was first detected and remains most heavily concentrated, before progressively moving inward.

* The outbreak, declared on May 15, has infected 5,794 people and killed 2,786, according to the latest government figures, making it the world's second deadliest Ebola epidemic on record.