The owner of the Costa Concordia cruise ship that capsized off the coast of Italy in January has paid more than $2 million to French survivors in a settlement, their lawyer said Tuesday, adding that the payment did not preclude further legal action.
Despite an outstanding seafaring heritage and the second-largest area of territorial waters in the world, France no longer rules the waves. With fishing quotas, foreign competition and rising fuel costs, can the decline of the French maritime sector - which provides 400,000 jobs - be halted?
The stricken Costa Allegra cruise liner limped into port in the island nation of the Seychelles Thursday. The ship was towed by a French fishing boat after an engine room fire left it powerless on Monday.
A wave of bomb attacks hits Baghdad, all targeting Shiite areas. Our reporters meet with Iraqis who have already lived through years of sectarian violence. Plus, it’s a key passageway for the world economy - the Strait of Hormuz is vital to the transit of oil coming from the Gulf. With Iran now threatening to close it off, we look at the strategic importance of this shipping route.
Egypt’s political turmoil has left traders nervous, pushing oil and gold prices up and sending Asian stock markets down as concerns mount that the unrest will affect trade through the Suez Canal, a vital shipping route.
The skipper of a small passenger ferry was feared missing on Friday after his vessel capsized when a German cargo ship collided with it on a canal near Amsterdam, police sources said. Traffic on the canal has been halted.
A tanker carrying 6,000 tonnes of solvent was being towed to the French Atlantic coast Friday after it collided with a freighter some 50 nautical miles south-west of the island of Ouessant.
Strikes closed most of France's main ports on Friday to protest pension reform, with the closures set to continue throughout the weekend. France's main union said the strikes would be renewed each weekend until a timetable for talks was agreed.
A court in Amsterdam has fined Swiss-based Trafigura one million euros for exporting hazardous waste to Ivory Coast and seeking to conceal the cargo's lethal nature.
Rescuers on Friday continued the search for dozens of people still missing after a freighter sank in stormy seas off the northern coast of Lebanon with more than 80 people on board.
