The last ships stranded by the grounding of a giant container vessel in the Suez Canal should pass through the waterway on Saturday, according to the canal authority, which said an investigation into the incident would report its findings soon.
Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), said 85 ships were expected to pass the canal from both sides on Saturday.
They will include the last 61 ships out of the 422 that were queuing when the Ever Given container vessel was dislodged on Monday, thus ending the backlog of shipping that built up during the crisis, he added.
International supply chains were thrown into disarray when the 400-metre-long Ever Given ran aground in the vital trade artery on March 23, with specialist rescue teams taking almost a week to free her after extensive dredging and repeated tugging operations.
An SCA investigation began on Wednesday into what caused the vessel to run aground in the Suez Canal and block the waterway for six days, Rabie told the MBC Masr private TV late on Friday.
"The investigation is going well and will take two more days, then we will announce the results," he added.
US President Donald Trump denied on Friday that the United States has made major concessions to Iran and a senior US official called an emerging pact "performance-based" with Tehran getting no frozen assets until its part of the agreement is fulfilled.
Hopes grew on Friday for peace between Iran and the US after President Donald Trump said a deal could be signed as soon as this weekend, even as Tehran said it had not made a final decision on a pact.
Families of the 260 people killed when an Air India Boeing 787 crashed in Ahmedabad a year ago gathered on Friday for prayers and a candlelight tribute to mark the anniversary of the disaster.
Two Ebola-related deaths have been confirmed in a displacement camp in eastern Congo, the UN refugee agency said, with aid workers warning the risk of the disease spreading quickly in crowded refugee sites was high and worrying.
Ukraine and Russia exchanged overnight drone strikes into early Friday, with Ukraine targeting a major oil processing and petrochemical region while Russia attacked railway stations and electrical substations.
Authorities in Afghanistan's western city of Herat arrested at least 30 women, accusing them of violating dress rules imposed by the Taliban government, the UN agency for women's rights said, but added that some were later released.
US President Donald Trump called off plans for renewed military strikes on Iran at the last minute on Thursday, saying negotiations with Tehran had advanced to the highest levels of Iran's leadership and had been approved by a broad coalition of regional powers.
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