The United States reached deals on Tuesday with Ukraine and Russia on a truce in the Black Sea and a pause in attacks on energy facilities, with Washington also pledging to push for the lifting of some financial sanctions against Moscow.The separate agreements are the first formal commitments by the warring sides since the inauguration of Donald Trump
Captain Vladimir Motin was sentenced to six years’ jail on February 2 after being found guilty of “gross negligence manslaughter” for his role in the container ship Solong’s ramming of the anchored tanker Stena Immaculate in March 2025.The circumstances of his case, heard at the Old Bailey in London, are different to those of Ali Albokhari, currently serving a 30-year term in a Turkish jail
On January 28, 2026, President Donald J. Trump designated Laura DiBella to serve as Chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission.Chairman DiBella was sworn in as a Commissioner on January 6, 2026. She was nominated by President Trump on September 3, 2025 and confirmed by the United States Senate on December 18, 2025, to serve a term that expires on June 30, 2028.
Increased sanctions (enforcement), resilient oil demand, partly due to stock building in China, and growing OPEC+ supply have all contributed to create a rate environment we have not seen since the freight rate boom in the early days of the pandemic, says Poten & Partners in an opinion this week.Very limited fleet supply growth in 2024 and 2025 has also contributed.
A steering control system component failure on a multi-purpose carrier resulted in a collision with a bulk carrier in the Houston Ship Channel, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a newly-released investigation report.The multi-purpose carrier BBC Africa lost steering as it was departing the channel on Aug. 25, 2023, and struck the moored bulk carrier Common Faith.
It was at an 18th century Georgian manor house outside London that Japanese lawmaker Rui Matsukawa began to have serious doubts about America’s commitment to defending her country.Matsukawa, a former deputy defense minister, traveled in March to historic Fordham Abbey for a top-level bilateral conference.