Latin America in Short: New Suez Canal Blockade | Camila Osorio is Eliminated from the US Open

Another ship this week blocked the Suez Canal. Although this blockade was solved more quickly than last year, trade from Asia to Europe stopped for a few hours. On the other hand, the UN IAEA visited a Russian-occupied nuclear plant over fears of a crisis. This week the FDA also approved vaccine boosters against the Omicron variant of COVID-19. The UN, for its part, warned in a report published this week about the number of lives that natural disasters would have claimed last year. Finally, in sports, Colombian tennis player Camila Osorio was eliminated from the US Open.

A ship blocks the Suez Canal

As happened last year with the Ever Given ship, this Wednesday, a huge oil tanker was stuck in the middle of the Suez Canal that joins the Indian Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea and through which a large part of world trade passes. It is about the Affinity V oil tanker that had a rudder failure and this caused the crew to lose control of the ship. According to Vessel Finder, the tanker is a Singapore-flagged tanker headed for Yanbu.

Unlike the event that occurred in 2021, the authorities were able to unlock the ship and restore normal ship traffic. For this “rescue”, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) needed more than five towing vehicles. Unlike what happened in 2021, when unlocking took 6 days and the life of an SCA operator; on this occasion, the Affinity V was quickly released and passage resumed.

Fearing a nuclear crisis, the IAEA will visit a plant occupied by Russia

Despite the fact that the fighting and conflict between Russian and Ukrainian troops represents a risk, the International Atomic Energy Agency, a branch of the UN that focuses on nuclear energy, announced its visit to the Zaporizhia nuclear plant, the largest of Europe, which is held by the Russian army. This, to verify the conditions of the facilities due to the risk of an accident of tragic characteristics. The director of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, assured that "we are going to move, we know that there is an area, the so-called gray zone, between the last line of defense of Ukraine and the first of the Russian occupation forces, where the risks are significant. ”. The delegation is made up of 14 experts who will review the infrastructure that has suffered bombing and is at risk of a nuclear disaster.

UN announces that natural disasters caused 10,000 deaths in 2021

A new report from the United Nations University indicates that during 2021 natural disasters caused the loss of 10,000 lives and more than 280,000 million dollars. The report studied the 10 largest natural catastrophes, among which are the earthquake in Haiti, Hurricane Ida in America or the fires in the Mediterranean. Research indicates that deforestation and other practices of environmental deterioration cause the development of catastrophes. It also points out the need to improve early warnings.

FDA Approves Appropriate Booster Doses for Omicron

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave Moderna and Pfizer authorization on Wednesday for their updated booster vaccines to deal with the Omicron variant with the BA.4 and BA.5 sublineages. On the other hand, Moderna sued Pfizer and BioNTech for violating their patents on the RNA vaccine against COVID-19. The lawsuits were filed in the United States and Germany. In a press release, Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, assures that: "We are filing these lawsuits to protect the innovative mRNA technology platform that we pioneered."

Camila Osorio, eliminated from the US Open

Colombian tennis player Camila Osorio was eliminated in the second round of the US Open, after losing in three sets against Alison Riske. The match lasted just over three hours and was defined in the 'tie break' of the last in favor of the American. It was a tight match, but Camila still struggles to get significant results at the Grand Slams. However, she is still among the best tennis players on the South American continent and still has a lot to learn. One can learn from this loss that long matches don't usually work in Camila's favour, who lost equally to Emma Raducanu this year.