It's expected to become a hurricane after leaving the Bahamas
Bahamas grappling with devastation
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/14/us/tropical-storm-humberto-saturday-wxc/index.html
2019-09-14 12:18:00Z
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CNN's Jason Hanna and Derek Van Dam contributed to this report.
Drone strikes caused fires that raged at two facilities of Saudi Arabia’s vast state oil company, the country’s interior ministry said, in what Yemen’s Houthi rebels described as one of their largest-ever operations inside the kingdom.
The strikes mark the latest in a series of attacks on the country’s petroleum assets in recent months, as tensions rise among Iran and its proxies like the Houthis, and the U.S. and partners like Saudi Arabia. The Houthis have also claimed credit for drone attacks on Saudi pipelines, tankers and other infrastructure during a four-year war.
On Saturday morning, Saudi officials were investigating attacks on Aramco’s facility at Abqaiq in the kingdom’s Eastern Province and another at the Hijra Khurais oil field, the interior ministry said in a tweet.
Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or the national firm better known as Aramco, describes the Abqaiq oil-processing facility as the largest crude-oil stabilization plant in the world. Khurais is the home of the country’s second-largest oil field.
A Houthi spokesman said the attack involved 10 drones. “We promise the Saudi regime that our future operations will expand and be more painful as long as its aggression and siege continue,” the spokesman said.
One Aramco executive said Aramco compounds, where workers live, had been evacuated.
The Saudi interior ministry said the fires were under control. Published images of the fire at the Abqaiq facility showed what appeared to be a huge blaze along with plumes of smoke.
The Saudi government didn’t say who was behind the attack. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The Houthis took control of Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, in 2014 during a civil war. Since then, a Saudi-led coalition has fought a war to unseat the Houthis and reinstate a government supported by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other regional powers.
Saudi Arabia and the U.S. say the Houthis are financed and armed by Iran, a charge that Tehran denies.
Drone and missiles launched by the Houthis have repeatedly struck inside Saudi Arabia in recent months, hitting airports and other civilian installations. At least one drone strike was launched from neighboring Iraq, according to U.S. officials.
Saudi and American officials have blamed Iran for targeting the kingdom’s oil infrastructure, including the use of mines to damage Saudi oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman in May.
Iran has denied striking Saudi targets or coordinating with Yemeni rebels to hit the kingdom’s oil equipment.
Disruptions in Saudi oil production could have ripple effects through the global economy, as the kingdom exports more crude petroleum than any other country.
Saudi officials have called for the international community to help protect its oil infrastructure.
Recently reimposed U.S. sanctions on Tehran have crippled its oil industry and sent its economy into a tailspin, raising fears of a broader conflict in the Middle East. The U.S. action came after President Trump pulled out of a 2015 international deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program, saying it didn’t go far enough to rein in Tehran’s regional ambitions.
Write to Jared Malsin at jared.malsin@wsj.com and Summer Said at summer.said@wsj.com
Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Drone strikes caused fires that raged at two facilities of Saudi Arabia’s vast state oil company, the country’s interior ministry said, in what Yemen’s Houthi rebels described as one of their largest-ever operations inside the kingdom.
The strikes mark the latest in a series of attacks on the country’s petroleum assets in recent months, as tensions rise among Iran and its proxies like the Houthis, and the U.S. and partners like Saudi Arabia. The Houthis have also claimed credit for drone attacks on Saudi pipelines, tankers...
Drone strikes caused fires that raged at two facilities of Saudi Arabia’s vast state oil company, the country’s interior ministry said, in what Yemen’s Houthi rebels described as one of their largest-ever operations inside the kingdom.
The strikes mark the latest in a series of attacks on the country’s petroleum assets in recent months, as tensions rise among Iran and its proxies like the Houthis, and the U.S. and partners like Saudi Arabia. The Houthis have also claimed credit for drone attacks on Saudi pipelines, tankers and other infrastructure during a four-year war.
On Saturday morning, Saudi officials were investigating attacks on Aramco’s facility at Abqaiq in the kingdom’s Eastern Province and another at the Hijra Khurais oil field, the interior ministry said in a tweet.
Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or the national firm better known as Aramco, describes the Abqaiq oil-processing facility as the largest crude-oil stabilization plant in the world. Khurais is the home of the country’s second-largest oil field.
Saudi officials with knowledge of the attack described a confusing, still unfolding set of circumstances. The officials said multiple drones attacked the facilities.
One Aramco executive said Aramco compounds, where workers live, had been evacuated.
The Saudi interior ministry said the fires were under control. Published images of the fire at the Abqaiq facility showed what appeared to be a huge blaze along with plumes of smoke.
The Saudi government didn’t say who was behind the attack. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The Houthis took control of Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, in 2014 during a civil war. Since then, a Saudi-led coalition has fought a war to unseat the Houthis and reinstate a government supported by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other regional powers.
Saudi Arabia and the U.S. say the Houthis are financed and armed by Iran, a charge that Tehran denies.
Drone and missiles launched by the Houthis have repeatedly struck inside Saudi Arabia in recent months, hitting airports and other civilian installations. At least one drone strike was launched from neighboring Iraq, according to U.S. officials.
Saudi and American officials have blamed Iran for targeting the kingdom’s oil infrastructure, including the use of mines to damage Saudi oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman in May.
Iran has denied striking Saudi targets or coordinating with Yemeni rebels to hit the kingdom’s oil equipment.
Disruptions in Saudi oil production could have ripple effects through the global economy, as the kingdom exports more crude petroleum than any other country.
Saudi officials have called for the international community to help protect its oil infrastructure.
Recently reimposed U.S. sanctions on Tehran have crippled its oil industry and sent its economy into a tailspin, raising fears of a broader conflict in the Middle East. The U.S. action came after President Trump pulled out of a 2015 international deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program, saying it didn’t go far enough to rein in Tehran’s regional ambitions.
Write to Jared Malsin at jared.malsin@wsj.com and Summer Said at summer.said@wsj.com
Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
CNN's Derek Van Dam contributed to this report.
Boris Johnson has said he "won't be deterred by anybody" from leaving the EU on 31 October.
The prime minister said he was "cautiously optimistic" of getting a Brexit deal, but the UK would leave by the deadline "whatever happens".
EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said he did not have "reasons to be optimistic" over getting a deal.
Mr Johnson will meet him and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday for talks.
The PM's comments come after Parliament passed a law forcing him to ask for an extension to Brexit.
Mr Johnson will have to write to the EU on 19 October to ask for an extra three months, unless he returns with a deal - then approved by MPs - or gets the Commons to back a no-deal Brexit.
But despite the new law, Mr Johnson said he would rather be "dead in a ditch" than ask for an extension.
The Speaker of the Commons, John Bercow, vowed to act with "creativity" if Mr Johnson ignored the law, saying it would be a "terrible example to set to the rest of society".
MPs managed to pass the law before Parliament was suspended - or prorogued - in the early hours of Tuesday morning until 14 October.
Mr Johnson said the government had made the move so it could hold a Queen's Speech and put forward its new domestic policy agenda.
But opposition MPs claim it was to stop scrutiny in Parliament of his Brexit plans.
Earlier this week, a Scottish court ruled the prorogation was unlawful as it was motivated by an "improper purpose of stymieing Parliament".
The government is appealing against the decision and a ruling will be made by the Supreme Court in London on Tuesday.
During Mr Johnson's speech at the Convention of the North in Rotherham, the PM was heckled by an audience member, telling him to "get back to Parliament" and "sort out the mess that you have created".
Answering questions after his speech, Mr Johnson said: "We are working incredibly hard to get a deal. There is the rough shape of the deal to be done.
"I have been to talk to various other EU leaders, particularly in Germany, in France and in Ireland, where we made a good deal of progress.
"I'm seeing [Mr Juncker and Mr Barnier] on Monday and we will talk about the ideas that we've been working on and we will see where we get."
He added: "I would say I'm cautiously optimistic."
MPs are still demanding Parliament be recalled to scrutinise a number of Brexit-related issues, including the release of so-called "Yellowhammer" papers - a government assessment of a reasonable worst-case scenario in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
But Mr Johnson said that "whatever the shenanigans that may be going on at Westminster", the government would "get on with delivering our agenda and preparing to take this country out of the EU on 31 October".
He added that there would still be "ample time" for MPs to scrutinise any deal reached with the EU, adding that he "very much hoped" to agree one at the EU summit on 17 and 18 October.
The Times newspaper reported that a Brexit deal could be on the horizon as the Northern Irish DUP - the party which has a confidence and supply deal with the Conservatives - had reportedly agreed to "shift its red lines" over the backstop.
The backstop is the policy in the existing withdrawal agreement - negotiated between former Prime Minister Theresa May and the EU - aimed at preventing a hard border returning to the island of Ireland, but it has proved controversial with a number of pro-Brexit MPs.
However, the reports were rejected by the DUP's leader Arlene Foster, who tweeted: "Anonymous sources lead to nonsense stories."
Boris Johnson has said he "won't be deterred by anybody" from leaving the EU on 31 October.
The prime minister said he was "cautiously optimistic" of getting a Brexit deal, but the UK would leave by the deadline "whatever happens".
EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said he did not have "reasons to be optimistic" over getting a deal.
Mr Johnson will meet him and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday for talks.
The PM's comments come after Parliament passed a law forcing him to ask for an extension to Brexit.
Mr Johnson will have to write to the EU on 19 October to ask for an extra three months, unless he returns with a deal - then approved by MPs - or gets the Commons to back a no-deal Brexit.
But despite the new law, Mr Johnson said he would rather be "dead in a ditch" than ask for an extension.
MPs managed to pass the law before Parliament was suspended - or prorogued - in the early hours of Tuesday morning until 14 October.
Mr Johnson said the government had made the move so it could hold a Queen's Speech and put forward its new domestic policy agenda.
But opposition MPs claim it was to stop scrutiny in Parliament of his Brexit plans.
Earlier this week, a Scottish court ruled the prorogation was unlawful as it was motivated by an "improper purpose of stymieing Parliament".
The government is appealing against the decision and a ruling will be made by the Supreme Court in London on Tuesday.