World News - gasoline

Nov

2012

2:50am, EST

Train carrying gas bursts into flames, killing at least 25 in Myanmar

By Reuters

YANGON - A train in Myanmar carrying gasoline derailed and burst into flames, killing at least 25 people and injuring 62, most of them villagers trying to collect fuel spilled in the accident, state television said.

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MRTV said the fire started after three cars loaded with petrol turned over near a village in Kanbalu township, near the Indian border, just over 300 miles north of Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city.

Residents of Chekgyi village were gathered at the accident site trying to collect spilled petrol when they were trapped in the fire. Some 70 percent of Myanmar's 60 million people live on farms, where fuel is scarce.

A railway department official told Reuters the death toll might rise as some villagers were seriously injured.

Later this month, President Obama will become the first U.S. president to visit Myanmar. The trip comes as recent violence in Burma is turning turns into a broader religious conflict. The Muslim community there is being systematically targeted by ethnic cleansing . Channel 4 Europe's Asia Correspondent John Sparks reports exclusively from the destroyed area of Kyauk Phyu

Myanmar is among Asia's poorest countries.

Its quasi-civilian government has opened up the country since taking over in March 2011 from the military, which had ruled for nearly 50 years, and pushed through political and economic reforms, leading Western countries to relax sanctions.

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Mar

2012

2:11pm, EDT

Cairo fuel shortage causes long lines at gas stations

Amr Nabil / AP

Vehicles, at left, line up in front of a gas station in Cairo, Egypt on Fruiday. An acute fuel shortage in Egypt has disrupted Cairo's already congested traffic, with long lines of vehicles snaking around gas stations, and drivers spending the night in their cars.

Amr Nabil / AP

People stand near their cars as they line up in front of a gas station in Cairo.

The New Straits Times reports that the reason for the fuel shortage isn't clear:

Petroleum Minister Abdullah Ghorab flatly dismissed talk of a shortage, saying fuel supplies exceed demand. He said the crisis stems from “mistrust between the government and the citizens,” according to the state-run MENA news agency.

Another Petroleum ministry official, Hani Dahi, was also quoted by MENA as saying that there is “a rise in the illegal use of fuel” and calling for tighter security measures to prevent black market dealers selling subsidised fuel at higher prices.

However, the manager of one gas station in Fayoum, a city south of Cairo, put the blame squarely on the government’s shoulders and its stewardship of the economy. “I used to get a daily supply of 30,000 liters (7,900 gallons) of diesel, now I get 13,000 every three days,” said the manager, who asked not to be identified. “Any talk about smuggling is a sheer lie because if there is enough fuel in the market, none would buy from the black market.”

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