UN leads $80m plan to prevent huge oil disaster

The UN was due to stage a rare donor conference this week to raise $80m to stop an ageing oil tanker off the west coast of Yemen exploding and causing an environmental disaster potentially four times worse than the Exxon Valdez spill near Alaska in 1989.

The money is needed to offload more than 1.14m barrels of oil left sitting in the decrepit cargo ship, Safer, for more than six years due to an impasse between Houthi groups and the Saudi-backed government over responsibility.