Briefly

SAUDI ARABIA

Aramco becomes most valuable company

Saudi Aramco on Wednesday dethroned Apple as the world's most valuable company, as surging oil prices drove up shares and tech stocks slumped. The Saudi Arabian petroleum and natural gas company, billed as the largest oil producing company in the world, was valued at $2.42 trillion based on the price of its shares at the close of the market. Apple, meanwhile, has seen its share price drop over the past month and was valued at $2.37 trillion when official trading ended on Wednesday. The sinking share price came despite Apple reporting better than expected profits in the first three months of this year amid strong consumer demand.

UNITED NATIONS

More funds pledged in bid to avert oil spill

The United Nations received $33 million in new pledges on Wednesday toward a $144 million operation to avoid an oil spill from a tanker stranded off the coast of Yemen, which threatens a major environmental disaster. Around $40 million has been raised to fund the operation to offload the decaying Safer tanker, said the UN and the Netherlands government in a joint statement following a pledging event they co-hosted. The Safer has been stranded off the Ras Issa Oil Terminal without maintenance since 2015.UN officials said the Safer could leak four times as much oil as spilled during the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker disaster in the United States.

SLOVENIA

Chemical plant blast injures at least 10

An explosion at a chemical plant in southeast Slovenia injured at least 10 people on Thursday as authorities urged residents in the vicinity to stay indoors. The explosion was reported around 8:30 am in Kocevje. It was not immediately clear what caused the blast. The town, which is about 55 kilometers southeast of the capital Ljubljana, has a population of about 8,000. The report said a local emergency council met for an urgent session as firefighters and emergency crews rushed to the melamine factory.

Agencies - Xinhua