Page 16 - Middle East

Israel accused of killing own citizens in 'Hannibal Directive'. What is it?

Israeli forces allegedly applied the so-called 'Hannibal Directive' and killed at least 14 Israeli civilians during the October 7 Hamas attack, claims a recent UN-backed inquiry

G7 nations commit to promoting India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor

The Group of Seven industrialised nations have committed to promoting concrete infrastructure initiatives such as the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) in the G7 Summit Communique issued at the end of the three-day G7 Summit, attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Communique was issued on Friday evening after the customary family photo at the luxury resort of Borgo Egnazia, where the G7 also reiterated a commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific based on the rule of law. Prime Minister Modi attended the G7 Summit at the invitation of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the host. We will further promote concrete G7 PGII (Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment) initiatives, flagship projects, and complementary initiatives to develop transformative economic corridors for quality infrastructure and investment, such as the deepening of our coordination and financing for the Lobito Corridor, the Luzon Corridor, the Middle Corridor, and the ...

Kuwait fire: MK Stalin announces Rs 5L each for families of 7 victims

Fourty-five Indians have lost their lives in the deadly fire that broke out in the 'labour accommodation' in the Mangaf area of Kuwait in the early hours of Wednesday

Highlights of the day: Six dead, 1,500 tourists stranded as landslides, rain wreak havoc in Sikkim

Catch all the latest updates from around the world here

Kuwait fire: Situation will be clear as we reach there, says minister

"An Air Force plane is on standby. As soon as the bodies are identified, the kin will be informed and our Air Force plane will bring the bodies back..." the MoS Kirti Vardhan Singh said

Activists should turn down heat: Australia PM after US consulate attack

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged activists on both sides of the Israel-Palestinian debate to turn the heat down after the US Consulate in Sydney was vandalised on Monday. CCTV footage showed a person wearing a dark hoodie using a small sledgehammer to smash nine holes in the reinforced glass windows of the building in North Sydney after 3 am, a police statement said. Two inverted red triangles, seen by many as a symbol of Palestinian resistance, were also painted on the front of the building. Albanese urged people to have respectful political debate and discourse. People are traumatised by what is going on in the Middle East, particularly those with relatives in either Israel or in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, Albanese told reporters. And I just say, again, reiterate my call to turn the heat down and measures such as painting the US consulate do nothing to advance the cause of those who have committed what is, of course, a crime to damage property, Albanes

US making biggest push to halt Israel, Hamas fighting. Is it succeeding?

In Middle East capitals, at the United Nations, from the White House and beyond, the Biden administration is making its most concentrated diplomatic push of the eight-month-old war in Gaza to persuade Israeli and Hamas leaders to take a proposed deal that would bring a cease-fire and release of more hostages. But one week into the U.S. pressure campaign, the world still is waiting for signs that the cease-fire appeal begun May 31 by President Joe Biden was working, by moving Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leaders toward a negotiating breakthrough. For Israel and Hamas, the U.S. diplomatic press has become a public test of whether either side is ready to stop fighting at least on any terms that fall short of their professed goals, whether it's the complete crushing of the militant group or the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. For Biden, who describes the proposal as Israeli, it's the latest high-profile test of U.S. leadership in trying to convin

Yemen's Houthi rebels detain 11 UN staffers in sudden crackdown: Officials

Eleven Yemeni employees of United Nations agencies have been detained by Yemen's Houthi rebels under unclear circumstances, authorities said Friday, as the rebels face increasing financial pressure and airstrikes from a US-led coalition. Others working for aid groups also likely have been taken. The detentions come as the Houthis, who seized Yemen's capital nearly a decade ago and have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition since shortly after, have been targeting shipping throughout the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. But while gaining more attention internationally, the secretive group has cracked down at dissent at home, including recently sentencing 44 people to death. Regional officials, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorised to brief journalists, initially confirmed at least nine UN detentions. Those held include staff from the UN human rights agency, its development programme, the World Food ...

Israel, Hamas to be listed for violations of children's rights, says UN

The UN secretary-general will list Israel and Hamas as violating the rights and protection of children in armed conflict in an upcoming annual report to the Security Council. According to the preface of last year's report, lists parties engaged in the killing and maiming of children" and in attacks on schools, hospitals and protected persons in relation to schools and/or hospitals. The head of Secretary-General Antnio Guterres' office, Courtenay Rattray, called Israel's UN Ambassador, Gilad Erdan, on Friday to inform him that Israel would be listed on the next report when it is sent to the council within a few weeks, UN spokesman Stphane Dujarric told reporters. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad also are being listed. Israel reacted with outrage, sending news organisations a video of Erdan berating Rattray, supposedly on the other end of a phone call.

Amid sanctions, Putin pivots to eastern allies for Russian investment forum

Western sanctions have not torpedoed Russia's economy, however, and Moscow has nurtured ties with China, major regional powers in the Middle East and across Africa and Latin America

Kuwait's emir names Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al Sabah as new crown prince

Kuwait's ruling emir on Saturday named the small nation's new crown prince, nearly six months after he took the throne. Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al Sabah will become next in line to the throne, the state-run KUNA news agency reported. Sheikh Sabah, 71, previously served as prime minister and as foreign minister in the country. The announcement offered no other details or comments from Kuwait's ruling emir, Sheikh Meshal Al Ahmad Al Jaber. Sheikh Meshal, 83, recently dissolved parliament for as many as four years amid the widespread political dysfunction that's gripped Kuwait. Domestic political disputes include changes to the welfare system, and the impasse has prevented the sheikhdom from taking on debt. That has left it with little in its coffers to pay bloated public sector salaries despite generating immense wealth from its oil reserves. Kuwait, a nation with around 4.2 million people that is slightly smaller than the US state of New Jersey, has the world's sixth-largest known oil

Turkish drone strikes kill 4 US-backed fighters in Syria: Kurdish group

Turkish drone strikes in northeastern Syria on Friday evening killed four US-backed fighters and wounded 11 civilians, the Kurdish-led force said. The strikes on areas held by the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces came a day after Turkiye's president said his government won't hesitate to act against Kurdish-led groups in northern Syria if they proceed with plans to hold local elections. It accuses the groups of having links to outlawed Kurdish militants in Turkiye. The SDF said drone strikes hit its positions eight times as well as civilian homes and vehicles in and near the northern city of Qamishli. Such Turkish strikes are not uncommon in northeastern Syria. The Kurdish Red Crescent said that as its paramedics were trying to reach the attacked areas, a Turkish strike hit one of its ambulances, putting it out of service. It said the attack occurred near the town of Amouda, west of Qamishli. There was no immediate comment from Turkiye. The Kurdish-led autonomous

OPEC meeting to shape India's Russian oil purchases as May levels stay high

Bloc members led by Saudi Arabia and Russia are holding a ministerial meeting on June 2 to decide the fate of global oil production

Iran opens registration prez polls after helicopter crash killed Raisi

Iran opened a five-day registration period Thursday for hopefuls wanting to run in the June 28 presidential election to replace the late Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash earlier this month with seven others. The election comes as Iran grapples with the aftermath of the May 19 crash, as well as heightened tensions between Tehran and the United States, and protests including those over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini that have swept the country. While Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 85, maintains final say over all matters of state, presidents in the past have bent the Islamic Republic of Iran toward greater interaction or increased hostility with the West. The five-day period will see those between the ages of 40 to 75 with at least a master's degree register as potential candidates. All candidates ultimately must be approved by Iran's 12-member Guardian Council, a panel of clerics and jurists ultimately overseen by Khamenei. That panel has never accepted a ..

HSBC makes wealth push in Middle East after hiring 100 private bankers

HSBC is known for its wealth prowess across Asia, but it's long lagged Swiss rivals like UBS Group AG in the Middle East

Israeli airstrikes kill 2 senior Hamas commanders, 35 others, injure dozens

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that the majority of those killed and injured are women and children

Iran's centre of power moves from clerical slippers to combat boots

With Raisi gone, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the most powerful arm of Iran's military is now well placed to become more powerful

Mourners begin funerals for Iran's prez, others killed in chopper crash

Mourners in black began gathering Tuesday for days of funerals and processions for Iran's late president, foreign minister and others killed in a helicopter crash, a government-led series of ceremonies aimed at both honouring the dead and projecting strength in an unsettled Middle East. For Iran's Shiite theocracy, mass demonstrations have been crucial since millions thronged the streets of Tehran to welcome Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979 during the Islamic Revolution. An estimated 1 million turned out in 2020 for processions for the late Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was slain in a US drone strike in Baghdad. Whether President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others draw the same crowd remains in question, particularly as Raisi died in a helicopter crash, won his office in the lowest-turnout election in the country's history and presided over sweeping crackdowns on all dissent. Prosecutors already have warned people over showi

Iranian Prez Raisi's helicopter crash could reverberate across Middle East

The apparent crash of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country's foreign minister and other officials is likely to reverberate across the Middle East. That's because Iran has spent decades supporting armed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and the Palestinian territories that allow it to project power and potentially deter attacks from the United States or Israel, the sworn enemies of its 1979 Islamic Revolution. Tensions have never been higher than they were last month, when Iran under Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel in response to an airstrike on an Iranian Consulate in Syria that killed two Iranian generals and five officers. Israel, with the help of the United States, Britain, Jordan and others, intercepted nearly all the projectiles. In response, Israel apparently launched its own strike against an air defense radar system in the Iranian city of Isfahan, causing no ...

India-Iran Chabahar port deal: US State Dept warns of potential sanctions

Any entity, anyone considering business deals with Iran, they need to be aware of the potential risk they are opening themselves up to, potential risk of sanctions, US State department said