Page 28 - Middle East

India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor launched at Delhi G20 Summit

Lauding the launch of the India-Middle East-Europe connectivity corridor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that a historic agreement was concluded today

US to sign Mideast-India-EU rail and shipping deal during G20 Summit

The plan is more than just an infrastructure project, US Deputy National Security Adviser Jonathan Finer told reporters Saturday in New Delhi on the first day of the Group of 20 summit

Israel PM pitches fiber optic cable idea to link Asia-Middle East to Europe

Israel's prime minister on Sunday floated the idea of building infrastructure projects such as a fiber optic cable linking countries in Asia and the Arabian Peninsula with Europe through Israel and Cyprus. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he's quite confident such an infrastructure corridor linking Asia to Europe through Israel and Cyprus is feasible. He said such projects could happen if Israel normalises relations with other countries in the region. The 2020 U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords normalised relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and the Bidensadministration is trying to establish official ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia. An example and the most obvious one is a fiber optic connection. That's the shortest route. It's the safest route. It's the most economic route, Netanyahu said after talks with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides. The Israeli leader's pitch is itself an extension of proposed energy links with Cyprus and Greece as

Niger junta's 3-year plan is a 'provocation,' says West African bloc

The West African bloc ECOWAS rejected the proposal by Niger's mutinous soldiers for a three-year transition to democratic rule, with a commissioner describing the slow timeline as a provocation. The door for diplomacy with Niger's junta remained open but the bloc is not going to engage in drawn-out talks that lead nowhere, Abdel-Fatau Musah, the ECOWAS commissioner for peace and security, told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. It is the belief among the ECOWAS heads of state and also the commission that the coup in Niger is one coup too many for the region and if we allow it then we are going to have a domino effect in the region and we are determined to stop it, Musah said. While direct talks and backchannel negotiations are ongoing, he said the door to diplomacy wasn't open indefinitely. We are not going to engage in long, drawn out haggling with these military officers We went down that route in Mali, in Burkina Faso and elsewhere, and we are getting nowhere, Musah

17 Indians held captive in Libya return home after six months of ordeal

The Embassy of India in Tunisia said they had successfully repatriated 17 Indians from Punjab and Haryana on August 19, who were detained in Libya since February this year.On their social media account X (formerly known as Twitter), Indian Embassy in Tunisia said, "The Embassy of India to Libya successfully repatriated 17 Indian Nationals from Punjab and Haryana (on 19 August 2023), who were detained in Libya since February 2023. The Indians safely reached India on 20 August 2023 by Gulf Air flight at 2030 hrs."AAP Rajya Sabha MP Vikramjit Singh Sahney, on Monday, who had played a role in facilitating the evacuatioon said that 17 youth mostly hailing from Punjab and Haryana were evacuated from Libya after Tripoli jail released them last month. They were in Libya for the past six months because of travel agents who duped them on the pretext of sending them to Italy.On the social media account X, Vikramjit Singh Sahney asked Punjab's Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Chief Minister of ...

Poor man's cocaine: $3 narcotic pill sold in Gulf a worry for the world

Already popular in parts of the Middle East with everyone from teenagers to low-income construction workers, the narcotic is easy to make

Biden's inaction as Middle East violence surges is weak: Palestine minister

The Palestinian foreign minister on Thursday attacked the Biden administration as weak and passive in the Middle East, as violence between Israel and the Palestinians surges to its highest levels in nearly two decades. The comments by Riad Malki reflected the Palestinian frustration with US. President Joe Biden, who initially won plaudits from the Palestinians when he rejected the Trump administration's unabashedly pro-Israel stance. But Biden so far has done little to follow through on that vision I'm frustrated, Malki told members of the Foreign Press Association, an organisation representing international media outlets in Israel and the Palestinian territories. It seemed that (Biden) wanted to change all policies Trump has taken, but not when it comes to Palestine. Pressured by Israel's far-right government, increasingly isolated in the Arab world and running out of money, the Palestinian Authority is confronting what analysts say could be its greatest threat to its ...

US to send more warships to Gulf to tackle Iran's efforts to seize ships

The US is sending additional warships and thousands of Marines to the Middle East to increase security in the wake of Iranian attempts to seize commercial ships there. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday approved the deployment of the USS Bataan amphibious readiness group and the 26th Marine Expeditional Unit to the Gulf region, according to US officials. The readiness group consists of three ships, including the Bataan, an amphibious assault ship. An expeditional unit usually consists of about 2,500 Marines. In an announcement, US Central Command said the deployment will provide "even greater flexibility and maritime capability in the region. The announcement did not name the ships, but US officials detailed the units involved in the deployment on condition of anonymity to discuss troop movements. Along with the Bataan, the group includes two other warships, the USS Mesa Verde and the USS Carter Hall. The group left Norfolk, Virginia, earlier this month. It was unclear ...

AI-powered warfare: Israel's deadly military tactics go high-tech

Israel has harnessed AI to select airstrike targets amid growing tensions in the occupied territories . But the integration of AI into military operations isn't without serious ethical questions.

India may prefer Middle East crude as Russian oil becomes costly: Report

India and China have been the two dominant buyers of Russian crude since the invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago after the war prompted other countries to shun the OPEC+ producer

Engineers India Ltd expects more orders from Middle East: Chairperson

EIL has raised its staff strength from 23 to 84 at its Abu Dhabi office to cater to the region, Shukla said

Mahindra Logistics starts cargo charter operations in Middle East

Mahindra Logistics on Thursday announced that it has commenced cargo charter operations in the Middle East, marking its foray into the overseas market. The charter business will be an independent division serving customers and partners across multiple verticals and geographies, Mahindra Logistics Ltd said in a statement. The company said it will service the Middle East region from its headquarter set up in Dubai. As a neutral player entering the global air cargo charter business, the company said, it will offer dedicated aircraft, enhanced transit time, and the expertise in end-market solution development, among others. With this launch, the company will augment freight forwarding with cargo charter operations partnering with customers in electronics, consumer durables, pharma and engineering, it said in a statement. With increasing complexity in global supply chains, cross-border supply chain services have become critical to supply chain resilience, Rampraveen Swaminathan, Managi

IMF says inflation, rate hikes to slow growth across Mideast this year

Economies across the Middle East and Central Asia will likely slow this year as persistently high inflation and rising interest rates bite into their post-pandemic gains, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday. The IMF's Regional Economic Outlook blamed in part rising energy costs, as well as elevated food prices, for the estimated slower growth. The report said that while oil-dependent economies of the Gulf Arab states and others in the region have reaped the benefits of elevated crude prices, other countries such as Pakistan have seen growth collapse after an unprecedented flooding last summer or as economic woes worsened. The regional slowdown also comes as an explosion of fighting in Sudan between two top rival generals who only a year ago as allies orchestrated a military coup that upended the African country's transition to democracy threatens a nation where IMF and World Bank debt relief remains on hold. Rising interest rates, used by central banks worldwide to tr

Will Saudi-Iran accord have a domino effect and stabilize the Middle East?

It looks like the bloody war in Yemen, where the Iranians backed the rebel Houthis and Saudi Arabia the internationally recognized government, will come to an end

Untamed global warming risks soaring death toll in middle east: Report

If global warming can be limited to 2C above preindustrial levels, the researchers found that over 80% of those deaths could be avoided

No plans to give more bilateral rights to W Asian carriers: Rajiv Bansal

All West Asian carriers have been asking for additional seats for several years, but India hasn't acquiesced, Bansal said

Saudi Arabia's deal with Iran worries Israel, shakes up Middle East

The news of the rapprochement between long-time regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran sent shockwaves through the Middle East and struck a symbolic blow for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has made the threat posed by Tehran a public diplomacy priority and personal crusade. The breakthrough a culmination of more than a year of negotiations in Baghdad and more recent talks in China also became ensnared in Israel's internal politics, reflecting the country's divisions at a moment of national turmoil. The agreement, which gives Iran and Saudi Arabia two months to reopen their respective embassies and re-establish ties after seven years of rupture, more broadly represents one of the most striking shifts in Middle Eastern diplomacy over recent years. In countries like Yemen and Syria, long caught between the Sunni kingdom and the Shiite powerhouse, the announcement stirred cautious optimism. In Israel, it caused disappointment along with a cascade of finger-pointing. O

Middle Eastern companies flock to J&K: Srinagar to house Emaar Mall

LuLu exports Rs 70 crore worth of apples, vegetables, walnuts and saffron

Bangladesh sees robust rise in overseas employment, mostly in Saudi Arabia

Remittance-reliant Bangladesh witnessed a big boom in overseas employment last year amid growing demand of huge workforce particularly in the Middle East and Asian countries, a senior official said

Blinken to travel to Mideast amid US concern over Israel-Palestine violence

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Egypt, Israel and the West Bank this weekend in his first trip to the Middle East this year, amid an escalation in Israeli-Palestinian violence, US concerns over the direction of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government and ongoing issues with Egypt's human rights record. The State Department said on Thursday that Blinken would leave Washington on Saturday for stops in Cairo, Jerusalem and Ramallah. The announcement came just hours after an Israeli raid on suspected terrorists in the West Bank city of Jenin that Palestinian officials say killed nine people in the deadliest such incident this year. After visiting Cairo for talks on Sunday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Blinken will go to Jerusalem and Ramallah on Monday and Tuesday to see Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, the department said. With both Israeli and Palestinian leaders, the secretary will underscore the urgent need for the .