The drill was conducted by Egyptian naval units that participated in the Egyptian-Russian “Friendship Bridge-3” exercises that concluded last week in the Black Sea, according to the statement..reports Asian Lite News
Naval forces from Egypt and Greece conducted joint military exercises in the Mediterranean Sea, Cairo’s armed forces said in a statement.
The exercises covered activities of sailing formation, transportation and training, aiming to enhance maritime security measures in the Mediterranean, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying on Monday.
The drill was conducted by Egyptian naval units that participated in the Egyptian-Russian “Friendship Bridge-3” exercises that concluded last week in the Black Sea, according to the statement.
Egypt, a major military power in the Arab world, annually holds several military exercises with Arab, African and Western allies to boost military cooperation and share military expertise.
UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen speaks to reporters after his meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem in Damascus, Syria, on Oct. 25, 2020. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)
The envoy said that the delegations will continue with the same agenda as in the previous meeting, discussing the so-called National Foundations and Principles..reports Asian Lite News
The latest round of Syrian constitutional talks, aimed at writing a new Constitution to pave the way for a political solution for the decade-long conflict in the country, will begin in Geneva on Monday, a UN envoy said.
Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Geir O. Pedersen, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, said that the Fourth Convening of the Small Body of the Syrian Constitutional Committee will start on Monday morning inside the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva, Xinhua news agency reported.
The envoy said that the delegations will continue with the same agenda as in the previous meeting, discussing the so-called National Foundations and Principles.
“I am looking forward to extensive, and hopefully good discussions next week that will be able to bring us a little bit further down the road towards then starting the discussions in January on Constitutional Principles,” he said.
between the Syrian parties, Pedersen highlighted that the building of trust could be a door-opener to a broader political process.
“There is no deadline and there is no exact timeline for this discussion, but we had agreed that we should work in a manner that makes progress possible,” he said.
The Syrian Constitutional Committee, which comprises representatives of the Syrian government, the opposition, and civil society, was officially launched in Geneva on October 30, 2019 to draft a new constitution for the war-torn country.
The Committee’s Small Body held its last sessions in Geneva in August this year, without making any major progress.
The Small Body includes 45 delegates, 15 each from the three groups.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum with India's Minister of external affairs S Jaishankar
Jaishankar commended the measures adopted by the UAE to combat the pandemic, which has made it among the leading countries that contained the virus and harnessed financial and human resources to help other countries in need of aid, especially medical supplies.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, has received a message from Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India.
In his message, Modi thanked His Highness Mohammed bin Rashid and the UAE Government for the efforts of the country’s health authorities to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic, protect the entire community, reduce the spread of the virus, and implement necessary procedures, as well as to protect the Indian community and offer its members treatment services, which led to a significant decrease in infections among Indians and other communities.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum received the message while meeting with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Indian Minister of External Affairs, who is currently visiting the UAE.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum meets with the Indian delegation
During the meeting, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and Jaishankar exchanged their views on how to restore and stimulate the economies of the two countries and increase trade.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed stressed that the UAE is keen to combat and contain COVID-19 and limit its negative effects on all sectors, most notably tourism, trade, commerce and health, as well as ensure the gradual return to normalcy.
Jaishankar commended the measures adopted by the UAE to combat the pandemic, which has made it among the leading countries that contained the virus and harnessed financial and human resources to help other countries in need of aid, especially medical supplies.
The meeting was attended by Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group, Mohammad bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemy, Minister of State for International Cooperation, and Khalifa Saeed Soliman, Director-General of the Department of Protocols and Hospitality in Dubai. The meeting was also attended by Pavan Kapoor, Indian Ambassador to the UAE, and Aman Puri, Indian Consul-General in Dubai.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan/IANS)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned the deadly attack against rice farmers carried out by suspected Boko Haram militants in Borno state.
Through a statement attributable to his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, the UN chief on Sunday condemned “in the strongest terms the horrific attack on rice farm workers in Koshobe village, near the Borno state capital of Maiduguri by suspected militants on November 28, in which scores were reportedly killed and many others injured or abducted, including women,” reports Xinhua news agency.
Suspected members of the Islamic militant group Boko Haram reportedly killed at least 40 rice farmers.
The farmers were reportedly rounded up and summarily killed by armed insurgents in retaliation for a failed extortion attempt.
Antonio Guterres
The Secretary-General extended his deepest condolences to the families of the deceased and to the people of Nigeria, wished a swift recovery to the injured, and called for immediate and safe returns of the abductees and those still reported missing.
“He hoped those responsible for these heinous crimes will be quickly brought to justice,” said the statement.
Guterres reaffirmed the UN’s commitment to supporting the Nigerian government in its fight against terrorism and violent extremism and in its response to pressing humanitarian needs in the northeast of the country, the statement added.
Boko Haram has been trying to establish an Islamist state in northeastern Nigeria since 2009, extending its attacks to countries in the Lake Chad Basin.
Jared Kushner, senior White House adviser and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, will visit Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the coming days in an effort to “resolve the dispute between the Gulf countries”, a media report said.
Kushner will meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Qatari Emir Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani, US officials told the Axios news outlet on Sunday.
Kushner has “close relationships” with both leaders, the report quoted the officials as saying.
During the trip, he will be accompanied by White House envoy Avi Berkowitz, International Development Finance Corporation CEO Adam Boehler, and former Iran Ambassador Brian Hook.
“Fixing the rift between Saudi Arabia and Qatar would bring a sense of stability back to the Gulf and notch a last-minute achievement for Kushner and the Trump administration before January 20,” the Axios news report said.
On January 20, President-elect Joe Biden is set to be inaugurated.
The report further said: “The US maintains close ties with both Qatar and its rivals, but the Trump administration’s several attempts to reconcile the parties were unsuccessful.”
The officials told Axios that Kushner hopes to “convince the Saudi and Qatari leaders to reconcile and reach a deal on several outstanding issues”, adding that the senior adviser also wants to use the talks in Riyadh to “cement the agreement for Saudi Arabia to allow eastbound flights from Israel to pass through Saudi airspace”.
The news of Kushner’s upcoming visits came almost a week after Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu embarked on a secret visit to Saudi Arabia for a meeting with the Crown Prince.
Netanyahu’s trip coincided with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who was also in Riyadh at the time.
Qatar Emir (R) and Jared Kushner
The Prime Minister was accompanied by the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, Yossi Cohen.
Netanyahu and the Trump’s administration wish that Saudi Arabia would follow the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in normalizing ties with Israel.
Riyadh has declined to form formal ties with Israel, saying the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be discussed first.
However, Riyadh recently announced Israeli airliners could fly over Saudi Arabia to newly available Gulf destinations and to Asia.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Yoav Dudkevitch/JINI via Xinhua/IANS)
The Israeli Cabinet has ratified two deals to promote aviation and science cooperation with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), following the US-brokered historic normalisation accord.
On Sunday, the Cabinet Ministers voted in favour of an agreement to establish regular flights between Israel and the UAE, and another deal to promote advanced science and technology cooperation, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s office.
Confirming the development, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman Ofir Gendelman tweeted: “The government today ratifies the aviation agreement and the scientific and technological cooperation agreement that it concluded with the UAE.”
He said the ratification is “another important milestone in strengthening relations” between the two countries.
“We will continue to develop these ties with additional bilateral agreements,” Gendelman added.
Before the ratification, Netanyahu had said: “This is another milestone in strengthening bilateral relations and we will continue to develop ties with the additional agreements that we will bring.”
The first commercial passenger flight from the UAE landed in Israel on October 19, about a month after the two countries signed the US-brokered normalization deal at the White House on September 15.
UAE Pays Tribute To Martyrs; Police Arrests anti-lockdown activists after chaotic protests; Influenza infections steps up pneumonia risk: Study – all in Asian Lite Daily Digital – please click here to read.
DIFC FinTech Hive, the largest financial technology hub in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, part of Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), has signed a landmark agreement with Israel’s FinTech-Aviv.
FinTech Aviv was established in 2014 and serves the needs of the Israeli FinTech ecosystem and counts more than 6,000 startups and 300 research and development centres as members.
The agreement is the first of its kind for the UAE and Israel, and strengthens DIFC’s position as MEASA’s number one FinTech hub and one of the world’s top 10 FinTech hubs. The agreement announced Saturday will enable DIFC to further support the UAE in facilitating economic growth from the technology and innovation sectors.
Both parties will work together on events, knowledge sharing, talent development and facilitating mutual introductions and referrals for firms keen to expand in each respective jurisdictions.
Since DIFC’s FinTech Hive launched in January 2017, the hub has grown to become a leading centre of innovation globally. More than 50 per cent of all FinTech businesses in the GCC now operate from DIFC. The first half of 2020 witnessed DIFC FinTech Hive triple in size with the opening of a larger space in Gate Avenue supporting start-ups, scale-ups and entrepreneurs.
Raja Al Mazrouei, Executive Vice President of DIFC FinTech Hive said: “Like Dubai, Israel is well regarded for its approach to innovation and embracing FinTech so it is important to collaborate now to share knowledge and develop the sector further. We are pleased to have partnered with FinTech-Aviv as we can achieve great things together. DIFC is now home to more than 240 FinTech related firms and the opportunities for growth are endless.”
Nir Netzer, the Chairman of FinTech-Aviv said: “In this unprecedented time, we’re honoured to initiate this unique collaboration in order to facilitate the export of Israeli technologies to new markets.
“The FinTech-Aviv community and its 30,000+ Israeli and worldwide members, proudly hold the torch of this exciting initiative and are humbled to be leading Israeli FinTech companies towards the exploration of new horizons with our new business partners.”
According to the PLO’s report, about 124 Israeli settlement outposts have been built in the West Bank since the 1990s without any official Israeli approval…reports Asian Lite News
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has warned against the Israeli government’s plan to legalize dozens of “illegal settlement outposts” built in the West Bank.
In an official report sent to Xinhua news agency on Saturday, the PLO’s National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements noted that the Israeli plan aims to seize and control more lands in the West Bank, referring to the remarks of Israeli Minister of Settlement Affairs Tzachi Hanegbi last week.
“Israel tries to use the remaining period in the administration of (US President Donald) Trump to expand its settlements to annex larger areas of the West Bank, and to impose facts on the ground,” the report said.
Nablus (Palestine): A Palestinian protester throws stones at Israeli soldiers during a protest against the expanding of Jewish settlements in Kufr Qadoom village near the West Bank city of Nablus on December 5, 2014.(Xinhua/Ayman Nobani/IANS)
According to the PLO’s report, about 124 Israeli settlement outposts have been built in the West Bank since the 1990s without any official Israeli approval.
Palestinian rights groups said about 700,000 settlers have been living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 1967.
The Israeli settlements built on the Palestinian territories are regarded as illegal by the international community.
However in 2019, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Washington no longer considered Israeli settlements as inconsistent with international law.
