The UAE boasts a conducive ecosystem that provides business leaders with fresh and well-informed perspectives on important dynamics that are disrupting ‘business as usual’…reports Asian Lite News
Haitham Abdulbaqi, a Lebanese investor and businessman who is the founder, chairman, and CEO of the Taif Al Emarat Perfumes Group, told the Emirates News Agency (WAM) that the UAE has – in a record time – taken robust measures to diversify its industrial and manufacturing base.
He noted that investors are turning to the UAE as a rapidly growing global financial and economic hub, thanks to the forward-looking policies of its wise leadership, who are always working to develop appropriate frameworks to attract foreign capital and latest technologies, especially in vital sectors, for the benefit of the national economy as well as the investors, both Emiratis, and foreigners.
The founder of the Dubai-based company praised the visionary vision of the UAE wise leadership and their trend-setting efforts to provide a robust legislative environment that keeps pace with the rapid changes taking place in the global economic landscape.
“These business-friendly policies provide significant support for companies operating in the UAE, and enhance their competitiveness and ability to access global and regional markets,” he added.
India’s Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan began his visit 3-day visit to Bahrain…reports Asian Lite News
India and Bahrain are celebrating this year the golden jubilee of their diplomatic relations, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a press release.
V Muraleedharan
Coinciding with this important occasion, V Muraleedharan, India’s Minister of State for External Affairs, began yesterday a three-day visit to Bahrain. On the first day of his visit, Muraleedharan met with Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, the Bahraini Minister of Foreign Affairs.
According to the press release, Muraleedharan will hold discussions with Bahraini ministers and dignitaries during his visit. He will also meet a wide cross-section of the Indian community in Bahrain, including those in health, education, business, and social service.
This is Muraleedharan’s first visit to the Kingdom of Bahrain. About 350,000 Indians live in the Kingdom and India-Bahrain bilateral trade is around one billion dollars. The visit is part of India’s continuing engagement of countries in the Gulf region.
Union Minister of Railways and Commerce, Piyush Goyal (Photo: Kuntal Chakrabarty/IANS)
Outside the GCC, India is conducting FTA-related talks with the United Kingdom, Australia, and the European Union, reports Asian Lite News
India’s discussions for concluding a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the GCC are “progressing fast,” the Minister for Commerce, Industry, and Consumer Affairs, Piyush Goyal, said yesterday.
Addressing a large cross-section of India’s business through the platform of the Jain International Trade Organisation, Goyal specifically cited the UAE as among the countries with which his Ministry is engaged in talks towards reaching an FTA.
Outside the GCC, India is conducting FTA-related talks with the United Kingdom, Australia, and the European Union.
The pace of discussions has now gathered speed, Goyal said. Traders and exporters are the “twin pistons powering the economic growth engine of India. We firmly believe in the capabilities of the business community as well as of start-ups.”
Only fully vaccinated students aged above 12 can return to school, while elementary and preschool students are not allowed to return for the moment…reports Asian Lite News
Saudi Arabian students have returned to their schools for in-person classes, starting their new academic year after 17 months of online education due to the covid-19 pandemic.
Only fully vaccinated students aged above 12 can return to school, while elementary and preschool students are not allowed to return for the moment, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.
Meanwhile, students who are not fully vaccinated or younger than 12 still started the academic year through online platforms.
Deputy Education Minister Saad Bin Saud Al Fahid visited some schools to inspect the precautionary health measures on the first day of the academic year.
“We are closely following up the schools’ plans for receiving students and methods to regulate their entry and exit, along with the redistribution of tables at classrooms to ensure social distancing,” he said.
Six million fully-jabbed students from more than 25,000 schools in the country resumed their in-person education on Sunday, according to the Ministry.
Furthermore, Education Minister Hamad bin Mohammad Al Al-Sheikh revealed earlier that the new academic year would be exceptional by applying new curricula for the global series, and the three-semester plan instead of the previous two-semester one, which is expected to ensure the utmost benefit of the schooling days and education resources.
This will be his first visit to the country in an official capacity, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement…reports Asian Lite News
Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan will pay an official visit to the Kingdom of Bahrain from August 30 to September 1, 2021.
This will be his first visit to the country in an official capacity, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement on Sunday.
During the visit, the MOS will hold discussions with Bahraini Ministers and dignitaries. He will also meet a wide cross-section of Indian community in Bahrain, including those in health, education, business and social service.
Both countries are celebrating the golden jubilee of the establishment of their diplomatic relations in 2021.
India and Bahrain share excellent political, economic and cultural relations which have further strengthened in the past few years, the statement noted.
Both countries have cooperated closely during the Covid-19 pandemic.
EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar visited Bahrain in November 2020. Bahrain’s Foreign Minister, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani visited India in April 2021 when he and EAM chaired the Third High Joint Commission between India and Bahrain.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Bahrain in August 2019.
According to the MEA statement, the Indian community numbers about 350,000 in the Kingdom of Bahrain and enjoys great goodwill of Bahraini leadership.
India-Bahrain bilateral trade is around USD 1 billion and has shown an increasing trend, it added. (India News Network)
Israeli fighter jets attacked the posts and facilities belonging to the armed wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, an Israeli army spokesman has said that the attack on Monday was made in response to the launch of incendiary balloons towards southern Israel, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.
According to the Palestinian security sources, the posts and facilities belong to al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas armed wing in southern, central and northern Gaza Strip.
Medical sources said no injuries were reported, while the security sources said that Hamas militants evacuated all the posts and facilities in the Gaza Strip for fear of being targeted by Israeli airstrikes.
The Hamas-run al-Aqsa radio in Gaza reported that Hamas militants fired from heavy machine guns at the fighter jets.
Also on Monday, Israeli media reported that more than nine fires broke out in southern Israel after dozens of incendiary balloons were launched from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, and severe damage was caused to several farms in the area.
On Saturday, Israeli fighter jets attacked several posts and facilities of Hamas after an Israeli soldier was seriously wounded at the borderline area between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel.
The airstrike on the Gaza Strip on Monday night is the fourth one since the end of the last round of fighting that lasted for 11 days and ended on May 21, leaving more than 250 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.
Negotiations are continuing with the World Bank to finance the cost of the gas, the presidency statement said…reports Asian Lite News.
The Lebanese presidency said on Thursday that the United States has decided to assist Lebanon with electricity provision as the country struggles with crippling fuel shortages.
It said the US ambassador informed President Michel Aoun of the decision through a phone call on Thursday. There was no immediate comment from the US Embassy in Lebanon.
The plan would provide Egyptian natural gas to Jordan for generation into additional electricity that can be transmitted to Lebanon via Syria, as well as facilitate the transfer of natural gas to Lebanon.
Negotiations are continuing with the World Bank to finance the cost of the gas, the presidency statement said.
Meanwhile, Aoun accused unnamed parties on Thursday of seeking to prevent the formation of a new government and to push the country into chaos.
Earlier this week Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati had expressed optimism that a government could soon be formed to steer Lebanon out of its two-year financial crisis, but the prospect of an imminent deal appears to have faded.
“Several forces are working to prevent the creation of a government and are determined to push the country toward chaos in order to fulfil their political aims,” the presidency said in a statement, citing Aoun.
The statement said Aoun was cooperating with Mikati but that other groups were increasing demands over positions in the future cabinet with the goal of forcing Mikati to quit, an outcome the president said he did not want.
Mikati later said in a statement cited by broadcaster Al-Jadeed that he would continue his efforts to form a government.
The formation of a government is a necessary first step to start pulling Lebanon out of a crisis that has deepened with crippling fuel shortages.
Lebanon has been managed by a caretaker government since the resignation of Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s cabinet following a devastating explosion in Beirut port one year ago.
The formation of a cabinet has been greatly complicated by Lebanon’s sectarian and factional rivalries.
As Taliban enter the streets of Kabul, burqas pulled out of dusty storerooms, cupboards by Afghan women … A special report by Asian Lite News
The seemingly unstoppable advance of the Taliban has once again seen the burqa being pulled out of dusty storerooms and cupboards by women in Afghanistan who remember life under the militants rule.
After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, even though many continued to choose to wear the burqa in adherence to religious and traditional beliefs, its rejection by millions of others across the country became a symbol of a new dawn for the Afghan women, who were able to dictate what they wore for themselves again, Zainab Pirzad and Atefa Alizada from Rukhshana Media wrote for the Guardian.
Today, there are burqas in the streets of downtown Kabul but women are also dressed in an array of different styles, many mixing traditional materials with colourful modern patterns and fashion inspiration from across the region.
“Afghan women are some of the most naturally stylish women in the world,” says Fatimah, an artist and fashion photographer.
“When you go on to the streets of Kabul today you see this amazing mix of different fabrics and nods to centuries-old traditions mixed with very modern styles and inspirations. It’s this beautiful, creative spirit that was just full of hope for the future.”
For decades, the traditional Afghan burqa, mostly sold in shades of blue, was synonymous with Afghan women’s identity around the world.
Usually made of heavy cloth, it is specifically designed to cover the wearer from head to toe. A netted fabric is placed near the eyes so that the woman inside can peer out through the meshing but nobody can see inside.
It was enforced strictly during the Taliban regime in the late 1990s, and failure to wear one while in public could earn women severe punishments and public lashings from the Taliban’s “moral police”.
As city after city falls to the Taliban, women fear that the freedoms won since 2001 will be crushed, the report said.
Last week in Herat, as Taliban forces massed around the city, older women such as 60-year-old Fawzia were out stockpiling for the younger women in her family.
“All of us older women have been talking about how hard it was as a woman in the old days,” she said.
“I used to live in Kabul then and I remember how they beat the women and girls who left their homes without their burqas.”
Days later, these women are already under Taliban control after Herat city fell to militant forces on August 13. Shortly after the city fell, a Taliban declaration was circulated online and among Herat citizens informing women that wearing the burqa was now mandatory in all public spaces.
In Kabul, a sense of grief and panic has overwhelmed women in the Afghan capital. With two-thirds of the population under the age of 30, most women here have never lived under Taliban control.
In some households, the burqa has sparked divisive inter-generational conflicts. The parents of 26-year-old Habiba are begging her and her sisters to get a burqa before the Taliban enter the city, but she is resisting.
“My mother says we should buy a burqa. My parents are afraid of the Taliban. My mother thinks that one of the ways she can protect her daughters is to make them wear the burqa,” she says.
“But we have no burqa in our home, and I have no intention of getting one. I don’t want to hide behind a curtain-like cloth. If I wear the burqa, it means that I have accepted the Taliban’s government. I have given them the right to control me. Wearing a chador is the beginning of my sentence as a prisoner in my house. I’m afraid of losing the accomplishments I fought for so hard.”
Habiba says that she, like many women in Kabul, is sick with worry over what is coming.
“I stay up late at night, sometimes till one or two in the morning, worrying about what will happen. I am afraid that because I am rejecting the burqa, soon I will have to stay at home and I will lose my independence and freedom.
“But if I accept the burqa, it will exercise power over me. I am not ready to let that happen.”
In a market in Kabul, Aref is doing a booming trade. At first glance, the walls of his shop seem to be curtained in folds of blue fabric. On closer inspection, dozens and dozens of blue burqas hang like spectres from hooks on the wall.
As the Taliban close in on Kabul, women inside the city are getting ready for what may be coming. “Before, most of our customers were from the provinces,” says Aref. “Now it is city women who are buying them.”
The report said one of these women is Aaila, who is haggling with another shopkeeper over rapidly inflating burqa prices.
“Last year these burqas cost AFS 200. Now they’re trying to sell them to us for AFS 2,000 to 3,000,” she says.
As the fear among women in Kabul has grown, the prices have risen.
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby on Thursday said that the US would move approximately 1,000 military personnel to Qatar in order to hasten the processing of Afghan SIV Visa applicants…reports Asian Lite News.
The government is working to finalise an agreement with Qatar to temporarily house thousands of Afghan refugees who worked with the US military, local media has reported. The situation in Afghanistan is worsening amid the ongoing withdrawal of the US forces from the country. Taliban has seized over half of 34 provincial capitals in the country and it is now closing on Kabul.
A CNN report noted that the number of refugees could go up to 8,000 and if the deal gets signed, the first group of Afghan nationals may soon arrive in Doha. “We are evaluating all available options. We have no announcements to make on third-country relocation sites for Afghan (Special Immigrant Visas) SIV applicants,” a State Department spokesperson told CNN.
Meanwhile, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby on Thursday said that the US would move approximately 1,000 military personnel to Qatar in order to hasten the processing of Afghan SIV Visa applicants. Earlier this month, the Biden administration had announced the expansion of the refugee program for Afghans who worked with the US. The State Department had said that it will expand access to the US refugee program for certain Afghans amid fears of reprisal by the Taliban as the US military withdrawal nears completion.
“This designation expands the opportunity to permanently resettle in the United States to many thousands of Afghans and their immediate family members who may be at risk due to their US affiliation but who are not eligible for an SIV because they did not have qualifying employment, or because they have not met the time-in-service requirement to become eligible,” the State Department had said. “However, in light of increased levels of Taliban violence, the US government is working to provide certain Afghans, including those who worked with the US, the opportunity for refugee resettlement to the US.” (ANI)
Indian Education Forum is the one of the initiatives to be launched to mark India’s 75th Independence Day…reports Asian Lite News
The Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia will launch the Indian Education Forum to not only facilitate higher education of Indian students in the Kingdom, but also to provide greater ease and access to the Indian education system.
Indian students, parents, academicians and educationists will work under the embassy’s supervision.
India’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ausaf Sayeed, said the education forum is one of the initiatives to be launched to mark India’s 75th Independence Day. This August 15 also marks the 75th anniversary of bilateral relations between India and Saudi Arabia.
Addressing a community meet at the International Indian School in Al Jubail, Sayeed said the embassy is working to set up a NEET UG 2021 examination centre in Saudi Arabia to cater to the academic needs of Indian students.
Indian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Dr Ausaf Sayeed.
“The process has been initiated and is under review by the Indian Ministry of Education,” he said.
In response to a question on opportunities for higher education for Indian students after their 12th grade, the envoy said that about 400 students can avail sponsorship programmes at Saudi universities.
However, due to lack of awareness among the Indian diaspora, the enrollment rate is less. The embassy has taken steps to create awareness and promote education of the highest standards for Indians residing in the Kingdom, he added.
Saudi Arabia is welcoming the Indian universities to start their campuses there. At present, the dialogues are going on between IIT Delhi and Saudi authorities, he said.
Sayeed also assured that the embassy is trying to bring back Indians to Saudi Arabia, who were stranded in India after the lockdown.
Pic credit Twitter@IndianEmbRiyadh
“We have received positive response from the competent authorities,” he said, adding that through the Vande Bharat Mission flights, the embassy has helped over 6 lakh Indians to return to their home country during the Covid-19 lockdown.
He also clarified that Indian vaccination certificates are not required to be attested from India for registering with the Tawakkalna app, the saudi government’s mobile app to track Covid-19 in real-time and control its spread.
The ambassador urged social activists and entrepreneurs to come forward and support the parents who are unable to pay their wards’ tuition fees due to financial constraints.
He also offered to help the Indian business community registered with the Ministry of Investment (previously known as Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority or SAGIA).
