Jordan Investment Ministry receives Singaporean business delegation

The Jordanian Ministry of Investment on Sunday hosted a meeting between Singaporean business leaders. (Petra)
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Updated 30 June 2024
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Jordan Investment Ministry receives Singaporean business delegation

  • Ministry maintained communication with the Singaporean investment delegation since crown prince’s visit in January

AMMAN: The Jordanian Ministry of Investment on Sunday hosted a meeting between Singaporean business leaders and representatives from Jordan’s government and private sector.

The meeting followed Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah’s visit to Singapore in January, Jordan News Agency reported.

The Singaporean delegation included representatives from the infrastructure, water, energy, engineering consulting, integrated design, project management and construction sectors.

Investment Minister Kholoud Saqqaf lauded the political and economic ties between Jordan and Singapore, and expressed gratitude for the delegation’s visit.

Following royal directives, Jordan has undertaken substantial economic reforms to enhance its business climate, aligning with the Economic Modernization Vision 2033, Saqqaf said.

The reforms include amendments to investment-related laws and legislation, alongside macroeconomic, monetary and financial policies.

In the meeting, Saqqaf highlighted the strategic importance of free trade agreements and investment accords with Arab and foreign countries to access new export markets.

She provided an overview of Jordan’s investment landscape, detailing the incentives and benefits included in the Investment Environment Law and its regulations.

The measures support the creation of new projects, enhancing the competitiveness of Jordan’s economy.

The Singaporean delegation highlighted the strong relations between the two countries and Singapore’s commitment to building ties with Jordan.

The Jordanian ministry has maintained communication with the Singaporean investment delegation since the crown prince’s visit in January.

The ministry also hosted a Singaporean delegation specializing in energy last April, presenting investment opportunities in the Jordanian sector.
 


Amnesty: US strike on Yemen migrant center may constitute humanitarian ‘violation’

Updated 4 sec ago
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Amnesty: US strike on Yemen migrant center may constitute humanitarian ‘violation’

DUBAI: Rights group Amnesty International urged the United States on Monday to investigate possible violations of international law in a deadly strike on a migrant detention facility in rebel-held Yemen.
Last month’s attack, which prompted international alarm and was part of the US bombardment campaign against the Iran-backed Houthis, killed 68 people held at a center for irregular migrants in Saada, the rebel authorities said at the time.
Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary-general, said that “the US attacked a well-known detention facility where the Houthis have been detaining migrants.”
The dead were all migrants from African countries, the Houthis had said.
To Callamard, “the major loss of civilian life in this attack raises serious concerns about whether the US complied with its obligations under international humanitarian law.”
“The US must conduct a prompt, independent and transparent investigation into this air strike,” she added.
A US defense official had told AFP in the aftermath of the strike that the military launched “battle-damage assessment and inquiry” into “claims of civilian casualties related to the US strikes in Yemen.”
Amnesty cited people who work with migrants and refugees in Yemen and visited two hospitals that treated the victims, saying that they had seen “more than two dozen Ethiopian migrants” with severe injuries including amputations.
The morgues at both hospitals had run out of space, the witnesses told Amnesty.
In mid-March, the United States began an intense, near-daily military campaign against the Houthis after they had renewed threats to attack vessels in the vital Red Sea and Gulf of Aden shipping lanes.
The campaign ended with a US-Houthi ceasefire agreement earlier this month.
The Houthis, who control large swathes of Yemen, began firing on Israel and Israeli-linked shipping in November 2023, weeks into the Gaza war triggered by an attack by the Yemeni rebels’ Palestinian ally Hamas.
Amnesty said it had analyzed satellite imagery and footage from the site of last month’s strike on Saada, in Yemen’s north.
The group said it was “unable to conclusively identify a legitimate military target” within the targeted prison compound, citing Houthi restrictions on independent investigations.
“Any attack that fails to distinguish between civilians and civilian objects on the one hand, and legitimate military targets on the other, even within the same compound, constitutes an indiscriminate attack and a violation of international humanitarian law,” Amnesty said.

Syria says foiled attempt to smuggle out 4 million captagon tablets

Updated 4 min 55 sec ago
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Syria says foiled attempt to smuggle out 4 million captagon tablets

  • The tablets were seized in the key port city of Latakia — the coastal heartland of deposed president Bashar Assad’s Alawite minority

DAMASCUS: Syrian authorities on Monday announced that they had thwarted an attempt to smuggle out four million tablets of captagon, an amphetamine-like narcotic that has flooded the region.
The interior ministry said in a statement that authorities seized “over four million captagon tablets that were tightly hidden inside industrial equipment designed for manufacturing flour used for human consumption.”
It said they had acted on “accurate information received from our sources about a shipment of drugs hidden inside industrial equipment prepared for smuggling outside the country.”
The tablets were seized in the key port city of Latakia — the coastal heartland of deposed president Bashar Assad’s Alawite minority.
Under Assad’s rule, captagon became Syria’s largest export during the civil war that erupted in 2011 and a key source of illicit funding for his government.
Since Assad’s ouster last December, the new Islamist authorities have discovered millions of captagon pills in warehouses and on military bases.
The interior ministry said those involved in the latest operation have been “arrested, the equipment containing the drugs has been seized, and the arrested individuals have been referred for investigation based on a decision issued by the public prosecution.”
Last week, Syrian authorities announced the seizure of around nine million captagon tablets that were headed for Turkiye, after a month-long operation.
Drug smuggling has persisted in Syria despite the new rulers’ efforts, with neighboring countries occasionally seizing large quantities of captagon.
Iraqi security forces seized more than a ton of captagon smuggled from Syria via Turkiye in March, and Jordan thwarted a smuggling attempt from Syria in April, confiscating “hundreds of thousands” of captagon tablets.


Netanyahu: Israel must avert Gaza famine ‘for diplomacy’ while pressing for full territorial control

Updated 19 min 3 sec ago
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Netanyahu: Israel must avert Gaza famine ‘for diplomacy’ while pressing for full territorial control

  • Israel's blockade of Gaza since March 2 came under increasing international pressure to restore aid
  • Netanyahu vows full military control of Gaza as humanitarian crisis deepens and international warnings mount
  • The Israeli military issued an evacuation order for residents of Khan Younis

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel must prevent famine in Gaza for “diplomatic reasons,” even as he vowed to press ahead with military operations to “take control of all” of the war-torn territory.

His comments came amid mounting international concern over a deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and as Israeli forces launched what they called extensive new ground operations against Hamas.

“The fighting is intense and we are making progress. We will take control of all the territory of the Strip,” Netanyahu said Monday in a video posted to his Telegram channel.

“We will not give up. But in order to succeed, we must act in a way that cannot be stopped.”

‘Prevent Famine for Diplomacy’

Netanyahu also said it was necessary for Israel to prevent a famine in Gaza for “diplomatic reasons,” after his government announced it would allow limited food aid into the territory.

The premier’s defense of the decision to at least partially lift a more than two-month aid blockade followed criticism from far-right members of his coalition who opposed the move.

“We must not let the population (of Gaza) sink into famine, both for practical and diplomatic reasons,” Netanyahu said the Telegram video, adding that even friends of Israel would not tolerate “images of mass starvation.”

Israel has said its blockade since March 2 was aimed at forcing concessions from the Palestinian militant group.

But it came under increasing international pressure to restore aid to Gaza, where UN agencies have warned of critical shortages of food, clean water, fuel and medicines.

The territory was at “critical risk of famine,” with 22 percent of the population facing an imminent humanitarian “catastrophe,” the UN- and NGO-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said this month.

Neytanyahu on Monday shrugged off criticism of the aid resumption as “natural,” calling the decision “difficult, but necessary.”

Evacuation Order

The Israeli military on Monday issued an evacuation order for residents of Gaza’s second-largest city, Khan Younis, and nearby towns.
Avichay Adraee, a military spokesperson, posted the order on his social medial accounts, saying the entire area “will be considered a dangerous combat zone.”
The evacuation order comes as Israel escalates its war in Gaza with new operations.


Iraqi FM arrives in Tehran to attend regional security forum

Updated 19 May 2025
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Iraqi FM arrives in Tehran to attend regional security forum

  • The Tehran Dialogue Forum aims to discuss ways to enhance joint cooperation

DUBAI: Iraq’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Fuad Hussein arrived in Tehran on Sunday to take part in a forum on regional security, Iraqi state news agency INA reported.

The Tehran Dialogue Forum aims to “discuss ways to enhance regional security and joint cooperation, and exchange views on the political and economic challenges facing the region,” according to the INA report.

Hussein is expected to take part in sessions at the forum, which will host ministers, senior officials, research center leaders, and international experts.

He was received by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Middle Eastern and Gulf Affairs Mohammad Ali Beyk, alongside other Iranian Foreign Ministry officials and Nasir Abdul Mohsen Abdullah, Iraq’s ambassador to Iran, at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport.

“During his visit, the minister will meet with a number of senior officials in the Islamic Republic of Iran to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries and regional and international issues of common interest,” the report added. 


Qatari PM meets Iranian president in Tehran

Updated 19 May 2025
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Qatari PM meets Iranian president in Tehran

  • The two officials discussed enhancing cooperation between their countries, particularly in economy

DUBAI: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian received Sheikh Mohammed Al-Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, in Tehran on Sunday for high-level talks, Qatar news agency reported. 

The two officials discussed enhancing cooperation between their countries, particularly in economy and trade.

They also reviewed the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as other regional and international issues of mutual concern.