Author: Finance for Sight

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet on Sunday to discuss the expansion of the Gaza offensive and a possible resumption of aid into the besieged enclave, two government officials said. In a video message posted on the social media platform X on Sunday, hours after part of a missile launched from Yemen by the Houthi militia fell close to Israel’s main gateway, Ben Gurion Airport, Netanyahu said he was convening the security cabinet to discuss “the next stage” of the war in Gaza. It was unclear if the ministers will give final approval at the…

TEHRAN: Iranian authorities arrested two people including a government official in connection with a deadly explosion last month at the country’s main commercial port, state television reported on Sunday. The April 26 blast at a dock in the southern port of Shahid Rajaee killed at least 57 people and injured more than 1,000, officials said, revising down an earlier death toll. The judiciary on Sunday said the toll had been revised because “it was determined that some of the bodies considered separate were in fact one body”, adding that it could still change. At the time of the blast, Interior…

RIYADH: US President Donald Trump is due to meet the heads of state of six Gulf countries while on a visit to Riyadh later this month, a source close to the Saudi government told AFP on Sunday. Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates from May 13 to 16 will be the first foreign trip of his second term – other than a brief visit to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis. “Trump will meet the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Riyadh”, the source said, referring to an alliance comprising Saudi Arabia,…

LONDON: OPEC+ plans to further accelerate oil output hikes and could unwind its 2.2 million barrels per day of voluntary cuts by the end of October if members do not improve compliance with their production quotas, four sources from the group said. OPEC+ shocked the oil market in April by agreeing a faster-than-expected unwinding of cuts despite weak prices and demand. The move was designed by OPEC+ leader Saudi Arabia to punish some members for poor quota compliance, sources have said. OPEC+, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, agreed another big output…

CAIRO: Israel called on Qatar, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, to “stop playing both sides with its double talk and decide if it’s on the side of civilization or if it’s on the side of Hamas”, the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said on Saturday. Qatar rejected the statements as “inflammatory”. Despite efforts by Egyptian and Qatari mediators to restore a ceasefire, neither Israel nor Hamas has shown willingness to back down on core demands, with each side blaming the other for the failure to reach a deal. Israel, which wants the return of 59 hostages still held in…

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: The Foreign Press Association Saturday called on Israel to allow news media “unrestricted” access to Gaza, off-limits to outside journalists operating independently since the war there began in October 2023. “We call on Israel to stop the never-ending delays, uphold the fundamental principles of press freedom and allow unrestricted entry for journalists to Gaza,” the Jerusalem-based association wrote in a statement to mark World Press Freedom Day. The FPA has more than 350 members working for foreign media outlets in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. An AFP journalist sits on its board of directors. The association criticised Israel…

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s People’s Action Party was on course on Saturday for a decisive victory for a 14th successive election, preliminary vote counts showed, as the PAP looked set to extend its unbroken six-decade rule over the wealthy city-state. Samples of voting in the 32 constituencies contested on Saturday showed the PAP had won in all but three races. Combined with five seats already won by the PAP in a walkover, that translated to wins in 87 of the 97 parliamentary seats. The election was a bellwether of the popularity of the PAP, which has ruled since before Singapore’s 1965 independence.…

ADEN: Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, prime minister of Yemen’s internationally recognised government, said in a statement on Saturday he had resigned after facing “lots of difficulties” including being unable to reshuffle the government. His exit follows conflict with Rashad Al-Alimi, head of Yemen’s presidential council, over his powers after the latter refused Mubarak’s request to dismiss 12 of the government’s ministers, six government sources told Reuters. They said Finance Minister Salem Saleh Bin Braik was set to be appointed the new prime minister. Mubarak was appointed premier in February 2024 after serving as foreign minister. He came to prominence in…

GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defence agency said Saturday that an overnight Israeli strike on the Khan Yunis refugee camp killed at least 11 people, including three babies up to a year old. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal reported 11 killed “after the bombardment of the Al-Bayram family home in the Khan Yunis camp” in southern Gaza at around 3:00 am (0000 GMT). Bassal told AFP that eight of the dead had been identified and were all from the same extended family, including a boy and girl, both one-year-olds, and a month-old baby. An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed the strike to…

NEW DELHI: India said it has banned the import of goods originating from or transiting via Pakistan as diplomatic tensions between the two nuclear-armed nations flared in the wake of an attack on tourists in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) last month. India’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade in a notification said the ban will take effect immediately. “This restriction is imposed in the interest of national security and public policy,” it said. Last month, gunmen killed at least 26 tourists in an attack on a mountain destination in the Pahalgam area of the IIOJK valley. Six…