The stock traded at its highest level since January 2008; the stock had hit a record high of Rs 154 on January 4, 2008.Shares of Usha Martin hit an over 14-year high of Rs 134.40, on soaring 8 per cent on the BSE in Wednesday’s intra-day trade extending it’s a month long rally. The stock of the wire rope manufacture has zoomed 54 per cent in the past one month as compared to a 4 per cent rise on the S&P BSE Sensex. The stock traded at its highest level since January 2008, when it hit a record high of Rs 154.
According to disclosure made by Usha Martin, the company’s promoter Peterhouse Investments sold 1.6 million equity shares or 0.52 per cent stake in the company thus far in March via open market deals. Post transaction, Peterhouse Investments stake in the company decreased to 2.16 per cent from 2.68 per cent. The promoter group company held 6.54 per cent stake in Usha Martin at the end of December 2021 quarter. The names of the buyers were not ascertained immediately Meanwhile, for the first nine months ended (April to December) of financial year 2021–22 (9MFY22), Usha Martin had reported a strong 119 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 182.70 crore. It posted net profit of Rs 83.6 crore in 9MFY21. Revenue from operations grew 33 per cent YoY to Rs 1,921 crore from Rs 1,444 crore. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (ebitda) margins improved 212 bps at 15.9 per cent from 13.8 per cent during the same period last year. In FY21 annual report, Usha Martin said, the global demand for the oil and offshore market saw improvement during the year under review which in turn boosted the demand for speciality rope products of the company catering to the said sector. “It is expected that the demand from the said sector shall sustain in the next fiscal and is expected to provide business opportunities to the Company. Further with steady infrastructure spending by the government, speciality products used in construction and infrastructural sector may be growth drivers for the company.”
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Twenty-nine participants, including the hosts, have already been confirmed, while the remaining three will be finalised by June this year.
The final draw for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will take place in Doha on Friday. The 32-team football event will kick off in Qatar on November 21, with the final taking place on December 18. Twenty-nine participants, including the hosts, have already been confirmed, while the remaining three will be finalised by June this year. How does the seeding and pots work? Qatar, as hosts, will take position A1 from Pot 1. The other 28 already qualified teams are allocated pots based on the FIFA rankings released on Thursday. In Pot 1, Qatar will be joined by the seven highest-ranked teams. The teams ranked eight to 15 will be allocated Pot 2, 16 to 23 will be in Pot 3 while Pot 4 will include the qualified teams in positions 24 to 28 as well as placeholders for the remaining three slots — two winners of the intercontinental playoffs and the remaining UEFA playoff winner. Readmore:https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/1/qatar-2022-world-cupdrawexplained Italian aid worker spent 14 months in captivity and experienced brutality at the hands of ISIS membersFederico Motka’s abductors greeted him in English after he and his colleagues were kidnapped near a refugee camp on the Turkish border, telling him: “Welcome to Syria, you mutt.”
For the Italian aid worker, it was the beginning of 14 months of brutality at the hands of ISIS. Mr Motka gave evidence about the ordeal on Thursday at the terrorism trial of El Shafee Elsheikh, a British citizen charged with taking a leading role in an ISIS kidnapping scheme that took more than 20 westerners hostage between 2012 and 2015. Four Americans — journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller — were among them. Foley, Sotloff and Kassig were decapitated. Mueller was forced into slavery and raped repeatedly by ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi before she, too, was killed. Mr Motka is the first surviving hostage to give evidence at Mr Elsheikh’s trial in Alexandria, Virginia. Born in Trieste, Italy, Mr Motka said he spent much of his childhood in the Middle East and went to boarding school in England. He was an aid worker surveying the needs of refugee camps in March 2013 when he and a colleague, Briton David Haines, were captured and taken hostage. Four Americans — journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller — were among them. Foley, Sotloff and Kassig were decapitated. Mueller was forced into slavery and raped repeatedly by ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi before she, too, was killed. Mr Motka is the first surviving hostage to give evidence at Mr Elsheikh’s trial in Alexandria, Virginia. Born in Trieste, Italy, Mr Motka said he spent much of his childhood in the Middle East and went to boarding school in England. He was an aid worker surveying the needs of refugee camps in March 2013 when he and a colleague, Briton David Haines, were captured and taken hostage. Readmore:https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/2022/03/31/surviving-hostage-relates-mistreatment-at-trial-of-isis-beatle/ Angel Argueta Anariba fled a 1998 hurricane in Honduras, only to get lashed by one while detained by ICE two decades later.WHEN HURRICANE LAURA slammed into Louisiana in the summer of 2020, it was the strongest storm in the state since U.S. record-keeping began. For 42-year-old Angel Argueta Anariba, it was the beginning of a period of misery: the first of three major storms to hit Central Louisiana’s Catahoula Correctional Center, where he was detained.
More than 20 years earlier, another climate catastrophe had upended Argueta Anariba’s life. In November 1998, he had fled Honduras in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch. Now he found himself confronting new climate nightmares in Louisiana, with no possibility of escape. The privately run facility where Argueta Anariba was held was one of several new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in Louisiana. The implications of caging thousands of people in a state that’s notorious for extreme weather crystallized with the intensifying wind. In the days that followed the storm’s landfall, detainees throughout the state would endure appalling conditions caused in no small part by ICE’s lack of preparedness for climate disasters. An Intercept investigation found that more than half of ICE’s detention facilities, including Catahoula, are already facing significant climate risks. “Climate change has already exacerbated extreme weather conditions, and we are seeing a direct impact on incarcerated people warehoused in immigration detention facilities across the country,” said Karla Ostolaza, managing director of the immigration practice at the Bronx Defenders, a public defense group that is representing Argueta Anariba. “We are very concerned that more extreme weather events caused by climate change will lead to further exploitation and disregard for detained immigrants at ICE facilities.” On August 26, with Hurricane Laura lashing the Catahoula facility, the lights went out and the water stopped running, according to a court affidavit by Argueta Anariba. The services were down for five days. Several inches of water pooled on the ground. With the air conditioning down, the dorm felt like it was over 100 degrees. In the first days, facility employees brought in a few gallons to drink, twice a day, for more than 50 people. “The toilets would not flush during this time, and some people were forced to defecate on the trays that they gave us for meals and then throw those in the trash,” Argueta Anariba said, adding that with staff avoiding the dorms, garbage piled up. The stench made Argueta Anariba feel sick and aggravated his asthma. “The smell was excruciating.” Readmore:https://theintercept.com/2022/03/31/ice-detention-climate-crisis-migrants/ Ukraine’s commitment to the laws of war is being tested by how it responds to video that appears to show its forces shooting Russian prisoners.
AMID OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE that Russian forces have committed war crimes during an unprovoked war of aggression in Ukraine, Ukrainian officials were confronted this week with video that appeared to show Ukrainian soldiers shooting captive Russian soldiers in the legs. Although Ukraine’s senior military leader and its domestic intelligence agency both insisted that the video posted on social networks on Sunday was “a fake” produced by Russia, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised that the government would investigate and punish those responsible if the incident did take place. On Monday, a well-known Ukrainian journalist, Yuri Butusov, published graphic video showing the charred remains of three men he identified as Russian soldiers, as Ukrainian forces recaptured the town of Malaya Rohan, outside Kharkiv, over the weekend. Although Butusov made no mention of the video of the alleged war crime, a visual analysis of his footage shows that it was clearly filmed in the same location as the video of the prisoners being shot, some time after that incident. Reporting by open-source investigators and BBC News had already established that the video of the alleged war crime was recorded at a dairy processing plant in Malaya Rohan, which is about 3 miles east of Kharkiv. Multiple visual clues in Butusov’s video show that he discovered the burned bodies in precisely the same part of the dairy plant’s courtyard where, in the prior video, at least eight captives were filmed bleeding on the pavement, several with their hands bound behind their backs and bags over their heads. According to Butusov, the editor of the Ukrainian news site Censor.net, he arrived in Malaya Rohan “a few hours after the battle” there. By that time, his footage shows, several of the buildings at the dairy factory had been partially destroyed by explosions or fire. Those same structures had not yet been damaged when the video showing the prisoners being shot was recorded. Readmore:https://theintercept.com/2022/03/31/ukrainian-journalist-finds-charred-remains-alleged-war-crime-filmed/ Shyam Maheshwari serves as Chief Executive Officer, Founder and Partner of SSG Capital Management (Singapore) Pte. Limited, and is primarily responsible for SSG’s investment activities in India. He has 17 years of experience in the deal sourcing, analysis and investing industry. Previously, Mr Maheshwari served as a Senior Member of the Lehman Brothers Asia Special Situations Group primarily responsible for making principal investments in India, where he oversaw the efforts to build the India business and initiated pan-Asian ventures in mining and power assets with a focus on Indonesia. He initially joined Lehman Brothers in 1999 as a Credit Analyst in the Asia Credit Research team and later moved to Credit Trading in early 2005. He served as Fixed Income Analyst of Barclays Capital, Research Division. He worked at Barclays PLC, Research Division. He was a Credit Analyst of Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. from 1999 until 2005. He has been a Non-Executive Director of Future Supply Chain Solutions Ltd. Since June 30, 2016. Shyam is a gold medalist (All India Rank 1) chartered accountant and also has an MBA from IIM Bangalore where he was the Institute topper. After over 12 years as a founder of SSG, Shyam Maheshwari in July 2021 leaves Ares SSG to dedicate more time to his family, especially his children, and pursue his interests in philanthropy and other personal interests. Over the years, Maheshwari has made significant contributions to SSG, particularly in the Indian market, where he has helped to build a strong business, and importantly a deep team of senior investment professionals who are well-positioned to carry on successful Indian business. Ways to counter stressed asset development Shyam Maheshwari tells about the recent developments around stressed assets resolution. They are a $4.5 billion platform today. India has happened to be a large part of our investments since 2009. The economy has a tailwind of growth, said Shyam Maheshwari. They have put in resources, talent pool and capital as well as processes. It’s a market you have to work hard for, he said. They have done 14 steel site visits in the last two years but they haven’t concluded a deal in India yet. It takes time but there’s nothing called wasted learning, he said. According to Shyam Maheshwari, foreign investors have to continuously work on the process of executing things and are ready to invest their capital in India. Mr Shyam Maheshwari also said about the challenges they face in the country. Assets have to be fundamentally sound. Operating assets could have been mismanaged. Operating a completed asset is the first criterion. They thought about the steel cycle and realized that the government came up with the process which created a flow to steel prices in India. The same thing is happening in China too, said Shyam. Non-operating assets are shutting down. In that context, they had started looking at those assets and at that time the law (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code) had not been enacted and there was no process of restructuring. According to Maheshwari, diligence is a learning process. As he said one has to be in the game to learn the game. They put the resources and people on the ground. They are paying to learn the game. The process is fine. It’s all about being there and contributing positively. “Expectations of our investors are similar to us. On the equity side, you just can’t make a quick buck and then leave. We have a long duration fund of eight-10 years. We need that kind of time to figure out our way. You have to create that process, discipline and risk-reward as an investor and it is not different from what a strategic investor would do”, said Shyam Maheshwari. According to Mr ShyamMaheshwari, Challenges are opportunities. Firstly, one has to be in the game. Their fund is a long duration fund with no leverage. The second aspect is that doing business is not easy. Things that he would like to change in IBC would be the bias for strategic investors over financial investors. It’s very clear how the committee of creditors think today. Asking Rs500 crore for an initial deposit is not possible. One has to think that time is valuable and money is valuable. And I think this would happen over some time. “We are cognizant that every asset is not for us. It’s difficult to assess the liabilities”, said Shyam Maheshwari. He is optimistic because the process in front of his eyes has changed positively. The whole part of foreign portfolio investments (FPI) to invest in debt instruments is good. This has created a level playing field for foreign and domestic funds and much more is required to solve the problem of the mammoth size that face. Many things have ramifications when the company goes into debt. Salaries are not paid; the income tax department is after your life and this cannot be underestimated. The process is improving, creditor rights are recognized. The attitude is changing and this NCLT process is a level playing field in itself, concluded Shyam Maheshwari. Russia-Ukraine war effects on the Indian market Shyam Maheshwari also talks about the impact caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict have on India. Even before the conflict began in Ukraine, the expected rise in US interest rates was creating pressure on emerging markets including India. The hardening of interest rates could cause some stress in the retail credit. The conflict has aggravated the short-term market situation. Russia was investment grade and had a significant presence in most of the bond indices. They are in unchartered waters here whether the sovereign would be able to honor their commitments despite having reserves to do so. Shyam Maheshwari feels this is creating forced liquidation of portfolios, margin calls and low liquidity in secondary markets. However, given the fundamentals of India remain strong, the impact of high oil prices may slow the growth rate but should still keep them at attractive levels. The off-shore credit markets are very attractive at present to acquire India related risk on higher-quality names. As this normalizes, the opportunities in local markets would again become more attractive. Private lenders on the Indian credit market Shyam Maheshwari describes the Indian credit market and how it is dominated by private lenders. The Indian credit market has been dominated by banks and non-bank financial companies for a long period. It started with the primary dominance of PSU banks then the private sector banks came along. Still, the credit to GDP ratio is relatively modest and low for the stage of growth of the country. As the economy develops credit intensity would probably increase initially and the need for credit is very much out there. The challenges the banks and non-banks as you have rightly pointed out may not be able to fulfil that requirement and that’s where the private credit demand is extremely apparent and necessary for the growth, says Shyam Maheshwari. Shyam Maheshwari thinks that taking what he said on the flexibility, also emanates from the regulated players which have been dominating the market for a long time whether it is a bank or a non-bank. One is regulated second is leveraged. The leverage platforms have certain constraints which were shown when IFS has happened in terms of whether it is LLM or it is provisioning norms. Flexibility is available in terms of speed. Flexibility is also available in terms of crafting a solution which is meeting the need of the borrower then. It could be for capital formation, which is quite a constraint in terms of financing from the traditional sector in India. The third is real estate, fourth is intangibles, according to Shyam Maheshwari. Lots of these are also sectors that are kind of at the building block of the country especially real estate which does not get adequate attention from the banking sector. So, coming to the ground exactly what you would expect certain sectors have more need but it seems like the need has grown rapidly at least in terms of number enquiries. Primarily because of constraints especially at this point where the banking sector is running double-digit MPL ratios. There had been certain comfort for the investors from the global perspective which is there is an IBC process in place. There is creditor protection which is increasing and improving over time. Of course, the access to the market remains open, improving but still, a lot could be done as also he pointed out in form of access which is only available to the foreign participant in form of either an ECB in dollar terms or in rupee bond market which has certain nuances and constraints at this point. However, still, it is pretty encouraging to see the signs that it has been opening up in the last decade or so. Cepsa is leveraging its relationship with Mubadala Investment Company and is in talks with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Masdar on potential co-investments and partnerships as it pursues its low-carbon energy strategy in Europe, its chief executive has said.
The Spanish oil and gas company, which is majority owned by Abu Dhabi’s strategic investment fund Mubadala, is in talks with state-owned energy producer Adnoc for a green hydrogen partnership, Maarten Wetselaar told The National in an interview. The potential tie-up can take the form of joint investments in developing the entire hydrogen value chain from the Middle East to Europe and North Africa. Another option is Cepsa focusing on building demand and infrastructure in Spain and other parts of Europe as Adnoc remains focused on hydrogen production, he said. “We are actually discussing exactly that question with Adnoc at the moment,” Mr Wetselaar said. “The biggest value add that we can have is to offer market access. We have customers in Spain, we can develop customers in the rest of Europe."Both approaches can work, however, it is a “little bit early” to say how its potential partnership with Adnoc will be formed, he said, adding that Cepsa’s “unique contribution" lies more in Spain and continental Europe. "I think that’s the starting point.” Cepsa, which also counts the Carlyle Group as its shareholder, will be “absolutely willing” to bring its expertise and knowledge to Abu Dhabi to work together with Adnoc, Mr Wetselaar said. “I don’t think there’s a lack of capital in Abu Dhabi, although we would be willing to bring our capital … to build those value chains together from Abu Dhabi into Europe, into North Africa and from North Africa into Europe … a major opportunity that we would be very keen to work [on] together.” Hydrogen, which can be produced from both renewable energy and natural gas, is expected to play a key role in the coming years as economies and industries transition to a low-carbon world to mitigate the effects of climate change. Green hydrogen is produced from renewable sources while natural gas produces blue and grey hydrogen. An investment of about $600 billion in low-carbon hydrogen will be required by 2050 to meet rising demand for the green fuel, Wood Mackenzie has said. Globally, the size of the hydrogen industry is expected to hit $183bn by 2023, up from $129bn in 2017, Fitch Solutions has said. French investment bank Natixis estimates that investment in hydrogen will exceed $300bn by 2030. Demand for low-carbon hydrogen globally is set to surge to 223 million tonnes by 2050 from less than 1 million tonnes currently, according to Wood Mackenzie estimates.Mr Wetselaar is bullish on Spain becoming Europe’s main hydrogen hub and said the country is ideally located to become the port of entry for hydrogen imports from North Africa and the Middle East. “Of course our relationship with Masdar, with Adnoc and Mubadala gives us a really good opportunity to be the company that is at the receiving end of hydrogen flow that comes from Abu Dhabi,” he said. Mr Wetselaar, who joined Cepsa at the start of this year from Shell, plans to make Cepsa a global leader in green hydrogen and low-carbon fuels. Cepsa aims to invest between €7 billion-€8bn ($8.9bn) over the next decade, with more than 60 per cent to be allocated to sustainable businesses starting next year. The company, which plans to become net-zero by 2050, aims to lead green hydrogen production in Spain and Portugal by 2030 with a capacity equivalent to 2 gigawatts. Developing the green hydrogen sector is also a central plank of the UAE’s energy diversification strategy, as it aims to capture about 25 per cent of the global hydrogen market, UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said earlier this year. Mubadala has described hydrogen as one of the most promising areas for investment in renewable energy. Mubadala, Adnoc and Abu Dhabi holding company ADQ last year joined hands to form Abu Dhabi Hydrogen Alliance, with focus on establishing the emirate as global hub for of low-carbon green and blue hydrogen. Last year, Adnoc and Taqa joined Mubadala to become shareholders in Masdar, a move that will boost its renewable power capacity to more than 50 gigawatts by 2030 and help create a "global champion in renewables and green hydrogen" sector, the companies said at the time. "Investing and partnering in the energy transition has been a priority for Mubadala since 2006 and is consistent with our commitment to responsible global investment across the sectors driving global progress," Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi, who is chairman of Cepsa and chief executive of direct investments at Mubadala, said.The company's sweeping pivot and the massive investment layout over the next decade will enable it to become a European leader in green hydrogen, biofuels and e-mobility. It will also help it advance its clean energy goals and deliver on its customers’ expectations, Mr Al Idrissi said. As part of its green strategy Cepsa is looking to convert its traditional refineries into renewable energy parks. The company plans to develop a portfolio of solar and wind energy projects — mostly dedicated to its own use — with capacity of 7GW, of which 1.5GW are already connected to the grid. Cepsa has approached several companies including Masdar to explore co-investment options to develop its renewables portfolio. “Masdar is absolutely a potential partner in some or all of the parks. We are eventually only interested in getting green electrons as cheaply as we can,” Mr Wetselaar said. “But we haven’t made any investments yet and at the moment it is a discussion on what terms would we make a joint investment, if we did.” In January 2020, Masdar and Cepsa formed a 50:50 joint venture — Cepsa Masdar Renovables — which is focused on developing wind and solar photovoltaic projects in Spain and Portugal. Cepsa can choose the option of investing alone and later selling its renewables portfolio, but it is more likely to strike partnerships.“I would be surprised if we end up owning 7GW of solar and wind [projects] a 100 per cent at the end of the decade. With the way I currently see the industry we want to be a minority shareholders in these farms,” he said. The green push will translate into a larger contribution of sustainable businesses to Cepsa's top line, rising from 14 per cent in 2022 to more than half of its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation in 2030, the company announced in March. It can exceed its target of €8bn investment or more than 60 per cent being channelled into sustainable business, depending on the speed at which markets develop over the next few years and the pace at which the regulatory framework will mature, Mr Wetselaar said. “If it all goes fast, than we will get to the €8bn and higher,” he said. The company is currently designing “major hydrogen investments” and is working in parallel with the government to create an environment that is conducive to making the final investment decision, he said without giving details of the potential size of investments. “We haven’t disclosed the number but you can imagine it would be one of the three big-ticket items in the sustainable part of our investments,” Mr Wetselaar said. Cepsa plans to start building hydrogen production centres next year, however, when the projects will finish will depend on the global supply chain situation. “At the moment it is quite stressed and it is possible that it impacts the timelines,” he said. Drivers have been told to turn off their engines when they are not movingLondon’s nine million inhabitants have been urged to avoid unnecessary car journeys to combat the “toxic air” circulating in the city as part of the first major warning over pollution in two years.
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of the UK capital, issued the alert, asking Londoners to walk, cycle or use public transport rather than use private vehicles. Drivers should also refrain from idling with their engines on and people should not burn wood or garden waste, he said. “Toxic air is dangerous, particularly for those with heart and lung problems,” Mr Khan tweeted. “A high pollution episode is forecast from now to Thursday. Please look after each other by walking, cycling, avoiding unnecessary car trips, stopping engine idling and not burning wood or garden waste.” The alert issued on Tuesday is set to expire on Thursday. It was triggered by an Imperial College London forecast that imported pollution will add to a build-up of domestic emissions, Mr Khan’s office said in a statement. Pollution remains a grave problem in the city and poor air quality is associated with 4,000 premature deaths a year, according to city officials. London’s Ultra-Low Emission Zone, which covers areas within the North and South Circular Roads, was introduced to lower the capital’s pollution rates. It requires the drivers of vehicles which do not meet ULEZ emissions standards to pay a £12.50 daily charge to drive inside the zone. The zone will next year be expanded to cover an area of more than 600 square miles. London’s measured levels of PM2.5, an air pollutant that is a concern for people’s health when levels are high, stands at more than eight times above guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation, according to IQAir, a Swiss company that makes air quality monitors and air purification technologies. Hundreds of millions of people globally are being affected by dirty air that far exceeds health standards, the firm said in a report published on Tuesday. A report by Inrix, a US-based analytics company, last year named London as the world’s most congested city. Mr Khan has previously said people living in London face a crisis of “filthy air and gridlocked roads” unless the use of cars is reduced. Foreign minister accuses US of delaying nuclear deal amid complications over Ukraine-linked sanctions on RussiaIran is “closer than ever” to reviving Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said while visiting Damascus where he welcomed recent moves to reconcile Arab relations with Syria. He also discussed Russia’s war in Ukraine during talks with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad and top security official Maj Gen Ali Mamlouk in the Syrian capital on Wednesday. Iran and Russia have supported Mr Al Assad through much of Syria’s civil war, which began with peaceful protests in 2011. The government’s violent response to the demonstrations led to the international isolation of Syria, which included its suspension from the Arab League. Mr Amirabdollahian’s visit to Damascus came days after the UAE hosted Mr Al Assad on his first visit to an Arab state since 2011. “We welcome and we are satisfied with what some Arab countries are doing by normalising relations with Syria,” he said in Damascus. The Iranian foreign minister said he believed Tehran was close to reaching an agreement over its nuclear programme and put the blame for delays on the United States, which he said should take “a realistic stance”. Eleven months of talks to revive the 2015 deal appeared to have reached completion this month before Moscow demanded that its trade with Iran be exempted from western sanctions on Russia over Ukraine, throwing the process into disarray. Negotiators have yet to reconvene in the Austrian capital, and it is unclear exactly what hurdles lie ahead. “If the US acts pragmatically, we are ready to have foreign ministers of countries belonging to the nuclear deal’s joint commission gather in Vienna to finalise the agreement,” Mr Amirabdollahian said during a press conference in Damascus alongside his Syrian counterpart. “We believe that today we are closer to an agreement in Vienna than ever before.” The 2015 deal lifted international sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme to prevent Tehran from developing atomic weapons. The agreement collapsed after then president Donald Trump pulled the US out of the pact in 2018 citing Iran’s missile development and interference in the region. Iran has mobilised thousands of fighters from the region, including members of the Tehran-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, to boost Syrian government forces against opponents. Mr Amirabdollahian’s trip to Damascus came two weeks after two members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in an Israeli strike near the Syrian capital. He said strategic relations between Iran and Syria were at their best, and later made a rare comment in Arabic: “We are in the same trench, and we support Syria’s leadership, government and people.” Like Tehran, Moscow is a strong ally of Syria and joined the war in 2015. Its support helped Mr Al Assad’s forces to regain control of much of the country. Russia has hundreds of troops in Syria and an air base on the Mediterranean coast. Readmore:https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/syria/2022/03/24/iran-praises-efforts-to-restore-syrias-ties-with-arab-world/ Suspected intercontinental ballistic missile test thought to be first since 2017The US has condemned North Korea’s test-firing of a new intercontinental ballistic missile. The American government on Thursday urged the world to hold Pyongyang responsible for breaching UN Security Council resolutions. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Washington “strongly condemns the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for its test of a long-range ballistic missile”. “This launch is a brazen violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions and needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilising the security situation in the region.” South Korea and Japan reported the launch of a suspected ICBM, thought to be for the first time since 2017. The US Armed Forces’ Indo-Pacific Command said the launch did not pose an immediate threat to US territory or personnel, or its allies. It said North Korea must stop such destabilising acts. North Korea on Thursday conducted what is thought to be its largest ICBM test, militaries in South Korea and Japan said. If so, it would be the first full-capability launch of the nuclear-armed state’s largest missiles since 2017. It brought to a dramatic end a self-imposed moratorium on long-range testing and represents a major step in North Korea’s development of weapons that could deliver nuclear warheads anywhere in the US. |
MichaelMichael is Professor of Political Science and Head of Department. His research is on public administration and administrative reform, core executives, the role of civil servants in a transformed state, Archives
May 2024
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