Jordan

The escalating conflict in West Asia is hurting India's trade with countries like Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon that are involved directly in the war, think tank GTRI said on Tuesday. To navigate these turbulent times, India must stay vigilant and adaptable to the fast-changing geopolitical and trade landscape in West Asia, the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said. During January-July 2024, India's trade with countries directly impacted by the conflict has faced significant challenges. "Exports to Israel dropped sharply by 63.5 per cent, Jordan saw a 38.5 per cent decline due to spillover effects, and Lebanon experienced a 6.8 per cent decrease," GTRI Founder Ajay Srivastava said. He added that the Israel-Hamas war, which erupted in October 2023, has now extended to Lebanon, Syria, and is indirectly impacting Jordan and Iran. Key regional players like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar have thus far remained uninvolved in the conflict. "This neutrality has allowed Ind

Authorities charged four men, including a relative of the King of Jordan, for conspiring to make insider stock trades on a business acquired by one of South Florida's major publicly held companies, MasTec. Federico Nannini, 26; his father, Mauro Nannini, 63; and two of his friends, Alejandro Thermiotis, 26; and Francisco Tonarely, 25, were arrested Friday and charged in a federal indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and 24 related offenses, The Miami Herald reported. Thermiotis is the King of Jordan's relative. Thermiotis' brother, Jameel, married King Abdulla's daughter, Princess Iman, last year. The Jordanian Royal Palace did not respond to a request for comment. According to the indictment from the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida, the four defendants shared confidential information within a close circle of family and friends, and used it to buy shares at a lower price and then turn a USD 1 million profit after the informatio

Three people were shot and killed Sunday at the border crossing between the West Bank and Jordan, Israeli officials said. The military said the gunman approached the Allenby Bridge Crossing from the Jordanian side in a truck and opened fire at Israeli security forces, who killed the assailant in a shootout. It said the three people killed were Israeli civilians. Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said the three men who were killed were in their 50s. There was no immediate comment from Jordan, which made peace with Israel in 1994 but is fiercely critical of its policies toward the Palestinians. The Allenby crossing is mainly used by Israelis, Palestinians and international tourists. The Israeli-occupied West Bank has seen a surge of violence since Hamas' Oct 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there. Israel has launched near-daily military arrest raids into dense Palestinian residential areas, and there has also been a rise in settler violence and Palestinian attacks on ...

Jordan is facing the brunt of the West's perception of the Middle East being one unit, says Tourism and Antiquities Minister Makram Mustafa A Queisi while stressing that his strong and resilient country is safe to visit notwithstanding the Israel-Hamas conflict. The number of tourists to the country has been steadily declining since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel last year and the subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza. The sector contributes 14.6 per cent to Jordan's gross domestic product (GDP) by generating USD 7.3 billion and employs 55,000 people directly, The dip in the number of tourists is what Queisi hopes to address. "Jordan has always been strong and resilient... It is the problem of perception in the West, especially in Europe and the US -- maybe Canada and Australia as well. They look at the Middle East as one unit, Queisi told PTI. If a bullet is fired in the southern part of the Middle East, the eastern part, the western part and the northern part are affected and

The weapons were sent by Iranian-backed militias in Syria to a cell of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan that has links to the military wing of Palestinian group Hamas

Canada is working to airdrop humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip as soon as possible, a cabinet minister said on Wednesday. The confirmation that an active effort is underway comes after Canadian International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen said Ottawa was exploring new options to deliver aid. He said the provision of airdrops in partnership with like-minded countries in the region, such as Jordan, was on the table. Hussen said last week that the provision of aid is nowhere near what's needed and a tedious inspection process was slowing down the movement of supplies brought in by truck. He made the comments following a trip to the Rafah border crossing, the only way in or out of the Gaza Strip since the Israel-Hamas war began in October. Canada has put CAD 100 million (USD 74 million) toward aid for the besieged territory since the start of the conflict, including CAD 40 million (USD 30 million) committed in January.

Following the drone attack on a base in Jordan, the US forces are now preparing to hit Iran-backed proxies across the Middle East with increased intensity, as reported by Voice of America (VOA)

While it may be tempting to allow militants to operate as long as they are focused on your strategic rival next door, there is no such thing as 'our' terrorists

President Joe Biden said on Sunday that the US shall respond after three American troops were killed and dozens more were injured in an overnight drone strike in northeast Jordan near the Syrian border. Biden blamed Iran-backed militias for the first US fatalities after months of strikes by such groups against American forces across the Middle East since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Biden, who was travelling in South Carolina, asked for a moment of silence during an appearance at a Baptist church's banquet hall. We had a tough day last night in the Middle East. We lost three brave souls in an attack on one of our bases," he said. After the moment of silence, Biden added, and we shall respond. With an increasing risk of military escalation in the region, US officials were working to conclusively identify the precise group responsible for the attack, but they have assessed that one of several Iranian-backed groups was behind it. Biden said in a written statement that the Unite

One possibility is covert action that would see the US strike Iran without claiming credit for it but sending a clear message regardless

Three American service members were killed and many were wounded in a drone strike in Jordan, President Joe Biden said in a statement Sunday. He attributed the attack to Iran-backed militia groups. They were the first US fatalities in months of strikes against American forces across the Middle East by Iranian-backed militias amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, increasing the risk of escalation. Biden said the United States will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner our choosing. There was no immediate reaction from Jordan, a kingdom bordering Iraq, Israel, the Palestinian territory of the West Bank, Saudi Arabia and Syria. US troops long have used Jordan as a basing point. Some 3,000 American troops typically are stationed in Jordan. Since Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip began, US troops in Iraq and Syria have faced drone and missile attacks on their bases. The attack on Jordan marks the first targeting American troops in Jordan during the war. Bi

An airstrike on southern Syria early Thursday killed at least nine people and was probably carried out by Jordan's air force, Syrian opposition activists said, the latest in a series of strikes in an area where cross-border drug smugglers have been active. There was no immediate confirmation from Jordan on the strike that hit the province of Sweida, The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said nine people, including two children and at least three women, were killed in the strike on the village of Orman. The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdurrahman, said the people killed had nothing to do with smuggling, suggesting that the Jordanian air force might have received incorrect intelligence from local residents. Smugglers have used Jordan as a corridor over the past years to smuggle highly addictive Captagon amphetamines out of Syria, mainly to oil-rich Arab Gulf states. The Jordanian authorities have managed to stop several smuggling attempts

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met on Sunday with Jordan's king and foreign minister and visited a World Food Programme warehouse in Amman as he pressed ahead with an urgent Middle East diplomatic mission to prevent Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza from spreading. On his fourth visit to the region in three months, Blinken stressed the need for Israel to adjust its military operations to reduce civilian casualties and significantly boost the amount of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza while highlighting the importance of preparing detailed plans for the post-conflict future of the territory, which has been decimated by intensive Israeli airstrikes and ground offensives. After a day of talks with Turkish and Greek leaders in Istanbul and Crete, Blinken met Sunday with Jordan's King Abdullah II and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi seeking buy-in for US efforts to tamp down resurgent fears that the three-month-old war could engulf the region, ramp up aid deliveries to Gaza and prepare

Lupin Limited has partnered with pharmaceutical manufacturer Amman Pharmaceuticals Industries for exclusive marketing and commercialisation of Ranibizumab in the West Asian region

As Israel defends its citizens and fights terrorists, Biden emphasised the significance of upholding international humanitarian law and preserving civilian life

In its review published on October 27, FATF has added Bulgaria to the grey list

Economic crises are rippling through the countries bordering Israel, raising the possibility of a chain reaction from the war with Hamas that further worsens the financial health and political stability of Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon and creates problems well beyond. Each of the three countries is up against differing economic pressures that led the International Monetary Fund to warn in a September report that they could lose their "sociopolitical stability." That warning came shortly before Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, triggering a war that could easily cause economic chaos that President Joe Biden and the European Union would likely need to address. The possible fallout is now starting to be recognized by world leaders and policy analysts. For a Biden administration committed to stopping the Israel-Hamas war from widening, the conflict could amplify the economic strains and possibly cause governments to collapse. If the chaos went unchecked, it could spread across a region that

This comes after the Hamas attack on Israel in which more than 1,400 Israelis were killed, mostly in the initial Hamas attack

Both leaders underscored the need for concerted efforts to achieve an early resolution to the security and humanitarian challenges that have arisen as a result of the war

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