Israel's largest defense firm gets $130 mln rocket supply deal
The contract for the Precise and Universal Launching System (PULS), an advanced and versatile artillery rocket system capable of launching a wide range of ammunition types from a single platform, will be performed over three years.
The system, Elbit said, offers precision strike capabilities with a range of up to 300 kilometers.
'As European nations continue to enhance their defense capabilities, the selection of PULS reaffirms its strategic value in modern battlefield scenarios,' said Yehuda Vered, general manager of Elbit Systems Land.
Under the deal, Elbit will supply a variety of advanced rocket systems that are designed to significantly enhance the operational capabilities of the customer's defense forces.
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Leaders
20 hours ago
- Leaders
Israel Authorizes Controversial Settlement Project that Would Split West Bank
Israel has given final approval on a controversial settlement project that will divide the occupied West Bank in two, Reuters reported. Undermining Palestinian Statehood On Wednesday, Israel's far-right Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said that the settlement plan, known as the E1 project, will obstruct efforts to establish an independent Palestinian State. 'With E1 we are delivering finally on what has been promised for years. The Palestinian state is being erased from the table, not with slogans but with actions. Every settlement, every neighborhood, every housing unit is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea,' he said in a statement. Smotrich announced the plan last week as a response to the recent wave of countries announcing their intention to recognize a Palestinian State at the UN General Assembly in September. The recognition of Palestinian Statehood is part of an international push to advance the two-state solution, which envisages a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, living side by side with Israel. E1 Settlement Project Plans for settlement in E1, an area east of Jerusalem, has been under consideration for more than two decades but was frozen amid US and European opposition that the project could undermine a future peace deal with the Palestinians. The E1 project involves the construction of about 3,400 new housing units in Maale Adumin. Israel has built about 160 settlements, housing some 700,000 Jews, since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967, according to BBC. Settlement Expansion The international law deems settlements illegal. However, successive Israeli governments have allowed settlements to expand, most notably since the return of Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to power in late 2022. Netanyahu has not commented on the E1 approval announcement. But during a visit to a West Bank settlement on Sunday, he said: 'I said 25 years ago that we will do everything to secure our grip on the Land of Israel, to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, to prevent the attempts to uproot us from here. Thank God, what I promised, we have delivered.' International Condemnation In response to the announcement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the plan as it will 'isolate Palestinian communities living in the area and undermines the possibility of a two-state solution.' Similarly, a spokesperson for the German government on Wednesday said that the E1 plan violates international law and 'hinders a negotiated two-state solution and an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.' The E1 settlement project also faced strong opposition from Saudi Arabia, the UK, and the EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, as it will further undermine the two-state solution. Short link : Post Views: 8


Saudi Gazette
2 days ago
- Saudi Gazette
Zelensky leaves White House unscathed as he buys more time
WASHINGTON — Unlike the shockingly ill-tempered previous meeting in February, US President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky seemed determined not to look confrontational - despite their remaining differences. Zelensky wore a collared suit (although not of the classical variety), and Trump complimented his attire. The Ukrainian president also repeatedly said "thank you", which must have pleased his host, too. At his opening appearance in the Oval Office, Zelensky spoke little - or maybe he was not keen to, fearing that what he had to say was different from what Trump wanted to hear. Differences showed later, when the US and Ukrainian presidents appeared before journalists together with European leaders. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron both said a ceasefire in Ukraine should be the next step, even though Trump had argued that it was not necessary before a more permanent solution is found. Zelensky remained conspicuously quiet on the we heard from the leaders suggests that their discussions behind closed doors focused on security guarantees for Ukraine and prospects for a meeting between Zelensky and details were revealed about what guarantees were discussed, or how being face-to-face in the same room with Putin will help end the following the day of talks, Zelensky described security guarantees as a necessary "starting point for ending war".At an earlier news conference outside the White House, he said security guarantees could include a $90bn (£67bn) deal between Kyiv and Washington to acquire US weapons, including aviation systems, anti-missile systems and other weapons he declined to also said the US would purchase Ukrainian drones, which would help boost domestic production of the unmanned aircraft. Though no formal agreement has been reached, Zelensky said a deal could be worked out over the next 10 Ukranian leader, however, was more willing to talk about his possible meeting with Putin, telling reporters he was ready to meet directly with his Russian counterpart, and if Moscow agreed, Trump could join the negotiations. Putin has so far resisted a direct meeting with Zelensky."Ukraine will never stop on the way to peace," he told reporters, adding that no date had been issue the leaders seemed reluctant to bring up before the media were possible territorial concessions by also mentioned how he showed his US counterpart a map of Ukraine, stressing that Russia has managed to occupy less than 1% of the Ukrainian territory in the last 1,000 days. This was news to the White House, he said. And it helped swing Trump's mood, apparently."I have been fighting with what is on that map," Zelensky told reporters, adding that he pushed back on what the Oval Office map showed as Russian-captured territories."It isn't possible to say this much territory has been taken over this time. These points are important."The Ukrainian leader seemed mostly upbeat about his latest White House appearance, describing his meeting with Trump as "warm". His optimism, however, appeared deliberate as he sought to avoid a repeat of his last Oval Office visit and convince his American hosts to embrace the European position on ending the perhaps the key outcome of the trip was that it helped Ukraine to buy more time. The call that Trump had with Putin following his first meeting with the European leaders suggests that Russia has managed to do just the widespread fears, no catastrophe has happened at the summits in Alaska and Washington - at least nothing from what has been made status quo remains. — BBC


Saudi Gazette
3 days ago
- Saudi Gazette
New wave of African pride rises in the Caribbean
PORT OF SPAIN — Augustine Ogbo works as a doctor, treating patients in clinics across the striking Caribbean island of St Lucia. When he returns to his home in the coastal town of Rodney Bay, he clocks in for his second job — as the owner and solo chef of a Nigerian takeaway. "Egusi soup and fufu, that's more popular... they love jollof rice too," Dr Ogbo says, reeling off a list of his customers' favourite dishes. The 29-year-old hails from Nigeria — population 230 million — but crossed the Atlantic for St Lucia — population 180,000 — to train as a doctor in 2016. He set up his home-based takeaway, named Africana Chops, in 2022, after being incessantly asked by his St Lucian friends for Nigerian fare. The takeaway is now thriving, Dr Ogbo tells the BBC, and not just because his island customers think the food is tasty."They know that we all have the same ancestral origin. So most of the time, they want to get in touch with that," Dr Ogbo explains, adding that interest in African culture has grown "tremendously" since he arrived almost a decade Lucia is not alone in this the Caribbean, the desire to reconnect with the population's African heritage appears to have strengthened over the past few across the Caribbean have been expressing African pride through cultural means, such as food, clothing and travel, while governments and institutions from both sides of the Atlantic have been meeting to forge economic ties.A significant part of the islands' population descended from enslaved West and Central Africans, who were forcibly transported to the Caribbean by European merchants in the 17th and 18th was abolished in much of the Caribbean during the 1800s, while independence from European powers came the following descendants of enslaved people retained some African customs, but largely developed their own standalone cultures, which differ from island to the past, there have been major campaigns to encourage African pride, as Dorbrene O'Marde, who runs the Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Support Commission, says."It was particularly strong in the 1930s or so, and then again in the 1960s — we saw a major outpouring in sync with the [American] black power movement during that period," he says, talking to the BBC on the island of Antigua.O'Marde believes the Caribbean is witnessing a renewed, more promising version of such "pan-Africanism" (a term used to describe the idea that people of African descent should be unified)."It has widened beyond psychological and cultural themes and we are now talking in broader economic terms, such as stronger transportation links between the Caribbean and Africa," he says."We are in a different phase now of pan-Africanism – one that's not going to wane like before."One thing that separates this wave of African pride from the ones that came before is social Howard, an entertainment and cultural enterprise lecturer at the University of the West Indies, says a "significant" amount of Jamaicans are connecting with Africa through platforms such as TikTok."People are learning more about black history beyond slavery," he tells the BBC from his home in the Jamaican capital, also points to the global rise of Afrobeats, a musical genre from Nigeria and feels that in Jamaica specifically, the popularity of Afrobeats is partly down to a desire to reconnect with the continent."Through the music videos, [Jamaicans] are seeing certain parts of Africa are similar to Jamaica and are developed. We had a concept of Africa as this place where it is backward and it's pure dirt road... the music is changing that."Asked about the view of some Jamaican commenters online — that islanders do not need to reclaim their African heritage as they have an equally valid, hard-won Jamaican heritage of their own — Howard stresses that the two are not distinct."Our whole culture is African, with a little sprinkling of Indian and European and Chinese. But for the most part it is African-derived. It is the most dominant part of our culture," he leaning into their African heritage are not just consuming the culture, but actually getting on flights and exploring the continent tourism authority in Ghana — once a major departure point for enslaved Africans being shipped to the Caribbean — told the BBC there had been a "notable increase" in holidaymakers from the islands in recent Werner Gruner, South Africa's consul to the Bahamas, says that over the past two or three years, his office has seen a rise in local people travelling to South Africa, Ghana and Kenya."I see a lot of interest in safaris and I think people also start to realise that South Africa and other African countries are actually very well developed," Gruner Burkina Faso, an economically struggling country under military rule that is not well known for tourism, is apparently on some people's buckets lists. O'Marde says some of his countrypeople want to visit the country because of the pan-African leanings of its leader, Ibrahim Traoré.Getting to the mother continent from the Caribbean can, however, be complicated, with travellers often forced to fly via this year, in a speech in which she referred to herself as a "daughter of Africa", Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley called for the construction of "air and sea bridges" between Africa and the Caribbean."Let us make these changes, not just for heads of state, but for ordinary people who wish to trade, travel, and forge a shared future," she institutions like the African Union, African Development Bank (AfDB) and African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) have been working on the "trade" angle, hosting conferences and setting up memorandums of understanding with their Caribbean says trade between the two regions could jump from around $730m (£540m) to $1.8bn (£1.33bn) by 2028, provided the right conditions are at the moment, Africa and the Caribbean have some of the lowest indicators in the world for transport infrastructure, logistics quality and customs efficiency, according to the World an attempt to reduce trade barriers, the prime minsters of Grenada and the Bahamas this year called for Africa and the Caribbean to launch a shared Prime Minister Philip Davis told delegates at an Afreximbank meeting in Nigeria they should "seriously" consider a single digital currency, while Grenada's Dickon Mitchell said: "Such a move would symbolically and practically affirm our shared identity not just as trading partners, but as members of a truly global Africa".Getting more than 60 countries to coordinate and launch a standard system would be no easy feat, but Mitchell said this must be done if the regions are to "take control of [their] own future".Back in St Lucia, Dr Ogbo says his attempts to bring egusi, fufu and jollof to local people are a small but worthy contribution to the strengthening of relations between Africa and the June, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu signed various cooperation agreements with St Lucia during a state visit and Dr Ogbo sees Africana Chops as an extension of that."I can say I'm working hand-in-hand with the Nigerian government and even the St Lucian government to promote the African culture," he doctor and businessman is now trying to upgrade his food business to a full-fledged restaurant — and he hopes the "cultural exchange" between Africa and the Caribbean also goes from strength to strength."It's awesome!" he says. "I'm really, really excited about that." — BBC