Latest news with #BenjaminDousa
Arab News
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Sweden accuses Israel of war crimes over Gaza aid blockade
STOCKHOLM: Israel's refusal to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza and its targeting of aid distribution points is causing civilians to starve, which constitutes a war crime, Sweden's foreign minister said on Thursday. In early June, UN human rights chief Volker Turk said deadly attacks on civilians around aid distribution sites in the Gaza Strip constituted 'a war crime,' while several rights groups, including Amnesty International, have accused Israel of genocide. Israel has vehemently rejected that term. 'To use starvation of civilians as a method of war is a war crime. Lifesaving humanitarian help must never be politicized or militarized,' Maria Malmer Stenergard said at a press conference. 'There are strong indications right now that Israel is not living up to its commitments under international humanitarian law,' she said. 'It is crucial that food, water, and medicine swiftly reach the civilian population, many of whom are women and children living under wholly inhumane conditions,' she said. Sweden announced in December 2024 that it was halting funding to the UN's Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, after Israel banned the organization, accusing it of providing cover for Hamas militants. Swedish International Development Minister Benjamin Dousa told Thursday's press conference that Stockholm was now channeling aid through other UN organizations, and was 'the fifth-biggest donor in the world ... (and) the second-largest donor in the EU to the humanitarian aid response in Gaza.' The country's humanitarian aid to Gaza since the start of the war in October 2023 currently amounts to more than 1 billion kronor ($105 million), while funding earmarked for Gaza for 2025 totals 800 million kronor, he said. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority said Internet and fixed-line communication services were down in Gaza following an attack on the territory's last fiber optic cable. 'All Internet and fixed-line communication services in the Gaza Strip have been cut following the targeting of the last remaining main fiber optic line in Gaza,' the PA's Telecommunications Ministry said in a statement, accusing Israel of attempting to cut Gaza off from the world. 'The southern and central Gaza Strip have now joined Gaza City and the northern part of the Strip in experiencing complete isolation for the second consecutive day,' the ministry said in a statement. It added that its maintenance and repair teams had been unable to safely access the sites where the fiber optic cable was damaged. 'The Israeli occupation continues to prevent technical teams from repairing the cables that were cut yesterday,' it said, adding that Israeli authorities had prevented repairs to other telecommunication lines in Gaza 'for weeks and months.' The Palestinian Red Crescent said the communication lines were 'directly targeted by occupation forces.' It said the Internet outage was hindering its emergency services by impeding communication with first responder teams in the field. 'The emergency operations room is also struggling to coordinate with other organizations to respond to humanitarian cases.' Maysa Monayer, spokeswoman for the Palestinian Communication Ministry, said that 'mobile calls are still available with very limited capacity' in Gaza for the time being. Now in its 21st month, the war in Gaza has caused massive damage to infrastructure across the Palestinian territory, including water mains, power lines and roads.
India Gazette
12-06-2025
- Business
- India Gazette
Indian economy will grow eight fold by 2047: Piyush Goyal
ANI 12 Jun 2025, 12:38 GMT+10 Stockholm [Sweden], June 12 (ANI): Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, during his three-day official visit to Sweden on Thursday, expressed confidence that the future lies in India and expects the country's economy to grow eight times by talking in Stockholm, Sweden, the minsters said, 'The opportunities, the skills, the potential, the demand, the decisive leadership that India has--seeing all this, even Swedish companies believe that the future lies in India.' He further added that, 'the economy, which will grow eightfold by 2047, everyone wants to benefit from that.'Piyush Goyal also addressed the ongoing India-EU Free Trade Agreement negotiations, conveying optimism regarding their said, 'We are very much on track to achieve that (FTA). More than half the chapters are ready - in terms of content, we are almost 90 per cent ready for market access. The important issue to be addressed between us is non-tariff barriers.'Recently, Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Benjamin Dousa, also said that a comprehensive free trade agreement between India and the European Union should tackle both tariff and non-tariff barriers to maximise benefits for both this week, Union minister Piyush Goyal said that with this FTA, India will be able to offer greater opportunities for FTA negotiations between the two sides are expected to conclude in 2025. India last month said the two sides engaged in a forward-looking and substantive dialogue to address global trade challenges and reaffirm their shared resolve to conclude the India-European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) by the end of FTA between India and EU represents significant opportunity for both regions to reduce regulatory barriers that currently impede trade flows, while strengthening economic ties that could benefit both regions' long-term growth prospects. (ANI)
India Gazette
12-06-2025
- Business
- India Gazette
Indian economy will grow eight fold by 2047: Piyush Goel
ANI 12 Jun 2025, 11:36 GMT+10 Stockholm [Sweden], June 12 (ANI): Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, during his three-day official visit to Sweden on Thursday, expressed confidence that the future lies in India and expects the country's economy to grow eight times by talking in Stockholm, Sweden, the minsters said, 'The opportunities, the skills, the potential, the demand, the decisive leadership that India has--seeing all this, even Swedish companies believe that the future lies in India.' He further added that, 'the economy, which will grow eightfold by 2047, everyone wants to benefit from that.'Piyush Goyal also addressed the ongoing India-EU Free Trade Agreement negotiations, conveying optimism regarding their said, 'We are very much on track to achieve that (FTA). More than half the chapters are ready - in terms of content, we are almost 90 per cent ready for market access. The important issue to be addressed between us is non-tariff barriers.'Recently, Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Benjamin Dousa, also said that a comprehensive free trade agreement between India and the European Union should tackle both tariff and non-tariff barriers to maximise benefits for both this week, Union minister Piyush Goyal said that with this FTA, India will be able to offer greater opportunities for FTA negotiations between the two sides are expected to conclude in 2025. India last month said the two sides engaged in a forward-looking and substantive dialogue to address global trade challenges and reaffirm their shared resolve to conclude the India-European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) by the end of FTA between India and EU represents significant opportunity for both regions to reduce regulatory barriers that currently impede trade flows, while strengthening economic ties that could benefit both regions' long-term growth prospects. (ANI)
Al Arabiya
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Israeli ‘starvation' of Gaza a ‘war crime': Sweden
Israel's refusal to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza and its targeting of aid distribution points is causing civilians to starve which constitutes a war crime, Sweden's foreign minister said Thursday. In early June, UN human rights chief Volker Turk said deadly attacks on civilians around aid distribution sites in the Gaza Strip constituted 'a war crime', while several rights groups including Amnesty International have accused Israel of genocide. Israel has vehemently rejected that term. 'To use starvation of civilians as a method of war is a war crime. Life-saving humanitarian help must never be politicized or militarized,' Maria Malmer Stenergard said at a press conference. 'There are strong indications right now that Israel is not living up to its commitments under international humanitarian law,' she said. 'It is crucial that food, water and medicine swiftly reach the civilian population, many of whom are women and children living under wholly inhumane conditions,' she said. Sweden announced in December 2024 it was halting funding to the UN's Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA after Israel banned the organization, accusing it of providing cover for Hamas militants. Swedish International Development Minister Benjamin Dousa told Thursday's press conference that Stockholm was now channeling aid through other UN organizations, and was 'the fifth-biggest donor in the world ... (and) the second-largest donor in the EU to the humanitarian aid response in Gaza.' The country's humanitarian aid to Gaza since the start of the war in October 2023 currently amounts to more than 1 billion kronor ($105 million), while funding earmarked for Gaza for 2025 totals 800 million kronor, he said.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
11-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Ikea plans to enhance sourcing from India to 50%: Swedish minister
Global home decor and furniture retailer IKEA has ambitions to increase sourcing from India to 50 per cent, Swedish trade minister Benjamin Dousa said on Wednesday. IKEA's sourcing basket includes textiles, plastics, and metals, among others, and the company plans to add more items. Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Benjamin Dousa said that India is aiming to increase the share of manufacturing in the country's GDP and Sweden is a partner in this endeavour. "One example is IKEA that has communicated to their ambition to amplify sourcing locally from India to 50 per cent for its global operations from the current 30 per cent," he said here while addressing businesses of India and Sweden. Presently, Europe is IKEA's biggest supplier, followed by America and Asia, in which China leads. IKEA has been sourcing from India for the last five decades, though it started its retail operation in India in 2018 by opening its first store in Hyderabad, followed by Navi Mumbai and Bengaluru and several others such as Delhi NCR, are in the execution pipeline. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
