Saudi Arabia announces Damascus area reconstruction project to clear rubble

Saudi Arabia has announced a new project to aid in Damascus, Syria’s capital, to improve ties with the country’s new rulers.

An aid package that would help remove an estimated 75 000 cubic meters of rubble from the capital and its environs was announced by the state-backed King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center charity (KSRelief).

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At a ceremony in Damascus, KSRelief’s director, Abdullah Al Rabeeah, described the organization as “honoured to inaugurate a number of humanitarian projects for the Syrian people,” including those that deal with food security, education, and health.

Additionally, the aid will fund the reconstruction of dozens of bakeries, Aleppo’s sewage and water infrastructure, and restore Damascus’ sewage and water infrastructure.

Raed al-Saleh, the minister for disaster management in Syria, stated in a post on X that the bilateral agreements would “affirm the strength of our two countries’ humanitarian and brotherly relations.”

Since the end of the government of former President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in late 2024 following a 13-year civil war, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other Gulf nations have supported Syria economically.

Late in July, Riyadh and Syria agreed to enter into a $6.4 billion investment and partnership agreement.

During the fighting, Damascus’ southern and eastern regions suffered significant damage, with entire neighborhoods being reduced to rubble. To relaunch the country’s economy, the new authorities in Damascus have resisted foreign investment.

According to its website, KSRelief runs or has completed 422 projects totaling more than $500 million in Syria. The majority of them concern food security and health.

Saudi Arabia has long supported the transitional regime in Damascus, led by transitional president Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former rebel who was based in Riyadh and made his first international visit there.

Saudi Arabia facilitated a meeting between al-Sharaa and Donald Trump in May, who later pushed for the lifting of all sanctions against Syria.

Saudi Arabia made a $2.9 billion investment in the nation in July, and it pledged to pay Qatar’s and Syria’s debt to the World Bank.

Israeli military says drone launched from Yemen hits airport arrivals hall

According to Israel’s Airports Authority, Ramon Airport in the Red Sea city of Eilat has resumed operations after being briefly closed after a drone launched from Yemen struck the arrivals hall.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the crash of a drone that had been launched from Yemen and fell in the airport’s area on Sunday, but takeoff and landing operations at the airport were suspended for about two hours.

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Ramon Airport has now been reopened for full operations, for both departures and arrivals, according to a statement from the organization. “After the completion of all safety and security checks, compliance with international civil aviation standards, and acceptance of final approval from the Air Force, Ramon Airport has now been reopened for full operations, for both departures and arrivals,” the authority said in a statement.

“The first flight from Ramon to Ben Gurion Airport (near Tel Aviv) is scheduled to take off soon.”

The Israeli military claimed three drone launches from Yemen had been intercepted by the air force earlier. Two were “intercepted prior to entering Israeli territory,” but it did not provide more information about the third’s status.

According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the drone strike left two people with minor injuries, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. A 52-year-old woman fell, and a 63-year-old man was hurt by shrapnel, and a 52-year-old woman was also hurt. They were evacuated to a hospital in Eilat by emergency personnel, while others who experienced panic attacks were treated on-site.

According to Israeli Army Radio, the drone had not been detected by the air force’s detection systems at all during a preliminary investigation into the airport damage.

Ohad Zwigenberg, a warship in Eilat, Israel

Domestic flights are primarily handled at the airport, which is close to the resort city of Eilat on the border with Jordan and Egypt.

In what the group calls out as acts of solidarity with the Palestinians under constant Israeli fire, the Houthis in Yemen have been launchlaunching missiles and drones thousands of kilometers north of Israel. Since Israel’s occupation of Gaza in October 2023, it has also launched attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

The Houthis haven’t made an immediate comment regarding the drone strike at Ramon Airport.

Israel has bombed Yemen’s crucial Hodeidah port, among others, in the region’s under the control of Houthi rebels. Senior Houthi officials, including its prime minister and other cabinet members, were killed by its most recent barrage a week and a half ago. In addition, numerous civilians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes.

Millions displaced in severe Pakistan flooding as India impacted too

According to experts, global warming has increased the magnitude of the monsoon rains both countries are currently experiencing, and four million people have been affected by devastating floods in Pakistan.

Three rivers that pass through Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, were flooded by heavy rain over the past week, causing a lot of destruction in the agricultural heartland.

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According to Kamal Hyder of Al Jazeera’s report from Multan, Pakistan, on Sunday, entire towns have been submerged.

“The floods have inundated thousands of farms. He claimed that the government was attempting to help those who were impacted by the loss of valuable crops.

The flood-related damage was “unimaginable,” according to Mohammed Ajmal, a spokesperson for the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League.

“Our party is continuously assisting those who are affected throughout the nation.” The government cannot stop this disaster alone because it is so devastating, he claimed.

In the meantime, flood survivor Sobia Bibi described the destruction that the flooding has caused: “We lost everything: our homes, our crops, everything we worked for,” she said.

There are too many of us in need, and aid is limited. When it’s raining or the sun, our kids are seated under the stars. To keep them safe, we absolutely need tents.

A boat carrying people to safety in eastern Pakistan flipped on Saturday when it struck an underwater object, killing a 70-year-old woman and four children, according to authorities on Sunday.

Irfan Ali Kathia, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority’s director general, reported to local media that “ten other people were saved, but unfortunately, five people lost their lives in the incident.”

More than two million people have fled their homes as a result of the flooding of the Ravi, Sutlej, and Chenab rivers, according to Punjab Relief Commissioner Nabil Javed.

To assist both people and livestock, Pakistani authorities have established hundreds of relief camps, medical facilities, and veterinary posts.

The UN reported that since June, more than 900 people have died in Pakistan as a result of the monsoon floods.

Tens of thousands of people have recently been evacuated in the neighboring country of India as a result of the recent floods.

Authorities in India’s Punjab region reported that 1, 620 km (625 km) of farmland had been damaged, causing thousands of farmers to worry about the future.

Over 300 South Koreans to return home after arrests at US Hyundai plant

More than 300 South Korean workers were detained in the US during an immigration raid at a Georgian factory, according to the South Korean government’s announcement.

Kang Hoon-sik, the US’s top official, announced on Sunday that negotiations had been closed regarding the release of the workers who had been detained by US immigration authorities on Thursday.

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He claimed that South Korea intends to charter a plane so that workers can return home as soon as the remaining administrative tasks are finished.

When hundreds of federal agents raided Hyundai’s sprawling manufacturing facility in Georgia, where the Korean automaker produces electric vehicles, the US immigration authorities announced on Friday that they had detained 475 people, the majority of them South Korean nationals.

A spokesperson claimed that the raid’s immigration component was conducted as part of a more extensive, month-long investigation into labor practices at the site.

A caravan of vehicles approached the site and were captured on video by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Saturday, with federal agents directing workers to line up outside.

As some detainees were frisked, then shackled around their hands, ankles, and waists, they were instructed to place their hands up against a bus.

Employees at the Hyundai Motor Group’s Georgia factory are waiting patiently for their legs to rest. [Handout/Corey Bullard/ICE via AP]

Trump targets the workforce of immigrants.

Since Donald Trump’s re-election in January, ICE has been helped by record funding and new latitude for raids as part of a crackdown on immigrants and refugees.

According to preliminary Census Bureau data, the US labor force lost more than 1.2 million immigrants between January and July, according to the Pew Research Center.

The president has stated that he wants to deport “the worst of the worst” criminals. However, ICE data indicate a rise in non-criminal detention.

This most recent raid demonstrates how disruptive Trump’s anti-immigration crackdown is infecting his efforts to entice foreign investment. The state of Georgia has the largest foreign investment, including the Hyundai-LG complex.

The $ 7.6 billion plant, home to about 1,200 people, is the biggest automaker in South Korea, which started producing electric vehicles a year ago. An adjacent battery plant, which will be constructed in the coming year, has been constructed in collaboration with LG Energy Solution.

Agents concentrated their efforts on the construction-going plant.

A Folkston, Georgia immigration detention facility close to the Florida state line was where the majority of the detained people were taken. Steven Schrank, the lead Georgia agent for Homeland Security Investigations, stated at a press conference on Friday that no crimes have been filed, adding that the investigation is still pending.

A “serious risk to the nation”

A close ally of the US, South Korea, expressed “concern and regret” over the raid’s sending of diplomats.

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun remarked on Saturday that President Lee Jae-myung had given officials instructions to resolve the issue, stating that neither the rights nor the businesses that invest in the US should be violated, as Yonhap News Agency reported in a report.

The detentions “could pose a serious risk” to the country, according to South Korea’s opposition People Power Party (PPP).

Lee’s “pragmatic diplomacy” toward the US, according to senior PPP spokesman Park Sung-hoon, “failed to ensure both the safety of citizens and the competitiveness of South Korean businesses.”

How did India-US relations decline so suddenly?

How a trade war between the US and India resulted from India’s refusal to acknowledge Trump’s mediation during the brief conflict with Pakistan.

As a counterbalance to China in Asia for decades, the United States has been attracting India.

However, after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi refused to accept US President Donald Trump’s demand that his country’s military conflict be ended in May, Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on Indian goods that entered the country. Additionally, he urged New Delhi to stop purchasing subsidized Russian oil.