A Moroccan clinic cares for nonuplets in incubators.
Their mother is a Malian woman who was flown to Morocco for care by Mali's government.
Indian-administered Kashmir crackdown sparks anger as Pakistan tensions escalate
- New Delhi has accused Pakistan of supporting ‘cross-border terrorism’ after gunmen killed 26 people in Kashmir on Apr. 22
- Islamabad has denied any role and called attempts to link Pakistan to the attack ‘frivolous,’ vowing to respond to Indian action
SRINAGAR: Anger in Indian-administered Kashmir escalated on Monday over sweeping detentions in the hunt for the gunmen who carried out a deadly attack last week that New Delhi blames on arch-rival Pakistan.
New Delhi has accused Pakistan of supporting “cross-border terrorism” after gunmen killed 26 people on April 22, the worst attack on civilians in contested Muslim-majority Kashmir for a quarter of a century.
Islamabad has denied any role, calling attempts to link Pakistan to the attack “frivolous” and vowing to respond to Indian action.
Relations between the nuclear-armed rivals have plunged to their lowest level in years, sparking worries by analysts of possible military action.
The attack also sparked a huge manhunt for the gunmen in Kashmir, with Indian security forces blowing up nine homes of suspected rebels, as well as detaining nearly 2,000 people for questioning, a senior police official told AFP.
“Punish the guilty, show them no mercy, but don’t let innocent people become collateral damage,” Jammu and Kashmir’s Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said in a statement.
Aga Ruhullah, a federal lawmaker from Kashmir, said: “Kashmir and Kashmiris are being given a collective punishment.”
Security operations in the search for the gunmen come as India and Pakistani forces have exchanged fire across the de facto border in the rugged and remote high-altitude Himalayan outposts.
India’s army said on Monday its troops and Pakistani forces had fired at each other for a fourth night in a row.
There were no reported casualties. Islamabad did not immediately confirm the gunfire from Pakistan.
“During the night of April 27-28... Pakistan Army posts initiated unprovoked small arms fire across the Line of Control,” the Indian army said in a statement, referring to the de facto border in contested Kashmir.
“Indian troops responded swiftly and effectively,” it said.
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947.
Both claim the territory in full.
Rebels in the Indian-run area have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.
Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men — two Pakistanis and an Indian — who they say are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organization.
They have announced a two million rupee ($23,500) bounty for information leading to each man’s arrest.
India is also hunting several of its own citizens in connection to the killings, sweeping up those they suspect may have information on the attackers.
“It’s a revolving door in police stations as part of the ongoing investigation,” said a senior police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
“Some have already been let go, and more are being summoned to police stations,” the officer said.
The homes of men suspected of having links to the attackers have also been blown up at night.
Yasmeena, the sister of fugitive accused Ashif Sheikh, said her family was being punished, with their home demolished even though they had not seen her brother for three years.
“If my brother is involved, how is it the family’s sin?” she said.
“This house doesn’t belong to him alone.”
New Delhi has downgraded diplomatic ties since the attack, withdrawn visas for Pakistanis, suspended a water-sharing treaty, and announced the closure of the main land border crossing with Pakistan.
In response, Islamabad ordered the expulsion of Indian diplomats and military advisers, canceled visas for Indian nationals and barred its airspace to Indian airplanes.
India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday after warning last week that those responsible for the attack in Kashmir would see a response “loud and clear.”
The United Nations has urged the arch-rivals to show “maximum restraint” so that issues can be “resolved peacefully through meaningful mutual engagement.”
China, which shares a border with both India and Pakistan, urged both sides on Monday to “exercise restraint, meet each other halfway” and “properly handle relevant differences through dialogue,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.
Iran has already offered to mediate, and Saudi Arabia has said Riyadh was trying to “prevent an escalation.”
Diriyah Art Futures invites entries for 2nd Emerging New Media Artists program
Diriyah Art Futures, the MENA region’s first new media arts hub, has announced a call for applications for the second cycle of its Emerging New Media Artists program, set to launch in October.
Developed in partnership with Le Fresnoy — Studio National des Arts Contemporains in France, the one-year program offers access to cutting-edge professional equipment and facilities, a production budget and personal mentorship from prominent international digital and new media artists.
The funded program launched last November, alongside the highly anticipated opening of DAF in Diriyah, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The inaugural cohort featured 12 up-and-coming new media and digital artists from 11 countries, with strong representation from Saudi Arabia and the MENA region.
The program begins with three months of thematic and conceptual explorations of cutting-edge topics, presented by artists and theorists through seminars, lectures, screenings and workshops. Following this, participants will work under the mentorship of leading artists and scholars to produce new artworks using DAF’s world-class facilities, including advanced audio-visual techniques, immersive reality, coding, sensing, machine learning and spatial audio-visual environments. The final works will be exhibited at DAF as a final curated and juried outcome of the program.
DAF is now taking applications for the 2025/ 2026 Emerging New Media Artists program. Applicants should be 35 years or younger, at graduate or postgraduate completion stage and have experience in developing and creating new media and digital art.
Riyadh Air willing to buy Boeing planes from canceled Chinese orders, says CEO
DUBAI: Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas said on Monday the Saudi startup carrier would be ready to buy Boeing aircraft destined for Chinese airlines if they are not delivered due to the escalating trade war between the US and China.
Boeing is looking to resell potentially dozens of planes locked out of China by tariffs after repatriating a third jet to the US in a delivery standoff that drew new criticism of Beijing from US President Donald Trump.
“What we’ve done... is made it quite clear to Boeing, should that ever happen, and the keyword there is should, we’ll happily take them all,” Douglas said in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market conference.
Boeing took the rare step of publicly flagging the potential aircraft sale during an analyst call last week, saying that there would be no shortage of buyers in a tight jet market.
Riyadh Air, backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, has been ordering planes from both Boeing and Airbus ahead of its launch, including 60 narrow-body A321-family jets from Airbus in October and up to 72 Boeing 787 Dreamliners ordered in March 2023.
The airline does not expect delivery delays from either planemaker to be resolved any time soon.
Douglas said Riyadh Air had not seen any impact on demand for travel to and from the Kingdom’s capital from global macroeconomic uncertainty, adding that the company plans to announce an order for wide-body jets this summer.
The airline, which is aiming to launch in the fourth quarter, has hired 500 employees and intends to increase its workforce to 1,000 over the next nine to 12 months, Douglas said. Thereafter, hiring of pilots and cabin crew will steadily continue as aircraft are delivered.
Saudi Arabia is seeking to acquire a slice of the global travel industry, including business travel, as the Kingdom pours billions of dollars into developing giga-projects to diversify its economy away from hydrocarbons.
This includes the Dubai to Riyadh route, which is often used by bankers, lawyers, consultants and influencers. Douglas said the less than 2-hour flight represents one of the world’s most profitable routes in the world for an airline, from a revenue per kilometer standpoint.
The restart of flights from the UAE into Syria, and flying through the Syrian airspace is “probably a signal that things are at the margin moving in the right direction,” he added.
Jordan reports 20 new patents in Q1, building on 2024’s 111 filings
RIYADH: Jordan registered 20 patents and nearly 1,000 trademarks in the first quarter of the year, building on 2024’s totals of 111 and 5,687, respectively, according to official data.
Of the patents logged between January and March, one was a local innovation, signaling continued growth in domestic research and development, Jordan News Agency reported.
The data also revealed 999 new trademarks were registered, while 1,608 existing trademarks were renewed during the same period. The previous year saw the renewal of 6,245 trademarks, Petra added.
In addition to new registrations, the Industrial Property Protection Directorate at the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Supply renewed 138 patents, issued five industrial property licenses, processed 310 requests for name and address changes, and approved the transfer of ownership for 499 industrial properties.
In the most recent rankings from the World Intellectual Property Organization, covering 2023, Jordan was placed 58th globally for patent applications, with residents filing 21 patents, a 16 percent decrease from the previous year.
Pharmaceuticals dominated technical fields, accounting for 37.8 percent of patents, followed by medical technology.
Trademark filings showed stronger momentum, reaching 5,640 in 2023, with residents driving nearly 70 percent of registrations.
The US, Saudi Arabia, and China were top foreign destinations for Jordanian IP filings, underscoring global commercial ties.
Challenges persist, including low resident applications per gross domestic product and a modest share of women inventors. Yet, universities contributed 47.3 percent of Patent Cooperation Treaty applications, pointing to academia’s pivotal role in research and development.
The latest data from WIPO showed that Saudi Arabia recorded 6,496 patent applications in 2023 — a 31 percent annual increase — ranking 27th globally.
Residents in the Kingdom drove nearly half of these filings, with civil engineering accounting for 21.9 percent and chemicals for 12.3 percent.
Saudi Arabia also registered 37,068 trademark filings, reflecting robust commercial activity, although women inventors accounted for just 7.8 percent of patents.
The UAE demonstrated dynamic growth, particularly in trademarks, with 30,472 filings, and patents, with 992 applications.
Qatar’s IP activity remained modest but specialized, with 180 patent applications and 3,155 trademark filings in 2023.
Russia declares a ceasefire in Ukraine on May 8-10 for WWII Victory Day
- The Kremlin said Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the full cessation of hostilities on “humanitarian grounds” for the Victory Day on May 9
- Putin had refused to accept a complete unconditional ceasefire, linking it to a halt in Western arms supplies to Ukraine and Ukraine’s mobilization effort
KYIV: The Kremlin on Monday declared a full ceasefire in Ukraine on May 8-10 as Russia celebrates the Victory Day over Nazi Germany.
The truce will start at 0000 on May 8 (2100 GMT May 7) and last through May 10. The Kremlin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the full cessation of hostilities on “humanitarian grounds” for the Victory Day on May 9.
It comes as US President Donald Trump’s scaled up efforts to broker a peace deal in Ukraine. Until that moment, Putin had refused to accept a complete unconditional ceasefire, linking it to a halt in Western arms supplies to Ukraine and Ukraine’s mobilization effort.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
KYIV, Ukraine: Ukraine and Russia targeted each other with long-range strikes, officials said Monday, amid continuing uncertainty about whether an agreement to stop their more than three-year war is within reach at the start of what America’s top diplomat called a “very critical” week.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces downed 119 Ukrainian drones overnight, most of them over Russia’s Bryansk border region. In Ukraine, air raid sirens rang out across the country Monday morning. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
The outcome of a push by US President Donald Trump’s administration to swiftly end the fighting remains unclear, clouded by conflicting claims and doubts about how far each side might be willing to compromise amid deep hostility and mistrust.
The clock is ticking on Washington’s engagement in efforts to resolve Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II that has cost tens of thousands of lives.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that this week would be “very critical.” The US needs to “make a determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
American military aid has been crucial for Ukraine’s war effort, and further help could be at risk if the Trump administration walks away from attempts to end the war.
Trump said at the weekend he harbors doubts about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s sincerity in pursuing a deal, as Russian forces have continued to strike civilian areas of Ukraine with cruise and ballistic missiles while the talks have proceeded.
But on Friday, Trump described a brokered settlement on the war as “close.”
Western European officials have accused the Kremlin of dragging its feet on peace talks so that Russian forces, which are bigger than Ukraine’s and have battlefield momentum, can capture more Ukrainian land.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the war in a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The two diplomats focused on “consolidating the emerging prerequisites for starting negotiations,” the statement said, without offering further details.
Russia has effectively rejected a US proposal for an immediate and full 30-day halt in the fighting by imposing far-reaching conditions. Ukraine has accepted it, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says.
A French diplomatic official said at the weekend that Trump, Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed “to pursue in the coming days the work of convergence” to obtain “a solid ceasefire.”
The diplomat said a truce is a “prior condition for a peace negotiation that respects the interest of Ukraine and the Europeans.”
The official was not authorized to be publicly named in accordance with French presidential policy.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has balked at the possibility of surrendering land to Russia in return for peace, which Washington has indicated could be necessary.
A key point of leverage for Ukraine could be a deal with Washington that grants access to Ukraine’s critical mineral wealth.
Ukraine and the United States have made progress on a mineral agreement, with both sides agreeing that American aid provided so far to Kyiv will not be taken into account under the terms of the deal, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Sunday.
“We have good progress,” he said after talks with US Treasury Under Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington.
“The main thing is that we clearly defined our red lines: The agreement must comply with Ukraine’s Constitution, legislation, and European commitments, and must be ratified by Parliament,” Shmyhal said.
The war that broke out after Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022 has developed a significant international dimension, further complicating negotiations.
Putin on Monday thanked North Korea for sending what the US estimates are thousands of troops to help defeat Ukraine, as well as allegedly supplying artillery ammunition.
Iran has also helped Russia in the war, with Shahed drones, and China has sold Russia machinery and microelectronics that Moscow can use to make weapons, Western officials say.
The US and Europe have been Kyiv’s biggest backers.
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