Business

Washington, Feb 11 (AP) Inflation soared over the past year at its highest rate in four decades, hammering American consumers, wiping out pay raises and reinforcing the Federal Reserve's decision to begin raising borrowing rates across the economy.

The Labor Department said Thursday that consumer prices jumped 7.5per cent last month compared with a year earlier, the steepest year-over-year increase since February 1982.

10 Feb 2022; MEMO: Israel will sell radars and anti-drone systems to Bahrain, BATS, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), said yesterday.

10 Feb 2022; MEMO: Lebanese President Michel Aoun met with US envoy Amos Hochstein on Wednesday. Hochstein is mediating in the maritime border demarcation negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.

10 Feb 2022; MEMO: Egypt's natural gas exports are expected to rise to 7.5 million tonnes by the end of this fiscal year, Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Molla said today, Reuters reports.

Egypt's gas exploration plan for the fiscal year 2022/2023 is expected to add 450 million cubic feet to gas production per day and 17,200 barrels per day of gas condensates, the minister added.

The country's investments in gas exploration and production will exceed $1.6 billion both this year and next, El-Molla said.

Canberra, Feb 10 (AP) The United States remains focused long-term on the Indo-Pacific region despite concerns over Russian aggression toward the Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday.

Blinken is in the Australian city of Melbourne for a meeting on Friday with his counterparts from Australia, India and Japan.

The four nations form the so-called Quad, a bloc of Indo-Pacific democracies that was created to counter China's regional influence.

New Delhi, Feb 9 (PTI) The government on Wednesday banned import of drones, with certain exceptions, as part of efforts to promote manufacturing of drones in the country.

Import of drones for R&D, defence and security purposes have been exempted from the ban but such imports will require due clearances.

"Import of drone components, however, shall not require any approvals," the civil aviation ministry said in a release on Wednesday.

07 Feb 2022; MEMO: The Turkish defence industry has made new deliveries of Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) to the Turkish Land Forces Command, the top defence body's head, Anadolu News Agency reports.

According to the report, Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB) Chairperson in Turkey, Ismail Demir, said the SSB had successfully delivered the Baykar-made combat drones.

07 Feb 2022; MEMO: The UAE is directly benefitting from Illegal Israeli settlements and is in violation of international law according to recently signed bilateral trade agreements between Abu Dhabi and the occupation state, Hugh Lovatt, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, has pointed out in a series of tweets.

07 Feb 2022; MEMO: Turkey has lifted the ban on imports of scrap metal from Lebanon. The move to lift the ban imposed in 2018 was revealed by Lebanon's Economy Minister and will, explained Amin Salam, boost Lebanon's economy by $100 million a year.

05 Feb 2022; MEMO: Iraq and Iran discussed on Friday preparations for the fifth round of Iranian-Saudi talks to end an estrangement that has lasted for six years between the two countries.

This came during a phone call between Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, according to a statement by the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs.