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21 Dec 2021; MEMO: Some 2.54 million people in Israel, including 1.118 million children, live in poverty, according to a report released yesterday by the Latet non-profit aid organisation.

Nearly 652,000 families – nearly 25 per cent of households in the country – are living in poverty, the study found.

22 Dec 2021; MEMO: Qatar plans to invest at least $10 billion in US ports and has approached international banks for financing help, three finance sources say, in an infrastructure spree that reflects the Gulf country's deepening ties with Washington, reports Reuters.

New Delhi, Dec 21 (PTI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday held talks with Fran ois Delattre, the Secretary-General of France's Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, focusing on bilateral issues as well as the situation in the Indo-Pacific.

Delattre is on an official visit to India from December 20 to 22.

The visit comes close on the heels of the trip to India by French Defence Minister Florence Parly.

21 Dec 2021; MEMO: Libya needs nearly one million Egyptian workers to take part in the reconstruction of the country, the Labour and Rehabilitation Minister, Ali Al-Abed, announced yesterday.

Al-Abed's remarks came during a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart, Mohamed Saafan, held in the Egyptian capital Cairo to announce the launch of a joint electronic link system that aims at regulating travel for workers between the two countries.

21 Dec 2021; MEMO: Turkish and Qatari companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly operate five airports in Afghanistan, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced yesterday.

"A delegation of experts will travel first to Doha and then to Kabul to discuss ways to operate Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport," Cavusoglu said during a meeting with his Malaysian counterpart on the sidelines of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

New Delhi, Dec 21 (PTI) Concerned over high prices of cooking oils, the government has reduced the basic customs duty on refined palm oil to 12.5 per cent from 17.5 per cent till March next year to boost domestic supplies and bring down rates in the domestic retail markets.

With reduction in the basic custom duty (BCD), the effective levy (including social welfare cess) on both refined palm oil and refined palmoline will come down to 13.75 per cent from 19.25 per cent, according to Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA).

Beijing, Dec 21 (AP) China announced sanctions on Tuesday on four members of the US government's Commission on International Religious Freedom in retaliation for penalties imposed on Chinese officials over complaints of abuses in the country's northwestern Xinjiang region.

The tit-for-tat sanctions add to spiraling tension over Xinjiang. Washington has banned imports from the region that might be made with forced labor, while activists are calling for a boycott of February's Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Kolkata, Dec 20 (PTI) Amit Mitra, West Bengal's former finance minister and current chief advisor to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said he fears India may be heading towards stagflation .

Mitra, an economist by training said, India is already suffering from rising inflation and unemployment simultaneously.

Prayagraj (UP), Dec 21 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday at a programme here transferred Rs 1,000 crore to bank accounts of self help groups (SHGs) to benefit around 16 lakh women.

The amount was transferred under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM).

The mission aims to provide women, especially those at the grassroots, with necessary skills, incentives and resources.

The Kanpur administration has directed the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board to close tanneries and factories situated on the banks of Ganga in Jajmau amidst the upcoming Magh Mela in Prayagraj.

The Control Board's regional office has written letters to the Tannery Associations. It has wanting them to shut the tanneries for two-three days prior to different bathing dates. So that the bathing festivals should be followed in clean water.

In case of closed tanneries the discharge will not be generated inside the tanneries.