CAIRO: Egypt has revealed details of the launch of the MisrSat 2 satellite from China in October, at a cost of $74 million.

The satellite’s mission is to take images of Egyptian soil to preserve the environment, as well as to undertake remote sensing.

Dr. Ahmed Al-Rafei, the official in charge of the project, said the installation and testing of the satellite had been completed in cooperation with China, with the $74 million coming as a grant from Beijing.

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi signed on Sunday a strategic partnership agreement, underscoring growing ties between the two countries that experts say can spark geopolitical and economic significance. 

Modi arrived in Cairo on Saturday afternoon following a four-day trip to the US, marking the first state visit to Egypt by an Indian premier since 1997. 

NASIRIYAH: An Iraqi criminal court on Sunday sentenced to life in prison a police officer over the 2019 murder of anti-government protesters in the southern city of Nasiriyah.
Nasiriyah was a center of anti-corruption protests that gripped Iraq in late 2019 and were crushed by authorities in a crackdown that killed more than 600 people nationwide.
The ruling stated that commander Omar Nazar, a member of an elite police squad, was sentenced to life in prison for the “murder of Mustafa Ahmad and his group” on Nov. 28, 2019.

DUBAI: As the world marks the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, leading Captagon trade researcher Caroline Rose says she is doubtful the Bashar Assad regime would relinquish its lucrative drug business income, despite apparent support and commitments to Arab countries during the Jeddah Arab League Summit last month.

AL-MUKALLA: Rashad Al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, on Sunday inaugurated 20 development projects financed by the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen, totaling SR1.2 billion ($320 million), in Hadramout, Yemen’s southeastern province. 

Al-Alimi, along with Yemeni and Saudi officials, attended a celebratory event in Al-Mukalla, the capital of Hadramout, to launch the projects in various sectors, aimed at alleviating Yemenis’ sufferings and addressing major issues in the health, education, transportation, and energy sectors.