A fresh batch of 140 Bangladeshi citizens returned home from Libya on Thursday by a chartered flight of Buraq Air. Among them, 113 people were affected by floods in the city of Derna in the eastern Libya and 27 were detained at Ganfouda detention centre in Benghazi, according to a foreign ministry press release. 136 more Bangladeshis repatriated from LibyaAt that time, Mostofa Jamil Khan, director (Welfare) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, inquired about the repatriated Bangladeshis. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the financial support of the IOM, is facilitating the return of illegal Bangladeshi migrants stranded in Libya. 145 more Bangladeshis return from LibyaAs part of this initiative, a total of 975 Bangladeshis have been brought back to the country from Libya from July 2023, according to the foreign ministry press release.

Japanese satellite company Axelspace raised $44 million in a Series D funding round, the company announced Dec. 20. Axelspace, based in Tokyo, has an Earth observation (EO) business and manufactures microsatellites as well. The company said it will use the funds to improve its EO business by expanding its five-satellite constellation. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation / SMBC Venture Capital Management Co., Ltd. / Global Brain Corporation led the funding round, which included a number of other investors including Mitsui Fudosan Co.; Yamato Holdings Co; and Epson X Investment Corporation. Axelspace, which was founded 15 years ago, has raised a total of 14.3 billion Japanese yen ($100 million).

Libya is to issue new biometric, machine readable passports and e-ID cards. The meeting was to follow up on the executive procedures to modernize the system of passports and electronic cards. RELATED POSTS No Content AvailableIt will be recalled that Libya’s so-called biometric passports were first revealed in February 2013 by the Ali Zeidan government. However, by the time they were actually released to the public they still did not contain any biometric data. New biometric passports out soon – Deputy PM Al-Gadi (libyaherald.com)New biometric passports due by the end of July: Government (libyaherald.com)Libya begins issuing new, safer versions of diplomatic and private e-passports (libyaherald.com)Libya and NEC activate biometric border control contract (libyaherald.com)Over 150,000 new e-passports applied for online in hours (libyaherald.com)Half a million new e-passports arriving by early March (libyaherald.com)Libya’s new biometric passport officially revealed (libyaherald.com)

Prices are sitting at their lowest level in nearly six months despite the cartel's announcement in November to further cut output. In an effort to prop up prices, the OPEC+ alliance has implemented supply cuts of more than five million barrels per day (bpd) since the end of 2022. Furthermore, the OPEC+ alliance was unable to agree on a group-wide production cut that all 23 members would have supported. Founded in 1960, the 13-member OPEC cartel in 2016 partnered up with 10 other producers to form OPEC+ to gain more clout. At the COP28 summit in Dubai, OPEC Secretary-General Haitham Al Ghais urged OPEC+ members in a heavily criticized letter to "proactively reject" any language that "targets" fossil fuels rather than emissions.

The Attorney General’s Office reported on Monday that the Criminal Court issues a ruling convicting the head of the Libyan mission in Uganda and the mission’s financial affairs officer from 2013 to 2017. The Attorney General’s Office said they were convicted of two charges having failed in their ethical duties. The head of the mission was sentenced to imprisonment for a period of thirteen months and the financial controller was imprisoned for one year. They were acquitted of two other charges.

Libya’s Financial Roadmap: Preparing for 2024In a crucial meeting, Musa Al-Koni, the esteemed representative of the Presidential Council of Libya, and Saddek Elkaber, the Governor of the Central Bank of Libya, addressed the nation’s financial situation for the current year. The principal focus of their discussion revolved around the methodology for preparing the 2024 budget in collaboration with pertinent authorities. Drive Towards Financial StabilityDuring the meeting, Al-Koni lauded the efforts made towards achieving financial and monetary stability for Libya. Developments in Libya’s Financial SectorThere have been significant developments in Libya’s financial sector, including the US increasing support for diversified energy development in the country and the Central Bank of Kenya partnering with the European Investment Bank to enhance climate action by Kenyan financial institutions. These efforts aim to secure long-term stability and effective management of Libya’s resource wealth, highlighting the international cooperation involved in bolstering Libya’s economic future.

A total of 140 Bangladeshi nationals, who were stuck in Libya, returned home today. Among them, 113 people were affected by floods in the city of Derna in eastern Libya and 27 were detained at Ganfouda detention centre in west of Benghazi. A flight of Buraq Air carrying the Bangladeshi nationals landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 6:30 am on Thursday (December 21), according to the Foreign Ministry. With the all-out efforts of Bangladesh Embassy in Tripoli, Libyan government and direct cooperation of International Organization for Migration (IOM), the detained Bangladeshis returned home. After their arrival at the Dhaka airport, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials and IOM officials welcomed these Bangladeshi citizens.

The City of Eagle sought a seamless solution for effectively showcasing images, videos, and calendar listings to promote events, meetings, and classes at City Hall and the library. An ideal solution would provide flexibility for content changes and swift updates, considering the city's bustling annual calendar of events. The city aimed for a time-saving solution that required minimal staff involvement in communicating information about events and classes. Fortunately, the city was already acquainted with the numerous advantages of digital signage and understood how the right solution could address these needs. The success of the initial digital signage deployment, coupled with the city's expanding requirements, prompted the decision to upgrade and scale the digital signage solution.

Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday announced a new U.S. policy for novel space activities — private sector activities that are not directly regulated under the current U.S. regulatory system. Novel Space Activities Authorization and Supervision Framework will allow the executive branch to better prepare for and shape the future space regulatory environment. It is a companion executive action to proposed legislation that the National Space Council transmitted to Congress in November. The group will lead a process, working with the private sector, to develop and promote best practices and information sharing protocols to address core U.S. government interests common to novel space activities. Wednesday’s National Space Council meeting also focused on international partnerships.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has a new ground station in Alaska for its AWS Ground Station managed service. This is the 12th ground station in the global network, which allows satellite operator customers to control satellite communications and process satellite data without building their own network of ground stations. The Alaska location is notable because of its high latitude, which gives customers more opportunities to connect with the antennae. AWS now has AWS Ground Station sites in North America in Hawaii, Ohio, Oregon, and Alaska; and in Bahrain, Ireland, Sweden, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, South Africa, and Chile. AWS introduced the Ground Station program in 2018 and has since built up a global network of antennas.

CAIRO – 20 December 2023: Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shokry met Wednesday his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the sixth session of Russian-Arab Cooperation Protocol held in Morocco's Marrakesh. Minister Shokry tackled various aspects of bilateral cooperation and joint developmental projects, mainly the Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant and the Russian Industrial Zone (RIZ) located in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCzone). The minister also expressed Egypt's eagerness for maintaining the flow of Russian tourists into the country. The Egyptian and Russian ministers exchanged views on issues of joint concern, including the crises in Yemen, Sudan, Libya, and Syria. Equally, Minister Shokry expressed hope that a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis would be achieved given its negative humanitarian, political and economic impact on the regional and international levels, precisely the Egyptian economy.

The past year saw a number of shakeups in the satellite industry — like the Viasat/Inmarsat merger and Steve Collar leaving SES. Both of those operators are also dealing with in-orbit anomalies on their next-generation satellites. Here is a look back at some of Via Satellite‘s most-read news stories of 2023. In his first investor call as CEO after succeeding Jeff Bezos, Andy Jassy said the Kuiper satellite constellation is part of a company strategy to invest in the long-term future of Amazon. Interested in getting Via Satellite’s latest news and analysis delivered straight to your inbox?

The Deputy Prime Minister and Acting Minister of Health, Mr. Ramadan Abu Janah, met Tuesday, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Amir Abdollahian, at the headquarters of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Abu Janah had arrived Monday in the Iranian capital Tehran on an official visit with his accompanying delegation. He had been received at Tehran’s airport by the Assistant Minister of Health, a high-ranking delegation from the Iranian Ministry of Health, and the Ambassador of Libya to Iran, Ali Al-Obaidi. Localising the pharmaceutical industry in LibyaThe visit of the Minister will include getting to know the pharmaceutical industry in Iran to develop the experience of localizing the pharmaceutical industry in Libya. During the meeting with the Foreign Minister, cooperation in the health field and the exchange of experiences between the two countries were discussed, in addition to discussing benefiting from the Iranian experience in the health fields.

The Attorney General’s Office revealed (on Wednesday 13th) the detention of a company representative who deliberately contributed to the seizure of public funds. As part of the supply of medical equipment and supplies for the health sector in the municipality of Zuwara, the supplying company’s representative conspired with a health sector leader to use forged documents stating that the equipment and supplies subject to the contract had been received. This immediately facilitated the seizure of LD 4.87 million of public funds, part, or all of which were used to purchase real estate in Tripoli. As a result, the investigator ordered the pretrial detention of the company’s representative pending the case, and ordered the arrest and bringing to trial those who contributed to the commission of the incident.

CAIRO - 20 December 2023: The total number of planes that transported international aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip through Al-Arish Airport in North Sinai since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on Gaza until today has risen to 325 planes. During the past few hours, Arish Airport received 5 planes during the past few hours coming from Belgium, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Germany. The Egyptian Red Crescent received the shipments and transported them on trucks from Al-Arish to the Rafah crossing to the Gaza Strip. The international relief organizations from which the aid planes arrived came from the World Food Organization, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the Red Cross, a plane from Doctors Without Borders, the European Union, and the United Nations. The countries from which planes transporting aid to Gaza arrived and landed at Al-Arish Airport are: Kuwait, Turkey, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Algeria, Japan, Jordan, Iraq, Indonesia, France, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Bahrain, England, Brazil, Tunisia, Venezuela, India, Kenya, Colombia, Malaysia, Greece, Libya, Turkmenistan, Poland, Denmark, Oman, Chechnya, Belgium.