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.

A source from Al-Baraghtha tribe in eastern Libya told local media that the leadership of Al-Rajma (Khalifa Haftar's forces) informed them of the killing of their son, former Defense Minister Mahdi Al-Barghathi. Meanwhile, Al-Awaqir tribe's youth movement, from which Al-Baraghtha tribe descends, demanded that the judiciary and Khalifa Haftar investigate the killing of Mahdi Al-Barghathi. Libyan Crime Watch added that Bufanara was arrested on October 10 by the Internal Security Apparatus, following the arrest campaign that came after the military operation against former Defense Minister Mahdi Al-Barghathi. In early October, Haftar's forces arrested Al-Mahdi Al-Barghathi, a number of his companions, and a number of the women of his family, after Al-Barghathi returned to his home in Benghazi, following clashes that lasted for hours between the two sides. Later, Haftar's forces handed over the body of Ibrahim; Mahdi Al-Barghathi's son to his family, after he was arrested with his father and his companions.

Member states and the European Parliament have struck a major deal to reform the bloc’s migration policy, sealing agreement on a vast array of subjects dealing with detention periods, racial profiling, unaccompanied minors, search-and-rescue operations and border surveillance. “I come from an island in the Mediterranean and I know what it means to say that we have delivered on the migration pact, probably the most important legislative aspect of our mandate. The day the EU reached a landmark agreement on a new set of rules to manage migration and asylum. I'm very proud that with the Migration & Asylum Pact, we have delivered and provided solutions. “The Migration Pact also falls short of concretely supporting states where people first arrive in Europe including Italy, Spain or Greece.

There is no clean drinking water, or water available for those crammed into the home to wash themselves, he said. “Someone sent me a message recently saying that, ‘Your parents are suffering the most,” he said. His parents lived in the U.A.E for years before deciding to return to their homeland to retire almost a decade ago, Abudaya said. They were living in their apartment in central Gaza when the war began on Oct. 7. Abudaya said he has been trying for weeks to get his parents out of Gaza, reaching out to the Canadian government, as well as Egyptian and Israeli officials for help.

The Iranian foreign minister held a meeting with the deputy prime minister and minister of health of Libya, Ramadan Ahmed Abu Janah, in Tehran on Tuesday. In the meeting, Amir-Abdollahian expressed satisfaction with the improvement of relations between the two countries in the past two years and added, "We have no limits for the development of relations." "Fortunately, our assessment is that the relations between the two countries are on the right track, and we can quickly implement the agreements between the two countries," he added. "The Islamic Republic of Iran attaches importance to relations with Libya, and in this framework, holding a joint commission and a meeting between businessmen of the two countries can be put on the agenda," Amir-Abdollahian stated. For his part, the Libyan health minister expressed satisfaction with the trip to Iran and said, "There have been strong relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Libya for a long time."

“This number represents the everyday tragedies experienced by the people of Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq after earthquakes. But despite the crisis there are large areas of the encircled region to which WHO and other humanitarian relief groups have no access at all. That follows on a pattern of previous Israeli detentions and arrests of health workers at Al Ahli and elsewhere, he said. More calls for Gaza cease-fire but prospects remain dim“Stop this war, with no delay,” said Al Mandhari of the Gaza conflict. Another 240 Israelis and foreign workers were carried back to Gaza, including about 30 children.

Italy’s San Donato Hospital Group is to establish a hospital with high specifications, operating according to the highest internationally agreed standards in Libya soon. The DSDMS reported that the San Donato Hospital Group’s delegation arrived in Tripoli Saturday and includes an elite group of specialists in several fields in the health sector. Establish new international standard hospitalDuring the meeting, the needs and shortcomings needed by the health sector in Libya were discussed, and it was agreed to establish a hospital with high specifications, operating according to the highest internationally agreed standards. The new hospital proposal, the DSDMS said, is part of the efforts to improve quality and meet the needs of the Libyan health sector. Italy agrees long term programme of implementing children’s heart surgery across Libya (libyaherald.com)Italian medical team specialized in paediatric heart defect operations arrives – starts operations at Tajoura Heart Hospital (libyaherald.com)

The death of 61 people, who drowned in a shipwreck off the coast of Libyan shores during the night between 14 and 15 December, is “the direct result of Europe’s migration policies”, said Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Although it was clear that people’s lives were in imminent danger, nothing was done to help until it was too late,” says Mielgo. “As soon as we noticed Vos Triton was heading towards Libya, we reached out to them to remind them about the principle of non-refoulment and that disembarking people in Libya would be unlawful,” explains Mielgo. A radical change in Europe is needed now to adopt migration policies that save lives instead of sacrificing them,” says Mielgo. Already this year, close to 2,300 men, women and children2 have died or gone missing while trying to cross the Central Mediterranean to Europe.

The UN Envoy to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, told Security Council members on Monday that unwilling officials "clinging to their seats" must not be allowed to fail the people of Libya and put the region at risk of further chaos. Bathily said that Libya has established a constitutional and legal framework for holding elections deemed executable by the HNEC. However, he emphasized that implementing these laws requires all concerned parties' sincere and genuine commitment. In his remarks, the UN envoy described the positions of some Libyan leaders as procrastinating, emphasizing that forming a unified government that can lead the country to elections requires a consensus among all parties. He expressed optimism that the climate in the country "is ripe for a new political deal" and a new dispensation for a brighter future.

“These chosen actors have the capacity to either reach consensus and advance the political process or prolong the stalemate and prevent Libya from holding peaceful elections. Libyan National Army commander Khalifa Haftar is ready for dialogue but has conditioned the Government of National Unity’s participation to the inclusion of the House of Representatives-appointed Government. A thriving civic space is critical for the political process. He added, “The political process must remain the primary and only option for establishing security and stability”, meaning committing to dialogue to resolve differences. Security, political and humanitarian tracks must be paralleled with focusing on economic and development paths, which are essential for long-term stability.