News in Brief -2024-05-16

FE Team | Published: May 15, 2024 21:46:55

India downplays
US sanctions
threat over
Iran port deal
NEW DELHI, May 15: India's foreign minister has said his company will work to communicate the benefits of a strategic port project in Iran, after the United States said Indian firms working on the project risked sanctions. Iran and India this week signed a contract to develop and equip the long-stalled Chabahar port in an agreement that would give New Delhi 10 years of access to the facility, at a time when its government is seeking to grow trade in west and central Asia. Washington has warm ties with India but a longstanding adversarial relationship with Iran, soured further by Tehran's support for Hamas in its war with Israel. —AFP
Indonesia seeds
clouds to block
rainfall
TANAH DATAR, May 15: Indonesian authorities seeded clouds on Wednesday, trying to prevent further rain and flash floods after deluges that hit the country's Sumatra Island over the weekend left at least 58 people dead and another 35 missing. Monsoon rains triggered a landslide of mud and cold lava from Mount Marapi, eventually causing rivers to breach their banks. The deluge tore through mountainside villages in four districts in West Sumatra province just before midnight on Saturday. The floods swept away people and 79 homes and submerged hundreds of houses and buildings, forcing more than 1,500 families to flee to temporary government shelters, according to National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari. — AP