The Catch Up: UAE begins phased flight resumption (2 March)

0:00This is the catch-up on three things by the Indian Express and I am a chusharmok. Today is the second of March and here are today's headlines. Starting with Asian news, India and Canada announced a wide-ranging reset in bilateral ties today, including a landmark deal for long term uranium supply, new defence dialogue, and an ambitious target to raise trade to $50 billion by 2030. Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met visiting Canadian Prime Minister Makhane, the two sides, along signed pacts on critical minerals decided to establish the India-Canada Defence Dialogue, agreed to conclude a comprehensive economic partnership agreement by the end of 2026 and discussed transforming the ties into a next-level partnership. Meanwhile, India's new GDP series with 2022-23 as the base year has led to some dramatic

1:04changes. Real growth rates in the three years starting 2023-24 are now more stable, around 7.1-7.6% than before at 6.5-9.2%. There has been a 3-4% reduction in the size of the economy without adjusting for price changes which is not unreasonable. What is interesting, however, is how various sectors are seen to be faring under the new GDP series, which is widely considered to be a more accurate representation of the economy than the old one. Consider the farm sector for instance, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, now estimates that the agriculture livestock for a tree and fishing sector is on average 5% larger than previously estimated in the four years starting 2022-23 in current prices or without adjusting for inflation. And taken in conjunction with the fact that the size of India's nominal GDP is now 3-4% lower than the under the old series, with 2011-12 as the base year.

2:05Agriculture share in the economy in the new series has increased to 18.2% in 2022-23 from 16.5% in the old series. And now in news making global headlines, day 3 of the US-Israel war on Iran has seen intense escalation, with the Pentagon confirming three US service members killed in Kuwait and President Trump warming to continue the operation until objectives are achieved. The strikes have killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini and up to 40 top officials, prompting Iran to retaliate with missile and drone attacks on Israel and US bases in the Gulf. The US military has struck over 1000 targets inside Iran, while Israel has issued evacuation orders for dozens of villages in southern Lebanon amid rise in tensions with Hezbollah. Meanwhile the Middle East has entered a period of heightened regional volatility as the

3:06UAE Ministry of Defense confirms the interception of a third wave of Iranian missile strikes targeting civilian and military infrastructure. This dangerous escalation follows a direct military confrontation involving Iran-Israel and the US with Iran launching widespread aerial attacks in response to ongoing regional hostilities. The strikes have triggered a massive disruption of global logistics with operations at the by-international and the by-world central suspended indefinitely as the GCAA implements a precautionary closure of UAE airbase. In other news, three US air force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down during active combat by Kuwait, the air defenses in an incident, or friendly fire, the US military set today. It added that the three US F-15E fighter jets were flying in support of the ongoing military operations in Iran. Earlier, social media videos had shown US war planes spiraling out of control and crashing to the ground in a fireball.

4:07The confrontation with Iran has expanded into regional conflict with several Gulf countries hosting US military installations targeted in retaliatory strikes. And with that, this is all for today. This was the catch-up on three things by the Indian Express.