TRADE: India and Saudi Arabia agreed yesterday to expand trade and security ties, two days after their leaders and others attending a Group of 20 summit announced a new rail and port corridor deal that will link India, the Middle East and Europe.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met in New Delhi and chaired a meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council. 

MOROCCO: Soldiers and aid teams in trucks and helicopters battled on Monday to reach remote mountain towns devastated by a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that killed more than 2,400 people, with survivors desperate for help to find loved ones feared trapped under the rubble.

Moroccan officials have so far only accepted government-offered aid from Spain, Qatar, Britain and the United Arab Emirates. Other foreign aid teams said they were awaiting permission to deploy. 

Morocco’s Interior Ministry say that they want to avoid a lack of co-ordination that “would be counterproductive.”

ISRAEL: Scores of Israeli protesters flooded the streets yesterday outside the home of Israel’s justice minister, the architect of the country’s divisive judicial overhaul, a day before the Supreme Court begins hearings into the matter.

Israeli police said thhat they arrested six people in the central Israeli town of Modiin, home to Justice Minister Yariv Levin, on charges of disrupting public order and blocking roads.

NIGERIA: The death toll in the boat accident in north-central Nigeria’s Niger State has risen to 28, emergency services said yesterday with at least 40 passengers still believed to be missing.

The boat capsized on the Niger River on Sunday morning with more than 100 villagers aboard.