India and Germany look to bolster ties as Modi and Scholz hold talks in New Delhi

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday held wide-ranging discussions to bolster strategic ties between the two countries as Berlin looks to strengthen its relationship with New Delhi at a time when the West is seeking to counter China's growing influence in the region.

Modi and Scholz met in New Delhi where the two countries signed various agreements on enhancing cooperation in the defense sector, information technology, clean energy, skill development and artificial intelligence.

Scholz — accompanied by several key ministers and business leaders — is leading a high-level delegation as part of his three-day visit to India.

After the talks, Scholz noted that Germany is India’s most important trading partner in the European Union and said he was determined to expand those ties.

“As chancellor, I am in particular advocating an ambitious free trade agreement between India and the European Union,” he said. “All sides would really benefit from this, and it should be our ambition finally to make progress here.”

He said there was “good progress” on attracting skilled labor to Germany, particularly “in the sectors where we need them most urgently — whether in medicine, in nursing care, or the IT sector.”

“Our aim is to enthuse even more skilled workers from your country for Germany,” Scholz told Modi.

Earlier in the day, Modi announced that Germany will increase visas for the skilled Indian workforce from 20,000 to 90,000.

Scholz also made a pitch for India to be more active in persuading Russia to end the war in Ukraine.

“This war, which has been raging for so long now and is claiming so many victims, must finally come to an end. The integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine must be preserved," Scholz said.

Western allies want India to be more active in persuading Russia to end the war in Ukraine, but Modi has avoided condemning Russia while emphasizing a peaceful settlement. He has repeatedly urged diplomatic efforts to end the war and pledged India's support in doing so.

After the talks concluded, Modi said global forums created in the 20th century “were not capable of dealing with the challenges of the 21st century” and called for reforms of the United Nations Security Council. India has argued for decades that the country of more than 1.4 billion people should have a permanent seat there.

He also said there were “serious concerns regarding the rule of law and freedom of navigation” in the Indo-Pacific region, where China is trying to grow its influence.

Germany has not traditionally had close defense ties with India, but Modi has said in the past that there’s unrealized potential on defense cooperation. Germany’s Thyssenkrupp is also expected to partner with Indian firms to build six advanced conventional submarines in India.

On Saturday, Scholz will be visiting a German frigate and a supply ship, which are in the southern state of Goa participating in a joint maneuver with the Indian navy.

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Moulson reported from Berlin.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz walk together after the latter arrived for talks in New Delhi, India, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

India's Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar, second right, shakes hands with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz applaud after bilateral talks in New Delhi, India, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

India's Defense Minister, Rajnath Singh, second right, shakes hands with Germany's Minister for Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock, as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, applaud after bilateral talks in New Delhi, India, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, second right, and German Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck attend a high-level bilateral talks between India and Germany, in New Delhi, India, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, shake hands after bilateral talks in New Delhi, India, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speak after bilateral talks in New Delhi, India, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz shake hands after the latter arrived for talks in New Delhi, India, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz shake hands after the latter arrived for talks in New Delhi, India, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said an Israeli airstrike hit guesthouses where journalists were staying in southeast Lebanon, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies Friday. Meanwhile, an Israeli attack on the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis left 38 people dead.

Several journalists have been killed since a near-daily exchange of fire began along the Lebanon-Israel border on Oct. 8, 2023.

Lebanon’s health ministry says the total toll over the past year is over 2,500 killed and 12,000 wounded. The fighting in Lebanon has driven 1.2 million people from their homes, including more than 400,000 children, according to the United Nations children’s agency. Israeli strikes have killed much of Hezbollah’s top leadership since fighting ramped up in September.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not differentiate between militants and civilians. The Israel-Hamas war began after Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7, 2023, blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed in, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others.

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi, on Friday in London, where the Arab leader accused Israel of engaging in ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Safadi did not mince words Friday when describing Israel’s role in the conflicts, saying cease-fire negotiation mediators are trying to “get through the nightmare that the region continues to live in.”

Here's the latest:

LONDON — United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi, on Friday in London, where the Arab leader accused Israel of engaging in ethnic cleansing in Gaza.

“The only path to save the region from that is for Israel to stop the aggressions on Gaza, on Lebanon, stop unilateral illegal measures of the West Bank that is also pushing this situation,” Safadi said.

“We meet at a very, very critical moment, as you mentioned, the humanitarian situation is really difficult when we look at Northern Gaza, where we do see ethnic cleansing taking place, and that has got to stop," he said.

Safadi is one of many Arab leaders with whom Blinken has met with as he took negotiations over a cease-fire in Gaza and a post war plan on a tour of the Middle East.

Safadi did not mince words Friday when describing Israel’s role in the conflicts, saying mediators are trying to “get through the nightmare that the region continues to live in.”

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The Israeli military conducted operations overnight into Friday in Khan Younis, killing 38 people and injuring more than a dozen others, health officials said.

Palestinians who were killed or injured were taken to the European and Nasser Hospitals. Records from the European hospital obtained by the AP showed at least 15 members from al-Farra family were killed, including 13 children.

Gaza Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal posted a video Friday morning of rescuers recovering the bodies of 9 children from the Al-Farra family in Al Manara neighborhood.

The Israeli attack, which included airstrikes and shelling, according to health officials, targeted several residential buildings in neighborhoods east of Khan Younis Governorate. Six members of the Abdeen family were also killed, according to health officials.

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Health Minister Firass Abiad said Friday that Israel has carried out attacks on 55 hospitals — 36 of which were directly hit — leaving 12 people dead and 60 wounded.

Abiad told reporters that eight hospitals have been closed while seven are still partially functioning.

He said that paramedic groups have been targeted in different areas, killing 151 people and wounding 212. Of the paramedics killed, eight remain in their ambulances in south Lebanon with Israel’s military preventing anyone from reaching them, he said.

“Attacks against the medical and paramedic sectors in Lebanon are direct and intentional aggressions,” Abiad said, adding that Israel’s military claims to have intelligence information on what is happening in Lebanon, thus cannot say that these attacks happened by mistake.

“This is a war crime,” Abiad said.

BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike in northeast Lebanon has closed another border crossing with neighboring Syria, Lebanon’s state news agency said Friday.

The airstrike on the outskirts of the village of Qaa brings the number of border crossings between the two countries that have been struck by Israel’s military to three. That leaves three functioning border crossings.

An Israeli airstrike on Oct. 5 blocked a highway and left a giant crater near the Lebanese side of the crossing, known as Masnaa, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Beirut. Masnaa is the busiest border crossing between the two countries.

In late September, an Israeli airstrike struck the border crossing of Matraba in Lebanon’s northeast, forcing it to close.

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Information Minister Ziad Makary alleged Friday that the attack on a compound housing journalists which killed three media staffers is an “assassination” and “a war crime.”

In a statement, Makary said there were 18 journalists representing seven media organizations at the compound in the town of Hasbaya in south Lebanon.

The Beirut-based pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV said two of its staffers — camera operator Ghassan Najar and broadcast technician Mohammed Rida — were among the journalists killed early Friday. Al-Manar TV of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said its camera operator Wissam Qassim was also killed in the airstrike.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strike in Lebanon.

Ghassan bin Jiddo, the director of Al-Mayadeen, alleged in a social media post that the journalists were deliberately targeted.

“We hold the (Israeli) occupation fully responsible for this war crime, in which journalist crews, including the Al-Mayadeen team, were targeted,” he said.

BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike on a compound housing journalists in southeast Lebanon has killed three media staffers, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Friday.

Local news station Al Jadeed aired footage from the scene showing collapsed buildings and cars marked “PRESS,” covered in dust and rubble. The Israeli army did not issue a warning prior to the strike, which hit a collection of chalets that had been rented by various media outlets.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strike in Lebanon.

The Beirut-based pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV said two of its staffers were among the journalists killed early Friday. Al-Manar TV of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said its camera operator was also killed. The airstrike hit early Friday in the Hasbaya region, which had been spared much of the fighting along the border so far.

Several journalists have been killed since a near-daily exchange of fire began along the Lebanon-Israel border on Oct. 8, 2023.

Israel has accused journalists working for Al Jazeera of being members of militant groups, citing documents it purportedly found in Gaza. The network has denied the claims as “a blatant attempt to silence the few remaining journalists in the region.”

An injured cameraman flashes victory sign as he moved by the Lebanese Red Cross to a hospital after he injured at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A destroyed journalists car is seen at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

An injured cameraman is moved by the Lebanese Red Cross to a hospital, at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A journalist carries the flack jacket, at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Destroyed vehicles used by journalists at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Flame rise from a past Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs Chief of Protocol Ibrahim Fakhroo welcomes U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, as he arrives in Doha, Qatar, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on Majdal Zoun village, in this view from the southern city of Tyre, south Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Damaged furnitures left on destroyed apartments that were hit by Israeli airstrikes, in Tyre, south Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Activists sit blindfolded to mark one year in the Hebrew calendar since the Hamas cross-border attack on Israel in a protest against the celebration of the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah while hostages are still held in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

A flock of birds fly as smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)