Cairo: A limited number of Palestinians were able to travel between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday, after Gaza’s Rafah crossing reopened after a two-day closure, Egyptian state media reported.

The vital border point opened last week for the first time since 2024, one of the main requirements for the US-backed ceasefire. The crossing was closed Friday and Saturday because of confusion about reopening operations.

Egypt’s Al Qahera television station said that Palestinians began crossing in both directions around noon on Sunday. Israel didn’t immediately confirm the information.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to travel to Washington this week, though the major subject of discussion will be Iran, his office said.

Delays and mistreatment accusations
Over the first four days of the crossing’s opening, just 36 Palestinians requiring medical care were allowed to leave for Egypt, plus 62 companions, according to UN data, after Israel retrieved the body of the last hostage held in Gaza and several American officials visited Israel to press for the opening.

Palestinian officials say nearly 20,000 people in Gaza are seeking to leave for medical care that isn’t available in the territory. Those who have succeeded in crossing described delays and allegations of mistreatment by Israeli forces and other groups involved in the crossing, including an Israeli-backed Palestinian armed group, Abu Shabab.
A group of Palestinian patients and wounded gathered Sunday morning in the courtyard of a Red Crescent hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, before making their way to the Rafah crossing with Egypt for treatment abroad, family members told The Associated Press.Amjad Abu Jedian, who was injured in the war, was scheduled to leave Gaza for medical treatment on the first day of the crossing’s reopening, but only five patients were allowed to travel that day, his mother, Raja Abu Jedian, said. Abu Jedian was shot by an Israeli sniper while he doing building work in the central Bureij refugee camp in July 2024, she said.

On Saturday, his family received a call from the World Health Organization notifying them that he is included in the group that will travel on Sunday, she said.

“We want them to take care of the patients (during their evacuation),” she said. “We want the Israeli military not to burden them.”

The Israeli defence branch that oversees the operation of the crossing didn’t immediately confirm the opening.

Heading back to Gaza
A group of Palestinians also arrived Sunday morning at the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing to return to the Gaza Strip, Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News satellite television reported.

Palestinians who returned to Gaza in the first few days of the crossing’s operation described hours of delays and invasive searches by Israeli authorities and Abu Shabab. A European Union mission and Palestinian officials run the border crossing, and Israel has its screening facility some distance away.

The crossing was reopened on Feb. 2 as part of a fragile ceasefire deal to halt the Israel-Hamas war.

The Rafah crossing, an essential lifeline for Palestinians in Gaza, was the only one in the Palestinian territory not controlled by Israel before the war. Israel seized the Palestinian side of Rafah in May 2024, though traffic through the crossing was heavily restricted even before that.

Restrictions negotiated by Israeli, Egyptian, Palestinian and international officials meant that only 50 people would be allowed to return to Gaza each day and 50 medical patients – along with two companions for each – would be allowed to leave, but far fewer people have so far crossed in both directions.

Hamas negotiations
A senior Hamas official, Khaled Mashaal, said the militant group is open to discuss the future of its arms as part of a “balanced approach” that includes the reconstruction of Gaza and protecting the Palestinian enclave from Israel.

Mashaal said the group has offered multiple options, including a long-term truce, as part of its ongoing negotiations with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators.

Hamas plans to agree to a number of “guarantees,” including a 10-year period of disarmament and an international peacekeeping force on the borders, “to maintain peace and prevent any clashes,” between the militants and Israel, Mashaal said at a forum in Qatar’s capital, Doha.

Israel has repeatedly demanded a complete disarmament and destruction of Hamas and its infrastructure, both military and civil.

Mashaal accused Israel of financing and arming militias, like the Abu Shabab group which operates in Israeli military-controlled areas in Gaza, “to create chaos” in the enclave.

In the forum, Mashaal was asked about Hamas’ position from US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace. He didn’t offer a specific answer, but said that the group won’t accept “foreign intervention” in Palestinian affairs.

“Gaza is for the people of Gaza. Palestinians are for the people of Palestine,” he said. “We will not accept foreign rule.” (AP) GSP

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New Delhi: Monthly registration of limited liability partnerships (LLPs) topped the crucial 10,000-mark for the first time on record in January, signalling a rush of entrepreneurs and professionals to take advantage of the country’s booming services sector and brightening manufacturing outlook, a senior government official said.

As many as 10,081 LLPs were incorporated in January, up 60% from a year before, showed the latest corporate affairs ministry data.

Similarly, the number of companies that got incorporated in January jumped almost 39% from a year before to 23,276, the data showed.

Strong outlook amid trade deals
The jump in incorporations is set to continue, as India’s latest trade deals with the US and the European Union, which promise zero duty or preferential access to a combined $53 trillion market when they take effect, have substantially boosted sentiments about the country’s external trade, said the official.

“Incorporations of companies and LLPs are significantly driven by sentiments as well. Until now, they were being driven mainly by strong domestic growth prospects,” he said, asking not to be named.
The trade deals would allay concerns over US tariffs, further cement the country’s medium-term growth prospects, bolster its both manufacturing and services trade outlook and encourage investors to set up units, he added.
The recent goods and services tax cuts, on top of the income tax relief from the current fiscal year, have also brightened consumption and growth potential, aiding new company and LLP registrations, he added.

REGISTRATIONS SPIKE
Between April and January this fiscal year, the number of LLPs that got incorporated scaled a new high of 76,696, representing a 41% year-on-year increase. Similarly, a record number of new companies—2,01,184 in total—got registered during this period, up 41% from a year before. The number of foreign companies incorporated in India jumped to 78 in the first ten months of this fiscal from just 45 a year earlier, the data showed.

Shankey Agrawal, partner at BMR Legal, said ease and affordability of starting a business have pushed up company incorporations. Moreover, due to the “deregulation and decriminalisation of minor corporate defaults, compliance costs and the fear of penalties have diminished”, he said.

This is leading to improved business confidence and fuelling the trend of formalisation of businesses, Agrawal added. “Optimism surrounding consumption prospects, spurred by measures like GST cuts, etc., have also encouraged entrepreneurs to set up new ventures,” said Tahira Karanjawala, partner at law firm Karanjawala & Co. The country’s large pool of talented and cost-effective workforce has boosted company incorporations. The International Monetary Fund last month raised its fiscal 2026 growth projection for India to 7.3% from 6.6%. The Fund expects the country to remain the world’s fastest-growing major economy at least for the next two years.

For the three months ended December 31, 2025, the total return on the Ave Maria Growth Fund (AVEGX) was -0.19%, compared to 2.66% for the S&P 500® Index and 1.39% for the S&P 500® Equal Weight Index. The returns for