Middle East Experience

The meeting comes a day after Jordan sent an official complaint to Israel for allowing Jews onto the Temple Mount, of which Abdullah’s Hashemite family is custodian.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Abdullah heads to US as Bennett upholds Jewish rights on Temple Mount

German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the flooding that has devastated parts of Europe as "terrifying" on Sunday after the death toll across the region rose to 184.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Merkel says Germany must do more to tackle climate change

Health Ministry provides guidelines for getting a third shot of the Pfizer vaccine.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Israel is administering COVID booster shots. Who qualifies to get one?

Amid concerns over the rising number of coronavirus cases, police to employ an SMS-based system to verify location of those quarantining.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: COVID: Entrance of vaccinated to Israel postponed again amid outbreak

Children and adolescents who had mild to asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 were found to have robust antibody responses up to four months after infection, according to a new landmark study.The study, which was carried out by researchers at the US-based Duke Health and has appeared in the journal JCI Insight, found that children and adolescents who previously had COVID-19 developed antibody responses that were capable of neutralizing the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Further, these responses were comparable or superior to those observed in adults.For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.“These findings are encouraging, especially because we cannot yet vaccinate children under the age of 12 against the virus,” said co-lead author Jillian Hurst, assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Duke University School of Medicine. “The study shows that children who have had mild infections or even those who did not have any symptoms, develop an immune response that will likely provide some protection against future infections.”The researchers evaluated the SARS-CoV-2-specific immune responses in 69 children and adolescents, with ages ranging from two months old to 21 years-old. The median age of participants was 11.5 years, and 51 percent were female.The researchers measured antibody responses among children and adolescents with asymptomatic and mild symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and found that the antibody response did not differ based on the presence of symptoms, and SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies remained detectable in the majority of participants up to four months after infection.The researchers also compared the children’s immune responses to those of adults. They found that all children, regardless of age group, had equivalent or slightly higher levels of antibodies than adults at two months and four months after acute infection.“Most studies of the immune responses of children to SARS-CoV-2 have focused on patients hospitalized for severe COVID-19 or multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), or have assessed immunity only during acute infection,” Fouda said. “Our study provides important information that SARS-CoV-2-specific immune responses, regardless of disease severity, may decline over time more slowly in children and adolescents.”For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Study authors said the findings suggest vaccinating young children against COVID-19 could also elicit a similar or greater degree of protection than that of adults.Read more:Children 10 and younger have stronger antibody response to COVID-19: StudyCoronavirus: Do children spread COVID-19? Risks as schools consider reopeningPfizer says its COVID-19 vaccine effective for children as young as 12
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Children with mild, asymptomatic COVID-19 develop strong antibodies months on: Study

All Saudi Arabian citizens will be required to have had two COVID-19 vaccine doses before traveling outside the Kingdom from August 9, the Kingdom’s interior ministry announced on Monday.The new requirement will not be applied to children under the age of 12 provided that their travel insurance policy covers expenses relating to COVID-19 and is pre-approved by the central bank of Saudi Arabia.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.People who were infected by the virus in the last six months and those who were infected with COVID-19 but received the first dose of the vaccine are also exempt.The decision was made based on new waves of infection globally, new mutations, and the "low efficacy of one vaccination dose against these mutations," the statement from the interior ministry read.Saudi Arabia has so far administered more than 20 million vaccine doses, according to the health ministry. This number is expected to rise soon following Monday’s announcement and the ministry’s decision last week to begin administering the second dose of the country’s approved vaccines to all age groups.With ReutersRead more:Hajj begins in Saudi Arabia under strict COVID-19 rules for second consecutive yearGeneral presidency equips pilgrims with Hajj essentials amid COVID-19Twenty fined for violating Hajj regulations: Spokesperson
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Saudi Arabia to require all citizens to be fully vaccinated before traveling by Aug 9

The office of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said he had misspoken when saying that Jews and Muslim both have freedom to worship on Temple Mount.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Bennett walks back comment over Jews praying at Temple Mount

Thousands of face-masked pilgrims performing Islam’s annual Hajj pilgrimage gathered on Mount Arafat on Monday to atone for their sins, expressing hopes for peace and an end to the COVID-19 pandemic.Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, has barred worshippers from abroad for a second year running and has restricted entry from within the Kingdom under special conditions to guard against the coronavirus and its new variants.For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.Only 60,000 Saudi citizens and residents, aged 18 to 65, who have been fully vaccinated or recovered from the virus and do not suffer from chronic diseases, were selected for the rite, a once-in-a-lifetime duty for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it.“It is an indescribable feeling that I got selected among millions of people to attend the haj. I pray for God to put an end to these hard times the whole world has gone through under the coronavirus,” said Um Ahmed, a Palestinian pilgrim who lives in the Saudi capital Riyadh and who said she lost four family members to the virus.In previous years, more than two million pilgrims used to cover Mount Mercy on the plains of Arafat, sitting close to each other in the desert city of Mecca, carrying umbrellas and fans to keep cool as temperatures rose towards 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).This year pilgrims, dressed in white robes signifying a state of purity, had to observe social distancing and wear face masks on Mount Arafat, the hill where Islam holds God tested Abraham’s faith by commanding him to sacrifice his son Ismail.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Mount Arafat is also where Prophet Mohammad gave his last sermon.“The first prayer is to ask God to lift this pandemic, this curse and this grief for all humanity and for Muslims, so in the next years they are able to attend Hajj and for millions to refill these holy sites,” said Maher Baroody, a Syrian pilgrim.Read more:The Kaaba receives a new Kiswa to commemorate Eid al-AdhaGeneral presidency equips pilgrims with Hajj essentials amid COVID-19Twenty fined for violating Hajj regulations: Spokesperson
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Masked Hajj pilgrims on Mount Arafat pray for COVID-19-free world

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza in May destroyed a hydroponic farm established by a young man who had hoped to help the besieged enclave overcome the many crises in its agricultural sector.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Hydroponic farm in Gaza has yet to repair damages from Israeli strikes

Employing Saudi Arabia’s talented, educated women and giving them prominent roles in the Kingdom’s workforce has been considered an integral strategy to create a more diverse and sustainable economy.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The Vision 2030 website outlined that in order to enable a thriving economy of the future, it will need to increase employment, with ensuring more jobs are available to women.Increase in employment through Vision 2030 A report released by the World Bank in early 2021 recognized the country’s work in the women’s empowerment space. ‘Women, Business and Law 2021’ scored Saudi Arabia 80 points out of 100, an increase from 2020’s score of 70.6. It raised the Kingdom’s ranking to become one of the leading countries that develops women’s roles in society from across the Middle East and North Africa.This achievement was “an affirmation of the strength and continued momentum of legislative reforms in laws and regulations related to women, as the Kingdom has achieved gender equality in all areas of employment, to meet the needs of the labor market,” according to the World Bank report, SPA reported in February.A Brookings Institution report found that there has been a sharp rise in the number of women in the Saudi workforce between 2018 and 2020. The report indicated that 20 percent of adult women holding jobs or actively looking for employment rose to around 33 percent.The institute said that the reforms put in place by the Kingdom to empower women were a clear reason for this “dramatic change,” allowing women to work in sectors that were previously to them, such as defense, mining, construction and manufacturing.“The share of Saudi women in the labor market expanded by an incredible 64 percent in just two years,” the report stated, adding that Vision 2030 had played an instrumental role in eliciting this.During the assessed two-year period, the Brookings study found that the employment rate of women grew from 68 to 76 percent.The private sector saw the highest employment rate. The accommodation and food industries witnessed 40 percent growth in female employment, while the construction and manufacturing sectors had a 9 and 14 percent rise respectively.The public sector saw a five percent increase in the employment of women from the beginning of 2019 until the end of 2020.Reforms Lifting the ban on women driving in 2018 was a huge cultural shift for the Kingdom, with a continuos stream of reforms introduced.According to a report by the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS) released in May, Saudi Arabia relaxed its guardianship laws and enhanced the roles of women in society by granting them more freedom and improving their access to employment opportunities.This has enabled Saudi women to travel abroad on their own, apply for passports, register a birth, marriage or divorce and seek medical treatment without the permission of a guardian. Saudi women can also open their own businesses, attend sports matches, concerts, and entertainment events - social freedoms that were not previously available to them before the introduction of the Saudi Vision 2030 strategy.Saudi Arabia has made significant improvements in women’s legal rights with reforms linked to sexual harassment, retirement rights, and mobility within and outside the Kingdom, the report said.Saudi women in prominent positions Abrar Shaker was appointed as Chairman of the FLIG Football Club at its first founding meeting in a move that made her Saudi Arabia’s first woman to lead a football club, Arabic news media Al Yaum reported last week.As part of an effort to expand the number of games in the future the football club - based in the eastern Saudi province of Hafar Al Batin - includes teams for both men and women.Also last week, female soldier Abeer al-Rashed conducted the Kingdom’s first female-led security forces briefing for Hajj. She constructed the security and traffic management strategy for the upcoming pilgrimage season, which began on Sunday and will end on Tuesday, hosting a limited capacity of 60,000 people in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19.Al-Rashed's role was met with a mass of positive comments on social media, from users in Saudi Arabia and across the region.Earlier this year, the country’s defense ministry opened military recruitment to women, enabling them to enroll in the Saudi Arabian Land Forces, Royal Saudi Air Defense, Royal Saudi Navy, Royal Saudi Strategic Missile Force, and Armed Forces Medical Services.Several female police officers were also spotted supervising Umrah pilgrims during the holy month of Ramadan in Mecca, highlighting the advances women in the Kingdom have made in many fields under the Vision 2030 program.Some prominent Saudi figures who dominated Forbes’ Top 10 power list in 2020 included: Rania Nashar, the first female CEO of a Saudi commercial bank, currently leading Samba Financial Group, the Kingdom’s third-largest bank by assets; Sarah al-Suhaimi, the first Saudi woman to chair the country’s stock exchange; and Lubna Olayan, CEO and Deputy Chairman of multinational enterprise and investing firm Olayan Financing Company.Some major advances have been made since Vision 2030 was launched in 2016. It is safe to say that the changing role of women in Saudi Arabia’s workforce will continue to reap great rewards for its economy.Read more:Saudi Arabia to require all citizens to be fully vaccinated before traveling by Aug 9General presidency equips pilgrims with Hajj essentials amid COVID-19Saudi Civil Defense female officers play vital role to ensure safe Hajj season
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: The changing roles of women in the Saudi workforce under Vision 2030