Middle East Experience

"Burnt books conjure up such dark times in our collective history. Disturbing."
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Beloved Jerusalem book exchange set on fire, books destroyed

The ‘Young Emirati Women for Success’ (YES) mentorship programme is organised in collaboration with the Nordic Embassies in the UAE..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Virtual mentorship for 33 Emirati women to excel in career

Aliyah way down on 2019 figures due to COVID-19 pandemic. Two new immigrants, one born in Bergen Belsen, one a pro-Israel US college activists tell their stories.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Israel marks Aliyah Day with more 15,000 new immigrants so far this year

Police officers at the scene later said that they felt their lives were threatened.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Police seeking to enforce mask rules attacked with rocks, discharges gun

A fast and cheap paper-based coronavirus test will soon be available across India, with scientists hopeful it will help turn the tide on the pandemic in one of the world’s worst-hit nations.India has recorded more than 7.5 million infections, second only to the US, and the outbreak has spread from densely packed megacities like Mumbai to rural communities with limited medical services.Visit our dedicated coronavirus site here for all the latest updates.The locally developed Feluda, named for a detective in a famous Indian novel series, resembles a home pregnancy paper-strip test and delivers results within an hour.Researchers are optimistic that its low cost and ease of use can help stem the pathogen’s spread in poor and remote areas.“This test doesn’t require any sophisticated equipment or highly trained manpower,” said co-creator Souvik Maiti, a scientist at New Delhi’s CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB).“There are lots of remote parts of India where you do not have any sophisticated laboratories... (The test) will be much easier to deploy; it will have much more penetration.”India currently diagnoses Covid-19 with either RT-PCR tests, which are highly accurate but require advanced lab machinery, or antigen tests, which can give results in just a few minutes at a limited cost but with significantly lower accuracy. Feluda, like other inexpensive paper-based tests being developed in other countries, claims to combine the accuracy of the PCR test with the accessibility of the antigen kits. It uses the gene-editing technique CRISPR-Cas9, which recently earned its inventors Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.Feluda has been granted government regulatory approval and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said last week it could be rolled out in the next few weeks by Indian conglomerate Tata Group.If made available within that timeframe, India will be one of the first countries in the world to begin mass use of such a test.The price has not been released, but local media said it could cost around 500 rupees ($6.80) -- around a fifth of what a PCR test costs in New Delhi.The current prototype requires a PCR machine for processing, but scientists are working on a saliva or self-swabbing version that can be used at home, co-founder and IGIB scientist Debojyoti Chakraborty said.Read More:Coronavirus: India adds 61,800 new COVID-19 cases, 1,033 deathsCoronavirus: Russia receives renewed approval for COVID-19 vaccine trials in IndiaCoronavirus: India begins selecting people for priority coronavirus vaccines
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Coronavirus: Fast and cheap paper COVID test soon available in India

Saudi Arabia appointed its second female ambassador, Amal Yahya al-Moallimi, as ambassador to Norway on Tuesday, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The first woman to hold such a position is Princess Reema bint Bandar, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US.Al-Moallimi was one of many new ambassador-designates that took the oath of office virtually on Tuesday before King Salman, in the presence of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, SPA reported.Other Ambassador-designates who took the oath of office were:• Dr. Saad bin Abdulrahman al-Ammar, Ambassador-designate to Greece. • Azzam bin Abdulkarim al-Qain, Ambassador-designated to Spain.• Dr. Abdulaziz bin Ali al-Saqr, Ambassador-designated to Tunisia.• Dr. Saleh bin Hamad al-Suhaibani, Saudi Arabia’s Permanent Representative to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).• Ziyad bin Maashi al-Attiyah, Ambassador-designate to Netherlands.The Kingdom’s Ambassador-designates to Maldives, Hungary, Nigeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Uganda, and Mexico also took the oath of office before King Salman.Read more:Princess Reema bint Bandar: Saudi Arabia’s first female ambassadorTop 10 moments for Saudi Arabian women since Vision 2030
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Saudi Arabia appoints second female ambassador Amal Yahya al-Moallimi to Norway

On the backdrop of the coronavirus crisis and growing unemployment rate, some Israelis have decided to start takeaway and cooking services straight from their home kitchens.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Defying COVID 19-induced crisis, Israelis launch food takeaway services from home

The United Arab Emirates reported 1,538 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, an increase from the previous days, announced the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) on Twitter.NCEMA added that there had been two deaths from COVID-19 during the last day.A further 1,501 people had recovered from the virus.For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.The new cases were detected after authorities carried out 105,740 tests in a 24-hour period, explained NCEMA.Authorities have warned against complacency and urged the public to follow coronavirus precautionary rules, such as practicing social distancing and avoiding large gatherings.The UAE currently has a total of 119,132 cases, of which 111,814 have recovered, according to government figures.
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Coronavirus: UAE reports 1,538 new COVID-19 cases, in equal highest daily increase

Saudi Arabia announced its National Strategy for Data and AI at the Global AI Summit, hosted virtually by the Kingdom, on Wednesday.The strategy was announced by Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) President Dr Abdullah bin Sharaf Al-Ghamdi, who spoke on behalf of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, via Twitter on the Global AI Summit channel.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app."The year 2020 is a special year for Saudi Arabia as we have the honor to lead the G20 forum. Our summit today is an imperative of the G20 Digital Economy agenda with its special on artificial intelligence. I stood in this very place a year ago to announce the Global AI Summit and it didn't occur to me that we would be living a very different reality," said Al-Ghamdi."One thing we can all agree upon is that technology in general, and certainly artificial intelligence, has been at the center of this new normal. AI today is making our healthcare more intelligent, our cities smart and our road safe," he explained.Saudi Arabia's AI goalsThe Kingdom plans to be one of the top 15 AI global pioneers by 2030, announced Al-Ghamdi.The new strategy will focus on bridging the skills gap, stimulating the market through research and innovation, and utilizing applications of AI for government and private sector agencies, added Saudi Arabia's National Information Center Director Dr. Esam Alwagait.Alwagait also hailed the role of AI in fighting the coronavirus pandemic, describing it as the "right solution." He pointed to top-down decisionmaking and the use of technology as two key factors in successfully dealing with the pandemic.UAE Minister of Artificial IntelligenceThe Global AI Summit was also attended by Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, the UAE's Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications.Al Olama hailed the transformative potential of AI, pointing to an increase in adoption due to the coronavirus pandemic."This technology is so profound it has the ability to change our societies, our economies, and life as we know it," said Al Olama, whose minsiterial portfolio is the first of its kind globally.Developing.Read more:Artificial intelligence has been key to fighting coronavirus – it can do more tooSaudi Arabia appoints second female ambassador Amal Yahya al-Moallimi to NorwayTop 10 moments for Saudi Arabian women since Vision 2030
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Watch: Saudi Arabia launches artificial intelligence strategy at Global AI Summit

Saudi Arabia has appointed its second female ambassador, Amal Yahya al-Moallimi, to represent the Kingdom in Norway.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Al-Moallimi took the oath of office virtually on Tuesday before Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA),The first woman to hold such a position is Princess Reema bint Bandar, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US.But who is al-Moallimi, and how did she rise to follow in Princess Reema’s footsteps?Background in human rightsAl-Moallimi is the general manager of international collaboration at Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights Commission (HRC). She previously held the position of assistant secretary-general at Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz Center for National Dialogue.The new ambassador obtained a bachelor’s degree in the English Language from Princess Noura Bint Abdulrahman University in Saudi Arabia.She then studied abroad, gaining a postgraduate degree in Mass Communication and Media from the University of Denver in the US, as well as a fellowship from the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies in the UK.Al-Moallimi had participated in a number of international and local conferences as a speaker.“What is happening with Vision 2030 will have an impact, and these achievements and developments will impact the surrounding region at the Arab and Islamic levels,” al-Moallimi said at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) event in 2019.“There is no longer a field that Saudi women cannot join,” she added.She also delivered a speech during the inauguration of the King Abdullah International Center for Interfaith and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) in Vienna, Austria.Al-Moallimi’s brother, Abdallah al-Mouallimi, is also an ambassador, representing the Kingdom at the United Nations (UN).“I am proud of my sister Amal, who took the oath today in front of King Salman as the Kingdom's ambassador to Norway, and thank you to everyone who shared feelings of pride with us. May our father Yahya and my mother rest in peace, who raised us to love our country and be loyal to our ruler. Praise be to God,” Ambassador Abdallah al-Mouallimi tweeted.The appointment of Saudi Arabia’s second female ambassador is in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 program, which aims to empower Saudi women socially and economically.Since the launch of Vision 2030 in April 2016, Saudi women have already benefited from a range of reforms, gaining the right to drive among other advances.Read more:Saudi Arabia appoints second female ambassador Amal Yahya al-Moallimi to NorwayTop 10 moments for Saudi Arabian women since Vision 2030Princess Reema bint Bandar: Saudi Arabia’s first female ambassador
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Meet Amal al-Moallimi, Saudi Arabia’s second female ambassador