Category: General

Riyadh, His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister has sent a cable of condolences to China’s President Xi Jinping over the death of former Premier of the State Council Li Keqiang.

In his cable, HRH the Crown Prince said, “I received the news of the passing away of the former Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Li Keqiang. I extend my deepest condolences and sincere sympathy to Your Excellency and the entire family of the deceased.”

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Jizan, The land patrols of Jizan Province’s Al-Ardah thwarted an attempt to smuggle 115 kilograms of khat plant. Preliminary legal procedures were completed, and the confiscated items were handed over to the relevant authorities.

Security authorities urge citizens and residents to report any information they may have regarding any suspicious drug smuggling or trafficking activities by contacting 911 from Makkah, Riyadh, and the Eastern Region, and 999 from other areas of the Kingdom. They can also report to the General Directorate of Narcotics Control (GDNC) by calling 995 or via email at 995@gdnc.gov.sa.

All reports are treated with utmost confidentiality.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Washington, Microsoft is introducing exciting changes to Windows Ink that will revolutionize the way you write on your Surface or Windows tablet. The latest Windows Ink update allows you to write anywhere you can type in Windows 11, opening up new possibilities for creativity and productivity.

Microsoft has now made the handwriting-to-text conversion feature available inside search boxes and various other elements of Windows 11. This means that you can now seamlessly convert your handwritten notes into text without having to switch input methods.

The company said in a statement that this new feature appears if you have a Surface device equipped with a pen or any other tablet running Windows that supports Windows Ink. It appears when you start typing in the search box, or in other text editing fields in Windows 11. Currently, Microsoft has enabled this feature for US English, with support for additional languages on the horizon.

Moreover, the KB5031455 non-security update includes various bug fixes for Windows 11. This update also brings improvements to handwriting recognition technology, making it even more accurate and intuitive The update also fixes a number of Windows 11 bugs, including a memory leak in ctfmon.exe, and improves the Dynamic Lighting feature.

The new Windows Ink update is compatible with Surface devices with a pen, as well as other Windows tablets that support the Windows Ink feature.

With this latest update, Microsoft aims to improve the overall user experience for Surface and Windows Tablet owners. Simplifying the input process and improving handwriting recognition technology strengthens the operating system as a powerful platform for both productivity and creative tasks.

Source: Qatar News Agency

Doha, Al Duhail scored an exciting 2-1 victory over Al Shamal in Week 7 of the 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League at the Al Bayt Stadium on Saturday.

All three goals came in the second half, courtesy of Yousef Ayman (63rd minute) and Almoez Ali (76th minute) for Al Duhail, while Ricardo Gomes scored a 90th-minute penalty for Al Shamal.

With the result, Al Duhail increased their tally to 13 points, while Al Shamal remained on three points from three draws.

The first attempt of the night fell to Al Shamals Gomes, but his right-footed shot from a difficult angle on the right, following an assist by Mahdi Salem, got blocked in the ninth minute.

Al Duhails Sultan Al Braik tried a through ball that was destined for Almoezs leg in the 35th minute, but the Qatar international was flagged offside for what could have been the opening goal.

Four minutes later, Almoez got a sublime pass across the way of Michael Olunga, but the Kenyan striker was also caught offside.

Gomes got his right-footed shot from the left side of the box blocked in the 43rd minute, again following an assist by Salem.

With opportunities far and few between on both sides, the match remained a goalless stalemate at half-time.

After a series of near misses, Al Duhail finally broke the deadlock a little after the hour mark with defender Aymans thumping header from the left side of the six-yard box, following Almoezs cross from a corner kick, finding the top right-hand corner of Al Shamal goalkeeper Abdullah El Radys goal.

Almoez made it two in the 76th minute by firing home a left-footed shot from the centre of the box straight down the centre of the goal.

Al Shamal got a foot back in the game in stoppage time following the retake of a penalty kick by Gomes after his first attempt was saved by goalkeeper Zakaria and the follow-ups were equally missed by the Al Shamal players.

However, goalkeeper Zakaria was adjudged to have got off his line before the first kick, allowing Gomes another chance to redeem himself, which he did not waste this time around. The initial foul for the penalty was conceded by Mohammed Muntari, who was ruled by VAR to have brought down Salem in the penalty area in the 84th minute.

Much as Al Shamal tried to restore parity in the dying minutes of injury time, Al Duhail remained resolute as they obtained the maximum points at the end of proceedings.

Source: Qatar News Agency

Manama, Ali bin Saleh Al Saleh, Shura Council Chairma, has congratulated Tulia Ackson, the Speaker of the National Assembly of Tanzania, on her election as President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) for the 2024-2026 session, wishing her every success in undertaking her duties towards further progress, and in order to achieve IPU’s goals.

Al Saleh praised IPU’s role and constant endeavours to enhance parliamentary cooperation and coordination among IPU member states.

He underlined the Shura Council’s keenness to strengthen cooperation with the IPU to achieve common interests.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

Muscat, Dr. Mohammed bin Mubarak bin Daina, Minister of Oil and Environment, Special Envoy for Climate Affairs, has affirmed the strength of the steadily growing fraternal Bahrain-UAE relations.

Dr. Bin Daina was speaking during his meeting with Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Chairman of the World Green Economy Organisation (WGEO), on the sidelines of their participation in the 34th meeting of the Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for the Environment, held in Muscat, Oman.

The minister commended the UAE’s distinguished efforts to support global endeavours aimed at achieving sustainable development goals and confronting climate challenges.

The two sides discussed issues of common interest pertaining to various environmental and climate fields.

Chairman of the UAE’s WGEO expressed thanks and appreciation to the Oil and Environment Minister for his efforts to enhance the Bahrain-UAE relations in the environment and climate fields for the best interests of the two countries and their peoples.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

Manama, Held under the theme ‘Empowering Data Communities’, the 9th Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX) Global Conference is set to launch on Sunday, 29th October, marking the first time that the event is held in the Middle East.

The conference is being co-organised by the Information and eGovernment Authority (iGA) and a group of international organisations including the United Nations (UN), World Bank Group, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Bank for International Settlements (BIS), European Central Bank, Eurostat, and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), with the support of the Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA) and the Bank of Italy. It is scheduled to run until November 2.

The conference will bring together a diverse group of participants, including data scientists, government officials, international organisations, statisticians, data users from national, regional, and international agencies, academic experts, and representatives from the private sector. Its sessions will delve into crucial topics such as new techniques and technologies for SDMX, statistical metadata, and the artificial intelligence (AI)-based StatGPT query building assistant. The event will underscore the importance of data exchange as an enabler of AI.

Additionally, there will be a focus on the role of open-source Large Language Models (LLMs) in making official statistics more accessible and easier to discover. The discussions will also cover the utilization of AI techniques in fostering innovation.

The conference will also highlight the role of the SDMX tool in enhancing economic data research to create a tailored experience for data consumers. It will underscore the importance of collaboration, execution, and lessons learned from SDMX. In addition, there will be discussions on capacity-building initiatives in this field and more.

The conference will feature a wide range of papers from both local and international organisations. This includes contributions from the IMF, UN Statistics Division, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies in France, and others.

Talented developers and data experts from local, regional, and international organisations will be recognised through a hackathon. This competition, announced in August of this year, aims to develop an open-source interactive web application that efficiently reads specification files and retrieves data from the application programming interfaces (APIs) of the SDMX initiative to create a dynamic and interactive dashboard.

The conference will include an accompanying exhibition featuring major companies and commercial organizations, which will showcase products, projects, and initiatives related to this year’s conference theme and official statistics. Some notable global participants include Regnology, Bank of Italy, FIS Global, Quant Hub, and others.

This year’s conference will offer training courses over two days (1st and 2nd November) that aim to enhance the capabilities of SDMX data exchange and statistical data users from the participating entities and organizations.

The conference is a major international event that takes place every two years. Its primary goal is to explore the latest global developments in statistics, data exchange, and SDMX descriptive data, in addition to capacity-building and knowledge exchange through specialized workshops.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

The Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) issued the following statement:

The Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) deeply mourns the tragic loss of the fallen serviceman Major Mohammed Salem Mohammed Anber, who valiantly gave his life in the line of duty.

On Wednesday, October 25, 2023, Major Mohammed Salem Mohammed Anber passed away affected by his serious injuries as a result of the act of aggression conducted by the Houthi forces, which took place on Monday, during his dedicated service in the Arab Coalition forces as part of Operation Decisive Storm and Operation Restoring Hope, in along the southern borders of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The General Command of the Bahrain Defence Force extends its deepest condolences to the family of the fallen serviceman, praying to Allah the Almighty to rest his soul in eternal peace, and for the injured a speedy recovery.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

The National Communication Centre of the Kingdom of Bahrain (NCC) categorically rejects the media reports by the Al Jazeera channel on the participation of His Excellency Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Minister of Finance and National Economy, in the Future Investment Initiative conference held in the capital Riyadh of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for its non-compliance with the standards of media professionalism by broadcasting misleading and completely inaccurate content about the intervention of His Excellency the Minister of Finance and National Economy on efforts to underpin economic development and prosperity in the region.

The NCC confirmed His Excellency stressed the importance of continuing to empower those who want to build a better future for the region, and that the facilitation of opportunities and hope for all supports the security and prosperity of the region.

The NCC affirms the importance of adhering to accuracy and objectivity when broadcasting information and news. It remains ready to engage on media inquiries related to the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, received Saqib Rauf, the appointed Pakistani Ambassador to Bahrain, who handed the minister a copy of his credentials.

The minister affirmed the strong Bahraini-Pakistani relations, highlighting their mutual commitment to advancing ties.

He wished the ambassador success in his diplomatic duties.

Rauf affirmed the close bilateral relations between the two countries.

Source: Bahrain News Agency