Category: General

The General Presidency for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque, represented by the Third Saudi Expansion Agency, said the third expansion of the Grand Mosque is ready to receive worshipers during the last 10 days of Ramadan; the extension was executed to offer an integrated system of field, engineering, and technical services. It also serves worshippers according to operational plans, with the support of engineers, technicians and supervisors who work around the clock to ensure the comfort and safety of the visitors to the Grand Mosque.

All floors of the expansion building were prepared, alongside the yards, and cleaning operations were intensified. With regard to the engineering and technical aspects, elevators and escalators were checked, and the air conditioning system is prepared. The internal and external lighting and sound systems were also inspected and operated.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Secretary General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, discussed with Head of Hamas’s Politburo, Ismail Haniyeh, accompanied by a delegation, the latest developments in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Hezbollah said in a statement on Sunday that both sides reviewed during the meeting the course of events in Al-Aqsa Mosque and the escalating resistance in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

They also touched upon the political developments in the region in general, the readiness of the resistance axis and the cooperation of its parties in confronting all these events and developments.

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency

The Agency of the General Presidency for the Affairs of Prophet’s Mosque has maximised its preparations and increased security, health, emergency and voluntary agencies’ efforts to provide services that help Mosque visitors and worshippers perform their rituals easily and efficiently.

During the first 15 days of Ramadan, the presidency provided services to more than 15.7 million worshippers and facilitated and organised the entry to the Noble Rawdah of over 103 million visitors.

As a part of the services that were provided to the visitors, more than one million Zamzam holy water bottles were dispersed, 208 million litres of Zamzam water were consumed, and more than 270,000 Zamzam water containers were refilled. Also, over 25,000 prayer mats of various sizes were distributed.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

A decree was issued on Sunday to form the Kuwaiti cabinet, headed by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Ahmad Al-Sabah.

According to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), the premier presented the names of his cabinet to His Highness the Crown Prince, in accordance with the constitution.

The names of the new cabinet are as follows:

1 – Talal Khaled Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, First Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister and Acting Defense Minister.

2 – Dr. Khaled Ali Mohammad Al-Fadhel, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs.

3 – Dr. Bader Hamed Al-Mulla, Deputy Prime Minister and Oil Minister and Minister of State for National Assembly Affairs.

4 – Fahad Ali Zayed Al-Shala, Minister of State for Municipality Affairs and Minister of State of Communication Affairs.

5 – Abdulrahman Bedah Al-Mutairi, Minister of Information and Minister of State for Youth Affairs.

6 – Dr. Ahmad Abdulwahab Al-Awadhi, Minister of Health.

7 – Amani Suleiman Buqammaz, Minister of Public works.

8 – Dr. Hamad Abdulwahab Al-Adwani, Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research.

9 – Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

10 – Mai Jassem Al-Baghli, Minister of Social Affairs and Societal Development and Minister of State for Women and Childhood Affairs.

11 – Dr. Aamer Mohammad Ali Mohammad, Minister of Justice and Minister of Endowments and Islamic Affairs.

12 – Mutlaq Nayef Omar Abo Raqba Al-Otaibi, Minister of Electricity, Water, Renewable Energy, and Minister of State of Housing Affairs.

13 – Mohammad Othman Mohammad Al-Ayiban, Minister of Commerce and Industry.

14 – Manaf Abdulaziz Al-Hajrey, Minister of Finance, Minister of State for Economic and Investment Affairs.

Source: Bahrain News Agency (BNA)

Canopies cover a vast area of the courtyards of the Prophet’s Holy Mosque, forming a spectacular geometric design in which esthetics and creativity blend to suit the greatness of the place to which Muslims from all around the world come to pray and perform rituals in comfort and serenity.

During Ramadan, large numbers of visitors can be seen in the Prophet’s Mosque, sitting in the mosque’s courtyards, enjoying the shade beneath the canopies, especially before the time of prayer, spending time in the company of their children and relatives, and immortalising these special moments.

The shading project at the Prophet’s Mosque entails 250 mobile canopies installed throughout the yards around the mosque in all directions. It is one of the Kingdom’s great endeavours that shows care for guests and visitors to the mosque. The aim of the project is to secure the comfort and tranquility of worshippers, who are thus protected from the heat of the sun and do not run the risk of slipping and falling during rainfall.

The canopies are equipped with 436 spray fans, which help lower the temperature, and with more than 1,000 lighting units. One canopy alone can provide shelter to over 900 worshippers; all of them can shelter more than 228,000 worshippers.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud issued today a royal order appointing Prince Fahd bin Saad bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Saud as Governor of Al-Diriyah at the excellent rank.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Saudi Ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Naif bin Bandar Al-Sudairi, met today in his office at the embassy with the Chairman of the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission, Dr. Khaled Toukan, and the President of the Union of Arab Geologists and President of Jordanian Geologists, Eng. Khaled Al-Shawabkeh.

During the meeting, they discussed means of cooperation between the two kingdoms in the field of atomic energy and geology, as well as programs for preparing national cadres in this field.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

The Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) Chief Executive Mohammed Al-Qaed announced the achievement of iGA in Operations and Governance sector during the year 2022.

He hailed the follow-up of the Interior Minister General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, Minister of Interior, Chairman of the Ministerial Committee for Information and Communications Technology (MCICT).

He noted that the achievements were in line with government directions and aspirations to achieve the national goals and strategies, in addition, Operations and Governance achievements have contributed to the development and improvement of Government services quality and its outputs, aiming eventually towards improving the quality of life for citizens and residents.

Al-Qaed stressed that iGA reviewed around 3714 government requests, through the National Committee for ICT Governance, with a completion rate of 3.7 days per request in 2022.

The Committee has also updated the standards for purchasing computers, prepare and review the government data backup policy, in addition was able to reduce the cost of IT projects by 24% through Government IT purchase optimization.

The operations and Governance sector has also prepared and reviewed plans to activate and implement digital policies, and signed 3 agreements with Batelco, Amazon and Cisco, in addition to launching 7 initiatives to develop IT policies and standards, completing the review of 103 projects and passing purchases worth BHD22 million to more than 50 government entities during the course of last year.

As for the single sign-on system (ekey), iGA CE indicated that the Operation and Governance team managed to raise the capacity of ekey system, and increase ekey users to more than 644,000, pointing that the number of authentications verified through eKey reached 18 million during 2022.

This is in addition to improving the system’s interface and adding encrypted personal identification number in eKey notifications sent to the users. eKey system has been linked it with the SIEM system to reinforce its security levels and respond quickly to any potential risks proactively, as well as enhancing confidentiality and data privacy features of eKey users.

Al Qaed also highlighted the achievement of linking eKey system with the self-service platforms (eKiosk), which enabled citizens and residents to upgrade their ekey account from basic to advanced level easily and time-conveniently through the eKiosk.

As for the Government Systems monitoring Business Continuity, the CE confirmed that the Operation & Governance sector has been able during the year 2022 to provide more than (80) monitoring systems, and more than (650) enhanced devices for monitoring government network around the clock, and more than (2263) technical issues been addressed and resolved, with the improvement of the performance of monitoring systems by 25%.

In addition, Al Qaed highlighted the completion of the Recovery Center Room equipment, adding Sijilat system to the monitoring system, and completing the upgrade of the government systems hosting room at iGA, in addition to providing support to more than 55 government entities.

As for government sector Cloud Infrastructure, Al-Qaed mentioned that about 85% of government data has been transferred to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform, and the update of backup system has been completed. In addition, and the load distribution system has been upgraded to raise the availability of systems, improve the performance and stability of applications, and completing the Microsoft cloud environment.

Al Qaed also noted the achievements of the Operations and Governance Sector in relation to enhancing the connectivity to the Government Data Network (GDN). More than 300 websites been connected to the government network, raising the speed of the Internet, and completing the update of the domain (. gov.bh) system framework as well as linking government data centers with Cisco technology to improve the speed of hosting systems. This is in addition to the GCC network by linking UAE and Kuwait system through Zajel network.

iGA CE concluded by referring to the sector’s achievements in the Geospatial database (GIS), with the participation of 75 government entities, and demonstrated by producing more than 260 geospatial maps and link more than 48 government systems to the geospatial database in 2022.

GIS team also worked on preparing all soil maps in the Kingdom of Bahrain and processing all maps of governorates, roads and streets in cooperation with the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA), pointing out that the iGA recently launched the Agricultural Atlas Project during the Bahrain International Garden Show in March 2023.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

Governor of the Laayoune Sakia El Hamra region in Morocco, Abdeslam Bekrate, received here today the outgoing Consul General of the Kingdom of Bahrain in the city of Laayoune, Yasser Isa Ajlan Al-Haddi.

The governor expressed thanks and appreciation to the Consul-General for the tremendous efforts he has exerted throughout his tenure, contributing to strengthening the fraternity and cooperation relations between the two countries, wishing him further success.

Bahrain’s Consul General valued highly the great support accorded to him during his tenure, expressing sincere gratitude to the governor and local officials for their cooperation with him, which, he said, has facilitated his diplomatic duties aimed at strengthening the deep-rooted Bahraini-Moroccan relations which are based on mutual respect and appreciation.

He wished the distinguished bilateral relations further progress.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

Under the patronage of Secretary-General, Dr. Mustafa Al-Sayed, the Royal Humanitarian Foundation (RHF), held the annual Ramadan Festival and the Gergaun celebration.

Held at the Cultural Village in Ras Hayyan, the event was attended by more than RHF-sponsored 250 children.

Addressing the ceremony, RHF Secretary-General extended sincere thanks and appreciation to His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the Honorary President of the RHF, for his fatherly care for the RHF’s affiliates, hailing the unwavering support of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister.

Dr. Al-Sayed also commended the efforts exerted by HM the King’s Representative for Humanitarian Work and Youth Affairs, His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, to implement the royal directives to provide all kinds of care for widows and orphans.

RHF’s Charitable Resources Development Director, Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, said that Gergaun is a popular celebration that coincides with the holy month of Ramadan, affirming the RHF’s keenness to fill the hearts of its affiliates with joy.

The festival featured a variety of events, popular games and competitions, in addition to the distribution of Gergaun gifts to children.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

The curtain today fell on the 10th edition of the Bahraini Farmers’ Market, held at the Budaiya Botanical Garden since December 10, 2022.

According to the organising committee, this year’s Bahraini Farmers’ Market, themed “Our Harvest is Bahraini”, attracted as many as 250,000 visitors.

32 farmers, four agricultural companies, five nurseries, four apiaries and four activities specialised in dates participated in this edition, in addition to 20 productive, in coordination with the Ministry of Social Development.

The Organising Committee created a special corner for children through the presence of “Saeed”, which attracted over 15,000 kids.

Commenting, Municipalities’ Affairs and Agriculture Minister, Wael bin Nasser Al-Mubarak, expressed delight over the outstanding success of the 10th edition of the Market, which, he said, is the fruitful outcome of the success of the strategy of the government, led by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, based on launching initiatives to develop the agricultural sector for the sake of boosting efforts to achieve sustainable food security.

In this regard, he asserted that the ongoing partnership between the Municipalities’ Affairs and Agriculture Ministry and the National Initiative for Agricultural Development (NIAD) has contributed significantly to developing the market over the past years.

He asserted that the growing number of shoppers among citizens, residents and the kingdom’s visitors requires the organising committee to further develop the market so as to meet all needs, adding that directives have always been made to prepare for the next edition in advance.

He indicated that more initiatives will be launched to ensure that the kingdom achieves relative food self-sufficiency, by supporting Bahraini farmers and encouraging the introduction of modern technology to increase production and reduce costs.

NIAD Secretary-General, Shaikha Maram bint Isa Al Khalifa, affirmed that based on the directives of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Wife of HM the King and Chairperson of NIAD Advisory Council, NIAD has stepped up its coordination with the Municipalities’ Affairs and Agriculture to bring about more successes to the Bahraini Farmers’ Market in the upcoming seasons so as to consolidate its status as an important platform for marketing Bahraini farmers’ products.

She expressed delight over the great success of the 10th edition, commending the tremendous efforts exerted by Bahraini farmers to provide large quantities of local products for shoppers.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

Saudi Space Commission (SSC), Axiom Space, the US Space Agency (NASA), and SpaceX held a press conference in Houston, USA, on Thursday, setting next May as the official date of the AX-2 space mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

The press conference was attended by the advisor at SSC, Eng. Mashael Al-Shammari; the President and CEO of “Axiom Space” Michael T. Suffredini, and representatives of “NASA” and “SpaceX.”

The participants welcomed the crew of the AX-2 space mission, comprising four astronauts Rayyanah Barnawi, the first Saudi woman to fly into space; Saudi astronaut Ali Al-Qarni; Peggy Whitson, and John Shoffner, wishing them success in their mission.

They praised the two Saudi astronauts, who underwent an intensive special training program, to prepare for the flight, which included conducting 14 pioneering simulations in microgravity, noting that they have demonstrated excellent skills, expertise, capabilities, high physical fitness, and mental flexibility, which will enable them to adapt to the space environment. They also commended the Saudi astronauts’ “exceptional” competence and resourcefulness in various fields and environments, including engineering, robotics, and life support systems.

The participants in the news conference stated that the training program for the Saudi astronauts included training them in programs and operational processes at the ISI and conducting several exercises in the Japanese and European research centers in January and February, in addition to training in exploratory skills at the headquarters of the “SpaceX” company in Hawthorne, California, reiterating that the launch of the mission inaugurates a new era for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in space exploration and that this mission represents a milestone for two historical events, as it is the first mission for a Saudi woman in space, which confirms the progress made by women in the Kingdom’s various sectors, as it is also the first time for a Saudi Arab team working on the ISS.

Al-Shammari commended the tremendous and generous support of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Prime Minister, and President of SSC Supreme Council, for this historical, scientific mission that will be undertaken by the first Saudi female astronaut to the ISS, for the sake of humanity and science, through the research and innovations that they will implement.

She affirmed the confidence of SSC in the full readiness of the two Saudi astronauts, Barnawi and Al-Qarni, to carry out their mission in space, expressing the Commission’s trust in their successful implementation of the mission and return to the homeland to achieve all the previously planned goals and to boost the Kingdom’s position globally in the field of exploring space, serving humanity, achieving the Kingdom’s aspirations, and the goals of Saudi Vision 2030.

Al-Shammari said, “The astronauts will conduct 11 pioneering scientific experiments in microgravity, and three educational awareness experiments involving 12,000 students in 42 locations in the Kingdom via satellite, at a crucial moment that will contribute to building a new generation of Saudi leaders, explorers, and scientists and enhances the status of the Kingdom as a hub for research, in addition to inspiring generations in the Arab world, to new horizons that help humanity benefit from space experiments.”

She also praised the cooperation with Axiom Space, NASA, and SpaceX, expressing the Commission’s appreciation for the significant progress made through this cooperation in achieving long-term development in space exploration and work on scientific research in microgravity to serve science and humanity, adding that SSC seeks, through the astronaut program and the launch of the two Saudi astronauts on the AX-2 mission, to qualify experienced Saudi cadres for space flights to participate in scientific experiments, international research, and future space-related missions, which will reflect positively on the future of the industry and the country, increasing the interest of graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and developing human capital, by attracting talents and development of the necessary skills to enhance the role of the Kingdom in research in the service of humanity.

Source: Bahrain News Agency