Bahrain and Iraq to host Arab League summits in 2024 and 2025

Bahrain and Iraq are to host the next two rounds of the Arab League summit, top officials said on Friday.

Saudi Arabia has hosted a historic summit in the Red Sea city of Jeddah over the past few days, attended by regional leaders.

Returning to the Arab League after 12 years of isolation was Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.

Damascus was suspended in 2011 over the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators that led to civil war.

“We are pleased to express that we will welcome you all to the kingdom of Bahrain, for the upcoming Arab summit meetings in 2024,” Bahrain’s King Hamad said in his address to the league.

He was followed by Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani, who said Baghdad would host the 2025 summit.

“I extend an invitation to convene the 2025 Arab Summit in Baghdad, which looks forward to embracing our Arab brothers in Mesopotamia,” Mr Al Sudani said.

A surprise visit by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the summit caught international attention.

It was his first to the Middle East since Russia's invasion of his country in February 2022, giving the Ukrainian leader an opportunity to appeal for support from Arab leaders.

Dressed in his trademark fatigues, Mr Zelenskyy was greeted at the airport by Ukraine's ambassador and Saudi officials.

Mr Zelenskyy said his priorities for the visit would be “the presentation of our peace formula whose implementation should involve as many states as possible”.

Another priority, he wrote on social media, was “the protection of Ukraine's Muslim community” in the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.

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Family: He is the youngest of five brothers, of whom two are dentists.

Celebrities he worked on: Fabio Canavaro, Lojain Omran, RedOne, Saber Al Rabai.

Where he works: Liberty Dental Clinic

$1,000 award for 1,000 days on madrasa portal

Daily cash awards of $1,000 dollars will sweeten the Madrasa e-learning project by tempting more pupils to an education portal to deepen their understanding of math and sciences.

School children are required to watch an educational video each day and answer a question related to it. They then enter into a raffle draw for the $1,000 prize.

“We are targeting everyone who wants to learn. This will be $1,000 for 1,000 days so there will be a winner every day for 1,000 days,” said Sara Al Nuaimi, project manager of the Madrasa e-learning platform that was launched on Tuesday by the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to reach Arab pupils from kindergarten to grade 12 with educational videos.

“The objective of the Madrasa is to become the number one reference for all Arab students in the world. The 5,000 videos we have online is just the beginning, we have big ambitions. Today in the Arab world there are 50 million students. We want to reach everyone who is willing to learn.”