Saudi Arabia's new foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, is part of a new generation of Saudi diplomats in their 40s taking up key positions. Reuters, file
Saudi Arabia's new foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, is part of a new generation of Saudi diplomats in their 40s taking up key positions. Reuters, file
Saudi Arabia's new foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, is part of a new generation of Saudi diplomats in their 40s taking up key positions. Reuters, file
Saudi Arabia's new foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, is part of a new generation of Saudi diplomats in their 40s taking up key positions. Reuters, file

Saudi Arabia appoints new foreign minister in Cabinet reshuffle


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Saudi Arabia's King Salman  appointed a prince with extensive diplomatic experience as the kingdom's new foreign minister during a Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan replaced Ibrahim Al Assaf, who took up the post last year and is now a minister of state.

The prince served as the kingdom's ambassador to Germany over  the past seven months, having moved from the Washington embassy where he was a political adviser.

Before that, he worked in the defence industry, including a stint as chairman of a joint venture with aircraft-maker Boeing.

Prince Faisal thanked the leadership on his appointment and hailed his predecessor, the state-run news agency Spa reported.

Under King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 34, younger royals have taken up key positions as the kingdom seeks to reduce its dependence on  oil and open up to the world.

Prince Faisal is part of a new generation of Saudi diplomats in their 40s.

Princess Reema bint Bandar, the kingdom's first female ambassador, took up her post in Washington in February this year.

Prince Khalid bin Bandar, Princess Reema's brother, is ambassador to the UK.

"Look at the team being put together in DC, London and now with the new foreign minister ... Consolidation deepens and a pro-western crew is in place," said Neil Quilliam, a senior research fellow at Britain's Chatham House think tank.

"It is a move to outsmart Iran in all the capitals and at the UN. This is a new form of push-back."

Prince Faisal has "strong ties with the West", said Cinzia Bianco, a Middle East analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

"He is dynamic and proactive," Ms Bianco said in a tweet. "The ministry will likely be different to what we saw with [Minister of State for Foreign Affairs] Adel Al Jubeir and Ibrahim Al Assaf."

She said on Wednesday that Prince Faisal had "really strong ties with traditional Saudi allies, [the] US and even a more European outlook than would be traditionally the case".

The royal decree also appointed Saleh Al Jasser, the director-general of Saudi Arabian Airlines, as transport minister. He took over from Nabil Al Amoudi, who was last month appointed to the board of state oil company Saudi Aramco as it prepares for a partial share offering.

It is unclear if he Mr Al Amoudi will retain a government position or focus solely on his role at Aramco.

In other appointments, King Salman named Dr Abdullah Al Ghamdi chairman of the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial intelligence, with Saleh Al Othaim as his deputy.

Dr Essam Al Waqit was appointed as director of the National Information Centre.

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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021

Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.

The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.

These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.

“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.

“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.

“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.

“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”

Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.

There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.

“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.

“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.

“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”

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Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

The five pillars of Islam

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This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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  2. Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
  3. Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
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