Islam

UFC and the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi Extend Partnership to 2028

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, October 19, 2023

UFC has a longstanding relationship with Abu Dhabi, with 18 events having been held in the region since 2010.

Key Points: 
  • UFC has a longstanding relationship with Abu Dhabi, with 18 events having been held in the region since 2010.
  • “Over a 15-year relationship, UFC has extended its global reach and Abu Dhabi has established itself as a world capital for combat sports.
  • That partnership was deepened further as Abu Dhabi hosted three separate series of Fight Island events during the Covid-19 pandemic.
  • The emirate’s transformation into a global centre for sport is fully supported by Abu Dhabi Government entities in cooperation with private sector partners.

Global Times: BRI champions equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness among civilizations

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, October 18, 2023

These routes increased connectivity among countries on the Eurasian continent, facilitated exchanges and mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations, boosted regional development and prosperity, and shaped the Silk Road spirit characterized by peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit.

Key Points: 
  • These routes increased connectivity among countries on the Eurasian continent, facilitated exchanges and mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations, boosted regional development and prosperity, and shaped the Silk Road spirit characterized by peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit.
  • "Mutual learning between the Chinese and Greek civilizations has established a model for equal exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations.
  • The BRI champions equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness among civilizations.
  • It transcends barriers between cultures through exchanges, resolves conflicts through mutual understanding and rejects superiority while promoting coexistence.

Mosque attacker 'used petrol' to set pair on fire

Retrieved on: 
Monday, October 23, 2023

Mosque attacker 'used petrol' to set pair on fire

Key Points: 
  • Mosque attacker 'used petrol' to set pair on fire
    - Published
    A man who set alight two elderly men as they left mosques used petrol contained in a water bottle to carry out the attacks, a court heard.
  • Mr Abbkr, of Edgbaston, Birmingham, has also denied two alternative counts of maliciously administering a destructive object to endanger life.
  • "It is important you know from the outset that the defendant admits that he is the person who set both Mr Odowa and Mr Rayaz on fire," he said.
  • An attack was made on Mr Rayaz in March after evening prayers at Dudley Road Mosque in Birmingham.

Hamas and Hezbollah: how they are different and why they might cooperate against Israel

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 17, 2023

The most critical additional threat to Israel is from Hezbollah, the militant group and political party based across Israel’s northern border in Lebanon.

Key Points: 
  • The most critical additional threat to Israel is from Hezbollah, the militant group and political party based across Israel’s northern border in Lebanon.
  • Hamas and Hezbollah are both backed by Iran and see weakening Israel as their primary raison d’etre.
  • Hezbollah has not yet fully entered the current conflict, but the group has exchanged fire with Israel, across the northern border with Lebanon.

What is Hezbollah?

    • Its ideology is focused on expelling western powers from the Middle East and on rejecting Israel’s right to exist.
    • Hezbollah’s military force continued to develop after the Lebanese civil war came to an end in 1990, despite most other factions disarming.
    • In 2021, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the group had 100,000 fighters (though other estimates range between 25,000 and 50,000).
    • Other Lebanese parties accuse Hezbollah of paralysing and undermining the state and of contributing to Lebanon’s persistent instability.

What is Hamas?

    • The group was founded in 1987, in Gaza, as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, a prominent Sunni group based in Egypt.
    • Emerging during what’s known as the first intifada or uprising of Palestinians against Israeli occupation, Hamas quickly adopted the principle of armed resistance and called for the annihilation of Israel.
    • Opposed to the peace process, Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, established itself as the primary force of armed resistance against Israel.

How are Hamas and Hezbollah different?

    • What’s more, as a Sunni organisation, Hamas does not share the Shia religious link to Iran that characterises Hezbollah and most of Iran’s proxies.
    • As a result, while Hamas no doubt benefits from Iran’s patronage, it tends to operate more independently than Hezbollah.
    • In contrast, Hamas has received support in the past from Turkey and Qatar, among others, and operates with relative autonomy.

iTest Selects Advantest V93000 EXA Scale™ SoC Test System

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, October 11, 2023

TOKYO, Oct. 11, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leading semiconductor test equipment supplier Advantest Corporation (TSE: 6857) today announced that IC testing laboratory iTest, Inc. has taken a delivery of a V93000 EXA Scale SoC Test System for testing advanced digital ICs up to the exascale performance class.

Key Points: 
  • TOKYO, Oct. 11, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leading semiconductor test equipment supplier Advantest Corporation (TSE: 6857) today announced that IC testing laboratory iTest, Inc. has taken a delivery of a V93000 EXA Scale SoC Test System for testing advanced digital ICs up to the exascale performance class.
  • At the same time, the system maintains full backward compatibility with earlier V93000 generations, ensuring a seamless transition to the V93000 EXA Scale while maintaining test lab functionality.
  • The V93000 EXA Scale system employs Advantest’s patented Xtreme Link™ technology, which provides high-speed data connections, embedded computing power, and instant card-to-card communication.
  • The V93000 EXA Scale and companion instruments will provide iTest with plenty of headroom for years to come.

Terrorism: Med-Or report, jihadism silent but not dead

Retrieved on: 
Monday, October 9, 2023

ROME, Oct. 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The jihadist threat may be silent, but that does not mean it is dead.

Key Points: 
  • ROME, Oct. 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The jihadist threat may be silent, but that does not mean it is dead.
  • This is what emerges from the Special Report issued by the Med-Or Foundation, titled ‘The Silent Enemy: Presence and Evolution of the Jihadist Threat in the Broader Mediterranean’, presented at Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome.
  • […] The other incubator is Africa, where we have all the national variants of Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State”.
  • These “are places where terrorism can thrive, and we must pay attention, reflect, and above all, work together.

A reflexive act of military revenge burdened the US − and may do the same for Israel

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 17, 2023

In the wake of the shocking invasion of southern Israel by Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to destroy Hamas.

Key Points: 
  • In the wake of the shocking invasion of southern Israel by Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to destroy Hamas.
  • On that same day, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant went further, stating, “We will wipe this thing called Hamas, ISIS-Gaza, off the face of the earth.
  • The immediate goals were to force the Taliban from power and destroy al-Qaida.
  • Very little thought or resources were put into what happened after those goals were attained.
  • That’s what happened in Afghanistan, and that is what could happen in Gaza.

A war of weak results

    • The U.S. invasion toppled the Taliban from power by the end of 2001, but the war did not end.
    • Nongovernmental and international relief organizations began to deliver humanitarian aid and reconstruction support, but their efforts were uncoordinated.
    • U.S. trainers began creating a new Afghan National Army, but lack of funding, insufficient volunteers and inadequate facilities hampered the effort.
    • The Taliban entry into Kabul in August 2021 merely put an exclamation point on a campaign the United States had lost many years before.

A goal that’s hard to achieve

    • An Israeli invasion of Gaza could well lead to an indecisive quagmire if the political goal is not considered ahead of time.
    • Israel has invaded Gaza twice, in 2009 and 2014, but quickly withdrew its ground forces once Israeli leaders calculated they had reestablished deterrence.
    • The newly declared goal of destroying Hamas as a military force is far more difficult than that.
    • Israel has the capacity to level Gaza and round up segments of the population, but that may not be wise.

Hamas-Israeli conflict: what's at stake for Egypt

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 17, 2023

As the Israeli-Hamas crisis continues, a great deal of focus is shifting to Egypt.

Key Points: 
  • As the Israeli-Hamas crisis continues, a great deal of focus is shifting to Egypt.
  • Moina Spooner, from The Conversation Africa, asked Ofir Winter, who studies Egyptian politics and the Arab-Israeli conflict, to provide insights into what the new war means for Egypt and the role it plays.

What’s been the relationship between Egypt and Israel and Palestine in the past?

    • This position is reflected in its reaction to the outbreak of violence between Israel and Hamas.
    • In accordance with past actions, Egypt can be expected to take several steps to demonstrate its solidarity with the Palestinians.
    • And, over the past decade, Israel has positioned itself as a key political, security and economic partner to Egypt.
    • In recent years, Egypt has been a mediator between Israel and Hamas and in the reconstruction efforts of Gaza.
    • There will be no Egyptian military involvement against Israel for the benefit of the Palestinians – a policy which primarily derives from Egypt’s commitment to the 1979 peace agreement between Israel and Egypt.

How does the current crisis affect Egypt?

    • This is separate to the Gaza residents with foreign citizenship who are already waiting at the border to cross.
    • Egypt is against allowing Gazans crossing the border in large numbers because it opposes any encroachment on its sovereignty in the Sinai Peninsula.
    • Second, a massive blow to Hamas may lead to a lack of governance, chaos, and instability in Gaza.

How has Egypt reacted and what should it do next?

    • The Arab League has already convened in Cairo, and an international conference in Egypt is expected to take place this weekend.
    • Egypt is also seeking to establish a humanitarian corridor for the delivery of food and medicine to the Gaza Strip.
    • At this stage, Egypt has more control than most other regional international players over the outcomes of the conflict, as well as plenty of interests.

Tadhamon Bank gears up for the open banking era with Azentio Software's iMAL R14.5

Retrieved on: 
Monday, October 16, 2023

SINGAPORE, Oct. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Azentio Software ("Azentio"), a Singapore-headquartered technology firm owned by funds advised by Apax Partners announced today that Yemen-based Tadhamon Bank, one of the largest Islamic financial institutions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, upgraded to and is live with the latest version of iMAL, Azentio's industry-leading digital Islamic core banking platform.

Key Points: 
  • This cutting-edge version of iMAL with its key business functionalities and a flexible and agile core processing engine will accelerate Tadhamon Bank's transformation to a digitally advanced bank.
  • iMAL's multi-threading proficiencies at various levels, will deliver high data volume processing capabilities and enable parallel processing of records.
  • The bank can drive digital innovation and resource efficiency to create new opportunities for its business.
  • Qasem Mohammed, IT Manager at Tadhamon Bank, said, "Our bank has been running on iMAL since 2010.

Tadhamon Bank gears up for the open banking era with Azentio Software's iMAL R14.5

Retrieved on: 
Monday, October 16, 2023

SINGAPORE, Oct. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Azentio Software ("Azentio"), a Singapore-headquartered technology firm owned by funds advised by Apax Partners announced today that Yemen-based Tadhamon Bank, one of the largest Islamic financial institutions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, upgraded to and is live with the latest version of iMAL, Azentio's industry-leading digital Islamic core banking platform.

Key Points: 
  • This cutting-edge version of iMAL with its key business functionalities and a flexible and agile core processing engine will accelerate Tadhamon Bank's transformation to a digitally advanced bank.
  • iMAL's multi-threading proficiencies at various levels, will deliver high data volume processing capabilities and enable parallel processing of records.
  • The bank can drive digital innovation and resource efficiency to create new opportunities for its business.
  • Qasem Mohammed, IT Manager at Tadhamon Bank, said, "Our bank has been running on iMAL since 2010.