Day: 23 June 2023

Palestine Prisoners’ Society (PPS) today warned of the spread of a contagious skin disease among Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli Ramon Prison. PPS cautioned in a press statement that 10 prisoners in the extremely intensified Ramon Prison have contracted a skin disease while expressing concern the disease would further spread should the sick prisoners be not provided with medical treatment. The sick prisoners have developed shared symptoms, including skin rash and severe itching. The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) only provided them with an ointment, but without avail. PPS held the IPS fully responsible for the fate of the prisoners in Ramon Prison while calling on the competent actors to act immediately to provide the prisoners with medical treatment, noting that some 670 prisoners are held in Ramon. It slammed the denial of proper medical treatment to the sick prisoners as part of Israel’s systematic policy of slow medical negligence.

Source: En – Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA

The Social Construction Committee in Sana’a Governorate discussed the progress of implementing the tasks entrusted to it in accordance with the plan prepared for social construction, for the current year.

In its meeting, chaired by the Director of the Education Office – Director of the Committee, Hadi Ammar, it reviewed the results and outputs of the previous meeting, the level of implementation of the activities of summer courses and schools for this year the difficulties that accompanied it and indicators of it’s success.

The meeting praised the success achieved by the summer courses this year at the level of the governorate, sectors and districts.

Source: Yemen News Agency

In Al-Hodeida province, the second phase of the training program for primary-grade teachers on reading and arithmetic skills for the year 1444 AH was concluded, organized by the Training and Qualification Sector of the Ministry of Education and the Education Office in the province.

The goal of the program, in 18 days, funded by the World Bank through Save the Children, is to provide 138 male and female trainers with skills to improve the abilities of primary grades teachers (first, third) in the districts of Bayt al-Faqih, Zabid and Al-Marawi’a, to teach reading and arithmetic within the Teaching and Learning Restoration Project for the years 2022-2024.

In conclusion, the Director of the Education Office in the province, Omar Bahr, explained that the training of trainers’ program comes within the framework of the Ministry’s plan to raise the level of efficiency and quality of teaching. During its second phase, it aims to train teachers of basic classes in three districts in the province.

While speeches delivered during the conclusion, which was attended by the Deputy Director of Education in the province, Sadiq Al-Hatami, the Director of the Zabid Directorate, Yahya Ghaleb, the Higher Institute in the Directorate, and the Head of the Training and Rehabilitation Division in the province’s Education, Anwar Al-Hakimi, indicated the importance of the role of teachers in the correct upbringing of children.

Source: Yemen News Agency

Microsoft added a new feature to its videoconference platform Teams that will enable users to have animated backgrounds.

The feature ships with various options that can be used to enhance the meeting experience in Teams. Users can personalize their experience further, although Microsoft currently only supports pre-defined animated backgrounds in Teams meetings.

“To use this feature, users must be members of the Teams Public Preview and use the Windows or macOS Teams client. Not all meeting attendees are required to be part of the program to access animated backgrounds,” the company said in a statement.

Source: Qatar News Agency

YouTube has unveiled a new Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered feature aimed at breaking down language barriers and facilitating video dubbing in various languages.

During the recent VidCon event, YouTube announced that it will be leveraging the expertise of the Aloud team, an AI-powered dubbing service developed within Google’s Area 120 incubator.

The Aloud tool functions by transcribing the user’s video, providing a transcription that can be reviewed and edited. Subsequently, it translates and generates the dubbing for the video. While currently supporting a limited number of languages, YouTube has already commenced testing the tool with a select group of creators.

According to YouTube, Aloud presently supports “few” languages like English, Spanish, and Portuguese, with plans to add more languages in the future. Aloud’s inclusion on YouTube is anticipated to be very advantageous as more and more content creators want to include multilingual dubs in their videos.

Looking ahead, YouTube aims to enhance the tool’s capabilities by making translated audio tracks sound more natural, matching the creator’s voice with improved expression and lip sync. These enhancements are planned for implementation in 2024. The company added Multi-Language audio tracks earlier this year.

As YouTube takes a significant step towards bridging the language gap, users can look forward to a more inclusive and accessible video-sharing experience, where language will no longer be a barrier to content consumption.

Source: Qatar News Agency

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Basra called on the local government, the Health Department and the concerned departments to work urgently on a number of claims, the most important of which are drugs and water.

In a statement, the office indicated to remedy the spread of unacceptable drugs (on the culture and ethics of the Basra community), which is very dangerous, as it erodes and threatens human wealth in the category of boys and young men, and leads society to (serious crimes) that threaten peace in it and tear its flesh by activating the paragraphs of the law.

He added, due to the scarcity and salinity of the water due to the approaching (peak of the summer season), the office calls for greater monitoring of water purification plants, as well as private water desalination plants, as well as informing citizens of the types of water (bottled or not) that conform to quality specifications and international scientific measurements in order to preserve the health of individuals, reducing the incidence of renal failure and tumors.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency

A woman died and her husband was injured in a traffic accident, northeast of Baquba, Diyala Governorate.

A security source told the correspondent of the National Iraqi News Agency (NINA) that a vehicle overturned on the Khanaqin Kalar road near the village of Mikhas, northeast of Baquba, which led to the death of a woman and the injury of her husband.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency

Kirkuk Arab MPs rejected the decision of Article 140 Committee to cancel the agricultural lands of Arab farmers.

MPs Wasfi Al-Assi, Muhaimin Al-Hamdani, Mona Al-Sabil, and Sahira Al-Gharb affirmed their categorical rejection of what was stated in the Article 140 Committee letter .. demanding solutions that satisfy all parties.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency