Author: Editorial Team

Haider Aziz, General Manager – Middle East, Turkey and Africa at VAST Data. Haider Aziz of VAST Data discusses how modular infrastructure could address power and capacity constraints, support local data control and bring AI inference closer to users. Power, cooling and data centre capacity are becoming critical constraints on AI deployment, prompting infrastructure providers to rethink where and how organisations run inference. VAST Data and UAE-based Hyperfusion have announced plans to integrate the VAST AI Operating System into Hyperfusion’s Sentinel modular AI infrastructure as its preferred data platform, with the aim of bringing sovereign, production AI inference online in…

RIYADH — Air defenses intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthi terrorist militia toward Taif and Yanbu, the Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen announced. The interceptions coincided with early warning alerts issued by Saudi Civil Defense authorities over potential threats in Makkah, Jeddah, Taif and Yanbu. Residents were instructed to seek shelter in safe locations, stay away from windows and exposed areas, and follow safety instructions issued by the relevant authorities. The latest interceptions followed a series of Houthi attacks targeting several parts of Saudi Arabia. Earlier, the coalition announced the interception and destruction of ballistic…

With the onset of October, the northern regions of Saudi Arabia have welcomed the annual falcon-trapping season, drawing trappers across vast open terrains to monitor migration corridors in a practice rooted in the Kingdom’s deep falconry heritage.  Activity is largely concentrated in the Al-Hammad plains east of Arar and Al-Uwayqilah in Northern Borders Region, where changing weather patterns and seasonal rains create optimal conditions for tracking birds of prey along their seasonal flyways.  Falcon trapper Nafe’ Al-Shammari stated that field preparations commenced on October 1, noting that trappers have deployed across multiple sites north of Al-Uwayqilah, where successful captures have…

BEIJING — China on Friday warned that the growing risk of an arms race in outer space poses a major threat to international security, calling for stronger global governance and measures to prevent space from becoming a new theater of military conflict. In a position paper outlining its approach to outer space governance, Beijing said rapid advances in space science and technology have outpaced the existing international legal framework, creating new challenges for global security and cooperation. “The risk of an arms race in outer space and the trend of turning outer space into a new theater of conflict have…

Fady Younes, Managing Director, Cybersecurity, Cisco Middle East, Türkiye, Africa, Caucasus and Central Asia (METAC) at Cisco. UAE organisations are adopting AI-powered security at pace and seeing clear improvements in how quickly they detect and respond to threats, according to new research from Cisco. However, the findings show that organisational factors, including how teams coordinate and how easily they can access security data, remain the main constraint on further progress, as they are globally. The UAE findings from Cisco’s Relentless Defence Report assess organisations on three areas: how completely they can protect their environment, how quickly they can detect, respond…

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Faleh Al-Zaidi said on Friday that no US troops remain in Iraq, including military advisers, and pledged to bring all weapons under state control by June 30, 2027. Speaking to the Iraqi News Agency (INA), Al-Zaidi said the complete withdrawal of foreign forces had eliminated the justification previously used by armed factions to retain their weapons. He stressed that the government’s decision to restrict weapons to state institutions was final and irreversible. “By June 30, 2027, there will be no weapons outside the framework of the state,” he said. Al-Zaidi revealed that the government…

Riyadh Art announces the addition of seven monumental sculptures by pioneering Saudi artist Mohammed Al Saleem to the Riyadh Art permanent collection. Six works have been installed at Western Metro Station on Line 3 (Orange Line) in Riyadh, with the seventh scheduled for installation at a later date. The sculptures bring an important part of Al Saleem’s artistic practice into the city for which they were originally conceived. Created in 1985 for a Riyadh Municipality public art competition but never installed, the seven works remained in Al Saleem’s workshop for decades. In 2022, the Royal Commission for Riyadh City acquired…

In an interview with the Decoder podcast published Thursday, Gates, 70, said the transition toward an AI-driven economy would create winners and losers, potentially reshaping labor markets and raising fundamental questions about the role of humans in society. “My big concern is this 20-year transition period, where they’ll have winners and losers and a lot of disruption,” Gates said, warning that societies would have to navigate significant upheaval before potentially entering an era of greater abundance. He emphasized that the 20-year timeframe was an estimate rather than a firm prediction, acknowledging that the transition could unfold more quickly or slowly…

PNY Technologies recently announced its participation in the Dubai AI Festival, taking place at the Dubai World Trade Centre on October 26–27. PNY is hosting the space alongside regional partners Infiniarc and Kerno to run its heaviest enterprise infrastructure live. The display will feature two systems configured for server and workstation environments: PNY NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition, integrated into a server system presented with Kerno. A professional AI workstation powered by NVIDIA RTX PRO GPU, presented with Infiniarc. The showcase provides a practical view of PNY’s professional GPU technology in operation and the raw performance available for…

PARIS — The mayor of the French city of Orleans announced Saturday a two-night curfew for children under 15 as authorities prepare for mass protests against the far-right National Rally party’s congress. Mayor Serge Grouard said the curfew would apply across the municipality from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday nights, according to French broadcaster BFMTV. In a statement, Grouard said the preventive measure was intended to maintain public order, reduce the risk of unrest and ensure public safety during the planned demonstrations. Thousands of protesters are expected to gather in Orleans to oppose the National Rally…