Letter to Rt Hon Dominic Raab on Andrei Aliaksandrau
16 Jan 2021
First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
Dear Foreign Secretary,
Earlier this week, one of Index on Censorship’s friends and former colleague, journalist Andrei Aliaksandrau, was detained in Minsk along with his partner, Irina Zlobina. We are extremely alarmed at the news of their detention. Both have been held incommunicado in a Minsk jail since their detention on Tuesday 12 January.
Aliaksandrau is a long-standing champion of media freedom, having sought to uphold this fundamental right as a journalist, and through his work at the London-based freedom of expression organisations, Index on Censorship and Article 19. We are concerned to learn that he is being detained as a suspect in a criminal public order case instituted by the Minsk Department of the Investigative Committee.
Yazeed Al-Humied is the newly appointed head of Local Holdings Investments at the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF).
From October 2016 until December 2020, he was the PIF’s chief of staff, managing the fund’s relationships and creating strategic partnerships locally and internationally.
He also managed internal institutional and investment projects to ensure they were completed on time and met quality standards and developed a governance model for PIF portfolio companies while monitoring their performance.
On top of his new role, Al-Humied will contribute to the PIF as a member of various permanent committees including those responsible for management, and portfolio company nomination.
RIYADH: Digital payment transactions in the Kingdom jumped by 75 percent in 2020 as Saudi consumers embraced online shopping during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, while cash withdrawals from ATMs and other payment points fell 30 percent over the same period.
Point of sale (PoS) refers to a place where customers can execute payments for goods or services. This can be a credit card in a clothes store, a digital payment in a coffee shop or through a food delivery app.
Speaking to Arab News, Talat Zaki Hafiz, economist and secretary-general of the media and banking awareness committee for Saudi banks, said: “The total number of the PoS operations in 2020 amounted to about 2.8 billion, an increase of 75 percent compared with the same period in the previous year.”
Bank Nizwa signs financing agreement for construction of Arab Open University campus in Oman
By: Times News Service
Muscat: Bank Nizwa, Oman’s leading and most trusted Islamic bank, recently signed an agreement with Arab Open University to finance the construction of their new campus in Oman. The signing ceremony was held at the Bank Nizwa head office in Muscat.
With education being a primary focus of the Oman Vision 2040, Bank Nizwa understands the importance of having a professionally skilled workforce to drive the economy and thereby attain prosperity.
The agreement was signed by Khalid Al Kayed, CEO of Bank Nizwa and Dr Moosa Al Kindi, Director of Arab Open University, Oman branch. The signing ceremony was held in presence of senior members of Bank Nizwa including General Manager, Wholesale Banking Narasimhan and Saif Al Rawahi, AGM- Investment and Government Banking, Treasury and Projects. From AOU, the ceremony was attended in-person by Bader Al Busaidi, Assistant Directo