Al-Hilal’s veteran midfielder Mohammed Al-Shalhoub says he is undecided about whether to retire or continue playing at his beloved Al-Hilal or at another club next season.
The 37 year-old celebrating his seventh league title in the colors of Al-Hilal with his young daughter Al-Bandari at the end of Al-Za’eem’s 4-1 victory over Al-Fateh that captured a record 15th league title.
Al-Shalhoub has spent his entire playing career at Al-Hilal after making his debut 20 years ago in 1998, however he has made just one start in the league and 11 overall this season. In his one and only start in the league against Al-Qadisiyah last month he scored the winning goal. He is out of contract this summer and could well have played his last game for the Riyadh giants.
“The fact that I was focused in the last period toward the end of the league on winning the championship with Al-Hilal, I did not want to distract my thoughts over the subject of my retirement or any possible new destination if I left Al-Hilal,” he told KSA Sport TV program Al-Barnamig Al-Khaima (The Tent Show).
Al-Shaloub added that he “honestly did not know” when he would retire and only was focusing on finishing the season with a league title for his club and would announce his decision at the end of the campaign. “We will see in the coming days,” Al-Shaloub concluded.
Al-Hilal legend Mohammed Al-Shalhoub to decide future ‘in the coming days’
Al-Hilal legend Mohammed Al-Shalhoub to decide future ‘in the coming days’
Several airlines cancel flights to Russia after Azerbaijan Airlines crash
- Turkmenistan Airlines was the latest airline to announce cancelations Saturday
- Kazakhstan’s Qazaq Air has suspended its flights to Yekaterinburg until the end of January
Moscow has declined to comment on reports the plane could have been accidentally shot down by its air defense.
Russia has said that Grozny, the Chechen capital where the plane was meant to land, was being attacked by Ukrainian drones that day.
It crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau Wednesday, killing 38 of the 67 people on board.
Turkmenistan Airlines — the national carrier of the reclusive Central Asian state — was the latest airline to announce cancelations Saturday.
It said that “regular flights between Ashgabat-Moscow-Ashgabat were canceled from 30/12/2024 to 31/01/2025,” without giving an explanation.
The decision came after UAE airline flydubai suspended flights between Dubai and the southern Russian cities of Mineralnye Vody and Sochi that were scheduled between December 27 and January 3.
Kazakhstan’s Qazaq Air has suspended its flights to Russia’s Urals city of Yekaterinburg until the end of January.
Earlier this week, Israeli airline El Al said it was suspending its flights to Moscow for a week.
The Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 crashed near the western Kazakh city of Aktau, on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
It was carrying out a flight between Azerbaijan’s capital Baku and the city of Grozny in Russia.
For several days, some Western experts have been pointing to a crash caused by a Russian anti-aircraft missile.
Citing preliminary results of an investigation, Azerbaijan’s transport minister said Friday that the crash suffered physical “external interference.”
Statements from Azerbaijan citing the investigation into the incident suggest Baku believes the plane was hit mid-air.
On Friday, White House spokesman John Kirby said Washington has “indications” Russia may have been responsible, without giving details.
A software-defined future for the automotive industry
Modern vehicles are packed with advanced software and electronics, enhancing performance but also changing how manufacturers assess benefits and risks. To stay competitive in today’s market, automakers must embrace digital transformation, moving from mechanical to software-defined vehicles. This industry shift is driven by three trends: the rise of EV powertrains, the spread of semi-autonomous driving capabilities, and the expansion of digitalization into manufacturing. As hardware and software converge in products, so too must design, manufacturing and maintenance evolve for a digital age.
Revolutionizing Collaboration for Success in EVs
Electrification has pushed automakers to rethink traditional automotive design and manufacturing. Companies now have to reconsider the information needed by EV drivers and how vehicle software and E/E systems are architected. Meanwhile, the future of battery electrification hinges on advancements in battery technology and charging infrastructure. This includes new battery management system software to extend battery life by learning drivers’ charging behaviors. Comprehensive integrations across supplier networks are essential for managing the interdisciplinary architectures of EVs.
Digital threads facilitate this integration by establishing a structured data flow across the product lifecycle, enabling every design discipline to access relevant data for optimized product design. Digitalizing development allows real-time, two-way exchanges with suppliers, ensuring updated requirements and understanding part availability. Strong connections in the digital twin from design to manufacturing ensure a smooth transition between these domains, enhancing traceability and enabling accurate over-the-air updates throughout a vehicle’s lifetime. Companies that can leverage software to innovate and adapt to this dynamic market will gain a competitive edge.
Updating Development Workflows for Autonomy
While EVs are still gaining traction, autonomous vehicle features are becoming standard, with many manufacturers offering Level 3 capabilities. However, achieving higher autonomy levels requires closer integration of mechanical, electrical, electronic, and software systems, increasing development complexity and cost. This stems from the verification and validation challenges of dynamic city streets.
Streamlined interdisciplinary collaboration is crucial for making autonomy a viable business strategy. The digital twin helps engineers uncover potential issues during early simulations, allowing for problem-solving within the context of a digital twin of the entire vehicle. A fully digital solution enables greater design exploration across all domains. But breaking down traditional silos between these domains requires defining and communicating system requirements digitally. A digital process helps manage the complexity and cost implications of increased electronics and software.
Delivering system requirements dynamically to suppliers allows for early validation of subsystems in conjunction with connected systems. For example, sensors for autonomous capabilities can be validated against control boards, mechanical interfaces, and software-in-the-loop tests early in the process. The comprehensive digital twin provides traceability and data accessibility, mitigating risks and ensuring a rigorous workflow without slowing development.
Digitalization also adds value once a vehicle is on the road. A digital feedback mechanism between the factory and the vehicle allows OEMs to update and improve software-based functionality. Data from vehicles in the field can improve the digital twin and provide over-the-air updates, enhancing existing and future vehicles. This continuity of data offers the flexibility and scalability needed to implement new autonomous technologies, driving innovation and improving safety.
Delivering Products Faster with Smart Manufacturing
The complexity of building autonomous features and overhauling powertrains for electrification extends to manufacturing as well. OEMs are adopting smart manufacturing technologies to achieve flexible, efficient, and sustainable operations. Faster implementation on the factory floor allows businesses to pivot quickly when facing supply chain issues.
A digital twin of production also enables manufacturers to optimize production virtually, exploring all configurations and commissioning machine operations with minimal downtime. Connecting design and manufacturing through the comprehensive digital twin helps businesses optimize time while meeting quality, sustainability, and time-to-market goals. Digitalization streamlines data flow between these worlds, fostering adaptability and innovation.
Cross-functional collaboration powered by the comprehensive digital twin enables flexible operations, advanced automation, and proactive sustainability. Merging the real and digital worlds brings new mobility generations to market successfully, with actionable insights before physical commissioning and throughout production. This shift-left approach drives high-quality and sustainable manufacturing in SDVs.
A Software-Defined revolution through digitalization
Designing and manufacturing a software-defined vehicle for tomorrow requires greater collaboration across engineering domains, automotive manufacturers, and the global supply chains they rely upon. A digital transformation of automotive design and manufacturing is the solution for addressing the increased cost, time, and risk software and electronics bring to the automotive industry. Creating a comprehensive digital twin of the SDV and a robust digital thread between all the key disciplines helps ensure that the overall system requirements are met and validated. Digitalization provides the framework and accessibility to make success sustainable for the next big transition in the automotive industry.
- The writer is Nand Kochhar, vice president of Automotive and Transportation at Siemens Digital Industries Software.
Kingdom arrests 23,194 illegals in one week
RIYADH: Saudi authorities arrested 23,194 people in one week for breaching residency, work and border security regulations, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Saturday.
According to an official report, a total of 13,083 people were arrested for violations of residency laws, while 6,210 were held over illegal border crossing attempts, and a further 3,901 for labor-related issues.
The report showed that among the 1,536 people arrested for trying to enter the Kingdom illegally, 57 percent were Ethiopian, 41 percent Yemeni, and 2 percent were of other nationalities.
A further 57 people were caught trying to cross into neighboring countries, and 23 were held for involvement in transporting and harboring violators.
The Ministry of Interior said that anyone found to be facilitating illegal entry to the Kingdom, including providing transportation and shelter, could face imprisonment for a maximum of 15 years, a fine of up to SR1 million ($260,000), as well as confiscation of vehicles and property.
Suspected violations can be reported on the toll-free number 911 in the Makkah and Riyadh regions, and 999 or 996 in other regions of the Kingdom.
Cyber attack on Italy’s Foreign Ministry, airports claimed by pro-Russian hacker group
- The pro-Russian hacker group Noname057(16) claimed the cyberattack on Telegram
MILAN: Hackers targeted around ten official websites in Italy on Saturday, including the websites of the Foreign Ministry and Milan’s two airports, putting them out of action temporarily, the country’s cybersecurity agency said.
The pro-Russian hacker group Noname057(16) claimed the cyberattack on Telegram, saying Italy’s “Russophobes get a well deserved cyber response.”
A spokesperson for Italy’s cybersecurity agency said it was plausible that the so-called “Distributed Denial of Service” (DDoS) attack could be linked to the pro-Russian group.
In such attacks, hackers attempt to flood a network with unusually high volumes of data traffic in order to paralyze it.
The spokesperson said the agency provided quick assistance to the institutions and firms targeted and that the attack’s impact was “mitigated” in less than two hours.
The cyberattack has not caused any disruptions to flights at Milan’s Linate and Malpensa airports, a spokesperson for SEA, the company which manages them, said.
While the websites were inaccessible, the airports’ mobile apps continued to function, the SEA spokesperson added.
Telemedicine continues to bridge critical-care gaps in Saudi Arabia
- Tech is ‘bridging’ urban-rural divide, says Dr. Amera Rahmatullah
- Physician trains residents in critical-care skills vital for the nation
Riyadh: Telemedicine continues to help bridge treatment gaps in Saudi Arabia for rural areas and others that have a shortage of services, according to a leading physician.
Dr. Amera Rahmatullah, a consultant in pulmonary and critical care at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, told Arab News recently that telemedicine has ushered in a new era of critical care.
Rahmatullah said: “Our Tele-ICU initiative has transformed critical care in Saudi Arabia by bridging the gap between urban and rural healthcare.
“This WHO-accredited program has reduced unnecessary hospital transfers, improved patient outcomes, and provided timely interventions in remote areas, offering seamless, high-quality care across the Kingdom.”
Under Rahmatullah’s leadership, KFSHRC’s Critical Care Medicine department manages a wide range of specialized units, including surgical and organ transplants, medical and oncology units, and COVID-19 units.
With 67 beds, these units admit over 4,000 patients annually, supported by 24/7 consultant coverage and highly trained multidisciplinary teams of physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, and allied health professionals.
For clinicians in telemedicine, the COVID-19 pandemic blew open the doors of need and access. What had been used before to treat critically ill patients in remote, rural, and hard-to-reach communities was suddenly in play for most of the population.
Recognizing the need to extend its specialized care beyond hospital walls, the Tele-ICU program was launched in 2010, initially to reduce patient transfers and ensure remote communities had access to critical care expertise, said Rahmatullah.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, it expanded rapidly, becoming a lifeline for managing critically ill patients.
Today, the Tele-ICU network provides real-time ICU support across the Kingdom, ensuring high-quality care nationwide.
This initiative is part of KFSHRC’s broader nationwide strategy to expand critical care services, she added.
As the director of the Critical Care Medicine Residency Program, Rahmatullah has been instrumental in shaping the future of this workforce for Saudi Arabia.
She trains residents across various ICUs and equips them with the technical and leadership skills to manage the Kingdom’s most complex cases.
Under her leadership, the residency program has become a key pipeline for future specialists, ensuring that KFSHRC remains at the forefront of healthcare education and innovation.
Rahmatullah is also involved in the COVI-PRONE trial, an innovative research initiative aimed at improving outcomes for COVID-19 patients in intensive care.