Author: Editorial Team

Cisco recently announced the release of Splunk’s latest research, The Hidden Costs of Downtime, revealing the aggregate cost of unplanned downtime for Global 2000 companies has surged to $600 billion annually – a 50% increase in just two years. In partnership with Oxford Economics, the Splunk study shows that the financial toll of an outage is immediate, severe, and potentially long-lasting. Downtime has become a systemic business crisis that threatens revenue, brand equity and shareholder value, costing an organisation $95 million in lost revenue annually. This is nearly twice the level seen in 2024. “Downtime is inevitable; prolonged disruption is…

MAKKAH — Saudi Interior Minister and Chairman of the Supreme Hajj Committee Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud reviewed on Thursday the operational readiness of Hajj security forces to implement approved security and organizational plans for the 1447H Hajj season. The inspection took place during the annual ceremony organized by participating Hajj security forces in Makkah. Director of Public Security and Chairman of the Hajj Security Committee Lieutenant General Mohammed Al-Bassami said in a speech during the event that the Saudi leadership has mobilized all capabilities and resources to serve pilgrims, making the Kingdom a global model in crowd management and large-scale…

MAKKAH — Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Meteorology forecast stable weather conditions on Thursday along roads leading from Madinah to Makkah and the holy sites, with hot to extremely hot temperatures expected during daytime hours. The center said maximum temperatures are expected to reach 42 degrees Celsius, while minimum temperatures could fall to 22 degrees Celsius. Relative humidity is forecast at around 29%, with surface winds expected to become active in some open areas, potentially causing light dust conditions. The National Center for Meteorology urged travelers and pilgrims to follow preventive guidelines, ensure vehicles are properly prepared before travelling, and…

The partnership brings together insurer and provider capabilities to strengthen integration and advance digitally enabled, quality-governed healthcare delivery Published: Thu 14 May 2026, 1:43 PM Mediclinic Middle East, one of the UAE’s leading integrated private healthcare providers, and MetLife, a leading global insurance and financial services provider, have entered a strategic partnership to provide eligible MetLife customers in the UAE with access to Mediclinic’s Virtual Clinic as an added benefit. Through this collaboration, eligible customers can access teleconsultations via Mediclinic’s Virtual Clinic. Services include virtual consultations, electronic prescriptions with medication delivery where appropriate, laboratory referrals including home sample collection, and…

The General Authority for the Care of the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque is upgrading the Grand Mosque’s Zamzam water distribution ecosystem to accommodate the rising number of pilgrims during the 1447 AH Hajj season. This strategy expands service points and enhances fountain efficiency to reduce waste, ensure rapid response times, and maintain high service quality across the mosque and its courtyards.  The infrastructure includes 169 drinking fountains, roughly 14,892 daily dispensers, and the distribution of over 2,146,000 cups each day. Daily consumption averages 1,622 cubic meters of Zamzam water, backed by 70 daily safety and…

ASUS recently conducted an extreme environment experiment by sending the new ExpertBook Ultra laptop above the altitude of Mount Everest to evaluate the reliability of the most advanced model in the ExpertBook series under real-world conditions. The device remained fully operational throughout ascent, descent, and landing. As the most advanced ExpertBook to date, ExpertBook Ultra is built to empower professionals who demand elegance without compromise — delivering mobility, intelligence, and reliability for modern, high-performance workflows. “Durability is embedded into our notebooks from the very beginning of the design process and is not just an afterthought. While most laptops are designed…

Arab Cinema Week returns to Cinema Akil for its fifth edition this June, cementing its place as one of UAE’s foremost cinematic showcases. Running from June 5 to 11 at Alserkal Avenue, the week-long programme brings together a compelling mix of films, voices and conversations that spotlight the evolving language of Arab storytelling. Now in its milestone fifth year, Arab Cinema Week Volume 5 is presented by Fujifilm Middle East and features a curated selection of nine films representing 10 Arab countries. Spanning fiction, documentary and hybrid forms, this year’s line-up comprises deeply personal narratives exploring themes, such as conflict,…

Quba Mosque in Madinah witnesses a massive influx of pilgrims and visitors of various nationalities, who gather to pray at the historic site before proceeding to Makkah to perform their Hajj rituals. As the first mosque established in Islam following the Prophet’s Hijrah (migration), the site holds profound religious and historical significance, and is currently imbued with faith and spirituality, supported by intensive guidance and organizational efforts designed to enable visitors to perform their prayers with absolute ease and safety.  Relevant authorities are working around the clock to provide comprehensive services inside and around the mosque to facilitate pilgrim movement…

Caspar Herzberg, CEO, AVEVA. AVEVA, a global leader in industrial software, and the leading global business school, IMD have launched the inaugural Industrial Intelligence Report on Digital Ecosystems and the Future of Connected Industries at AVEVA World 2026 in Milan. In a fireside chat in the mainstage, AVEVA CEO, Caspar Herzberg spoke with IMD Professor Mike Wade about the findings from over 275 interviews with leaders across 12 different sectors worldwide. Encompassing both quantitative analysis and detailed interviews with experts from the Port of Rotterdam, Kwinana in Australia and many others, the report distils how organisations can harness their industrial…

JERUSALEM — Israel’s treatment of pro-Palestinian activists who were on board a Gaza-bound aid flotilla has sparked international uproar after a video showing the detained activists kneeling with their hands tied and foreheads on the ground was shared on social media on Wednesday.Israel’s firebrand national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir posted the video on X after Israeli naval forces intercepted the flotilla’s vessels at sea and began detaining hundreds of foreign activists at the southern port of Ashdod.The US, the UK, France, Italy and Canada were among the countries which expressed outrage after Ben-Gvir posted the video showing himself taunting…