WASHINGTON: U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday urged the world to stop being "politically correct" in order to ensure security, after three attackers drove a van into pedestrians and stabbed revelers in London, killing seven.
At least 48 people were injured in the attack, the third to hit Britain in less than three months and occurring days ahead of a snap parliamentary election on Thursday.
"We must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people," Trump wrote on Sunday morning. "If we don't get smart it will only get worse."
He continued: "At least seven dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is 'no reason to be alarmed!'"
London Mayor Sadiq Khan -- elected last year and the first Muslim to head a major Western capital -- had earlier said Britons should not be alarmed to see a higher police presence on the streets of London following the incident.
Earlier, Trump offered U.S. help to Britain and promoted his controversial travel ban as an extra level of security for Americans.
"Whatever the United States can do to help out in London and the U.K., we will be there - WE ARE WITH YOU. GOD BLESS!" Trump wrote on Saturday.
Trump also spoke with British Prime Minister Theresa May to offer condolences and offered Washington's "full support" in investigating and bringing the perpetrators to justice, the White House said in a statement.
Senior British ministers last month criticised the United States over intelligence leaks relating to a bombing at a pop concert in the northern English city of Manchester which killed 22, some of them children.
May's office on Sunday issued a statement saying it was working with Khan after the attack in London.
"The Prime Minister and Mayor of London are working together in response to this cowardly attack," the statement said. "The advice to the public is to remain vigilant but carry on with their lives."
In another tweet on Saturday, Trump said "We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!"
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a statement late Saturday saying "At this time, we have no information to indicate a specific, credible terror threat in the United States."
Trump's appeal for his travel ban, which he says is needed to protect Americans from terrorist attacks, followed his emergency request that the Supreme Court reinstate the executive order that would bar people entering the United States from six predominantly Muslim countries.
Critics say his reasoning is flawed and assail the ban, which has been blocked by lower courts, as discriminatory.
The U.S. State Department condemned what it called "the cowardly attacks targeting innocent civilians" in a statement, and echoed Trump's readiness to provide any assistance that British authorities request.
"All Americans stand in solidarity with the people of the United Kingdom," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in the statement.
Trump was briefed earlier about the London Bridge incident by his national security team, according to White House spokesman Sean Spicer, who said on Twitter that security officials would continue providing the president with updates.
The State Department also said it was monitoring the situation and advised Americans in Britain to heed the advice of local authorities and maintain their security awareness.
Law enforcement officials in major U.S. cities said they were not aware of any threats but were on alert.
"There is no credible threat or nexus to LA," the Los Angeles Police Department tweeted. "We ask Angelenos to stay vigilant."
The New York Police Department's Counterterrorism Bureau said on Twitter that its critical response teams had been deployed to heavily traveled pedestrian areas.
"Go about your Sat. night, NYPD cops are protecting you" the department's official account tweeted.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement he had directed state law enforcement officials to step up security and patrols at high-profile locations, including airports, bridges, tunnels and mass transit systems.
Ariana Grande, the U.S. singer whose May 22 concert in Manchester, England was hit by a suicide bombing that killed 22 people and wounded 116, tweeted "Praying for London" after Saturday's attacks.
Trump urges end to political correctness in wake of London attack
Trump urges end to political correctness in wake of London attack
Saudi Red Sea Authority issues marina licenses
RIYADH: The Saudi Red Sea Authority has issued licenses for three tourist marinas: Al-Ahlam Marina in Jeddah and Jazan, and the Red Sea Marina in Jeddah.
The authority is issuing licenses to regulate marine tourism in an effort to achieve the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 in building the coastal tourism sector.
In regulating the operation of marinas, the authority can improve the quality of services provided to tourists and visitors, and preserve and sustain the marine environment.
Regular field visits are carried out by the authority to tourist marinas in Jeddah, Jazan, Al-Lith and Yanbu, to provide technical and consultative support.
Marina operators must ensure compliance with international standards to receive a license from the authority.
Saudi Red Sea Authority began its journey toward building and regulating the coastal tourism sector in 2021, with the objective of enhancing integration among relevant entities by issuing licenses and permits, and formulating essential policies and strategies, assessing infrastructure requirements, preserving the marine environment, attracting investments, and fostering navigational and marine tourism activities.
How a Saudi healthcare startup is using AI to transform the diagnosis of chronic diseases
- The work of SDM highlights the impact AI can have on the accessibility and increased accuracy of diagnostics
- The firm has already served more than 30,000 patients over the last two years at clinics across Saudi Arabia
RIYADH: Healthcare startup SDM is using artificial intelligence to make healthcare efficient, accessible and potentially life-saving by detecting the stages of chronic diseases such as diabetes through retinal imaging analysis of the eye.
“When you hear the phrase ‘your eye is a window to your body,’ it’s actually the retina that is the window to any systemic diseases,” Dr. Selwa Al-Hazzaa, CEO and founder of SDM, told Arab News.
Since launching in 2018, SDM has worked on filling the gaps in the health sector as a developer of digital technology solutions to promote well-being and accessibility in remote communities across the Kingdom and beyond.
Al-Hazzaa, along with her co-founder and managing director, Naif Al-Obaidallah, have had a longstanding passion for making healthcare accessible and low-cost, with the belief that “everyone should have access to healthcare.”
Al-Obaidallah told Arab News: “Everyone should have a right to see a doctor or get treated.”
A trailblazer in the field of AI medicine, SDM combines AI technology with Al-Hazzaa’s 40 years of experience, partnering with nonprofits to carry out a comprehensive mass detection of chronic diseases through the retina.
“I had a dream that I wanted patients to be examined and get good quality care without actually coming to Selwa Al-Hazzaa in a specialized hospital,” she said. “I kept asking myself: Why can’t I take my experience, put it in a package, and give it to the community?
“By the time many patients come to me, it’s already too late and they’re blind. There had to be a way that I could reach the community. And this was when SDM was born.”
The result was an accessible and automated healthcare service that does not require physicians to be on site, thereby reaching tens of thousands of people across the Kingdom.
The World Health Organization estimates there are 7 million diabetics in Saudi Arabia. Within the region, eye disease is the main cause of blindness and 10-12 percent of the population in Saudi Arabia with diabetic eye disease go blind if the condition is not treated.
Only an estimated 24 percent of patients have been screened for diabetic eye disease in Saudi Arabia, while 76 percent remain unexamined.
The work SDM is doing highlights the impact AI can have on healthcare and the mass outreach of health diagnostics at reduced cost and increased accuracy. SDM has already served more than 30,000 patients in more than 13 centers around the Kingdom over the last two years.
“Our focuses are specifically on rural areas, places that don’t have access to highly specialized doctors,” said Al-Obaidallah. “In a given day, sometimes we’ve seen over 150 patients. And that’s all using AI and deep learning. It’s a very trusted way of diagnosing.”
SDM has benefited from the support of “success partners” at NEOM, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Telecom, Al-Faisal University and business incubator “The Garage.”
In order to grasp the revolutionary impact of what SDM is doing, it is necessary to understand how disease detection is traditionally conducted.
At the Kingdom’s diabetic centers, patients are typically seen by pathologists, endocrinologists, cardiologists and podiatrists. However, patients do not usually see ophthalmologists, who are technically surgeons and found in hospitals.
As a result, eye disease screening is often overlooked, potentially leading to complications down the line.
“The patient traditionally would only be sent to take the photo of the retina if they complained. But the symptoms only come in diabetes in the late stages,” said Al-Hazzaa.
“They would save the photos until the ophthalmologist came to visit, which would be maybe once a month or twice a month, depending on the collaboration with the ophthalmology clinics.”
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Unlike traditional healthcare methods, SDM has developed technology to make detection automated, instant and seamless with results reaching the patient in a matter of minutes, clearing obstacles to treatment.
When a patient comes into an SDM clinic, a trained technician photographs the back of their eye using a specialized instrument called a fundus camera. The image is then sent via a secure cloud for AI diagnostics.
“Within minutes, the report comes out either in English, which is then integrated for the doctor, and in Arabic, where the patient is actually given the PDF report in his or her hand,” said Al-Hazzaa.
“It is totally run by technicians, photographers, nurses, even primary care physicians — all these healthcare personnel, who have no experience whatsoever with eye diseases.”
Al-Hazzaa underlined the ease this technology provides for patients, healthcare providers who are taking the photos and the endocrinologists who see the patients following the examination.
In terms of accuracy, Al-Hazzaa said the technology outperforms even the most experienced physicians in detecting problems.
“I can tell you the algorithmic solution is now much more sensitive than me,” she said. “The best I could do was 93 percent. The AI solution has actually reached over 95 percent.
“The unique thing is, not only are you using automation, which is convenient for the patient, convenient for the healthcare provider, but you’re also introducing automation at a sensitivity that is much greater than your board-certified retinologist, not just ophthalmologist.”
Like workers across many sectors, the uptake of AI tools among physicians has been slow to catch on, as many fear that mass adoption could ultimately cost jobs.
“They thought: ‘Here’s a machine that’s much more accurate than us, that’s faster than us, and it’s going to take our place.’ They were very reluctant,” said Al-Hazzaa.
“After one year of being in the diabetic center, the ophthalmologist actually came back to me and said: ‘Dr. Selwa, thank you. You improved our surgical skills because you have taken all the routine repetitive exams that we are no longer interested in’.”
Diabetic eye disease is not the only condition SDM is able to detect through the AI analysis of retinal imaging.
“With the picture of the retina, which is the back of the eye, you can detect at least 20 diseases,” said Al-Obaidallah.
“We’re working on a lot of other diseases, whether it is glaucoma, hypertension, Alzheimer’s, which can be diagnosed and detected with a picture of your eye. It’s mind-boggling to see how the eyes can basically tell you everything about your body. And it’s done in a very basic way. There is no surgery needed.”
As part of its mission to make healthcare more accessible, SDM is working with a mobile diagnostics center in Madinah to reach patients in rural areas.
After some initial delay in securing regulatory approval, SDM’s innovative technology has since rapidly advanced.
“Artificial intelligence as a whole, maybe in some industries, it’s there and it’s in use,” said Al-Obaidallah. “But in healthcare, it’s still fairly new. So, when we work on something, we’re basically paving the way.
“We worked with the Council of Health Insurance on coding, the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare, specifically, in our exam, in our product.
“We were basically the first company to work with the CHI on the new Saudi billing system, to introduce artificial intelligence as a billing code for hospitals and insurance companies to use.”
However, all of SDM’s services are provided free of charge in partnership with nonprofits.
“Everything is free. No one pays anything,” said Al-Obaidallah. “Our goal is for patients to have the right to diagnosis of chronic diseases.”
Beyond diagnostics, SDM also recently announced new software utilizing generative AI. “It’s basically a large language model, an LLM, which is a very hot topic,” said Al-Obaidallah.
“Recently, everyone’s been talking about generative AI. So, we’ve worked on a generative AI model that is more of a chatbot that you ask any question related to diabetes. And it would basically give you an answer.
“We’ve been feeding it with journals, publications, specifically, chosen by experts in the field to make sure that this gives you clear and straight answers.”
Looking five years into the future, Al-Hazzaa hopes to move from predictive AI to generative AI using LLMs.
“I know with confidence that SDM will not only be treating diabetic diseases, but we will be going into other chronic diseases such as predicting hypertension, stroke and Alzheimer’s,” she said.
“We will also be looking into other chronic ophthalmology diseases such as glaucoma, such as age-related macular degeneration.”
ICRC officials to meet UK Foreign Office over plan for Palestinian detainees
- David Cameron reportedly negotiated deal with Israel’s government to allow two British legal observers and Israeli judge to visit some prisoners
LONDON: Officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross will hold talks with the UK Foreign Office over concerns about British plans to visit Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails.
Foreign Secretary David Cameron has reportedly negotiated a deal with Israel’s government to allow two British legal observers and an Israeli judge to visit some prisoners being held in Israeli prisons amid reports of “inhumane treatment,” The Guardian reported on Thursday.
In an interview with the BBC at the weekend, Cameron said he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the issue.
“It’s not all bleak ... I said it (the lack of access to detainees) was not good enough, that we needed to have a proper independent system for inspecting and regulating, and the Israelis have announced they are now doing that,” he said.
Netanyahu’s government has blocked ICRC staff from having any access to Palestinian detainees since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7. It has said the block will remain until Hamas allows access to Israeli hostages taken during the attack.
Critics say this stance could constitute a breach of the Geneva Conventions, with the ICRC having made repeated requests to both sides in the conflict to allow access to all those detained, as set out in the conventions.
Observers have also raised concerns that the UK plan will “weaken the rule of law” and could set a “dangerous precedent” for how detainees are treated in other conflict zones, The Guardian report added.
The ICRC’s director for the Middle East region, Fabrizio Carboni, is in London to hold talks with Foreign Office officials.
In a statement to The Guardian, the aid organization said Palestinian detainees must be treated as protected persons with access to the ICRC, as proscribed under the Geneva rules.
The statement added: “We have seen the reports of a government of Israel decision to allow observers to visit some places of detention. The ICRC remains hopeful that suitable steps are taken that could protect the health and welfare of detainees, which remains paramount. We reiterate our readiness to resume our mandated detention activities.”
Arab News columnist and director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, Chris Doyle, said the Foreign Office plan risked establishing a system that bypassed the ICRC and internationally accepted regulations.
“There is no transparency about Cameron’s alternative … I very much doubt that two Foreign Office-appointed lawyers in the company of a judge from the occupying power are going to have the expertise of the ICRC, but will instead be taken around sanitised prisons,” he said.
“What has happened to the thousands of Palestinians taken from Gaza to Israel is a huge issue. (Neither) we nor their families know where they are, whether they are combatants or children, or why in some cases they are being stripped to their underpants. We have heard nothing from the UK government about this,” he added.
During a week-long truce between Hamas and Israeli forces in November, the ICRC played an active role in facilitating the swap of 105 Israeli hostages held by Hamas and 240 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
Innovators challenged to improve pilgrim experience for people with mobility issues
- During a week-long event, 250 people on 39 teams are working to develop innovative products and services to serve the mobility needs of pilgrims
MAKKAH: Innovators and entrepreneurs have been challenged to find ways to enhance the pilgrim experience in Makkah for people with mobility issues.
To help them develop solutions, provide support and encourage collaborations, the General Authority for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque, Umm Al-Qura University and investment business Wadi Makkah Co. organized a week-long event that began at the company’s headquarters on Sunday.
The specific goal is to improve pilgrim services through the development of innovative ways to help people who find it difficult to complete Hajj rituals such as Tawaf (walking around the Kaaba in the Grand Mosque seven times) and Sa’i (moving repeatedly between the Safa and Marwah hills at the mosque). The challenge includes four categories covering the use of manual wheelchairs, electric vehicles, golf carts and trailers, and a fifth, open section for creative mobility ideas.
Ali Al-Shaery, the CEO of Wadi Makkah, said he was proud of the company’s participation in this collaborative effort, and highlighted the significant role it can play in improving pilgrims’ mobility.
“We are contributing to realizing the Vision of our beloved kingdom, enriching the experience of pilgrims, and increasing the number of pilgrims and Umrah performers by 2030,” he said.
“Through this challenge, we aim to provide participants with a knowledge boost, cultural enrichment and empowerment through specialized workshops and expert mentors.”
The general authority is giving participants a sense of the nature of pilgrim-mobility issues, he added, while mentors from Wadi Makkah are providing technical, innovative and entrepreneurial knowledge.
A panel of judges from various sectors related to Hajj and Umrah will select the most promising solutions proposed during the event, Al-Shaery said.
Ammar Attar, a faculty member at Umm Al-Qura University and coordinator of the mobility vehicles category of the challenge, said it was important to engage the academic community in efforts to tackle real-world issues.
“We aim to activate the role of faculty members, students and researchers in designing creative and innovative solutions that enrich the Tawaf and Sa’i experience,” he said.
He added that 250 people on 39 teams are working with the best tools to develop innovative products and services that can best serve the needs of pilgrims.
Ahmed Morsi, an entrepreneurship projects engineer with Wadi Makkah, said participants in the challenge have been provided with the tools they need to help come up with ideas that can significantly improve the pilgrim experience through the use of manual and electric wheelchairs, golf carts and trailers.
“Mentors have been provided to offer guidance and advice during the challenge period in developing ideas, designing products and building the first model, with the aim of assisting innovators, entrepreneurs and the Makkah community in creating a conducive environment and providing all essentials for achieving success stories that enhance the experience of pilgrims and Umrah performers,” Morsi added.
Prizes of SR10,000 ($2,666) will be awarded to the best projects chosen by judges in each of the five categories.
Residents cower as fighting picks up in Sudan’s Al-Fashir
CAIRO/DUBAI: Residents are fleeing missile fire and sheltering without food and water amid escalating fighting in the Sudanese city of Al-Fashir, witnesses and aid workers said, adding to fears of an all-out battle.
The city is the Sudanese army’s last stronghold in the western Darfur region. Its capture would be a major boost for the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as regional and international powers try to push the sides to negotiate an end to a 13-month war.
Locals and aid workers fear the clashes could also lead to a new round of bloodletting after ethnically-driven violence blamed on the RSF and its allies elsewhere in Darfur last year.
Many of Al-Fashir’s 1.6 million residents arrived during the violence between Arabs and non-Arabs that killed hundreds of thousands of people in the early-2000s. The RSF’s origins lie in the Arab janjaweed militias accused of ethnic cleansing and genocide then.
In recent weeks the RSF has almost surrounded Al-Fashir, capital of North Darfur state, while soldiers from the army and allied non-Arab armed groups fill the city.
In a sign of mounting ethnic tensions, Mini Minnawi, head of one of the groups, said on X he had made a wide call for fighters to come and defend Al-Fashir, in response to what he said was a similar call by the RSF.
Al-Fashir residents report snipers, stray missiles and army air strikes causing fires in the east and north of the city. Many civilians have taken up arms.
“The situation in the city has been difficult the past few days. Missiles from both sides are falling inside neighborhoods and homes, and getting to hospitals is dangerous,” said 38-year-old resident Hussein Adam.
Medical aid agency MSF said on Thursday that the city’s South Hospital had seen 489 casualties since May 10, including 64 deaths, though it said the real toll was far higher.
Another hospital it supports, which saw 27 people killed last weekend, was forced to shut down after an army air strike 50 meters away, MSF said.
The RSF and army blame each other for the violence.
On Wednesday, the United States imposed sanctions on two top RSF commanders, including the force’s head of operations, for the attacks on Al-Fashir.
“We are prepared to take further action against those who actively escalate this war – including any offensive actions on El Fasher – create barriers to humanitarian access, or commit atrocities,” US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield posted on X.
Experts have raised warnings of impending famine in the displacement camps that dot Al-Fashir. The city also suffers from water shortages, network outages, and high prices.
In one of those camps, Abu Shouk in the north of the city, nine people were killed by stray missiles, camp leaders said on Sunday.
Residents say displaced people from eastern neighborhoods are sheltering under trees and in open squares.
“Most families have moved west, women and children with nothing to eat or drink,” said resident Mohamed Jamal, a volunteer with the local emergency response room.
The army has so far insisted that international aid delivered via Chad for other parts of Darfur pass through Al-Fashir, something that the escalating violence prevents.
Carl Skau, Chief Operating Officer of the World Food Programme, said the agency had trucks ready in the Chadian border town of Tina, but they needed to be able to move soon.
“The window is closing, the rains are coming and we need action in the next couple of weeks,” he told Reuters after a trip to Port Sudan where he tried to negotiate with the army for better access this week.
The UN’s World Food Programme expects more people are being driven to the brink of starvation in other parts of Sudan worst affected by the war including the capital Khartoum, El Gezira state and the Kordofan regions.
“We really need to step up a concerted effort to avoid an even worse catastrophe,” Skau said.
