DUBAI, UAE: The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday named women to the newly created posts of state ministers for happiness and tolerance, and a 22-year-old female for youth affairs.
Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum named eight women as he revealed his latest cabinet line-up of 29 ministers in a series of tweets.
Ohoud Al-Roumi, who had served as director of the council of ministers’ office, was appointed “minister of state for happiness.”
“Happiness is not just a wish in our country. There will be plans, projects, programs and indices. It will be part of the job of all ministries,” tweeted Sheikh Mohammed, who is also the ruler of Dubai.
Shamma Al-Mazroui, 22, was appoined state minister for youth, while Lubna Al-Qassimi, a veteran minister of international cooperation and development, was handed the new post of state minister for tolerance.
The cabinet has eight new ministers, including five new women, with an average age of 38, WAM state news agency said.
An oil-rich federation of seven Gulf sheikhdoms, the United Arab Emirates is considered a safe haven spared in the wave of Arab Spring uprisings that hit the region.
Last year its rulers sought to widen the country’s nascent democratic credentials with about a quarter of its one million citizens given the right to vote.
Eighty-seven of the 330 candidates were women, who play a larger role in public life in the UAE.
But the authorities have been deeply cautious and in 2014 introduced sweeping new counterterrorism legislation that rights groups have criticized as paving the way for a crackdown on dissent of all sorts.
Citizens make up a small minority of the UAE’s population of nine million which is overwhelmingly made up of foreign workers.
UAE names women ministers for happiness, tolerance
UAE names women ministers for happiness, tolerance
Syrian Democratic Forces withdraws from east of Aleppo
RIYADH: Syrian Democratic Forces have withdrawn from positions east of Aleppo, according to SDF head Mazloum Abdi.
He announced Friday that SDF will withdraw from east of Aleppo at 7 a.m. local time on Saturday and redeploy them to areas east of the Euphrates, citing calls from friendly countries and mediators.
Hours earlier, a US military designation had visited Deir Hafer and met with SDF officials in an apparent attempt to tamp down tensions.
The US has good relations with both sides and has urged calm. A spokesperson for the US military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shortly before Abdi’s announcement, interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa had announced issuance of a decree strengthening Kurdish rights.
A wave of displacement
Earlier in the day, hundreds of people carrying their belongings arrived in government-held areas in northern Syria ahead of the anticipated offensive by Syrian troops on territory held by Kurdish-led fighters.
Many of the civilians who fled were seen using side roads to reach government-held areas because the main highway was blocked at a checkpoint in the town of Deir Hafer controlled by the SDF.
The Syrian army said late Wednesday that civilians would be able to evacuate through the “humanitarian corridor” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and then extended the evacuation period another day, saying the SDF had stopped civilians from leaving.
There had been limited exchanges of fire between the two sides in the area before that.
Men, women and children arrived on the government side of the line in cars and pickup trucks that were packed with bags of clothes, mattresses and other belongings. They were met by local officials who directed them to shelters.
* with input from Reuters, AP
