According to the Minister of Education Tayseer Al-Nuami, the ministry has no intention of closing schools as parents and guardians have already paid the school fees for private schools.

According to him, Rumors of schools closing are absolutely false.

He pointed out that the Ministry of Education was clear and concise about the return to schools according to the set health protocols established in cooperation with the Ministry of Health. However, he noted that no one can predict the future, especially in the current pandemic situation.

The Minister of Health Nathir Obeidat said today that the Ministry has made no decisions to extend curfew hours or impose Friday lockdowns, despite rumors. 

Obeidat added that the Ministry of Health is reviewing the pandemic situation on a continuous basis, indicating that the government reviews the health situation in the Kingdom every two to three weeks. He noted that the government is also monitoring the impact of the reopening of schools and various sectors, and that teachers will be a priority in the vaccine campaign once more doses are available.

The Beirut explosion was catastrophic, but now a German expert is saying that it could have been much worse after what his company found left in the Beirut Port.

According to an expert from the company CombiLift, which was hired to remove dangerous chemicals from the Port after the cities Aug. 4 explosion that killed over 200 and injured more than 6500, the 52 remaining containers of chemicals that the company found posed a quote ‘great threat’ to Beirut. The only reason that these containers did not ignite was because they were spaced far from eachother.

Michael Wintler, the company’s project manager, said he had never seen such a situation in his life, speaking of a ‘river of green and yellow materials’ that his company removed. He recounted that wearing chemical protective clothing saved him when hydrochloric acid leaked from the bottom of a barrel he was lifting and scattered on the ground. Hydrochloric acid, a toxic and corrosive substance, accounts for sixty percent of the chemicals that Combi Lift has dealt with.

After over 1000 days in prison, Saudi Arabian womens rights activist Loujain Al Hathloul is experiencing her first day as a freer woman.

Dec. 28, The Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh ordered the imprisonment of Hathloul for five years and eight months, after convicting her of inciting regime change and serving outside parties.

Hathloul was arrested May 2018 in a collective targeting of those who opposed Saudi Arabia's law which prohibited women from driving, which has since been overruled.

According to CNN, Hathloul will remain on probation for three years following her release. According to statements from Hathloul's family, she could easily be arrested once more for any perceived illegal activity, and will also be prohibited to travel for five years.
Hathloul's release from prison came in less than a week after the Washington called on Saudi Arabia to release political prisoners, including women's rights activists. US President Joe Biden vowed to pressure the Kingdom into enhancing its rights record.

Notably, her family urged indiviuals to refrain from saying that Hathloul has been "freed, " adding that "any release that does not include an independent investigation of the charges, does not include lifting the travel ban, does not include dropping the charges, is not freedom, (...) Therefore we're far away from justice."

ArabiaWeather announced that their weather forecast teams indicated that a very cold polar front depression is making its way to Turkey, and then into the Eastern Basin of the Mediterranean Sea, meaning chances of snowfall in main cities of the Levant region are increasing.

However, they noted that the weather is not a fixed phenomena, adding that they receive air maps for analysis twice a day which may be subjected to changes and updates.