Jordan's Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah and Rajwa Al Saif announced their engagement on Wednesday, much to the family's delight.
The engagement took place at the home of Al Saif's father in Riyadh. It was announced on Twitter with four photos showing the couple, with Prince Hussein's parents, King Abdullah II and Queen Rania, pictured alongside members of Al Saif's family.
Queen Rania also took to Twitter to share her happiness.
“I didn’t think it was possible to hold so much joy in my heart! Congratulations to my eldest Prince Hussein and his beautiful bride-to-be, Rajwa,” Queen Rania wrote.
Who is Rajwa Al Saif?
Al Saif was born in Riyadh, on April 28, 1994, according to Roya News in Jordan.
She is the youngest of four siblings — alongside Faisal, Nayef and Dana — born to businessman Khalid Al Saif and his wife Azza Al Sudairi.
Her secondary education took place in Saudi Arabia, before she moved to New York, US, to complete her higher education at the College of Architecture at Syracuse University.
During her time there, Al Saif took a nine-day field trip to Dubai in 2016, as part of the course. “What made this trip so memorable for me was seeing the students in the studio experience Arabic culture and architecture for the first time," said Al Saif, as reported on Syracuse University's website.
"Dubai is very intriguing, having contemporary architecture while also attempting to maintain the traditional beauty of the Arabic culture and history.”
Princess Iman gets engaged
Prince Hussein's engagement only comes a few weeks after his sister, Princess Iman, announced her engagement to Jameel Alexander Thermiotis.
Princess Iman is the first daughter and the second child of King Abdullah II and Queen Rania.
The princess, who was born in Amman in 1996, studied at Georgetown University in Washington, following in the footsteps of her newly engaged brother.
Thermiotis was born in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1994 and is of Greek descent, said Jordan's royal court. He holds a bachelor's degree in business administration and works in finance in New York.
The court congratulated the king and queen on the engagement, wishing the couple “a lifetime of happiness”.
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Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.
* Agence France Presse
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ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
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Transmission: eight-speed automatic
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Job Title: Human resources administrator, Expo 2020 Dubai
First jobs: Co-ordinator with Magrudy Enterprises; HR coordinator at Jumeirah Group
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Favourite singer: Avril Lavigne
Favourite travel destination: Germany and Saudi Arabia
Family: Six sisters
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food