Bahrain's King pardons more than 1,500 prisoners for Eid Al Fitr

Bahrain's King Hamad has issued a decree to pardon 1,584 inmates before Eid Al Fitr.

The announcement also coincides with the silver jubilee of the monarch's accession to the throne. The prisoners to receive pardons had all been found guilty in riot and criminal cases.

"Marking the silver jubilee of His Majesty’s accession to the throne and on the occasion of Eid Al Fitr, His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, issued a royal decree pardoning inmates who have been convicted for riot and criminal cases," the National Communication Centre said in a statement on Monday.

The decree "aims to strike a balance between retribution and the humanitarian and social circumstances of the convicted inmates".

"It offers the opportunity for positive reintegration into society, promoting the values of human rights in line with the kingdom’s approach in this regard," the statement added.

Leaders in Gulf countries, including the UAE, traditionally issue pardons as a sign of compassion on major holidays and events, such as Ramadan and Eid Al Fitr.

King Hamad has ruled Bahrain since February 14, 2002. The Rulers of the Emirates last month sent congratulatory messages to mark the silver jubilee of his accession.

Top tips to avoid cyber fraud

Microsoft’s ‘hacker-in-chief’ David Weston, creator of the tech company’s Windows Red Team, advises simple steps to help people avoid falling victim to cyber fraud:

1. Always get the latest operating system on your smartphone or desktop, as it will have the latest innovations. An outdated OS can erode away all investments made in securing your device or system.

2. After installing the latest OS version, keep it patched; this means repairing system vulnerabilities which are discovered after the infrastructure components are released in the market. The vast majority of attacks are based on out of date components – there are missing patches.

3. Multi-factor authentication is required. Move away from passwords as fast as possible, particularly for anything financial. Cybercriminals are targeting money through compromising the users’ identity – his username and password. So, get on the next level of security using fingertips or facial recognition.

4. Move your personal as well as professional data to the cloud, which has advanced threat detection mechanisms and analytics to spot any attempt. Even if you are hit by some ransomware, the chances of restoring the stolen data are higher because everything is backed up.

5. Make the right hardware selection and always refresh it. We are in a time where a number of security improvement processes are reliant on new processors and chip sets that come with embedded security features. Buy a new personal computer with a trusted computing module that has fingerprint or biometric cameras as additional measures of protection.

On Women's Day

Dr Nawal Al-Hosany: Why more women should be on the frontlines of climate action

Shelina Janmohamed: Why shouldn't a spouse be compensated fairly for housework?

Justin Thomas: Challenge the notion that 'men are from Mars, women are from Venus'

The National Editorial: Is there much to celebrate on International Women's Day 2021?

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Abandon
Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay
Translated by Arunava Sinha
Tilted Axis Press

COMPANY%20PROFILE

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FIXTURES

Thu Mar 15 – West Indies v Afghanistan, UAE v Scotland
Fri Mar 16 – Ireland v Zimbabwe
Sun Mar 18 – Ireland v Scotland
Mon Mar 19 – West Indies v Zimbabwe
Tue Mar 20 – UAE v Afghanistan
Wed Mar 21 – West Indies v Scotland
Thu Mar 22 – UAE v Zimbabwe
Fri Mar 23 – Ireland v Afghanistan

The top two teams qualify for the World Cup

Classification matches
The top-placed side out of Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong or Nepal will be granted one-day international status. UAE and Scotland have already won ODI status, having qualified for the Super Six.

Thu Mar 15 – Netherlands v Hong Kong, PNG v Nepal
Sat Mar 17 – 7th-8th place playoff, 9th-10th place play-off

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COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Kumulus Water

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New UK refugee system

A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds