Sharjah Ruler inaugurates new building for Sharjah Scout Mission
Tour of the new building
His Highness toured the new facility, which includes administrative offices, educational and sports amenities, meeting rooms, a theater, and a reception area, learning about the various services available for scouts.
National anthem and Quran recitation
The ceremony commenced with the UAE national anthem, followed by verses from the Quran.
Speech by Abdullah Saeed Al Suwaidi
Abdullah Saeed Al Suwaidi, the general supervisor of the organising committee, expressed gratitude to His Highness for inaugurating the building and attending the gathering's opening. He highlighted His Highness's unwavering support for scouting and the significance of the 10 gatherings held over 22 years, making Sharjah a key destination for scouting activities.
Participation and impact
Al Suwaidi noted that this gathering involves 80 countries and 300 participants, showcasing Sharjah's significant contributions to both Arab and global scouting.
He emphasised the importance of the gathering's theme, which embodies cooperation and friendship among youth worldwide, and the role of scouting in achieving sustainable development.
Speech by Dr. Hani Abdel Wahab
Dr. Hani Abdel Wahab, Secretary-General of the Arab Scout Organisation, thanked His Highness for his support and acknowledged Sharjah's efforts in youth development through international gatherings that equip thousands with knowledge and values of tolerance.
Speech by Robert Dominik
Scout Robert Dominik from Poland addressed the participating delegations, discussing the objectives of international scout gathering in preparing individuals and promoting cultural exchange to support sustainable development.
Scout presentation
His Highness and attendees watched a scout presentation titled "One-Day Camp Activities," highlighting scouting's core objectives of cooperation and overcoming challenges.
Special honors
His Highness received a commemorative gift from the organising committee and was honored with the "Arab Scout Merit Medal," the highest Arab scout award, recognising his pioneering role in supporting scouting. His Highness also received the "Arab Scout Sword" in appreciation of his significant contributions to scouting activities.
Conclusion of the ceremony
At the end of the ceremony, His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah met the delegations participating in the 10th International Scout Gathering, welcoming them to the Emirate of Sharjah, thanking them for their efforts in holding the gathering, and taking commemorative photos with them on this occasion.
New building features
The new Sharjah Scout Mission building includes a main council for VIPs, a reception area, administrative offices, training rooms equipped with audio-visual facilities, a multipurpose theater, a scout coordinator's office, and a gym.
Attendees
The inauguration was attended by Sheikh Mohammed bin Humaid Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Department of Statistics and Community Development, Sheikh Salem bin Mohammed bin Salem Al Qasimi, Director of the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority, Dr. Abdullah Belhaif Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the Sharjah Consultative Council ( SCC) and several senior officials and guests.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Zawya
6 hours ago
- Zawya
GCC-Stat: 100% of households in GCC countries have access to safe drinking water services, electricity
MUSCAT: The data released by the Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf (GCC-Stat) indicate that the proportion of the population living in households with access to safe drinking water and electricity services reached 100%, which is higher than the global rate of 91%. The percentage of education in primary schools adapted for people with disabilities reached 100%, compared to the global rate of 50%, while healthcare coverage reached 72%, compared to the global rate of 68% (despite variations in rates among GCC countries). GCC countries attach great importance to the family within the framework of their joint work by dedicating a specific goal to it in the GCC Population Strategy. The eighth goal under the social development pillar focuses on preserving the components of the family and strengthening its role as the nucleus of society. The path to achieving this goal includes supporting the family, strengthening its bonds, ensuring a decent life for all its members, and protecting them from poverty through a range of mechanisms. These include expanding the scope of social security networks to cover all cases in need of assistance, ensuring their living needs are met, conducting regular assessments of eligibility criteria for aid, guaranteeing decent living conditions for needy families by securing job opportunities for their members, and encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises run by women from their homes.
Zawya
2 days ago
- Zawya
MoHESR sets 11 August as deadline for students to accept or reject university offers
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MoHESR) has set 11 August 2025 as the deadline for students applying for UAE-based higher education institutions for Fall 2025-2026 to accept or reject admission offers via the Ministry's electronic portal. Programme acceptance must be confirmed and all remaining procedures completed by this date, and students are advised to complete all requirements on time to ensure seamless processing. MoHESR urges students to login using their UAE Pass and use the 'Student and Scholarship Registration' service on its website, and to meet all deadlines to avoid delays. Applicants should monitor their requests regularly, follow institutional instructions and complete any additional requirements promptly. MoHESR offers streamlined smart services for students, cutting application time to just 90 seconds, reducing required documents by 86% and enabling registration at 59 higher education information can be found on the Ministry's official website. For further information, please contact: Maher Al Bash Weber Shandwick E: MAlbash@ Sara Abuhassira Weber Shandwick E: SAbuhassira@ Sara Farrah Weber Shandwick E: Sfarrah@
Gulf Today
7 days ago
- Gulf Today
Chaos, gangs, gunfire: Gaza aid fails to reach most needy
The trickle of food aid Israel allows to enter Gaza after nearly 22 months of war is seized by Palestinians risking their lives under fire, looted by gangs or diverted in chaotic circumstances rather than reaching those most in need, UN agencies, aid groups and analysts say. After images of malnourished children stoked an international outcry, aid has started to be delivered to the territory once more but on a scale deemed woefully insufficient by international organisations. Every day, AFP correspondents on the ground see desperate crowds rushing towards food convoys or the sites of aid drops by Arab and European air forces. On Thursday, in Al-Zawayda in central Gaza, emaciated Palestinians rushed to pallets parachuted from a plane, jostling and tearing packages from each other in a cloud of dust. "Hunger has driven people to turn on each other. People are fighting each other with knives," Amir Zaqot, who came seeking aid, told the media. Palestinians climbo onto a truck as they seek for aid supplies that entered Gaza through Israel in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, on Friday. Reuters To avoid disturbances, World Food Programme (WFP) drivers have been instructed to stop before their intended destination and let people help themselves. But to no avail. "A truck wheel almost crushed my head, and I was injured retrieving the bag," sighed a man, carrying a bag of flour on his head, in the Zikim area, in the northern Gaza Strip. 'Truly tragic' Mohammad Abu Taha went at dawn to a distribution site near Rafah in the south to join the queue and reserve his spot. He said there were already "thousands waiting, all hungry, for a bag of flour or a little rice and lentils." Palestinians transport gallons of clean water from a distribution point in Gaza City. AFP "Suddenly, we heard gunshots..... There was no way to escape. People started running, pushing and shoving each other, children, women, the elderly," said the 42-year-old. "The scene was truly tragic: blood everywhere, wounded, dead." Nearly 1,400 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip while waiting for aid since May 27, the majority by the Israeli army, the United Nations said on Friday. The Israeli army denies any targeting, insisting it only fires "warning shots" when people approach too close to its positions. International organisations have for months condemned the restrictions imposed by the Israeli authorities on aid distribution in Gaza, including refusing to issue border crossing permits, slow customs clearance, limited access points, and imposing dangerous routes. On Tuesday, in Zikim, the Israeli army "changed loading plans for WFP, mixing cargo unexpectedly. The convoy was forced to leave early, without proper security," said a senior UN official who spoke on condition of anonymity. In the south of Gaza, at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, "there are two possible routes to reach our warehouses (in central Gaza)," said an NGO official, who also preferred to remain anonymous. "One is fairly safe, the other is regularly the scene of fighting and looting, and that's the one we're forced to take." 'Darwinian experiment' Some of the aid is looted by gangs -- who often directly attack warehouses -- and diverted to traders who resell it at exorbitant prices, according to several humanitarian sources and experts. "It becomes this sort of Darwinian social experiment of the survival of the fittest," said Muhammad Shehada, visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). Palestinians climb onto trucks as they seek for aid supplies that entered Gaza through Israel in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip. Reuters "People who are the most starved in the world and do not have the energy must run and chase after a truck and wait for hours and hours in the sun and try to muscle people and compete for a bag of flour," he said. Jean Guy Vataux, emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Gaza, added: "We're in an ultra-capitalist system, where traders and corrupt gangs send kids to risk life and limb at distribution points or during looting. It's become a new profession." This food is then resold to "those who can still afford it" in the markets of Gaza City, where the price of a 25-kilogramme bag of flour can exceed $400, he added. 'Never found proof' Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of looting aid supplied by the UN, which has been delivering the bulk of aid since the start of the war triggered by the Palestinian group Hamas's October 2023 attack. A Palestinian man carries a bag of humanitarian aid he received at the Rafah corridor in the southern Gaza Strip. Agence France-Presse The Israeli authorities have used this accusation to justify the total blockade they imposed on Gaza between March and May, and the subsequent establishment of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private organisation supported by Israel and the United States which has become the main aid distributor, sidelining UN agencies. However, for more than two million inhabitants of Gaza the GHF has just four distribution points, which the UN describes as a "death trap". "Hamas... has been stealing aid from the Gaza population many times by shooting Palestinians," said the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. But according to senior Israeli military officials quoted by the New York Times on July 26, Israel "never found proof" that the group had "systematically stolen aid" from the UN. A Palestinian boy who was injured while seeking humanitarian aid at the Rafah corridor in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP Weakened by the war with Israel which has seen most of its senior leadership killed, Hamas today is made up of "basically decentralised autonomous cells" said Shehada. He said while Hamas fighers still hunker down in each Gaza neighbourhood in tunnels or destroyed buildings, they are not visible on the ground "because Israel has been systematically going after them". Aid workers told AFP that during the ceasefire that preceded the March blockade, the Gaza police -- which includes many Hamas members -- helped secure humanitarian convoys, but that the current power vacuum was fostering insecurity and looting. "UN agencies and humanitarian organisations have repeatedly called on Israeli authorities to facilitate and protect aid convoys and storage sites in our warehouses across the Gaza Strip," said Bushra Khalidi, policy lead at Oxfam. "These calls have largely been ignored," she added. 'All kinds of criminal activities' The Israeli army is also accused of having equipped Palestinian criminal networks in its fight against Hamas and of allowing them to plunder aid. "The real theft of aid since the beginning of the war has been carried out by criminal gangs, under the watch of Israeli forces, and they were allowed to operate in proximity to the Kerem Shalom crossing point into Gaza," Jonathan Whittall, Palestinian territories chief of the UN humanitarian office (OCHA), told reporters in May. A Palestinian man who was injured while seeking humanitarian aid at the Rafah corridor, is carried into a field hospital in the Mawasi area of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP According to Israeli and Palestinian media reports, an armed group called the Popular Forces, made up of members of a Bedouin tribe led by Yasser Abu Shabab, is operating in the southern region under Israeli control. The ECFR describes Abu Shabab as leading a "criminal gang operating in the Rafah area that is widely accused of looting aid trucks". The Israeli authorities themselves acknowledged in June that they had armed Palestinian gangs opposed to Hamas, without directly naming the one led by Abu Shabab. Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center of Tel Aviv University, said many of the gang's members were implicated in "all kinds of criminal activities, drug smuggling, and things like that". "None of this can happen in Gaza without the approval, at least tacit, of the Israeli army," said a humanitarian worker in Gaza, asking not to be named. Agence France-Presse
