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Tawakkalna Wins United Nations Public Service Award 2022

The system won the United Nations Public Service Award 2022 in the category of institutional resilience and innovative responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. SPA
The system won the United Nations Public Service Award 2022 in the category of institutional resilience and innovative responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. SPA
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Tawakkalna Wins United Nations Public Service Award 2022

The system won the United Nations Public Service Award 2022 in the category of institutional resilience and innovative responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. SPA
The system won the United Nations Public Service Award 2022 in the category of institutional resilience and innovative responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. SPA

Saudi Arabia is seeking to develop digital governance through the national transformation program of Vision 2030 by launching several services aimed at accelerating digitization in the country to promote the quality of services.

The ‘Tawakkalna’ system is leading the digital transformation in Saudi Arabia, linking most of the services needed by citizens, expats, and visitors in one digitally-efficient platform. It also serves as an electronic wallet that includes all the official public forms and has played a significant role in managing the precautionary measures during the pandemic.

Since its launch in 2020, the system has won several global awards, including the United Nations Public Service Award 2022 in the category of institutional resilience and innovative responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The award was handed during a virtual event organized on June 23, within the annual UN forum that honors distinguished figures in public service in support of achieving sustainable development goals.

President of Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) Dr. Abdullah bin Sharaf Alghamdi explained that receiving this award shows the unlimited support from the government, as well as the empowerment and guidance of the Crown Prince and Chairman of SDAIA's Board of Directors, and his unlimited support for the various initiatives launched by Authority to enhance government collaboration to make the most of data and AI.

Alghamdi stressed that SDAIA was able to accomplish many achievements nationally and globally through the efforts of highly qualified people. He also pointed out that this achievement emphasizes the Kingdom's leadership globally and its determination to attain the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030, and reflects the advanced and reliable infrastructure that SDAIA has.

Alghamdi noted that the experience of Tawakkalna, through all the stages it has gone through, proves the professionalism of the young national cadres who stand behind all the achieved success.

SDAIA has launched Tawakkalna to support government efforts to confront Covid-19 as an application aimed to manage the process of granting permits electronically for government and private sector employees, as well as individuals, during the lockdown, a measure that has helped limit the spread of the virus.

The application launched important services that contributed to achieving a safe return to normal life, most notably explaining the health status of users with the highest levels of safety and privacy.

Afterward, Tawakkalna started to include pandemic-related services such as verifying users' health conditions and health passports, providing Covid-19 test and vaccine services, reviewing health travel requirements, and managing the necessary permits during travel.

The application of Tawakkalna is not only local. Users are now able to use it worldwide as a health passport that proves they are fully vaccinated following an agreement signed with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) aimed at internationally verifying the travelers’ health eligibility in accordance with the best international practices, and accepting the health passport platform as an initiative to digitize health certificates from trusted sources and accredited laboratories in cooperation with airlines.

The United Nations launched its Public Service Award in 2003 with an annual forum to encourage and support distinguished global innovations in the field of public service.

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Seals and Sea Lions Get Hearing Tested at Australia Zoo

This undated handout photo taken by Curtin University professor and lead researcher Christine Erbe and received on October 9, 2026 shows a sea lion during a hearing test at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. (Photo by Handout / Christine ERBE / AFP)
This undated handout photo taken by Curtin University professor and lead researcher Christine Erbe and received on October 9, 2026 shows a sea lion during a hearing test at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. (Photo by Handout / Christine ERBE / AFP)
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Seals and Sea Lions Get Hearing Tested at Australia Zoo

This undated handout photo taken by Curtin University professor and lead researcher Christine Erbe and received on October 9, 2026 shows a sea lion during a hearing test at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. (Photo by Handout / Christine ERBE / AFP)
This undated handout photo taken by Curtin University professor and lead researcher Christine Erbe and received on October 9, 2026 shows a sea lion during a hearing test at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. (Photo by Handout / Christine ERBE / AFP)

Scientists in Australia trained sea lions and seals to respond to a hearing test for research into how the marine mammals are affected by human-made noise.

Keepers at Sydney's Taronga Zoo trained two sea lions and two fur seals to listen to sounds and press a paddle when they heard a tone.

They were rewarded with fish for the right answers, AFP reported.

"Before we can understand whether a noise is affecting an animal, we need to know whether it can hear that noise in the first place," Curtin University professor and lead researcher Christine Erbe said on Thursday.

"These hearing tests give us that baseline and allow us to start asking how noises from ships, boats, aircraft and coastal construction might affect seals and sea lions."

The peer-reviewed study found the pinnipeds were most sensitive to sounds around 3.2 kilohertz.

"The research is particularly important for the endangered Australian sea lion, which has an estimated population of only about 12,000 animals and relies on hearing for communication, finding food, navigation and detecting threats," Erbe said.

Noise pollution is known to have a major negative impact on wildlife.

A study released in February found it was affecting bird behavior across the globe, disrupting everything from courtship songs to their ability to find food and avoid predators.

Taronga Conservation Society Australia Behavioral Biologist Benjamin Pitcher said the research on sea lions and seals would have real world impact.

"The findings could help inform environmental impact assessments and noise management as shipping, coastal development and offshore industries expand," he said.

"We now know what these animals can hear in air. The next step is to understand how noise affects them underwater, and when it begins to interfere with their behavior or hearing."

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$1,000 for 20 Minutes: New York’s Tourist Pedicabs Spark Outrage

Pedicabs operate throughout tourist-rich areas of New York City — ANGELA WEISS / AFP
Pedicabs operate throughout tourist-rich areas of New York City — ANGELA WEISS / AFP
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$1,000 for 20 Minutes: New York’s Tourist Pedicabs Spark Outrage

Pedicabs operate throughout tourist-rich areas of New York City — ANGELA WEISS / AFP
Pedicabs operate throughout tourist-rich areas of New York City — ANGELA WEISS / AFP

New York lawmakers mulled a bill Wednesday to regulate pedicabs, which swarm touristy areas like Times Square and Central Park and have drawn criticism for overcrowding, excessive noise and extortionate pricing.

The city council is considering a series of measures designed to regulate the three-wheeled vehicles, often adorned in neon lights and blasting music as they shuttle visitors around Manhattan, according to AFP.

The number of pedicabs authorized in New York is capped at 840 but, according to figures shared at a council hearing, around 1,500 are currently operating -- only 330 of which are licensed.

Meanwhile, price gouging can mean unsuspecting tourists can be charged upward of $1,000 for rides that last just 20 minutes.

City Council Member Gale Brewer, who is behind a large part of the proposed measures, said the city received 172 complaints in 2025 related to pedicabs.

“Half, 86, involved overcharging, and another 35 involved unlicensed operators, and there were probably more because often tourists don't complain," she said.

Brewer is pushing for “clearer rules” on the sector and wants to place it under the oversight of the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission.

“Passengers need to know what they are being charged and who is responsible for the pedicab they are riding in,” she said, adding that vehicles should be equipped with meters displaying the cost of rides.

Another proposed regulation would introduce a fixed per-minute rate.

Brewer is also calling for driver training focused on current regulations and safety.

Meanwhile, council member Harvey Epstein relayed noise complaints from theater companies.

“It's not working for the Broadway productions that are interrupted by loud noise blaring from pedicabs outside their theaters,” he said.

Among the new rules proposed is a ban on stopping within 15 meters of the entrances and exits of these venues.

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Australian Shark Attack Survivor Says he Hit at the Predator's Eye in Effort to Fight it Off

Shark attack survivor Mel Ismail looks out at Glenfield Beach near Geraldton, Australia, on Oct. 7, 2026. (Chris Lewis/Australian Broadcasting Corp via AP)
Shark attack survivor Mel Ismail looks out at Glenfield Beach near Geraldton, Australia, on Oct. 7, 2026. (Chris Lewis/Australian Broadcasting Corp via AP)
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Australian Shark Attack Survivor Says he Hit at the Predator's Eye in Effort to Fight it Off

Shark attack survivor Mel Ismail looks out at Glenfield Beach near Geraldton, Australia, on Oct. 7, 2026. (Chris Lewis/Australian Broadcasting Corp via AP)
Shark attack survivor Mel Ismail looks out at Glenfield Beach near Geraldton, Australia, on Oct. 7, 2026. (Chris Lewis/Australian Broadcasting Corp via AP)

Shark attack survivor Mel Ismail jabbed at the eye of the predator that severed his leg in an effort to fight it off before struggling back to shore, the surfer and professional firefighter said in an interview that revealed new details of his near-death encounter.

The professional firefighter was surfing at Glenfield Beach near Geraldton on Australia's west coast when he was attacked on Sept. 14. He lost his right leg below the knee.

Ismail recalled in an Australian Broadcasting Corp. interview broadcast on Thursday that he was sitting out the back of the surf break and spotted a pod of about 20 dolphins before being hit by something big. It was the first time he has spoken publicly about the attack.

“I thought I got hit by a dolphin, initially,” The Associated Press quoted Ismail as saying.

“And suddenly — bang — something grabbed me and dragged me down into the water. And I knew it was a shark,” Ismail added.

Ismail said it looked like the shark winked at him before it bit his leg.

“I got to a point where I saw its eye ... a big black eye,” Ismail said.

“But it was winking back at me — I was trying to get my fingers in its eye and just pushing its eye as I was being dragged,” Ismail added.

Many sharks, including the white shark and mako shark, do not have eyelids, but when attacking prey, they roll their eyeballs backward into their sockets as a protective measure, exposing a tough layer of white cartilage. Authorities have yet to determine the species of shark that attacked Ismail.

Alone and bleeding at the back of the surf break, Ismail caught a wave that took him about 20 meters (66 feet) closer to shore.

Ismail said he was out of breath and losing strength when he spotted surfer Shannan Dunn coming down the dunes on to the beach.

Dunn went to Ismail’s rescue, helping the shark victim on to Dunn’s board.

Ismail described Dunn having “eyes like saucers.”

“The first thing he (Dunn) said to me is, ‘Where’s the shark?'” Ismail said.

“I said ‘I don’t know. I've got a bit going on here,'” Ismail added.

Once they returned to the beach, an onlooker crafted a tourniquet for Ismail using a leg rope and another onlooker phoned for an ambulance.

A pair of teenagers helped Ismail climb into Dunn's SUV and they drove along the beach to meet an ambulance.

“I had a heap of people laughing, keeping me alive, keeping me positive in the back,” Ismail said.

“I gave a few knuckles to the people there, because I was feeling good,” Ismail added. “I started to feel like I (was) going to make it.”

Four days after Ismail was attacked, 63-year-old swimmer Greg O’Neill was fatally mauled by a large white shark. O’Neill was attacked off Sorrento Beach in Perth’s northern suburbs, around 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of Geraldton.

Ismail said he intends to return to the surf as a bodyboarder.

There have been five fatal shark attacks in Australia this year.

Three spearfishing divers were killed by sharks off the Australian coast in four weeks over May and June. In January, a 12-year-old boy died in a hospital days after he was mauled by a bull shark in Sydney Harbor.

Australia has averaged between two and three fatal shark attacks a year since 2000, according to the Australian Shark Incident Database, a partnership including Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Flinders University and the New South Wales state government.