‘Future’ List Triumphs in Saudi Journalists Association Elections

The President and members of the board of the Saudi Journalists Association after their election. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The President and members of the board of the Saudi Journalists Association after their election. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
TT
20

‘Future’ List Triumphs in Saudi Journalists Association Elections

The President and members of the board of the Saudi Journalists Association after their election. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The President and members of the board of the Saudi Journalists Association after their election. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi journalists and media figures, running on the “Future” list, were elected members of the board of directors of the Saudi Journalist Association.

The elections, held on Sunday, drew significant participation from the Saudi journalistic community.

Adhwan Alahmari, Editor-in-Chief of Independent Arabia, was elected president of the Saudi Journalist Association.

The elected board members of the board are: Zaid bin Kami, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Asharq Al-Awsat; Mohammed Al-Bishi, Editor-in-Chief of Al-Eqtisadiah; Faisal Abbas, Editor-in-Chief of Arab News; Adhwan Alahmri, Editor-in-Chief of Independent Arabia; Ali Al-Hazmi, Editor-in-Chief of Sabq; Hamed Alshehri, Editor-in-Chief of the Saudipedia platform; Fatima Al-Awfi from the Media Department at the Ministry of Sports; Lama Al-Shethry, Editor-in-Chief of Sayidaty; May Al-Sharif, Assistant Editor-in-Chief of Independent Arabia; Noor Nugali, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Arab News; Bushra Alrabiah from the Government Communication Center; Thekra Al-Atyawi from the Saudi Broadcasting Authority; and Mamdouh Al-Muhaini, General Manager of Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath television stations.

Saudi Media Minister Salman Al-Dosari, in a statement posted on “X,” highlighted the importance of civil society in developing journalists’ skills and enhancing media performance.

He congratulated the newly elected board of the Saudi Journalists Association, thanked the outgoing council led by Khaled Al-Malik, and expressed optimism about a productive partnership for advancing the media industry.

Following the election, the Board of Directors held its first meeting, electing Alahmari as president, and Faisal Abbas as president while Bushra Alrabiah was elected as treasurer.

Alahmari thanked his colleagues for the confidence entrusted in him.

He hoped that the new team can achieve their hopes and aspirations. He also praised the great efforts made by the members of the previous boards who made outstanding contributions in meeting objectives.

He said his colleagues will present their visions at the next meeting to develop an organized strategy for their work that stems from the main objectives of the association and is consistent with the aspirations of Saudi media and journalists.



Australia Sweats Through Hottest 12 Months on Record

Australia has just sweltered through its hottest 12 months on record, a period of drenching floods, tropical cyclones and mass coral bleaching. DAVID GRAY / AFP/File
Australia has just sweltered through its hottest 12 months on record, a period of drenching floods, tropical cyclones and mass coral bleaching. DAVID GRAY / AFP/File
TT
20

Australia Sweats Through Hottest 12 Months on Record

Australia has just sweltered through its hottest 12 months on record, a period of drenching floods, tropical cyclones and mass coral bleaching. DAVID GRAY / AFP/File
Australia has just sweltered through its hottest 12 months on record, a period of drenching floods, tropical cyclones and mass coral bleaching. DAVID GRAY / AFP/File

Australia has just sweltered through its hottest 12 months on record, a weather official said Thursday, a period of drenching floods, tropical cyclones and mass coral bleaching.

Senior government climatologist Simon Grainger said the rolling 12-month period between April 2024 and March 2025 was 1.61 degrees Celsius (34.9 degrees Fahrenheit) above average -- the hottest since records began more than a century ago.

"This is certainly part of a sustained global pattern," he told AFP.

"We've been seeing temperatures since about April 2023 that were globally much warmer than anything we have seen in the global historical record."

The previous hottest period was in 2019, Grainger said, when temperatures were 1.51 degrees Celsius above average.

"That is a pretty significant difference," Grainger said.

"It's well above what we would expect just from uncertainties due to rounding. The difference is much larger than that."

The record was measured on a rolling 12-month basis -- rather than as a calendar year.

Australia has also recorded its hottest-ever March, Grainger said, with temperatures more than two degrees above what would normally be seen.

"There has basically been sustained warmth through pretty much all of Australia," he said.

"We saw a lot of heatwave conditions, particularly in Western Australia. And we didn't really see many periods of cool weather -- we didn't see many cold fronts come through."

Sickly white coral

From the arid outback to the tropical coast, swaths of Australia have been pummeled by wild weather in recent months.

Unusually warm waters in the Coral Sea stoked a tropical cyclone that pummeled densely populated seaside hamlets on the country's eastern coast in March.

Whole herds of cattle have drowned in vast inland floods still flowing across outback Queensland.

And a celebrated coral reef off Western Australia has turned a sickly shade of white as hotter seas fuel an unfolding mass bleaching event.

The average sea surface temperature around Australia was the "highest on record" in 2024, according to a recent study by Australian National University.

This record run looked to have continued throughout January and February, said Grainger.

"We haven't seen much cooling in sea surface temperatures."

Moisture collects in the atmosphere as oceans evaporate in hotter temperatures -- eventually leading to more intense downpours and storms.

Australia follows a slew of heat records that have been toppling across the planet.

Six major international datasets confirmed that 2024 was the hottest year on record.

Scientists are unanimous that burning fossil fuels has largely driven long-term global warming.

Australia sits on bulging deposits of coal, gas, metals and minerals, with mining and fossil fuels stoking decades of near-unbroken economic growth.

But it is increasingly suffering from more intense heatwaves, bushfires and drought, which scientists have linked to climate change.