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Saudi ‘Satellite’ Shift: From ‘Devil’s Street’ to Visual Clutter

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Saudi ‘Satellite’ Shift: From ‘Devil’s Street’ to Visual Clutter

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Saudi Arabia still reverberates with the warnings issued in the early 1990s by a prominent figure of the Sahwa movement against the risks posed by satellite dishes, known locally as “dish.”
Ghazi al-Qusaibi, the late Saudi minister and intellectual, fiercely opposed them, viewing them as a significant threat.
These lectures, promoted by leaders of the Sahwa movement, cautioned about the dangers of satellite dishes and resulted in a religious decree declaring them forbidden.
The fatwa explicitly prohibited the ownership, promotion, sale, or purchase of these satellite dishes, condemning such actions as complicity in sin and aggression.
The fatwa caused social rifts among Saudi families. Some decrees even made selling property to anyone intending to install a satellite dish forbidden. There are also reports of people having used air rifles to shoot down satellites mounted on rooftops.
In Riyadh’s Sulaimaniyah district, a street intersecting with Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Street, known as “Tahlia Street,” has been dubbed “Devil’s Street” due to its satellite dish retailers. This has driven some to buy and watch satellite TV channels in secret.
After three decades of societal debates around satellite dishes, they have now been added to a list of 19 violations that can block the issuance of a “Building Compliance Certificate.”
This is especially the case if they are mounted on balconies or cover the entire front of buildings facing commercial streets.
The requirement to remove satellite dishes from balconies and commercial building facades aims to improve the visual appeal of buildings and streets.
The Certificate proves that buildings meet minimum standards for visual aesthetics and municipal building regulations.
This has led the Eastern Region Municipality to incentivize residents to remove satellite dishes in exchange for free channel subscriptions in partnership with Saudi Telecom Company (STC).
The initiative is aimed at addressing visual clutter.
In the early 1990s, satellite dishes began appearing in Saudi Arabia, although the exact starting point isn’t officially documented. Their spread sparked mixed reactions: some welcomed them, paying hefty sums to access international and Arab satellite channels, while others opposed them for various reasons, including religious concerns.
Before satellite dishes, Saudis relied solely on government-run terrestrial TV channels from around mid-1965. The shift to satellite broadcasting in the early 1990s, unofficially starting with CNN’s coverage during the Gulf War in 1990, opened doors to a wide array of Arab and international channels.
Accessing these required installing satellite dishes, transforming Saudi viewership by offering unlimited content for those with a receiver and dish.
Nowadays, however, digital alternatives have diminished the demand for satellite dishes.
Faisal, 42, from Saudi Arabia’s Eastern region told Asharq Al-Awsat: “I got rid of my satellite dish and receiver six years ago when digital options became more dynamic.”
“I now happily subscribe to online movie streaming services, as many channels I used to watch via satellite now offer content online (...). Honestly, I can't imagine wasting time channel surfing with a remote anymore,” he explained.
Abdul Khaliq, 50, an architect from Jeddah west of Saudi Arabia, highlighted that as the need for satellite dishes wanes and reliable internet broadcasting becomes available, efforts should focus on “removing satellite dishes and the clutter of wiring on building walls, villas, and balconies, which detract from urban aesthetics.”
He emphasized the importance of municipal strategies to maintain city cleanliness and enhance public appearance, aligning with architectural and engineering advancements in the country.
“This should also aim to reduce environmental pollution and raise awareness among the community about protecting and preserving the environment from all forms of pollution and degradation,” stressed Abdul Khaliq.

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Varieties

Emergency Room for Injured Wild Birds Opens at Warsaw Zoo in Poland

A male bullfinch is treated at the birds' hospital at the Warsaw Zoo after crashing against the window of an apartment building, in Warsaw, Poland, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Claudia Ciobanu)
A male bullfinch is treated at the birds' hospital at the Warsaw Zoo after crashing against the window of an apartment building, in Warsaw, Poland, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Claudia Ciobanu)
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Emergency Room for Injured Wild Birds Opens at Warsaw Zoo in Poland

A male bullfinch is treated at the birds' hospital at the Warsaw Zoo after crashing against the window of an apartment building, in Warsaw, Poland, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Claudia Ciobanu)
A male bullfinch is treated at the birds' hospital at the Warsaw Zoo after crashing against the window of an apartment building, in Warsaw, Poland, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Claudia Ciobanu)

When a male bullfinch smashed into Marcin Jarzębski’s apartment window, he took it in but realized it needed expert treatment. So the next morning he brought it to Warsaw’s new emergency room for wild birds.

He placed the tiny, plump bird with a black head, gray back and reddish chest feathers into a shoebox and took it as one of the first patients to the new drop-off center for sick and injured birds at the entrance of the Warsaw Zoo.

“The bird stayed with us overnight, but unfortunately it probably has a broken wing so we brought it to the bird hospital,” The Associated Press quoted Jarzebski as saying.

The 24/7 emergency room in the Polish capital is actually a system of automated metal containers – something like a parcel room – where the containers can keep the birds warm in winter. The boxes send an immediate signal to the bird hospital just a few meters away, where veterinarians bring the birds for diagnosing and treatment.

Jarzebski filled out a questionnaire and carefully placed the shoebox and the paper form into one of the containers, assured that the bullfinch would now have its best chance of surviving.

The box system, designed based on ideas of the workers at the bird hospital, locks the birds in to keep them safe until a doctor can collect them. The drop-off center, opened in February, is boosting the efficiency of a bird hospital that has operated at the Warsaw Zoo since 1998 and now treats about 9,000 patients annually.

It’s the brainchild of the zoo director, ornithologist Andrzej Kruszewicz, who said that people have a responsibility to care for creatures whose habitat they have altered, such as that of the bullfinch.

“This bird is a child of the forest who, during migration, didn’t understand the window,” Kruszewicz said.

“Humans often cause problems: car accidents, crashes into windows, electrocutions, tangled strings on storks’ legs,” he said. “All this is humans’ fault and they should feel responsible to give these birds a second chance.”

 

Treated storks are seen in an external cage outside the birds' hospital at the Warsaw Zoo in Warsaw, Poland, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Claudia Ciobanu)

 

Typical patients at the Warsaw Zoo include common songbirds like tits, sparrows, thrushes and starlings, as well as pigeons. However, in a green city like Warsaw, which has the river Vistula running through it, rarer species also can appear.

Hospital manager Andżelika Gackowska says that warm winters caused by climate change have meant birds that were previously migrating south, including cranes or herons, are choosing to stay in Poland.

“Birds who stopped migrating because of warm winters were caught off guard by such a harsh winter as this year,” Gackowska said. Some birds developed anemia during the cold months because of tough conditions and insufficient nutrition, making them more vulnerable to disease.

The emergency room was financed in part with money from Warsaw’s citizen budget, a program that chooses projects based on their popularity in online surveys of city residents.

Warsaw Zoo workers say residents have become more conscious about providing help if they see a sick bird, although they also warn against overzealousness, saying that people shouldn't pick up young and healthy birds that they might believe are orphans.

“In spring, we always make an information campaign warning people not to ‘kidnap’ birds,” Gackowska said. “Birds take care of their small ones differently than humans. If we see a baby bird on the grass alone, it is likely just training how to fly independently.”

In the bird hospital, veterinarian assistants are constantly on their feet, feeding and giving medicine to the various birds, located across multiple rooms depending on species and degree of illness.

Once birds are stronger, they are placed in large cages outside, to readjust to their natural environment before being released.

Releasing the cured birds back into their habitat is the ultimate goal, veterinarian Ewelina Chudziak said.

“We are fighting for freedom,” she said.

Varieties

Nepal's 'Icefall Doctors' Fix Everest Route for Spring Season

A tourist looks at a view of Mt. Everest from the hills of Syangboche in Nepal December 3, 2009. REUTERS/Gopal Chitrakar
A tourist looks at a view of Mt. Everest from the hills of Syangboche in Nepal December 3, 2009. REUTERS/Gopal Chitrakar
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Nepal's 'Icefall Doctors' Fix Everest Route for Spring Season

A tourist looks at a view of Mt. Everest from the hills of Syangboche in Nepal December 3, 2009. REUTERS/Gopal Chitrakar
A tourist looks at a view of Mt. Everest from the hills of Syangboche in Nepal December 3, 2009. REUTERS/Gopal Chitrakar

Highly skilled mountaineers known in Nepal as "icefall doctors" have begun fixing ropes and ladders on Mount Everest to prepare for the coming spring climbing season, officials said Wednesday.

The team has reached the base camp before starting work on the treacherous Khumbu Icefall, a constantly shifting maze of crevasses and ice blocks that forms the gateway to the world's highest peak.

"Our team of eight have reached the base camp and begun their work," Lama Kazi Sherpa, chair of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, which oversees route-setting, told AFP.

As tradition dictates, the group began with a sacred ceremony at base camp to seek divine blessings before stepping onto the mountain.

This year, authorities increased the permit fee for the spring season from $11,000 to $15,000 for climbers aiming to scale the 8,849-metre (29,032-foot) summit.

Authorities also tightened rules to reduce pollution, requiring each climber to bring back at least two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of waste to Camp 2 and enforcing the use of "poo bags".

Camp 2 is a broad glacial valley above the Khumbu Icefall where climbers often spend several days to acclimatize for higher altitudes.

Expedition operators in Kathmandu are also gearing up for the season, although they anticipate some impact from the travel chaos caused by the Middle East war.

"Flight disruption may affect some of the climbers but we don't expect a big impact," said Dambar Parajuli, president of the Expedition Operators Association.

Nepal is home to eight of the world's 10 highest peaks and attracts hundreds of climbers each spring, when temperatures are warmer and winds calmer.

A climbing boom has made mountaineering a lucrative business since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa made the first ascent in 1953.

Around 700 people reached Everest's summit last year, according to Nepal's tourism department, with another 100 climbers believed to have reached the peak from the northern Tibet side.

Varieties

Chinese University Tells Students to 'Fall in Love' During Spring Break

FILE PHOTO: A couple react during their wedding photoshoot near the Forbidden City, as the city is hit by sandstorm, in Beijing, China March 15, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A couple react during their wedding photoshoot near the Forbidden City, as the city is hit by sandstorm, in Beijing, China March 15, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo
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Chinese University Tells Students to 'Fall in Love' During Spring Break

FILE PHOTO: A couple react during their wedding photoshoot near the Forbidden City, as the city is hit by sandstorm, in Beijing, China March 15, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A couple react during their wedding photoshoot near the Forbidden City, as the city is hit by sandstorm, in Beijing, China March 15, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo

A Chinese university is urging students to "enjoy the flowers, fall in love" during their mid-term break, an unusual directive in a nation obsessed with getting good grades, as authorities seek new ways to spur marriages and domestic consumption.

"See the flowers and enjoy romance" is the theme for the spring holidays from April 1 to 6, the Sichuan Southwest Vocational College of Aviation said on its official Wechat account.

Tuesday's notice exhorting teachers and students to put down the books came about two weeks after China said it would introduce spring and autumn holidays for schools, ⁠in addition to the ⁠traditional times of summer and winter.

Authorities have said they will also encourage staggered paid leave to enable workers to travel in off-peak seasons.

Provinces such as Sichuan and eastern Jiangsu, along with cities like Suzhou and Nanjing, have unveiled plans for spring breaks, most set for April or ⁠early May.

China seeks to boost domestic consumption by encouraging travel and leisure activities among its population of 1.4 billion. Authorities also hope more free time will set the stage for births to reverse a worrisome trajectory of decline.

In 2025, the population fell for a fourth consecutive year, as the birth rate dropped to a record low, with experts warning of further decline.

Beijing also issued a guideline on Tuesday to promote child-friendly development, the powerful state planner, the National Development and Reform ⁠Commission (NDRC), said ⁠in a notice.

According to Reuters, it called for coordinated efforts to bring about "child-friendly cities", by improving public services in areas from education and health to travel, sports and recreation.

Society needs to have enough time and money to raise children, said James Liang, the co-founder of Chinese travel company Trip, who called for more such initiatives.

"Greater efforts are needed to educate young people on the social and personal benefits of raising larger families," added Liang, who is also a prominent demographic expert.

The government could establish a broader support framework by reallocating resources and boosting financial assistance, he said.