Saudi Arabia bans English language and Western calendar

Saudi Arabian receptionists won’t answer your call in English anymore and reading timeframes and dates in business deals will require a calendar converter. Arabic is now the exclusive language to be used in government and private agencies, while the Islamic Hijri calendar is the sole datebook in Saudi Arabia, reports the Gulf News. The country’s Interior Ministry explained the move saying it's an attempt "to preserve” both the calendar and the language. Previously, Saudi entities were allowed to “occasionally” use Gregorian, or Western, dates providing there was a corresponding Hijri timeline.  But the Interior Ministry has apparently lost its patience with the so-called “unnecessary” practice, which violated higher orders, says the Arabic daily, Al Watan. Hijri is a lunar cycle calendar,...

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BSkyB launches Sky News Arabia

Once a barren media landscape, now awash with ways to receive news, as of Sunday the Middle East boasts another pan-Arab news network, after Sky News Arabia switched on its transmitters. Co-owned by BSkyB, the new arrival in the regional market will have the same pacy 24/7 approach as Sky News. It has spent the past year hiring and getting established in the heartland of its other shareholder, the Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation, owned by Manchester City's owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan. Like its competitors – al-Arabiya, al-Jazeera and Alarab – Sky News Arabia claims a commitment to independence and reporting without fear or favour. "They are going to see that we are different," says its head, Nart Bouran. "The issue of balance is going to distinguish us." The newcomer...

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