00:00Good day. Welcome to the Gulf News Update for Thursday, May 23. Here are the top stories
00:11at this hour. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and
00:15Prime Minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, yesterday launched a landmark mobile government
00:20initiative in the UAE. The project, which should be achieved in two years, seeks to
00:24offer all government services to the public from anywhere and around the clock. The Telecommunications
00:29Regulatory Authority has allocated 200 million dirhams to support the initiative. The Friends
00:34of Syria Alliance has called on Iran and its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, to withdraw fighters
00:39immediately from Syrian territory. Syria's main opposition group, the Syrian National
00:43Coalition, gathers for a landmark conference in Istanbul today to elect a new leader and
00:48discuss peace talks with the regime. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has denounced
00:53as unjust the supervisory electoral body's disqualification of his top aide, Esfandiar
00:59Rahim Mashaie, from next month's presidential poll. Ahmadinejad said he plans to appeal
01:03to the nation's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A British soldier was hacked
01:08to death by two men in a South London street last night in what the government said appeared
01:12to be a terrorist attack. The victim was assaulted outside a military barracks in Woolwich. When
01:17officers arrived at the scene, they shot and wounded two armed men. Prime Minister David
01:21Cameron will meet security chiefs following the murder. In sport, Rajasthan Royals will
01:25play Mumbai Indians in the final Indian Premier League qualifier tomorrow, with the winner
01:30going on to meet Chennai Super Kings in Sunday's title match. Entertainment, and as the Fast
01:35and Furious crew return for their sixth instalment to the cinemas this weekend, Bollywood lovers
01:39can catch the return of Pretty Zinta and the big screen after 2008 in the romantic comedy
01:44Ishq in Paris. If the jitterbugs bit new, head to the 5th Dubai Tango Festival, featuring
01:49performances by maestros such as Mariano Ciccio Fromboli and Juana Sepulveda at the
01:54Meydan Hotel. On Friday, Egyptian singer Tamer Hosni performs at the Dubai World Trade Center.
02:00Finally, the weather, and today's high across the UAE will be 38 degrees Celsius, dropping
02:04to 22 at night. That's all for now. Thanks for watching. We will be back with the newscast
02:09on Sunday, but you can always get the latest news at gulfnews.com.
Comments