00:00Good day, welcome to the GovNews update for Thursday December 12th. Here are the top stories
00:09at this hour.
00:10A law to protect children initially called Redeemer's Law in memory of the 8-year-old
00:14girl who was tortured to death by her father and his girlfriend will now be known as the
00:18Law on Child Rights. The decision came after UAE Federal National Council members voted
00:23by a massive majority to change the name. The draft law provides for children's rights
00:28to security, to freedom from inhuman, cruel or degrading treatment, and the right to special
00:33protection during childhood. The bill says every child, regardless of origin, nationality,
00:38religion or social status, has the right to a secure life, permanent care and emotional
00:43and psychological stability.
00:45Egyptian security forces raided an office in Qatar's Al Jazeera television channel
00:49last night and arrested 11 Qataris, Al Aram reported. Four police officers were among
00:55those arrested.
00:56Gulf Arab leaders meeting in Kuwait yesterday called for the withdrawal of all foreign troops
01:00from war-ravaged Syria and praised Iran's new government for its shift in policy. The
01:05leaders of the six Gulf countries also approved the formation of a joint military command,
01:09but postponed a decision on proposed union apparently over differences.
01:14A fierce snowstorm dubbed Alexis heading towards the Levant region, with temperatures expected
01:18to drop to 5 degrees Celsius. Of particular concern are the hundreds of thousands of Syrian
01:24refugees in Lebanon, especially those with makeshift tents as shelter. The United Nations
01:29said yesterday that it is extremely concerned for their plight.
01:33Indian Finance Minister Pichit Ambaram has said that tackling inflation will be the key
01:37priority. New data is expected to show India's consumer inflation remained high at 10 percent
01:43in November from a year earlier.
01:45Sony's PlayStation 4 launches today at key retailers across the UAE. Many stores will
01:50be launching the next generation gaming console at 11pm. The device, which has sold over 2.1
01:56million units worldwide, will retail starting at 1,699 dirhams.
02:03Sport and Shahid Afridi delighted his legion of fans at the Dubai International Cricket
02:08Stadium by seeing Pakistan to a three-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the first 2020 match
02:13of their series last night. Boom Boom Afridi scored an unbeaten 39 from 30 balls as his
02:19side chased down a target of 146 with five balls to spare.
02:24Arsenal sneaked into the last 16 of the Champions League last night despite suffering a 2-0
02:29defeat at the hands of Napoli. Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan were among the others to go through,
02:34while Neymar scored a hat-trick as Barcelona hammered Celtic 6-1 at the Nou Camp.
02:40Stars from Bollywood and Hollywood helped raise more than 2.5 million dirhams for Syrian
02:44refugees last night at the annual Dubai International Film Festival Charity Gala. The event saw
02:50Arjan Rampal, the Hulk actor Mark Ruffalo, Bond girl Naomi Harris and Rooney Mara auction
02:55off items in aid of Oxfam and Dubai Cares. The highlight of the evening was the sale
03:00of a bespoke Aston Martin, as driven by 007 in the film Skyfall, which went for $430,000.
03:08Music fans facing an impossible choice on February 21st can breathe a sigh of relief.
03:13Carlos Santana and The Rolling Stones were both set to play on the date next year in
03:18Dubai and Abu Dhabi, respectively. But the organisers of the Dubai Jazz Festival announced
03:23the Santana concert has been moved to February 20th.
03:27And finally, the weather. Today's high across the UAE will be 27 degrees Celsius, dropping
03:31to a chilly 18 degrees at night.
03:33That's all for now. Thanks for watching. We will be back with the newscast on Sunday,
03:37but you can always get the latest news on golfnews.com
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