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impurelight · 5 years ago

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Two Weeks With Flutter

For the two last weeks I've been playing around with Flutter which is a framework for building Android and iOS apps (it also has Web/Windows/Mac/Linux/ChromeOS support in development). And I really like it. I mean, I didn't always like it. When I first picked it up I thought it was needlessly complicated and frustrating. But as I started to learn what the things actually did I started to think it wasn't so bad. It might even be fun. But I guess that's the way with most programming frameworks.

So Flutter makes Android and iOS apps. How'd you expect it to do this? Probably something like HTML, right? Nope. Flutter uses Dart. The way it knows what to build is you have to override the the build() method and make it return your entire UI. The entire UI in one method. Yeah... that's going to get messy fast. Just take a look at one of my build() methods.

Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Scaffold( body: SafeArea( child: Stack( children: <widget>[ FutureBuilder<list>>( future: DatabaseManager.getAllTasksAsTasks(), builder: (BuildContext context, AsyncSnapshot<list>> tasks) { if (tasks.hasData) { return ReorderableListView( children: createWidgets(tasks.data), onReorder: (int start, int current) {}, ); } else { return Center(child: CircularProgressIndicator()); } }, ), Container(color: Color.fromRGBO(0, 0, 0, 0.4)), Hero( tag: "TaskCreate", child: new AlertDialog( title: const Text('Create Task'), content: new TextField( controller: textController, autofocus: true, ), actions: <widget>[ new FlatButton( onPressed: () { Navigator.of(context).pop(); }, textColor: Theme.of(context).primaryColor, child: const Text('Create'), ), ], )), ]// This trailing comma makes auto-formatting nicer for build methods. ) ) ); }

Yeah, I tried to move some things to their own methods (or classes which is more performant but you really only have to worry about that once you call setState()) but there's only so much you can do and so much you have time to do. If some normal person saw this they would probably say it's ugly. And to be honest when I first saw something like this I thought it was ugly too. It's even more messy if you try adding something to it. Paste your text, watch the entire thing go red, then try to add the end bracket in just the right spot (although a better way appears to be cut the old code, create the old container, and paste the old code). But as I got to know how it worked there was something actually pretty elegant about this.

It's sort of like designing something with Legos. You have your root UI, your scaffold, and that can have a child which is a list view and a floating action button. Only instead of Legos they're widgets. There's widgets for almost everything: list views, cards, centered content, images, text, etc. And if you can't find a widget that serves your purposes you can find one on pub.dev or code your own.

So apart from Widgets there's scenes... no views... I mean routes. OK, different frameworks call them different things. Basically just a page of your app. In Flutter they're called routes. In Unity they're called scenes. And the way Flutter handles routes is pretty interesting. It's like a stack of routes. When you go to a new route you call .push() and when you want to go back or if someone hits the back button .pop() is called.

It's pretty simple. But the code to create one of these routes is not. Like look at this:

class TaskRoute extends StatefulWidget { TaskState createState() => TaskState(); } class TaskState extends State<taskroute> { ... }

Every single time we want to create a new route/widget class. Why do we need all this boilerplate? Why do we need Stateful/State/Stateless (not pictured). I think it's for optimization or something but it's still annoying.

So now I should probably talk about the language Dart. Oh, Dart. It's not a bad language. Not as bad as Javascript anyways. The best way to describe Dart is to say it's a modern COOL (C-like Object Oriented Language) similar to other COOL's like C# and Java. Emphasis on modern. So as languages mature there's a tendency of adding random syntactic 'sugar' that no one really needs or asked for that only serve to alienate newcomers to the language. Like take C++. C with classes, right? Nope. Now it's this giant behemoth of a language that takes ages to compile. And I've noticed the same thing with C#. In fact most of the newer syntactic sugar additions to C# are in Dart. Almost as if the Dart team is copying from C#. Hmm...

And this is a particular sore spot for Dart which has a million ways to do everything.

So take typing. There is static typing which means the compiler knows the types of everything at compile time and can alert you of any problems. Then there's hipster typing which means you're going to get a nasty surprise when you run that line of code you haven't tested yet. So which one do you expect Dart to choose? Trick question, Dart uses both. And different tutorials use one or the other. It can make it seem like a tutorial is written in a different language.

And it's not even like some dedicated keyword. This is the difference between static typing and hipster typing in Dart:

// Statically typed; will not compile var myVar = "Hi"; myVar = 5; // Hipster typed; will compile var myVar; myVar = "Hi"; myVar = 5;

Also: allocating new object. You can define new objects (oh, and by the way everything is a reference type in Dart) using the new keyword. But you don't have to use the keyword. It's completely optional. Which, why even have the keyword? Also it's possible to define a method that returns something without actually returning. I mean, you get a warning if you do that but it'll compile just fine. There's also a bunch of weird syntax like Dog({this.id, this.name, this.age}). This is basically the same as saying:

Dog(int id, String name, int age) { this.id = id; this.name = name; this.age = age; }

And there's a large amount of using functional map-like syntax instead of for loops. You know, the standard syntactic sugar stuff.

So syntactic sugar isn't in and of itself bad. The problem is when you have so much syntactic sugar it gives you syntactic diabetes meaning the language gets so inconsistent that it is difficult for new comers to learn. This is definitely a problem for Dart: one tutorial might use the new keyword and explicitly type all their variables. Then the next tutorial might not do any of that and it gets very confusing very fast.

But it's not all bad. There are a few neat things you can do in Dart. For one there's no public or private. To make something private by starting it with an _. It sort of reminds me of Python where you make a function by just indenting. I think it's pretty neat. Also you can have named constructors. It's pretty cool as you can name a constructor something like FromDatabase(Map<string dynamic>) if you just read from a database.

There's also two type of exceptions: error and exception. Error is bad, you should not be getting errors. Exceptions are, well, exceptions. So just catch them normally. I don't really know the difference between these two though. There are assert which is only called in debug builds. Oh, yeah, Flutter compiles to a debug build by default but there are also release and profiling builds.

Also when defining a list, which you'll do a lot in Flutter, every element can end in a comma, even the last one. This is something I've been thinking about whenever I code outside of an IDE. Adding a comma when there shouldn't be one results in a lot of compiler bugs (or in the case of hipster languages runtime bugs). So I think putting a comma after every item, even the last item is the way to go.

Lastly there is Future and async. A function signature that implements these is something like:

Future<list>> getTasks() async

and then you call it like:

tasks = await getTasks();

This is a major thing in Flutter. The main way I use it is when I push another route. I say something like await push() and that stops executing until the route being pushed calls pop(). And then I can do whatever management I need to make sure the data is saved.

Another way this comes into play is I can use an async method to load a database.

Although, to be honest, I sort of think this feature is a little superfluous. Especially in the database example. Reading from the database is so fast that stopping the whole app as the database returns its results is likely good enough. And the poping of pages could be done with a callback instead.

So how is it to actually develop for Flutter? Pretty good, actually. The first major feature of Flutter is the hot reload feature. Everytime you save your app it is instantly recompiled and sent to your phone (if it is already plugged in and the app is started) so the app updates faster than you can turn your head to look at it. It's pretty cool. It sure is a big shift from Unity's builds that can take minutes just to get an APK that you then have to install. Although it can fail sometimes. Usually when you rename something, but that rarely happens. I should probably mention here that I use my phone to test. You can also get a virtual device but that's like a 1GB download and I don't want to do that.

As for debugging instead of crashing flutter will give you a red screen of death.

Which, I mean, looks pretty ominous. Couldn't they have put a smily face on it or something like Windows?

There's also the call stacks when you get an error. They're not as compact as Unity and there's a lot of scrolling and they usually contain tons of information about Flutter's internal calls I don't care about before and after the relevant parts of the callstack. But I mean it's serviceable. Better than not having a callstack at all or a callstack that rarely points to the right thing like... some other languages.

Now there's Android Studio. It's basically a less good version of a JetBrains IDE. There's no telling you how many times something is called, there's no refactoring tools, it doesn't tell you to import packages to fix errors, it takes an extra click to get into the search all screen (Ctrl+N vs Ctrl+T), and it doesn't alert you if something isn't used. And it still takes more RAM than Chrome. Like, what are you doing? But at least it supports the Material theme I'm using on Rider. Like, it doesn't matter if the IDE sucks, as long as it looks good, right?

The only thing it really has over Rider (which I was using for Unity C#) is that it automatically inserts a comment telling you that this end brace corresponds to a particular widget. Which given the nested nature of build() method is quite useful. Not useful enough to get me to not jump ship to IntelliJ though.

So last but not least: the problems I have with Flutter. And there are a lot of them. The biggest one is the documentation. You know, for something made by Google that is almost 3 years old you'd think it would have better documentation. But no. You still see things like: "Enables the form to veto attempts by the user to dismiss the ModalRoute that contains the form." In all fairness this is the exception rather than the rule. Most of the commonly used widgets do have good documentation. But when you click to what a class is you still get this nonsense.

And there are a few bugs still. I encountered one where if you use Navigator.pop() it does not trigger the onPop callback. You need to use Navigator.maybePop() instead.

So all in all Flutter is a fine framework and pretty fun to program for. The foundation is pretty solid, it's just some of the documentation that is not quite up to snuff and some things can be hard to do due to not having the proper widget. Two problems that I'm sure will be solved soon. And once they are I think Flutter has a pretty good shot at being the most popular framework in the world due to its ability to run on Android, iOS, Web, Windows, Mac, Linux, and ChromeOS with an identical experience on all platforms.

#flutter

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riyadhvision · 8 years ago

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:: Dozens of Rohingya refugees are being treated in a Bangladesh hospital for bullet wounds and blast injuries suffered in their flight from persecution in Rakhine state in Myanmar.

Many have lost limbs and eyes in land mine explosions, and doctors at Chittagong Medical College Hospital, the largest government hospital in the southeast Bangladesh, are struggling to cope.

One of their patients, Yusuf Nobi, 32, a day laborer from Yazdina Para, lost both legs and both eyes in a land mine blast. “I don’t want to live anymore,” he said. “Please kill me.”

Yusuf’s wife Rajiv Begum, 26, is distraught. “Our family is in crisis,” she said. “We don’t know what to do.”

Her husband suffered his injuries when he stepped on a mine as the family crossed the border from Myanmar to Bangladesh.

“We were all crossing the border in a group,” Rajiv said. “There was my mother, two brothers, my husband, two of my sons and a daughter. We were about to reach the Bangladesh border. On the other side, we could see the people of Bangladesh.

“All of a sudden there was a big explosion. We got scattered and ran. A few minutes later, when we reached the Bangladesh border, I noticed that my husband was missing. My brothers went back and found him with a severe mine injury, he lost both his legs instantly.

“We put him into a bamboo basket and rushed to the local health center of Medicins Sans Frontieres. Later Yusuf was taken here by ambulance.”

Next to Yusuf’s bed is another refugee, Mohammad Hossain, who also lost his leg in a land mine blast. “While crossing the border, I stepped on one of the landmines planted by the Myanmar Army,” he said. “The explosion threw me around 10 feet up in the air. I lost consciousness when I hit the ground and later found myself in a local health complex inside Bangladesh.”

Hossain’s wife and children narrowly escaped. His wife now looks after the family and tends to her husband at the hospital.

Dr. Tanvir Ahmed, a duty doctor at the hospital, said he had never seen such a large number of patients injured by land mines and bullets.

“In the last two weeks alone, we have treated around 50 Rohingya Muslims, all of them with gunshot wounds and mine explosion injuries. Two of them lost both their legs, two lost both their eyes,” he said.

About 42 Rohingya refugees with serious injuries are being treated at the hospital, and most of them are at risk of losing at least one leg, he said.

“Our hospital is already over-burdened and we cannot accommodate more beds in the wards for new patients. Many of the patients are kept in the corridor and the hospital is trying its best to provide them with medicines and treatment.”

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Hospital overwhelmed by Rohingya with lost limbs and bullet wounds :: Dozens of Rohingya refugees are being treated in a Bangladesh hospital for bullet wounds and blast injuries suffered in their flight from persecution in Rakhine state in Myanmar.

#Bangladesh #Chittagong #DHAKA #Myanmar #ROHINGYA #ROHINGYA MUSLIMS

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frapedoypoli · 8 years ago

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Mετά από πολλά χρόνια στον συγκεκριμένο ραδιοφωνικό σταθμό, η Ναταλία Γερμανού δεν θα συνεχίσει τις εκπομπές της στον Sfera. Το τέλος της μακροχρόνιας συνεργασίας της, το ανακοίνωσε η ίδια με μια φωτογραφία και λίγα λόγια στο instagram

Μετά από πολλαααα χρόνια, κλείνω τον κύκλο μου στο Sfera και αποχαιρετώ με απέραντη αγάπη συναδέλφους, ηχολήπτες και το φανατικό σφεροκοινό ❤️❤️❤️ Ηταν υπέροχα -κι αυτό κρατάμε μόνο ✌ Ενα μεγάλο, τεράστιο Ευχαριστώ σε όλους… Και καλή αντάμωση 

Η δημοσίευση κοινοποιήθηκε από το χρήστη Natalia Germanou (@natalia_germanou) στις Σεπ 29, 2017, 7:13πμ PDT

Πηγή

http://ift.tt/2hDw6Et

#frapedoypoli

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riyadhvision · 8 years ago

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:: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Saturday presented Donald Trump with the Kingdom’s top civilian honor, as the US president began a trip to Riyadh aimed at strengthening security and economic ties.

The king placed the Collar of Abdulaziz Al Saud around Trump’s neck at a ceremony at the Royal Court in Riyadh.

The host of the event declared that Trump was being honored for “his quest to enhance security and stability in the region and around the world.”

The honor has also been bestowed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister Theresa May and Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama.

Trump was joined by first lady Melania Trump and several senior White House aides who were interspersed with Saudi officials throughout a grand ballroom.

Trump landed in Saudi Arabia earlier Saturday for a historic meeting tipped to “turn the page” on US-Arab affairs after a strained relationship under the previous American administration.

The president touched down in Riyadh and was welcomed by King Salman and senior Saudi officials.

Stepping off Air Force One with his wife, Melania, Trump and his entourage received a red-carpet welcome.

After a royal banquet, Trump and the king were to have private talks and participate in a signing ceremony for a number of US-Saudi agreements, including a deal worth a reported $100 billion for Saudi Arabia to buy American arms.

National oil giant Saudi Aramco is expected to sign $50 billion of deals with US companies on Saturday, part of a drive to diversify the Kingdom’s economy beyond oil exports, Aramco’s chief executive Amin Nasser said.

Trump is to deliver a speech on Sunday aimed at rallying Muslims in the fight against terrorism. His first official foreign trip since taking office will coincide with three key summits on Saturday and Sunday, as well as several business activities, cultural, intellectual and sports celebrations.

The Saudi-US Summit, on Saturday, features a series of bilateral meetings between King Salman and Trump, and “focus on re-affirming the long-standing friendship, and strengthening the close political, economic, security and cultural bonds between the two nations.”

It will be followed Sunday by the GCC-US Summit, Arab Islamic American Summit, and the inauguration of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology.

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King Salman presents Trump with Saudi Arabia’s top civilian honor :: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Saturday presented Donald Trump with the Kingdom’s top civilian honor, as the US president began a trip to Riyadh aimed at strengthening security and economic ties.

#ARAB ISLAMIC AMERICAN SUMMIT #DONALD TRUMP #GLOBAL CENTER FOR COMBATING EXTREMIST IDEOLOGY #SAUDI-US SUMMIT #TRUMP IN SAUDI ARABIA

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riyadhvision · 8 years ago

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:: US President Donald Trump has landed in Saudi Arabia for a historic meeting tipped to “turn the page” on US-Arab affairs after a strained relationship under the previous American administration.

The president touched down in Riyadh and was welcomed by King Salman and senior Saudi officials.

Stepping off Air Force One with his wife, Melania, Trump and his entourage received a red-carpet welcome.

Trump and King Salman spoke through an interpreter when they met, as a military brass band played, cannons boomed and seven Saudi jets flew over in V-formation, trailing red, white and blue smoke.

The two leaders sat side by side at the VIP section of the airport terminal and drank cups of Arabic coffee.

On the drive to the Ritz hotel where Trump is staying, King Salman rode with the president in the heavily armored presidential limousine nicknamed “the Beast.”

The Saudi-US Summit on Saturday will feature a series of bilateral meetings between King Salman and Trump, and “focus on re-affirming the long-standing friendship, and strengthening the close political, economic, security and cultural bonds between the two nations.”

It will be followed Sunday by the GCC-US Summit, Arab Islamic American Summit, and the inauguration of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology.

Experts told Arab News that the visit by Trump will boost US-Arab ties after the relationship soured under his predecessor President Barack Obama.

“By selecting Saudi Arabia as the first stop on his historic visit, the first official one to any foreign country, President Trump has been prudent to seize an opportunity to turn a new and more positive page toward Arabs and Muslims in the region and beyond,” said John Duke Anthony, founding president and CEO of the National Council on US-Arab Relations.

“The president’s visit has a chance to begin healing wounds that have been inflicted on Muslims the world over.”

Anthony said that there has been a shift from Trump’s presidential campaign, when he was seen as being openly hostile toward the Muslim world and Kingdom.

“As a candidate for the Oval Office, Donald Trump was not shy about criticizing Saudi Arabia. Contexts change, though, and as president, his administration has refrained from unjustified, unnecessary and provocative statements in this regard,” he said.

Tensions rose between the Arabian Gulf and the US after the latter brokered the “nuclear deal” with Iran, which some Arab countries claim meddles in regional affairs and sponsors international terrorism.

Abdulrahman Al-Rashed, a veteran analyst, said that the new US administration has the opportunity to get tough on Tehran.

“Iran has taken the region hostage and has blackmailed Washington for many years,” he wrote.

“I believe it is in the hands of the current US administration to get Iran to face a new reality, namely that it must stop the spread of chaos and violence in the region and wider world.”

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‘A new page’ as US President Donald Trump lands in Saudi Arabia :: US President Donald Trump has landed in Saudi Arabia for a historic meeting tipped to “turn the page” on US-Arab affairs after a strained relationship under the previous American administration.

#ARAB ISLAMIC AMERICAN SUMMIT #DONALD TRUMP #GLOBAL CENTER FOR COMBATING EXTREMIST IDEOLOGY #SAUDI-US SUMMIT #TRUMP IN SAUDI ARABIA

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riyadhvision · 6 years ago

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Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Britain, Prince Khalid bin Bandar, praised UK-Saudi relations at a national day celebration in London.

:: Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Britain praised relations with the UK at a national day celebration in London on Monday.

Prince Khalid bin Bandar also said the Kingdom would be showing a lot more of “what we have to offer” in the coming years.

Arab and international diplomats and British and Saudi officials came together with Saudi citizens for the celebration of the 89th National Day at Lancaster House in the West End of London.

It was the first time Prince Khalid, who was appointed an ambassador in July, has hosted the national day ceremony in the UK’s capital.

The ambassador said the “relationship between Saudi Arabia and the UK goes back before the 89 years since the creation of the Kingdom, and we have enhanced and extended vast development to improve the relationship between our two great countries.”

Prince Khalid also gave a special thanks “in the true spirit of a national united front” to Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabian Airlines and the Misk Foundation, who supported the ceremony.

“They are among the best of Saudi Arabia, but not all that you can get from Saudi Arabia, and for the next few years, we’ll be showing you what we can do and what we have to offer,” he added.

Khaled Al-Duwaisan, Kuwait’s ambassador to the UK and dean of the diplomatic corps, said it was an honor to be among his Saudi friends at the event.

“Saudi Arabia achieved great progress and prosperity to its people. It is the base of stability in our area as Saudi Arabia is the biggest Gulf state with their origin and their location. We congratulate them for this day because it is our celebration, not just their celebration,” he told News Agency.

The Mayor of Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Will Pascall, expressed his great honor to be invited to celebrate the national day.

“My congratulations go to the king, the crown prince and all the people in Saudi Arabia,” he told News Agency.

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Saudi ambassador to London praises UK ties at national day celebration :: Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Britain praised relations with the UK at a national day celebration in London on Monday.

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riyadhvision · 8 years ago

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Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Governor of Makkah Region.

:: Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdul Aziz, deputy governor of Makkah region, raised the level of coordination between the bodies operating at the Grand Mosque to ensure the movement of crowds to and from the mosque in coordination with the work being carried out on the Zamzam well rehabilitation project, which is scheduled to be completed before the coming month of Ramadan.

During his field inspection, the prince also highlighted the work being carried out to rehabilitate the Zamzam well by organizing a campaign to raise awareness among visitors of the Grand Mosque.

Prince Abdullah listened to those in charge of the project who explained the ongoing work to complete the construction of the five service bridges to Zamzam from the eastern side.

The rehabilitation of the well will provide Zamzam water in sufficient quantities to meet the increasing levels of pilgrims. The project will upgrade the storage, pumping and optimum water distribution systems to ensure purity and safety, and also to sterilize the surrounding areas of the well in the old basement of the Grand Mosque.

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Deputy governor of Makkah region oversees Zamzam well project progress :: Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdul Aziz, deputy governor of Makkah region, raised the level of coordination between the bodies operating at the Grand Mosque to ensure the movement of crowds to and from the mosque in coordination with the work being carried out on the Zamzam well rehabilitation project, which is scheduled to be completed before the coming month of Ramadan.

#GRAND MOSQUE #Makkah #ZAMZAM WATER

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riyadhvision · 8 years ago

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A Saudi soldier takes his position at Saudi Arabia’s border with Yemen.

:: Gas masks lie abandoned among rusting debris in a shell-pocked Saudi military outpost on the border with war-torn Yemen, an enduring flashpoint in more than two years of fighting against Houthi militias.

The post in Al Khubah, a deserted village framed by barren mountain ridges, is one of several border guard bases the militias have targeted since a Saudi-led coalition began its military intervention in Yemen in 2015.

The Iran-backed insurgents’ hit-and-run incursions and rocket barrages have not jeopardized Saudi control of the vast frontier, but they have underscored how the raging conflict in Yemen is spilling across the border, threatening scores of villages like Al Khubah.

“The Houthis thought we will withdraw,” Saudi border guard Colonel Mohammed al-Hameed said as he gave this news agency a rare tour of the battered base.

“But we are still very much in control,” he added, broken glass and bullet casings crunching under his feet.

The base showed signs of close-range combat. The scorched walls were scarred with shrapnel and the metal ceiling was pitted with bullet and shell holes. A cat prowled behind a mountain of wrecked furniture.

Gas masks had been procured for fear of potential chemical attacks, Al-Hameed said.

He described the Saudi base on the edge of the frontier as an “arrowhead”, directly exposed to Houthi mountain posts on the other side that give the militias a strategic vantage point.

The militias, well-versed in the region’s rugged topography, have mounted numerous cross-border raids in retaliation against Saudi air strikes on their Yemeni strongholds.

Saudi Arabia led a 2015 intervention in Yemen to prop up the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Houthi militias forced him into exile.

It has also been hit repeatedly by the militias’ cross-border incursions, raising fears the conflict could drag out yet further.

“It’s been extraordinarily difficult to prevent Yemeni infiltrations across the border,” Lori Boghardt, from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said.

“The Saudis are not just trying to protect civilians and… infrastructure from the tens of thousands of projectiles and ballistic missiles being launched over the border,” she said.

“There’s also the broader strategic issue of trying to secure the basic territorial integrity of the kingdom.” The militias have posted numerous propaganda videos purporting to show their incursions into Saudi territory, including one inside Al Khubah showing border guards beating a hasty retreat.

“The Houthis are liars, liars, liars,” Al-Hameed said, claiming there had only been a handful of Saudi casualties and no fatalities in militia assaults at the site.

Saudi Arabia does not officially disclose military fatalities, but state media has frequently featured funeral notices for “martyred” soldiers.

Unofficial figures show that cross-border attacks by militias have killed at least 140 soldiers and civilians in Saudi Arabia since March 2015.

Given Saudi Arabia’s large military presence along the border and its superior air power, the Houthis would struggle to hold any territory they might seize.

Ordinary Saudi civilians have also been affected by the fighting. Thousands of residents have been evacuated from border towns across the southwest to create a buffer zone.

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How Saudi Arabia tackles border spillover from the Yemen war :: Gas masks lie abandoned among rusting debris in a shell-pocked Saudi military outpost on the border with war-torn Yemen, an enduring flashpoint in more than two years of fighting against Houthi militias.

#HOUTHIS #Saudi Arabia #Yemen

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riyadhvision · 8 years ago

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King Salman

:: King Salman arrived in Moscow on Wednesday for a historic and unprecedented state visit to Russia, the first by a Saudi monarch in almost a century of diplomatic ties.

The king was greeted at Vnukovo airport by senior Russian officials and a military brass band. He will have talks with the Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Friday.

The two countries will sign investment agreements worth more than $3 billion during the visit, the Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said. They include a $1.1 billion deal for the Russian petrochemical company Sibur to build a plant in Saudi Arabia, a $1 billion joint technology investment fund, another $1 billion joint fund to invest in energy projects, and Saudi investment in Russian toll roads, including a new one in Moscow.

King Salman and President Putin are also expected to discuss extending oil production cuts ahead of the OPEC meeting in November.

The king is leading a high-powered delegation of government and private-sector figures. “The potential for economic cooperation between the countries is really unlimited,” Konstantin Dudarev, former Saudi general manager of the Russian oil and gas engineering construction company PJSC Stroytransgaz told Arab News.

“Their economies complement each other, and it is time to gain what was lost during the past years, and to take practical steps to overcome all obstacles to secure a breakthrough in trade and economic relations.”

Ilya Fabrichnikov, head of the foreign affairs group at the Russian Association of Public Relations, said the visit marked a shift in regional and global affairs. “We are witnessing a move from a unipolar world to a more regionalized state of affairs,” he told Arab News.

Anton Mardasov of the Russian International Affairs Council said the two countries were moving to end their “stereotyped perceptions of each other. Taking into account the nature of the Russian economy and the country’s geopolitical position, it is important for Moscow to attract foreign investment and ameliorate the investment climate.

“In this regard, Saudi-Russian business and investment cooperation serves Russian national interests. There are a large number of Muslims in Russia who can benefit from Islamic banking, which is an area of investment for Russia and Saudi Arabia.”

Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said the two countries would seek areas of synergy and aim to exploit their “unique technologies,” for example in desalination and energy efficiency for air conditioning.

He also highlighted Russia’s largest tech company, Yandex, which specializes in Internet-related services and products. “Yandex is an interesting company for us because it is already present in the Middle East and Turkey, and it has a search engine that beats Google in the Russian market by a large margin,” he said.

Dmitriev’s fund will also look at relevant investments outside Russia and Saudi Arabia, he said.

The Council of Saudi Chambers organized a networking meeting in Moscow on Wednesday for more than 100 Saudi and Russian business leader and chief executives, to coincide with King Salman’s visit.

Council Chairman Ahmed Al-Rajhi said he hoped the meeting would boost commercial cooperation and investment between the two countries.

An increase in meetings between Russia and Saudi Arabia “has become a pressing necessity to activate commercial and investment relations,” he said.

King Salman’s visit will conclude on Saturday.

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A turning point in Saudi-Russian relations :: King Salman arrived in Moscow on Wednesday for a historic and unprecedented state visit to Russia, the first by a Saudi monarch in almost a century of diplomatic ties.

#Moscow #Russia

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frapedoypoli · 8 years ago

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Η νέα ανάρτηση των Anonymous Greece

Στον λογαριασμό τους στο Facebook, οι Anonymous Greece έκαναν σήμερα, Τετάρτη 27.09.2017, μία νέα ανάρτηση, με την οποία περνούν στην αντεπίθεση. Συγκεκριμένα τονίζουν : «Είμαστε Χακτιβιστές και όχι εγκληματίες! Υποστηρίζουμε τον Ελληνικό λαό. Είμαστε και θα συνεχίσουμε να είμαστε ΠΑΝΤΑ μαζί τους! Η Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος και οι ειρωνείες της είχε ως αποτέλεσμα να δεχτεί Botnet attack στα συστήματα της. www.bankofgreece.gr #AnonymousGreece«.

Μία ημέρα μετά την ανάρτηση των Anonymous Greece, με την οποία ισχυρίζονταν πως προχώρησαν σε διαρροή χιλιάδων εγγράφων της Τράπεζας της Ελλάδος και του υπουργείου Εσωτερικών, η ομάδα των χάκερς… ξαναχτυπά

Η νέα ανάρτηση των Anonymous Greece

Στον λογαριασμό τους στο Facebook, οι Anonymous Greece έκαναν σήμερα, Τετάρτη 27.09.2017, μία νέα ανάρτηση, με την οποία περνούν στην αντεπίθεση. Συγκεκριμένα τονίζουν: «Είμαστε Χακτιβιστές και όχι εγκληματίες! Υποστηρίζουμε τον Ελληνικό λαό. Είμαστε και θα συνεχίσουμε να είμαστε ΠΑΝΤΑ μαζί τους! Η Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος και οι ειρωνείες της είχε ως αποτέλεσμα να δεχτεί Botnet attack στα συστήματα της. www.bankofgreece.gr #AnonymousGreece«.

Πηγή

http://ift.tt/2hxltiE

#frapedoypoli

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riyadhvision · 8 years ago

Text

Singapore cartoonist Sonny Liew

:: Singapore cartoonist Sonny Liew swept the comic industry’s “Oscars” and is a hit at home, but the city-state has struggled with how to respond to his surprise best seller, which challenges its own carefully-scripted version of history.

With a cast of aliens and robots and a mish-mash of influences, Liew’s graphic novel “The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye” appears at first glance more of a paean to history’s greatest comic book artists than a subversive tome.

But the story — which retells Singapore’s story from the 1950s to the present through the eyes of a fictional cartoonist — questions the official narrative hammered into citizens of the tightly-controlled city-state from a young age.

A central character is a real-life figure, Lim Chin Siong, a popular left-wing trade union leader who was a rival to Singapore’s authoritarian founding father Lee Kuan Yew in the ‘60s, and who was jailed during Lee’s rule.

Lim plays little part in official histories of that tumultuous period when Singapore became independent from British rule, an era marked by protests and riots, but the book presents an alternative vision of the past in which the late politician becomes premier.

On the other hand, Lee — the central figure in Singapore’s official histories and revered by many for transforming the city-state into one of the world’s richest societies — is presented in an unflattering light, as a hard-line ruler who brooked no criticism.

“I was trying to present history the way it really is: full of richness and complexities,” Liew told AFP.

“I wanted to show that there are different versions of history. It’s less about which is the most true or accurate, but rather for the reader to come away with an understanding that they need to approach all historical texts with a critical eye,” the 42-year-old added.

In Singapore, where media is tightly controlled and government critics have been hit with financially ruinous lawsuits, the book initially caused alarm.

On the eve of its launch, government agency the National Arts Council (NAC) withdrew an Sg$8,000 ($5,900) grant given to Liew for the book — whose previous works did not touch on Singapore’s history — due to its “sensitive content.”

An official from the agency said the work “potentially undermines the authority of legitimacy of the Government and its public institutions.”

But the move backfired. The extra attention caused by withdrawing the grant helped turn the graphic novel into a hit, and it is now in its fifth print run and has been translated into four languages.

In July, Liew won three Eisner Awards, regarded as the Oscars of the comic industry, at Comic Con International in San Diego for the graphic novel, including one for Best Writer/Artist.

The arts council did issue a terse, congratulatory statement — but did not go so far as to mention the name of the book.

“With the NAC, they’ve told me explicitly that they had to draw a line between me as an artist, which they support, and my book, which they said they can’t get behind,” Liew said.

Highlighting his awkward position, Liew last week said he will be returning a NAC grant of Sg$19,000 for a new book he is working on in a bid to avoid “the comprises” involved in a relationship with the authorities.

Overall, the official reaction has been relatively muted.

Liew has been allowed to continue his work from his studio stuffed full of pop culture memorabilia — he also writes and illustrates for DC Comics — is still invited to government-funded talks, and gets the use of a subsidised workspace.

Some observers see in the mild response a further sign that authorities may be relaxing their tight control over society.

Authorities had already lifted long-standing bans on 240 books and magazines in 2015. However others believe they may be simply accepting reality — that it would be counterproductive to try to ban such a popular work.

Singapore has had the same ruling party, The People’s Action Party, since 1959, a few years before it became independent from Britain, while Lee Kuan Yew was prime minister for over three decades, and his son is the current premier.

Lee, who died in 2015, was undoubtedly one of the commanding figures of Asia’s post-war economic rise, but faced criticism for his iron-fisted rule, forcing several opposition politicians into bankruptcy or exile.

Liew is fully aware that he is treading on sensitive ground and said he had made sure to rigorously check all the facts in his work.

“I do realize this is Singapore so I’m very careful,” he said, with a knowing smile.

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Award-winning Singapore cartoonist challenges history :: Singapore cartoonist Sonny Liew swept the comic industry’s “Oscars” and is a hit at home, but the city-state has struggled with how to respond to his surprise best seller, which challenges its own carefully-scripted version of history.

#SINGAPORE #SONNY LIEW

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