I used to see the young people in the city mostly spending their time at the eateries, playing games online, driving out to the desert. Coffee shops were just a place to drink coffee or spend some time chilling out. That scenario is slowly changing. A new group of youngsters are emerging in Jeddah who love music, art, fashion as well as creating their own startups. Many of these youngsters are women.

Many may not know this but Dr. Fatmah Baothman is the first woman in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East to hold a PhD in Modern Artificial Intelligence (AI), a milestone for the entire region and definitely a proud achievement for the Kingdom. This week, the Middle East's first female specialist in AI has been awarded the first-ever Women AI Award, which was announced at the VB AI Summit Transform 2019 in San Francisco, United States, according to Saudi Gazette. According to the award's website, this first-of-its-kind award aims to honor changemakers in the field, women leaders paving the way in rethinking process, policy, technology, and education as AI advances. Dr. Baothman was awarded under the category AI Research, which honors a woman whose research in AI has made a significant impact by helping accelerate progress within her organization, as part of academic research, or by influencing approaches to AI technology. As reported by the news site, Dr. Baothman expressed her gratitude in receiving such a global honor and for the recognition women in AI are receiving for their accomplishments.

Regional airports are ramping up their internal security measures as they say the most dangerous threats in today's aviation world come from within. Artificial intelligence will play a major role in staff clearance in cities like Dubai and Jeddah in the coming years as it will ensure swift analysis and predictions of potential criminal or terrorist behaviour, a security forum heard on Monday. "The concept of security has completely changed," said Farah Al Ansari, head of airport security at Dubai International Airport. "The threats used to be in restricted areas but now they've moved and affect people and government as they're more spread, like what happened in Brussels and Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, so we're upgrading our systems to be in line with modern technologies." The airport is currently working on staff entrance to ensure greater control by introducing biometrics, more advanced face recognition and artificial intelligence, as opposed to only CCTV cameras and police monitoring now.

On this cheerful Tuesday morning, Angela Merkel is at peace with herself and her country. She is standing in a factory loft in central Berlin and listening to Rami Rihawi, a refugee from Syria, who, in his blue suit and only slightly accented German, looks as though he has just jumped out of a glossy brochure on successful integration. After fleeing his homeland to Germany, Rihawi attended a school for computer experts, the site of Merkel's visit. He then received an internship at steel retailer Klöckner before being offered a fulltime job at the company. "We were extremely happy that Rami accepted our job offer," says Klöckner CEO Gisbert Rühl, who is standing proudly next to Rihawi.

It is not every day that young Saudis wander down the street dressed as the Hulk or Doctor Doom. But for three days over the weekend, some 20,000 Saudis decked out in costumes and face paint queued to get into the kingdom's first-ever Comic Con, where robots, video games and giant anime figures filled a tent in the Red Sea city of Jeddah. The global comics expo was held under the auspices of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority, which has hosted a series of festivals, comedy shows and concerts this year. Saudi Arabia is trying to boost its entertainment sector as part of an economic and social reform drive aimed at creating jobs and weaning the country off its dependence on oil. "The level of entertainment has risen so much from previous years. There used to be no public places like this for families, there was no gender mixing, there was no entertainment, there were no shows," said Modah Al-Bakheet, a Jeddah resident.