News

Lebanon Postpones Daylight Saving Time Shift By 1 Month

The decision has left Lebanon waking up in two different time zones this morning.

Published

3 years ago

March 26, 2023

Nour Nasir

lebanon postpones daylight saving time shift by 1 month

AFP

In a last-minute decision, Lebanon’s government announced that the shift away from daylight saving time would be postponed by a month, extending DST until the end of Ramadan. As a result, while most Northern Hemisphere countries automatically advanced their times by an hour yesterday, the people of Lebanon were left confused about the exact time they should set their alarms on Sunday morning.

In an alleged video leak shown by news outlet Megaphone, Lebanon’s prime minister, Najib Mikati, and parliament speaker Nabih Berri discussed the postponement, with Berri insisting on delaying the switch away from DST.

Most digital devices with network access, such as smartphones and computers, switch in and out of daylight saving time automatically, so Lebanese citizens were asked to adjust their clocks back an hour manually.

Also Read: A Line-Up Of Over 100 Shows Comes To Snapchat This Ramadan

Although public institutions are forced to abide by the government’s decision, many private businesses ignored the request and continued to follow the existing schedule. The confusion has left Lebanon — a small country that can be transversed east to west in less than two hours — with two separate time zones.

The chaos has resulted in missed appointments, TV channels displaying different times, and even Google searches with the wrong timestamps.

News

YouTube Rolls Out Supervised Children’s Accounts Across MENA

An industry-first feed timer lets parents cap Shorts scrolling. Access can also be switched off entirely ahead of exam season.

Published

11 hours ago

July 10, 2026

Dana Saadeh

YouTube

YouTube has launched supervised kid accounts across the Middle East and North Africa, giving parents a way to hand their children the main YouTube app without handing over all of it. Announced in Dubai on July 2, the accounts are built directly into the platform rather than the standalone YouTube Kids app, and are aimed at families who feel a child has outgrown the curated library but isn’t ready for the open feed.

Parents can choose from three content settings, each broadly aligned with international content ratings. Explore covers educational videos, tutorials, arts and crafts, and dance. Explore More adds gaming and live streams. Most of YouTube opens up almost everything except videos rated 18+ or deemed inappropriate for supervised accounts.

The standout tool is an industry-first Shorts feed timer, which lets parents set daily limits on short-form scrolling. Set it to zero and Shorts disappears altogether – a lever YouTube suggests parents might pull ahead of exam season. Other protections are on by default for all users under 18: “Take a Break” and “Bedtime” reminders, no personalized ad targeting, autoplay switched off, and no ability to upload videos or write comments. The accounts are optional, and parents can end supervision at any time.

The kid accounts join supervised teen accounts already available across the region, which notify parents by email when a teenager uploads a video or starts a live stream.

“YouTube has been a huge part of families’ lives across this region for over 20 years,” said Javid Aslanov, head of YouTube Middle East and North Africa, citing Kantar research showing 95% of viewers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE agree YouTube has top content in education and learning.

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“It’s essential that we protect young people in – not from – the digital world,” added Garth Graham, YouTube’s head of health.

The new settings are rolling out gradually across the MENA, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, and Iraq. The latest features can be set up through Family Center in the YouTube app or via Google Family Link.