Deputy minister receives Portuguese ambassador to Saudi Arabia

Abdulrahman Al-Rassi (R) holds talks with Nuno Mathias in Riyadh. (Supplied)
Abdulrahman Al-Rassi (R) holds talks with Nuno Mathias in Riyadh. (Supplied)
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Updated 07 April 2025
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Deputy minister receives Portuguese ambassador to Saudi Arabia

Deputy minister receives Portuguese ambassador to Saudi Arabia
  • They reviewed issues of common interest and future cooperation

RIYADH: Saudi Deputy Minister for International Multilateral Affairs Abdulrahman Al-Rassi received Ambassador of Portugal to the Kingdom Nuno Mathias in Riyadh, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

During the meeting, they reviewed “issues of common interest and future cooperation,” the ambassador added in a post on X.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Waleed Elkhereiji recently received in Riyadh Alison Dilworth, US Embassy charge d’affaires ad interim to the Kingdom.

They reviewed bilateral relations and international developments.

 


Saudi Arabia condemns Israeli airstrike on Gaza hospital

Palestinians stand near damaged vehicle as they inspect the damage after two Israeli missiles hit Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital
Palestinians stand near damaged vehicle as they inspect the damage after two Israeli missiles hit Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital
Updated 8 sec ago
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Saudi Arabia condemns Israeli airstrike on Gaza hospital

Palestinians stand near damaged vehicle as they inspect the damage after two Israeli missiles hit Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital
  • Kingdom categorically rejected Sunday’s attack on the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital and said it constituted a flagrant violation of all international laws and norms

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Sunday condemned Israel after two Israeli missiles hit a major Gaza hospital on Sunday, knocking out the emergency department.

The Kingdom categorically rejected Sunday’s attack on the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital and said it constituted a flagrant violation of all international laws and norms, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The Kingdom called on the international community to assume its responsibility to halt repeated violations against civilians, warning of the collapse of Gaza’s health system as a result of continued Israeli violations of all international laws and norms.

Later on Sunday, the head of the World Health Organization said that a child died because of the air strike on the hospital.

“A child died due to disruption of care,” WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X. “The emergency room, laboratory, emergency room X-ray machines and the pharmacy were destroyed,” he added, quoting information from the director of the hospital.

“The hospital was forced to move 50 patients to other hospitals. 40 critical patients couldn’t be moved,” he said. “Hospitals are protected under international humanitarian law. Attacks on health care must stop.”

Al-Ahli Hospital is run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, which condemned the attack, saying in a statement it occurred on “Palm Sunday, the start of the Holy Week, the most sacred week of the Christian year.”


MWL chief, French officials discuss religious matters

MWL chief, French officials discuss religious matters
Updated 44 min 35 sec ago
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MWL chief, French officials discuss religious matters

MWL chief, French officials discuss religious matters
  • The MWL chief discussed contemporary issues related to the league’s mission and responsibilities in promoting moderate Islam

RIYADH: The secretary-general of the Muslim World League met with a number of officials in Paris to discuss religious matters in France.

Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, who also serves as the chairman of the Organization of Muslim Scholars, met with Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, and Minister for Equality Aurore Berge.

The MWL chief discussed contemporary issues related to the league’s mission and responsibilities in promoting moderate Islam and strengthening unity among Muslims worldwide.

Al-Issa also addressed widely debated intellectual and religious concepts and spoke about the ethics of artificial intelligence.


Saudi universities secure top honors at Geneva exhibition

Saudi Arabia’s academic institutions flourished at the 50th Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions. (MoE)
Saudi Arabia’s academic institutions flourished at the 50th Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions. (MoE)
Updated 13 April 2025
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Saudi universities secure top honors at Geneva exhibition

Saudi Arabia’s academic institutions flourished at the 50th Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions. (MoE)
  • The wins, achieved in a field of 900 inventors from 40 countries, underscore Kingdom’s growing global scientific influence

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s academic institutions flourished at the 50th Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions (April 9-13, 2025), where Princess Nourah University and Najran University earned five medals.

Their wins, achieved in a field of 900 inventors from 40 countries, underscore the Kingdom’s growing global scientific influence.

PNU claimed four medals, including a silver medal for Dr. Sarah Al-Nufaiei’s “fixed dental reference marker” — a pioneering tool that standardizes dental implant placements by creating fixed intraoral reference points, improving precision in restorative procedures.

The university was also awarded three bronze medals for transformative projects. Dr. Haya Al-Shahrani’s “smart wheelchair controlled via brain signals and eye blinks wirelessly” uses non-invasive EEG sensors and eye-tracking cameras to empower mobility-impaired users.

Dr. Fahda Al-Qahtani’s “gum-based tool for isolating structurally damaged teeth” provides a biocompatible alternative to traditional rubber dam clamps, while Dr. Taghreed Al-Omar’s “anti-diabetic drug formulation with Friedelin (a chemical compound)” isolates the triterpenoid compound from Ziziphus spina-christi leaves to improve glycemic control.

These innovations align with PNU’s 2025 strategic plan to advance Saudi Arabia’s sustainable development goals and position the university as a center for women-led STEM breakthroughs.

Najran University won a gold medal for its “nano-photocatalyst using date palm seed bio-carbon with gold nanoparticles and zinc oxide for industrial wastewater treatment.”

The project addresses environmental challenges by converting locally sourced date palm seeds into bio-carbon — a sustainable base material — then augmenting it with gold nanoparticles and zinc oxide to create a photocatalyst that degrades organic pollutants under UV light.

This low-cost, solar-powered solution underscores Saudi Arabia’s commitment to eco-innovation under Vision 2030.

The event featured 161 Saudi participants from schools, universities and technical institutes, showing advances in AI-driven infrastructure, healthcare robotics, and biometric security systems.

With both universities now eyeing international patents and commercial partnerships, Saudi academia’s footprint on the world stage continues to grow.


More than 40 Arab artists to explore regional dialogue through digital expression

Diriyah Art Futures has announced a new exhibition featuring artists who use technology as their medium for creative expression.
Diriyah Art Futures has announced a new exhibition featuring artists who use technology as their medium for creative expression.
Updated 13 April 2025
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More than 40 Arab artists to explore regional dialogue through digital expression

Diriyah Art Futures has announced a new exhibition featuring artists who use technology as their medium for creative expression.
  • Exhibition will be structured across four themes, Automation, Autonomy, Ripples, and Glitch, that trace recurring artistic concerns and gestures

RIYADH: Diriyah Art Futures has announced a new exhibition featuring artists who use technology as their medium for creative expression, bringing together works by more than 40 artists from the MENA region.

“Maknana: An Archaeology of New Media Art,” co-curated by artists Haytham Nawar and Ala Younis, will run from April 21 to July 19, 2025, at DAF in Diriyah, Riyadh.

The exhibition will feature Saudi artists Ahmed Mater, known for his multidisciplinary artworks reflecting Arab culture, contemporary artist Muhannad Shono, and independent artist ARC (Abdullah Rashed), whose practices reflect the Kingdom’s dynamic and evolving relationship with new media.

Also on display will be work from Egyptian digital artists VJ Um Amel (Laila Shereen Sakr), Abdel Hadi El Gazzar, Palestinian artists Emily Jacir, Mona Hatoum and Walid Raad, Lebanese artist Akram Zaatari, visionary artist Hassan Meer, Moroccan-French artist Hicham Berrada, and Emirati photographer Farah Al-Qasimi.

The exhibition will be structured across four themes, Automation, Autonomy, Ripples, and Glitch, that trace recurring artistic concerns and gestures across different generations, geographies, and technological paradigms.

Highlighting a dynamic constellation of artistic practices, Maknana includes rare archival works, recent digital experiments, and new commissions from artists working in the region as well as the Arab diaspora.

Their works engage with urgent sociopolitical contexts, from networked resistance and machine logic to memory preservation, speculative ecologies, and glitch aesthetics.

The Arabic term “maknana,” translated as automation, inspires the exhibition’s central inquiry: how Arab artists have navigated, repurposed, and challenged technologies to shape their own creative vocabularies.

In tandem with the exhibition, DAF will present a public program of talks, performances, screenings and workshops, expanding on the themes of maknana and offering visitors direct engagement with artists and thought leaders in the field of new media art.

Developed by the Saudi Museums Commission in partnership with Diriyah Co., DAF contributes to the global new media and digital art landscape by integrating regional voices and pioneering practices in art, technology and innovation.


Saudi demining project clears nearly half a million explosives in Yemen

Saudi demining project clears nearly half a million explosives in Yemen
Updated 13 April 2025
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Saudi demining project clears nearly half a million explosives in Yemen

Saudi demining project clears nearly half a million explosives in Yemen

RIYADH: A Saudi-led humanitarian initiative in Yemen has cleared 486,651 land mines and unexploded ordnance since the project began in mid-2018, according to a recent report.

These include 325,378 items of unexploded ordnance, 146,285 anti-tank mines, 8,212 improvised explosive devices, and 6,776 anti-personnel mines, according to Ousama Al-Gosaibi, the project’s managing director.

Project Masam, overseen by the Saudi aid agency KSrelief, continues to remove deadly devices laid in Yemen by the Houthis. These explosives pose a threat to civilians, including children, women, and the elderly.

Last week, the project’s special teams destroyed 511 items of unexploded ordnance, 23 anti-tank mines, six anti-personnel mines, and three improvised explosive devices.

The project is carried out by Saudi personnel and international experts, with a team of 550 staff and 32 trained clearance teams working to remove various types of mines and ordnance, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Demining operations have taken place in Marib, Aden, Jouf, Shabwa, Taiz, Hodeidah, Lahij, Sanaa, Al-Bayda, Al-Dhale, and Saada.

The initiative also trains local demining engineers and equips them with modern tools. Additionally, it provides support to Yemenis injured by these devices.

“Every mine removed is a life potentially saved, a home reclaimed, a future restored. Demining is not just about removing explosives; it is about restoring hope, stability, and economic recovery,” Al-Gosaibi said.

Since the conflict began, about 5 million people have been displaced in Yemen, many due to land mines. Masam teams work to clear villages, roads and schools, enabling the safe movement of civilians and the delivery of humanitarian aid.