Saudi National Guard minister visits Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah

Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz visits Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah. (Supplied)
Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz visits Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah. (Supplied)
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Updated 27 April 2025
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Saudi National Guard minister visits Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah

Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz visits Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah. (Supplied)
  • The minister was briefed on the key exhibits, which highlight the journey of Islamic arts through the ages

JEDDAH: The Minister of the Saudi National Guard Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz has visited the second edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale, which is being held at the Western Hajj Terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah.

The minister was briefed on the key exhibits, which highlight the journey of Islamic arts through the ages.

He also explored a diverse collection of rare artworks and historic artifacts, alongside contemporary pieces by Saudi and international artists showcasing the richness of the Islamic civilization and presented in collaboration with major global museums and cultural institutions.

The exhibition runs until May 25.

 


KSrelief distributes 970 shelter kits in Pakistan and Somalia

KSrelief distributes 970 shelter kits in Pakistan and Somalia
The program benefitted 6,672 individuals, according to the Saudi Press Agency. (SPA)
Updated 36 sec ago
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KSrelief distributes 970 shelter kits in Pakistan and Somalia

KSrelief distributes 970 shelter kits in Pakistan and Somalia
  • The program benefitted 6,672 individuals, according to the Saudi Press Agency. (SPA)

RIYADH: The Kingdom’s aid agency KSrelief recently distributed 970 shelter kits to vulnerable communities in Pakistan and Somalia, benefiting 6,672 individuals, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

In Pakistan, KSrelief provided 840 kits to displaced and affected families in the Haveli and Muzaffarabad districts of Jammu and Kashmir province, benefitting 5,232 individuals.

In Somalia, KSrelief distributed 130 shelter kits, along with 100 clothing bags and 10 tents, to families in Baki Camp in the Awdal region, benefitting 1,440 people.

 


Upcoming Riyadh Season to feature more Saudi and Gulf content, says GEA chairman

Upcoming Riyadh Season to feature more Saudi and Gulf content, says GEA chairman
Updated 24 July 2025
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Upcoming Riyadh Season to feature more Saudi and Gulf content, says GEA chairman

Upcoming Riyadh Season to feature more Saudi and Gulf content, says GEA chairman
  • The public can look forward to music concerts, football matches, boxing bouts, UFC fights, and a WWE showcase
  • First-ever Riyadh Comedy Festival to feature over 50 of the world's most renowned comedians

RIYADH: Plenty of global attractions are being planned for the upcoming Riyadh Season, with the General Entertainment Authority (GEA) promising that events will be rich in Saudi, Gulf and Syrian content.

GEA Chairman Turki Alalshikh on Wednesday said the Season will feature for the first time the Riyadh Comedy Festival, which will take place at Boulevard City in Riyadh from September 26 to October 9. The event will feature over 50 of the world's most renowned comedians, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

Turki Alalshikh, adviser and chairman of the General Entertainment Authority. (SPA photo)

Following the major success of last year’s season, Riyadh is currently experiencing an unprecedented entertainment movement, such as hosting the Esports World Cup — the largest esports tournament in the world — with a prize pool exceeding $70 million and drawing significant global attention. 

Alalshikh said the season’s activities will continue to accelerate week after week.

Among the global events being lined up are music concerts, football matches, boxing bouts, UFC fights, and a WWE showcase, the GEA chief said.

Wrestling fans can look forward to the “Royal Rumble” taking place in January, the SPA quoted him as saying.

Alalshikh added that more surprises will be announced soon, including events in collaboration with global YouTube star MrBeast and the "Six Kings Slam" tennis tournament, which will bring together the world’s top six players to compete for the largest prize in the sport’s history — following the major success of last year’s edition.

Riyadh Season is an annual entertainment festival held in the Kingdom's capital, a major initiative aimed to boost tourism and diversify the Saudi economy, as part of the country's Vision 2030 initiative. 

 


National Museum summer camp inspires young Saudi creators

National Museum summer camp inspires young Saudi creators
Updated 24 July 2025
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National Museum summer camp inspires young Saudi creators

National Museum summer camp inspires young Saudi creators
  • Through interactive sessions and hands-on learning across four craft tracks, participants explore Saudi Arabia’s rich cultural heritage

RIYADH: The National Museum’s summer camp is in its first phase, offering children aged 10-12 a range of activities that blend theory and practice.

The camp connects generations by showcasing handicrafts as both a source of national pride and a path to future economic opportunities, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Through interactive sessions and hands-on learning across four craft tracks, participants explore Saudi Arabia’s rich cultural heritage.

Each child designs and creates their own products, building creative and organizational skills while fostering initiative. (SPA)

Each child designs and creates their own products, building creative and organizational skills while fostering initiative, the SPA added.

The camp transforms the National Museum into a vibrant hub, aiming to instill a lifelong love of learning and creativity while developing critical thinking and design skills.

It also introduces children to handicrafts as a core part of Saudi identity and empowers them to manage small craft projects, the SPA reported.

The first phase, running through to July 31, has already attracted strong interest from families and educators. This enriching experience opens new horizons for knowledge and fosters deeper connections with national heritage, the SPA added.

 


Saudi Arabia ramps up coffee production with new initiative

Saudi Arabia ramps up coffee production with new initiative
Updated 23 July 2025
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Saudi Arabia ramps up coffee production with new initiative

Saudi Arabia ramps up coffee production with new initiative
  • A new project led by Saudi Reef will plant 50,000 seedlings and boost the productivity of coffee trees by 30 percent by the end of 2025
  • Majid Al-Brikan, a spokesperson, said the initiative began with selecting six elite genetic samples from coffee trees in Jazan, Asir and Baha

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia has launched an initiative to increase high-quality coffee seedling production using tissue culture technology as part of the Kingdom’s push to develop its coffee sector and promote sustainable agriculture.

Led by the Sustainable Agricultural Rural Development Program, or Saudi Reef, in cooperation with the National Centre for Research and Development of Sustainable Agriculture, also known as Estidamah, the project will plant 50,000 seedlings and boost the productivity of coffee trees by 30 percent by the end of 2025.

Majid Al-Brikan, spokesperson for Saudi Reef, said the initiative began with selecting six elite genetic samples from coffee trees in Jazan, Asir and Baha.

These were supplied to labs, producing 17,000 somatic embryos and 4,000 plants, now undergoing the rooting phase.

So far, 1,200 plants have been transferred to greenhouse facilities for acclimatisation, and another 400 seedlings are in the hardening stage.

A bioreactor growth accelerator has also been installed to speed up production and reduce reliance on manual labor.

According to Al-Brikan, the project has yielded significant scientific breakthroughs, including the re-evaluation of 82 genetic patterns, now grouped into 12 genetic groups based on morphological similarities.

Seedlings are also being produced through cuttings of selected genotypes, with 1,000 rooted cuttings prepared to yield traceable, high-quality plants.

A key focus of the initiative is the development of disease-resistant and drought-tolerant coffee varieties, supporting the Kingdom’s goals for climate-resilient agriculture.

Fourteen knowledge-based agricultural products have also been developed to promote best practices across coffee farms.

The program includes development of a reference book for local farmers on cultivation and post-harvest practices.

To support knowledge transfer, at least 109 farmers have participated in domestic and international study tours, and more than 200 stakeholders have received training through workshops and seminars.

The program has also engaged with global coffee events to promote Saudi Arabia’s growing presence in the international market.

 


From expulsion to AI success — how a Saudi student’s journey is inspiring a generation

From expulsion to AI success — how a Saudi student’s journey is inspiring a generation
Updated 23 July 2025
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From expulsion to AI success — how a Saudi student’s journey is inspiring a generation

From expulsion to AI success — how a Saudi student’s journey is inspiring a generation
  • Abdullah Al-Refai bounced back to work on breakthrough technology
  • ‘Failure doesn’t define you — how you respond to it does,’ he says

ALKHOBAR: In June, a student research team at King Saud University quietly presented their breakthrough — a Saudi-built artificial intelligence agent named Mantiq.

Mantiq successfully solved 84 out of 120 abstract puzzles and scored a 70 percent accuracy rate on the global Abstraction and Reasoning Corpus benchmark in a challenge widely recognized among leading artificial general intelligence researchers around the world.

But behind the results was something just as compelling — a group of young Saudis that included a once-expelled university student who rebuilt his future line by line, code by code.

Abdullah Al-Refai, 24, is a software engineering student at Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd University in Dhahran. With no official title, no funding, and no affiliation to a major lab, he represents a growing generation determined to push boundaries in the most advanced frontiers of AI. 

“We may not have the same resources as big tech labs, but we have vision and we’re proving that brilliance can come from anywhere — even a small research group in Saudi Arabia,” he said.

Al-Refai’s journey was far from linear; it was full of detours, setbacks and moments of deep personal doubt.

First, he enrolled at Dammam Community College, where he excelled. His performance earned him a transfer to King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, one of the top institutions in the Kingdom.

But the transition proved overwhelming. Battling depression and struggling to adjust, his grades declined and, following a difficult time, he left.

“Getting expelled broke me. I felt like everything I had worked for was gone. But over time, I realized that failure doesn’t define you — how you respond to it does,” said Al-Refai.

Determined not to give up, he later enrolled at Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, a smaller, private center, and supported himself by working at Jarir Bookstore.

As he regained his academic footing, Al-Refai rediscovered his love of technology. His coding journey had started years earlier when he received a Dell PC in sixth grade and began experimenting with Java programming to create modifications for popular video game Minecraft.

A turning point came when he started a part-time AI research role at PMU. Soon after he met his mentor, Sulaiman Ureiga, who invited him to join a student-led research group focused on AGI.

Unlike traditional AI systems, which rely on massive datasets, AGI aims to mimic human thought, reasoning and learning, and adapt with minimal input. It is a field into which tech giants like OpenAI and DeepMind have poured billions.

In Saudi Arabia, Al-Refai and his team are approaching the same goal with minimal resources other than passion, perseverance and belief.

Their focus has been the ARC challenge developed by Google researcher François Chollet, which tests a model’s ability to solve logic puzzles using abstraction, not memorization.

When the team presented the first phase of their research, an AGI-1 prototype that solved 70 percent of the test puzzles within minutes, it was a proud moment.

“Standing there at King Saud University, presenting our agent and (seeing) it solve 70 percent of the ARC-1 tasks, I knew this was bigger than a research demo. It was proof that Saudi youth can build world-class AI,” said Al-Refai.

His motivation goes beyond personal achievement, however; he sees his story as a blueprint for others, proof that failure is not final and that Saudi youth can lead global conversations on AI.

His team is already working on the next phases of their research, hoping to improve the model’s reasoning capabilities and publish in an academic forum. They have also created educational posters, hosted sessions and spoken at local events to spread awareness and encourage others to explore AI.

“My dream is that when people around the world talk about the future of AI, they mention Saudi Arabia — not just for investments, but for real innovation and breakthroughs,” said Al-Refai.

All this comes at a time when Saudi Arabia is pouring historic levels of investment into emerging technologies. In May, the Kingdom announced a $600 billion strategy in AI and digital transformation, reinforcing its ambition to become a global innovation hub.

While high-level partnerships and summits dominate headlines, stories like Al-Refai’s reveal a parallel transformation, one happening from the ground up, driven by students, self-learners and quiet researchers working after hours in labs and dorm rooms.

“If I can come back from academic failure and end up contributing to AGI research, anyone can,” said Al-Refai. “We just need to believe in ourselves and build with purpose. We are capable of greatness. We always have been, and we always will be.”