G20 Youths Take Virtual Tour and Discover History of AlUla

The Royal Commission for AlUla provide virtual tours for tourists. (SPA)
The Royal Commission for AlUla provide virtual tours for tourists. (SPA)
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G20 Youths Take Virtual Tour and Discover History of AlUla

The Royal Commission for AlUla provide virtual tours for tourists. (SPA)
The Royal Commission for AlUla provide virtual tours for tourists. (SPA)

Delegates from the Youth Twenty Summit (Y20) took part in a virtual tour where they explored the Saudi city of AlUla’s history. The tour included a presentation about the AlUla project’s achievements.

The project was launched by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Royal Commission for AlUla, and is intended to be a flagship project in terms of sustainable development, focused on the absolute preservation of the environment, respectful of history and inclusive of local populations.

The tour is one of the many engagements that Y20 youths have made throughout the year. The summit has three Focus Areas that support its broader goals: Future Fit, Youth Empowerment and Global Citizens.

Nora Rabeeq, the tour’s organizer and the Kingdom’s Y20 delegate, said that AlUla is a global destination for tourism, culture and heritage and an example of the positive developments in the Kingdom brought about by Vision 2030.

She added: “During the tour, I was keen on introducing the Y20 youth delegates to the framework adopted to transform the vision into reality and to emphasize joint efforts aimed at supporting local and international communities alike.”

Delegates from 19 of the G20 countries and others from observer countries took part in the tour for the Y20, a platform that brings together young leaders from across G20 countries together to discuss and debate the G20 leaders’ agenda.

As president of the G20 this year, Saudi Arabia has chosen the theme: “Realizing Opportunities of the 21st Century For All.” The Royal Commission for AlUla works to support and empower youths through various scholarship and training programs, which grant AlUla’s youth the opportunity to specialize in the disciplines most necessary for the province’s development, such as tourism, hospitality, archeology and agriculture.

The Y20 Summit is scheduled to run from October 15 to 17. Young leaders from the G20 countries will come together to discuss the programs and plans that G20 leaders had put forward, and it concludes with the drafting of the Y20 communiqué.



Heatwaves in Spain Caused 1,180 Deaths in Past Two Months, Ministry Says

The most affected regions were Galicia, La Rioja, Asturias and Cantabria. (Getty Images/AFP)
The most affected regions were Galicia, La Rioja, Asturias and Cantabria. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Heatwaves in Spain Caused 1,180 Deaths in Past Two Months, Ministry Says

The most affected regions were Galicia, La Rioja, Asturias and Cantabria. (Getty Images/AFP)
The most affected regions were Galicia, La Rioja, Asturias and Cantabria. (Getty Images/AFP)

High temperatures caused 1,180 deaths in Spain in the past two months, a sharp increase from the same period last year, the Environment Ministry said on Monday.

The vast majority of people who died were over 65 and more than half were women, the data it cited showed.

The most affected regions were Galicia, La Rioja, Asturias and Cantabria - all located in the northern half of the country, where traditionally cooler summer temperatures have seen a significant rise in recent years.

Like other countries in Western Europe, Spain has been hit by extreme heat in recent weeks, with temperatures often topping 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

The 1,180 people who died of heat-related causes between May 16 and July 13 compared with 114 in the same period in 2024, the ministry said in a statement citing data from the Carlos III Health Institute. The number of deaths increased significantly in the first week of July.

The data shows an event "of exceptional intensity, characterized by an unprecedented increase in average temperatures and a significant increase in mortality attributable to heatwaves", the ministry said.

In the period the data covers, there were 76 red alerts for extreme heat, compared with none a year earlier.

Last summer, 2,191 deaths were attributed to heat-related causes in Spain, according to data from the Carlos III Health Institute.

The data from Spain follows a rapid scientific analysis published on July 9 that said around 2,300 people died of heat-related causes across 12 European cities during a severe heatwave in the 10 days to July 2.

It was not immediately clear whether the study conducted by scientists at Imperial College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine was using the same methodology as the Spanish data.