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.



International Space Station Welcomes 1st Astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Axiom-4 crew of four astronauts lifts off from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A on a mission to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, June 25, 2025. REUTERS/Steve Nesius
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Axiom-4 crew of four astronauts lifts off from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A on a mission to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, June 25, 2025. REUTERS/Steve Nesius
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International Space Station Welcomes 1st Astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Axiom-4 crew of four astronauts lifts off from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A on a mission to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, June 25, 2025. REUTERS/Steve Nesius
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Axiom-4 crew of four astronauts lifts off from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A on a mission to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, June 25, 2025. REUTERS/Steve Nesius

The first astronauts in more than 40 years from India, Poland and Hungary arrived at the International Space Station on Thursday, ferried there by SpaceX on a private flight.

The crew of four will spend two weeks at the orbiting lab, performing dozens of experiments. They launched Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

America’s most experienced astronaut, Peggy Whitson, is the commander of the visiting crew. She works for Axiom Space, the Houston company that arranged the chartered flight.

Besides Whitson, the crew includes India’s Shubhanshu Shukla, a pilot in the Indian Air Force; Hungary’s Tibor Kapu, a mechanical engineer; and Poland’s Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski, a radiation expert and one of the European Space Agency’s project astronauts on temporary flight duty.

No one has ever visited the International Space Station from those countries before. In fact, the last time anyone rocketed into orbit from those countries was in the late 1970s and 1980s, traveling with the Soviets.

It's the fourth Axiom-sponsored flight to the space station since 2022. The company is one of several that are developing their own space stations due to launch in the coming years.