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AlUla: Home to One of the World’s Oldest Monumental Structures

The Kingdoms Institute will be a place of discovery, science and knowledge sharing with the local community and visitors from around the globe about the heritage and culture of the region
The Kingdoms Institute will be a place of discovery, science and knowledge sharing with the local community and visitors from around the globe about the heritage and culture of the region
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AlUla: Home to One of the World’s Oldest Monumental Structures

The Kingdoms Institute will be a place of discovery, science and knowledge sharing with the local community and visitors from around the globe about the heritage and culture of the region
The Kingdoms Institute will be a place of discovery, science and knowledge sharing with the local community and visitors from around the globe about the heritage and culture of the region

The Kingdoms Institute in AlUla has announced the discovery of one of the oldest monumental stone structures in the world, called mustatils, in northwestern Saudi Arabia.

The Kingdoms Institute is being established as a world-class research center for archaeological and conservation research dedicated to the study of the history and prehistory of the Arabian Peninsula.

The institute will become an academic center and cultural platform for knowledge and discovery.

Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, the Governor of the Royal Commission for AlUla, pointed out that the Kingdoms Institute represents a global research center for knowledge, exploring the frontiers of archaeology and unlocking new career opportunities for AlUla’s community.

The Kingdoms Institute, unveiled earlier this month, was established under the directions of the Royal Commission for AlUla, which has been conducting a program of extensive research about human history in the area.

The Institute will be opened to visitors in 2030, and it is estimated that it will be able to host 838,000 visitors annually by 2035.

The Kingdoms Institute’s mandate covers AlUla’s 200,000 years of human and natural history, but the research will focus more on the Dadan, Lihyan and Nabataean kingdoms (1000 BCE to 106 CE).

Experts from Saudi and international institutions, such as King Saud University, UNESCO, ICOMOS, France’s Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Germany’s Deutsches Archaologisches Institut and the University of Western Australia, will all collaborate with the Kingdoms Institute.

RCU Archaeology, Heritage Research and Conservation Executive Director Jose Revilla said: "We have only begun to tell the hidden story of the Ancient Kingdoms of North Arabia."

“There is much more to come as we reveal the depth and breadth of the area’s archaeological heritage, which for decades has been underrepresented, but which will finally have the showcase it deserves in the Kingdoms Institute.”

RCU Director of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Research Rebecca Foote said that with its many research programs, AlUla is becoming the most active area of archaeological research in the Middle East, adding: “We have just completed surveying more than 22,000 sq km of terrain from the air and on the ground and recorded more than 30,000 areas of archaeological significance.”

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New Europe Push to Curb Children's Social Media Use

(FILES) The TikTok logo is seen outside the Chinese video app company Los Angeles offices on April 4, 2025 in Culver City, California. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)
(FILES) The TikTok logo is seen outside the Chinese video app company Los Angeles offices on April 4, 2025 in Culver City, California. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)
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New Europe Push to Curb Children's Social Media Use

(FILES) The TikTok logo is seen outside the Chinese video app company Los Angeles offices on April 4, 2025 in Culver City, California. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)
(FILES) The TikTok logo is seen outside the Chinese video app company Los Angeles offices on April 4, 2025 in Culver City, California. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)

From dangerous diet tips to disinformation, cyberbullying to hate speech, the glut of online content harmful to children grows every day. But several European countries have had enough and now want to limit minors' access to social media.

The European Union already has some of the world's most stringent digital rules to rein in Big Tech, with multiple probes ongoing into how platforms protect children -- or not, said AFP.

There are now demands for the EU to go further as a rising body of evidence shows the negative effects of social media on children's mental and physical health.

Backed by France and Spain, Greece has spearheaded a proposal for how the EU should limit children's use of online platforms as fears mount over their addictive nature.

They will present the plan on Friday to EU counterparts in Luxembourg "so that Europe can take the appropriate action as soon as possible", Greek Digital Minister Dimitris Papastergiou said.

The proposal includes setting an age of digital adulthood across the 27-country EU, meaning children will not be able to access social media without parental consent.

Since the proposal was published last month, other countries have expressed support including Cyprus and Denmark -- which takes over the rotating EU presidency in July.

Danish officials say the issue will be a priority during their six-month presidency.

France has led the way in cracking down on platforms, passing a 2023 law requiring them to obtain parental consent for users under the age of 15.

But the measure has not received the EU green light it needs to come into force.

France also gradually introduced requirements this year for all adult websites to have users confirm their age to prevent children accessing inadequate material-- with three major platforms going dark this week in anger over the move.

Also under pressure from the French government, TikTok on Sunday banned the "#SkinnyTok" hashtag, part of a trend promoting extreme thinness on the platform.

Real age verification

Greece says its aim is to protect children from the risks of excessive internet use.

The proposal does not say at what age digital adulthood should begin but Papastergiou said platforms should know users' real ages "so as not to serve inappropriate content to minors".

France, Greece and Spain expressed concern about the algorithmic design of digital platforms increasing children's exposure to addictive and harmful content -- with the risk of worsening anxiety, depression and self-esteem issues.

The proposal also blames excessive screen time at a young age for hindering the development of minors' critical and relationship skills.

They demand "an EU-wide application that supports parental control mechanisms, allows for proper age verification and limits the use of certain applications by minors".

The goal would be for devices such as smartphones to have in-built age verification.

The European Commission, the EU's digital watchdog, wants to launch an age-verification app next month, insisting it can be done without disclosing personal details.

The EU last month published draft guidelines for platforms to protect minors, to be finalized once a public consultation ends this month, including setting children's accounts to private by default, and making it easier to block and mute users.

Those guidelines are non-binding, but the bloc is clamping down in other ways.

EU investigations

It is currently investigating Meta's Facebook and Instagram, and TikTok under its mammoth content moderation law, the Digital Services Act (DSA), fearing the platforms are failing to do enough to prevent children accessing harmful content.

In the Meta probe, the EU fears the platform's age-verification tools may not be effective.

And last week, it launched an investigation into four platforms over suspicions they are failing to stop children accessing adult content.

Separately, the EU has been in long-running negotiations on a law to combat child sexual abuse material, but the proposal has been mired in uncertainty, with worries from some countries that it would allow authorities to access encrypted communications.

The legal proposal has pitted proponents of privacy against those working to protect children -- and despite repeated attempts, it has failed to get EU states' approval.