Flourishing of Women in Saudi Arabia Turns IWD into a Joyful Celebrationhttps://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4200051/flourishing-women-saudi-arabia-turns-iwd-joyful-celebration
Flourishing of Women in Saudi Arabia Turns IWD into a Joyful Celebration
Saudi women contributions in most of the local and foreign activities have enabled them to occupy various positions (Asharq Al-Awsat)
International Women’s Day (IWD), celebrated on March 8 each year, is an occasion on which the world observes dreams and wishes that have been put off. But the story is different for Saudi women, who find this day an opportunity to exchange chocolates and roses to memorialize the growing renaissance movement of women.
Adopted by the UN in 1977, IWD is celebrated worldwide. Despite that, the day in Saudi Arabia has bloomed into an occasion where many workplaces and activities of private and non-profit organizations find the opportunity to remember women’s gains.
Stores across the Kingdom offer exclusive deals on this day, and many cafes hand out delicious sweets.
All this takes place away from the feminist hustle and bustle that plagues cities worldwide, where little progress on women’s demands is made each year.
IWD in 2023 comes nearly seven years after the Saudi Council of Ministers approved the Kingdom’s Vision 2023 on April 25, 2016.
Since the vision’s launch, the country has witnessed a vast movement that included improving the conditions of women as one of the strengths and pillars of the national renaissance.
According to a report issued by the General Authority for Statistics, Saudi women account for almost half of the Kingdom’s local society, standing at 49% of the total population.
Half of the Saudi women are under 27 years of age. In other words, a new generation of future women has become part of these rapid positive transformations.
Saudi Arabia has also implemented reforms to enhance women’s participation in economic development.
These reforms included unifying the retirement age for both males and females and preventing gender discrimination in terms of wages, type of job, field, and working hours.
UK on Course to Record Warmest Summer for Second Year in a Rowhttps://english.aawsat.com/varieties/5305872-uk-course-record-warmest-summer-second-year-row
A man runs across the parched park lands of Hyde Park in central London, Britain, 11 August 2026. (EPA)
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UK on Course to Record Warmest Summer for Second Year in a Row
A man runs across the parched park lands of Hyde Park in central London, Britain, 11 August 2026. (EPA)
Britain is "on course" to chalk up its warmest summer on record for the second-year running, the UK's Met Office weather agency said Tuesday as the country braced for its fifth heatwave of the season.
"The UK is on course to record its warmest summer on record for mean temperature, with only average conditions needed for the remainder of August to surpass the record set only last year," the Met Office said in a statement.
Britain last year sweltered through its hottest summer on record with a mean temperature of 16.10C, surpassing the previous record of 15.76C set in 2018.
The current average temperature for the summer, from June 1 to August 10, was already at 16.48C, the Met said.
"Another record-breaking summer now looks increasingly likely for the UK, following the second-warmest June, and second-warmest July on record and yet another heatwave imminent," said Met senior scientist Mike Kendon said.
"These statistics are a clear reminder -- if one were needed -- of the stark changes that we are seeing in the UK's climate."
High temperatures and low rainfall in swathes of the country, which is built for more temperate weather, have also plunged almost three-quarters of England and all of Wales into drought.
England and Wales also experienced their driest July on record this year.
Scientists say climate change is making extreme weather events like heatwaves and droughts more intense, and resulting in records tumbling more frequently.
Heatwaves and record temperatures in May and June disrupted schools, transport and hospitals, leading to an estimated 2,877 excess deaths in England -- almost double the total of the whole of summer 2025.
Extreme Heat Becoming More Frequent and Intense, UN Agency Sayshttps://english.aawsat.com/varieties/5305724-extreme-heat-becoming-more-frequent-and-intense-un-agency-says
Castel Sant'Angelo, at background right, towers over the Tiber River, which has reached a low water level after several months without rain, in Rome, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP)
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Extreme Heat Becoming More Frequent and Intense, UN Agency Says
Castel Sant'Angelo, at background right, towers over the Tiber River, which has reached a low water level after several months without rain, in Rome, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP)
Periods of extreme heat are becoming more frequent, intense and longer-lasting as climate change warms the planet, the UN weather agency said on Tuesday, noting changes since the famously hot European summer of 1976. Parts of Europe are enduring their fifth heatwave of a summer marked by drought, wildfires and record-breaking temperatures.
"Extreme heat is becoming more frequent, more intense, it's lasting longer, and covering much wider areas than in the cooler climates of the past," John Kennedy, the World Meteorological Organization's head of climate information, told a press briefing in Geneva.
Kennedy said the current pattern of heat across Europe, the world's fastest-warming continent, reflected the interaction between a persistent pattern of high-pressure systems across the Northern Hemisphere and a warmer climate.
The high-pressure systems trap warm air, reduce cloud cover and block cooler air from moving in, allowing heat to build over large regions for days or weeks. El Niño, the naturally occurring climate pattern that typically boosts global temperatures, was not contributing to Europe's heat this year because conditions in the tropical Pacific are currently neutral, he added.
CHANGES OVER THE PAST FIVE DECADES
Kennedy noted that June 1976 featured a broadly similar pattern of high and low pressure systems to those seen this year, but said the outcomes were very different because of decades of global warming.
"The picture for 1976 is one of a few isolated areas above average temperatures in a much cooler world," he said, whereas today "the picture is reversed" with much of the globe experiencing above-average temperatures and only a few isolated cooler regions.
Exceptionally warm seas and parched soils were amplifying temperatures across Europe, Kennedy said.
Marine heatwaves in the Mediterranean Sea and waters west of Europe are fueling hotter conditions on land by providing additional background warmth for persistent high-pressure systems, he added.
Dry ground was also intensifying the heat because soils warm more quickly once moisture is depleted.
"Lots of these factors are coming together to give us the record heat that we're seeing this year," Kennedy stated.
Invasive Species Thrive as Global Warming Transforms the Mediterraneanhttps://english.aawsat.com/varieties/5305682-invasive-species-thrive-global-warming-transforms-mediterranean
A lionfish lies after being caught in a trap in the coastal city of Limassol, Cyprus, July 17, 2026. (Reuters)
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Invasive Species Thrive as Global Warming Transforms the Mediterranean
A lionfish lies after being caught in a trap in the coastal city of Limassol, Cyprus, July 17, 2026. (Reuters)
Pepis, the bearded skipper of a small fishing boat, deftly picks up two lionfish caught in experimental traps off the coast of Cyprus, cuts off their venomous spines, guts them and tosses them into a bucket.
Around him, the Mediterranean looks like a pane of glass, its calm surface giving little hint of the dramatic transformation unfolding underwater.
Pepis' practiced routine is part of a wider effort by scientists to track and control the spread of invasive species, such as lionfish, in these waters. Here life is changing, caused by a combination of warming sea temperatures and the Suez Canal, which has eased access for fish from more tropical climes.
A new species is estimated to enter the Mediterranean every two weeks, according to a recent survey collated by the Cyprus Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts, based on research by scientists based in 11 countries.
In all, there are more than 1,000 non-indigenous species in the Mediterranean, the report said, up from fewer than 800 counted in another study by the European Environment Agency in the 2012 to 2017 period.
The tropical newcomers from the Red Sea and beyond are displacing native species, reshaping food chains and threatening fisheries, experts said.
That is just another sign of the impact of climate change which has wreaked such havoc on land this summer in Europe, causing record heatwaves, wildfires and drought. And it's a big worry for environmentalists: Despite accounting for just 0.8% of the global ocean area, the Mediterranean supports a share of the world's marine species that some estimates place as high as 18%.
“Changes have been drastic, especially since 2000,” said Periklis Kleitou, a marine scientist at the Cyprus-based Marine and Environmental Research (MER) lab which is looking at ways to reduce the impact of invasive species.
“We see more and more non-indigenous species proliferating and dominating the marine environment and, unfortunately, fewer native species.”
A yellowspotted pufferfish swims inside an aquarium in Heraklion, on the island of Crete, Greece, August 9, 2026. (Reuters)
NEW ARRIVALS TAKE OVER
The lionfish looks like an underwater punk, sporting a spiky mohican above a permanent scowl. It has no known predator in the Mediterranean and has a voracious appetite for native fish and crustaceans, scientists say.
Around Cyprus, MER is testing selective traps designed to attract lionfish and blue crabs while allowing other species to escape.
In Greece, increasingly common alien species are disrupting marine ecosystems.
More than 230 have entered Greek waters in recent decades, said Paraskevi Karachle, research director at the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research.
Newcomers disrupt the ecosystem in differing ways. Rabbitfish graze heavily on algae, creating barren areas underwater and competing with the Mediterranean's native herbivorous fish, said Karachle.
The Lagocephalus pufferfish, also known as silver-cheeked toadfish, a carnivore whose toxins can be fatal to humans, attacks other fish and is associated with reports of reduced octopus catches. Silver and speckled with black dots, it looks like a bruiser with bulging eyes and buck teeth.
Greek and Cypriot authorities have offered fishermen bounties on pufferfish hauls.
"Invasive species are taking over our seas, and that affects the local biodiversity as well as the economy," said Christina Kakoulli, a marine biologist at MER.
A lionfish with risotto is served on a plate in a restaurant in the coastal city of Limassol, Cyprus July 17, 2026. (Reuters)
LOOKING AT WAYS TO ADAPT
Scientists are looking for ways to adapt. One option is to get consumers used to eating new types of fish. Lionfish is safe to consume once the spines are removed. Pepis the skipper advises dusting it with flour before frying.
"In the beginning people were afraid, but now they understand it's a high quality, delicious fish," said Petros Yiangou, a chef who works with MER on Life Prometheus, a European Union-funded project that looks at ways to reduce accidental capture of sharks and rays, while encouraging ways to harvest invasive species.
Markets are emerging in Lebanon and Türkiye, while Atlantic blue crabs have found customers in Tunisia.
Greek marine researchers have tested ways of removing toxins to turn pufferfish into fishmeal for farmed sea bass, Karachle said. Other research has explored possible uses for alien species in cosmetics, food supplements, leather products and pain relief.
Finding uses for the newcomers might be easier than finding one single trigger point for their spread and impact. Scientists say the situation needs sustained, long-term monitoring.
"The sea is very complicated," Kleitou said. "It has so many confounding variables interacting at the same time."
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