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Saudi Arabia Advances 15 Ranks on Global Innovation Index

A general view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (SPA)
A general view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (SPA)
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Saudi Arabia Advances 15 Ranks on Global Innovation Index

A general view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (SPA)
A general view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (SPA)

Saudi Arabia has risen 15 places in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Global Innovation Index 2022, reflecting the extent of development in research, development, and innovation in the Kingdom.

In June, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman revealed the National Aspirations and Priorities for Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI) in Saudi Arabia for the next two decades based on four key priorities; human health and wellness, sustainable environment and supply of essential needs, energy and industrial leadership, and economies of the future.

The plan aims to enhance the Kingdom's global competitiveness and entrepreneurship, align with the plans of the Saudi Vision 2030, and improve its status in the region.

Forbes Magazine reported that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the fastest-transforming countries in the world, working to diversify its economies by entering new sectors that have contributed to the development of the national innovation system over the past decade.

It also cited Saudi Aramco in its report, which included the contributions of ten Saudi companies in innovation fields. The company obtained 864 patents from the US Patent and Trademark Office in 2021 alone, bringing it to first place in the oil and gas sector globally and entering the list of the top 50 companies and universities that obtained patents this year. In 2022, the company strengthened its efforts in research and innovation, with the number of patents increasing to 963.

Digital infrastructure in the Kingdom ranked second among the G20 countries, according to the Digital Competitiveness Report 2021 issued by the European Center for Digital Competitiveness, state news agency SPA reported.

In 2017, only one Saudi company entered the "Forbes" list of the most funded startups in the Middle East. By 2020, that number increased to two, and this year the number rose to five Saudi companies within the top ten positions in the list.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has focused its innovation efforts on sustainability, announcing its commitment to increasing the percentage of energy generation from renewable sources to reach 50% by 2030, in preparation for achieving zero neutrality by 2060. In the same context, the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) entered the Guinness World Records, achieving a new record as the desalination plant with the least energy consumption in the world, at a rate of 2.27 kilowatt-hours per cubic meter of desalinated water.

The Research, Development, and Innovation Authority (RDIA), in collaboration with Forbes Middle East, reviewed the ten most innovative companies in each of the four sectors of the national priorities in the Kingdom, totaling 40 companies. The list includes Aramco, SABIC, NEOM, STC, Ma’aden, Almarai, Al Rajhi Bank, Al-Habib Medical Group, ACWA Power, and Saudi National Bank.

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Varieties

Xi: 2 Giant Pandas from China Will Arrive in Coming Days at Atlanta's Zoo

Jin Xi, one of the only two giant pandas in Spain, eats on its sixth birthday at Madrid Zoo Aquarium in Madrid, Spain, September 19, 2026. REUTERS/Juan Barbosa


Jin Xi, one of the only two giant pandas in Spain, eats on its sixth birthday at Madrid Zoo Aquarium in Madrid, Spain, September 19, 2026. REUTERS/Juan Barbosa


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Xi: 2 Giant Pandas from China Will Arrive in Coming Days at Atlanta's Zoo

Jin Xi, one of the only two giant pandas in Spain, eats on its sixth birthday at Madrid Zoo Aquarium in Madrid, Spain, September 19, 2026. REUTERS/Juan Barbosa


Jin Xi, one of the only two giant pandas in Spain, eats on its sixth birthday at Madrid Zoo Aquarium in Madrid, Spain, September 19, 2026. REUTERS/Juan Barbosa



Chinese President Xi Jinping said Thursday that two giant pandas from China will arrive at Zoo Atlanta in the coming days, bolstering a loan program that at one time had lapsed as part of tensions between Beijing and Washington.

China and the zoo had said in April that Ping Ping, a male, and Fu Shuang, a female, would go to the United States. But Xi’s announcement at the White House, in opening remarks before talks with President Donald Trump, marked the first public confirmation of the timing, The Associated Press reported.

Beijing had reclaimed four pandas from Atlanta in 2024, the last of the animals on loan from China to the US at the time.

Xi said Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, “will come to their new home in Zoo Atlanta and meet with the American people” in “a few days.” He called it “a piece of good news” and hailed the panda loan program as an example of “friendship between the Chinese and Americans.”

The pandas are part of a conservation agreement between the zoo and the China Wildlife Conservation Association. Both pandas were born at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China.

In 2024, Lun Lun, Yang Yang, Ya Lun, and Xi Lun returned from Zoo Atlanta to China, ending a 25-year partnership and leaving the US without any of the animals for several months.

The National Zoo in Washington returned three pandas to China in 2023 before accepting new arrivals Bao Li and Qing Bao, in October 2024 after Atlanta lost its pandas. Other American zoos sent pandas back to China before that as loan agreements lapsed.

When the pandas' Atlanta return was officially promised in the spring, Zoo Atlanta CEO Raymond B. King celebrated “the wonder and joy of giant pandas" and said his facility was “delighted and honored to yet again be trusted as stewards of this treasured species.”

Varieties

UN Approves Resolution on Dealing with Rising Sea Levels

This picture taken on September 4, 2026, shows an aerial view of the small islands off the coast of Koror, the capital of Palau, scattered across the turquoise waters of the Pacific Ocean. (AFP)
This picture taken on September 4, 2026, shows an aerial view of the small islands off the coast of Koror, the capital of Palau, scattered across the turquoise waters of the Pacific Ocean. (AFP)
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UN Approves Resolution on Dealing with Rising Sea Levels

This picture taken on September 4, 2026, shows an aerial view of the small islands off the coast of Koror, the capital of Palau, scattered across the turquoise waters of the Pacific Ocean. (AFP)
This picture taken on September 4, 2026, shows an aerial view of the small islands off the coast of Koror, the capital of Palau, scattered across the turquoise waters of the Pacific Ocean. (AFP)

The United Nations on Thursday passed a unanimous resolution demanding stronger action on rising sea levels, an existential threat for low-lying island nations driven by ocean warming and melting ice sheets and glaciers.

In 2024, global sea levels rose by almost six millimeters, the largest annual increase ever recorded, and they are set to rise by a meter or more by the end of the century without drastic action.

"Sea-level rise is measured in millimeters, but its toll is measured in millions of shattered lives, uprooted communities, and stolen futures," Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

"We cannot allow countries and cultures to vanish beneath the waves -- or leave the aspirations of billions dead in the water."

The declaration is aimed at bringing new momentum to efforts to tackle the problem -- reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing funding to vulnerable countries to strengthen their resilience plans.

Concretely, it resolves legal issues around what happens to nations when they start to vanish under the waves.

It affirms that maritime zones remain in place even if coastlines recede, and that "once a State is established, the disappearance of one of its constituent elements would not necessarily entail the loss of its statehood."

"For States that are literally defined by the ocean around us, the impact of sea level rise will be life-altering," said Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr., speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States.

Small island states have been sounding the alarm since the 1989 Male Declaration on Global Warming and Sea Level Rise and helped develop international law on the issue, he continued, welcoming the declaration as "a genuine achievement."

Even small increments of sea-level rise pose grave risks, explained Tom Mortlock, a senior catastrophe research analyst at Aon.

One centimeter of sea-level rise translates to a meter of coastline retreat.

Projections show that flooding that might occur once every 50 years with sea levels as they are today could happen every three or four years if sea levels rise by half a meter.

Nature-based solutions like mangroves "can reduce coastal risk, but it can also get to the core problem we have for climate change which is carbon sequestration and carbon mitigation," said Mortlock.

Varieties

Gaza Documentary 'NAZA' to be Available Online Free

Directors Yuval Abraham, left, and Rachel Szor pose for photographers at the photo call for the film "NAZA" during the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP)
Directors Yuval Abraham, left, and Rachel Szor pose for photographers at the photo call for the film "NAZA" during the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP)
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Gaza Documentary 'NAZA' to be Available Online Free

Directors Yuval Abraham, left, and Rachel Szor pose for photographers at the photo call for the film "NAZA" during the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP)
Directors Yuval Abraham, left, and Rachel Szor pose for photographers at the photo call for the film "NAZA" during the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP)

Israeli director Yuval Abraham said Thursday that his documentary "NAZA", which won an award at the Venice Film Festival and has faced fierce backlash at home, will be made available online for free in November.

The film is based on testimony from 24 anonymous Israeli military whistleblowers who accuse the army of widespread killing of civilians in Gaza with the use of AI-powered targeting systems.

In a message posted on X also on behalf of co-director Rachel Szor, Abraham said that he wanted to make the film accessible to as many people as possible to allow the "truth to emerge."

"I made this film to spark a public debate about the government's actions in Gaza, the killing of more than 73,000 people, most of them civilians, and the normalization of a war of annihilation," the filmmaker wrote, AFP reported.

"NAZA" takes its name from the Israeli military term for civilian casualties expected in airstrikes, an abbreviated form of the Hebrew phrase for "collateral damage".

The film has triggered strong reactions in Israel. Culture Minister Miki Zohar requested that authorities consider revoking the citizenship of the two filmmakers on account of "treason", while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described it as "shocking".

Shortly after the documentary was screened in Venice, a crowd of protestors marched to Szor's parents' home two nights in a row, calling on authorities to "expel the traitors".

The Israeli military, for its part, has "categorically rejected" the allegations, stressing that the anonymity of those interviewed and the absence of locations or dates made any verification impossible.

It reiterated that decisions on strikes are made by humans and that significant efforts are made to protect civilians.

Abraham said he believed his film had "cracked the screen of indifference" in Israel despite a "high personal cost", adding that he and Rachel Szor would return to Israel to "continue fighting" for the country's future.

Launched in retaliation for the deadly attacks carried out by Hamas on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023, Israel's military offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 people, according to the health ministry in the territory controlled by the Islamist movement, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.