عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Saudi-US Partnership to Advance Arabic and English Education

Photo from the Saudi-US Higher Education Partnership Forum in Riyadh (Ministry of Education)
Photo from the Saudi-US Higher Education Partnership Forum in Riyadh (Ministry of Education)
TT
TT

Saudi-US Partnership to Advance Arabic and English Education

Photo from the Saudi-US Higher Education Partnership Forum in Riyadh (Ministry of Education)
Photo from the Saudi-US Higher Education Partnership Forum in Riyadh (Ministry of Education)

The Saudi-US Higher Education Partnership Forum kicked off in Riyadh, bringing together leaders from Saudi and US institutions to strengthen knowledge exchange and establish long-term collaborations between universities in both countries. The forum seeks to implement innovative projects aligned with national priorities and strategic goals.

The event saw the signing of a memorandum of understanding to enhance educational exchange, foster new academic and scientific partnerships, and facilitate the mobility of students and researchers between Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Michael Ratney, the US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, stated that the forum is the fruit of a year-long collaboration between the US Embassy and Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education, and aim is to expand and deepen bilateral educational exchange.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Ratney noted that while hundreds of thousands of Saudi nationals have studied in the US over the years, the forum aspires to establish a reciprocal relationship, including bringing American students and educators to Saudi Arabia.

The forum explored areas for collaboration and identified opportunities through discussions between the participating universities.

Asked about plans to open US university branches in the Kingdom, Ratney noted that educational exchange can take various forms, such as student mobility, faculty exchanges, joint research projects, and the establishment of shared research centers.

He highlighted a recent agreement between Saudi Arabia and Arizona State University, one of the largest universities in the US, to establish a joint campus in the Kingdom in collaboration with a local university. The campus will offer degrees recognized in both countries, reflecting an innovative approach to educational cooperation and the expansion of bilateral ties.

The forum featured sessions on opportunities for student and researcher exchange, the objectives of the King Salman Scholarship Program, the transformation of Saudi cultural missions, mechanisms for developing joint academic programs, and the establishment of international university branches in Saudi Arabia.

Rafik Mansour, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Education and Culture, emphasized the strong historical ties between the two nations. He noted that approximately 700,000 Saudi students have studied at American universities over the past decades, making Saudi Arabia the largest source of students from the Middle East studying in the US.

Looking to the future, Mansour stressed the importance of enhancing educational exchanges to meet critical needs in fields such as artificial intelligence, arts, and medicine. He expressed optimism that the agreements reached through the forum would accelerate collaboration and further strengthen the Saudi-US educational partnership.

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

China's LandSpace Hopes to Complete Rocket Recovery in Mid-2026

Zhuque-3 rocket by China’s private rocket firm LandSpace, takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China, December 3, 2025, in this screengrab taken from handout drone footage provided by LandSpace. LandSpace/Handout via REUTERS
Zhuque-3 rocket by China’s private rocket firm LandSpace, takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China, December 3, 2025, in this screengrab taken from handout drone footage provided by LandSpace. LandSpace/Handout via REUTERS
TT
TT

China's LandSpace Hopes to Complete Rocket Recovery in Mid-2026

Zhuque-3 rocket by China’s private rocket firm LandSpace, takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China, December 3, 2025, in this screengrab taken from handout drone footage provided by LandSpace. LandSpace/Handout via REUTERS
Zhuque-3 rocket by China’s private rocket firm LandSpace, takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China, December 3, 2025, in this screengrab taken from handout drone footage provided by LandSpace. LandSpace/Handout via REUTERS

Chinese rocket developer LandSpace plans to successfully recover a reusable booster in mid-2026, a company executive said in an interview, underscoring the Beijing-based firm's ambition to become China's answer to SpaceX.

The ability to return, recover, and reuse a rocket's engine-packed first stage, or booster, after launch is crucial to reducing costs and making it easier for countries to send satellites into orbit, and to turn space exploration into a commercially viable business similar to civil aviation, Reuters reported.

Earlier this month, privately-owned LandSpace ‌became the first ‌Chinese entity to conduct a full reusable rocket ‌test, when ⁠Zhuque-3 ​blasted off ‌from a remote area in northwest China for its maiden flight, drawing comparisons to US aerospace giant SpaceX.

SECOND ATTEMPT PLANNED

While LandSpace failed to complete the crucial final step of landing and recovering the rocket's engine-packed booster, it hopes to clear this challenge in mid-2026 with a second test flight, Zhuque-3 deputy chief designer Dong Kai told Chinese podcast Tech Early Know in an interview published on Tuesday.

"If the second flight's recovery (stage) succeeds, we ⁠plan that on the fourth flight we will use a reused first stage to launch," Dong said.

So far, ‌the only company that has mastered reusable rocket technology is ‍SpaceX, founded by the world's richest ‍person Elon Musk. SpaceX's Falcon 9 launches around 150 times a year, or roughly ‍three times per week, with its booster reused dozens of times if necessary.

Musk said in October that LandSpace's Zhuque-3 design could allow it to beat the Falcon 9, but went on to state that the Chinese challenger's launch cadence would take more than five years to ​reach that of SpaceX's workhorse model, at which point the US firm would have transitioned to its heavier, new-generation model Starship and "doing over ⁠100 times the annual payload to orbit of Falcon".

INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING

LandSpace's Dong said that, while the company was already building an engine for a future Starship-like model, he was not optimistic that in five years Falcon 9's work rate could be surpassed, noting that all rocket models in China combined this year totalled only around 100 launches.

"It's very difficult for a single company to reach that kind of frequency. It requires the support of an entire ecosystem," Dong said, adding that LandSpace had 10 launches planned next year for all its models.

Other executives have previously said that the financial cost of a high-frequency testing and launch regimen was crucial to SpaceX's success, and that LandSpace's only ‌hope of amassing enough funds to sustain a similar programme would be by tapping China's capital markets, pointing to plans for an initial public offering next year.

 

 

Varieties

Russia Plans a Nuclear Power Plant on the Moon within a Decade

November's full moon, also known as Beaver Moon, rises over Fort-de-France in the French overseas island of Martinique, on November 5, 2025. (AFP)
November's full moon, also known as Beaver Moon, rises over Fort-de-France in the French overseas island of Martinique, on November 5, 2025. (AFP)
TT
TT

Russia Plans a Nuclear Power Plant on the Moon within a Decade

November's full moon, also known as Beaver Moon, rises over Fort-de-France in the French overseas island of Martinique, on November 5, 2025. (AFP)
November's full moon, also known as Beaver Moon, rises over Fort-de-France in the French overseas island of Martinique, on November 5, 2025. (AFP)

Russia plans to put ​a nuclear power plant on the moon in the next decade to supply its lunar space program and a joint Russian-Chinese research station as major powers rush to explore the earth's only natural satellite.

Ever since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to go into space in 1961, Russia has prided itself as ‌a leading power in ‌space exploration, but in recent ‌decades ⁠it ​has fallen ‌behind the United States and increasingly China.

Russia's ambitions suffered a massive blow in August 2023 when its unmanned Luna-25 mission smashed into the surface of the moon while attempting to land, and Elon Musk has revolutionized the launch of space vehicles - once a Russian specialty.

Russia's state space corporation, Roscosmos, ⁠said in a statement that it planned to build a lunar power ‌plant by 2036 and signed a contract ‍with the Lavochkin Association ‍aerospace company to do it.

Roscosmos said the purpose of ‍the plant was to power Russia's lunar program, including rovers, an observatory and the infrastructure of the joint Russian-Chinese International Lunar Research Station.

"The project is an important step towards the creation of ​a permanently functioning scientific lunar station and the transition from one-time missions to a long-term lunar exploration program," ⁠Roscosmos said.

Roscosmos did not say explicitly that the plant would be nuclear but it said the participants included Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom and the Kurchatov Institute, Russia's leading nuclear research institute.

The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Bakanov, said in June that one of the corporation's aims was to put a nuclear power plant on the moon and to explore Venus, known as earth's "sister" planet.

The moon, which is 384,400 km (238,855 miles) from our planet, moderates the earth's wobble ‌on its axis, which ensures a more stable climate. It also causes tides in the world's oceans.

Varieties

Seasonal Rains Transform Saudi Arabia’s Rawdat Muhanna into Natural Lake

People visit Rawdat Muhanna after recent rainfall. (SPA)
People visit Rawdat Muhanna after recent rainfall. (SPA)
TT
TT

Seasonal Rains Transform Saudi Arabia’s Rawdat Muhanna into Natural Lake

People visit Rawdat Muhanna after recent rainfall. (SPA)
People visit Rawdat Muhanna after recent rainfall. (SPA)

Rawdat Muhanna, or Muhanna's Garden, located near the town of Al-Nabqiyah in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia’s Qassim region, has witnessed a notable influx of visitors and picnickers in recent days following rainfall that filled the Rawdat with water, transforming it into a vast natural lake.

The rare and striking scene has drawn residents and visitors from within and outside the region, reported the Saudi Press Agency on Tuesday.

Stretching over more than 10 kilometers, Rawdat Muhanna has become a breathtaking natural landscape amid the sands of Al-Thuwairat. The contrast between the blue waters and the red desert sand has created a picturesque panorama, making the site a favored destination for nature enthusiasts and photographers.

Rawdat Muhanna is one of the region’s prominent seasonal parks, as several valleys flow into it, most notably Wadi Al-Mustawi. These valleys contribute to the accumulation of large volumes of water, which in some seasons can remain for nearly a year, boosting the site’s ecological value and making it one of the most beautiful natural areas in the Qassim desert.

Visitors said Rawdat Muhanna has become an ideal destination for outdoor recreation and relaxation.