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‘Fuel’ Program to Train 100,000 Saudi Citizens on Digital Jobs

General view of Riyadh city. Reuters file photo
General view of Riyadh city. Reuters file photo
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‘Fuel’ Program to Train 100,000 Saudi Citizens on Digital Jobs

General view of Riyadh city. Reuters file photo
General view of Riyadh city. Reuters file photo

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the global online learning platform Coursera, in cooperation with the National eLearning Center, have announced the launch of the “Fuel” program to provide training on skills for jobs of the future.

Under the program, a total of 100,000 Saudi citizens will receive training during the first year, during which they will acquire the necessary skills and qualifications for the labor market and vocational development.

The program will be implemented by the Saudi Digital Academy, an initiative of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, which works on empowering youth and providing them with the necessary skills for the Kingdom’s digital market.

The program aims at enhancing digital capabilities across the Kingdom and increasing job opportunities for the national cadres as well as reaffirming the Kingdom’s status as a supporter of pioneering talents and as an advanced center for partnerships as per the Saudi Vision 2030.

The strategic partnership will work on serving Saudi males and females, including the job seekers from the graduates and ambitious cadres seeking to enhance their skills in technology through more than 40 educational tracks coordinated in eight labor sectors and more than 200 training courses.

The program will also work on building bridges between Saudi talent and potential employers, with participants provided with the necessary skills to join the labor market to enhance the digital economy and digital transformation.

Saudi Digital Academy CEO Mohammed Al-Suhaim underscored that the partnership comes within the ministry’s keenness on improving the digital competence of Saudi citizens, explaining that the “Fuel” program is in line with the academy’s goals to provide youth with the necessary tools and knowledge to excel in the digital age.

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Microsoft to Invest $10 bn for Japan AI Data Centers

Microsoft's Vice Chair and President Brad Smith (4th L) and (L-R) Sakura Internet Inc President and CEO Kunihiro Tanaka, SoftBank Corp. President and CEO Junichi Miyakawa, Microsoft Japan President Miki Tsusaka, hold a meeitng with Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (2nd R) and Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Toshiro Ino (R) at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on April 3, 2026. Kazuhiro NOGI / POOL/AFP
Microsoft's Vice Chair and President Brad Smith (4th L) and (L-R) Sakura Internet Inc President and CEO Kunihiro Tanaka, SoftBank Corp. President and CEO Junichi Miyakawa, Microsoft Japan President Miki Tsusaka, hold a meeitng with Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (2nd R) and Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Toshiro Ino (R) at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on April 3, 2026. Kazuhiro NOGI / POOL/AFP
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Microsoft to Invest $10 bn for Japan AI Data Centers

Microsoft's Vice Chair and President Brad Smith (4th L) and (L-R) Sakura Internet Inc President and CEO Kunihiro Tanaka, SoftBank Corp. President and CEO Junichi Miyakawa, Microsoft Japan President Miki Tsusaka, hold a meeitng with Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (2nd R) and Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Toshiro Ino (R) at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on April 3, 2026. Kazuhiro NOGI / POOL/AFP
Microsoft's Vice Chair and President Brad Smith (4th L) and (L-R) Sakura Internet Inc President and CEO Kunihiro Tanaka, SoftBank Corp. President and CEO Junichi Miyakawa, Microsoft Japan President Miki Tsusaka, hold a meeitng with Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (2nd R) and Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Toshiro Ino (R) at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on April 3, 2026. Kazuhiro NOGI / POOL/AFP

Microsoft said Friday it will invest $10 billion in Japan over the next four years to build artificial intelligence data centers and related infrastructure.

Power-hungry data centers -- warehouse-like facilities that power AI tools from chatbots to image generators -- are springing up worldwide, and the sector is growing particularly fast in Asia.

Microsoft President Brad Smith met Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at her office on Friday to announce the investment, said AFP.

Smith said in a statement that it was a "response to Japan's growing need for cloud and AI services".

Businesses in Japan, the world's fourth-largest economy, are keen to get ahead in the fast-moving AI field.

But data centers expansion there is constrained by limited space and relatively expensive electricity.

The US tech giant will collaborate with Japan's SoftBank Group and Sakura Internet to expand domestic tech infrastructure, it said in a press release.

It follows a $2.9 billion two-year investment Microsoft announced in 2024 to bolster the country's push into AI and strengthen its cyber defenses.

The investment unveiled Friday also includes funds to enhance cybersecurity partnerships with Japanese government agencies, and to train one million engineers in cooperation with telecom and tech giants NTT and NEC.

A rush to build data centers in the Asia-Pacific region, especially in India and Southeast Asia, has sparked concerns over the facilities' environmental impact.

That includes increased demand on electricity grids that are often reliant on fossil fuels, and on local water supplies used to cool the hot servers inside.

Microsoft says it has pledged to become carbon negative, zero-waste and "water positive" by 2030.

On Tuesday, the company announced plans to invest more than $1 billion in cloud and AI data center infrastructure and operations in Thailand over the next two years.

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Kia to Sell Lower-priced Electric Vehicle in US

A KIA logo on an electric vehicle is seen on display at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio
A KIA logo on an electric vehicle is seen on display at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio
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Kia to Sell Lower-priced Electric Vehicle in US

A KIA logo on an electric vehicle is seen on display at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio
A KIA logo on an electric vehicle is seen on display at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio

Kia said Wednesday it will begin selling a lower-priced electric vehicle in the United States later this year as automakers work to recharge EV sales.

The Korean automaker said at the New York Auto Show it will offer the EV3 in the US market starting later this year, Reuters reported.

Automakers are facing a tougher EV market in the United States after Congress repealed the $7,500 EV tax credit last year but higher gasoline prices in recent weeks has prompted new interest in the EVs.

Technology

Passengers Stranded in Moving Traffic after Robotaxi Outage in China

This file photo taken on August 1, 2024 shows a general view of a driverless robotaxi autonomous vehicle developed as part of tech giant Baidu's Apollo Go self-driving project, in Wuhan, in central China's Hubei province. (Photo by PEDRO PARDO / AFP)
This file photo taken on August 1, 2024 shows a general view of a driverless robotaxi autonomous vehicle developed as part of tech giant Baidu's Apollo Go self-driving project, in Wuhan, in central China's Hubei province. (Photo by PEDRO PARDO / AFP)
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Passengers Stranded in Moving Traffic after Robotaxi Outage in China

This file photo taken on August 1, 2024 shows a general view of a driverless robotaxi autonomous vehicle developed as part of tech giant Baidu's Apollo Go self-driving project, in Wuhan, in central China's Hubei province. (Photo by PEDRO PARDO / AFP)
This file photo taken on August 1, 2024 shows a general view of a driverless robotaxi autonomous vehicle developed as part of tech giant Baidu's Apollo Go self-driving project, in Wuhan, in central China's Hubei province. (Photo by PEDRO PARDO / AFP)

Some robotaxi passengers were left stranded in the middle of fast-moving traffic in a major Chinese city after their driverless vehicles stopped running, according to police and media reports on Wednesday.

A preliminary investigation indicates more than 100 robotaxis came to a halt because of a “system malfunction,” police in the city of Wuhan said in a statement, without elaborating. No injuries were reported.

One passenger told Chinese media that their robotaxi stopped after turning a corner. An instruction on a screen read: “Driving system malfunction. Staff are expected to arrive in 5 minutes.” After no one showed up, the passenger pushed an SOS button and was told that staff were on their way. The car door could be opened, so the passenger got out on their own.

It is the first time a mass shutdown of robotaxis has been reported in China, The Associated Press said. In December, many of Waymo’s self-driving cars came to a stop in San Francisco because of a power outage.

The taxis in Wuhan are operated by Baidu, a major Chinese internet and AI company that is expanding its Apollo Go robotaxi business to overseas locations in Europe and the Mideast.

Baidu did not have any immediate comment.

Police said reports that taxis were coming to a halt started coming in around 9 p.m., while media reports said multiple people were rescued.

While some passengers were able to exit their taxis on their own, others were afraid to get out because their vehicle had stopped in the middle lane of a ring road with other vehicles passing on both sides, the reports said. Ring roads are elevated roads without traffic lights designed to move traffic quickly in urban areas.

Baidu operates hundreds of robotaxis in Wuhan, which hosted an early pilot project for the company.