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Saudi Arabia’s Al-Benyan Participates in G20 Education Ministers Meeting

Saudi Minister of Education Yousef bin Abdullah Al-Benyan. SPA
Saudi Minister of Education Yousef bin Abdullah Al-Benyan. SPA
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Saudi Arabia’s Al-Benyan Participates in G20 Education Ministers Meeting

Saudi Minister of Education Yousef bin Abdullah Al-Benyan. SPA
Saudi Minister of Education Yousef bin Abdullah Al-Benyan. SPA

Saudi Minister of Education Yousef bin Abdullah Al-Benyan has participated in the meeting of the Group of Twenty (G20) Education Ministers, which was chaired by Dharmendra Pradhan, India’s Minister of Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

During Thursday’s meeting, which also was attended by representatives of regional and international organizations, Al-Benyan thanked India for the successes achieved during its presidency of the G20, highlighting the importance of education as a fundamental human right and significant pillar of the Sustainable Development Goals.

He noted that education and human capital development is a significant pillar of the Saudi Vision 2030 and has immensely contributed to improving education reform strategies and policies.

He underscored the importance of boosting the preparedness of the education systems in the G20 member states and other countries and enhancing international cooperation in this regard. He also expressed his wishes for success to Brazil during its presidency of the G20 in 2024.

Al-Benyan met with the Brazilian Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, on the sidelines of the G20 education ministers meeting.

They discussed a number of issues of common interest, including the aspects of existing and future cooperation in the fields of public and higher education, research, and innovation between the Kingdom of and Brazil.

Al-Benyan also discussed with the Deputy Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Yoshiki Takeuchi, aspects of the existing cooperation between Saudi Arabia and the OECD.

The meeting reviewed the unprecedented progress that the education sector has made in the Kingdom and discussed cooperation in the fields of educational studies and research aimed at developing educational policies related to promoting values and skills.

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What to Know About Sinkholes after a US Woman May Have Disappeared into One

Rescue workers search in a sinkhole for Elizabeth Pollard, who disappeared while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Rescue workers search in a sinkhole for Elizabeth Pollard, who disappeared while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
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What to Know About Sinkholes after a US Woman May Have Disappeared into One

Rescue workers search in a sinkhole for Elizabeth Pollard, who disappeared while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Rescue workers search in a sinkhole for Elizabeth Pollard, who disappeared while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Authorities fear a grandmother in western Pennsylvania who disappeared while looking for her cat may have been swallowed by a sinkhole, The Associated Press reported.
Crews lowered a pole camera with a sensitive listening device into the hole on Tuesday but no sound was detected, while a second camera lowered down showed what could be a shoe.
Police say Elizabeth Pollard's relatives called police at about 1 a.m. to say she hadn’t been seen since Monday evening when she went to search for her cat. They found Pollard’s 5-year-old granddaughter in her parked car near the manhole-sized opening.
Here are some things to know about sinkholes:
What are sinkholes? A sinkhole is an area of ground that has no natural external surface drainage and can form when the ground below the land surface can no longer support the land above, according to the US Geological Survey.
The land usually stays intact for a period of time until the underground spaces just get too big. If there is not enough support for the land above the spaces, then a sudden, dramatic collapse of the land surface can happen.
How common are sinkholes? Sinkholes are most common in what geologists call karst terrain, which involves types of rock including limestone below the land surface that can naturally be dissolved by groundwater circulating through them. They can also happen due to old underground mines.
The most damage from sinkholes in the US tends to occur in Florida, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Pennsylvania. Florida, for example, is highly susceptible to sinkholes because it sits above limestone.
How big are sinkholes? Sinkholes can range in size from holes that are just a few feet wide to ones that cover a vast area spanning hundreds of acres. Their depth can also vary from just a few inches to more than 100 feet (more than 30 meters). Some are shaped like shallow bowls or saucers, whereas others have vertical walls. Some hold water and form ponds.
Other recent sinkhole incidents In June, a giant sinkhole in southern Illinois swallowed the center of a soccer field built on top of a limestone mine, taking down a large light pole and leaving a gaping chasm where squads of kids often play. No one was hurt.
In 2023, a sinkhole that in 2013 fatally swallowed a man sleeping in his house in suburban Tampa, Florida, reopened for a third time, but it was behind chain-link fencing and caused no harm to people or property. Officials said the sinkhole reopening was not unusual, especially in central Florida with its porous limestone base.
A large sinkhole opened up in 2020 in South Dakota near where a man was mowing his lawn. Testing revealed a large, improperly sealed mine beneath part of the housing subdivision, and a 40-foot-deep (12-meter-deep) pit mine in another corner of the neighborhood, a lawyer for some of the area homeowners said. Since the first giant collapse, more sinkholes have appeared.
A large sinkhole that swallowed oil field equipment and some vehicles in southeastern Texas in 2008 expanded in 2023 when another sinkhole developed and joined the first one.