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National Cybersecurity Authority Develops Skills of Over 10,000 Saudis Through CyberIC

The National Cybersecurity Academy trained about 6,000 beneficiaries representing more than 300 government agencies in 2023 (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The National Cybersecurity Academy trained about 6,000 beneficiaries representing more than 300 government agencies in 2023 (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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National Cybersecurity Authority Develops Skills of Over 10,000 Saudis Through CyberIC

The National Cybersecurity Academy trained about 6,000 beneficiaries representing more than 300 government agencies in 2023 (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The National Cybersecurity Academy trained about 6,000 beneficiaries representing more than 300 government agencies in 2023 (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The development of cybersecurity is one of the strategic pillars of the National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA) in Saudi Arabia to stimulate the growth of the sector, encourage innovation, support entrepreneurship and investment, raise the proportion of local content in it, and build specialized national cadres to meet the national needs.

It also aims to contribute to strengthening the cybersecurity sector in Saudi Arabia and exploit promising opportunities that abound to achieve sustainable development and access to safe and reliable cyberspace.

NCA is the government entity in charge of cybersecurity in Saudi Arabia and serves as the national authority on its affairs.

It has regulatory and operational functions related to cybersecurity and works closely with public and private entities to improve the country's cybersecurity posture to safeguard its vital interests, national security, critical infrastructures, high-priority sectors, government services, and activities.

It is also concerned with stimulating the growth of the cybersecurity sector in Saudi Arabia and encouraging innovation and investment.

The Authority's pavilion at World Defense Show 2024 highlights the most prominent efforts and initiatives implemented to develop and build national capabilities specialized in cybersecurity, raise the level of cyber readiness among federal entities, and create a competitive environment that attracts local and global investment to the market in Saudi Arabia.

The Authority launched a group of strategic initiatives as part of the CyberIC program to develop the sector, contributing to the localization of cybersecurity technologies and training content, building specialized national capabilities, and supporting research and innovation programs.

The initiatives also aim to develop skills and knowledge for more than 10,000 Saudi men and women.

The first phase of the CyberIC program includes numerous initiatives, most notably the training of employees of national authorities, accelerating cybersecurity activities to stimulate the sector, and encouraging the development of national cybersecurity products, services, and solutions.

The cybersecurity accelerator is one of the main enablers in localizing its technologies by supporting more than 40 emerging companies and motivating entrepreneurs by establishing more than 20 local start-ups that provide solutions to cyber challenges.

The Authority also launched the CyberIC Innovation Program, in partnership with NEOM, to contribute to the growth of Saudi Arabia's cybersecurity sector, encouraging innovation and fostering investment.

The CyberIC Innovation Program aims to support the development of winning ideas and turn them into viable commercial products – thereby fostering localized innovative cybersecurity solutions, promoting investment in cybersecurity, and boosting the cybersecurity sector in Saudi Arabia.

It plays a critical role in nurturing local talent, creating a solid local cybersecurity company, and enabling cybersecurity entrepreneurs in a thriving environment that fosters innovation.

The Authority also implements a CyberPro program to train and qualify government cybersecurity employees. It aims to develop their capabilities and enhance scientific and practical skills.

During 2023, the National Cybersecurity Academy trained over 6,000 personnel representing more than 300 government agencies and contributed to developing the leadership capabilities of 160 cybersecurity officials within the Cybersecurity Leaders program.

The Authority issued the Saudi Cybersecurity Higher Education Framework and the Saudi Cybersecurity Workforce Framework (SCyWF) to achieve the academic quality of higher education programs and ensure that higher education outcomes are aligned with national needs.

The SCyWF framework facilitates creating, updating, and standardizing job descriptions in cybersecurity within national entities, as each role has a job description that includes a description of the tasks, knowledge, skills, and abilities required for each job role.

The Authority also depends on the cyber awareness of national authorities' employees and all society's age groups to establish a high cyberculture that enhances the values of preserving national security.

In 2022, the Authority launched the National Cybersecurity Awareness Program (Amen), an extension of its strategic initiatives to raise cybersecurity awareness within society.

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UN Reports Warn of Large-Scale Damage to Earth’s Ice from Climate Change

Melting of glaciers and sea ice, the thawing of permafrost and the accelerating rise in sea levels, will have widespread repercussions, from flooding to water shortages. (AFP)
Melting of glaciers and sea ice, the thawing of permafrost and the accelerating rise in sea levels, will have widespread repercussions, from flooding to water shortages. (AFP)
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UN Reports Warn of Large-Scale Damage to Earth’s Ice from Climate Change

Melting of glaciers and sea ice, the thawing of permafrost and the accelerating rise in sea levels, will have widespread repercussions, from flooding to water shortages. (AFP)
Melting of glaciers and sea ice, the thawing of permafrost and the accelerating rise in sea levels, will have widespread repercussions, from flooding to water shortages. (AFP)

Exceeding 1.5C of global warming will have "irreversible" consequences for glaciers, sea ice and the Earth's frozen regions, two UN reports warned on Monday, calling for urgent action.

The landmark 2015 Paris Agreement commits the world to limiting warming to well below 2C and pursuing efforts to hold it at 1.5C to try to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

One of the reports said overshooting the 1.5C target "will bring large-scale and in many cases irreversible impacts" for the cryosphere -- Earth's ice in all its forms.

Melting of glaciers and sea ice, the thawing of permafrost and the accelerating rise in sea levels, will have widespread repercussions, from flooding to water shortages.

Some of the effects of the rise in temperature are already visible, such as the 20-percent loss in glacial mass in Switzerland.

But even if the 1.5C target remains relevant, it is already too high for the cryosphere, as current levels of warming were "already unsafe" for the Arctic, Antarctic, mountain glaciers and polar oceans, the UN warned.

"Although returning to 1.5 C will slow ice loss, a truly 'safe' temperature for Earth's ice is now thought to be closer to 1C or even below over the coming centuries," it added.

Global warming has already reached 1.37C above pre-industrial levels and according to the European Copernicus network, the 1.5C threshold could be exceeded around 2030.

"There are no good outcomes in exceeding 1.5C," said glaciologist James Kirkham, lead author of one of the reports, entitled "Overshoot and the Cryosphere", which was written with 80 scientists.

"To contain the global fallout and damage from ice loss in the world's polar and mountain regions, overshoot needs to be kept to the absolute minimum," he said.

"Every extra fraction of a degree and every year spent in overshoot means more devastating impacts."

- Urgency -

Scientists warn in particular about the risks of crossing certain tipping points and say that, even if temperatures were to return to below the 1.5C threshold, recovery would be very slow.

Reducing warming to under 1.5C and even 1C could see some glaciers partially regenerate, while there could also be benefits for sea ice.

But Matthew England, an oceanographer and climatologist at the University of New South Wales in Australia, said recovery could take "decades to centuries".

The second report -- "State of the Cryosphere 2026. The Cost of Overshoot" -- shows that exceeding 2.8C into the next century would have significant consequences.

Sea levels could rise by up to five centimeters a year by 2150, compared to the current 0.45 centimeters while the thawing of permafrost could release as much carbon dioxide each year as the United States, the world's second-largest polluter.

A worst-case but not-so-improbable scenario is that the world is heading towards warming of 2.6C by 2100 even if countries meet their climate commitments.

"Temporarily exceeding 1.5C does not mean that the goals of the Paris Agreement are irrelevant but instead makes them more urgent," argued Kirkham.

"Returning to 1.5C or below by 2100 remains possible with sufficient political ambition and urgency, specifically by speeding the transition away from fossil fuel use to reach net zero by mid-century," he said.

"Such urgent action can prevent and even reverse some cryosphere loss."

Gunjan Silwal, a Nepali glacier researcher, said decisions made in the next few years "will lock in the scale of the damage", warning that August's mountain and glacier collapse that killed more than 1,400 and left over 5,000 missing, was "only a foretaste".

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Challenging Scientific Assumptions: Blood Remnants Found in 115-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Bones

An artist's impression of a giant dinosaur (Curtin University, Australia)
An artist's impression of a giant dinosaur (Curtin University, Australia)
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Challenging Scientific Assumptions: Blood Remnants Found in 115-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Bones

An artist's impression of a giant dinosaur (Curtin University, Australia)
An artist's impression of a giant dinosaur (Curtin University, Australia)

An international research team has discovered fossilized red blood cells, hemoglobin-derived biomolecules and amino acids from collagen protein inside the bones of a dinosaur that lived approximately 115 million years ago in Brazil. The unprecedented discovery opens new avenues for studying ancient life and challenges existing assumptions about how long fossils can preserve their biological components.

The researchers, led by Australia's Curtin University, said the remains were discovered inside the limb bones of a theropod dinosaur known as Aratasaurus museunacionali, whose fossils were found in northwestern Brazil. The findings were published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Analyses revealed large numbers of preserved red blood cells within the bones' vascular canals. For the first time, researchers were able to establish the presence of hemoglobin-derived chemical compounds inside these cells by detecting heme, the component of hemoglobin responsible for binding and transporting oxygen.

The finding provides confirmed chemical evidence of fossilized blood remnants, unlike previous studies that identified structures resembling red blood cells in fossils but could not conclusively establish their chemical nature.

The discovery surprised researchers because the preservation of delicate biological components, such as red blood cells and hemoglobin molecules, over 115 million years challenges scientific assumptions about how long these materials can survive degradation.

The researchers described the identification of heme-derived molecules within red blood cells of such extraordinary age as a remarkable discovery and a significant milestone in paleontology.

They added that the findings not only expand the fossil record of blood remnants but also provide a direct molecular window into the physiological characteristics of extinct animals, helping scientists better understand their biology and the environments in which they lived.

The study explained that the red blood cells had been mineralized by hausmannite, a mineral that acted as a natural time capsule, helping stabilize cellular structures and biological components, including amino acids associated with collagen protein, and protecting them from degradation over millions of years.

Researchers believe this exceptional preservation resulted from the dinosaur's carcass being rapidly buried after death in a low-oxygen environment rich in microorganisms. These conditions may have helped preserve the biological components within the bones.

The researchers said the findings challenge long-standing scientific assumptions that biomolecules such as hemoglobin could not survive over extended geological timescales.

They also open new avenues for investigating the evolution of blood and metabolic processes, potentially offering insights into the activity levels of ancient animals.

According to the team, the study redefines the limits of molecular preservation across vast periods of time, even under harsh environmental conditions.

The findings may also have implications for astrobiology, potentially helping scientists develop methods to search for evidence of ancient life beyond Earth.

Varieties

Charles Left without Umbrella in Rainstorm Fit for a King

Britain's King Charles III arrives alongside Chief of Defense Staff, Brigadier General Telbert Benjamin in the rain for a military parade marking Antigua and Barbuda's 45th Independence anniversary at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua and Barbuda, on November 1, 2026. (AFP)
Britain's King Charles III arrives alongside Chief of Defense Staff, Brigadier General Telbert Benjamin in the rain for a military parade marking Antigua and Barbuda's 45th Independence anniversary at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua and Barbuda, on November 1, 2026. (AFP)
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Charles Left without Umbrella in Rainstorm Fit for a King

Britain's King Charles III arrives alongside Chief of Defense Staff, Brigadier General Telbert Benjamin in the rain for a military parade marking Antigua and Barbuda's 45th Independence anniversary at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua and Barbuda, on November 1, 2026. (AFP)
Britain's King Charles III arrives alongside Chief of Defense Staff, Brigadier General Telbert Benjamin in the rain for a military parade marking Antigua and Barbuda's 45th Independence anniversary at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua and Barbuda, on November 1, 2026. (AFP)

King Charles flung up his hands in despair as he was caught in a tropical rainstorm in Antigua, while his wife Queen Camilla strolled off with the only available umbrella.

The couple's Caribbean tour has been dominated by the debate over Britain's role in the slave trade, but it was the sight of the soaked monarch which made headlines on Sunday.

As the rain hammered down on Charles, ‌77, he ‌was seen gesturing and turning round to ‌try ⁠to attract the ⁠attention of someone who might help, while Camilla was shielded from the downpour.

Locals taking part in the Antigua and Barbuda independence day parade did not flinch as they were lashed by the storm.

Charles was eventually given an umbrella and was seen joking about ⁠his experience with Prime Minister Gaston ‌Browne. "I think I'm about to ‌grow watercress on my suit," he said in a ‌video posted on the royal family's Instagram account.

It ‌is not the first time the frustration of the famously short-fused Charles has been captured in public.

Not long after he became king in 2022 in an incident which went ‌viral on social media, he reacted grumpily when a pen leaked ink onto ⁠his ⁠hand at an event in Northern Ireland.

"Oh God, I hate this," he cursed.

"I can't bear this bloody thing... every stinking time," he continued.

He has since made fun of himself, quipping at a subsequent event, "I'm hoping that my pen is going to work. It doesn't usually."

He is due to make a speech to Commonwealth leaders on Tuesday. Since becoming king, he has expressed sorrow for the suffering caused by slavery without crossing a line that Britain has long resisted: an apology.