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Riyadh Season Receives 17 Million Visitors

Photo by SPA
Photo by SPA
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Riyadh Season Receives 17 Million Visitors

Photo by SPA
Photo by SPA

The Riyadh Season announced that since the launch of its activities in late October, it has received 17 million visitors across all its regions, SPA said on Friday.
The event is filled with various entertainment options, games, shopping, festivals, and exhibitions to cater to all tastes. The theme for this year's event is "Big Time," which has successfully hosted several events, including the Riyadh Season Cup that concluded recently.
New and exciting events are also being held across several regions, including the Boulevard City area, which boasts international entertainment options, Boulevard World for various international cultures, and VIA Riyadh for cinema, cafes, restaurants, and global brands. Each area has a unique entertainment character that caters to visitors' diverse preferences.
Since its fourth edition launch, the Riyadh Season has attracted visitors from all walks of life to its events catering to various entertainment fields. During the event, several plays and artistic evenings by Arab artists have been held in theaters and restaurants.

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Latest Tests Show Seine Water Quality Was Substandard When Paris Mayor Took a Dip

Boats carrying members of delegations sail along the Seine during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Boats carrying members of delegations sail along the Seine during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Latest Tests Show Seine Water Quality Was Substandard When Paris Mayor Took a Dip

Boats carrying members of delegations sail along the Seine during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Boats carrying members of delegations sail along the Seine during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Tests results released Friday showed the water quality in the River Seine was slightly below the standards needed to authorize swimming — just as the Paris Olympics start.

Heavy rain during the opening ceremony revived concerns over whether the long-polluted waterway will be clean enough to host swimming competitions, since water quality is deeply linked with the weather in the French capital.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a highly publicized dip last week in a bid to ease fears. The Seine will be used for marathon swimming and triathlon.

Daily water quality tests measure levels of fecal bacteria known as E. coli.

Tests by monitoring group Eau de Paris show that at the Bras Marie, E. coli levels were then above the safe limit of 900 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters determined by European rules on June 17, when the mayor took a dip.

The site reached a value of 985 on the day the mayor swam with Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet and the top government official for the Paris region, Marc Guillaume, joined her, along with swimmers from local swimming clubs.

At two other measuring points further downstream, the results were below the threshold.

The statement by Paris City Hall and the prefecture of the Paris region noted that water quality last week was in line with European rules six days out of seven on the site which is to host the Olympic swimming competitions.

It noted that "the flow of the Seine is highly unstable due to regular rainfall episodes and remains more than twice the usual flow in summer," explaining fluctuating test results.

Swimming in the Seine has been banned for over a century. Since 2015, organizers have invested $1.5 billion to prepare the Seine for the Olympics and to ensure Parisians have a cleaner river after the Games. The plan included constructing a giant underground water storage basin in central Paris, renovating sewer infrastructure, and upgrading wastewater treatment plants.