Saudi Arabia Wins 6 Awards at 24th Arab Radio, TV Festival in Tunisia

The SBA achieved four radio and TV awards - SPA
The SBA achieved four radio and TV awards - SPA
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Saudi Arabia Wins 6 Awards at 24th Arab Radio, TV Festival in Tunisia

The SBA achieved four radio and TV awards - SPA
The SBA achieved four radio and TV awards - SPA

The 24th edition of the Arab Radio and Television Festival, held in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, has come to a close. The festival was organized by the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) in collaboration with the Tunisian Radio and Television Establishment and ArabSat, SPA reported.
President of ASBU and CEO of the Saudi Broadcasting Authority (SBA) Mohammed bin Fahd Al-Harthi awarded the winners of the 24th edition. The SBA achieved four radio and TV awards, including the second prize in the health programs category for the "Mental Health: Violence in Schools” program.
In the TV category, Saudi Arabia won three awards, including the second prize in the news category for talk shows, honoring the Saudi street program on its episode about Vision 2030. The first prize in the general documentary films and programs category went to "Heritage in the Maqam of Hijaz." Additionally, the Saudi social drama series ‘Al-Arbaji 2’ secured the second position in the social series category.
Furthermore, the SBA was awarded the second prize in the 2024 news exchange competition and the second prize in the 2024 program exchange competition. Meanwhile, the festival honored the judging panels for its radio and television competitions and distributed the exchange awards.
The festival also featured the TV and radio program market and the ASBU Exhibition, where member institutions, private TV and radio networks, and production companies showcased their latest media, artistic, and cultural productions.



Shigeaki Mori, Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Survivor Embraced by Obama, Dies at 88

US President Barack Obama (L) hugs atomic bomb survivor Shigeaki Mori as he visits Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan May 27, 2016. (Reuters)
US President Barack Obama (L) hugs atomic bomb survivor Shigeaki Mori as he visits Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan May 27, 2016. (Reuters)
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Shigeaki Mori, Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Survivor Embraced by Obama, Dies at 88

US President Barack Obama (L) hugs atomic bomb survivor Shigeaki Mori as he visits Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan May 27, 2016. (Reuters)
US President Barack Obama (L) hugs atomic bomb survivor Shigeaki Mori as he visits Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan May 27, 2016. (Reuters)

Shigeaki ‌Mori, the survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bombing whom former US President Barack Obama embraced during a historic visit to the city in 2016, has died at 88, Jiji Press reported on Tuesday.

The image of Obama's arms wrapped around a tearful Mori at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial ‌Park became ‌a defining moment of that ‌visit - ⁠the first ever ⁠by a sitting US president.

Mori was eight years old when the US dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, flattening the city on August 6, 1945 and knocking him ⁠unconscious with the force ‌of its ‌blast.

Thirty years later, Mori embarked on a ‌multi-decade quest to find victims who ‌were cremated at his school playground. His work also identified 12 Americans who died in the bombing.

He died in ‌a hospital in Hiroshima on March 14, Jiji reported.

Many nuclear ⁠bomb ⁠survivors - known as "hibakusha" in Japanese - despite their advanced age and dwindling numbers have tried to keep alive the legacies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only two cities to ever suffer a nuclear attack.

The cities have counted some 550,000 deaths from the attacks to date, including from illnesses related to acute radiation exposure.


People with Diabetes Have a Higher Dementia Risk

A person taking a blood sugar test (University of British Columbia) 
A person taking a blood sugar test (University of British Columbia) 
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People with Diabetes Have a Higher Dementia Risk

A person taking a blood sugar test (University of British Columbia) 
A person taking a blood sugar test (University of British Columbia) 

A US study has shown that people with type 1 diabetes are more likely to develop dementia than the general population, highlighting the importance of following up on brain health as we age.

Researchers from Boston University highlighted a potential way to thwart the disease in adults with diabetes. The findings were published on Monday at the Neurology Journal.

Type 1 diabetes is a chronic condition that affects the insulin making cells of the pancreas.

It is often diagnosed in children and adolescents, characterized by the pancreas producing little to no insulin, and often requires lifelong management, including daily insulin injections (or pumps) and frequent blood sugar monitoring to avoid dangerous complications.

The study was conducted on about 284,000 people, with an average age of 64, including 5,442 suffering from type 1 diabetes, and about 51,000 with type 2 diabetes.

Over an average of 2.4 years follow-up, the researchers examined cases of dementia, a brain disorder that slowly destroys a person's memory and thinking skills.

They found that 2,348 people developed dementia, including 144 with type 1 diabetes (2.6%) and 942 with type 2 diabetes (1.8%), while only 1,262 cases were recorded among non-diabetics (0.6%).

Taking into account factors such as age and education, researchers found that individuals with type 1 diabetes face a significantly elevated risk of developing dementia, with estimates suggesting they are up to three times more likely to develop the condition compared to those without diabetes, while individuals with type 2 diabetes were nearly twice as likely to develop dementia.

The researchers noted that previous studies have shown a link between type 2 diabetes and an increased risk of dementia, but the new findings suggest that this link may be stronger in people with type 1 diabetes.


Budapest’s Vintage Freight Trams Celebrate 100 Years in Service

 Two century-old freight trams are parked in the Kelenfold tram depot in Budapest, Hungary on Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP)
Two century-old freight trams are parked in the Kelenfold tram depot in Budapest, Hungary on Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP)
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Budapest’s Vintage Freight Trams Celebrate 100 Years in Service

 Two century-old freight trams are parked in the Kelenfold tram depot in Budapest, Hungary on Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP)
Two century-old freight trams are parked in the Kelenfold tram depot in Budapest, Hungary on Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP)

With the toot of a horn, the ring of a bell and the hiss of air brakes, an unusual rail vehicle pulls out of a depot in Budapest to serve the Hungarian capital's public transit system, a job it has done for a century.

The so-called freight trams, known as mukis, run on electricity provided by overhead wires and travel on Budapest's vast tram rail network, one of the busiest in the world. But unlike the hundreds of iconic yellow trams in the passenger fleet, they don’t carry commuters.

Acquired by the city in 1926, the wood-sided trams were initially products of necessity: They brought goods and raw materials to and from Budapest's factories after much of the local freight infrastructure had been destroyed during World War I.

"Engineers at the time designed an electric drive system mainly using parts from vehicles damaged in the war, as well as parts from vehicles that had already been designated for scrapping," said Ádám Zadravecz, the head of tram vehicle development and technology at Budapest's public transit company BKV.

"Their primary purpose was freight transport, but after World War II, these vehicles were also used for removal of the war ruins," he said.

Over time, the mukis' function changed as Hungary recovered. In the 1960s, some of the original 40 trams were equipped with a snowplow, enabling them to clear the city's tram tracks in winter, as they do today.

They also perform nighttime maintenance runs, and transport broken-down trams into depots for repairs.

Various parts on the trams were gradually replaced, resulting in a mishmash of components. By 2018, the mukis were due for a more comprehensive refurbishment.

"When they were manufactured in the 1920s, they were extremely simple, extremely puritanical devices," said Nándor Meixner, head of vehicle maintenance at Budapest's Ferencváros depot. "During the refurbishment, we strove to make our colleagues’ work easier. That is why, for example, a seat was added to the vehicle, so that the driver can at least sit down."

Another addition: The trams were equipped with heating in the cabin.

Despite the changes over the last 100 years, Zadravecz said the trams' overall nature remained the same.

"Their maintenance costs is almost zero because these trams are very easy to maintain. Compared to the complex electronics of today’s vehicles, there is very little in them that can break down," he said. "People say that it can be repaired with a hammer and a file, and that’s absolutely true."

Driving them requires special training, however, as well as what Meixner called a certain "feel" for the vehicle.

"It is not enough to just drive, to know the signs and instructions, you also need to know the vehicle itself," he said.

Of the original fleet of 40 mukis, only six have survived the last 100 years in Budapest, with three in active use.

"The value of these vehicles lies precisely in their simplicity, in the pure fact that they exist and are available to us," Zadravecz said.