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Saudi Team Wins 6 Awards at 2024 International Mathematical Olympiad in UK

Saudi Team Wins 6 Awards at 2024 International Mathematical Olympiad in UK
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Saudi Team Wins 6 Awards at 2024 International Mathematical Olympiad in UK

Saudi Team Wins 6 Awards at 2024 International Mathematical Olympiad in UK

Under the auspices of the King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity "Mawhiba" and the Ministry of Education, the Saudi mathematics team won six awards at the 65th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) 2024 held in the UK from July 15 to 21.

The event featured 603 talented students from 104 countries, with the Saudi team securing 1 silver medal, 4 bronze medals, and 1 certificate of appreciation.

Hadi Al-Aithan from the Al-Ahsa education department won the silver medal, while Youssef Bakheet (Yanbu education department), Mohammed Rabie (Madinah education department), Muath Al-Qahtani (Al-Sharqiyah education department), and Ahmed Al-Shehri (Riyadh education department) received bronze medals.

Mohammad Al-Ghamdi from the Al-Sharqiyah education department was honored with a certificate of appreciation.

Secretary-General of Mawhiba Amal Al-Hazzaa extended her congratulations to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, for this remarkable national achievement.

She also congratulated the students, their families, schools, teachers, and education departments for their outstanding accomplishment and wished them continued success.

Al-Hazzaa described this triumph in such a prestigious competition as a moment of immense pride for the entire nation.

Furthermore, she underlined her gratitude to Minister of Education Youssef Al-Benyan for his unwavering support of Mawhiba and the exceptionally talented students in public education.

She commended the minister's dedication in providing necessary resources and opportunities, which have contributed to the fruitful partnership between the ministry and Mawhiba.

Furthermore, she highlighted Al-Benyan’s efforts to empower Saudi talents and propel them to greater heights of achievement through this collaboration.

Saudi Arabia's participation in the IMO 2024 is part of the Mawhiba International Olympiad program, which operates under a strategic partnership with the Ministry of Education. The program is one of 20 different initiatives offered annually by Mawhiba and the ministry, providing advanced curricula and enriching programs.

The initiatives offer a multi-phase journey for gifted students, exploring, boosting, and empowering their ambitions, in collaboration with local and international partners.

Students enrolled in the Mawhiba International Olympiad program undergo rigorous training, over 1,000 hours a year, in cooperation with the ministry. The training, focused on their chosen scientific track, is delivered under the guidance of local trainers and international Olympiad experts.

With this latest achievement, Saudi Arabia's tally of IMO awards has risen to 77, including 12 silver medals, 46 bronze medals, and 19 certificates of appreciation.

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Japan City Gets $3.6 Mn Donation in Gold to Fix Water System

FILE PHOTO: Factories line the port of Osaka, western Japan October 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Factories line the port of Osaka, western Japan October 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/File Photo
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Japan City Gets $3.6 Mn Donation in Gold to Fix Water System

FILE PHOTO: Factories line the port of Osaka, western Japan October 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Factories line the port of Osaka, western Japan October 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/File Photo

Osaka has received an unusual donation -- 21 kilograms of gold -- to pay for the maintenance of its ageing water system, the Japanese commercial hub announced Thursday.

The donation worth $3.6 million was made in November by a person who a month earlier had already given $3,300 in cash for the municipal waterworks, Osaka Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama told a press conference.

"It's an absolutely staggering amount," said Yokoyama, adding that he was lost for words to express his gratitude.

"I was shocked."

The donor wished to remain anonymous, AFP quoted the mayor as saying.

Work to replace water pipes in Osaka, a city of 2.8 million residents, has hit a snag as the actual cost exceeded the planned budget, according to local media.

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Thai Cops Go Undercover as Lion Dancers to Nab Suspected Thief

People gather to watch performers outside Emsphere shopping mall on the first day of the Lunar New Year of the Horse, in Bangkok on February 17, 2026. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)
People gather to watch performers outside Emsphere shopping mall on the first day of the Lunar New Year of the Horse, in Bangkok on February 17, 2026. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)
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Thai Cops Go Undercover as Lion Dancers to Nab Suspected Thief

People gather to watch performers outside Emsphere shopping mall on the first day of the Lunar New Year of the Horse, in Bangkok on February 17, 2026. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)
People gather to watch performers outside Emsphere shopping mall on the first day of the Lunar New Year of the Horse, in Bangkok on February 17, 2026. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)

Thai police donned a lion dance costume during this week's Lunar New Year festivities to arrest a suspect accused of stealing about $64,000 worth of Buddhist artifacts, police said Thursday.

Officers dressed as a red-and-yellow lion made the arrest on Wednesday evening after receiving a report earlier this month of a home burglary in the suburbs of the capital, Bangkok, AFP reported.

Capital police said the reported break-in involved "numerous Buddhist objects and two 12-inch Buddha statues", along with evidence of repeated attempts to enter the house, according to a statement.

With few leads, police kept watch for weeks before hatching an unusual plan to join a lion dance procession at a nearby Buddhist temple.

"Officers gradually moved closer to the suspect before arresting him," police said.

A video released by police showed the festive lion dancers approaching the suspect before an officer suddenly emerged from the head of the costume and, with help from colleagues, pinned him to the ground.

Police estimated the value of the stolen items at around two million baht ($64,000).

The suspect, a 33-year-old man, has a criminal record involving drug offences and theft, police added.

Varieties

Sudan's Historic Acacia Forest Devastated as War Fuels Logging

Little is left of the once sprawling acacia forest south of Sudan's capital. Ebrahim Hamid / AFP
Little is left of the once sprawling acacia forest south of Sudan's capital. Ebrahim Hamid / AFP
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Sudan's Historic Acacia Forest Devastated as War Fuels Logging

Little is left of the once sprawling acacia forest south of Sudan's capital. Ebrahim Hamid / AFP
Little is left of the once sprawling acacia forest south of Sudan's capital. Ebrahim Hamid / AFP

Vast stretches of a once-verdant acacia forest south of Sudan's capital Khartoum have been reduced to little more than fields of stumps as nearly three years of conflict have fueled deforestation.

What was once a 1,500-hectare natural reserve has been "completely wiped out", Boushra Hamed, head of environmental affairs for Khartoum state, told AFP.

Al-Sunut forest had long served as a haven for migratory birds and a vital green shield against the Nile's seasonal floods.

"During the war, Khartoum state has lost 60 percent of its green cover," Hamed said, describing how century-old trees "were cut down with electric saws" for commercial timber and charcoal production.

Where tall acacias once cast cool shade over a wetland just upstream from the confluence of the Blue and White Nile, barren ground now lies exposed, criss-crossed by people gathering whatever wood remains.

Hamed called it "methodical destruction", though the perpetrators remain unknown and there has been no investigation.

Similar devastation is unfolding across several regions -- including western Darfur, neighboring Kordofan and the central states of Sennar and Al-Jazirah -- as insecurity and economic collapse drive unchecked logging, according to Sudan's Forests National Corporation.

According to a 2019 study by the Nairobi-based African Forest Forum, Sudan had already lost nearly half of its forested land since 1960 due to agricultural expansion, firewood collection and overgrazing.

By 2015, the country ranked among Africa's least forested nations, with around 10 percent of its territory still covered by woodland, the study said.

The report had also warned of further degradation if reforestation and sustainable management efforts were not implemented -- concerns now compounded by the ongoing conflict.

- 'Barrier' -

Aboubakr Al-Tayeb, who oversees Khartoum's forestry administration, said the damage "affects not only Khartoum, but Sudan and the wider African continent."

"The forest was home to several migratory species from Europe," he told AFP.

More than a hundred bird species, including ducks, geese, terns, ibis, herons, eagles and vultures, had been recorded in the area, alongside monkeys and small mammals.

Al-Nazir Ali Babiker, an agronomist, said the loss of tree cover could cause more severe seasonal flooding because the "forest acted as a barrier" against rising waters.

Flooding strikes Sudan every year, destroying homes, farmland and infrastructure and leaving many families with no choice but to flee to safer areas.

The war in Sudan, which erupted in April 2023, has already killed tens of thousands, displaced 11 million and shattered critical infrastructure.

Before the fighting, forests supplied roughly 70 percent of Sudan's energy consumption, primarily through charcoal and firewood, according to data from the African Forest Forum.

Al-Sunut had also been a popular leisure spot for Khartoum residents.

"We used to come in groups to study and have a good time," recalls Adam Hafiz Ibrahim, a student at Omdurman Islamic University.

Today, wood gatherers have supplanted the usual walkers. Disregarding army notices alerting them to landmines, men and women traverse the dry, open ground that now stands where the ancient forest once grew.

"We're not cutting the trees. We just pick up whatever wood's already on the ground to use for the fire," said Nafisa, a woman in her forties navigating the dry grasslands.

"We found the trees down. We collect the wood to sell to bakeries and families," said Mohamed Zakaria, a construction worker who lost his job because of the war.

Experts say that the economic hardship caused by the war combined with a lack of enforcement has encouraged logging.

"The logging continues, because those responsible for forest protection cannot access many areas," said Mousa el-Sofori, head of Sudan's Forests National Corporation.

Efforts to replant acacias are underway, Tayeb of the Khartoum forestry administration said, but seedlings grow slowly and can take years to mature.

Restoring the lost woodlands would be "long and costly", said Sofori.

"Some of these forests were centuries old," he added.