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Riyadh Metro: A New Way to Reach Home Before Iftar During Ramadan

Metro users flood in after work hours or finishing their shopping trips (Photo: Turki Al-Ogaili)
Metro users flood in after work hours or finishing their shopping trips (Photo: Turki Al-Ogaili)
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Riyadh Metro: A New Way to Reach Home Before Iftar During Ramadan

Metro users flood in after work hours or finishing their shopping trips (Photo: Turki Al-Ogaili)
Metro users flood in after work hours or finishing their shopping trips (Photo: Turki Al-Ogaili)

The Riyadh metro, a new addition to the city's transportation network, is becoming a preferred option for many residents.

It helps them complete tasks and run errands during Ramadan, offering a respite from street congestion, car traffic, and the anxiety of the last hours before sunset.

During Ramadan days, Asharq Al-Awsat joined several metro rides, observing varying crowd levels throughout the day. The peak rush hour occurs when employees finish work, just before Iftar.

The city remains quiet around midday, with most passengers occupied in reading the Quran and reciting supplications. However, stations become crowded as the Maghrib call to prayer approaches, coinciding with the time when many employees head home.

To adapt to the changes brought by Ramadan, including altered working hours and meal times for Iftar and Suhoor, Riyadh’s public transport authority has announced new daily operating hours. The metro will run from 8 a.m. until 2 a.m. to facilitate travel during the holy month.

Asharq Al-Awsat observed the flow of passengers at the newly opened Qasr Al-Hokm station, one of Riyadh’s latest metro stops. The station has become a popular choice for many shoppers during Ramadan, as it is surrounded by traditional markets in the heart of the city.

After the afternoon prayer on the second day of Ramadan, the station began to see a gradual increase in traffic. Metro riders started arriving after finishing work or completing their shopping at the historic Deira markets, a popular destination for people to fulfill their needs during the holy month.

As the train prepares for departure, passengers continue to stream in, with the journey passing through several stations before reaching the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) station, a key hub where commuters disperse to their various destinations.

Inside the partially filled train, passengers make use of their time by reading the Quran or browsing through their electronic devices, keeping up with their daily Quranic recitations.

On the way to the Financial District station, the blue line stops at several stations along the route. At each stop, more passengers board, gradually filling the train.

As the journey continues, many passengers take the opportunity to read the Quran, making the most of their time before reaching their destination.

By the time the train reaches the Financial District station, the crowd has grown significantly, coinciding with the approaching Maghrib call to prayer.

People flow in nonstop, heading toward their various destinations, while passengers scramble to catch their trains and reach their destinations on time.

On the return journey from the Financial District station, many passengers rush to catch the next train as the metro car fills with people heading back from central Riyadh to the various southern destinations.

The crowds grow denser after official working hours end and the Maghrib call to prayer approaches.

With each stop, the number of passengers increases, and the station becomes more crowded.

Some take the opportunity to offer prayers before the call to Maghrib, while others, upon reaching the Qasr Al-Hokm station, prepare for Iftar, either by grabbing pre-packed meals or heading home for their evening meal, close to the station.

 

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Varieties

Natural Sugar Floating in Space Between Stars

Night sky over single tree (AFP) 
Night sky over single tree (AFP) 
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Natural Sugar Floating in Space Between Stars

Night sky over single tree (AFP) 
Night sky over single tree (AFP) 

Scientists have found natural sugars floating in interstellar space – and it could fundamentally change the search for alien life.

Researchers spotted erythrulose, found Earth in raspberries and fake tan, towards the middle of our galaxy, according to The Independent.

It could help answer one of the biggest questions about the origins of life on Earth, and how it could have formed elsewhere in the universe.

Sugars are central to living organisms: they are the backbone of the DNA and RNA that makes us up, and help power key biological processes. Researchers also think they would have played a key role in the beginning of life.

But despite that importance, astronomers still do not know how those sugars could have formed, here or elsewhere. Experiments in laboratories, for instance, show that they would not form in the conditions that were around before life was.

Astronomers have previously found sugars on samples from meteorite and asteroids, suggesting that some of them might have come from the primordial molecular cloud that formed our solar system. But no samples had been found in the interstellar medium that sits between stars in space.

Now, researchers have found such a sample towards the molecular cloud known as G+0.693−0.027, which is near the middle of our Milky Way galaxy.

They spotted it using the ultra-sensitive surveys powered by two powerful telescopes.

In data from those telescopes, researchers found data that matched erythrulose when it is measured in a laboratory.

That research also showed that the complex sugar – which is the only possible four-carbon ketone – is vastly more common than similar, less complex three-carbon sugars, of which they found none. “This finding was unexpected, as the prevailing view in astrochemistry is that interstellar molecules grow in size through the sequential addition of carbon atoms”, said Izaskun Jimenez Serra, the lead author on the new work.

That suggests that the some 0.5 and 50 million tons of the sugar could have arrived on Earth during the Late Heavy Bombardment, about 4 billion years ago. In doing so, it might have helped start the development of life on Earth, the researchers said.

The work is published in a new article, ‘Detection of a chiral four-carbon sugar in interstellar space’, published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

 

 

 

Varieties

Drones, AI and White Paint: Europe Races to Protect Infrastructure from Heat

A vehicle from Oslo Airport’s fire rescue services sprays water onto the runway at the airport, to combat heat, in Oslo, Norway, July 15, 2026. REUTERS/Tom Little
A vehicle from Oslo Airport’s fire rescue services sprays water onto the runway at the airport, to combat heat, in Oslo, Norway, July 15, 2026. REUTERS/Tom Little
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Drones, AI and White Paint: Europe Races to Protect Infrastructure from Heat

A vehicle from Oslo Airport’s fire rescue services sprays water onto the runway at the airport, to combat heat, in Oslo, Norway, July 15, 2026. REUTERS/Tom Little
A vehicle from Oslo Airport’s fire rescue services sprays water onto the runway at the airport, to combat heat, in Oslo, Norway, July 15, 2026. REUTERS/Tom Little

As Europe's railways buckle under record heat, roads melt and power grids strain, countries are turning to an array of fixes for ageing infrastructure, from drones inspecting tracks and AI-powered sensors to a surprisingly simple tool: white paint.

At Norway's Oslo airport on Wednesday, with temperatures set to hit 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), 10 C above normal for the time of year, workers doused the tarmac with water to keep it cool.

It's a marked shift in a country more used to coping with the cold that reflects how Europe is having to adapt to rising temperatures that are stoking wildfires, causing thousands of excess deaths and putting infrastructure under growing pressure.

"In Norway, the asphalt must withstand both extreme cold and fairly warm temperatures," said Jørn Arvid Remark, operating engineer at Norwegian state-owned airport operator Avinor, adding the airport was testing a new heat-resistant asphalt.

The fire brigade sprays around 9,000 liters of water on key parts of the runway, which can get damaged at high temperatures as it softens under the weight of aircraft, Reuters reported.

Europe's roads and railways, many built decades ago, are increasingly struggling to cope.

Temperatures across Western Europe on Wednesday were 5.5 C above the average for July ⁠15, according to the ⁠Reuters Climate Monitor.

"Our infrastructure is in no way prepared for the extreme weather events that we're going to see," said Chris Dodwell, co-head of sustainability center at Impax Asset Management, adding heatwaves, once rare, were becoming regular events.

A 2025 report by leading central banks estimated that severe weather events, including heatwaves, droughts and floods, could cut euro zone GDP by as much as 4.7% by 2030.

Europe's railways have felt the impact acutely.

An EU report in April found that more than 70% of rail managers were seeing growing disruption from extreme weather. Between 2015 and 2024 weather-related interruptions amounted to the equivalent of one to three years of railway service across the region.

Heat can cause tracks to expand, and points, ⁠signals and power to fail. However, extreme weather triggered by high temperatures can be even more disruptive.

"The most critical issue for rail networks is not the heat itself, but the thunderstorms, strong winds and landslides that often follow heatwaves," said Oliviero Baccelli, a professor at Milan's Bocconi University.

"Italy has already experienced significant disruptions to its railway network, particularly on Alpine routes, as a result of climate-related events."

Northern European countries such as Britain face particular challenges because much of their rail infrastructure was designed for a narrower temperature range than networks in southern Europe.

John Lawrence, chair of the IET Railway Technical Network, said many rail components and systems were "in essence frozen in time".

He added it would be a huge cost to heat-proof entire networks, though operators were exploring more stable sleeper designs and technologies such as AI and drones to "speed up the amount of track that can be inspected and monitored".

Britain's Network Rail has pledged to invest  £2.6 billion ($3.5 billion)  between 2024 and 2029 to help its network withstand increasingly extreme weather.

Not all solutions are hugely expensive, however, with some operators using traditional methods to reflect heat. Stockholm's transport authority spent about 100,000 Swedish crowns ($10,300) painting ⁠sections of metro track white in ⁠May and June to reduce the risk of track buckling.

Martin Wilson, engineering director at French rail equipment manufacturer Alstom, said Europe could learn lessons from transport systems such as the Riyadh Metro and Dubai tram, designed to operate in temperatures above 50C (122F).

"Today's heatwaves are often more intense, more frequent and longer-lasting," he said.

"Rising temperatures are increasingly challenging rail systems across Europe."

Roads face similar pressures.

Engineers say northern European highways were built primarily to withstand damage from freeze-thaw cycles, while southern countries such as Spain use asphalt blends better suited to prolonged summer heat.

Finding the right balance is becoming harder as countries contend with both colder winters and hotter summers.

"They may have to adjust their approach," said José Pablo Sáez Villar of the Spanish Civil Engineers Association, referring to planners and road builders in northern Europe.

Paris transport operator RATP has created a heatwave contingency unit and is preparing a climate adaptation plan by the end of the year.

In Norway, officials say warmer, wetter weather is changing how new infrastructure is designed.

"Roads are going to be made more robust," said Grethe Vikane, head of social development and climate at the Norwegian Public Roads Administration.

"So they can withstand both the challenges already being experienced and the consequences of expected climate change."

Varieties

Russian Haaland Lookalike Says Viral Video Felt ‘Like a Dream’

Anastasia Kostromitina, model of MOTION agency, who has gone viral with striking likeness to Norway's Erling Haaland, poses in Moscow, Russia July 10, 2026. (Reuters)
Anastasia Kostromitina, model of MOTION agency, who has gone viral with striking likeness to Norway's Erling Haaland, poses in Moscow, Russia July 10, 2026. (Reuters)
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Russian Haaland Lookalike Says Viral Video Felt ‘Like a Dream’

Anastasia Kostromitina, model of MOTION agency, who has gone viral with striking likeness to Norway's Erling Haaland, poses in Moscow, Russia July 10, 2026. (Reuters)
Anastasia Kostromitina, model of MOTION agency, who has gone viral with striking likeness to Norway's Erling Haaland, poses in Moscow, Russia July 10, 2026. (Reuters)

Friends and family have for a few years told Russian model Anastasia Kostromitina that she looked like Norwegian striker Erling Haaland, but it was not until he became the World Cup's superstar that she decided to take that online.

Earlier this month, she posted a video on Instagram highlighting the resemblance to Haaland -- both in looks and mimicking some of his now-trademark mannerisms and distinctive facial expressions.

It soon spiraled and gathered 6.4 million likes.

"At first, I did not even know what was happening, it felt like a dream," Kostromitina told AFP in Moscow, saying she "never expected" the video to go so viral.

"But I'm happy about it anyway," the 24-year-old added.

Haaland, 25, has been the social media sensation of the World Cup, with the Manchester City player now counting 68.8 million followers on social media.

Haaland sparkled at the tournament scoring seven times -- including a double against Brazil in their last 16 match -- as Norway reached the quarter-finals only to lose 2-1 to England.

Kostromitina had mixed feelings when she was first told she looked like the towering male footballer -- but has now embraced it.

"At first, to be honest, I didn't even understand how I could possibly resemble a male football player. But then I started to take it with a sense of humor and now I'm completely fine with it."

Naturally, she was supporting Norway in the World Cup and was sad when they lost.

"I was really rooting for them and was on the edge of my seat," she said of their last game in the competition.

Russia has been mostly banned from international sport since its 2022 Ukraine offensive and did not take part in the World Cup.

Kostromitina -- who is represented by Moscow-based Motion Model Management -- hoped that Haaland will "see my video, maybe even laugh."