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Saudi Media Forum Signs Partnership Agreement with Expo 2030 Riyadh as 'Partner of the Future'

Saudi Media Forum Signs Partnership Agreement with Expo 2030 Riyadh as 'Partner of the Future'
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Saudi Media Forum Signs Partnership Agreement with Expo 2030 Riyadh as 'Partner of the Future'

Saudi Media Forum Signs Partnership Agreement with Expo 2030 Riyadh as 'Partner of the Future'

The Saudi Media Forum has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Expo 2030 Riyadh Company, naming it the “Partner of the Future” for the forum’s fifth edition, scheduled to take place in Riyadh from February 2 to 4.

The partnership reflects a shared vision to enhance the Kingdom’s global image and highlight Expo 2030 Riyadh as one of the nation’s most ambitious projects aligned with Saudi Vision 2030.

Under the agreement, both parties will leverage the forum's position as a leading platform for media professionals, content creators, and opinion leaders to showcase Expo 2030 Riyadh’s narrative, milestones, and future outlook.

The collaboration also includes developing high-quality media content and joint initiatives to strengthen the Expo’s local and international presence, reflecting the Kingdom’s ambitions and its growing role in shaping the future of media and global development.

The Saudi Media Forum is a premier annual gathering of media professionals and decision-makers, aimed at exploring challenges and opportunities shaping the industry locally and regionally. Held under the theme “Media in a World in the Making,” the forum brings together prominent media figures and leaders to discuss key trends and issues facing the sector in a rapidly evolving global landscape, SPA reported.

The fifth edition of the forum will feature more than 150 dialogue sessions and over 300 speakers, positioning it as a landmark event in a year of media transformation. The event reflects the Kingdom’s dynamic cultural and developmental momentum, marked by a growing calendar of specialized events and an openness to global engagement.

As part of the partnership, Expo 2030 Riyadh Company will participate in the forum, presenting its key objectives and latest developments, and highlighting its journey from vision to reality, enhancing its local and international presence and solidifying its position as an ambitious national project embodying the Kingdom's vision for the future.

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Massive Winter Storm Across the US Brings Ice, Frigid Temperatures

A person walks across a street during a winter storm in Philadelphia, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
A person walks across a street during a winter storm in Philadelphia, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
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Massive Winter Storm Across the US Brings Ice, Frigid Temperatures

A person walks across a street during a winter storm in Philadelphia, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
A person walks across a street during a winter storm in Philadelphia, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

A massive winter storm continued Sunday morning, dumping sleet, freezing rain and snow across the South and up through New England, bringing frigid temperatures, widespread power outages and treacherous road conditions.

The ice and snowfall were expected to continue through Monday in much of the country, followed by very low temperatures, causing “dangerous travel and infrastructure impacts” to linger for several days, the National Weather Service said.

Heavy snow was forecast from the Ohio Valley to the Northeast, while “catastrophic ice accumulation” threatened from the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, The AP news reported.

“It is a unique storm in the sense that it is so widespread," weather service meteorologist Allison Santorelli said in a phone interview. "It was affecting areas all the way from New Mexico, Texas, all the way into New England, so we’re talking like a 2,000 mile spread.”

As of Sunday morning, about 213 million people were under some sort of winter weather warning, she said. The number of customers without power was approaching 800,000, according to poweroutage.us, and the number was rising.

Tennessee was hardest hit with more than a quarter of a million customers out, and Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi all had more than 100,000 customers in the dark.

More than 10,000 flights had already been canceled Sunday and another 8,000 have been delayed, according to the flight tracker flightaware.com. The biggest hubs hit so far were in Philadelphia, Washington, Raleigh-Durham in North Carolina, New York and New Jersey.

Even once the ice and snow stop falling, the danger will continue, Santorelli warned.

“Behind the storm it’s just going to get bitterly cold across basically the entirety of the eastern two-thirds of the nation, east of the Rockies," she said. That means the ice and snow won't melt as fast, which could hinder some efforts to restore power and other infrastructure.

President Donald Trump had approved emergency declarations for at least a dozen states by Saturday, with more expected to come. The Federal Emergency Management Agency pre-positioned commodities, staff and search and rescue teams in numerous states, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.

Nashville and the surrounding area was seeing ice accumulations of half an inch or more, with icicles hanging from power lines and overburdened tree limbs crashing to the ground.

"We typically say that once you start seeing, you know, roughly a half an inch of ice, that’s when you’re going to start seeing the more widespread power outages,” Santorelli said.

In Oxford, Mississippi, police on Sunday morning used social media to tell residents to stay home as the danger of being outside was too great. Local utility crews were also pulled from their jobs during the overnight hours.

“Due to life-threatening conditions, Oxford Utilities has made the difficult decision to pull our crews off the road for the night,” the utility company posted on Facebook early Sunday.

“The situation is currently too dangerous to continue,” it said. “Trees are actively snapping and falling around our linemen while they are in the bucket trucks. We simply cannot clear the lines faster than the limbs are falling.”

Icy roads also made travel dangerous in north Georgia.

“You know it's bad when Waffle House is closed!!!” the Cherokee County Sheriff's office posted on Facebook with a photo of a shuttered restaurant. Whether the chain's restaurants are open — known as the Waffle House Index — has become an informal way to gauge the severity of weather disasters across the South.

Varieties

Belgian Police Tracking the Crooks Who Would Be King

King Philippe of Belgium arrives at a New Year reception hosted by him and Queen Mathilde of Belgium for the Permanent Representatives and Heads of Mission to the North Atlantic Council, members of the International Secretariat, Military Representatives to NATO, and General Officers of SHAPE, at the Royal Castle of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium, 15 January 2026. (EPA)
King Philippe of Belgium arrives at a New Year reception hosted by him and Queen Mathilde of Belgium for the Permanent Representatives and Heads of Mission to the North Atlantic Council, members of the International Secretariat, Military Representatives to NATO, and General Officers of SHAPE, at the Royal Castle of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium, 15 January 2026. (EPA)
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Belgian Police Tracking the Crooks Who Would Be King

King Philippe of Belgium arrives at a New Year reception hosted by him and Queen Mathilde of Belgium for the Permanent Representatives and Heads of Mission to the North Atlantic Council, members of the International Secretariat, Military Representatives to NATO, and General Officers of SHAPE, at the Royal Castle of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium, 15 January 2026. (EPA)
King Philippe of Belgium arrives at a New Year reception hosted by him and Queen Mathilde of Belgium for the Permanent Representatives and Heads of Mission to the North Atlantic Council, members of the International Secretariat, Military Representatives to NATO, and General Officers of SHAPE, at the Royal Castle of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium, 15 January 2026. (EPA)

A band of crooks have been passing themselves as Belgian royalty over the past year to get money out of foreign dignitaries and business leaders, Belgian investigators said Saturday.
The gang has used emails, phone calls and fake videos generated by artificial intelligence to set their traps, federal prosecutors said Saturday.
The as-yet unidentified gang has been operating since early 2025, using phone calls and the WhatsApp messaging to pass themselves off as King Philippe or key members of his staff in their attempts to talk people out of their money.
They choose their targets based on their possible links to the royal family, said prosecutors.
"Fortunately, most victims quickly caught on to the deception," said the prosecutors office in a statement.
In one case, however, the gang did manage to get a person to transfer a sum of money, they added.
As well as foreigners and business leaders, the gang also tried their luck with Belgian families close to the country's royals.
Then in a fresh wave of activity this month, they sent out invitations to Belgian business executives for a video interview, trying to pass themselves off as the king.
"The images in this video interview were probably generated by artificial intelligence," said prosecutors.
Some executives were honored with invitations to entirely fictitious gala dinners, with requests to pay sponsorship fees for the nonexistent event.
Federal prosecutors said they were investigating the attempted frauds with the help of specialist teams in the federal police.

Varieties

Fans Bid Farewell to Japan’s Only Pandas

Giant panda Lei Lei eats bamboo at Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo, Japan, 25 January 2026. (EPA)
Giant panda Lei Lei eats bamboo at Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo, Japan, 25 January 2026. (EPA)
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Fans Bid Farewell to Japan’s Only Pandas

Giant panda Lei Lei eats bamboo at Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo, Japan, 25 January 2026. (EPA)
Giant panda Lei Lei eats bamboo at Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo, Japan, 25 January 2026. (EPA)

Panda lovers in Tokyo said goodbye on Sunday to a hugely popular pair of the bears that are set to return to China, leaving Japan without the beloved animals for the first time in half a century.

Loaned out as part of China's "panda diplomacy" program, the distinctive black-and-white animals have symbolized friendship between Beijing and Tokyo since the normalization of diplomatic ties in 1972.

Some visitors at Ueno Zoological Gardens were left teary-eyed as they watched Japan's only two pandas Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao munch on bamboo.

The animals are expected to leave for China on Tuesday following a souring of relations between Asia's two largest economies.

"I feel like seeing pandas can help create a connection with China too, so in that sense I really would like pandas to come back to Japan again," said Gen Takahashi, 39, a Tokyo resident who visited the zoo with his wife and their two-year-old daughter.

"Kids love pandas as well, so if we could see them with our own eyes in Japan, I'd definitely want to go."

The pandas' abrupt return was announced last month after Japan's conservative premier Sanae Takaichi hinted Tokyo could intervene militarily in the event of any attack on Taiwan.

Her comment provoked the ire of Beijing, which regards the island as its own territory.

The 4,400 lucky winners of an online lottery took turns viewing the four-year-old twins at Ueno zoo while others gathered nearby, many sporting panda-themed shirts, bags and dolls to celebrate the moment.

Mayuko Sumida travelled several hours from the central Aichi region in the hope of seeing them despite not winning the lottery.

"Even though it's so big, its movements are really funny-sometimes it even acts kind of like a person," she said, adding that she was "totally hooked".

"Japan's going to be left with zero pandas. It feels kind of sad," she said.

Their departure might not be politically motivated, but if pandas return to Japan in the future, it would symbolize warming relations, said Masaki Ienaga, a professor at Tokyo Woman's Christian University and expert in East Asian international relations.

"In the future...if there are intentions of improving bilateral ties on both sides, it's possible that (the return of) pandas will be on the table," he told AFP.