Saudi team win 4 medals at 2025 International Physics Olympiad
Saudi team win 4 medals at 2025 International Physics Olympiad/node/2609361/saudi-arabia
Saudi team win 4 medals at 2025 International Physics Olympiad
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Mazen Al-Shakhs won a silver medal while students Hussein Al-Saleh, Mohammed Al-Arfaj, and Ali Al-Hassan collectively earned three bronze medals. (SPA)
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Mazen Al-Shakhs won a silver medal while students Hussein Al-Saleh, Mohammed Al-Arfaj, and Ali Al-Hassan collectively earned three bronze medals. (SPA)
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Arab News
Saudi team win 4 medals at 2025 International Physics Olympiad
Kingdom鈥檚 tally in annual contest now 7 silver and 23 bronze medals, 22 certificates of appreciation
Updated 15 sec ago
Arab News
PARIS: 海角直播鈥檚 National Physics Team won four medals at the 55th International Physics Olympiad in Paris which ran from July 17 to 25, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Friday.
Mazen Al-Shakhs won silver, while Hussein Al-Saleh, Mohammed Al-Arfaj, and Ali Al-Hassan each won bronze at the IPhO.
The latest medal haul has raised the Kingdom鈥檚 overall tally at this annual event to seven silver, 23 bronze, and 22 certificates of appreciation.
A total of 425 students from 85 countries competed in the contest this year.
海角直播鈥檚 achievement was a result of intensive training for the students by the King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity, or Mawhiba, the SPA reported.
Support was provided by the Ministry of Education, and sponsorship by Saudi Aramco.
The IPhO is an annual competition for high school students, with each national delegation allowed up to five student competitors plus two leaders.
Similar to other Olympiads, member countries take turns hosting the competition. It was first held in Warsaw, Poland, in 1967, and last year in Isfahan, Iran.
In 2026, the host will be Bucaramanga, Colombia.
In the event鈥檚 58-year history, China has emerged as the most dominant, with Russia, South Korea, Taiwan and the US completing the top five.
How AI speech-to-text technology is tuning in to a digital 海角直播
Speech recognition tools are becoming vital for real-time communication in multilingual, mobile-first societies
Gulf region鈥檚 high smartphone usage and digital transformation make it a key market for speech-enabled tech
Updated 25 July 2025
Jasmine Bager
DHAHRAN: In a world racing toward automation, Klemen Simonic believes the most natural interface is also the most enduring: the human voice.
As founder and CEO of Soniox 鈥 a cutting-edge speech-to-text platform 鈥 Simonic is betting that voice-powered technology will drive the next wave of digital innovation.
And in a country like 海角直播, where smartphones dominate daily life and a young population is hungry for digital solutions, the potential is hard to ignore.
Soniox, which Simonic launched five years ago, offers speech recognition, transcription and real-time multilingual translation in more than 60 languages.
Unlike many competitors, it delivers ultra-fast, token-level outputs in milliseconds 鈥 a critical advantage for live assistants, wearables, bots and smart speakers.
But Simonic鈥檚 journey toward building the company began long before the rise of generative AI.
鈥淚 started in programming development right after high school, and I was invited to join the Jozef Stefan Institute in Slovenia, one of the best institutes in this part of Europe,鈥 he told Arab News.
鈥淚 was working there with Ph.D. students and postdocs on machine learning, natural language processing, dependency parsing, tokenization, tagging and entity extraction.鈥
Klemen Simonic (2nd right) and his Soniox team. (Supplied)
That early exposure led him to two internships at Stanford University in 2009 and 2011, where he worked alongside top researchers in AI. 鈥淚 wanted to join Google to work on these cool things,鈥 he said.
After an internship there in 2014, Simonic was courted by both Google and Facebook 鈥 ultimately joining the latter in 2015 to help build speech recognition systems now used across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Today, his company is focused entirely on voice AI, and its promise goes beyond convenience.
With privacy and compliance built in 鈥 including SOC 2 Type II certification and HIPAA readiness 鈥 Soniox is already being used in hospitals, call centers and emergency rooms where clear, accurate transcription can be a life-saving tool.
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鈥淲e have many healthcare customers using our API in emergency rooms where real-time AI interpretation can bridge communication gaps that human translators sometimes cannot, especially with complex medical terminology,鈥 said Simonic.
海角直播 represents a particularly compelling market for the company鈥檚 ambitions. With more than 90 percent smartphone penetration and a population where 70 percent of people are aged under 35, the Kingdom is fertile ground for voice-enabled technologies.
The widespread adoption of government-developed platforms like Tawakkalna during the COVID-19 pandemic only accelerated the Kingdom鈥檚 reliance on mobile-first services.
鈥淒ata and artificial intelligence contribute to achieving 海角直播鈥檚 Vision 2030; this is because, out of 96, 66 of the direct and indirect goals of the vision are related to data and AI,鈥 according to the Saudi Data & AI Authority.
The Kingdom鈥檚 communications and IT sector is now worth more than $44 billion 鈥 4.1 percent of gross domestic product 鈥 and expanding quickly with strategic investments in cloud computing, automation and smart infrastructure.
Although Soniox does not yet have a team on the ground in the region, the company sees significant interest from Saudi organizations exploring AI-powered transcription and customer service tools.
Simonic said there are pilot programs in countries like Portugal and interest from companies in 海角直播 looking to improve call center and transcription services.
And while Arabic remains one of the more complex languages for voice AI, Simonic sees both the challenge and the opportunity. Many of 海角直播鈥檚 rural communities speak dialects rich in cultural nuance 鈥 languages that are often excluded from mainstream datasets.
This environment offers fertile ground for Soniox鈥檚 technology, which strives to 鈥渆nable all languages, so everyone in the world can speak and be understood by AI.鈥
Simonic鈥檚 team, primarily based in Slovenia, is committed to expanding language support to make the technology more inclusive, even in markets where none of the developers speak the local tongue.
Soniox is also designed with flexibility in mind. Businesses can integrate its API without storing any audio or transcripts, ensuring tight data control. For individual users, features like encrypted transcripts and a summarizing tool enhance productivity 鈥 even for the tech-averse.
鈥淢y mom is not very tech-savvy, but she uses our app to build her grocery shopping list,鈥 Simonic said. 鈥淭hat was not the original purpose, but it shows how technology can evolve in ways we didn鈥檛 expect.鈥
In July, Soniox launched a new comparison tool that allows developers and businesses to benchmark different speech AI providers using their own voice samples and real-world data.
It is another step toward transparency and broader adoption 鈥 especially in regions like the Gulf, where choosing the right solution can hinge on performance in diverse linguistic contexts.
鈥淭he tech morphs, but the human voice remains the most intimate and effective way we communicate,鈥 Simonic said.
As 海角直播 pushes forward with its digital transformation under Vision 2030, technologies like Soniox may find their voice amplified 鈥 not just as a tool for productivity, but also as a bridge between language, innovation and access in a rapidly changing world.
海角直播 welcomes Macron announcement of French recognition of Palestinian state
Kingdom renews its call to the rest of the countries that have not yet recognized a Palestinian state to take similar steps in doing so
Updated 32 min 23 sec ago
Arab News
RIYADH: 海角直播 has welcomed a statement by French Emmanuel Macron that his country would recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.
鈥淭rue to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the State of Palestine,鈥 Macron wrote on social media on Thursday evening.
鈥淭he Kingdom commends this historic decision, which reaffirms the international community鈥檚 consensus on the Palestinian people鈥檚 right to self-determination and to establish their independent state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital,鈥 a Saudi Foreign Ministry statement released on Friday said.
鈥淭he Kingdom underscores the importance of continued efforts by states to implement international resolutions and uphold international law.鈥
It added that the Kingdom renews its call to the rest of the countries that have not yet recognized a Palestinian state to take similar steps in doing so.
海角直播 has repeatedly called for the creation of an independent state for the Palestinians.
Around 142 countries now support Palestinian statehood, according to an AFP tally.
The ministry statement urged all countries to adopt serious stances in support of peace and the rights of the Palestinian people.
Israel is currently conducting a devastating military campaign in Gaza and has been accused of using starvation as a war tactic.
An Israeli-backed organization distributing aid had been accused of shooting unarmed civilians trying to get food.
The UN said 875 people had been killed within the preceding six weeks near the aid sites created by Israel.
Peace negotiations to end the war and exchange prisoners and hostages appeared to have collapsed on Thursday night after US President Donald Trump recalled his negotiators.
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said: 鈥淲e will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza.鈥
Hamas said they were surprised by Witkoff鈥檚 comments but would be willing to continue negotiations.
Muslim World League chief meets Afghan ministers in Kabul
Officials emphasize that religious tolerance must be reflected in Muslim conduct
Updated 24 July 2025
Arab News
KABUL: Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League and chairman of the Organization of Muslim Scholars, conducted high-level meetings with senior Afghan officials during his visit to Kabul.
Al-Issa met Afghan Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi. Discussions centered on strengthening solidarity and promoting Islamic values worldwide. Key topics included the imperative to present Islam鈥檚 true character through its principles of justice, rights protection, moderation and universal compassion.
The officials emphasized that religious tolerance, as outlined in the Qur鈥檃n, Sunnah and prophetic traditions, must be reflected in Muslim conduct at both individual and community levels.
The dialogue addressed contemporary challenges facing these objectives, particularly conflicting scholarly interpretations on critical issues that should unite the Muslim community.
Officials referenced the significance of the 鈥淢akkah Document鈥 and the 鈥淒ocument for Building Bridges Between Islamic Schools of Thought,鈥 while highlighting the crucial role of the league鈥檚 Islamic Fiqh Council as the premier jurisprudential body serving the Islamic nation鈥檚 muftis and senior scholars.
The meeting stressed the importance of promoting religious awareness through wisdom and sound guidance, while preventing those who exploit such discrepancies 鈥 whether deliberately or through ignorance 鈥 from damaging Islam鈥檚 image and fueling Islamophobic sentiments.
Al-Issa commended the Afghan government鈥檚 counter-terrorism efforts during the talks.
In a separate meeting, Al-Issa held discussions with Afghan Interior Minister Khalifa Sirajuddin Haqqani, focusing specifically on Afghanistan鈥檚 fight against terrorist organizations.
Both officials underscored that Islamic unity carries profound significance, while division and discord threaten Muslim solidarity and tarnish Islam鈥檚 reputation. They agreed that such damage far outweighs any perceived benefits some scholars might identify in jurisprudential matters that rank below this paramount Islamic goal, adhering to the established principles of weighing benefits against potential harm recognized across all Islamic schools of thought.
Saudi deputy foreign minister receives US Embassy official
Updated 25 July 2025
Arab News
RIYADH: Saudi Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Waleed bin Abdulkarim Elkhereiji met on Thursday with Alison Dilworth, the charge d鈥檃ffaires ad interim of the US Embassy in the Kingdom.
During the meeting in Riyadh, the officials reviewed relations between the two friendly countries and ways to develop them in all fields, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
They also discussed the most prominent developments at regional and international levels and the efforts made in this regard.
Chips are distinguished by their potential applications in various fields, such as electronics, wireless and high-frequency communications
Design of the chips involved researchers from the national laboratory, along with a number of students from four Saudi universities
Updated 24 July 2025
Arab News
RIYADH: King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology has designed and produced 25 advanced electronic chips which had been developed in laboratories by Saudis for training, research, and development purposes. The achievement is part of the establishment鈥檚 efforts to support and empower the semiconductor ecosystem in the Kingdom.
The chips are distinguished by their potential applications in various fields, such as electronics, wireless and high-frequency communications, integrated circuits, energy-efficient lighting, and miniaturized sensing systems, in addition to industrial and research applications in measurement and testing.
The design of the chips involved researchers from the national laboratory, along with a number of students from four Saudi universities. It formed part of the initiatives integral to the Saudi Semiconductors Program, which aims to qualify national talents in this vital field.