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Dr Ahmad M Hasnah with Bill Gates and Joe Cerrell. Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) and the Gates Foundation have committed to a grant agreement unique to the region on the sidelines of Doha Forum 2025.The document was signed by HBKU’s president Dr Ahmad M Hasnah and Joe Cerrell, managing director for the Gates Foundation in the presence of Bill Gates, chair and board member, Gates Foundation.Under the four-year funding agreement, the Gates Foundation will provide $1.8mn to HBKU. The grant will support pioneering research led by HBKU’s Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute to develop animal feed products from crop residue, improving productivity of small-scale livestock producers.Reflecting the university’s strategic focus on circular agriculture in dry and arid regions, the new solution delivers a scalable process producing feed for less than $100 per ton. Besides supporting affordable, decentralised manufacturing, it also addresses food security constraints, encourages sustainable resource management, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions, while advancing agricultural efficiency.The purpose-driven collaboration brings together two renowned institutions committed to advancing global development and the common good. For HBKU and Qatar Foundation, it supports Qatar’s long-term resilience and societal prosperity, as well as their role as drivers for impact-driven innovation serving local, regional, and global needs. The HBKU patented technology already positions Qatar as a global leader in sustainable feed production.For the Gates Foundation, the agreement reinforces a shared ambition to support solutions that improve lives, particularly in regions facing acute climate and resource pressures.HBKU’s research directly contributes to building circular agriculture systems by reducing waste and maximising the value of existing resources. By integrating scientific research, technological innovation, and collaboration, the outcomes will address national priorities such as the sustainable approach to critical resources and food security systems. Its positive impact will also extend beyond Qatar, however, as lessons and technologies will be adaptable to farming across the Global South. This includes the Middle East and North Africa region, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.“Farmers are responsible for feeding communities, but they are working in the toughest conditions imaginable, so this is a vital project to support them in turning residue crops into quality animal feed. We hope that by working with farmers to develop this innovation, we will ensure more food is produced to feed people and in turn help build the resilience of the global food system,” said Cerrell.Dr Hasnah added: “We are pleased to collaborate with the Gates Foundation in advancing innovative solutions that support sustainable food systems and generate meaningful economic impact for Qatar, the wider region, and the Global South. This agreement marks a significant milestone for research led by a Qatari university and underscores Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s commitment to delivering tangible, positive outcomes through world-class research.”By uniting HBKU’s research capabilities with the Gates Foundation’s global development reach, the agreement is a decisive step toward food security and sustainable growth across some of the world’s most vulnerable regions. In the mid- to long-term, the model could positively shape land use, food trade, and public health policy, as well as future-facing investment decisions. Related Story Source link
An earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale struck the US state of Alaska.The epicenter was located in a sparsely populated, mountainous region near the border with Canada’s Yukon territory, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported.The earthquake struck at 8:41 PM GMT on Saturday, at a depth of 10 km, approximately 96 km northeast of Yakutat and about 370 km northwest of Juneau, the state capital. Residents in Juneau and Whitehorse, the capital of Yukon territory, felt the tremor.The USGS also reported two aftershocks measuring 5.6 and 5.3 on the Richter scale, which occurred minutes after the main quake.Local authorities in the US and Canada, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the fire department, confirmed that no injuries or property damage were reported.The National Tsunami Warning Center also announced that the earthquake did not pose a tsunami threat, despite its proximity to the Pacific coast. Related Story Source link
Nine people were killed and seven others injured in a collision on a highway last night in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of northwest China, according to local authorities.Xinhua News Agency reported that the accident occurred on a highway in the city of Usu, Tacheng Prefecture, when several vehicles collided, resulting in the deaths of nine people and injuries to seven others.Local officials said the accident was caused by sudden heavy fog, accompanied by sub-zero temperatures, which made the road surface wet and icy, making it difficult for vehicles to control. Related Story Source link
Holders Argentina and leading contenders Spain were handed kind draws for the 2026 World Cup in a star-studded ceremony yesterday which saw US President Donald Trump receive FIFA’s new peace prize.The event in Washington started the final countdown to the tournament, six months out from the first-ever 48-team World Cup, with much-fancied France among those receiving a harder task.Lionel Messi’s Argentina will begin their defence of the trophy they won in Qatar in 2022 against Algeria, and will also face Austria and debutants Jordan in Group J. Heavily-fancied Spain, the European champions, will kick off their campaign against first-time qualifiers Cape Verde before also taking on Uruguay and Saudi Arabia in Group H.Thomas Tuchel’s England will hope to win Group L that features beaten 2018 finalists Croatia as well as Ghana and Panama. Two-time winners France, meanwhile, face awkward tests against Senegal and Erling Haaland’s Norway in Group I, which will be completed by an intercontinental play-off winner from either Iraq, Bolivia or Suriname.The 2026 tournament will be held across the United States, Mexico and Canada from June 11-July 19, with 16 more teams added to the global showpiece, up from the 32 nations involved in Qatar in 2022. That means a total of 104 matches, compared to 64 games last time.While the US will host the majority of matches including the final at the MetLife Stadium outside New York, three of the 16 venues will be in Mexico and two in Canada. “We’ve worked closely with those two countries, and the coordination and friendship and relationship has been outstanding,” Trump said at the Kennedy Centre after receiving his prize from FIFA president Gianni Infantino.“It is truly one of the great honours of my life. It is such an honour to be with Gianni. He has done such an incredible job,” he added. “The world is a safer place now. The United States a year ago was not going too well but now it is the hottest country anywhere in the world.”Trump seized the limelight, but Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum were also in attendance. While snow fell outside amid freezing temperatures in the US capital, some of the biggest stars in the American sport and entertainment world appeared on stage inside. The event was co-hosted by supermodel Heidi Klum and American actor and comedian Kevin Hart, and featured performances by the Village People, Robbie Williams and Andrea Bocelli. NFL legend Tom Brady, ice hockey icon Wayne Gretzky and former NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal were among the stars helping to conduct the draw.Elsewhere in the draw, co-hosts Mexico will take on South Africa in Group A in the opening game of the tournament at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on June 11.Carlo Ancelotti’s Brazil and surprise 2022 semi-finalists Morocco came out together in Group C, which also features Scotland and Haiti. Germany’s opponents in Group E will be Ivory Coast, Ecuador and Caribbean minnows Curacao, while Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal will face Uzbekistan, Colombia and a play-off winner.Co-hosts the United States got a manageable draw, with Paraguay, Australia and a European play-off winner in Group D. The top two teams in each group advance to the last 32, joined by the eight best third-placed teams.“It will be the greatest World Cup ever, the greatest event that humanity has ever seen. We have three beautiful countries, 16 wonderful host cities, 48 excellent teams who will compete in 104 matches to become the one and only world champion,” Infantino said. “This is like 104 Super Bowls in one month – this is the magnitude of what we are organising,” he added of the tournament.Six finals berths are still to be decided in play-offs to take place in March. Because of the complexity, teams will only learn the full details of their match venues and kick-off times today, a day after the draw. Source link
Cameroonian politician Anicet Ekane, director of the MANIDEM political party, looks on before a press conference in Yaounde on July 19, 2025. The Cameroonian opposition figure…
Louis Powell, Director of AI Technologies at the GSMA. A top official of the GSMA has lauded Qatar’s proactive investments to push forward its digitalisation journey, underscoring the country’s role as a global leader in shaping the future of connectivity.In an exclusive interview with Gulf Times on the sidelines of MWC25 Doha, Louis Powell, Director of AI Technologies at the GSMA, said Qatar ranks among the world’s top 10 investors in the digital economy and has set clear national goals through its Digital Agenda 2030.“I understand that Qatar is in the top 10 investors in the digital economy and ecosystem. The government is very proactive on the AI side of things, and I think it’s a great opportunity for them to uplift and empower their citizens and enterprises. Establishing a clear goal and ambition through its 2030 national vision not only sends a positive signal to the economy but also sets a guiding example for other nations,” Powell pointed out.According to Powell, the connectivity industry is expected to generate “$470bn in value between now and 2030.” He said MWC25 Doha attracted about 300 thought leaders, 250 exhibitors, and 100 startups, adding that “a lot of that value is created in these two days from these players in this space.”He said MWC25 Doha brings together a “core group of investors,” making the event a vital platform for showcasing breakthroughs in mobile technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and next-generation connectivity.Powell revealed what he was most excited about the developments in AI, citing the announcement of a strategic co-operation agreement between the GSMA Foundry, the GSMA’s innovation hub, and the Abu Dhabi-based Khalifa University of Science and Technology in the UAE.“We’re working with Khalifa University on building assets that boost the telecoms industry in AI,” Powell explained, adding that the university has a strong history in telecoms and recently built the first model designed specifically for the industry“And along with them, we have done a lot of work on benchmarking how models perform in the telecoms industry,” stressed Powell, who noted that telecoms data has unique requirements compared to consumer applications.“You can’t just take ChatGPT and use it on telecom-specific data. To address this, the GSMA is working with vendors in the open-source ecosystem and academia to boost model performance,” he further said.Asked about other key announcements or initiatives the GSMA unveiled at MWC25 Doha, and how they will shape the direction of the industry in the coming years, Powell said: “We’ve also launched a competition encouraging the industry to innovate in the telecom space, focusing on telecom-specific challenges such as troubleshooting. We also have great announcements on our open gateway through new announcements on network APIs.”Looking ahead, Powell said 6G will be “AI native,” with intelligence embedded into how networks are designed, constructed, and operated. “In the future, we’ll see how agentic systems really give you unlocked potential in scale and efficiency,” he pointed out. Related Story Source link
The eruption of the ‘Hayli Gubbi’ volcano in Ethiopia – reported to be dormant for several thousand years – began on November 23, sending an ash…
A total of three winners of WISE Prize for Education 2024-2025 were announced yesterday at the closing session of the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE 12).Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, awarded the winners – global changemakers who are redefining how the world learns.The winners are: TUMO (First Place), headquartered in Armenia; Queen Rania Foundation ( Jordan) the organisation that developed Iqrali.jo ( Second Place) and Darsel headquartered in the USA ( Third Place). The winners collectively received a total prize fund of $1mn with $500,000 awarded to TUMO; $300,000 to Iqrali.jo, and $200,000 to Darsel.TUMO, headquartered in Armenia, is reimagining after-school creative learning experiences; Iqrali.jo, headquartered in Jordan, is a parental platform designed to support children’s Arabic literacy development; and Darsel, headquartered in the USA, provides AI-driven math tutoring in low-connectivity settings.Since its inception, the WISE Prize for Education has become one of the most respected international recognitions in education, honouring visionary individuals and organisations whose work delivers lasting, systemic impact for learners and communities worldwide.Under its new structure that expands the impact of education solutions, six finalists were shortlisted for the accolade, with three winning educational solutions being chosen and awarded during the summit’s closing ceremony.Stavros N Yiannouka, CEO of WISE, said: “Each year, the WISE Prize reaffirms that transformative educational change begins with individuals and organizations who dare to rethink what learning can be. These winning solutions demonstrate what is possible when innovation is grounded in evidence and committed to improving learning and life outcomes at scale.”Yiannouka also noted that three themes have emerged from WISE12. He stated: “The first is that education must remain a deeply human endeavour. The second theme that emerges is that tools and technologies have always been part of the human story. But they exist to serve us, not the other way around.“Today we are on the cusp of something potentially very different. We are introducing not just a tool or a technology, but potentially an alien intelligence. We are introducing it into our homes, into our workplaces, and into our classrooms. We must ensure that it is fully aligned with our interests, our values, and that it supports and not detracts from human partnership.”Abhijit Banerjee, Nobel Prize winner and a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology speaking at the closing session noted that with artificial intelligence and with the rise of different access to technologies, there is also a vivid promise of a future.“It could be entirely different where access would be through many different mechanisms that we haven’t visualised right now. I think that it is very important that in this moment we hold on to the excitement and the optimism because I think one of the things that almost surely will happen is already happening,” he added. Source link
Polish Ambassador to Qatar Tomasz Sadziński. Doha, whose energy sector remains a global benchmark, is rapidly expanding into high growth areas, making it the most attractive investment destinations in the region, according to the top official of Invest Qatar.”While our energy sector remains a global benchmark, we are rapidly expanding into high growth areas such as technology and digital services, healthcare and life sciences, logistics and supply chain innovation, financial services and fintech,” Invest Qatar chief executive officer Sheikh Ali Alwaleed al-Thani told Poland Qatar Investment Forum, organised by Polish Embassy and Polish Investment and Trade Agency, in partnership with LuLu and Comarch.To support the development of these sectors, Invest Qatar recently announced a $1bn incentive programme to make Qatar one of the most attractive destinations for strategic investments in the region. It is designed to support new investment, digitise existing operations and create high-skilled jobs, fostering robust growth in the R&D (research and development) ecosystem.Highlighting that Qatar today is home to around 35 Polish companies, which play a vital role in supporting the country’s economic diversification and development; he said “the opportunities for Polish businesses in Qatar are not only growing, but they are also evolving in exciting and impactful ways.”Polish companies operate across a wide variety of sectors in Qatar, including professional services, logistics and technology, reaffirming the breadth of opportunities available in Qatar, he said at the forum, which also witnessed signing of memorandum of understanding between Invest Qatar and Polish Trade and Investment Agency as well as between Qatari Businessmen Association (QBA) and Employers of Qatar.”At Invest Qatar, we are committed to supporting Polish businesses at every step of the investment journey, whether you are exploring the market or seeking partnerships or expanding existing operations,” Sheikh Ali said.Polish ambassador to Qatar Tomasz Sadziński said more than 30 Polish businesses are represented at the forum from sectors such as energy, IT, automation, infrastructure, food, fashion, consulting, and legal.Highlighting that investing in Poland is even more important today, Łukasz Gwiazdowski, deputy chairman of Polish Investment and Trade Agency, said investing in Poland means investing in a secure, confident, strong European economy, the fastest growing European economy, the sixth European economy and the 20th worldwide economy.”Today, investing in Poland is a huge investment for the future. Today is the right moment to invest in Poland, thinking about the European market, thinking about the gateway of the East,” according to him.Sheikh Mansoor bin Jassim al-Thani, member, QBA, said over the last five years, the trade exchange between Qatar and Poland has witnessed notable growth of 23%, reaching approximately QR4.8bn in 2023 against QR3.9bn in 2018. Sheikh Ali Alwaleed al-Thani, chief executive officer of Invest Qatar. Finding “excellent opportunity” for Qatari and Polish companies to explore collaboration in key sectors such as energy, infrastructure, logistics, trade, transport, technology, healthcare, agriculture and advanced manufacturing; he said through joint ventures, knowledge exchange and strategic partnership, the companies can leverage each other’s strength to create long-term value, drive innovation and expand into new regional and global markets.”Together, we can build partnerships that go beyond traditional trade to include technology, transport, capacity building and sustainable investment models that benefit all nations and elevate our economy, co-operation to new levels,” he said.Joanna Makowiecka-Gatza, president, Employers of Poland, said the agreement signed with QBA signifies an active way for Qatar to support Polish businesses and, conversely, to support Qatari partners and the Polish market.”Our bilateral relations have enormous potential for further development. We want to be present in Qatar, not mainly to get to know each other, but actually to create trust,” she said. Related Story Source link
Virgil van Dijk said Liverpool’s players are letting manager Arne Slot down after the Premier League champions’ collapse continued with a 3-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest. Liverpool have lost six of their last seven league games to slide into the bottom half of the table, putting Slot under pressure after the club’s record spend of nearly £450mn ($590mn) in the transfer market. “We are definitely letting him (Slot) down but we’ve let ourselves down as well,” said Van Dijk. “You look at yourself first and then you help each other, you help each other get out of this mess because at the moment it is a mess – that’s just a fact. “As the champions we can’t be in the situation we are in right now.What are we going to do about it? We’re going to try to turn it around and that’s the mentality everyone should have.” None of Liverpool’s big money summer signings have yet to make a positive impact. Alexander Isak, who cost a British transfer record £125 million, is still to score a league goal for the Reds and looked a shadow of the player he was at Newcastle during an ineffectual 68 minutes against Forest.But many of last season’s title winners have also suffered a slump in form with Van Dijk’s centre-back partner Ibrahima Konate also replaced early by Slot after another poor performance. “What I want is for everyone to take responsibility on the pitch.We have to do that in order to push each other, to make each other better,” added Van Dijk. “We have been through it together and won the league and everyone was part of it and happy and when you go through a tough time you have to stick together and not point fingers. “You have to be a man and face the toughness and go again, again and again because if you want to give up then you are at the wrong place in my eyes because this club has gone through much adversity over those years and we’ve always come out of it.” Liverpool’s form in the Champions League has been much better with three wins from four games. The return to European competition could offer some relief for Slot’s men when PSV Eindhoven visit Anfield in Liverpool’s next outing on Wednesday. Source link