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The project is expanding globally with planned rollouts in Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, and India to share the Hijrah experience/ Image: Saudi Gazzette TL;DR
Saudi Arabia's immersive Hijrah experience opens in November.
Over 1 million people have already registered.
The 470 km route includes 41 restored sites and a Hijrah museum.
Part of Vision 2030 to boost religious and cultural tourism.Saudi Arabia’s groundbreaking cultural project, ‘In the Prophet’s Steps’, has crossed a major milestone, over one million people have registered to take part in the immersive Hijrah experience ahead of its official November launch. Led by the General Entertainment Authority (GEA), this initiative brings to life the migration of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) from Makkah to Madinah, aiming to offer a deeply spiritual, historically accurate, and technologically advanced journey to both domestic and international visitors.The Project: What ‘In the Prophet’s Steps’ Is All About ‘In the Prophet’s Steps,’..

AdvertisementScienceChinaScienceWu Yiquan: the Chinese AI researcher scoring big on the basketball courtBrains and brawn: university assistant professor turns heads with his slam dunks
Reading Time:2 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPHolly ChikPublished: 6:00am, 29 Jul 2025Amid China’s tech revolution, a new kind of multidisciplinary star is emerging – one who dominates both coding and sport.AdvertisementWu Yiquan, an artificial intelligence (AI) scientist pioneering legal large language models by day, is also making headlines as a rising provincial basketball sensation.Wu, an assistant professor at the Zhejiang University law school, specialises in developing and training legal large language models for applications in education and research.The 1.8m-tall (5 feet 9 inches) star caught media attention after he scored 22 as the defender for the West Lake team in a Zhejiang Provincial City Basketball League qualifier match on July 17.
In an interview with Henan-based news site Daxiang News on..

AdvertisementClimate changeOpinionWorld OpinionKalinga SeneviratneOpinion | World Court’s ruling opens the door wider for climate justiceThe court’s decision could result in legal action against countries that fail to honour their climate commitments
Reading Time:3 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPKalinga SeneviratnePublished: 5:30am, 29 Jul 2025In a unanimous decision, a 15-member bench of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague in the Netherlands ruled on July 23 that government failures to protect vulnerable populations and ecosystems from climate change could amount to breaches of international law. The court’s non-binding ruling, which says that countries must comply with climate treaties, has been hailed as a great victory for youth activism from small island nations facing the brunt of the climate crisis.AdvertisementThe triumph at the ICJ is the culmination of a unique university project started by a group of law students at the University of the South Pacific’s law s..

Sean Feuch (Picture: Instagram) US singer Sean Feucht’s permit to hold a concert at the York Redoubt National Historic Site in Halifax was cancelled this week by Parks Canada. Officials cited safety concerns following public backlash against his anti-2SLGBTQ+, anti-women’s rights, and anti-diversity remarks on social media. Feucht, a religious performer with links to the MAGA movement, was scheduled to perform on Wednesday. His permits for other events in Charlottetown (P.E.I.), Moncton (New Brunswick), and some parts of Quebec were also revoked soon after.MAGA movement rising star and Christian rocker Sean Feucht’s Halifax show faces backlash Feucht later performed at a private venue in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, hosted by pastors Christine and Neil Barr. They said they faced hundreds of hate messages and some protests but went ahead with the show.”A lot of very hateful emails, texts to say that we were allowing a fascist on our property and that we should know better and the Christia..

Representational image Prince Harry has agreed to share his official diary with the royal family to avoid clashes in public appearances and ease ongoing tensions. The move comes after his recent trip to Angola made headlines for revisiting princess Diana’s iconic anti-landmine walk, on the same day Queen Camilla's 78th birthday portrait was released. Harry’s photos reportedly overshadowed the coverage of the Queen’s milestone, which did not go down well with the palace. According to The Mail, Harry is now open to “deconflicting” his schedule with other senior royals, including Prince William’s team at Kensington palace. Their PR teams have reportedly kept in touch since private talks began earlier this year. In fact, aides from both camps were seen meeting at a London members club earlier this month.Harry's olive branch
Harry is also quietly pushing for a more personal reconnection with his father. According to royal expert Hilary Fordwich, King Charles remains “cautious and ..

AdvertisementUS-China relationsEconomyChina EconomyExclusive | Yuen Yuen Ang on how China can turn ‘polycrisis’ into ‘polytunity’The Johns Hopkins professor of political economy says Beijing’s ‘directed improvisation’ remains essential at a time when innovation is king
Reading Time:14 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPAlice LiPublished: 6:00am, 28 Jul 2025Updated: 6:32am, 28 Jul 2025Yuen Yuen Ang is the Alfred Chandler Chair Professor of political economy at Johns Hopkins University. She is an influential scholar, writing extensively on China’s political and economic trajectory, its international relations and its adaptive development in a fragmented, unpredictable world. Originally from Singapore, her award-winning work includes the books How China Escaped the Poverty Trap and China’s Gilded Age.
AdvertisementThis interview first appeared in SCMP Plus. For other interviews in the Open Questions series, click here.As a professor based in the United States, do you think there is a general de..

AdvertisementClimate changeOpinionHong Kong OpinionKen ChuOpinion | When travellers think sustainability, make them think Greater Bay AreaThe joint efforts of policymakers, businesses and young people can help visitors turn climate action into everyday action
Reading Time:4 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPKen ChuPublished: 5:30am, 28 Jul 2025Earlier this year, Hong Kong launched its first fully electric ferry. In June, jurisdictions within the Greater Bay Area development zone marked a national event for the environment. Against this backdrop, a quiet but important shift is under way.AdvertisementPolicymakers in the Greater Bay Area are no longer just thinking about sustainability; they are setting it in motion. With the development zone becoming a hub for experimentation in smart infrastructure and climate innovation, the time is ripe to consider a low-carbon tourism corridor linking cities through cleaner and smarter ways to travel.
Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macau are already re..

USCIS new director said the present US citizenship is easy and can be memorized. The US citizenship test, officially known as the Naturalization test, is an examination that an applicant has to take to become a naturalized American citizen. This test is not for green card holders unless they are applying for citizenship. The new director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service said the existing test is too easy and the answers can be memorized. The Donald Trump administration is planning to bring back the 2020 version of the test. US Citizenship test
First, the applicants have to submit Form N-400 seeking for naturalization. They need to pass a background check and meet residency and other requirements. Then there have to attend an interview where they take two tests: English and a civic test. In the civic test, there are 100 questions; the officer asks the applicant 10 and the applicant must answer at least six correctly. During the first term of Donald Trump, there w..

CBP posted the photo of a sniffer dog inspecting the cooked head of a pig as CBP alerted travelers to US to declare all food items. The Customs and Border Police Saturday issued a reminder to people traveling to the US that they are required to declare meats, fruits, vegetables, plants, seeds, soil, animal as well as plant and animal products they are carrying to the country. This is not a new rule but recently there have been several cases where non-declaration of these items got travelers penalized. The post drew attention as the social media reminder was accompanied by a photo of a CBP detection dog inspecting a cooked pig's head wrapped in aluminum foil. What does the rule say?
According to CBP rules, all travelers entering the United States are required to declare meats, fruits, vegetables, plants, seeds, soil, animals, as well as plant and animal products (including soup or soup products) they may be carrying. The declaration must cover all items carried in checked baggage, ..

AdvertisementHong Kong societyHong KongHong Kong Economy2,000 people left without power in Hong Kong after water leak in buildingThree care homes for elderly among those affected at I-Feng Mansions in To Kwa Wan
Reading Time:1 minuteWhy you can trust SCMPHarvey KongPublished: 12:20am, 27 Jul 2025Updated: 12:27am, 27 Jul 2025About 2,000 people, including residents in three care homes for the elderly, were left without electricity on Saturday evening after a water leak in a Hong Kong complex prompted the power provider to suspend the supply.
AdvertisementUtility firm CLP Power said the electrical systems in I-Feng Mansions in To Kwa Wan were suspected to have been affected by water leakage, causing problems with the electricity supply to parts of the residential complex.
“Under the instruction of firefighters, CLP Power suspended the electricity supply to the premises at around 6.15pm so that the building’s electricians could conduct further investigation and repairs,” a company spokesma..