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Crown Prince Performs Funeral Prayer for Prince Mamdouh bin Abdulaziz at Grand Mosque in Makkah

Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, performs the funeral prayer for late Prince Mamdouh bin Abdulaziz. (SPA)
Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, performs the funeral prayer for late Prince Mamdouh bin Abdulaziz. (SPA)
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Crown Prince Performs Funeral Prayer for Prince Mamdouh bin Abdulaziz at Grand Mosque in Makkah

Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, performs the funeral prayer for late Prince Mamdouh bin Abdulaziz. (SPA)
Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, performs the funeral prayer for late Prince Mamdouh bin Abdulaziz. (SPA)

Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, performed on Friday the funeral prayer after the Asr prayer at the Grand Holy Mosque in Makkah for late Prince Mamdouh bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Several princes, ministers, senior officials, and citizens also attended the funeral prayer.

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Varieties

Macron’s ‘Top Gun’ Shades Charm Internet as Leaders Wrangle Over Greenland

French President Emmanuel Macron, wearing sunglasses, speaks during a meeting on the institutional future of New Caledonia at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, January 16, 2026. (Reuters)
French President Emmanuel Macron, wearing sunglasses, speaks during a meeting on the institutional future of New Caledonia at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, January 16, 2026. (Reuters)
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Macron’s ‘Top Gun’ Shades Charm Internet as Leaders Wrangle Over Greenland

French President Emmanuel Macron, wearing sunglasses, speaks during a meeting on the institutional future of New Caledonia at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, January 16, 2026. (Reuters)
French President Emmanuel Macron, wearing sunglasses, speaks during a meeting on the institutional future of New Caledonia at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, January 16, 2026. (Reuters)

French President Emmanuel Macron's aviator sunglasses have caught the eye, with social media users debating his choice of a "Top Gun" look as he criticized US President Donald Trump over Greenland during his speech in Davos.

As he spoke at the annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos on Tuesday, the French president wore dark, reflective sunglasses.

Memes, comments and speculation over his appearance surged on social media, with some supporters praising him for his "Top Gun" look while opponents dismissed it as bombastic or speculated ‌about his ‌health.

Macron's office said the choice to ‌wear ⁠sunglasses during his ‌speech, which took place indoors, was to protect his eyes because of a burst blood vessel.

One meme, with the headline "Duel in Davos," was styled like a Top Gun parody, with Macron and Trump eyeballing each other, both wearing military-style flight suits, and Macron, looking very small next to Trump, sporting oversized aviator sunglasses.

References to the ⁠1986 movie starring Tom Cruise were ubiquitous.

"Trump: be careful ... Macron is here," one social ‌media user said on X, with a ‍picture of the French ‍president with the aviator glasses. "Could he not find some more sober ‍glasses?" another user asked.

Even Trump weighed in, mocking Macron for his glasses in his own Davos speech on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, some of Macron's colleagues had gotten in on the act, with European Affairs Minister Benjamin Haddad posting a version of the "Soyboy vs Yes Chad" meme with Chad donning aviators and draped in a French flag.

Italian ⁠group iVision Tech, which owns Henry Jullien, said the model worn by Macron was its Pacific S 01, with a price tag of 659 euros ($770) on its website. It said it sent Macron the sunglasses as a gift but that he had insisted on paying for them, and made sure they were made in France.

The Milan-listed stock was up almost 6% on Wednesday.

"The news this morning came as a surprise," the group's chief executive Stefano Fulchir said. "We were flooded with calls and requests on the ‌website ... The site crashed."

Technology

Ubisoft Unveils Sweeping Restructuring, Updates Targets

The Ubisoft logo is seen at the Paris Games Week (PGW), a trade fair for video games in Paris, France, October 27, 2024. (Reuters)
The Ubisoft logo is seen at the Paris Games Week (PGW), a trade fair for video games in Paris, France, October 27, 2024. (Reuters)
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Ubisoft Unveils Sweeping Restructuring, Updates Targets

The Ubisoft logo is seen at the Paris Games Week (PGW), a trade fair for video games in Paris, France, October 27, 2024. (Reuters)
The Ubisoft logo is seen at the Paris Games Week (PGW), a trade fair for video games in Paris, France, October 27, 2024. (Reuters)

French video game publisher Ubisoft will undergo a reorganization, splitting the company into five creative divisions, it said on Wednesday while also revising its financial outlook.

The revamp, set to commence in early April, divides Ubisoft into five units focusing on specific game genres. The company also announced the cancellation of six games, including a "Prince of Persia" remake and three unannounced titles, alongside delays to seven other projects.

INTERNAL REORGANIZATION

Under the new structure, Ubisoft's five "Creative Houses" will oversee their ‌portfolios from ‌brand development to sales and be ‌responsible ⁠for their own ‌budget.

Each division will have separate management teams. Their pay will be tied to metrics like player engagement and value creation, the company said.

The first unit, Vantage Studios, established in November with a 1.16-billion-euro investment from China's Tencent, will manage Ubisoft's biggest franchises, including "Assassin's Creed". ⁠The four other units will respectively focus on multiplayer shooters, live services, ‌narrative-driven games, and casual and family games.

FINANCIAL ‍TARGETS UPDATED

For 2026, Ubisoft ‍now forecasts net bookings of around 1.5 billion euros ‍and an operating loss of roughly 1 billion euros. This includes a 650 million euros hit from game cancellations and delays. It previously expected net bookings of around 1.9 billion euros and to break even at operating level.

Ubisoft anticipates net debt of 150-250 million euros ⁠by the end of 2026, with cash reserves of 1.25-1.35 billion euros. Free cash flow is projected to be negative 400-500 million euros.

The company's cost reduction program of 100 million euros is expected to be fully achieved by March, one year after its initial target. It is also setting a new cost savings target of an additional 200 million euros over the next two years and will continue to consider potential asset sales.

The company withdrew ‌its prior fiscal 2026-27 guidance and plans to outline medium-term projections in May 2026.

US Military Transfers 150 ISIS Group Detainees from Syria to Iraq

Relatives of suspected ISIS detainees, stand behind a fence in al-Hol camp in the desert region of Syria's Hasakeh province on January 21, 2026. (AFP)
Relatives of suspected ISIS detainees, stand behind a fence in al-Hol camp in the desert region of Syria's Hasakeh province on January 21, 2026. (AFP)
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US Military Transfers 150 ISIS Group Detainees from Syria to Iraq

Relatives of suspected ISIS detainees, stand behind a fence in al-Hol camp in the desert region of Syria's Hasakeh province on January 21, 2026. (AFP)
Relatives of suspected ISIS detainees, stand behind a fence in al-Hol camp in the desert region of Syria's Hasakeh province on January 21, 2026. (AFP)

The US military said on Wednesday that its forces have transferred 150 ISIS detainees from Syria to Iraq. The move comes after the rapid collapse of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in northeast Syria triggered uncertainty over the security of around a dozen prisons and detention camps they had been guarding. 

In a statement, the ‌US military said ‌the United States ‌was able ⁠to transport ‌150 ISIS fighters held at a detention facility in Hasakeh, Syria, to a secure location in Iraq. 

Ultimately, up to 7,000 ISIS detainees could be transferred from Syria to Iraqi-controlled facilities, the statement added. 

"We ⁠are closely coordinating with regional partners, including the Iraqi ‌government, and we sincerely appreciate their ‍role in ensuring ‍the enduring defeat of ISIS," said ‍US Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US forces in the Middle East. 

Syria on Tuesday announced a ceasefire with Kurdish forces from which it has seized swathes of territory in the northeast and gave them ⁠four days to agree on integrating into the central state, which their main ally, the United States, urged them to accept. 

The lightning government advances in recent days and the apparent withdrawal of US support for SDF's continued holding of territory represent the biggest change of control in the country since opposition factions ousted Bashar al-Assad 13 ‌months ago.