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Red Sea International Film Festival Kickstarts in Jeddah

Red Sea International Film Festival Chairman Mohammed Al-Turki, Asharq Al-Awsat
Red Sea International Film Festival Chairman Mohammed Al-Turki, Asharq Al-Awsat
    Jeddah - Asma al-Ghabri, Abdulhadi Habtor
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Red Sea International Film Festival Kickstarts in Jeddah

Red Sea International Film Festival Chairman Mohammed Al-Turki, Asharq Al-Awsat
Red Sea International Film Festival Chairman Mohammed Al-Turki, Asharq Al-Awsat

Hours after Jeddah concluded the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the city kickstarted the inaugural Red Sea International Film Festival in the historic downtown area known as Al-Balad. The event was shining with international, Arab, and Saudi film stars, filmmakers, directors, and producers.

The festival, which is set for ten days, presents a solid and diverse program rich in cinematic ideas, methods, and languages, with the participation of veteran performers, young Saudi and Arab artists, and top stars of international cinema.

This first celebration of its kind in the Kingdom is evidence of the cultural and artistic movement that Saudi Arabia is experiencing today, according to the Red Sea International Film Festival Chairman Mohammed Al-Turki.

Al-Turki described the organization of the festival as a “challenge” that Saudi Arabia had accepted and raced against time to have the event rise to the occasion and reach a global stage.

The festival kicked off with the Middle Eastern premiere of Joe Wright’s musical romance Cyrano.

Wright’s first musical adapts Erica Schmidt’s 2018 stage musical of the same name, which was itself based on the classic 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand.

It is noteworthy that the festival will showcase 138 films from 67 countries in more than 30 languages. It will also focus on honoring women and their role in the film industry.

The festival will organize a range of activities, performances, and events, including awards honoring women figures, seminars, and specialized lectures.

French actress Catherine Deneuve, an international artist who has presented many works and won many awards worldwide, including the British Academy Award (BAFTA), will be honored at the festival.

One of the most significant cinematic figures in the Kingdom, Haifaa Al-Mansour, an internationally acclaimed filmmaker, will also be honored at the festival.

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Varieties

Saudi Arabia Emphasizes Collective Action to Enhance Global Water Security at UN Session

Participants reviewed national strategies for resilience, sustainable funding mechanisms, and scalable cross-border partnerships - SPA
Participants reviewed national strategies for resilience, sustainable funding mechanisms, and scalable cross-border partnerships - SPA
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Saudi Arabia Emphasizes Collective Action to Enhance Global Water Security at UN Session

Participants reviewed national strategies for resilience, sustainable funding mechanisms, and scalable cross-border partnerships - SPA
Participants reviewed national strategies for resilience, sustainable funding mechanisms, and scalable cross-border partnerships - SPA

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia emphasized the need for collective international action to advance global water security and translate multilateral commitments into tangible results that support public health, food security, economic development, and climate resilience.

The position was delivered during a high-level ministerial session titled "United for Water: A Call for Collective Action," co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and Senegal in collaboration with the Global Water Organization on the sidelines of the 81st Session of the UN General Assembly in New York. The gathering convened ministers, senior officials, multilateral development banks, and United Nations agencies alongside water sector leaders, SPA reported.

Head of the Founding Team of the Global Water Organization Dr. Fahd Balghunaim stated that the session addressed growing pressures on water resources, focusing on aligning funding with priority needs, scaling high-impact innovations, improving data access, and strengthening institutional implementation capacity.

Participants reviewed national strategies for resilience, sustainable funding mechanisms, and scalable cross-border partnerships, underscoring the Global Water Organization's role as an institutional platform connecting governments with essential financing, technical expertise, and operational coordination.

Varieties

Bacteria Suspected in Deaths of Hundreds of Baby Whales off Argentina

Scientists suspect a bacterial infection to be behind the mystery deaths of hundreds of southern right whale calves washed up on beaches in Argentina's Patagonia region. MAXI JONAS / AFP
Scientists suspect a bacterial infection to be behind the mystery deaths of hundreds of southern right whale calves washed up on beaches in Argentina's Patagonia region. MAXI JONAS / AFP
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Bacteria Suspected in Deaths of Hundreds of Baby Whales off Argentina

Scientists suspect a bacterial infection to be behind the mystery deaths of hundreds of southern right whale calves washed up on beaches in Argentina's Patagonia region. MAXI JONAS / AFP
Scientists suspect a bacterial infection to be behind the mystery deaths of hundreds of southern right whale calves washed up on beaches in Argentina's Patagonia region. MAXI JONAS / AFP

A bacterial infection is suspected of killing hundreds of baby whales in the southern Argentine region of Patagonia, a marine mammal expert told AFP on Thursday.

This week again, dozens of dead southern right whale calves washed up on beaches in southern Chubut province, continuing a disturbing trend that began in June.

"The death rate (among young whales) is quite high this season in particular," Mariano Coscarella, a researcher at the Marine Mammals Laboratory of the national research council Conicet, confirmed to AFP.

Coscarella, who is based in Puerto Madryn, a major whale-watching destination on the Atlantic coast, said veterinarians suspected an outbreak of erysipelas, a serious disease caused by bacteria commonly found on the mammals' skin.

"It seems to be a natural cause however we cannot completely rule out the influence of human activity," he said.

The Chubut provincial government said Wednesday it was working closely with the scientific community to solve the mystery of the dying whales.

It said that preliminary research suggested it was caused by a "common marine bacteria."

Puerto Madryn and the nearby Valdes Peninsula are a major breeding ground for southern right whales, which grow up to 17 meters (55 feet) in length and weigh on average 40 tons, roughly the equivalent of four elephants.

A record 2,110 whales were counted in the area in 2025, including 800 young.

This year, authorities have counted 1,375 specimens, including nearly 400 calves, Coscarella said.

He added that the recent deaths "do not constitute a medium-term danger" for the area's whale population given the average life span of the southern right whale, which local authorities put at 60 years.

Varieties

Cash for Nature Protection: Hotelier's Offer to Principe Islanders

Locals on the island of Principe are paid a financial dividend to preserve its natural beauty. Daniel BELOUMOU OLOMO / AFP
Locals on the island of Principe are paid a financial dividend to preserve its natural beauty. Daniel BELOUMOU OLOMO / AFP
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Cash for Nature Protection: Hotelier's Offer to Principe Islanders

Locals on the island of Principe are paid a financial dividend to preserve its natural beauty. Daniel BELOUMOU OLOMO / AFP
Locals on the island of Principe are paid a financial dividend to preserve its natural beauty. Daniel BELOUMOU OLOMO / AFP

On the paradise island of Principe, a lush jungle haven in the turquoise waters of the Gulf of Guinea, a South African multimillionaire is offering locals a financial dividend to preserve the natural beauty on which his luxury tourism business depends.
The initiative is the brainchild of tech entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth, who for over a decade has been promoting a model of exclusive ecotourism aimed at an ultra-wealthy foreign clientele.
The dividend scheme, which Shuttleworth's charitable organization pays out individually to locals, aims to encourage them to preserve their natural environment -- a mountainous volcanic island, bordered by pristine beaches and whose tropical forest is home to a wealth of endemic species, AFP said.
In return for agreeing in writing not to engage in environmentally damaging activities like sand extraction or unregulated logging, adults can receive up to 6,250 dobras ($290) per quarter -- the equivalent of around $3.20 a day.
It represents a bonus in a tiny country where 45 percent of the population lives on less than $3.60 a day, according to the latest World Bank data from 2017.
But some critics say the initiative is a missed opportunity to work with the government to address the island's economic and social needs.
"I've just received the first quarterly payment. At 900 dobras it's definitely not a salary but it'll help," grinned 23-year-old technician Ermelindo Mendes, talking to AFP from his village of Monte Alegre in the lush hills.
The whole of Principe, part of the archipelago of Sao Tome and Principe, is an internationally recognized UNESCO biosphere reserve.
Staying in one of Shuttleworth's four hotels on the archipelago can cost up to $1,700 a night.
The hotelier promises his guests -- most of whom are European -- a luxury experience discovering a "hidden west African paradise".
- Nature's guardians -
His business model depends on preserving Principe's pristine natural environment.
So in February, to enlist the support of the island's 10,000 inhabitants, Shuttleworth began offering them a small nature dividend via his charitable organization, the Faya Foundation.
The locals are "nature's principal guardians. We need them on our side", said Vik Michau, a sociologist with the Foundation.
None have yet earned the maximum dividend of $290 per quarter.
"Data monitoring shows the natural environment isn't in an optimal state yet," Michau said.
To earn more, locals need to reforest the island and make what she described as "better choices regarding the natural environment".
Every year, 15,000 tourists visit the 140-square-kilometer (54-square-mile) island.
Many book the luxury package offered by Shuttleworth's HBD (Here Be Dragons) group.
"Most visitors are looking for nature, tranquility and peace -- everything the region has to offer," said Wander Dias de Sousa Pires, the head of the Principe tourist board.
- 'We see the suffering' -
But for the inhabitants of one of the world's poorest countries, the picture-postcard scenery masks a precarious daily struggle, beset by logistical difficulties and affected by distant geopolitical events over which they have no control.
"People who come here look at the scenery and say to themselves: 'This is paradise.' But those who live here see the suffering," said Conceicao Moreno, a 46-year-old member of parliament.
"We face utterly degrading social and economic conditions. The cost of living is very high, we have no access to quality healthcare or education and the roads and most of the infrastructure are in a state of disrepair," he said.
Moreno declined to take part in the dividend program, wary of the "relationship of domination" the grant might entail and unconvinced of its benefits to the recipients.
"The amounts paid out are too insignificant to have any impact on a family's survival," he said.
"They should have partnered with the government to offer social progress and infrastructure that would guarantee the island's development".
Michau said this view was to misunderstand the purpose of the foundation's "pioneering experiment".
The dividend is "not a salary" and charitable work cannot take the place of the state, she said.
"We are a private organization, not the government. We have drawn a very clear line between what falls within the government's remit, what we do here and where we can help."