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Riyadh Season Attracts 11 Million Visitors from 125 Countries

Riyadh Season 2
Riyadh Season 2
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Riyadh Season Attracts 11 Million Visitors from 125 Countries

Riyadh Season 2
Riyadh Season 2

The Riyadh Season attracted up to 11 million visitors from 125 countries, revealed Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority (GEA) on Sunday.

Turki Alalshikh affirmed that the number of visitors to the Riyadh season 2 has surpassed 11 million, with 1 million overseas tourists.

"With the support and planning of the Crown Prince, the number of visitors to Riyadh Season has exceeded 11 million," Alalshikh said on Twitter.

According to GEA figures, the total number of participants was 11,875,000, with 1.6 million coming from within Saudi Arabia and 8.3 million from Riyadh.

This season also created 150,000 direct and indirect jobs through the participation of 1,255 firms.

Tourists from 125 countries included 8,227 Russians, 7,332 Canadians, 8,815 French, 20,104 Britons, and 22,532 Americans.

The Riyadh Season featured 70 Arab concerts, six international concerts, 10 international exhibitions, 350 theatrical performances, 18 Arab plays, six international plays, international matches, and freestyle wrestling performances dispersed throughout 14 entertainment areas in Riyadh.

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Varieties

Berlin’s Newest Pygmy Hippo Makes Her Debut, with Name Inspired by Football Star

Female pygmy hippo (Choeropsis liberiensis) Toni strolls through its enclosure at the Zoological Garden in Berlin on August 15, 2024, during its first presentation to the public. (AFP)
Female pygmy hippo (Choeropsis liberiensis) Toni strolls through its enclosure at the Zoological Garden in Berlin on August 15, 2024, during its first presentation to the public. (AFP)
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Berlin’s Newest Pygmy Hippo Makes Her Debut, with Name Inspired by Football Star

Female pygmy hippo (Choeropsis liberiensis) Toni strolls through its enclosure at the Zoological Garden in Berlin on August 15, 2024, during its first presentation to the public. (AFP)
Female pygmy hippo (Choeropsis liberiensis) Toni strolls through its enclosure at the Zoological Garden in Berlin on August 15, 2024, during its first presentation to the public. (AFP)

The Berlin Zoo's newest baby pygmy hippo made her public debut on Thursday, a day after her name — Toni, inspired by German soccer star Antonio Rüdiger — was chosen from more than 20,000 suggestions.

Toni was born on June 3. She's still not much bigger than a small dog but delighted zoo visitors as she explored her enclosure alongside her mother, Debbie.

The zoo sought suggestions for the baby's name and sifted through the thousands of names over recent weeks. Zoo director Andreas Knieriem said he initially leaned toward traditional Berlin names like Boulettchen — which translates to “little meatball” — but the little hippo's popularity on social media and the many name proposals suggested that she would become “a real world star.”

“We wanted to take account of this development with a short, concise name that also works well outside Berlin,” he said in a statement Wednesday.

Rüdiger, a Berlin native who plays for Real Madrid and Germany, agreed to become the animal's honorary patron — or, as the zoo put it, “coach” — sealing the deal for “Toni.”

Debbie reared previous offspring in 2004, 2007 and 2008. The zoo has succeeded in breeding the species since 1921, which it says was the first time it occurred in Europe.

Pygmy hippopotamuses are an endangered species and fewer than 2,500 adults remain in Ivory Coast, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the zoo said. They are already extinct in Nigeria and face a major loss of habitat as West African forests are cleared for mining and agricultural use, it added.