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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

South Africans Fire Up 500 Grills for World Record Barbecue Attempt

Hungry but determined South Africans gathered in the capital, Pretoria, on Thursday to fire up their grills and attempt to break a Guinness World Record for the most people barbecuing at the same time. (AP)
Hungry but determined South Africans gathered in the capital, Pretoria, on Thursday to fire up their grills and attempt to break a Guinness World Record for the most people barbecuing at the same time. (AP)
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South Africans Fire Up 500 Grills for World Record Barbecue Attempt

Hungry but determined South Africans gathered in the capital, Pretoria, on Thursday to fire up their grills and attempt to break a Guinness World Record for the most people barbecuing at the same time. (AP)
Hungry but determined South Africans gathered in the capital, Pretoria, on Thursday to fire up their grills and attempt to break a Guinness World Record for the most people barbecuing at the same time. (AP)

Armed with their tongs and sausages, thousands of determined — and hungry — South Africans gathered on a national holiday Thursday to attempt to break the world record for the biggest cookout.

The record to beat for most people grilling simultaneously was 2,220, set in Japan’s Ishigaki City in 2023.

The South African hopefuls, who were denied in a failed attempt last year, poured into a sports stadium in the capital, Pretoria, to take up their positions around 500 grilling stations.

Organizers said they expected around 3,000 participants, according to AP.

The strict rules, according to a Guinness World Records adjudicator who watched over the attempt, were: Everyone needs to be barbecuing simultaneously for a minimum of five minutes to be counted.

“And if anyone leaves, they do get disqualified,” said the adjudicator, Paulina Sapinska, who wore a blue blazer and tie and held an official-looking clipboard as she monitored the mass sausage and burger grilling.

Cooking meat outside on a wood, charcoal or gas fire is a beloved South African pastime, just as it is in the United States, Australia and elsewhere.

It’s called a “braai” in South Africa, and one of the favorite meats is a fat, curled up sausage known as boerewors — which translates as farmer’s sausage. But there were also burgers, steaks and chops to grill for the record attempt.

The mass cookout came on Heritage Day, a national holiday where people in multiracial and multicultural South Africa are encouraged to show off and celebrate their own specific heritage.

The holiday has become known informally as “Braai Day” because the love of the cookout is shared by people across the country and it’s how many South Africans celebrate it.

Participant Alex Coetzee said he also took part in the 2025 record attempt, when South Africa fell short because too many people left their grilling stations.

“It’s gonna be better (this time),” said Coetzee, who wore a shirt emblazoned with the colors of the South African flag. “We’re actually gonna break the world record now. South Africans have the record and that’s the most important part.”

But was this year’s attempt well done, or did it go up in smoke?

Sapinska, the Guinness World Records adjudicator, kept the country on a knife edge by saying she and other officials were reviewing the evidence and that the final word on if there was a new world cookout champion might only come on Friday.

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.