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Ronaldo Stars in Saudi Tourism’s ‘Unreal Calendar’ Campaign

The campaign highlights events taking place in Saudi Arabia over the year. (Saudi Tourism Authority)
The campaign highlights events taking place in Saudi Arabia over the year. (Saudi Tourism Authority)
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Ronaldo Stars in Saudi Tourism’s ‘Unreal Calendar’ Campaign

The campaign highlights events taking place in Saudi Arabia over the year. (Saudi Tourism Authority)
The campaign highlights events taking place in Saudi Arabia over the year. (Saudi Tourism Authority)

The Saudi Tourism Authority launched this year’s Saudi tourism campaign, “Unreal Calendar”, starring football icon Cristiano Ronaldo, who declared: “I came to do what I love, but I stayed for more.”

The campaign aims to highlight the diversity and wealth of upcoming events taking place in the Kingdom. The campaign will target several main global markets, including Europe, India and China. Ronaldo features in the campaign video, which the Al-Nasser star shared on his social media.

Highlights from the sports events range from Formula 1 races, LIV Golf Riyadh, tennis, boxing and the Saudi Pro League, which has attracted some of the sport's most famous stars.

Saudi Arabia is also gearing up to host the AFC Asian Cup 2027, Esports Olympics Games 2027, Asian Winter Games 2029 and FIFA World Cup 2034, promising to offer an unforgettable experience for fans from across the globe.

Beyond sports, the Kingdom will host Riyadh Fashion Week, the International Red Sea Film Festival, Soundstorm, and the Saudi Seasons events that are held in each of Riyadh, Diriyah and AlUla, offering world-class entertainment for everyone.

Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al-Khateeb said: “Today, Saudi is cementing its place as a global destination that combines cultural authenticity, warm hospitality, and the thrill of world-class events.”

“In the tourism sector, we remain steadfast in our commitment to developing a seamless landscape that inspires the world and provides visitors with unforgettable experiences.”

Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO of the Saudi Tourism Authority, said: “This campaign with CR7 is a showcase of Saudi today, and our ambitions. Tourism is a core component of our vision, and we are continuously expanding our offerings.”

For his part, Ronaldo expressed his pride in being part of Saudi Arabia’s ambitious journey to cement its position as a major global platform to host major international sports events. “This reflects its renewed strategic vision,” he remarked.

He admired how Saudi Arabia honors its heritage, roots and values while building for the future. “It embodies a unique model that brings together national identity with openness to the world,” he stressed.

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Varieties

France, Germany Send Firefighters to Help Battle Dutch Blazes

A French firefighter douses burning vegetation during a bushfire in Budel, Netherlands May 1, 2026. (Reuters)
A French firefighter douses burning vegetation during a bushfire in Budel, Netherlands May 1, 2026. (Reuters)
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France, Germany Send Firefighters to Help Battle Dutch Blazes

A French firefighter douses burning vegetation during a bushfire in Budel, Netherlands May 1, 2026. (Reuters)
A French firefighter douses burning vegetation during a bushfire in Budel, Netherlands May 1, 2026. (Reuters)

France and Germany sent firefighting units to the Netherlands on Friday to help battle woodland blazes flaring in several areas.

Many of the fires, which sparked on Wednesday and Thursday, were raging in land used for military training, including an artillery range, in the south.

Stretched Dutch authorities requested help facing the emergency through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, with France and Germany responding.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on X that Paris had dispatched 41 civil security personnel and 10 vehicles.

A total of 67 firefighters, 21 vehicles and three trailers were sent by the Bonn fire service in Germany.

A Dutch military spokesman, Major Mike Hofman, on Friday confirmed to AFP that army "training grounds were in use at the time the fires broke out".

He said an investigation was under way "examining whether there is a connection between the military operations and the origin of the fires".

The head of the Dutch armed forces said on Thursday that extra precautions were being taken on terrain used for drills because of a drought currently parching the country.

He added, however, that the military exercises being conducted would not be suspended.

Varieties

Oscar Statuette for 'Mr. Nobody Against Putin' Goes Missing on Flight

FILE PHOTO: File Photo: Pavel Talankin arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscars party after the 98th Academy Awards, in Beverly Hills, California, US, March 16, 2026. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: File Photo: Pavel Talankin arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscars party after the 98th Academy Awards, in Beverly Hills, California, US, March 16, 2026. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok/File Photo/File Photo
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Oscar Statuette for 'Mr. Nobody Against Putin' Goes Missing on Flight

FILE PHOTO: File Photo: Pavel Talankin arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscars party after the 98th Academy Awards, in Beverly Hills, California, US, March 16, 2026. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: File Photo: Pavel Talankin arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscars party after the 98th Academy Awards, in Beverly Hills, California, US, March 16, 2026. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok/File Photo/File Photo

The Oscar statuette belonging to Pavel Talankin, the Russian director who won best documentary this year for "Mr. Nobody Against Putin," has gone missing after he was forced to check the award into hold luggage on a flight from New York to Germany, his co-director said.

Talankin was due to fly from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Frankfurt on German carrier Lufthansa. But Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents told him that the 8.5 lb (3.8 kg) statuette posed a potential security threat, his co-director David Borenstein said on Thursday.

"At the airport, a ⁠TSA agent stopped ⁠him and said the Oscar could be used as a weapon," Borenstein said on Instagram.

"Pavel didn’t have a bag to check it in, so the TSA put the Oscar in a box and sent it to the bottom of the plane," he said, posting a series of pictures, ⁠including of the box.

"It never arrived in Frankfurt."

Responding to Borenstein's Instagram post, Lufthansa said it was taking the matter seriously.

"We deeply regret this situation," a company spokesperson later said in response to a Reuters request for comment.

"Our team is handling this matter with the utmost care and urgency and we are conducting a comprehensive internal search to ensure that the Oscar is found and returned as soon as possible.”

Speaking to the online magazine Deadline.com after arriving in Germany on Thursday, ⁠Talankin ⁠said it was "completely baffling how they consider an Oscar a weapon."

On previous flights on various airlines, he had flown with it "in the cabin, and there never was any kind of problem," he told the outlet.

Talankin and Borenstein's documentary used two years of footage that Talankin recorded at a school where he worked in Russia's Chelyabinsk region, to show how students were exposed to pro-war messaging.

The 35-year-old Talankin, who fled Russia in 2024, has defended the film as a record for posterity to show how "an entire generation became angry and aggressive."

Varieties

Russia Successfully Test Launches New Soyuz-5 Rocket from Kazakhstan, Space Agency Says

The ⁠new rocket is ‌capable of ‌carrying payloads of up to ‌17 metric tons. (AP file)
The ⁠new rocket is ‌capable of ‌carrying payloads of up to ‌17 metric tons. (AP file)
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Russia Successfully Test Launches New Soyuz-5 Rocket from Kazakhstan, Space Agency Says

The ⁠new rocket is ‌capable of ‌carrying payloads of up to ‌17 metric tons. (AP file)
The ⁠new rocket is ‌capable of ‌carrying payloads of up to ‌17 metric tons. (AP file)

Russia has test launched its new Soyuz-5 rocket for the first time, the country's space agency said late on Thursday, saying it had lifted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan without any issues.

The Soyuz-5, which Roscosmos, ‌Russia's space ‌agency, describes as a ‌launch ⁠vehicle equipped with ⁠the world's most powerful liquid-fueled engine, lifted off successfully at 2100 Moscow time (1800 GMT) on April 30, it said in a statement.

The ⁠new rocket is ‌capable of ‌carrying payloads of up to ‌17 metric tons, will significantly ‌reduce launch costs, and is more effective than its predecessors at placing objects like satellites in near ‌earth orbit, the agency said.

Dmitry Bakanov, the head ⁠of ⁠Roskosmos, said the rocket - which he hailed as a "new step in space exploration" - would create new jobs in Russia and Kazakhstan.

Bakanov has previously told President Vladimir Putin that the Soyuz-5 is the first new launch vehicle that Russia has developed since 2014.