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RIYADH: Saudi Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Waleed bin Abdulkarim Al-Khuraiji met his Indonesian counterpart Pahala Nugraha Mansury in Jakarta on Wednesday, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The two sides reviewed ways to strengthen bilateral ties and discussed issues of mutual interest.
DUBAI: Internationally-acclaimed London-based artist Dan Pearce has revealed the inspiration for his work to mark the 20th anniversary of the Four Seasons Hotel Doha, titled “Kinetic Drop.”
Known for commissions from French football icon Paul Pogba, other celebrities and global exhibitions, the artist’s bespoke sculpture is crafted from stainless steel.
“I titled this sculpture ‘Kinetic Drop’ because it captures that precise moment when a water droplet collides with a surface, that split second when kinetic energy disperses in all directions,” Pearce told Arab News recently.
“With all my work, I aim to trigger one of three responses: to make viewers think ‘how did he do that?’ to inspire them to touch the artwork, or to encourage movement around the piece for different perspectives,” he added.
The artist, who was born in Australia, is known for his pop culture-inspired work and often turns to DC Comics, musicians and street art for source material.
Taking inspiration from the hotel and its surroundings in Doha may have been a welcome departure for the artist. “The sculpture is mounted on a map of Qatar.
“Geographically, Qatar is also surrounded by water as a peninsula while Four Seasons Doha is situated on the Arabian Gulf where I could see endless views of the shimmering waters from our room — this was also part of the inspiration behind the piece,” he explained.
As for the location of the artwork, the artist said it “could create a sense of urgency and exclusivity, encouraging visitors and guests to interact and connect with it on a social level and experience it before it’s gone.”
Pearce’s work has captured the attention of celebrities and worldwide brands, with commissioned pieces for boxing champion Anthony Joshua, Grammy nominee Rag’n’Bone Man, and hip-hop star 50 Cent, to name a few.
Ensuring his work can be understood across cultures is something that was particularly important to Pearce in the run-up to his showcase in Doha.
“With the concept of the sculpture being water, this makes it universally significant across all cultures. Water represents life, renewal, and connection which are key elements that can transcend cultural boundaries,” he said.
DUBAI: James Gunn’s new “Superman” film is drawing attention online for what many viewers interpret as a pointed political message.
A scene showing a heavily armed military force attacking civilians across a border, where children’s lives are at risk, has sparked comparisons to the Israel-Gaza war.
While neither Gunn nor the cast have stated the film references Israel or Palestine, early audiences have drawn their own conclusions, suggesting the conflict serves as an allegorical backdrop.
One user wrote on X: “Y’all were not kidding about how anti-Israel and pro-Palestine that superman movie was, and they were not slick with it AT ALL,” while another said: “Superman was so openly anti-Israel and god it was so good.”
Another user said: “Not going to lie I really like the anti-Israel sentiment from superman and now I know James Gunn is always standing on business.”
Though the film never names specific nations, Gunn has said in interviews that it tackles themes of “politics” and “morality,” and positions Superman as an immigrant, comments that have also sparked backlash from some US conservatives.
The film is a reboot of the DC franchise and marks the beginning of Gunn’s new DC Universe. It stars David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman and Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane. The cast also includes Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor and Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl.
The movie was released in Saudi Arabia on July 10.
SAN ROQUE: With his Australian heritage and Open Championship pedigree, Ripper GC Captain Cameron Smith knows a thing or two about playing golf in blustery conditions.
Rarely has he experienced an afternoon like Friday’s first round of LIV Golf Andalucía at Real Club Valderrama.
Severe winds reduced scoring opportunities and eventually forced a suspension of play due to unplayable conditions — the first time in league history that a round could not be completed in a single day.
“You can play this golf course with no wind and it’s brutal,” Smith said. “When you get 30 mile-an-hour gusts, it’s definitely not an easy place to get around.”
Play was set to resume on Saturday, with players having between three and five holes remaining in their opening rounds.
Smith was one of just five players under par when the horn blew to suspend play. He shares the overnight lead at 1 under with Smash GC’s Talor Gooch, the individual winner at Valderrama in 2023; Majesticks GC Co-Captain Lee Westwood; Stinger GC’s Branden Grace and Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann, the current Individual points leader seeking his fifth win of the season.
Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau and Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm are one stroke back — the only other players who did not leave the course Friday over par.
The Crushers, seeking their fourth consecutive team title, are tied for first with Legion XIII and Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC on the team leaderboard at 5 over.
Friday’s round started under breezy but manageable conditions, but the wind speed increased throughout the afternoon as the direction changed.
At 5:07 p.m. local time, just over four hours after the shotgun start, the horn blew. Tournament officials were hopeful for a resumption, but the forecast was not favorable and included the potential of dangerous conditions.
“Terribly unfortunate situation to be in for anybody out here,” said Brad Ullman, vice president, rules, at LIV Golf. “These Poniente winds of southern Spain are no joke.”
From a competition standpoint, the biggest issues came on the greens. A combination of dry putting surfaces and high-impact wind gusts prevented putts from stopping and golf balls from remaining still at address. At the most exposed parts of the course, particularly the greens on the 11th and 14th holes, putting was near-impossible.
“Ultimately the balls were moving a little bit too much for our liking,” Ullman said. “It was the right thing to bring them off the golf course.”
No surprise that Niemann, who has won every event this season on even-numbered weeks, is among the leaders on the 10th event of the 2025 schedule. He birdied his third hole of the day, the par-5 fourth, and made par on his other 14 holes — the only player without a bogey on Friday.
Westwood, who last week won a final qualifying tournament to earn exemption into next week’s Open, was the early leader after birdies in four of his first seven holes. A double bogey derailed his momentum, but he finished the day with four consecutive pars.
Gooch has good vibes at Valderrama, having won LIV Golf Andalucía in 2023 en route to the Individual Championship. He endured a rollercoaster seven-hole stretch that included three birdies and three bogeys, then ended his round by knocking his approach shot to 2 feet at the par-4 10th to end with a birdie.
Grace, battling the potential of relegation for the second consecutive season, is on pace for his best first-round position this season. He was a bogey-free 1 under through his first 10 holes and then responded to his two bogeys with two birdies.
Smith was bogey-free through his first 13 holes and leading by three shots at 4 under. It was one of his best stretches of golf this year, but it ended with a double bogey and bogey before play ended.
“It’s easy to feel frustrated, particularly when I doubled 15 and then bogeyed 16 as well,” Smith said. “I was trotting along pretty good before that.
“But it’s golf. Golf isn’t fair, at the end of the day. Were the conditions fair? Probably not for a little bit, but it is what it is. We’ll get on with it. I’m sure we’ll make a good tournament out of it.”
TEAM SCORES
LIV Golf’s new scoring format this season involves all four scores now counting in every round in the team competition. (Click here for more on the new format). Here are the partial scores with play suspended late in Friday’s Rd. 1 of LIV Golf Andalucía:
T1. SMASH GC +5 (Gooch -1, Kokrak +1, McDowell +2, Koepka +3)
T1. CRUSHERS GC +5 (DeChambeau E, Casey +1, Howell III +2, Lahiri +2)
T1. LEGION XIII +5 (Rahm E, Hatton +1, Surratt +1, McKibbin +3)
4. 4ACES GC +8 (Reed +1, Johnson +2, Pieters +2, Varner III +3)
T5. HYFLYERS GC +9 (Mickelson +1, Tringale +2, Ogletree +3, Steele +3)
T5. MAJESTICKS GC +9 (Westwood -1, Poulter +1, Horsfield +4, Stenson +5)
7. CLEEKS GC +10 (Bland +1, Meronk +1, Kaymer +4, Kjettrup +4)
T8. RIPPER GC +11 (Smith -1, Jones +2, Leishman +4, Herbert +6)
T8. RANGEGOATS GC +11 (Watson +1, Campbell +2, Uihlein +3, Masaveu +5)
T8. FIREBALLS GC +11 (Ancer +2, Garcia +2, Ballester +3, Puig +4)
11. TORQUE GC +14 (Niemann +1, Muñoz +3, Pereira +4, Ortiz +8)
12. STINGER GC +15 (Grace -1, Oosthuizen +5, Schwartzel +5, Burmester +6)
13. IRON HEADS GC +16 (Kozuma +2, Na +2, Jang +5, Lee +7)
Wild Cards: C. Lee +2, Kim +6
ISTANBUL: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that a new page opened for Turkiye following the start of a weapons handover by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants.
“As of yesterday, the scourge of terrorism has entered the process of ending. Today is a new day; a new page has opened in history. Today, the doors of a great, powerful Turkiye have been flung wide open,” Erdogan said.
Thirty PKK militants burned their weapons at the mouth of a cave in northern Iraq on Friday, marking a symbolic but significant step toward ending a decades-long insurgency against Turkiye.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Bahrain have resolved to further strengthen their security collaboration in various fields, Pakistani state media reported on Saturday.
The consensus was reached during a meeting between Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and his Bahraini counterpart, General Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al-Khalifa, in Manama.
The two sides held discussions on bilateral cooperation in counter-terrorism, combating human trafficking and anti-narcotics efforts as well as to make Pakistan-Bahrain Joint Security Committee more effective.
“Enhancing cooperation in counter-narcotics and anti-human trafficking efforts is the need of the hour,” Naqvi was quoted as saying by the Radio Pakistan broadcaster.
The Bahraini interior minister said his country valued Pakistan’s cooperation in security and other fields.
Bahrain is one of the important countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and a favorite destination for the Pakistani workforce since the early 1970s, according to the Pakistani foreign ministry.
Both countries have a Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) at the level of the foreign ministers and a trade volume that has ranged between $500 million and $1 billion in recent years.
