Return of Harry and Meghan splits opinion

Return of Harry and Meghan splits opinion
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Britain’s Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex leave after attending the National Service of Thanksgiving for The Queen’s reign at Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London on June 3, 2022 as part of the platinum jubilee celebrations. (AFP)
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Updated 03 June 2022

Return of Harry and Meghan splits opinion

Return of Harry and Meghan splits opinion
  • Opinions were split among the throng of fans waiting at the London landmark to catch a glimpse of the royals
  • "They got a really big cheer," said Ana, a 23-year-old from Mexico studying in the UK

LONDON: Cheers greeted Prince Harry and his wife Meghan outside St. Paul’s Cathedral on Friday as they made their first public appearance in Britain for two years.
But opinions were split among the throng of fans waiting at the London landmark to catch a glimpse of the royals, reflecting a generational divide.
The couple’s return for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations was always going to be watched closely as a test of their popularity.
They stood down as working royals in 2020 and settled in California, and their very public criticisms since have outraged fans of the monarchy.
“They got a really big cheer,” said Ana, a 23-year-old from Mexico studying in the UK, who was watching with a friend.
On Thursday, the couple kept a low profile at the Trooping the Color parade, which began festivities to mark the queen’s record-breaking 70-year reign.
But Ana said the “backseat” role was “unfair.” “They should all be treated the same,” she told AFP.
Harry’s grandmother restricted appearances on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on Thursday to “working royals” only.
The St. Paul’s service was the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s only official participation in the four days of celebrations.
“They are part of the royal family,” said Amy Thomas, 17, who traveled to London from northern England with her mother for the event.
“They should be able to do a bit of a different concept of what the royal family is now.
“I just think the presentation of the royal family is old-fashioned. They’re just kind of stuck in their ways.
“Harry and stuff and all that went on. I think you can tell it needs to be dealt with differently.”
These opinions stood at odds with a YouGov poll published this week that suggested nearly two-thirds of Britons (63 percent) viewed both Harry and Meghan negatively.
But there is a generational gap. Among those aged 18 to 24, the couple are largely seen positively. Among the over-65s, more than 60 percent hold a negative view.
Gwyneth Cookson, 65, from Motherwell, near Glasgow in Scotland, said proudly she had shaken hands with Meghan at Edinburgh Castle.
“I’m a fan,” said Cookson, wearing a sparkly Union Jack badge. She was there with her daughter and grandson holding a toy corgi.
“Hopefully there will be a wee reconciliation.”
Other older royal watchers were noticeably chillier.
“I’m not really interested anymore,” said Ruth Horsfield, from Lancashire in northwest England, who came to London on a pensioners’ coach tour.
“Nothing against them but they’ve got their own lives now. They don’t feel part of it any more.
“They’ve divested themselves of it really. I don’t think they should make any money out of it.”
“I think they’re just gradually being forgotten about,” added her friend Glynis Morgan from Yorkshire.
“As long as they don’t rake muck and do too much damage to the queen.”
Wearing a purple jubilee T-shirt and matching cap and a Swatch watch featuring the queen and a corgi, Coleen, from the Canadian city of Toronto where Meghan once lived, was clearly not a fan.
“I don’t think she did anyone any favors,” she said quietly. “I think he picked the wrong wife.”
Sitting beside her, Lorraine Frame from Northern Ireland cut in: “They have their own agenda.
“They’re coming back because they’re scared of missing something and they are not welcome. I certainly booed them.”
Wearing a Union Jack t-shirt and reading a newspaper royal supplement, she said she also came especially for the jubilee.
“I don’t think they can be trusted because of their dealings with Netflix, what they may or may not say, and I think shame on them. I mean Harry was brought up better,” she said.
Harry “wants his cake and he wants to eat it,” she said.
Megan, she claimed, “came into this royal family thinking she could change hundreds of years of history and tradition — and she didn’t.”
“Let her have her day today and the sooner they get back to America the better.”


Riders in Lebanon must haggle with drivers to take an Uber

Riders in Lebanon must haggle with drivers to take an Uber
Updated 27 May 2023

Riders in Lebanon must haggle with drivers to take an Uber

Riders in Lebanon must haggle with drivers to take an Uber

Once known for quick and affordable on-demand rides, Uber is now struggling with pricing rides in Lebanon, leading the company to launch a “flex” option.

The new and seemingly only way to book an Uber in the country requires riders to “bid” for their ride. The rider suggests a price and the driver then accepts, rejects or counteroffers, and so on.

Lebanon adopted a new official exchange rate on Feb. 1, marking a massive 90 percent devaluation from its current official rate, which had remained unchanged for 25 years.

The currency fluctuation is so drastic — changing every day or even every hour — that Uber was unable to price a ride fair to the market, said Uptin Saiidi, journalist and content creator, in an Instagram video.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Uptin (@uptin)

 

Drivers were calling riders once they booked a ride and then negotiating over the phone before agreeing to pick them up, so Uber launched the “flex” ride so both parties could haggle within the app.

Uber has been criticized in the past for increasing fares in Lebanon, with users calling for its boycott. The ride-sharing app displayed fares in US dollars from its launch in Lebanon until 2021 when it switched to the local currency — but the fares were much more expensive.

“With the economic collapse in Lebanon, and the extinction of USD bank notes and the rendering of bank cards useless, pricing in USD is no longer possible,” Lebanese blogger Gino Raidy wrote in a blog post.

It seemed that Uber chose the 3,900 LL/USD exchange rate “that the governor of Lebanon’s central bank pulled out of somewhere,” which led to fares “increasing significantly, given they were being paid on the ‘official’ exchange rate of around 1,500 LL/USD,” Raidy said.

An Uber spokesperson told Al Arabiya at the time that it had only increased its recommended fares, which had nothing to do with the exchange rate.

Currently, it seems that riders must negotiate or bid to book an Uber. Meanwhile, many are switching to other services such as Bolt, which are cheaper and more efficient.


Turkish embassy celebrates manti dish during cuisine week

Turkish embassy celebrates manti dish during cuisine week
Updated 26 May 2023

Turkish embassy celebrates manti dish during cuisine week

Turkish embassy celebrates manti dish during cuisine week

RIYADH: The best of Turkish food was on display this week in Riyadh as the country’s embassy held a cooking contest as part of Turkish Cuisine Week.

The week is held every year from May 21-27 to celebrate the country’s food. This year, the ministry chose manti, traditional dumplings stuffed with lamb mince that are topped with three sauces: brown butter, caramelized tomato and garlic-yogurt.

Shaimaa Nur, the spouse of Turkish envoy Fatih Ulusoy, said the week was themed on the cuisine of Hatay, which was struck earlier this year by devastating earthquakes.

Manti are made from flour, eggs, salt, and water. The mixture is kneaded into dough, rolled thin, cut into small squares, filled with lamb, onion, parsley and salt and then folded and steamed.

Four teams went head-to-head in the embassy’s competition on Wednesday. Judges included Ambassador Ulusoy and his wife, Mayada Bader, the CEO of Culinary Arts Commission, and chefs Khulood Olagi, Diyab Tut and Gökhan Tufan, the executive chef at Radisson Blu Hotel Riyadh Diplomatic Quarter.

The event was accompanied by a buffet with more examples of the nation’s cuisine.


Children in quake-hit Syria learn in buses turned classrooms

Children in quake-hit Syria learn in buses turned classrooms
Updated 25 May 2023

Children in quake-hit Syria learn in buses turned classrooms

Children in quake-hit Syria learn in buses turned classrooms
  • Traveling classrooms service more than 3,000 children at some 27 camps

JINDAYRIS, Syria: In a dusty Syrian camp for earthquake survivors, school pupils line up and wait for a colorful bus to pull up. Since the disaster hit, they go to a classroom on wheels.
School bags on their backs and notebooks in hand, the children took off their shoes before entering the bus, then sat down along rows of desks fitted inside.
A teacher greeted them in the mobile classroom, decorated with curtains bearing children’s designs, before they broke into a song for their English class.
The February 6 quake killed nearly 6,000 people in Syria, many of them in the war-torn country’s rebel-held northwest, and also left tens of thousands dead in Turkiye.
The Syrian town of Jindayris, in Aleppo province near the Turkish border, was among the worst hit, with homes destroyed and school buildings either levelled or turned into shelters.
“We were living in Jindayris and the earthquake happened... and then we didn’t have homes anymore,” said 10-year-old Jawaher Hilal, a light pink headscarf covering her hair.
“We came to live here and the school was very far away,” said the fifth-grader now staying with her family at the displacement camp on the outskirts of town.
As relief services were set up, she told AFP, “the buses came here and we started to study and learn. The buses are really nice, they teach us a lot.”
The traveling classrooms are a project of the non-profit Orange Organization and service more than 3,000 children at some 27 camps, said education officer Raad Al-Abd.
“The mobile classrooms offer educational services as well as psychological support to children who were affected by the quake,” he said.
More than three months after the quake, 3.7 million children in Syria “continue to face desperate conditions and need humanitarian assistance,” says the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF.
“Almost 1.9 million children have had their education disrupted, with many schools still being used as shelters,” it added in a statement this month.
In northwest Syria alone, “a minimum of 452 primary and secondary schools” were reportedly damaged to varying degrees, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said weeks ago.
“More than 1 million school-aged children need education support and are at risk of being out of school,” it said, adding that at least 25,000 teachers are also in need of help, including “mental health and psychosocial support.”
On another bus, boys and girls enthusiastically interacted with the teacher, balloons hanging from the ceiling, for lessons that included Arabic, math and science.
Outside in the bare dirt, children sang in a circle and clapped along with the educators.
As the buses left, pulling out through the road running between the camps’ tents, adjacent structures and trees, the children yelled out and waved goodbye.
Jawaher’s father Ramadan Hilal expressed relief and gratitude for the initiative.
“After the earthquake there were no more schools or anything else,” he said. “Even though they wanted to establish schools, they are far away.”


Documentary photography workshop in Riyadh tackles gender equality

Documentary photography workshop in Riyadh tackles gender equality
Updated 26 May 2023

Documentary photography workshop in Riyadh tackles gender equality

Documentary photography workshop in Riyadh tackles gender equality

RIYADH: The embassies of Germany and France in Riyadh hosted documentary photography exhibitions in May.

The Goethe Institute, the French Embassy, and the Alliance Francaise in Saudi Arabia, in collaboration with Gharem Studio, set up a project in October 2022 called “Lens for Equality,” dedicated exclusively to documentary photography.

The genre refers to a form of photography which is used to show specific situations or environments, and also everyday events.

These photographs tend to be taken by professional photojournalists or reporters, but sometimes by amateurs.

Authorship of the genre is generally attributed to American historian Beaumont Newhall who, in March 1938, published the article “Documentary Approach to Photography.”

Artists participating took part in a 10-day workshop in which they had the opportunity to discuss and explore the theme of gender equality through their work by analyzing it from an artistic point of view.

The project was led by three mentors — Scarlett Coten from France, Susanne Kriemann from Germany and Tasneem Al-Sultan from Saudi Arabia.

The German, French and Saudi artists have had very different journeys in the world of photography.

Kriemann, a professor at Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, said that photography is a “recording system” — a privileged means to study the human species.

Saudi American Al-Sultan is an award-winning photographer. She uses images to capture the spirit of the Middle East and its people, as well as recent changes that have transformed the region.

Coten explores the themes of gender, identity and intimacy mainly through the form of portraits.

The varied backgrounds of the three photographers added richness to the innovative workshop. The session aimed to mobilize artists and the public on a subject still new to Saudi Arabia, and promote the art of documentary photography.

Students’ photographs were exhibited in December 2022 at the Ahlam Gallery in the Al-Moussa Mall in Riyadh.


Simply the Best: Rock queen Tina Turner has died at 83

Simply the Best: Rock queen Tina Turner has died at 83
Updated 25 May 2023

Simply the Best: Rock queen Tina Turner has died at 83

Simply the Best: Rock queen Tina Turner has died at 83
  • ‘We Don’t Need Another Hero’ featured on the soundtrack to ‘Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome,’ the 1985 post-apocalyptic thriller starring Mel Gibson
  • A decade later she oozed her way through ‘Goldeneye,’ joining the select ranks of artists who have sung on the James Bond franchise

NEW YORK: Rock legend Tina Turner, the growling songstress who electrified audiences for decades, has died at the age of 83, a statement said Wednesday.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner,” read the statement on the official Instagram page of the eight-time Grammy winner.
“With her music and her boundless passion for life, she enchanted millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow.
“Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music. All our heartfelt compassion goes out to her family.
“Tina, we will miss you dearly.”
Turner, who had been living in Switzerland in her final years, first encountered fame with husband Ike Turner.
The pair recorded a number of hits together throughout the 1960s and 1970s, in a musical partnership in which she was clearly the more talented.
After their troubled and violent marriage collapsed — she fled in 1976 mid-tour — Tina Turner forged a wildly successful solo career.
The following decades gifted the world instantly recognizable hits like “What’s Love Got to Do With It?,” “Private Dancer” and the anthemic “The Best.”
Her “We Don’t Need Another Hero” featured on the soundtrack to “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome,” the 1985 post-apocalyptic thriller starring Mel Gibson.
A decade later she oozed her way through “Goldeneye,” joining the select ranks of artists who have sung on the James Bond franchise.