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RIYADH: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman participated in the funeral prayer of Princess Latifa bint Abdulaziz on Wednesday at Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque in Riyadh.
Princess Latifa was buried at Al-Oud Cemetery in Riyadh on Wednesday following the funeral prayer which took place after the noon prayer. She passed away on Tuesday.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister said restoring respect for international conventions and norms comes through the application of international law and international humanitarian law, and holding violators accountable without being selective.
Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the absence of serious international action to stop the ongoing Israeli military escalation is conclusive evidence of the shortcomings of the multilateral international system and the weakness of international political will.
“The Kingdom believes that peace is the foundation that paves the way for cooperation and development, and is the protector of their sustainability,” Prince Faisal said during the “Leadership for Peace” open debate on the sidelines of the 79th UN General Assembly in New York.
Prince Faisal said the meeting comes at a time when the pace of conflicts and crises is escalating, common challenges and threats are multiplying, and the crisis of confidence in the multilateral international system and its ability to achieve the hopes of peoples for a future of peace and development is growing.
“These circumstances require us to evaluate the state of international multilateral action and the reasons for its decline in resolving crises and addressing common challenges,” he added.
Prince Faisal said Saudi Arabia “will continue to support the multilateral international system, seek to develop it, enable its purposes, and restore confidence in its institutions. It is also committed to strengthening collective action to achieve common security and development.”
RIYADH: Farmers at AlUla Dates Auction in northwestern Saudi Arabia are moving date boxes from the bottom to the top to encourage buyers to trust the quality of the goods exhibited and the cleanliness of their harvest.
One farmer said that a batch of dates he sold earlier retailed for roughly SR3 (80 cents) less than the projected price for a kilogram, but he was pleased to later sell another type of dates for SR7 ($1.87) more a kilogram.
Many farmers transport ripe dates at the end of summer to the market square while specialized transport companies manage exports to major cities and outside of the Kingdom.
Saud Al-Anzi, another farmer, pointed to two piles of date boxes on either side of the market, one of which had been sold at auction while the other awaited its turn.
He anticipated a fair price of about SR10 a kilogram for his premium variety, known as “berni,” but the auction surprised him shortly afterwards with a price about SR4 higher.
Omar Al-Balawi, the general supervisor of AlUla Dates Auction, told Arab News that the auction was established to root the market value of AlUla dates and enhance their competitiveness after farmers previously traveled long distances to other markets, especially in Madinah, which is about 350 km from their farms in the northern province of the Madinah region.
He said that several gains have been achieved for both farmers and buyers, raising the quality of the varieties and ensuring fair prices.
AlUla Date Auction is continuing its events as part of the “Date Season” during the Fridays and Saturdays of September and October, having been extended for an additional two weeks to allow distant farms in the province to participate in the auction and provide an opportunity for their dates to ripen.
The Royal Commission for AlUla, in collaboration with several government and private entities, organized the auction at Al-Iskan playground south of AlUla until Nov. 9.
The auction allows AlUla farmers to showcase their date products to buyers and investors from within and outside the Kingdom.
The auction establishes competitiveness for AlUla dates in local, regional and global markets, in line with AlUla Vision, which aligns with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 aimed at enhancing the Kingdom’s role to become the largest exporter of dates worldwide.
As part of the festival, AlUla Date Auction 2024 Award will be held for participating farmers in the festival auction, where the first-place winner will be awarded SR75,000 ($20,000), the second 50,000 ($13,300), and the third 30,000 ($8,000).
Winners will be selected on specific criteria related to the quantity and total value of sales.
RIYADH: Scottish tennis coach Judy Murray and former world No. 1 Spanish-Venezuelan Garbine Muguruza conducted a tennis clinic for children at the Net Tennis Academy in Diriyah on Tuesday.
Ahead of the WTA Finals that will be held for the first time in Riyadh in November, the pair spoke to Arab News about the growth of the sport in the region.
“I think there is a new generation now ... We have great players from all nationalities and we feel like every tournament there’s different winners. So that means that it’s very competitive,” Muguruza, who will act as tournament director for the upcoming event, said.
Public events could help to raise the profile of the sport, she said.
“One very good example is what we are doing here today. We are bringing the community together, especially the kids. The kids are the ones that are going to follow our footsteps and be the next generation.”
The Saudi Sports for All Federation and Saudi Tennis Federation are working together to stage the Tennis for All program at SFA Neighborhood Clubs in Riyadh, Jeddah and the Eastern Province. The initiative is one of several launched to encourage people across the Kingdom to become more physically active.
Murray, who is mother to former world No. 1 and three-time Grand Slam champion Sir Andy Murray and his brother Jamie, had a similar message.
“It’s important that we share the sport as much as we can with those in the local community,” she said.
“The bigger your workforce, the more you can share your sport with any kids, teens, adults who might be interested in getting involved and picking up a racket.”
But the most important thing was passion, she said.
“I look at my sons, who were professional players for many, many years. They’re 37 and 38 now and they still love the game. They still love competing. They’re real students of the game. They really research, study it, love it. And I think I would say exactly the same for myself. I love the game.”
Having worked directly with the SFA, Murray said she saw a bright future for tennis in Saudi Arabia.
“I think bringing the World Tour Finals here for a three-year period and also having brought the next gen finals here, and there are a number of other things in the pipeline that will bring some major events into Saudi, the closer you can get your people to the action, live action, the more they are probably inspired to try it ... the more they believe that they could actually do it as well,” she said.
“I think that the goal is by 2030, to have a million people playing tennis, which is always good to have a target and I actually think you’re going to smash that target.”
JEDDAH: He used to show off his fancy footwork on the football field, but now he wields the tools that keep current Saudi players looking stylish on and off the pitch. Inspired by Saudi Vison 2030’s goal to expand horizons for all, Feras Al-Zahrani is challenging cultural perceptions around “suitable jobs for Saudis.”
Driven by a desire to learn, study and improve from a young age, he graduated from high school and worked in the private sector where low-income jobs included a spell as a security officer.
Now he is based at Relax Station Salon in Jeddah where, when Arab News arrived to interview him, he was still wearing the black surgical gloves from his last customer’s haircut.
During the few minutes he had to spare before his next appointment, he said he disagreed with the sentiment that Saudi men should not work certain jobs.
“The doors to livelihood are open in all fields, and people should not be ashamed of their profession, as long as they practice it, love it and it generates an income for them,” he told Arab News, discussing the stigma surrounding low-income jobs.
“Some ideas must change. We are going through the Vision 2030 era in which energies and competencies must be invested. Society does not only want engineers, doctors and pilots; society needs all its worker components.”
Al-Zahrani wears many hats. He was a footballer before he became a hairstylist, playing for Al-Wehda in Makkah and Al-Rabea. “Football was my passion and (I) was hoping one day to be a famous football player. Unfortunately, I suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury which effectively stopped me playing football,” he explained.
Looking for other career options, he enrolled on a hairstyling course at Enayat Company.
“They had an ad asking for young Saudis interested in learning to become a hairstylist,” he said. “As a former football player, we were very concerned about our hairstyles. So that’s why I became obsessed with hair, and I told myself this is what I want to be. I understood this is the thing that I need to do. I thought it was an incredible plan to break the unthinkable of being a hairstylist in Saudi Arabia.”
Al-Zahrani said it took a year of training to learn how to cut and style hair, along with grooming techniques for shaving, facial treatments, and head massage.
“It is a really difficult profession, and it is not what people think,” he said, adding that he set up a salon in his room once he was skilled enough: “I practiced with my relatives and friends who took the risk to volunteer as clients … cutting their hair is how I began to work. Then, I began searching for a job.”
For the past six years, the 32-year-old has been growing his clientele. Then, at the start of this year, Al-Zahrani received a call from Saeed Al-Mubarki, owner of Relax Station Salon, who offered him a job.
Al-Mubarki said: “I heard about Al-Zahrani from my friends and when I saw his work, I was very impressed to see a Saudi with such skills. I got him an offer and, since he joined our team, he has proven himself. Now he has his own customers who come especially for him.”
Al-Mubarki added: “It is our duty to support young Saudis and if we see more talents, we will no doubt hire them.”
For Al-Zahrani, being a hairstylist is more than a job — it is an artform.
“Seeing people leave happy has become the part of my job I like the most. If they like the haircut and feel comfortable, I am happy,” he said.
One of his colleagues, Abdul Raheem Al-Bualali from Agadir in Morocco, praised his skills and said: “To be honest with you I had never see a Saudi working as a barber, but I was impressed with Al-Zahrani’s ability to handle the scissor and we are happy to share our experience with him.”
Al-Zahrani is known for his precise haircuts for football players and celebrities such as Salman Al-Dossary, Saudi Abdulhameed, Saleh Al-Shihri, and Al-Hilal defender Kalidou Koulibaly.
He told Arab News: “I am so proud to be engaged with such big names in football. I got involved with them through word of mouth or through friends who recommended me to these stars. My work still continued with them and they became close to me after they have tried my hair cuts.”
His dream now is to open his own salon and his advice to Saudi youths is to be open to work in any profession.
“To survive in this world, they have to work as a barber or a mechanic or a baggage porter or anything else. There is nothing to be ashamed of as long as they preserve their dignity and make a living,” he said.
RIYADH: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan participated in a meeting of G20 foreign ministers on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.
During a speech, the minister stressed the urgent need to adhere to successful models of collective action and the importance of seeking to develop and reform international institutions, Saudi Press Agency reported.
“The repercussions of wars and political conflicts undermine efforts to establish international peace and security, and cast their shadows on all aspects of multilateral action.
“When these institutions fail to carry out their basic duties towards these crises, this creates a gap in international action and a crisis of confidence that undermines their legitimacy, and this is what we are witnessing today in the way some international institutions deal with the humanitarian disaster in Palestine,” Prince Faisal said.
The minister stressed that prolonging and expanding the war in Gaza will deepen the suffering of the Palestinian people, threaten international peace and security, and undermine the chances of achieving comprehensive peace in the region.
“G20 countries must intensify their joint efforts to overcome the international failure to confront Israel’s serious violations of international laws and norms, and enable the achievement of a ceasefire and the adoption of a reliable and irreversible path to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” Prince Faisal said.
The Kingdom’s foreign minister also took part in a ministerial meeting between Gulf Cooperation Council countries and the US on Wednesday.
Participants in the meeting discussed ways to enhance partnership and cooperation between the council and the US. Regional issues of common interest including the current situations in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon were also discussed.
