Georgina Rodriguez’s reality show to explore luxury life in Saudi Arabia in season 3

The show will follow Georgina Rodriguez's Paris Fashion Week debut when she walked at the Vetements Womenswear Fall/Winter 2024-2025 show. (Getty Images)
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Updated 27 August 2024
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Georgina Rodriguez’s reality show to explore luxury life in Saudi Arabia in season 3

DUBAI: Georgina Rodríguez is set to return to Netflix with the third season of her reality TV show “Soy Georgina” (“I Am Georgina”) — with Netflix teasing a heavy focus on her life in Saudi Arabia.

The new season will follow Rodriguez’s life after her move to the Kingdom, along with her football star beau Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays for Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League.

“What is true luxury like in Saudi Arabia? We will find out when Gio and her family settle in Riyadh with Cristiano's signing for Al-Nassr,” Netflix stated.

According to the announcement, the season will also show Rodriguez enjoying a number of firsts, including the opening of her first beach house, Villa Perla, to starring in an international campaign for a famous clothing brand and her biggest dream — making her debut at Paris Fashion Week.

Previously, in season two, one of the episodes featured Ronaldo and was set almost entirely in Dubai – following an emotional and touching moment as he surprised Rodriguez by lighting up the iconic Burj Khalifa with a special message on her 28th birthday.  

“It was a very emotional day. Well, it was and it still is, because in the end, those moments and those positive experiences stay with you,” she said in the show. “And day after day, it’s like a thrill, like a spark that keeps you happy and active and alive.” 

The show also touched on a more poignant and darker moment in her life – losing one of her twin babies, son Angel. Rodriguez said she pulled herself together thanks to her other children and her partner Ronaldo.

Meanwhile, the star couple took some time off from their hectic schedules to explore Saudi Arabia’s coastline and the Red Sea development in June.

The two took to social media to post photos from their relaxing getaway at what seemed to be The St. Regis Red Sea Resort. They were seen enjoying the resort and its pristine beaches along with their children.

“My world,” Rodriguez captioned her post, featuring several images from the vacation.

In one of the photos, Portuguese footballer Ronaldo can be seen relaxing in a pool with his son Cristiano Ronaldo Jr., who turned 14 this June.

The same month, Rodriguez was spotted showing her support for Ronaldo by attending the King’s Cup final between Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah. Rodriguez sported a white Al-Nassr jersey with Ronaldo’s name on it, paired with flared latex pants and heels.




Rodriguez wore a necklace from the Egyptian brand Nado’s Jewelry. (Instagram)

The couple was recently spotted enjoying a staycation at The Red Sea Project, where Rodriguez wore a necklace from the Egyptian brand Nado’s Jewelry’s Perle collection, featuring large, rounded links alternating between polished gold and diamond-encrusted surfaces.


Lindsay Lohan brings the glam as she jets off from Dubai

Updated 27 July 2025
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Lindsay Lohan brings the glam as she jets off from Dubai

DUBAI: Dubai-based Hollywood star Lindsay Lohan is making a dazzling return to the spotlight with the “Freakier Friday” press tour, flying from the UAE to Los Angeles before heading to Mexico City.

Lohan, who is married to Kuwaiti financier Bader Shammas, wowed at the world premiere in LA last week in a pink custom Miu Miu gown, featuring a sweetheart neckline, flowing skirt, and sparkling crystal embellishments. Her accessory of choice? A crystal-studded karaoke mic clutch by Judith Leiber — a playful nod to her character’s band, Pink Slip, in the original “Freaky Friday.”

She also took a moment to pose alongside “The Parent Trap” co-stars Lisa Ann Walter and Elaine Hendrix, the latter of whom even makes a cameo in the sequel.

For the next leg of the tour in Mexico City, Lohan hit the red carpet in a dramatic magenta Balmain gown from the brand’s Resort 2026 collection, featuring a strapless draped silhouette and gold chain neckline.

“Freakier Friday” is the sequel to 2003’s “Freaky Friday” starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lohan. In the follow-up film, Curtis and Lohan reprise their roles as Tess and Anna Coleman. The story picks up years after Tess (Curtis) and Anna (Lohan) endured a swapped identity crisis. Anna now has a daughter of her own and a soon-to-be stepdaughter.

As they navigate the myriad challenges that arise when two families merge, Tess and Anna discover that lightning might indeed strike twice. Nisha Ganatra directs the sequel with Kristin Burr and Andrew Gunn as producers.

Speaking to Empire, Lohan confirmed that punk-rock Anna still lives on: “The second I started with my guitar coach again, it was like we never left,” she said. “It was the same guitar, everything.”

As for Anna’s new solo? “We made it more difficult for this one,” she added. “I’m such a perfectionist — we rehearsed a lot.”

About playing a grown-up version of her character Anna, Lohan said, “The whole world looks different. Everything is about your child. But we have to remember to make time for ourselves too, live our lives, fulfill our dreams. Moms are always trying to juggle it all, and that’s what Anna’s going through in this.”
 


Razane Jammal shares behind-the-scenes look at ‘The Sandman’

Updated 26 July 2025
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Razane Jammal shares behind-the-scenes look at ‘The Sandman’

DUBAI: British Lebanese actress Razane Jammal took to social media this weekend to share behind-the-scenes shots from her time filming Netflix’s “The Sandman.”

The second season of the show landed on the streaming platform in July in two parts, with the second half of the season premiering this weekend.

“Dream dangerously and beware of the kindly (not so kindly) ones,” Jammal captioned her post on Instagram.  

The carousel of photos shows Jammal in a hair and makeup studio, as well as on location in a mist-covered field.

In the role that arguably shot her to stardom, Jammal played Lyta Hall in 2022’s “The Sandman,” based on the legendary graphic novels — and she reprised her role in the latest season.

 

In season one, her character dreams of her dead husband each night, slowly realizing that he is not a figment of her imagination but is hiding out in the dream world.

It is a part that Jammal managed to play truthfully with subtlety — a subtlety for which she credited her mother in a previous interview with Arab News.

“I’ve always been extra, and my mom was far more subtle than I am. I had to fine-tune myself to vibrate on her frequency, a frequency that was very sweet and very raw, and vulnerable and nurturing. I took that from her.

“I grew up having a simple, community-based life in a place where you have 500 mothers and everyone feeds you and you feel safe — even if it’s not safe at all. At the same time we went through so many traumas, from civil wars to assassinations to losing all our money in another financial crisis.”

“The Sandman” is based on novels written by British author Neil Gaiman.

This is the final season of the series, with Netflix announcing its cancellation after Gaiman faced a civil lawsuit accusing him of rape and sexual assault earlier this year, amid more accusations of sexual misconduct.

“‘The Sandman’ series has always been focused exclusively on Dream’s story, and back in 2022, when we looked at the remaining Dream material from the comics, we knew we only had enough story for one more season,” showrunner Allan Heinberg said in a statement to Variety in January, indicating that the reason behind the show’s cancellation was a lack of script material.

Gaiman has denied the allegations.


Tributes pour in as Lebanese musician Ziad Rahbani dies at 69

Updated 26 July 2025
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Tributes pour in as Lebanese musician Ziad Rahbani dies at 69

DUBAI: Lebanese musician and playwright Ziad Rahbani, who was the son of iconic singer Fayrouz, died on Saturday at the age of 69.

Rahbani, who was born on Jan. 1, 1956, began composing for Fayrouz as a teenager and is the mind behind legendary songs including “Kifak Inta” and “Bala Wala Shi.” His father, composer Assi Rahbani, was a musical icon in his own right.

Considered one of the most influential voices in Lebanese music, Rahbani was also a fierce political commentator and was known for his biting political satire and political theater. Notable plays by Rahbani include “Nazl Al-Sourour,” “A Long American Film,” and “Bema Inno.” 

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam paid tribute to Rahbani in a post on X, calling him “an exceptional creative artist and a free voice who remained loyal to the values of justice and dignity.

“Ziad embodied a deep commitment to human and national causes,” Salam added. 

“On stage, through music and words, he said what many did not dare to say, and for decades, he touched the hopes and pains of the Lebanese people. With his piercing honesty, he planted a new awareness in the conscience of national culture.”


For one filmmaker, telling Pakistan’s untold stories has become a path to healing

Updated 26 July 2025
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For one filmmaker, telling Pakistan’s untold stories has become a path to healing

  • Insulting remark pushed Athar Abbas to leave corporate job, find healing in the stories of strangers
  • Abbas’s social media documentaries spotlight working-class lives, mental health stigma in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Mobile phones, data cables and memory cards sprawl across the editing table in Athar Abbas’s modest Islamabad apartment.

It’s an organized chaos the 38-year-old filmmaker fully embraces — a far cry from the mental turmoil that once engulfed him.

Abbas, a former commercial producer, now documents the lives of ordinary Pakistanis in short, emotionally charged videos he publishes on social media. His mini-documentaries — raw, personal and deliberately unpolished — have attracted tens of thousands of followers across platforms, racking up over a million views in the past year.

But Abbas’s foray into digital storytelling wasn’t born of ambition. It was a survival tactic.

He began filming after quitting his job at a construction company, where a senior colleague dismissed his work as “pathetic.”

The insult gnawed at his confidence and spiraled into a depressive episode. Eventually, Abbas turned to the one outlet that had always brought him calm — the camera.

“I picked up my camera and started making stories,” Abbas told Arab News. “And unintentionally, I realized that maybe for an artist, there’s no therapy greater than his art.”

Pakistani filmmaker and content creator Athar Abbas speaks during an interview with Arab News in Islamabad on July 18, 2025. (AN Photo)

Pakistan, a country of over 240 million people, faces a chronic shortage of mental health services.

According to the World Health Organization, more than 24 million people in Pakistan are in need of psychiatric support. Yet the country has only around 500 trained psychologists and 400 psychiatrists, roughly one mental health professional for every 260,000 people.

The stigma around mental illness remains deeply entrenched, especially for men. Talking about emotional vulnerability is often seen as weakness, a perception Abbas says is reinforced in professional environments.

“He feels that his manly personality will be affected,” he said, referring to why many Pakistani men hesitated to express emotions, especially those that communicated perceived weakness.

“So he doesn’t even share that he has a problem with something.”

In Pakistan’s corporate sector, long working hours, harsh managerial practices and lack of mental health policies have contributed to high stress levels.

A 2024 review by the Pakistan Society of Human Resource Management found that most companies lacked formal emotional wellness programs.

Creative professionals, Abbas said, often bore the brunt of toxic leadership.

“If you talk to anyone in the creative field, they will tell you they are distressed because of senior management’s behavior,” he said.

“Unfortunately, it greatly affects mental health.”

A separate 2025 study in the Pakistan Social Sciences Review noted that while some younger professionals are more aware of mental health issues, institutional support remains weak, leaving them vulnerable to burnout and depression.

‘UNTOLD PAKISTAN’

For Abbas, the path to stability came through storytelling.

He launched a series titled Untold Pakistan, filming everything from a street vendor’s hustle to a single mother’s struggle for dignity. In one video, a man named Kamran Ali cycles from Germany to Layyah, Punjab, only to learn of his mother’s death upon arrival.

“Storytelling became a way to survive,” Abbas said.

This combination of screenshots, taken on July 26, 2025, shows stills from short videos by Pakistani filmmaker and content creator Athar Abbas. (Courtesy: Instagram/@athar.abbass_)

His films resist sensationalism. There are no stunts or celebrity cameos. Instead, they dwell in moments often overlooked: fatigue, memory, longing, resilience. The comment sections on his pages are peppered with viewers opening up about their own traumas, some for the first time.

Abbas recalls a message from a young man in Lahore who said one of the videos gave him the courage to speak to his father about something he’d been avoiding for a long time.

“That one message made all the late nights worth it,” Abbas said.

After 15 years of directing ads, music videos and corporate content, Abbas has no interest in going back. His priorities have shifted.

“I didn’t set out to become an influencer,” he said. “I just needed to breathe.”


Saudi initiative Sound Futures seeks to bridge music industry gaps

Updated 26 July 2025
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Saudi initiative Sound Futures seeks to bridge music industry gaps

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s MDLBEAST Foundation is inviting regional entrepreneurs to take part in the 2025 edition of Sound Futures, an initiative designed to bridge the gap between music-related startups and investors.

The initiative aims to create local jobs, foster entrepreneurship, and accelerate the regional music economy by giving a stage to startups and entrepreneurs in the music and music-tech space to pitch their ideas to an audience of investors and industry experts during the XP Music Futures Conference, which will run from Dec. 4–6 in Riyadh.

“The music and creative industries in Saudi and the Middle East are evolving rapidly, but support systems for early-stage startups still lag behind at the moment … Sound Futures offers a timely platform for founders to gain access to mentorship, exposure, and possibly investment and funding to help bring their ideas to life or scale their businesses,” MDLBEAST’s Bader Assery told Arab News.

Applications are open to startups, budding entrepreneurs and even students from across the Middle East and North Africa region, with a focus on discovering the next big thing in music — innovations that could shape the future of music creation worldwide.

“One great example is Maqam Labs,” Assery explained. “They started with an idea in year one and returned the following year with a working physical synthesizer that brings Middle Eastern scales (Maqamat) into the world of electronic music.”

The initiative aims to “champion early-stage music startups. Whether they’re building tools for artists, fan engagement platforms, or music tech products,” with applications set to close by October.

According to Assery, key challenges faced by music startups in the region include financial concerns, as well as a lack of access to potential industry partners.

“Access is the biggest hurdle we’ve seen so far. Access to capital, the right mentors, industry partners, and even data. Founders also talk about the difficulty of validating their ideas in a market that’s still building its infrastructure,” he said, referencing issues Sound Futures seeks to address.