Art and entertainment

Newly elected Miss Lebanon Perla Harb poses on stage after winning the Miss Lebanon 2025 pageant, in Zouk Mosbeh, north of Beirut, on Oct. 4, 2025.

Miss Lebanon 2025 crowned in ceremony highlighting culture, heritage

Lebanon crowned Perla Harb as the country’s new beauty queen in a grand ceremony highlighting Lebanese culture.

Installation view of CONVERGE in Seven Contours, One Collection at MACAAL © Ayoub El Bardii.

Marrakech's African Contemporary Art Museum reinvents itself two years after quake

Marking the two-year anniversary of the 2023 earthquake, Marrakech’s Museum of African Contemporary Art highlights the city’s recovery and its growing role as a hub for African art.

An image of “Tarboush Jedde Maallak”.

Lebanese play explores struggle between exile and staying in Lebanon

“Tarboush Jedde Maallak” is currently playing in Beirut, bringing to life the enduring struggle of exile that has resonated with every Lebanese for nearly five decades.

Manifest

Turkey's women, LGBTQ artists top targets of Erdogan's drive for cultural hegemony

From pop stars to performers, Turkey’s secular arts scene faces increasing pressure under Erdogan’s conservative push.

Latest News

London photography exhibition documents daily life in wartorn Gaza

Against erasures

Gaming giant Electronic Arts taken private in $55B Saudi-backed buyout

EA office building in Austin, Texas, USA.

Saudi Arabia's PIF buys $2B majority stake in entertainment giant MBC

The Public Investment Fund is present during the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 13, 2024, in Indian Wells, California.

Saudi Arabia dreams of Hollywood as $150M epic 'Desert Warrior' debuts

A general view during the Red Sea International Film Festival 2024 on December 12, 2024 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Ernesto S. Ruscio/Getty Images for The Red Sea International Film Festival)

A supporter of Sudanese football team al-Hilal Omdurman watches on a phone a stream of his team's CAF Champions League group stage match.

World's largest illegal sports streaming site shut down after Egypt arrests

Streameast, believed to be the world’s largest illegal sports streaming network, was taken down in August during a sting operation conducted by Egyptian authorities in collaboration with a US anti-piracy group.

Nadeen Ayoub

Meet Nadeen Ayoub, first Palestinian woman to compete for Miss Universe

The 27-year-old beauty queen, crowned Miss Palestine in 2022, will take the stage in Thailand this November, marking the first time Palestine is represented at the global competition since its founding in 1952.

Visitors at the first night of the International Falcon Breeders Auction 2025 in Malham city on Aug. 5, 2025.

Saudi Arabia’s falcon auction aims to spin tradition into tourism gold

Under Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia is seeking to diversify its economy and cultural tourism.

Analysis

Netflix teams up with MBC’s Shahid in Saudi Arabia: An end to streaming wars?

A new agreement between MBC Group and the US industry giant appears to signal a shift in the Middle East's streaming market, with top players opting for collaboration over competition.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Fayruz

In rare appearance, Fairuz mourns son Ziad Rahbani as Lebanon bids farewell

Legendary Lebanese singer Fairuz attended the funeral of her son, renowned composer and playwright, Ziad Rahbani, at a church in a town north of Beirut, in her first public appearance in years.

Protesters hold placards as they demonstrate against cartoonists of a satirical magazine following allegations that it had published a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed, outside Taksim mosque in Istanbul on July 1, 2025.

Turkey's Erdogan vows justice amid rage over alleged Prophet Muhammad cartoon

A controversial cartoon has sparked mass protests, arrests and threats against a leading Turkish satire magazine.

Monica Schipper/Getty Images

Oscar-winning Palestinian director freed from Israeli detention after night in custody

Hamdan Ballal, a co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary "No Other Land," was assaulted by Israeli settlers and later detained by Israeli forces in the West Bank as the Israeli army continues its raids in the Palestinian territory.

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 02: (L-R) Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham accept the Documentary Feature Film award "No Other Land" onstage during the 97th Annual Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 02, 2025 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Palestinian-Israeli documentary, Iranian film win at Oscars: What to know

Two films from the Middle East won Oscars at Sunday's Academy Awards, highlighting the growing reputation of the region's film industry at a time of ongoing tensions and crises.

A visitor looks at portraits of late Franco-Lebanese film director Maroun Baghdadi and pictures from his movies at the venue of an exhibition dedicated to his memory in Beirut on December 12, 2023, as Lebanon commemorates the 30th annivesary of his death in an accident at the age of 43. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanon's resistance through culture: Return of Beirut’s Metropolis Cinema

As Beirut continues to navigate its path toward recovery, Metropolis Cinema stands as a symbol of the enduring power of art and culture to resist, unite and inspire.

(From L) Saudi actor Yaqoub Alfarhan, Saudi actress Maria Bahrawi and Saudi director and screenwriter Tawfik Alzaidi pose during a photocall for the film "Norah" at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 24, 2024.

Analysis

How Saudiwood’s power play is reshaping Middle East film industry

While the country's first entry at Cannes didn’t win, its inclusion in the festival was another step toward Saudi ambitions to become a film industry powerhouse.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Tabatha Fireman/Getty Images for Fender Musical Instruments Corporation

UK music festival rocked by boycotts as artists shun Israel

The artists are refusing to play at the Great Escape Festival in Brighton, a seaside resort in South England, over one of the sponsors' ties to Israel.

A photo taken at the "Written Eye" exhibition in Damascus.

‘Written Eye’ exhibit breathes life into Syria's art scene

Several young artists showcased their works at a new-concept exhibition held in the heart of the Syrian capital, signaling a revival of the Syrian art scene after years of war.