Brazil snatch away win over Chile in World Cup qualifying, Messi’s Argentina draw

Brazil snatch away win over Chile in World Cup qualifying, Messi’s Argentina draw
Brazil's forward Luiz Henrique (R) shoots and scores his team's second goal during the 2026 FIFA World Cup South American qualifying football match between Chile and Brazil, at the National stadium in Santiago, on Thursday. (AFP)
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Updated 11 October 2024
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Brazil snatch away win over Chile in World Cup qualifying, Messi’s Argentina draw

Brazil snatch away win over Chile in World Cup qualifying, Messi’s Argentina draw
  • The win meant under-pressure Brazil coach Dorival Junior’s team will finish the ninth round of the round-robin competition in fourth place in South American qualifying
  • Argentina, who lead the 10-team competition, have 19 points after nine matches

SAO PAULO: An 89th-minute goal by substitute Luiz Henrique gave Brazil a 2-1 away win over Chile on Thursday in a 2026 World Cup qualifying match.

The win meant under-pressure Brazil coach Dorival Junior’s team will finish the ninth round of the round-robin competition in fourth place in South American qualifying.

Earlier, Lionel Messi’s Argentina drew with Venezuela 1-1 in a match that was delayed for 30 minutes due to a wet pitch at Monumental Stadium in the Venezuelan city of Maturin.

Argentina, who lead the 10-team competition, have 19 points after nine matches. Colombia, with 16 points, remain in second place after losing 1-0 at Bolivia. Uruguay are third with 15 points and have a chance to add more in a match against Peru on Friday. Brazil have 13 points.

Argentina’s lead in the competition could be reduced on Friday if Uruguay win at Peru.

Brazil in dramatic comeback

Chile, one of the worst-performing teams in South American qualifying, opened the scoring seconds after the kickoff at the National Stadium in Santiago. Veteran striker Eduardo Vargas headed past goalkeeper Ederson, with the ball gently touching the back of the net.

Brazil struggled to create clear chances, but managed to equalize in added time with a header by their new striker, Igor Jesus. The visitors kept most of the ball possession in the second half, but still failed to get clear chances.

Only in the final minutes, Henrique decided to take his chances from the edge of the box. The winning goal made several Chile players throw themselves to the ground in anguish.

Brazil’s next match will be against Peru in Brasilia. Chile will travel to Colombia.

“This shirt means a lot. It is a great feeling for us to wear it. We know what is happening, but we wanted to change it,” said Henrique. ”Our fans can be sure we will fight always for this team. We are the only five-time World Cup champions, we will play with passion.”

Messi returns for Argentina

Defender Nicolas Otamendi opened the scoring for Argentina in the 13th minute. He pushed the ball to the empty net after a cross by Messi and a mistake by goalkeeper Rafael Romo.

Salomon Rondón equalized in the 65th minute with a header for the only South American team that has yet to play in a World Cup.

“The pitch did not help us do what we wanted to do,” said Messi, who returned to the national team after missing the two previous rounds of South American qualifying due to ligament damage in his right ankle.

Venezuela defender Jon Aramburu said his team wanted a win to show its ambition.

“The rain affected the match, we couldn’t play well,” he said. “We drew against a team that everyone knows of its potential. But this team is here to beat them, to compete.”

Venezuela’s next match will be at Paraguay on Tuesday, the same day that Argentina will host Bolivia.

Bolivia in the clouds to beat Colombia

Colombia, who had been the last unbeaten team in South American qualifying, were shocked at Bolivia in the Municipal Stadium in the city of El Alto, more than 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) above sea level. Bolivia moved into fifth place with 12 points after its first win in 21 years against the Colombians.

Miguel Terceros, also known as Miguelito, scored the winning goal for Bolivia in the 58th minute with a powerful shot after dribbling through two defenders.

Bolivia had lost Hector Cuellar to a straight red card in the 21st minute after a gruesome tackle that forced the substitution of striker Roger Martinez, but the team remained competitive until the end of the match in its high-altitude stadium.

“We are a young team that wants to change history,” Terceros said. “Now we will travel to Argentina thinking about winning.”

Bolivia hasn’t qualified for a World Cup edition since the 1994 edition in the United States.

Also on Thursday, Ecuador and Paraguay drew 0-0.

The Ecuadorians are in fourth place with 12 points and ahead of Bolivia on goal difference. Paraguay is in eighth place and out of an automatic qualifying spot with 10 points.


REVIEW: ‘The Gorge’ — Apple’s sci-fi horror is shallow, fluffy nonsense

REVIEW: ‘The Gorge’ — Apple’s sci-fi horror is shallow, fluffy nonsense
Updated 1 min 41 sec ago
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REVIEW: ‘The Gorge’ — Apple’s sci-fi horror is shallow, fluffy nonsense

REVIEW: ‘The Gorge’ — Apple’s sci-fi horror is shallow, fluffy nonsense

LONDON: There’s something reassuring about the fact that “The Gorge” exists. After all, it’s premise — that a pair of snipers are sequestered in remote observation towers and tasked with guarding a massive ravine that contains hordes of ghoulish monsters — is so schlocky and ridiculous that it sounds more like a Syfy movie-of-the-week than a glossy big-budget flick from Apple.

This B-movie idea has got A-list star power, too — “The Gorge” is directed by Scott Derrickson (“The Black Phone”, “Doctor Strange”) and stars Miles Teller, Anya Taylor-Joy and Sigourney Weaver. And with Apple money behind it, “The Gorge” boasts effects that elevate it above the usual streaming sci-fi fodder, as well as a strikingly luxurious soundtrack from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

With so many heavy hitters willing to back this idea, it’s even more of a crying shame that the film isn’t a slam dunk. Because while the first hour of “The Gorge” is pretty entertaining, once the action descends into the titular ravine itself, the movie buckles under the weight of its own — let’s be honest, pretty dumb — idea.

Levi (Teller) and Drasa (Taylor-Joy) make for fun sparring partners. Both broody snipers are carrying a lot of psychological trauma, so an assignment that sees them spending a year alone – with only occasional CGI-heavy bouts of monster bashing to break the monotony – could have been mined for some interesting psychological drama. Instead they make eyes at each other across the yawning chasm, and after Levi falls into the gorge, Drasa unflinchingly hurls herself into the void to rescue a man she barely knows. At the bottom, the (annoyingly lame) secret behind the monsters is revealed, and the two must rely on each other to escape.

Teller and Taylor-Joy take it sort-of seriously, to their credit, and Derrickson puts together some decent set pieces, but the premise as a whole (just the two guards for such a monstrous secret?) feels like it was never developed past the “Wouldn’t it be cool if… ?” stage.

“The Gorge” looks great, and thanks to Reznor and Ross it sounds great, but there’s really no point to it. Good-looking people shooting nicely rendered beasties is fine, for a while, but “The Gorge” could have been more than just another monster movie.


Zunaira Qayyum, teen from impoverished Pakistani province, champions girls’ education globally

Zunaira Qayyum, teen from impoverished Pakistani province, champions girls’ education globally
Updated 27 min 19 sec ago
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Zunaira Qayyum, teen from impoverished Pakistani province, champions girls’ education globally

Zunaira Qayyum, teen from impoverished Pakistani province, champions girls’ education globally
  • Qayyum was announced as ‘Youth Advocate for Girls’ Empowerment and Climate Action’ by UNICEF this month
  • 14-year-old has been advocating for girls education in Balochistan, with one of the world’s lowest female literacy rates 

HUB, PAKISTAN: Fourteen-year-old Zunaira Qayyum stepped out of an auto-rickshaw one weekday morning earlier this month, adjusting her white and green scarf as she entered the Global Islamic Public High School in the heart of Hub, a small town in Pakistan’s impoverished Balochistan province.

Qayyum is no regular ninth grader. She is a climate champion and an advocate for girls’ education from one of Pakistan’s most underdeveloped regions who was last week announced as a ‘Youth Advocate for Girls’ Empowerment and Climate Action’ by UNICEF, the UN’s humanitarian and developmental aid agency for children.

The eldest of four siblings, Qayyum’s journey to global recognition began after she conducted research in 2022 for a UNICEF Policy Research Challenge (PRC) that aimed to examine how climate-induced floods and heatwaves had disrupted girls’ education in her hometown of Hub. Her findings were among the winning entries in the challenge.

“Coming from a small area, a small village named Zehri, coming from there to the world stage was not an easy task for me but still I never gave up on my dreams and followed them,” Qayyum told Arab News in an interview. 

Women’s education figures are dismal for Balochistan, which has one of the lowest female literacy rates in the world. Many girls in the province drop out of school in grades four and five. Poverty, limited school numbers, and poor school infrastructure contribute to low literacy rates, as do long distances between homes and schools. Security challenges in the insurgency-wracked province and cultural barriers also limit access to education for girls. 

These existing challenges were exacerbated in 2022 when catastrophic floods submerged a third of Pakistan, killing more than 1,700 people, affecting over 33 million people, and inflicting around $30 billion in damages and economic losses. Nearly 27,000 schools were damaged across Pakistan, leaving two million children without access to education, according to UNICEF. Balochistan was one of the worst hit areas. 

In 2024 alone, climate-induced hazards disrupted schooling for more than 2.6 million children in Pakistan, one of the most vulnerable nations globally to climate change, with recurring floods, droughts and heatwaves.

Balochistan, which makes up 43 percent of Pakistan’s total landmass, lags behind other provinces in nearly all development indicators, including literacy and girls’ education, while the 2022 floods damaged more than 3,000 schools in the province.

“Flood-induced damages in 2022 really disturbed the education sector in Hub, like the re-scheduling of students, schools were destroyed due to floods. Particularly in rural areas of Hub, schooling was resumed in huts and students got disturbed,” Qayyum said.

She has since been focusing her research and advocacy on the destruction of girls’ schools in Hub and their rehabilitation, work that has taken her to global platforms like the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) held in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024.

“COP29 experience was very interesting because I saw so many people who were passionate about climate change coming from different areas and countries,” she said. “I met many international and national leaders there, which was very motivating for me.”

Abdul Raziq, the principal of Qayyum’s school, was all praise for her “dedication and maturity.”

“When UNICEF named Zunaira as their Youth Advocate, it was a moment of pride for her parents, teachers and schoolmates,” he told Arab News. “I believe if we provide a platform to our girls, they can perform better in all fields.”

The UNICEF representative in Pakistan, Abdullah Fadil, stressed the importance of youth advocacy in tackling climate change and empowering marginalized segments in a country like Pakistan. 

“The climate crisis poses one of the biggest challenges we have ever faced, but when I listen to Zunaira and the children of Pakistan, I find hope and inspiration for the future,” he said in a statement, following Qayyum’s appointment.

“We must do more to empower children and young people with opportunities to lead, act, and help this country prosper.”

Qayyum says working for organizations like UNICEF provided a “beacon of hope” to drive change in society, urging the people of Balochistan to better equip their daughters for a sustainable future.

“So, this is my message to the Baloch people, all of Balochistan,” Qayyum said. “They should educate their daughters.”


Saudi investment ministry inks deal with Sana to boost entrepreneurial ecosystem in Al-Ahsa

Saudi investment ministry inks deal with Sana to boost entrepreneurial ecosystem in Al-Ahsa
Updated 30 min 52 sec ago
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Saudi investment ministry inks deal with Sana to boost entrepreneurial ecosystem in Al-Ahsa

Saudi investment ministry inks deal with Sana to boost entrepreneurial ecosystem in Al-Ahsa

RIYADH: A new cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Investment and Prince Ahmed bin Fahd bin Salman Center will see Saudi Arabia enhance its entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Al-Ahsa region.

The deal signed with the center, also known as Sana, focuses on attracting pioneering companies and innovators while fostering a business-friendly environment.

The Kingdom is increasingly being recognized for its growing enteprise-friendly landscape, securing third position in the 2023-2024 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report.

The latest initiative, inked at the Al-Ahsa Forum 2025 in Al-Ahsa, also seeks to foster greater engagement with creative thinkers and business leaders through investment meetings and events, and will support the issuance of entrepreneurial licenses and provide access to essential services.

Moreover, the Sana agreement seeks to explore investment opportunities, encourage strategic partnerships, and promote investment alliances that enhance the competitiveness of the entrepreneurship sector in Saudi Arabia.

The new deal comes against a backdrop of venture capital pouring into the Kingdom, with the country retaining its position as the leading destination for such funds in the MENA region in 2024, raising $750 million, according to a report from regional venture platform MAGNiTT.

This marked the second consecutive year the Kingdom has led regional VC rankings. Saudi Arabia accounted for 40 percent of the total amount deployed in MENA, closing 178 deals, the most of any nation in the region.

Speaking to Arab News at at the LEAP 2025 Tech Conference held in February, Mohammed Al-Zubi —founder of Saudi venture capital firm Nama Ventures — explained that the nation is rapidly becoming a key player in the regional technology ecosystem and is emerging as the “center of gravity” for Middle East startups.

Al-Zubi believes Saudi Arabia’s support for the startup ecosystem is unmatched globally. Having spent time in Silicon Valley, London, and the Middle East, he argued that the Kingdom’s government-led initiatives are unparalleled.

According to the international policy advisory and research organization Startup Genome, Riyadh ranked among the top five startup ecosystems in the Middle East and North Africa in June, in collaboration with the Global Entrepreneurship Network.


King Salman approves Saudi riyal symbol

King Salman approves Saudi riyal symbol
Updated 21 min 17 sec ago
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King Salman approves Saudi riyal symbol

King Salman approves Saudi riyal symbol

RIYADH: King Salman on Thursday approved the official symbol for the Saudi riyal, marking the beginning of a new chapter in the Kingdom’s financial journey, as reported by the Saudi Press Agency.

Saudi Central Bank Gov. Ayman Al-Sayari expressed his gratitude to the nation’s leadership for launching the symbol, which he believes “reinforces Saudi Arabia’s financial identity both locally and globally.”

Al-Sayari further noted that this initiative underscores the growing international influence of the Saudi riyal, while also fostering a sense of national pride and cultural unity. He added that the newly designed symbol represents the Kingdom’s rich cultural heritage.

The symbol, which blends Arabic calligraphy with the name of the national currency, “riyal,” will be utilized in financial and commercial transactions both within the Kingdom and internationally.

The central bank governor also commended the collaborative efforts of all parties involved in the project, including the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Information, and the Saudi Standards, Metrology, and Quality Organization.


GymNation sells record-breaking 5,000 memberships within 24 hours of Riyadh launch

GymNation sells record-breaking 5,000 memberships within 24 hours of Riyadh launch
Updated 50 min 18 sec ago
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GymNation sells record-breaking 5,000 memberships within 24 hours of Riyadh launch

GymNation sells record-breaking 5,000 memberships within 24 hours of Riyadh launch

GymNation has announced another record for the Middle East fitness market, selling an unprecedented 5,000 memberships within just 24 hours of its Riyadh launch. 

The two new Riyadh locations — a men’s and a women’s facility, located on Thumamah Road in the Qurtubah District, will open in July, and mark GymNation’s first gyms in the Saudi capital to add to its existing locations across Jeddah and Alkhobar.

Joshua Whiteley, GymNation KSA country director, said: “We are thrilled to see such an incredible initial reception from the residents of Riyadh. Based on the success of our previous launches in Jeddah and Alkhobar, we always expected our launch in the capital to go well, but to surpass 5,000 sales within just 24 hours is not just a new milestone for GymNation, but a clear sign that Saudi Arabia really is embracing fitness and wellness like never before.”

Already the UAE’s No. 1 gym chain, GymNation has quickly made a name for itself in Saudi Arabia within just a year of launching, offering world-class facilities that prioritize affordability, flexibility, and inclusivity.

GymNation’s new Riyadh locations will feature more than 6,000 square meters of state-of-the-art gym space, dedicated to making Riyadh fitter than ever before.

From Saudi Arabia’s first HYROX Performance Center to the country’s largest Reformer Pilates studio, GymNation is raising the bar for what a gym should be. Members have access to the widest selection of group exercise classes, including LES Mills, cycling, yoga, and more, along with premium recovery facilities such as ice baths and dedicated wellness zones — delivering a truly world-class fitness experience for an unmatched, pay-monthly membership price.

Loren Holland, CEO and founder, GymNation, said: “The response to our Riyadh launch further highlights the enormous appetite for high-quality, affordable fitness facilities in Saudi Arabia. The gyms we are about to open in Riyadh are truly next-level, and we can’t wait to show everyone what they’ve been missing.”

GymNation’s successful Riyadh launch also coincides with the opening of its new regional headquarters. Located in Riyadh, this 1,000-square-meter space will support the growth and operations of GymNation both throughout the Kingdom and the wider GCC.

Holland added: “The locations we opened in the Kingdom in 2024 are all performing incredibly well, and we already have a membership base in excess of 30,000 people, 60 percent of whom did not own a gym membership prior to joining GymNation. All of this reinforces the desire to scale our presence rapidly, and we are fully committed to our Saudi Arabia expansion plans, with the significant investment into our Riyadh head office and our Saudi-based management team highlighting this. 

“Fueled by initiatives driven by Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, and with the support of the Ministry of Sport and the Ministry of Investment, we are accelerating our mission to make world-class fitness facilities more accessible across the Kingdom. With at least 20 new locations set to open in 2025, we are just getting started.”