Households across Saudi Arabia have been gripped by live coverage of Johnny Depp's defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard and her countersuit against the Pirates of the Caribbean star as the trial draws to a close.
From people watching videos in the background at work to family meals being dominated by conversations about domestic abuse, the ins and outs of the case have been a national conversation.
Some young women have even said that Depp's attorney Camille Vasquez has inspired them to pursue a career in law.
The trial has struck a nerve at a time when Saudi Arabia is rapidly changing as the government works to improve women's rights and offer increasing legal parity between men and women. More women are entering the workforce and traditional gender roles are changing.
One Saudi mother living in Jeddah, Amani Tayeb, said: "We've had major heated debates at home about what we see going on during the trial ... during and after every session."
She said like many households in the kingdom, they gather as a family most nights to watch the case.
"From my nieces who are 16 to my dad who is 62, we assemble in the living room and stream it live on YouTube," she said.
She said she thought the trial had helped men and women come forward to share stories and viewpoints that they may not have done before.
"One tends to side with women immediately when we hear the words 'domestic violence' but abuse has no gender," she said. "The truth is many men suffer abuse daily and we barely ever hear their stories. I think the Johnny Depp trial is an interesting case because it makes us stop and think about the other side, for the first time since the op-ed [Heard's published newspaper piece] came out."
Many people in the kingdom have been closely following the six-week-long trial and are keen to find out the jury's verdict when it is delivered.
Noran Amin, a Saudi film student in the Eastern Province, said: "I watch it at work and send my team updates.
"The trial has sparked interest not just in but out of the courtroom. I was at the clinic the other day and we were all watching it in the waiting room. It's the OJ [Simpson] trial of our times, except this time it's not just viewers in the US but it got our attention too," she said in reference to the millions who watched the 1994 trial of ex-American footballer OJ Simpson after the fatal stabbing of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. Simpson was acquitted of murder.
"I can't wait for the jury to give its verdict, my friends and I will be watching it together," said Ms Amin. "We've made sure to find a place and time devoted solely to this."
Camille Vasquez, 37, a lawyer with Brown Rudnick, has made a strong impression on young women and sparked an interest in studying law.
Ms Vasquez became an internet sensation after footage of her cross-examining Heard went viral.
Tala AlHamadi, a Saudi teacher in Jeddah, said: "She is inspiring because she's brilliant, professional and unafraid to defend the truth. She's inspired me and my friends to search for universities here and abroad, to study law. My friends who are working are also considering taking a gap year to study law."
Depp, 58, sued actress Heard for $50 million, claiming she defamed him when she called herself "a public figure representing domestic abuse" in an opinion piece she wrote for The Washington Post.
Heard, 36, countersued for $100m, saying Depp smeared her reputation when his lawyer called her accusations "a hoax".
Jurors are set to meet on Tuesday to continue deliberating the verdict.
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Notable salonnières of the Middle East through history
Al Khasan (Okaz, Saudi Arabia)
Tamadir bint Amr Al Harith, known simply as Al Khasan, was a poet from Najd famed for elegies, earning great renown for the eulogy of her brothers Mu’awiyah and Sakhr, both killed in tribal wars. Although not a salonnière, this prestigious 7th century poet fostered a culture of literary criticism and could be found standing in the souq of Okaz and reciting her poetry, publicly pronouncing her views and inviting others to join in the debate on scholarship. She later converted to Islam.
Maryana Marrash (Aleppo)
A poet and writer, Marrash helped revive the tradition of the salon and was an active part of the Nadha movement, or Arab Renaissance. Born to an established family in Aleppo in Ottoman Syria in 1848, Marrash was educated at missionary schools in Aleppo and Beirut at a time when many women did not receive an education. After touring Europe, she began to host salons where writers played chess and cards, competed in the art of poetry, and discussed literature and politics. An accomplished singer and canon player, music and dancing were a part of these evenings.
Princess Nazil Fadil (Cairo)
Princess Nazil Fadil gathered religious, literary and political elite together at her Cairo palace, although she stopped short of inviting women. The princess, a niece of Khedive Ismail, believed that Egypt’s situation could only be solved through education and she donated her own property to help fund the first modern Egyptian University in Cairo.
Mayy Ziyadah (Cairo)
Ziyadah was the first to entertain both men and women at her Cairo salon, founded in 1913. The writer, poet, public speaker and critic, her writing explored language, religious identity, language, nationalism and hierarchy. Born in Nazareth, Palestine, to a Lebanese father and Palestinian mother, her salon was open to different social classes and earned comparisons with souq of where Al Khansa herself once recited.
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- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
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