• President Sheikh Mohamed and US President Donald Trump are welcomed by children at a state visit reception at Qasr Al Watan in Abu Dhabi. Abdulla Al Bedwawi / UAE Presidential Court
    President Sheikh Mohamed and US President Donald Trump are welcomed by children at a state visit reception at Qasr Al Watan in Abu Dhabi. Abdulla Al Bedwawi / UAE Presidential Court
  • Members of The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, the Equestrian Federation of Azerbaijan and the Royal Calvary of Oman pose for a photograph during a preview for the Royal Windsor Horse Show in Windsor, Berkshire, southern England. PA
    Members of The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, the Equestrian Federation of Azerbaijan and the Royal Calvary of Oman pose for a photograph during a preview for the Royal Windsor Horse Show in Windsor, Berkshire, southern England. PA
  • Police and protesters confront each other at a demonstration to commemorate Nakba Day in Berlin. AP
    Police and protesters confront each other at a demonstration to commemorate Nakba Day in Berlin. AP
  • Migratiing birds fly over wetlands as the sun sets in Yingkou, in Liaoning province, north-eastern China AFP
    Migratiing birds fly over wetlands as the sun sets in Yingkou, in Liaoning province, north-eastern China AFP
  • Dancer and choreographer Aakash Odedra performs the kathak dance at The Mount Without, in Bristol, western England, as part of Impermanence's Spring and Summer show season. PA
    Dancer and choreographer Aakash Odedra performs the kathak dance at The Mount Without, in Bristol, western England, as part of Impermanence's Spring and Summer show season. PA
  • Members of a guard of honour prepare ahead of a welcome ceremony for Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi. AFP
    Members of a guard of honour prepare ahead of a welcome ceremony for Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi. AFP
  • A craftsman arranges pots at an 800-year-old workshop in Guellala, in the southern Mediterranean resort island of Djerba, Tunisia. AFP
    A craftsman arranges pots at an 800-year-old workshop in Guellala, in the southern Mediterranean resort island of Djerba, Tunisia. AFP
  • Ducks stained with blue paint at Tulip Lake in the Botanical Garden in Jundiai, south-eastern Brazil, after a lorry carrying 1,000 litres of dye crashed and spilled its contents. EPA
    Ducks stained with blue paint at Tulip Lake in the Botanical Garden in Jundiai, south-eastern Brazil, after a lorry carrying 1,000 litres of dye crashed and spilled its contents. EPA
  • Afghan Hajj pilgrims board a flight to Saudi Arabia at Kandahar International Airport. AFP
    Afghan Hajj pilgrims board a flight to Saudi Arabia at Kandahar International Airport. AFP
  • New Volkswagen ID.3 electric cars stored in a glass tower at the Volkswagen plant in Dresden, eastern Germany. Getty Images
    New Volkswagen ID.3 electric cars stored in a glass tower at the Volkswagen plant in Dresden, eastern Germany. Getty Images
  • Syrians celebrate and set off fireworks in Damascus after US President Donald Trump announced the lifting of sanctions imposed on the country. EPA
    Syrians celebrate and set off fireworks in Damascus after US President Donald Trump announced the lifting of sanctions imposed on the country. EPA
  • Visitors view the Longmen Grottoes historical site in Luoyang, Henan province, in central China. AFP
    Visitors view the Longmen Grottoes historical site in Luoyang, Henan province, in central China. AFP
  • Montenegrin singer Nina Zizic performs at the dress rehearsal for the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, at the St Jakobshalle arena in Basel, north-west Switzerland. AFP
    Montenegrin singer Nina Zizic performs at the dress rehearsal for the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, at the St Jakobshalle arena in Basel, north-west Switzerland. AFP
  • A mallard caught by a speed radar in Koeniz, central Switzerland. The duck was travelling at 52kph in a 30kph zone. AFP
    A mallard caught by a speed radar in Koeniz, central Switzerland. The duck was travelling at 52kph in a 30kph zone. AFP
  • Pope Leo XIV visits the Apartment III Loggia in the Vatican. AFP
    Pope Leo XIV visits the Apartment III Loggia in the Vatican. AFP
  • The USA's Coco Gauff enters the Campo Centrale court for her women's singles semi-final match against China's Zheng Qinwen at the WTA Rome Open tennis tournament. Gauff won in three sets. AFP
    The USA's Coco Gauff enters the Campo Centrale court for her women's singles semi-final match against China's Zheng Qinwen at the WTA Rome Open tennis tournament. Gauff won in three sets. AFP
  • Ultra-Orthodox Jews harvest wheat in a field outside Modiin, central Israel. It will be used to make unleavened bread. EPA
    Ultra-Orthodox Jews harvest wheat in a field outside Modiin, central Israel. It will be used to make unleavened bread. EPA
  • Saudi and US flags flutter under a flyover in Riyadh, for the visit of US President Donald Trump. AFP
    Saudi and US flags flutter under a flyover in Riyadh, for the visit of US President Donald Trump. AFP
  • The full moon sets behind the St Isaac's Cathedral in the Russian Baltic port city of St Petersburg. AP
    The full moon sets behind the St Isaac's Cathedral in the Russian Baltic port city of St Petersburg. AP
  • A monkey leaps in the foreground of the Swayambhunath Stupa temple, during a ceremony commemorating Buddha's birthday, in Nepal's capital Kathmandu. AFP
    A monkey leaps in the foreground of the Swayambhunath Stupa temple, during a ceremony commemorating Buddha's birthday, in Nepal's capital Kathmandu. AFP
  • Hospital staff survey the destruction inside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, after an early morning Israeli strike. AFP
    Hospital staff survey the destruction inside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, after an early morning Israeli strike. AFP
  • An Afghan tailor stitches burqas in a shop in the western city of Herat. AFP
    An Afghan tailor stitches burqas in a shop in the western city of Herat. AFP
  • Nurses with candles mark International Nurses Day, at Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, northern Pakistan. EPA
    Nurses with candles mark International Nurses Day, at Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, northern Pakistan. EPA
  • Committee and executive council members after announcing the dissolution of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, at an undisclosed location in northern Iraq. AFP
    Committee and executive council members after announcing the dissolution of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, at an undisclosed location in northern Iraq. AFP
  • Dutch Defence Secretary Gijs Tuinman at signing event for new Leopard tanks in Amersfoort, the Netherlands. EPA
    Dutch Defence Secretary Gijs Tuinman at signing event for new Leopard tanks in Amersfoort, the Netherlands. EPA
  • Models backstage ahead of the Bianca Spender show at Australian Fashion Week 2025, at St Barnabas Anglican Church in Sydney. Getty Images
    Models backstage ahead of the Bianca Spender show at Australian Fashion Week 2025, at St Barnabas Anglican Church in Sydney. Getty Images
  • An employee at a textile factory that produces chemical fibre nets and ropes in Binzhou, in eastern China's Shandong province. AFP
    An employee at a textile factory that produces chemical fibre nets and ropes in Binzhou, in eastern China's Shandong province. AFP
  • Art duo Gilbert and George in front of ‘Head View’, at the launch of their Death Hope Life Fear exhibition, at The Gilbert and George Centre, in East London. Reuters
    Art duo Gilbert and George in front of ‘Head View’, at the launch of their Death Hope Life Fear exhibition, at The Gilbert and George Centre, in East London. Reuters
  • Devotees fly lanterns during the commemoration of Vesak, which marks the day of Buddha's birth, death and enlightenment at the 9th-century Borobudur Temple in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. AP
    Devotees fly lanterns during the commemoration of Vesak, which marks the day of Buddha's birth, death and enlightenment at the 9th-century Borobudur Temple in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. AP
  • Tom Cruise departs the Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning red carpet at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals. Getty Images
    Tom Cruise departs the Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning red carpet at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals. Getty Images

News

Pictures of the week: From Trump’s Abu Dhabi visit to the Cannes Film Festival

Striking images from around the world

The National

May 16, 2025

  • English
  • Arabic

The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

While you're here
The biog

Born: Kuwait in 1986
Family: She is the youngest of seven siblings
Time in the UAE: 10 years
Hobbies: audiobooks and fitness: she works out every day, enjoying kickboxing and basketball

THE SPECS

Engine: 3.5-litre supercharged V6

Power: 416hp at 7,000rpm

Torque: 410Nm at 3,500rpm

Transmission: 6-speed manual

Fuel consumption: 10.2 l/100km

Price: Dh375,000 

On sale: now 

Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

If you go...

Flying
There is no simple way to get to Punta Arenas from the UAE, with flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi requiring at least two connections to reach this part of Patagonia. Flights start from about Dh6,250.

Touring
Chile Nativo offers the amended Los Dientes trek with expert guides and porters who are met in Puerto Williams on Isla Navarino. The trip starts and ends in Punta Arenas and lasts for six days in total. Prices start from Dh8,795.

Updated: May 16, 2025, 6:02 PM
WeekendPhotography