Salma Al-Tamimi

Writer,

icn.live

Salma Al-Tamimi graduated with a degree in Journalism and Communication and has reported for ICN.live since 2025. Coverage focusing on Tech, Artificial Intelligence infrastructure, and cybersecurity in the Arab region. Her work bridges technical insight with public education.

Myriam Fares

Myriam Fares first concert in the Netherlands arrives at Amsterdam hall

Myriam Fares’ first concert in the Netherlands is scheduled for Friday, October 2, 2026, at Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The Lebanese singer will share the stage with her full live band. SOUK Amsterdam Arabic Festival presents the show, and an afterparty follows the performance. This date is her Dutch debut after more than two decades on stage.

Who is Myriam Fares

Fares is known across the Arab world as The Queen of Stage. Her career began in 2003 and has spanned more than twenty years. Live shows blend Arabic musical traditions and instruments with modern pop, choreography and dance. She works as a singer, performer and songwriter, drawing on influences from several parts of the Arab world. Beyond music, she has also worked as an actress, producer and entrepreneur.

The venue sits at the center of the plan. Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam ranks among the city’s best-known concert halls, and it has hosted the SOUK festival in past years. This edition places Fares in the Main Hall with her own band. The concert brings the performer to Dutch audiences for the first time. Arabic pop, dance and live music fill the evening inside the historic building. Myriam Fares’ first concert in the Netherlands caps a run of high-profile appearances abroad.

Recent releases and tour dates

Fares performed during the Qatar Formula 1 Grand Prix. She reached a wider global audience with Tukoh Taka, the official FIFA Fan Festival anthem for the 2022 World Cup, recorded with Nicki Minaj and Maluma. Her track Goumi became a global dance hit, with millions of people joining its challenge on TikTok. A Netflix documentary, Myriam Fares: The Journey, gave viewers a closer look at her personal life and creative work. Recent Myriam Fares tour dates and stage shows have carried her across the region and further afield. In 2025, she released La Habibi. Her latest single, Ma Btaarefne, arrived in June 2026 through her own label, Myriam Music.

How to attend the concert in the Netherlands

Planning for the first concert in the Netherlands starts with the ticket date. Myriam Fares concert tickets go on sale on Friday, August 7, 2026. SOUK Amsterdam Arabic Festival organizes the event, so ticket details run through the festival and the venue. The Main Hall seating and the planned afterparty give attendees a full evening rather than a short set. For fans across Europe, Myriam Fares’ first concert in the Netherlands offers a rare chance to see the performer live in the region. The date falls on a Friday, which suits travel plans for visitors from nearby countries.

By Salma Al-Tamimi
3 min read

Movies

Marvel’s star Sebastian Stan welcomes first child with Annabelle Wallis, reports say

Sebastian Stan welcomes first child with partner Annabelle Wallis, several entertainment outlets reported this week. TMZ, People, and Us Weekly said the couple became parents in July. Neither Stan nor Wallis has confirmed the birth in public. The reports rely on sources described as having direct knowledge of the couple.

Stan is 43. Wallis is 41. The two have kept their private life quiet for years, and the baby news arrived the same way, through unnamed sources rather than a formal statement. Reporters have not learned the baby’s name, sex or exact birth date.

Reports say Sebastian Stan welcomes first child

Word that Sebastian Stan welcomes first child spread across entertainment sites within hours. Each outlet placed the birth last month. The reporting leaned on people described as close to the pair, not on any statement from the couple. That silence fits a pattern. Stan told Vanity Fair in 2025 that real privacy is hard to hold onto now, and he and Wallis have guarded theirs closely.

The pregnancy itself became public earlier this year. Stan confirmed it in a May 2026 interview with Deadline, and Annabelle Wallis, pregnant at the time, showed her baby bump on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival soon after. Before that, photographers had caught the couple on a walk in New York, where the bump was visible.

Sebastian Stan and Annabelle Wallis, a quiet couple

The pair were first linked in May 2022. They appeared together at Robert Pattinson’s birthday party in New York, and a since-deleted photo seemed to show them kissing. Wallis had ended a four-year relationship with actor Chris Pine not long before. For years, fans typed “Sebastian Stan girlfriend” into search bars, since the couple rarely appeared in public together.

They broke that habit once. At the 2025 Golden Globes, they made their red carpet debut as a couple. Stan won Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, for A Different Man. He closed his acceptance speech by pointing toward Wallis and saying, “Annabelle, I love you.” The two shared a kiss after the win.

Careers on either side of the birth

Stan built his name in Marvel films. Known to fans as the Winter Soldier, the Sebastian Stan Marvel run includes Avengers: Endgame and Thunderbolts, with Avengers: Doomsday still ahead. He also earned an Oscar nomination for playing Donald Trump in The Apprentice.

Wallis has her own slate. The Peaky Blinders actress Annabelle Wallis has appeared in The Mummy, The Tudors and the horror film Annabelle. She stars next in the action film Mutiny alongside Jason Statham, and she is set to appear in Netflix’s Unabomb.

Stan on becoming a father

Long before the phrase “Sebastian Stan welcomes first child” ran as a headline, the actor spoke about the role ahead. In a May interview with Deadline, he was plain about it. He said, “I want to be a good dad. I’m feeling the responsibility of being a good father. And not to mention a good man.” Age, he added, had shifted how he saw those roles. “I’m 43, and I feel, in a lot of ways, I’m just starting to learn now. It’s just crazy to me.”

He tied that view to his stepfather, whom he credited with a “quiet integrity” and “quiet strength.” Stan described a model of steady presence: “You’ve got to provide and protect.” With the birth now reported, the news that Sebastian Stan welcomes first child closes a chapter the couple had kept mostly to themselves.

By Salma Al-Tamimi
3 min read

Emirates NBD acquires HSBC Egypt retail arm in regional expansion push

Emirates NBD acquires HSBC Egypt’s retail banking business under a definitive agreement announced on Sunday, a plan that widens the Dubai lender’s consumer reach in the Arab world’s most populous market. The wholly owned Egyptian unit, Emirates NBD Egypt, will take on the portfolio once regulators sign off. Neither bank disclosed the price. Let’s see what the deal covers.

The transaction moves HSBC Egypt’s retail banking assets and liabilities to Emirates NBD Egypt. Retail banking covers everyday services for individual customers, such as accounts, deposits, loans and cards. Included in the sale are HSBC Egypt’s branches, its ATM network, its customer base and the employees who support the business. Customers of HSBC Egypt retail banking face no immediate change, and their products keep running as normal while the two sides prepare the handover.

Why does Emirates NBD acquire HSBC Egypt now?

Egypt sits near the center of Emirates NBD’s regional growth plan. The bank describes the country as a core market central to those ambitions. Emirates NBD entered the Egyptian market in 2013 and has expanded its branch network since. Adding the HSBC book builds scale in retail and premium banking, the service tier aimed at higher-income clients. This Emirates NBD acquisition also deepens ties along the UAE-Egypt banking corridor, the flow of trade, payments and investment between the two economies.

HSBC steps back from Egyptian retail

For HSBC, the sale trims a business the group no longer treats as core. The lender has operated in Egypt since 1982. This HSBC Egypt sale follows a strategic review announced in 2025, part of a wider effort to simplify the group and focus where it holds stronger positions. HSBC expects a pre-tax gain of about $300 million, which it plans to book mostly at completion. The group keeps its corporate and institutional banking arm in the country, so it narrows its presence rather than leaving.

Hesham Abdulla Al Qassim, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Emirates NBD and Chairman of Emirates NBD Egypt, said the investment reflects the bank’s confidence in Egypt’s market and its long-term growth prospects. Group Chief Executive Shayne Nelson described the purchase as a step in the bank’s regional strategy and its plan to grow its customer base in the country. Both sides target the second half of 2027 for completion, subject to regulatory approvals, including clearance from the Central Bank of Egypt.

What it means for customers

As Emirates NBD acquires HSBC Egypt’s retail arm, customers keep their accounts, cards and services for now. No account will change hands until regulators approve the deal and the two banks complete the transfer. HSBC and Emirates NBD said they will work together on a smooth move for staff and customers. Anyone with an HSBC Egypt account can keep using it as usual in the meantime.

What comes next

Amr ElShafei, Chief Executive and Managing Director of Emirates NBD Egypt, said the bank looks forward to welcoming HSBC customers and offering digital services backed by the wider group. Once Emirates NBD acquires HSBC Egypt, the lender gains more current accounts, deposits and card relationships across a combined branch and digital network. The full effect on customers will depend on how the two banks manage the transfer through 2027.

By Salma Al-Tamimi
3 min read

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