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Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman was celebrated at the fifth edition of Saudi Arabia’s Joy Awards in Riyadh over the weekend, with Anthony Hopkins presenting him with a Lifetime Achievement Award on stage.

The Million Dollar Baby Oscar winner, and the five-time nominee for films including The Shawshank Redemption and Driving Miss Daisy, was among a number of honorees who also included Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer, Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and UK director Guy Richie, while Matthew McConaughey was presented with the Personality of the Year Award.

Sunday’s star-studded ceremony – which is part of the Riyadh Season consisting of a series of high-profile entertainment, cultural and sporting events – featured performances by Saudi Singer Mohammed Abdo, U.S. pop star Christina Aguilera, Zimmer, Bocelli, Canadian pop icon Michael Bublé, Lebanese singing star Wael Kfoury, and Turkish singer-songwriter Tarkan.

Prior to the Joy Awards ceremony,...

After conquering eyeballs in the Middle East, Latin America and Europe, Turkish TV dramas are now reaping stellar ratings in the U.S. on Spanish-language media giant Univision.

And at its recent upfront Univision announced it’s set to serve up more of the often female-centric skeins known in Turkey as “dizi.”

Since its U.S. launch in February, Turkish romancer “Sefirin Kizi” (The Ambassador’s Daughter) known as “La Hija del Embajador” to Hispanic viewers – who account for 19% of the U.S. population, or 63 million people – has now reached more than 9.2 million total monthly viewers, making Univision the No. 1 U.S. network among Hispanics and bilinguals and outperforming ABC, CBS, NBC, Telemundo and all cable networks in the weeknight 10 p.m. slot, Univision says.

On Univision’s UniMas network the recent premieres of female empowerment drama “Fatmagul” (pictured) retitled “Qué Culpa Tiene Fatmagül?,” which turns on its titular young woman...