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Syrian young artist, Lama Zakaria has recently achieved the first world record in the Guinness World Records for the largest display of mandala in the world, raising the name of Syria high and proving once again the ability of Syrian youth to excel in various scientific and artistic fields.
Lama told SANA’s reporter that she spent two years of continuous and diligent effort for reaching this stage, stressing that she worked with precision and patience to achieve the required symmetry in her painting, which achieved the record for the largest painting of mandala in the world.
She added that the mandala contains 4096 mandala circles of various diameters, colors and various decorations by using special dotting tools and acrylic paints on a 6 mm-thick wooden board.
She pointed out that the painting with dimensions 488 x 488 cm contains a large number of circles overlapping with each other and free circles with flowing lines that enhance cohesion among them.
Zakaria noted that in each quarter of the painting forms a part of a major basic circle that is the center of the painting and its eye-attracting heart, which required work carefully on all colors and various decorative units.
Lama Zakaria, a third-year student at the Faculty of Architecture at al-Baath University, has sought to specialize in mandalas, as she worked individually to learn the origins of this art and master its methods, and participated in several art exhibitions.
source/content: sana.sy (headline edited)
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Actress Lama Zakaria – Photo from Lama’s official Instagram page
The artist’s latest exhibition of 50 works is the culmination of a lifetime spent studying ancient script.
One day in 1984, in Basra, Iraq, an art teacher taught his students calligraphy. He drew four letters on the blackboard in Ruqʿah script, a plain style often used for signage.
As the teacher drew the letters alif, bah, jim, dal, Wissam Shawkat, then aged 10, watched absolutely entranced.
“Seeing that Arabic letters can take that form was fascinating for me,” Shawkat tells The National at the Mestaria Gallery in Alserkal Avenue — where his latest calligraphy exhibition, Letters of Love II, is running until November 30. “I was really intrigued by this.”
Today, Shawkat is an international leading authority on calligraphy, a self-taught master who pioneered his own technique known as “calligraforms.”
On the eve of his solo exhibition, Shawkat is surrounded by 50 original artworks all centred on the theme of love. He stands in the middle, surrounded by a landscape of letters, composed and morphed by a myriad styles that push the boundaries of traditional calligraphy practices. The result is a delicate balance of ancient forms and modern sensibilities.
“Letters by themselves are like an abstract shape,” he says.
“If you take any letter in Arabic or in English, any part of that letter, you will end up with an abstraction. We give it sound or when it’s merged with another letter, we give it meaning. But in reality, it’s a form, a beautiful form.”
As a teenager, due to the sanctions imposed on Iraq following the Gulf War, Shawkat’s resources were limited. Despite this stark reality, the artist took what summer courses were available, worked in sign-making shops and practised with different mediums and brushes. He drew comics, decorated skateboards, created sketches for friends, and took any chance available to practice mark-making and the art of calligraphy.
“If you spend years writing and perfecting this form, it’s definitely something you’ll fall in love with,” Shawkat says.
“After all these years, I arrived at this point where I love the abstract form of the letters and I think that’s why I’m still making it.”
Letters of Love II was launched on November 11, a significant date for Shawkat. Not only did he leave Iraq on the same date in 2002, but 11 years ago, his solo exhibition, Letters of Love, took place in New York to major critical success.
Shawkat’s new exhibition is an extension of the technical ideas he first experimented with in the New York show, an homage to his personal milestones and, of course, a celebration of love.
“For me, love is a universal concept,” Shawkat says.
“Plus, I wanted to take calligraphy away from always being associated with religion. Historians from the West call it Islamic calligraphy, but it’s not true. The art of calligraphy is about the language, it’s not the religion.”
Shawkat took the Arabic word for love, “hub”, and some of its variations such as “mahaba”, meaning to have love for something, “‘ishq”, to long for something, and “gharam”, meaning desire, and reconstructed them — experimenting with the inner and outer forms of the letters and the composition of the words; blocking parts of their shape, opening up others; extending and bending; changing their silhouettes.
The range of forms and shapes he created within each frame are meticulously composed. They exist in relation to the frames and the spaces they occupy, possessing a uniquely stylised sense of harmony fuelled by Shawkat’s departure from the traditional “rules” of calligraphy.
Even the notion of freedom is expressed uniquely within the works. Free of the cliche of words bursting out of their frame or paint spilling out on to the physical space, freedom is organic and planned in Shawkat’s work. It teases and pushes the idea of Arabic letter forms and calligraphy into new spaces.
“I want to show something aesthetically beautiful,” Shawkat says. “When I’m sketching or putting together the work, everything I do is first in black and white. Colour comes as a second thing, I work with it later.”
It’s this focus on form and composition that gives the varied works an overall sense of grounded weight, rooted and connected to each other through a slow gravitational force, as opposed to an intertwined sense of drama.
Shawkat achieves this thorough planning, like an architect of words, an engineer of letters.
“When I started planning for this show, I went back and opened my old files from the New York show,” Shawkat says.
“I found some ideas that were interesting but weren’t refined yet. I took some of them and made them work, and now they are pieces in this show. It’s always a process, it’s progress. Sometimes it fails and sometimes it works.”
Shawkat’s work reveals not only an artist who has a significant understanding of the forms and symbolism of letters and language, but one with technical knowledge and prowess.
All the paper in the show is handmade, the ink made from personalised pigment colours. Each piece is a juxtaposition of these traditional materials with Shawkat’s forward-thinking experimentation in calligraphy.
It’s also these part-conscious, part-instinctive decisions that make Shawkat’s work timeless and appealing to an international audience, many of whom don’t speak or can’t read Arabic.
“I think people who don’t know Arabic fall in love with calligraphy for the same reason I first did in class,” Shawkat says.
“It’s because they enjoy the form. They look at them as beautiful abstract shapes. As simple as that.”
Letters of Love II will be on show at the Mestaria Gallery in Alserkal Avenue
Wissam Shawkat’s solo exhibition Letters of Love II is on show at Mestaria Gallery in Alserkal Avenue until November 30. All Photos: Antonie Robertson/The National
Ahead of the Chinese President’s visit to Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Ministry of Media and the China Media Group announced the launch of a joint partnership initiative to promote relations between Arab countries and China through media in a ceremony in Riyadh on Monday.
“It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the Arab-Chinese Media Cooperation Forum, which is being held today in Riyadh…between the Saudi Ministry of Media and the China Media Group,” Acting Minister of Media Majid Al-Qasabi said.
Al-Qasabi addressed the audience in a speech via video extending his support for the cooperation.
“We look forward to the cooperation today to launch new media initiatives that contribute to deepening the ties between the Arab and Chinese cultures and between their peoples,” he said.
The initiative, he explained, will promote the presence of Chinese media on Arab channels, translating Chinese television shows into Arabic.
Through the initiative, Saudi and Chinese television will also work together to create programs highlighting the stories of individuals from both Saudi Arabia and China who achieved success in each other’s countries.
The initiative will also create opportunities for travel between the two countries, opening a space for greater understanding and strengthening the relationship between China and Saudi Arabia through media and cultural exchange.
In line with the aim of improving communication, the ceremony was held in both Arabic and Chinese in the presence of Ambassador of China to Saudi Arabia Chen Weiqing, Director-General of the Arab States Broadcasting Union Abdulraheem Sulaiman, and Chinese politician Li Shulei, head of publicity at the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
Mohammed Fahad Al-Harthi, president of the Arab States Broadcasting Union and CEO of the Saudi Broadcasting Authority, presented the initiative in a speech during the ceremony.
“Saudi-Chinese relations are old and well-established and strong, and they are witnessing prosperity and expansion,” he said, citing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to China, the over 20,000 Arab students studying in China and the several schools in Saudi Arabia that teach the Chinese language and culture.
“We hope that this relationship will witness greater growth with the connection of interests and relations between the two peoples,” he added.
Toward the end of the ceremony, top media representatives from Palestine, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Yemen and Iraq extended their support for the initiative.
Al-Harthi stressed the importance of media in any country’s diplomatic relations.
“To achieve a solid relationship between the two societies, the media must play this role,” Al-Harthi said.
Through the initiative, translated Chinese works will be broadcast in Palestine, Algeria, Jordan, Sudan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
A singer, songwriter, and ethnomusicologist, Alsarah is a self-proclaimed practitioner of East African music, inspired by songs and cultures of Africa and the Middle East. Throughout her career, she performed as a band member of Sounds of Tarab, in addition to producing songs and albums under her stage name, and her band with her sister, Alsarah and the Nubatones. Furthermore, she was also featured in the documentary “Beats of the Antonov” in 2014.
Alsarah was born Khartoum, Sudan in 1982. As a child, her parents worked as activists at a time when many encouraged citizens to vote in the 1986 elections. Following the coup d’etat in 1989, however, her family fled the country to Yemen before the nation’s civil war forced them to relocate to Boston, the United States in 1994.
At this point in life, Alsarah turned to music for solace. In fact, music has been a big part of her childhood, with the very first music that spoke to her being played during her family’s activism in Sudan. Growing up, she studied ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University before relocating to Brooklyn, in New York, where became lead singer of the Zanzibari band Sounds of Tarab.
In 2010, Alsarah and her sister would start a band entitled “Alsarah and the Nubatones” along with band members Haig Manoukian, Kodjovi Mawuena, and Rami El-Aasser. The band released their debut EP, “Soukura,” followed by full-length album “Silt” in 2014, “Manara” in 2016, and “Manara Remixed” in 2017. In addition, Alsarah has also produced songs as a solo artist with albums such as “Aljawal,” “The Crow,” and “Min Ana.”
In general, many of Alsarah’s songs were influenced by artists from Sudan, Zanzibar, and Ethiopia. Her songs are available on Spotify and Deezer.
The celebrated pharmaceutical chemist, nano engineer and inventor reveals why she has spent a career focusing her mind over matter.
When the Berlin Wall came down, Adah Almutairi watched the event unfold on a television screen 5,000 kilometres away in the family living room in Jeddah.
Too young at the time to fully understand the implications, 12-year-old Adah could nonetheless tell that the moment was significant, by the reaction of her parents.
Years later, at a conference to mark the 25th anniversary of the reunification of Germany, Ms Almutairi was on a stage in Berlin talking about her ground-breaking achievements in knocking down walls in science.
Back then, public speaking made her nervous. The knowledge that Chancellor Angela Merkel, a fellow chemist revered by Ms Almutairi, was among the 700 top international scientists and guests taking part merely compounded the feeling.
She broke the ice with a quote from the 1967 romantic comedy drama The Graduate, which earned her a laugh from the audience: “I just have one word to say,” she told them. “Just one word. Are you listening? Are you listening? Plastics.”
Ms Almutairi went on to describe herself as a plastics chemist, but she is much more besides. Her wide-ranging work combining materials chemistry with nanotechnology as well as developing tools for the future of biology and medicine makes her in great demand at conferences in the US, Europe, the Middle East and China.
The Saudi-American pharmaceutical chemist and nanomedicine engineer has won all manner of honours and recognition, including the prestigious and lucrative National Institutes of Health director’s new innovator award.
At the Falling Walls event, she gave an engaging, if sometimes faltering, presentation of her life-changing nanoparticle discovery feted in the US Congress as one of the four most important US technology breakthroughs of 2012.
“I used to be a nervous wreck before I gave a talk and would practise for two weeks beforehand,” she tells The National. “Plus, Angela Merkel is such an amazing woman, so meeting her was really special.
“She got elected just as I got my degree in chemistry and the way she spoke at that conference, and later welcomed so many Syrians into Germany, made me really respect her views on being kind citizens.”
With practice, Ms Almutairi, now 45, is much more comfortable as a public speaker. “Preparation,” she says, “is key.”
It was a lesson she learnt as a schoolgirl after a fluffed first gymnastics performance before a crowd left her sobbing on a bench. Determined never to repeat the same mistake, she rose to become the top gymnast on the team as well as the fastest 1,500-metre runner.
Preparedness forms the backbone of her professional life as she puts known scientific truths into practice while always remaining open to unexpected outcomes.
Discoveries and their effects, she and Ms Merkel wholeheartedly agree, can often surprise the scientists and engineers themselves.
“If you decide there is going to be a challenge down the road and that is going to deter you, nothing will happen,” she says. “If you go down that road anyway, you’ll solve the problem when you get there.”
No amount of planning, though, could have readied her for a year when the rug was pulled out from beneath her feet. In 2015, her beloved father died at the age of 65 and her 20-year marriage to a banker she met at university fell apart.
It was, she says, a painful time – not least because Mutlaq bin Abdul Rahman Almutairi, born into a traditional Saudi family, was his daughter’s greatest ambassador, enabling her to break free from what could have all too easily been a restrictive mould.
He was just five years old and still mourning his mother’s death when his own father packed up their goat-hair tent, strapped their few possessions to the back of a camel and made the arduous 100km journey from the Bedouin desert enclave of Al Harra to seek work and a new life in Jeddah.
Desperately poor, the family squatted on land and, when old enough, the enterprising Mutlaq enrolled himself and his younger sister in school.
His conservative father, who could not read or write, was furious and sent his daughter home. Mutlaq stood his ground and continued with his education – a moment that shaped the course of his own future and subsequently that of his five children.
“Sometimes in life, one decision changes everything,” Ms Almutairi says.
Mutlaq’s offspring have flourished in their respective fields of science and medicine. Khalid, 46, a plastic surgeon, Heba, 38, a professor in radiology, and Ahmed, 37, a dentist, still live in Saudi Arabia while Amer, 41, a professor in family medicine, is based in Houston.
Ms Almutairi was named recently on the Forbes list of the world’s Top 10 Influential Female Engineers, and often thinks of the debt owed to a father who championed her right to education.
The stance made him something of an anomaly among the Almutair tribe, whose roots can be traced back to the Quran.
“It still makes me emotional,” she says. “He was enlightened from God.
“No one around him was educated. He was the first in his entire family to learn how to read and write and go to college.
“My father and grandfather got into a lot of fights because my grandfather did not believe women should be educated.”
While she inherited drive and motivation from her father, a love of learning was instilled at a young age by her mother Najat, who, aptly enough, was a teacher.
“My family on my mother’s side were extremely well educated and my mother is very well read,” she says.
Indeed, her parents met because Mutlaq had become besotted with Ms Almutairi’s great-aunt Hilal, an intellectual who was one of the first dentists in Saudi Arabia.
Despite the 20-year age gap, he approached the family to ask for her hand in marriage but was advised instead to wed the daughter of Hilal’s brother, with whom he would build a strong bond.
“My father appreciated a smart woman,” Ms Almutairi says. “He didn’t go after the young, pretty girl. He initially went for the older woman he enjoyed talking to.
“Now when I think back, I realise how special and unique he was, and how much respect he had for women.”
Mutlaq studied criminology and justice administration in Portland, Oregon, where Adah Almutairi was born, before returning to his homeland to become a police investigator.
The young Adah attended international schools in Jeddah and Riyadh, excelling not only at sport but in maths and science.
On leaving school at 16, she was at a loss as to what to do next. Her mother was applying for teaching posts so, on a whim, Ms Almutairi submitted an application to Najd National School in Riyadh – and surprised everyone, including herself, by landing a job teaching English.
“I didn’t have a degree, and when the headmistress realized how young I was, she said: ‘Don’t tell anyone, just put some lipstick on.’
“It was the best job ever. I loved every minute of it. I had such a connection with the girls. I used to take in copies of my mother’s Reader’s Digests and make up writing exercises around them.”
A year later, she began applying to universities. King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah turned her down but she secured a sports scholarship to Occidental College in Los Angeles, Barack Obama’s alma mater.
The opportunity once again put her father at loggerheads with her grandfather and members of the Almutairi clan, who did not think a young woman should travel overseas alone. Unperturbed, Mutlaq sent her anyway, even though he and Najat had doubts about her choice of subject.
The couple wanted her to be a doctor but Ms Almutairi chose maths as her major before switching to chemistry in her second year.
The lightbulb moment came when her tutor, the widely loved chemistry professor Tetsuo Otsuki, told her she was “a diamond in the dirt”.
“He made me feel smart and capable, and worth being taught,” she says.
“I have twice been told the phrase: ‘You remind me of myself’. It is one of the nicest things you can say to a young person if they look up to you. It really sat in my heart.”
Chemistry appealed because it was based on “concepts where once I wrapped my head around them, I could use them in so many ways”.
A scholarship to continue her studies at the University of California, Riverside, led her to create lightweight plastic polymers, or molecules, capable of conducting electrons that had uses in everything from robotics to space research.
“Around that time,” she says, “Hideki Shirakawa was winning the Nobel chemistry prize for his work with conductive polymers, and both Nasa and Walt Disney were funding and supporting that work.”
She may not have become a doctor of medicine as her parents had wished, but Ms Almutairi did turn her attention to the field during postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where she worked with Jean Frechet, a chemist innovating in the area of in-vivo imaging to diagnose disease.
After being turned down for jobs in Saudi Arabia, she took up a post at the University of California, San Diego, going on to lead an interdisciplinary research group at the Centre for Excellence in Nanomedicine and Engineering.
Perhaps one of Ms Almutairi’s proudest moments was collaborating with an ophthalmologist for a decade to come up with a way to regenerate failing retinas and prevent blindness.
“That particular innovation is now commercialised and makes me feel really good about myself,” she says. “I enjoy all sorts of application materials but medicine is especially rewarding. I like to solve problems and have a positive impact on the world.”
Her work with lanthanides – popularly classed as rare earth elements but actually, she says, abundant – involves a chemical reaction that could be applied to the delivery of drugs and diagnostics in medicine but also solar energy harvesting.
She has more than 100 patents registered, including one with her brother Khalid to use gold molecules in liposuction.
“My work is very rewarding,” Ms Almutairi says, “and my father was very proud of me. When I became well known in the US, it was a big moment because the people who were criticising him for sending his daughter away were the same people congratulating him.”
A strong proponent of the “health is wealth” philosophy, she may no longer run, but she does lift weights regularly and spends time in the garden with her 10-year-old son cultivating avocados, figs, and citrus trees, and growing aubergines, tomatoes and cucumbers.
She has visited Saudi Arabia many times to see her family and speak at conferences. One in particular that has stayed with her was a graduation speech at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University in Riyadh.
There was no film quote for these graduates of the largest women’s university in the world. In a clear voice, without a hint of nerves, she instead passed on the words of that staunch defender of her own access to education.
Remain forever curious about the world, she told the audience, and live a meaningful life with impact.
It was clear that the woman of substance standing before them had been shaped by her father’s advice. She didn’t need to ask if they were listening.
The Saudi Arabian-American pharmaceutical chemist and nanomedicine engineer is in great demand at conferences in the US, Europe, the Middle East and China. Photo: Adah Almutairi
One doesn’t have to be a Muslim to visit the mosque or see the tallest minaret in the world.
Many people who think of a vacation to Africa make plans with Morocco in mind, South Africa at times, maybe Kenya, and definitely Egypt—to see the famous pyramids—or the 4,100-mile-long river that gave birth to that momentous civilization. Yet, as a continent, Africa has 54 countries, almost as many as the number of states in the U.S. Though it may come as a surprise, almost all of these countries are safe and have nearly the same conveniences as those found in many First World countries. Take Algeria, for instance, the biggest country in Africa and more than three times the size of Texas. This northern African country has pyramids, just like Egypt, and several fascinating ruins that would interest any history buff or anyone who’s out for some real adventure.
The Great Mosque Of Algiers And Its Record-Breaking Minaret
Also known as Djamaa el Djazaïr, the Great Mosque of Algiers is itself a monumental structure and an architectural marvel in its own right. However, what really puts it in the Guinness Book of World Records is its minaret. The reason is that the Great Mosque of Algiers is noted for having the tallest minaret in the world. For those who may be scratching their heads, a minaret is a tower—or a tower-like structure—built into mosques primarily to project the “Adhan,” the Muslim call to prayer. Of course, today, minarets serve other purposes as well. For instance, they are important landmarks of Islamic presence. Coming to the minaret of the Great Mosque of Algiers, we would not be remiss to expect a structure described as the world’s tallest to answer to that exceptional description. Well, the minaret of the Great Mosque of Algiers is 265 meters tall and hence, by all accounts, impressive.
For perspective, that’s the same height as Truist Plaza, the 60-story skyscraper in downtown Atlanta or the Panorama Tower in Miami, Florida. It’s also about half the height of the One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the United States. Minarets, however, have never been this tall. Before the Great Mosque of Algiers secured a page in the Guinness Book of World Records for its minaret, the tallest minaret was the 670-feet tower of the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco. The Algiers minaret, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is now not just the tallest minaret in the world but the tallest building in Africa as well. This minaret is designed to withstand a magnitude nine earthquake, the highest earthquake magnitude. This type of earthquake can cause major damage over a region more than 1,000 km across.
Here’s A Brief History Of The Great Mosque Of Algiers And Its Minaret
The government of Algeria launched the construction of the Great Mosque and its record-breaking minaret in 2012. However, according to an adviser to the minister of housing responsible for the construction, the idea of constructing a mega-mosque had been in the cards from way back in 1962 when Algeria got its independence after 132 years of French occupation and after a 7-year brutal war that would send seismic revolutionary waves across the continent. For some reason, the efforts to put up a mega-mosque in Algiers had failed and foundered. However, with the election of Abdelaziz Bouteflika as President of Algeria in 1999, the building efforts would soon receive significant impetus.
Famous for his religious zeal and devotion to Muslim art and culture, Bouteflika would, unsurprisingly, actualize the mega-mosque dream even though his tenure as president would dramatically come to a premature end before the completion of his pet project. The mosque, however, including its record-breaking minaret, was an outstanding architectural masterpiece. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Great Mosque of Algiers sits on an expansive area of around 400,000 square meters (about 50 acres). For perspective, the building itself, plus the outside courtyard, can seat up to 120,000 worshipers.
Other Reasons Why The Great Mosque of Algiers Is Worth Visiting (& How To Visit)
The mosque looks towards the scenic Bay of Algiers, which features dazzling white buildings and panoramic views as far as the eye can see. Part of the mosque is a library that can stock more than a million volumes. In addition, the mosque has a Koranic school and a museum of Islamic art and history.
Where Is The Great Mosque of Algiers Located? This mosque is located on the Rue de la Marine in Algeria’s capital city, Algiers.
A crucial travel tip is to get in as a worshiper, probably during worship. Some visitors even carry a prayer mat or wear a scarf, especially women. Of course, one doesn’t have to be a Muslim to visit the mosque or see the tallest minaret in the world.
The American Music Awards played host to a glittering showcase of Arab fashion this week as the likes of Carrie Underwood, Kelly Rowland, Becky G and Lauren Jauregui showed off gowns from Middle Eastern designers.
Country singer Underwood opted for a multi-hued dress by Lebanese Italian designer Tony Ward. With a plunging scooped neckline and playful fringed beading, the gown hailed from the designer’s Spring/Summer 2023 collection.
US singer and actress Rowland took things in a wilder direction with a leopard print sculptural gown by Lebanon’s Nicolas Jebran. The Rowland added black latex gloves for a dose of drama.
Meanwhile, US singer Becky G showed off an asymmetrical mini dress by Bahraini label Monsoori with a larger-than-life train and voluminous material draped on one shoulder.
For her part, US singer Lauren Jauregui, a member of Fifth Harmony, flaunted a floor-length number by designer Norma Kamali, who is partly of Lebanese descent. The heavily embroidered gown hailed from the designers Resort 2023 collection and featured tulip sleeves and a flared skirt.
Superstar singer and songwriter Taylor Swift won all six trophies she was contending for at Sunday night’s awards ceremony, including the artist of the year prize.
The new American Music Awards accolades lifted Swift’s lifetime total to 40, breaking her own record for most wins at the world’s largest fan-voted awards ceremony, Reuters reported.
The “Anti-Hero” singer said fan support in recent years had encouraged her to write more music, which made her happier.
“I have the fans to thank essentially for my happiness,” Swift said to a cheering crowd at the ceremony in Los Angeles.
Other honors for Swift on Sunday included favorite pop album, country album and video for her re-recording of 2012 record “Red.” The singer has been remaking albums from her past because of a dispute with her former record label.
For artist of the year, Swift triumphed over formidable names including Beyonce, Harry Styles, The Weeknd, Drake, Adele and Bad Bunny, who had gone into the night with a leading eight nominations.
Pop singer Pink opened the AMAs show dancing and singing on roller skates to her upbeat song “Never Gonna Not Dance Again.” Later in the ceremony, she performed “Hopelessly Devoted to You” in a tribute to Olivia Newton-John, the “Grease” singer who died in August.
Musician Lionel Richie, known for “All Night Long” and other 1980s hits, was celebrated with the AMA’s icon award. Stevie Wonder and Charlie Puth performed a medley of Richie songs on dueling pianos.
It has been another big week for Arab designers, with a number of celebrities opting for Middle Eastern looks for the 2022 Governors Awards in Los Angeles.
Actress Jessica Chastain showed off a red hot Zuhair Murad look, while Elizabeth banks chose a sleek gown by Elie Saab.
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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Kelly Rowland wore a leopard print sculptural gown by Lebanon’s Nicolas Jebran. (AFP)
Tunisia’s prestigious industry event enjoys another successful year, helping spread a love of culture across the country.
Another week of movie magic, street art and music has come to an end following the 33rd edition of the International Carthage Film Festival in Tunisia.
Titled “Hel Thneya”, which means “Open the Path” in Tunisian dialect, the festival once again cemented its status as a major cultural attraction for visitors of all ages, who flocked to cinemas and filled the streets en masse.
The festival, one of the eldest and most prestigious in the Mena region, ended on Sunday.
As is tradition, the capital Tuniswas transformed into an open celebration of not only cinema but all forms of arts, with independent young painters getting the chance to show their artworks to the public for the first time and musicians performing every evening to audiences in the middle of Avenue Habib Bourguiba. For many, it was an opportunity to watch films that they don’t usually have the means or the opportunity to see.
Speaking outside the Theatre de Region Cinema, Downtown Tunis, Amina told The National she had been waiting for the festival to introduce her two children to the world of the cinema.
“As a family, we always discuss films together but we never find the time nor age-appropriate films to watch. This is a great opportunity to let them discover the big screen,” Amina said.
Amina’s daughter Ritej, who is in the sixth grade, was grinning with happiness as she prepared to enter the cinema hall. “I’m excited, I’m sure I’m going to enjoy this and tell my friends about it,” Ritej said.
Amina said that she often encourages her children to value the arts, with Ritej currently rehearsing for a school play, and she wishes there were more events like it in Tunisia.
This year’s International festival was an opportunity to revive the city. According to organisers, the festival aimed to showcase both new cinema productions and also timeless films that the younger generations needed to be introduced to.
This year, 72 countries participated with Saudi Arabia being the guest of honour and special emphasis placed on Palestinian and Spanish Cinema — a choice that organisers said highlighted the intersection between north and south, placing migration under an artistic lens.
The festival also paid tribute to Arab filmmakers, both living and dead, namely the Moroccan director Mohamed Abderrahmen Tazi and Egyptian director Daoud Abdel Sayed, as well as the late Algerian director Yamina Chouikh and late Tunisian director Kalthoum Bornaz.
“Through this 33rd edition, we continued to foster cultural decentralisation by bringing new sections to the festival and programming screenings in different parts of the country,” journalist and cinema critic Yosra Chikhaoui told The National.
“This year marks the first edition of JCC for kids. We are bringing more screenings as part of our “street cinema” section as well as continuing the special screenings for prisoners and members of the Tunisian army inside military bases,” Chikhaoui, who is a member of the festival’s media committee, added.
JCC in Prisons, now in its eighth year,is the fruit of a partnership between the Tunisian Ministries of Culture and Justice and the International Organisation Against Torture. This year, 12 films were showcased in three prison facilities, while juvenile detainees were transferred to Tunis for a special showcase in a cinema.
According to Ridha Behi, general director of this year’s festival, film screenings in prisons serve as a reminder of the right all people have to access and experience culture.
Awards, meanwhile, highlighted the multitude and variety on show, with a focus on filmmakers whose work depicts the struggles of their respective societies.
The Tanit d’Or award for best feature film was given to Tug of War, directed by Amil Shivji — marking the first time a film from Tanzania has won the award. Meanwhile, the Tanit d’Argent and Tanit de Bronze were respectively awarded to the films Under the Fig Trees by Erige Sehiri from Tunisia and Sharaf by Samir Nasr from Egypt
A consignment of blue ammonia has left Saudi Arabia for South Korea, representing a new milestone in the development of decarbonization solutions.
The development was first announced during the recent Saudi Green Initiative conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, and Vessel Seasurfer, carrying 25,000 metric tons (25 KMT) of low-carbon blue ammonia, is expected to reach its destination between Dec. 9 and 13 in the world’s first commercial shipment of its kind.
The accomplishment, which is an alternative to conventional gray ammonia, is part of a collaboration between Saudi Basic Industries Corporation Agri-Nutrients and Aramco.
Lotte Fine Chemical, which has a long-standing relationship with SABIC AN, will receive the low-carbon “cradle to gate” blue ammonia.
Abdulrahman Shamsaddin, SABIC AN CEO, said: “This shipment is another milestone in our journey toward carbon neutrality.
“We are proud to be a part of this pioneering solution, paving the way for further decarbonization efforts.
“Looking to the future, we are constantly working on breakthrough solutions to decarbonize our assets and deliver low-carbon solutions to our customers.”
Yong Suk Kim, LFC CEO, said: “We are delighted to enter this meaningful agreement with our long-term supplier, SABIC Agri-Nutrients, to receive the world’s first certified blue ammonia cargo.
“Building on our shared history, we are looking forward to moving forward together into a new era for ammonia. We believe that this shipment of blue ammonia will help lay the foundations for a global supply chain.”
Earlier this year, SABIC AN and Aramco received the world’s first independent certifications, recognizing blue ammonia and blue hydrogen production, from TUV Rheinland, a leading independent testing, inspection and certification agency, based in Germany.
The shipment of blue ammonia to South Korea will be the first to capitalize on this major certification achievement.
The new developments are aligned with Saudi Vision 2030, which focuses on low-carbon fuels, products, solutions and clean energy.
Made of polymer using innovative designs and advanced security features, the banknote is the fourth in the Third Issuance of the National Currency Project, the Central Bank said.
The banknote will be available in Central Bank branches and ATMs in the first half of 2023, while the current Dh1,000 note will continue to be in circulation.
The front side of the banknote depicts the image of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan next to a model of a space shuttle. This was inspired by the meeting of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan with the pioneers of the American space agency NASA in 1976 to express the ambitions of the founding leader to position the UAE amongst the pioneering explorers of the space.
This ambition was achieved in the Emirates Mars Mission ‘Hope Probe’ journey in 2021, and it was embodied in the new banknote by placing the image entitled “Emirates Mission to Explore Mars – the Hope Probe” at the top of the banknote, left of late Sheikh Zayed image.
This dream was also reflected in the image of an astronaut added as a security mark that appears on both sides of the banknote, to express the arrival of the first Emirati astronaut to the space.
The Central Bank was also keen to focus on another global achievement for the UAE, by placing an image of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant in Abu Dhabi on the reverse. The plant will play a key role in diversifying energy sources in the country and reduce carbon emissions.
The design of this new banknote contains distinctive aesthetic characteristics, with different shades of brown. The CBUAE preserved the colour characteristics of the same denomination banknote currently in circulation to make it easy for the public to identify, in addition to the fluorescent blue marks of the UAE nation brand in the centre, and drawings and inscriptions created using advanced intaglio printing techniques.
Khaled Mohamed Balama, Governor of the CBUAE, said: “The issuance of the new Dh1,000 banknote comes under the vision of UAE’s President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to keep-up with the comprehensive development our country is witnessing, and represent UAE’s global achievements and successes, as well as highlight its future ambitions in various sectors.”
