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Category: Leaders, on the World Stage – All Others
Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres has appointed Egypt’s former permanent representative to the UN Mohamed Idris as a member of the Advisory Group of the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund, the Egyptian foreign ministry announced .
The appointment is in appreciation of the Egyptian diplomat’s efforts during Egypt’s 2021 presidency of the UN Peacebuilding Commission and as an affirmation of Egypt’s leadership in enhancing the effectiveness of the UN peacebuilding structure since its establishment in 2005, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
This is the fourth time an Egyptian has been appointed as a member of the Advisory Committee of the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund, representing African countries, it added
The members of the Advisory group have an important role in advising the UN Secretary-General on the programmes and activities of the Peacebuilding Fund in accordance with requests from Member States and overseeing the implementation of the programmes of the Fund, a large part of which is located on the African continent, the ministry said.
Saudi Arabia has become the first Arab country awarded a place on the advisory board of the International Chess Federation, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The seat will be filled by Abdullah Al-Wahshi, the president of the Saudi Chess Federation.
“The weight of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its position in all fields has a role in joining this advisory council, as our country has previously organized ably and with great success for a period of time,” said Al-Wahshi as he thanked the country’s leaders for their unwavering support for all sports and activities.
“From 2017 to 2019, the King Salman International Cup Rapid and Blitz Championship marked an unprecedented (chess) event with the participation of most countries of the world. This achievement raised the status of Saudi chess, leading to the Kingdom’s participation in the World Chess Olympiad in India and obtaining four international … titles.”
The advisory board, the International Chess Federation’s highest advisory authority, oversees all of the organization’s decisions and regulations.
source/content: arabnews.com
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Arkady Dvorkovic, President of the International Chess Federation with Abdullah Bin Salem Al-Washi, President, Saudi Chess Federation / pix: trixabia.com
Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh on Sunday attended the ceremony of Irbid: the Arab Capital of Culture for 2022.
During the event, held at Al Yarmouk University, Khasawneh conveyed His Majesty’s greetings and thanks to those who put efforts towards making this national event — the launching of Irbid as the Arab Capital of Culture for 2022 — successful, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
The premier, who is also head of the higher national committee for celebrating Irbid: The Arab Capital of Culture for 2022, highlighted the Kingdom’s efforts to “embrace the culture and intellectual elite”, as well as “supporting innovators towards instilling a serious national culture”.
The selection of Irbid as the Arab Capital of Culture is a national event that is being celebrated by the whole Kingdom, he added.
He noted that nominating Irbid as the Arab Capital of Culture for 2022 and Madaba as the Arab Tourism Capital for 2022 coincides with the bicentennial to celebrate the Kingdom, as well as is accompanied by Jordan’s efforts towards a new start titled as “moving towards future” through three paths: Political modernisation, economic modernisation vision and upgrading the public sector.
The selection of Irbid is in line with the Kingdom’s modernisation and reform trends, which consider the cultural scene among its key pillars, he said, noting that the selection of Irbid is a source of pride for Jordanians and is aligned with the northern city’s nature as well as its historical and cultural status.
He also expressed hope that the event would contribute to uncovering the innovative capabilities in Irbid and across the Kingdom, as well as offer an opportunity to feature the qualitative value of the local and Arab cultural and intellectual scene.
The event was attended by a number of ministers, Arab culture ministers, guest delegations, and senators and deputies, among other officials.
Culture Minister Haifa Najjar said that proclaiming Irbid as the Arab Capital of Culture for 2022 by the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation (ALECSO) illustrates confidence in Jordan and the country’s intellectuals, noting that the selection requires scaling up efforts to bring further innovation through joint action.
Mohamed Ould Amar, director general of ALECSO, said that Jordan’s comprehensive cultural renaissance under the leadership of His Majesty King Abdullah has contributed to Irbid’s well-deserved status, noting that the organisation is following up the activities of Irbid: The capital of Arab Culture for 2022, Petra added.
He also commended the participation of figures from Jerusalem, describing the holy city as the eternal capital of Arab culture at the 2022 Irbid event, highlighting that their participation is of special character, as Jordan has shown historical stances in defending Jerusalem and its cultural components.
At the end of the ceremony, Palestinian Culture Minister Atef Abu Saif handed over the banner of the Arab Capital of Culture to Najjar, marking the selection of Irbid as the Capital of Arab Culture for 2022 following Bethlehem, the Capital of Arab Culture for 2021.
source/content: jordantimes.com (headline edited)
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Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, Prime Minister Bisher Al Khasawneh attends the ceremony of Irbid: The Arab Capital of Culture for 2022 at Yarmouk University on Sunday (Petra photo)
July 10 marks the death anniversary of the late iconic international Egyptian actor Omar Sharif.
On this occasion Egypt Today looks back at some of the milestones that led to his international debut.
Sharif’s childhood
Born in Alexandria as Michel Dimitri Chalhoub on April 10, 1932, he was of Lebanese descent, but was born and bred in Egypt. His parents were of good social standards; his father in the wood business and his mother a notable society hostess who often hosted King Farouk to play cards.
Growing up, Sharif easily became multilingual as he was brought up by his French speaking mother and attended an English boarding school and Victoria College; he also became fluent in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
After graduating from Cairo University with a mathematics and physics degree, he attempted to follow his father’s path of work but quickly receded and went on to London to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Sharif realized his passion for acting at the tender age of 13 when he participated in his English boarding school’s theatre program.
This horrified his father, since it would stop his son from following in his footsteps and becoming a timber merchant. Later, Sharif’s talent overcame all obstacles and he became a world-renowned actor.
The immortal cinematic and romantic couple Sharif and Hamama
In 1954, Sharif starred in “The Desert’s Devil” (Shaytan al-Saharaa), but his break was the same year when he acted in “Struggle in the Valley” (Sira’ Fi al-Waady) alongside his wife, the late great Egyptian actress Faten Hamama.
The love story of Hamama and Sharif began when they worked together in Youssef Chahine’s “Struggle in the Valley.”
Despite being born Catholic, he changed his name and converted to Islam to marry her in 1955. A marriage that lasted for 20 years, the famed couple were the symbol of love to all the Egyptian audience.
They portrayed their love in a number of successful movies that will live on for years after their death; movies that taught us the true meaning of love, such as “Ayamna el Helwa” (Our Beautiful Days), “Nahr El Hob” (River of Love), “ Saydet el Kasr” (The Palace Lady), “Sra’a fe El Mena” (Struggle in the Port), among others.
El Sherif’s international Stardom
He achieved international stardom in 1962 by acting in Lawrence of Arabia alongside Peter O’Toole.
He maintained his status as a foreign heartthrob by leading in films like Dr. Zhivago and Funny Girl, which caused outrage in Egypt due to the romance with his leading co-star, Barbara Streisand, who won an Oscar for her role.
Funny Girl was based on a play with the same title also starring Streisand. This musical comedy drama is a biographic, based on the life of Fanny Brice, a famous female Jewish comedian of the 1900s who dreams of stardom in New York City’s Broadway.
Against all odds she rises to the top and falls for Nick Arnstein, played by Sharif, a businessman and compulsive gambler.
While the 60s were the best and busiest years of Sharif’s acting career, they were the ones which took a toll on his marriage with Hamama, and the couple shocked their fans by getting a divorce in 1974.
A resonating talent
His impeccable acting skills speak for themselves, but his mastery of contract bridge also precedes him. He wrote books on bridge, his favorite card game, and even established the Omar Sharif Bridge Circus.
However, his addiction to gambling eventually caused him money troubles, which led to his acting flops and his downward spiral.
Living alone and with little money, Sharif spent his later days living in hotels in Paris and London until he made a brief comeback with his role in the 2003 French film “Monsieur Ibrahim.”
The film received positive reviews, and Sharid even won the audience award for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival.
Sharif was always keen to support and encourage young talents such as the famed Egyptian actor Mohamed Ramadan, who had a small role in Sharif’s only Egyptian soap opera “Hanan w Hanin” ( Tenderness and Nostalgia).
Ramadan previously announced in a number of TV interviews that Sharif encouraged him a lot and praised his acting talent, predicting at that time that he will be a superstar in the future.
“When I first met Omar Sharif, he greeted me as if I was family. He was someone who really loved people; when he found out that we were [both] Egyptian, we bonded instantly.
The main piece of advice he gave me was to start in Egypt and get that experience under my belt before trying to have a career internationally,” recounted the Egyptian rising international actor Amir El-Masry in an interview with Egypt Today.
The End
Sharif moved back to Egypt to spend his final days while struggling with Alzheimer’s disease. Sharif passed away at the age of 83 due to a heart attack on July 10, 2015. Sharif is a cheerful, handsome, talented and iconic artist who will remain forever alive in the hearts of his audience around the world.
“While people are proud of their achievements, we are proud of being the children of Sheikh Zayed, and while people talk of their history, we speak of the history of giving that began with the formation of the UAE,” said the late His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, epitomising the nations’s approach from the first day it was established to its phase of empowerment, ushering in the birth of a powerful and successful nation.
On 4th November, 2004, Sheikh Khalifa assumed power and, up until his passing, helped the country, whose track record of achievements spans nearly 35 years, progress from the foundation phase to the empowerment stage.
Over this short period, the UAE has topped international competitiveness indexes and has become the second-largest economy in the Arab region, despite its small area and population.
Moreover, the UAE is the first Arab and Islamic nation to reach the planet Mars and one among few countries with significant achievements in the space sector.
The UAE’s achievements during the empowerment phase are reflected on the lives of its people and business community, making it the dream destination of anyone seeking success, stability, and wellbeing.
After assuming power, the late Sheikh Khalifa launched the first strategic plan of the UAE Government to achieve balanced and sustainable development and ensure the wellbeing of UAE residents.
In 2009, he was re-elected as the President of the country, and thanks to his wise leadership, the UAE overcame the financial crises and political issues facing the region due to his active foreign policy, which also enhanced the regional and international stature of the country.
How did the UAE manage to accomplish significant achievements during the empowerment phase? The Emirates News Agency (WAM) monitors these milestones and challenges in the following report:
1. The Health Sector.
The UAE’s leadership has prioritised the health sector and increased public spending on the sector, amounting at times to seven percent of the federal budget.
This fact is highlighted by the spending on the sector in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, which amounted to AED3.83 billion, AED4.2 billion, AED4.5 billion, AED4.4 billion and AED4.84 billion, respectively.
This policy also proved successful when the sector faced the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, demonstrating a high level of efficiency supported by the many well-equipped public and private hospitals.
The sector’s efficiency was further supported by the country’s efforts to establish media cities, including Khalifa City in Abu Dhabi, Dubai Medical City and Sharjah City.
Coinciding with these achievements, most Emirati hospitals are internationally accredited, and the country has become a leading medical destination, underpinned by the rising number of hospitals, which increased from 16 in 1975 to 169 in 2020.
These hospitals are managed by highly qualified medical staff, numbering 8,995 in 2020 in the government sector and 17,136 in the private sector, compared to 792 doctors in 1975.
The number of nurses also reached 56,045 working in the government sector in 2020, increasing 252 percent compared to 1975.
The country has prioritised health insurance and provided it to citizens for free, in addition to comprehensive medical coverage for all segments of society, especially the elderly and people of determination.
In 2017, the UAE established the first cancer treatment centre utilising proton technology in the Middle East and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.
The Emirates was also one of the first countries to use robotics in the pharmaceutical sector.
Smart rooms were established to provide entertainment services to patients and link their medical files with hospitals to provide comprehensive and effective care.
The Ministry of Health and Prevention has been keen to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) in medical services, used in over 100 facilities nationwide.
The UAE ranks first in the world in the number of accredited facilities, and more than 85 percent of Emirati hospitals have international accreditation.
2. Education Sector.
The UAE’s spending on the health and education sectors underscores the leadership’s belief in the importance of these two sectors to achieving sustainable development, with spending from 2016 to 2020 accounting for between 20 percent and 22 percent respectively of the federal budget.
With the budget allocated to the national education sector standing at AED10.41 billion, AED10.46 billion, AED10.40 billion, AED10.2 billion and AED6.536 billion for 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively, the average share of the federal budget is 15 percent.
The UAE believes that the education system is the driver of development and ensures the right to free education for all citizens. From 2012, education became mandatory for everyone over the age of six until secondary education, which was reinforced by issuing the Children’s Rights Law (Wadeema).
The UAE’s education strategy confirms the establishment of an educational system based on the skills of the 21st century. It aims to provide higher education that can compete with the world’s best universities.
The Mohammed bin Rashid Smart Learning Initiative, launched in 2012, is an ideal model covering all schools in the country and creates a new educational environment in schools that includes smart classes.
In 1973, the country had 110 schools with 40,000 students, while in 2007, the percentage of educated citizens reached 88.7 percent of the population.
The UAE Vision 2021 highlighted the need to advance education in the country to the highest in the world and adopt a smart system as a primary goal.
The vision also confirmed that the upcoming years would witness comprehensive transformations in learning and education, led by smart education.
The national education strategy aims to ensure equal education, maintain the quality and efficiency of institutional education, promote scientific research, encourage students to enrol in higher education, achieve innovation, and support smart education.
Subsequently, the National Strategy for Higher Education 2030 affirms the importance of improving the scientific and technical skills of students, to support the growth of the economy.
At the same time, the UAE has kept pace with the latest innovations in the health sector. The government has launched many initiatives that encourage innovation in general and innovation in the medical field in particular.
The UAE is one of the few countries that utilises medical robotics technology when conducting major surgeries.
President Khalifa bin Zayed passed away on Friday, May 13th, 2022
Noureddine Morceli is an Algerian middle-distance runner and a gold medalist in the 1500 metres at the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympic Games. He won three straight gold medals at that distance at the World Championships. He also set world records in the 1500m, mile and the 3000 metres in the 1990s.
Morceli was twice the gold medalist in the mile at the 1994 and 1998 Goodwill Games, the Arab champion in the 1500m in 1988, the Millrose Games champion in the mile in 1992 and 1993, the 1500m winner at the 1994 IAAF World Cup, and the overall champion in the 1994 IAAF Grand Prix series. Besides, he was Algerian national champion in the 1500m in 1989.
In international competitions, middle-distance events include the 800 metres, the 1500 metres and the 3000 metres. In English-speaking countries, until the second half of the 20th century, the 880 yards and the mile were run as the equivalents of the 800 metres and the 1500 metres.
An early favourite among middle-distance races was the mile, which in the first half of the 20th century was run in times exceeding four minutes. Breaking the “four-minute barrier” was considered unlikely.
On May 6, 1954, however, the 25-year Roger Bannister of Great Britain set a record of 3:59.4 in a dual meet at Oxford. With increasingly controlled climatic and surface conditions and increasingly accurate timing devices, however, the record was lowered many times thereafter.
Birth and Career
Born on February 28, 1970 in Tenes, Noureddine Morceli attended Riverside Community College in Riverside, California, throughout his career, in winter, he would return there to enjoy the mild climate and train.
At the age of seven Morceli was inspired by his brother Abderrahmane, a world-class runner who finished fourth in the 1500 metres in the 1977 World Cup and represented Algeria at Moscow 1980 and at Los Angeles 1984Summer Olympic Games. Later, his brother would become Morceli’s coach.
In the early 1980s, Morceli came to idolize Said Aouita, a Moroccan who won the gold in the 5000 metres in the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. By age 17, Morceli had taken second place in the 1500 metres in the World Junior Championships.
Morceli rose to athletic prominence after winning the silver medal in the 1500m at the 1988 World Junior Championships in Sudbury, Canada, clocking 3:46.93. A year later, he enrolled at Riverside Community College in California, renowned for its coaching and track facilities. He spent two years there, at the end of which he had run the world’s fastest 1500 metres for 1990.
At the age of 20, he was ranked first in the world in the 1500 metres. In 1990, he moved up to senior class and set the season’s best mark of 3:37.87 in 1500m. He continued this dominance into 1991, when he broke the world indoor record for 1500m at Seville, Spain on February 28, setting a new mark of 3:34.16. Only nine days later, on the same track, he won the 1500m title at the 1991 World Indoor Championships with a time of 3:41.57.
Throughout the outdoor season 1991, Morceli remained undefeated over 1500m. At several Grand Prix meetings, he ran times around 3:31. At the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, Morceli was already a clear favourite for the 1500m and he won the gold easily setting a new World Championships record of 3:32.84.
In the beginning of 1992, Morceli ran a new 1000m indoor world record of 2:15.26. There seemed to be no greater certainty for a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Barcelona later that year than Morceli. But prior to the Olympic Games Morceli lost unexpectedly to Gennaro di Napoli in Rome and David Kibet in Oslo. There were signs that he was not in the same shape as the year before.
However, in the Olympic semi-final he looked strong. The Olympic final was run at a woefully slow pace, with the field passing through the 800m mark in a slower time than in the women’s final. That was not the sort of pace to which Morceli had become accustomed, or that he was comfortable with, and when the frantic sprint for home began, he found himself unable to respond, eventually finishing a disappointing seventh clocking 3:41.70.
However, after just three days Morceli set a world season’s best in Monaco and a week later he broke his personal best to win in Zurich in 3:30.76. In September 1992, Morceli set a new 1500m world record of 3:28.86 in Rieti.
In 1993, Morceli narrowly missed his own world record when he won the Mediterranean Games in Narbonne in 3:29.20. By that time Morceli had set himself a new aim: to break Steve Cram’s eight-year-old record over the Mile. In Monaco, he narrowly missed the 3000m world record. There was even talk that he might skip the World Championships in order to concentrate fully on the world-record hunt. However, in the end he decided to take part.
At the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, the final of 1500m started at a relatively slow pace, but Morceli was always in complete control, sprinting away in the last lap to win easily and retain his world title with a time of 3:34.24. In the following weeks, he failed twice to set a new world record over the Mile in Berlin and Brussels. But just two days after the race in Brussels he astonished everyone by crushing the record with a time of 3:44.39.
In 1994, he set the new 3000m world record, clocking 7:25.11. He also experimented successfully with the 5000m. In Zurich, he out-sprinted the rest of the field to take the victory and also won the 5000m in Rieti, Italy. Morceli broke the 2000m world record in the following season, setting a new mark of 4:47.88.
Nine days later Morceli set the last world record of his magnificent career, when he lowered his own 1500m record to 3:27.37 in Nice. Only a few days after this he almost broke the record again when he triumphed in 3:27.52 in Monaco. He easily defended the 1500 m World Champion title in Gothenburg. Shortly after, Morceli tried to improve on his Mile record in Zurich but did not succeed.
World Records
Standing 172 cm and weighing 60 kg, he added the outdoor world record for the 1500 metres in 1992, the mile in 1993, and the 3000 metres in 1994. By the end of 1994, the Algerian track star’s accomplishments had reached even greater proportions. In August, after breaking the outdoor world record for 3,000 metres (7:25.11), he could claim five middle-distance world records, which also included (outdoor) the 1500 metres (3:28.86) and the mile (3:44.39) and (indoor) the 1,000 metres (2:15.26) and the 1500 metres (3:34.16).
Morceli was named Athlete of the Year by Track & Field News in 1993 and 1994 and by the International Athletic Foundation in 1994. In that two-year period, he lost only once, at 800 metres. As he set his sights on more records, most notably the 800-metre, 2000-metre, and 5000-metre events, his driving force was a deeply rooted dedication to bring glory to his country. A devout Muslim, during the sacred holy days of Ramadan he would fast from sunrise to sunset despite the rigours of training.
As Morceli looked forward to the 1995 season, sportswriters unabashedly proclaimed him the greatest runner in the world or even the greatest of all time. Perhaps his spirit was best exemplified by his winning performance in the 1994 Grand Prix. Racked with flu, weakened and hacking, he not only ran but left the field behind at the finish.
Morceli was soon tested by a new challenger, Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj. Morceli bested El Guerrouj in the 1500 metres at the 1995 outdoor World Championships clocking 3:33.73; however, the 1500metres race at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta the following year was considered one of the most dramatic contests in athletics history.
Morceli and El Guerrouj led the field with 400 metres to go when the young Moroccan tripped on his rival’s heel and fell to the ground, allowing Morceli to capture the gold medal in that event. At the Grand Prix final in Milan later that year, however, Morceli lost the 1500metres event for the first time in years to El Guerrouj. Morceli competed in subsequent events, including the 2000 Games in Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, before his eventual retirement.
Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics
At the start of the 1996 season, Morceli set a world season’s best of 3:29.50. However, a new and serious opponent suddenly appeared on the scene, when Hicham El Guerrouj won in Hengelo in a time of 3:29.51.
The 1500m at 1996 Olympics was the 23rd appearance of the event and one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. All three medalists of the previous edition, Fermín Cacho of Spain, Rachid El Basir of Morocco, and Mohamed Suleiman of Qatar returned, along with seventh-place finisher Noureddine Morceli of Algeria and ninth-place finisher Graham Hood of Canada. Morceli had been favored in Barcelona, and was again a favorite in Atlanta; he had won the last three world championships and broken the world record twice.
Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco was a rising star expected to challenge Morceli; he had come in second at the 1995 World Championships and would go on to win the next four and break the world record himself. Venuste Niyongabo of Burundi would have been another contender but chose not to enter in order to focus on the 5000 metres.
Burundi, Dominica, the Maldives, the Solomon Islands, and Ukraine each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its 22nd appearance, most among all nations, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.
The competition was again three rounds (used previously in 1952 and since 1964). The “fastest loser” system introduced in 1964 was used for both the first round and semifinals. The 12-man semifinals and finals introduced in 1984 and used again in 1992 were followed.
There were five heats in the first round, each with 11 or 12 runners. The top four runners in each heat, along with the next four fastest overall, advanced to the semifinals. The 24 semifinalists were divided into two semifinals, each with 12 runners. The top five men in each semifinal, plus the next two fastest overall, advanced to the 12-man final.
At the time men’s 1500 metres took place at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, the standing world record was 3:27.37, established at Nice, France on July 12, 1995 by Noureddine Morceli. The Summer Olympic Games record belonged to Sebastian Coe of the Great Britain at 3:32.53 established in Los Angeles, United States on August 11, 1984.
There were 57 competitors from 37 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event took place on July 29, 31 and August 3. The event was won by Noureddine Morceli of Algeria. Fermín Cacho of Spain was unable to repeat as gold medalist, but took silver to become the fourth man to win two medals in the event.
At the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, Morceli was under enormous pressure. The final was run at an average pace when his main rival, Hicham El Guerrouj, fell down on the final lap. Morceli accelerated and crossed the line first ahead of the defending Olympic champion, Fermín Cacho.
Morceli had dominated the 1500 metres for five years, holding the world record and winning the previous three world championships. But Hicham El Guerrouj, from neighboring Morocco was the rising star, who had chased Morceli in the most recent world championships. This was expected to be the match race. While Morceli had led the semi-finals in close to Olympic Games record time, the final race was much slower and entirely strategic.
Approaching the bell at the end of the third lap, Morceli had moved into the lead with El Guerrouj sprinting up to his shoulder. Morceli held him off with El Guerrouj having to concede position and move in behind Morceli squeezing in front of defending champion, master tactician Fermin Cacho who was perfectly positioned directly behind Morceli. Two strides later, El Guerrouj tripped and fell.
Morceli took off sprinting at the same moment the rest of the field had to evade El Guerrouj’s body on the track. Cacho was forced to leap over the fallen El Guerrouj, almost stepping on him. Next in line Abdi Bile had to jump off the track to the infield. Morceli opened up 2 metres in the process, which he widened to 5 metres down the backstretch.
Cacho and Bile held that gap onto the final straight. Bile faded while Cacho held on until he could see it was futile to catch Morceli, jogging in for silver. Stephen Kipkorir led two other Kenyan teammates around Bile to take bronze. After quickly staggering to his feet, El Guerrouj chased the field but shocked and disheartened, he was unable to catch anybody.
At the end of 1996, Morceli suffered his first 1500m defeat in four years at the hands of El Guerrouj in Milan. In the 1997 World Championships at Athens, Morceli was fourth in 1500m with a time of 3:37.37 and in 1999 at Seville, he qualified for his fifth straight 1500m final at a World Championships, where he dropped out at the bell while well out of medal contention. Morceli’s last appearance at a major international championship was at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney where he could manage only the 24th position with a time of 4:00.78.
Ambassador of Sport
His Personal Best performances: 800 metres – 1:44.79; 1500 metres – 3:27.37 at Nice, France on July 12, 1995; Mile – 3:44.39 at Rieti, Italy on September 6, 1993; 3000 metres – 7:25.11 at Monte Carlo, Monaco on August 2, 1994; 5000 metres – 13:03.85.
In January 2020, he was appointed Secretary of State for Elite Sport, reporting to the Minister of Youth and Sports in the new government chosen by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune after the presidential election of December 2019. Morceli has no political affiliation to any party in Algeria and was chosen as an independent member in the first Djerad government.
Currently, Morceli serves as an ambassador of the sport by assisting with the International Olympic Commission, the African Games, as well as assisting the development of young track and field athletes in Algeria.
(The author is an Associate Professor, International Scholar, winner of Presidential Awards and multiple National Accolades for Academic pursuits. He possesses a PhD, MPhil and double MSc. His email is shemal1216@gmail.com)
Most of the migration occurred in the final decades of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th
Project of Holy Spirit University of Kaslik in Jounieh highlights individual journeys of the Arab pioneers
Sao Paulo, Brazil:
Although an estimated 18 million Latin Americans can trace their ancestry to the Arab region, little effort has been made to chronicle and conserve the writings, photographs and news clippings that document the history of their migration and settlement — until now.
Most of the Arabs who moved to Latin America did so in the final decades of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, with the majority of them traveling from Syria and Lebanon in search of fortune and a fresh start far from the Ottoman Empire.
To collect and highlight the individual journeys of these Arab pioneers and their contribution to the New World, an archive dedicated to telling their stories has been created by the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, also known as USEK, a private, not-for-profit Catholic university in Jounieh, Lebanon.
Inaugurated at the end of March this year, the collection currently includes about 200,000 pages from Arab newspapers and magazines, stacks of photographs, and other illuminating documents that help shed light on the diaspora’s presence in Latin America.
Brazilian-born Roberto Khatlab, director of USEK’s Latin American Studies and Cultures Center, or CECAL for short, conceived the project after spending several years working in the cultural department of the Brazilian embassy in Beirut and conducting independent research on Lebanese migration to Brazil.
Some of the documents that have been digitized and now are part of USEK’s archive, including magazines Oriente and A Vinha. (Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (CCAB) / USEK / Supplied)
“Over the years, I gathered lots of documents concerning that history,” he told Arab News.
During a trip to Latin America a few years ago, Khatlab realized a wealth of important historical material was at risk of being lost unless it could be properly collected and collated.
“Over time, such documents end up in the hands of grandchildren or great-grandchildren who do not speak Arabic and do not know what to do with them,” he said.
As a result, many people end up throwing away family collections or donating them to local libraries, which are not always equipped or qualified to adequately catalog them.
In addition, newspapers produced by early Arab immigrants were often printed on cheap, poor-quality paper that does not always stand the test of time, and so surviving copies can be extremely fragile.
“I have received 100-year-old newspapers which literally disintegrated as we tried to take them out of the envelope,” said Khatlab.
Syrian-Lebanese immigrants created the first Arabic-language Latin American newspaper, called Al-Fayha, in 1893 in the Brazilian city of Campinas.
In the local Portuguese language, its name was Mundo Largo, which translates as Wide World. As the author of several books about Brazil’s historical relationships with Lebanon and the wider Arab world, Khatlab recognizes the value of such historical documents for academic study and posterity.
“Under the Ottoman Empire, many intellectuals were not able to publish their ideas in the Arab world at the end of the 19th century,” said Khatlab. “In the nascent Arab press in countries like Brazil and Argentina, they found the space they needed.
“Many times, the articles published in the Arab press in Latin America by such thinkers were sent back to the Arab world and disseminated there in intellectual and political circles.”
Most of the early Arabic newspapers in Latin America were produced by Syrian or Lebanese migrants but there were also a number of Egyptian publications. Over the years, the Arab community launched newspapers that reflected a variety of viewpoints based around political ideologies, religious creeds, social clubs and the arts.
“Many poets and writers published works in the Latin American Arab press,” said Khatlab. “Some of them were renowned in the Arab world, while others disappeared. But their production and the ideas conveyed in their texts have great importance to Arabs, even now.”
The archive has attracted the support of institutions across Latin America that have connections to the Arab community and they have provided small teams who are helping to collect and digitize materials, using equipment donated by USEK.
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IN NUMBERS
Estimated Arab population by country
Brazil: 7-12 million
Argentina: 4.5 million
Venezuela: 1.6 million
Mexico: 1.5 million
Colombia: 1.5 million
Chile: 800,000
Source: Atlantic Council
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One such institution is the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, or CCAB for short, which helped to collate full collections of magazines, including Revista Oriente (Orient Magazine), one of the most prominent publications produced by the Arab diaspora in Brazil during the 20th century.
“Different libraries and institutions had partial collections of Oriente,” Silvia Antibas, the director of CCAB’s cultural department, told Arab News. “Now, we managed to gather and digitize all of them for the first time.”
The Brazilian team also managed to assemble a collection of the magazine Al-Carmat, known in Portuguese as A Vinha (The Vineyard). It was edited for many years by a female Syrian-Brazilian author called Salwa Atlas.
The CCAB has also contributed to the archive an illuminating collection of photographs that provide a window on the social and domestic lives of the diaspora through the years.
“The pictures we collected show not only the community’s social events but also the architecture of houses, the fashion trends of those years, and how immigrants financially progressed and integrated into Brazilian society over time,” said Antibas.
The cover of one edition of A Vinha, published for years by Syrian-Brazilian intellectual Salwa Atlas, who was a pioneer among female intellectuals of the Syrian-Lebanese community in Brazil. (Clube Homs / USEK / Supplied)
The Jafet family — who ranked among the most illustrious families in Sao Paulo in the early 20th century — contributed a superb collection of photographs depicting the palatial homes built around that time by the city’s industrial bourgeoisie.
“Benjamin Jafet, my great-grandfather, came to Brazil in 1890 and worked as a ‘mascate’ (a word used in Brazil for an Arab door-to-door salesmen) for a few years in the countryside until he founded his first shop in downtown Sao Paulo,” Arthur Jafet, a 38-year-old lawyer and businessman, told Arab News.
Over the years, Benjamin and his brothers built one of Brazil’s greatest textile manufacturers and became wealthy leaders of the Lebanese community in the country.
As important philanthropists in Sao Paulo, the Jafets helped to fund not only Arab institutions such as the local Orthodox cathedral, the Syrian-Lebanese Hospital, and the Mount Lebanon Club, but also publications such as Revista Oriente.
“Their small palaces pointed to a rather European taste, with visible influences of the French neoclassical style but also oriental aspects,” said Jafet.
One of the photos in the collection shows Camille Chamoun, Lebanon’s president between 1952 and 1958, staying at one of the Jafet family’s opulent homes during a trip to Brazil.
As director of the Institute of Arab Culture in Sao Paulo and an adviser to the CCAB, Jafet is part of a new generation of Arab Latin Americans taking a renewed interest in their cultural origins.
Paulo Kehdi is the executive director of Chuf magazine, the in-house publication of the Mount Lebanon Club. He is among a number of Lebanese community leaders who launched Lebanity, a movement dedicated to encouraging Lebanese-Brazilians to rediscover their cultural roots.
“There has been a deliberate effort to reconnect Lebanese-Brazilians to their motherland, incentivizing them to obtain Lebanese citizenship, to visit the country and to help it during donation campaigns,” he told Arab News.
Lebanon’s President Camille Chamoun with members of the Jafet family in São Paulo. He visited Brazil in 1954 and stayed at one of the family’s palaces. (Arthur Jafet / Supplied)
The situation is similar in Argentina, which is home to an estimated 3 million people with Syrian or Lebanese roots.
For several years, Ninawa Daher, a journalist of Lebanese descent, hosted a TV show in the country devoted to reviving the interest among younger generations in their Lebanese origins. After her death in a car accident at the age of only 31 in 2011, her mother, Alicia, created the Ninawa Daher Foundation to continue her legacy, and it has partnered with USEK for the archive project.
“With Ninawa’s contacts, within a very short time we had already been able to obtain access to several wonderful collections of the community in Argentina,” Alicia Daher told Arab News.
The team has gathered stacks of newspapers, photographs and other rare materials, including two books written and autographed by renowned Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist Khalil Gibran.
“The Syrian and Lebanese people had a tremendous cultural impact in Argentina,” said Daher. “Now, more and more people and institutions are approaching us in order to offer materials about the immigration.”
In Beirut, meanwhile, Khatlab is hopeful the archive will continue to grow as the work on it expands to other Latin American countries and to include other types of documents, such as letters, film footage and even passenger manifests of the vessels that brought Arabs to the region.
Access to the archive is free and it is open to the general public.
source/content: arabnews.com
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Some of the documents that have been digitized and now are part of USEK’s archive, including magazines Oriente and A Vinha. (Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (CCAB) / USEK / Supplied)
The first world expo held in the Middle East ends in style.
After 182 days of diverse and rich activities and events, which enjoyed by millions of visitors from across the world, the curtain of Expo 2020 Dubai, the first world expo held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region and the first hosted by an Arab nation, came down on Thursday, March 31, 2022, at the iconic dome-structured Al Wasl Plaza.
The six-month-long exposition, staged under the central theme, “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”, defied the tremendous challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, delivering a resounding success.
By organising the world greatest show amidst such challenges, the UAE has removed the world ”impossible” from its lexicon to present a wonderful edition in the event’s long history as His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, said in an audio message delivered at the closing ceremony of the mega global event.
We will not be exaggerating if we repeat what millions of visitors have said that Dubai’s remarkable success offered a great challenge for those to come.
Expo 2020 Dubai, which brought together 192 participating nations, is not a mere event that tells the culture and history of participating countries, rather than an invitation to engage and share visions to address challenges facing the humanity.
The UAE selection of the theme, ”Connecting Minds, Creating the Future” as a headline for its campaign to host the exhibition, did not come by chance. The UAE used to look to the future with proactive visions. Despite humanity’s passing through the most difficult and challenging time due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its negative effects on the economies of the world, there was no confusion in the UAE’s approach and calculations.
Projects did not stop or affected by slowness, delay or hesitation. Rather, they continued in an unprecedented harmony that encouraged the international community participate and engage with confidence enhanced by millions of visitors who and their families enjoyed events and activities that many of them may not be able to repeat again and they will proudly tell them to the future generations.
Since the International Exhibitions Bureau (BIE) announced on 27th November 2013 in Paris that Dubai had won the bid to host Expo 2020, no one doubted the UAE’s ability to present to the world the most beautiful and brightest image of an event that had been exclusively hosted by certain cities in regions far away from the Middle East and North Africa.
As usual, the UAE has a proven track-record in areas of communication and fresh innovative concepts and ideas which have been turned into reality over the past decades. An indicator of success of Expo is that the large number of visitors came from outside the country.
Over six months, Expo 2020 Dubai brought together over 190 participating nations, including multilateral organisations and academic institutions, in a defining moment to exchange new ideas and perspectives, inspire meaningful change and create a brighter future for all under the theme, ”Connecting Minds and Creating the Future” through sustainability, mobility and opportunity.
There is no better place and environment than Dubai and the UAE in general to discuss these issues that of major concern to the world. This was clearly reflected in the World Government Summit 2022, which was the best conclusion to an exceptional event.
It was an opportune coincidence that hosting this event preceded the UAE’s Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2021, as the UAE shared its visions, ideas and rich experience in development with the world in an event that chronicles the World Expo events a new.
The UAE deserves deepest congratulations for the remarkable success of Expo 2020 Dubai as the world welcomes Expo 2025 Osaka in Japan.
Opinion: by: Mohammed Jalal Al Rayssi is the Director-General of the Emirates News Agency (WAM)
source/content: gulfnews.com (edited)
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Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan (L2), UAE Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence and Commissioner General of Expo 2020 Dubai, hands the BIE flag to His Excellency Jai-chul Choi (C), President of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) during the Expo 2020 Dubai Closing Ceremony at Al Wasl alongside Her Excellency Reem Al Hashimy (L), UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation and Director General, Expo 2020 Dubai, His Excellency, Dimitri Kerkentzes (R2), Secretary General of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the governing body of World Expos and His Excellency Wakamiya Kenji (R), Minister for the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, Japan. Image Credit: Expo 2020 Dubai
Awards made for services to Islam, Arabic language, literature, medicine, and science.
The winners of this year’s King Faisal Prize on Tuesday received their awards at a glittering ceremony staged in Riyadh.
The annual gongs — held under the auspices of King Salman — are the most prestigious in the Muslim world and recognize outstanding achievement in services to Islam, Islamic studies, Arabic language and literature, medicine, and science.
The service to Islam prize was jointly awarded to former Tanzanian President Ali Hassan Mwinyi and Egyptian scholar Prof. Hassan Mahmoud Al-Shafei.
The Arabic language and literature award went to Prof. Suzanne Stetkevych and Prof. Muhsin Al-Musawi from the US.
American Prof. David Liu secured the medicine prize while the science accolade was shared by Prof. Martin Hairer of the UK and Prof. Nader Masmoudi of Tunisia.
The Islamic studies prize, that this year focused on the Islamic heritage of Al-Andalus, was withheld because the nominated works did not meet the necessary criteria.
Mwinyi was honored for actively participating in Islamic advocacy and promoting religious tolerance. He established Islamic schools and translated many resources and references in hadith, jurisprudence, and the Prophet Mohammad’s biography into Swahili, the language spoken by millions of people in East Africa.
Al-Shafei, who was president of the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo from 2012 to 2020, held several academic positions and established a series of institutes concerned with Al-Azhar. He also contributed to the establishment of the International Islamic University in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.
The Arabic language and literature prize was jointly presented to Stetkevych, chair of the department of Arabic and Islamic studies at Georgetown University, and Al-Musawi, professor of Arabic and comparative literary studies at Columbia University.
Stetkevych’s extensive research and numerous works have analyzed Arabic literature with unmatched depth from the pre-Islamic period to the Nahda/revivalist period. Her research approach, which is characterized by its application of varied methodologies, resulted in the renewal of the critical perspective and methods of studying classical Arabic poetry.
The research and studies of literary critic and novelist Al-Musawi have had a great impact on Arabic studies students and researchers in the Arab world and the West, through his distinctive methods of presentation, analysis, critical interpretation, and openness to Arab and international creative texts in prose and poetry.
Meanwhile, the medicine prize concentrated on gene-editing technologies. Its winner Liu, director of the Merkin Institute for Transformative Technologies in Healthcare, invented the first so-called base editor to make alterations on DNA and genes by replacing letters in the DNA base.
Hairer, chair in probability and stochastic analysis at Imperial College’s mathematics department, was one of the science prize recipients. His work has been in the general area of probability theory with a focus on the analysis of stochastic partial differential equations. He recently developed the theory of regularity structures which gave a precise mathematical meaning to several equations that were previously outside the scope of mathematical analysis.
The other joint science award winner, Masmoudi, a professor of mathematics at the New York University of Abu Dhabi, unlocked the mystery surrounding many physics problems which have remained unsolved for centuries.
He found a flaw in (Leonhard) Euler’s mathematical equations, which for more than two centuries had described the motions of fluids under any circumstance. Masmoudi discovered that the equations did not apply to all circumstances, as previously thought, and his findings helped to solve a raft of conundrums related to fluid-modeling, such as weather predictions.
Each winner received a $200,000 prize, a 24-carat gold medal, and a certificate written in Arabic calligraphy signed by the Chairman of the prize board, Prince Khalid Al-Faisal.
source/content : arabnews.com (edited)
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Winners of 2022 King Faisal Prize awards honored in Riyadh. (SPA)
The inaugural Time 100 Gala and Impact Awards was held at Dubai’s Museum of the Future . The ceremony was the first major event to take place at the museum since its opening on February 22.
The landmark was lit with a touch of Time’s red as regional leaders and cultural figures gathered alongside members of the global Time 100 community.
Notable personalities who attended the red carpet event included civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, who was named in Time’s first Women of the Year list this month; Omotola Jalade Ekeinde, Nigerian singer, actress and philanthropist; French-Tunisian contemporary artist el Saeed; US model Tyra Banks; and Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi , the first woman to hold a ministerial position in the UAE.
Sheikha Lubna was formerly the minister of state for tolerance, minister of state for international co-operation and development, and minister of economy and planning
The winners
Minister of State for Advanced Technology Sarah Al Amiri was among the award recipients. Chairwoman of the UAE Space Agency and the UAE Council of Scientists, Ms Al Amiri was honoured for her role in helping to take the UAE to Mars.
British-Ghanian architect Sir David Adjaye, whose designs include the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the US, as well as the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi, was also honoured for his work.
Mr Adjaye was honoured, according to Time, for “reorienting the world’s attention and shining a light on cultures from every corner of the world”.
Tony Elumelu was also a winner of the Impact Awards. The Nigerian economist was honoured for his efforts, through his eponymous foundation, in empowering African entrepreneurs to create jobs on the continent.
Bollywood star Deepika Padukone was also among the winners. The actress was recognised for her advocacy work on mental health..
Makeup artist and founder of Huda Beauty, Huda Kattan, was awarded the prize for “disrupting what it means to be beautiful”.
The Iraqi-American entrepreneur launched her skincare line Wishful in 2020 with a campaign that featured Kattan and the company staff without filters or makeup.
Will.i.am was also a winner of the inaugural Impact Awards. The Black Eyed Peas founder was praised as much for his music as his philanthropy, and his work advocating forward-thinking tech and artificial intelligence strategies.
Pop star Ellie Goulding was also named a winner for being “a champion and protector of the environment”.
source/content: thenationalnews.com (edited)
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The inaugural Time 100 Gala and Impact Awards was the first major event at Dubai’s Museum of the Future since its opening ceremony on February 22. Victor Besa / The National
