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I Was a French Muslim: Memories of an Algerian Freedom Fighter.
pproachable writing and a refreshing perspective bring his story to life in “I Was a French Muslim,” released in September by Other Press.
Mokhtefi’s memoir was translated and prepared for publication posthumously by his widow, an American painter and author. After independence, the couple lived in Algeria, where they liaised with the Black Panthers and leading Algerian figures such as former presidents Houari Boumediene, and Ahmed Ben Bella.
His story begins with his formative years as a child in a small town in Algeria. He slowly moves toward becoming a revolutionary within the National Liberation Front (FLN), and he goes out of his way to note the French colonial figures who played a role in his formative years and in supporting his education. Some were French priests, members of the worker-priest movement who supported the Algerian cause.
Mokhtefi was a pious Muslim, but it is clear from his text that he was also enamored with French culture and ideals. Yet as a child growing up in French Algeria, it was painfully clear to him that French colonialists were hypocritical in their application of the ideals of their society. It is this duality that is expressed in the title.
Given recent events, this book offers both important context and a unique narrative on perhaps the most important event in the Francophone Arab world in the 20th century.
Big Ramy (aka) Mamdouh Mohammed Hassan Elssbiay (aka) Mamdouh ‘Big Ramy’ Elssbiay
For the second year in row Egyptian bodybuilding star Ramy Elssbiay ‘Big Ramy’, has claimed the 2021 Mr. Olympia title that took place in the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, United States.
The 37-year-old, Big Ramy defeated the 2019 Mr. Olympia champion Brandon Curry of America and Hadi Choopan of Iran to snatch the 2021 title.
Big Ramy made eight appearances in the Mr. Olympia competition as he finished in the runner-up place four years ago.
After winning last year’s title, the Egyptian bodybuilding star became the first non-American to win the title since British champion Dorian Yates in 1997 to prove himself as the best bodybuilder in the world.
The 2021 Mr. Olympia top five:
1. Big Ramy (Egypt) $400,000 2. Brandon Curry (USA) $150,000 3. Hadi Choopan (Iran) $10,000 4. Hunter Labrada (USA) $40,000 5. Nick Walker (USA) $35,000
Mohamed Hassan, Physical Health Engineer at the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation, has won the Asia and the Middle East seat in the International Electrotechnical Commission’s Young Professionals Programme (IEC YPP).
The UAE nominated four candidates in security, services, nuclear energy, oil and gas, renewable energy, industry and telecommunications for the IEC YPP, which was an integral part of the 85th General Assembly of the IEC.
The event was hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology and took place in Dubai between 3rd and 7th October, 2021.
The IEC provides a global institutional framework that encourages global cooperation between 172 countries (89 members and 83 affiliates) and more than 20,000 technical experts, who come together to discuss, shape and enhance the field of standards, specifications and certifications in electrical and electronic devices and systems.
Dr. Abdulrazk Gurnah. Writer. Born in Zanzibar (Tanzania) based in England.
No black African writer has won the prize since Wole Soyinka in 1986. Gurnah is the first black writer to win since Toni Morrison in 1993.
Gurnah is a Professor at the University of Kent.
His novel “Paradise” was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1994.
The Nobel prize in literature has been awarded to the novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah, for his “uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents”.
Gurnah grew up on one of the islands of Zanzibar before fleeing persecution and arriving in England as a student in the 1960s.
Gurnah was born in 1948, growing up in Zanzibar. When Zanzibar went through a revolution in 1964, citizens of Arab origin were persecuted, and Gurnah was forced to flee the country when he was 18. He began to write as a 21-year-old refugee in England, choosing to write in English, although Swahili is his first language. His first novel, Memory of Departure, was published in 1987. He has until recently been professor of English and postcolonial literatures at the University of Kent, until his retirement.
He has published 10 novels as well as a number of short stories. Anders Olsson, chair of the Nobel committee, said that the Gurnah’s novels – from his debut Memory of Departure, about a failed uprising, to his most recent, Afterlives – “recoil from stereotypical descriptions and open our gaze to a culturally diversified East Africa unfamiliar to many in other parts of the world”
source/content : theguardian.com
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By PalFest – originally posted to Flickr as Abulrazak Gurnah on Hebron Panel, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/
The Muslim Coordination Council is a conglomeration of Germany’s largest Islamic advocacy groups.
Germany’s largest Islamic advocacy platform has announced that Moroccan-German national Abdassamad El Yazidi is now the group’s official spokesman.
Starting Friday, October 1, El Yazidi will publicly represent the Muslim Coordination Council, according to German news source Deutschlandfunk. El Yazidi announced that his plans as the group’s new spokesperson is to “make a contribution to critical and constructive talks and reduce prejudice and resentment against Muslims and their organizations.”
Prior to his current role, El Yazidi led the Central Council of Muslims in Germany as its Secretary-General. The Central Council of Muslims is one of the organizations that cooperated under the Muslim Coordination Council to further the interests of Muslims in Germany.
source/content: moroccoworldnews.com
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Prior to his current role, El Yazidi led the Central Council of Muslims in Germany as its Secretary-General. Photo Credit: Frankfurter Allgemeine / moroccoworldnews.com
Expo 2020 is officially inaugurated, announcing that Dubai is open, the UAE is open.
It was a celebration of hope. It was also a sneak peek at the future; a showcase of innovation, cultural diversity and a reflection of how people coming together can change the world.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, led in welcoming cultures from East to West, from North to South – of 192 countries that gathered not only to participate in the world’s greatest show but also to forge unity and convey the story of Expo’s overarching theme – ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince, officially opened the Expo which will run until March 31 next year. Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence and Commissioner General of Expo 2020 Dubai, set the tone of the global event.
Ahead of the official Opening Ceremony, Sheikh Mohammed said: “The nation is proud of the 10-year preparations for the largest global event that will last for six months, with the participation of 192 countries, underscoring the international trust in our country.”
Welcome everyone
Sheikh Mohammed underlined: “Once again, the UAE people have demonstrated their unique ability to excel in every task when serving humanity. We have proven to the world the UAE is a fruitful tree that can welcome everyone who dreams of a better future for this planet.”
“With the launch of the Expo, I remember the late founding fathers Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, and I would say to them, this is your legacy, and this international trust is the outcome of your far-sighted vision and determination to overcome challenges. Today, the world is being inspired by this vision. Civilisations are established and developed by challenges. That was the first and key lesson we learnt from you, which we convey to future generations and present to the world today,” he added.
“You are home, and our development experience is at your service,” Sheikh Mohammed continued. “We have one shared destiny and our peoples are anticipating the strengthening of international cooperation to change their reality into a brighter and more sustainable one, as well as to establish a roadmap for the key economic, developmental and cultural trends for the post-COVID era. We hope that the start of the event will be the breakthrough in terms of cooperation, tolerance and peace.”
Sheikh Nahyan echoed the same ideals during his welcome speech. He noted: “Today, in the year of our Golden Jubilee, we share with the world the lessons we have learnt, most importantly that by connecting minds, we are able to achieve milestones others thought were impossible.
“Today, 192 nations come together, each represented by its own pavilion – a first in the 170-year history of World Expos. Our mere presence here, amid all the challenges the world is facing, is proof of our keen commitment and desire to make the world a better place for all.
“By hosting Expo2020 Dubai, we aim to convey a message of tolerance and that we are willing to collaborate with all of the world. Today, we say to the whole world: Welcome to the UAE and welcome to Expo 2020 Dubai.”
“We will convey – from the UAE to the world – on our 50th anniversary a message of tolerance, coexistence and peace; a message of progress, prosperity and growth; a message of brotherhood, happiness and an unwavering will to create a brighter future for everyone.
The International Association for Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey (IAF), an international organisation that includes 110 clubs and agencies that are concerned with falcon hunting, where this organisation represents 90 countries, with which over 100,000 falconers around the world are affiliated, has announced the unanimous re-election of Majid Ali Al Mansouri – Secretary-General of the Emirates Falconers’ Club – as President of the International Association for Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey (IAF).
Al Mansouri has been unanimously re-elected for 3 new years effective beginning of 2022, which was at the conclusion of the IAF General Assembly agenda. This assembly was held on the sidelines of the International Association for Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey (Abu Dhabi 2021) activities, and with the unanimous decision of all (IAF) members.
Among his key achievements in the leadership of the (IAF) is the representation of falconers all over the world, and the follow-up to the establishment of falconry clubs in Luxembourg, Finland, and Norway.
Majid Ali Al Mansouri co-founded the Emirates Falconers’ Club in 2001, and he is a member of the International Fund for Houbara Conservation (IFHC). Moreover, he had a leading role – in parallel with his previous position as the Secretary General of the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) – in strengthening efforts to implement the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Since 2003, he has contributed to the fact that the Emirates Falconers’ Club organises the Abu Dhabi International Hunting & Equestrian Exhibition (ADIHEX) on an annual basis, which is the largest of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa.
In addition, he also contributed to reviving the organisation of the International Festival of Falconry starting 2011, and establishment of the Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Falconry and Desert Physiognomy School in 2016 with the aim of raising awareness about falconry as a common heritage of mankind.
Egyptian EPC contractor Petrojet has been awarded the Guinness World Record for the largest floating roof tank for its 175,000 m3 (1.1 million bbl) crude oil storage tank in Ras Badran, Sinai, Egypt.
The double deck floating roof is 110 m in diameter and weights 1,000 tonnes. Raising the roof from assembly level to maintenance level required 240 synchronised hydraulic jacks. Petrojet built the tank for the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum.
The Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum announced that one of its companies had received a Guinness World Records certificate in the field of manufacturing and constructing crude oil storage depots by adopting a new and unprecedented method in the implementation and construction of the warehouse with a double and movable floating roof system through the use of more than 240 hydraulic lifts connected to a single control system.
According to Egyptian Petroleum, this is the first and largest method of its kind with regard to the construction of storage warehouses in the world, with a warehouse capacity of 175,000 cubic meters, equivalent to more than one million barrels of crude oil, and a warehouse with a diameter of 115 meters and a weight of more than 3000 tons.
The project, which is implemented by the Egyptian petroleum sector within the national project for the establishment of crude oil storage warehouses, consists of 29 warehouses that were established in the same manner.
source/contents: egypttoday.com
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Petrojet has Guinness World Record for Ras Badran tank / pix: tankstoragemag.com
Tunisia’s President named geologist Najla Bouden as the country’s first ever female prime minister-designate.
Ms Bouden is the first woman to hold the position in Tunisia’s history and the first female prime minister in the Arab world.
Born in 1958 in the central Kairouan governorate, Ms Bouden is a professor of higher education at the National Engineering School in Tunis, specialising in geosciences.
A political outsider, Ms Bouden will leave her current role of running a plan to carry out World Bank programmes at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. Since 2011, she has served as director general in charge of quality at the Higher Education Ministry.
She also held the position of head of the Purpose Action Unit in the same ministry, and was assigned a task at the office of the then higher education minister, Shehab Boden, in 2015.
Ms Bouden will be Mr Saied’s fourth head of government since he took office in autumn 2019, and the third he appointed personally.
source/content: thenationalnews.com
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Tunisia’s president named Najla Bouden as the country’s first ever female prime minister. AFP / pix: thenationalnews.com
Veteran El Amin Chentouf of Morocco defended his title in the T12 marathon for visually impaired athletes, smashing his own Paralympic record by over three minutes to finish in 2:21:43.
The 40-year-old retains his title after finishing more than more than four minutes ahead of silver medallist Clifford.
Further back in the field, Tunisian’s Wajdi Boukhili had been well placed to take the bronze until the 40km mark, where both he and compatriot Hatem Nasrallah slowed up to finish sixth and fourth, respectively. The bronze medal went to Tadashi Horikoshi of Japan.
Chentouf’s gold was the fourth for Morocco during the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, all of which have been won in athletics. Abdeslam Hili and Ayoub Sadni won gold in the men’s 400m in the T12 and T47 classes, respectively, and Zakariae Derhem topped the podium in the men’s shot put F33 class.
