Category: RECORDS IN ME & AFRICA*

World’s Largest Oasis ‘Al Ahsa Oasis’ : Saudi Arabia : October 2020

Al Ahsa Oasis in now certified by Guinness World Records as the Planet’s largest self-contained Oasis.

Al Ahsa Oasis has also the largest date-palm oasis surrounded by sand in the world.

It has also a UNESCO designated status as a World Heritage site. Over 6,000 years old. It has many National Heritage Sites, as well as Human Settlements dating back to thousands of years.

Al Ahsa Oasis stretches across 85.4 sq.km . Irrigated by more than 280 springs of hot, warm and cold water.

Annual Al Ahsa Date Festival conducted here. Well known for its ‘Khalsah Dates‘.

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It includes over 2.5 million date palms watered by a network of over 280 artesian springs / pix: gulfbusiness.com

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SAUDI ARABIA

Bouchra Karboubi – First Female Referee to Lead Professional Football League Game : Morocco : October 2020

Bouchra Karboubi. Professional Football Referee.

Historical moment for Women’s Football in Morocco. Bouchra Karboubi lead as the Central Referee in a ‘ Botola Pro 1’ a Top-tier Professional League game in Morocco.

-2018 – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) selected Bouchra Karboubi among the ‘Elite A’ or First Class Category Referees

-2016 -Appointed as International Referee

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pix: sport.le360.ma

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MOROCCO

Fadi Ghandour. Business Leader. Jordan

Fadi Ghandour. Business Leader. Entrepreneur. Philanthropist.

-Co-Founder : Aramex . The Middle East’s First courier company with operations beginning from Jordan, 1982. First Arab company to be listed on Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

-Co-Founder or Maktoob.com, later acquired by Yahoo! for USD 85 million dollars (2010).

-Executive Chairman – Wamda Ventures

-Managing Partner – MENA Venture Investments

Non-Profit:

  • Founder and Chairman – Ruwwad. Focus on Child Development, Youth Organising and Community Support.

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pix: commons.wikimedia.org / Rawan Khawaldeh

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JORDAN – LEBANON

Suliman S. Olayan – Business Leader. Saudi Arabia

Suliman S. Olayan (aka) Sulaiman Saleh Olayan. Business Leader. Entrepreneur. Investor. Philanthropist.

Founder of the Olayan Group

Among the group’s international partners are :

Alpha Graphics , BP Solar , Credit Suisse , Carrefour , HSBC, JP Morgan , Chase Manhattan, Coca-Cola, Bechtel , Morgan Stanley , Goldman Sachs, Kimberly-Clark, Sama Airlines , Colgate-Palmolive ,  CS First Boston , Toshiba,  Xerox, Burger King, Kraft Foods, Baxter International , Occidental Petroleum ,  Cardinal Health, Scania AB, Texas Chicken , and much more.

www.olayan.com

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pix: olayan.com / legacy painting

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SAUDI ARABIA

Djilali Mehri . Business Leader. Algeria

Djilali Mehri. Business Leader . Connoiseur of Arts. Philanthropy.

  • Pepsi Algeria – Chairman and CEO
  • SIEHA (Algerian Real Estate and Hotel Operation Company) a venture with Accor Hotels, Algeria (IBIS and NOVOTEL brands) – Chairman and CEO
  • GIMMO (Groupe d’Investisseurs du Maghreb et du Moyen-Orient) – Founder and CEO
  • Daouia Farms – Founder

Political:

  • Independent MP , Algerian Parliament (1997)

Arts:

  • Owns one of the most important collection of Orientalist works

www.groupe-mehri.com

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pix : mondafrique.com

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ALGERIA

Ahmad Abughaush Creates Jordanian History. Wins First Ever Olympic Medal (Gold) for Jordan . First Arab Athlete Olympian to Win Taekwondo : Rio Olympics 2016

Ahmad Abughaush. Taekwondo Athlete.

Jordan’s first-ever athlete to win the country’s first Olympic medal – a Gold medal. Ahmad Abughaush defeated 3-London Olympic 2012 Olympic medallists to win the gold at the Rio Olympics, Rio de Janeiro 2016.

First Taekwando athlete in the Arab world to win Gold in Taekwando.

Awards:

-2019 -World Championships, Manchester – Silver

– 2018 – Asian Games, Jakarta – Bronze

– 2017 -Universiade, Taipei – Bronze // Grand Prix, London – Gold // Grand Prix, Moscow – Bronze // World Championships, Muji – Bronze

– 2016 – Olympics, Rio de Janeiro – Gold

– 2012 – Best Jordanian Athlete Award – by Jordan Olympic Committee – Gold

– 2010 – Taekwondo World Championship for Juniors , Sharm-el-Sheik, Egypt – Gold

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Ahmad Abughaush by Salem Khames the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, in the men’s 68 kg / en.wikipedia.org

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JORDAN / PALESTINE

Rami Malek Wins ‘Best Actor’ OSCAR : February 24th, 2019

Rami Malek (aka) Rami Said Malek. Actor and Producer. Philanthropy.

Awards/ Honours:

  • Oscar for the Category ‘Actor in a Leading Role ‘ in Bohemian Rhapsody for his portrayal of the Queen Frontman – Freddie Mercury, at a ceremony at Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles (2019)
  • Academy Award / Golden Globe Award / Screen Actors Guild Award, British Academy Film Award (2018) – for Freddy Mercy the biopic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.
  • Prime time Emmy Award for ‘Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series’ – USA Network Television series ‘ Mr. Robot’ (2016)

-First Actor of Egyptian heritage to wn an ‘Academy Award’ for Best Actor.

-Named as ‘one of the 100 most influential people in the world TIME magazine (2019)

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pix : oscar.go.com

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AMERICAN / EGYPT

Hadi Souan , Athlete – Wins First ever Olympic Medal for Saudi Arabia : September 2000

Hadi Souan (aka) Hadi Soua’an Al-Somaily wins a Silver medal in 400m hurdles and brings Saudi Arabia’s First Olympic Medal Victory – 2000 Summer Olympics, Sydney, Australia.

He has won over 40 medals. Some of them are:

Records:

  • 2005 – Gold Medal – 400 m hurdles -Asian Championship, Incheon, South Korea
  • 2005 – Silver Medal – 400 m hurdles – Islamic Solidarity Games, Mecca, Saudi Arabia
  • 2005- Gold Medal – 4 x 400 m relay – Islamic Solidarity Games, Mecca, Saudi Arabia
  • 2004- Gold Medal – 400m hurdles – Pan Arab Games, Algiers, Algeria
  • 2004- Gold Medal – 4 x 400m relay – Pan Arab Games, Algiers, Algeria
  • 2002 – Gold Medal – 400m hurdles – West Asian Games, Kuwait
  • 2002 – Gold Medal – 400m hurdles – Asian Games, Busan, South Korea
  • 2002 -Gold Medal – 4 x 400m relay – Asian Games, Busan, South Korea
  • 2001 – Copper Medal – 400m hurdles – Goodwill Games, Brisbane, Australia
  • 2000 -Silver Medal – 400m hurdles – Summer Olympics, Sydney, Australia
  • 2000 – Gold Medal – 400m hurdles – Asian Championship, Jakarta, Indonesia
  • 2000- Copper Medal – 4 x 400m relay – Asian Championship, Jakarta, Indonesia
  • 1999- Gold Medal – 400m hurdles – Pan Arab Games, Amman, Jordan

Positions / Honours:

-Board member – Saudi Arabian Athletic Federation (SAAF) / -Board Member – Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee (SAOC) Assembly / -Member, Olympic Council of Asian Athletic Commission / -Member – Saudi Sports Arbitration Centre / – Member -International Relations Committee, Saudi Arabia Olympic Committee (SAOC) etc.

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Hadi Souan has Saudi national pride soaring high after winning the 400m hurdles silver medal at the Sydney Olympics. (Supplied) / arabnews.com

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SAUDI ARABIA

Waad Al-Kateab – Documentary Filmmaker. Award Winner.

Waad Al-Kateab. Journalist. Filmmaker. Activist

Named as one of the Top 100 Influential People in 2020 by TIME magazine (September 2020)

Award winning Syrian Director of the film ‘For Sama’ .

-The most nominated documentary in the history of the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA)

-Golden Eye Award, Cannes Film Festival / Grand Jury Award, SXSW / Special Jury Prize, Canadian Hot Docs International Film Festival / Oeil d’Or Prize, Cannes Film Festival (May 25, 2019)

Other Awards:

-International Emmy for Reporting – for the covering the Siege of Aleppo . The First Syrian to win in this category.

Presently: Reporter for Channel 4 News, UK

Other Documentary:

  • The Second Castle at Aleppo

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pix: arabnews.com / tumblr.com

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UNITED KINGDOM / SYRIA

Basant Hemida Sprints Her Way To Win 2 Medals at ‘Athletics Kladno – Czechoslovakia’ : September 2020

Basant Hemida (aka) Basant Hemida Abdelsalam. Sprinter. Track and Field Athlete.

Basant Hemida wins Sprint Double the 100m and 200m at the Athletics Kladno in Czechoslovakia.

Other Records :

  • 2019 – African Games 2019, Rabat, Morocco – 2 medals (100m 3rd / 200m 2nd)
  • 2018 – Mediterranean Championship, Jesolo, Italy – 2 medals (100m 3rd / 200m 2nd)
  • 2016 – Mediterranean Championship, Tunis, Tunisia – 1 medal (200m -2nd)
  • 2014 – Arab Junior Championship, Cairo, Egypt – 2 medals (100m 1st / 200m 2nd)
  • 2013 – Arab Youth Championship – Cairo, Egypt – 2 medals (200m 2nd / Medley Relay 2nd)
  • 2012 – Arab Junior Championship, Amman, Jordan – 2 medals (100m 2nd / 200m 1st)

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pix : english.ahram.org.eg

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EGYPT