Saudi Arabia Wins Presidency of Arab League’s – ALECSO’s Executive Council & Hani Al-Muqbel Elected as its President : July 2021

Saudi Arabia has won the presidency of the executive council of the Arab League Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization (ALECSO).

Saudi representative and member of ALECSO’s executive council Hani Al-Muqbel on Thursday was elected president of the council from 2021 through 2023, winning a majority of the vote and the participation of 21 Arab countries.

Al-Muqbel has over 18 years of work experience. He graduated from Harvard Business School after completing several executive training programs, including the executive program in developing leaderships, and other programs specialized in the strategic leadership, negotiation, board of directors’ governance, building strategic partnerships, design thinking and business growth from Harvard Business School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and business schools in Stanford, Columbia, INSEAD, and the International Institute for Management Development (IMD)

source/content: www.arabnews.com

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Saudi representative and member of ALECSO’s executive council Hani Al-Muqbel. (Supplied) / pix: arabnews.com

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SAUDI ARABIA

Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan named ‘Man of Humanity’ by Vatican’s Foundation Gravissimum Educationis : July 06th, 2021

His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, was named as the “Man of Humanity” by the Vatican’s Foundation Gravissimum Educationis .

Mohamed bin Zayed’s naming as ‘Man of Humanity’ underscores international community’s recognition of his humanitarian role: UAE Fatwa Council.

An outcome of his leading efforts to promote the values of compassion, giving and peace globally.

The UAE Fatwa Council pointed out that His Highness Sheikh Mohamed’s achievements in supporting needy people and rescuing those affected by crises and disasters without discrimination around the world highlights his belief in the tolerant spirit of Islam, which calls for tolerance and noble values, reflecting the Prophet Muhammad’s saying, “There is a reward for everyone with a moist liver.”

To date, the UAE has provided aid to medical staff and front line workers in more than 135 countries to curb the spread of COVID-19.

In March, Sheikh Mohamed was awarded ‘The 2021 DIHAD International Personality Award for Humanitarian Relief ‘ as a gesture of international gratitude for His Highness’s continuous support and dedicated efforts in reinforcing humanitarian work.

source: wam.ae

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The Award was received by Sheikh Shakhbout bin Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of State, on behalf of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, from Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, President of Pontifical Foundation Gravissimum Educationis and Ministry of Education Vatican, during a ceremony held on July 06th, 2021 at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, in the presence of the ambassadors accredited to the UAE. /pix: wam.ae

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ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E.)

Nadhira Al Harthi, First Omani Woman to Reach the Highest Summit on Earth, Mount Everest: 2021

Nadhira Al-Harthy (aka) Nadhira Al-Harthia : Mountaineer. Education Expert.

First Arab Woman to Reach Mount Ama Dablam

  • The first Arab Woman to reach top of Mount Ama Dablam (6, 812 meters), one of the highest Himalayan peaks located in Nepal.
  • Climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, leading an expedition of Omani students enrolled in the Globe Educational Programme (2019)

Work:

  • General Director Assistance for Girl Guides at Oman Scouts and Guides Organization under the Ministry of Education.
  • Regional leader of Globe Educational Programme for the Omani Youth.

Education:

  • Master’s Degree, Geographic Studies, Sultan Qaboos University (2011)
  • Bachelor’s Degree, Social Studies, College of Education, Rustaq (1999)

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pix: nadhira-alharthy.com

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OMAN

Artworks at Noor Riyadh Festival set Two Guinness World Records : March 2021

“Beacon,” by Polish artist Carolina Halatek, broke the record for the largest LED (light-emitting diode) structure. The sculpture, which was on show at the King Abdul Aziz Historical Center between March 18 and April 3, consisted of 272,160 LEDs.

“Star in Motion,” by Belgian artist Koert Vermeulen, was suspended at a height of 256 meters on the Kingdom Center tower and radiated 1.2 million lumens of light. It set the world record for the brightest suspended ornament.

Noor Riyadh is an initiative of the Riyadh Art Project, which hopes to establish more than 1,000 public artworks throughout the city.

source/content : arabnews.com

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pix: www.guinnessworldrecords.com

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SAUDI ARABIA

History Made. Ons Jabeur became First Arab Woman to Win a WTA Title : June 20th, 2021

Ons Jabeur makes history. Professional Tennis Player.

Ons Jabeur, the Tunisian 26-year-old became the first Arab woman to win a WTA title defeating Daria Kasatkina 7-5, 6-4 to win the 2021 Viking Classic Birmingham. 

Jabeur has crossed Selima Sfar’s career high of No.75 to become the highest-ranked Arab Woman ever.

Few other Records :

  • First Arab Girl to win a Junior Slam title, Roland Garros, 2011
  • First Arab to win any Junior Grand title since 1964
  • First Arab Woman to make a WTA final, Moscow, 2016
  • etc…

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pix: https://commons.wikimedia.org/ – si.robi

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TUNISIA

World’s Largest Coral Garden in the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia

Officials in Saudi Arabia have announced a joint project to establish the largest coral garden in the world at NEOM, the futuristic mega-city being built in the Kingdom’s northwest.


NEOM and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) said that the project that will cover 100 hectares on Shusha Island on the shores of the Red Sea.


The Shusha Island Coral Park will become a global center to showcase innovations to protect and restore coral reefs and accelerate conservation solutions, helping to reduce the effects of climate change, a statement issued by Saudi Press Agency said.

Shusha Island is home to more than 300 species of coral and 1,000 species of fish.

The project is scheduled to be completed in 2025, making NEOM a world leader in restoring and developing coral reefs.

source/content: arabnews.com

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A picture shows coral reefs at the Obhor coast, 30 kms north of the Red Sea city of Jeddah, 20 December 2007. AFP PHOTO/HASSAN AMMAR (Photo by HASSAN AMMAR / AFP) / pix: arabnews.com

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SAUDI ARABIA

UAE Elected to UN Security Council : June 11th, 2021

United Arab Emirates elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2022-2023.

The UAE is one of five countries elected to sit as non-permanent members on the Security Council in 2022 and 2023.

The others are Brazil, Albania, Gabon and Ghana, and the new arrivals could potentially shift the power balance within the world body, diplomats predicted.

“The UAE has always been ready to assume its share of the responsibility to confront urgent global challenges, in cooperation with the international community, and this was the primary motivation for our campaign for Security Council membership,” said Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the UAE’s minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation.

Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, the UAE’s permanent representative to the UN, said her country’s role on the Security Council “stems from our belief that our values and principles can help advance progress toward our common goal of international peace and security.”

The UAE joined the UN in 1971, the year the country was founded. The only time it has previously held a seat on the Security Council was in 1986-1987.

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This United Nations handout photo shows a view of the Security Council meeting at the UN in New York. (AFP file photo) / arabnews.com

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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E.)

RECORDS – Two Air Facilities in 1930s – Region’s First Airport in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi’s Abandoned Airstrip : UAE

A WAM Feature

The Region’s first airport established by the British in 1932 in Sharjah, which catered to airliners on the western Gulf air-route to India.

However, an airstrip existed on Abu Dhabi’s Sir Bani Yas Island since 1930, which also served planes on the route between Britain, India and Australia, has not gained much attention of history enthusiasts for the obvious reason — it was mainly meant for military aircraft, not civilian flights, according to historians and documents accessed by Emirates News Agency (WAM) from the UAE’s National Archives.

Sharjah airport and fuel tank in Abu Dhabi in 1932

An administration report for the Trucial Coast for the year 1932 says, “The chief event of the year was the securing of the Airport at Shargah (Sharjah) from the Shaikh (sic) of that place in July.” The report added that a fuel tank was established at Sir Bani Yas Island belonging to the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi in the same year.

Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, along with neighbouring emirates, were then part of the Trucial States, which was a collection of various sheikhdoms that allied themselves to the British through a number of treaties, until the formation of the UAE in 1971.

The 1932 report says the British Residency Agent in Sharjah, accompanied by the Political Agent in Kuwait, “succeeded after a further few days negotiations in persuading the Shaikh (sic) to put his signature to the required agreement [to establish the airport in Sharjah], which offered very favourable terms to the Shaikh (sic).”

On 5th October 1932, the first Imperial Airways flight landed and left Sharjah, said the report. (Imperial Airways later merged with British Airways to establish the British Overseas Airways Corporation in 1939.)

Tedious negotiations, agreement on Rs. 400 rent

However, the British officials had to engage in “tedious” negotiations with Abu Dhabi’s ruler for the facilities on Sir Bani Yas Island, located 250kms broadly west of the UAE’s capital.

Lt. Col. Gordon Loch, British Political Agent in Bahrain, persuaded Ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan Al Nahyan, to sign the agreement in 1935 on the storage tank and landing ground on Sir Bani Yas Island, along with another landing facility near Abu Dhabi, according to a letter written by Loch to the British Political Resident in the Gulf, on 17th February 1935.

The negotiation was tough because “In 1930 the Royal Air Force (RAF) had established a landing ground on Sir Bani Yas, despite opposition of Sheikh Shakhbut [the elder brother of Sheikh Zayed, the UAE’s founding father],” writes historian Nicholas Stanley-Price in his book titled ‘Imperial Outpost in the Gulf – The Airfield at Sharjah (UAE) 1932-1952.’ The agreement, signed on 18th February 1935 between the RAF and Sheikh Shakhbut mentions Indian rupees 400 (then the currency in use in the Emirates) as monthly rent for the facilities to be paid to the Sheikh. The British Government also agreed to pay a sum of rupees 5,000 as a token of friendship and goodwill. The agreement was valid for 12 years, until 1947.

Air crash during Second World War

Talking about the security of the facility, Peter Hellyer, who has made a special study of the history of Sir Bani Yas, says, “A guard from Oman was recruited to look after the fuel tank, and lived a lonely life for many years before eventually marrying a servant of one of the Dalma families who visited the island in winter.”

There proved to be little demand for the airstrip and the petrol tank, although there was a short flurry of activity during the Second World War.

Hellyer, an advisor on cultural heritage at the UAE Ministry of Culture and Youth, notes that: “On 22nd April 1944, two ‘Anson’ aircraft belonging to the Anti-Locust Mission crash-landed at the island, en route from Sharjah to Bahrain. However, it is not clear from the records whether the Ansons crash-landed at the airstrip, or elsewhere on the island.”

Hellyer adds that the affected airmen were provided with a bag of flour and a bag of peas by the inhabitants on the island. Unfortunately, on 24th April, a serious mishap occurred with a petrol fire and one man was very seriously burnt. A B.O.A.C. flying boat landed at Yas Island and the injured were evacuated to Bahrain and later the aircraft were also flown off from the Island and arrived in Bahrain on 26th April, he explains.

New Airport opens in 2008

The emergency airstrip on the island, Hellyer adds, “was officially abandoned in 1944, although the Ruler continued to receive payment for the facility until at least 1949.”

He notes, a tarmac airstrip was opened on Sir Bani Yas by the early 1970s, situated on the western side of the island, although not for commercial use.

This was later expanded by the Abu Dhabi Airport Company, which opened a fully-fledged airport in 2008, to complement the island’s development as a nature-based tourist destination.

The island is also home to the only Christian monastery so far identified in the Emirates. Thought to have been built around 600AD and abandoned perhaps 150 years later, the monastery was rediscovered during excavations in the early 1990s by the Abu Dhabi islands Archaeological Survey, ADIAS, directed by Hellyer

No trace of fuel tank

According to the Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT-Abu Dhabi), which oversees Sir Bani Yas today, “there does not appear to be any surviving trace of the fuel tank. The particular area where it was probably located in between the Sir Bani Yas Clinic, Jetty area and Arrivals Hall, and the Petrol Station,”  a spokesperson tells WAM. 

However, the DCT-Abu Dhabi has made out an approximate location of the tank from the historical documents of the National Archives. This location is also confirmed by later UK mapping from 1966, adds the DCT spokesperson.

WAM/Binsal AbdulKader

source: Reproduced from WAM Feature : Thu 10-06-2021 15:44 PM

www.wam.ae

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pix: wam.ae

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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E)

Winners of 12th Makkah Award for Excellence honored : June 09th, 2021

The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) won the award for its work during the COVID-19 pandemic, by providing digital support and assistance to the authorities managing the crisis, state news agency SPA reported. 

The launch of the “Tawakkalna” and “Tabaud” applications — released three weeks after development — contributed significantly to helping the relevant authorities combat the epidemic, by providing services necessary for citizens, residents and visitors.

The recipients of the 12th Makkah Award for Excellence were honored by the region’s governor, Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, during a ceremony on Wednesday June 09th, at the Jeddah International Exhibition & Convention Center.

source/content : arabnews.com

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pix: arabnews.com

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SAUDI ARABIA

Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) Wins Top Awards in MENA region for Innovation : 2021

The Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) has won two gold awards at the Middle East and North Africa Stevie Awards, which recognize innovation in the region’s business sector.

  • The First gold award for innovation in business information or application websites, for developing the Tamkeen app to apply for and follow up on loans.
  • The 2nd gold award was for a mobile app for SIDF clients.

Winners of the gold, silver and bronze awards are determined based on average marks by 60 global professional figures through six juries.

source/content: arabnews.com

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pix: arabnews.com

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SAUDI ARABIA