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The 12th World Urban Forum (WUF), hosted in Cairo from November 4 to 8, achieved record-breaking levels of attendance and participation, as confirmed by UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN-Habitat Ana Claudia Rusbach.
She extended her gratitude to Egypt for the forum’s unprecedented success, highlighting Cairo’s contributions to making this year’s forum the most well-attended in its history.
During the closing-day press conference, Rusbach underscored the significance of the turnout, affirming that this year’s forum exceeded all previous benchmarks. Joining her at the conference were prominent Egyptian officials, including Egypt’s Minister of Local Development Dr. Manal Awad, Minister of Housing Eng. Sherif El-Sherbini, and Cairo’s Governor Dr. Ibrahim Saber.
Rusbach highlighted the value of collaboration between governments and local communities, particularly in addressing critical housing and climate challenges. She emphasized that adequate housing is a fundamental human right and underlined the importance of collective action in managing climate change’s impacts.
The forum spotlighted housing and urban development challenges, with discussions focusing on sustainable solutions, affordable housing access, and resilience in the face of climate threats. The event underscored the role of cities in advancing human rights and fostering community-driven solutions through international cooperation.
Amin Chiakha, an 18-year-old forward from FC Copenhagen, has officially announced his change of sporting nationality and is now eligible to represent the Algerian national football team, as revealed in a post on his Instagram account.
“I was born in Denmark to a Danish mother and an Algerian father—two incredible individuals who have enriched my life with the best of both cultures and have always supported me in everything I do. I feel both Danish and Algerian and could never choose between the two,” he wrote.
He continued, “I had the honor of representing Denmark at the youth national team level, a tremendous privilege where I gave my all every time I wore the Danish jersey. However, I have felt immense support and love from the Algerian people. The Algerian Football Federation has presented a serious and ambitious project that aligns perfectly with my vision for the future of my football career. After careful consideration of all aspects, I have decided to represent the Algerian national team moving forward.”
Finally, Amin Chiakha conveyed a message to the Algerian supporters: “I want to send a humble than you to the Danish FA (DBU). My Danish team mates and national team coaches for everything. I really enjoyed every moment, thank you…At the same time, I assure the Algerian people and fans that I will always strive to defend our colors, and I am grateful for the warm welcome I have received,” he concluded.
Egyptian architectural historian May El-Ibrashy is among the winners of the 2022 Prince Claus Impacts awards for her contribution and innovation in her community.
The Prince Claus Fund has announced on Tuesday the six recipients of the first 2022 Prince Claus Impact Awards.
The new award honours individuals whose work in art and culture engages their communities in innovative, positive ways while addressing issues of urgent contemporary relevance.
El-Ibrashy is an architect whose work centres on community engagement through heritage conservation, rehabilitation, preservation, and re-signification. She is the founder of the Megawra Built Environment Collective, a twinship between an architectural firm and an NGO.
Through her work she has managed to create a real difference for the often-marginalised communities living in Cairo’s historic centre and has created an important counter narrative to the current government’s focus on urban expansion and renewal, creating a new sense of hope and pride for the communities she works with.
Focusing on Al-Khalifa District in Sayeda Zeinab, Al-Hattaba district by the citadel, and Al-Imam Al-Shafii district, El-Ibrashy’s participatory conservation initiative is an inspiring successful community dialogue that has been going on for 10 years. The impact of the dialogue still resonates in the communities of Al Khalifa District, Al-Hattaba and Al-Imam Al-Shafii.
The other five recipients are:
Ailton Alves Lacerda Krenak (Brazil), an indigenous leader, environmentalist, and philosopher.
Alain Gomis (Senegal), a Senegalese-French film director and screenwriter.
Hassan Darsi (Morocco), a visual artist whose work promotes critical thinking about public spaces and citizenship.
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara (Cuba), an artist and human rights defender.
María Medrano (Argentina) is a writer, poet and editor.
The Awards Ceremony shall take place in the Royal Palace Amsterdam on the 7th of December.
Palestinian documentary Vibrations from Gaza won the Best Short Film award at the 68th BFI London Film Festival (9 to 20 October 2024).
The 76-minute-long Vibrations from Gaza was among 10 films competing in London’s festival.
While announcing the winning film, the festival’s Short Film Competition jury praised the film saying: “We were astonished by the calibre of films in this competition and struggled to only award one film. Our winner is a film that uses sound to send reverberations through our bodies and souls,” reads the press release.
Vibrations from Gaza offers a glimpse into the lives of deaf children in the besieged and occupied Gaza Strip. Through the voices of children who have grown up under the relentless blockade and repeated Israeli aggression, it vividly conveys how they experience the bombings, destruction, and drone buzz overhead.
The short documentary — which is one of the last documentaries to come out of Gaza before the Israeli war’s eruption last year — features children Amani Iz Eldin, Musa and Mustafa Samour, and Isra Abuasr.
The film previously held its world premiere at the Palestine Cinema Days Film Festival in its home country before screening at numerous festivals and winning several awards, including Best Short at the Iran International Film Festival and the Azur Phoenix Award for Short Films at the Middle East and South Africa Film Festival.
Rehab Nazzal is a one-woman show in this film, serving as its director, producer, and writer.
Nazzal is a Palestinian-born multidisciplinary artist and educator based in Montreal, Canada and Bethlehem, Palestine.
Her work deals with the effects of settler and colonial violence on people, on land, and other non-human life in Palestine.
Nazzal’s photography, videos, sound, and installations have been exhibited and screened in Palestine, Canada, and internationally.
She has created multiple short videos, blurring the boundaries between documentary and video art, including Dima, A Night at Home, Canada Park, Bodies in Motion, Mourning, and Bil’in.
Event will showcase the diversity of Arab cultural heritage and civilization while promoting intercultural dialogue and cultural development goals
Initiative reflects Saudi Arabia’s commitment to global engagement and received unanimous backing from Arab culture ministers at the ALECSO General Conference in May
Saudi Arabia is organizing the inaugural Arab Week at UNESCO, set for Nov. 4-5 at its Paris headquarters.
This marks the first such event in more than 50 years of Arab-UNESCO relations, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Wednesday.
Supported by all Arab nations, the event will showcase the diversity of Arab cultural heritage and civilization while promoting intercultural dialogue and cultural development goals.
Organizing by Saudi Arabia’s National Commission for Education, Culture and Sciences, the event will highlight the Arab world’s artistic and literary traditions, creating a broad platform for cultural exchange.
The initiative reflects Saudi Arabia’s commitment to global engagement and received unanimous backing from Arab culture ministers at the ALECSO General Conference in May.
Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, minister of culture and chairman of the commission, has led the initiative, positioning Saudi Arabia as a key player in promoting regional and international cultural collaboration.
The program includes a marketplace for Arab cultural products, Arabic calligraphy exhibitions, UNESCO-listed heritage site displays, music, food demonstrations, traditional crafts, and fashion showcases.
Academic activities feature symposiums on novel writing, artificial intelligence, calligraphy, children’s literature, and poetry, alongside competitions and artist displays.
This event enhances Arab culture’s global standing, providing a platform to share its rich heritage and ideas while uniting Arab nations through shared values and contributing to global development.
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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At-Turaif District is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. (Wikimedia Commons)
She might be just 24 years old, but Palestinian artist Salma Dib already has a remarkable story to tell.
The young UAE-based artist is displaying one of her wall pieces at an exhibition called “Summer and Women” at Etihad Modern Art Gallery in Abu Dhabi.
Dib has been working on an ongoing, powerful and labor-intensive series of works which she calls “generational walls.” She mounts a mix of building materials — including cement, gravel and sand — on wooden panels featuring obscure Arabic writings. The result is visually intense, stopping viewers in their tracks.
The inspiration behind the politically charged, grey-toned imagery is the graffiti found on the walls of Syria, Jordan and Palestine.
“People can anonymously say anything on them,” said Dib, referring to the protest nature of her work. “I think I found a part of myself in those walls, because I (have always been) reserved in what I had to say . . . A lot of it is about healing because I get to say what I want.”
Born in a Syrian refugee camp, Dib’s journey has taken her to the UAE and Chicago, where she studied art and exhibited some of her works. But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing.
“You know how they say you face in your life a lot of your biggest fears? I think my biggest fear has always been uncertainty — familywise, country-wise, passport situations and my schooling. There was always that feeling of ‘Where is home?’ which I feel a lot of us really deal with,” Dib told Arab News in Dubai, where she now lives.
The artist is the descendent of a displaced Palestinian family who were forced out of their homes in 1948 as a result of the Israeli occupation. Her grandfather, then a child, reached Syria — mostly by walking — and settled there.
“There was always this inherited pain passed down to us,” she said.
Dib was born in the refugee camp of Khan al-Shih, in southern Syria, 27 kilometers from Damascus. She lived with her family on a farm, a place of which she has many happy memories and where she says her love of art began. Her grandfather built a treehouse for her and her cousins, and her aunt and uncle were artists and had a studio at the camp.
“When we were kids, we would just play with paint in their studio,” Dib recalled. “As a child, art was something for fun. In the farm, we used to always paint on furniture.”
When Dib was five, her father had the chance of a job in the UAE, and the family initially settled in Abu Dhabi.
During her mid-teens, Dib began to take art more seriously. After losing her mother at 15, art became her “alone time.”
“It was an outlet, but there were no thoughts — just doing. Making something was always part of my life,” she said.
In 2018, Dib wanted to experience life on her own and was able to travel to the US to study art. She enrolled at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and found her artistic voice, experimenting with textile art, ceramic, and neon signage. One of her teachers encouraged her to get out of her “reserved” self: “She kept pushing me and telling me, ‘There is more to your story that you need to be showing through your art’.”
Summer and Women continues throughout the summer and open daily at the Etihad Modern Art Gallery.
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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Palestinian artist Salma Dib already has a remarkable story to tell. (Supplied)
– Astronomer from Hamdanid dynasty at end of 10th century A.D.
– Astrolabes integrate science, technology, engineering, arts, math
The STEAM Festival, organized by the King Salman Science Oasis, is highlighting the pioneering work of scientist Mariam Al-Astrolabi and Saudi Arabia’s women.
Running until Sept. 30 under the theme “Fun Chemistry,” the festival aims to instill a sense of pride in the nation’s heritage, raise awareness about the role of women in science, and inspire girls to pursue careers in STEAM.
Al-Astrolabi made significant contributions to science, particularly astronomy, becoming one of the most notable women in Islamic history.
A Muslim scientist, she is renowned for her work in creating and perfecting astrolabes, instruments used in ancient times to determine locations based on the movement of stars.
Al-Astrolabi, an astronomer from the Hamdanid dynasty at the end of the 10th century A.D., excelled in astronomy and engineering.
The astrolabe was also used in marine navigation to explore new routes, and helped to determine the times and direction of prayers for Muslims.
Astrolabes varied in size and design, with some small enough to be carried like a pocket watch before mechanical clocks were invented.
Astrolabes are symbols of the integration of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, known as STEAM.
Skilled engineering was used to design and manufacture the instrument with precision.
Mathematical calculations ensured accurate observations, and some astrolabe designs included artistic elements.
Centuries after Al-Astrolabi’s passing — the exact date remains unknown — her name continues to inspire those working in astronomy.
In 1990, American astronomer Henry E. Holt honored Al-Astrolabi by naming after her one of the asteroids he discovered at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego, California.
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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The STEAM Festival is highlighting the pioneering work of scientist Mariam Al-Astrolabi. (SPA)
The Kuwaiti shooting team won three gold medals in the 2024 Asian Shotgun Cup held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, said an official on Monday.
The Kuwaiti team scored its wins in the men and women’s single and team Trap shooting competitions.
Speaking to KUNA, Chairman of the Kuwaiti Shooting Sport Federation (KSSF) and Secretary General of the Asian Shooting Confederation Duaij Al-Otaibi commended the performance of the Kuwaiti team, noting that the tournament, held on September 20-30, saw the participation of various top competitors from China, Japan, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and more.
Hagar Rashid Al Naeemi has carved a historic path as the first female police officer from Abu Dhabi to be selected for a role for the International Police. This remarkable achievement underscores her exemplary dedication, skills, and the UAE’s commitment to fostering gender equality in law enforcement.
A Distinguished Career
Hagar’s journey to Interpol is marked by a series of significant accomplishments. Serving in Abu Dhabi’s police force , she demonstrated outstanding expertise in various critical areas, earning respect and recognition from her peers and superiors. Her selection for Interpol is a testament to her hard work and the progressive vision of the UAE’s leadership.
Al Naeemi specialises in digital crime, focusing on combating cyber threats such as hacking, data breaches, and online fraud. Her expertise involves using advanced technological tools to track and prevent cyber-criminal activities, ensuring the security of digital infrastructures. At Interpol, she will continue to leverage her skills in cybercrime to develop and implement strategies for international cooperation in fighting digital threats, contributing to global cybersecurity initiatives. This role could involve coordinating with various countries to enhance collective cyber defences and address emerging digital crime trends.
Empowering a new generation of female leaders
Hagar’s appointment is more than a personal victory; its a milestone for all Emirati women. Her success symbolises the breaking of barriers and the new potential for women in fields traditionally dominated by men. It serves as an inspirational narrative, encouraging more women to pursue careers in law enforcement and other male-dominated fields.
Her success highlights that dedication and hard work can lead to global recognition, motivating young women to dream big and strive for excellence in their chosen paths.
A source of national pride
Hagar’s achievement brings immense pride to the UAE. It reflects the nation’s progressive policies and the successful integration of women into high-stakes roles. Her journey from Abu Dhabi to Interpol showcases the UAE’s commitment to empowering women and highlights the significant strides the country has made in gender equality.
About one million tonnes of ammonia produced will be shipped to either European or North-east Asian markets, Adnoc executive says.
Adnoc will acquire a 35 per cent equity stake in oil major ExxonMobil’s proposed blue hydrogen and ammonia production facility in Texas as the Abu Dhabi-based energy company boosts its presence in the US.
The project, set to be the “world’s largest” of its kind, will be capable of producing up to 1 billion cubic feet daily of blue hydrogen, with about 98 per cent of carbon dioxide removed, and more than 1 million tonnes of low-carbon ammonia per year, Adnoc said in a statement on Wednesday. The final investment decision is projected for 2025, with operations expected to begin in 2029.
“This strategic investment is a significant step for Adnoc as we grow our portfolio of lower-carbon energy sources and deliver on our international growth strategy,” said Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Adnoc managing director and group chief executive.
Blue hydrogen is primarily produced from natural gas through a process known as steam reforming, which involves combining natural gas with steam. This process generates hydrogen as the main product, while carbon dioxide is produced as a by-product.
The plant, which will be in Baytown, will have access to “cheap” gas from the US Gulf Coast via pipelines, Michele Fiorentino, executive vice president of low carbon solutions at Adnoc, told The National on Wednesday.
Mr Fiorentino said that about half of the facility’s production will be utilised by ExxonMobil for its operations as “captive demand”. While part of the remaining half will be sold in the Gulf Coast, where there is a well-established hydrogen network, about one million tonnes of ammonia will be shipped to either European or north-east Asian markets, he added. Discussions are under way with possible buyers, he said.
“A big off-taker is going to be North-east Asia – Japan and South Korea are keen to decarbonise their energy systems, and so they’re looking at ammonia … to reduce the carbon footprint of their coal-fired [power] plants,” Mr Fiorentino said.
Ammonia co-firing involves substituting part of the coal used in power plants with ammonia and burning the low-carbon fuel with coal to produce electricity.
“There are obligations on the overall refining system in Europe to reduce their carbon footprint and other hard-to-abate sectors are looking at hydrogen as a way to decarbonise,” Mr Fiorentino said.
Adnoc’s latest agreement follows its acquisition of a 11.7 per cent stake in phase one of NextDecade’s Rio Grande liquefied natural gas export project in Texas.
“This is the second [deal] in a relatively short period of time. The US remains an interesting geography from our perspective, whether it’s on the gas side or on the low carbon solution side,” Mr Fiorentino said. “We remain very receptive to investment opportunities that really make financial sense in the region.”
Adnoc is making substantial investments in carbon capture and establishing a hydrogen supply chain, which is seen as crucial for abating emissions in industries such as shipping and steel manufacturing.
The company is building a one million tonnes-per-year low-carbon ammonia production plant at the Ta’ziz industrial ecosystem and chemicals hub in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi.
Adnoc has also shipped several demonstration cargoes of low-carbon ammonia to customers in Asia and Germany. In December, the company teamed up with Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to explore potential opportunities in green hydrogen and ammonia value chains.
The companies will also study the deployment of carbon management technology, the state-run energy company said at the time.
The market for clean hydrogen is expected to top the value of the liquefied natural gas trade by 2030 and grow to $1.4 trillion per year by 2050, Deloitte said in a report last year.
Green hydrogen, which is produced using renewable energy such as solar and wind, is projected to help drive the bulk of the growth, the report said.
Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, at the signing of a strategic partnership by Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Adnoc’s managing director and group chief executive and Darren Woods, ExxonMobil’s chairman and chief executive. Photo: Abu Dhabi Media Office
