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Dubai has been ranked among the top 10 cities in the Global Power City Index (GPCI) 2023, a prestigious and internationally recognised league table issued by the Mori Memorial Foundation’s Institute for Urban Strategies in Japan. The new ranking makes Dubai the first city in the Middle East to attain this prestigious global recognition.
In the 2023 index, which ranks major cities on to their ‘magnetism’ – or power to attract people, capital and enterprises – Dubai climbed three places to eighth overall. The achievement cements Dubai’s position as a leading global city, driven by the vision of its leadership and the collective determination of its citizens and residents.
H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, said that Dubai’s progress in the Global Power City Index 2023 reflects the dedicated efforts to realise the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, to attain top global positions across various vital sectors and establish Dubai as the world’s best city to work and live in.
Congratulating Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid on the emirate’s achievement as the first city in the Middle East to make it into the prestigious list, Sheikh Hamdan said, “There is no limit to our ambitions, and with the unwavering dedication of our nation’s people, we will continue to strengthen Dubai’s position as a model for the cities of the future, achieving milestones that set the global standard. Dubai’s excellence and accomplishments stem from the visionary leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, propelling the city at an accelerated pace towards the pinnacle of leadership and excellence.”
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed urged both the private and public sectors in Dubai to persist in their efforts to establish Dubai as a sustainable development model that places the development of people’s capabilities and enhances their quality of life at the forefront of its priorities. He underscored the government’s ongoing commitment to achieving further milestones in various global competitiveness indicators and consolidating a knowledge and creative economy through the adoption and implementation of modern legislative frameworks and regulatory rules, carefully crafted to address global changes. These efforts affirm Dubai’s capability to efficiently keep pace with the evolving landscape, he said.
“To cement Dubai’s position as a global economic powerhouse and its role as a catalyst for growth, we must cultivate world-class working environments that empower our national talent and attract the brightest minds from across the globe. This commitment to excellence will propel comprehensive development, establishing Dubai as a global benchmark for sustainable economic prosperity and resilience,” His Highness added.
In the 2023 index, Dubai retained its fourth position for the second consecutive year within the Cultural Interaction parameter, surpassing Tokyo, Istanbul, Madrid, Moscow, and Singapore. Meanwhile, London, New York, and Paris maintained the top three spots. The ranking is an outcome of Dubai’s commitment to enhancing its status as a cultural destination, a major hub for creativity, and one of the best cities in which to live and work. This effort aligns with Dubai’s cultural vision that aims to cement the emirate’s position as a global centre for culture, an incubator for creativity, and a thriving hub for talent. Dubai has also maintained its top regional ranking in Cultural Interaction.
The Global Power City Index (GPCI), which has been published annually since 2008, is a global benchmark for measuring the performance and competitiveness of global cities. It is used by governments, businesses, and individuals to make decisions related to investment, immigration, and travel. The index reflects the dynamic nature of cities and their ability to adapt and thrive in the face of global challenges. It provides a comprehensive overview of cities’ standing and impact on the global stage. The index comprises six parameters, including Economy, Research and Development, Cultural Interaction, Liveability, Environment, and Accessibility.
Dubai progressed in several sub-parameters within Cultural Interaction, ranking first globally in the Number of Foreign Residents and second in the Number of Luxury Hotel Rooms, reinforcing the emirate’s cultural offering, creative environment, and diverse tourist attractions.
The index further revealed Dubai’s excellence and leadership across various sub-indicators, encompassing work flexibility, low unemployment rate, and city cleanliness. It also highlighted Dubai’s success in hosting global exhibitions and events, attracting visitors and tourists, and increasing the influx of travellers through its airports.
Today, Dubai stands as one of the world’s most renowned cities in terms of economies, finance, business, tourism and travel. It is also one of the most successful cities in attracting talent, with more than 200 nationalities from various backgrounds living together in a tolerant and welcoming society. Dubai is also one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.
With Israel and Hamas at war in Gaza, books about the Palestinian issue and its history are in demand. One best-seller, the Palestinian academic and historian Nur Masalha’s “Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History”, argues that there is an urgent need to teach a history of the land and its people based on facts, not myths.
Masalha’s book was published in English in 2018 and was made available in Arabic in 2019 by the nonprofit Centre for Arab Unity Studies, based in Beirut. The author notes on Facebook that the book has topped Amazon best-seller lists in four categories: prehistory, prehistoric archaeology, Bible hermeneutics, and antiquities.
His book examines Palestine’s distant history and the attempts of Israel’s founders to hijack that history with non-scientific interpretations, changing the names of Palestinian cities and villages to Hebrew ones, and even changing the names of Israel’s founders and leaders from the names they were born with in Russia, Poland, Ukraine, and elsewhere, to Hebrew names.
In his introduction to the Arabic edition, Masalha expresses the hope that his book will “draw attention to the history, heritage, and deep roots of the Palestinians, the indigenous Arab population of Palestine”.
Nur Masalha’s book explores Palestine’s history, identity, and cultures from the Late Bronze Age until the modern era. The author hopes it “challenges the colonial approach to Palestine and the malicious myth of a land without a people.”
The book tells us that “Palestine” was the land’s name throughout ancient history. The name was first documented in the Late Bronze Age, about 3,200 years ago, and later in Greek sources. The name was used between 450 B.C. and 1948 A.D. to describe “a geographical area between the Mediterranean Sea, the Jordan River and various neighbouring lands.”
The book explores Palestine’s evolution, history, identity, languages, and cultures from the Late Bronze Age until the modern era. The author points out that “the history of Palestine is often taught in the West as the history of a land, not as Palestinian history, or the history of a people.” He thus hopes his book “challenges the colonial approach to Palestine and the malicious myth of a land without a people.”
Masalha uses a wide range of evidence and contemporary sources to examine the history of Palestine.
It also seeks to trace the beginnings of the concept of Palestine in geographical, cultural, political, and administrative policies. He argues that the Israelites’ conquest of the land of Canaan, and other basic stories in the Old Testament, are “mythical narratives” that try to establish a false awareness, not an evidence-based history following facts.
Updating History Textbooks
Masalha believes that history textbooks and curricula “must be based on historical facts placed in their context, concrete evidence, and archaeological and scientific discoveries, rather than on traditional opinions, imaginary narratives from the Old Testament, and repeated religious-political doctrines that are narrated for the benefit of influential elites.”
According to the book, some historians have argued that Palestine did not exist as a formal administrative entity until the British Mandate for Palestine was created after World War I. In reality, Masalha says, Palestine has existed as an administrative entity and an official state “for more than a thousand years.”
Masalha believes that history textbooks and curricula “must be based on historical facts placed in their context, concrete evidence, and archaeological and scientific discoveries, rather than on traditional opinions [and] imaginary narratives.”
The book charts the ancient origins of the name “Palestine” among the country’s multiple religious beliefs. Masalha says that, after more than 150 years of excavations in and around Jerusalem, there is still no historical, archaeological, or practical evidence of the “Kingdom of David” around 1000 B.C. The reason there is no material or practical evidence for the “United Kingdom of David and Solomon” and for other comprehensive narratives from the Old Testament, he argues, is simple: “They are invented traditions.”
Hebraised Names
Masalha gives a list of Israeli leaders who were born with Russian and Eastern European names but later adopted names with a Hebrew ring. They include:
David Ben-Gurion (1886–1973), Israel’s first prime minister and minister of defence, who used the Israeli army after 1948 to impose general Hebraisation and “purification” of surnames and personal names. Ben-Gurion was born as David Grün in an area of Poland then part of the Russia Empire. His mother’s name was Scheindel.
Moshe Sharett, who became Israel’s foreign minister in 1948 and served as prime minister from 1954 to 1955, was born as Moshe Chertok in 1894 in Kherson, then part of the Russian Empire and now in Ukraine. He chose to Hebraise his surname in 1949, after the establishment of the State of Israel.
Golda Meir, who was prime minister of Israel between 1969 and 1974, was born Golda Mabovitch in Kiev in 1898, and became Golda Meyerson by marriage in 1917. It is worth noting that she did not change her surname until she became minister of foreign affairs in 1956.
Menachem Begin, founder of the Likud Party and prime minister of Israel from 1977 to 1983, was born Mieczyslaw Begin in 1913 in Brest-Litovsk, then part of the Russian Empire and now Brest, Belarus.
Yitzhak Shamir, who served as Israel’s prime minister twice between 1983 and 1992, was born Itzhak Yezernitsky in 1915 in an area that is now part of Belarus.
Ariel Sharon, who was prime minister from 2001 to 2006, was born Ariel Scheinerman in colonial Palestine in 1928. His parents, Shmuel and Vera, whose name later became Dvora, emigrated to Palestine from Russia.
Masalha says that until the advent of European Zionism, members of Palestine’s Arabic-speaking Jewish minority were fondly known as “the Jews, children of the Arabs,” and were an integral part of the Palestinian people, Arabic being their language, culture and heritage.
Settler Colonialism
The book also addresses the settler colonialism at the heart of the Palestine conflict. Settler colonialism is a “structure, not an event”, according to Masalha, and is “deeply embedded in European colonialism.”
He argues that British colonialists, by denying the existence and rights of indigenous peoples, often viewed vast areas of the globe as “terra nullius”, land that belonged to “nobody.”
The author finishes by stressing that “decolonising history and restoring and preserving the ancient heritage and material culture of the Palestinians and in Palestine, are two vital matters.”
He adds: “There is an urgent need to teach the ancient history of Palestine, and the history of the local Palestinians (Muslims, Christians, Samaritans, and Jews), including the production of new and critical Palestinian textbooks, for schools, institutes, and universities, as well as for millions of exiled Palestinian refugees.”
He also believes that “this understanding and education must include the new critical archaeology of Palestine, the new critical understanding of antiquities, and the memories of this country.”
The architect, researcher and associate professor at the university of Science and Technology of Oran “Mohamed Boudiaf” (USTO), Dr. Dalila Senhadji has won the Hypatia International Award at the Biennale of architectural and Urban Restoration in Florence, Italy, for her outstanding academic career, the academician said Saturday.
Dubai Holding’s iconic Hatta Sign has garnered international acclaim by breaking the Guinness World Records title for ‘The Tallest Landmark Sign’. Situated atop the Hajar Mountains, the commanding 19.28-metre-tall structure stands as a striking symbol of Hatta’s identity and its status as one of the UAE’s most scenic regions.
The Guinness World Records title will shine a global spotlight on the Hatta region. What was once a local gem is now set to attract international interest, enticing travellers from around the world to experience the enchantment of Hatta firsthand. The heightened attention will help stimulate economic growth, create employment opportunities, and foster local business development, contributing to Hatta’s sustainable growth.
As Dubai Holding’s Hatta Resorts readies itself for opening its upcoming sixth season, the record-breaking Hatta Sign will be a globally recognised attraction that provides visitors a unique backdrop for capturing memorable pictures. Hikers are encouraged to make the ascent to the sign and take in the area’s breathtaking panoramic scenery from a higher altitude.
Hatta’s visitors are welcome to indulge in further adventures at the Hatta Resorts Wadi Hub, the main centre for outdoor activities in the region, including ziplining, mountain biking, rock climbing, zorbing, archery and axe-throwing, with new thrilling activities soon to be introduced in Season 6.
Visitors may also extend their journey with a stay at Hatta Resorts by Dubai Holding and enjoy an array of unique glamping experiences that seamlessly blend nature and culture with its array of outstanding trailers, lodges, domes and caravans. Already impressing visitors with its physical presence, the Hatta Sign now acquires global cultural significance. The landmark serves as a reminder of Hatta’s rich history as well as its newly attained international recognition.
After years lost in an educational wilderness, the Egyptian-British designer found his niche as a world authority on Islamic art and architecture with noble patrons such as King Charles III.
The Chelsea Flower Show was just some annual event that happened in London as far as Khaled Azzam was concerned, until the day he answered a call from the heir to the throne.
Prince Charles , inspired by two antique Turkish rugs at his residence in Gloucestershire, was on the phone with an unusual brief: “I want you to work with me to design a garden.”
“I thought it was fabulous,” Azzam tells The National. “I’d never designed a garden before in my life so I went to see him at Highgrove House. He’s long been fascinated with Islamic art and architecture, and, because that’s what I practise, we always spoke about such things.
“He said, ‘All these carpets that I live with and love are interpretations of gardens, but I would like to design and build a garden that is an interpretation of carpets. I want to flip it around’.”
So it was that in 2001, among the usual avant-garde displays and emerging trends at the horticultural showcase, the first entry ever submitted by a member of the British royal family instead dug deep into the past.
The classic Islamic charbagh representing the four gardens of Paradise in the Quran was a crowd-drawing triumph yet, when it won a coveted silver-gilt medal, Azzam remembers thinking: “Whoa, that’s crazy.”
In situ ever since at the Highgrove estate, The Carpet Garden is the living incarnation of the two men’s long combined efforts to bring forth new shoots from ancient artistic roots.
Now, more than 20 years on, Azzam presides as director of the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts that is regarded as a centre for excellence in teaching the geometries held to be the common thread between age-old skills all but abandoned in much of the modern world.
The aim is to nurture patterning techniques such as the kind of inlaid stone workmanship used to create the Cosmati Pavement, the 13th-century mosaic floor on which, fittingly, the throne will be placed during the coronation ceremony for King Charles III inside Westminster Abbey on Saturday.
An extensive network of PSTA outreach programmes has spread across the globe from the core educational base in London to regenerate the cultural heritage of different regions and communities, from Jamaica to the UAE to China.
But, from the outset, the school’s ethos often evoked incomprehension, ridicule and, at times, undisguised animosity from some within the art establishment.
“There were moments that I was very, very worried, saying, ‘if this dies, it dies with us’,” Azzam recalls. “What His Majesty was saying that architecture, cities and education should be about, and how we should deal with the environment, was not commonplace. All those things were seen to be interesting and quaint. We never saw ourselves as being alternative. We were part of what we used to call ‘essential thinking’.
“Very early on, we had this strong bond; we understood exactly what we had to do. Then, I had to understand something. He was a prince, now he’s a king. We’ve had visionaries, we’ve had patrons all throughout history, that is the role of a prince. But my role is to make it happen.”
If the mission was to accumulate centuries of precious creative knowledge for alumni to reinvigorate and, in turn, hand to the next generation then there was one significant impediment.
“There weren’t any masters to teach us,” Azzam says.
The disconcerting discovery came when he went to set up a regional centre in his birthplace in 2005 with the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, Art Jameel and local artisans from whom he had hoped to gain a deeper understanding of tradition.
Instead, Azzam had a moment of transformational thinking that “not everything old is beautiful” — the craftsmen and women, in spite of their evident skills, had for generations been learning by rote.
“I really respect them and their role in the community but some of it was quite shoddy workmanship. They would start telling me, ‘Ah, but you don’t know, I am an eighth-generation carpenter and I learnt this from my grandfather’.
“But, because we came from an academic background and could analyse this stuff, I said, ‘your grandfather made a mistake three generations ago and you’re just repeating that mistake’.”
Most saddening for Azzam, however, was that the artists were stuck perpetually reproducing the same designs over and over again. Without much grasp of the underlying mathematical principles, they were incapable of extending the lineage of their traditional arts and crafts by creating anything new.
“It opened my eyes to the limitations of simply teaching young people through copying the forms of the past. We had to go back to the origin, to deconstruct buildings and understand how they were built. We had to look at certain principles to see what they were about. In a way, it was a voyage backwards.
“Then there was a moment where we started turning around, and now we feel that there is enough of a contemporary heritage to call it a living tradition and move into the future.
“If we’ve been successful in one thing, it’s in really delivering the philosophy into practice. It’s not just talk, it’s about making things, creating this process from the origin to the manifestation.”
That their son would end up running any school, let alone a prestigious art institution for the Prince’s Foundation, would once have been inconceivable for Azzam’s parents, Laila and Omar, who long kept quiet their fears over his prospects.
Young Khaled, despite being widely read and full of curiosity about what was happening in the world, was nonetheless lost within the four walls of a classroom.
“I was always last in the class because I just didn’t understand what was going on at all.
“Although my parents never let on, they admitted it much later, saying, ‘You know, we didn’t think you’d even make it into university’.
“And the fact that I not just got into university but then got a PhD and became involved in education … my brother says it’s a sign of the end of the world,” he says, smiling affectionately at the long-running joke.
It pops up again when we’re discussing Azzam’s receipt of the Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order, a knighthood granted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2009, and his speech before Pope Benedict XVI as representative of Muslims at an interfaith forum the following year.
“I don’t know why until this day that I was chosen,” he says. “It’s another sign of the end of the world, according to my brother.”
Azzam puts being such “a terrible student” down to a childhood disrupted by frequent geographical moves but doesn’t rule out an undiagnosed learning difficulty. “In our day, you were just stupid if you didn’t get it,” he says.
Education eventually took its place as the most important part of his working life once he began to understand that the Latin root, educere, means “to draw out of” not “to put into”.
As a consequence of his own difficulties, he feels an enormous responsibility towards those unable to cope with school systems intent on treating students like empty vessels that need filling with facts and figures.
“I became very, very interested in the journey you take a student through to bring what’s in them out to the surface,” he says.
Though born in Egypt, where his mother “always returned to have her babies”, the family lived abroad because of his father’s job as a senior urban planner for the UN.
After a stint in Saudi Arabia, there was a relatively settled period of 10 years in Lebanon until civil war broke out. They struggled on for almost a year until Omar, working in Paris at the time, suggested that the rest of the family join him temporarily: “Just come over for Christmas,” was the gist, “things will die down.”
“We managed to get on a flight one day very, very quickly — just packed a hand bag each and ran off to the airport. We left everything behind, all our books, our toys, our belongings, our clothes and just never went back because the war never ended. We had to rebuild our life. Then England became my home and I’m very grateful.”
This is not quite how his younger self felt when first pitching up late one Autumn afternoon in what was then the “very, very small town” of Cambridge.
“There was nothing to do. In those days, everything shut at five o’clock. It was foggy, cold and damp, and I’d just spent two years in the South of France. I was trying to figure out what I had done wrong.”
The posse of four siblings received a hospitable welcome from the locals and quickly grew to love their adopted home and the architecture lining the cobbled streets.
There was a particularly memorable encounter, surrounded by fluted limestone columns, medieval stained-glass windows and Tudor symbols in King’s College Chapel that would later inform much of Azzam’s work.
Beneath the celebrated fan-vaulted ceiling of the 500-year-old Gothic landmark built by a succession of English monarchs, the teenager made an unexpected discovery: he found himself.
“Physically, I had nothing to do with that place. Culturally, I was an Egyptian who came to England. I wasn’t even an architect yet. I was doing my O-Levels and A-Levels.
“But there was something in me that completely understood that building; the message, the beauty of it.
“I felt I belonged there, that it was part of me. It was a very profound experience that changed my life somehow.”
Arriving at what he says all the great civilisations of the world had known, however, came only with time and experience.
It has been a constant journey of learning with two particular guiding lights along the way. The first was Abdel Wahed El Wakil, the foremost authority in Islamic architecture with whom Azzam subjected himself completely for eight intense years at a “hothouse” of an office in London.
“We had a difficult relationship because he was very demanding but he was my master who taught me everything I know about architecture,” he says. “I just totally understood that this idea of apprenticeship is to give yourself to somebody, and if you find that person, you’re very, very lucky.”
Through El Wakil, he met Keith Critchlow, the renowned geometer and founder of the Visual and Traditional Arts Department at the Prince’s Institute of Architecture, and developed a deep fascination with the properties underpinning the order of nature.
He talks of the intricate chambers of the nautilus shell and the honeycomb built in hives by bees or the movement of planets over time across the night sky, but perhaps his favourite example is the delicate, six-fold symmetry of a single ice crystal.
“All snowflakes are hexagonal because the molecular structure of water is hexagonal yet — and this blows my mind every time I say it — no two snowflakes that fall on the ground are the same.
“There is a principle of unity manifesting variety. All snowflakes start from the same origin but their final form is the record of their journey down to Earth. In a way, that’s us as human beings as well.
“If you look at a DNA structure, the very basic thing that binds us all together, it’s a beautiful spiral that has a certain proportional system and yet we’re all different.”
The firm belief that we all have the same origin is fundamental not only to his work at the school but also as principal of Khaled Azzam Associates, the “little practice” he started in 1991.
It is hard, he agrees, not to lose count of the many architectural projects he has been involved in over the years: mosques like that commissioned by King Abdallah II to commemorate his father, the late King Hussein, in Amman; royal residences, commercial buildings, offices and schools across the Middle East; and, most recently, the master plan launched by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to sustainably develop the historic Al Ula site in Saudi Arabia where he is headed a few days after our interview.
“I’ve been running two careers, that’s why the number of projects looks bigger than it is,” Azzam, now 62, says modestly.
When it’s pointed out that there doesn’t seem to be much spare time weighing on his hands, Azzam concedes that he wouldn’t know what to do with it if he had any. He works all day, never tiring because, well, he doesn’t see it as work.
“I am blessed in my life because I do things I love. I think very, very early on in my career, I just said: I want work to be part of my identity, part of my character — it all has to be one.
“The school has always been somewhere that I found a great sense of nourishment and fulfilment. And it’s very much part of my life. My wife, Mona, complains that they’re my family more than my family at home.”
Home proper is Clapham in south London, where Mona has laid the unshakeable foundation that has made “all this possible”, Azzam acknowledges. Everything is taken care of so that he never has to worry: the house, the well-being of their children, Issam, 24, and Nadia, 19, and the bills “that she knows I won’t pay”.
A few hours before the rest of the family wakes each day, he is already at his desk with a cup of coffee, drawing while looking out across one of London’s largest parks.
“It’s very quiet,” he says. “There’s nobody there, and then you see one person, then two people, and then you see life coming through, and you start having a funny relationship with it. It’s beautiful.”
From his perch, Azzam envies the super fit elderly man who runs around Clapham Common each day, and often wonders with a glint of amusement what the dogs make of their owners diligently picking up after them.
He watches the latest exercise trends come and go with the seasons — the boxing or tai chi or, as with a few years back, “everybody standing on their heads”.
No surprises, though, that after a lifetime eschewing fleeting fashions, he isn’t inclined to join them.
Khaled Azzam concedes that he wouldn’t know what to do with spare time if he had any away from work. ‘I am blessed in my life because I do things I love,’ he says. Photo: Mark Chilvers
Event is expected to attract more than 3,000 content creators and influencers
Topics that will be discussed include the role of new media in supporting economies and sustainable development
The 1 Billion Followers Summit, described as the world’s largest gathering of content creation and creators, will return to Dubai on Jan. 10 and 11, organizers announced on Wednesday. It follows the inaugural staging of the event in December 2022.
The summit is expected to attract more than 3,000 content creators, influencers and other creatives, including 100 expert speakers, who will discuss the role of new media in supporting economies and its contribution to sustainable development, the Emirates News Agency reported.
Other sessions will address ways to create meaningful and sustainable content, the skills required to ensure success across social media platforms and the tools that can positively contribute to digital platforms.
“Through the 1 Billion Followers Summit, we aim to unite content creators, change makers, and thought leaders to address pressing global issues that impact both the present and the future of our world,” said Alia Al-Hammadi, the CEO of summit organizer the New Media Academy, which describes itself as the UAE’s premier hub for digital skills and Arabic content creation.
“The event also serves as a platform for content creators, social media platforms and digital content production companies to exchange insights, fostering partnerships that align with the UAE’s strategy of becoming a global hub for creative industries and talents.
“Sharing social content is a huge responsibility that leaves a lasting impact on the individual and social levels. This is why the New Media Academy is keen on this annual event as a way to champion impactful content and positive narratives, in line with our commitment to unlocking the transformative potential of content creators, amplifying their influence.”
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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The 1 Billion Followers Summit will return to Dubai on Jan. 10 and 11. (Shutterstock)
The researchers received the prize in recognition for their contributions in various fields of science.
Two Moroccan scientists, Said Yaktin and Khalil Ben Haj Amin, were recently honored at the 41st Kuwait Prize ceremony, a celebration of global scientific brilliance.
This prestigious award, presented by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science (KFAS), aims to recognize and reward Arab scientists for their excellence across a range of scientific disciplines.
Said Yatkin, Professor of Higher Education at the Faculty of Letters and Humanities at Mohammed V University in Rabat, was awarded the prize in the Humanities, Arts, and Literature category.
His work on “Literature and Art in the Arab World – Specialization in Narrative Sciences” was selected from a pool of 43 applications for the prize in the literary category.
This recognition is the result of his extensive research on narrative, literary theory, critical literature, Arab-Islamic narrative heritage, and popular culture.
Yaktin’s dedication to advancing knowledge in these domains continues to serve as an inspiration to other scholars and students.
Meanwhile, Khalil Ben Haj Amin, who heads the battery technology group at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, was honored in the Applied Sciences category, under the theme of “Clean and Sustainable Energy Technologies.”
Ben Haj’s groundbreaking work in battery technology and his contribution to the applied sciences of clean and sustainable energy technology stood out from the work of 30 finalists.
His achievements have been hailed for paving the way for significant advances in the energy sector and promoting environmentally-friendly solutions.
Established in 1979 by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science, the Kuwait Prize embodies the Foundation’s commitment to supporting scientific research in all its facets. It also inspires Arab scholars and scientists to strive for excellence in their fields.
When a Saudi Arabian athlete rowed her boat over 6.2 miles of open water in 57 minutes and 24 seconds, she smashed the Guinness World Record.
Kariman Abuljadayel tried to break the record in the Red Sea off the coast of Jeddah after being the first Saudi woman to compete in the 100-meter event at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
She claimed that the endeavour was hampered by the intense heat and other issues.
Abuljadayel told Guinness World Records, “That day had a strong current that slowed the boat down. I was forced to put in more effort to just maintain the movement let alone move fast for the sake of breaking the record.” She said, “I will be honest, I wanted to quit, it was too much, but a strong voice of determination within me that drove me to continue rowing and break through the imaginary barriers.”
According to GWR, the athlete broke the record for the quickest time to row 10 kilometers (open water) in rowing.
“I want express my appreciation to my mother, Suraya Alshehry,” Kariman said. “Who nurtured this early passion and guided it before it faded. She is my role model and hero.”
source/content: bolnews.com (headline edited)
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source: Fastest time to row 10km (open water) – Guinness World Records / youtube.com
Over the past few years, Moroccan Quran reciters have achieved outstanding results in international Quran competitions.
Moroccan Quran reciter Iyass Hajri won on Thursday first place in the International Quran memorization competition in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Hajiri, 39, stood out among 29 contestants from around the world for his remarkable skills during the first edition of the competition, which was held in the pious atmosphere of Astana’s Grand Mosque.
The competition was organized by Kazakhstan’s Religious Administration of Muslims in celebration of the country’s National Day on November 1-2.
It was a major event in Central Asia, drawing the presence of diplomatic representatives of Muslim nations based in Astana. Religious authorities and Muslim dignitaries from Kazakhstan also participated.
The competition was broadcast live through various media platforms, including Munara TV, a television channel affiliated with the religious administration.
It also received significant attention and acclaim on the official social media networks of Kazakhstan’s Religious Council, resonating positively with the Kazakh audience.
Moroccan reciters have shown outstanding performances in international Quran competitions in recent years.
In June of last year, Ilias El Mehyaoui of Morocco won first place in the International Quran Recitation Competition in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In April of the same year, three Moroccans also took the top three places in the UAE’s “Inking for the Noble Qur’an and its Sciences 2022” competition.
Notably, the triumph of the Moroccan contestants in the UAE came after they had achieved leading positions in the Bahrain International Competition for Reciting the Holy Qur’an via the Internet (Global Reciter).
Dr Mohamed Ramy El Maarry hopes his example will lead next generation of Arab scientists into planetary studies.
A professor at Khalifa University of Science and Technology has had an asteroid named after him in recognition of his achievements in astronomy.
Dr Mohamed Ramy El Maarry, an Egyptian associate professor of planetary science and director of the Space and Planetary Science Centre at Khalifa University of Science and Technology, received the accolade from the International Astronomical Union.
Asteroid 2002 CZ will now be known as (357148) El Maarry, in recognition of his contribution to the study of comets and planetary science.
“I feel humbled and privileged to get such an honour. In a sense, I look at it as a lifetime achievement award, something that’s going to remain as a legacy,” he said.
“I look at it as a form of extra motivation to do more work to impart the love of science and exploration to the next generation.
“I hope this award can be an inspiration to the next generation of Arab scientists.”
Dr El Maarry’s work in the field of cometary geology is what led to his nomination.
“These sorts of nominations and awards highlight the fact that there are Arabs and people outside of the US and Europe who do significant work in planetary science and they are acknowledged by the international community overall,” said Dr El Maarry.
“I hope it will give them [his students] that extra motivation to remove the stigma that this is the sort of science that is only done by Nasa and people in the West.
“We already know that the UAE is making leaps and bounds in their long-term plans, particularly with regards to space and exploration.”
Belting up for next mission
Dr El Maarry will also be representing Khalifa University as part of the UAE’s recently announced mission to explore the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
He said the mission was aiming to uncover more details about icy asteroids, which could lead to important clues about the formation of the solar system.
The mission would look to explore seven bodies in the asteroid belt, some of them unexplored, to try to better understand more about icy asteroids which could give important clues on how the solar system formed, he added.
“Our Earth Sciences department offers the only bachelor’s degree in Earth and planetary science in the region,” said Dr El Maarry.
“Our ambition is to prepare the next generation of Emiratis to take part in the upcoming UAE space missions, especially the UAE mission to the asteroid belt, which is due to launch in 2028.”
The mission will involve a five-billion-kilometre journey to perform fly-bys of six asteroids and then send a lander that will touch down on the seventh.
“The naming of the asteroid by the International Astronomical Union after our faculty marks a significant milestone for Khalifa University and the UAE,” said Dr Arif Al Hammadi, executive vice president of the university.
“The recognition also emphasises the globally relevant research that our world-class faculty takes up at Space and Planetary Science Centre in scientific exploration.”
Dr El Maarry’s research covers planetary surfaces and the physical processes that affect them, by using data analysis of remote sensing data, modelling, lab work and comparative planetology mainly through fieldwork.
He has played key roles in numerous international space missions over the past 16 years. His body of work includes Nasa’s New Horizons mission exploring Kuiper Belt Objects at the edge of our solar system, the emirates’ lunar missions , the upcoming ESA ExoMars Rover, Comet Interceptor, the planetary defence mission Hera, and the UAE’s mission to the asteroid belt.
His asteroid can be viewed in the Nasa Small Bodies Database. It is located in the inner asteroid belt, more than 300 million kilometres from the Sun. It orbits the Sun approximately once every three-and-a-half years, and should get closest to the Sun on August 11, 2024.
What is now the (357148) El Maarry asteroid was discovered in February 2002, through the efforts of a joint venture between the Department of Astronomy and Astronomical Observatory of Padova University and the German Aerospace Centre, Berlin.
