Saeb Erekat . Leader. Veteran Peace Negotiator : November 10th, 2020

Dr. Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat (aka) Saeb Erekat. Politician. Diplomat. Peace Negotiator

  • Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the PLO (since 2015)
  • Chief of the PLO Steering and Monitoring Committee (upto 12 Feb 2014)
  • Negotiated the OSLO Accords with Israel
  • Member of the Palestinian Parliament for Jericho

Education:

  • PhD – Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Bradford, England (1983)
  • M.A. – Political Science , San Francisco State University, USA (1979)
  • B.A. – International Relations, San Francisco State University, USA (1977)

Passed away on November 10th, 2020. Laid to rest after Military Honours

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pix: wsj.com /Wall Street Journal

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PALESTINE

First Best Actor – Oscar Winner of Middle Eastern Descent – F Murray Abraham

Murray Abraham (aka) F Murray Abraham . Actor. Hollywood movies. Television. Theater and Stage Actor. Narrator.

F Murray Abraham. He later added an F to his stage name in honour of his father Fahrid ‘Fred’ Abraham.

Oscar Winner. Won an Oscar Award for his leading role as Antonio Salieri in the drama film ‘Amadeus’ (1984). He also won

Awards :

Theatre :-

  • Obie Award – Best Performance ‘Uncle Vanya ‘ 1984
  • Obie Award – Sustained Excellence of Performance ‘ The Merchant of Venice’ -2011

Film :

  • Academy Award – Best Actor – Amadeus (1985)
  • Golden Globe Award – Best Actor – Drama (1985)
  • LAFCA – Best Actor (1985)
  • Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award – Best Actor (1985)
  • Albert Schweitzer Award – Classic Film Acting (1985)
  • Georgia Film Critics Association – Best Ensemble (2015)
  • Southern Film Critics Association – Best Ensemble (2015)
  • Central Ohio Film Critics Association – Best Ensemble (2015)
  • Detroit Film Critics Society – Best Ensemble (2015)

Honours :

  • Awarded the “Premio per gli Italiani nel Mondo“. This is a prize distributed by the Marzio Tremaglia foundation and Italian government to Italian emigrants and their descendants who have distinguished themselves abroad (2014)
  • Recognized by the Alumni Association of the City College of New York with John H. Finley Award in recognition of exemplary dedicated service to the City of New York. (2009)
  • Recipient of The Gielgud Award (Theatre) (2010)

Hall of Fame:

Inductee to the American Theater Hall of Fame (2015)

Honorary Doctorate:

Honorary doctorate  from Rider University, Lawrenceville, New Jersey

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pix: observer.com

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AMERICAN /SYRIAN DESCENT

Oldest Professional Basketball Star Player – Moshsen Khalaf

Abdulmohsen Khalaf Al-Muwallad (aka) Mohsen Al-Muwallad (aka) Mohsen Khalaf was officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the ‘ oldest professional basketball player’.

Mohsen Khalaf was selected to play for the Saudi National Team in 1986 at the age of 20 and retired from the international games in 2005.

He played his first game for Ohod Club, Madinah in 1979. Played his final pro game on May 22nd, 2015 at 51 years, 335 days after spending 36 years with the Madinah based team.

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pix: arabnews.com

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SAUDI ARABIA

World’s Largest Wooden Dhow ‘Obaid’. Built in Dubai (U.A.E) – October 2020

‘Obaid’ built in Dubai, is named after the Emirati shipbuilder Obaid Jumaa bin Majid Al-Falasi. It has been certified by Guinness Book of World Records as the ‘World’s largest wooden Arabic Dhow’.

For the record the late Emirati shipbuilder Obaid Juma started his apprenticeship in the1940’s at the age of nine (9).

The dhow measured 91 meters long and more than 20 meters wide. The vessel is 11.22 meters high and weighs 2,500 tonnes. The ‘Obaid’ is powered by two 1,850 horsepower engines and built for speed of 14 knots . Built from approximately 1,700 tonnes of wood and 800 tonnes of steel and is scheduled to carry cargo.

This record breaking marvel is a handmade boat, built in a country with no forests. A modern adaptation is adding steel to the wooden structure.

The ship builder is Majid Obaid Al-Falasi the Managing Director of Majid Obaid Bin Majid Al Falasi & Sons, UAE.

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pix: arabnews.com

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DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E)

World’s Largest Coffee Painting , by Saudi Female Artist Ohud Abdullah Almalki : October 2020

Ohud Abdullah Almalki . Jeddah based Artist.

Ohud Almalki is the first Saudi Woman Artist to single-handedly break a Guinness World Record for the Worlds Largest Coffee Painting.

She illustrated the founding fathers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The late King Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman and Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

The project was an uninterrupted 45 days of illustration and painting under continuous supervision.

The artwork was created on a canvas of 7 connected cloths called Naseej I (meaning woven to-gether) in 220 sq. meters, 15.84 m long and 13.95 m wide. She used 4 different shades of brown coffee, approximately 4.5 kg of expired coffee granules with water.

The edge was done in typical Bedouin decoration style known as Al-Sadu.

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The world’s largest coffee painting by Saudi artist Ohud Abdullah Almalki depicting founding fathers of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the late King Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman (R) and the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, in Jeddah | AFP /GUINESS WORLD RECORDS / pix: theweek.in

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SAUDI ARABIA

Kamal Oudrhiri – Multiple Award Winning Physicist, Scientist at NASA

Kamal Oudrhiri . Scientist. Physicist.

Kamal Oudrhiri led a successful discovery mission by the American Space Agency (NASA) achieving a breakthrough in the field of Quantum Physics.

The mission was achieved by the participation of two astronauts Christina Koch, Jessica Meir and three Nobel prize winners.

The achievement took place at eh ‘Cold Atom Lab’ on the International Space Station (ISS) which NASA had installed in 2018.

Kamal Oudrhiri has worked on missions related to Mars exploration vehicles including ‘Curiosity’, ‘Rovers’, ‘Spirit’, ‘Opportunity’ as well as ‘Cassini’ for Saturn, ‘Grail’ for the Moon and ‘Juno’ for Jupiter.

Assignments:

-Mission Manager – Cold Laboratory / -The Group Supervisor – Planetary Radar & Radio Sciences Group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

  • First Moroccan to work for NASA.

Honours:

  • NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal (November 2019)
  • NASA’s JPL Marine Awards – Three
  • NASA’s JPL Voyager Awards – Three
  • 39 NASA Group Achievement Awards
  • NASA People Leadership Award
  • King Mohammed VI ‘Royal Decoration’ Award for Scientific Achievement (2012)

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pix: northafricapost.com

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U.S.A / MOROCCO

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

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

Sofia Boutella : Algerian-French Actress. Hollywood.

Sofia Boutella – Actress. Model. Dancer.

Actor:

-2019 – Amazon Prime’s Modern Love (season 1, edition 5) / 2018 – Roles in the movies Climax, Fahrenheit 451 / 2017 – Roles in Atomic Blonde, The Mummy / 2016 – Roles in Star Trek Beyond, as alien warrior Jaylah / 2015 – Kingsman: The Secret Service // 2015 – Lead character Eva in the film Street Dance 2 etc….

Music Videos:

Performed in more than 20 leading world acclaimed music videos with icons of the music industry. Worked with Michael Jackson, Rihanna. Toured with Madonna.

Modelling:

Appeared in Nike Women’s advertising campaign amongst others.

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PIX: en.wikipedia.org

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FRANCE / ALGERIAN-FRENCH

Emirati Physicist Dr.Ahmed Almheri Wins Coveted ‘New Horizons Physics Prize’ USA : Sepember 2020:

Dr Ahmed Almheri, Physicist was awarded the ‘New Horizons Physics Prize’ for his research on black holes in space. The award is founded by ‘The Breakthrough Foundation’ USA.

He is currently a long-term member in the ‘School of Natural Science’. Doing his post-docotral studies in Physics at ‘Institute for Advance Studies (IAS), Princeton University.

First Emirati to be accepted for the post-doctoral studies at Princeton University, University of California.

Education:

-Ph.D – Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara

– M.A. – University of California, Santa Barbara

– B.Sc/B.A – University of Toronto

Awards:

-New Horizons Physics Prize (2020)

-Lancaster Dissertation Award in Mathematics, Physics, Sciences and Engineering (2014)

-Member Martin Hairer ‘Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics’

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Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics / pix: youtube.com

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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E.)