Ghofrane Belkhir of Tunisia Wins Two Gold Medals, World Weightlifting Championships, Tashkent : December 09th, 2021

Ghofrane Belkhir. Weightlifter.

Tunisian weightlifter Ghofrane Belkhir (59 kg) won Thursday two gold medals in both the categories – snatch and total weight (203 kg) at the World Weightlifting Championships (December 7-17) in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Belkhir is Tunisia’s only representative at this event.

On May 25; 2021 – she had already won three gold medals; weighing 59 kg during the IWF World Junior Championships competitions.

2018 Summer Youth Olympics / By Sandro Halank, Wikimedia Commons / en.wikipedia.org

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TUNISIA

Egyptian-American Dr. Sherif Zaki : Founder & Chief of the Infectious Disease Pathology Branch – Coordinating Centre for Infectious Diseases (CDC), Atlanta, Georgia (1955-2021)

Sherif Zaki (1955-2021): ‘CDC’s secret weapon’. Pathalogist. Legendary Disease Detective. Infectious Disease Expert.

Prominent pathologist Doctor Sherif Zaki, founder and chief of the Infectious Disease Pathology Branch in the Coordinating Centre for Infectious Diseases in Atlanta, Georgia, passed away on 21 November, 2021.

Dr. Zaki was renowned for cracking medical mysteries by finding signatures of pathogens in diseased cells.

Through the application of classic and new technologies, Dr. Zaki and his team have made significant contributions to advancing the understanding of the pathogenesis and epidemiology of emerging infectious diseases.

Moreover, for his leadership, scientific contributions and commitment to Centre for Disease Control’s (CDC) public health mission, Dr. Zaki has been widely recognised and awarded, including receiving the US Health and Human Services Secretary’s Awards for Distinguished Service – the department’s highest honour – nine times.

Dr. Zaki and his staff were the first to identify the Hanta virus, later called the Sin Nombre virus, that caused the deaths of several people in the Navajo nation in the Southwest in 1993.

He also helped discover the Zika virus in the brain tissue of babies stricken with the mosquito-borne virus in Brazil, proving that it could be transmitted during pregnancy.

Dr. Zaki also helped identify the mechanisms that made Ebola and SARS so contagious and lethal.

Sherif Ramzy Zaki was born 24 November 1955, in Alexandria, Egypt.

He spent the first six years of his life in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where his father was attending graduate school.

Dr. Zaki received his medical degree from Alexandria University in 1978, before earning a master’s degree at his alma mater in pathology.

He earned a doctorate in experimental pathology from Emory University in Atlanta in 1989.

Dr. Zaki’s data on Scopus database showed that Zaki had published in the neighborhood of 400 scientific papers and had an advanced “H score” of 102 thus placing his impact on the field way above the 35-70 range for Noble Prize hopefuls.

source/content: english.ahram.org.eg

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (USA) / EGYPT / EGYPTIAN AMERICAN / ARAB AMERICAN

Saudia’s Dr. Mohammed Al-Issa, MWL Chief Receives ‘Bridge Builder Award’ in Oslo, Norway : November 2021

Dr. Mohammed Bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa

Dr. Mohammed Bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, Secretary General of the Muslim World League (MWL) and Chairman of the Muslim Scholars Association, has received the Norwegian Bridge Builder Award at a ceremony in Oslo.

He was one of three recipients of the award in 2021, which is given to people who have helped to build bridges between individuals, nations and societies.

The other two were Rev. Prof. Dr. Ioan Sauca, acting general secretary of the World Council of Churches, and Michael Melchior, Chief Rabbi and leader of the Religious Peace Initiative in Israel.

source/content: arabnews.com

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Dr. Mohammed Bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, Secretary General of the Muslim World League (MWL) and Chairman of the Muslim Scholars Association, has received the Norwegian Bridge Builder Award. (Supplied) / pix: arabnews.com

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SAUDI ARABIA

Amal Amjahid Belgian-Moroccan Wins her 9th, Jiu-Jitsu World Champion Title : November 13th, 2021

Amal Amjahid. Athlete. Martial Arts. Jiu Jitsu Sports. Represents Belgium.

Belgian-Moroccan Jiu-Jitsu fighter Amal Amjahid , won on November 13 her 9th world champion title after defeating the French fighter Laurence Cousin Fouillat in the 2021 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship finale.

The 26-year-old secured the title in the “below 57 kilos” category with a victory by advantage following a score of 2-2.

Amal Amjahid began Jiu-Jitsu at the age of 7 in Brussels. From 2013 to 2019, she won many world titles and medals in various competitions such as the World Games, the Grand Slam Tokyo, and the European Jiu-Jitsu Championship

source/content: moroccoworldnews.com

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pix: moroccoworldnews.com

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BELGIAN / MOROCCAN

September 21st, 1991 – Egyptian Boutros Boutros Ghali Elected Secretary-General of United Nations (U.N), becoming First Secretary-General from an Arab Country

Boutros Boutros Ghali. Politician. Diplomat. Academic

6th Secretary-General of the United Nations. First Arab Secretary-General of the UN.

Later, First Secretary-General of the Organisation International de la Francophonie from 16 November 1997 to 31 December 2002.

Vice Foreign Minister of Egpyt

source/content: egypttoday.com

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Boutros Boutros Ghali – abcnews / egypttoday.com

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EGYPT

‘The Gravedigger’s Wife’: A Somali Love Story Wins Africa’s Top Film Prize : October 24th, 2021

Khadar Ayderus Ahamed. Writer. Film Director.

Movie by Finnish-Somali writer-director Khadar Ayderus Ahmed won the Stallion of Yennenga grand prize at the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou.

A little more than one month after it won the Amplify Voices Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, The Gravedigger’s Wife  has scooped Africa’s top film prize.

The drama, by Finnish-Somali writer-director Khadar Ayderus Ahmed, won the prestigious Stallion of Yennenga Grand Prize for Best Film at the Pan African Film Festival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on Sunday.

Filmed in Somali in Djibouti, the tenderly moving story of love and devotion follows Guled (Omar Abdi), a man who makes a precarious living from loss.

The film took home the 20 million franc ($35,714) CFA prize money and the golden stallion statue, beating 16 other African films to the top prize. The films in competition were made by directors from 15 different African countries.

It was also Somalia’s first official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2021 Academy Awards, and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in July.

source/content: thenationalnews.com

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Khadar Ayderus Ahmed, left, Yasmin Warsame, centre, and Omar Abdi attend ‘The Gravedigger’s Wife’ photocall during the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival. / AFP / thenationalnews.com

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FINLAND / SOMALIA

Amira Tahri: 12-Year Old Dutch-Moroccan Kickboxer Retains World Champion Title for 5th Time : November 2021

Amira Tahri (aka) Wonderkid, The Wonder Girl. Athlete. Kickboxer.

The kickboxing star won the title after she defeated her French rival, Shaina Moniek in the Abu Dhabi World Cup final.

Amira Tahri also made international headlines in 2019, when she was only 9 years old.

During the 2019 competition, Tahri defeated Moneik, the same opponent she faced during Friday’s fight, to secure her world championship for the fourth time.

The Dutch-Moroccan kickboxing star also shared a photo of her wearing a COVID-19 mask, with Morocco’s flag.

source/content: moroccoworldnews.com

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Amira Tahri 12-Year Old Dutch-Moroccan Kickboxer Becomes World Champion for 5th Time. Photo: Amira Tahri Instagram / pix: moroccoworldnews.com

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DUTCH (NETHERLANDS) / MOROCCO

Emi Mahmoud – UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador

Emtithal ‘Emi’ Mahmoud. Poet. Activist. Author. Speaker. UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador.

June 2018 : UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, appointed the Sudanese-American slam poet Emtithal (Emi) Mahmoud as a national Goodwill Ambassador (US).

Author: Book titled Sisters’ Entrance

www.emi-mahmoud.com

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pix: www.emi-mahmoud.com

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AMERICAN / SUDAN

Syria Records World’s Worst Landmine Casualty Figures: Monitor : November 2021

Syria overtook Afghanistan last year as the country with the highest number of recorded casualties from landmines and explosive remnants of war, a monitoring group said Wednesday.

The Landmine Monitor said Syria had registered the most victims for the first time since its annual reports began in 1999, with 2,729 people either killed or injured.

Colombia recorded the most casualties from 2005 to 2007, and Afghanistan has recorded the most since then until last year.

Globally in 2020, the report said at least 7,073 casualties of mines and explosive remnants of war, including 2,492 deaths, were recorded across 54 territories.

The overall number of casualties was below the peak of 9,440 reached in 2016, but up from 5,853 in 2019.

The 23rd annual report is produced by the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor, the research and monitoring arm of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and the Cluster Munition Coalition NGOs

source/content : english.ahram.org.eg

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File Photo: A Syrian army soldier uses a detector to find and clear landmines in a field at a pistachio orchard in the village of Maan, north of Hama, in west-central Syria, June 24, 2020. AFP / pix: english.ahram.org.eg

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SYRIA

Hakim Alileche Wins Global Awards in Producing Organic Olive Oil – Dahbia, Algeria

Hakim Alileche. Algerian Organic Olive Oil Producer. Brand – Dahbia.

Hakim Alileche left a successful career in graphic design and moved to the Algerian countryside to produce organic olive oil that has won him international recognition.

The 48-year-old says he chose the Ain Oussera plateau for its cheap land and water supply.

“In Algeria, it’s a sacred tree.”

His oil won first prize at the Dubai Olive Oil Competition in the Extra Virgin Early Harvest category in February 2021 and in May he won silver at the Japan Olive Oil Prize.

He has labelled his oil Dahbia, the name of both his mother and his wife.

source/content: english.aawsat.com

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pix: bestoliveoilsorganic.com/pages/dahbia

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ALGERIA