Arabs & Arabian Records Aggregator. Chronicler. Milestones of the 25 Countries of the Arabic Speaking World (official / co-official). AGCC. MENA. Global. Ist's to Top 10's. Records. Read & Enjoy./ www.arabianrecords.org
Google search engine celebrated the late Hamed Gohar’s 115th birth anniversary on 15 November with a Google Doodle.
The Egyptian scientist, marine biologist and TV host, Gohar is considered the founding father of oceanography in Egypt and the Arab world.
Born on 15 November 1907, he studied medicine at Cairo University in 1925 before shifting to biology. He then received his master’s degree in oceanography from Cambridge University in 1931.
The note under the doodle adds that “Gohar discovered that dugong, a sea mammal that was thought to be extinct in the region, still existed in the Red Sea. He continued studying underwater life for 25 years at the Hurghada marine biological station.”
He worked with the Arabic Language Academy to create scientific dictionaries in Arabic and served as an adviser to the United Nations’ Secretary General and helped organize the first International Conference on Law of the Sea in Geneva.
The general public knows Gohar for his educational show called “The Sea World” which he hosted on national television for 18 years. The programme highlighted underwater scenery and natural sea life, bringing the viewers closer to marine biology.
Two graphic designers decided to share their most inspirational street finds with everyone on the internet – and launched an online platform to let everyone else share as well.
In Egypt, where there are streets and roads and passageways, there are signs and posters and billboards dating back decades and even centuries, each reflecting their own era of styles, tastes and contexts. It’s a beautiful mess of typography that often gets lost with time, and the Egyptian Type Archive was born to capture and encapsulate it for good.
The founders, Toka Assal and Abdo Mohamed, met online and bonded over their shared interest in street typography, drawing inspiration from their travels to cities across Egypt, from Aswan to Minya and Port Said. As graphic designers and type artists, they decided to share their most inspirational street finds with everyone on the internet – and launched an online platform to let everyone else share as well.
“When we started we didn’t even have a logo, we just used a picture I took of some text on a microbus that said ‘Semsem’ and ‘Semsema’,” Mohamed tells CairoScene. “We found out later that those were the names of the bus owners, a brother and sister. Although we know it’s not professionally designed, the text really looked like it was. But now everything is digital and fast-paced, so we’re losing the artistry and craftsmanship of typography and calligraphy.”
Exclusively focused on Arabic street typography in Egypt, the Egyptian Type Archive has amassed a loyal community on Instagram. They collectively document any text they stumble upon, from the quirky to the horrific to the beautiful, whether it’s an ancient sign on a vintage shop or an announcement sprayed on the walls of a local cafe.
“My favourite finds are food carts, their typography has a very distinct style embodying the essence of street art,” Asal shares. “It’s also very instinctual with the text written tackling hasad or rizq.” Here Asal refers to written prayers or phrases traditionally used to ward off the evil eye, or invite God’s blessing – a visual manifestation of deeply held beliefs and spirituality.
Mohamed and Asal’s view on what constitutes art or on the nature of street typography questions notions of ‘professionalism’, where they treat every sign and piece as a story on its own. Initially, they wanted to document the names of the calligraphers until they found that – more often than not – the text is created by commission, so the artists don’t normally sign their names under their work.
Although strangers in the street often regard them with confusion when they see them taking pictures of manhole covers or old movie posters, the founders believe their documentation serves a purpose to typographers, designers, and Egyptians at large. Through their work, and the work of their burgeoning community, they preserve a dying visual culture and ensure it survives to the next generation of Egyptian creators.
A fragment of the legendary star map by ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus has been uncovered in St. Catherine’s Monastery.
Within the library of St. Catherine’s Monastery in South Sinai – the oldest continuously-running Christian monastery in the world – researchers have uncovered a fragment of history’s oldest complete star map, penned by ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician Hipparchus.
Hipparchus is considered to be the greatest astronomer in ancient Greece, and so researchers had been searching for his catalogue of stars for centuries. The manuscript in St. Catherine’s Monastery appeared to be something completely different; the pages contained a collection of 10th or 11th century Syriac text called the Codex Climaci Rescriptus. But as it turned out, it wasn’t just that – the pages were a palimpsest, or a parchment in which previous text was wiped clean so that it can be reused.
But much like scribbling your pencil over recently erased writing, it was possible to discover what was erased from a palimpsest. Researchers from the University of Cambridge, the University of Rochester in New York, the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library in Rolling Hills Estates, California and the French national scientific research centre CNRS in Paris worked together to find layers of writing that had been wiped away. Amongst them were the coordinates for the constellation Corona Borealis, and by comparing these precise coordinates with how the night sky would have been arranged in antiquity, the researchers found that the coordinates would have been made in 129 BC – right when Hipparchus was making his revolutionary cosmic calculations.
An excerpt of the discovered document was recently published in the Journal for the History of Astronomy, and is available online.
Winner of the Audience Award at Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti Extra Section, ‘Nezouh’ follows a Syrian family on the verge of becoming refugees.
Syrian film ‘Nezouh’ starring Kinda Alloush and Samer Al Masri, and directed by Syrian filmmaker Soudade Kaadan, won the Audience Award at Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti Extra Section, supported by Armani Beauty. This is Kaadan’s second win at the festival after ‘The Day I Lost My Shadow’ (2018), her first feature-length film and the winner of Best Debut Film.
The film stars the Cairo-based Syrian actress Alloush, known for her roles in Egyptian and Syrian dramas. She was first introduced to Egyptian audiences in 2009 with her role in ‘Welad El A’am’ and has since starred in multiple films and series including ‘El Maslaha’ (2012), and ‘El Asliyyin (2017). She’s also part of the cast of ‘The Swimmers’ (2022) which debuted at Toronto Film Festival.
‘Nezouh’ is set in war-torn Damascus and tells the story of a Syrian family at a crossroads choosing between fleeing or clinging on to their home. The father, played by Samer Al Masri, refuses to become a refugee while his fourteen-year-old daughter yearns for freedom. The film is inspired by the filmmaker’s personal journey away from Damascus and the effect of the conflict on Syrian women’s social reality.
The plant is located in the northwestern governorate of Marsa Matrouh.
Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker and General Director of Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation (ROSATOM) Alexei Likhachev attended the ceremony at the plant, giving the green light to start the construction works.
Shaker said that El-Dabaa’s reactors comply with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) safety measurements. They can endure earthquakes and airplane crashes, he noted, adding that the reactor’s operating span may extend to 60 years.
“Building El-Dabaa NPP allows Egypt the chance to achieve a new level of industry and technology. This will be the biggest project between Russia and Egypt since establishing the High Dam project in Aswan. It has been a dream of Egyptians to acquire nuclear energy for more than half a century. ROSATOM is honoured to fulfil it,” the Twitter account of the Russian Embassy in Egypt quoted Likhachev as saying at the ceremony.
The event was attended by Osama Asran, the deputy minister of electricity and renewable energy, CEO of the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) Gaber Desouky, Advisor to the Minister of Electricity Amgad Said, a delegation of senior officials from Russian companies implementing the project, as well as Amgad El-Wakil, the chairman of the NPPA, which organised the event.
El-Wakil told Al-Ahram Arabic news website on Wednesday that El-Dabaa is located on the Mediterranean, 140 kilometres west of Alexandria.
He noted that funding for the project is based on a governmental financial agreement. Loans will be acquired after operating the plant and collecting revenues from electricity generation.
El-Wakil said the project is expected to generate net revenues of $264 billion for the state treasury over 60 years.
In December 2017, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement in Cairo to initiate work on the plant at a construction cost of $28.75 billion.
Russia will finance 85 percent of the cost with a loan of $25 billion, while Egypt will provide the remaining 15 percent in the form of installments. The Russian loan is repaid over 22 years, with an annual interest of three percent.
On 30 June 2022, the Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority (ENRRA) permitted ROSATOM to start the construction work on El-Dabaa project, which Egypt and Russia signed an agreement to build in November 2015 to generate a total of 4,800 megawatts via four reactors.
Earlier in June, ROSATOM announced that it started the manufacture in Saint Petersburg of electrical components for the plant’s reactor vessel, according to Sputnik news agency.
ROSATOM had submitted a request to establish the first two reactors out of four reactors in January 2019, and received the permission in June 2021, after safety measures were checked and qualified workers and means of conducting safety tests were available.
El-Dabaa NPP is designed according to the latest 3+ Generation which is fully compliant with all post-Fukushima requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
ROSATOM had previously announced that 40% of the cost of Dabaa nuclear power plant is allocated for safety measures.
The four units of the plant are expected to operate at full capacity of 4,800 megawatts by 2030, with the first reactor operating at a capacity of 1,200 Megawatts at the first phase, said El-Wakil.
According to the project’s design, the nuclear plant will have four VVER-1,200 reactor units, with the first unit scheduled for operation in 2026.
In November 2021, Egypt signed a long-term $1 million agreement with the Czech ÚJV Rež Research and Development company to consult on El-Dabaa Nuclear Plant, according to ENRRA Chairperson Sami Shaaban.
According to the contract, ÚJV Rež will provide technical assistance to the ENRRA in licensing the nuclear plant.
A scene of pouring concrete of the building the 1st reactor of El-Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant on July 20. (Photo courtesy of the official Twitter account of the Russian Embassy in Egypt)
Forbes Middle East has announced its annual list of the 100 Most Powerful CEOs in the Middle East for 2022.
The American magazine confirmed the status of businessman Hisham Talaat Moustafa, CEO and Managing Director of Talaat Moustafa Holding Group, who ranked 61st, up 6 places from last year’s ranking.
Forbes Middle East magazine said that Hisham Talaat Moustafa is the youngest son of the founder of the Talaat Moustafa Group, which is currently the largest listed real estate company in Egypt.
The magazine stated that the assets of Talaat Moustafa Company amounted to 7.5 billion dollars in 2021, while the group owns a portfolio of land with an area of 74 million square meters.
The group’s revenues amounted to 825 million dollars last year, while the company developed more than 33 million square meters of land, and sold more than 90 thousand housing units.
Forbes reported that the Talaat Moustafa Group recently launched giant projects, including: Privado – Madinaty, Celia and Noor City.
The magazine said that the group has extensive investments in the hospitality sector, including: Four Seasons Resort Sharm El Sheikh, Four Seasons Nile Plaza, Four Seasons San Stefano Alexandria, and Kempinski Nile Cairo.
About the methodology used in the classification, Forbes indicated that its methodology in preparing the list was based on collecting information from financial market disclosures, industry reports, annual reports of companies, financial statements, and other primary sources.
As for the classification of CEOs, it is based on several factors: the influence of the CEO and the company on society and the country, the markets they supervise, the CEO’s experience in his current position, as well as his general experience.
Forbes indicated that the factors affecting the evaluation include: the size of the company in terms of revenues, assets, market value, the CEO’s achievements and performance in the past year, the innovations and initiatives he implemented.
This year, Forbes magazine’s list of the most powerful CEOs in the Middle East includes 100 business leaders from 26 different nationalities, led by the Emiratis with 19 CEOs, followed by the Egyptians with 16 leaders, and the Saudis with 15 business leaders.
The CEOs in the banking and financial services sector topped the list with 27 CEOs, followed by the leaders of the communications sector with 8 heads, and then 7 leaders in each of the energy and logistics sector.
The companies on the list run by CEOs are worth more than 5 trillion dollars, while revenue was more than 1 trillion dollar last year.
source/content: egypttoday.com (headline edited)
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Among the most powerful CEOs of 2022 Forbes highlights the CEO of Talaat Moustafa Group
Did you know that many of the Egyptian colloquial words Egyptians use on a daily basis are not actually Arabic?
The Egyptian Arabic dialect is fundamentally Arabic, but with the influence of history and local populations, some of the peculiarities that set the Egyptian dialect apart come from the integration of ancient Egyptian, Greek and Coptic words and expressions. Surviving for thousands of years, many commonly used, modern-day Egyptian words and phrases can actually be traced back to the current dialect’s ancient predecessors.
Here are some examples of words Egyptians use, often not knowing their ancient origin, as per the books ‘From Pharaoh’s Lips’ (2003) by Ahmad Abdel-Hamid Youssef, and ‘Al Logha Al Masrreya Al Qadeema’ (Ancient Egyptian Language, 2012 ) by Abdelhaleem Nour El-din.
UMBU (DRINK)
Often, in communication with infants or toddlers, broken down or simplified words are used to allow the news speakers to express themselves without too much difficulty. For example, umbu is the word commonly used by Egyptian children to express their thirst. The ancient Egyptian term simply means “from the water”.
TA TA (STEP BY STEP)
When Egyptian parents try to help their crawling baby how to walk, they use the phrase “ta ta” derived from the ancient Egyptian word “ti ti”. Though Arabic became the primary language in Egypt, the Coptic language was initially still being used in everyday life for the majority of the population. The term “ti ti” was adopted by the Coptic language and modified to “ta ta”, which is used until today.
MAMM (FOOD)
The word Mumm is an Egyptian slang word derived from the ancient Egyptian “my wnm”, which means ‘give to eat’. Many Egyptians, until this day, teach their babies to say “mumm” whenever they are hungry — as it is easy and quick to sound out.
DAHYA TIWADDIH AL AMENDI (MAY A DISASTER SEND HIM TO HELL)
The Egyptian phrase “Dahya tiwaddih al amendi”, is originally ancient Egyptian. The word “amendi” is a Coptic word meaning “hell”, which was derived from the ancient Egyptian word “imntt”, meaning the ‘underworld’.
BIKH (BOO!)
The word “Bikh!”, meaning “Boo!”, is often used in modern day Egypt to sneak up on someone and scare them. The term is an ancient Egyptian word “pa akh” meaning “demon” or “ spirit”.
WAHAWY YA WAHAWAY IYUHA (THE MOON HAS APPEARED)
The Egyptian phrase “Wahawy ya Wahaway iyuha” is part of a song Egyptians sing during the holy month of Ramadan. Families and young children swing their fanoos (lanterns) as they sing the lyrics to Wahawy ya Wahaway iyuha. The popular lyric is believed to be inspired from the ancient Egyptian word “wah” meaning ‘to put’ or ‘appear’, and “iyah” meaning “moon”. Thus, comprising the lyric “the moon has appeared” during the month of Ramadan, which is decided upon according to the lunar calendar in Islam.
KRKR (LAUGHING)
The word “krkr” is used frequently in modern Egyptian day to describe someone who is laughing uncontrollably. The term is originally ancient Egyptian “ķrķr” and was adopted into modern day Egyptian society.
GATEK MAW (MAY A LION FETCH YOU)
The phrase “jak maw” or “gatek maw”, often switched depending on the region it is used in, essentially means “may a lion come to you”. The phrase is an Egyptian expression used as an insult. The ‘maw’ is based on a pun on the words “lion” and “mother”. The expression is often used by mothers bothered by their children.
July 10 marks the death anniversary of the late iconic international Egyptian actor Omar Sharif.
On this occasion Egypt Today looks back at some of the milestones that led to his international debut.
Sharif’s childhood
Born in Alexandria as Michel Dimitri Chalhoub on April 10, 1932, he was of Lebanese descent, but was born and bred in Egypt. His parents were of good social standards; his father in the wood business and his mother a notable society hostess who often hosted King Farouk to play cards.
Growing up, Sharif easily became multilingual as he was brought up by his French speaking mother and attended an English boarding school and Victoria College; he also became fluent in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
After graduating from Cairo University with a mathematics and physics degree, he attempted to follow his father’s path of work but quickly receded and went on to London to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Sharif realized his passion for acting at the tender age of 13 when he participated in his English boarding school’s theatre program.
This horrified his father, since it would stop his son from following in his footsteps and becoming a timber merchant. Later, Sharif’s talent overcame all obstacles and he became a world-renowned actor.
The immortal cinematic and romantic couple Sharif and Hamama
In 1954, Sharif starred in “The Desert’s Devil” (Shaytan al-Saharaa), but his break was the same year when he acted in “Struggle in the Valley” (Sira’ Fi al-Waady) alongside his wife, the late great Egyptian actress Faten Hamama.
The love story of Hamama and Sharif began when they worked together in Youssef Chahine’s “Struggle in the Valley.”
Despite being born Catholic, he changed his name and converted to Islam to marry her in 1955. A marriage that lasted for 20 years, the famed couple were the symbol of love to all the Egyptian audience.
They portrayed their love in a number of successful movies that will live on for years after their death; movies that taught us the true meaning of love, such as “Ayamna el Helwa” (Our Beautiful Days), “Nahr El Hob” (River of Love), “ Saydet el Kasr” (The Palace Lady), “Sra’a fe El Mena” (Struggle in the Port), among others.
El Sherif’s international Stardom
He achieved international stardom in 1962 by acting in Lawrence of Arabia alongside Peter O’Toole.
He maintained his status as a foreign heartthrob by leading in films like Dr. Zhivago and Funny Girl, which caused outrage in Egypt due to the romance with his leading co-star, Barbara Streisand, who won an Oscar for her role.
Funny Girl was based on a play with the same title also starring Streisand. This musical comedy drama is a biographic, based on the life of Fanny Brice, a famous female Jewish comedian of the 1900s who dreams of stardom in New York City’s Broadway.
Against all odds she rises to the top and falls for Nick Arnstein, played by Sharif, a businessman and compulsive gambler.
While the 60s were the best and busiest years of Sharif’s acting career, they were the ones which took a toll on his marriage with Hamama, and the couple shocked their fans by getting a divorce in 1974.
A resonating talent
His impeccable acting skills speak for themselves, but his mastery of contract bridge also precedes him. He wrote books on bridge, his favorite card game, and even established the Omar Sharif Bridge Circus.
However, his addiction to gambling eventually caused him money troubles, which led to his acting flops and his downward spiral.
Living alone and with little money, Sharif spent his later days living in hotels in Paris and London until he made a brief comeback with his role in the 2003 French film “Monsieur Ibrahim.”
The film received positive reviews, and Sharid even won the audience award for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival.
Sharif was always keen to support and encourage young talents such as the famed Egyptian actor Mohamed Ramadan, who had a small role in Sharif’s only Egyptian soap opera “Hanan w Hanin” ( Tenderness and Nostalgia).
Ramadan previously announced in a number of TV interviews that Sharif encouraged him a lot and praised his acting talent, predicting at that time that he will be a superstar in the future.
“When I first met Omar Sharif, he greeted me as if I was family. He was someone who really loved people; when he found out that we were [both] Egyptian, we bonded instantly.
The main piece of advice he gave me was to start in Egypt and get that experience under my belt before trying to have a career internationally,” recounted the Egyptian rising international actor Amir El-Masry in an interview with Egypt Today.
The End
Sharif moved back to Egypt to spend his final days while struggling with Alzheimer’s disease. Sharif passed away at the age of 83 due to a heart attack on July 10, 2015. Sharif is a cheerful, handsome, talented and iconic artist who will remain forever alive in the hearts of his audience around the world.
Egypt has finished in first place at the 2022 Arab Open Robotics Championship held in Sharm El Sheikh on Monday.
Since 2008, the Arab Open Robotics Championship has been the largest regional robotics tournament held in the Arab world.
The tournament was organized by the Ministries of Youth and Sports, Communications and Information Technology, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, and the Egyptian Federation of Electronic Games.
The tournament included over 650 students ranging in age from four years to the end of the university stage.
The participants represented 136 teams from 12 Arab countries: Egypt, Kuwait, the UAE, Oman, Yemen, Qatar, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Iraq, and Libya.
The Arab Robotics Association accredited 100 juries to judge the tournament’s nine robot competitions.
Egypt came first, winning seven trophies. Jordan finished second with two trophies, followed by Iraq, Libya and Qatar in third place.
In addition, the tournament hosted a lively forum for Arab youth on the sidelines.
source/content: arabnews.com
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Egypt placed first in 2022 Arab Open Robotics Championship, winning seven trophies. (Source: Egypt State Information Service)
Suhayr al-Qalamawi is an icon of literature and politics in the Arab world in general and in Egypt in particular.
She greatly influenced cultural life in Egypt and the Arab world and it was her idea to establish the Cairo International Book Fair.
Qalamawi was born in Cairo, in a family that focused on educating their daughters. Her father was a surgeon and her mother spoke various languages. This upbringing helped her complete her education, and she graduated from the American College for Girls in 1928.
Her father also played a major role in developing her linguistic and cultural skills. She excelled reading the holy Qur’an with her father. Qalamawi’s father also owned a library where she was able to feed her infinite hunger for reading.
She was able to benefit from her father’s vast library of works at an early age, and it seems that writers such as Taha Hussein, Rifa’a al-Tahtawi and Ibn Iyas greatly contributed to her literary talent and shaped her voice as a writer.
Her father encouraged her to specialize in Arabic literature, and she became the first young girl to attend Cairo University and the first woman among 40 men to study Arabic literature. After obtaining a Master of Arts, she then received a scholarship to conduct research in Paris for her Ph.D. in 1941. After the completion of her doctoral thesis, she became the first woman to obtain a doctorate from Cairo University.
During her educational career, she was influenced by a number of personalities, most notably the dean of Arabic literature Taha Hussein, who was head of the Arabic language department and editor-in-chief of the Cairo University Magazine at the time. He made her assistant editor-in-chief of the magazine in 1932, and Qalamawi became the first woman to obtain a permit to practice journalism in Egypt.
Suhayr al-Qalamawi started her career after graduation as the first female lecturer at Cairo University in 1936. Soon she became a university professor and later the head of the Arabic language department between 1958-1967, in addition to becoming the president of the Egyptian Feminist Union.
She became the president of the Egyptian General Authority for Cinema, Theater and Music in 1967 and the head of the Child Culture Society in 1968. Qalamawi was also the head of the administration of the General Egyptian Book Organization, from 1967 to 1971, and the head of the censorship authority from 1982 to 1985.
In addition, Qalamawi was able to make outstanding contributions within the cultural field. During her tenure as head of the General Egyptian Book Organization, she worked to expand the range of readers, encourage young writers, and advance the book industry in 1967. From here, she established the first book fair in the Middle East, which is the Cairo International Book Fair in 1967.
Suhayr al-Qalamawi’s contributions were not limited to the cultural community, but she also contributed to the struggle of women, in order to preserve their rights through her literary works, in addition to her participation in many conferences on Arab women, and in 1960, she was the president of the International Conference on Women.
Furthermore, Qalamawi’s journey was also full of political work, and the beginning was when she entered politics as a member of Parliament in 1958 , and was nominated again in the period from 1979 to 1984.
Qalamawi’s career was crowned with a number of awards, as she was awarded the Arabic Language Academy Award in 1954 and the State Appreciation Award in Youth Literature. She also received the State Encouragement Award, the State Appreciation Award in Literature, The First Class Order of the Republic, the Medal of Achievement, and an Honorary Doctorate from the American University in Cairo.
After an enriching career, Suhayr al-Qalamawi passed away in 1997.
