Palestinian student, Jamal Shakhtor, has created a robotic hand in his workshop in Bethlehem on the West Bank.
Earlier Innovations:
____________
___________________________
WEST BANK, PALESTINE
The Ministry of Planning launched in cooperation with Facebook and Rise Up Foundation an interactive platform “SMB Business BOT” for entrepreneurship to support small and medium enterprises in the Middle East and North Africa.
Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Hala El-Said asserted the keenness of the ministry to provide mechanisms supporting the entrepreneurship thinking, saying the ministry is keen on establishing business incubators via “Rowad 2030” project that was launched by the ministry .
Facebook Managing Director in the Middle East and North Africa Ramez Shehadi said Facebook is committed to provide the tools that would enable small and medium enterprises push forward economic growth wheel, creating job opportunities and boosting local societies in Egypt,
The Founder of Rise Up Foundation Abdel Hamid Sharara said the Business BOT program will provide support needed by the different companies in the Middle East and North Africa. (MENA)
source: egypttoday.com
______________
________
EGYPT
Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Technology and Chairwoman of the UAE Space Agency, has been named as one of Time’s 2021 list of the Next 100 Most Influential People in the World for successfully leading the UAE’s Hope Probe into Mars’ orbit, in the first-ever Arab interplanetary mission.
In addition to her work in sending the Arab world’s first spacecraft to Mars, Al Amiri is now ahead of bigger missions: to lead ambitious space and technology projects that contribute to the UAE’s bigger goal in establishing a knowledge-based economy. A lunar mission in 2024 and plans to build a human settlement on Mars by 2117 are among the ambitious projects that await the young minister who’s looking to promote research and development to create new industries as part of her role.
She took part in building the UAE’s first two satellites – DubaiSat-1 and DubaiSat-2, and the first entirely Emirati-made KhalifaSat.
She has been holding several responsibilities as the Chairwoman of the Emirates Scientists Council, Chairwoman of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Council and Chairwoman of the Dubai Future Academy Board of Trustees.
In 2017, she became the country’s first Minister of State for Advanced Sciences, a title that later changed in the latest cabinet reshuffle in August 2020 to the Minister of State for Advanced Technology. She was also then named the Chairwoman of the UAE Space Agency.
In 2015, the World Economic Forum honoured her as one of its 50 Young Scientists for her contributions to science, technology and engineering.
She was also invited by the World Economic Forum to speak at Davos 2019 and became the first Emirati citizen to speak at an international TED event in 2017.
Mostly recently, she was selected in the BBC’s 100 Women 2020, a documentary that highlighted women leading change and making a difference during last year’s turbulent times.
source: wam.ae
____________
___________________________________
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E.)
Huda I Alhamis-Kanoo, Patron of the Arts
www.admaf.org / www.abudhabifestival.ae
Awards:
Orders Conferred:
_________________
________________________________________________
ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E)
Moroccan francophone poet Abdellatif Laabi has won the 2021 Roger Kowalski Award for Poetry, organized by the city council of Lyon, in east-central France
The Award was for his most-recent poetry book, “Presque riens” (Almost Nothing), published in October 2020.
Named after a famous Lyon-native poet, the Roger Kowalski Award for Poetry each year honors a living francophone poet who is connected to the city of Lyon. Laabi was eligible for nomination because his wife, Jocelyne, is a Lyon native. He is the first Moroccan to ever win the award.
Founder of the first ever Moroccan francophone poetry magazine, called “Souffles” (Breaths) along with other writers Mohammed Khair-Eddine and Mostafa Nissaboury (1966).
Abdellatif Laabi published a novel in 2003, “Le Chemin des ordalies” (The Path of Ordeals), where he shares memories from his experience in prison.
Published 20 poetry books and five novels, along with tens of works translated from Arabic.
source: moroccoworldtoday.com
_______
_______________________________________________________________________
FRENCH /MOROCCAN- FRENCH / FRENCH-ARAB / EUROPEAN ARAB
Egypt is among the world’s top 10 exporters and producers of certain crops.
Orange
Egypt is the world’s top exporter of orange in terms of volume. In 2019, it exported 1.8 million metric tons of oranges worth $660 million.
Fig
Tthe second largest producer of fig globally for it produces 167,622 tons per annum.
Dried Onion
Egypt ranks third globally in terms of exporting dried onion. In 2019, it exported 13.6 tons of dried onion worth $30.4 million, representing 8.1% of the total global exports of dried onions.
Potatoes
Egypt is the fifth largest exporter of raw potatoes in terms of dollar value worth of the shipments. In 2019, it exported raw potatoes in the value of $259.6 million, which composes 5.4% of the world’s exports.
Prepared/preserved potatoes, Egypt ranks 13th exporting in 2019 shipments worth $31.1 million, representing 0.3% of the world’s global.
Dates
Egypt’s annual production of dates surpasses 1.7 million tons contributing in global production standing at eight million tons by 21 percent. Yet, Egypt’s rank in dates export market is not as high because of the weak value chain starting from the cultivation of palm trees until packaging and distribution.
source: egypttoday.com
________
________
EGYPT
The world’s first shipment of blue ammonia was dispatched from Saudi Arabia to Japan on Sep. 27, 2020 for use in a power station for the production of zero-carbon power generation, paving the way for the further use of hydrogen in the energy system.
The Saudi-Japanese collaboration is part of a pilot project, conducted by the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ) and oil company Saudi Aramco in partnership with Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC).
“The shipment is considered the first around the world, and it represents a crucial opportunity for Aramco to introduce hydrocarbons as a reliable and affordable source of low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia,” said Ahmad Al-Khowaiter, chief technology officer, Saudi Aramco, according to Saudi media.
source: arabnews.com
__________
________________
SAUDI ARABIA
Dr. Abdul Jerri (aka) Dr. Abdul Jabbar Hassoon Jerri – Mathematician
Academician:
Editor:
Books:
Education:
____________
____________________________________________________
AMERICAN / IRAQI AMERICAN / ARAB AMERICAN
Women can now join Saudi Arabia’s armed forces, following a ruling by the Saudi Ministry of Defense that opened the way for both genders to sign up through a unified admission portal starting Sunday.
Military ranks from soldier to sergeant will be available in the Saudi Arabian Army, Royal Saudi Air Defense, Royal Saudi Navy, Royal Saudi Strategic Missile Force, and Armed Forces Medical Services.
Saudi female applicants must be between the age of 21 and 40 years old, have a height of 155 cm or taller, and cannot be a government employee.
Female submissions must also hold an independent national identity card and have at least a high school education. Applicants married to non-Saudi citizens will not be accepted.
source: arabnews.com
___________
________________
SAUDI ARABIA
UNESCO gave couscous the special designation on December 16, 2020.
Samir Addahre, Morocco’s ambassador to the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), received the certificate of registration of couscous on the Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
Couscous is Morocco’s 10th “element” on the list. Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Mauritania presented a joint request to include couscous on UNESCO’s list in December 2018.
_____
The registration of “Knowledge, know-how and practices related to the production and consumption of couscous” is the result of a joint application by Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. This joint inscription of a shared heritage illustrates the extent to which intangible cultural heritage can be a subject on which States meet and cooperate. This is, moreover, the meaning of UNESCO’s action: building bridges between peoples, bringing them closer together through the practices and knowledge they have in common.
UNESCO / www.en.unesco.org
______
source: moroccoworldnews.com
____________________
_____________________________
MOROCCO / NORTH AFRICA