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
Tunisian freediver Walid Boudhiaf set a new world record in the variable weight modality of the International Association for the Development of Apnea.
On January 17, 2021, the Tunisian freediver Walid Boudhiaf acheived a new world record in the variable weight modality of the International Association for the Development of Apnea (AIDA), in the waters of Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.
Walid made a dive of -150 meters in variable weight Apnea, in which the freediver dives with the help of a sled and ascends with his own effort with the impulse of his arms or by flapping flapping, surpassing the previous mark of -146m that had the Greek Stavros Kastrinakis since November 2015.
The official information of the announcement of the world record is published in the official website of AIDA International WR Attempt Sharm FIMWR Attempt Sharm VWT.
I Was a French Muslim: Memories of an Algerian Freedom Fighter.
pproachable writing and a refreshing perspective bring his story to life in “I Was a French Muslim,” released in September by Other Press.
Mokhtefi’s memoir was translated and prepared for publication posthumously by his widow, an American painter and author. After independence, the couple lived in Algeria, where they liaised with the Black Panthers and leading Algerian figures such as former presidents Houari Boumediene, and Ahmed Ben Bella.
His story begins with his formative years as a child in a small town in Algeria. He slowly moves toward becoming a revolutionary within the National Liberation Front (FLN), and he goes out of his way to note the French colonial figures who played a role in his formative years and in supporting his education. Some were French priests, members of the worker-priest movement who supported the Algerian cause.
Mokhtefi was a pious Muslim, but it is clear from his text that he was also enamored with French culture and ideals. Yet as a child growing up in French Algeria, it was painfully clear to him that French colonialists were hypocritical in their application of the ideals of their society. It is this duality that is expressed in the title.
Given recent events, this book offers both important context and a unique narrative on perhaps the most important event in the Francophone Arab world in the 20th century.
A consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has clinched a deal to buy Newcastle United, the English football club.
After 18 months of on-off negotiations, the PIF, along with British financial entrepreneur Amanda Staveley and billionaire investors the Reuben brothers, finally sealed a £300 million ($410 million) deal with Mike Ashley, the club’s owner.
“We are extremely proud to become the new owners of Newcastle United, one of the most famous clubs in English football,” Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of PIF, said. “We thank the Newcastle fans for their tremendously loyal support over the years and we are excited to work together with them.”
With the purchase, Newcastle will join the ranks of Europe’s super-clubs, including Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, which have the backing of wealthy and committed owners.
source/content: arabnews.com
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Fans celebrate outside St. James’ Park. after the Newcastle United takeover was announced. (Reuters) / pix: arabnews.com
Dr. Abdulrazk Gurnah. Writer. Born in Zanzibar (Tanzania) based in England.
No black African writer has won the prize since Wole Soyinka in 1986. Gurnah is the first black writer to win since Toni Morrison in 1993.
Gurnah is a Professor at the University of Kent.
His novel “Paradise” was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1994.
The Nobel prize in literature has been awarded to the novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah, for his “uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents”.
Gurnah grew up on one of the islands of Zanzibar before fleeing persecution and arriving in England as a student in the 1960s.
Gurnah was born in 1948, growing up in Zanzibar. When Zanzibar went through a revolution in 1964, citizens of Arab origin were persecuted, and Gurnah was forced to flee the country when he was 18. He began to write as a 21-year-old refugee in England, choosing to write in English, although Swahili is his first language. His first novel, Memory of Departure, was published in 1987. He has until recently been professor of English and postcolonial literatures at the University of Kent, until his retirement.
He has published 10 novels as well as a number of short stories. Anders Olsson, chair of the Nobel committee, said that the Gurnah’s novels – from his debut Memory of Departure, about a failed uprising, to his most recent, Afterlives – “recoil from stereotypical descriptions and open our gaze to a culturally diversified East Africa unfamiliar to many in other parts of the world”
source/content : theguardian.com
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By PalFest – originally posted to Flickr as Abulrazak Gurnah on Hebron Panel, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/
Lebanese-Armenian scientist Ardem Patapoutian is one of the two winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of receptors for touch, heat and bodily movement
Two scientists who made landmark discoveries about human senses, have won the Nobel Prize for Medicine, beating vaccine pioneers to the prestigious award.
Announcing the winners after balloting behind closed doors on Monday, the Nobel jury said the US duo had broken open a “fundamental unsolved question” about human biology.
Dr Patapoutian, who was born in Lebanon in 1967 and moved to the US as a young man, works at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California. He identified genes that control sensitivity to touch.
The proteins he discovered also play a role in how people sense motion and how the body deals with blood pressure, respiration and bladder control.
He said his research had shone light on fundamental human behaviour which many people rarely question. “In science, many times, it’s the things that we take for granted that are of high interest,” he said
Nobel prize winner Ardem Patapoutian was also awarded Lebanese Order of Merit.
Dr. Patapoutian, who was born to an Armenian family in Beirut, Lebanon in 1967, came to the United States in 1986. “I fell in love with doing basic research. That changed the trajectory of my career,” he said in an interview with the New York Times. “In Lebanon, I didn’t even know about scientists as a career.”
Saudia Airlines celebrated the 76th anniversary of King Abdul Aziz bin Abdulrahman’s first flight on Thursday as a special Boeing B777-300 — decorated with an airline logo from the 1970s and 1980s era — flew from the capital in Riyadh to Taif.
The flight was a commemoration of the first flight the founding king took on Sunday, Sept. 30, 1945, from Afif to Hawiyah in a Douglas DC-3 aircraft. That aircraft was a gift received by King Abdul Aziz during a meeting with then US president President Franklin Roosevel
audia marked the occasion on the ground and in the air. A statue of King Abdul Aziz was installed in the departure hall at King Khalid International Airport, while airline staff handed out souvenirs and printed boarding passes in the old traditional style.
source / content: arabnews.com
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Saudia Airlines operated a special Boeing B777-300 flight from Riyadh to Taif, which was decorated with the logo from the 70s and 80s era. (SPA) / pix: arabnews.com
Expo 2020 is officially inaugurated, announcing that Dubai is open, the UAE is open.
It was a celebration of hope. It was also a sneak peek at the future; a showcase of innovation, cultural diversity and a reflection of how people coming together can change the world.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, led in welcoming cultures from East to West, from North to South – of 192 countries that gathered not only to participate in the world’s greatest show but also to forge unity and convey the story of Expo’s overarching theme – ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince, officially opened the Expo which will run until March 31 next year. Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence and Commissioner General of Expo 2020 Dubai, set the tone of the global event.
Ahead of the official Opening Ceremony, Sheikh Mohammed said: “The nation is proud of the 10-year preparations for the largest global event that will last for six months, with the participation of 192 countries, underscoring the international trust in our country.”
Welcome everyone
Sheikh Mohammed underlined: “Once again, the UAE people have demonstrated their unique ability to excel in every task when serving humanity. We have proven to the world the UAE is a fruitful tree that can welcome everyone who dreams of a better future for this planet.”
“With the launch of the Expo, I remember the late founding fathers Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, and I would say to them, this is your legacy, and this international trust is the outcome of your far-sighted vision and determination to overcome challenges. Today, the world is being inspired by this vision. Civilisations are established and developed by challenges. That was the first and key lesson we learnt from you, which we convey to future generations and present to the world today,” he added.
“You are home, and our development experience is at your service,” Sheikh Mohammed continued. “We have one shared destiny and our peoples are anticipating the strengthening of international cooperation to change their reality into a brighter and more sustainable one, as well as to establish a roadmap for the key economic, developmental and cultural trends for the post-COVID era. We hope that the start of the event will be the breakthrough in terms of cooperation, tolerance and peace.”
Sheikh Nahyan echoed the same ideals during his welcome speech. He noted: “Today, in the year of our Golden Jubilee, we share with the world the lessons we have learnt, most importantly that by connecting minds, we are able to achieve milestones others thought were impossible.
“Today, 192 nations come together, each represented by its own pavilion – a first in the 170-year history of World Expos. Our mere presence here, amid all the challenges the world is facing, is proof of our keen commitment and desire to make the world a better place for all.
“By hosting Expo2020 Dubai, we aim to convey a message of tolerance and that we are willing to collaborate with all of the world. Today, we say to the whole world: Welcome to the UAE and welcome to Expo 2020 Dubai.”
“We will convey – from the UAE to the world – on our 50th anniversary a message of tolerance, coexistence and peace; a message of progress, prosperity and growth; a message of brotherhood, happiness and an unwavering will to create a brighter future for everyone.
Egyptian EPC contractor Petrojet has been awarded the Guinness World Record for the largest floating roof tank for its 175,000 m3 (1.1 million bbl) crude oil storage tank in Ras Badran, Sinai, Egypt.
The double deck floating roof is 110 m in diameter and weights 1,000 tonnes. Raising the roof from assembly level to maintenance level required 240 synchronised hydraulic jacks. Petrojet built the tank for the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum.
The Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum announced that one of its companies had received a Guinness World Records certificate in the field of manufacturing and constructing crude oil storage depots by adopting a new and unprecedented method in the implementation and construction of the warehouse with a double and movable floating roof system through the use of more than 240 hydraulic lifts connected to a single control system.
According to Egyptian Petroleum, this is the first and largest method of its kind with regard to the construction of storage warehouses in the world, with a warehouse capacity of 175,000 cubic meters, equivalent to more than one million barrels of crude oil, and a warehouse with a diameter of 115 meters and a weight of more than 3000 tons.
The project, which is implemented by the Egyptian petroleum sector within the national project for the establishment of crude oil storage warehouses, consists of 29 warehouses that were established in the same manner.
source/contents: egypttoday.com
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Petrojet has Guinness World Record for Ras Badran tank / pix: tankstoragemag.com
Veteran El Amin Chentouf of Morocco defended his title in the T12 marathon for visually impaired athletes, smashing his own Paralympic record by over three minutes to finish in 2:21:43.
The 40-year-old retains his title after finishing more than more than four minutes ahead of silver medallist Clifford.
Further back in the field, Tunisian’s Wajdi Boukhili had been well placed to take the bronze until the 40km mark, where both he and compatriot Hatem Nasrallah slowed up to finish sixth and fourth, respectively. The bronze medal went to Tadashi Horikoshi of Japan.
Chentouf’s gold was the fourth for Morocco during the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, all of which have been won in athletics. Abdeslam Hili and Ayoub Sadni won gold in the men’s 400m in the T12 and T47 classes, respectively, and Zakariae Derhem topped the podium in the men’s shot put F33 class.
Osama Ahmed Abdullah Al Shafar (UAE). Dr Mohamed Wagih Azzam (Egypt).
Osama Al Shafar, President of the Asian Cycling Confederation, Member of the Executive Office of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCE), has been elected Vice-President of UCI in Leuven, Belgium.
In line with a modification to the UCI Constitution approved earlier in the day by its Congress, the UCI now counts at least one Vice-President of each gender, for a total of four Vice-Presidents-compared with three previously. The Vice-Presidents elected are: -Osama Ahmed Abdullah Al Shafar (UAE), President of the Asian Cycling Confederation.
Dr Mohamed Wagih Azzam / pix: cac-africa.com
–Dr Mohamed Wagih AZZAM (EGY), President of the Confédération Africaine de Cyclisme.
-Katerina NASH (CZE), President of the UCI Athletes’ Commission.
-Enrico DELLA CASA (ITA), President of the Union Européenne de Cyclisme (UEC).
Their term begins immediately and will finish after the 2025 UCI Congress.
Al Shafar -now the first president of the Asian Confederation to hold the position- after a successful sporting career spanning over 20 years.
