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Dana Al-Sulaiman., Ph.D. Biomedical Engineer. Scientist. Educationist
Saudi engineer Dana Al-Sulaiman won the “Innovators Under 35” award, for her ability to create a chip that detects different types of cancer inside the patient’s body.
Eng. Dana explained to Alekhbariya channel about her innovation, saying, “It is a small chip made of micro needles covered with a substance that is placed on the skin, and it is able to absorb liquid, and detect cancer biomarkers in an easy and non-invasive way.”
The Saudi inventor, who also works as an assistant professor of Material Science and Bioengineering at KAUST, elaborated, “The reason that prompted me to create the slide is the painful and tedious process of the traditional way where a sample is taken from the patient.”
Al-Sulaiman pointed out that the chip she created reveals different types of cancer, adding that innovation saves a lot of effort, money and time.
She added that the innovation was granted an American patent, and the technology is currently being developed and manufactured from sustainable materials at King Abdullah University and then it will be delivered to doctors in all hospitals soon.
The “Innovators Under 35 Award” seeks to honor technical experts, male and female researchers, male and female scientists, whose age does not exceed 35 years.
The conditions for nomination for the award include a wide range of fields, including biomedicine, computing and communications, energy, materials science, software and even transportation, the Internet, and more, where the innovations and research they have accomplished can make a qualitative leap in our contemporary world.
The selected innovators will give a brief presentation on their work of no more than 3 minutes per innovator. Candidates must also be citizens or residents of a country in the Middle East and North Africa region, or of Arab origin.
Monastery has three churches, most important of which is underground Church of St Paul.
The Monastery of St Paul the Anchorite, also known as the Monastery of the Tigers, is a Coptic Orthodox monastery dating back to the 4th Century CE located in Egypt’s Eastern Desert, near the Red Sea Mountains.
Located about 155 km south east of Cairo, the monastery gained the moniker the Monastery of the Tigers due to its isolated location out in the wilderness of Egypt’s desert moonscape. It covers an area of about five acres of land, and is a rectangular shape of 200 metres long by 100 metres wide.
By the 5th Century CE, the monastery was built over the cave where St Paul the Anchorite lived for more than 80 years.
St Paul, also known as St Paul of Thebes, or Anba Bola in Arabic, was a Coptic Orthodox saint born in Alexandria in 228 CE. Following his father’s death, the teenage Paul decided to become a hermit and live a simple life.
At the age of 16, he converted to Christianity and escaped Alexandria to avoid Roman persecution. According to one story, God sent Paul an angel who guided him to Egypt’s arid Western Desert, where he could live alone as a hermit.
The same story relates how God sent Paul a crow every day carrying half a loaf of bread to feed him. One day St Anthony joined Paul, and when the crow came, it had a full loaf of bread. St Paul then realised that it was God who had sent St Anthony, after 80 years of his worshipping in solitude.
As legend tells it, when St Paul died St Anthony saw two lions standing by the door of the cave in which the former had made his home. The lions approached the corpse, and used their claws dug in the ground, for St Anthony put St Paul’s body into the hole for burial.
It is for this reason that St Paul’s icon in any Coptic museum in Egypt shows him flanked by two lions with a crown above his head.
The first travel narrative associated with the monastery belongs to an anonymous pilgrim from the Italian city of Piacenza who visited the tomb of St Paul the Anchorite between the years 560 CE and 570 CE. The pilgrim is not to be confused with Antoninus Martyr.
The first monks to occupy the monastery were some of the disciples of Anthony the Great, after they learned the story of St Paul the Anchorite. It may have been occupied by Melkites for a short period, although they were followed by Egyptian and Syrian monks.
The Syrians may have had a sustained existence at the monastery, for it appears that they also occupied the monastery during the first half of the 15th Century, after which their presence disappeared. According to an isolated Ethiopian reference, the 70th Coptic Orthodox Pope, Gabriel II (1131–45 CE), was banished to the monastery of St Paul the Anchorite for three years.
Throughout its history, the monastery has suffered from several Bedouin raids, the worst of which occurred in 1484. This particularly painful attack saw all the monks murdered and the monastery plundered, following which the Bedouins occupied the building for 80 years.
The monastery was rebuilt under the patronage of Pope Gabriel VII of Alexandria (1526-69 CE), then attacked and destroyed again towards the end of the century. The monastery was deserted for 119 years, then extensively reconstructed and repopulated by monks from St Anthony’s Monastery, under the patronage of Pope John XVI of Alexandria (1676-1718 CE).
The monastery has three churches, the most important of which is the underground Church of St Paul that contains the hermit’s cave and burial place. Its walls are painted with well-preserved frescoes, and the ceiling is hung with ostrich eggs, symbols of the resurrection. The larger Church of St Michael has a gilded icon of John the Baptist’s severed head.
There is no public transportation to St Paul’s Monastery and, as the original hermit intended, it is a long journey from civilisation to get there. Visitors can take the bus from Cairo to Hurghada and get off at the turn-off for St Paul’s Monastery, following which there is a 13 km uphill trek to the monastery itself. This may sound daunting at first, but the road is well-paved and has plenty of traffic.
The Monastery of St Paul is an incredibly important site in Egypt’s long and varied history, and is the second ancient Coptic Christian monastery tucked away in the Eastern Desert.
Visitors may also view some of the manuscripts in the monastery’s possession, which includes a Coptic language version of the “Divine Liturgy”. A tour of the site may include a trip up the tower, and a glimpse of the “Pool of Mary” where Mary, the sister of Moses, washed her feet during the Exodus.
Along with the nearby Monastery of St Anthony, the Monastery of St Paul is quite possibly the most impressive structure in the desert. It is for this reason that it is included in several Egyptian desert tours.
Bader Al-Mutawa (aka) Bader Ahmed al-Mutawa. Professional Footballer. Athlete.
• Bader Al Mutawa has become the most-capped player of all time
• Striker passed the mark of former Egyptian defender Ahmed Hassan
• Kuwaiti has now played 185 times for his country
Kuwait’s FIFA Arab Cup™ qualifier against Bahrain is a hugely significant fixture, and not just because the winners will go to the tournament in Qatar. It was also the game that finally allowed Kuwaiti forward Bader Al Mutawa to become the most-capped player in the history of men’s football.
Earlier this month, during Kuwait’s unsuccessful attempt to reach the third round of AFC qualifying for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, Al Mutawa won his 184th cap to tie the record of Egyptian legend Ahmed Hassan, set on 22 May 2012 against Togo.
FIFA.com looks back at the impressive career of Al Mutawa, who has finally surpassed his Egyptian rival and set a new appearances’ record for international men’s football.
Singapore start
On 4 September 2003, newly-appointed coach Paulo Cesar Carpegiani handed Al Mutawa his debut in a 2004 Asian Cup qualifier away to Singapore. It was certainly a bold move, partly because it was the Brazilian’s first game in charge, and partly because the player being entrusted with attacking duties was only 18-years-old.
But Al Mutawa, who began his football career as a goalkeeper with Al-Qadsia before moving up front, quickly repaid Carpegiani’s trust, scoring on his debut in a 3-1 win.
Five World Cup qualifying campaigns
Al Mutawa then helped Al-Azraq (The Blue) to the final phase of the 2004 Asian Cup. He would go on to feature at that tournament in China PR, as well as the 2011 and 2015 editions, but could not prevent Kuwait exiting at the group stage on each occasion.
Six months after his international debut, the 1.75 m forward played his first FIFA World Cup™ qualifier, against Malaysia in the Germany 2006 preliminaries. Once again he rose to the occasion, opening the scoring and helping his side to victory.
Al Mutawa was a fixture in his side for the South Africa 2010, Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018 World Cup qualifiers. He also featured in Kuwait’s unsuccessful bid to reach Qatar 2022.
Breaking new ground
When the AFC qualifiers for Qatar 2022 resumed earlier this month, Al Mutawa was still three games away from Ahmed Hassan’s record. He came off the bench for the Australia and Jordan games before starting their final fixture against Chinese Taipei, where he equalled the mark set nine years previously by Hassan.
That achievement was overshadowed by Kuwait’s Qatar 2022 elimination, which saw the veteran break down in tears in the knowledge that he would not be able to end his long career with an appearance on the world stage.
However, there was some consolation for Al Mutawa, with the president of the Kuwaiti Football Federation, Sheikh Ahmed Al Yousef, paying tribute to him before the team travelled to Qatar to face Bahrain. The 36-year-old then duly made history by taking sole possession of the record for most international appearances in men’s football.
source/content: fifa.com
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Kuwait’s forward and captain Bader al-Mutawa runs after the ball during the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup qualifier match between Bahrain and Kuwait at Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, on June 25, 2021. (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR / AFP) / pix; the-afc.com / fifa.com
Egyptian Producer and director Marianne Khoury was awarded France’s Legion of Honour in the degree of Chevalier (Knight).
The award was given to Khoury by the Ambassador of France to Egypt in Cairo Marc Baréty. The Legion of Honour is the highest French decoration and one of the most famous in the world. For two centuries, it has been presented on behalf of the Head of State to reward the most deserving citizens in all fields of activity.
It is highest French decoration, one of most famous in world.
Born in 1958, Khoury is a graduate of economics from both Cairo and Oxford Universities. She has directed and produced films on controversial issues such as identity, memory, and social exclusion. Khoury, who is the niece of late great Egyptian director Youssef Chahine, is a managing partner in prominent Cairo-based Misr International, one of Egypt’s production companies, which Chahine founded.
She is also a co-founder of the Panorama of The European Film. She directed her first documentary, ‘The Times of Laura’ in 1999. She then worked on ‘Women Who Loved Cinema’ in 2002 and ‘Shadows’, which tackles personal and social perceptions of the mentally ill.
Shadows premiered at the Opening of the Venice Film Festival in 2010 and won the FIPRESCI award at the Dubai Film Festival of the same year and the Italian television Rai Award in 2011 at the International Festival of Mediterranean Documentary and Current Affairs Films.
She also produced and directed ‘Let’s Talk’ in 2019, which received the Audience Award at the 41st Cairo International Film Festival. Very personal in character, the film is a conversation between her and her daughter about ordinary things in life: Death, life, illness, identity, marriage, etc.
AquaFun, anchored in the Gulf waters alongside the JBR beach, has received a Guinness World Record certificate for being the world’s largest inflatable water park.
Launched for the first time in 2016, AquaFun has now expanded to three times its original size to reach 42,400 square metres. It currently forms the words ‘I love (heart symbol) Expo 2020 Dubai’, which can be seen from aircraft flying into Dubai.
It features over 72 obstacles and operates all year round. Prices start from Dh155 for an all-day pass ticket.
Ahmed Al Khaja, CEO of Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE), said: “To secure another world record for Dubai during such an important event in our calendar, the Dubai Shopping Festival, is a moment of real pride for the city.
Ahmed Ben Chaibah, CEO & Founder of AquaFun, said the aim with the project five years ago was to enrich the Dubai Marina and JBR areas’ offerings.
Emirate bagged yet another world record in the final week of its shopping festival.
Doum was founded by mother-daughter duo Samira Madrane and Yasmine Erguibi in 2017.
Samira and Yasmine Erguibi are the Moroccan mother-daughter duo who have made it their mission to make a positive impact in fashion. The designers are playing an active role in promoting sustainability and ethical practices with their accessories label, Doum.
Each design in their bag line is handmade by underprivileged women. The totes, clutches and pouches support fair trade and sustainable practices to preserve local artisanal traditions and invite local women from rural areas around Marrakech to provide for their families via the production of the bags, according to the label’s manifesto.
The brand takes its name from the Moroccan palm leaf, which is collected, pruned and then woven by the artisans. “It is a nod to our culture, heritage and craftsmanship,” explained Yasmine of the decision to name the label Doum.
Today, Doum operates its own cooperative in Morocco, Doum For Women, which currently employs 235 women artisans.
Doum For Women is the first basketry cooperative in Morocco to have obtained SEDEX certification, meaning that the organization ticks all of the boxes of ethical business practices.
Jordanian writer Jalal Barjas has won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his work Notebooks of the Bookseller.
The novel, published by The Arabic Institute for Research and Publishing, was named this year’s winner of the prize during an online ceremony.
Besides receiving a monetary prize of $50,000, Barjas will also be given funding towards securing an English translation of his novel.
Notebooks of the Bookseller is set in Jordan and Moscow between 1947 and 2019. It tells the story of Ibrahim, a bookseller and voracious reader, who loses his shop and finds himself homeless and diagnosed with schizophrenia. He begins to assume the identity of the protagonists of the novels he loved and commits a series of crimes, including burglary, theft and murder. He then attempts suicide before meeting a woman who changes his perspective on life.
Born in 1970, Barjas is a Jordanian poet and novelist who worked in the field of aeronautical engineering for several years. He is currently head of the Jordanian Narrative Laboratory and presents a radio programme called House of the Novel. He has also written articles for Jordanian newspapers and headed several other cultural organisations.
Barjas’s published work includes two poetry collections and four novels. His 2012 short story The Earthquakes won the Jordanian Rukus ibn Za’id ʻUzayzi Prize.
His 2013 novel Guillotine of the Dreamer won the Jordanian Rifqa Doudin Prize for Narrative Creativity in 2014. His Snakes of Hell won the 2015 Katara Prize for the Arabic Novel in the unpublished novel category, and was published by Katara in 2016. His third novel, Women of the Five Senses, was longlisted for the Ipaf in 2019.
Notebooks of the Bookseller was chosen by the Ipaf judges from a shortlist of six novels by authors from Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.
The shortlisted works were all published between July 2019 and August 2020 and included The Eye of Hammurabi by Abdulatif Ould Abdullah, The Calamity of the Nobility by Amira Ghneim, The Bird Tattoo by Dunya Mikhail, File 42 by Abdelmajid Sabbath and Longing for the WomanNext Door by Habib Selmi.
The shortlisted authors will receive $10,000 each.
source/content: thenationalnews.com
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Jordanian writer Jalal Barjas has been named the winner of this year’s International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2021. Courtesy Shaama Oubayda Mahfoud / pix: thenationalnews.com
Music industry hopefuls, it’s time to update your calendar because Spotify is presenting its first-ever Sawtik female-only masterclass.
And Arab superstar and Godmother of Sawtik, Latifa Bint Alaya El Arfaoui, is set to host a special guest spot to share her story. The special installment, which supports the region’s emerging female artists as part of the Sawtik initiative.
The Tunisian superstar, who has partnered with the world’s most popular audio streaming service to be a mentor to exceptional up-and-coming talents from countries like UAE, KSA, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, will be offering creators valuable tips and advice.
Latifa, who started her career in the 80s, told “Vogue Arabia.” “My journey hasn’t happened without its challenges and while I enjoy a successful career, there are many others still waiting for the right opportunity to shine.”
The singer and actress added Sawtik offers female artists an effective platform to reveal their talent and build a connection with audiences who will love their music across all genres.
Sawtik, which means “your voice” in Arabic, was launched as Spotify’s inaugural women-in-music initiative for the Middle East and North Africa region. The initiative, unveiled with 16 emerging talents including Almas, Jarra and Feluka, is also backed by other influential women in the music business. Introduced the same week that Apple launched its New Artists: Middle East playlist.
Samia Khaled, named best goalkeeper in Saudi Women’s League, shares dream of turning pro.
Saudi footballer Samia Khaled, who was named best goalkeeper in the inaugural Saudi Women’s League Championship, said she is proud to be part of the Al-Mamlaka side that won the title this month.
Her personal award reflects the key role she played in her team during the tournament. In the final match against Al-Tahadi, for example, she kept a clean sheet as her side cruised to a 7-0 victory.
Khaled lists Algerian goalkeeper Rais M’Bolhi, who plays for Al-Ettifaq in the Saudi Pro League, as a role model and hopes that like him, she will have the chance to represent her country.
There was special thanks for Mohammed Khalfan, who has been her trainer for several years, from futsal level up to her current position.
She also had advice for other women in the country interested in building a career in the sport: “Female Saudi players need more experience and skills, and need to build their body strength and increase speed and power.”
source/content: arabnews.com
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Saudi footballer Samia Khaled was named best goalkeeper in the inaugural Saudi Women’s League Championship. (Supplied)
Researcher Sara Hegy Ahmed was awarded for her study on sex hormone signalling, and how they can influence the regenerative capacity of intenstinal cells.
Egyptian scholar Sara Hegy Ahmed has been awarded the Rictzenhain Doctoral Prize in recognition for her achievements in cancer research in Germany.
The prize is given out every two years to researchers with exceptional dissertations in cancer research at the University of Heidelberg, or at a research institute in the town of Heidelberg.
Motivated by the loss of a young relative to cancer, Ahmed knuckled down to receive her bachelor’s degree in pharmacy and biological sciences at the German University in Cairo, before completing her graduate studies in cancer research at the University of Heidelberg.
During her PhD research at the German Cancer Research Center, Ahmed studied the way sex hormones signalling can influence the regenerative capacity of intenstinal cells. According to her research, stem cells of non-sex organs can be affected by sex hormones – drawing a link between high concentrations of sex hormones and the development of tumors in the digestive system.
Ahmed currently works as a Transformational Coach, helping others achieve their own life goals.
