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
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, visited Al Barakah Dates Factory, the world’s largest privately-owned dates factory located in Dubai Industrial City.
The facility spans over 800,000 square feet, with an annual production capacity of 100,000 tonnes, one of the market leaders for packaging and processing dates in the world.
During the visit, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed said that the UAE continues to strengthen its position as a global hub for advanced food industries through innovation, stronger production chains, and boosting the competitiveness of national products. He noted that the dates industry is a successful example of turning the country’s agricultural heritage into a modern, high-value-added sector that supports the economy and enhances food security.
H.H. Sheikh Mohammed said that the UAE continues to invest in key sectors that impact people’s lives, especially the food sector, and is developing its national industries to be more globally competitive through advanced technologies, higher production efficiency, and expanded access to international markets.
H.H. Sheikh Mohammed added that the dates industry is part of the UAE’s identity and heritage, and its development reflects a vision of turning resources into sustainable opportunities.
He also said humanitarian initiatives in the sector, including efforts to combat malnutrition, reflect the UAE’s commitment to improving lives and addressing global food security challenges.
During the visit, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed, accompanied by Malek Al Malek, Chairman of TECOM Group, was briefed by the factory founder Saleem Mohammed and his son Yousuf Saleem Mohammed, Managing Director, on production lines, manufacturing and packaging stages, as well as the factory’s range of products.
H.H. Sheikh Mohammed also reviewed the global reach of the factory’s products, which are exported to 97 countries, with the US, the UK, and EU among the key markets.
The factory is located in Dubai Industrial City, part of TECOM Group’s industrial parks, which was launched in 2004. The Dubai Industrial City hosts over 350 factories and more than 17,000 employees, and is strategically located near Jebel Ali Port, Al Maktoum International Airport, and Etihad Rail’s freight terminal, ensuring strong logistics connectivity. The factory reflects private sector success in the food industry, and was founded by businessman Saleem Mohammed, who began his career in Dubai in 1983 before moving into dates trading and processing in the 1990s.
Landmark study bridges history and modern scholarship
Project highlights Kingdom’s preservation of Islamic heritage
A new scholarly encyclopedia documenting the architectural evolution of the Prophet’s Mosque has emerged as a major reference work, charting the development of one of Islam’s most significant landmarks across centuries.
Published by the Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah Research and Studies Center, the project forms part of broader efforts to systematically record the mosque’s history and features through a rigorous academic framework enhanced by modern research tools, a review by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.
The encyclopedia traces the mosque’s transformation from its foundation during the Prophetic era through successive expansions across Islamic history, culminating in large-scale Saudi-era developments that have expanded capacity while preserving its architectural and spiritual identity.
Beyond historical documentation, the work provides analytical insight into key structural elements — such as arcades, domes, and minarets — examining their functional and aesthetic evolution, alongside associated landmarks that underscore the mosque’s enduring religious and civilizational role.
The initiative reflects Saudi Arabia’s continued commitment to serving the Two Holy Mosques and safeguarding Islamic heritage through specialized knowledge projects, the review said.
By preserving and systematizing the architectural memory of the Prophet’s Mosque, the encyclopedia is expected to fill a critical gap in scholarly research, offering a valuable resource for academics, students, and those interested in the cultural and human dimensions embedded in the mosque’s design,
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
_______________
General view of the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah. (SPA file photo)
The commission is headquartered in Beirut and brings together 21 member states across the Middle East and North Africa.
Rania Al-Mashat has been appointed Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, following an announcement by Secretary-General António Guterres.
Al-Mashat brings more than 25 years of experience in macroeconomic policy, central banking and international development. Between 2018 and 2026, she served in Egypt’s government across multiple portfolios, including tourism, international cooperation, and planning and economic development, becoming the country’s first female minister of tourism.
Prior to her ministerial roles, she served as sub-governor for monetary policy at the Central Bank of Egypt and worked as an adviser to the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund in Washington.
The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, headquartered in Beirut, is one of the UN’s five regional commissions, serving 21 countries across the Middle East and North Africa. Its mandate includes supporting economic integration, policy coordination and sustainable development across the region.
Al-Mashat holds a PhD and MA in economics from the University of Maryland, College Park and a BA in economics from the American University in Cairo. She has also completed executive programmes in leadership and public policy at Harvard and Oxford.
Forbes also ranks Lasry among the world’s billionaires, placing him at 1,913.
Moroccan-American billionaire Marc Lasry is among the Forbes 250 Greatest Self-Made Americans, another list featuring businessmen and celebrities who made a name for themselves in their respective fields.
Forbes released the list earlier this month, distinguishing the US, where the “American dream” could reportedly be achieved by any ordinary child, compared to Europe, “where one’s prospects were often determined at birth.”
The report then cites what it describes as heroes, including Alexander Hamilton, the “orphaned immigrant who crafted America’s first financial system.”
Oprah Winfrey tops the list of the Forbes selectees, and is followed by Harold Hamm, David Steward, Thomas Peterffy, alongside LeBron James, and Jan Koum.
Among the celebrities, Morocco’s Lasry found his name alongside other celebrities like Dr Dre, Eminem and the iconic Cher, as well as other prominent businessmen and women.
Forbes identified Lasry as number 154 in its ranking, describing him as a child who lived in a tiny apartment before founding Avenue Capital.
Lasry is also on Forbes’ billionaires list, where he is ranked 1913 with a real-time net worth of $2.2 billion as of April 22.
A brief biography of him on Forbes says he and his sister Sonia founded Avenue Capital Group in 1995, with $7 million in funding from friends and family.
He moved to the US at the age of 7 with his family from Morocco, “sharing a bedroom with his 2 siblingings for a decade.”
Lasry is also known as a major supporter of the Democratic Party, raising funds for former President Obama as well as candidate Hilary Clinton.
It is now nearly seven years since uprisings brought down authoritarian rulers across the Arab world, but only in Tunisia have there been significant achievements in consolidating a new democracy. There are two contradictory conclusions to draw from this. Either the Tunisian political process offers vital insights that might be applicable in other Arab countries, or the transition relies on unique characteristics that make it unlikely to be imitated elsewhere.
SafwanMasri has written a book revealing his deep affection for Tunisia and its history, but ultimately his Tunisia : An Arab Anomaly argues that these political successes are so particular that they cannot be replicated. It is a surprisingly pessimistic conclusion for a book so admiring of the Tunisian experience.
Masri’s argument is that Tunisia’s democratic achievements are not simply down to well-rehearsed observations like the fact that the population is small and homogenous, that it lacks the curse of petroleum resources, or that it has benefitted from having a small, apolitical military. What has been most important, he argues, is a ‘remarkable culture of reform’ rooted in a progressive and adaptive brand of Islam. This has produced a distinct Tunisian identity, drawn from an amalgam of civilizational experiences, and which is demonstrated by historic achievements in terms of education, women’s rights, religious reform, and civil society. These ingredients made the country ‘predisposed to democracy’, he writes, and reveal what is lacking elsewhere in the Arab world.
In the first third of the book, Masri gives an account of the run-up to the revolution of 2010–11 and the political process that followed. The author draws from interviews he conducted in Tunisia, mostly with political elites, as well as news reports and secondary sources. The book is written as a quest to understand the Tunisian experience rather than as an academic work, and it is very readable. The second section of the book narrates Tunisian history from Dido of Carthage to independence in 1956. Masri identifies what he calls the ‘roots’ of Tunisian identity as the political and intellectual reformist movement which began in the mid-nineteenth century. He argues this moment laid the foundations for the reforms of the newly-independent Tunisian state and, later, of its transition to democracy.
The final third of the book appraises the legacy of Habib Bourguiba, Tunisia’s independence leader and first president. Masri acknowledges that Bourguiba was arrogant, ruthless, and dictatorial, but he considers his reforms essential to explaining the country’s trajectory after 2011. He argues that Bourguiba dealt with religion ‘masterfully’, using Islamic justification for his reforms while also subjugating religion as a domain of the state. He pays detailed attention to reforms in education and the resulting rise in school enrolment. These education policies also constructed a particular Tunisian identity: ‘Toleration and acceptance became deeply rooted in the Tunisian psyche enabling the enlightened progression of the country toward democratization and freedoms not experienced elsewhere in the region.’
One of the most interesting chapters explores how the education system stumbled in the years after Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali seized power in 1987. Though he widened access to school and university, Ben Ali also presided over a sharp decline in educational standards. Universities produced more graduates but failed to equip them for the job market, spreading a sense of worthlessness among young people.
The book provokes interesting questions. Is the Tunisian experience really so different from the rest of the region? After the French protectorate, Tunisia was ruled for decades by a single, mass-party regime. The regime was hit by the economic crisis of the mid-1980s and tried to escape it through a brief, ill-fated political opening. Then Ben Ali reverted to authoritarianism, repressing political opponents and offering a corrupt economic liberalisation in lieu of political change, while clinging to a hollow mantra of ‘reformism’. This is a recent history familiar to many other Arab nations.
Was the Tunisian transition towards democracy quite so pre-ordained? A different version of the proportional representation system chosen in 2011 would probably have produced an outright Islamist majority. Would al-Nahda then have been so ready to compromise its positions? In April 2014, deputies in the assembly defeated by just a single vote a proposal to exclude former ruling party figures from political life. If that vote had gone the other way, would it have still enabled the elite compromise that now characterizes the political process? And how much will the unresolved economic and social crisis erode the country’s political achievements?
For Masri, Tunisia’s key advantage lies in education. Bourguiba’s encouragement of critical analysis in schools, he argues, has avoided the ‘intellectual despotism’ which he sees as typifying other Arab education systems and which makes the region ‘ill prepared for democracy’. But much scholarly work has been done to demonstrate that factors other than a lack of preparation mitigate against democratic transitions. And, as he himself demonstrates, the Tunisian education system has been facing serious problems for at least two decades. Perhaps Tunisia at least offers some guidance as to how political actors elsewhere in the region might negotiate their own paths away from authoritarianism and how the challenges they confront could yet be overcome.
An Algerian beekeeping company has been awarded two gold medals at the London International Honey Awards (LIHA 2025), a prestigious event for honey producers, processors, and distributors.
The Algerian company, La Miellée, which was established in 2018, received one gold medal for the exceptional quality of its jujube honey and another for its innovative packaging design during this esteemed competition, recognized as one of the most respected international events in the industry.
“This international recognition highlights the capacity of Algerian honey to excel in global markets,” stated the company in a press release issued on this occasion. They further emphasized that “this achievement results from the collective efforts of an innovative young enterprise, its partner beekeepers, the richness of an authentic Algerian terroir, and the loyalty of a devoted clientele.”
Tunisian researcher Emna Harigua has been honoured with Tunisia’s 2025 Best Female Scientific Achievement Prize for her innovative drug discovery work powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
In recognition of women’s essential contributions to science and innovation, Harigua, who holds a doctorate in biomathematics, bioinformatics and computational biology, was awarded the prestigious prize by Tunisia’s Ministry of Family, Women, Children and Seniors as part of the celebrations for the country’s National Women’s Day, observed on August 13. Her achievements include leading research in AI-powered drug discovery through a national node in the Global South AI for Pandemic and Epidemic Preparedness and Response Network, a global initiative supported by IDRC and the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Harigua, a scientist at the Institut Pasteur de Tunis, Tunisia, and principal investigator of the BIND project (Bioinformatics and Artificial Intelligence for Infectious Diseases), is leading an AI-powered platform that accelerates research against some of the world’s most persistent infectious agents that pose health risks.
Her research targets neglected tropical diseases such as leishmaniasis and malaria, combining bioinformatics, AI and experimental validation to shorten the drug discovery timeline and reduce costs. The BIND project has already identified nine novel anti-Leishmania drug candidates, with three now in pre-clinical validation. In addition, the team launched CidalsDB, an open-access AI platform for drug identification, marking a step forward in global efforts toward open science and collaborative health research.
“This award is not just a personal milestone — it’s a recognition of the potential of African-led science to tackle global health challenges,” said Harigua.
Beyond her lab, Harigua is a strong advocate for building Africa’s capacity in computer-aided drug discovery and ensuring that cutting-edge technologies serve the health needs of African communities. Her work — presented recently at the International Science Council during a workshop held in Nairobi, Kenya, on the impact of emerging technologies on science systems — underscores a vision where innovation, collaboration and inclusion drive the future of medical research.
source/content: idrc-crdi.ca (headline edited)
____________
Fourat Thamine, Institut Pasteur Tunisia. / Tunisian scientist Emna Harigua receives national recognition for her AI-powered drug discovery platform.
A new generation of talent is turning its lens towards intimate storytelling, with Africa’s largest nation as its backdrop.
“Algeria is a visually unspoilt country,” says Mounia Meddour. Meddour is one of the nation’s most prominent contemporary filmmakers. Her debut film, Papicha (2019), set during the 1990s Algerian Black Decade with Algiers as its backdrop, was screened at the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard, bringing her international recognition. Yet, she is right: very few images of Algeria exist within the cinematic landscape.
There are many reasons for this. The industry has long been at a standstill; visas are difficult to obtain and cultural policy remains lukewarm. Algerian landscapes and intimate stories struggle to travel beyond the country’s borders. For several years now, however, a new generation of filmmakers, cameras in hand, has been working to capture and create a contemporary visual archive of a nation longing for representation.
Algeria nonetheless has a rich cinematic history. In 1975, thirteen years after gaining independence from France, the young state won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for the historical fresco Chronicles of the Years of Fire, directed by Mohamed Lakhdar-Hamina — making Algeria the first, and still the only, African and Arab country to achieve this distinction. It is this legacy that leads the film critic Samir Ardjoum to speak of a paradox in Algerian cinema.
“This symbolic prestige has not translated into industrial continuity,” he says. “Algerian cinema suffers from a lack of stable international distribution. Films circulate widely at festivals, but rarely in commercial circuits.”
Ardjoum explains that Algerian cinema originated as a cinema of nation-building. After 1962, the country invested heavily in films recounting the War of Independence and enshrining a heroic national memory, creating a shared narrative and collective imagery. Many films about the thawra (the Revolution, or Algerian War) were commissioned, with Mohamed Lakhdar-Hamina among the most prominent figures of this movement.
A more mainstream cinema emerged in the 1970s, but was largely forgotten due to poor archiving. The Black Decade of the 1990s brought the industry to a near halt, as it did many others. Since then, Algerian cinema has remained in a state of lethargy. As the filmmaker Malek Bensmaïl puts it: “It is both fragile and very lively. Yet there is a deep desire to create our own stories and not let others tell them for us.”
The act of image-making inevitably raises questions of funding and audience. “All too often, we oscillate between a foreign gaze that restricts us and a nostalgic form of self-aestheticisation akin to self-Orientalism,” argues Amira Louadah, director of The Ark.
For too long, Algeria has been shaped by Western-manufactured representations, beginning with France. “Between 1830 and 1962, during French colonisation, most images of the country — whether in painting, photography or film — were created from a Western perspective,” Louadah notes. In a colonial context, such representations served to criminalise, demean and demonise “Muslim Algerians”, the term used by the colonial administration for indigenous people. Even today, Ardjoum adds, “Algeria is often depicted through the lens of crisis, politics or its colonial past.”
With limited state funding, filmmakers increasingly turn to European backers who, Louadah says, can at times “dictate the stories they want to see from our region”. The result is a striking absence of visual documentation of everyday life. “How did families live? How were social relationships organised? How did people communicate? What did daily routines, household objects or lighting look like? How did people travel, in both rural and urban areas?” she asks.
This new generation hopes to fill that void. “It’s exhilarating to have this rare access to locations and footage,” says Yacine Medkour, co-founder of the Algiers-based production company 2Horloges. “At the same time, it’s a huge responsibility.”
“Our country lacks images produced from its own perspective,” Bensmaïl emphasises. By reclaiming their narratives, this new wave of filmmakers is creating “archives for the future, preserving fragments of memory to pass on to future generations”. Yet this comes with what Louadah calls “a cultural responsibility”. “We need to support a plurality of perspectives rather than a single, black-and-white approach. We should represent all viewpoints and social classes—not just central Algiers. The more diverse, the better. We must break free from monopolies over narrative and representation.” Ardjoum agrees: “It’s not about polishing the country’s image; it’s about expanding the range of representations.”
As part of this shift, many filmmakers are moving away from stories centred solely on the Algerian Revolution. “People are growing tired of heroic narratives,” Ardjoum observes. Bensmaïl, whose forthcoming film The Arab reimagines the unnamed protagonist of Albert Camus’s The Stranger through the testimony of his ageing brother, suggests that “his generation needed to ask questions”. “We are not abandoning the Revolution,” he says. “We are simply no longer treating it as a static icon.” Ardjoum describes this as a shift in political focus — from the grand historical narrative to the personal sphere. “By constantly glorifying the past, it becomes difficult to describe the present.”
Meddour’s Papicha follows Nedjma, a fashion student determined to stage a show during the Black Decade — a period the director herself experienced. Sofia Djama’s The Blessed (Les Bienheureux) centres on a couple, Amal and Samir, celebrating their twentieth wedding anniversary as they reflect on their shared past. Louadah’s documentary La Grosse Moula ou Li Michan explores Algeria’s linguistic history from a personal perspective. “There was a need to ground Algeria in the present, to tell stories that allow us to come to terms with our reality,” Meddour says. As Ardjoum notes, “Contemporary Algerian cinema is no longer solely a cinema of national narrative; it has become a cinema of the personal, of trauma, of urban life and of social tensions.”
To portray Algeria fully, however, filmmakers must look beyond the capital. “Our generation has tended to film what we know — often Algiers, which is inherently cinematic in its vitality,” says Djama, who is currently working on her next film, Jeudi moins quart. “But it would be a shame to limit ourselves. We need to look further afield.”
Progress remains constrained by financial and institutional challenges. “Over the past fifteen years, there has been real progress — more young filmmakers, more women, more films in festivals,” Bensmaïl notes. “But it is not yet enough.” Sustained national funding will be essential if this movement is to endure — allowing it to evolve from a fragile ecosystem of resourceful auteurs into a stable creative industry.
“If the films exist, we also need venues in which to show them,” Bensmaïl adds. Filmmakers are calling for a wider network of cinemas, alongside what Ardjoum describes as “an ambitious policy on archiving and international distribution”, supported by legal protections for creative freedom. “We have a wealth of talented individuals eager to write, produce and direct across genres,” Meddour says.
Medkour remains optimistic: “Algeria is the future of image-making.”
Prominent Egyptian journalist Ezzat Ibrahim, editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram Weekly and Ahram Online, has won the Best Columnist Award for 2025 at the Mustafa and Ali Amin Journalism Awards, the awards’ board of trustees announced on Monday.
Renowned journalist Mohamed Salmawy was named Journalist of the Year, while Mohamed El-Shamaa of Al-Akhbar newspaper received the Commitment Award, according to a statement from the awards foundation.
In the investigative journalism category, Amany Awad of Al-Mal newspaper won for her report titled “The Dark Side of the Smart Companion.”
Samar Ibrahim of Al-Shorouk newspaper received the Humanitarian Journalism Award for “Testimonies of Sexual Humiliation Victims by Rapid Support in Sudan.”
The Youth Award went to Ahmed Al-Ameer of Al-Watan newspaper for his piece “The Killer Light: The Journey of White Phosphorus from the Gap to the Bodies of Gaza Strip Residents.”
In visual journalism categories, Khaled Kamel of the Youm7 website won the Photojournalism Award for “A Mother’s Sacrifice for Her Children in the Rain,” while Maroula Magdy of the Al Arabiya Egypt website received the Video Journalism Award for “Mawlawiya Dance for Love and Peace.”
The awards also recognized student journalists. Jana Mohamed Hanfi won first place in the journalism department at Akhbar El-Youm Academy, while Mai Ahmed El-Sayed took first place in the journalism department at Cairo University’s Faculty of Mass Communication.
The winners were selected after impartial judging committees reviewed entries published during 2025, the foundation said.
Safia Mustafa Amin, chair of the awards’ board of trustees, said a ceremony will be held to honour the legacy of journalists Mustafa Amin and Ali Amin, during which the prizes will be presented to the winners.
Regional Director for the Guinness World Records in the Middle East and North Africa region Ahmed Bakr Meklad said Bahr Al Baqr wastewater treatment plant has received a Guinness World Records’ certificate for being the largest water plant in the world with a capacity of 64.8 cubic meters per second along with the use of ozone in the wastewater treatment process.
Speaking to “Good Morning Egypt”, Meklad said the plant has been established with the highest and best international standards.
The plant was inspected by Guinness World Records team of judges over a period of one year during which data were exchanged to review the plant’s competitiveness with similar projects.
The cost of this massive project is LE20 billion, and its daily capacity is 5.6 million cubic meters to be used in the reclamation of 400 acres in Sinai, he said.
Considered one of Egypt’s most important projects, the plant treats more than 2 billion cubic meters of wastewater per year which will be used to irrigate 1,400 sq km of land in Sinai. It is located east of the Nile Delta in the town of Bahr El-Baqar, about 35 km south of Port Said.
The project is set to improve water security, provide jobs, support communities, and reduce pollution for decades to come.
The plant comprises the pumping building of the water intake – rapid mixing basins – slow mixing basins – sedimentation basins – filters with discs – ozone basins – chloride tanks, treated water, sludge condensing basins – mechanical drying buildings – solar units for sludge drying and an administrative area which includes (headquarter building – employers building – mosque – generators – workshops – chemicals – chloride – ozone) – interior roads networks and landscaping.
