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Muhammad bin Lahej transported troops in his dhow during Operation Countenance.
Under the cover of darkness, with only the stars for guidance, Muhammad bin Lahej sailed through the inky black waters.
The young captain guided his dhow up the coast of Oman from Muscat, through the Strait of Hormuz and into the Arabian Gulf, dodging enemy submarines as he went.
It was a journey he had made countless times before. But instead of spices and goods in the cargo hold that August 24 night, were troops of the British army.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Old photo of Muhammad Matar bin Lahej today at an event to celebrate the contribution of the UAE citizen Muhammad Matar bin Lahej (95 years old and one of the last survivors of WW2) to the military efforts during the war (particularly during Operation Countenance). He helped the British/Allies take Bandar Abbas at the British Embassy, Dubai Creek. Ruel Pableo for The National for John Dennehy’s story / pix: thenationalnews.com
Eighty years on, Britain honoured Emirati Mr Lahej, 95, for his daring exploits during the Second World War.
Because Mr Lahej was too frail to attend in person, the event at the office of the British Embassy in Dubai on Monday was attended by his sons, who recounted their father’s role in secretly moving troops as part of Operation Countenance – the 1941 Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran.
“Since the end of the Second World War, the story has been forgotten,” said Hamed bin Lahej. “My father is one of the last heroes alive who volunteered.”
source/content: thenationalnews.com
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Simon Penney, British Consul General to Dubai and the Northern Emirates, presents a plaque of appreciation to the sons of Muhammad bin Lahej for his role during the Second World War. Ruel Pableo for The National / pix: thenationalnews.com
The British Embassy and British Council announced the recipients of the Study UK Alumni Awards 2020-2021 in Saudi Arabia at an awards ceremony hosted by British Ambassador in Riyadh, Neil Crompton.
UK alumni from Jeddah, Riyadh, Dhahran, Qassim and Thuwal were recognized for their outstanding achievements as business professionals, entrepreneurs and community leaders, and for their important contributions in strengthening collaborative ties between the UK and Saudi Arabia.
7th Study UK Alumni Award Ceremony:
“This prestigious international award celebrates UK higher education and the achievements of outstanding Saudis who studied in the UK and are using their education to make a positive impact.
The award received around 1,300 applications from international UK alumni in more than 100 countries, representing more than 120 UK higher education institutions across the UK. Following interviews with a judging panel, recipients were selected for the three award categories: Professional achievement, entrepreneurial, and social impact.
The professional achievement award, which recognizes alumni who have displayed exemplary leadership in their professional field, was presented to Dr. Roua Alsubki , alumna of University College London.
Roua is vice dean of skills and development deanship at King Saud University, the first woman to hold this position.
The social impact award, which acknowledges alumni who have made an exceptional contribution to creating positive social change, was presented to Dr. Bandar Alosaimi for establishing COVIDAT, a website that provides scientific information on COVID-19 in Arabic.
He saw a need to translate developments in medical research to the everyday Arabic reader to avoid misinformation and misconceptions about the coronavirus.
A graduate of University of Manchester and University of Salford, where he earned his master’s and Ph.D degrees, Alosaimi is assistant professor of virology at the faculty of medicine, the head of the virology research team and chairperson of Research Laboratories at King Fahad Medical City.
The entrepreneurial award was presented to Dr. Wail Mousa, graduate of the University of Leeds.
The University of Birmingham on Tuesday signed an agreement with King Saud University, he added.
2022 :
The Study UK Alumni Awards 2022 call for applications is open until Oct. 29, 2021.
source/content: arabnews.com
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Sir Steve Smith, British Ambassador Neil Crompton (from left) with Winners Dr. Bandar Alosaimi, Dr Roua Alsubki and Dr. Wail Mousa. (Supplied) / pix: arabnews.com
It is commemorated every year on the anniversary, which is, however, not a public holiday.
The day is marked by schools, government offices, businesses, and individuals hanging the national flag outside their homes and workplaces.
The veteran Emirati diplomat, Abdullah Mohammed Al Maainah, had designed the symbol of the country’s unity, pride and dignity when he was only a teenager 19 years old.
Al Maainah’s design was chosen among more than 1,030 entries submitted as part of a nationwide contest.
Later, the winning flag was raised on December 2, 1971 — the Foundation Day of the UAE.
On December 2, it will be exactly 50 years since the UAE flag was first hoisted to mark the country’s union.
Curiously, he did not know his design had been selected until he saw the flag fluttering at Mushrif Palace in Abu Dhabi with his own eyes.
“It was an overwhelming feeling. All of us were happy because we had unified as one country. However, I was overjoyed the most,” said the veteran diplomat, as he recalled how he found out about the contest and prepared for it with barely any time or resources.
“One of the arrangements related to declaring the establishment of the UAE at that time was to design a flag for it. A committee was formed to look into the matter and an advertisement was put out in the Al Ittihad newspaper inviting submissions from various artists,” he reminisced.
Al Maainah said he stumbled upon the advertisement just three days before the deadline was to expire.
“It was a race against time, as I didn’t have any drawing tools or colouring pencils. I rushed out to get them and worked all night to come up with the design. It was a happy feeling staying awake for the sake of designing the flag for my beloved country,” he added.
Only two flags were raised on December 2, 1971, to mark the formation of the nation – one in Abu Dhabi, the other at Union House in Dubai.
Al Maainah said the colours of the UAE flag were not chosen randomly.
“Every colour has an innate meaning. White symbolises peace, goodness and purity, black represents solidarity, green stands for hope, prosperity and development while red denotes bravery and courage,” he added.
Later, he was awarded 4,000 riyals as prize money, as the UAE dirham was yet to be introduced as the legal tender.
Al Maainah, who has travelled around the world as the UAE’s ambassador to several foreign missions, cherishes the honour bestowed on him by the country’s wise and visionary leadership for his design of the flag.
Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Military Industries announced the signing of a contract with the Saudi Arabian Military Industries for the development and manufacturing of the “SkyGuard” unmanned aerial vehicle.
SAMI also signed an agreement with Prince Sultan Defense Studies and Science Research Center with the aim of further developing the UAV.
“SkyGuard” is “the outcome of numerous research and development efforts, undertaken by the center and geared towards developing a truly local product,” it said, as the Kingdom plans to supply half of its military needs with products made at home.
GAMI has identified 74 investment opportunities, across six domains of the military industries sector.
The authority has launched a digital platform called the Military Industry Marketplace that links local industry projects with investors that are authorized and licensed by the authority.
Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi and Huda AlHashimi named in 2021 Agile 50 List.
Two UAE government’s top officials have been listed among the world’s most influential people navigating disruption.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Agile Governance has named Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Government Development and the Future, and Huda AlHashimi, Deputy Minister of Cabinet Affairs for Strategic Affairs, in the 2021 Agile 50 List.
Al Roumi was recognised in the Public Figures category, together with five global government leaders, including Ana Brnabić, Prime Minister of Serbia, and Mikhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.
While AlHashimi was also selected in the Agile Enablers category, which included government officials from several countries around the world, including Brazil, Sweden and Shanghai.
Al Roumi was chosen among the world’s leading public figures for spearheading a transformative vision to accelerate government development in the UAE, enhance government performance, and embed future foresight and readiness in government.
She further supported building agility to adapt to emerging trends, enhancing competitiveness, and supporting effective government coordination. The recognition also highlighted Her Excellency’s continuous efforts to spur innovation, create a new generation of anticipatory government services, and support future-readiness.
Huda AlHashimi was selected in recognition of the significant role she undertakes in various government fields, including driving innovation and agility in the government through initiatives and projects launched by the Mohammed bin Rashid Center for Government Innovation.
AlHashimi achievements include supporting the initiatives that accelerate delivery and finding solutions for the pressing challenges through leading the world’s first Government Accelerators.
The Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC), an affiliate of Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), announced Thursday the winning teams of the first hackathon for women in Egypt “She Hackathon”, organized in collaboration with Intel, and Digital Egypt Innovation Hubs (Creativa).
“She Hackathon” is the first hackathon for women entrepreneurs in Egypt that aims to empower women by addressing the challenges they face in establishing their companies and businesses.
The first prize was awarded to a team of three young women from Aswan governorate, for a mobile application developed to aid in combating harassment and violence against women, through features of voice distress calls and messages, sharing location, classification of places, according to the degree of safety, in addition to providing psychological support.
The second prize was awarded to “Trisomy” from Ismailia governorate, for a free mobile application to achieve effective communication between parents of children with Down syndrome and help them connect with doctors, nurses, and psychologists in their vicinity.
The third prize was awarded to “Fem Scan” from Mansoura governorate, for presenting an idea and a prototype of an application and a system that helps reduce misdiagnosis and the time it takes to perform X-rays, especially in women’s breast cancer screening cases.
A tasty Guinness World Record was broken at Expo 2020 Dubai , four days after the initial attempt was postponed due to a tropical storm in the region.
A warm, sweet scent filled the air inside the Swedish Pavilion at the world’s fair, as an attempt to create the world’s “longest cinnamon bun train” got under way.
Fifteen hundred sticky and delicious buns, made from about 6kg of butter, 11kg of sugar and 36kg of flour, were placed in a spiral pattern on a large circular table.
All ingredients used to make and connect the buns – which were comically referred to as the “original gangsters of Swedish bakery” by the chefs – had to be edible, so no glue, tape or sticks were used.
“To bake our way into the record books is a testament to the hard work, agility and dedication that you see every day in our 22 cake shops,” said Tushar Fotedar, a director at Mister Baker.
The world record commemorates Fika, which is a Swedish social phenomenon that brings together colleagues, family members and friends over coffee and pastries.
source/content: thenationalnews.com
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A tasty Guinness World Record was broken at Expo 2020 Dubai on Friday, four days after the initial attempt was postponed due to a tropical storm in the region. All photos by Khushnum Bhandari / The National / thenationalnews.com
Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah won the 21st edition of the Moroccan Desert Rally, the fourth round of the 2021 World Cup for Cross Country Rallies, which lasted for seven days amid the participation of the most prominent rally drivers, and topped the general ranking of the world championship.
The coronation of Al Attiyah and his navigator French Mathieu Baumel in a Toyota Hilux, came after taking first place in the general standings at the end of the five stages with a total time of 15.52.10 hours, 15.58 minutes behind of his nearest competitor, the Saudi driver Yazid Al Rajhi, accompanied by his British navigator Michael Oro in a Toyota Hilux, who came second with a total time of 16.08.08 hours, while Argentine driver Lucio Alvarez, accompanied by his Spanish navigator Armand Monleon in a Toyota Hilux, came third with a total time of 17.03.02 hours.
The title is the sixth for the Qatari rider in the Morocco Rally after 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, topping the general standings of the World Cup for Cross Country Rally Championship, before competing in the last two rounds, the Emirates Challenge Rally and the Hail Rally in Saudi Arabia during the coming months of November and December respectively.
The CineGouna projects awarded cash and other prizes this year were 13 projects in development, 6 films in post-production, in addition to one guest film in post-production.
The CineGouna SpringBoard jury included Mohamed Soueid, the Lebanese producer and film critic; Nina Lath Gupta, former CEO of the NFDC; and Ismaël Ferroukhi, the Moroccan director and screenwriter.
The jury gave a special mention to Abo Zabaal 1989 (Egypt) by Bassam Mortada for its ability to create a home for memories and surpassing the filmmaker’s own understanding of his life’s events, which were portrayed from the perspectives of his parents.
A Quarter to Thursday in Algiers (France) by Sofia Djama won the Best Project in Development award with a cash prize of $15,000; a CineGouna Platform certificate; and US $2,000 worth of in-kind services from Clackett.
They Planted Strange Trees (Palestine) by Hind Shoufani won the Best Film in Post-Production award with a CineGouna Platform certificate; a cash prize of $15,000; and The Indie Deer’s cash grant of $10,000.
Fifty Meters (Egypt) by Yomna Khattab won multiple cash prizes: a $10,000 full film promotion package from The Cell Post Production; a $10,000 cash grant from Trend VFX; a $10,000 from Synergy Films; a US $15,000 cash grant for script development from Mariam Naoum and Sard Writing Room; a $5,000 worth of post-production services from BEE Media Productions; a $10,000 from Cult; a $1,000 for locations services from Clackett; and a $7,000 Master’s Degree US scholarship from Gemini Africa.
This project also won a chance from Arab Cinema Center to participate in Rotterdam Film Lab.
Haysh Maysh: False Drama (Morocco) by Hicham Lasri won $30,000 as a minimum guarantee on film distribution from MAD Solutions and Ergo Media Ventures as well as a $5,000 cash grant from Malmö Arab Film Festival.
Aisha Can’t Fly Away Anymore (Egypt) by Morad Mostafa won a $5,000 cash grant from Gemini Africa as well as EGP 50,000 from The Cell Post Production, and was selected for IEFTA’s Global Film Expression initiative.
Women of My Life (Iraq, Switzerland) by Zahraa Ghandour won a $10,000 cash grant from Maqam Production Films and was also selected for IEFTA’s Global Film Expression initiative.
Searching for Woody (Egypt) by Sara Shazli won a $5,000 cash grant from BEE Media Productions in addition to $2000 worth of services from Clackett.
The $50,000 cash grant per sale from OSN prize went to A Song for Summer and Winter (Syria, Denmark, Germany, United States) by Talal Derki and Ali Wajeeh. The film also won $10,000 worth of a full DCP package from The Cell Post Production.
Hanging Gardens (Iraq, United Kingdom, Palestine) by Ahmed Yassin Al Daradji won a $30,000 worth of services and color-grading package from Mercury Visual Solutions, while Hyphen (Lebanon) by Reine Razzouk won a $10,000 cash grant from Clackett.
Happy Lovers (France, Morocco) by Hicham Lasri won a $10,000 cash grant from Rotana, while Arab Radio and Television Network (ART) gave its $10,000 cash grant to SINK (Jordan, Sweden, Canada, France) by Zain Duraie.
My Father’s Scent (Egypt) by Mohamed Siam won a $10,000 cash grant from New Black, while The Blind Ferryman – Al Baseer (Iraq, Switzerland) by Ali Al-Fatlawi won a $5,000 worth of post-production services by Hecat Studio.
Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem, today announced the outliers that rose to the challenges set by Hub71 corporate and government partners.
The first edition of Hub71’s The Outliers programme, an annual initiative that bridges entrepreneurs with corporate and government entities to promote innovation and address industry challenges, has gathered exceptional talent from more than 40 countries.
Each startup will benefit from up to AED 100,000 in cash grants to fund the development of their proof of concepts (POCs) that will solve challenges of leading major corporate and government partners in Abu Dhabi.
Hub71 launched The Outliers to facilitate better market access for entrepreneurs worldwide to address challenges set by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH), Etihad Airways, Mashreq Bank, Mastercard and Thales. Each challenge is aimed at startups that have proven products with strong potential to commercialise and go-to-market.
Six challenges were set, and seven startups were selected to build and scale their POCs. Each startup will now work alongside their respective partners to develop their corresponding tech products at Hub71 and take them to market.
At GITEX Future Stars, Hub71 and its partners showcased the winning startups and their innovative solutions that will be developed to solve each challenge.
Jida Itani, Chief Operating Officer at Hub71, said, “We are actively seeking ways to bridge the gap between entrepreneurs and the marketplace through our corporate partners and public sector alliances.”
Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI), ADCB set a challenge to develop an AI predictive engine that enhances recommendations for customers, based on their individual preferences. In response to the challenge, UAE-based, Genify, an AI-specialist for banks, developed a state-of-the-art transformer-based recommendation engine and wrote a detailed roll-out plan, which was selected by the bank.
DoH searched for human ingenuity and advanced technologies to prevent the spread of communicable diseases. The Department selected UAE-based, Alliance Care Technologies, which provides analytical and productivity tools to hospitals, physicians, and patients to improve quality, efficiency, and patient outcomes across the spectrum of care. The startup will deploy its S3 ACT solution comprising early warning pathogen detection, encrypted de-identified patient data extraction, pattern recognition and predicative analytics AI.
In aviation, the UAE’s national airline selected BridgerPay, a SaaS payments intelligence platform from Cyprus, focused on bridging merchants and payment providers with AI technology.
Meanwhile, Mashreq Bank selected two winners of its challenge to become a Value Added Services partner. The bank selected Zoko from India, which makes it easy for online merchants to conduct sales, marketing and customer support using WhatsApp. The startup has since joined Hub71 to benefit from its new flexible incentives. Mashreq Bank also selected Letswork, a startup dedicated to the future of co-working spaces.
Finally, Thales targeted the services of startups to develop a hands-free voice-activated chatbot to guide experts during radar maintenance procedures. The company selected AR Engineering, a UAE-based company that deploys interactive augmented reality (AR) virtual reality (VR), mixed reality and extended reality (XR) to improve the user experience and bring the physical world closer to a remote setting.