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Qatari Diar received a Guinness World Records distinction for “the most fireworks launched by multirotors/drones in an aerial display.”
The distinction was awarded to Qatari Diar on the occasion of the January 1, 2025, New Year’s celebrations that took place in Lusail Boulevard.
The city of Lusail had earlier announced that the “historic” New Year’s festivities held at its boulevard had attracted 300,000 visitors, a record-breaking figure.
The distinction was awarded to Qatari Diar on the occasion of the January 1, 2025, New Year’s celebrations that took place in Lusail Boulevard.
The city of Lusail had earlier announced that the “historic” New Year’s festivities held at its boulevard had attracted 300,000 visitors, a record-breaking figure.
The ‘Rig 1938’ tower made two entries in the Guinness Book of Records, as the world tallest water slide tower with a height of 76.309 meters; and the first tower of its kind to have 12 water slides.
General Manager and Chairman of Qetaifan Projects Company, Sheikh Nasser bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said in a press conference that the tower provides an exceptional experience that enhances Qatar’s position as a world class global tourist destination.
He added that the tower is not just an entertainment landmark, but a symbol that expresses Qatari culture and promotes creativity.
The tower, which is 85 meters high and includes 12 water slides, is an architectural masterpiece inspired by the history of oil and gas discovery in Qatar. It was designed according to the highest safety standards to be suitable for all age groups to enhance the visitor experience.
The tower is located in the heart of Meryal City, which extends over an area of 281 thousand square meters, and is one of the largest water parks in the region, with 36 innovative water games.
Meryal is part of Qetaifan Island North, which is an integrated tourism project extending over an area of 1.3 million square meters, and includes multiple facilities as well as residential, educational and health projects, making it a destination that combines authenticity and innovation.
The Ministry of Culture unveiled the largest painting on canvas in the world by the artist Emad Al Salehi, at Qatar University yesterday.
The 9,652 sq metre artwork, equivalent to the size of a football field, is titled The Story of a Ball and was adjudged as the largest art canvas by the Guinness Book of Records officials.
The 9,652 sq metre artwork, equivalent to the size of a football field, is titled The Story of a Ball and was adjudged as the largest art canvas by the Guinness Book of Records officials.
The painting tells the history of the World Cup from its inception in 1930 until the World Cup 2022, which combines culture, history and sports and embodies the landmarks and icons of all the World Cup tournaments in Qatar.
The unveiling of the artwork comes at a time when the country is in the midst of the FIFA World Cup Qatar and as it readies to celebrate its National Day on December 18, 2022.
At the inaugural ceremony, a video was shown about the stages of completion of the huge artwork, after which the Guinness Book of Records certificate was handed over, marking its entry into the record book, in the presence of the Ministry of Culture officials and media.
Artist Emad Salehi receives Guinness World Record Award from the Minister of Culture, Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Hamad al Thani during the inauguration Reuters/Hamad I Mohammed
Artist Emad Salehi receives Guinness World Record Award from the Minister of Culture, Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Hamad al Thani during the inauguration Reuters/Hamad I Mohammed
After just twenty years in aviation manufacturing, Morocco has outpaced all African nations to become the continent’s primary supplier of aircraft parts.
Morocco’s aviation manufacturing sector is concluding 2024 with unprecedented growth, as exports surged 17.3% to reach MAD 21.86 billion ($2.1 billion) in the first ten months, surpassing the entire previous year’s record of MAD 21.85 billion.
The North African country has solidified its position as Africa’s primary aviation equipment and spare parts manufacturer, ranking fifth globally among the most dynamic countries in the aviation sector, according to Afaf Saïdi, Director of Aviation, Railway, Naval Industries and Renewable Energies at the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
“Morocco has become the main source of equipment and spare parts at the African level after just twenty years of launching its first initiative in this sector,” Saïdi told the Moroccan News Agency. “This exceptional performance not only demonstrates the resilience of our national aviation industry but also reflects its ability to adapt to global market momentum.”
The sector currently employs 21,000 skilled workers across 142 companies, with a local integration rate exceeding 40%. Industry Minister Riyad Mzour announced in July that Morocco aims to double the sector’s employment by 2030.
This year marked several significant developments for Morocco’s aviation industry. The country hosted the Morocco Air Show 2024 in Marrakech, which facilitated new strategic partnerships with industry giants Boeing and Airbus.
A major milestone was the inauguration of Safran’s $300 million aircraft engine manufacturing facility in Casablanca, expected to create hundreds of jobs and facilitate advanced technology transfer.
‘Adopting a proactive approach’
Other major manufacturers including Bombardier, Stelia, and Aerospace have expanded their investments in the country through new facilities and expansions of existing sites. These initiatives aim to meet growing demand from major aviation companies for high-quality components while contributing to local economic growth.
The government has developed specialized industrial zones for aviation manufacturing, including the Midparc zone, which offers modern infrastructure, ready-to-use land, and tax incentives. The Tanger Med Port plays a pivotal role in supporting the sector’s growth through export operations.
“We are adopting a proactive approach to ensure our aviation industry aligns with rapid global developments,” Saïdi explained. “Innovation is at the core of our priorities, with special focus on environmentally friendly technologies and reducing carbon footprint, strengthening the kingdom’s position as a competitive and sustainable industrial platform.”
The sector’s growth in 2024 represents a significant improvement from 2023’s modest 2.4% increase in exports. This expansion is attributed to strong global demand and product diversification, encompassing spare parts and complete equipment for major aviation manufacturers.
Looking ahead, Morocco’s aviation sector is positioning itself for further expansion through new ecosystem development, implementation of more complex projects, and addressing challenges in digital transformation, decarbonization, and technological innovation, while leveraging the talents of young Moroccan professionals.
This recognition sheds light on a journey of empowering mothers and reshaping the narrative around motherhood in Egypt.
Onset of an idea
MotherBeing is an organization founded by Nour Emam to provide support, resources, and a sense of community for mothers across Egypt.
In a previous interview with Ahram Online , Emam recounted that during the birth of her daughter, she underwent a medically unnecessary C-section and was separated from her daughter for a while.
It was a challenging experience that left her feeling helpless. Following the birth, Emam suffered from postpartum depression and mild PTSD, which went undiagnosed for eight months.
In an attempt to help herself overcome that painful experience, she created MotherBeing, an educational platform focused on providing women with information on their bodies, sexual health, and the many misconceptions surrounding it.
However, before creating her platform in January 2020, Emam joined a five-month online doula training program from Canada, one of the hardest and longest in the field, followed by another training program in managing postpartum depression.
Emam decided to make it her mission to educate women about their cycles and reproductive health. Emam’s most crucial part was making this knowledge accessible in Arabic to every Arabic-speaking woman.
She is now a certified maternal support practitioner (doula) and certified relationship and sex educator.
Over the years, in addition to easily accessible online content, MotherBeing provided courses of female-only open discussions about women’s reproductive and sexual health issues.
Based on requests, course participants choose a topic related to womanhood each month. The courses provide scientific discussions of the issues.
Through MotherBeing, Nour has created a safe space where mothers can share their stories, seek advice, and form connections with one another.
Brave initiative
One of Nour Emam’s standout initiatives is donating hundreds of thousands of sanitary pads to women in Gaza in November 2023.
This initiative highlighted the medical challenges women face there.
Emam also provided free online consultations to all Palestinian women in need of medical advice regarding their reproductive health.
She remains committed to expanding the reach of MotherBeing and creating a more inclusive and supportive environment for mothers in Egypt.
Her vision for the future includes launching new initiatives, collaborating with like-minded organizations, and advocating for policies prioritizing maternal well-being.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, has congratulated Professor Yacine Aït-Sahalia, Professor of Finance and Economics at Princeton University, for winning the Great Arab Minds Award in Economics for 2024.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed praised Professor Yacine Aït-Sahalia for his pioneering contributions to financial econometrics, data measurement, and financial analysis. His work advanced the modelling of high-frequency financial data and continuous-time processes, enabling deeper understanding of variables.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed said, “We congratulate the winner of the Great Arab Minds Award in Economics for 2024, Professor Yacine Aït-Sahalia from Algeria, Professor of Finance and Economics at Princeton University, who has made exceptional contributions by developing an advanced economic and financial metric to determine volatility levels and understand future patterns of market fluctuations. His work has enhanced financial market analysis, improved economic risk assessments, and increased the efficiency of financial and economic planning.
“We celebrate his achievement and take pride in all Arab minds who have inspired us with their creativity. We look forward to meeting them soon at the Great Arab Minds ceremony.”
Mohammad bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of the Great Arab Minds Higher Committee, informed Professor Yacine Aït-Sahalia of his win via video call. Al Gergawi highlighted that the award reflects Sheikh Mohammed’s vision to celebrate and support exceptional Arab talent, highlight their achievements, and expand their effective cognitive and developmental impact in their specialisations to foster innovation and excellence across the Arab world.
“Your theories on econometrics and financial analysis have become a reference for numerous institutions, markets, economies, and governments. Your studies inspire a new generation of skilled economists, both in the Arab world and globally, and you are a source of pride for everyone in the Arab world,” Al Gergawi added.
Professor Aït-Sahalia developed high-frequency econometric methods to analyse financial data, estimate volatility, forecast market trends, and evaluate risk. His techniques for addressing microstructure noise and capturing market dynamics have provided essential tools for asset pricing and financial decision-making.
With over 80 academic studies and two books, Professor Aït-Sahalia’s research introduced innovative methods for analysing financial data, and enhancing economic planning.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe was expected to make history on Tuesday by flying into the sun’s outer atmosphere, with Tunisian astrophysicist Nour E. Rawafi playing a pivotal role in the mission. The goal of the mission is to help scientists learn more about Earth’s closest star.
With the spacecraft out of contact, it will be Friday before mission operators confirm its health following the close flyby.
Parker was on course to fly 3.8 million miles (6.1 million km) from the sun’s surface at 6:53 a.m. EST (1153 GMT). Moving at up to 430,000 mph (692,000 kph), the spacecraft will endure temperatures of up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (982 degrees Celsius), NASA said on its website.
At the heart of this mission is Rawafi, a Tunisian astrophysicist and project scientist at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Rawafi leads efforts to uncover the mysteries of the Sun, demonstrating how talent from Tunisia is shaping the frontiers of space exploration.
“Nour and his team are unlocking the mysteries of our star, from understanding solar storms that impact Earth to collecting revolutionary data that will fuel discoveries for decades,” the US Embassy in Tunis said in a Facebook post, celebrating the scientist. “This awe-inspiring mission reflects both the brilliance of human ingenuity and the vital role Tunisian talent plays in advancing scientific exploration on a global scale.”
Rawafi graduated from University of Tunis El Manar with a Master’s Degree in fundamental physics then received his Ph.D. from the University of Paris XI in Orsay, France.
The Tunisian scientist’s research spreads over a wide range of solar and heliospheric areas with an emphasis on the dynamic solar corona – the outermost layer of the sun’s atmosphere, visible during a solar eclipse as a glowing halo.
His primary contributions have been on the sun’s magnetic fields, which control many solar activities and influence space weather. He has also worked on coronal spectropolarimetry, a technique that helps understand the magnetic fields and physical properties of the sun’s outer atmosphere.
Before joining the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in 2008, he worked at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany and the National Solar Observatory in the US.
Rawafi is also a member of the American Geophysical Union and the American Astronomical Society/Solar Physics Division (SPD).
First probe pass in 2021
When the Parker Solar Probe first passed into the solar atmosphere in 2021 it found new details about the boundaries of the sun’s atmosphere and collected close-up images of coronal streamers, cusp-like structures seen during solar eclipses.
Since the spacecraft launched in 2018, the probe has been gradually circling closer towards the sun, using flybys of Venus to gravitationally pull it into a tighter orbit with the sun.
One instrument aboard the spacecraft captured visible light from Venus, giving scientists a new way to see through the planet’s thick clouds to the surface below, NASA said.
Billboard Arabia granted famed Egyptian singer Sherine Abdelwahab Global Force Award.
“I hope that my work reaches the entire world. That’s always been a dream of mine” AbdelWahab said.
The Egyptian star added that she is thrilled and proud that there is a music award specifically for women.
Billboard Arabia in partnership with Billboard Women In Music 2024, granted AbdelWahab this prestigious award to be the first Arab Artist to receive it.
Abdelwahab released her latest song titled “Dahab” on February, 2024.
The song is written by Tamer Hussein and composed by Madin.
Abdelwahab makes her debut performance in Dubai in 2023. Abdel Wahab has captivated thousands of audiences around the Arab world with her melodious voice, charismatic stage presence and managed to establish herself as one of the most popular and beloved singers in the Middle East. She is a popular Egyptian singer who was born in 1980. She started her career in 2000.
Two years later, the music producer Nasr Mahrous who strongly believed in Abdelwahab paired her with Tamer Hosny on the same music album.
The album achieved booming success; Abdelwahab and Hosny became mega stars. She released a lot of successful songs such as “Masha’aer’’ (Emotions), “Albi Leek” (My heart is for you), “Garh Tany” (Another wound), “Lazem Ayesh” (I have to survive), “Batmenak” (I am Reassuring you) among others. She acted in one movie along with the Egyptian mega star Ahmed Helmy entitled “Mido Mashakel” (Mido always makes problems).
Her soap opera “Tare’y” (My path), released in 2015, achieved great success. Abdelwahab is famous for her emotional, melodious voice that has a significant touch of intimacy. She is consistently hailed as one of the most talented and successful singers of her era, being dubbed as “The Queen of Emotions” for her popular romantic ballads.
Saudi Arabia has officially launched the Jeddah Food Cluster, a major project aimed at transforming the city into a global business hub with an investment target of SR20 billion ($5.3 billion).
Spanning 11 million sq. meters, the cluster is now recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest food park in the world by area. The development is expected to create over 43,000 jobs, driving both local and national economic growth.
The opening ceremony, held on Nov. 24, was led by Prince Saud bin Mishal, deputy governor of Makkah, under the patronage of Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, governor of the Makkah region. It was attended by high-ranking officials, including Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef.
The inauguration of the cluster aligns with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which seeks to strengthen food security, achieve self-sufficiency, develop food value chains, and establish the Kingdom as a regional hub for attracting both domestic and international investment in the food sector.
Located in Jeddah’s Second and Third Industrial Cities, the Jeddah Food Cluster is part of a larger industrial network in the Makkah region, which also includes industrial cities in Makkah and Taif. This region, which spans more than 50 million sq. meters, hosts over 2,000 industrial facilities specializing in sectors such as food production, pharmaceuticals, metals, and chemicals. The new food cluster is designed to enhance industrial productivity through cutting-edge infrastructure and strategic investments in key enablers.
Currently, the cluster houses 124 operational factories with investments totaling SR4.4 billion. These factories are estimated to produce around 4 million tonnes of goods annually across 10 industrial sectors and provide jobs for over 7,000 workers.
It also features 76 ready-to-use factories that comply with Saudi Food and Drug Authority standards. Additionally, the cluster has built a central laboratory to improve food quality and safety, as well as over 134,000 sq. meters of shared cold and dry storage facilities. By concentrating suppliers in one location, the cluster aims to create a sustainable, efficient supply chain.
The economic impact of the Jeddah Food Cluster is expected to be substantial, with national exports projected to increase by SR8 billion. The development is also anticipated to create thousands of job opportunities, particularly in the industrial and logistics sectors, and contribute approximately SR7 billion to Saudi Arabia’s GDP over the next decade. This aligns with the broader objectives of Saudi Arabia’s National Industrial Strategy and the National Industrial Development and Logistics Program, which aim to foster economic diversification and sustainable growth.
At the ceremony, MODON, the Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones, announced that the Jeddah Food Cluster had achieved a significant milestone, receiving recognition from a global organization. Prince Saud also toured an exhibition showcasing the involvement of private companies and government entities in the food supply chain. This was followed by the presentation of the global recognition certificate.
Several memorandums of understanding and agreements were signed during the event. These partnerships, which include collaborations with Umm Al-Qura University, the National Academy for Industry, and Halal Products Development Co., focus on developing specialized training programs, improving food safety, and promoting quality control within the food industry.
Alkhorayef, in his speech, emphasized that the Jeddah Food Cluster represents more than just an industrial project—it is a key element in the Kingdom’s broader strategy for sustainable economic growth.
“Through this cluster, we aim to leverage the ministry’s capabilities to serve Jeddah, the Kingdom’s economic hub, and a prime investment destination,” he said.
He also highlighted the importance of connecting manufacturers, suppliers, and service providers to boost innovation and competitiveness, as well as to create new job opportunities, particularly for Saudi youth.
On the sidelines of the event, a panel discussion titled “The Future of Global Food Supply Chain Resilience for Innovation and Sustainability” was held, featuring industry leaders such as Abdullah bin Nasser Al-Badr, CEO of Almarai, Betty Ka, director of supply chain and delivery at the UN World Food Program, and Fabio Maia de Oliveira, general investment director at JBS Saudi Arabia. The panel explored strategies for building resilient and sustainable global food supply chains.
The launch of the Jeddah Food Cluster marks a significant step in Saudi Arabia’s ongoing efforts to diversify its economy and strengthen its position as a global leader in the food industry.
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef attends the ceremony to launch Jeddah Food Cluster. SPA
When Dr. Myriam Khalfallah arrived in Vancouver from Tunisia in 2013, she had just earned a bachelor’s degree as an agronomic engineer specializing in fisheries and environment at the National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia (INAT), the University of Carthage. She visited UBC in hopes of meeting Dr. Daniel Pauly, the internationally recognized fisheries scientist—Dr. Khalfallah had used his methods during her engineering practicum work and wanted to meet one of her research inspirations.
The two met, speaking in French, one of Dr. Pauly’s native tongues, before switching to English. He then asked if Dr. Khalfallah mastered scientific Arabic, as Tunisian universities and research institutions are usually French speaking. She did. It turned out that Dr. Pauly needed someone who spoke all three languages to collect fisheries data from Arabic-speaking countries. Dr. Khalfallah landed the job.
“That was the start of the whole thing,” she recalls. “Daniel said, if you do well on this project, maybe I’ll take you as a student. I went back to Tunisia and applied for a work permit and my whole life changed.”
Similarly to most economically developing countries, fisheries data from North Africa, the southern Mediterranean, and the Arabian Peninsula is not always accessible to the international scientific community, notably due to language barriers, publication costs, and funding. Data does exist, but finding it and leveraging it for research takes language skills and to a certain extent a strong personal network. Dr. Khalfallah had both. Her work went well and Dr. Pauly accepted her as a graduate student.
But there was a problem. During her undergraduate studies in Tunisia, a revolution was ignited against the country’s dictatorship. Dr. Khalfallah had been the elected student representative and ombudsperson at her university.
“Tunisia was living under a strict dictatorship at the time,” Myriam says. “We had no right to speak up. The internet was almost fully censored, as were most of the media. Journalists were jailed. It was really awful”.
“I was involved with the demonstrations and doing my best to defend student and human rights. Some professors didn’t understand the role of the student representative and ombudsperson. When I told my professors about the changes that the students wanted, some thought that I was individually calling for change. Obviously, there can be retaliation—when I applied to UBC, my relationships back home made it difficult for me to get into another university.”
Due to her low grades, notably due to the revolution, UBC rejected Dr. Khalfallah’s initial application to graduate school. So Dr. Pauly stepped in.
“Daniel wrote letters for me, as did the dean of my previous university, and a few Tunisian professors, telling UBC they should give me a chance because what happened in Tunisia made things very difficult for everyone.”
The letters of support had the desired effect. Dr. Khalfallah began work on her Master’s of Science degree at UBC’s Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, where she carried on reconstructing fisheries catch data from Arabic-speaking countries, estimating the amount of unreported catch—fish that are caught and not officially accounted for by official statistics.
“Methods used in Western countries aren’t always applicable in the rest of the world,” Dr. Khalfallah notes. “But now there are increasingly newer methods, such as those we use at our research unit, the Sea Around Us , that makes the most of data that is usually overlooked. An interesting part of this work involves collaborating with scientists from all over the world and bridging the gap between data-rich and data-poor regions.”
As her research progressed, she and Dr. Pauly realized that her initial plan—a 17-nation study—was too big for a master’s thesis. So Dr. Khalfallah applied to fast track her research directly to a PhD which required good grades, publications, and strong references.
She defended her thesis on March 26, 2020—the second week of the COVID lockdown when UBC shifted all defenses to Zoom for the first time—and graduated with a PhD in Natural Resource Management and Environmental Studies. After graduation Dr. Khalfallah followed through with post doctorate research, also at UBC, working online to unravel the effects of foreign fishing fleets and aquaculture on West African fisheries.
“Like many scientists then, I was unable to get funding to extend my postdoc as a lot of science funding was going towards medical research and stopping COVID” she says. “Some friends of mine who knew the author Margaret Atwood kindly told her about my postdoc and asked if she knew of anyone who could fund my research. And she offered to do it! She was amazing.”
Dr. Khalfallah currently works with the NGO FHI360 as a marine climate change specialist on the project Sharing Underutilized Resources with Fishers and Farmers (SURF). This project supports Tunisia’s efforts to adapt fisheries and agriculture to climate change and is one of the first of its kind in North Africa to be funded by the U.S. Department of State.
“Climate change is impacting North Africa at a very fast pace,” she says. “Water is getting scarcer by the day. Fishes are moving from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, replacing native species. In some regions there are almost no fish anymore because overfishing, climate change, and pollution are a very bad combination.”
“I’m trying to either find other, sustainable livelihoods for artisanal fishers, or find a way for them to fish sustainably. Whatever happens in North Africa due to climate change will happen in the rest of the world at certain points. If we can find a way to help them adapt in one way or another, then those ways could potentially be applied in other places where the climate situation deteriorates.”
Dr. Khalfallah recently became a Canadian citizen and lives in Vancouver when not travelling for work. She was recently selected to be one of the alumni representatives of the Faculty of Science at the 2023 Fall Graduation ceremony, 10 years after she first set foot in Canada and UBC.
“I was quite surprised and honored by the invitation and it was an amazing experience.”
For those who have moved here recently and are starting their research career, she has some advice:
“International students have the stress of surviving, often alone, in new foreign environments, all while successfully completing their studies and research; and sometimes it is very difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But I want to say that the light is there. Be persistent and ask for help when needed. Great things are achieved in small steps. Think about just doing one step at a time, and when you look back, you’ll see that you have actually achieved a lot without even realizing it!”
