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Performed on special occasions, the performance showcases the Kingdom’s heritage
It begins with the recital of a poem, followed by drummers setting the rhythm for the dancers
The Founding Day celebrations set a Guinness World Record for the largest Saudi Ardah performance in Riyadh, with 633 participants showcasing this traditional dance.
This achievement underscores the Ardah’s deep-rooted significance as a national tradition, reflecting pride in Saudi identity and a commitment to preserving and promoting cultural heritage globally, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Organized by the Royal Commission for Riyadh City and the Principality of Riyadh Region from Feb. 20 to 23, the Founding Day event attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors from diverse backgrounds.
Performed on special occasions, the performance showcases the Kingdom’s heritage. It begins with the recital of a poem, followed by drummers setting the rhythm for the dancers.
The group leader then takes the stage, wielding a blade and demonstrating precise movements that mirror those of warriors in battle.
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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Founding Day celebrations set a Guinness World Record for the largest Saudi Ardah performance in Riyadh. (SPA)
In the world of fragrances, few names evoke as much resonance and admiration as Swiss Arabian Perfumes Group. Established as the first perfume manufacturer in the UAE, this year marks a significant milestone for the renowned UAE-born perfume house as it celebrates its golden jubilee – 50 years of crafting perfumes with luxury and elegance.
The beginning was in 1974 when Swiss Arabian seamlessly blended Arabian perfumery techniques with modern innovation. Hussein Adam Ali, Founder and Chairman of SAPG, came from Yemen to the UAE in 1974 with a dream. A man driven by an insatiable passion for perfumery and a deep appreciation for the art of scent, he laid the foundation for what would become a global fragrance empire.
Over the past five decades, Swiss Arabian has gained global recognition and taken pride in representing the art of perfumery to the rest of the world. As we reflect on five decades of fragrance mastery, it’s a story worth exploring about how this fragrance empire was built. Hussein Adam Ali’s keen understanding of the nuances of fragrance, coupled with an unwavering commitment to excellence, drove the brand to new heights.
“When I first moved to the UAE, I walked in the sun to save on taxis. This country became my home and turned my dreams into reality.”
“I was 30 years old when I came to UAE to set up my business here. This country became my home and turned my dreams into reality. With an investment of half a million dirhams, 5,000 square feet perfume factory had been set up in Sharjah and became fully operational in six months. I was my own boss and drew a minimum stipend to cover my expenses. Today, SAPG has over 1000 employees and global business operations,” says Hussein Adam Ali, Founder and Chairman, SAPG.
His sons, Nabeel Adam Ali and Nader Adam Ali joined the company at a young age as well, and through their leadership, shaped Swiss Arabian Perfumes Group into a multinational award winning perfume house.
Swiss Arabian’s growth strategy is their product. Constantly innovating, creating and ensuring customer satisfaction is the core of their business. The brand’s continuous efforts at striving for perfection is evident in every aspect of its operations, from sourcing the finest raw materials to the meticulous craftsmanship that goes into creating each bottle of perfume.
Despite the evolving trends and preferences in the perfume market, the brand has stayed true to its roots while embracing modern techniques and ingredients. This dedication to both tradition and innovation has earned Swiss Arabian a loyal following and global expansion. The Group also expanded to more brands such as Sapil Perfumes, Shirley May, Shirley May Deluxe and Alta Moda.
As Swiss Arabian Perfumes Group commemorates its 50th year, it is a celebration of longevity and a testament to hard work. Looking ahead, the company remains committed to pushing boundaries and creating fragrances that resonate with the diverse tastes and preferences of its clientele.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, congratulated architectural engineer Sahel Al Hayari, winner of the Great Arab Minds Award 2024 in the field of architecture and design.
Sheikh Mohammed said on X platform, “Today, we congratulate the winner of the Great Arab Minds Award 2024, Architectural Engineer Sahel Al Hayari from Jordan.”
Sheikh Mohammed said that Architect Al Hayari presents designs which combine heritage and modernity, identity and nature and has excelled in many distinctive architectural projects and participated in teaching architecture and presenting his research and works in the most prominent universities around the world.
Sheikh Mohammed emphasised that Arab architecture has influenced human civilisation through its unique styles and designs throughout history, and that there are many exceptional Arab talents among architects and designers who deserve support, empowerment, and appreciation.
Al Hayari is known for integrating innovative modern design with traditional Arab stonework, and for blending contemporary architectural elements with historical context. He has promoted the presence of Arab stone architecture from Jordan in international circles, and his unique style has created an interactive dialogue between topography and architecture.
Al Hayari holds a Bachelor of Architecture and Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design, and a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
He also conducted postgraduate studies at the School of Architecture at the University of Venice and has lectured at prestigious colleges and universities in the fields of architecture and design around the world, including Columbia University and Harvard University in the United States, the University of Venice in Italy, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, the American University of Beirut, and the University of Science and Technology in Jordan. His works cover a wide range of design-related disciplines, including urban design, architectural structures, interior design, and exhibition design.
Mohammed Bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of the Higher Committee for the “Great Arab Minds” Initiative, informed Sahel Al Hayari of his win of the award.
In a video call with him, he praised the unique artistic formula he created by combining architecture, fine arts, and urban design.
It is worth mentioning that the ‘Great Arab Minds’ award is the largest award of its kind in the Arab world, and it celebrates, for the second consecutive year, the achievements of Arab innovators for humanity in these fields.
source/content: gulftoday.ae (headline edited)
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Sahel Al Hayari is known for integrating innovative modern design with traditional Arab stonework
179 participants from 32 Islamic countries to compete, promote moderate Islamic values.
The 10th International Military Qur’an Memorization Competition launched on Saturday in Makkah, attracting 179 participants from 32 countries.
Organized by the General Administration of Religious Affairs of the Armed Forces under the patronage of Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, the event promotes the significance of the Qur’an, encourages its memorization, and highlights Saudi Arabia’s role in serving Islam’s holy book and as the custodian of Islam’s holiest sites.
The competition features six categories: full Qur’an memorization; 20-part, 10-part, five-part, and three-part memorization; and a special category for recitation and tajweed (proper pronunciation).
Parallel activities include a Qur’anic forum for religious affairs directors and imams, showcasing Saudi Arabia’s efforts in Qur’an printing, translation, and distribution.
The forum also discusses the Qur’an’s moral values, the Kingdom’s contributions through its ministries, and the impact of tajweed on understanding the Qur’an.
Additionally, the General Administration of Religious Affairs offers training programs for religious affairs personnel across the armed forces, focusing on Qur’anic teaching methods and enhancing the skills of instructors and competition judges.
Maj. Gen. Mesfer Al-Issa, director of the General Administration of Religious Affairs and competition supervisor, described the event as a significant initiative to honor the Qur’an.
Al-Issa emphasized the Kingdom’s commitment to hosting this event, reflecting the leadership’s dedication to serving the Qur’an.
In an interview with Arab News, he highlighted the event’s profound impact on participants, especially as it takes place in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.
Al-Issa said that the Qur’an guides soldiers, shaping their character and values, and encouraging psychological, behavioral, and spiritual stability.
Soldiers grounded in the Qur’an and Sunnah are more balanced and resilient, contributing to the development of morally and spiritually strong armed forces, he said.
The 14-day event will include 10 days in Makkah before moving to Madinah for four days, where participants will visit the Prophet’s Mosque and other Islamic landmarks.
Judges, including imams from the Two Holy Mosques and Qur’anic scholars, use an advanced electronic evaluation system called “Insaf” (Fairness) for transparent scoring.
Contestants receive immediate feedback on memorization, pronunciation, tajweed, and error rates.
Al-Issa said that soldiers are selected through year-long national competitions to identify top military memorizers.
The competition also serves as a platform for military personnel from Islamic nations to promote moderate Islamic values and a proper understanding of the Qur’an through scientific forums.
Al-Issa said that the competition strengthens the Qur’an’s role in Islamic armed forces, supporting efforts to memorize, recite, and reflect on its teachings.
This helps build a generation of soldiers rooted in Islamic knowledge and guided by noble values, he added.
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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Contestants arrive to participate in the 10th International Military Qur’an Memorization Competition in Makkah.
Imagine owning a camera so powerful it can take freeze-frame photographs of a moving electron – an object traveling so fast it could circle the Earth many times in a matter of a second. Researchers at the University of Arizona have developed the world’s fastest electron microscope that can do just that.
They believe their work will lead to groundbreaking advancements in physics, chemistry, bioengineering, materials sciences and more.
“When you get the latest version of a smartphone, it comes with a better camera,” said Mohammed Hassan, associate professor of physics and optical sciences. “This transmission electron microscope is like a very powerful camera in the latest version of smart phones; it allows us to take pictures of things we were not able to see before – like electrons. With this microscope, we hope the scientific community can understand the quantum physics behind how an electron behaves and how an electron moves.”
Hassan led a team of researchers in the departments of physics and optical sciences that published the research article “Attosecond electron microscopy and diffraction” in the Science Advances journal. Hassan worked alongside Nikolay Golubev, assistant professor of physics; Dandan Hui, co-lead author and former research associate in optics and physics who now works at the Xi’an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Husain Alqattan, co-lead author, U of A alumnus and assistant professor of physics at Kuwait University; and Mohamed Sennary, a graduate student studying optics and physics.
A transmission electron microscope is a tool used by scientists and researchers to magnify objects up to millions of times their actual size in order to see details too small for a traditional light microscope to detect. Instead of using visible light, a transmission electron microscope directs beams of electrons through whatever sample is being studied. The interaction between the electrons and the sample is captured by lenses and detected by a camera sensor in order to generate detailed images of the sample.
Ultrafast electron microscopes using these principles were first developed in the 2000’s and use a laser to generate pulsed beams of electrons. This technique greatly increases a microscope’s temporal resolution – its ability to measure and observe changes in a sample over time. In these ultrafast microscopes, instead of relying on the speed of a camera’s shutter to dictate image quality, the resolution of a transmission electron microscope is determined by the duration of electron pulses.
The faster the pulse, the better the image.
Ultrafast electron microscopes previously operated by emitting a train of electron pulses at speeds of a few attoseconds. An attosecond is one quintillionth of a second. Pulses at these speeds create a series of images, like frames in a movie – but scientists were still missing the reactions and changes in an electron that takes place in between those frames as it evolves in real time. In order to see an electron frozen in place, U of A researchers, for the first time, generated a single attosecond electron pulse, which is as fast as electrons moves, thereby enhancing the microscope’s temporal resolution, like a high-speed camera capturing movements that would otherwise be invisible.
Hassan and his colleagues based their work on the Nobel Prize-winning accomplishments of Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huilliere, who won the Novel Prize in Physics in 2023 after generating the first extreme ultraviolet radiation pulse so short it could be measured in attoseconds.
Using that work as a steppingstone, U of A researchers developed a microscope in which a powerful laser is split and converted into two parts – a very fast electron pulse and two ultra-short light pulses. The first light pulse, known as the pump pulse, feeds energy into a sample and causes electrons to move or undergo other rapid changes. The second light pulse, also called the “optical gating pulse” acts like a gate by creating a brief window of time in which the gated, single attosecond electron pulse is generated. The speed of the gating pulse therefore dictates the resolution of the image. By carefully synchronizing the two pulses, researchers control when the electron pulses probe the sample to observe ultrafast processes at the atomic level.
“The improvement of the temporal resolution inside of electron microscopes has been long anticipated and the focus of many research groups – because we all want to see the electron motion,” Hassan said. “These movements happen in attoseconds. But now, for the first time, we are able to attain attosecond temporal resolution with our electron transmission microscope – and we coined it ‘attomicroscopy.’ For the first time, we can see pieces of the electron in motion.”
source/content: eurekaalert.org / University of Arizona / (headline edited)
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Mohammed Hassan, associate professor of physics and optical sciences, let a group of researchers in developing the first transmission electron microscope powerful enough to capture images of electrons in motion.
Making history again! Egyptian heart surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub innovates valves that grow naturally in body.
This pioneering innovation envisions the development of biological heart valves that can grow and be accommodated naturally within the human body. This opens the door to a new era in heart disease treatment.
The prospect of heart valves naturally expanding within the body, a concept once confined to science fiction, is now on the brink of realization, thanks to the remarkable discovery spearheaded by renowned heart surgeon Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub.
While the initial study documenting this breakthrough was unveiled in Nature in 2023, recent media coverage has underscored its practical implications.
Esteemed publications like The Times have pinpointed this cutting-edge innovation’s profound impact on biomedical science and medical engineering. They have recognized it as a monumental leap in the realm of healthcare.
On Monday, Dr. Yacoub discussed the latest developments in this field with Egyptian talk show host Amr Adib.
He explained how his team has engineered temporary heart valve scaffolds composed of surgically implanted fibres into the body.
These scaffolds gradually disintegrate over time, leaving behind a living, fully functional valve crafted from the patient’s tissues, a testament to the marvels of modern medical ingenuity.
Oman Across Ages Museum in Manah has been honoured with one of the world’s most prestigious architecture awards – the Prix Versailles World Titles.
The museum received the ‘Special Prize for an Exterior’, while the ‘Special Prize for an Interior’ was awarded to the Smritivan Earthquake Museum in Bhuj, India. The grand prize, the Prix Versailles, went to the Simose Art Museum in Otake, Japan.
Granted annually at Unesco headquarters in Paris since 2015, the Prix Versailles celebrates architectural excellence by showcasing the finest contemporary achievements worldwide.
In June, for the first time, Prix Versailles unveiled its World’s Most Beautiful Museums List for 2024, featuring seven newly opened or reopened museums that embody creativity, local heritage, and ecological efficiency.
Among the listed museums was Oman Across Ages Museum, recognised for its exceptional impact on its surroundings. Other shortlisted museums included the A4 Art Museum in Chengdu, China; Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, Egypt; Paleis Het Loo in Apeldoorn, Netherlands; and the Polish History Museum in Warsaw, Poland.
This year’s ceremony was held on December 2, celebrating 70 of the ‘World’s Most Beautiful’ achievements across eight categories: Museums, Hotels, Restaurants, Emporiums, Airports, Campuses, Passenger Stations, and Sports.
This year’s finalists were selected through a rigorous process that reviewed new and recently opened sites across 31 nations. The 2024 World Jury, chaired by Benjamin Millepied, awarded three World Titles in each category.
Commenting on the event, Millepied said, “Architecture has the ability to display creative and stylistic diversity with great force. That diversity is the sign that the attention given to nature, togetherness, and different forms of expertise can help an environment emerge – one that is both receptive to expression and capable of harmony. Such an assembly of actors from every background reminds us of culture’s unique talent for leading humankind into dialogue.”
The recognition affirms Oman Across Ages Museum’s standing as a cultural and architectural beacon, reflecting the nation’s commitment to preserving heritage while embracing modernity.
The Kingdom and the international police organization sign host country agreement.
Interpol is to establish an office in Saudi Arabia that will serve the Middle East and North Africa region.
Hisham Al-Faleh, undersecretary at the Kingdom’s Ministry of Interior, and Jurgen Stock, secretary-general of the international police organization, signed a host country agreement on Wednesday.
Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud, the Saudi Minister of Interior, and Maj. Gen. Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi, the president of Interpol, also attended the signing ceremony, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
In addition, they discussed Interpol’s activities during a meeting that also included Nasser Al-Dawood, the deputy minister of interior; Brig. Gen. Abdulmalik Al-Saqeeh, the director general of Saudi Interpol; and other senior officials.
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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Hisham Al-Faleh, undersecretary at the Kingdom’s Ministry of Interior, and Jurgen Stock, secretary-general of the international police organization, signed a host country agreement. (SPA)
Jordanian academic Omar Yaghi, a chemistry professor at the University of California, Berkeley, has been awarded the 2024 Arab Genius Minds Award in the Natural Sciences category for his pioneering work in reticular chemistry.
Yaghi is celebrated for his transformative innovations in designing and synthesising metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs), the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
These frameworks address critical global challenges in energy storage, water harvesting, and environmental sustainability.
His research portfolio includes over 300 peer-reviewed papers, which have collectively garnered more than 250,000 citations, underscoring the “far-reaching” impact of his work.
Since 2012, Yaghi has held the James and Neeltje Tretter Chair in Chemistry at UC Berkeley.
His contributions to reticular chemistry have “revolutionised” the ability to assemble molecular building blocks into highly porous structures with applications in gas storage, catalysis, and drug delivery, among others, yielding significant economic and environmental advancements.
The Arab Genius Minds Award, launched by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, honours achievements by Arab scientists and innovators across six key categories essential for the region’s developmental and cultural progress.
The British magazine The Telegraph published its annual list titled “Travel’s 50 Biggest Winners and Losers in 2024.” Topping the list of winners was the Grand Egyptian Museum.
The British magazine wrote that the Grand Egyptian Museum has finally opened on a trial basis for visitors. It spans an area of 490,000 square meters and, once fully operational, will house over 100,000 artifacts, with the most notable being the complete collection of items discovered in Tutankhamun’s tomb.
The list also included other places, such as the UAE and Notre Dame Cathedral following its reopening.
The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) project continues to achieve international milestones, winning the 2024 Project of the Year Award for users of FIDIC (International Federation of Consulting Engineers).
The award was presented during the 6th Annual FIDIC Contract Users Awards ceremony held in London.
GEM is the first Egyptian project that win this prestigious award.
Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Sherif Fathy, highlighted President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s unwavering support for the Grand Egyptian Museum, recognizing its importance as one of the most significant cultural and heritage projects in Egypt and globally.
President Sisi has consistently followed every stage of its implementation, ensuring the removal of obstacles to deliver a museum that reflects the grandeur and legacy of ancient Egyptian civilization.
The minister emphasized that this remarkable achievement would not have been possible without the President’s ongoing support and interest.
The President’s chairmanship of the museum’s Board of Trustees further demonstrates his commitment to developing the museum as a global hub for heritage and culture.
The Minister also praised this award, which is the second international recognition for GEM this month.
Last week, the museum won the Prix Versailles, ranking among the seven most beautiful museums in the world for 2024.
He expressed his gratitude to everyone who contributed to the completion of this monumental project over the years, and to the extensive efforts of all state agencies and entities that helped elevate the museum to its prestigious global status.
