Category: Uncategorized

SAUDI ARABIA: The ’45th King Faisal Prize 2023′ Awarded to International List of Recipients

An Emirati, a Moroccan, a South Korean, two British, and three Americans are among those to have won the King Faisal Prize for 2023.

In its 45th edition, the prestigious award recognizes COVID-19 vaccine developers, nanotechnology scientists, and eminent figures in each of its Arabic Language and Literature, Islamic Studies, and Service to Islam categories.

Announcing the winners on Thursday, the King Faisal Prize General Secretariat said: “The selection committees of the 2023 King Faisal Prize, after meticulous deliberations that were held from Monday to Wednesday (Jan. 2-4, 2023), have reached the decisions for the prize’s five categories: Service to Islam, Islamic Studies, Arabic language & Literature, Medicine, and Science.”

The King Faisal Prize for Service to Islam 2023 is awarded jointly to Shaikh Nasser bin Abdullah of the UAE and Prof. Choi Young Kil-Hamed from South Korea.

The King Faisal Prize for Islamic Studies for 2023, on the topic of Islamic architecture, is awarded to Prof. Robert Hillenbrand from the UK.

This year’s King Faisal Prize for Arabic Language and Literature, on the topic of classical Arabic narrative and modern theories, is awarded to Morocco’s Prof. Abdelfattah Kilito.

The King Faisal Prize for Medicine for 2023, focusing on pandemics and vaccine development, is awarded jointly to Prof. Dan Hung Barouch from the US and Prof. Sarah Catherine Gilbert from the UK.

The King Faisal Prize for Science for this year in chemistry is awarded jointly to Prof. Jackie Yi-Ru Ying and Prof. Chad Alexander Mirkin, both from the US.

This year, two female scientists were announced winners of the King Faisal Prize in the Medicine and Science categories. The woman behind the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, Prof. Gilbert, who is the Said chair of vaccinology at the Nuffield Department of Medicine at Oxford University, co-created the jab, which has been used in more than 180 countries, saving countless lives due to its efficiency, low cost, and accessibility.

Prof. Ying is the senior fellow and director at NanoBio Lab, Agency for Science, Technology, and Research.

She is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was chosen for her work on the synthesis of various advanced nanomaterials and systems, and their applications in catalysis, energy conversion, and biomedicine.

The King Faisal Prize was established in 1977. Since then, 275 recipients from 43 countries have been honored, of whom 21 have gone on to win a Nobel Prize. This year’s awards will be presented at a ceremony later in 2023.

The prize was granted for the first time in 1979 in three categories: Service to Islam, Islamic studies, and Arabic language and literature. Two additional categories were introduced in 1981: Medicine and science. The first medicine prize was awarded in 1982, and in science two years later.

source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)

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King Faisal Prize General Secretariat announced King Faisal Prize winners for 2023. (Supplied)

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SAUDI ARABIA / MOROCCO / U.A.E.

ALGERIA: Model Baraka Merzaia: the Face of a New Algeria

The multi-talented, multilingual model, actress and singer is making a name for herself beyond her homeland.

Baraka Merzaia is a true force of nature. Beautiful, intelligent and multi-talented, the young Algerian rising star is attracting praise and attention from across the world for a wide variety of reasons. If you don’t yet know her name, you soon will.

Merzaia was born in Adrar, in the south of Algeria, but is now based in Algiers. Her talent was first noticed aged 16, when she joined a choir to learn to improve her already impressive vocal skills.

Like many young people of her generation in Algeria, Merzaia is a polyglot, which has helped her gain fans across borders. In India, four years ago, when the country celebrated the 150th anniversary of the birth of Gandhi, Merzaia was praised by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for her “memorable” rendition of “Vaishnava Jana To,” a hugely popular Hindu hymn “whose lyrics are imbued with empathy” that Merzaia hopes is contagious.

In 2019, Merzaia was named Miss Talent in her homeland, and has since landed several modelling contracts, and aspires to hit the international catwalks soon, inspired particularly by the career of Somali-American model Halima Aden — who famously sported the hijab on a Vogue cover and was the first model to wear a burkini in Sports Illustrated magazine. Like Aden, Merzaia aims to remain true to her faith and smash stereotypes in the fashion industry.

She tells Arab News France that she has already turned down offers of partnerships with brands who have asked her to remove her headscarf for photo shoots.

“Many consider my (headscarf) to be a fashion accessory,” she says. “That is far from the case, and I am convinced that I can carry out my projects without compromising my integrity.”

Another major inspiration, she tells Arab News, is her mother — a PhD holder whose thirst for knowledge has inspired Merzaia to pursue higher education, in addition to her artistic projects.

The singer, model, and actress has built up a following of more than half a million over various social-media platforms, on which she documents her daily life and her artistic projects, with a strong emphasis on Algerian culture and heritage.

One example is a video shot during a visit to her hometown of Ain Salah. “When I posted a video showing how we make kesra — a semolina pancake baked in sand — I was inundated with messages from curious people across the country asking me to share this type of content more frequently,” she says.

Her kesra video was widely shared online — including by NWE, a media that highlights African culture in all its diversity — and helped to highlight a little-known facet of Algerian culture.

Merzaia explains that she sees social media as an opportunity to introduce people to the south of Algeria, which is under-represented across mainstream media, and, at the same time, to disabuse people of stereotypes concerning Saharan inhabitants.

In 2006, a census estimated that the Black community in Algeria represented around 5 percent of the population, the lowest ratio in the Maghreb.

While Baraka is not overtly political, her claiming of — and ability to reconcile — her Algerian and African heritage, and her faith, demonstrates that these aspects of Algerian identity complement each other, when popular wisdom might suggest that they are incompatible.

At a time when many young people in North Africa tend to look to the West for cultural inspiration, Merzaia demonstrates that Algerian culture, in addition to being plural and rich, “has a lot to offer and deserves to be discovered,” as she puts it.

“I don’t consider myself to be an influencer,” she says. “Nevertheless, I do want to shed light on my culture, by sharing with my followers my faith and culture, (and this balance) between modernism and tradition.”

source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)

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Baraka Merzaia, young student, model, singer and actress becomes an essential artist of the Algerian cultural scene (Photo, Instagram @Barakamerzaia). /arabnews.fr

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ALGERIA

SAUDI ARABIA: World’s First Commercial Shipment of Blue Ammonia leaves Saudi Arabia for South Korea

A consignment of blue ammonia has left Saudi Arabia for South Korea, representing a new milestone in the development of decarbonization solutions.

The development was first announced during the recent Saudi Green Initiative conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, and Vessel Seasurfer, carrying 25,000 metric tons (25 KMT) of low-carbon blue ammonia, is expected to reach its destination between Dec. 9 and 13 in the world’s first commercial shipment of its kind.

The accomplishment, which is an alternative to conventional gray ammonia, is part of a collaboration between Saudi Basic Industries Corporation Agri-Nutrients and Aramco.

Lotte Fine Chemical, which has a long-standing relationship with SABIC AN, will receive the low-carbon “cradle to gate” blue ammonia.

Abdulrahman Shamsaddin, SABIC AN CEO, said: “This shipment is another milestone in our journey toward carbon neutrality.

“We are proud to be a part of this pioneering solution, paving the way for further decarbonization efforts.

“Looking to the future, we are constantly working on breakthrough solutions to decarbonize our assets and deliver low-carbon solutions to our customers.”

Yong Suk Kim, LFC CEO, said: “We are delighted to enter this meaningful agreement with our long-term supplier, SABIC Agri-Nutrients, to receive the world’s first certified blue ammonia cargo. 

“Building on our shared history, we are looking forward to moving forward together into a new era for ammonia. We believe that this shipment of blue ammonia will help lay the foundations for a global supply chain.” 

Earlier this year, SABIC AN and Aramco received the world’s first independent certifications, recognizing blue ammonia and blue hydrogen production, from TUV Rheinland, a leading independent testing, inspection and certification agency, based in Germany.

The shipment of blue ammonia to South Korea will be the first to capitalize on this major certification achievement. 

The new developments are aligned with Saudi Vision 2030, which focuses on low-carbon fuels, products, solutions and clean energy. 

source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)

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SAUDI ARABIA

MOROCCO: Aziza Nait Sibaha Wins Arab Prize for ‘Best Sports Journalist’

Sibaha is the director of the “Atlas Lionesses: Hear Them Roar!” documentary that honored Morocco’s Women’s Football Team.

 The Moroccan journalist Aziza Nait Sibaha has won the sixth “Fatima Bint Mubarak” Women Sports Award, crowning her as the Arab world’s “best sports journalist.”

Presented on September 17 in Abu Dhabi, the award is the region’s first of its kind aimed at empowering women and celebrating their sports achievements.

The “Fatima Bint Mubarak” Prize was awarded to different winners in several categories, including sports management, training, research, sports sponsorship, and women of determination.

The value of the prizes totaled AED 1,700,000 ($462,824).

Different trophies were awarded to nine competitors, individuals and teams, including Egypt’s Giana Farouk Mahmoud, who was named the “best Arab sportswoman,” and Shamma Yousef Al Kalbani, who won the “best Emirati athlete” award.

Egyptian Ahmed Gouda won the prize for the “best young athlete,” while his compatriot Rehab Ahmed Radwan was awarded the prize for the “best Paralympic athlete.”

The “best coach” award went to Faris Al-Assaf from Jordan, while the Jordanian Women’s Football Association took the award in the “ Youth Development Programs” category.

The Egyptian Weightlifting Federation won the award for “best team,” while the “Emirates International Endurance Village” earned the prize for “best innovative sports initiative.”

The celebrated Tunisian tennis player Ons Jaber won the award for “Sports Personality of the Year in the Arab World.”

In her speech at the award ceremony, the representative of Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Sports Academy, Maryam Al-Mansouri, said that all categories of the award have seen strong competitiveness in recent months. This proves the talent, willingness, and ambition of Arab sportswomen, she stressed.

Al-Mansouri concluded: “We hope to see Arab women continue to take the lead in local and international sports events, and this award will contribute to the birth of new achievements in the Arab women’s sports career.” 

source/content: moroccoworldnews.com (headline edited)

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Morocco’s Aziza Nait Sibaha Wins Arab Prize for ‘Best Sports Journalist’

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MOROCCO

PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN: Meet Nujoud Fahoum, the Palestinian-American Woman helping Plan Nasa’s Artemis missions

Nujoud Fahoum Merancy started the Twitter hashtag ‘YallaToTheMoon’ to support latest mission.

A Palestinian-American woman is one of the leaders of the Artemis missions, a programme by Nasa that aims to fly astronauts to the Moon.

Nujoud Fahoum Merancy, 43, is the chief of exploration mission planning at the US space agency and has been working in the space sector for more than two decades.

She started the Twitter hashtag ‘YallaToTheMoon’ to support the Artemis 1 mission, which is scheduled for another launch attempt on Saturday, from Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre. ‘Yalla’ is an Arabic word that translates to ‘let’s go’ or ‘come on’.

Before the historic event, Ms Merancy spoke to The National about her Palestinian roots and her involvement in the Artemis programme.

A stellar career

The Artemis 1 mission is an unmanned flight around the Moon that will test the performance of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft.

If successful, it would pave the way for Nasa to launch Artemis 2 and 3, crewed flights around the Moon and the first human lunar landing mission under the programme.

“As a Palestinian-American, I’m very excited to be a part of this programme,” she said.

“And, really, Nasa and Artemis, it is a much more diverse workforce than it was during the Apollo era.

“It’s important to me and to a lot of us that it represents all of humanity and Artemis itself is international because we have international partners.”

Ms Merancy, a mother-of-two, earned her bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Washington in Seattle.

From there, she joined the aerospace company Boeing to work on the International Space Station.

She then started working on the development of Orion, the spacecraft launching on top of Nasa’s mega Moon rocket on Saturday that will fly around the Moon — and one day carry astronauts.

“From that, I’ve transitioned into the mission planning for Artemis, which is designing and integrating the missions across all the programmes for Artemis, and that’s my current role,” she said.

Connecting with her Palestinian roots

Ms Merancy went viral on the internet in 2019 when she posted her official Nasa photo, in which she wore a blazer embroidered with Palestinian tatreez, a traditional cross-stitch, that she bought during a visit to her father’s home town of Nazareth.

Her father moved to the US more than 40 years ago to go to college.

Although she was born in the US and does not speak fluent Arabic, she said her Palestinian roots were important to her.

“I don’t speak Arabic, unfortunately, it’s one of those regrets that I’ll always have,” she said.

“I know the basics, a few words here and there, and the polite greetings.

“But I do enjoy the food and that is something I grew up on. And then as an adult, I started cooking.

“So, I have a whole bunch of Palestinian cookbooks just to learn other recipes that my family didn’t teach me.

“I do like to cook Palestinian food and that’s probably the biggest connection to the culture that I have.”

Palestinian presence in the space sector

Other Palestinians are involved in the Artemis programme or are making a name for themselves in the US space sector through other projects.

Soha Alqeshawi, born and raised in Gaza city with her seven siblings, currently works for Lockheed Martin as a software engineering associate manager and looks after Orion’s back up-flight software.

And Loay Elbasyouni is a Palestinian-American electrical engineer who helped design Nasa’s Mars rover, Perseverance.

“My parents did their best to provide me and my siblings with a good education and shield us from the effects of the continuous horrific conflict that Gaza has been living under,” Ms Alqeshawi told Portuguese journalist Margarida Santos Lopes in 2015.

“Living under constant fear and despair where everything is uncertain and basic life necessities such as electricity and sometimes water are unavailable for most of the day.

“Although I was the only one in my family who had the opportunity to leave Gaza for the US to study and work, all of my brothers and sisters are college-educated with degrees in science, engineering and business.”

“Going to school was sometimes a dangerous journey that could have death waiting at any step of the way.

“However, that made us more determined to achieve our dreams in receiving an education.’

source/content: thenationalnews.com (headline edited)

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Nujoud Fahoum Merancy went viral in 2019 when she posted her official Nasa photo, in which she wore a blazer embroidered with Palestinian tatreez, a traditional cross-stitch that she purchased during a visit to her father’s hometown of Nazareth. Photo: @nujoud

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AMERICAN / PALESTINIAN

Bahrain’s KHK team Wins ‘Al Maktoum Cup 30-foot Rowing Race” – 2nd successive year : December 24th, 2021

Bahrain’s representative, KHK team, were crowned champions of the Al Maktoum Cup 30-foot rowing race, organised by the Dubai International Marine Club at the Dubai Water Canal today.

Captained by Nakhuda Ahmed Nasser Al Busmait, the team were also winners of the previous edition of the most precious cup of the traditional Arabian Gulf rowing sport.

source/content: bna.bh

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BAHRAIN

Damietta’s Winning UNESCO Learning City Award 2021, Egypt : November 2021

UNESCO announced Damietta city is among the ten cities to receive cities  the UNESCO Learning Cities Award 2021

“Whether they are megacities or smaller urban areas, all of the awardees have shown how learning opportunities empower citizens of all ages when suitable policies and programmes are put in place,” said the UNESCO on the official website of the United Nations in Egypt.

UNESCO added that Damietta seeks to promote sustainable development, advance basic skills among adults, and improve public health for a population of over 330,000.

source/content: egypttoday.com

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A bridge in Damietta city, Egypt – Photo via Wikimediacommons / pix: egypttoday.com

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EGYPT

Kuwaiti Brand ‘Marzook’ Fashion Accessories

Shouq Al-Marzooq and Fahad Al-Marzook. Co-Founders Brand ‘Marzook’. Luxury handbags and fashion accessories

Kuwaiti label and FTA Prize 2019 finalist Marzook is best-loved for its bags, with Amal Clooney, Kylie Jenner and Lupita Nyong’o all having been spotted carrying a Marzook bag.

A brand that draws its inspiration from surrealism, Marzook was founded by brother and sister duo Shouq and Fahad Al-Marzook.

The Beirut-based accessories brand was established in 2014. The brother sister duo started off in the fashion industry by designing pieces for their family and friends and quickly went on to garner worldwide attention and sign celebrity collaboration deals

www.marzook.co

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Fahad and Shouq Marzook, shot by Plastik Studios / pix: fashiontrustarabia.com

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KUWAIT / LEBANON