World’s Largest Oasis ‘Al Ahsa Oasis’ : Saudi Arabia : October 2020

Al Ahsa Oasis in now certified by Guinness World Records as the Planet’s largest self-contained Oasis.

Al Ahsa Oasis has also the largest date-palm oasis surrounded by sand in the world.

It has also a UNESCO designated status as a World Heritage site. Over 6,000 years old. It has many National Heritage Sites, as well as Human Settlements dating back to thousands of years.

Al Ahsa Oasis stretches across 85.4 sq.km . Irrigated by more than 280 springs of hot, warm and cold water.

Annual Al Ahsa Date Festival conducted here. Well known for its ‘Khalsah Dates‘.

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It includes over 2.5 million date palms watered by a network of over 280 artesian springs / pix: gulfbusiness.com

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SAUDI ARABIA

Waad Al-Kateab – Documentary Filmmaker. Award Winner.

Waad Al-Kateab. Journalist. Filmmaker. Activist

Named as one of the Top 100 Influential People in 2020 by TIME magazine (September 2020)

Award winning Syrian Director of the film ‘For Sama’ .

-The most nominated documentary in the history of the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA)

-Golden Eye Award, Cannes Film Festival / Grand Jury Award, SXSW / Special Jury Prize, Canadian Hot Docs International Film Festival / Oeil d’Or Prize, Cannes Film Festival (May 25, 2019)

Other Awards:

-International Emmy for Reporting – for the covering the Siege of Aleppo . The First Syrian to win in this category.

Presently: Reporter for Channel 4 News, UK

Other Documentary:

  • The Second Castle at Aleppo

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pix: arabnews.com / tumblr.com

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UNITED KINGDOM / SYRIA

Sofia Boutella : Algerian-French Actress. Hollywood.

Sofia Boutella – Actress. Model. Dancer.

Actor:

-2019 – Amazon Prime’s Modern Love (season 1, edition 5) / 2018 – Roles in the movies Climax, Fahrenheit 451 / 2017 – Roles in Atomic Blonde, The Mummy / 2016 – Roles in Star Trek Beyond, as alien warrior Jaylah / 2015 – Kingsman: The Secret Service // 2015 – Lead character Eva in the film Street Dance 2 etc….

Music Videos:

Performed in more than 20 leading world acclaimed music videos with icons of the music industry. Worked with Michael Jackson, Rihanna. Toured with Madonna.

Modelling:

Appeared in Nike Women’s advertising campaign amongst others.

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PIX: en.wikipedia.org

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FRANCE / ALGERIAN-FRENCH

Emirati Physicist Dr.Ahmed Almheri Wins Coveted ‘New Horizons Physics Prize’ USA : Sepember 2020:

Dr Ahmed Almheri, Physicist was awarded the ‘New Horizons Physics Prize’ for his research on black holes in space. The award is founded by ‘The Breakthrough Foundation’ USA.

He is currently a long-term member in the ‘School of Natural Science’. Doing his post-docotral studies in Physics at ‘Institute for Advance Studies (IAS), Princeton University.

First Emirati to be accepted for the post-doctoral studies at Princeton University, University of California.

Education:

-Ph.D – Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara

– M.A. – University of California, Santa Barbara

– B.Sc/B.A – University of Toronto

Awards:

-New Horizons Physics Prize (2020)

-Lancaster Dissertation Award in Mathematics, Physics, Sciences and Engineering (2014)

-Member Martin Hairer ‘Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics’

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Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics / pix: youtube.com

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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E.)

Dubai Police Women Officers pull a Boeing Plane. Set a new World Record : UAE, November 2018

Heaviest aircraft pulled over 100 m by a team (female).

A team of 77 female officers of Dubai police established a world record by pulling a Boeing 777-300ER weighing 168.801 tonnes (168,801 kg/372,142 lb) over 100 meters distance.

Dubai Police entered the Guinness Book of World Records thanks to the feat of 77 of its officers, exclusively females, who dragged an Emirates plane .

A feat for a great cause

The aircraft, a Boeing 777 of 74 meter-long and 240 tons, was pulled with one rope attached to its undercarriage. The exploit was part of Dubai Fitness Challenge, a wonder event that aims to encourage residents to exercise more.

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pix : www.guinnessworldrecords.com

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Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Ons Jabeur. Makes History – Cracks Top 30 in WTA Rankings (August 2020). Arab Woman of the Year in Sports (2019).

Ons Jabeur. Female Tennis Professional.

Ons Jabeur is expected to climb to 30th rank in the International Womens’ Tennis Association (WTA) rankings.

She has won 11 singles titles and one doubles title on the ITF Women’s Circuit.

-Arab Woman of the Year in Sports (2019)

-First Arab Player to win a Junior Grand Slam Singles title

-First Arab Woman to reach quarter finals of a Grand Slam Tournament at the 2020 Australian Open

-Highest ranked Arab Player in WTA history

pix : en.wikipedia.com

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Tunisia

Record Holder- Most ‘Hotstepper’ Areej Al Hammadi – Emirati Female Footballer : July 2020

Areej Al Hammadi was awarded the Guinness World Record for the most ‘hotstepper’ football control tricks (86) completed in one minute, breaking the previous world record of 56 held in the UK.

Areej Al Hammadi is a footballer and a member of the UAE National Team since 2015.

She is also the Creative Project Manager at Expo 2020 Dubai.

pix : dubaiprnetwork.com

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Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Mars One – Mohammed Sallam Only Arab Selected for Round III Mars One Project

Mohammed Sallam from Egypt is the only Arab candidate selected for Round III of the Dutch Mars One Project.

He hopes it will pave the path for future Arab astronauts in outer space. Sallam is one of the 100 candidates selected to have entered Round III for Mars One, down form 202,000 initial applicants.

Next year 24 finalists will be selected and trained for the 2031 mission to Mars which aims to establish the first human settlement/colony on the red planet.

-Founder -‘ Saturn V Space Club’ / Project Manager and Speaker – ‘Make Space Yours’ / Member of the Board of Advisory member – ‘Telescopia’

source: fridaymagazine.ae

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Egypt

Nuruddin Farah – International Award Winning Writer : Somalia

Nuruddin Farah (aka) Nuuradiin Faaraa . Novelist. Essayist. Short Stories. Playwright. Educator.

Books /Novels :

-From a crooked rib (1970) /A naked needle (1976) / Sweet and Sour Milk (1979) / Sardines (1981) / Close Sesame (1983) / Blood in the Sun (1986) / Maps (1986) / Gifts (1993) / Secrets (1998) / Past Imperfect / Links (2004) / Knots (2007) / Crossbones (2011) / Hiding in Plain Sight (2014) / North of Dawn (2018)…etc..

Awards/Honours :

-English-Speaking Union Literary Award (for Sweet and Sour Milk) (1980) / -Corman Artists Fellowship (1990) /- Kurt Tucholsky Prize, Sweden (1991) / -Best Novel Award (for Gifts), Zimbabwe (1993) / Premio Cavour (for Italian translation of Close Sesame),Italy (1994) / -Neustadt International Prize for Literature (1998) /- St Malo Literary Festival Award (for French edition of Gifts) (1998) etc…

Presently lives in Cape Town, South Africa

pic: hiiraan.com

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Somalia

Largest Copper Bas-relief Sculpture : Ali Moneer Alassad , Syria 2009

The largest copper bas-relief created by Ali Moneer Alassad in Qurdaha, Lattakia, Syria, on 2 July 2009.

The bas-relief measures 122.5 sq mtr (1,318.5) sq m and is 50.10 m long and 2.44 m tall.

Alassad and his team spent 4,000 working hours to finish the copper bas-relief. The copper bas-relief is surrounded by ornamental plant Islamic framework and includes a 78 portraits represent the most important archaeological finds in Syria throughout history.

The bas-relief reflects the history of Syria since 9 thousand years BC. until the present time.

source: Guinness World Records / world-records.org /

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Syria