Arabs & Arabian Records Aggregator. Chronicler. Milestones of the 25 Countries of the Arabic Speaking World (official / co-official). AGCC. MENA. Global. Ist's to Top 10's. Records. Read & Enjoy./ www.arabianrecords.org
The Egyptian composer is once again working with Marvel Studio following his score on ‘Moon Knight’.
News of a second season of ‘Moon Knight’ may be scarce, but it doesn’t mean Marvel Studios has stepped away from tapping Egyptian talent to tune up their work. Award winning composer Hesham Nazih has been selected to write the score for Marvel Studios’ newest animated series ‘Eyes of Wakanda’.
Nazih’s score for the 2022 live action series ‘Moon Knight’ received international attention for incorporating elements of Egyptian musical heritage into a modern orchestral framework, and has received multiple nominations and awards, including Best Original Score for a Television Series at the 2023 International Film Critics Award.
He also composed the music for Egypt’s Pharaohs’ Golden Parade in 2021, and has worked on a number of Egyptian blockbusters including ‘Kira & El Gin’, ‘Welad El Rizk’, ‘The Blue Elephant’, ‘The Originals’, and ‘Ibrahim Labyad’. He was the first composer to have ever received the Faten Hamama Excellence Award by the Cairo International Film Festival in 2018.
‘Eyes of Wakanda’ is part of Marvel’s animated expansion and is a spin-off from the Black Panther franchise. The series follows Wakandan warriors throughout history as they search for vibranium artefacts across the globe, and is scheduled for release on August 6th, 2025 on the Disney+ streaming platform.
On 25 April, Egyptian author Mohamed Samir Nada was awarded the 2025 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) for his novel The Prayer of Anxiety, a darkly allegorical tale set in a secluded village in Upper Egypt.
This marks the third time an Egyptian writer has won the prestigious literary award, following Youssef Zidan’s Azazel in 2009 and Bahaa Taher’s Sunset Oasis in 2008.
Nada’s novel, published by the Tunisian press Masciliana, was chosen from a six-title shortlist.
In a televised interview earlier this year, Nada revealed that he had turned to Masciliana after three Egyptian publishers declined to print the manuscript.
Set in the fictional hamlet of Nag’ Al-Manassi — literally “the village of forgetfulness” — the novel unfolds in a reality suspended in misinformation and fear.
Its inhabitants believe a minefield surrounds them and are still at war with Israel decades after the 1967 conflict.
Their only contact with the outside world is Khalil Al-Khoja, a local authority figure who produces the village newspaper, controls access to goods and maintains the illusion of unending war.
When a mysterious object falls from the sky, triggering an illness among villagers, the local sheikh responds by creating a new ritual prayer—The Prayer of Anxiety.
The plot evolves against the backdrop of national icons, culminating in the 1977 death of Abdel-Halim Hafez, a singer synonymous with the era of Gamal Abdel-Nasser.
Told through eight character “sessions,” each beginning with a nightmare and dreamlike awakening, the novel functions as both a dystopian fable and a meditation on collective delusion.
Nada’s characters offer confessional narratives haunted by guilt and helplessness. The result is a richly layered text that explores how fear and propaganda can distort memory and shape reality.
Mona Baker, chair of this year’s IPAF judging panel, praised the novel for “transforming anxiety into an aesthetic and intellectual experience that resonates with the reader and awakens them to pressing existential questions.”
Yasser Suleiman, Chair of the IPAF Board of Trustees, highlighted the novel’s “gripping poetic language” and its “clever use of symbolism,” calling it a powerful reflection on life under tyranny and the mechanisms that uphold it.
Yet the novel’s success has not gone without controversy.
Some critics have criticized its handling of Egypt’s modern history, especially its allusions to Abdel-Nasser’s legacy.
Literary critic Reda Attiya publicly dismissed The Prayer of Anxiety as “poorly structured” and accused the prize committee of rewarding a novel that “takes aim at Nasser,” calling it a “conspiracy against Egypt.”
Others pushed back. Novelist Mohamed Mawafai likened such attacks to the 1994 stabbing of Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz by a young man who admitted to never reading his work.
“Both are acts of incitement,” Mawafai said. “There is no difference between one and the other.”
Nada’s novel joins a growing wave of dystopian fiction in the Arab world.
In a recent study of the genre, Syrian novelist and critic Shahla Al-Ogaily argued that dystopian literature has gained traction in post-2011 Arab societies to confront painful political and social realities.
“This genre represents the inability to forgive,” she wrote, “and a confrontation with the hallucinations and phobic fears that emerged after the revolutions failed to deliver on their promises.”
Al-Ogaily traced the rise of Arabic dystopian writing to the translation of authors like Franz Kafka and George Orwell, whose works explored the horrors of surveillance, repression, and modernity.
The influence is evident in Nada’s novel — from Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, echoed when a village sheikh wakes up to find his head missing, to Orwell’s 1984, in the depiction of total narrative control and a fearful, manipulated public.
At its heart, The Prayer of Anxiety critiques political, religious, and media-driven systems that manufacture obedience and stifle thought.
Through poetic language and surreal events, Nada lays bare the quiet complicity that enables authoritarianism.
One of the novel’s characters voices the core dilemma:
“How many shooting stars must fall before we gain a new memory? How many men must die in war for old women to tell a different story?”
Despite occasional tonal inconsistencies—particularly between the elevated language and the characters’ rural backgrounds—the novel’s literary ambition, conceptual depth, and striking imagery have resonated widely.
The IPAF, launched in 2007 with support from the Emirates Foundation, awards $50,000 to the winner and $10,000 to each shortlisted author. This year’s judges included Said Bengrad, Maryam Al Hashimi, Bilal Orfali, Sampsa Peltonen, and chair Mona Baker.
With The Prayer of Anxiety, Nada has delivered a novel that provokes, unsettles, and — crucially — invites deeper engagement with the structures of power that shape the Arab world’s past and present.
Chef Mostafa Seif of Khufu’s has been awarded the Skillet of Distinction by The Best Chef Awards, becoming the first Egyptian chef to receive the accolade. The award follows Seif’s recognition last year as the first Egyptian to earn a one-knife “Excellent” rating under the awards’ updated tiered system.
The Best Chef Awards, which moved away from its traditional top-100 ranking in 2023, now recognises chefs through one, two, or three “knives,” denoting levels of excellence. Seif’s one-knife placement in Dubai was the first for an Egyptian chef and signalled growing international attention to his work.
At Khufu’s – founded by Pier 88 Hospitality’s Giovanni Bolandrini – Seif leads a kitchen grounded in technical discipline and regionally sourced ingredients. His cooking is rooted in Egyptian culinary traditions but avoids nostalgia or showmanship, favouring clarified broths, cured seafood, and slow-roasted meats that reflect a restrained, detail-oriented approach.
In January, Seif participated in The World’s 50 Best Signature Sessions in Abu Dhabi, where he co-hosted a dinner with Argentinian chef Sergio Cabrera at MouzMari. He also joined 50 Best Talks for a panel titled Memory on a Plate, exploring the role of food in cultural and personal memory.
The Skillet of Distinction acknowledges Seif’s consistency in the kitchen and his contribution to platforming Egyptian cuisine in international settings – through technique rather than adaptation.
Egypt’s presence at Cannes Film Market wins top honour for design, programming, and industry engagement.
The Egyptian pavilion at Cannes Film Market, headed by a joint cooperation between El Gouna Film Festival, Cairo International Film Festival and the Egyptian Film Commission, has won the award for Best Pavilion Design Award during the 78th Cannes Film Festival.
Designed by cinematic set designer Shereen Farghal, and recognised over competing pavilions from 150 nations, the Egyptian pavilion was awarded for its design, curated programming, and strategic networking opportunities offered to Arab and international filmmakers.
“This award is a global recognition of the position Egyptian cinema occupies today, and of the continuous efforts we make to represent it in international contexts,” Hussein Fahmy, President of Cairo International Film Festival, said. “We made sure that the pavilion reflects the spirit of cooperation and openness to the world through a program full of dialogue, and cultural and artistic interaction, and represents a new step for Egypt’s presence in the global film industry.”
Held annually in parallel with the Cannes Film Festival, Marché du Film is a key space for co-productions, distribution deals, and film financing.
From Egypt to the United States, the 22-year-old has cemented himself as one of the NFL’s most exciting young prospects.
22-year-old Egyptian national Ahmed Hassanein is making history after being the first Egyptian to ever be drafted in the National Football League (NFL). After serving as the anchor for Boise State’s defensive line, the Egyptian has just been drafted by the Detroit Lions in the sixth round over the weekend.
Hassanein came a long way before being one of the NFL’s most exciting young prospects. After moving from Egypt to Southern California seven years ago, during his sophomore year of high school, he worked his way into a starting spot at Boise State University, where he anchored their defensive line.
By his junior season, Hassanein ranked fifth in the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) with 12.5 sacks, racked up 53 total tackles including 16.5 for loss, and forced two fumbles. His standout performances earned him back-to-back first-team all-conference honours in 2023 and 2024, as well as captaincy in his senior year — achievements that caught the attention of NFL scouts.
Egyptian actor Youssef Omar will join the cast of the British-Chinese production Shashou, set in Hong Kong.
Youssef Omar is a rising Egyptian actor known for his versatile roles in film and TV series, including, most recently in Ramadan, TV series A Woman’s Youth (Shabab Emraa, 2025), where he co-starred opposite Ghada Abdel Razek.
He gained widespread recognition with his breakthrough in the 2018 drama Rahim (dir. Mohamed Salama) and has since starred in popular series like Sittat Bayt Al-Maadi (Women’s Maadi House, 2021), where he played Timo El-Badry (Timo), acting alongside Mira El-Helbawi, Tara Emad, and Enjy Kiwan.
Both series were directed by Mohamed Salama, with the latter catapulting Omar to fame.
Youssef has also successfully transitioned to the silver screen in high-grossing movies such as Awlad Hareem Kareem (2023) and El-Hareefa (2024), starring Nour Ehab, Khaled El-Zahaby, and Bayoumi Fouad.
In 2024, Omar starred in Meen Yasadaq (Who Would Believe?), a film directed by Zena Ashraf Abdel Baky. The film was screened during the 45th Cairo International Film Festival, further solidifying Omar’s status as an up-and-coming talent to watch out for.
Produced and directed by UK producer, screenwriter, and filmmaker Bizhan Tong, Shashou offers Omar his first international role.
Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab, co-founders of MAD Solutions, which distributes the film in the MENA region, described the film as a thriller that is “an Arab spin on the packaging strategy that Hollywood has long deployed.”
Shashou is set in the shady world of ex-special forces, where outcasts Kelly Frost, Rachel Chan, and Inferno unite to stop a billionaire’s plot to destabilize Hong Kong.
Festival president Hussein Fahmy announced the appointment during the Berlin International Film Festival.
The Cairo International Film Festival has named Mohamed Tarek as its new artistic director, following his tenure as deputy artistic director. Festival president Hussein Fahmy announced the appointment during the Berlin International Film Festival.
Since its inception in 1976, the Cairo International Film Festival has been a cornerstone of the region’s cinematic landscape, held annually at the Cairo Opera House.
Tarek’s career spans film programming, festival consultancy, and jury roles at major international festivals. A graduate of the Locarno Industry Academy in Beirut and the Durban Talents programme, he has worked with CIFF, Dublin International Film Festival, El Gouna Film Festival, and Manassat Film Festival. His expertise also extends to projects with El Nahda Association, MedFest Egypt, and the Goethe Institute Cairo.
Ashraf Mahrous, known also as Kabonga, pulled a 279-ton train using only his teeth, while also observing the Ramadan fast.
An Egyptian wrestler has received recognition in three categories by Guinness World Records , including for breaking the world record for heaviest rail pull using only his teeth.
Ashraf Mahrous, known by his nickname Kabonga, also received certificates for the heaviest locomotive pull and fastest 100-metre road vehicle pull.
The successful world record attempts took place at Cairo’s Ramses train station on Wednesday and Thursday, where Kabonga pulled a 279-ton train using a rope held by his teeth. The wrestler pulled the train for a distance of close to 11 metres.
“On the first day, I was able to pull a two-ton cart, while fasting, for a distance of 107 meters in 37 seconds, breaking another record by pulling a one-ton cart for 100 meters and surpassing the 60-second barrier,” Kabonga told Anadolu, highlighting that he had been abstaining from eating and drinking due to the Ramadan fast, which lasts from pre-dawn to sunset.
“The next day, on Thursday afternoon, I pulled a train weighing 279 tons with my shoulders, while fasting, for a distance of 10 metres and 66 centimeters,” he added.
Kabonga, who is the president of the Egyptian Federation for Professional Wrestlers, previously pulled a 15,730-kilogram truck with his teeth in 2021. In February 2024, he cracked and ate 30 raw eggs in 30 seconds in a feat that was also recognised by Guinness World Records.
Dawlet Elnakeb, an organiser of Thursday’s event in Cairo, said Kabonga had trained for just 20 days prior to the record breaking event.
source/content: newarab.com (headline edited)
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Ashraf Mahrous, known as Kabonga, is president of the Egyptian Federation for Professional Wrestlers [Getty]
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.
