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Russian ambassador to Egypt Georgiy Borisenko has awarded the Dostoyevsky Medal to Anwar Ibrahim – the under-secretary of the Ministry of Culture and former head of the ministry’s Foreign Cultural Relations Department – for his work in translating Russian literature into Arabic.
The honouring ceremony took place at the headquarters of the Russian Embassy in Cairo on 6 March. It was attended by a delegation from the Egyptian Association of Graduates of Russian and Soviet Universities headed by Sherif Gad.
Ambassador Borisenko expressed appreciation for Ibrahim’s efforts in translating classic and contemporary Russian literature into Arabic, thereby promoting Russian culture.
“The Arab reader is lucky when he reads translated Russian literature through creative translators like Anwar Ibrahim,” Borisenko said.
Borisenko wished Ibrahim continued success in his literary career, which he described as part of the soft power between Russia and the Arab peoples.
The Dostoyevsky Medal was established by the Russian Writers Union to be awarded to translators on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who is one of the most iconic writers of the Russian literary canon.
For his part, Ibrahim said that “this honour is a new birth for me, and I am extremely proud of receiving the Dostoyevsky Medal.”
Toghan, Secretary-General of the Association of Graduates, affirmed that the award for Ibrahim is a tribute to all graduates of the association, especially since Anwar is the first Arab to receive the prestigious medal.
Dostoyevsky, who was born in 1821 in Moscow and died in 1881 in St. Petersburg, gave up an engineering career early in order to write.
In 1849, he was arrested for belonging to a radical discussion group and was sentenced to be shot. He was reprieved at the last moment and sentenced to four years of hard labour in Siberia, where he developed epilepsy and experienced a deepening of his religious faith.
Dostoyevsky’s novels are especially concerned with faith, suffering, and the meaning of life; they are famous for their psychological depth and insight and their near-prophetic treatment of issues in philosophy and politics.
By the end of his life, he was acclaimed as one of his country’s greatest writers, and his works had a profound influence on 20th-century literature.
Trailblazing Jordanian-British research fellow reveals that her prescription for success requires dispensing – but only with tradition.
Most Damascene moments are dramatic by definition but few occur, as Atheer Awad’s did, on an actual road that leads to the Syrian capital.
Her own turning point came when the vehicle she was travelling in with her family to register for university in Amman blew a tyre, hit an electricity pole and flipped several times.
The accident meant that Awad ended up in hospital and missed the window to sign up to study medicine. By the time she was discharged, the only degree option still open to her was pharmacy.
Though bitterly disappointed at the time, she has come to believe that there were greater forces at work on the day of the crash on Jordan Street.
“Let’s just say we put our car to the test,” Awad tells The National. “It was a complete wreck. We are lucky to be alive.
“But it wasn’t meant to be that I should study medicine. I took the car accident as a sign that the future held better things for me.”
As a result, she was steered into an unexpected career in which the eventualresearch fellow at University College London would amass numerous accolades: the Journal of Clinical Medicine‘s 2021 PhD Thesis award; an appearance on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Europe; reaching the finals in the Women of the Future awards 2022 in the science category; named as an International Pharmaceutical Federation FIPWise Rising Star for 2022 as well as one of the top 15 outstanding innovators under the age of 35 by the MIT Technology Review.
Her groundbreaking research is paving the way towards the creation of personalised medication that can be 3D-printed in patients’ homes via smartphone — a potentially transformative innovation for those who find it hard to gain access to health care or don’t suit a one-size-fits-all service.
Born in Abu Dhabi and raised in Dubai by Jordanian parents, her hand was always first in the air in class when volunteers were sought to dissect animals at Al Mawakeb School in Garhoud.
It was an early display of Awad’s enthusiasm for the sciences, particularly biology, and a prelude to her ambition of becoming a heart surgeon.
“I was so determined to make a difference and medicine is one of those industries that has a greater impact when it comes to changing people’s lives,” she says.
“There is never a boring day with science because every day is a new learning experience.
“You come across things that you haven’t discovered before or create new stuff by just playing around with things in the lab and mixing them together. It’s that sort of curiosity that motivates me.”
Back then, holidays were regularly spent visiting Jordan — trips that Awad still makes annually to catch up with extended family, go to weddings and indulge a soft spot for the local food.
“I love those traditional connections,” she says, “and still follow as many of these practices as I can, wherever I am.
“My faith helps a lot. But it isn’t easy trying to keep a balance between sticking to faith and being able to live in a foreign country.”
Moving to England wasn’t as daunting as it might have been without the unwavering support of her parents and four older siblings — a pharmacist, a consultant with whom she lived until recently, an IT specialist and a doctor.
“It is rare for all of us to be in the same country at the same time,” she says, laughing. “We travel between the three countries and there is always at least one of us living in each of the three. That makes it interesting for my parents, who get to travel everywhere.”
Awad herself, now 29, is a keen traveller and has put on her bucket list the wish to visit every country in Europe before turning her sights to other continents.
She fell in love with Turkey after a trip to Cappadocia, the semi-arid central region known for its “fairy chimney” rock formations, and particularly enjoys explorations on foot.
London, however, holds a special place in her heart, where there is, she points out, a big Jordanian community.
“I have a lot of friends I consider my second family. They’re a mixture of scientists, people outside work, and others with Jordanian or Arab heritage. That keeps me connected to my roots and it is one of the beauties of London — it’s international.”
But she calls Dubai home and makes many happy returns to Living Legends, a newly developed 14 million-square-foot community on the outskirts of the city where her parents still live.
Part of the appeal of the emirate, it should be said, is the chance to hit the luxury shops. Dior and Prada are favourites — her handbag collection alone extends to “about 40 or 50 … I’ve lost count” — and the Swarovski-encrusted mobile phone she takes everywhere is a particularly prized purchase.
Invariably, though, one of the first stops is to fill up on luqaimat, known as awama in the Levant. She has sampled the sugary doughnuts wherever she finds them but maintains that the ones whipped up for as long as Awad can remember by her mum, Hanan Swais, “are the best”.
They were an abiding taste of a childhood in which the extroverted Awad, left to explore her own interests by her father, Jamal, an electronics retailer, and Hanan, a homemaker, played the piano exuberantly if not with any notable proficiency and went on Scouting expeditions.
There was never an expectation that she would follow in the footsteps of any of her siblings but the desire to pursue medicine was strong nonetheless.
“It wasn’t until we were discharged from hospital [after the car accident] that I realised I had missed the deadline,” she says. “There was no going back in time. I just thought: ‘What’s the next best option?’
“That’s why I always say I did not choose pharmacy — it chose me.”
Despite a reluctant start, Awad’s enthusiasm grew throughout a five-year degree at the private Applied Science University in Amman as she gained insight into the extent of what pharmacists could actually do.
“I started looking at pharmacy as having a bigger impact than I had previously thought,” she says.
“People sometimes look at pharmacists as if they are beneath or less important than doctors when, in fact, they do most of the work behind the scenes.”
Little by little, with the consolidation of hours of satisfying sessions spent researching in laboratories or learning about the differences in the properties of various drugs, it dawned on Awad that she had stumbled across her calling.
Which is not to say that she appreciated being treated as little more than a saleswoman while doing work experience in a community pharmacy during the degree course.
“People assume that the pharmacist just takes the prescription and gets the medication without doing anything else,” she says. “There is a misconception.”
The experience hardened Awad’s resolve to focus on research rather than the direct, community-facing side of the profession.
After graduation in 2015, she embarked on a master’s in pharmaceutics and drug design at UCL, where she learnt about 3D printing during an end-of-year project with her professor, Abdul Basit.
She was inspired to keep working with the Basit Research Group within the School of Pharmacy to undertake a doctorate specialising in using the drug-delivery technology in the manufacture of medicines.
“I’ve always been interested in technology so it grabbed my interest immediately,” says Awad, who is still a research fellow with the group.
Weekends when she is not working are spent dining with friends, indulging her obsession for Harry Potter — “I’ve watched all the films multiple times” — and baking. Coffee cake is her speciality and made a well-received appearance at her professor’s 50th birthday.
“I do like experimenting with baking and cooking. I think there are similarities between baking and science.”
She doesn’t rule out applying to appear on The Great British Bake Off television show but, for now, Awad’s ambitions are confined to the lab.
“I want to make a change,” she says. “I don’t want 3D printing to stay a theory. I want to see it being implemented and taken up by healthcare agencies.”
Most recently, Awad has been printing tablets with Braille and moon patterns on their surfaces for visually impaired patients, or changing their shape, size and colour so that children or those with limited capacity find them easier to take. She has also been researching how to combine several medications into a single pill.
One of her team’s successes has been in creating tablets that can be swallowed without water. Manufactured in partnership with pharmaceutical 3D-printing specialist FabRx by melting powder particles with a laser beam and using heat, the porous product dissolves on the tongue.
She talks about how 3D printing allows alterations of a fraction of a milligram, making medication much more tailored and precise than the standard variety available off the shelf.
“Every person is different and our bodies do not react the same,” Awad says. “The requirements when it comes to medication differ, and sometimes they differ within the same person, depending on the disease progression.
“We can also take patients’ preferences into consideration. That’s important when it comes to children or elderly patients. Often children refuse to take medicine because they don’t like the taste, the shape isn’t appealing or the pill might be too big.”
While 3D printing for customised pharmaceuticals has yet to be introduced commercially in the UK, Awad’s UCL team has managed to convert a smartphone into an on-demand 3D drug printer with an app that could be used in remote GP surgeries and even at home.
“We’re not far from the industry adopting 3D printing, probably in the next two to five years,” she says. “Approval will have to be on a medication-by-medication basis because each medicine could behave differently to the same technology, depending on its properties, and the 3D-printing technologies themselves differ.”
Awad’s passion for her work is tangible. The British-American analytics company Clarivate clearly thought so when last month listing her on its influential Highly Cited 2022. It was a remarkable achievement for such a young scientist to appear among fewer than 0.1 per cent of the world’s researchers across 21 fields.
Such recognition is welcome but, she says, the many “titles are more of an assurance that I am on the right track and that my work is important”.
“That’s the driving force to keep me moving forward and become even more ambitious to try new things,” she says.
One of her guiding principles is that researchers should be brave and adopt different approaches because even the most “ridiculous” ideas can be turned into brilliant inventions or innovations.
As she has been known to opine, not all scientific breakthroughs happen through planned research: “Sometimes, you come across things by accident.”
Given the route into her career in pharmaceuticals, it could be said that Awad started very much as she meant to continue.
UNESCO added Tunisia’s spicy and most famous national condiment Harissa to its list of intangible cultural heritage, saying it was part of the North African country’s identity.
UNESCO placed the Tunisian condiment Harissa to its list of intangible cultural heritage, citing its significance to the identity of the North African nation.
The cultural agency of the United Nations is meeting in Morocco to consider proposals for its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which strives to safeguard cultural traditions, practices, and knowledge.
It tweeted “Just inscribed on the #IntangibleHeritage List: Harissa, knowledge, skills, and culinary and social practices.”
Tunisia’s Spicy Harissa
Harissa is a paste made from sun-dried hot peppers, freshly prepared spices, and olive oil, which preserves and slightly tones down its intensity. It is served in nearly every restaurant in Tunisia and is also exported internationally.
The condiment is wonderfully spicy, smoky, and packed with rich, deep flavors. It’s also extremely versatile, as it pairs well with sandwiches, different dishes, and even plain olive oil.
Harissa is “an integral part of domestic provisioning and the everyday culinary and dietary traditions of Tunisian culture,” according to Tunisia’s application for the status. It is typically cooked by families and communities.
“Harissa is used as a condiment, an ingredient, and even as a dish in its own right, and is well-known throughout Tunisia, where it is consumed and manufactured, particularly in the regions where chilli peppers are farmed,” the source explained.
It is regarded as a distinguishing part of national culinary heritage and a role in social cohesiveness.
The 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Legacy seeks to protect and increase awareness of the “intangible cultural heritage of the communities, groups, and individuals involved.”
UNESCO emphasizes that the list recognizes traditions, practices, and knowledge as “human treasures” that must be safeguarded.
Wednesday, the organization also recognized French baguettes, bringing the total number of goods on the list to over 530.
Award-winning Egyptian filmmaker Ayten Amin will be part of the GWFF Best First Feature Award’s three-person jury.
Award-winning Egyptian filmmaker Ayten Amin will be a part of the jury line-up during the Berlin Film Festival. Amin is the only Arab and Egyptian artist participating in the acclaimed festival’s jury, and will be one of three people on the panel for the GWFF Best First Feature Award, which was founded in 2006 to support emerging filmmakers.
Ayten Amin is best known for her feminist cinematic works, and for tackling controversial social issues through her storytelling. Her Egyptian series ‘Sabea Gar’ (2017), which she wrote and directed alongside Heba Youssry and Nadine Khan, was praised for its authentic representation of Egyptian family dynamics and its diverse, multidimensional female characters.
More recently, her feature film ‘Souad’ (2020), a coming-of-age story that explored womanhood, social media performance and suicide, won multiple awards and was part of the Cannes Film Festival’s official selection, as well as the Tribeca Film Festival’s International Competition. ‘Souad’ also won the best feature film award at IndieLisboa International Independent Film Festival, and was selected for Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama section.
Ibrahim Hassan of Djibouti won the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon in Oita, southwestern Japan, with a meet record of 2 hours, 6 minutes and 43 seconds Sunday.
Kenya’s Daniel Kipchumba crossed the finish line five seconds later for second place, and Japan’s Tsubasa Ichiyama placed third in 2:07:44.
The 71st edition of the race started in front of the Umitamago aquarium and finished at J-Lease Stadium.
“With the win and course record, I’m very, very happy,” the 26-year-old Hassan said. “The course was very good.”
Aoyama Gakuin University’s Shungo Yokota came in fourth in 2:07:47, setting the marathon record for a Japanese student runner.
Ibrahim Hassan of Djibouti crosses the finish line at J-Lease Stadium to win the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon in Oita, southwestern Japan, on Feb. 5, 2023. (Kyodo)
“Tears in my eyes as I listen to the last broadcast by BBC Arabic, closing down after 85 years. It meant so much to so many people here over the decades,” tweeted British journalist Jim Muir, Middle East correspondent for the BBC News, “Now the airwaves are dead. End of an era.”
BBC’s Arabic radio service officially ended its decades-long broadcast on Friday, leaving behind a legacy that many believe to be everlasting.
The station launched in early 1938 as the BBC Empire Service’s first foreign language radio broadcast.
“BBC Arabic will always be a beautiful picture from the good old days; its professionalism a great education and its stars exceptional mentors and examples to follow,” journalist Eyad Abu Chakra told Arab News.
He added that the radio station was his father’s favorite. “Despite his reservations on some of its political coverage and views, he always admired its professionalism, informative program, and high caliber presenters,” he added.
“I grew up admiring several names, whom I was later honored to meet and befriend after settling in London in the fall of 1978,” Abu Chakra continued, “the Bush House canteen was one of my favorite meeting places in the late 1970s. It took me short walks from my Asharq Al-Awsat office in Gough Square and, later, High Holborn, to Bush House, where I enjoyed the hospitality of the BBC giants of the day.”
“To name just a few of my BBC dearest friends, departed and alive, there were the greats Musa Beshuti, Akram Saleh, Hassan Al Karmi, Nadim Nasser & Madiha AlMadfa’i, Majed Serhan, Huda Al-Rasheed and many others.”
Many journalists and public figures took to Twitter to express grief and share fond memories of BBC’s Arabic radio station. Some believed the event marked a decline in the United Kingdom’s soft power while others recalled their days at the studios.
“It’s far beyond sad and painful to see BBC Arabic radio shutting down today,” wrote Egypt-based BBC Arabic correspondent Sally Nabil on Twitter.
“It’s incredibly difficult to describe how we feel!” She added.
Amal Mudallali, former permanent representative of Lebanon to the UN, said: “As someone who worked for the BBC Arabic, I do not understand the decision.
“It is the only thing people know and remember about Britania, as we call it, in the region for generations.”
The final words and signature statement of BBC Arabic radio presenter Mahmoud Almossallami, “Huna London” (This is London), seems to have brought tears to many eyes.
Almousallami’s daughter, Osha, wrote: “I grew up listening to my dad presenting on BBC Arabic, and now here he is, presenting the final hour of BBC Arabic before it’s closed and taken off the air.
“It really is the end of an era.”
The head of David Nott Foundation, Elly Nott, wrote: “Huna London no more,” hailing BBC Arabic radio for helping her to learn its language.
BBC News Lead Technical Operator Jack Mooney shared a footage showing the last moments as the Arabic news network went off the air, while sound producer Tome Roles wrote: “I’ll always treasure the magic of sitting in a tiny studio at 3 am in London, picturing the sun rising thousands of miles away, and wondering about the lives of those tuning in.”
“It’s a painful moment,” wrote photographer Ali Al-Baroodi.
“BBC Arabic was one of few windows to the world in the time of the economic blockade (in the) 1990s (and) ISIS occupation,” he added, “Iraq was under (a) huge blackout. My father used to stock batteries for his radio in prep for the tough times.”
BBC correspondent Emir Nader shared the last two minutes of the Arabic radio’s final broadcast and wrote: “Today is a tragic day for Arab media… One of many huge losses following cuts in BBC World Service’s budget.”
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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The online Arabic service will remain. (BBC/Sourced)
Eight Tunisian women have been selected as candidates for the first Tunisian and African female astronaut project. This selection came at Telnet’s Headquarters as Tunisia celebrated Women’s day. It is as a result of a partnership in August 2021 between Tunisia and Roscosmos to launch a Tunisian female citizen to the International Space Station (ISS) in the foreseeable future. As a result, according to Telnet’s Director-General, the ISS mission will be in 2024.
All the selected women are fighter pilots who graduated from the Borj Al-Amri Aviation School. Furthermore, they are Tunisian Air Force Corps members and have extensive experience in several challenging missions as a result. This is because the selection process requires strict conditions in terms of scientific, physiological and physical demands.
Among those names are: Hala Awassa, Ibtihal Youssef, Wafa El-Baldi-El-Yomna Dalali, Olfa Lajnef, Rahma Trabelsi, Hind Safferi and Malika Mabrouk.
During the unveiling, the current occupants of the ISS sent a message to the Tunisian candidates, expressing their support for the project and their expectations to welcome the first Tunisian astronaut in her upcoming mission. The female candidates also expressed their willingness to take up this historic challenge, raise the Tunisian national flag on the ISS and contribute to scientific advances in the service of humanity.
The candidates will subsequently undergo extensive physical and medical tests in Tunisia and abroad, from which two of the candidates will further travel to Russia. The candidates who travel to Russia will then undergo specific space-related training at one of the Russian Space agency’s training centres. This training will last for a year, after which will come the mission to the International Space Station.
Mohamed Frikha noted that all the candidates are the pride of the Tunisian woman and represent her in the best way. He added that their candidacy for this mission is a testament to their courage and willingness to honour the country and make history in a field as complicated as Space. Frikha also added that the astronauts will handle a scientific mission in Physics and Medicine and that the mission will contribute to the service of humanity. Finally, Frikha stated that the project received the support and encouragement of Tunisia at the highest level.
Tunisia is a party to and has ratified the Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space (Rescue and Return Agreement). The country is also a party to the Outer Space Treaty and the Liability Convention.
The renowned Egyptian literary critic Salah Fadl, who was 84 years old, passed away yesterday after a battle with illness. He was described by the Arabic Language Academy as a “major figure in Arabic and literature” and “had a march full of dedication and accomplishment as he was a literary critic well-versed in arts of Arabic literature and comparative literature.” To commemorate his long life of accomplishments, we will shed light on some of his greatest achievements throughout his career.
Early Life
Fadl was born in an Egyptian Delta village called Shabas Al Shuhadaa in March 1938 and majored in Arabic language and literature at Cairo University where he graduated in 1962. From 1962 to 1965, he was hired as a researcher at Cairo University. Fadl then sought new horizons away from Egypt as he traveled to Spain on a scholarship to earn a doctorate in literature from the Central University of Madrid.
Life Abroad
During his study period abroad, he taught Arabic literature and translation at the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts at Madrid University from 1968 to 1972. At the same time, he worked with the Supreme Council for Scientific Research in Spain on a project aiming to revive and promote the philosophical legacy of Ibn Rushd (a jurist who wrote on many subjects, including philosophy).
Fadl then returned to Egypt to become a Professor of Literature and Criticism at the Faculty of Arabic Language and Girls College at Al Azhar University. His stay in Egypt didn’t last too long as he then went to Mexico to serve as a visiting Professor at Mexico College for higher studies from 1974 to 1977. There, Fadl established an Arabic language and art department. Additionally, he taught in numerous universities in Egypt and abroad, including Bahrain, Yemen, and Mexico.
Books
The scholar was an exceptional writer who wrote numerous publications in the fields of criticism, comparative literature, theatre, novels, and poetry. Amongst his most famous works was “Medieval Spanish Poetry: A Study and Examples” (1974), “The Realistic Approach in Literary Innovation” (1978), and “Structuralist Theory in Literary Criticism” (1978). Through these publications, Fadl helped enrich Arab literature by producing books that are used as a source of knowledge today.
Just before his death, he applauded the Abu Dhabi Centre for choosing Taha Hussein as the face of the Book Fair while serving as president of the Cairo Academy of the Arabic Language. He explained that this initiative strengthens ties between Egypt and the UAE and their desire to value the two nations’ icons in various spheres of creativity and culture.
Fadl had success in a variety of disciplines before taking on the role of Egypt’s cultural attaché, where he worked to strengthen ties with the countries he visited. His legacy will remain as he contributed to the Arab world through his interesting perspectives and rich knowledge in several fields.
The first Arab exhibition for productive families, Bayt Al-Arab (House of the Arabs) opened in Cairo in the presence of Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the Arab League secretary-general, and several Egyptian and Arab officials, including a high-ranking Saudi delegation.
The products at the exhibition reflect the identity of the 12 participating Arab countries.
It offers an important opportunity to learn about the richness of the cultures of these countries in craftwork and handicrafts in order to protect these industries from extinction.
The number of participants featuring at the exhibition is about 150, of which 70 are Egyptian and 80 from other Arab countries.
The exhibition, which continues until Jan. 11, opens areas for the exchange of expertise between craftsmen, producers and exhibitors.
Saeed Al-Zahrani, head of the Saudi delegation, shared with the audience at the opening ceremony a number of success stories, and said the participation of the Social Development Bank aimed at supporting and empowering micro-enterprises for family businesses, which are considered a fundamental pillar of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.
At the Saudi pavilion, visitors were drawn to the heritage products of various regions of the Kingdom, such as Al-Sadu weaving, Al-Qat Al-Asiri, and the manufacture of Al-Masleh, in addition to the products of many Saudi family businesses displayed within the Tagseed (incarnation) initiative, which is marketed for home projects in all international and local exhibitions.
Nevin Al-Kilani, Egypt’s culture minister, said that the participation of dozens of families from Egypt and the Arab world was “the best evidence of Egypt’s keenness to support heritage both locally and regionally.”
Raef Al-Khouli, an official involved in the organization of the exhibition, told Arab News: “The Arab House exhibition in the Dome Palace is a wonderful opportunity to visit because there are many handicrafts from all Arab countries, which are sold at very reasonable prices, because all who are present are the owners of the profession or craft, and are not merchants.”
At the entrance, Al-Khouli said, visitors can register their names and phone numbers, and will receive entry for free, taking a dedicated bus to the exhibition venue.
Al-Khouli added: “At the Saudi pavilion there is a wonderful medal that the visitors can buy. It is a commemorative medal for the door of the Kaaba and the door of the Prophet’s Mosque.
“On the sidelines, there is a large theater and artistic performances are held in it throughout the day,” Al-Khouli said, adding that visiting families could bring children as well, because there is a play area and many drawing and coloring activities.
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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The first Arab exhibition for productive families, which continues in Egyptian capital Cairo until Jan. 11, opens areas for the exchange of expertise between craftsmen, producers and exhibitors. (Supplied)
