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1,546,655 people travel from outside of the Kingdom to take part in the pilgrimage, 160,646 are citizens or residents of Saudi Arabia
388,694 benefit from Makkah Route Initiative, a service that lets them complete all entry procedures at point of departure, thereby avoiding long queues on arrival, 23.7% more than last year
More than 1.7 million pilgrims are performing Hajj this year, the majority of whom live outside of Saudi Arabia, according to authorities in the Kingdom.
The total number of 1,707,301 is an increase of of 34,071, or 2.04 percent, compared with the 1,673,230 who attended the 2025 Hajj.
This comes amid continuing efforts to streamline pilgrimage operations, expand facilities at entry points and enhance services, officials said, and reflects the steady demand for Hajj places despite evolving regional and global conditions.
The increased attendance also underscores the Kingdom’s ongoing focus on operational efficiency, they added, particularly through the digitalization of services, improved crowd-management systems, and enhanced coordination between security, health and logistical authorities.
Figures provided by the General Authority for Statistics reveal that 1,546,655 pilgrims traveled from outside of the Kingdom to perform Hajj, while 160,646 are citizens or residents of Saudi Arabia. The vast majority of those arriving from abroad, 1,485,729, traveled by air, 54,429 entered the country through land crossings, and 6,497 arrived by sea.
The number of pilgrims who benefited from the Makkah Route Initiative, a service that allows them to complete all entry, passport and customs procedures at the point of departure and transports them directly to their accommodation, thereby avoiding long queues at airports on arrival, increased to 388,694, compared with 314,337 last year, an increase of about 23.7 percent.
The total number of people working in support of Hajj operations increased to 441,049 from 420,070 last year. However, the number of volunteers decreased from 34,540 in 2025 to 26,701, a decline of 22.7 percent.
The General Authority for Statistics said its figures were based on administrative data provided by the Ministry of Interior as the primary source, in line with a statistical framework adopted during recent Hajj seasons to ensure accuracy and reliability. The full Hajj data and detailed reports are available on the authority’s website.
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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The increased attendance also underscores the Kingdom’s ongoing focus on operational efficiency. (SPA)
Takreem America honored exceptional Arab American individuals at its annual awards night recently at The Westin Copley Place, in Boston, Massachusetts. The weekend also featured the TAKminds Forum, held at MIT, which brought together 16 distinguished speakers and moderators from various fields.
The nonprofit organization, founded in 2019 to honor Arab Americans and help them build bonds with their motherland, presented awards to outstanding individuals, including: Dr. Magid Abraham (Corporate Leadership Award); Najla Said (Cultural Excellence Award); Dr. Gary Nabhan (Environmental Development and Sustainability); Dr. Elias Zerhouni (Scientific and Technological Achievement); and Ahmed Badr (Young Entrepreneur Award).
In addition, Dr. Dimitri Azar and Professor Rima Kaddurah-Daouk were honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards while the Anthony R. Abraham Foundation was given a “Special Distinction.”
The awards night, hosted by Ghida Fakhry, was a platform to celebrate the remarkable contributions of these individuals. Ricardo Karam, founder and chair of the board, emphasized the significance of the awardees’ actions in inspiring compassion and unity, echoing the spirit of Khalil Gibran’s legacy.
At the TAKminds Forum, participants included prominent figures from the arts, such as Arab American artist Helen Zughaib, art specialist business getter Suzy Sikorski, and art adviser Yasmina Moukarzel. Influential entrepreneurs like Fadel Adib, Edouard Massih, and Sami Shalabi also shared their insights, alongside dynamic change-makers Paul Ayoub and Nicola Yammine. Additionally, AI enthusiasts including Richard Rabbat, founder and CEO of Lighty AI; Raja-Elie Abdulnour, editor at Clinical Development and AI Innovation and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School; Jean-Claude Saghbini, president at Lumeris Value-Based Care Enablement; and Nadine Chakar, managing director and global head at DTCC Digital Assets, discussed their experiences. The discussions provided enlightening perspectives on the contributions of Arab American minds within their society and beyond, exploring ways to create a lasting impact and legacy.
With more than 500 attendees, Takreem America’s annual weekend celebrations showcased the unity and positive influence of Arab Americans in the Americas.
In a statement, the organization expressed gratitude to its numerous patrons and sponsors for their invaluable support, including Triple V Management LLC, Anthony R. Abraham Foundation, Cedar’s Mediterranean Foods, Fort Partners, PARQ, and JESRA Foundation.
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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The annual awards night was held at The Westin Copley Place, in Boston.
With the news of the Netherlands returning a 3,500-year-old Egyptian sculpture this week, here is a list of ten important Egyptian artefacts that are still held abroad.
Earlier last week, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof announced his government would be returning a sculpture from the reign of King Thutmose III to Egypt, where it had been illegally taken during the 2011 Revolution and sold abroad. The announcement was made in the wake of the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum and was met with praise and applause by many Egyptian observers. In recent years, there have been increasing calls by Egyptians (and by many people of formerly colonized countries) to bring home their country’s lost artefacts. However, the story of how artefacts came to leave a country is often complicated. Oftentimes they were looted, but sometimes they were given as gifts (or otherwise lawfully taken). In any case, in an effort to commemorate the Grand Egyptian Museum becoming the largest museum in the world dedicated to one civilization, here is a list of some of the Egyptian artefacts you still won’t find there.
1) The Oldest Bible in the World (British Library, London)
The Codex Sinaiticus, also known as the Sinai Bible, is the oldest complete copy of the New Testament ever found. Dating to around 350 CE during the time of Roman Egypt, it is also the youngest artefact on this list. (The timeline of the Grand Egyptian Museum, which chronicles ancient Egyptian history from prehistoric times to the Greco-Roman period, ends at 400 CE.)
The story of how this Bible left Egypt is complicated. Although the Bible was found in Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai in 1844 by a German theologian, it was given to Tsar Alexander II of Russia, and then sold to the British Museum in London in 1933 by the Soviet government. Today, most of the manuscript remains in British Library (where very few scholars have been allowed to see it in full), though smaller fragments are still scattered across Germany, Russia, and St. Catherine’s Monastery.
2) Luxor Obelisk (Paris)
If you’ve ever been to the Luxor Temple on the east bank of the Nile River, you will have noticed that in the entranceway there stands only one obelisk, the other clearly missing. Carved during the reign of Ramses II of Egypt’s New Kingdom, the missing granite obelisk now sits in the center of Place de la Concorde in Paris. It was gifted to the French Empire by Muhammad Ali Pasha in 1829 as a gesture of friendship, and it remains the oldest monument in all of France.
3) The Oldest Woven Dress in the World (Petrie Museum, London)
The Tarkhan dress, a linen garment that was once likely once worn by an Egyptian worker, is a 5000 year old piece of clothing—the oldest woven garment ever found. The dress was found south of Cairo in 1913 by Flinders Petrie, a British archaeologist, who at first believed it to be little more than a rag. He decided to take the rag with him to London anyway, and it wasn’t until the clothing was carbon-dated in 2015 that the true age—and significance—of the dress was understood.
The roughly size 2 dress remains in remarkably good condition (for its age), featuring a V-neck cut and long sleeves, and armpit stains left by its original wearer.
4) The Oldest Complete Map of the Ancient Sky (Louvre Museum, Paris)
The Dendera Zodiac is a celestial map from the time of Ptolemaic Egypt, depicting the twelve zodiac signs (a Greek invention) with Egyptian imagery and style. It was likely created during the reign of Cleopatra, around 50 BCE, and was etched into the walls of the Dendera Temple of Hathor north of Luxor. Besides its beauty, its significance lies in the fact that it is the oldest (and possibly only) known complete map of the ancient sky.
The French removed it from Egypt in 1821 (with some versions of the story claiming they used dynamite to do so), and today it can be found in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
5) The Rosetta Stone (British Museum, London)
Many people believe that the Rosetta Stone was taken by the British from Egypt, but in reality, it was taken by the British from the French, who took it from Egypt. Discovered by French soldiers in the town of Rashid (Rosetta) in 1799, this stone is perhaps the most important archaeological discovery of all time (and it remains the most visited artefact in the British Museum). Its decryption paved the way to understanding ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics (and with it most of ancient Egyptian history), which until then had been illegible to all who tried to read it.
When Egypt formally asked for the Stone’s repatriation in 2003, the British Museum refused to return it, and instead gave Egypt a replica of the Stone. That replica now sits inside the National Museum in Rashid.
6) The Bust of Nefertiti (Neues Museum, Berlin)
This iconic sculpture is one of the most well-known artefacts from ancient Egypt, and it depicts an equally legendary figure: Queen Nefertiti, wife of Akhenaten, stepmother of Tutankhamun. 3,400 years ago, Akhenaten’s sculptor captured Nefertiti’s beautifully slender neck, raised chin, and level gaze, and when it was discovered in 1912 the painted sculpture was still in remarkably good condition.
At the time of its finding, excavations in Egypt were conducted under a system whereby all items discovered were split between Egypt and the foreign country sponsoring the excavation, but there was a caveat: only ‘non-unique’ items could leave the country. The controversy that surrounds this bust is that the German team that discovered it hid its true value, and thus the bust was allowed to leave Egypt and be transported to Berlin, where it remains today.
7) Colossal Figure of Ramses II (British Museum, London)
Also known as the Younger Memnon, this colossal torso and head once sat atop a statue of Ramses II located at his mortuary temple in Luxor. In 1798, Napoleon’s men tried extracting the statue but failed, and a couple of decades later the British succeeded in removing the upper portion of the statue (which had, long before, been damaged and detached from the rest of the body during an earthquake). Weighing nearly 20 tonnes, the statue is the largest Egyptian sculpture in the British Museum.
8) Bust of Ankh-haf (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
This lesser known artefact is striking for its high level of realism. Its namesake, Ankh-haf, was a government official of the Old Kingdom who oversaw the building of the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Sphinx.
The bust was discovered in 1925 during an expedition by Harvard University, and in 1927 it was gifted by the Egyptian government to an American archaeologist. Perhaps fittingly given the sculpture’s realism, it now rests in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
9 & 10) Cleopatra’s Needles (London & New York)
Despite their name, the pair of obelisks called Cleopatra’s Needles bear no relation to Queen Cleopatra herself. Instead, they were constructed during the reign of King Thutmose III of the New Kingdom, more than a thousand years before Cleopatra’s reign. During the Roman era they were moved from their original location in Heliopolis to Alexandria, where they stood for nearly two thousand years.
By the 1800s, one of the two needles had fallen. It was this needle that Muhammed Ali Pasha, in 1819, decided to gift to Britain (as he had gifted the Luxor Obelisk to France). However, the 21-meter tall obelisk was so massive that it was not actually transported to London until the reign of Ismail Pasha in 1877. It was also Ismail Pasha who, in the same year, gifted the remaining needle to the United States.
Al-Omar: Modern technology key to safeguarding historic radio archive.
Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology and Acting Minister of Information and Culture Omar Al-Omar said the project to develop the Ministry of Information’s radio archive forms part of ongoing efforts to preserve Kuwait’s national media heritage using the latest technical systems and standards.
Al-Omar made the remarks in a speech during the project’s inauguration on Wednesday, attended by Austrian Ambassador to Kuwait Ulrich Frank and Ministry of Information Undersecretary Dr Nasser Muhaysen. The project is being implemented by Awlad Abdulaziz Abdulmohsen Al-Rashed Company in cooperation with Austrian firm NOA, which specializes in multimedia archiving and digitization, with the aim of preserving and digitizing radio content using advanced technologies.
The minister stressed that safeguarding national media heritage through modern systems ensures the sustainability and accessibility of radio materials, describing them as an integral part of Kuwait’s cultural and historical memory. He added that the initiative reflects the depth of relations between Kuwait and Austria and their shared commitment to strengthening cooperation in the media, cultural and technological fields in line with developments in modern media work.
Al-Omar noted that the Ministry of Information continues to implement development plans aimed at upgrading its technical infrastructure and enhancing capabilities in production, broadcasting and digital archiving, in line with the state’s broader drive to build a modern and efficient media system. He also emphasized the importance of strategic partnerships with specialized international institutions, which he said are essential to improving institutional performance, developing national talent and enhancing the quality of media services. For his part, Ambassador Frank said the project reflects the strong level of cooperation between Kuwait and Austria in cultural and technical fields, expressing his pleasure at participating in the launch of an initiative that contributes to preserving Kuwait’s media heritage.
He noted that the Radio Kuwait archive contains thousands of recordings documenting key stages of the country’s history, including musical works, programmes and diverse audio content. He said digitization and long-term preservation efforts would help safeguard these materials and improve accessibility for future generations, while modern systems would ensure their preservation and usability. Frank added that cooperation between Kuwaiti entities and Austrian specialized companies would support the completion of the digitization process using advanced technological solutions.
Meanwhile, Director of Radio Engineering at the Ministry of Information and project team leader Issa Al-Enezi told KUNA that the project coincides with the 75th anniversary of Radio Kuwait, which has played a key role in documenting the country’s development and cultural history. He said the project is based on three main pillars: cataloguing and classifying radio content, digitizing the archive according to the highest technical standards, and building a comprehensive database to facilitate access to archived materials. He described the initiative as a transition from traditional archiving to digital sustainability, ensuring preservation for future generations.
Chairman and CEO of Al-Rashed Group Abdulaziz Al-Rashed said the group’s role extends beyond implementation to supporting strategic national initiatives that advance development and digital transformation in Kuwait. He said the partnership with the Ministry of Information and Austrian company NOA represents a model of integration between national expertise and global technology, contributing to high-quality national projects and supporting Kuwait’s digital transformation agenda. The inauguration ceremony included a video presentation outlining the project’s implementation phases and archiving processes, as well as a tour of the facilities showcasing the digital preservation systems in use. — KUNA
source/content: kuwaittimes.com (headline edited)
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KUWAIT: Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology and Acting Minister of Information and Culture, Omar Al-Omar and other officials are pictured during the project’s inauguration on Wednesday.- KUNA photos
A collection of 100 pieces of gold jewelry dating back to the Abbasid era has been discovered in Saudi Arabia’s Al-Qassim region, the Saudi Heritage Commission announced on Tuesday.
The ancient artifacts are thought to have formed a complete adornment set, and were designed to look like flowers with stone settings fixed within gold frames.
There is also a large disc-shaped piece inlaid with colored stones arranged symmetrically in a central pattern, as well as a large group of multi-colored beads and delicate gold spacers.
The items were crafted using hammering and hand-forming techniques on gold sheets, along with decorative pressing and stone inlay within the frames.
These techniques reflect the advanced craftsmanship of the period and the development of gold jewelry-making during the Abbasid era, according to the commission.
They were found at the Dariyah archaeological site as part of the fourth season of the commission’s archaeological survey and excavation project.
Dr Jasir Suliman Alherbish, CEO of the Saudi Heritage Commission, said in a statement: “This discovery at Dariyah reflects the abundance of the Kingdom’s cultural heritage and its longstanding role as a crossroads of trade routes and cultural exchange.
“It underscores the Heritage Commission’s commitment to research, documentation and preservation, further strengthening understanding of the Kingdom’s history and safeguarding its cultural legacy.”
Excavations also revealed architectural features dating back to the Abbasid period, including the foundations of stone buildings, mud walls, fire hearths and plastered rooms, in addition to pottery vessels and metal tools.
These finds indicate human settlement dating back to the late ninth century A.D. and confirm the strategic importance of the site along pilgrimage and trade routes.
Located in the southwest of Al-Qassim Region, Dariyah is one of Saudi Arabia’s significant archaeological sites, with evidence of activity from the pre-Islamic period into the early Islamic era.
It was historically an important stop on ancient trade and pilgrimage routes, including the Basran Hajj route from Iraq.
Its surviving remains, set among mountains and valleys, include archaeological mounds, stone building foundations, pottery and glass fragments, soapstone artifacts and Islamic inscriptions in the surrounding area, reflecting the site’s long-standing historical and cultural significance.
source/content: arabnews.com (headlines edited)
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The set of ancient gold jewelry dates back to the Abbasid era. (Supplied)
London North Eastern Railway employee Zitouni is in a critical but stable condition after he was injured shielding passengers from the attacker
His family, colleagues, police and politicians praise his bravery, which is credited with saving many lives during mass stabbing
A British-Arab railway worker credited with saving many lives during a mass stabbing on a UK train was named on Tuesday as Samir Zitouni.
The 48-year-old, who shielded passengers from the attack, remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital, British Transport Police said.
Zitouni, a customer experience host who has worked for London North Eastern Railway for more than 20 years, was on duty on the Doncaster to London King’s Cross service on Saturday evening when the attack took place. Witnesses, colleagues, police and politicians have praised his actions as “courageous” and “heroic.”
David Horne, LNER’s managing director, said: “In a moment of crisis, Sam did not hesitate as he stepped forward to protect those around him. His actions were incredibly brave and we are so proud of him, and of all our colleagues who acted with such courage that evening.
“Our thoughts and prayers remain with Sam and his family. We will continue to support them, and wish him a full and speedy recovery.”
Zitouni’s family said they were “deeply touched by the outpouring of love and kindness” toward him.
“We are immensely proud of Sam and his courage,” they added. “The police called him a hero on Saturday evening, but to us he’s always been a hero.”
The statements on Tuesday did not provide any further details about Zitouni. Some social media posts described him as Algerian-born.
Transport police said on Sunday that CCTV footage of the attack showed an LNER employee, now identified as Zitouni, attempting to stop the attacker.
“The actions of the member of rail staff were nothing short of heroic and undoubtedly saved people’s lives,” Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Cundy said.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood on Monday paid tribute to the “breathtaking bravery” of those on the train, including Zitouni.
“On Saturday, he went to work to do his job — today, he is a hero and forever will be,” she said.
Passengers told how a man wielding a knife began attacking people on the train as it passed through Cambridgeshire on Saturday evening. Ten people were taken to hospital for treatment after the train stopped at Huntingdon station and another admitted themselves later. Seven have been discharged and three remain in hospital in a stable condition, along with Zitouni.
Anthony Williams, 32, has been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder related to the train attack, and an additional count of attempted murder in connection with a separate incident in London on Saturday.
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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Samir Zitouni, who shielded passengers from a knife attack on a train, is in a critical condition in hospital. (LNER)
In interview with Arab News, Jordan Media Institute dean Dr. Ziad Rifai discusses urgent need to equip citizens with tools to navigate today’s information ecosystem
Working alongside UNESCO and the Jordanian government, JMI has spearheaded 2 successive national media literacy strategies, establishing Jordan as a regional model
Sitting comfortably in his office in Amman, Dr. Ziad Rifai does not immediately strike you as someone whose grand mission is to fight information warfare.
The dean of the Jordan Media Institute and architect of its media literacy program — one of the first and most comprehensive initiatives of its kind in the Arab region — draws on decades of experience, appearing at times measured while promising to take on a David vs. Goliath challenge.
“Everybody now that has a phone basically has a TV, a radio station, a newspaper. All the media have been consolidated into this small phone,” he told Arab News. “And with that, with the amount of abuse that we’ve witnessed — the hate speech, the echo chambers, the misinformation, the disinformation, the rumors — all that necessitated that we need to do something about it.”
Founded in 2006 by HRH Princess Rym Ali as the first institution in the region to offer an Arabic-language MA in journalism and modern media, in partnership with the University of Jordan, JMI has evolved to keep pace with a rapidly shifting industry. Over the years it has introduced new courses — including mobile journalism and data journalism — alongside its media literacy program.
“Our focus is on journalism, creating journalists who are experienced, dedicated, ethical. That’s the core of our mission,” Rifai said. “But, as you know very well, the media scene is changing rapidly. So, while keeping the basic principles, we had to branch out into the new media scene.”
Rifai, who has worked across newsrooms, the UN, Jordan TV and the Higher Media Council, has watched this transformation unfold over five decades. He recalls a Jordan with one radio station, then the arrival of a single television channel and a handful of newspapers. Invoking Wilbur Schramm — the American scholar widely regarded as the father of modern communication theory, whose four-press model was first published in 1956 — he says the world has grown far more complex since then.
“Things have gotten so mixed up,” he added. “We are in a phase that’s as big as inventing the printing press, if not more. The problem is that the forces that are pushing the change, nobody knows who they are. And I’m not so sure if anybody can control where they’re going. Not to mention if they know where they’re going.”
That chaos, he suggested, is most acutely felt in the information ecosystem, where speed routinely outpaces safeguards — and where the general public is left with few tools to navigate the difference.
“The biggest challenge we have is with the speed that things change. The problem is how to catch up and have enough time to do interventions, awareness, education and introduce legislations.”
AI has become the defining example. In April, UNESCO examined how algorithmic AI systems are transforming information dynamics and amplifying risks — from misinformation to deepfakes — ultimately threatening trust in media and democratic integrity. The report argues that media and information literacy is the critical response. Yet follow-up initiatives, Rifai said, too often become mired in bureaucracy.
“For any initiative like this to take hold in a society, you need a champion. You need someone who believes in the idea and who pushes (it) forward,” he added.
JMI has been that champion in Jordan, working with the government domestically and relying on UNESCO as an international partner to strengthen credibility.
“We are the catalyst, we’re the advocates. UNESCO has the expertise and the global knowledge, but not the local,” said Rifai. “However, without the state, nothing will take hold, especially in our region.”
The model, he argues, is replicable. JMI is already exporting its expertise to a group of countries across the region.
“If (a country) took the strategy that we have and looked at it, they might change dates, they might change budgets, they might change partners, but the basic pillars of the strategy would probably be applicable in most of our region because the phenomenon is universal.”
JMI’s work operates on two levels: national policy design and hands-on training. Following an experimentation phase around 2014, Jordan moved to official adoption in 2019, when media literacy was placed on the government’s priority list alongside pilot projects in schools and youth spaces. The first National Strategy for Media and Information Literacy (2020–2023) earned recognition from UNESCO and a number of Arab and European officials, establishing Jordan as the first Arab country with a comprehensive, formal MIL plan. In late 2025, Jordan launched a second strategy for 2026–2029, again with UNESCO and JMI as core partners.
“The second strategy has full ownership of the government and all the elements of sustainability — that’s what the first strategy did not have,” Rifai said.
The program targets all age groups and all sectors of society, adjusting only in terms of sophistication.
“It essentially targets all sectors of operation. What differs is the level of sophistication,” said Rifai, adding that a 50-year-old housewife can be as active a disseminator of misinformation as a teenager. MIL concepts are now integrated into school curricula across subjects including religion, social sciences and Arabic — but Rifai is candid about the gap between integration and application.
“In my previous career at the UN, we integrated concepts of reproductive health and family planning in two books. The challenge was that teachers didn’t teach it. It was in the book, but in the classroom, they just skipped it. Either because they didn’t believe in it, or because they thought it wasn’t important.”
Monitoring implementation, he acknowledges, is the next frontier. “If awareness is not translated to behavioral impact or behavioral change, it’s not worth the objective. At the end of the day, the campaign should change behaviors and not just create that awareness. Awareness might be the first step in that direction.”
The ambition extends beyond classrooms. This week, JMI signed a memorandum of understanding with Jordan’s Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to develop a code of ethics for journalists covering disability — an area Rifai describes as a blind spot in regional media.
“People with disabilities are absent, at least in our region, from the media scene,” he said. “Whenever you see a person with disability in media, it’s either portrayed as, ‘oh, poor guy,’ or, ‘oh, how wonderful, he got a degree in science.’ Both, from their perspective, it’s the wrong approach. Just treat them like normal human beings.”
He framed the partnership as explicitly two-directional: JMI bringing journalism expertise, the council bringing lived experience.
Rifai acknowledges the world remains full of challenges, but believes the goal is to take back enough control to exploit technology’s possibilities rather than be consumed by them.
“It’s not easy to predict where we’re going. What we know for sure is that things seem to be going out of hand, in terms of media proliferation. We’re being pushed to becoming more and more reliant on (a specific technology), and less and less having any input on controlling where it’s going.”
He sees it, ultimately, as a double-edged sword. “The chaotic scene has its pitfalls,” he said, “but at the end of the day, it is allowing everybody to say what they want. For the first time, there’s freedom of information and everybody now is telling his or her story without the control. It could go either way, and I wouldn’t put money on either side of that prediction.”
For JMI, however, the mission remains constant. “No matter what happens with the media, we should not lose sight of that importance of having a proper journalism. At the end of the day, what matters is what you’re going to say and how you’re going to say it. We will continue to hold the principles and the ethical message of proper journalism. That will continue to be our role, no matter what new technologies or wars come.”
source/content: arabnews.com (headlines edited)
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Dr. Ziad Rifai, dean of the Jordan Media Institute and architect of its media literacy program, spoke to Arab News about one of the first and most comprehensive initiatives of its kind in the Arab region. (Supplied)
Authors, scholars and institutions from Arab world and beyond honoured as Abu Dhabi prize celebrates two decades of cultural influence.
The 2026 winners of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award were announced on Friday, marking two decades of one of the Arab world’s most influential literary prizes.
Established in 2006 and held under the patronage of President Sheikh Mohamed, the award has grown into a fixture on the region’s cultural calendar, drawing submissions from across the world and supporting the global reach of Arabic literature.
This year’s winners reflect that international scope, with recipients from countries including Egypt, Morocco, Germany and the UAE.
Egyptian writer Ashraf Elashmawy took the Literature prize for his novel Births in the Zoo, a work that explores shifts in Egyptian society through closely observed, character-driven storytelling. Moroccan researcher Mustapha Rajouane won in the Young Author category for a study examining how rhetoric shapes narrative in the modern Arabic novel.
In Translation, Iraqi-American scholar Nawal Nasrallah has been recognised for her English edition of a 13th-century Arabic culinary text, bringing a complex historical manuscript to a wider readership. Jordanian academic Zuhair Tawfiq received the Literary and Art Criticism award for his study of how Arab and western cultures have historically imagined one another.
German writer and translator Stefan Weidner won in the Arab Culture in Other Languages category for a major anthology of pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, while the Emirates Literature Foundation was honoured for its role in developing the UAE’s literary scene and supporting readers and writers.
The Encyclopaedias and Lexicons category went to Egyptian academic Mohamed Elkhosht for his six-volume Encyclopaedia of World Religions, and veteran Egyptian singer Nagat Al Saghira was named Cultural Personality of the Year, recognising a career that has helped shape modern Arabic song and language.
More than 4,000 submissions were received from 74 countries, underlining the award’s growing international profile. Since its launch, it has attracted more than 33,000 entries and honoured 136 winners, including writers, translators and cultural institutions.
Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak , chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, said the award continues to build on the UAE’s long-standing investment in culture and knowledge, while Ali bin Tamim, secretary general of the award, described it as a platform that has helped shape contemporary Arabic literary and research landscapes.
A programme of events is planned throughout the year to mark the award’s 20th anniversary. Winners will be honoured at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi, with Al Saghira receiving Dh1 million for being Cultural Personality of the Year, and other category winners awarded Dh750,000 each.
Shahira Fahmy has been announced as the first Egyptian Jury President of the Arab World Institute Design Award 2026.
As the first Egyptian architect to serve as Jury President of the Arab World Institute Design Award, Shahira Fahmy joins a panel of designers, curators, editors and cultural figures shaping the fourth edition of the Paris-based award programme. Organised by the Institut du Monde Arabe, the award recognises emerging and established designers from across the Arab world, with a focus on craftsmanship, material innovation and contemporary design practices.
“Design in the Arab world has always carried memory, resourcefulness and a strong understanding of place,” says Shahira Fahmy. “What interests me about this award is its ability to create visibility for designers responding to current realities while remaining connected to local knowledge and cultural identity.”
The Arab World Institute Design Award 2026 invites projects created between September 2024 and April 2026 across four categories: Emerging Talent Award, Contemporary Craftsmanship Award, Impact Award in partnership with Arab Bank Switzerland, and the Grand Prize for established architects and designers. The programme examines how design engages with sustainability, craft traditions, production processes and material research across the region.
Founded in Cairo in 2005, SFA – Shahira Fahmy Architects expanded to Dubai in 2024 and works across architecture, heritage restoration, urban planning, and interior design. The practice is known for projects including the restoration and rehabilitation of Zone 1 in AlUla Old Town, Dar Tantora The House Hotel and Beit Bin Nouh for the Royal Commission for AlUla. The work contributed to AlUla Old Town’s nomination for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2025.
“For me, architecture and design are tied to people and context,” Fahmy says. “Whether working on a heritage site in AlUla or a contemporary urban project, the process begins by listening to what already exists.”
A graduate of Cairo University, Fahmy taught at the university for a decade and has lectured internationally at institutions including Columbia GSAPP and The American University in Cairo. Her work has also been recognised through fellowships at Harvard University, including the Loeb Fellowship at the Graduate School of Design, the Hutchins Fellowship at the W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute, and the Berkman Klein Fellowship at Harvard Law School.
Joining Fahmy on this year’s jury are Daniele Gerkens, Memia Taktak, Mette Degn Christensen, Michèle Maria Chaya, Nicolas Lecompte, Samer Yamani, Sheikha Reem Al Thani, Aidan Imanova, Ali Khadra and Arnaud Morand.
“It is important to see platforms like this continue conversations around Arab design through ecology, craftsmanship, material experimentation, and the future of communities across the region,” Fahmy adds.
Finalist projects will be shortlisted in May 2026. The selected projects will then be reviewed by the jury ahead of the awards ceremony at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris in September 2026, as part of Paris Design Week.
Breakthrough advances programmable drug delivery through nanoscale protein engineering, say researchers.
Scientists at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology have engineered nanoscale particles capable of transporting six proteins into living cells, where they work together as a miniature “drug factory” to produce violacein, a bioactive compound under study for therapeutic use.
The findings, detailed in a press release published recently on KAUST’s news site, offer an early demonstration of how future therapies might one day generate treatment compounds directly inside the body, only where they are needed.
Researchers said the approach could eventually allow treatments to act more precisely at the site of disease while reducing unwanted effects on healthy tissue.
Published in the journal Advanced Materials, the study combines nanotechnology, materials science and bioengineering to tackle a longstanding medical challenge: delivering multiple proteins into cells simultaneously so they can perform coordinated biological functions.
Researchers packaged six proteins inside porous, sponge-like particles known as metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs, creating what they described as synthetic organelles — engineered structures that mimic functions found in living cells.
Once inside mammalian cells, the proteins remained active and worked sequentially to convert a simple amino acid into violacein. According to the researchers, it is the most complex multiprotein system yet delivered into living cells and the first example of a “protein pathway transplant.”
“It was a bit of a moonshot,” said Raik Grunberg, senior research scientist at KAUST and one of the study’s corresponding authors.
“Protein delivery into the cell is difficult enough for individual proteins, so researchers usually do not even try with more than one or two. What we show here is that we can take a whole integrated protein system … and bring it into human cells as one functional unit.”
Niveen Khashab, professor of chemical science at KAUST, said the team overcame major technical hurdles after conventional MOF materials caused proteins to lose activity.
“By engineering a more porous, sponge-like framework, we were able to create an environment where the system could finally work as intended,” she said.
Researchers said the platform is designed to be adjustable, allowing scientists to fine-tune how proteins interact inside cells and potentially paving the way for programmable therapies tailored to specific diseases.
Stefan T. Arold, professor of bioscience at KAUST and another corresponding author, said the project demonstrated how combining expertise across biology and materials science could unlock new therapeutic approaches.
Although the work remains at an early stage and requires further validation before clinical use, the researchers said it points toward future treatments capable of producing beneficial compounds directly inside diseased tissue while minimizing side effects elsewhere in the body.
The KAUST team plans to test the system next in animal models as part of ongoing efforts to explore its therapeutic potential.
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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The breakthrough offers an early proof of concept for therapies that could one day generate treatment compounds directly inside the body at the site of disease. (KAUST News photo)
