Khulud Abu Homos, OSN's vice president of programming, gave us a preview of what changes we can expect when Who Wants to be a Millionaire? begins on its new home.
“This will be the first time the show has done auditions,” she says. “We go to key cities [Amman, Cairo and Dubai] and audition.
“We’re also associating the show with encouraging reading. We have the lowest level of reading here in the Middle East, so we’re running a campaign to say, ‘Culture is not about educational certificates, it’s about reading.’
“We’re going to be opening a digital school library in each of the countries we’re auditioning in. This is something very close to our hearts, so we’ll be opening three libraries.
"We're also pushing to introduce more descriptive audio for blind viewers. There are about seven million blind viewers in the Middle East and they can't watch any Arabic content with descriptive audio, so we're investing in that for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.
“We’re leading a campaign to enforce descriptive audio for new local productions alongside George. We’re starting by converting our kids’ content, and also offering our kids’ content for free to schools as part of the campaign.”
Abu Homos also gave us a scoop about the identity of one of the show’s first contestants.
“I don’t know if you’ve heard the story of Mariam Malak,” says Homos. “She’s an Egyptian girl who had always been top of her class, scored almost perfect marks right through school, then she failed all her exams, scored zero even. She’s claiming there was a mix up with the papers.
“Well, she came along to the Cairo auditions as a way of proving herself, and we’re thrilled that she’s been selected as a contestant in one of the first episodes.”
cnewbould@thenational.ae
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Who has been sanctioned?
Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.
Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.
Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.
Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.
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