RIYADH: Arab News’ founding brothers Mohammad and the late Hisham Ali Hafez were honored at a gala held by the Saudi Arabia’s Dean of Diplomatic Corps marking the Golden Jubilee of Arab News on Sunday.
In celebration for the landmark anniversary, a trophy was presented to renowned economist and columnist Talaat Hafiz by HRH Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Assistant Minister of Media Abdullah Al Maghlouth, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps Dya-Eddine Said Bamakhrama, the Ambassador of Djibouti and the paper’s current Editor-in-Chief Faisal Abbas.
Prince Turki recalled the establishment of the newspaper during the reign of his father, the late King Faisal, who recognized the importance of the idea and approved before his death in 1975. He told the story of the newspaper’s creation, which he himself, alongside the late Sheikh Kamal Adham and the Hafiz Brothers worked on at the time.
“It has been, for the last fifty years, the moderate voice and the shining image of Saudi Arabia in the English language. This long march of this newspaper was not possible without the dedication of all individuals working to make it a success story,” he added.
During the evening, Abbas announced a major development that the newspaper — which was established in 1975 as the first Saudi newspaper published in English — will be available in 50 languages in cooperation with leading AI-driven speech and translation tech company CAMB.AI.
