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Rania Nashar Wins the Distinguished Arab Woman Award in Economics, Banking for Year 2020

Rania Nashar Wins the Distinguished Arab Woman Award in Economics, Banking for Year 2020
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Rania Nashar Wins the Distinguished Arab Woman Award in Economics, Banking for Year 2020

Rania Nashar Wins the Distinguished Arab Woman Award in Economics, Banking for Year 2020

The Arab Women Authority announced its choice of Ms. Rania Nashar for the Distinguished Arab Woman Award in the field of economics and banking for the year 2020, culminating her successful career and distinguished achievements in the Arab banking and economic activity, and in recognition of her solid willpower and ability to contribute to the development of the Saudi economy.

Ms. Rania Nashar, CEO of Samba Financial Group, expressed her pride in receiving the Distinguished Arab Woman Award in the field of economics and banking for the year 2020 from the Arab Women Authority, an Arab non-governmental organization concerned with empowering the role of Arab women in the development of Arab societies and enhancing their activity. Ms. Nashar becomes the first Arab woman to win this award in this field since its launch by the Arab League in 2004.

“This award adds a new responsibility and drives me to exert more efforts in representing Arab women in a manner that suits their capabilities and befits their stature,” Nashar was quoted as saying, expressing her thanks and appreciation to the award jury for this trust, which is a tribute to Arab women in general.

The Distinguished Arab Woman Award is the most important Arab award to honor Arab women who are distinguished in various fields of work and creation. The award aims to introduce the achievements of Arab women in various fields of work, and document their scientific and practical achievements to highlight the artistic, cultural, scientific and economic innovations of the Arab women and display a bright image of them in regional and international forums by presenting pioneering and creative models of Arab women who had firm imprints in various business sectors.

Dr. Russell Al-Nuaimi, the official spokeswoman of the Arab Women Authority, said: “Ms. Nashar’s winning of this award, which is the most important Arab award presented to distinguished Arab women, organized in cooperation with the League of Arab States, marks her as the first Arab woman to receive this award in the field of economics and banking”.

Dr. Russell indicated that this award culminates in the established track record of Ms. Nashar amidst many challenges.

“With her professionalism, determination, and dedication, she was able to surpass those challenges, recording a clear imprint and a prominent presence in the Saudi banking industry through her unrivaled success in the position of Samba Financial Group’s CEO, in addition to assuming many financial and banking positions armed with competence, scientific qualification, practical experience and determination to succeed and excel in this extremely difficult and complex field where fewer women have assumed leadership posts in it” Dr. Russell added.

“The Jury and the Board of Trustees expressed great commendation and appreciation for the journey of a self-made Arab woman armed with education, knowledge, and training in order to take over the management and leadership of a leading banking and financial institution in her country, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with complete excellence and integrity, thus reflecting the success of Saudi women and their evolving role in contributing to the labor market and participation in nation-building, embodying the Vision 2030 of the Saudi Crown Prince, His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which gave a strong impetus and a great motivation for underscoring the importance of Saudi women’s effective engagement and influence in various fields of work and production,” says Dr. Russell.

The official spokeswoman of the Arab Women Authority concluded her statement by greeting Ms. Rania Nashar on her bridging between leadership work and the corporate social responsibility in supporting community development initiatives and backing activities that elevate the image of women and improve their living conditions.

Ms. Rania Nashar is the first Saudi woman to hold the position of CEO of a Saudi bank, with more than 22 years of experience in banking. In addition to her position as CEO of Samba Financial Group, she holds the position of Deputy Chairman of Samba Capital, the investment arm of the group. In addition to membership in the boards of directors of Samba Bank Limited in Pakistan, Samba Global Markets Ltd., and the Institute of International Finance, and to being a member of the Advisory Committee of the Board of Directors of the Capital Market Authority, the National Center for Performance Measurement, the Saudi Stock Market Board “Tadawul”, the Saudi Space Authority, and the Saudi Polo Federation.

Ms. Nashar also chairs the Women’s Empowerment in Business Action Council, which is one of the main initiatives emanating from the G20 Business Group that Saudi Arabia is presiding over this year. Ms. Nashar is considered one of the most prominent females with presence and influence in the Arab business communities, as she maintained her position in 2019, for the second year in a row, on the list of “Top 100 Powerful Women in the World” according to the annual poll of the American "Forbes" magazine.

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Varieties

Snowstorm Paralyzes Vienna Airport

People wait at a tram stop after heavy snowfalls in Vienna, Austria, February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
People wait at a tram stop after heavy snowfalls in Vienna, Austria, February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
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Snowstorm Paralyzes Vienna Airport

People wait at a tram stop after heavy snowfalls in Vienna, Austria, February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
People wait at a tram stop after heavy snowfalls in Vienna, Austria, February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl

Massive snowstorms caused power outages and transport chaos in Austria on Friday, forcing the Vienna airport to temporarily halt all flights.

Flights departing from the capital, a major European hub, were cancelled or delayed, and more than 230 arrivals were similarly disrupted or rerouted.

"Passengers whose flights have been delayed are asked not to come to the airport," the facility said in a statement.

The area received 20 centimeters (nearly eight inches) of snow, national news agency APA reported.

The main highway south of Vienna was closed for several hours, and other sections of highway were temporarily inaccessible because of snowdrift, stranded lorries or poor visibility, said the national automobile association, OAMTC.

According to AFP, electric companies reported power outages in several regions in the south and east, including Styria, where 30,000 homes lost electricity.

The weather was forecast to improve from around midday, but the risk of avalanches remained high.

Varieties

NASA Delivers Harsh Assessment of Botched Boeing Starliner Test Flight

NASA duo Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were stuck on the ISS for nine months. Handout / NASA TV/AFP/File
NASA duo Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were stuck on the ISS for nine months. Handout / NASA TV/AFP/File
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NASA Delivers Harsh Assessment of Botched Boeing Starliner Test Flight

NASA duo Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were stuck on the ISS for nine months. Handout / NASA TV/AFP/File
NASA duo Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were stuck on the ISS for nine months. Handout / NASA TV/AFP/File

NASA on Thursday blamed what it called engineering vulnerabilities in Boeing's Starliner spacecraft along with internal agency mistakes in a sharply critical report assessing a botched mission that left two astronauts stranded in space.

The US space agency labeled the 2024 test flight of the Starliner capsule a "Type A" mishap -- the same classification as the deadly Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters -- a category that reflects the "potential for a significant mishap," it said.

The failures left a pair of NASA astronauts stranded aboard the International Space Station for nine months in a mission that captured global attention and became a political flashpoint.

"Starliner has design and engineering deficiencies that must be corrected, but the most troubling failure revealed by this investigation is not hardware. It's decision-making and leadership," said NASA administrator Jared Isaacman in a briefing.

"If left unchecked," he said, this mismanagement "could create a culture incompatible with human spaceflight."

The top space official said the investigation found that a concern for the reputation of Boeing's Starliner clouded an earlier internal probe into the incident.

"Programmatic advocacy exceeded reasonable bounds and place the mission, the crew and America's space program at risk in ways that were not fully understood at the time," Isaacman said.

He said Starliner currently "is less reliable for crew survival than other crewed vehicles" and that "NASA will not fly another crew on Starliner until technical causes are understood and corrected" and a problematic propulsion system is fixed.

But the administrator insisted that "NASA will continue to work with Boeing, as we do all of our partners that are undertaking test flights."

In a statement, Boeing said it has "made substantial progress on corrective actions for technical challenges we encountered and driven significant cultural changes across the team that directly align with the findings in the report."

- 'We failed them' -

Isaacman also had harsh words for internal conduct at NASA.

"We managed the contract. We accepted the vehicle, we launched the crew to space. We made decisions from docking through post-mission actions," he told journalists.

"A considerable portion of the responsibility and accountability rests here."

In June 2024 Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams embarked on what was meant to be an eight-to-14-day mission. But this turned into nine months after propulsion problems emerged in orbit and the Starliner spacecraft was deemed unfit to fly them back.

The ex-Navy pilots were reassigned to the NASA-SpaceX Crew-9 mission. A Dragon spacecraft flew to the ISS that September with a team of two, rather than the usual four, to make room for the stranded pair.

The duo, both now retired, were finally able to arrive home safely in March 2025.

"They have so much grace, and they're so competent, the two of them, and we failed them," NASA associate administrator Amit Kshatriya told Thursday's briefing.

"The agency failed them."

Kshatriya said the details of the report were "hard to hear" but that "transparency" was the only path forward.

"This is not about pointing fingers," he said. "It's about making sure that we are holding each other accountable."

Both Boeing and SpaceX were commissioned to handle missions to the ISS more than a decade ago.

Varieties

Abandoned Baby Monkey Finds Comfort in Stuffed Orangutan

A baby Japanese macaque named Punch sits next to a stuffed orangutan at Ichikawa City Zoo, in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
A baby Japanese macaque named Punch sits next to a stuffed orangutan at Ichikawa City Zoo, in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
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Abandoned Baby Monkey Finds Comfort in Stuffed Orangutan

A baby Japanese macaque named Punch sits next to a stuffed orangutan at Ichikawa City Zoo, in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
A baby Japanese macaque named Punch sits next to a stuffed orangutan at Ichikawa City Zoo, in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

At a zoo outside Tokyo, the monkey enclosure has become a must-see attraction thanks to an inseparable pair: Punch, a baby Japanese macaque, and his stuffed orangutan companion.

Punch's mother abandoned the macaque when he was born seven months ago at the Ichikawa City Zoo and when an onlooker noticed and alerted zookeepers, they swung into action.

Japanese baby macaques typically cling to their mothers to build muscle strength and for a ‌sense of security, ‌so Punch needed a swift intervention, zookeeper ‌Kosuke ⁠Shikano said. The keepers ⁠experimented with substitutes including rolled-up towels and other stuffed animals before settling on the orange, bug-eyed orangutan, sold by Swedish furniture brand IKEA.

“This stuffed animal has relatively long hair and several easy places to hold," Shikano said. "We thought that its resemblance to a monkey might help ⁠Punch integrate back into the troop later ‌on, and that’s why ‌we chose it."

Punch has rarely been seen without it since, ‌dragging the cuddly toy everywhere even though it is ‌bigger than him, and delighting fans who have flocked to the zoo since videos of the two went viral, Reuters reported.

“Seeing Punch on social media, abandoned by his parents but still trying ‌so hard, really moved me," said 26-year-old nurse Miyu Igarashi. "So when I got the ⁠chance to ⁠meet up with a friend today, I suggested we go see Punch together.”

Shikano thinks Punch's mother abandoned him because of the extreme heat in July when she gave birth.

Punch has had some differences with the other monkeys as he has tried to communicate with them, but zookeepers say that is part of the learning process and he is steadily integrating with the troop.

"I think there will come a day when he no longer needs his stuffed toy," Shikano said.