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Prominent Personalities to Discuss Outlook for Arab Media Sector at AMF’s 19th Edition

A man holds the daily Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper fronted by a picture of President Donald Trump, at a coffee shop in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. File photo: Amr Nabil,AP
A man holds the daily Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper fronted by a picture of President Donald Trump, at a coffee shop in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. File photo: Amr Nabil,AP
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Prominent Personalities to Discuss Outlook for Arab Media Sector at AMF’s 19th Edition

A man holds the daily Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper fronted by a picture of President Donald Trump, at a coffee shop in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. File photo: Amr Nabil,AP
A man holds the daily Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper fronted by a picture of President Donald Trump, at a coffee shop in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. File photo: Amr Nabil,AP

The Dubai Press Club (DPC) has announced the agenda for the 19th edition of the Arab Media Forum (AMF), set to be held virtually next week.

The Forum will bring together prominent regional and international media personalities and industry leaders to discuss the outlook for the region’s media sector.

It will be held on Wednesday under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Organized under the theme ‘Arab Media: The Future is Digital’, the event will explore strategies to advance the industry’s digital transformation and assess how the sector can take advantage of new opportunities and technologies to accelerate its growth.

President of Dubai Press Club and Chairperson of AMF’s Organizing Committee Mona Al Marri said she looked forward to listening to perspectives on the massive transformations sweeping the globe and various developments impacting the political and economic landscape, including the global pandemic.

Key speakers at this year’s Arab Media Forum include Egyptian Prime Minister Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Dr. Nayef Falah Mubarak Al-Hajraf, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Egypt’s Minister of State for Information Dr. Osama Haikal, and Michael Friedenberg, President, Reuters News.

In a session titled ‘Reshaping the Arab Media,’ Abdulrahman Al-Rashed, Journalist and Chairman of Al Arabiya’s Editorial Board, will discuss the impact of regional events on Arab media. Al-Rashed’s session, to be moderated by Sky News Arabia TV Presenter Chantal Saliba, will also share his insights on global media development in the post-COVID-19 period.

Author, reporter and columnist Thomas Friedman will join AMF this year to discuss the prospects for peace in the Middle East and the impact of the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan’s agreements with Israel to promote the stability of the region.

In a session titled ‘Arab Media: Geopolitical Transformations’, Dr. Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the Defense, Interior and Foreign Affairs Committee in the Federal National Council, Dr. Fahed Al-Shelaimi, President of the Gulf Forum for Security and Peace and Sawsan Al Shaer, Journalist and Columnist, will discuss new trends shaping Arab media.

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Varieties

Spider Lovers Scurry to Colorado Town in Search of Mating Tarantulas, Community

A male tarantula looks for a mate on the plains near La Junta, Colo., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
A male tarantula looks for a mate on the plains near La Junta, Colo., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
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Spider Lovers Scurry to Colorado Town in Search of Mating Tarantulas, Community

A male tarantula looks for a mate on the plains near La Junta, Colo., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
A male tarantula looks for a mate on the plains near La Junta, Colo., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Love is in the air on the Colorado plains - the kind that makes your heart beat a bit faster, quickens your step and makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

It's tarantula mating season, when male spiders scurry out of their burrows in search of a mate, and hundreds of arachnophiles flock to the small farming town of La Junta to watch them emerge in droves.

Scientists, spider enthusiasts and curious Colorado families piled into buses just before dusk last weekend as tarantulas began to roam the dry, rolling plains. Some used flashlights and car headlights to spot the arachnids once the sun set.

Back in town, festivalgoers flaunted their tarantula-like traits in a hairy leg contest - a woman claimed the title this year - and paraded around in vintage cars with giant spiders on the hoods. The 1990 cult classic film "Arachnophobia," which follows a small town similarly overrun with spiders, screened downtown at the historic Fox Theater.

According to The AP, for residents of La Junta, tarantulas aren't the nightmarish creatures often depicted on the silver screen. They're an important part of the local ecosystem and a draw for people around the US who might have otherwise never visited the tight-knit town in southeastern Colorado.

Word spread quickly among neighbors about all the people they had met from out of town during the third year of the tarantula festival.

Among them was Nathan Villareal, a tarantula breeder from Santa Monica, California, who said he heard about the mating season and knew it was a spectacle he needed to witness. Villareal sells tarantulas as pets to people around the US and said he has been fascinated with them since childhood.

"Colorado Brown" tarantulas are the most common in the La Junta area, and they form their burrows in the largely undisturbed prairies of the Comanche National Grassland.

In September and October, the mature males wander in search of a female's burrow, which she typically marks with silk webbing. Peak viewing time is an hour before dusk when the heat of the day dies down.

"We saw at least a dozen tarantulas on the road, and then we went back afterwards and saw another dozen more," Villareal said.

Male tarantulas take around seven years to reach reproductive readiness, then spend the rest of their lifespan searching for a mate, said Cara Shillington, a biology professor at Eastern Michigan University who studies arachnids. They typically live for about a year after reaching sexual maturity, while females can live for 20 years or more.

The males grow to be about 5 inches long and develop a pair of appendages on their heads that they use to drum outside a female's burrow. She will crawl to the surface if she is a willing mate, and the male will hook its legs onto her fangs.

Their coupling is quick, as the male tries to get away before he is eaten by the female, who tends to be slightly larger and needs extra nutrients to sustain her pregnancy.

Like many who attended the festival, Shillington is passionate about teaching people not to fear tarantulas and other spiders. Tarantulas found in North America tend to be docile creatures, she explained. Their venom is not considered dangerous to humans but can cause pain and irritation.

"When you encounter them, they're more afraid of you," Shillington said. "Tarantulas only bite out of fear. This is the only way that they have to protect themselves, and if you don't put them in a situation where they feel like they have to bite, then there is no reason to fear them."

Many children who attended the festival with their families learned that spiders are not as scary as they might seem. Roslyn Gonzales, 13, said she couldn't wait to go searching for spiders come sunset.

For graduate student Goran Shikak, whose arm was crawling with spider tattoos, the yearly festival represents an opportunity to celebrate tarantulas with others who share his fascination.

"They're beautiful creatures," said Shikak, an arachnology student at the University of Colorado Denver. "And getting to watch them do what they do ... is a joy and experience that's worth watching in the wild."