My dears, Egyptian fans of dance and music will never forget Bizet's Carmen ballet show, which they enjoyed at the Cairo Opera House and Bibliotheca Alexandrina this month. The wonderful display was performed by the Flamenco troupe of Madrid. This time, the troupe presented a new version of the show using more powerful rhythms. After the show, members of the troupe were invited by Director of Cervantes Institute Luis Moratinos to a reception party held at the institute gathering where singer Anoushka and other artists greeted them with noticeable awe. photo: Khatchig Wanis Congratulations to our colleague Ezzat Ibrahim, a foreign affairs journalist for the daily Al-Ahram newspaper, who just had a working paper published by the US Brookings Institution. The paper, Arab and American Think Tanks: New Possibilities for Cooperation? New Engines for Reform? deals with the role of the Arab research centres in promoting a common reform agenda that can strengthen relations with the US administration in the aftermath of the 11 September attacks. I am proud to share, as well, that Ibrahim is the first Egyptian and Middle Eastern journalist to receive the prestigious Fulbright Congressional Fellowship award, a one- year programme organised by the Fulbright Commission and the American Political Science Association in the US Congress. He also served as a visiting fellow for the Brookings Project on US Policy Towards the Islamic World at the Saban Centre for Middle East Policy during the fall and winter of 2003. Congratulatory spirit is in the air this week. Egyptian scientist Azmi El-Rabat has been included in the new edition of Who's Who? Encyclopedia for his great accomplishments in the field of medical plants and herbs. El-Rabat has invested much effort in cactus spines, succeeding in extracting from them pharmaceutical substances that serve as alternatives to chemical medicine. El-Rabat 's name was also mentioned in a book titled Round on the Dom, in which he was mentioned as one of the most distinctive figures who influenced the German city Cologne. The city will honour him upon the book's official market launch. Some months have a flurry of activity in one particular field. This month it is photography. At the Russian Cultural Centre in Doqqi, I accompanied my diligent colleague Reham El-Adawi to an extremely interesting exhibition titled "The Beauties of the Red Colour", organised by the Egyptian Association of Photography, and showing until 30 November. The association also held a big competition that gathered numerous local photographers. The winners were Maher Abu Deqiqa, Ihab Riyadh, Ayman Mahmoud, Magdi Ali, Mustafa Ismail and Ahmed El-Qoussy. El-Qoussy will fly to Germany on 29 November to attend the awards ceremony of the First Arab-European Festival of Photography. El-Qoussy won the prize for the best picture in tourism and antiquities. The festival that lasts until 8 December at Hamburg University, showcases works by 227 photographers representing 21 Arab and European countries. Today, my dears who love luxury, the fourth International Exhibition for Gold, Jewellery, Precious Stones and Luxurious Watches in the Middle East and Africa, begins at the Cairo International Convention Centre's Nefertiti Hall and Gallery. The three-day event was kicked-off by a press conference that included event sponsors and veterans in the field. Among them, of course, was jeweller Sherif El-Sirgani. My dears, an exhibition titled "Handmade and Traditional Industries in Contemporary Egypt" began this week. It comes within the framework of the Marketing Link programme, which is sponsored by the Italian Cooperation Programme and implemented by the Italian NGO COSPE in cooperation with the Egyptian Company for Consultations and the Italian Cultural Centre. Held at the Italian Cultural Centre, and open until 28 November, the exhibition showcases handmade accessories, bags, leather belts, embroidered products from Cairo, carpets and rugs from Marsa Matrouh, furniture made from palm leaves from Delta, wool bags from North Sinai, amongst other artefacts. Marketing Link Programme aims at preserving the Egyptian cultural heritage and the techniques of creating the traditional products. photos: Khatchig Wanis On the occasion of the birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister and a great friend of Egypt, the Centre for Indian Culture in Egypt organised a children's day where 83 Egyptian children partook in a painting competition with wonderful prizes. They also had a wonderful time at Al-Salam Theatre, where Egypt's popular actress Nabila Ebeid was the guest of honour, giving away another slew of fantastic prizes, together with India's Ambassador to Egypt Rajendra Singh Rathore. For the last 10 years, an annual painting competition entitled "Glimpses of India" has been organised by the Indian Cultural Centre to commemorate the birth anniversaries of three great leaders of India; Gandhi, Nehru and Maulana Abul-Kalam Azad. Ramadan is known to be the month of great gatherings. President of the American University in Cairo David Arnold hosted the Annual Media Iftar for Egypt's local press. This year's Iftar gathered former editor-in-chief of Sabah Al-Kheir magazine Louis Greiss, Chairman of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications at AUC Hussein Amin, Nile TV prominent announcer Shahira Amin, Suzzy El- Guenedy from Al-Ahram Al-Arabi magazine, head of Al-Akhbar literary page Mustafa Abdallah and others. Food was plenty, and discussion, as you can imagine my dears, was quite engaging. At the Cairo Opera House's Small Hall, head of the General Organisation for Cultural Palaces Mustafa Elwie and Director of the Opera House Abdel-Moneim Kamel opened a two-day "Nubian Night" that included an art and traditional handicrafts exhibition from Upper Egypt, the New Valley and Assiut. In conjunction with the event, a poetic evening was held gathering a galaxy of Upper Egypt luminary poets such as Abdel-Nasser Allam, Saad Abdel- Rahman, Abdel-Sattar Selim, Ramadan Abdel-Alim, and others. Under the umbrella of the Middle Egypt Utilities Institutional Strengthening project implemented in Minya, Beni Sueif, and Fayoum, the Beni Sueif Company for Water and Sanitary Sewerage, presided over by Taha Shehata, organised an awareness campaign under the auspices of Beni Sueif Governor Mohamed Gaafar. The first of its kind, the campaign aims to save drinking water and reduce wasted water. Let us applaud a noble cause. Launched in Europe concurrently with a major exhibition in Paris entitled Pharaohs at the Arab World Institute last month were KremEzzat 's new Pharaoh's brand wellness drinks. Pharaoh's are unique beverages whose recipes contain extracts of the carob, hibiscus, tamarind, liquor ice and peppermint plants that were valued by Egypt's Pharaohs some 3,000 years ago for their tremendous health benefits.
