♥Actress Donia Samir Ghanem and ON TV anchor Rami Radwan tied the knot in a grand ceremony with their families and friends at the JW Marriott Hotel in New Cairo. Donia is the daughter of the veteran comedian Samir Ghanem and actress Dalal Abdel-Aziz; she is especially well-known for her roles opposite comedian Ahmed Mekki. The wedding ceremony lasted till the small hours of the morning, it had extensive celebrity and media presence and featured a performance by the belly dancer Dina. Present were actress Lebleba, media figure Amr Al-Leithi, actor Mahmoud Yassin and his wife retired actress Shahira, veteran actress Karima Mokhtar and her son TV host Moetaz Al-Demerdash, actors Khaled Al-Sawi and Sherif Ramzi, actresses Mervat Amin and Nihal Anbar, TV presenter Soheir Shalabi, belly dancer Fifi Abdu, media figure Hala Sarhan, together with Al-Youm Al-Sabei Editor-in-Chief Khaled Salah. ♣Applications to BlackBerry's Global Women's Initiative are now open in the Middle East. The initiative aims to provide full, four-year tuition scholarships to outstanding women to seek degrees at accredited colleges and universities in the areas of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). Unveiled by BlackBerry's global creative director, the gifted singer Alicia Keys, at BlackBerry Live, the scholarship programme reflects BlackBerry's long-term commitment to engage young women at every step of their education, from school to university, and as they rise through the workforce. In addition to providing full, four-year course tuition, BlackBerry will also offer mentorship and professional opportunities for each of the scholars who will be selected based on their academic merit and passion for entering the mobile computing industry. The application deadline for the programme is 12am on 27 June 2013. Following this, a panel of inspirational and accomplished women, led by Keys herself, will choose from among the submissions. For full information about the programme, eligibility requirements and how to apply, visit www.blackberry.com/scholars.
♥The American University in Cairo (AUC) held its Spring 2013 commencement ceremonies for 702 master's and bachelor's degree candidates. President Lisa Anderson awarded 557 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate degrees to candidates from each of AUC's two schools. Ben Wedeman, CNN senior correspondent in Rome, Italy and AUC alumnus, and Hisham Ramez, governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, were the keynote speakers. In his remarks to graduate students, Wedeman, who led CNN's coverage of the uprising against the then president Hosni Mubarak as well as the wider unrest in the Middle East, encouraged the students to embrace “brave new Egypt. Despite the uncertainty of today, you, the graduates will succeed, inshaallah. You will prosper. Although you will have bad days, the good days will be more,” he said. Speaking at the undergraduate commencement, Ramez asked students to try everything first because they can only know what they are good at through experience. “Failure in anything is not the end; it's always the start,” he said. At the undergraduate commencement ceremony, 99 undergraduate students graduated with honours, 102 with high honours and 86 with highest honours. In addition, several students were recognised by individual awards for their superior academic performance as well as their contributions to campus and community life. The President's Cup and the associated Mohamed M. El-Beleidy Academic Award, both of which go to the student with the highest grade point average, were awarded to five students this semester: Amina Saleh, Dalia Al-Serafi, Darin Radwan, Miral Tawfik and Nourhan Sakr.
♠More news on AUC activities but this time in Beirut; the American University of Beirut (AUB) community announced the names of four international luminaries who received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters at the university's 144th commencement exercises on 14 June. This year's honorands were the linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist and social critic Noam Chomsky of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the Lebanese-American director of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technologym Charles Elachi; the legendary Egyptian film actress Faten Hamama; and the distinguished international business leader, AUB alumnus, and trustee emeritus Ray R. Irani. They were selected by the AUB in recognition of the enduring impact of their work, their contributions to the advancement of knowledge through research, and their efforts to enrich quality of life in the region and around the world.
¨ Our friend Mona Makram Ebeid, member of the Shura Council has received an invitation from Andrey Belousov, minister of economic development of the Russian Federation to participate as a panelist to the 17th St Petersburg International Economic Forum, which is being convened under the theme “Finding Resolve to Build the New Global Economy” on 20 and 22 June. This high-profile event, presided over by President of Russia Vladimir Putin, will be attended by global leaders. ♣The two day India-Egypt dialogue between the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), New Delhi and the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, AUC ended successfully on 10 June, with plans for continued engagement between the two think tanks on a variety of issues. Not only is ORF extending an invitation for GAPP Scholars to visit India but the two organisations have also agreed to carry forward their dialogue through collaborating on research in trade, water conflicts and sustainable development. The delegation also called on the Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Al-Arabi at his office to discuss the developments in the region and areas of mutual interest. They held discussions with the Information Decision and Support Centre to examine ways of increasing cooperation in the field of policy analysis and research.
♠Russian Ambassador to Egypt Serge Kirpichenko gave a prestigious reception on the occasion of Russian National Day at the garden of the embassy in Giza, featuring a Russian orchestra. Present were the US Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson, Minister of Scientific Research Nadia Zakhari, journalist and media figure Ahmed Al-Meslimani, businessman Ibrahim Kamel, media consul at the Russian Cultural Centre Sherif Gad, Lebanese Ambassador to Egypt Khaled Ziyada, Omani Ambassador to Egypt Sheikh Ali bin Khalifa Al-Harithi, Tunisian Ambassador to Egypt Abdel-Qader Al-Hajjar, French Ambassador to Egypt Nicole Galey, Turkish Ambassador to Egypt Héseyin Avni Botsali, Indian Ambassador to Egypt Navdeep Suri, Italian Ambassador to Egypt Maurizio Massari and his Ukrainian counterpart Evenja Kirilenko.
¨ Marking the World Blood Donor Day, the Group Association for Blood Donation, presided over by Hoda Al-Kashef, organised a ceremony at the Fish Garden in Zamalek. The ceremony, attended by President of the General Department of the Zoo and the Fish Garden Fatma Tamam, actor Mohamed Metwali and Manager of the Fish Garden Walid Shaaban, featured a performance by the band Taxi.
