East meets West Leading jewellery designer Azza Fahmy and British fashion designer Matthew Williamson have renewed their collaborative partnership, "Azza Fahmy for Matthew Williamson" for the second season. Williamson's collection was launched on 16 February at the A/W 14 London Fashion Week show. The collection creatively reinterprets the star motif prevalent in this season's runway collection. The jewellery collection is designed to complement Williamson's use of patterns, textures and colour, reflecting the glamourous and exuberant spirit of the collection. To mark Greek National Day, Greek AmbassadorChris Lazaris gave a reception at his residence in Zamalek. Present were Minister of Health and Population Adel Al-Adawi, Fayyum Governor Hazem Attiyatallah, Moroccan Ambassador Mohamed Al-Allami, Jordanian Ambassador Bishr Al-Khasawena, Lebanese Ambassador Khaled Ziyada, British AmbassadorJames Watt and Chief of the Office of Military Cooperation and Defence Attaché at the US Embassy in Cairo Richard Clark, French Ambassador Nicolas Galey and his Armenian counterpart Armen Melkonian, Hungarian Ambassador Peter Kveck, Russian Ambassador Serge Kirpichenko, Georgian Ambassador Archil Dzuliashvili, Canadian Ambassador David Drake, Chinese Ambassador Song Aiguo, Serbian Ambassador Dragon Bisenic, tourism expert Amr Badr and Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy Marc Sievers. As part of the secondIndia by the Nile Festival,a seminarentitled"In Conversation" featured Shabana Azmi, one of India's best known film stars, with more than 100 films and five national film awards to her credit, who is also a social activist both on and off-screen. The seminar was organised by the Indian Embassy at the Artistic Creativity Centre, moderated by film critic and president of Cairo International Film Festival Samir Farid, who asked Azmi about her most memorable roles and the possibility of an Indian-Egyptian co-production as well as her political role as a former member of the Indian Parliament and a UN goodwill ambassador. Present among the audience were Indian poet and songwriter Javed Akhtar, Indian Ambassador Navdeep Suri, his wife Mani and Taghrid Hussein from Nile TV. Maintaining his tradition of an annual charity concert, Lebanese pop star Assi Al-Hillani performed at the Cairo Opera House Main Hall to the benefit of the Kidney Dialysis Unit in Qaliubiya governorate. Organised by the Women's Association for Development and Heritage, headed by Mona Ragab, the Egyptian Association for Developing Villages, headed by Gihan Halawa and the Tahrir Innerwheel Club, headed by Randa Al-Matbouli, the event was held under the auspices of the Minister of Culture Saber Arab, the Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali and the Qaliubiya Governor Mohamed Abdel-Zaher. It boasted the presence of the director of the Cairo Opera House Ines Abdel-Dayem, Lebanese Ambassador Khaled Ziyada, actressesYoussra and Nabila Ebeid, fashion designer Hani Al-Beheiri and members of Lions and Rotary clubs. Four Egyptian inventors won gold and bronze medals at the 42nd International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva. The Egyptian General Consul Ahmed Shahin visited the winners and congratulated them on their achievement. Tarek Al-Tayeb won a gold medal for his green pesticide, Mahmoud Hafez a gold medal for patient-specific instruments for knee replacement, Sherif Abdel-Aziz Hussein a gold medal for contributions to the treatment of Aids and Hebat Al-Rahman Ahmed a bronze medal for restorative nano-powders and laser. The fair hosted 790 inventors from 45 countries and had nearly 60,000 visitors. El-Sawy Culturewheel launched its Hurghada branch this week at the Debag Mall in the presence of its director Mohamed El-Sawy. The ceremony featured Egyptian artists and intellectuals such Ahmed Toughan, Ibrahim Abdel-Meguid, Mohamed Gad and musician Hani Shenouda. Akhbar Al-Youm Association handed out the Mustafa and Ali Amin Awards at a Cairo hotel in the presence of Minister of Culture Saber Arab, Minister of Information Doria Sharafeddin, journalist Ibrahim Eissa, actors Ezzat Al-Alaili and Mahmoud Kabil. The board of trustees of the award announced Lebanese writer Gihad Al-Khazen the winner of the Figure of the Year award for his work in 2013. The caricature award went to renowned caricaturist Mustafa Hussein, while the articles award went to writer Mohamed Amin for a series of articles published in Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper. Journalist Howaida Fathi from the Alexandria office of Al-Akhbar shared the award for best feature and interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm journalist Rania Badawi. The best layout award went to Alia Abdel-Raouf from Al-Tahrir newspaper, while the best photo award was given to Ahmed Abdel-Fattah from Al-Shorouk newspaper for his remarkable photograph of Major-General Nabil Farag's death, shared with Farouk Ibrahim from Al-Akhbar newspaper for his photograph of the death of Ahmed Wahid. Al-Watan newspaper received the best Website award. The emerging Jordanian band Autostrad gave a concert at the El-Sawy Culturewheel River Hall and Darb 1718, singing some of their best known songs. Since its foundation in 2007, the band has released three albums. It is made up of six members: Avo Demerjian, Bashar Hamdan, Hamza Arnaout, Burhan Al-Ali, Wisam Qatawneh and Yazan Al-Rousan. Their first tour in Egypt took place in 2009. "Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere" American astronomer and author Carl Sagan (1934 –1996)
