Beauty incarnate Against the stunning backdrop of the historical Salaheddin Citadel, competitors for the title of Miss Egypt 2014 were presented in the presence of stars and media figures as well as the jury members, including contest organiser Youssef Sebahi, fashion designer Hani Al-Beheiri, fitness expert Hani Abul-Naga, nutritionist Sherifa Abul-Fotouh and Miss Egypt 2010 Donia Hamed. Miss Egypt 2009 Elham Wagdi and TV anchor Sherif Madkour presented the party, which included a traditional Egyptian costume show. Miss Egypt 2014 will be announced in Sharm Al-Sheikh on 26 September. The 36th Cairo International Film Festival (9 - 18 November) opens with the German-Turkish director Fatih Akin's The Cut, starring French actor Taher Rahim, according to its director the critic Samir Farid. The film tells in a melodramatic style the story of a blacksmith who survived the Armenian genocide of World War I. To celebrate the 57th Malaysian National Day, Malaysian Ambassador to Egypt Datuk Ku Jaafar Ku Shaa gave a lavish reception. Together with the Foreign Minister's Assistant for Asian AffairsIsmail Abdel-Moeti, the attendees included Kuwaiti Ambassador Salem Al-Zamanan, Indian Ambassador Navdeep Suri, Singaporean Ambassador Premjith Sadasivan, South Korean Ambassador Yung-So Kim, Brunei Darussalam Ambassador Dato Mahdi Abdel-Rahman, Hungarian Ambassador Peter Kveck, Belgian Ambassador Gilles Heyvaert, Serbian Ambassador Dragon Bisenic, Tajikistan Ambassador Nadharallah Nizarof, Azerbaijani Ambassador Shahin Abdullayev, Mongolian Ambassador Odonjil Banzragch, Vietnamese Ambassador Dao Thanh Chang and Pakistani Ambassador Manzoor Ul-Haq. On a short visit to Cairo to attend the meeting of the World Tourism Organisation for the Middle East, Lebanese Minister of Tourism Michelle Pharaaon met with a delegation of the Egyptian-Lebanese Friendship Association businessmen. They discussed cooperation between the two countries in the field of tourism. Mexican Ambassador to Egypt Jorge Alvarez Fuentes and his wife gave a party at their residence in Maadi to celebrate the 204th anniversary of the Mexican Independence. The guests included the former minister of administrative development Ahmed Darwish, businessman Tawfik Diab, Russian Ambassador Serge Kirpichenko, Singaporean Ambassador Premjith Sadasivan, South Korean Ambassador Yung-So Kim, Finnish Ambassador Tuula Yrjölä, Swiss Ambassador Markus Leitner, Hungarian Ambassador Peter Kveck, European Union Ambassador James Moran, Austrian Ambassador Ferdinand Maultasch, Cyprus Ambassador Sotos Liasides, Irish Ambassador Isolde Moylan, Tajikistan Ambassador Nadharallah Nizarof, Serbian Ambassador Dragon Bisenic, Argentinean Ambassador Sergio Alberto Baur, Brazilian Ambassador Marco Brando, Venezuelan Ambassador Juan Antonio Hernández, Mongolian Ambassador Odonjil Banzragch, Chilean Ambassador José Miguel de la Cruz, Ambassador of Uruguay Agustin Espinosa-Lloveras and Vietnamese Ambassador Dao Thanh Chang. Under the auspices of the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture in Cairo (MACIC) and the Supreme Council of Culture, Minister of CultureGaber Asfour and former secretary general of the Arab League Amr Moussa launched the Arabic version of Ambassador P.A. Nazareth's book Gandhi's Outstanding Leadership. Speaking ofthe continuing relevance of Gandhi's message to the world, Moussa said, “Gandhi was an international leader, whose leadership, work and ideas echo across the world.” Asfour explained how the book will provide Arabic readers with access to a unique understanding of Gandhi. Indian Ambassador Navdeep Suri, while delivering the opening remarks, noted how during the 25 January Revolution, he had heard the chants of silmiyya, silmiyya (meaning “peaceful”), which led to the Poster Competition, “Did you Sense the Spirit of Gandhi in Tahrir?” First Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Cultural Relations Camelia Sobhi, Head of the Supreme Council for Culture Mohamed Afifi, and other officials graced the occasion. Nazareth, a distinguished Indian diplomat and former Indian Ambassador to Egypt, delivered a lecture on the theme of “Gandhi, Egypt and Palestine,” in which he recalled the affection with which Madame Safia Zaghloul and Nahas Pasha sent telegrams on Gandhi while he was on hunger strike in 1932, expressing the hope that Indian communities would unite to save his life. Nazareth also proposed setting up an Institute of Gandhian Studies in Cairo, an idea welcomed by Asfour.
