A journey on the Nile The Nile Cruise: An Illustrated Journey is a superb collection of 150 colour photographs by Al-Ahram Weekly's very own Sherif Sonbol with vivid descriptions provided by travel writer Jenny Jobbins. This fully illustrated celebration of the classic river journey is the ideal companion to, or souvenir from, a modern Nile cruise. All photos are taken in Luxor and Aswan, including this photo of a guard taking a quiet moment at Luxor Temple. US Ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey received Egyptian cartoonist and portraitist Amr Fahmi who handed her a portrait for US President Barack Obama expressing his personal admiration of the president. Scobey promised to dispatch the painting, completed to coincide with the 234rd American Independence Day, to the White House. photos: Nasr Attia The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Egypt office hosted a prestigious reception at the Salon Royal Hall in the Marriott Hotel to bid farewell to Gerd Emil Lieser and to welcome the office's new representative to Egypt Felix Eikenberg. The reception was attended by a galaxy of high-profile personalities including German Ambassador to Egypt Michael Bock and his wife Dagmar Bock, correspondent of Der Spiegel and Cairo Bureau Chief Volkhard Windfuhr and head of the Egyptian-German Friendship Association Reda Sheta as well as members of the German Embassy in Egypt. Ambassador of the Republic of Mozambique José António A Matsinha and his wife hosted a spectacular reception at the Conrad Hotel marking Mozambique National Day. A number of guests, along with Matsinha, gathered to cut a cake styled as the Mozambique flag. Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for African Affairs Mona Omar as well as a coterie of African, Arab and foreign ambassadors and members of the Mozambique Embassy were present. Luminous comedian Ahmed Mekki is back this summer with a new blockbuster La Tarago w La Esteslam (No Retreat, No Surrender), privately screened at Nile City Cinema. The movie casts actress Donia Samir Ghanem, gifted comedian Maged El-Kedwani, actress Dalal Abdel-Aziz and actor Ezzat Abu Ouf, is scripted by Sherif Naguib and directed by Ahmed El-Guindi. A bevy of celebrities were present to congratulate the cast. photo: Ayman Barayez The 11th Oscar Video Clip Festival, under the title "Alexandria's Round," concluded its activities in an extravagant ceremony in Alexandria at the garden of Helnan Palestine Hotel in Montazah. President of the festival Abdel-Moneim Saad honoured a galaxy of stars who supported the festival during the past 10 rounds with the attendance of veteran actress Madiha Youssri and veteran actor Mahmoud Yassin. Among the honourees were actresses Ragaa El-Geddawi, Elham Shahine, actor Khaled Zaki, versatile artist Samir Sabri, singer Mustafa Amar, music producer Mohsen Gaber, Saudi composer Youssef Al-Mahana, Iraqi singer Ismail Al-Farwa and Lebanese poet Maher Al-Kheir. The festival also honoured a number of late figures such as veteran singer Sayed Darwish whose grandson, singer Iman El-Bahr Darwish, was there to receive the honour, singer Karem Mahmoud, actress and belly dancer Samia Gamal, lyricists Biram El-Tonsi and Mohamed Hamza. The jury of the festival included actresses Lebleba and Nabila Ebeid, singer Nadia Mustafa and media figure Naglaa El-Ghanam. photos: Abdel-Hamid Eid The 16th Rabat International Film Festival held in Morocco concluded its activities in an extravagant closing ceremony. It honoured Egyptian actress Nabila Ebeid in a warm welcome at King Mohamed V Street where a Moroccan folk dancing was performed. Talented actor Fathi Abdel-Wahab was among the guests of the festival due to the participation of his film Assafir Al-Nil (Birds of the Nile) in the official competition while Al-Musafir (The Traveller) was awarded the jury prize, bestowed on director Ahmed Maher. Common Ground Publishing is proud to release this month a new book by Egyptian writer Yahia Lababidi. Trial by Ink: From Nietzsche to Belly-Dancing is a collection of literary and cultural essays, a third of which deals with the Middle East. Internationally acclaimed American poet Alfred Corn writes: "Using critical reason as a kind of peace-keeping mission, Lababidi 's essays about the contemporary Middle East provide some of the freshest commentary I have read on the subject. A beginning so illuminating as this one stands warrant for a major career." To date, Lababidi 's writing has been translated into Arabic, Slovak, Swedish, Turkish and Italian. In Alexandria, recently chosen the "capital of Arab tourism" for 2010, the Cairo Opera House, directed by Abdel-Moneim Kamel, inaugurated last week the opera's annual summer festival at the Roman Theatre. The festival began with two concerts: the first of singer Nadia Mustafa, accompanied by the Alexandria Opera Company for Music and Singing conducted by George Beshri ; the second of Syrian singer Magd Al-Qassem and his band. Both concerts drew large audiences. Ingenious actors Ahmed Helmi, Bishoy Fayez and Tamer Aziz inaugurated last week their own café and restaurant. The event was jammed with stars and media figures admiring the location overlooking the Nile. Among the attendees were actresses Shwikar, Ragaa El-Geddawi, Mervat Amin, Yousra, Dalal Abdel-Aziz, Dalia El-Beheiri, Boushra, Donia Samir Ghanem, Yasmine Abdel-Aziz, Basma and Zeina as well as actors Karim Abdel-Aziz, Khaled El-Sawi, Hani Ramzi, Sherif Mounir and Ahmed Ezz, director Sherif Arafa, media figure Salma El-Shamaa, Syrian singer Asala and her husband director Tarek El-Eryan, journalist and presenter of Al-Tabaa Al-Oula Ahmed El-Meslemani, singer Hisham Abbas and businessman Mansour El-Gammal. Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni inaugurated the Iraqi Cultural Week at Al-Gomhouriya Theatre. The ceremony featured Iraqi folk dancing and singing and was crowned by the presence of Cairo Opera House Director Abdel-Moneim Kamel, a plethora of ambassadors and members of the Iraqi community in Egypt.
