Saudi Ambassador Hisham Nazer hosted a reception party to celebrate the 76th anniversary of the Kingdom's National Day at the plush Four Seasons Hotel, Nile Plaza ballroom. Among the guests were Minister of Environment Maged George, Minister of State for Parliamentary and Legal Affairs Moufid Shehab,speaker of the People's Assembly Fathi Sorour,the former grand mufti Nasr Farid as well as actors Nabila Ebeid, Afaf Shoeib, Ahmed Bedir and Rashwan Tawfiq � The Charge d'Affaires of US Embassy Stuart Jones held a party in honour of the founder and President of the Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT) Rochelle Sobel at his residence. ASIRT is a non-profit organisation that promotes road travel safety throughout the world via education and advocacy. Sobel gave a lecture about the danger of speeding on roadways at the Cairo Automobile Club. General Sherif Gomaa, assistant for the minister of interior; assistant professor at the Information Department, Cairo University Randa Rizq ; head of Nasr City Rotary Clubs Mohamed Hafez, Press Attaché John Berri ; assistants of the Cultural Attaché Cathy Jazylka and Robin Lerner ; and media officer at the US Embassy Manal Rezqallah were among the dignitaries who attended the event. The Spanish Embassy, in cooperation with the Sector of Fine Arts at the Ministry of Culture inaugurated the exhibition "New Trends: Spanish Contemporary Photography" in the Gallery Horizon One of the Mahmoud Khalil Museum. The Exhibition, running through 14 October, features the most avant-garde photography in Spain. This exhibition is part of the effort to promote a more active cultural exchange between Egypt and Spain, especially in the artistic field. This exhibition brought together the work of 20 photographers, presents a great variety of styles and techniques, but they all share the same spirit of adventure and experimentation. It also, included several of the most promising young artists in this discipline, like Cristina Lucas, Bleda Y Rosa, Daniel Canogar, Mira Bernabeu, Aitor Ortiz, Jana Leo and Alvaro Perdices. For that reason, contemporary art museums and private collectors in Spain are paying increasing attention to photography. The collection of the Alcorcón City Council is a prime example of this interest and remains a pioneer in this field among public institutions. Among the attendees were Spanish Ambassador Antonio Lopez Martinez and his wife; head of the Ministry of Culture's Fine Arts Sector Mohsen Shaalan ; Cervantes Institute Director Luis Javier Ruiz Sierra ; Cultural Counsellor of the Spanish Embassy Ramón Blecua ; and Commissar Elena Gonzàlez photos: Ghada Abd El-Kader Last week, Al-Ahram Weekly 's regular contributor based in Italy, Samia Nkrumah, was presented with this year's international journalism award Napoli -- Parlamento Europeo 2005-2006 at a ceremony held in the southern Italian Mediterranean city of Naples. With her article, The Changing Face of Italy, published in the Weekly last year, Nkrumah won the 13th edition of this annual journalism award. The article in question tackled the issue of immigration in Italy and its impact on Italian society including several interviews with leaders of immigrant communities in Italy such as the director of Rome's Islamic Cultural Centre. The awards and complementary ceremonies were part of a four-day long cultural event organised by the Fondazione Napoli. Other important awards went to winners of both Italian and foreign narrative, poetry, and non-fiction. Finalist included European novelists like German Uwe Timm, Turkish Orhan Pamuk and Hungarian Peter Esterhazi Last week, students of the American University in Cairo celebrated Lebanon Day, reports Amira El-Noshokaty. This festival comes as one of many student council activities to fundraise for Nosra campaign, a student's initiative to collect donations up to LE1 million in order to help aid and reconstruct post-war Lebanon. Among those who attended the event were AUC President David Arnold, while the ceremony was presented by actor and AUC graduate Amr Waked. The event featured a documentary produced by Nosra campaign featuring victims of the aggression against Lebanon. Later, famous Lebanese songs were sung by AUC student Dena Labib -- the traditional Lebanese dabka dance was performed by AUC students, Al-Qods Club in collaboration with Al-Falluja Dabka troupe. Last Friday, reports Ghada Abd El-Kader, Resala AUC held its annual party for children with special needs. The party was held at the AUC's Ewart Hall. Resala NGO was founded in 1999 as a small university cell for social activities in the Faculty of Engineering in Cairo. In the year 2000, it became a registered Egyptian NGO. Resala has a lot of other social activities concerning poor families, people with disabilities, people with illnesses who cannot afford the treatment. The crew who organised the party were young volunteers. They were full of enthusiasm and determination. Among the attendees were actresses Afaf Shoeib, Merna Walid, Azza Labib and superstar Khaled Saleh, media anchor Khairi Hassan and businessman Wael Borhan. British-Azerabijani singer Sami Youssef is preparing to launch a new album in Ramadan. He is currently preparing for the shooting of two new songs from his latest album Ummati in Europe.
