photo: Sherif Mahmoud To begin with festive news, my lovelies -- and I won't even mention New Year's Eve -- the 60th anniversary of the Arab League was celebrated at the Cairo Opera House courtesy of our star-studded Ministry of Culture, no less. It was a chance to see my old friend Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, the most drop-dead-gorgeous of all diplomats -- wouldn't you agree -- together with his beautiful wife Laila and the man who once held his post, my eloquent friend Essmat Abdel-Meguid. What a programme! There were, my God, Tunisian singer Lutfi Boushnaq, Iraqi oud master Nasseer Shamma, Syrian singer Sabah Fakhri and Selim Sahab 's National Arabic Music Ensemble -- all on the same night. Well, the new year seems to be setting lots of people on new courses of their own. My very handsome film star friend Karim Abdel-Aziz, for one, is now engaged to an American University in Cairo marketing student, Haidi Sorour. Young ladies, I will have none of that despondent sighing in the background. Haidi is the perfect match for the funny stud, and there were enough big names at the Semiramis InterContinental party to make any of you faint: actor Khaled Zaki, actress Libliba, film producers Hassan Ramzi and Gamal El-Adl, comedians Ashraf Abdel-Baqi, Ahmed Rizq, and Mohamed Heneidi. Nor is that all. photos: Ayman Barayez The week before -- hold your breath, boys -- my very charming friends, actor Hussein Fahmi and actress Mervat Amin, celebrated the engagement of their lovely daughter Menatallah to the budding star Sherif Ramzi in Fahmi 's beautiful villa. Speaking of which, let me congratulate Al-Ahram Weekly 's very own Ismail Taha Ismail on the wedding of his son Taha, an employee of the Al-Ahram Subscriptions Department. He is now the proud husband of the very beautiful Zeinab Abdel-Azim. Touch wood, my darlings. On the occasion of his 94th birthday, Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz received at his house Saudi Ambassador Hisham Bin Mohieddin Nazer, accompanied by Al-Ahram Hebdo 's editor-in-chief, my dear, dear friend Mohamed Salmawi. photo: Ghada Abd El-Kader Now my good colleague Ghada Abd El-Kader was lucky to replace me as the Weekly 's envoy to El-Sawy Culture Wheel, dears, to mark the anniversary of the man after whom that increasingly venerable institution is named, Abdel-Moneim El-Sawy (1918-1984). She went not to the culture centre, mind you, but to the Ahmed Shawqi Museum, where a seminar on one of the 20th century's brightest stars in the field of journalism was attended by a host of sweet, sweet friends: Mohamed El-Sawy, the man behind the Wheel, Mohsen Shaalan, head of the Central Administration of Exhibitions and Museums, Ahmed Taymour, the delicate versifier as well as the journalist for all seasons Louis Gereis and the head of the newly instituted National Organisation for the Urban Harmony, Samir Gharib. Twice head of the Egyptian Press Syndicate, the late El-Sawy wrote many novels besides The Waterwheel and made profound contributions to political analysis. Abd El-Kader hogged the limelight this week -- ah well! At the Ramatan Culture Centre, in Giza -- this too, as it happens, was once the house of another great man of letters, Taha Hussein -- she attended a thrilling seminar on the TV series Al-Amil 1001 (Agent 1001), the story of an Egyptian intelligence agent that was a Ramadan hit. There, under the commanding gaze of the head of the General Organisation for Cultural Palaces Ahmed Nawwar, she listened to talks by scriptwriter Nabil Farouk and actors Sayed Sadeq and Mahmoud Abdel-Moghni. Commemorating the late Fayza Ahmed -- my favourite singer, as you know, dears -- the Garden City Lions Club, presided over by my good friend Awatef Serageddin, brought together another coterie of lovely friends, who shared an evening with club members at the Cairo Capital Club: former head of the Radio and Television Union Samia Sadek, former Prime Minister Ali Lotfi, renowned composer Mohamed Sultan, the late singer's husband, and her daughter Ferial, as well as actress Ragaa El - Geddawi, Lebanese actress Iman and Al-Ahram veteran journalist Amal Bekeir. The charming woman with the incredible voice, my friend Samira Said -- my favourite singer, as you also know, dears -- is off to Morocco for a charity concert, TeleTone, after which she will be back to film the video clip of a new song on world peace. The song is written by my friend Ayman Bahgat Amar, the clip will be directed by my friend Tareq El - Erian.
