� Last Sunday, Chairman of the Board of Al-Ahram Salah El-Ghamri, along with Al-Ahram famous artist Makram Henein, opened the first group exhibition by artists of the International Artists Union (IASG), at Al-Ahram Gallery. Some 120 paintings and photographs by American artists were on show. Among the artists featured were Judith Simons ; Clark, Ludvic Saleh ; Maria Odette ; James Haley ; Mary Anderson as well as the gifted Egyptian artists Salah Taher ; Salah Jahin ; Youssef Francis ; Nagui Kamel ; Farag Hassan ; commissar of the exhibition Nabil Makar and Henein himself. The exhibition is running through 12 October. � Director of Bibliotheca Alexandrina Ismail Serageddin inaugurated the "Lines of Peace" exhibition: a curious mix of political caricature by Egypt's prominent caricaturist Mustafa Hussein and Le Monde famous caricaturist Jean Plantu. The library also organised lectures for both artists. The exhibition runs through 25 October. My dear colleague Nader Habib and I attended the inspiring and most cultured event. We especially enjoyed the mice and doves waving the Egyptian flag and the French tricolores. � On the occasion of the second anniversary of the founding of the German University in Cairo (GUC) and in collaboration with the German Embassy, "The German Open Days 2005" was held at the headquarters of the GUC at New Cairo. The university opened its gates to the public for three days where exhibitions by around 40 German institutions were organised. The opening ceremony was attended by the Founder and Chairman of Board of Trustees Ashraf Mansour ; the German Ambassador in Egypt Martin Kobler ; the Minister of Higher Education Amr Ezzat Salam; and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa among others. � My dear friends, Iraqi oud master Nasseer Shamma is representing Egypt and his native Iraq in the festival of North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany, celebrating Arabic music and its role in boosting religious dialogue and cultural exchanges between countries. This festival, my lovelies, in its second year, is going to take place from 2-29 October. Musicians from many Muslim countries like Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, and Turkey will be participating in the festival, which will be presenting different musical schools in the Sunni, Shia, and Sufi traditions with their different usage of musical instruments. The festival was replete with Arabic and Muslim musical traditions inspired from different eras and aspects of the Islamic heritage. Shamma will be giving 15 concerts in different cities in Germany. � Over the period of three days, a number of seminars and workshops took place where crucial educational and industrial issues were discussed in order to highlight the strong German-Egyptian relations. � On behalf of the Italian President Carlo Ciampi, my charming and diligent friend the Italian Ambassador in Cairo Antonio Badini has bestowed upon Cairo Governor Abdel-Azim Wazir, the decoration of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. The award was bestowed for Wazir 's long-standing professional activity and the excellent partnership of the Governorate of Cairo with the Italian Embassy in the fields of cultural and social cooperation. � During the holy month of Ramadan, Studio 206 art gallery, Maadi, will be conducting charity art workshops for orphans on daily basis. The programme aims to link ordinary school children and orphans. Orphans will receive gifts from the school children and they will all happily have iftar together. The children will end each Ramadan day with a reverie of songs and dance. � Indeed, Ramadan is back my dears, with lots of interesting entertainment items including soap operas galore, radio and television series. Among the radio series scheduled to be aired during Ramadan on the Public Programme and Al-Shabab Wa Al-Riyadah radio stations are Taht Al-Eshren (Under Twenty) starring, for the first time, aspiring actress Maye Ezzeddin and pop singer Khaled Selim, written by Ahmed El-Beih and Lao Kont Nasy (If You Forgot) starring veteran actors Hassan Mustafa ; Ahmed Rateb ; Nada Basyouni as well as actresses Fadiya Abdel-Ghani and Nada Basyouni, directed by Magdi Soliman. � As a celebration of the great success of the National Folk Music and Dance Troupe and the Nubian Drums Troupe, the Egyptian Ambassador to South Korea Reda El-Taiffy threw a party last week. Diplomats from countries as far afield as Sudan, Morocco, Lebanon, Oman and Qatar were keen to attend the reception. The two troops participated in the Gwatshon's Fifth Folk Music and Dance Festival, South Korea. Egypt was selected this year as the festival's guest of honour in the occasion of the10th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Egypt and Korea. The Korean audience was introduced to Egyptian folk music, at the opening ceremony of the festival with the delightful performances of the Nubian Drums Troupe conducted by artist Intisar Abdel-Fattah. As for the closing ceremony, the Korean audiences were pleasantly perplexed by the new experience of mixing the Egyptian percussion and Korean drums. The Drums Dialogue For Peace, my sweeties, is a unique experience -- merging Nubian singing with the entrancing Korean musical tradition. Art, indeed, can open the dialogue for peace between different cultures and nations. � A farewell party was held in honour of Al-Ahram journalist Sameh Abdallah, on behalf of The Regional Office of the CNN Network, to honour his efforts during his four-year period in the office. Abdallah contributed in establishing and developing the network Web site in the Arabic language. Abdallah is coming back to Egypt to resume working as a journalist in Al-Ahram newspaper. � Let me be the bearer of good news, in an unprecedented step from the head of Dar Al-Iftaa Al-Masriya (The Egyptian Religious Edicts Authority) and Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa there will be an online Web site [email protected] to answer the religious questions and fatwa (edicts). All you have to do, my dears, is type your name, e-mail address and your fatwa will be answered by one of the most distinguished Muslim scholars. Naturally, in this day of high-tech my lovelies, the reply will be sent by e-mail. � Our dear friend and veteran journalist Volkhard Windfuhr was honoured for his lifetime achievements as the head of Cairo office of Der Spiegel, the renowned German magazine. The German Ambassador Martin Kobler hosted a dinner reception in Windfuhr 's honour at his residence last week. Many of Windfuhr 's friends and colleagues were keen on following the invitation. A galaxy of dignitaries were present, among them were our very own Culture page columnist Mursi Saad El Din, ministers and other high-ranking government officials. The German Ambassador to Egypt Martin Kobler paid tribute to Windfuhr 's extraordinary career as the head of the Foreign Press Association in Egypt for more than 15 years and praised the veteran journalist's in-depth and comprehensive knowledge of Egypt and the Arab world. Kobler said he contributed to German Arab relations. Windfuhr is considered to be the dean of foreign journalists in Egypt. As founder of the Association of the Friends of the Egyptian and Arab Railways, Windfuhr also organises every year a "peace train" tour.
