If anyone deserves an honorary PhD from the American University in Cairo (AUC) it is my dear friend Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA). AUC President David Arnold explained that the university is awarding Hawass an honorary PhD in recognition of his relentless efforts not only in bringing several great Pharaonic archaeological discoveries into the light of day, but his unremiting activity to spread knowledge of our great Ancient Egyptian civilisation across the world. Among the attendees I spied our very dear Al-Ahram Weekly Executive Editor-in-Chief Hani Shukrallah, veteran writer Anis Mansour and gifted actor Nour El-Sherif. The festivities were topped with a dinner party organised by AUC Press Department Director Mark Linz. Previous recipients of the award include the luminary Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, Nobel Prize laureate Ahmed Zewail, the distinguished US-based Egyptian scientist Farouk El-Baz and late Palestinian intellectual and Columbia University literature professor Edward Said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The recent visit of the head of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) Hans Blix to Egypt was not confined to deliberations regarding the prohibition of weapons of mass destruction. He was received at the Cairo Opera House by its director my dear friend Abdel- Moneim Kamel and treated to a performance of Madame Butterfly opera performed in the Main Hall. He expressed great satisfaction with the show. Kamel took the occasion to grant Blix the Cairo Opera House Shield of Recognition. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I must alert you that today is the last chance to feast your eyes on an extremely interesting exhibition by artist Ebtissam Zaki currently showing at the Cairo Opera House's Music Library. Inaugurated by Presidential Adviser Osama El-Baz, Director of the Opera House Abdel-Moneim Kamel and Director of the gallery Fayza Abdel-Moneim, the exhibition showcases hand-made silver and enamel jewellery, pottery, porcelain statues as well as oil and silk paintings. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Egyptians and Australians have come together in the first private initiative of its kind to raise funds for tsunami victims in Indonesia. The Australian Embassy in collaboration with Baria Records and El-Sawy Cultural Centre hosted two consecutive concerts of the American band Heavenly States, who were performing for the first time in Egypt last week.
