Moonlight and Valentino On the occasion of International Women's Day, in cooperation with the Cairo Opera House and the United Nations Information Centre and the Turkish Embassy in Cairo, the five members of the Turkish Moonlight Ensemble mesmerised an audience at the Gumhouriya Theatre in Cairo and Sayed Darwish Theatre in Alexandria playing a number of traditional Turkish songs. Sherif Sonbol took shots of the ravishing musicians whose thrilling performance was hailed by the Turkish ambassador and his wife. In a ceremony held at the Sharjah Art Gallery at the American University in Cairo's New Cairo Campus, Sheikh Sultan bin Mohamed Al-Qasimi, member of the UAE Supreme Council and ruler of Sharjah, opened an exceptional collection of lithographs by world-renowned architectural artist David Roberts, and inaugurated the Sultan Al-Qasimi Department of History. The celebration was attended by Egyptian and Arab dignitaries, including Minister of State for International Cooperation Fayza Abul-Naga, Ambassador of the UAE to Egypt Mohamed Bin Noukhaira Al Dahiri, special advisor to the ruler of Sharjah for higher education Amr Abdel-Hamid, director-general of the Sharjah Department of Culture Abdallah Al-Owais and Chancellor of the American University in Sharjah Peter Heath. AUC officials in attendance included Vice-Chairman of AUC's Board of Trustees Moataz El-Alfi, AUC President David Arnold, Counsellor Amr Salama and provost Lisa Anderson. The exhibition, entitled "Journey Through the Orient", includes 52 lithographs by Roberts that were inspired by his journeys through Egypt in 1838 and 1839 ( see Listings p.8 ). At the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Al-Qasimi has also celebrated the publishing of a new edition of his autobiography Sard Al-That (Autobiographical Notes) by Al-Shorouq Publishing House. It is an exclusive look into the Sharjah ruler's life, enveloping readers not only in the rich and heady times of the 1940s to 1970s, with a succession of historic events, but entices them to know more about major milestones in the emirate of Sharjah. Among the participants in the event were former prime minister Abdel-Aziz Hegazi, Al-Ahram Hebdo Chief Editor and head of the Egyptian and Arab Writers' Union Mohamed Salmawy and mogul businessman Gamal El-Sadat. photos: Ayman Barayez A glamorous ceremony was held on the occasion of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science of Cairo University at the Four Seasons at Nile Plaza. The ceremony was attended by a plethora of high-profile figures, among them head of the People's Assembly Fathi Sorour, Minister of Social Solidarity Ali Meselhi, Minister of Agriculture Amin Abaza, Minister of Administrative Development Ahmed Darwish, Minister of State for Family and Population Mushira Khattab, Secretary General-of the National Democratic Party's Information Committee Alieddin Hilal, dean of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science Alia Mahdi, head of the People's Assembly Foreign Relations Committee Mustafa El-Feki, former prime minister Abdel-Aziz Hegazi and Al-Ahram Editor-in-Chief Osama Saraya Garden City Lions Club (GCLC), presided over by Awatef Serageddin, hosted a significant seminar discussing ways of addressing the phenomenon of street children and supporting breadwinner women. Keynote speaker of the GCLC seminar was Minister of State for Family and Population Mushira Khattab who was granted the GCLC shield at the end of the seminar. The seminar was attended by Chairman of the General Federation of NGOs Abdel-Aziz Hegazi, NDP MP Omar Haridi, GCLC member Bahiya Youssef, Al-Ahram back page editor Mona Ragab and Nisf Al-Donia magazine Editor-in-Chief Afkar El-Kharadli. Al-Shorouq Bookstore in Mohandessin witnessed an alluring open discussion with the outspoken Al-Destour chief-editor and TV presenter Ibrahim Eissa. Eissa signed a number of his latest books republished by Al-Shorouq Publishing House: Tarikh Al-Mustaqbal (History of the Future), Ladaya Aqwalon Okhra (I Have More to Say) and Ketabi An Mubarak Wa Asroh (My Book on Mubarak and His Era). The event was attended by an array of high-profile figures and intellectuals, including Chairman of Al-Shorouq Publishing House and President of the Arab Publishers Union Ibrahim El-Muallim, Al-Ahram sports critic Hassan El-Mestekawi and Al-Ahram writer Mounir Amer. The spouse of the Moroccan ambassador to Egypt, Khaira Al-Fassi, held a prestigious charitable ceremony at her residence with revenues earmarked for the Tahsin Al-Siha Association presided over by Sawsan Attia. Guests enjoyed a delightful evening to the melodies of the Tunisian singer Hadia, while the ceremony was crowned by the presence of Gihan El-Sadat, head of Garden City Lions Club Awatef Serageddin, and voluntary work champions such as Bahiya Halawa, Nazli Shahbandar, Kawthar Bu - Nekhila and Ghada Shahbandar. photo: Abdel-Hamid Eid Timeless Nubian pop star Mohamed Mounir rocked the stage of the Future University in New Cairo in an astounding concert. A large audience flocked to New Cairo to enjoy a night of Mounir 's classic hits. Mounir was handed the university shield at the end of the concert. Dar Al-Shorouq Publishing House has just released an Arabic translation of Egyptian poet Yehia Lababidi 's Signposts to Elsewhere (Washwashet Al-Leil). It is translated by Ahmed Mahmoud, and features a glittering introduction by respected Egyptian satirist Ahmed Ragab along with witty illustrations by artist Walid Taher. The book was selected among the "Books of the Year" in 2008 by The Independent newspaper in UK. To date, Lababidi 's selected poems have also been translated into Slovak, Swedish and Turkish. Lababidi 's new collection of poems, Fever Dreams, will be published in the US later this year. Lababidi is a contributor to Al-Ahram Weekly culture and opinion pages. The Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture (MACIC), in cooperation with the Egypt-India Friendship Association (EIFA), is organising a lecture entitled, "Prospects of India- Egypt Information Technology Cooperation" by Amin Khaireddin, strategy advisor and member of the Board of Directors of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency on 22 March, 6pm, at the centre's premises at 23 Talaat Harb Street, Downtown. Khaireddin recently attended the NASSCOM India Leadership Forum in Mumbai. For the first 30 years of his professional career, Khaireddin was employed with IBM. In December 2000, he was appointed by the Egyptian government to chair the Business Development Workgroup in charge of proposing strategies and programmes leading to the development of the telecom sector following its deregulation. Presently Khaireddin is leading the team in charge of the execution of the IT industry national development strategy. President of the EIFA Alieddin Hilal and Indian Ambassador R Swaminathan will speak on the occasion. Indian IT companies present in Egypt will also participate. The National Council for Youth (NYC), presided over Safieddin Kharboush, in cooperation with the African Association and Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Movement for Peace are organising a youth march to commemorate International Francophone Day under the motto "Together for peace and development". The celebration will take place on 20 March in Al-Gezira Ideal Youth Centre with the participation of 10 African Francophone countries and the attendance of Kharboush, Ambassador Naela Gabr -- assistant to the minister of foreign affairs and Francophone representative of President Mubarak -- as well as ambassadors of participant African countries. Youth centres will share in the celebration through a competition launched by the French Cultural Centre where youth are asked to make 50 recommendations to protect the planet. It seems that the AUC's last week has been full with a number of activities! Last Monday, the AUC witnessed the inauguration ceremony of the Saudi Prince Al-Walid Bin Talal Bin Abdel-Aziz Al-Saud Hall, which houses AUC's School of Humanities and Social Sciences. Prince Talal Bin Abdel-Aziz Al-Saud inaugurated the building, along with AUC Provost Lisa Anderson, Vice-Chairman of AUC's Board of Trustees Moataz El-Alfi and Saudi Ambassador to Egypt Hisham Al-Nazer.
