photos: Ayman Barayez The CanadaEgypt Business Council (CEBC), headed by Moataz Raslan, hosted presidential hopeful and former secretary-general of the Arab League Amr Moussa in a seminar entitled "Egypt on the Right Path" at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza Hotel. Moussa expressed his optimism about the future of Egypt, stressing the importance of the upcoming period, citing three conditions for a fruitful future: democracy, judicial independence and an end to corruption. Present at the seminar were former foreign minister Mohamed El-Orabi, former minister of administrative development Ahmed Darwish, former minister of higher education Hani Hilal, former MP and university professor Mona Makram Ebeid, former Qalioubiya Governor Adli Hussein, Lebanese Ambassador Khaled Ziyada and Turkish Ambassador Héseyin Avni Botsali. The American University in Cairo (AUC) opened the "Arab Art in Cairo through the Historic Architectural Monuments" exhibition for a selected set of the works of the French artist Emile Prisse d'Avennes from the private collection of Sultan Bin Mohamed Al-Qasimi, member of the UAE Supreme Council and ruler of Sharjah. The celebration was attended by Richard A Bartlett, chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT); Moataz El-Alfi, vice board chairman of the BOT; Lisa Anderson, AUC president; Bruce Ferguson, dean of the School of Humanities and Social Science; Ali El-Merri, director of Sultan Al-Qasimi Centre of Gulf Studies and members of the UAE Embassy in Cairo. The exhibition includes a select set of works by the French artist d'Avennes, including rare paintings from the Arab world between the ninth and 18th centuries. The art pieces of d'Avennes reflect Muslims' way of life as well as their design of mosques, domes and ornamentation. They include decorative bindings for the Holy Quran, carpets, windows, roofs, flooring, graves, wooden doors and furniture, in addition to glass, copper and bronze objects. The second farewell party for the Algerian Ambassador to Egypt Abdel-Qader Al-Haggar took place at the Semiramis InterContinental Hotel. Al-Haggar, who will be relocating as ambassador to Tunisia, gave a speech conveying the deep link between Algeria and Egypt since the time of the late Egyptian president Gamal Abdel-Nasser. The ministers and diplomats present included Minister of Culture Shakir Abdel-Hamid, former minister of culture Emad Abu-Ghazi, Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed bin Halla, political analyst Fahmy Howeidy, President of the Afro-Asian Lawyers Federation Esmat El-Merghani, vernacular poet Ahmed Fouad Negm and the daughter of the late Egyptian president Mona Abdel-Nasser, as well as actors Ahmed Abdel-Wareth, Ghada Ibrahim, Magda El-Sabbahi and Nagwa Fouad. photo: Abdel-Hamid Eid The singer Medhat Saleh has decided to produce a new version of his 1992 single Kawkab Tani (Another Planet) in protest of recent Egyptian loss of life. Saleh will be singing the lyrics to a newly composed tune together with Khaled Selim and Rami Sabri as well as four rising stars: Ahmed Batshan, Wael Amer, Aya Abdel-Raouf and Louba. The song will be released in a new album that includes 12 songs about the revolution. On the occasion of the annual Safer Internet Day, Yahoo Maktoob research has revealed that over 68 per cent of parents in the Middle East do not feel well placed to teach children about safety online. The parents polled in this survey expressed their desire that such a topic should be paid urgent attention, becoming an ongoing discussion throughout the school year. This percentage was higher for parents whose children were in the 14-17 age bracket, with 66 per cent believing the topic should be addressed consistently in schools. The head of Global and Regional Product Management of Yahoo Middle East Andy Abbar said, "We know that parents are aware of the importance of online safety; nevertheless, lack of knowledge and tools can prevent them from being able to take an active role in the matter. This is why Yahoo Maktoob introduced a special online resource called Yahoo Safety Oasis." Abbar added that Yahoo Safety Oasis aims at engaging families and educators in the process of providing support resources to educate, entertain and reward children about the potential for online learning and better safety through higher digital literacy. The vernacular poet Abdel-Rahman Youssef gave a Sawy Culturewheel seminar on the performance of SCAF as Egypt's ruling body, critiquing SCAF's counter-revolutionary role and stressing the accusations that have been levelled at revolutionaries of trying to destroy the institutions of the state. "I accuse the Egyptian intelligence service of planning all the chaos that has happened since 28 February," he said, "including what happened near the Interior Ministry." Youssef also discussed corruption in the media, applauding the call for a general strike and reiterating his faith in the power of the revolution. Al-Nil wal Bahr (The Nile and the Sea) is a newly released novel by artist and novelist Essmat Dawestashi. It blends realism with imagination in the attempt to tell the story of an Egyptian family from Damietta with European roots. The action starts in the time of Mohamed Ali Pasha but goes on till the 25 January Revolution. On Sunday 19 February, the interactive exhibition Mörchenwelten (Worlds of Fairy Tales) will open at the German School (DEO) in Dokki, in the presence of the German Ambassador Michael Bock. There will be a short performance by the storyteller Haitham, followed by a guided tour of the exhibition, which offers children seven "stations" in which to experience the brother Grimm's fairy tales in German. The period 20-26 February is dedicated to school tours; in 4-14 March it will be open to the public at the Faculty of Al-Alson, Ain-Shams University, on Khalifa Al-Maamoun Street. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's fairy tales are the second most popular book in German after the Luther Bible. It has been translated into 160 languages and was awarded World Document Heritage status by UNESCO in 2005. The fairy tale exhibition leads visitors through the key motifs in German fairy tales, with treasure chests to explore and a forest clearing where children can make up and tell their own fairy tales.
