The Alexandria Opera Company for Arab Music and Singing photo: Abdel-Hamid Eid Over 3,000 attended International Tourism Day, organised by the Cairo Opera House at the Roman Theatre in Sharm El-Sheikh. The event opened in the presence of Culture Minister Saber Arab, South Sinai Governor General Khaled Fouda, Cairo Opera House Director Ines Abdel-Dayeim and many businessmen and investors. The celebration began with the national anthem and fireworks. Fouda gave a speech in both Arabic and English in which he welcomed tourists and guests in the city of peace, as he called Sharm El-Sheikh: a place that will always attract tourists from all over the world. He also thanked the culture minister and the Cairo Opera director for their contribution to the celebration. The Opera presented a huge concert featuring the Cairo Opera Orchestra, conducted by Tarek Mahran and featuring international classics and Neapolitan songs. Soloists included Reda Al-Wakil, Iman Mustafa, Joli Fayzi, Tahiya Shamseddin and Walid Karim. The second part of the concert saw the Alexandria Opera Company for Arab Music and Singing, conducted by Abdel-Hamid Abdel-Ghaffar. Ambassador Mohsen Tawfik attended the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Day on behalf of Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Ashraf Al-Arabi. Indian Ambassador to Egypt Navdeep Suri was present, together with officials and participants in courses organised under the ITEC programme in India. Launched in 1964, the programme of cooperation and partnership was designed to address the needs of developing countries in human resource development; it is an important component of India's economic relations with Egypt, whereby India shares its technical expertise. The scheme offers training in over 250 courses in prestigious technical and vocational institutes in India in fields ranging from information technology to management, vocational training, banking, finance and English. Around 300 Egyptians have attended various short-term training courses in the last few years under the ITEC and related programmes. Encouraged by the very considerable Egyptian interest in the programme, the government of India has decided to offer around 100 ITEC slots to Egyptian nationals on a yearly basis. Saudi Ambassador to Egypt Ahmed Al-Qattan held a prestigious ceremony to celebrate the 82nd Saudi National Day. High-profile figures and diplomats present included former presidential candidate and former secretary-general of the Arab League Amr Moussa, US Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson, Lebanese Ambassador to Egypt Khaled Ziyada, former prime minister Essam Sharaf, former minister of information Osama Heikal, political analyst Mustafa Al-Feki, former Minister of Antiquities Zahi Hawass, businessman Ahmed Abu Hashima, Saudi businessman Saleh Kamel, journalist Mustafa Sherdi, renowned journalist and media figure Youssri Fouda, Chairman of the Lawyers Syndicate Sameh Ashour, Major-General Mohamed Al-Assar, actors Adel Imam, Mahmoud Abdel-Aziz, Ashraf Abdel-Ghafour, Ragaa Al-Geddawi, Soheir Al-Morshedi, Hanan Mutawei and Rania Youssef, singers Hani Shakir and Ghada Ragab. The closing ceremony of the first edition of the Cinemobil Film Festival, organised by the Arab Company for Cinema Production and Distribution (ACCPD), was held at one of Egypt's prestigious hotels in Cairo with a huge celebrity presence. The ceremony was presented by actress Yossra Al-Louzi, and the film Al-Mesaha (The Space) was awarded the best film prize; there were 22 films competing. The festival honoured, among others, actor Khaled Abul-Naga, who could not be present. Present with Chairman of the ACCPD Isaad Younis were filmmaker Khaled Youssef, singer Latifa, actress Basma and her husband professor of political science and former MP Amr Hamzawy, Jordanian actor Iad Nassar, director Magdi Ahmed Ali, actor Amr Abdel-Gelil, filmmaker Ahmed Maher, producer Mohamed Al-Adl, our very own Layout Managing Editor and film critic Hani Mustafa as well as young directors Mariam Naoum, Mariam Ezzat Abu Ouf and Amir Ramses. Dr Mohamed Shaalan, professor of surgical oncology at Cairo University, director of the Prevention and Early Detection Unit of the National Cancer Institute and founding chairperson of the Breast Cancer Foundation of Egypt, is taking part in the "Global Summit on International Breast Health: Guidelines for International Breast Health and Cancer Control -- Supportive Care and Quality of Life," from 3 to 5 October in Vienna. The Breast Health Global Initiative will convene the summit; it is organised in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy of the United Nations. Dr Shaalan will discuss supportive care and quality of life issues for breast cancer patients in developing countries. He will also play a role in developing the first document of guidelines for Supportive Care and Quality of Life for low- and middle-income member states. The Culture Resource Centre (Al Mawred Al Thaqafy) announced the launch of the second edition of the Cairo International Circus Festival, "CirCairo 2012", which will take place from 4 to 20 October in Cairo, Mansoura and Menoufiya governorates. The festival programme includes performances by over 11 circus groups from France, Denmark, Hungary, Belgium, the Netherlands, Tunisia, Egypt, Switzerland, Spain, UK and Germany. CirCairo aims to revive the spirit of entertainment that circus creates and to expand its audience base and make this art available to everyone in the community. The opening ceremony of the festival will be launched from Abdine Square with a celebration featuring performances by M Circus (Belgium), Radwan Shelbawy from Tunisia, the Amsterdam Rebel Clowns-Rebelact, Egyptian Circus, Al Darb Al Ahmar Arts School, and Kosha Puppet Team from Egypt (see Listings p.25). The Nile City cinema saw the premiere of Youssri Nasrallah's Baad Al-Mawke'a (After the Battle), in the presence of many celebrities and media figures. Baad Al-Mawke'a features Menna Shalabi, Bassem Samra, Nahed Al-Sebaai and Fedra playing out the events of the revolution. Nasrallah gave a brief speech before the screening, explaining that he made the film to document those events and not for the sake of film festivals, in an allusion to the film's participation in Cannes's official competition this year. Present were the director Ali Idris and his wife writer Zeinab Aziz, filmmaker Kamla Abu Zekri, producer Mohamed Al-Adl, screenwriter Tamer Habib, director Sameh Abdel-Aziz, journalist Abdallah Al-Senawi, journalist Youssri Fouda and Chairman of ONTV satellite channels Albert Shafik.
