Abandoning the seaside Although summer, the high season of vacations, usually ends mid-September, this year it had to make an early exit. Ramadan, the month of fasting, is upon us in a few days. Egyptian holidaymakers, be they families or couples, are back to their hometowns. Nader Habib roamed the North Coast in search of vacationers, but his lens only captured empty chairs on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. photos: Abdel-Hamid Eid Last week saw the grand finale of the 18th Citadel Song Festival, which featured performances by popular singers Ali El-Haggar, Mohamed El-Helw, Nadia Mustafa, Tarek Fouad, Fatema Eid, Khaled Selim, Medhat Saleh from Egypt, Magd Al-Qassem from Lebanon, and Morocco's Jannat. The citadel's open-air theatres were packed with audiences flocking from neighbouring districts to enjoy live performances by their favourite artists. And for the first time, pop singer Ihab Tawfiq was hosted in this year's festival and participated in the closing ceremony with some of his songs. Melody production house hosted a press conference at the Sofitel Gezirah Hotel for the signing of pop singer Nancy Agram 's new album Betfakkar Fi Eih (What are you thinking about?). At a serene ceremony held at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza Hotel, Editor-in-Chief of Akhbar Al-Adab literary magazine and novelist Gamal El-Ghitani and his wife Magda El-Guindi, editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram's Alaaeddin children's magazine celebrated the wedding of their daughter Magda to Palestinian-American computer engineer Ahmed, the son of businessman Mohamed Abu Zayda. Among the invitees were former minister of information Mohamed Fayek, Editor-in-Chief of Al-Ahram daily Osama Saraya, Editor-in-Chief of Nisf Al-Donia magazine Afkar El-Kharadli, head of the Egyptian Writers Union Mohamed Salmawy, pop star Mohamed Mounir, writer Mahmoud Amin El-Alim, best-selling novelist Alaa El-Aswani, Egyptian Ambassador to Japan Walid Abdel-Nasser, veteran poet Farouk Goweida and writer Youssef El-Qaied. Although he couldn't make it to the wedding ceremony due to his illness, vernacular poet Abdel-Rahman El-Abnoudi 's wife, TV anchor Nehal Kamal, was present along with head of the Egyptian Publishers Union Ibrahim El-Moellim and his wife Amira as well as Al-Ahram Weekly 's writer and Foreign Desk Editor Gamal Nkrumah. At the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Maye and Islam celebrated their wedding party lavishly by the hotel poolside. Maye is the daughter of veteran TV presenter Mahmoud Saad, while Islam is the son of cinematographer Mahmoud Abdel-Samie. The party was crowned with the presence of a galaxy of media figures and celebrities such as veteran comedian Adel Imam, actors Mahmoud Yassin, Yehia El-Fakharani, Ahmed El-Saqqa and his wife Maha El-Sagheir, rising comedian Ahmed Helmi and his wife gifted actress Mona Zaki, actresses Menna Shalabi and Laila Elwi. The party was made even more thrilling as Nubian singer Mohamed Mounir and pop stars Sherine, Ali El-Haggar and Angham paid their respects in song. And we have one more reason to celebrate as a gorgeous Weekly staff member ties the knot! Our Features Editor Dena Rashed married architect Ahmed El-Tohami at the Air Force House. The wedding gathered many members of staff, who showed off their dance moves. The bride was delighted to see her fellow colleagues show up early to attend the zaffa and celebrate the special day with her. Among the colleagues who joined the celebration were Riham Adel, Amira El-Noshokaty, Amany Abdel-Moneim, Gamal Nkrumah, Rasha Saad, Nevine El-Aref, Rasha Sadek, Soha Hesham, Khaled El-Ghamri, Shaden Shehab, Sherine Abdel-Razek, Sherine Bahaa, Jailan Halawi, Serene Assir, Mohamed El-Sayed, Enjy El-Naggar, ex- Weekly staff member and BBC Arabic reporter Mustafa El-Minshawi and photographer Khaled El-Fiqi. The Layout department did not miss the wedding either, with its head Samir Sobhi, Hani Mustafa, Nader Habib and Nesmahar Sayed attending. The couple flew to Greece, Mykonos Island for their honeymoon. photo: Ayman Barayez At Al-Ahram Association, Editor-in-Chief of Nisf Al-Donia magazine Afkar El-Kharadli organised a seminar titled "The Social, Political and Economic Empowerment of Women". Keynote speakers were former head of the National Centre of Social Research Soheir Raafat and manager of the Nile Centre for Media at the State of Information Service (SIS) Magdi Mohamed Raafat. Haifaa Wahbi has featured in another summertime concert, but this time at Port Ghaleb in Marsa Alam, Red Sea, before a large number of fans including children, some of who danced with her. In Tunisia, popular Egyptian singer Tamer Hosni featured in a concert as part of a summer festival that was attended by more than 150,000 fans. Chairman of the Breast Cancer Foundation of Egypt (BCFE) Mohamed Shaalan and Joanne McEwan, BCFE research and direct services director, are representing Egypt at the World Cancer Congress organised by the United International Cancer Congress in Geneva, Switzerland from 27 to 31 August. Leading clinicians, practitioners, and government agency and NGO representatives, as well as patient-care providers, advocates, researchers, behavioural scientists and public health experts will discuss a number of topics such as advocacy efforts to raise awareness on breast cancer.
