Construction chaos Sick of being stuck in a car in the seemingly endless city traffic jams, Sherif Sonbol decided to snap an overview shot of Cairo, but, alas, he captured a somewhat messy scene of minarets and crosses intermingled with thousands of haphazardly designed buildings. photos: Ayman Barayez Al-Shorouq Publishing House hosted a cultural evening and dinner at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on Monday in honour of novelist Bahaa Taher, who won the International Award for Arabic Fiction last month. Sunset Oasis, Taher 's award winning novel is published by Al-Shorouq. Guests received by Ibrahim El-Moallim, head of Al-Shorouq, included chairman of GEBO Nasser El-Ansari, head of the Arab Writers Union Mohamed Salmawy, literary critic Salah Fadl, novelist Sahar El-Moguie and scriptwriter Belal Fadl among many other distinguished literati and journalists. The cultural evening was presented by veteran broadcaster Abdel-Wahab Qatiya. Maye Erbel, spouse of German Ambassador to Egypt Bernd Erbel, held her monthly cultural salon at their residence. The unique operatic voice of soprano Hanan El-Guindi singing world-renowned works accompanied by Berlin-based pianist Yasser Mukhtar was the event's main feature. Among the bevy of high-profile figures who attended the salon were spouse of secretary-general of the Arab League Laila Moussa, spouse of minister of foreign affairs Laila Abul-Gheit and spouse of minister of communications and information technology Iman Azab. Also present were Nisf Al-Donia magazine Editor-in- Chief Afkar El-Kharadli, president of the International Union of Muslim-Christian-Jewish Dialogue Peace Education, Ali El-Samman, artist Farid Fadel and actresses Ragaa El-Geddawi and Mona Zaki. Last week witnessed a number of celebrations of Orphan's Day, with the first major event held at the Arab League headquarters under the auspices of Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. Among the event's attendees were Minister of Social Solidarity Ali Meselhi, Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, head of Dar Al-Orman Association Hossam El-Qabani, actresses Madiha Youssri, Laila Elwi and Athar El-Hakim, comedian Said Saleh, as well as media figures Tarek Allam and Ahmed Shobeir. At the Mubarak Library another event was organised that was attended by aspiring actresses Menna Shalabi, Nahla Salama, Hanan Tork, as well as singers Simone and Souma from Tunisia, who were all there to share the day with the orphans invited. Hoda Shaarawi's Association held a major event attended by nearly 2,000 orphans, as well as Ragaa Mansour, Nabila Ebeid and Hassan Rateb, Al-Ahram back-page editor Mona Ragab, in addition to members of charity associations, such as Samia Abul-Fotouh and Bahiya Youssef. � The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) represented in Egypt by Ahmed El-Shekhawi granted Director of the Cairo Opera House Abdel-Moneim Kamel a certificate of recognition for the effective role played by the opera in supporting the World Food Day and the TeleFood campaign held in Egypt under the slogan "The Right to Eat". The honorary party was attended by the coordinator of the TeleFood programme in the Near East and South Africa Ismail Abu Zeid and supervisor of the Academy of Arts in Rome, Ezzeddin Kamel. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) represented in Egypt by Ahmed El-Shekhawi granted Director of the Cairo Opera House Abdel-Moneim Kamel a certificate of recognition for the effective role played by the opera in supporting the World Food Day and the TeleFood campaign held in Egypt under the slogan "The Right to Eat". The honorary party was attended by the coordinator of the TeleFood programme in the Near East and South Africa Ismail Abu Zeid and supervisor of the Academy of Arts in Rome, Ezzeddin Kamel. Italian Ambassador to Egypt Claudio Pacifico invited a number of Egyptian journalists and Italian reporters in Egypt to breakfast at his residence a few days ago to brief them about the visit of Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and Italian Minister of International Trade Emma Bonino to Egypt. Bonino had inaugurated the "Economic Forum: Egypt, Italy" along with Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza. All means of cooperation between both countries in the fields of economy, culture, archaeology and environment were also tackled. At a large ceremony held at the Press Syndicate, Al-Ahram colleague Marwa Tawfiq from the diplomatic department won first prize for best report for 2007 from the Foreign Affairs Reporters Union. She received the award for her interview with President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe. Dina Kamel won the fifth prize and Asmaa El-Husseini was given a prize of recognition for her specialisation in Sudanese political affairs. The prizes were handed over by chairman of the Press Syndicate, Makram Mohamed Ahmed, as well as head of the union Sameh Abdallah. Angolan Ambassador to Egypt Hendrik Neto, Chad Ambassador Mahmoud Agy and a number of journalists were also present. The talented eight-year-old Adam Mohamed El-Sayed, who attends the International Canadian School (CISE), held his first solo exhibition at a restaurant in Zamalek. The exhibition showcases 28 pastel and water-colour paintings of different sizes. The exhibition was organised by his mother, fashion designer Salwa El-Mesbahi, and was attended by artist Magd El-Segini and a number of family friends. On 13 April, friends of Al-Ahram Weekly 's very own music critic Amal Choucri Catta, who passed away last month, are holding a memorial service at the chapel of the German School in Bab Al-Louk at 9am. "New Thinking about Environmental Deterioration" is the theme of a lecture due to be delivered by environment expert Mustafa Kamal Tolba at AUC's Oriental Hall at 6.30pm on 16 April. The lecture is organised by MP and AUC professor Mona Makram Ebeid. Veteran Al-Ahram columnist Salaheddin Hafez will be the commentator. photo: Mohamed Wassim Twenty bubbly students from the British Columbia Canadian International School (BCCIS) and their three intrepid teachers got a first-hand look at the premises of Al-Ahram on Tuesday. The 13-16 year olds were given a tour of the establishment, followed by an informative and entertaining question and answer session with reporters of Al-Ahram Weekly which evidenced an inquisitive journalistic mind among many of the youngsters.
