Primary colours George Bahgory stands underneath one side of the globe in a strangely vegetable universe where figures who made their mark on 2007 float like angels, or demons. The peace dove, the olive branch and primary colours: the world of 2007 emerges in all its intensity, heralding an equally intense 2008. photos: Ayman Barayez The National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM), presided over by Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, has celebrated the conclusion of its successful programme, "Think Once and Twice", aimed at promoting respect for other cultures, at a lavish party at the Cairo Opera House. The programme was carried out in cooperation with Italy, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and nine NGOs. Secretary-General of the NCCM Mushira Khattab lauded the programme for helping to raise awareness of social problems, such as the situation of intellectually disabled children and female circumcision. A documentary was shown during the event that tracked down the programme's activities, including youth participation in the project through seminars and workshops. Among those who attended the event were Italian Ambassador to Egypt Claudio Paccifico, UN Goodwill Ambassador Mahmoud Yassin, head of Special Olympics Egypt Ismail Othman and Khattab. As part of celebrations of the New Year, world-renowned French singer Enrico Macias was in concert at the Cairo InterContinental Hotel. During the event, which was attended by a bevy of French and Egyptian celebrities, Macias expressed his pleasure to support the nomination of Culture Minister Farouk Hosni to the post of UNESCO director- general. The Algerian-born Macias sang some of his most memorable French and Algerian songs, in addition to one he wrote and composed specially for Egypt. Under the auspices of Omani Ambassador to Egypt Abdul-Aziz Al-Hanaai, Oman's Military Attaché Yunis Bin Khamis, held a reception celebrating Oman's Armed Forces Day at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza Hotel. Present were Moroccan Ambassador Mohamed Farag Al-Dokali, the Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Mohamed El-Khamlish, and senior presidency trustee Said Zada. Indian ambassador to Egypt, A Gopinathan, inaugurated last Monday a painting exhibition titled "Glimpses of India". The exhibition has on display the winning works of the "Glimpses of India" competition for Egyptian school children, which was recently organised by the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture. The paintings express the children's thoughts and feelings about India and its culture. Armenian Ambassador to Egypt Rouben Karapetian inaugurated the joint exhibition of Sarkis Tosonian and Hani El-Sherbini at the Armenian Club in downtown Cairo. The display showcases 20 bronze sculpted works by Tosonian and 20 paintings in different sizes by El-Sherbini. In the presence of his grandchildren, the name of late veteran caricaturist Sarokhan was also honoured during the opening. To celebrate the National Day of Bahrain, Ambassador of Bahrain Khalil Ibrahim Al-Zowadi held a reception at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. More than 2,000 guests attended, including senior state officials, writers and public figures, as well as a number of Arab ambassadors, including Omani Ambassador Abdul-Aziz Al-Hanaai, Libyan Ambassador Saleh Al-Derouki, Moroccan Ambassador Mohamed Farag Al-Dokali and Syrian Ambassador Youssef Al-Ahmed. Among the senior officials were Minister of Legal Affairs Moufid Shehab and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. An art exhibition showcasing works by artists from the Bahraini community in Egypt also ran on the sidelines of the event. Ambassador of Qatar Mohamed bin Hamad Al-Khalifa held a reception at the Cairo Conrad Hotel celebrating the National Day of Qatar. It was attended by former prime minister Atef Ebeid, Omani Ambassador Abdul-Aziz Al-Hanaai, Moroccan Ambassador Mohamed Farag Al-Dokali and Ambassador of Saudi Arabia Hesham Al-Nazer. Italian Ambassador to Egypt Claudio Paccifico held a meeting with a number of media figures from different national newspapers at the conference hall of the Italian Trading Centre. Paccifico laid out the plans for 2008 for strengthening ties between Italy and Egypt, including preparations for convening the Italian-Egyptian presidential summit in January and finalising the draft project of the Italian University in Egypt, whose mission is to produce high-level Egyptian engineers and technicians. photo: Sherif Sonbol Last week, the Cairo Opera Company, in conjunction with A Cappella Choir and the Cairo Opera Ballet Company, accompanied by the Cairo Opera Orchestra, conducted by Nader Abbasi, presented Franz Lehàr 's Viennese operetta The Merry Widow in Arabic. The three-act operetta directed by Abdel-Moneim Kamel was performed at the Cairo Opera House's Main Hall. Congratulations! Nihad Youssef, assistant lecturer at Helwan University's Accounting Department was awarded a PhD in accounting. The title of her thesis was: "A proposed framework for target costing system as a tool of supporting managerial decisions: a theoretical and empirical study". The discussion and judgement committee was made up of professor Mustafa Bahgat Abdel-Motaal, professor of accounting at the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration, Helwan University, Ahmed El-Sayed, professor of accounting, Sanaa Badran, professor of auditing, Faculty of Commerce, Banha University and Ibrahim Farid, professor of accounting. Youssef 's research is instrumental for large companies looking to maintain their production quality. Among the participants at the discussion were Rashad Abdel-Latif, vice- president of Helwan University, and Rasmy Rostom, professor of economics at the National Research Centre.
