photo: Sherif Sonbol A tiger or a cat? The artistic lens of Sherif Sonbol spotted this baladi cat on the street. The story behind this I-am-ready-to-attack look is rather quite simple; she looked Sonbol in the eye to scare him off her little kittens. Congratulations! Menna, the daughter of our former colleague the late Hamdi Saad El-Din -- granddaughter of our very own Culture columnist, undoubtedly our great blessing, Mursi Saad El-Din --has tied the knot with Mohamed, the son of businessman Mustafa Sabri. The wedding took place at the groom's villa in Wadi Al-Nakheel; movie star Hussein Fahmi and many other figures were present. Our late colleague Hamdi, once the Features page editor, breathed efficiency and joy into the office. To mark the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan's Independence Day, the Jordanian Ambassador Omar Al-Refaie held a reception at the Cleopatra Hall in the Semiramis Hotel. Present were the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, Minister of State for Parliamentary and Legal Affairs Mofied Shehab, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates Ahmed Al - Zoabi, Ambassador of Bahrain Khalil Al-Zowadi, Ambassador of Palestine Monzer El-Rahbani, the political adviser to the president Osama El-Baz and actors Samir Sabri, Simon, Sameh El-Sereiti and Ahmed Abdel-Wares. Last week, the American University in Cairo (AUC) held a memorial service for the late professor Archie Mafeje, who taught sociology at AUC for many years. Present were Mafeje 's widow Shahida El-Baz, his daughter Dana and a number of academics, family, friends and associates, including Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Al-Ahram Weekly Mona Anis and International page editor Gamal Nkrumah. On 27 May, the Alliance for Arab Women (AAW) launched a programme to combat violence, particularly among youth. The project, supported by the UK government's Global Opportunities Fund, will run for two years in two areas in Giza. The programme was inaugurated by Director of the AAW Hoda Badran, British Ambassador Sir Derek Plumbly and Giza Governor Fathi Saad. "We ran a similar programme last year in Minya," Badran said. "Since we started the project, the statistics show that the incidence of violent and drug-related crimes in those areas has gone down." photos: Ayman Barayez The head of the General Egyptian Book Organisation Nasser El-Ansari handed out the Mohamed Taymour awards for creativity in theatre. The first prize went to the Moroccan Youssef El-Rihani for his story Coming from the South, the second to Syrian conductor Nadia Ahmed Ali and the third prize to Mohamed Abdel-Rassoul from Egypt. Many Al-Ahram writers attended: Chief Editor of Al-Ahram Hebdo and head of the Arab Writers Union Mohamed Salmawy, Chief Editor of Al-Beit magazine Silvia El-Naqadi and Chief Editor of Nisf Al-Donia magazine Afkar El-Kharadli ; the Al-Hanager Art Centre director Hoda Wasfi and film critic Rafiq El-Saban were among the attendees. The Kuwait Media Centre, presided over by Mohamed Al-Qadaa, organised an open discussion at the Cairo Opera House on the influence of Kuwait on Arab culture. Speakers included writer Suleiman El-Khozafi and Helwan University literature professor Mohamed Hassan Abdallah. The Kuwaiti Ambassador Ahmed Khaled Al-Kelib was also present. Under the banner Music Matbakh (Kitchen), a dozen performers from six countries in the Middle East and North Africa have spent three weeks working with British musicians on a programme of performances and recordings. Jamming sessions will be filmed, while an interactive website enables fans worldwide to keep up with work in progress. Through partnership between musicians from different traditions, Music Matbakh hopes to foster intercultural awareness. Participants include both popular and traditional performers, virtuoso instrumentalists, singers, percussionists and electronic wizards working with musical director Justin Adams, who has been involved with British Council projects in Syria and Tunisia. The British musicians involved include the drummer Leo Taylor, Nitin Sawhney and Andrew McCormack. The Arab musicians arrived in Britain this month and have spent every day since working. After leaving Britain on 27 May, Music Matbakh will stop off for a concert in Casablanca, with subsequent performances and film screenings to take place in Amman, Beirut, Cairo, Damascus and Tunis with the aim of sharing the creative learning experience. The band should be performing in Cairo in July and August.
