By Madame Sosostris * My darlings, the lecture delivered by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan at Ewart Hall, the American University in Cairo (AUC), was a most moving occasion. Annan paid tribute to Nadia Younes, the late Egyptian diplomat and assistant UN secretary-general for General Assembly and Conference Affairs who was tragically killed in Iraq in 2003. * Nadia illuminated people's lives through her warmth, wit and spirit. There was never anything affected about Nadia, honesty was probably her most defining characteristic," Annan told a packed audience. I, for one, could not hold back my tears. * Last Monday, the dashing Italian Ambassador in Egypt Antonio Badini presided over celebrations marking the Italian Armed Forces Day. The highlight of the grand occasion was the award bestowed on the Minister of Environment Maged George. He was granted the important decoration of the Grand Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic for his advancement of Egyptian-Italian relations and his tireless efforts to improve the environment. The French Councillor for Culture and Cooperation and Director of the French Cultural Centre Denis Louche held a party at his exquisite residence in honour of the new French Ambassador in Egypt Philippe Coste. A galaxy of dignitaries attended. Amongst them were film director Youssef Chahine ; Al-Ahram Hebdo 's Editor-in-Chief Mohamed Salmawi ; President of the French University in Cairo Tahani Omar ; actor- cum-opera singer Hassan Kami ; President of the Egyptian General Authority for Books Nasser El-Ansari and First Undersecretary for Foreign Cultural Relations Cherif El - Shoubashy. The evening was a memorable one my dears. * The Ambassador of Morocco to Cairo Mohamed Farag Al - Dokali held a party at his residence on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr. The party was attended by a galaxy of stars amongst them singers Samira Said and Laila Ghufran -- both Moroccan-born. * Congratulations! Our diligent colleague at Al-Ahram Weekly Gihan Shahine and Engineer Sherif Fahmi tied the knot at Al-Azhar premises. Gihan 's parents Sanaa and Salah Shahine, former chairman of Engineering Physics and Mathematics Department, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University, as well as Sherif 's mother Soheir couldn't hold the tears of joy. Among Gihan 's Weekly colleagues who shared her this happy day were Shahira Ismail ; Nesmahar Sayed ; Inas Ahmed ; Amira El-Nakeeb ; Ghada Abd El-Kader ; Amany Abdel-Moneim ; Jailan Halawi ; Rania Khallaf ; Nashwa Abdel-Tawab ; Sahar El-Bahr ; and Magda Fayez. * The premiere of the movie Oreed Kholaan (I Want a Divorce) took place at the InterContinental Citystars cinema last week. The movie starring rising star Hala Shiha ; actor Ashraf Abdel-Baqi ; and budding talent Sherif Ramzi attended the premiere. Also in attendance were producer Mohamed El-Adl, and director Mohamed El-Nagar. * Happy Eid, my lovelies! Last Thursday, my dynamic colleague Ghada Abd El-kader attended a thrilling musical concert featuring West Al-Balad band at El-Sawy Culture Centre. The band consists of eight brilliant singers: Adham El-Said ; Hani Adel ; Ahmed Omran ; Mohamed Gamaleddin ; Ismail Fawzi ; Asaad Nessim ; Ehab Abel-Hamid and Ahmed Omar. The centre was packed with thousands of young fans fascinated by West Al-Balad and their contemporary Egyptian music. * I have great faith in the youth, my friends. On 8 November, students at the American University in Cairo (AUC), celebrated the opening ceremony of the fourth International Conference on Information Technology (IT). The opening ceremony was held at Ewart Memorial Hall. The four-day conference included students from various universities who discussed the applications of IT in various fields such as e- business, security, military studies and arts. Watching the participants was such an inspiration my darlings. � And, I also have great faith in the children of this country. Wonderful news, my sweeties, all our talented and gifted Egyptian children are invited to participate in Shankar's International Children's Competition 2006 in India. Our little participants, born at least on or after January 1990, are free to write or draw in any subject, as long as it is attached with a verification document from either their parents or his or her school that says that the work presented is not copied from any source. Participants are free to use any kind of tools for drawing and colouring. As for the writing competition all the presented work -- short stories, plays, poetry or articles -- should be written in English, my darlings. Those who are interested should send their work directly to the Indian Culture Centre in Cairo, Downtown. The deadline is 30 November. So be quick and best of luck, my sweeties.
