Among Egypt s stars of the screen, none has enjoyed the combination of artistic capabilities that Naima Akef embodied; she could act, sing, dance, and she was a skilled vaudevillian performer. The cinematic legacy she left behind bears witness to this singularity. Akef was born on 7 October in 1929 in the city of Tanta, in the Nile Delta. Her father was the owner of the famous Akef Circus, which toured during religious festivals and popular celebrations.

An Egyptian archaeological mission working at the Tell El-Kedwa site in North Sinai has uncovered the ruins of the northeastern and southeastern towers of a military fortress from ancient Egypt s 26th Dynasty. The fortress is built of mud brick, and was uncovered during excavation work carried out by an Egyptian mission as part of the Sinai development project.

Five Air Sinai flights carrying 800 Coptic pilgrims headed to Jerusalem on Monday to celebrate Easter, officials from the Cairo International Airport told Egypt Today on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. Egypt has built an air bridge to transport elder Coptic Christians, who are allowed to perform pilgrimage in Jerusalem during the Holy Week, the week before Easter, starting March 30 to April 7. Air Sinai company is operating 26 flights from Cairo International Airport to Israeli Ben Gurion Airport to transport about 4,700 Christians this year. Since 1979, after signing a peace treaty with Israel, late Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria banned Christians from traveling to Israel “unless it is with Muslims when it [Jerusalem] is liberated.”

Famed American rapper Micheal Ray Stevenson, known as Tyga, paid a visit to Egypt during which he hit the stage at El Gouna Beach Polo’s After Party. The 29-year-old Tyga posted photos on his verified Instagram account featuring himself in front of Egypt’s Great Pyramids and the Sphinx in Giza.

Ramadan means taraweeh prayers (evening prayers). It means a family gathering for a meal. It means the maghreb call for prayers on television. It means the sound of a cannon [a signal for Muslims to break their fast]. It means children playing football at night. It means sohour [the meal Muslims eat before they start fasting]. It means fajr prayers [prayers before dawn]. It means sweets like konafa. It means Ramadan decorations in the streets. It means the lanterns that light up the universe.” This is how Ramadan, the holy month in which Muslims fast during the daytime hours, is described on the Ramadan Betaa Zaman (Ramadan of the Past) Website that depicts features of Ramadan in the past and posts images of them.

You might be wondering whether the food you eat during Ramadan meets your body s nutritional needs. Furthermore, fasting for long daylight hours might prompt you to experience headaches, dizziness, dehydration, tiredness, trouble with concentration and more. These mild symptoms show up due to the consumption of an imbalanced diet during iftar and suhoor meals. We should thus make healthy nutrition a priority and be mindful of the nutritional value of the foods we eat during these meals. We have talked with nutritionist Mona Radamis about the unhealthy habits that we might be unconsciously following. She offers tips on how we can healthily enjoy the holy month by following substantial dietary recommendations.

Former Al-Ahram Weekly managing editor, acting editor, and founder of Ahram Online was an editor who never conformed and a beacon to light the way It is impossible for any of the senior staff of Al-Ahram Weekly today to remember the day before Hani Shukrallah joined the paper. Hani was first seen in the corridors of the fourth floor of the Al-Ahram building in Cairo one fine summer s day with his life-long friend and at the time Weekly opinion editor Mona Anis a little over a year after the first edition of the newspaper appeared in February 1991.

An official statement by Egypt’s Tourism Ministry on Friday announced that Egypt will partner with CNN to promote Egyptian tourism that does not rely on stereotypes. The partnership comes as a part of the reform program led by Tourism Minister Rania al-Mashat and tailored to deliver an up-t- date as well as idiosyncratic depiction of Egypt’s touristic spots.

Nature is in more trouble now than at any other time in human history, with extinction looming over 1 million species of plants and animals, scientists said Monday in the United Nations’ first comprehensive report on biodiversity. It’s all because of humans, but it’s not too late to fix the problem, the report said. Species loss is accelerating to a rate tens or hundreds of times faster than in the past, the report said. More than half a million species on land “have insufficient habitat for long-term survival” and are likely to go extinct, many within decades, unless their habitats are restored. The oceans are not any better off.

Leonardo da Vinci may have suffered traumatic nerve damage that left him with a “claw hand”, impairing his ability to paint in later life, a new study said. The damage could have been the result of a fainting episode, according to Italian research published Friday in the British Royal Society of Medicine journal.

Arica, Chile (CNN) — The first humans known to have mummified their dead did so in a rather improbable spot: the driest place on Earth. The Chinchorro people settled in coastal bays of the Atacama Desert, in what is present-day Chile, around 7,000 BC and developed a technique for mummification around 5,000 BC.

The newly restored colossus of King Ramses II at Luxor Temple has been placed in its original location according to the original layout of the Temple American Egyptologist Ray Johnson, a specialist at Luxor Temple who restored the colossus in collaboration with Egyptians counterparts, says that the statue has been placed in its correct location and has the right body pose.

The 54th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) – to be held between 28 June and 6 July in Karlovy Vary, a spa town in the west Bohemia region of the Czech Republic – will honor late iconic Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine (1926-2008). The special tribute will include a large retrospective of 11 re-mastered films consisting of lesser-known early works as well as established classics, such as Cairo Station (1958), Saladin (1963), The Return of the Prodigal Son (1976), and Alexandria...Why? (1978), among others.

Up to one million species face extinction due to human influence, according to a draft UN report obtained by AFP that painstakingly catalogues how humanity has undermined the natural resources upon which its very survival depends. The accelerating loss of clean air, drinkable water, CO2-absorbing forests, pollinating insects, protein-rich fish and storm-blocking mangroves — to name but a few of the dwindling services rendered by Nature — poses no less of a threat than climate change, says the report, set to be unveiled May 6.

An Egyptian-Italian archaeological mission working at the Aga Khan Mausoleum area in Aswan has discovered a rock-cut tomb dating back to the late Pharaonic Graeco-Roman period. Mostafa Waziri, the general secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, explains that the mission found inside the tomb parts of a painted wooden coffin.

Lebanese actor Nicolas Mouawad is preparing for his first experience in international cinema wherein he will play the main role in the movie “His Only Son”, embodying the life of the Prophet Abraham. The movie is written and directed by David Helling. Mouawad is to travel to Los Angeles in June to shoot scenes of his film, which is due in cinemas by the end of this year. The producer of the film revealed a poster showing Mouawad outfitted as the Prophet Abraham.

Alexandria s Geothe-Institut will run its annual film week from April 18 until April 23, presenting a repertoire of German contemporary feature films and a wide-ranging collection of Arabic films to be viewed at premiers and regular screenings, according to the institute s official Facebook page. The institute announced a closing program of short films to be screened as part of the “Shubbak El Fann – Alexandria” (Window of Art) initiative. The program includes seven diverse films by Egyptian filmmakers. The majority of these films will be screened for the first time.

Nearly 300 people have been arrested in ongoing climate change protests in London that brought parts of the British capital to a standstill, police said Tuesday. Demonstrators began blocking off a bridge and major central road junctions on Monday at the start of a civil disobedience campaign that also saw action in other parts of Europe.

Gardeners trying to lure pollinators to their landscape would be wise to mimic nature and plant wildflowers. The attractive perennials tolerate harsh climates, seldom need fertilizing and resist most diseases and insect pests. Wildflowers are durable, too, requiring little or no irrigation once established. “They bloom early and establish nicely to make a very natural colony,” said Barry Glick, owner of Sunshine Farm and Gardens in Renick, West Virginia.