Cairo Runners is the leading running community in Egypt, and was one of the earliest pioneers in encouraging Egyptians to adopt a healthier, more energetic lifestyle, taking to the streets for early runs each Friday and choosing different locations through the capital each time. On 25 October, they are collaborating with another established running community, Alexandria Runners, to host the first full marathon in Alexandria. Runs will include five types, giving everybody alternatives to suit their preference: The 42km full marathon, the 21km half marathon, followed by the Fun Run, Family Run, and finally their latest addition; the Para Race. Cairo Runners take pride in their expansion. At the beginning of the initiative years ago, the participants were around 70, but the number of participants increased with the success of each event. Cairo Runners outreach has almost reached 500,000 on Facebook, the average numbers of runners per weekly run is around 3,000, while the participants in the annual half marathon exceed 7,000.

The Egyptian TV Channel “ON E” announced that the Egyptian movie “Al-Mamr” (The Passage; 2019) will play on the channel October 6 and 12 for the anniversary of the 1973 October war. The movie will be aired on the TV Channel DMC on October 11 and 15. The movie stars some of the biggest names in Egyptian cinema including Ahmed Ezz, Ahmed Rizk, Eyad Nassar, Hend Sabri, Ahmed Falawkas, Ahmed Salah Hosny, Sherif Mounir, Mohamed Farag, Mohammad al-Sharnoubi, Mohamed Goma, Mahmoud Hafez, Amer Salah Eldin, Asmaa Abulyazeid, Enaam Salousa, and Hagag Abdel Azim. The movie recounts the events following the Six-Day War in June, 1967 after Egypt lost Sinai to Israel. The War of Attrition began soon thereafter. As the story goes, Major Nour and his Special Forces Shock troop were assigned a reprisal raid to destroy the largest Israeli camp in central Sinai with the aid of the heroic Sinai tribesmen. The movie is written and directed by Sherif Arafa and features music by Omar Khairat. The movie raked in almost LE30 million in revenue in the first 12 days of its launch during Eid al-Fitr. The film was released on June 4. The October war was fought by number of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria against Israel from October 6 to 25, 1973.

Two paintings by famed Egyptian artist Mahmoud Said, Apres la Pluie (“After the Rain”) and Eid Al-Adha, will go up for auction at Sotheby s in London on 22 October. According to Sotheby s, the 20th century art/Middle East auction will include a total of 83 works representing the rarest and most sought-after artists from the modern era to the contemporary period. Other artists featured include Maher Raif (Egypt), Georges Hanna Sabbagh (Egypt/France), Bahman Mohasses (Iran), Hassan Hajjaj (Morocco), Marcos Grigorian (Iran/Armenia), Manoucher Yektai (Iran/USA), Sohrab Sepehri (Iran), Dana Awartani (Palestine/Saudi Arabia), Etel Adnan (Lebanon/USA), and Saloua Radoua Choucair (Lebanon), among others. Said s oil on canvas Apres la Pluie (1936, 75 by 57.5cm) is being submitted for auction by a prestigious private collection, according to Sotheby s website. The painting is expected to sell for an estimate of £300,000 - £400,000. The oil on board Eid Al-Adha (c.1917, 14 by 24cm) is expected to sell for £24,000 - £35,000. Said (1897-1964) is often described as the father of modern Egyptian painting. Several of his works are still in Egypt, while others are abroad. In October 2010, Said s famed Whirling Dervishes sold for $2,546,500 at Christie s against a pre-sale estimate of $300,000-$400,000, setting a world record for the sale of a painting from a Middle East artist. His Petite fille d Assiout, painted by Said in 1945, was sold to a private collector for $650,000 by Christie s in 2011, against a pre-sale estimate of $250,000-300,000.

Four artists supported by Cairo s Mashrabia Gallery — Adel El Siwi, Carmine Cartolano (QarmQart), Heba Abu El Ella and Mustafa El Husseiny — will exhibit their works during the upcoming 1-54 African Contemporary Art Fair set to take place 3-6 October in London. According to the event organisers, the 1-54 is the first leading international art fair dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. The fairs take place on an annual basis in London (since 2012), New York (since 2015) and Marrakech (since 2018). The fair s name indicates the 54 African countries represented by the exhibition in an attempt to shed light on the richness of African cultures and create a dynamic dialogue and exchange between them. Born in 1952, Adel El-Siwi is one of the leading Egyptian artists of his generation. At the fair, he will showcase his paintings that tackle the subject of faces, which have become his trademark since the 1990s. “El-Siwi s elongated faces, which seem to be growing out from the surfaces, are the amalgamation of a three-pronged influence: the Pharaonic face, the African mask, and the Fayum mummy portraits. This gives form to an array of different personalities: amongst pensive moods and suggestive looks, some faces emanate allure and charisma, others intimidate, others reveal a subtle capacity of seduction,” the Mashrabia Gallery explains on its website. El-Siwi has exhibited his works in Egypt and internationally, in both solo shows and exhibitions of renowned art. Cairo-based Carmine Cartolano, aka Qarm Qart, was born in 1972 in Buonabitacolo (Salerno). He studied Arabic and Persian at Istituto Universitario Orientale in Naples. During the fair, Qarm Qart will present his series of tarboushes adorned with creative elements, a collection inspired by Naguib Mahfouz s Cairo Trilogy. The tarboushes offer "multiple layers of meaning in the interpretation of Egyptian pasts and presents. The tarboush as male headgear is now an historical relic. But what about its symbolic force of national and patriarchal privilege? The artist makes us ponder whether this privilege has gone with the tarboush itself as he ushers us into disquieting yet intriguing spaces," Mashrabia s website reads. Cairo-based visual artist Mustafa Ali Saad (aka El-Husseiny) is considered one of the one of the most imaginative emerging artists of the contemporary Egyptian art scene with Mashrabia Gallery describing his works as "magical, symbolic, ironic and macabre." “El-Husseiny boldly employs media such as paper paste, acrylic, and collage to show what he came across during his walks through the cemetery in search of a way to reconnect with his late father. El-Husseiny emulates the digging up of a past made of mysterious signs and re-conceptualises his personal research into an all-pervasive memento mori," reads the gallery website. The youngest of the four artists to participate in the fair, Heba Abu El-Ella (born 1993), focuses on visual art and light design. During the fair, Abu El-Ella will exhibit part of her project in which she explores the reality and metaphor of the boat. Soaked in African and Pharaonic history and heritage, the installation is the artist s personal investigation into her roots and the environment in which she has developed. The boat carries multiple meanings for Abu El-Ella: in ancient Egypt it represents trade and transportation, death and burial, and the afterlife and belief. "Heba Abu El-Ella s evocative boat represents at the same time a place inside oneself, where lots of forgotten memories, worries, fears and wishes lie, and a place where the thread of history develops and recreates places that can t be found in everyday life anymore," reads the gallery website. With its four artists, Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art will showcase the works at the South Wing of Somerset House, Booth S3.

Director Martin Scorsese unveiled his new film “The Irishman” Friday, kicking off the New York film festival with the ambitious Netflix movie that was more than a decade in the making. The star-studded gangster epic had a budget of $160 million, using 117 different filming locations to shoot 309 scenes which together add up to a run time of 3 hours 29 minutes. Scorsese and actor Robert De Niro started planning the film adaptation of Charles Brandt s book “I Heard You Paint Houses” 12 years ago. “Things got in the way,” Scorsese told journalists Friday after the world premiere screening. “We couldn t get backing — there was no way — for years,” he added. “I m just happy we all got finally to do it because it did take a long time,” said De Niro. “We were lucky to get people to put up the money.” After several studios declined the project, it took Netflix s deep pockets to get the green light for “The Irishman” — the nickname of Frank Sheeran, whose account of real-life events forms the basis of the book and film. Former henchman Sheeran (played by De Niro) claimed to have killed more than 25 people on the orders of mafia boss Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) and truck driver union leader Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). The film uses a new technology developed by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) — the effects firm created by George Lucas — to digitally “de-age” actors on screen. De Niro, 76, is able to play Sheeran across several decades, from a 34-year-old in 1955 to his 2003 death aged 83. Scorsese said it was necessary to “come up with a solution for a de-aging that wouldn t interfere with Bob and Joe and Al.” “Talking to each other with helmets on or tennis balls in their faces — they were not going to do it,” he said. ILM eventually succeeded in developing technology which did not require fitting the actors with any devices. After an unsettling first few minutes the special effects work well, with Pacino also shedding multiple decades in some scenes. De Niro s first reaction to when he saw his younger digital self? “I could extend my career another 30 years,” he joked. Murder and morality The movie will be released in a limited number of theaters in the United States on November 1, before it appears on Netflix from November 27. With “The Irishman” Scorsese returns to the gangster movie genre, following “Goodfellas,” “Casino” and “The Departed.” But this film adheres more closely to real-life facts and characters. It also sets a slower, calmer pace than those earlier films, taking a step back as Sheeran, as an old man, takes stock of his life in a series of flashbacks and examines the morality of each event. The movie also revolves around a key episode of his relationship with Hoffa, in 1975. “He finds himself at the most important point of his life in a moral conflict because he s basically a good man,” said Scorsese. The director also makes greater use of dialogue, in particular humor, illuminating scenes between acting giants De Niro and Pacino. Scorsese said he wanted to evoke the atmosphere of the 1960s as a violent time when it seemed like “everybody was getting shot,” starting with President John F. Kennedy. Seemingly tracing a link from those events to the current day, the director described “the true dark forces that are in our nation.” “It doesn t happen maybe with one gunshot,” said Scorsese cryptically. “It happens on every level incrementally and before you know it, it s over.”

The Gouna Film Festival hosted a delightful music night on Wednesday entitled Cinema in Concert at the Marina Theatre in collaboration with the US embassy in Egypt. The concert paid homage to the unforgettable pieces of music in film, conducted by Ahmed El-Saedi, the founder and chairman of the Egyptian Philharmonic Society, with soloists Janet Sung (Violin), Federico Mondelci (Saxophone), Victoria Kapralova (Violoncello) with the vocal performance of Amina Khairat. Cinema in Concert was divided into two sections; Hits of Hollywood and Homage à Nino Rota, celebrating the works of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti.

The Gouna Film Festival s (GFF) administration on Wednesday signed a cooperation protocol with the Facebook company to use Facebook and Instagram s live broadcast studio to develop the festival s web content and share main events to its followers. The head of the Media Partnerships Company in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey, Fares Aqad, said that the festival has become notorious and important through the Arab world, upgrading its rank among other competitive festivals annually. Aqad added that the festival is a global platform for creativity and inspiration in the art and entertainment fields, and that Facebook and Instagram administrators will participate at sharing the festival s videos and posts at unprecedented rates. Content writers are a major part of the Facebook entity, he continued, especially in the Middle East and North Africa region as the video viewing rates constantly rise on Facebook. Aqad noted that the festival will provide the most important tools to help content writers create impressive digital videos. He explained that “Over the next three years, the biggest goal of our company will be to increase video content on our products. We have seen stories on Instagram and Status on WhatsApp growing rapidly, each with more than 300 million active users per day, in addition to watching video content.” The GFF s third round kicked off on September 19, running until September 27 in al-Gouna s Marina Theater, witnessing the participation of stars and filmmakers from various countries, the festival s administration said. The GFF will give the festival s Creative Achievement Award to Palestinian director and producer Mai al-Masri, and will also commemorate the Egyptian-Canadian actor Mena Massoud.

The Cervantes Institute in Cairo on Wednesday will host the “Diego and Frida: A smile in the Middle of the Way” exhibition, running until October 25 in cooperation with Mexican embassy in Cairo. The exhibition consists of 49 black-and-white photographs, featuring special moments in the lives of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, two great Mexican painters of the twentieth century also known for their tumultuous relationship. Kahlo is one of the most prominent artists of the last century due to how her works portray her life, her pain and her fantasy worlds. According to her MoMa profile, she started painting in 1925 in the wake of a devastating bus accident that left her with physical issues for the rest of her life. In spite of her pain, Kahlo would consistently produce work across three decades that expressed her unique relationship to life and pain. Her works were infused with difficult moments in her life, such as her battle with chronic pain and the emotional woes brought on by her relationship with Rivera. According to MoMa.org, Rivera became an an international celebrity in the artworld, fusing cubism and Mexican identity in his paintings. Upon returning to Mexico in 1922, he joined with fellow creatives and officials from the state in to recreate Mexican art following the decade-long Mexican revolution of 1910-1920, which left over a million citizens dead.

(CNN) – “Game of Thrones” capped its epic run with its fourth Emmy as best drama series, entering exclusive company among all-time dramas and equaling its single-year record of a dozen trophies for the 71st Emmy Awards , the TV industry s most prestigious honors. Amazon s “Fleabag” was a major upset winner for best comedy, picking up four awards in all, including acting and writing honors for its star, Phoebe Waller-Bridge. “Well this is just getting ridiculous,” Waller-Bridge said, garnering laughs. Not all fans were thrilled with “Thrones ” six-episode final season, but with its fourth Emmy, author George R.R. Martin s fantasy tale ties past drama repeat winners “Hill Street Blues,” “L.A. Law,” “The West Wing” and “Mad Men.” The two additional awards on Sunday bring its all-time total to 59, a record for any program, after a record number of nominations in its swan-song year. The Emmys smiled on familiar faces and but stood out with a surprising number of newcomers, on a historic night that saw a breakthrough win for “Pose” star Billy Porter — and several speeches citing LGBTQ and women s rights. Amazon delivered in the comedy categories, with five early prizes for the second-year series “Fleabag” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” In terms of the familiar, “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” became a four-peat winner in the variety talk balloting, in much the way “The Daily Show” owned that category for a decade. Peter Dinklage also walked away with his fourth supporting actor Emmy for “Thrones.” Still, all that glittered was not old, in a night that spread the wealth among networks and series, reflecting the breadth and depth of the current TV landscape. Voters also recognized first-time nominees like Jodie Comer for BBC America s “Killing Eve,” “Ozark s” Julia Garner and Jharrel Jerome for the limited series “When They See Us.” Jerome overcame a field filled with veterans and Oscar winners for the fact-based Netflix limited series “When They See Us,” writer-director Ava DuVernay s Netflix limited series about the Central Park Five, to whom he dedicated the prize, along with his parents. “Chernobyl” was named best limited series, with additional honors for writing and directing in a loaded category that included “When They See Us” and “Fosse/Verdon,” whose star, Michelle Williams, took lead actress. Accepting for “Chernobyl,” writer-producer Craig Mazin said he hoped the story about the nuclear-plant disaster in 1986 would remind people “of the value of the truth, and the danger of a lie.” It was one of several not-so-subtle political messages woven into the telecast, although President Donald Trump was never overtly mentioned. A relative newcomer, Jerome triumphed against a field of veteran actors and Oscar winners for “When They See Us,” writer-director Ava DuVernay s Netflix limited series about the Central Park Five, to whom he dedicated the prize, along with his parents. Williams, meanwhile, was one of several honorees to speak of female empowerment and hearing women, after winning for her portrayal of actress/dancer Gwen Verdon, in another example of Hollywood having a fondness for Hollywood stories. In her accepting speech, Patricia Arquette — a supporting actress winner for Hulu s “The Act” — teared up speaking about the death of her sister, actress and transgender activist Alexis Arquette, while making a plea for rights and acceptance of transgender people. Waller-Bridge s acting victory deprived Julia Louis-Dreyfus a chance to make Emmy history. A win would have made the “Veep” star the most-honored performer for acting, leaving her tied with Cloris Leachman, with eight in her career. (Louis-Dreyfus has three more awards for producing the show.) “Fleabag” also won the Emmy for directing, while Emmy voters again smiled on the period dramedy “Mrs. Maisel,” which mounted a near-sweep of those awards last year (with “Veep,” notably, sitting out the race). Alex Borstein claimed her second consecutive supporting actress win for the Amazon dramedy, while Tony Shalhoub received his fourth Emmy overall. Bill Hader was a repeat winner as lead actor for HBO s “Barry,” breaking up what was otherwise an Amazon block party. Repeat winners, in fact, dominated the early part of the show, with “RuPaul s Drag Race” running off with the prize for best competition program. Host RuPaul injected the first note of politics into the evening, urging viewers to go register and vote. Once the comedy categories ended, the show quickly conjured several emotional moments, including standing ovations for the casts of “Game of Thrones” and “Veep,” the two long-running HBO series that ended their runs in the spring. Netflix s interactive episode “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch” was honored with best TV movie, topping a field that included HBO s “Deadwood” revival. HBO finished the two-part Emmy process with 34 Emmys — including nine on Sunday night, or a third of those doled out — followed by Netflix, with 27, Amazon — the runner-up in terms of high-profile victories Sunday, with seven — finished with 15, in a night that saw ads for new streaming players, Disney+ and Apple TV+, which will launch in November. In a sign of the times, NBC garnered a pair of awards for “Saturday Night Live,” the only broadcast program to earn an award on Sunday. All told, the four major broadcasters totaled 16 awards this year, mostly in technical areas, as eight networks or streaming services took at least one honor during Sunday s festivities. “Chernobyl” amassed 10 wins, while “Mrs. Maisel” and “Fleabag” finished the season with eight and six, respectively. HBO and Netflix entered Emmy night with 25 and 23 awards, respectively, from the Creative Arts Emmys, which were presented last weekend. Like this year s Oscars, the Emmys were presented without a host, but as usual was presented as a broad celebration of the medium. “Television has never been this damn good,” Bryan Cranston said, in the show s introduction. Fox televised the ceremony, and used the pre-show as a springboard to help promote the return of its musical reality show “The Masked Singer.” Traditionally, ratings dip when the awards play on Fox, coming off what was already record-low tune-in in 2018.

The Egyptian movie “al-Feel al-Azraq 2” (The Blue Elephant – Part 2, 2019) ranked first in Egypt s box office after earning LE100 million total revenue since July 25, rocketing to become the highest-earning Egyptian movie so far. The movie was praised by critics and audiences alike, thanks to its usage of high definition visuals and audio and a professional crew. In the sequel Dr. Yehia marries Lobna and gets assigned a new case from the Eight-West Women s Ward. Soon, he realizes that someone is trying to manipulate his life as well as his family s. In an effort to solve the mysteries haunting him, Yehia turns to the “Blue Elephant” pills. Produced by Synergy Films, the movie stars Karim Abdel Aziz, Nelly Karim, Hind Sabri, Iyad Nassar, Khaled al-Sawy, Sherine Reda and Tarra Emad. The movie s story was originally adapted from an Arabic novel written by the famous Egyptian writer Ahmed Mourad, and directed by Marwan Hamed. “The Blue Elephant” is one of the highest-grossing Egyptian films in the last 10 years. The first film grossed more than LE35 million, and 1.2 million tickets sold during the Eid Al Adha season in 2014, achieving wide acclaim. The first film followed Dr. Yehia as he returned to work in the Abbaseya Mental Health Hospital, after spending five years in voluntary isolation. He works in the sector which examines the mental health of perpetrators, where he encounters an old friend who brings back bitter memories that he tried hard to forget, turning his life upside down as a result.

Egyptian theatre maker Hanaa Abdel-Fattah (1944-2012) will be honoured during the 26th edition of the Cairo International Festival for Contemporary and Experimental Theatre (CIFCET) during its closing ceremony on Thursday 19 September. During the same evening, a number of other artists will also receive the medals of honour. They include actors Sayed Ragab and Samira Abdel-Aziz, critic Abdel-Razik Hussein, director Ahmed Kamal, late director Mohamed Abou El-Soud, and critic Hazem Shehata. Abdel-Fattah dedicated his life to theatre,although he was also known for his appearances in film, television in radio programmes. OF his many activities, which included promoting Polish theatre in Egypt (and vice versa) – through directing plays and the translation of literary works – Abdel-Fattah s involvement in the CIFCET (Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre,or CIFET at the time of its founding) was among his most notable achievements. “The launching of CIFET in 1988 marked the beginning of a new line of activities for Abdel-Fattah, adding to his many roles – as experimental director, theatre promoter, critic and actor – a new one as cultural mediator. From the first edition until the very last in 2010, he was indefatigable in promoting Polish theatre in Egypt, suggesting the invitation of prominent figures as well as translating and moderating their presentations when they arrived. He assisted at workshops conducted by visiting Polish artists, translated Polish plays and important critical and theoretical works on theatre, and wrote illuminating reviews of guest Polish performances," late theatre critic Nehad Selaiha wrote about Abdel-Fattah in her obituary in 2012. Abdel-Fattah was known to Egyptian cinema and radio, which he abandoned upon his travel to Poland to continue his education and where he spent 20 years. He returned to teaching at the Academy of Theatrical Arts in early 1990s, taking the post of professor and dean of the directing department (early 2000s). It was in the last decade of his life that Abdel-Fattah made his return to Egyptian cinemas. Among his numerous roles were those in films such as El-Sefara fi El-Omara (2005), El-Shabah (2007), Cairo Time (2009), among others, as well as television series such as Ayza Atgawez (I want to get married) starring Hend Sabry. He played the role of Professor Badawi in Fair Game (2010) a USA drama directed by Doug Liman Abdel-Fattah passed away on 19 October 2012 in Cairo at the age of 68.

“The Voice: Ahla Sawt” returns on Saturday, September 21 with Lebanese singer Ragheb Alama and Moroccan-Egyptian diva Samira Said joining the show s judging panel for the first time. The show aims to discover talented new singers and propel them into fame. Would-be stars must pass through several stage, where only one competitor can make it through to earn “The Best Voice.” Alama and Said will be joining with two prominent judges; Egyptian singer Mohamed Hamaki and Emirati singer Ahlam. An unexpected surprise for this new season is the reunion between Alama and Ahlam, two stars known for their complicated relationship since their work as judges on “Arab Idol” between 2011 and 2013. The two disagreed often while judging or providing performers with feedback, and eventually Alama suddenly quit Arab Idol with many news outlets blaming his departure on Ahlam. Both stars have commented on their reunion in a press conference held in Beirut on September 15, with Alama denying that Ahlam was behind his exit from Arab Idol. “We may tease each other, but out of love”, he said. “You basically have your own team and none of the other judges can really interfere with what you are doing and cause trouble. That said, Ahlam can always do something to change that. She is creative,” Alama stated during the press conference on Ahlam. Ahlam shot a witty response back to Alama, who he considers a good friend, saying “What did you call me? Oh right, I am creative.” Alama seemed excited for his first comeback after a six-year-hiatus, saying that the performances ahead will surely be impressive. Said expressed deep enthusiasm towards her first experience as a jury member in “The Voice”, and that she knows well what moves her artistically. Hamaki as a jury member from last season s judge panel shared his thoughts on the process, saying “That is hard, because you do get emotionally attached. You are working with young people and it is sometimes very difficult to make those hard decisions. It can affect you at times.” Further modifications have been added to the show s usual rules such as that every jury member will be allowed to select 15 performer instead of 12 like the prior editions.

Scientists think they have found a way to stop the common cold and closely related viruses which can cause paralysis. Instead of trying to attack them directly, the researchers targeted an essential protein inside our cells which the viruses need to replicate. The approach gave "complete protection" in experiments on mice and human lung cells. However, the US-based researchers are not ready for trials in people. The common-cold challenge Tackling the common cold has been a massive problem in medicine. Most colds are caused by rhinoviruses, but there are around 160 different types and they mutate so easily they rapidly become resistant to drugs, or learn to hide from the immune system. This has led to the idea of "host-directed therapy" - essentially making our bodies inhospitable for the cold viruses. An individual virus does not have everything it needs to replicate. Instead, it is dependent on infecting another cell and stealing some of the parts inside. It is why scientists still argue whether viruses are truly alive. A team at Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco, found one of the components which the viruses were dependent upon. Viral dependency Scientists started with human cells and then used gene-editing to turn off instructions inside our DNA one-by-one. These modified cells were then exposed to a range of enteroviruses - this includes the rhinoviruses which cause the common cold, and more dangerous viruses that are closely related to polio and can cause paralysis. All the viruses were unable to replicate inside cells which had the instructions for a protein (called methyltransferase SETD3) switched off. The scientists then created genetically modified mice which were completely unable to produce that protein. "Lacking that gene protected the mice completely from viral infection," associate professor Jan Carette, from Stanford, told the BBC. "These mice would always die [without the mutation], but they survived and we saw a very strong reduction in viral replication and very strong protection." The protein these viruses were dependent upon normally has a role in the intricate "scaffolding" which organises the inside of the body s cells, called the cytoskeleton. The findings, published in the journal Nature Microbiology, showed the genetically modified mice were healthy, despite lacking the protein for their whole lives. When do we get a cure? The plan is not to produce genetically modified humans, but to find a drug which can temporarily suppress the protein, and provide protection. "We have identified a fantastic target that all enteroviruses and rhinoviruses require and depend on. Take that away and the virus really has no chance," said Prof Carette. He added: "This is a really good first step - the second step is to have a chemical that mimics this genetic deletion. "I think development can go relatively quickly." Exactly what role the protein plays in the viral replication is still uncertain, and will require further research. For most people the common cold is more of an inconvenience than a threat to their health, but in asthmatics it can make their symptoms much worse and some of the enteroviruses can causes paralysis if they spread to the brain. Prof Jonathan Ball, a virologist at the University of Nottingham, who was not involved in the work, said the study was "neat" but scientists would need to be certain the approach was safe. "There is increasing interest in developing treatments that target these host proteins, because it can potentially overcome virus mutation - one of the major barriers to developing effective broadly active antivirals. "But of course, viruses are very adaptable and it is conceivable that even a host-targeting treatment might not keep them at bay for long."

Egyptian pianist Eman Shaker and her troupe will perform a concert at the Cairo Opera House on Thursday 20 September, featuring singer Ihab Shawi. "We play different kinds of music and songs in different languages; Classic, Oldies, Jazz, Swing, Tango, Waltz in English, French, Arabic & Greek," reads a description on social media by the event s organisers. Shaker s "friends" include Wleed Allam on violin, Noha Elsaqqa (kanon), Karim Wassef (double bass) and Alexander Grechenko on the drums, Ahmed Gharib (table) and Mohamed El-Gendy (req). Besides Shawi, Sara Atef and Monika Youssef will perform vocals during the concert.

Egypt s first mango festival, “Festivango”, will be held in Cairo s Family Park, Rehab district, offering a wide-ranging variety of foods that all feature mango along with numerous delightful activities on Friday, September 13, according to the festival s Facebook event. The festival s organizers vowed to the participants that they will experience mango in entirely unusual ways. The fruit will be involved in diverse food recipes both sweet and sour. “You will enjoy mango in an amusingly cheerful environment packed with music, excitement, playing and more that you ve never seen,” the description indicated. The page also indicated all the mango types that would be available at the festival in numerous forms including Fons, Taymour, Sedika, Keet, and Naomi, among others. Unfamiliar Asian mango recipes will be introduced in Festivango, particularly the Indian mango, says the Facebook event. “Trying new food with mango, you will know that Konafa with mango is outdated now,” it added. The festival will offer a number of engaging activities including mango tasting services, mango food products vending booths, a market for festival souvenirs, air and water fight games, and face painting services for children. Music performances and a fire show will take place at the festival. Fast food meals will be available. The event will be fully equipped with requirements that enable people with disabilities to enjoy their time at there, as well. There will also be special chairs for elderly people. The event will be suitable for all ages.

Alaa al-Habashi was looking for ingredients for a Ramadan feast when he stumbled on an Ottoman-era mansion being used as a slaughterhouse and butcher s shop in Cairo s historic Islamic district. “I was blindsided by the beauty,” the US-trained architect said of the house which he first saw more than two decades ago. Built of brick and stone, it has a large inner courtyard and a number of rooms with decorative painted wooden ceilings. He struck up a friendship with the butcher, who owned the building, and received a call from him several years later saying a property developer wanted to buy it and tear it down. Determined to save the building, Habashi bought it in 2009, only to be told he could raze it but not restore it. He refused to give up and won the right to restore it in a two-year legal battle. A decade after he bought the building, the restoration is almost complete. His battle was part of a larger fight to save old buildings which some professional restorers and architects fear is being lost because of bureaucracy, official corruption and laws which they say do little to protect Egypt s architectural heritage. “I m not at all optimistic. I believe only 25 percent of the buildings will survive,” said May al-Ibrashy, a restorer who has been working in historic Cairo for about 25 years. Government officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment for this article. The five-square-kilometer (about two-square-mile) historic quarter, which has one of the world s biggest collections of Islamic architecture, has been declared a World Heritage site by the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO. But though its main monuments are not under threat, many houses and smaller buildings are being demolished. Government inspectors, fearing they could be held legally responsible for any problems, have declared many centuries-old buildings in danger of collapse since earthquakes in 1992 and 2005. Many have been demolished and replaced by cement and brick high-rise buildings that critics describe as garish. The demolitions appear at odds with government officials pledges to maintain Cairo s role as Egypt s “cultural, tourism and heritage capital”, despite work on building a new capital east of Cairo to ease pressure on the city of over 20 million. Those fighting to save old buildings in historic Cairo say the demolitions are destroying a potential stream of tourists and revenue from tourism, which earned Egypt US$11.6 billion in 2018, according to central bank figures. Habashi s bureaucratic nightmare began when he applied for a permit to begin restoring the house soon after he bought it. He said the government replied that the house was condemned as on the verge of collapse and that if he wanted to work at the site, he would have to demolish it and then rebuild it. Habashi appealed to two-state bodies: the Antiquities Authority, responsible for about 600 historic monuments, and the National Authority for Urban Harmony, tasked with preserving many other buildings. Inspectors from each agency came separately to look at his house, he said. “They stopped at the doorstep (and said): This is a crumbling building. What are you trying to save? ” Habashi said. Only after obtaining a letter from a UNESCO official confirming the building s historic importance was Habashi able in 2011 to secure a court ruling that he could restore it. Destruction of historic buildings since 2011 has been extensive, said a foreign restorer who studied historic Cairo s Darb al-Ahmar district, much of which is inside the old city walls. “My analysis is that approximately 15% of the urban fabric in al-Darb al-Ahmar has been replaced by newly built structures seven to 10 stories high,” he said. Official figures were not available. Nearly 100 historic buildings in Darb al-Ahmar were replaced with high-rise buildings as central authority collapsed after the 2011 uprising that ended autocratic president Hosni Mubarak s 30 years in power, said architect Tarek el-Murri, who has years of experience working in the district. For art historian Shahira Mehrez, and six others with whom she bought two dilapidated houses, it is convoluted rent control laws that have stymied restoration work. They hope to turn the houses into boutique hotels but have been blocked by people claiming usage rights to rooms and closets in the two houses. Yet other laws have frustrated Cherif Abdel-Meguid, a hotel developer who since 2007 has bought eight historic houses in the hillside Darb al-Labbana neighborhood near Cairo s citadel. When he applied for permission to restore them, authorities told him four were under demolition orders. To restore them, he must shave a meter or two off the facades to conform with a 1950s law designed to widen streets, he said. He has not done so. Instead, he has submitted plans to rebuild the insides while preserving the facades, and is awaiting a response.

A cancer-stricken four-year-old boy in Florida has been ordered to live with his grandmother after his parents prevented him from having chemotherapy. The custody ruling on Monday against parents Taylor Bland and Joshua McAdams came after their bid for alternative treatment garnered national attention. The boy was taken from his parents in April after they skipped chemotherapy and left the state. The parents are "obviously devastated," their lawyer told US media. Brooke Elvington also said the boy was "going through an absolutely traumatic medical experience and he is doing so without his parents". After the boy, who the BBC is not naming, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in April his parents opted to treat him using cannabis, oxygen therapy, herbs and alkaline water. Medical cannabis is legal in Florida. US parents told boy must have chemotherapy What is chemotherapy? In May, they lost custody after they skipped a chemotherapy session and "refused to follow up with life saving medical care," according to police. They were found in Kentucky after a multi-state hunt. The boy was ordered to live with his grandmother and receive standard medical treatment. On Monday, Hillsborough County circuit court Judge Thomas Palermo said that the child would face "substantial risk of imminent neglect" if he were returned to his parents. Keeping the boy in the custody of his maternal grandmother was the only way to ensure his "health, safety and well-being," NBC News reported. Chemotherapy is often associated with debilitating side effects, but many types of modern chemotherapy cause only mild problems. According to St Jude s Children s Research Hospital, about 98% of children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia go into remission within weeks of beginning treatment, and about 90% of child patients are eventually cured. Reality Check: When are parents denied the final say? Alternative cancer therapy survival risk The lawyer for Ms Bland and Mr McAdams said the couple is considering filing an appeal. "[He] belongs at home with his parents," she said.

Spain s ambassador to Cairo Ramon Gil Casares attended Monday a symposium at the Cervantes Institute in Cairo on the films by contemporary Egyptian female directors that will be screened at the next edition of the Valencia Festival of Mediterranean Cinema. The Ambassador of Spain to Egypt, Ramon Gill Casares, opened the event at the Instituto Cervantes in Cairo. Director of the Cervantes Institute in Cairo Silvia Grijalba and the festival s artistic director Eduardo Guillot led the panel discussion. The symposium discussed the current situation of Egyptian cinema, works presented by female directors, and difficulties faced by filmmakers when they begin a new work of art. Egyptian directors Aiten Amin, Hala Khalil and Amal Ramsis attended the symposium. Guillot said that the Valencia Festival of Mediterranean Cinema is interested in Egyptian artistic works as well as those from other Arab countries overlooking the Mediterranean. Egypt was selected for this year s edition as it offers a cinematic tradition famous in all Arab countries and also features abundant production, Guillot added. Recent years have witnessed films by several female directors offering diverse and distinctive perspectives. Several were selected for the festival, he said. Director Sandra Nashaat directed action films, for example, while others presented very different genres. The next edition of the Valencia Festival will take place between October 24 and November 3 in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia. The festival is a meeting point between various cultures across Mediterranean countries. Among its selections, it will screen films by the most important Egyptian contemporary female directors, including Kamela Abu Zekri, Sandra Nashaat, Ayten Amin, Mariam Abu Ouf, Hala Khalil, Hala Lotfy and Amal Ramsis, whose films have become central to the feminist discourse in Egypt.

"Joker", a daring take on the comic book villain starring Joaquin Phoenix, won the Golden Lion for best film at the Venice film festival Saturday with Roman Polanski controversially taking second prize. It is the first superhero film ever to get this kind of arthouse kudos, and could now be on its way to Oscar glory. The last two Venice winners -- "Roma" and "The Shape of Water" -- have gone on to lift the best picture Academy Award. US director Todd Phillips -- best known up to now for the slapstick comedy "Very Bad Trip" -- paid tribute to Phoenix s intense performance, saying he was "the fiercest, bravest and most open-minded lion that I know". "Thank you for trusting me with your insane talents," he said. The movie, which The Guardian had described as "one of the boldest Hollywood productions for some time", has already sparked a heated debate. And there were audible gasps when French-Polish director Polanski -- a pariah in Hollywood after his rape conviction -- was handed the Grand Prix second prize for his Dreyfus Affair drama, "An Officer and a Spy". Irresponsible propaganda? Within hours of the "Joker" premiere, some warned that Phoenix s full-throttle portrait of a needy, embittered clown who lives with his mother could empower incels (or involuntary celibates) -- the angry, misogynist young men who have been blamed for so much far-right and white supremacist violence. Vanity Fair s Richard Lawson worried that it was "exhilarating in the most prurient of ways, a snuff film about the death of order, about the rot of a governing ethos". He feared that it "may be irresponsible propaganda for the very men it pathologises". But most critics disagreed, with Variety s Owen Gleiberman saying Phoenix has remade Batman s arch-enemy as a "Method psycho, a troublemaker so intense in his cuckoo hostility that even as you re gawking at his violence, you still feel his pain". Other reviews were equally ecstatic, and a sequel with Robert Pattinson playing the Joker s nemesis Batman is said to be in the offing. Phoenix reportedly lost more than 23 kilos (52 pounds) to play the part. Phillips defended his film saying the jury "understood what we were trying to say, and I hope that translates". Polanski wins second prize But almost as many headlines are likely to be made by Polanski s win. Having spent most of his life as a fugitive from American justice, he was accused of drawing "obscene" parallels between himself and the persecuted French Jewish army officer Alfred Dreyfus, who was the victim of anti-semitism and a miscarriage of justice around the turn of the 20th century. Polanski, 86, has been shunned by the big studios for decades after he was convicted of drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl. His inclusion in the main Venice competition, which included only two female directors, sparked fury from feminists. The French-Polish auteur and Holocaust survivor did not show up at the festival, leaving his wife, French actress Emmanuelle Seigner -- who also appears in the film -- to pick up his prize to muted applause and a few isolated boos. She later told reporters that her husband was "very happy" with his win, saying the "film was very important to him". The head of the Venice jury, Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel, had boycotted a gala dinner for Polanski, only to be forced to clarify that she was not prejudiced against his film. Jagger blasts Trump, Johnson In a year fraught with controversy over sexual politics, festival director Alberto Barbera was also accused of being "tone deaf" for his inclusion of a Black Lives Matter drama by the American Nate Parker, who was embroiled in a rape trail while at university, as well as the director s cut of Gasper Noe s 2002 rape shocker "Irreversible". Politics also dominated the awards ceremony with the best actor and actress winners -- Italy s Luca Marinelli ("Martin Eden") and France s Ariane Ascaride ("Gloria Mundi") dedicating their awards to the migrants who "rest forever at the bottom of the Mediterranean sea". Both films contained references to people fleeing poverty and persecution. Donald Sutherland, the star of the festival s closing film, "The Burnt Orange Heresy", had earlier appealed to reporters to support the migrants cause. His co-star, Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger, made a rare foray into politics to attack US President Donald Trump for his rudeness, lies and tearing up environmental controls in the US. He also bewailed "the polarisation and incivility in public life" in his native Britain, pointing the finger at its rookie prime minister, Boris Johnson. Sudanese director Amjad Abu Alala wins Lion of the future award for his debut " You Will Die aT 20".

The Egyptian film Ward Masmoum (Poisonous Roses - 2018) was chosen on Thursday by the Cinematic Professions Syndicate to represent the country in the 2020 Academy Awards competition for Best Foreign Language Film category. The selection was made by a committee appointed by the syndicate, which comprised prominent film critics. Ward Masmoum, directed by Ahmed Fawzi Saleh, is based on Ahmed Zaghloul Al-Shiti s 1990 novel Saqr s Poisonous Roses. The film has already participated in dozens of film festivals across the globe, winning three awards at the 40th Cairo International Film Festival (21-29 November). The cast includes Ibrahim El-Nagari (playing the main character Saqr), Merihan Magdi (Taheya), Mahmoud Hemeida (in the role of the magician), Mohamed Berakaa (the imam), Safaa El-Toukhy (in the role of the mother). The film s main character Saqr lives and works in a tanning district, but dreams to escape the area. Last year, the syndicate nominated Yomeddine (Judgment Day), directed by Abu Bakr Shawky and produced by Dina Emam, for the prestigious festival.

Cancer has become the leading cause of death in rich nations, overtaking heart disease, according to the results of two landmark, decade-long global surveys of health trends released Tuesday. Heart disease remains the leading cause of mortality among middle-aged adults globally, accounting for more than 40 percent of deaths, the data showed. It was thought to have been responsible for around 17.7 million deaths in 2017. But in richer countries, cancer now kills more people than heart disease, according to the twin studies published in The Lancet medical journal. “The world is witnessing a new epidemiologic transition among the different categories of non-communicable diseases, with cardiovascular disease no longer the leading cause of death in high-income countries,” said Gilles Deganais, emeritus professor at Laval University, in Quebec. He said his team s study showed that cancer was the second most common cause of death globally in 2017, accounting for just over a quarter (26 percent) of all deaths. Deganais said that as heart disease rates fell globally, cancer could become the leading cause of death worldwide “within just a few decades”. The study followed more than 160,000 adults, in high-, middle-, and low-income countries over the course of decade. It determined that people in poorer nations were on average 2.5 times more likely to die from heart disease than those in richer ones. It conversely found that non-infectious diseases such as cancer and pneumonia were less common in low-income states than in richer ones. A second study, also by researchers in Canada, and looking at data from patients in the same 21 countries, found that so-called “modifiable risk factors” accounted for 70 percent of heart disease cases globally. These included diet, behavioral and socioeconomic factors, they said. Metabolic risk factors — high cholesterol, obesity or diabetes — caused more than 40 percent of all heart disease, and were by far the biggest determinant of disease in richer nations. But there was also a strong link between heart disease in developing countries and household air pollution, poor diet and low education levels. “A change in tack is required to alleviate the disproportionately high impact of cardiovascular disease in low- and middle-income countries,” said Salim Yusuf, professor of medicine at McMaster University. “Governments in these countries need to start investing a greater portion of their gross domestic product in preventing and managing non-communicable diseases including cardiovascular disease, rather than focusing largely on infectious diseases.”