They are the biggest five in Egypt s music industry, and this time they re going against each other. The BAMA Music Awards has gotten the top five Egyptian artists to compete for the “Best Egyptian Act” award of 2018, according to an announcement on BAMA Music Awards 2018 official website. The competing artists are Amr Diab, Mohamed Hamaki, Mohamed Mounir, Sherine Abdel Wahab and Tamer Hosny. The category is accompanied by 31 others, all designed to honor the best talents from different regions including: Best Afghan Act, Best Indonesian Act, Best French Act, Best Japanese act, among many others. Among other prominent Arab artists in different categories are Samira Said and Saad Lemjarred; who are both competing for the best Moroccan act and international stars Cheb Khaled, Saber Rebai and Latifa, all competing for the “Best Algerian and Moroccan Act.” Ahlam, Balqees and Hussein Aljasmi are also possible award recipients, with all of them running for Best Emirati Act along with Fayez al-Saeed and Shamma Hamdan. Fans will determine the winners in a month through a social media vote, and the awards will be given out at Hamburg, Germany in November. Nicknamed “al-Hadaba” (The Plateau) to reflect his sheer greatness, Amr Diab has had a long spanning career since he began creating music in 1983. Over the past three and half decades, Diab has managed to stay as one of Egypt s and the Middle East s top singers, winning awards and selling records. In 2009, Amr Diab won four 2009 African Music Awards in the following for Best Artist, Best Album, Best Vocalist and Best Song for “Wayah”. He is also the only Middle Eastern artist to have received seven World Music Awards, among other achievements. Born in 1975, Mohamed Hamaki rose to fame in the 2000s after releasing his first single in 1997. He then cemented his trip to stardom with “Wahda Wahda” (One Step at a Time), which he tailored for Ahmed Helmy s movie “Ga alatni Mogreman” (She Made Me a Criminal). Since then, the singer rocketed to fame, receiving prestigious awards such as the Best Middle Eastern Artist by MTV, the Best Selling Middle Eastern Artist by EMI and also winning MTV music awards as Best Arabic Singer in the Middle East 2010 and Best Singer 2008. “The King” Mohamed Mounir was born into in 1954 and has had more than three successful decades as one of Egypt s top singers. He is notable for fusing different types of music such as classical Egyptian Music, Nubian music, blues and jazz. Some of Mounir s top songs are Shababeek (Windows) Lama Al-Nasim Ya adi (When the Wind Passes) and Albi Masaken Sha abyia (My Poor Heart). Born in 1980, Sherine Abdel Wahab left her mark on Egyptian music with her warm voice and popular music. She is also considered one of the biggest contemporary female Egyptian stars. She began her individual career with successful songs such as “Ah Ya Leil” (Oh Night), which made her a household name, “Kol Ma Aghanni” (Everytime I sing) alongside Tamer Habib and “Masha er” (Feelings). Sherine also served as a Jury Member on the show “The Voice: Ahla Sout” until 2017. Nicknamed “Negm El Geel” (Star of the Generation), Tamer Hosny achieved not only local but international success. Hosny released his first solo album in 2004 titled “Hob”(Love), where his music video song “Arrab Habiby” (Come Closer my Love), became a great success. He then followed the album with several others that surpassed its fame like “Enayyah Bethebbak” (My Eyes Love You), “Ya Bent El-Eih” (Naughty Girl) leading up to his 11th and latest album “Omri Ebtada” (My Life Began). Hosny also made a name by collaborating with international stars such as Snoop Dogg, Shagi, Akon, Quincy Jones and RedOne who produced “Bokra”, a charity song which saw Hosny collaborate with some of the Arab world s biggest stars. He s even ventured into cinema, cementing his name as an actor through comedy movies such as Omar w Salma, Captain Hima and Tesbah Ala Kheir (Good Night). Hosny made history by becoming the first ever Egyptian/Arab artist to leave his footprint at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California alongside some of the world s most famous stars. BAMA Music Awards is an international multicultural music award show created by Daf Entertainment based in Hamburg, Germany. The award aims to “immortalize creativity, unity and enjoyment among the global music lovers until the end of time”, according to BAMA Music Awards official website. In 2016, BAMA awarded Mohamed Mounir a “Legend Award”. He is so far, the only Egyptian to win such award.

El Diesel”, a film with Egyptian star Mohamed Ramadan, has so far achieved the highest revenues in this Eid s movie season, with the Arab Distribution Company announcing profits of LE 3,212,110, according to Al-Ahram. Ramadan s movie was followed by Egyptian singer Tamer Hosni s “Al-Badla” (The Suit), which came in second with revenues of LE 2,615,356. In third place came Asser Yassin s “Torab Al-Mass”(Diamond Dust) with LE 1,295,088, followed by “Al-Kwyesseen” (The Good People) which took home fourth place with LE 1,236,280.

The craze for “Crazy Rich Asians” is hitting Asia, with a premiere in Singapore followed by openings in several neighboring countries later this week. Much of the over-the-top romantic comedy was set in this wealthy city-state. As the stars streamed past flashing lights down the red carpet Tuesday evening, fans and tourists swarmed around them taking photos and asking for selfies.

US actor Kevin Spacey s latest movie has flopped big-time at the box office, taking in a mere $618 as it opened to dire reviews in a handful of theaters across the country. Billionaire Boys Club,” a crime drama based on a true story, in which Spacey co-stars alongside Ansel Elgort (“Baby Driver”) and Taron Egerton (“Kingsman,”) earned a measly $126 on Friday according to industry magazine The Hollywood Reporter.

Saturday was a dark day for puppet enthusiasts as Egyptian puppeteer Nagy Shaker lost his battle to illness, passing away at 86. The Ministry of Culture expressed their condolences, saying that Egypt lost one of its star designers and a pioneer in puppet designs. Their statement added that Shaker s works remain a guide for Egyptian artists in the field of cinema and theater, and that his passing is a huge loss for Egyptian and Arab art.

The Ministry of Antiquities announced on Sunday that archaeological studies on the skeletons from the Alexandria sarcophagus discovered in July have identified the genders, ages and height of the remains through anthropological screening. Chief of the Central Administration of Antiquities in Lower Egypt, Nadia Khadr said that “The first skeleton was a woman aged between 20 and 25 years-old, and was between 160 and 164 cm. The second was a man aged between 30 and 35 years-old, measuring between 160 and 165.5 cm.”

In the Egyptian Museum since the 1900s, the mummy affectionately known as Fred has provided scientists with the recipe used for ancient embalming. It also shows bodies were embalmed 1,500 years earlier than thought. The 3,600-year-old mummy called Fred at the Turin Museum had been untouched by modern chemicals and had not been previously studied by scientists. He was therefore an ideal subject for study under the microscope for the components of the paste used to embalm him.

Egyptian actor and UNICEF goodwill ambassador Khaled Abol Naga restated his support for gay rights on Twitter, writing that denying the rights of homosexuals to be recognized by society is exactly the same as racism. “Gay people are born with romantic tendencies toward the same sex and this is scientifically documented now, just like the roundness of the Earth. Ignorance of these facts is what society lacks to understand what homosexuals are suffering,” he added.

Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is screening two Egyptian films in its Middle East and Africa category: “Sheikh Jackson”, and “Yomeddine” (Judgement Day). Yomeddine is the first full-length independent Egyptian film to be nominated for the Palme d Or, in Cannes Film festival this year. The dramatic film is written and directed by the Egyptian-Austrian Abu Bakr Shawky, and it portrays the story of a real-life leprosy survivor who embarks on a journey to find his father.

Beloved Lebanese singer Elissa has released a new video titled “Ila Kol Elli Bihebbouni” (For all those who love me), detailing her battle with breast cancer and calling on women to perform early detections. Elissa, 45, broke taboos in the Arab world surrounding the disease by utilizing a song that narrates her journey struggling against the cancer. She was diagnosed back in December, but kept the illness a secret and even collapsed on stage while performing in February.

Egypt’s Culture Ministry has restored the Khedive Ismail statue in Ismailia governate, after its federally-unauthorized repainting at the apparent hands of the local municipality. The statue, located on the intersection of Thalathini Street and Mohammed Ali street, was restored to its original appearance by a committee of fine arts experts, members from the National Organization of Urban Harmony, and a restoration specialist.

The Egyptian-Australian Archaeological Mission of the University of Macquarie, Australia have rediscovered the tombs of two statesmen from the Middle Kingdom of Egypt at the Beni Hassan antiquities area in Minya, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa al-Waziry announced. Waziry added that the archaeological mission has been operating in the region since 2009, and reached this discovery during the last week of work in this season.

The killing of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager who went to a Florida store for Skittles but was shot dead by a neighborhood watch volunteer, inflamed the United States in 2012. Six years later, a new television series is reliving what happened and forcing viewers to confront the gut-wrenching agony of losing a child in what Trayvon s parents and the filmmakers hope will enact change. “Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story” premiered on the Paramount Network and BET on Monday, a docu-series bankrolled in part by rap mogul Jay Z and due to run in six weekly installments.

The world s largest colony of king penguins has shrunk by almost 90% in the last three decades, researchers said Monday. The colony lies on the subantarctic French island of Île aux Cochons, or Pig Island, and once numbered over two million king penguins. When scientists last stepped foot on the island in 1982, it was not only the world s largest king penguin colony, but the second largest colony of all penguins.

Lowering blood pressure more than usually recommended not only helps prevent heart problems, it also cuts the risk of mental decline that often leads to Alzheimer s disease, a major study finds. It s the first time a single step has been clearly shown to help prevent a dreaded condition that has had people trying crossword puzzles, diet supplements and a host of other things in hope of keeping their mind sharp. In the study, people treated to a top blood pressure reading of 120 instead of 140 were 19 percent less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment. They also had fewer signs of damage on brain scans, and there was a possible trend toward fewer cases of dementia.

Improbable? Maybe, but “Mission Impossible — Fallout,” the sixth and latest stunt-filled edition of the Tom Cruise action franchise has topped the weekend box office in North America, outperforming the five earlier “Impossibles.” The Paramount/Skydance production took in an estimated $61.5 million for the three-day weekend, according to industry tracker Exhibitor Relations, more than quadrupling the $15 million earned by second-place “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.”

HBO will debut the final season of its international hit “Game of Thrones” in the first half of next year and it aims to start production on a prequel in 2019, a network executive said on Wednesday. Casey Bloys, HBO’s president of programming, speaking at a Television Critics Association event, declined to provide details on the eighth and final “Game of Thrones” season or to provide a more specific premiere date.

Pop star Demi Lovato was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital Tuesday after an apparent drug overdose but remained in stable condition, reports said. A Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman confirmed to AFP that emergency responders transported a 25-year-old woman from an address that matches Lovato’s to a hospital, but did not identify her by name or state her condition.

An online petition with the support of thousands of people across the globe is urging the Egyptian government to let them drink the strange red water found in the sarcophagus recently opened last Thursday in Alexandria. Upon opening the black granite sarcophagus, archaeologists found three skeletons and a red liquid speculated to be sewage water that leaked into the coffin, causing the mummies to decompose according to an Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities report.

According to a National Health Survey monitoring risk factors for non-communicable diseases in Egypt, around 22.8 percent of Egyptians are smokers. The average monthly expenditure for each smoker on cigarettes is LE 410, which is a high percentage, compared to the global expenditure rates on smoking. The results of the survey, announced at a conference organized by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization, showed that the cost of 100 packs of manufactured cigarettes is equivalent to about 4.9 percent of the GNP per capital.

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered an ancient pottery manufacturing workshop dating to more than 4,000 years ago in the southern province of Aswan, the Antiquities Ministry said Thursday. The workshop, the oldest pottery workshop in the Old Kingdom, belongs to the 4th Dynasty, spanning 2,613 to 2,494 B.C., the ministry said in a statement. The Old Kingdom is also known as the age when pyramid-building flourished.