Within the first few days of Economics 101, one can expect to learn about the global supply chain. This is the first time many begin to understand that, for example, the apples in their fruit bowl didn t magically materialize on the shelves of their local grocery store but rather through a complex system of coordination. The apples in your grandmother s pie could have been harvested on a Chinese farm, for example. But what about the trees on that Chinese farm? They didn t magically materialize either. While most can grasp the supply chain nature of our produce, few understand its evolutionary nature Researcher Robert Spengler has spent a decade and a half searching for apple seeds in an attempt to answer this question.

The State Department is now requiring nearly all applicants for U.S. visas to submit their social media usernames, previous email addresses and phone numbers. It s a vast expansion of the Trump administration s enhanced screening of potential immigrants and visitors. In a move that s just taken effect after approval of the revised application forms, the department says it has updated its immigrant and nonimmigrant visa forms to request the additional information, including “social media identifiers,” from almost all U.S. applicants.

Egypt s Ministry of Tourism, represented by the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority, signed a contract with the African Football Confederation (CAF) to be the official regional sponsor of the 2019 African Cup of Nations (AFCON), scheduled to be played in Egypt from 21 June to 19 July. In a statement issued Thursday, the ministry said the sponsorship agreement comes in the context of its keenness to exploit the major events of AFCON for marketing Egypt internationally.

Netflix has announced that it will be producing its third Arabic original series and its first venture into Egyptian drama with Paranormal (Ma Waraa Al-Tabeea), to be directed by Amr Salama and produced by Mohamed Hefzy. The series is based on the best-selling books by late novelist Ahmed Khaled Tawfik. The horror stories are set in the 1960s in Egypt -- where the show will be filmed -- and follow the character of Dr. Refaat Ismail as he encounters various supernatural events, mostly inspired by Egyptian folk tales and mythology.

Renowned Egyptian investigative journalist Maggie Michael, Egyptian photojournalist Nariman El-Mofty, and Yemeni video journalist Maad Al-Zikry were awarded Atlantic Media s 16th annual Michael Kelly Award for their reporting on Yemen for The Associated Press, nearly a month after they won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. “The on-the-ground complexities of the ongoing civil war in Yemen, supported and exacerbated by outside powers, are nearly impossible for outsiders to follow. Confronting continual threats from all sides, these journalists filed stories for The Associated Press that consistently broke new ground, brought the nature of the conflict vividly alive, and exposed the ruthless cynicism of those perpetuating the conflict,” the judges said. Last April, Michael, El-Mofty, and Al-Zikry won a Pulitzer in international reporting for their coverage of abuses in Yemen’s civil war. According to AP, the trio spent a year uncovering atrocities and suffering in Yemen, shining a light on “a conflict largely ignored by the American public.” The series of reports including documented civilian casualties of a US drone campaign drew attention to the presence of child soldiers on the front lines and showed evidence of torture by both Houthi rebels and US-backed forces. Michael, who is based in Cairo, joined the AP in 2002. She covered political and religious conflict in the Middle East and, as part of AP s investigations team, has written about civilian casualties in Iraq and Yemen. El-Mofty is a Canadian-Egyptian photographer. She worked first as a photo editor, then since 2016 as a photographer covering Egypt, Yemen and other parts of the Middle East. Al-Zikry is a video journalist who has spent years chronicling the war and its horrors. His photograph of an emaciated infant dying at a hospital in 2016 helped bring world attention to starvation in Yemen. Michael and El-Mofty are the first Egyptians to win the prize.

For the second year in a row, the Palme d Or at the Cannes Film Festival has gone to an Asian film. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu s jury gave this year s top prize to Bong Joon Ho s “Parasite,” one of the most critically acclaimed films of this year s festival, one year after Hirokazu Kore-eda s “Shoplifters” won the 2018 award. The film is about a close-knit family of con artists. The Grand Prize, the jury s second place award, went to the first black woman director ever in the Cannes competition, Mati Diop, for “Atlantics.”

"On this day [26 May] in 1954, one of the oldest and largest boats on earth was found buried near Egypt s biggest pyramid. Today s Doodle celebrates the discovery of the Khufu Ship, which has survived more than 4,600 years, although its true purpose remains a mystery," writes Google in the description of the doodle celebrating Egypt s famed pharaonic boat. The doodle has a large outreach and is visible across Asia, North Africa, all Russia, Australia, New Zealand and chosen parts of Europe.

The Egyptian tourism ministry, in cooperation with the National Council for Women (NCW) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) office in Egypt, has announced its intention to obtain the UNDP s Gender Equality Seal (GES) in the tourism sector. The ministry made the announcement during a ceremony where it discussed the steps required to earn the GES.

Omani Writer Jokha Alharthi, has been announced as the winner of the 2019 Man Booker International Prize for her novel Celestial Bodies (Sayyidat Al-Aqamar), translated into English by Marilyn Booth and published by Sandstone Press. The £50,000 prize, which celebrates the finest works of translated fiction from around the world, has been divided equally between its author and translator. Each shortlisted author and translator also received a further £1,000 for being shortlisted. The winner was announced by Bettany Hughes at a ceremony at the Roundhouse in London.

The Egyptian Cinema Syndicate, under the helm of Mosad Fouda, has signed a cooperation protocol with Waey NGO, led by Tamer El-Shehawy, to boost an initiative titled Baheb El-Cima launched by director Sameh Mostafa, CEO and founder of a company of the same name. The project, which aims to “develop Egyptian cinema production,” is planned to produce 12 films a year to be screened in various cities and villages across the country s governorates at affordable ticket prices.

The Arab Cinema Centre (ACC) has announced the winners of its third Annual Critics Awards during a ceremony held on the sidelines of the current Cannes festival. The winners are from five different Arab countries and were selected by 75 film critics from 34 countries. The awards are given to feature and documentary films that premiered at international film festivals outside of the Arab world during 2018, and at least one of the production companies must be Arab.

The World Health Organization published its first guidelines on the prevention and management of dementia on Tuesday, putting physical activity at the top of its list of recommendations for preventing cognitive decline. Stopping smoking, a healthy diet and avoiding harmful use of alcohol were also among the recommendations of the WHO s report, entitled “Risk reduction of cognitive decline and dementia”.

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.