Author: Athanasios Koutoupas

European Day of Languages

At the initiative of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, the European Day of Languages has been celebrated every year since 2001 on the 26th of September. Its goal is to encourage plurilingualism, intercultural diversity and cross-cultural understanding through events held worldwide. This year in Alexandria, Egypt an interactive festival will be hosted at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. At this event participants will be able to experience different European countries first-hand by exploring various languages and their culture: English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Lithuanian, Spanish and

Language games, workshops, music and more are organized by the British Council, the Institut français d’Egypte, the Goethe Institut, the Hellenic Foundation for Culture, the Consulate of Italy, as well as the Italian Cultural Institute, the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania (Cairo), the Instituto Cervantes and the Swedish Institute in cooperation with the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. In addition, students from language schools will be given the opportunity to present their language interactively. The event is from 12-6pm and the students will be presenting from 2-4 pm.

VENUE: Bibliotheca Alexandrina
TARGET GROUPS: Adults (in general), Children, General public, Language learners, Media, Parents, Participants in adult education programmes, Pupils, Students, Young people (in general)

ORGANIZER: The British Council, the Institut français d’Egypte, the Goethe Institut, the Hellenic Foundation for Culture, the Consulate of Italy, as well as the Italian Cultural Institute, the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania (Cairo), the Instituto Cerv
ADDRESS: 10, Sharia El-Batalsa, Azarita, 21511 Alexandria, Egypt
CONTACT NAME: Yasmine Abdelaziz
CONTACT EMAIL: [email protected]
TELEPHONE: +20 3 4879870

September 22, 2016
Egyptian Nemat Shafik Becomes First Female Director of London School of Economics

Egypt-born Dame Nemat Shafik is set to become the first woman to run the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), replacing American sociologist Craig Calhoun.

Dr Shafik will leave her role as a deputy governor of the Bank of England in February 2017 to lead the LSE as Director starting from September 2017.

In 2015, Dr Shafik was honored by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her outstanding contributions in her field of work. Originally from the coastal city Alexandria, the world renowned economist, widely known by her nickname ‘Minouche’, was made a Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (DBE) for the several leading positions she has assumed in the UK and worldwide.

Before assuming her role at the Bank of England as one of four deputy governors, Dr. Shafik was Deputy Managing Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a position she held between 2011 and 2014.

Prior to that, between the years 2008 and 2011, Dr. Shafik was the Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Development (DFID) in the UK, which is the government department responsible for eliminating extreme poverty globally through sustainable development and aid programs.

She also held the role of Vice President at the World Bank, making her the youngest ever to occupy this prestigious position.

Furthermore, Dr. Shafik was dubbed “Woman of the Year” at the GG2 awards for Global Leadership and Global Diversity.

(egyptianstreets.com)

September 13, 2016
First ‘Made in Greece’ Drone Presented at Thessaloniki Fair

The first unmanned aerial vehicle bearing the “Made in Greece” stamp presented at the 81st Thessaloniki International Fair.

The HCUAV RX-1 is 4 meters long, takes off at a speed of 2.8 meters per second and can develop a speed of 190 km per hour. With a range of 150 km and autonomy 11 hours, it can fly day and night and transmit real-time, relevant and detailed information, from a 2 km height.

The project took 36 months to complete and it was designed and built from scratch.

The drone can support civil protection services and public safety by monitoring land and sea borders, protect vital infrastructure, support rescue investigations, supervision of woodland to timely extinguish fires, soil sampling, water and air pollutants, monitoring roads and provide aerial photography of areas of interest.

This is the first Greek production on such scale. The HCUAV RX-1 made its first flight on August 4. The test flight lasted 15 minutes and can be considered a success by its makers.

The head of the project is Kyros Yakinthos, Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. It is a collaborative effort, as AUTH designed the airborne vehicle, made the aerodynamic analysis, the engineering design, developed geometry optimization and conducted the flight tests.

The Democritus University of Thrace designed the robotic vision, environment perception and signal processing. Spacesonic, a company from Farkadona, Trikala, undertook the construction of the airborne vehicle; Intracom Defense Electronics developed and installed communication systems, mobile earth stations and intelligent software systems; MLS installed the GPS system and supplied the maps.

“Greece can create extraordinary things, with the collaboration between universities, research organizations and Greek companies. In Greece there are great human resources, but there is also the problem of lack of investors,” Yakinthos told ANA-MPE news agency.

The project head said that Greece must look beyond the issues that are given priority today because there are people with vision and persistence who have achieved lots with very little. At the same time he criticized bureaucracy that has hindered the project and “tied their hands” several times.

(greece.greekreporter.com)

September 13, 2016
New governors for Cairo, Alexandria appointed during reshuffle

Prime Minister Sherif Ismail announced on Wednesday the appointment of six new governors for Cairo, Alexandria, Qalubyia, Elminya, Fayoum, and Suez governorates, according to state-owned media.

Maj Gen Ahmed Taymour has been standing in for the Cairo governor for the past six months, as the previous governor, Galal Al-Saeed, was appointed as minister of transportation. Former minister of transportation Atef Abdel Hamid was appointed as the new governor of the Cairo governorate.

Maj Gen Ahmed Al-Hayatmi, governor of Suez, was dismissed from his position while he was attending an official meeting, according to the state-owned Al-Ahram. He resumed the meeting and did not return to the governorate headquarters.

Ismail appointed Maj Gen Reda Farhat as the governor of Alexandria, after several altercations between previous governor Mohamed Abdel Zaher and Minister of National Development Ahmed Zaki Badr, as the former accused the latter of intervening in the affairs of the governorate. The dismissal decision included deputy governor of Alexandria Souad Al-Khouly.

Al-Khouly acted as the interim governor of Alexandria following the dismissal of the previous governor, Hany Al-Messiry. When Abdel Zaher took over the post of governor, he was appointed as his deputy.

The partial reshuffle that took place on Wednesday included five major generals and one university professor.

(www.dailynewsegypt.com)

September 12, 2016