Lin-Manuel Miranda thought he had a migraine. It turns out the Broadway star really had shingles.

Miranda tweeted on Thursday that he had been diagnosed with shingles, saying he it caught early and that he had been quarantined from his 8-week-old son.

The Associated Press had reported that he also said on Twitter his ophthalmologist had blurred his eyes and that he was wearing a mask during treatment. But Miranda tweeted Friday that his mask reference and accompanying “Phantom of the Opera” gif were a joke, and his blurred eyes a part of his medical exam. He tweeted, “Sorry. I’m fine. Not wearing a mask.”

Miranda said he was staying with parents nearby.

The 38-year-old wrote the book, music and lyrics and starred in the Broadway smash “Hamilton.”
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From: MeNeedIt

President Donald Trump, a constant critic of what he calls “fake news,” will skip the White House Correspondents’ Dinner for a second year in a row.

White House Correspondents’ Association president Margaret Talev said in a statement Friday that the “White House has informed us that the president does not plan to participate in this year’s dinner but that he will actively encourage members of the executive branch to attend.”

Trump had said he “probably won’t do it” in an interview on the “Bernie and Sid” radio show on 77 WABC Radio that was taped Thursday and aired Friday. 

Saying the press is “so bad” and “so fake,” Trump said: “I want to get it straightened out with the press before I do it.”

Talev said White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will attend to represent the administration at the head table.

The annual dinner, a fundraiser for college scholarships and a venue for reporting awards, mixes politicians, journalists and celebrities and is typically attended by the president and first lady. Remarks by a comedian, often roasting the president, and a humorous address by the president himself, often roasting the press and political opponents, have highlighted the event, which C-SPAN has carried live.

Trump skipped the event last year, holding a rally in Pennsylvania instead. Prior to that, Ronald Reagan was the most recent president to skip the annual dinner, as he was recovering after being shot during an assassination attempt.

If he attended, Trump would likely be a prime target of jokes, with the camera showing his reaction to one-liners. Before he entered politics, the former reality star attended the event and in 2011 was on hand — and appeared humiliated — as former President Barack Obama lobbed joke after joke at his expense.

Trump did attend the annual Gridiron Club Dinner earlier this year, delivering a speech at the annual white-tie affair featuring journalists and officials. At that event, Trump offered a series of good-natured one-liners in his remarks.

Among his quips: “I was very excited to receive this invitation and ruin your evening in person. That’s why I accepted.”
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From: MeNeedIt

Hundreds of disbelieving fans flocked to the home of Bollywood superstar Salman Khan on Thursday in protest against the five-year jail term given on the action hero for poaching endangered antelopes.

Khan’s army of devotees took selfies outside the Galaxy apartment complex in the Indian film capital Mumbai as their hero was taken off to spend the night in jail in Rajasthan.

Police set up barricades outside the building overlooking the Arabian Sea where actors and tycoons are the main residents.

The Bollywood elite also rallied behind the 52-year-old star of blockbusters such as Sultan and one of the world’s most highly paid actors.

Many fans were angry and stunned at the jail term imposed by a court in the Rajasthan city of Jodhpur over the killing of two rare black bucks 20 years ago.

Mohammad Arif Khan, 26, traveled from his home in Uttar Pradesh vowing to spend three days in Mumbai in the hope that his hero will be released.

“Khan’s absence will have a big impact and mistakes do happen. But he has paid for his crimes and shouldn’t be made to go to jail. The decision is extremely appalling and not a good one,” he said.

“Salman Khan is a good man and a humanitarian who runs his own charity helping people.”

‘A great star’

He added: “The court and the government should take note of all his good deeds as his absence will affect not just Bollywood but also those in need of help and who get assistance from his charity.”

Many fans wore “Being Human” T-shirts named after his charity.

Seventeen-year-old student Abdul Rashid said Khan’s “loyal fans” will stand by him.

“I am not sure where our justice system is headed as the … punishment doesn’t feel justified for killing an animal. I was at the airport last night and met Salman. He waved at us. He is such a great star and impacts all our lives by helping needy people. He should not be punished.”

Sagar Raza Khan, a 50-year-old writer, said the verdict had come out of the blue as the case has been going on so long.

“He’s already suffered enough and should not have to go through it again. His family will again face a lot of suffering if he is incarcerated. Plus, his impact on Bollywood is too huge to be ignored.”

Sheikh Alimuddin, 43, traveled from rural Maharashtra to get to Khan’s home.

“Khan is an epitome of kindness and has helped cancer patients and children requiring medical assistance. There are numerous ongoing cases where the guilty have not been punished.”

Alimuddin called the guilty verdict and punishment “sensationalized.”

Financial losses

Jaya Bachchan, a veteran Bollywood actor and lawmaker, said so much money was invested in Khan’s films that “there will be losses.”

“After 20 years, they have realized he is guilty. But law takes its own course, what can one say. He does a lot of charity. I am worried for the producers,” Bachchan told reporters.

Leading Bollywood director Subhash Gai said he was “extremely shocked” at the jail term.

Gai called Khan “a most loved person” in the film industry, but also said he had “full trust” in India’s appeal procedure.

Actor Arjun Rampal said on Twitter he felt “helpless” over the action taken against Khan.

“The last thing @BeingSalmanKhan is, is a criminal. I feel this is too harsh. I do hope he gets the relief he deserves.”
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From: MeNeedIt

President Donald Trump will make the case that the United States – and not China – should be the trade “partner of choice” for Latin America when he speaks at a regional summit next week, a senior administration official said on Thursday.

Trump is due to make his first visit to the region late next week to attend the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru. The trip comes as his government is waging a trade battle with China and pushing to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement.

“President Trump has been very clear … in terms of his economic policies that the Chinese economic aggression in the region has not been productive for the hemisphere and that the United States should remain the partner of choice for them,” the official told reporters on a conference call.

Substantive discussions on NAFTA are not expected at the summit, the official said.

Trump will deliver an address to the summit where he will talk about “shared values” in the hemisphere and the need to reduce drug trafficking, the official said.

It was unclear how much emphasis Trump would place on stopping illegal immigration from the region into the United States – one of his main promises in his presidential run for office.

Leading up to the summit, Trump announced this week he wants to post National Guard troops along the southern border with Mexico, and has also ramped up tough rhetoric against illegal immigrants from Honduras and other parts of Central America.

“I think the president is a very straight speaker. He speaks what’s on his mind,” the official said.

Trump also plans to address the crisis in Venezuela with regional leaders, the official said. But the U.S. government is still examining its next steps for sanctions on Venezuela with new announcements not expected for several months, the official said.

 
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From: MeNeedIt

Virtual reality, or VR, is finding more applications as the technology matures. It is no longer only used for gaming or entertainment. One Austin-based company, Blue Goji, is using VR to improve health by making cardiovascular workouts more fun.

The company featured its prototype Infinity treadmill at Austin’s South By Southwest.

The treadmill is paired with a virtual reality headset worn by the user. Before starting the treadmill, the user is hooked up to a belt to prevent falls while running on the treadmill and playing a VR game.

The fully immersive experience transports the user into a virtual world where he or she can be racing against virtual people.

“You have much more motivation to actually get running and do something that pushes your limits. It was pretty cool,” said Leonardo Mattiazzi, who tested the Infinity treadmill. He said it took the boredom out of running inside without actually going anywhere.

Motion sickness less likely

In addition to encouraging better cardiovascular health, the active use of virtual reality also helps solve a common problem while wearing a VR headset said Blue Goji’s marketing associate, Kyra Constam.

“A lot of VR experiences cause motion sickness because there’s a disconnect in the brain, just psychologically. You’re moving in the game, but you’re not moving in real life, and we have come up with the solution. When you’re moving on the treadmill and you’re moving in the game, it mitigates that motion sickness, and you really get full immersion without all of the negative side effects.”

Constam added that any disorientation usually goes away quickly.

However, users who tested the Infinity treadmill wearing the VR headset each had a different experience.

“Pretty quickly you adjust to it,” said Mattiazzi, who took 10 seconds to adjust to running in the virtual world.

VR learning curve

“All I could think of when I was doing it was if my wife was doing this, she would have been barfing all over that because it’s interesting how the brain works. Going downhill, it felt like I was on a roller coaster,” said first time user Mark Sackler, who added, “I don’t get motion sickness easily, but I got a little, felt a little queasy at one point when I was out of control. So it’s surprisingly realistic.”

“There’s a bit of a learning curve for VR in general. I believe that the first time you do it is definitely going to be the most disorienting time, and the more you do it, the more you get used to it,” Constam said.

The cost for the hardware and software is fairly steep at $12,000. However, Constam said the virtual reality treadmill is ideal for high-end gyms, rehabilitation centers and physical therapy clinics. Blue Goji plans to make the Infinity treadmill ready for the public in 2019.
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From: MeNeedIt

Wall Street’s three major indexes staged a comeback to close around 1 percent higher Wednesday as investors turned their focus to earnings and away from a trade conflict between the United States and China that

wreaked havoc in earlier trading.

After investors fled equities in the morning because of proposed retaliatory tariffs from China, their concerns about a potential trade war eased by the afternoon after President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said the administration was in a “negotiation” with China rather than a trade war.

Investors said they were comforted by the fact that any tariffs would not take effect immediately, if at all.

Strategists also cited the Standard & Poor’s bounce above a key technical

support level and said they expected equities to rise further around the first-quarter earnings season, due to start in mid-April.

“We’re starting to feel that while markets hate uncertainty, Trump’s bark is worse than his bite when it comes to trade,” said Robert Phipps, a director at Per Stirling Capital Management in Austin, Texas. 

“It’s earnings that’s going to lift us off this bottom. It wouldn’t shock me if we chopped around sideways for a little bit before earnings season. … The trade stuff is really a sideshow. We’re waiting for real economic data, like the jobs report Friday, and for earnings. For now, it’s going to be all about the technicals,” he said.

A rebound

The S&P opened below its 200-day moving average, a key technical level, but inched above it as the session progressed, and by afternoon was in positive territory.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 230.94 points, or 0.96 percent, to close at 24,264.30; the S&P 500 gained 30.24 points, or 1.16 percent, to 2,644.69; and the Nasdaq Composite added 100.83 points, or 1.45 percent, to 7,042.11.

The turnaround marked the first time the S&P had showed gains for two consecutive days since early March.

Despite big swings in stocks, trading activity in U.S. equity options was muted as expectations for strong corporate earnings quelled the urge to load up on contracts that benefit from a surge in market volatility.

The CBOE Volatility Index, the most widely followed barometer of expected near-term volatility for the S&P 500, closed down 1.04 points at 20.06.

The technology sector rose 1.4 percent with only two of its stocks ending the day in negative territory, including Facebook Inc., which was pummeled after news its chief executive would testify in Congress over a data privacy scandal.

It too closed well off its session low with a 0.6 percent drop to $155.10.

Boeing was the biggest drag on the Dow because of its exposure to China, and ended the day well off its session lows with a 1 percent decline to $327.44 after falling as low as $311.88.

Farm machinery company Deere & Co ended down 2.9 percent at $148.57 as it could be hurt by China tariffs if its customers’ exports are curbed.

After being a laggard for much of the session, the S&P 500’s industrials sector turned positive late in the day to close 0.4 percent higher.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.19-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.95-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted one new 52-week high and eight new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 40 new highs and 94 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 7.04 billion shares, compared with the 7.3 billion average for the last 20 trading days.
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From: MeNeedIt

Saudi Arabia’s first movie theater in more than 35 years will open on April 18 in the capital Riyadh.

AMC Entertainment, the world’s largest movie theater chain, said Wednesday it has been granted the license to open up to 40 theaters in 15 Saudi cities over the next five years. 

The deeply conservative Muslim kingdom had some cinemas in the 1970s but its powerful clerics managed to force them to close. 

The theaters won’t initially be segregated by gender like most Saudi public spaces, AMC’s chief executive officer Adam Aron said. But there might be some show times set aside exclusively for single gender audiences. 

The move to reopen cinemas is part of a modernization drive by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmon, who is seeking to boost domestic spending in an era of low oil prices.

Saudi Arabians are avid consumers of Western media and culture. Despite the cinema ban, Hollywood films and recent television series are widely watched at home and discussed.

To serve a population of more than 32 million, the majority of whom are under the age of 30, Saudi Arabia wants to set up around 350 movie theaters with more than 2,500 screens by 2030, which it hopes will attract nearly $1 billion in annual box office sales.

 
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From: MeNeedIt

A new television documentary about Elvis Presley takes advantage of the vast collection of footage, pictures, documents and music from his estate to give a behind-the-scenes look at the king of rock ‘n’ roll.

“Elvis Presley: The Searcher,” a two-part, three-hour documentary, will premiere April 14 on HBO. Director Thom Zimny, who worked on several Bruce Springsteen documentaries, had full access to Graceland’s vault and made ample use of it to unearth little-seen footage.

“That was one of the exciting parts because every day I was discovering new gems of Elvis Presley’s archives,” Zimny said.

“He came up with pieces of footage that Priscilla and I had never seen before, and we grew up with Elvis,” said Jerry Schilling, one of Elvis’ longtime friends and an executive producer on the documentary along with Priscilla Presley, his ex-wife.

Along with his family and friends, Zimny interviewed studio musicians, producers, engineers and directors, as well as artists like Springsteen, Tom Petty and Emmylou Harris. Zimny uses only voiceovers for the narration instead of seeing the interviewees’ faces to keep the focus on the music and footage of Elvis over his career.

“Most documentaries, you see people talking, and I think that takes you out of the film,” Priscilla Presley said. “So you do get distracted, where here, you take on the flow, you can see what’s going on visually and you’re not taken out of that moment, and I think that’s brilliant.”

Zimny makes heavy use of footage from Elvis’ 1968 television special, considered his comeback to music after a long period of movie acting.

“He had been out of performing for years, almost 10 years,” Presley said. “This to him was the make or break of his career.”

Zimny said he had no limitations on addressing any aspect of Elvis’ career, and the film does touch on the controlling influence of his manager Colonel Tom Parker as well as Elvis’ prescription drug abuse.

Priscilla said Presley began using prescription drugs when he was given them during his Army stint. Even after years of using medications, she said Elvis never realized his addiction.

“He didn’t think he was addicted,” Presley said. “It was a part of his life, really. There was no Betty Ford. There were no rehab centers. But he didn’t think he had to go to a rehab center. There were prescribed to him. The doctors knew what they were giving to him. So that was pretty much a part of his life.”

Presley said there’s still a lot for music fans to learn about the star, who died in 1977.

“He was in uncharted territories,” Presley said. “There was no other that reached the heights that he did as far as changing style, changing music.”
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From: MeNeedIt

A U.S. media broadcast group ordered local news anchors to read a statement expressing concern about “the troubling trend of irresponsible, one-sided news stories plaguing the country,” — then accused other networks and some members of the media for pushing their own biases. Deadspin, a sports news and blog web site, created a mashup video that shows anchors around the country all reading the same statement. The video has since gone viral as VOA’s Jill Craig. reports.
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From: MeNeedIt

Five years ago, Filipina farmer Marivic Dubria would buy Nescafe sachets to serve visitors because she was embarrassed by the quality of the coffee she grew next to her main vegetable crops.

Life was tough for her family in Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippines, as they struggled to earn $1,000 a year from their produce, with their coffee beans fetching only 20 cents per kilo from local traders.

But Dubria is now one of hundreds of farmers nationwide who are brewing up a storm with training from Coffee For Peace (CfP) – a social enterprise striving to boost growers’ profits, protect the environment and foster peace between communities.

Having learned how to grow, harvest and process high-quality Arabica beans at a time when global demand for coffee is soaring – it is set to hit a record high this year – Dubria exports her crop to buyers as far away as Seattle for at least $5 per kilo.

“But it’s not all about the money – it’s about taking responsibility for the environment and other communities,” Dubria told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in her home on Mount Apo while brewing a pot of thick, aromatic, treacle-like coffee.

Beyond helping coffee growers get a better deal, CfP aims to encourage dialogue between communities, with tensions ranging from colonial-era conflict between native Muslims and Christian settlers to land and resource disputes between ethnic groups.

The Philippines is battling to restore order to troubled Mindanao, where militant groups have pledged allegiance to Islamic State, and five decades of communist insurgency and separatist bombings have displaced at least 2 million people.

By bringing people together through trade, businesses with a social mission can help build peace, industry experts say.

“Social enterprise presents an emerging pathway or approach to conflict resolution,” said Angel Flores, East Asia business head at the British Council, which backs companies seeking to help people, invest in the environment and tackle social ills. “Being inclusive, participatory and prioritizing community benefit over personal agendas enhances the social fabric from a place of distrust to … confidence and mutual understanding.”

“Farmerpreneurs”

CfP was set up in 2008 on the conflict-hit southern island of Mindanao, after its founders stopped Christian and Muslim neighbors going to war over the ownership of a rice field.

The men were invited to put down their guns and talk over coffee, a tradition which quickly spread across the region.

CfP offers a three-year scheme to train farmers to produce coffee while encouraging native and settler communities and various tribes to harvest and process the beans together.

While the social enterprise buys the farmers’ beans above market value — selling them on to local coffee shops and exporting as far as Canada — communities can sell to any buyer, but are encouraged to demand higher prices.

“We don’t treat them as suppliers or just part of the chain — they are farmerpreneurs,” said CfP senior vice president Twinkle Bautista.

“The aim is to unite the settlers and indigenous people to teach each other, share techniques and tools … and harmony,” she added. “Our product is peace — coffee is just the tool.”

For Kagawad Abe and his indigenous community, setting up a processing center through CfP has brought them closer to the Christian settlers — who work with them to process their beans.

“It has also brought women together, and given them a chance to work independently … to contribute to the tribe,” he said.

About 80 percent of CfP’s coffee-growing partners are women.

“Just five or so years ago, we didn’t really know each other – but now we are talking and working together,” Abe added.

CfP says business is booming, having tripled sales to at least $46,000 last year from $15,000 in 2012 and won United Nations and regional awards for promoting peace and development.

Although social enterprises in the Philippines have more than tripled in the last decade to 165,000, many are struggling due to limited state support and a lack of funding, said the British Council and the Philippines Social Enterprise Network.

CfP’s success is likely largely due to its unusual mission, said Gerry Higgins, chief executive of Community Enterprise in Scotland (CEIS), Britain’s largest agency to support the sector.

“Coffee for Peace is unusual … there aren’t many social enterprises that recognize that if a community is resilient and sustainable, (then) fewer conflicts will emerge,” Higgins said.

Conquerors of Coffee

By walking farmers through every step of the supply chain, CfP says they no longer see the coffee industry as “a mystery.”

Once dependent on traders and big brands such as Nestle, the world’s biggest coffee maker and producer of Nescafe, farmers can now demand higher prices for better quality beans, CfP said.

Yet winning communities over remains a major challenge.

Some are proud of their traditional methods and reluctant to embrace change, while others are wary of civil society groups and used to instant cash or aid, rather than long-term support.

“We had to convince and convince our people, many times, to move from the traditional to the technical way of doing things,” said Baby Jerlina Owok, chieftain of a native tribe which has seen their coffee beans almost double in value in recent years.

Yet for women such as Owok and Dubria and their coffee cooperatives, the ambitions are much bigger than making money.

Pointing at huge swathes of coffee trees covering the hills, painting once barren land vibrant shades of green, Dubria spoke about planting more to combat deforestation and soil erosion.

Lastly, she said they need to share their prosperity.

“We need to encourage and help other communities to produce quality coffee,” she said. “We want to pull them up — to improve their standard of living — so they can experience what we have.”
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From: MeNeedIt

The largest American business lobby group came to the defense of Amazon.com on Tuesday after a multi-day Twitter attack by U.S. President Donald Trump that included unsubstantiated criticism of the world’s biggest online retailer.

The value of Amazon shares held by Jeff Bezos, the online retailer’s chief executive and single largest shareholder, had taken a $10 billion hit in the week since Trump began attacking him and his company on Twitter.

Citing an unspecified report, Trump told reporters at the White House that the company was not paying the U.S. Postal Service a fair rate, and that it was costing U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars and forcing other retailers out of business, and he threatened to raise rates.

Late on Tuesday afternoon, a source familiar with proceedings at the White House said no specific actions addressing Trump’s concerns about Amazon were on the table at the White House at this time, but that could change given Trump’s dissatisfaction with the company.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest business lobby group in the country, stepped in on Tuesday to defend Amazon, which is a member.

“It’s inappropriate for government officials to use their position to attack an American company,” Neil Bradley, chief policy officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement, citing the value of the free enterprise system and the rule of law. “The record is clear: deviating from those processes undermines economic growth and job creation.”

It is not the first time Trump, or another U.S. president, has been publicly critical of a company. Trump has previously criticized automakers, Carrier, which is owned by United Technologies and Boeing.

In 2015, then-President Barack Obama criticized office supply company Staples for not embracing the Affordable Care Act, drawing a quick rebuke from Republicans and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Trump has progressively escalated his criticism of Amazon and Bezos, who also privately owns The Washington Post, which has published stories that have angered the president.

Bezos, ranked by Forbes magazine as the world’s richest man with an estimated net worth of $115.6 billion, owns 78.89 million Amazon shares, worth about $110 billion at Tuesday’s market close.

Amazon shares closed up 1.5 percent at $1,392.05. The shares started the day higher but fell as low as $1,355.33 after Trump’s latest Amazon-related tweet. 

Trump has accused Amazon of not paying enough tax, taking advantage of the U.S. postal system and putting small retailers out of business, but he has offered no evidence to back up his criticisms.

“The post office is losing billions of dollars … because it delivers packages for Amazon at a very low rate,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. “If you look at the cost that we’re subsidizing, we’re giving a subsidy to Amazon.”

Trump offered no details about the report he cited or how he might charge the company more through USPS.

Amazon also ships packages through providers such as FedEx and United Parcel Service as well as its own experimental shipping service.

Representatives of Amazon and USPS had no comment on Trump’s tweet on Tuesday and could not be immediately reached regarding his latest comments to reporters.
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From: MeNeedIt

Ahmed Khaled Tawfik, a prominent writer and professor of gastroenterology known for creating groundbreaking medical thrillers, compelling horror and science fiction like “Beyond Metaphysics,” and “Fantasia” was laid to rest in Egypt Tuesday. 

Tawfik died suddenly on Monday. He was 55. A cause of death has not been released.

One of the most prolific and popular authors in Egypt, Tawfik wrote more than 500 paperbacks and titles, which appealed strongly to young Arabs. His instant best-selling “Utopia” is described as a grim and bleak futuristic account of Egyptian society in the year 2023, when Israel builds its version of the Suez Canal and the Middle East oil reserves are rendered worthless by a newly invented U.S. super fuel.  

Living in a dog-eat-dog society

In Tawfik’s Egypt 2023, the middle class disappeared and the future looked more nightmarish than in ‘The Forgotten Planet’ by American writer Murray Leinster.

Breathtaking and suspenseful “Utopia,” which was set for the big screen, takes readers on a chilling journey beyond the gated communities of the northern coast, an isolated U.S. Marine-protected coastal colony created by the rich and famous, where the wealthy are insulated from the bleakness of life outside the walls.

“The middle class, in any society, plays the role of graphite rods in nuclear reactors: they slow down the reaction and, if it weren’t for them, the reactor would explode. A society without a middle class is a society primed for explosion,” explains Tawfik in his critically acclaimed Utopia.

One of his most famous quotes, “the end of despots is something so beautiful, but, alas, we often don’t live to see it,” is widely published in Arabic by young Egyptians on social media.

Master of Escapism

Called “Godfather” by his readers, Tawfik is credited with introducing young Arabs to works by American author and screenwriter Ray Bradbury, British author Sir Arthur Clarke and other sci-fi writers.

“Stories that lean on science or on technology appear as texts or information books to us in the Arab world, and we believe they won’t provide escapism. We have the imagination as a reader, but it’s just not yet developed enough to embrace science fiction and fantasy, or a plot that is weighted in gloom and horror,” he told a UAE newspaper.

Tawfik was one of the earliest Egyptian writers to specialize in horror, science fiction and fantasy, and his work included both illustrated books and novels, wrote the state-run Al-Ahram online in his obituary. His publishers say he is “the Arab world’s best-selling author of horror and fantasy genres.”

He was buried in his home city of Tanta in Western Egypt, where he was born in June, 1962. He is survived by his wife, a pulmonologist at Tanta medical college, and two children.
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From: MeNeedIt