Archaeologist at Large: Living in Cairo

Outcry as British Council quits Europe to woo Muslim world

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 22:15:20 GMT

I was a recent beneficary of this policy as the British Council in Cairo decided to sell off some books from their library, which has now been re-branded a learning centre persumebly because it does not have enough books to now qualify as a library!

The books were sold off at a rediculously cheap price of 1 pound for a hardback and 50p for a softback! I spent 50 pounds sterling and got a thousand pounds woth of books! A bonus for my Cairo library but a loss for the citizens of Cairo

Cairo, Sin City?

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 10:52:13 GMT

Worried by violence in popular Lebanon, Arab tourists are heading to Egypt instead, and causing waves as they ignore Islamic customs adhered to at home. Cairo - As the sun set on another day of "Arab Season," Amr Khouli leaned on the cushions of his boat as it moved to the gentle waves of the Nile.

This time of year, Mr. Khouli spends days on his faluka, one of the many motorboats that cart tourists up and down the wide river that cuts through this city, catering to a growing number of Arab tourists who have passed up violent Lebanon and opted for safer Egypt for summertime holidays.

In 2006, 13 percent more Arab tourists came to Egypt and stayed 12 percent longer than the year before. This season is shaping up to be another banner year because of the Lebanese instability, says Hala el-Khatib, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Tourism.

But while Khouli welcomes the influx of money that comes with the uptick in tourism, many Egyptians complain that Arabs coming from nearby countries, such as religiously strict Saudi Arabia and Libya, are using Cairo as their own city of sin.

More @ http://travelvideo.tv/news/more.php?id=11890_0_1_0_M

But also some good news from Sinai

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 12:23:31 GMT

North Sinai's National Day celebration had a different flavour this year. Apart from the inauguration of new urban development projects that usually mark the event, the city's long-awaited LE50 million National Museum is at last finished.

The two-storey Al-Arish National Museum (ANM) will make a huge visual difference to North Sinai's capital city. The temple- shaped, honey-coloured edifice has finally been revealed after being hidden for almost a decade under ugly iron scaffolding, wooden panels and plastic sheets.

The 2,500-square-metre museum tells the history of Sinai from the pre-dynastic to the Islamic eras, displaying 1,500 objects carefully selected from eight museums in Egypt: the Egyptian, Coptic and Islamic museums in Cairo, the Recovered Antiquities Museum at the Citadel, the Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria, the Sinai Historical Museum in Taba, the Port Said Museum, and the Beni Sweif museological storehouses in Ashmounein. Artefacts unearthed at excavation sites in Sinai such as the Horus military road in Qantara East and Tel Basta in the Nile Delta are also on display.

More details @ http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/842/fe4.htm

Bedouins Protest Deaths in Egypt

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 12:18:11 GMT

RAFAH, Egypt (AP) - More than 1,000 Egyptian Bedouins staged an anti-government protest Thursday following the recent deaths of two Bedouins in clashes with Egyptian police.

The protesters complained of government mistreatment and called on Israeli soldiers to allow them in as refugees or take them to a third country. The soldiers kept their distance to avoid a confrontation with the Bedouins, who traditionally carry firearms.

Momentum for the demonstration started after the Middle East News Agency reported that two Bedouins were killed Wednesday when their car flipped over near a police checkpoint in the middle of the Sinai Peninsula near the border with Israel. Egyptian police said in the report that they exchanged fire with the two men after they failed to stop at the checkpoint.

Story continues @ http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6590465,00.html

My New Business Venture

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 02:36:50 GMT

More of what I am doing in Cairo, comments or sugestions apreciated.

PAST PRESERVERS

Past Preservers was founded by archaeologists Nigel J. Hetherington and Kelly L. Krause in 2006 to provide historical and archaeological consultancy and professional support to the media industry. We provide research and assistance throughout the creative process, from conception to post production.

Our professional services include:

Background/historical research

Review of concepts/storylines

Access to specialists from our extensive range of contacts

Scouting and guidance in selecting suitable locations for shooting

Casting advice and filming preparation

On-site assistance

Post-production review

Promotional and marketing advice

Past Preservers is based in Cairo and has a wide network throughout the USA and Europe. Our company has worked extensively throughout the Middle East and therefore has a strong knowledge and understanding of the area. Our previous assignments include work for the History Channel, The Discovery Channel, The National Geographic Channel and Al-Jazeera International. Our network of specialists includes Archaeologists, Historians, Egyptologists, Heritage Consultants, Engineers, Geologists, Anthropologists and more.

About Past Preservers

Nigel J. Hetherington is a graduate from the Institute of Archaeology at University College London, and has spent the past two years living and working in Cairo, Egypt. During this time he has worked with Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) on a number of strategies for safeguarding Egypt’s heritage. Nigel is the co-author, along with Dr. Kent Weeks, of The Valley of the Kings Site Management Masterplan. He is also in the process of researching and writing a book on the history of tourism in Luxor. Nigel has a M.A. in Cultural Heritage Studies and is a member of the International Association of Egyptologists.

Key Experience

Archaeological/Heritage Consultancy
World Heritage
Stakeholder Consultation
Archaeological Site Management
Environmental Conservation
Tourism Studies
Site Interpretation
Cultural Heritage of the Middle East

Kelly L. Krause is a graduate from Boston University, USA and the Institute of Archaeology at University College London. Kelly has lived and worked extensively in Cairo, Egypt since 2002 with organisations and institutions that include the SCA, the Egyptian Antiquities Information System (EAIS), the American University in Cairo (AUC) and the Egyptian Museum. Kelly has archaeological experience with the Anglo-American Project in Pompeii (AAPP) from 2003-2005 and has also worked with the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA). Kelly has a M.A. in Cultural Heritage Studies and the focus of her recent research is the role of community in cultural heritage.

Key Experience

Archaeological Method and Excavation
Cultural Heritage Management
World Heritage
Cultural Heritage and Identity
Archaeological Ethics and Law
Urban Sites
The Middle East and Mediterranean

Contact Information

To contact Past Preservers please telephone or e-mail Nigel or Kelly at the following:

Nigel J. Hetherington

Egypt mobile: +20 (0) 10-346-1169

nigel_hetherington@hotmail.com

Kelly L. Krause

Egypt mobile: +20 (0) 16-258-6419

Kells1222@yahoo.com

Apologies

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 23:14:09 GMT

Sorry for the almost complete lack of posts in March!

I have a good excuse, believe me.

I have just decided to jack in my comfy job with a big corporate concern and start my own business.

We are called Past Presevers and we in the business of Heritage Consultancy for the media industry.

We have located to Cairo, where I have taken up residence in my old flat in the Downtown area (see pictures).

The 'we' is myself and my business partner Kelly Krauss, a old college friend from UCL.

Foreign women threaten social fabric of Luxor

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 02:13:38 GMT

This story has taken a while to hit the press, yet even the Minister of Tourism recently cited foreign women in Luxor as a significant contribution to GDP! Sex Tourism in any other name!

Authorities of the Egyptian city of Luxor recently embarked on a new campaign in an attempt to stop a phenomenon that has been plaguing the city in recent years. The new regulations in the well-known tourist city were implemented after it was discovered that some 40 percent of Luxor youth were married to Western women—most of whom were in their late 40s and 50s.

According to Al Sharq Al Awsat, leaders fear that the social make-up of Luxor will be drastically changed to the detriment of the city if the new trend doesn’t cease in the near future.

The new campaign is set to include both Christian and Muslim religious leaders who will stress to young males the importance of marrying local Egyptian women rather then choosing foreign women.

Dr. Samir Faraj, who heads the Luxor municipality, explains that the main reason behind such marriages is financial motivation, rather than an expression of love. In his words, young Egyptians believe that marrying a Western woman will cure their financial troubles.

Story continues @ http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Egypt/210260

Mubarak's visit to Luxor last month

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 18:51:23 GMT

He visited the Valley of the Kings visitor centre that I helped fit out but alas my invitation must have got lost in the post

The Upper Egyptian city of Luxor caught this week's headlines as President Hosni Mubarak, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and a score of ministers embarked on a tour last Sunday to inspect the most recent development projects undertaken there, as well as inaugurating a number of historical, cultural, archaeological and tourist sites, as well as service zones for Luxor residents and tourists.

The tour was within the context of President Mubarak's programme to improve services for Egyptians, as well as develop and promote tourist projects which will in turn provide more job opportunities and upgrade local incomes.

President Mubarak, known to have an interest in archaeology and culture, stopped in Luxor, the first stop of his official tour of Egyptian governorates and towns. Home to a third of Egypt's monuments, Luxor is the country's most important tourist destination.

More @ http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/828/heritage.htm

Egypt bloggers fear state curbs

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:20:09 GMT

A court in the port city of Alexandria has sentenced a young Egyptian blogger to four years' jail for contempt of religion, insulting the president and spreading false information.

Abdel Kareem Nabil Soliman, 22, is the first Egyptian blogger to stand trial for views expressed on the internet.

The case against him was based on a complaint from al-Azhar University, where he studied law until he was expelled last year because of his critical writings about religion.

Mr Nabil had declared himself a secularist who does not fast during Ramadan and he criticised al-Azhar, the most prestigious institution of religious learning in the Sunni Muslim world.

He accused it of spreading radical ideas and suppressing freedom of thought.

More @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6386613.stm

Egypt stops pro-militant Iraq TV

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:18:40 GMT

Egypt has stopped the transmission of a private Iraqi TV station which glorifies the Sunni insurgency in Iraq.

The United States has privately asked the Egyptian authorities to stop al-Zawraa which is carried on Nilesat - a government-owned TV satellite.

Al-Zawraa broadcasts from a secret location. Its owner is a former Iraqi MP who now lives in Syria.

Nilesat says it was taken off air because it broadcast on frequencies which interfered with other channels.

Not so, says Mishan al-Jaburi, the owner of al-Zawraa. He says political reasons were behind the Egyptian decision.

More @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6398161.stm

Unemployed Egyptian Man Throws Himself in Front of Dr. Zahi's Car

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 15:58:35 GMT

This I got from Nicole Hansen's site, the press report is in Arabic but it is an amazing story

See the report @ http://www.almesryoon.com/ShowDetails.asp?NewID=28947&Page=13

Nicole's site is @ http://www.glyphdoctors.com

Cairo:The Arab cultural capital

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 20:17:10 GMT

At one time, Egyptian culture was the fulcrum around which the rest of the Arab world revolved. Professor Yunan Labib Rizk looks into this pioneering role

Feverish attempts have been made in recent years to remove Egypt from its place as a cultural leader after having been pushed out of many of its other positions. Foremost was its political position, from which it was removed as a result of there being a sole superpower which restricted the arena for manoeuvring by states of lesser influence, an arena that had been open during the Cold War. Another was its economic position, due to the crises that have grabbed it by the collar over the recent years and which have driven thousands, or perhaps millions, of its citizens to emigrate abroad, eastward and westward, to the point that their remittances have formed the second greatest source of the country's hard currency after tourism and before the fees of the Suez Canal.

These attempts have been made apparent in the striving of some Arab satellite channels to deprive the Egyptian dialect of its place as the lingua franca of all Arabs. They have also manifested in the Egyptian government's withdrawal, as part of its general policies of privatisation, from funding many cultural arenas. The most significant of these is cinematic production, through which Egyptian culture had occupied the Arab mind for approximately three-quarters of a century. These attempts have also surfaced in the pumping of funds into the veins of media competing with Egyptian media, to the extent that the Arabic edition of the long- established Al-Ahram newspaper, which is issued specifically for the Arab world, has not had the same success as its international edition.

Continues @ http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/827/chrncls.htm

Rice In Luxor

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 19:17:24 GMT

Rice's Packed Schedule Leaves Little Room for Cultural Visits

Rice's meetings in Israel ended late, and so she skipped the tour when she landed in Egypt. Her motorcade rushed by the towering rows of columns and a long alleyway of human-headed sphinxes. W. Raymond Johnson, field director of The Epigraphic Survey of the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, has spent six months out of every year here since 1978, helping to catalog and conserve its riches. He had been assigned to give a brief tour to Rice. As he led reporters though the temple complex, he remarked, "I am sure, as she was driving by, she was crying because it is such a beautiful temple."

Johnson said a rapid growth in tourism had begun to threaten the site. Hundreds of buses arrive each day to visit Luxor. Egyptian officials have decided to tear down several kilometers of the old town in order to extend the row of sphinxes to its original four kilometer length, even though experts have warned that not much may be left, leaving open the possibility that the result will look more like Luxor Casino in Las Vegas than ancient Egypt. At one point, Johnson showed a wall carved with narrative of a ancient battle. He noted that the Egyptians had a "very fluid version of reality." So the king never was wounded and never lost a battle. "Reality was what you carved into the wall," Johnson said.

The reporters looked at each other: aha, an early version of spin

More @ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/01/15/BL2007011500870.html

and http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/1/16/worldupdates/2007-01-15T232819Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_-283648-5&sec=Worldupdates

and @ http://english.people.com.cn/200701/15/eng20070115_341428.html

Egypt: Bus Driver Raped by Police Faces New Risk of Torture

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 19:07:14 GMT

Egyptian Authorities Responsible for Safety of Torture Victim Sentenced to
Prison

A criminal court in Giza this week sentenced `Imad al-Kabir, a 21-year-old
microbus driver tortured and raped by police last year, to three months in prison
for resisting authorities and assaulting an officer, Human Rights Watch said
today. Al-Kabir now risks being sent back to the same police station where he
was tortured by police officers who later circulated a video of his rape.

Press Release: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/01/13/egypt15060.htm

Suez Canal 2006 revenue to hit record high

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 23:16:17 GMT

Egypt's revenue from the Suez Canal is expected to reach a record $3.8 billion (21.7 billion Egyptian pounds) in 2006, up around 10 percent from last year, a Suez Canal Authority official said yesterday.

Revenue was $3.457 billion in 2005, said the official, who asked not to be named.

"We also expect that the cargo crossing the Suez Canal by the end of this year will reach around 680 million tonnes, compared to 671.782 million tonnes last year," he told Reuters.

The official said the rise in revenue and cargo was mainly due to global trade activity with India and China.

The Suez Canal is an important source of foreign currency for Egypt, along with remittances from Egyptians living abroad, tourism, and oil and gas exports.

Maritime accidents within the waterway in 2006 did not affect its revenue or payloads, the official said.

In September, one oil tanker ran aground while the collision of another caused a limited oil spill. ($1=5.71 Egyptian pounds)

Monorail for Cairo

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 22:59:50 GMT

Cairo- Asharq Al Awsat interviews E.J Miller, the president of Intercontinental Commerce Corporation (ICC) that is to oversee a new project to establish a monorail system in Egypt. The project will serve daily commuters especially low-income workers who travel between the areas of Cairo, Giza and 6 October City. According to our report, ICC has caught the interest of US Ex-Im Bank to provide support for over $2 Billion US Dollars (USD) for the Monorail rolling stock. Guggenheim's Private Investment and Banking Group with assets of over $89 Billion was designated by ICC to act as a financial advisor and planner. IBM will provide system integrations and Arab Contractors will provide civil engineering and construction services for the Monorail track and cement works. Major monorail manufacturers are putting in proposals to provide rolling stock using the highest technology including Siemens, Hitachi, Frazer-Nash, and Bombardier. Ninety percent of contractors will be Egyptian, including 5000 Egyptian workers to be employed during the five year construction period. 2000 Egyptian workers will be employed as technicians and system operators and will receive training in the U.S., Europe and Japan.

More @ http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=6&id=7382

Egyptian women say 'Enough!' to sexual harassment

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 15:27:20 GMT

By Mona Eltahawy

I have lost count of the number of times I've been groped in Cairo. To name but a few: while getting on a bus when a fellow passenger grabbed my behind; while walking with my sister to a coffee shop when a boy on a bike reached out and grabbed my breast; and most recently by a riot policeman who ran his hand over my breast as security forces pushed back journalists from the courtroom where an opposition politician was standing trial.

As for verbal sexual harassment there is not enough room on this page to contain the thesaurus of crude and disturbingly graphic words flung my way. And when it comes to stalking, recently, as I took a walk a man followed me in his car and stopped four times, urging me to get in.

Ask any woman in Egypt if she has experienced sexual harassment and she will give you that same litany of the innocuous and the menacing, and end by telling you it happens every day and to everyone. The ugly fingerprints of sexual harassment have stained us all.

Continues@ http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=77660

Egypt's Privatisation Rush

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 15:16:45 GMT

Egypt is for SALE!

Egypt expects to earn at least 30bn Egyptian pounds ($5.25bn) in the next two fiscal years from the sale of state assets, about 50% more than in the last two years, the investment minister has said.
Egypt should conclude up to 30 privatisation transactions by July 2007, including the sale of an 80% stake in state-owned Bank of Alexandria, Mahmoud Mohieldin told Reuters in Dubai.

More @ http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=121769&version=1&template_id=48&parent_id=28

Brits in Egypt

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 15:02:44 GMT

Interesting survey into Brits abroad on the BBC website @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/in_depth/brits_abroad/html/africa.stm

I met alot of foreigners in Egypt but not many Brits!, Where we all these folk hiding?

**NUMBERS OF BRITONS IN EGYPT**
Total	Inc. part-time	Pensioners	% male	% female
14,000	14,000	182	n/a	n/a

Research on the Nile

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:19:19 GMT

Egypt shows how to turn brain drain into brain gain

Brain drain is a problem for most developing countries. Lured by better pay and facilities elsewhere, the brightest students take off to seek their fortune, leaving behind only the bill for their education and a higher education system bled dry of young talent.

There have been many attempts to reverse this brain drain, with successes few and far between. But in Egypt, a pioneering project is managing to exploit the brain drain, turning it into "brain gain".

The site of this discovery is Egypt's renowned National Research Centre which huddles among the hustle and bustle of central Cairo, and houses the six-month-old Nobel project that gives young researchers who have left the country a chance to return to top-class facilities.

Continues @ http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,1940708,00.html

New edition of Egypt Today out

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 21:56:25 GMT

Highlights Include

Ramshackle Railroad
by Rania Al Malky

Four years after an Aswan-bound train accident killed 373 passengers, has anything been done to upgrade Egypt's troubled rail network?

A Night Out
by Jessica Olien

Downtown may not seem to be the most likely place in Cairo to spend a relaxing evening, but the Odeon Palace and the Greek Club both offer a pleasant break from the din

EGYPT TODAY The Magazine of Egypt
people / society / politics / culture / a&e
Published monthly in Cairo, Egypt

-----------------------------------------------------
Visit us online at www.EgyptToday.com
-----------------------------------------------------

The Children of the High Dam

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 01:43:37 GMT

A Journey Along the Nile Reveals an Egypt At the End of a Long Era of Broken Promises, Moving Into a Less Certain, Less Secular Future

By Anthony Shadid

Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, November 3, 2006

ASWAN, Egypt -- Ilham Shary had a sense of awe as he stood atop a towering memorial overlooking the Aswan High Dam. Before him meandered the Nile, the world's longest river, harnessed into a canal. Behind was Lake Nasser, the largest man-made reservoir. And as he gazed at the dam under a searing sun, he wistfully recalled watching as many as 30,000 workers toil 11 years building what the government of Gamal Abdel Nasser promised would modernize a nation living in the shadow of its past.

"We are the children of the High Dam," said Shary, a longtime employee of the dam.

Interesting article @ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/02/AR2006110201657.html

Egypt: MP Jailed in Latest Attack on Free Expression

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 01:34:33 GMT

(Cairo, November 4, 2006) – An Egyptian military court’s conviction of an opposition parliamentarian for criticizing the armed forces is the latest attack in the government’s crackdown on free expression, Human Rights Watch said today.

Al-Sadat’s prosecution and sentence send a chilling message to anyone who dares to raise sensitive issues in Egypt. No one should be tried in a military court or any other court for criticizing a public institution or a public official.

Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch

More @ http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/11/04/egypt14504.htm

Lecture in Cairo

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 00:30:23 GMT

Rock Art: ancient photography for mankind

by lamia elhadidy

Wednesday 8th November
This will take place at ARCE, 1 Simon Bolivar,Garden City, at 6pm

This is a dear friend of mine, if you are in Cairo please go along

My secret Cairo

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 20:31:18 GMT

An interesting article on the other sites to see in Cairo

online @ http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,32089-2423437,00.html

YOU’VE gone on a two-week guided tour of Egypt, and now you’re in Cairo. This morning, you went to the Egyptian Museum and peered at Tutankhamun’s funerary mask in a densely sweating crowd. This afternoon, you’re in a coach coming back from the Pyramids. Your fellow tourists are full of complaints about the lewd liberties taken by the camel-drivers, you’re laden down with tawdry purchases, and the coach is stuck in traffic on one of the flyovers that cut through central Cairo. You look out, and in the middle of the expanse of biscuit-dry roofs is an extraordinary thing: a delicate stone pinnacle, carved into elaborate, fantastic forms. A little farther away, another and another; a dome rippling with lace-like arabesques.

Egypt's development projects only benefit the rich

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 21:10:45 GMT

Interesting article

The centerpiece of successful - i.e. long-term, organic - town and city development is usually a community enterprise or institution, concretized by a structure that declares the community's primary need or intent. For example, a harbor serving fishermen, a marketplace for farmers or craftsmen, a place of worship serving a spiritual ideal, a university serving the acquisition of knowledge, or a town hall, where citizens can agree upon their priorities for growth. In Egypt, however, the prevailing belief is that the centerpiece of urban development is the luxury resort, serving tourists, or gated residential communities, serving the rich.

More @ http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=5&article_id=76233

Moving a King, Summer Round up 1

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 15:52:39 GMT

Well I said I would deal with all those stories I missed

It must have been a quiet time in the media looking at all the attention the statue of Ramesses attracted

Here's a few, re pictures, I found so many cool ones I have made a seperate folder for them all!

Ramses II Statue Moves Out of Cairo, says Short News? But love the anti-Israeli stance!

Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's antiquities said “Ramses will be happy now" but other Egyptian archaeologists, politicians and intellectuals were left unhappy as they believe the move was forced by the US as Ramses is considered an anti-Israeli figure.

More @ http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=56551&rubrik1=Society%20and%20Culture&rubrik2=Museums&rubrik3=History&sort=1&sparte=4

Where as the Times of London says "Pharaoh trundles back to Giza" in a rather dull article @ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2327714,00.html

Gulf Times reads "Giant Ramses statue flees central Cairo pollution" more @ http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.aspx?cu_no=2&item_no=104228&version=1&template_id=37&parent_id=17

Good Move for Ramses II in Egypt says TravelVideo TV @ http://travelvideo.tv/news/more.php?id=9491_0_1_0_M

Ramses II statue to be relocated says the Mercury @ http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3408674

Where as Alarab online runs with Ramses II escapes Cairo pollution, read all @ http://english.alarabonline.org/display.asp?fname=2006\08\08-25\zculturez\971.htm&dismode=x&ts=25/08/2006%2008:09:45%20%C3%A3

The Beeb runs with "Giant Ramses statue gets new home" the article is ok but the pictures are the best @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5282414.stm

Back in Sunny Cairo

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 12:49:23 GMT

Hi All

and firstly sorry for a dismal summer of blog postings

My only defence is that I have been back at my University in London (UCL) completing my Master's thesis, more on that later

I am now back in Cairo for the next year or so, working for the Theban Mapping Project from about the beginning of October

Postings as normal on life in Cairo, Egyptology, Archaeology, Cultural Heritage, and my pet interests to follow as normal

I will also be providing an update on stories missed in the summer! So we can all catch up

Welcome to autumn

Nigel

Community Times Article

Sun, 28 May 2006 14:41:44 GMT

Restoration of a Downtown Apartment

When I accepted an assignment in Cairo in March 2004, I had no idea that two years later I would be still living in Egypt and that I would have completed the restoration and refurbishment of a flat in an early 20th century apartment block in the downtown area.However, that is what happened to me and...

My article on the restoration of my apartment here in Cairois now on-line @ http://www.community-times.com/

Egypt: Award-Winning Blogger Among New Arrests

Sat, 20 May 2006 15:26:50 GMT

(New York, May 10, 2006) – Egyptian security officials arrested 11 more political reform activists, including an award-winning blogger, Alaa Ahmed Seif al-Islam, Human Rights Watch said today. This brings to more than 100 the number of people detained over the past two weeks for exercising their rights to freedom of assembly and expression.

More @ http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/05/09/egypt13337.htm

These new arrests indicate that President Mubarak intends to silence all peaceful opposition.

Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division

A Roadshow for Safety Standards

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 12:09:35 GMT

Egypt has one of the highest road-accident rates in the world, according to a 2005 report released by the Ministry of Transport: “Six thousand people die each year as a result of road accidents in Egypt, and the annual economic loss caused by road loss is at least LE 3 billion, which equals 3% of the country’s gross domestic product.”

Stakeholders joing together to try to improve Egypt’s road safety record

By Amira Salah-Ahmed

Blue Sun

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 10:51:46 GMT

Just catching up with a few of the news stories of the last few weeks

This i experienced, it was amazing

BLUE SUN: For the second time this year, a blue sun has appeared over Egypt.

"A powerful khamaseen dust storm swept through Alexandria on March 7th," reports astronomer Aymen Ibrahem of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. "The sun shining through the dust turned blue."

Blue suns occur when the air fills with particles just a little larger than the wavelength of light. This makes the air behave like a filter, scattering red while allowing blue to pass. For maximum blue, the particles should all be
very close to the same size--about a millionth of a meter across. Khamaseen storms are notorious for such fine dust. The spring dusty season is just beginning in Egypt. Sky watchers there should be alert for more blue suns and blue moons too.

Barbie loses out to veiled rival

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 11:08:02 GMT

Step aside Barbie - a veiled doll with, as her creator describes it "Muslim values", is proving a popular choice in Egypt's toy stores.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Barbie loses out to veiled rival

Welcome

Sun, 29 May 2005 09:52:34 GMT

Hi and welcome to my blog. I have just started my second year in Cairo working for the Theban Mapping Project and I thought I should record the passing events for prosperity.

So much has happened here in the last year, so I will at some point try and provide a resume, however this may be somewhat fractured.

I will post pictures of my work here, my friends and my on-going renovation of my colonial era apartment, very Paris on the Nile.

Enjoy, I hope.

Nigel