An interview with Rushdi Said, dean of Egyptian geology.
There was a time when the desecration of the Nile could result in the denial of eternal life in the hereafter; today all too many Egyptians are thoughtless towards the river that provides their homeland with an essential life line.
"We are negligent when it comes to the Nile. We fill it with sewage because we do not have comprehensive sewage systems to cover most of Egypt, industrial pollution from factories and chlorine from tourist boats. It is unfortunate," lamented internationally renowned geologist Rushdi Said in a talk given this week at the Higher Council for Culture.
Score another one for the good guys Antiques smuggler jailed
Cairo - The ringleader of an Egyptian antiquities smuggling ring that shipped at least 300 pharaonic and other artefacts to Europe was sentenced on Thursday to 35 years in prison.
Twenty-five other members of the gang, including nine foreigners, were sentenced by the Cairo criminal court from one to 20 years in jail, although some were tried in absentia and are on the run.
The longest sentence was handed down to Tareq Suissi, a businessman and senior official with the National Democratic Party, who was arrested in April and expelled from the ruling party.
Sinai's military past
Remains of two limestone forts, bronze arms and a collection of scarabs and reliefs bearing the names of New Kingdom Pharaohs have been unearthed on the Horus Road at Tel Al-Borg in Sinai. .
An archaeological mission from Trinity International University in the United States working in the Tel Al-Borg area, 10 kilometres east of Qantara East and five kilometres southeast of Tel Habua, has stumbled upon a complete New Kingdom fortified camp. The site includes two limestone forts, one dating from the reign of the XVIIIth-Dynasty Pharaoh Thutmosis III (1475-1425) and the second from the XIXth Dynasty. Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said that the only remaining part of the first fort was found on the east bank of the Al- Salam Canal. It consists of a moat built on a foundation of between nine and 14 layers of fired red bricks, a material that was only rarely used during the New Kingdom. Only 50 per cent of the second fort has been uncovered, but this includes a wall with a large opening 13.5 metres wide.