Postcards: Shawarma restaurant in Cairo brings taste of home for displaced Palestinians
NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and FARAH SAAFAN, of Reuters, report on the Restaurant of Rimal Neighbourhood…
Egypt reclaims 3,400-year-old stolen statue of King Ramses II
Cairo, Egypt Reuters Egypt welcomed home a 3,400-year-old statue depicting the head of King Ramses II after it was stolen and smuggled out of the country more than three decades ago, the country’s antiquities ministry said on Sunday. The statue is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo but not on display. The artefact will […]
Cairo citadel opens another wing to public to attract more visitors
Cairo, Egypt Reuters Cairo’s citadel, one of the Egyptian capital’s most prominent landmarks, opened another wing housing two semi-circular towers to the public on Sunday, to expand the country’s tourist attractions. One of the world’s biggest mediaeval citadels, the Citadel of Cairo dates back to about 1176 AD when construction began under the Muslim military […]
Egypt aborts controversial pyramid renovation plan
Cairo, Egypt Reuters Egypt has scuttled a controversial plan to reinstall ancient granite cladding on the pyramid of Menkaure, the smallest of the three great pyramids of Giza, a committee formed by the country’s tourism minister said in a statement. Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, announced the plan last month, […]
With government relocated, Egypt set to unveil overhaul of downtown Cairo
Cairo, Egypt Reuters Egypt’s sovereign wealth fund is finalising a masterplan to revamp Cairo’s historic centre now that government ministries have largely moved to a new capital to the east, and hopes to break ground on the project within months, its chief executive said. The area, modelled on Paris in the 1860s, is filled with […]
Push to mobilise turnout as Egyptians vote for president
Suez, Egypt Reuters Egyptians, some arriving on buses or stationed waving national flags outside polling stations, voted on Monday in the second of three days in a presidential election in which Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is expected to sweep to a third, six-year term. Many have shown little interest or knowledge about the election, which is […]
Rights groups appeal for justice over 2013 Egypt sit-in killings
Cairo, EgyptReuters Rights groups called on Monday for accountability over the deaths of hundreds of people killed in a single day 10 years ago when Egyptian security forces dispersed a protest against the ouster of the country’s first democratically elected president. The clearing of the Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in in Cairo on 14th August, 2013 marked […]
Bulldozers tear into Cairo’s historic Islamic cemeteries
Cairo, EgyptReuters A project to expand roads and bridges to ease congestion in Cairo has put thousands of tombs in a vast and ancient Islamic cemetery under threat, causing outcry among conservationists and family members. Known as the City of the Dead, the cemeteries along the eastern edge of Historic Cairo have been a resting […]
Archaeologist hails possibly ‘oldest’ mummy yet found in Egypt
Cairo, EgyptReuters Egyptologists have uncovered a Pharaonic tomb near the capital Cairo containing what may be the oldest and “most complete” mummy yet to be discovered in the country, the excavation team leader said on Thursday. The 4,300-year-old mummy was found at the bottom of a 15-metre shaft in a recently uncovered group of fifth […]
Owners distraught as historic Nile houseboats are removed
Cairo, Egypt Reuters Owners of the Nile’s famous houseboats in the heart of Egypt’s capital are having their homes demolished and towed away as authorities impound what they say are unlicensed dwellings. The boats, many of them elegant two-story structures with verandas, have been moored for decades along the tree-lined banks of the Nile between […]