Egypt

Scientists find ancient fossil of previously unknown 4-legged whale

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 

NATIONAL & WORLD NEWS

By ArLuther Lee

Strange species walked, and swam, the Earth 43 million years ago

Scientists in Egypt say they have discovered the 43 million-year-old remains of a previously unknown whale that had four legs — calling the species a possible missing link of extinct mammals that were perhaps the first to transition from land to ocean.

The fossil of the strange amphibious creature was unearthed from rocks in the Faiyum Oasis located in the Western Desert in Egypt, a region that was fully covered by water in prehistoric times, according to Reuters.

Researchers say the species — now classified as Phiomicetus anubis — lived during the Eocene period and belonged to a group of extinct semiaquatic whales called Protocetidae, which over time evolved into the behemoth ocean animals of the modern world.

Its scientific name is a reference to the ancient jackal-headed Egyptian god associated with the afterlife, Reuters reported.

“Phiomicetus anubis is a key new whale species, and a critical discovery for Egyptian and African paleontology,” said Abdullah Gohar of MUVP, lead author of a paper on the discovery published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The prehistoric partial skeleton is being studied by the Mansoura University Vertebrate Palaeontology Centre, according to Reuters.

“All known protocetid whales had well-developed, non-reduced fore and hind limbs that could bear the animals’ weight outside of water, albeit probably awkwardly, as these animals were probably quite heavy,” Robert W. Boessenecker, co-author of the study, told HuffPost. “Think of seals and sea lions, for example.”

Scientists say they believe the species was a vicious predator.

“We discovered how fierce and deadly its powerful jaws are capable of tearing a wide range of prey ... this whale was a god of death to most of the animals that lived in its area,” said Abdullah Gohar, lead author of the paper, according to Insider.

The beast likely weighed about 1,300 pounds and measured about 10 feet in length, which is a lot smaller than its modern counterparts.

Despite the discovery, however, researchers say much about early whale evolution remains shrouded in mystery.

Winners and losers in the Afghan crisis

Ahram Online and Al Ahram Weekly

Some will gain and some will lose from the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, writes Azza Radwan Sedky

Azza Radwan Sedky , Tuesday 24 Aug 2021

The losers are in the majority. Let’s start by focusing on the Afghans themselves. 

Despite the futile promises made by the Taliban saying that they will respect women’s rights “within the framework of Sharia law,” women will return to the repressive past they earlier endured. 

Women have gained much during the last 20 years: freedom of movement, education and many other rights. Under the Taliban, education for women and girls may be prohibited again, and women may not be allowed to leave their homes without a male guardian escorting them or without wearing a burka. Already advertisements picturing women are being whitewashed on billboards in Afghanistan.

Setting aside women and girls, the rest of Afghan society will suffer, too. Cinemas, music and entertainment will all be banned, those convicted of adultery will be executed, and those guilty of theft will have their hands amputated. The harrowing video of those who resorted to clinging to a plane trying to take off from Kabul Airport last week, knowing all too well the consequences of their actions, says it all. 

Another visible loser, despite US President Joe Biden’s rebuttal of the world’s outcry, is the US. The photograph of the 640 panic-stricken Afghans sitting on the floor of a US aircraft last week with no luggage or belongings was a tell-tale image of the desperation of the Afghans and a source of shame to the US. It is more damaging than any other moment in US history. 

The US was in Afghanistan in the first place to rid the world of extremists, yet today the Taliban are victorious. In its withdrawal process, the US lost much of its credibility and suffered severe humiliation. Undoubtedly, the world at large believes that the US should have foreseen the collapse of Afghanistan and avoided the tragedy. 

If Afghanistan becomes a haven for terrorists, the whole world will fall prey. Imagine Afghanistan as a breeding ground for those who hate the West and Arab countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, for those who seek revenge and retaliation for Western meddling and intrusion, and for those who will be free to harm others as they impose a wrong understanding of Islam on all. Attacks may soon follow in various parts of the world as extremists gain in confidence and support. 

There are also many winners, however. At the top of the pole are the Taliban themselves, who have managed, apparently without losing a single soul, to regain what they lost 20 years ago – power. US forces removed the Taliban from power in 2001. Twenty years later, the US has allowed them to move back at a far faster pace than they could have imagined. 

Cheering the Taliban on in this are those who think alike – regimes that distrust the US or are Islamist at the core, whether Qatar, Iran or Pakistan. There are also groups with a similar mindset – the Islamic State (IS) group, Al-Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, among others. To them, this is a field day and an opportunity like no other. 

Qatar has long sheltered and backed religious extremists, including Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Today, it will do the same for the Taliban. Qatar’s Aljazeera TV network will also remain sympathetic to the Taliban, displaying them favourably to viewers. 

After the Taliban moved into Kabul, Hamas congratulated the Taliban for “defeating the US.” The leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, said that the “departure of US forces from Afghanistan is the prelude to the demise of all occupation forces.” 

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader Wagdi Ghoneim, based in Turkey, tweeted that “we ask Allah to complete the victory of the Taliban over America and the infidel West; they are mujahedeen and we are mujahedeen and we are the nation of jihad.” 

Any country defiant to the ways of the US, such as Iran, is also celebrating today. Anyone affected by the atrocities caused by the US is gloating, whether those who suffered at the hands of US soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq or those who fled war zones after September 11. 

According to the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University in the US, “at least 801,000 people have been killed by direct war violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and Pakistan.” It also concludes quite justly that the US could have pursued several non-military alternatives to hold accountable those responsible for perpetrating the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington in 2001.

Last but not least, Russia and China are quietly watching and enjoying the fiasco that the US had placed itself in. The chances are that the Taliban will look for support elsewhere, and soon Chinese and Russian products, commodities and weapons, once the stack left behind is used up, will pour into Afghanistan. 

Both countries have hosted Taliban delegations at one point or another, and they may soon recognise them as the new government of Afghanistan, maybe even backing them in the UN, which would provide the Taliban with recognition across the world.

The US withdrawal from Afghanistan is a sobering reality that will resonate far and wide. 

---

The writer is the author of Cairo Rewind on the First Two Years of Egypt’s Revolution, 2011-2013.

 

*A version of this article appears in print in the 26 August, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

وهلّت الاضطرابات المناخية مبكرا

الاهرام ٢١ اغسطس ٢٠٢١
بقلم عزة رضوان صدقي

ما عانته البشرية في صيف ٢٠٢١ من اضطرابات مناخية هو بمثابة إنذار ودعوة للاستيقاظ عما هو آتٍ، مؤكدة أن التحول الجذري للمناخ ليس ظاهرة مستقبلية سيتعامل معها العالم لاحقًا، بل إنه قد حلّ بالفعل بكوارثه اليوم

إذا لم تتقلص انبعاثات غازات الاحتباس الحراري بشكل ملحوظ في القريب العاجل، فمن المتوقع أن تزداد درجات الحرارة اليومية الأكثر برودة والأكثر دفئًا بمقدار حوالي درجتين مئويتين بحلول منتصف القرن لترتفع إلى ٤ درجات مئوية بحلول أواخر القرن. تتوقع الدراسات الحديثة أن العدد السنوي للأيام التي سيزيد مؤشر الحرارة فيها عن ٤٠ درجة مئوية سوف يتضاعف ثلاث مرات مقارنة بنهاية القرن العشرين

على الرغم من هذه الأرقام المفزعة إلا أن الحرارة التي شهدها العالم هذا الصيف تجاوزت هذه المعدلات. كانت مدينة الكويت أكثر الأماكن حرارة على وجه الأرض عندما بلغت الحراره فوق الـ ٥٣ درجة مئوية، والعديد من المدن الأخرى في الشرق الأوسط تجاوزت الـ٥٠ درجة مئوية. كما عانى جنوب شرق أوروبا ولا سيما تركيا واليونان وإيطاليا من ارتفاع درجات الحرارة فوق ٤٠ درجة مئوية، وسجلت جزيرة سيسيلي ٤٩ درجة مئوية، وأجبرت حرائق الغابات على إخلاء العديد من المواقع السياحية في تركيا بينما اجتاحت الحرائق ضواحي أثينا 

كانت القبة الحرارية، حيث يحبس الضغط العالي الحرارة، في غرب القارة الأمريكية الشمالية، من ولاية كاليفورنيا جنوبًا حتى مقاطعة كولومبيا البريطانية شمالًا في كندا، سببا في موجة حر لم يسبق لها مثيل وتم تسجيل مئات الوفيات المفاجئة بسبب الحرارة الشديدة في غرب كندا. كما سجلت بلدة ليتون الواقعة في جنوب نفس المقاطعة أعلى درجة حرارة في تاريخ كندا على الإطلاق 49,6 درجة مئوية، وسريعا ما انتشرت حرائق الغابات والتهمت بلدة ليتون بأكملها. ثم تسببت موجات الحر الشديدة في حرائق في مناطق الغابات الكثيفة والتهمت كل ما في طريقها مسببة آلاف الحرائق المتعذر السيطرة عليها

استمرت الظواهر المناخية مثل موجات الحر وحرائق الغابات بضراوة وبشدة ومع ذلك، بتناقض شديد، عانت مناطق أخرى من الأمطار الغزيرة والفيضانات. نجمت فيضانات كارثية بسبب هطول أمطار قياسية في بلجيكا وسويسرا وفرنسا وهولندا ولوكسمبورج، وخلّفت ١٧٣ قتيلاً في ألمانيا. كما جرفت الانهيارات الأرضية الجسور وتكدس الحطام في كل مكان وظهرت أطنان من النفايات. ومع هطول أمطار مماثلة في مقاطعة هنان في الصين خلّفت الفيضانات ١٢ قتيلا بعد أن حوصر الركاب في أنفاق السكك الحديدية تحت الأرض وتم إجلاء مائتى ألف مواطن لأن المياه المتحرّكة حوّلت الطرق إلى الأنهار

هذه الكوارث على سبيل المثال وليس الحصر وتؤكد أن تغيُّر المناخ قد حلّ بالفعل وسيؤثر في آخر المطاف على سُبل معيشتنا ونهج بيئتنا: جودة الهواء وتوافر المياه ونقاء المحيطات والبحار وتواجد الحياة البحرية وكثافة الغابات ونقاء الأنهار. العواقب إذا ما استطعنا التحكم في التغيُّر المناخي ستكون بغيضة: تلوث الهواء وزيادة حموضة البحار وذوبان الجليد وارتفاع الحراره وكثرة الحرائق والأمطار، كل هذا سيترك آثارا سلبية مروعة. والجدير بالذكر أن كل إجراء نتخذه، سواء أدركنا ذلك أم لا، يترك آثارا على الأرضد

مقولة هامة تنذر: أكبر تهديد لكوكبنا هو الاعتقاد بأن شخصًا آخر سينقذه، فهل نحن كبشر نتخذ التدابير الاحترازية للحد ولتخفيف آثار التغيُّر المناخي الذي صنعناه بأنفسنا؟ يقول تقرير الهيئة الدولية المعنية بتغيُّر المناخ لعام ٢٠١٨ بشأن درجات الاحترار: "يجب أن تبلغ الانبعاثات العالمية ذروتها بحلول عام ٢٠٣٠ وأن تنخفض بسرعة إلى الصفر بحلول عام ٢٠٥٠ إذا أردنا البقاء ضمن حدود السلامة التي حددتها اتفاقية باريس". هذا ليس بالأمر السهل ولا يمكن تحقيقه مع المقومات التي نحن بصددها اليوم

نعلم جميعًا الاستراتيجيات التي يجب علينا اتباعها مثل الاعتماد على مصادر الطاقة المتجددة - الطاقة الشمسية وطاقة الرياح وإنشاء أنظمة نقل مستدامة بما في ذلك المركبات الكهربائية واستخدام الطاقة المتجددة بدلاً من الوقود الأحفوري وتقليص استخدام الفحم كمصدر للطاقة. ومع ذلك فإن ما هو حيوي حقًا هو تنفيذ هذه التغييرات وليس فقط إدراكها

واجب على الأفراد كما هو واجب على الدول تغيير نمط الحياة واتخاذ خيارات تحد من الاضطرابات المناخية. وقد حذر تقرير الأمم المتحدة الحديث من أن بعض الدول على وشك الانقراض حيث إن الاحتباس الحراري قد يجعل أجزاء من العالم غير صالحة للسكن

الجدل حول ما إذا كان تغيُّر المناخ يحدث بالفعل أم لا أصبح باطلا ومضيعة للوقت، وعلينا أن ندرك قسوه التغيُّر المناخي ونتائجه التي قد تفتك بنا كأفراد وكبلدان

 

Advances in artificial rainfall hold big promise for water-scarce Arab region

Arab News (Link: Advances in artificial rainfall hold big promise for water-scarce Arab region)

DUBAI: Drone technology has more applications than most people imagine, including manipulating the weather. In the UAE, scientists are planning to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles to penetrate clouds and generate rainfall using electrical charges — a process that builds on the success of “cloud seeding.”

In common with other Gulf countries, heat and aridity are the bane of life in the UAE, where just 1.2 mm of rain fell in the first three months of 2021 and where summer temperatures often hit 50 C. Scientists are therefore exploring innovative solutions to the interrelated problems of extreme temperatures, heat waves, water scarcity and poor air quality.

The results of their efforts could bring benefits not only to the UAE but also to other Middle East and Central Asian countries with water-scarce environments.

“This is a very important and interesting initiative for the UAE, not only as a scientific or research experiment, but to make the country a global hub in cloud-seeding knowledge,” Dr. Mohamed Shamrukh, a civil engineer who participated in cloud-seeding feasibility studies in the Kingdom in 2007-2008, told Arab News. “Such an initiative is urgently needed in our region.”

As one of the driest countries on earth, the UAE has precious few freshwater resources of its own. As a result, its economy is highly reliant on imports and desalination — the process of removing salt from seawater — to irrigate crops and meet the demands of its growing population.

In fact, the UAE accounts for some 14 percent of the world’s desalinated water, second only to Saudi Arabia, which has also tapped cloud-seeding technology as a potential way of addressing its freshwater shortage.

Riyadh last year approved a cloud-seeding program aimed at increasing rainfall in the Kingdom by almost 20 percent. In the UAE, that work began earlier, in 2017, when the government invested $15 million in nine rain-enhancement projects.

Using experimental drone technology, scientists can create man-made downpours by delivering electric shocks to cumulus clouds, causing them to clump together and produce precipitation.

A pilot and a UAE official from the National Center for Meteorology and Seismology inspect a Beechcraft plane at the Al-Ain airport before another cloud-seeding sortie. (AFP/file photo)

The small, remote-controlled gliders, equipped with a payload of electric-charge emission instruments and customized sensors, fly at low altitudes to deliver an electric charge to air molecules.

Clouds naturally carry positive and negative charges, but by altering the balance of these charges, these electric shocks enable water droplets to merge into larger raindrops and fall from the sky.

Of course, once the rain has fallen, the next challenge is to prevent it from evaporating or simply flowing off into the sea. To this end the UAE has built around 130 dams and levees with a storage capacity of about 120 million cubic meters.

There are several methods of triggering rainfall that scientists are exploring, including the spraying of salt compounds, silver iodide and dry ice into the atmosphere.

If the drone technique proves successful in the long run, cloud seeding could play a major role in enhancing the wider region’s sustainable water supply for years to come. Rain-enhancement projects could help to mitigate drought conditions without the environmental, cost and efficacy concerns associated with methods involving salt flares.

“The UAE has similar weather and climate to the other Gulf countries and this leading experiment in the UAE is very useful to them,” Shamrukh said.

 

Egypt’s overpopulation is a challenge that requires presidential intervention: Deputy health minister

Ahram Online

CAPMAS expects Egypt's population to reach 192  million in 2052 with the current growth rate

Egypt's 102-million population is expected to reach 122 million in 2030. (AP)

Egypt’s overpopulation is a decades-old challenge that requires a presidential initiative to be mitigated, Al-Shorouk news website reported Deputy Minister of Health Tarek Tawfik as saying on Tuesday. 

At "Media and Overpopulation" seminar, Tawfik said “the population will reach 122 million in 2030.”

Egypt’s population at home reached 102 million, with an average increase of 3,636 people per day between October 2020 and July 2021, the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) said in July.

In nine months and five days, the population increased by one million, CAPMAS added. 

This challenge "should be followed up on. Without this intervention [a presidential initiative], nothing will change," Tawfik said. 

Birth control methods have not efficiently reaped positive results because they “must be implemented in parallel with fighting illiteracy and school dropouts.”

In its latest statement on illiteracy in September 2020, CAPMAS reported that the number of illiterate people in Egypt stood at 18.4 million in the 2017 census, recording a rate of 25.8 percent, up from 39.4 percent in 1996 and 29.7 percent in 2006.

The issue of population growth is not being handled by a single institution in Egypt. It is rather a problem that is being co-managed by several bodies, Tawfik explained. It is difficult to coordinate the work of 22 institutions responsible for the national population strategy, he added.

Among the reasons behind the failure to control population growth, Tawfik added, is that “unfortunately, some religious clerics publicly support controlling overpopulation, rejecting it in close circles.”

CAPMAS expects the Egyptian population to reach 192 million people in 2052 with the current growth rates, and 143 million people in the same period in case of intensifying comprehensive state efforts to reduce the fertility rate.

Tawfik said that 48 percent of Egypt’s women are illiterate, stating that 67 percent of women over the age of 50 are uneducated.

According to a CAPMAS report in March, when Egypt's population had stood at 101 million, females comprised 49 percent of the population, numbering 48.5 million. 

Illiteracy is higher among Egyptian females than males. Illiterate women, according to the 2017 census, reached 10.6 million, making up 30.8 percent of Egyptian females. Some 7.8 million males are illiterate, or 21.1 percent of Egypt’s males, CAPMAS said in September 2020.

Today, there are eight women in Egypt’s cabinet, representing 24 percent of the number of ministers in the government. There are 162 women under this parliamentary dome, making up 27 percent of parliament members.

Climate change: the new normal

Ahram Online

This summer's high temperatures and floods worldwide were  a wake-up  call about the reality of climate change

Azza Radwan Sedky , Tuesday 17 Aug 2021

 

In all fairness, what humanity endured this summer was a wake-up call like no other. The climatic disturbances were fierce and persistent, and they confirmed a radical shift from the norm. Climate change is not a future phenomenon that the world will contend with later. The debate is over: climate change is upon us. It is here, now, today.

According to the American Centre for Climate and Energy Solutions, by mid-century, if greenhouse-gas emissions are not significantly curtailed, the coldest and warmest daily temperatures are expected to increase by at least five degrees F in most areas, rising to 10 degrees F by late century. The US National Climate Assessment estimates that there will be 20 to 30 more days over 90 degrees F in most areas by mid-century. A recent study projects that the annual number of days with a heat index above 105 degrees F will triple, when compared to the end of the 20th century.

As horrendous as these figures are, the heat experienced across the world this summer went far beyond them. The heat waves saw unprecedentedly high temperatures and occurred earlier than the estimates mentioned above.

Many cities saw record highs. In June, Kuwait City was the hottest place on earth at 53.2 degrees C, and temperatures in Iraqi and Iranian cities also went above 50 degrees. South-eastern Europe, in particular Turkey, Spain, Greece, and Italy, suffered similarly, with the island of Sicily hitting 48.8 degrees at one point. As wildfires scorched summer resorts in Europe, tourists had to be evacuated.

A heat dome, in which high pressure traps heat, hit western North America from California in the US to British Columbia in Canada, producing unparalleled heat. In British Columbia alone, hundreds of people suffered cardiac arrests due to the extreme heat.

The intense heat waves caused wildfires in densely forested areas as trees, greenery, bushes, and turf turned to tinder. In British Columbia, 1,300 wildfires raged as over 556,000 hectares of land burned across the province. On 29 June, the town of Lytton in southern British Columbia recorded Canada’s highest temperature ever at 49.6 degrees C. By 30 June, a wildfire caused by the heat wave had spread in a matter of minutes, turning 90 per cent of the town into ashes.

Climate change also manifested its fury in other ways. As heat waves and wildfires persisted and were more ferocious, in a bizarre fashion other areas suffered from heavy rain and flooding. Catastrophic flooding caused by record-setting rain struck Belgium, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, and severely impacted Germany, leaving 173 people dead. Landslides washed away bridges and piled up debris, with tons of waste appearing out of nowhere.

Similar floods in Henan province in China left 12 people dead after passengers were trapped in underground railway tunnels. At the same time, 200,000 people had to be evacuated as moving waters turned roads into rivers.

All this shows that climate change is already upon us and that it will ultimately affect practically every inch of our surroundings and environment: air quality, water availability, ocean and sea purity, marine life, forests, rivers, and much more. It will affect our livelihoods and quality of life. The consequences, if we still don’t get it, are earth shattering.

Every action we take, every footprint we make, whether we recognise it or not will leave a mark, a stain, or a blemish on the earth. So, are we aware that our actions have consequences? Are we taking the essential precautionary measures to reduce climate change’s threatening effects? Are we, as inhabitants of planet Earth, doing enough to mitigate the effects of climate change, which we originally caused?

To reduce the release of the greenhouse-gas emissions that are warming our planet, we need to collaborate as individuals and make small but vital lifestyle choices to alleviate global warming. The same thing is true at the country level. We all know of the strategies that we should pursue, such as endorsing renewable energy sources like solar and wind, creating sustainable transport systems including hybrid and electric cars, improving buses and other modes of transportation, using biofuels in lieu of fossil fuel, and curtailing the use of coal as a source of energy. However, what is really vital is implementing these changes and not only being aware of them.

The road for humanity is two-forked. Either we take the correct path and mend our ways or we continue to damage the earth even further. It’s up to us.

Mother Being: Breaking taboos around sex education, reproductive health in Egypt

Ahram Online (excerpt, continue reading Mother being: Breaking taboos around sex education, reproductive health in Egypt)

Nour Emam, creator of the platform Mother Being, boldly ventures into the controversial realm of sex education

Salonaz Sami, Monday 16 Aug 2021

 

 

Although engaging in open communication about sexual health is still taboo throughout Middle Eastern societies today, one young woman has been brave enough to try to break that norm. Nour Emam, founder and creator of the platform Mother Being, has had a longtime interest in women's health issues and decided to quit her career in music and pursue her real passion.

During the birth of her daughter, Emam underwent a medically unnecessary C-section and was separated from her daughter for a while. It was a very difficult experience which left her feeling helpless. Following the birth, Emam suffered from postpartum depression and mild PTSD, which went undiagnosed for eight months.

In an attempt to help herself overcome that painful experience, she created Mother Being, an educational platform focused on providing women with information on their bodies, sexual health and the many misconceptions surrounding it.

However, before creating her platform in January 2020, Emam joined a five-month online doula training program from Canada, one of the hardest and longest in the field, followed by another training program in managing postpartum depression from a British university.

"Two years ago, I decided to get pregnant. I thought it would be easy, like we see in the movies, but I quickly realised that planning a pregnancy takes a lot of work," Emam explained on her Facebook page.

"I discovered that my body and my cycle are much more complex than I thought, and that I almost didn’t know my body at all. So, I had to get to know my cycle from scratch and I wished that someone had taught me this when I was younger," she said.

Emam decided to make it her personal mission to educate women about their cycles and their reproductive health, so she started to study and learn.

However, the most important part for Emam was to make this knowledge accessible in Arabic to every Arabic-speaking woman in the world. Emam is now a certified maternal support practitioner (doula) and certified relationship and sex educator.

"Our culture obviously will not allow women to speak with their families about sexual and reproductive health, and as a result a lot of women grow up not even knowing about their own reproductive system and how it works," one of Emam's followers wrote in a comment.

"Emam is tearing down taboos to bring women accurate information about sexual and reproductive health," she added.

Breathtaking new exhibit at Houston museum hails Egypt's greatest pharaoh

Culturemap Houston, by Steven Devadanam

Aug 12, 2021, 9:55 am

A gold mask from king's wooden coffin with inlaid Uraeus. Photo courtesy of the Houston Museum of Natural Science

 

Upper part of a granodiorite statue of Ramses II. Photo courtesy of the Houston Museum of Natural Science

 

 

Gold bracelets of Sheshonq I with Wedjat Eye. Photo courtesy of the Houston Museum of Natural Science

More photos available in the original article. See Breathtaking new exhibit at Houston Museum hails Egypt's greatest pharoah. 

Iconic, innovative, and visionary, Ramses II is arguably the most heralded pharaoh of all ancient Egypt. Known historically and in pop culture as Ramses the Great, the deified and legendary leader reclaimed lost lands, expanded his nation’s borders, brokered the first peace treaty in human history, and spearheaded the building of cities, temples, and monuments — to name a few of his myriad accomplishments.

Perhaps Egypt’s greatest figurehead will be celebrated in a new exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science this fall. “Ramses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs” is set to open November 20 as part of a world premiere engagement and 10-city global tour. Tickets are $27 and are on sale online now.

At the immersive, state-of-the-art exhibit, visitors can walk among real colossal statues and witness a multimedia recreation of Ramses’ triumph at the Battle of Kadesh, widely considered the largest chariot battle ever fought, per a press release.

An expertly preserved collection of said artifacts, including sarcophagi, animal mummies, magnificent jewelry, intricate royal masks, opulent amulets, and ornate golden treasures of the tomb, will be on display, showcasing the skilled workmanship of Egyptian artists.

The journey begins via a 120-degree curved HD projection screen, which offers a sweeping panoramic view of Egypt and a backstory on Ramses the Great. Surround-sound audio choreographed with programmed lighting follows, with more on the life of Ramses — including the 19th-century surprise discovery of his mummified remains.

Next up in an immersive virtual reality experience with fast-paced highlights of the pharoah’s greatest moments, the temples of Abu Simbel and Nefertari’s Tomb. A ghostly apparition of Nefertari, Rameses wife, attempts to rejoin her husband.

The spectre of Nefertari takes visitors through Ramses’s transformation of Egypt as a valiant and fearless general, civil architect, and stalwart custodian of the ancient Egyptian religion, press materials note. While sitting in cinematic motion chairs, viewers will “fly” through temples,  sandstorms, and eventually come face-to-face with Ramses’ mummy.

That mummy encounter is significant: Famously, the pharaoh’s tomb was ransacked by robbers, leaving historians and the world believing that his mummy and corresponding treasures buried with him were lost — forever. However, in 1881, Ramses the Great’s mummy cache was dramatically re-discovered along with other long-lost royal mummies.

“Ramses II is considered to be the greatest king to ever rule Egypt” said former Egyptian minister of antiquities and notable Egyptian archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass, in a statement. “Many of the structures and artifacts that we’ve used to trace the history of Egypt were created as a result of Ramses the Great. This exhibition will illuminate the pivotal moments that earned the great pharaoh his place in history while bringing  visitors face-to-face with beautiful Egyptian artifacts.”

“Ramses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs” at Houston Museum of Natural Science; 5555 Hermann Park Dr. For tickets and information, visit hmns.org.

Feature: Horse riding gaining popularity among girls in Upper Egypt

Source: Xinhua, by Marwa Yahya (Link: Feature: Horse riding gaining popularity among girls in Upper Egypt)

QENA, Egypt, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Black Horse School, the first of its kind in Upper Egypt to teach females horse riding, has been gaining popularity among local girls.

In the past 20 years, many sports clubs and academies opened special schools for training females on equestrian in Cairo, as well as the coastal and Delta cities, while Upper Egypt did not have an encouraging environment for girls to learn horse riding, due to conservative notions held by many in the southern provinces, Dutch coach Tamara Youhan said.

The 39-year-old horse-riding trainer said there has also been misleading information that "horses and bicycles will harm females' health."

She explained that the Black Horse School, established in 2019, has succeeded in changing stereotypes and encouraging girls to engage in sports, especially equestrian.

"At the beginning, girls were not encouraged to learn equestrian because of their families' rejection," Youhan said, but when photos of females riding horses in Qena Sports Club, where the school is stationed, went viral on social media in May 2020, many girls were enthusiastic to participate.

The school provides eight sessions per month, divided into two hours weekly, for 600 Egyptian pounds (nearly 38 U.S. dollars), according to Kareem Talha, a 55-year-old man who founded the school.

"I adore horses since I was very young and I had the dream of launching the school for a long time, and my project was finally welcomed by the authorities of Qena to raise awareness of girls about a new sport," he said.

He started his school with 13 Arab and Dutch horses and a private coach for each to ensure the safety of the animals and the trainees, but he hopes to open more branches in all provinces of Upper Egypt cities like Luxor and Aswan.

"In the first months, only four girls registered for training," Talha said, adding that after almost two years of the inauguration, 110 girls of different ages have joined the school.

Talha explained that he started to use social media to promote his project, giving online lectures about the importance of that sport and speaking with the parents who visit Qena Sports Club.

"The school is an out-of-box idea for my community," said Merit Adel, a 26-year-old woman, adding that she owned a new life experience with excitement by taking such classes.

Besides its sports role, the school is also a step to empower women in Upper Egypt to combat outdated mindsets, Adel said.

"My family completely opposed the idea, citing that sport as shameful," she said. "But, when my father saw the photos of the girls wearing decent clothes on horses and with a female trainer, he changed his mind."

Meanwhile, Salama Salah, a 19-year-old university student, said it took her three months to persuade her family who worried a lot about her wearing tight clothes and dealing with an animal.

However, when she joined the classes, her eyes were opened to a new amazing world. "I love my horse like a friend," she said. 

US praises Egypt's 'constructive' role despite rights concerns

France 24

(My two cents: let us see how you would react if you are faced with what Egypt is facing)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo on May 26, 2021 -- Washington is considering new military aid for Egypt Alex Brandon POOL/AFP/File

Washington (AFP)

US President Joe Biden's administration on Tuesday called Egypt a "constructive" defense partner as it considers new military aid despite concerns on human rights.

Biden took office vowing no more "blank checks" to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi due to his sweeping crackdown on dissent but is considering whether to release $300 million in military aid that was linked by Congress to human rights standards.

Questioned at a Senate hearing, State Department and Pentagon officials said that Biden has made human rights a priority in talks with Egypt.

"But we also believe and support that Egypt has legitimate security concerns and believe that security assistance to Egypt is a critical tool in supporting those needs," said Dana Stroul, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East.

"The current view of the administration is that Egypt is playing a constructive role when it comes to border security, Libya, GERD, obviously the conflict in Gaza, et cetera," she said, pointing as well to US military overflights and Suez Canal transit.

Stroul also praised Egypt for agreeing to devote its own funds -- not just part of its $1.3 billion in annual US security aid -- to upgrade its Apache helicopters.

Egypt, the first Arab state to make peace with Israel, helped broker a May ceasefire that ended the worst fighting in years between the Jewish state and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

Sisi was closely allied with former president Donald Trump who unsuccessfully tried to negotiate a deal on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, or GERD, a vast project on the Nile that Egypt and Sudan fear will deprive them of vital water.

Stroul was responding to Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who voiced doubt that Egypt would curb cooperation due to lower aid and warned that the United States "compromises our ability to lead the world" on human rights if Egypt faces no consequences.

He pointed to the prison treatment of Mohamed Soltan, a US citizen who has filed a lawsuit alleging torture in Egyptian custody.

"That's the kind of behavior that we empower when we continue to send $1.3 billion to that regime," Murphy said.

Human rights groups have voiced outrage at reports that Egyptian agents have harassed Soltan on US soil since his release and have urged Biden to exert pressure by cutting military aid.