CAIRO: Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of an ancient city in the desert outside Luxor that they say is the “largest” ever found in Egypt and dates back to a golden age of the pharaohs 3,000 years ago.
Famed Egyptologist Zahi Hawass announced the discovery of the “lost golden city,” saying the site was uncovered near Luxor, home of the legendary Valley of the Kings.
“The Egyptian mission under Dr. Zahi Hawass found the city that was lost under the sands,” the excavation team said in a statement Thursday.
“The city is 3,000 years old, dates to the reign of Amenhotep III, and continued to be used by Tutankhamun and Ay.”
The team called the find “the largest” ancient city ever uncovered in Egypt.
Betsy Bryan, professor of Egyptian art and archaeology at Johns Hopkins University, said the find was the “second most important archaeological discovery since the tomb of Tutankhamun” nearly a century ago, according to the team’s statement.
Items of jewelry have been unearthed, along with colored pottery vessels, scarab beetle amulets and mud bricks bearing seals of Amenhotep III.
“Many foreign missions searched for this city and never found it,” said Hawass, a former antiquities minister.
The team began excavations in September 2020, between the temples of Ramses III and Amenhotep III near Luxor, some 500 kilometers (300 miles) south of Cairo.
“Within weeks, to the team’s great surprise, formations of mud bricks began to appear in all directions,” the statement said.
“What they unearthed was the site of a large city in a good condition of preservation, with almost complete walls, and with rooms filled with tools of daily life.”
After seven months of excavations, several neighborhoods have been uncovered, including a bakery complete with ovens and storage pottery, as well as administrative and residential districts.
Amenhotep III inherited an empire that stretched from the Euphrates River in modern Iraq and Syria to Sudan and died around 1354 BC, ancient historians say.
He ruled for nearly four decades, a reign known for its opulence and the grandeur of its monuments, including the Colossi of Memnon — two massive stone statues near Luxor that represent him and his wife.
“The archaeological layers have laid untouched for thousands of years, left by the ancient residents as if it were yesterday,” the team’s statement said.
Bryan said the city “will give us a rare glimpse into the life of the ancient Egyptians at the time where the empire was at his wealthiest.”
The team said they were optimistic that further important finds would be revealed, noting they had discovered groups of tombs reached through “stairs carved into the rock,” a similar construction to those found in the Valley of the Kings.
“The mission expects to uncover untouched tombs filled with treasures,” the statement added.
After years of political instability following the Arab Spring uprising of 2011, which dealt a severe blow to Egypt’s tourism industry, the country is seeking to bring back visitors, in particular by promoting its ancient heritage.
Last week, Egypt transported the mummified remains of 18 ancient kings and four queens across Cairo from the iconic Egyptian Museum to the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in a procession dubbed the “Pharaohs’ Golden Parade.”
Among the 22 bodies were those of Amenhotep III and his wife Queen Tiye.
Egyptologists uncover ‘lost golden city’ buried under the sands
https://arab.news/4m9z3
Egyptologists uncover ‘lost golden city’ buried under the sands
- Site was uncovered near Luxor, home of the legendary Valley of the Kings
- Find was the ‘second most important archaeological discovery since the tomb of Tutankhamun’ nearly a century ago
Napoleon letter denying he ordered pope kidnapping sold at auction
- The letter, signed 'Napole,' went on sale the day after the funeral of Pope Francis, who died on Monday
- The sale price was way above the estimate of 12,000-15,000 euros, according to the Osenat auction house
PARIS: A hand-written letter from Napoleon denying his role in the kidnapping of Pope Pius VII in 1809 was sold at auction on Sunday outside Paris for 26,360 euros ($30,000), the auctioneer said.
The letter, signed “Napole,” went on sale the day after the funeral of Pope Francis, who died on Monday.
The sale price was way above the estimate of 12,000-15,000 euros, according to the Osenat auction house.
The auction’s location in Fontainebleau, south of Paris, was highly symbolic as the town was where the head of the Catholic Church was imprisoned after being initially held in Savona in Italy.
“This arrest is one of the events that will define Napoleon’s reign, at a political and religious level,” Jean-Christophe Chataignier, an expert in the Napoleonic era at Osenat, told AFP.
“Napoleon knows this letter will be made public and that it’s intended for authorities everywhere,” he added.
French forces kidnapped Pope Pius VII in his private apartments in the Quirinal Palace in Rome.
He remained a prisoner of Napoleon for five years.
The pontiff had sought to maintain the Vatican’s sway over the French Catholic Church and resisted Napoleon’s desire to exert control over the clergy.
'Without my orders'
In the letter addressed to French nobleman and ally Jean-Jacques-Regis de Cambaceres, Napoleon feigns ignorance of Pius VII’s detention.
“It was without my orders and against my will that the pope was taken out of Rome; it is again without my orders and against my will that he is being brought into France,” he wrote.
“But I was only informed of this 10 or 12 days after it had already been carried out. From the moment I learn that the pope is staying in a fixed location, and that my intentions can be made known in time and carried out, I will consider what measures I must take...,” he added.
Napoleon memorabilia regularly comes up for sale at auction in a flourishing trade marked by intense interest from collectors.
Two pistols that he once intended to use to kill himself were sold in France last July for 1.7 million euros, while one of his trademark “bicorne” hats set a record price for his possessions when it was acquired for 1.9 million euros in November 2023.
A sword that belonged to Napoleon and was specially ordered for the personal use of the French emperor is to be auctioned in Paris next month, with an estimated price of 700,000 to one million euros.
Sri Lanka Buddhists overwhelm city in bid to see Buddha's sacred tooth
- Four people died and hundreds fell sick while waiting in lengthy queues to see a sacred tooth in the city of Kandy
- Police said 32 buses were turned away because the city had run out of parking space
COLOMBO: Buddhists flocking to see a sacred tooth in Sri Lanka were urged by authorities to stay away on Thursday after four people died and hundreds fell sick while in lengthy queues.
Regional police chief Lalith Pathinayake said queues in the city of Kandy were already 10 kilometers (six miles) long as Buddhists waited to worship what they believe to be a tooth of the Buddha — a special showing of the relic that will end on Sunday.
Officials estimated there were around 450,000 people in queues on Thursday morning, more than double the expected daily number of 200,000.
“At the rate the queue is moving, even those already in line this morning may not be able to enter the temple,” Deputy Inspector General Pathinayake said. “We appeal to the people not to come to Kandy.”
The city’s main state-run hospital reported more than 300 people had been admitted after falling ill while spending days in cramped conditions. Four people, including an older woman, were pronounced dead on admission.
At the rate the queue is moving, even those already in line this morning may not be able to enter the temple
Lalith Pathinayake, regional police chief
More than 2,000 people who fainted while standing in line were treated at 11 mobile health units, local officials said.
“We are trying to avoid a stampede,” said Sarath Abeykoon, the governor of the province. “Health authorities have raised concerns about sanitation.”
The railway department said it was suspending all additional trains to the city because authorities were already overwhelmed by the number of pilgrims.
Police commandos were deployed to move thousands of pilgrims away from an old bridge that officials warned could collapse due to the excessive weight on it.
Police said 32 buses were turned away because the city had run out of parking space.
The relic was last displayed publicly in March 2009, when an estimated one million people paid homage.
Authorities had expected around two million visitors over the 10-day exhibition this time, but that figure was surpassed within five days.
In Dubai’s Gold Souk, bullion’s record run brings little joy for jewellers
- Bullion prices have hit record highs above $3,400 an ounce
- US tariffs and other factors have added fire to already hot demand for gold
DUBAI: In the bustling Gold Souk in Dubai, dubbed the “City of Gold,” 22-karat gold jewelry is a traditional favorite for weddings, religious celebrations, and as a family investment.
Yet with bullion prices hitting record highs above $3,400 an ounce, there are signs of change, as buyers look to diamonds and lighter gold jewelry, instead.
While US tariffs and other factors have added fire to already hot demand for gold as an investment, the impact is different for gold jewelry, according to Andrew Naylor, head of Middle East and Public Policy at the World Gold Council (WGC).
“In markets like Dubai, this creates a two-fold effect: on one hand, you see stronger interest in gold as a safe-haven asset, on the other, high prices dampen jewelry demand.”
At Dubai’s Gold Souk, retailers said they are seeing this trend, as current prices prompt shoppers to look for alternatives.
“There are no potential customers nowadays because of the gold prices,” said Fahad Khan, a sales representative at retailer Damas Jewellery.
“It’s a little bit tough to afford gold, so I think it’s better to go with diamonds,” said Lalita Dave, 52, as she browsed around the Gold Souk.
Lab-grown diamonds
Dubai has been a magnet for gold buyers for at least 80 years, starting with Iranian and Indian traders, both cultures sharing a tradition of 22-karat jewelry for adornment and investment.
Yet as gold prices rose 27 percent last year, demand for gold jewelry in the UAE fell by around 13 percent, outpacing an 11 percent drop globally, according to the WGC.
Jewellery demand could face further pressure across key regions in 2025 if gold prices remain elevated or volatile, the WGC said in its gold demand trends report published in February.
Price swings, more than price levels, are increasingly shaping consumer behavior, particularly in India, it noted.
Shifts in Indian purchasing patterns often ripple through Gulf markets such as the UAE, where buyers are a key driver of sales.
Goldman Sachs recently raised its end-2025 gold forecast to $3,700 per ounce and said prices could climb as high as $4,500.
“Higher gold prices are likely to dampen demand for jewelry, in a classic example of how the best cure for high prices is high prices,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
One sign of economizing has been the rise of lab-grown diamonds.
India exported $171 million worth of lab-grown diamonds to the UAE in 2024, up almost 57 percent from $109 million two years earlier, data from the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council showed.
India’s exports of cut and polished diamonds to the UAE in the April–November 2024 were up 3.7 percent.
UAE ranked third in global diamond imports in 2023, trade data shows, its primary trade partners including India, South Africa, and Belgium.
While the UAE accounted for just 1.5 percent of the global diamond jewelry market by revenue in 2023, it is projected to grow by 5.9 percent annually to reach nearly $2 billion by 2030, according to Grand View Research.
That outpaces the global growth forecast of 4.5 percent and makes the UAE the fastest growing market in the Middle East and Africa.
Trade tensions
One impact from recent trade tensions with the US has been accelerated talk about finding alternative markets and production hubs, two executives at major Indian diamond exporters said.
If tensions persist, potentially spanning years, one of the sources speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity said his company’s contingency plans included shifting some Indian production overseas, including to the UAE.
Shamlal Ahamed, managing director of international operations at retailer Malabar Gold & Diamonds, said the rise in lab-grown diamond jewelry sales in the UAE appeared to be driven more by design preferences than pricing and he remained bullish on gold jewelry demand.
“While price-conscious buyers may wait for a dip, our experience shows that such declines are often short-lived, with buyers quickly adapting to new price levels.”
NASA’s oldest active astronaut returns to Earth on 70th birthday
WASHINGTON: Cake, gifts and a low-key family celebration may be how many senior citizens picture their 70th birthday.
But NASA’s oldest serving astronaut Don Pettit became a septuagenarian while hurtling toward the Earth in a spacecraft to wrap up a seven-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
A Soyuz capsule carrying the American and two Russian cosmonauts landed in Kazakhstan on Sunday, the day of Pettit’s milestone birthday.
“Today at 0420 Moscow time (0120 GMT), the Soyuz MS-26 landing craft with Alexei Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner and Donald (Don) Pettit aboard landed near the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan,” Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said.
Spending 220 days in space, Pettit and his crewmates Ovchinin and Vagner orbited the Earth 3,520 times and completed a journey of 93.3 million miles over the course of their mission.
It was the fourth spaceflight for Pettit, who has logged more than 18 months in orbit throughout his 29-year career.
The trio touched down in a remote area southeast of Kazakhstan after undocking from the space station just over three hours earlier.
NASA images of the landing showed the small capsule parachuting down to Earth with the sunrise as a backdrop.
The astronauts gave thumbs-up gestures as rescuers carried them from the spacecraft to an inflatable medical tent.
Despite looking a little worse for wear as he was pulled from the vessel, Pettit was “doing well and in the range of what is expected for him following return to Earth,” NASA said in a statement.
He was then set to fly to the Kazakh city of Karaganda before boarding a NASA plane to the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Texas.
The astronauts spent their time on the ISS researching areas such as water sanitization technology, plant growth in various conditions and fire behavior in microgravity, NASA said.
The trio’s seven-month trip was just short of the nine months that NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams unexpectedly spent stuck on the orbital lab after the spacecraft they were testing suffered technical issues and was deemed unfit to fly them back to Earth.
Space is one of the final areas of US-Russia cooperation amid an almost complete breakdown in relations between Moscow and Washington over the Ukraine conflict.
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Philippines devotees nailed to crosses to re-enact Christ’s crucifixion
- Around 80 percent of the Philippines’ 110 million people are Roman Catholics
- Rituals form part of Holy Week, which spans from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday
CUTUD, Philippines: Christian devotees from the Philippines were nailed to a cross on Friday in a reenactment of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion in the predominantly Catholic nation.
Hundreds of Filipinos and foreign tourists flocked to the northern village of San Pedro Cutud in Pampanga province to witness Ruben Enaje nailed to the cross and portray Christ for the 36th time in an annual devotional display. Two other devotees joined him in re-enacting the crucifixion.
Actors dressed as Roman soldiers hammered Enaje’s palms with two-inch nails. Ropes and fabric supported their bodies as they were raised on wooden crosses.
“The first five seconds were very painful. As time goes and the blood goes down, the pain numbs and I can stay on the cross longer,” Enaje, 64, said in an interview.
Around 80 percent of the Philippines’ 110 million people identify as Roman Catholics. The rituals form part of Holy Week, which spans from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday and is one of the most sacred and solemn periods in the Philippines’ religious calendar.
During Holy Week, some devotees flog their backs repeatedly with bamboo whips in an act of self-flagellation to seek penance and atonement. The Catholic Church has discouraged the practice, saying prayers and sincere repentance are enough to commemorate Lent.
