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  • Searching for Life Quality? Cairo, Alexandria Just Made It to Africa’s Top 10 Cities

    Searching for Life Quality? Cairo, Alexandria Just Made It to Africa’s Top 10 Cities

    According to a Swiss study published Tuesday, Egypt’s Mediterranean city of Alexandria comes third while the capital Cairo ranks seventh when it comes to quality of life in Africa.

    Surveying 100 capitals and major urban centres in Africa, the research body Communaute d’Etudes pour l’Amenagement du Territoire at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) looked at seven categories: society, housing, spatial development, infrastructure, environment, governance and economy.

    “I wish this was true, but it’s difficult to understand how Cairo that has been, for example, reputed for its toxic air and chronic noise pollution in numerous global studies in the past comes at seven,” said Amro Ali, an Alexandrian researcher who currently lives in Cairo.

    “Also were they able to access data and independent studies on the informal settlements and housing crisis faced by the poor that plagues Cairo and Alexandria? As official statistics provided by the authorities would often give a skewed picture,” Ali added, wondering what the methodology was for measuring the seven categories.

    Swiss urban sociologist, Jerome Chenal, told Afrique Mediterranee Business, the Paris-based magazine that commissioned the study that “until now, rankings for Africa were done for investors and expatriates”.

    “We never asked how people lived, whether young or old, rich or poor,” Chental told AFP.

    Morocco’s Marrakesh held first place, and three of its other cities also made it to the top 10 on the list, while South Africa’s economic capital Johannesburg came second.

    (egyptianstreets.com)

  • Egyptian researchers turn shrimp shells into biodegradable plastic

    Egyptian researchers turn shrimp shells into biodegradable plastic

    Researchers at Egypt’s Nile University are developing a way to turn dried shrimp shells that would otherwise be thrown away into thin films of biodegradable plastic they hope will be used to make eco-friendly grocery bags and packaging.

    Six months into their two-year project, the research team has managed to create a thin, clear prototype using chitosan, a material found in the shells of many crustaceans.

    “If commercialised, this could really help us decrease our waste… and it could help us improve our food exports because the plastic has antimicrobial and antibacterial properties,” Irene Samy, a professor overseeing the project, told Reuters.

    The researchers buy unwanted shrimp shells from restaurants, supermarkets and local fishermen at cheap prices.

    Using shrimp shells is more sustainable because it could replace synthetic materials used in plastics and cut the amount of biowaste produced by the Egyptian food industry, Samy said.

    The shells are cleaned, chemically treated, ground and dissolved into a solution that dries into thin films of plastic, a technique the team says has potential for large-scale industrial production.

    “Egypt imports around 3,500 tonnes of shrimp, which produce 1,000 tonnes of shells as waste… Instead of throwing the shells away, we can make biodegradable plastic bags,” Hani Chbib, a researcher on the project, told Reuters.

    The project is a collaboration between the Nile University team of four and another research group at the University of Nottingham in Britain, where Samy conducted her post-doctoral research and first started experimenting with the idea.

    The team has only produced small samples and the project is not yet ready to go into commercial production but the team is working hard to develop properties that would allow the material to go into widespread use.

    “We are continuing to work on enhancing its properties, like thermal stability and durability,” Samy said.

    (www.reuters.com)

  • Wikipedia Robots Fight Over Alexander the Great

    Wikipedia Robots Fight Over Alexander the Great

    Humans and software robots (bots) fight over the content of the Alexander the Great entry in Wikipedia, according to new British scientific research.

    The research show that bots behave more like humans than one would expect, “unleashing” a war in cyberspace concerning what to include in the Wikipedia entries.

    Alexander the Great has always been such a controversial issue and the bots have gone to a cyber “war”.

    Researchers at the Institute of Internet of Oxford University and the Alan Turing Institute led by Dr. Milena Tsvetkova and Dr. Taha Yassir, who published their work in “PLoS One” scientific journal, studied the behavior of software robots and how they interact, either by original design or by their own initiative because of their advanced artificial intelligence.

    The scientists focused on the ‘good’ bots used for years with benevolent purpose to improve Wikipedia‘s content, “purifying” the vandalism and errors, automatically inserting new information, identifying copyright violations etc.

    The study entitled “Even the good bots quarrel” – included versions of Wikipedia in 13 languages in depth of a decade.

    The key finding is that although the bots are not made by malicious designers, not only interact, but get entangled in chronic disputes with unpredictable consequences, eg changing a content which the other has added a certain word or links under the entries.

    Although the algorithms of autonomous bots make up only 0.1%  of the Wikipedia authors, their influence is much greater, because a large proportion of interventions and corrections are due to these programs.

    Regarding the “Alexander the Great” entry, it is possible that the bots are fighting between them as they see contradicting contributions from Greek authors and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia authors, with the latter trying to usurp the origin and legacy of Alexander the Great as their own.

    (greece.greekreporter.com)

  • Hellene, Romios, Greek: Collective Identifications and Identities

    Hellene, Romios, Greek: Collective Identifications and Identities

    “Έλλην”, “Ρωμηός”, “Γραικός” (Hellene, Romios, Graikos [Greek]): Three terms which by and large refer to the identity of the Greeks in the long course of History. The Greek people have been identified by many ethnonyms, with the most common being “Hellene” (Greek: Έλλην), while the name “Greeks” (Latin: Graeci) was used by the Romans, which gradually entered European languages through its use in Latin. Roman or Rhomaios or Romios is the name by which the Greeks were known in the Middle Ages, since virtually all Greeks were Roman citizens after 212 CE, whilst during Ottoman rule the name of the Orthodox Christian community was Rūm millet (Roman nation).

    The proceedings of the international conference “Έλλην”, “Ρωμηός”, “Γραικός”: Collective Identifications and Identities, which took place from 19 to 21 January 2017, shed broad light on the complex process of the construction of these collective identifications.

    The speakers of the Conference, which was organized by the Department of History and Archaeology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and was one of the celebratory events for the 180 years since the establishment of the NKUA, noted in particular the overlapping and the intermittent changes in the meaning of these identifications in the stretch of time and the longue durée: from ancient Greece to the Hellenistic and the Byzantine world and then to the Latin/Venetian and the Ottoman periods as well as the first century of the Greek nation-state and in the stretch of a space that exceeds the limits of metropolitan Greece and includes the Diaspora and the Balkans.

    Overall, 43 papers were presented at the conference, which were divided into three main focus areas: a. Identifications and identities in the ancient world; b. The empires and c. The long nineteenth century. The discussion that followed the presentations of each panel of speakers contributed substantially to the approach and better understanding of the multiple identifications in the Greek world.

    The subject of the conference followed extensive reflections on issues of ethnic identity brought about by the drastic political and economic changes, as well as the surfacing of new social and cultural phenomena that have taken place in the last decades. “These issues were found at the epicenter of scholarly interest and Public History, thus provoking a strong discussion and a particularly interesting production of academic works. The pertinent research on primary sources has enriched our knowledge, has sharpened our historical vision, and has led to new critical perspectives, which have broadened our way of thinking on the historical process of concepts that have been used as collective identifications both in international and in Greek academic literature, as the conference organizing committee has mentioned.

    The organizing committee comprised members of the academic staff of the Department of History and Archaeology. Conference participants consisted of members of the NKUA as well as universities and research institutes of Greece and other European countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany, Italy and Romania) and the USA.

    Keynote Speaker and Chairwoman of the Conference, Professor of Modern History in the Department of History and Archaeology, Olga Katsiardi-Hering, asked by Greek News Agenda* what the dominant connotations of the terms Hellene, Greek and Romios were, answered as follows:

    “As shown by the Conference announcements – and depending on the time and place in question – these terms described national, political and religious identities in antiquity, but in multinational political groupings of the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman eras too, as well as in the Diaspora. The term Greek/Greco/Grieche for a long period and up until the mid 18th century also referred to the Eastern Orthodox faithful. In the same vein, according to Ottoman and Ecumenical Patriarchate historical sources, the term Romios/Rum could have referred to the Orthodox Christian subjects of the Ottoman Empire as well as to the Patriarchate faithful. Gradually however and mostly from the 17th century onwards, the terms Hellene/ Greek/ Romios largely became synonymous, describing Greek identity. From the time of the Greek War of Independence (1821), Hellenic Republic and Hellene became the dominant terms defining the fledgling Greek nation-state and its nationals”.

    (greeknewsagenda.gr)

  • Migration Routes: First Greek Australian Archive Underway

    Migration Routes: First Greek Australian Archive Underway

    How has the large Greek community in Australia been formed? How did the Greeks travel to Australia in the 1950s and 1960s? What were conditions like on ships like The Patris, The Flaminia and the others? What do Greeks remember of that experience? What happened when the boats arrived in Circular Quay?

    The generation of Greeks that arrived in the 50s and 60s is fast disappearing. Their stories of adversity, strength, and progress to affluence are soon to be lost with them. Determined to not let this rich part of Australian and Greek history fade away with death notices, Associate Professor Nicholas Doumanis from the School of Humanities & Languages in the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales – with the support of the State Library and University of NSW – has set to document the fast disappearing first generations of Greek Australians.

    As Doumanis clarifies, pre-war migration populations’ history has been well documented; however, there is a significant gap in post-war history, which saw the largest wave come from Greece to Australia. This wave saw mainly village and poor people come to the Lucky Country, either fleeing war or seeking better living conditions.

    As pivotal as the contribution of the Greek population has been to what modern Australia is, “Australian historians don’t really know what to make of it, therefore it does not figure in the Australian history writing,” Professor Doumanis told Neos Kosmos. “Don’t forget,” he stresses, “Greece don’t genuinely consider us as part of their history. It’s upon us to show that we are part of the Australian history and a significant part of the Greek diaspora experience“.

    The project aims to capture the unique oral histories, memoirs and memorabilia of hundreds of Greek Australians, creating a publicly accessible archive, to illuminate understanding of the journey of Greek immigrants and how these experiences have shaped Greek-Australian memory and its cultural heritage. The uniqueness of the project is that for the first time the story of migration will be told through the personal experiences of the each individual and thus history will be captured through the voice of those that lived it. The project will historically link migrant experiences with various Australian records enabling a greater academic and social understanding of the impact of migration in Australian.

    “The idea is for this pilot project starting from Sydney’s Greek community to be adopted by other states as well. We are also looking into creating a book and an on-line data base,” Doumanis continues. An oral archive featuring interviews with about 200 Greek Australians will also be available to the public.

    The original fund was almost enough to set the foundations of this project, but in order for it to be realized, additional financial support is required so as to: build a rich archive that will house the documents of various Greek institutions and materials that depict Greek Australian life such as photographs, films, letters and diaries; create a signature feature of 200 oral histories from first generation migrants; build an online interactive exhibition; develop online courses in Greek-Australian History that students can take as part of any degree at UNSW; enable the Archive to be accessible to any scholar, both locally and internationally, for future research and teaching.

    More about Professor Doumanis’ project: Greek odyssey; The University of New South Wales Sydney: Greek Australian Archive; More about Greeks in Australia: Anastasios Tamis: The Greeks in Australia (2005); Professor Nicholas Doumanis’ forthcoming book (with Antonis Liakos): The Edinburgh History of the Greeks, 1909 to 2012: A Transitional History

    (greeknewsagenda.gr)

  • Cavafy in the World: International Cavafy Summer School 2017

    Cavafy in the World: International Cavafy Summer School 2017

    What kind of methodological and theoretical approaches can be productive in revisiting Cavafy’s work as world literature? How does Cavafy’s appeal as a world literary figure relate to (and challenges) national appropriations of the poet in Greece? How does Cavafy’s poetry speak to present cultural, social, and political concerns and what kind of responses does it offer to contemporary local and global realities?

    These are just some of the questions that will be posed during the first International Cavafy Summer School that will be devoted exclusively to one of the most renowned and widely read Greek poets, C.P. Cavafy. Organized by the Cavafy Archive and the Onassis Foundation, this major international annual scholarly event will take place on 10-17 July 2017, based at the historical building of the Onassis Foundation in the centre of Athens.

    Themed Cavafy in the World, the first Summer School will examine Cavafy’s work in wider, indeed global, literary and cultural contexts, revisit Cavafy as a major figure of world literature and reassess the impact of his life and work on Greek and international culture. Among the topics that will be revisited are: Cavafy’s relationship to movements such as symbolism, aestheticism, decadence and modernism; Cavafy’s dialogue with other literary figures; Cavafy as a cultural myth; the place of biography in Cavafy studies; paratextual uses of Cavafy’s poems; the construction of a Cavafy “canon” through editing and translating; Cavafy’s importance for modern queer writing and culture.

    The International Cavafy Summer School 2017 will be convened by Dimitris Papanikolaou (Oxford) and Stathis Gourgouris (Columbia), and tutors will include Natalie Melas (Cornell), Maria Boletsi (Leiden), Karen Emmerich (Princeton), Michael Warner (Yale), Gregory Jusdanis (Ohio State) and Patrick McGuinness (Oxford). The deadline for applications is Monday 20 March 2017 while the working language will be English.

    It should be noted that the Onassis Foundation acquired the Cavafy Archive in the end of 2012. The Archive consists of approximately 4.000 manuscripts, photographs and personal items of the poet, while its collections comprise original poems, translations, commentary on poems, the poet’s correspondence, and his notes. The aim is to protect this invaluable material and to promote C.P. Cavafy’s work and the international character of his poetry and personality. Working towards this end, numerous projects and events take place in Greece and abroad, for the wider public and particularly the younger generations, creatively utilizing the potential of new technologies.

    Created by the Center for Neo-Hellenic Studies and owned by the Onassis Foundation, the Cavafy Archive website contains all of Cavafy’s major works in the translation of Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard (edited by G.P. Savidis), plus select alternative translations. It also contains a wealth of unpublished material from the poet’s Archive, plus a Cavafy Companion section and up-to-date information on Cavafy’s seminal presence in today’s world, as seen through the web.

    (greeknewsagenda.gr)

  • 2nd Delphi Economic Forum: New strategic equation in eastern Med

    2nd Delphi Economic Forum: New strategic equation in eastern Med

    The speakers at the 2nd Delphi Economic Forum expressed reserved optimism over the possibility of a solution to the Cyprus issue even in the long term as well as over the energy reserves found in the eastern Mediterranean.

    The panel on the ?new strategic equation in eastern Mediterranean? was held with the participation of Nadia Arbatova, head of the Institute of World Economy and International relations of Moscow, Ian Lesser, vice president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States of America, Theodoros Pangalos vice president of the Greek government in 2009-2012 and former Foreign Minister and Dr. Thanos Dokos general director of Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy ELIAMEP.

    The speakers called the wider region of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East as a difficult situation especially after the election of Donald Trump.

    On her part, Arbatova referred to US-Russia relations after the election of Donald Trump and the volatile conditions in the Middle East stressing that Russian President Putin is trying to take advantage of the gap opened by the reduction of US commitments abroad and to reverse the view that Russia is a regional and not an international power. She also estimated that this was the reason for Russia’s involvement in Syria, return to an older status in which President Putin failed to succeed. On Turkey-Russia’s relations she said that they will never become strategic partners only occasional or ad hoc partners.

    (www.tornosnews.gr)

  • Two Museums in Athens among 41 Most Spectacular to See Around the World

    Two Museums in Athens among 41 Most Spectacular to See Around the World

    The Acropolis Museum and the Benaki Museum in Athens are among the world’s 41 most incredible museums to visit before you die, according to the online edition of UK newspaper The Telegraph. The list was compiled by The Telegraph’s experts.

    Acropolis Museum
    As noted in the article, the Acropolis Museum — inaugurated in June 2009 and designed by Swiss architect Bernard Tschumi — displays “proud statues of the ancients and life-like stone carvings of animals”. It is also mentioned that the museum’s top floor is devoted to the marble frieze that once ran around the top of the Parthenon. “The missing pieces were removed by Lord Elgin in 1801 and are now in the British Museum in London. The Greeks have wanted them back for decades, and hope that this blatant presentation will finally convince the British to return them.”

    Benaki Museum
    Referring to the Benaki Museum, the article informs that it is housed in a neo-classical building “with a lovely roof-terrace cafe” and traces Greek art right up the 20th century. “…Top pieces include the Thessaly Treasure (a hoard of gold filigree jewellery set with precious stones, dating from the second century BC), two early paintings by El Greco, and the reconstruction of two 18th-century, wood-panelled, Ottoman-inspired living rooms.”

    Other incredible museums to visit before you die, according to the article, include New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art, Paris’s Musée du Louvre, Rome’s Vatican Museums, London’s Design Museum, Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum, Barcelona’s Museu Picasso, St Petersburg’s The Hermitage and many more.

    (news.gtp.gr)

  • Greek Culture Minister allocates €2.5 million for Amphipolis Tomb project works

    Greek Culture Minister allocates €2.5 million for Amphipolis Tomb project works

    Recently appointed  Greek Culture Minister Lydia Koniordou announced that 2.5 million euros have been allotted for restoration works executed at Kasta Hill, the excavation site of the Amphipolis tomb.

    During a press conference this week, she clarified that the funds will be made available immediately for the restoration of the site in northeastern Greece, where a huge grave from Alexander the Great’s era was unearthed.

    The so-called Kasta Tomb, also known as the Amphipolis Tomb is an ancient Macedonian tomb that was discovered inside the Kasta mound (or Tumulus) near Amphipolis, Central Macedonia, in northern Greece in 2012 and first entered in August 2014. The first excavations at the mound in 1964 led to exposure of the perimeter wall, and further excavations in the 1970s uncovered many other ancient remains.

    The recently discovered tomb is dated to the last quarter of the 4th century B.C. The tumulus is the largest ever discovered in Greece and by comparison dwarfs that of Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, in Vergina. The excavation team, based on findings unearthed at the site, argued that the tomb was a memorial dedicated to the close friend of Alexander the Great, Hephaestion.

    It is not yet known who is buried in the tomb, but the initial public speculation that it could be the tomb of Alexander the Great, because of its size and estimated cost of construction, was dismissed by the experts community when commenting on the published findings, as the available historical records mention Alexandria in Egypt as the last known location of Alexander’s body; it has been supported instead, that a likely occupant could be either a wealthy Macedonian noble or a late member of the royal family.

    The skeletal remains of five people were unearthed within a corresponding tomb, in the lower levels of the third chamber in November 2014. The dead of the burial are: A woman at the age of 60, two men aged 35–45, a newborn infant and a fifth person represented by minimum fragments. Further examination is underway with regard to the dating of the skeletal remains, as well as DNA cross examination between the dead of the burial as well as other skeletons from the neighboring tombs in the area.

    Monogram of Hephaestion

    At a press conference in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greek archaelogist Katerina Peristeri revealed the existence of three inscriptions apparently linking the tomb to Hephaestion, nobleman, General and close friend of Alexander the Great. The ancient Greek word “ΠΑΡΕΛΑΒΟΝ” (it means “received”) is written in the inscriptions and next to it the monogram of Hephaestion.

    According to the Culture Minister, the resources will also be allocated for works to unify the archaeological sites of Amphipolis and create specially designed trails for visitors.

    Ms. Koniordou  also revealed that other current projects of the Greek Culture Ministry include the upgrade of five more ancient Greek theaters, Ancient Gitana Thesprotia, Ancient Ambracia, Nikopolis, Kassopi and Dodona that are all connected through the Epirus cultural route.

    Furthermore, the Culture Ministry plans to hire 1,314 museum and archaeological site guards for the season and they are expected to be in their positions as of early April.

    Finally, she noted that the e-ticket access will initially run as a pilot program at the Acropolis, Mycenae, Knossos and Messina sites.

    (www.tornosnews.gr)

  • Egypt’s underwater antiquities travel the world

    Egypt’s underwater antiquities travel the world

    Off the coast of Alexandria, the underwater antiquities date back thousands of years and include palaces, columns, ships, castles and statues that sunk after Alexandria witnessed a series of earthquakes throughout history. The exhibition “Osiris: Egypt’s sunken mysteries” displays many artifacts discovered through underwater archaeological excavations, and is currently on display at the Rietberg Museum in the Swiss city of Zurich. Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Khaled al-Anani opened the exhibition on Feb. 10.

    Summary⎙ Print Egyptian antiquities discovered in the now sunken city of Heracleion and nearby towns are being displayed in exhibits worldwide in a bid to revive Egypt’s declining tourism sector.
    Author George MikhailPosted March 3, 2017 

    The exhibition in Zurich displays 293 artifacts that tell the myths of Osiris, the Egyptian god of the underworld, and Egypt’s sunken antiquities that were found in the towns of Heracleion and Abu Qir and the eastern port of Alexandria. The artifacts have been selected from several Egyptian museums.

    In September 2015, the exhibition opened in France for a period of five months. Here, more than 250 artifacts were on display. The second place to host the exhibition was the British Museum in London, where the artifacts were on display in May-November 2016. The London exhibition displayed 293 artifacts, roughly 270 of which had been pulled from the depths of the sea off the coast of Alexandria.

    Before the inauguration of the exhibition in Switzerland, Anani announced at a press conference Feb. 9 that the exhibition had been a success in the European capitals of Paris and London.

    He said, “The ministry will hold more archaeological exhibitions in various cities and capitals around the world given the high turnout of ancient Egyptian civilization lovers. The exhibition aims to introduce these fans to the archaeological treasures of the Egyptian civilization. This is the best promotional way that can help Egypt restore its touristic activity. The ministry has taken all the necessary legal and insurance procedures to protect all the exhibition’s artifacts until they return to their homeland.”

     

    Mohammed Abdul Majid, the director general of the Underwater Antiquities Department at the Ministry of Antiquities, told Al-Monitor, “The exhibition positively affects the sunken monuments and draws the world’s attention to the importance and originality of these antiquities.”

    Abdul Majid said, “There are many missions that worked on the exploration of sunken antiquities, most notably the French mission led by Jacques Dumas in 1983 and 1984, which came to search for Napoleon’s fleet in the waters of the Abu Qir Bay. The mission found the L’Orient flagship as well as the L’Artemise and La Serieuse frigates. Another French mission for underwater archaeological research returned in 1986 and worked on finding a ship named Le Patriote off the coast of the Alexandria neighborhood known as “al-Max.” For its part, the mission of the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology discovered the royal quarters of the ancient city of Alexandria in the city’s eastern port in 1996. Napoleon’s fleet was rediscovered in 1998, while [the ruins of] east Canopus were discovered in 1999 and the city of Heracleion in 2000.”

    He added, “The lighthouse of Alexandria is one of the most important discoveries of sunken antiquities. [Parts of it] were discovered in 1995 by the French mission of the Center for Alexandrian Studies, and the recovery operations are still ongoing in the waters of Alexandria to preserve the sunken antiquities.”

    Asked about the most important obstacles hindering the recovery of the sunken antiquities, Abdul Majid said, “Natural factors cause the main obstacles that hinder the recovery operations due to poor vision in the depths of the waters of Alexandria; the recovery operations should be carried out when the sea is calm.”

    He noted, “There is a project to create an underwater museum for sunken antiquities, but it requires [approval] from the Ministry of Antiquities. The state should be interested in such a project, so that all of the Egyptians can see their sunken antiquities.”

    An international competition was organized under the auspices of UNESCO to create an underwater museum for sunken antiquities, and the architectural design submitted by famous French architect Jacques Rougerie was selected. While the project was supposed to be completed in September 2009, it has yet to be achieved. In this regard, Anani said, “The establishment of an underwater museum for sunken antiquities would cost up to $350 million, a difficult task amid the financial crisis plaguing the ministry.”

     

    Asked about the sunken antiquities’ exploration stages, Abdul Majid said, “The first phase is the archaeological survey, followed by the antiquities’ evaluation and examination. Then there is the phase of excavation, documentation, drawing, photography and spotting of antiquities on the location map and the map of Egypt. The decision whether to pull out the antiquities or not is based on how much the artifacts can be restored, the effects of leaving them in the water and whether pulling them out with a net could impact their structure. The decision also depends on the artifacts’ proximity to diving sites and their potential relocation due to the waves.”

    Emad Khalil, a professor of Maritime Archaeology at the University of Alexandria, told Al-Monitor, “Holding an exhibition for sunken antiquities in Western countries such as Switzerland contributes to the return of tourism to Egypt and to introducing valuable Egyptian antiquities to the West.”

    However, Khalil criticized the Ministry of Antiquities for holding the exhibition in several European capitals, but not in Egypt. He said this is odd as “before the Westerners, the Egyptians should be made aware of the value and greatness of their own history.”

    Khalil added, “Moving forward, the sunken antiquities issue must be dealt with differently, and only historic ships that adversely affect the salty sea water must be pulled out. The other antiquities must be left under water for display.”

    (www.al-monitor.com)