Thirty years is a long time to be working away at a musical, trying to get it ready for Broadway.   But if you consider the sweeping historical subject of David Spangler and Rick Gore's enduring labor of love -- beautiful Queen Nefertiti and two men who adored her, plus the politics, intrigue and spirituality of ancient Egypt itself -- three decades is barely the blink of a kohl-lined eye.

Nefertiti, the musical about the sun god-worshiping royals that composer Spangler created in the 1970s with Gore's late brother Christopher, is about to have its own moment in the sun -- well, in the stage lights, anyway...

[More]   The Miami Herald, Florida, USA, May. 02, 2005.

About 200 suspected Islamist sympathisers were arrested in Egypt yesterday following Saturday's terrorist attacks in Cairo, as the authorities moved to reassure thousands of foreign tourists that Egypt is safe to visit.

The Foreign Office updated its Egypt travel advice by recording the latest incidents in which a male bomber blew himself up, and two women, his sister and fiancée, committed suicide after shooting at a tourist bus.

[More]   Telegraph, UK, 02/05/2005.

cf. This one which is far more detailed Is Egyptian tourism in peril?, TravelVideo.TV, Canada, May 02, 2005.

A newly discovered fragment of the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament indicates that, as far as the Antichrist goes, theologians, scholars, heavy metal groups, and television evangelists have got the wrong number.   Instead of 666, it's actually the far less ominous 616.

The new fragment from the Book of Revelation, written in ancient Greek and dating from the late third century, is part of a hoard of previously unintelligible manuscripts discovered in historic dumps outside Oxyrhynchus in Egypt.   Now a team of expert classicists, using new photographic techniques, are finally deciphering the original writing...

[More]   The Independent, UK, 01 May 2005.

Brilliantly Colored Mummy Dating Back 2,300 Years Unveiled at Egypt's Saqqara Pyramids.

A superbly maintained 2,300-year-old mummy bearing a golden mask and covered in brightly colored images of gods and goddesses was unveiled Tuesday at Egypt's Saqqara Pyramids complex south of Cairo.

The unidentified mummy, from the 30th pharaonic dynasty, had been closed in a wooden sarcophagus and buried in sand at the bottom of a 20-foot shaft before being discovered recently by an Egyptian-led archaeological team...

[More]   AP via ABC News, USA, May 3, 2005.

cf. Mummy with Golden Mask Unveiled, AP via Live Science, 03 May 2005.

cf. Archaeologists find door 'to the thereafter', Sapa-DPA via IOL, South Africa, April 29 2005.

cf. 2,300-Year-Old Mummy Unveiled in Egypt, AP via Washington Post, District of Columbia, USA, May 3, 2005.

Cairo will host an international seminar entitled "Al-Quds in Arab Archives" on June 19-20, the Chief of the Institute for Cultural Revival and Islamic Research in Jerusalem (Al-Quds) said yesterday.

The seminar, to be organised by the Institute in cooperation with the Egyptian National Library and Documentation House, will be held as part of efforts to preserve Al-Quds history and defend it against Zionist attempts to destroy its Arab and Islamic heritage...

[More], Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 03, 2005.

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni is to inaugurate late this year the temple of Fairuz in Sinai to be ready for receiving visitors after the restoration works that worth L.E. 10 million.

"The temple would be placed on the world heritage list of UNESCO as it is the only pharaonic temple in Sinai," said Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Antiquities.

The renovation of Fairuz temple comes within the ministry's plan for developing Sinai archaeological sites and placing the area on the tourist map, added Hawass.

[Source], Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 03, 2005.

Egypt will retrieve a stolen rare Pharaonic engraving from Belgium soon, Culture Minister Farouk Hosni announced yesterday.

He said the 4,350-year-old piece was stolen by treasure thieves from Egypt in 1965 and smuggled to Belgium where it was sold to an antiquities collector and later on in 1973. It was purchased by the Royal Museum for Art and History in Brussels.

An Egyptian delegation will travel to Belgium to receive the invaluable work of art from the museum, said the chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass.

[Source], Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, April 29, 2005.