One of the most ambitious endeavours ever undertaken by modern Egypt; the south valley development project will turn a large portion of southern Egyptian desert into green lands. Over 1.4 million acres (5,600 square kilometres) will be reclaimed, creating almost three million new jobs and attracting over sixteen million people into the new planned desert towns.

Since the early 1980's, the Egyptian government has been planning to increase habitable land from five to twenty-five per cent by developing, or reclaiming, desert land. The plan also called for increasing the agricultural land by almost 50% by 2017 to meet the ever-growing demands of the Egyptian population.

The Toshka project is among the biggest of these reclamation projects with a $60 billion estimated investment required. In its first phase, the project calls for the establishment of agro-industrial sustainable development within the new communities based on the optimum utilisation of land and water in an area of about 4,000 square kilometres. It is envisioned that the hot weather conditions will allow early harvest of a diverse range of crops, leading to favourable market conditions for the produce of these new farms, whether for exports or local consumption. Also, the project includes the establishment of infrastructure in the fields of transportation, communication, archaeology, tourism, mining and energy...

Turning the desert green at Toshka, MENAFN, Jordan, February 28, 2006.

cf. Ancient Egyptian civilization traced in Toshka, State Information Service, Egypt, July 15, 2004.

cf. Yale Toshka Desert Survey, John C. Darnell, Yale University, USA.

It isn't immediately apparent, but the Oriental Institute Museum's latest permanent exhibit, "Ancient Nubia," is a celebration of both the old and the new.

For the old, 650 of the world's most significant artefacts from Nubia (which was in what is now Sudan in northeastern Africa) are on display — some for the first time.

It's a small, though significant, sampling of the Nubian artefacts housed in the museum's permanent collection, says Oriental Institute director Geoff Emberling. "We have over 15,000 Nubian artefacts, we haven't even catalogued them all, much less have the space to display them..."

Institute up to date with 'Ancient Nubia' exhibit, Chicago Sun-Times, Illinois, USA, March 03, 2006.

cf. Oriental Institute brings ancient Nubia to Chicago, William Harms, The University of Chicago Chronicle, University of Chicago, Illinois, USA, Vol. 25, No. 10, February 16, 2006.

Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif toured on Saturday the site of the Civilization Museum in Old Cairo.

Nazif told reporters that the museum, which is being built on a vast area of 70 feddans in historical Al-Fustat area, was one of the achievements carried out by the Ministry of Culture, which will attract more tourists to Egypt.

The museum will exhibit the history of Egyptian civilization back to the Pharaonic era.

Nazif tours site of Civilization Museum, State Information Service, Egypt, February 19, 2006.

For the first time ever and at a cost of $50 million, a Korean citizen, who possesses Egyptian monuments, held a permanent exhibition for Ancient Egypt as well as a Pharaonic funfair at Seoul, South Korea attracting tens of thousands of fans daily.

The number of visitors hit 6 million since opening the exhibition last December under the auspices of Egyptian ambassador to South Korea Reda Al-Taifi.

Pharaonic funfair at Seoul, State Information Service, Egypt, March 01, 2006.

The 27-year-old British archaeologist was making his first trip to Egypt, on a mission to uncover the truth about the Great Pyramid. When he moved into an abandoned tomb at Giza and slept on a hammock, everyone noticed the unconventional William Matthew Flinders Petrie.

Petrie became even harder to ignore after his 1880 adventure as he brought a scientific approach to excavations and, as a result, changed what the world knew about the ancient civilization.

Some of his best discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology at University College London are currently touring the United States. “Excavating Egypt” is at the Albany Institute of History & Art through June 4 [2006]...

Egypt Relics Show Archaeologist's Influence, AP via Yahoo! News, USA, march 02, 2006.