He was a kid from a disgraced family, possibly assassinated and buried just off the beaten path in a tomb that, in Pharaonic terms, is a broom closet.

But Tut's is among the most-visited holes in the ground of the Valley of the Kings, where the humidity down below makes the 105-degree September morning seem cool and refreshing when I re-emerge into the present.

The tomb is empty except for the boy king himself, tucked back into his sarcophagus in the wake of his most recent trip topside, for CT scans last January. Gazing in at the most famous teenager in world history, and the gods painted on the surrounding walls to guide him (and his two also-mummified children) to the netherworld, my mind reels at the tiny size of the burial chamber. How could all those coffins, shrines and relics possibly have been squeezed in here?

That staggering horde is what makes this poor little rich kid so famous...

Visit with ancient kings, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Florida, USA, March 03, 2006.

by Hassan Saadallah

A small fire erupted at an Old Cairo site yesterday and was put out without causing major damage.

The fire broke out in the waste left behind by illegal workshops at the Audi Pasha Wekalat (a trade agency) in the Old Cairo area of el-Gamalyia.

The site dates back to the Ottoman era and was built in 1673 when Sultan Zulfakhar Kadkura was in power. The place was named after Audi, one of his wives. The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) will soon launch a project to renovate the site and turn it into a tourist attraction.

Fire hits Old Cairo site, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, March 03, 2006.