Enraged guides are taking a stand against what they call illegal guiding, which mostly takes the form of unlicensed foreigners accompanying tour groups in the country. Local professionals claim the phenomenon threatens not just the economy, but the nation’s heritage and even national security.

Egyptologist Aladdin Khalifa is an executive member of the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (WFTGA) and its official representative for Africa. The WFTGA is a non-profit, non-political organization, composed of national tourist guide associations, individual guides, educational institutions and convention and visitor’s bureaus.

According to Khalifa, a tourist guide for more than 15 years, illegal guiding is at the top of the WFTGA’s agenda, as members believe it brings down the overall standards of the profession...

I wonder if this includes the well-known archaeologists that accompany the specialist archaeological tours from the UK, the US and such?

Foreigners Invade, Amira Salah-Ahmed, Egypt Today, Egypt, Volume 27, Issue 08, August 2006.

Egypt filed an application with UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee to include the Temple of Sarabit El-Khadim in its list of World Heritage Sites.

The Ministry of Culture had teamed up with French experts for the 18-year-long restoration of the temple, also known as the Turquoise Temple. The Ancient Egyptian masterpiece dedicated to the god Hat-Hor graces one of Sinai’s highest mountains, and is located in the middle of the area’s richest copper and turquoise mines.

If the application is successful, the temple will become the sixth Egyptian site to be included in the list of the world’s most important monuments.

The King’s Temple, Manal el-Jesri and Sherif Awad, Egypt Today, Egypt, Volume 27, Issue 08, August 2006.

The past year has been a busy one for the Theban Mapping Project. We worked for about two months in the spring of this year, continuing to clear KV 5, and, as usual, continued to find more chambers. I think the total number of rooms has now reached about 128, and there is no sign that we've yet reached the end. Future seasons will undoubtedly turn up even more parts of this most perplexing tomb.

We have published a new edition of " ," adding sixteen pages of photographs, drawings, plans, and text that update our work in this fascinating mausoleum since the first publication in 2000. A third edition may well prove necessary in a few more years, as KV 5 continues to grow. A new edition of the " " has also appeared, updating the plans and sections of KV 5. (Most of the new material in these updates is also available on our website, so you aren't obligated to buy second copies of the books to keep abreast of new discoveries...)

Theban Mapping Project Progress Report August 2006, Dr. Kent R. Weeks, Theban Mapping Project, August 09, 2006.