The latest issue of Current World Archaeology is out now and contains three article of interest to Egyptophiles.

• News: Ramesses moved
  Pharaoh's suffering statue now re-erected at Giza. (1 page)
• Diary: Cleo Uncovered
  Life and Legend of Cleopatra VII celebrated. A new exhibition at the Bucerius Kunst Forum in Hamburg (Germany), is currently celebrating and investigating one of the world's most famous, or possibly notorious women, Cleopatra VII (69 - 30 BC) (2 pages)

Current World Archaeology, Think Publishing, London, UK, Volume 2, No. 8, Issue 20, December / January 2007.

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The first museum devoted to Egyptian civilization, NMEC, will open in 2009 on the archaeological site of El Fustat, in Cairo. It will be the only museum in Egypt to present the full range of the richness and diversity of Egyptian civilization throughout the ages, from prehistoric times to the present day. Moreover, it will be the very first of its kind and on such a scale in the entire Arab world. Its exceptional holdings will be drawn from the Egyptian National Collections.

It is designed to enable future visitors to engage with the history of humankind in and around the Nile valley.

As a civilization museum, NMEC will display some of Egypt's most valuable treasures including, the Royal Mummies from the New Kingdom period, currently on display at the Cairo Museum. Artefacts and objects from all key periods of Egyptian history will be featured. NMEC will also host major temporary exhibitions related to Egypt's past and present culture.

A future leading national Egyptian institution, NMEC will function as a museum as well as a cultural, educational and research centre. Its main philosophy is to 'share knowledge', not only with Egyptian society but also with NMEC's national and international visitors, researchers and partners. This pioneering project reflects a novel approach to heritage that preserves, displays, safeguards and keeps alive material collections as well as intangible heritage with a particular focus on living traditions and arts and crafts...

National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) to open in Cairo in 2009, UNESCO, December, 2006.

A Jacksonville art museum is putting history on display with a new exhibit that will give visitors a look at how people lived thousands of years ago.

The Tombs and Temples exhibit at the Cummer Museum features works of art from Egypt, and it will be in Jacksonville for the next three months.

The Cummer Museum is only one of five stops in the United States for a rare look into Egyptian history the exhibit provides. It is the most expensive exhibit ever to come to the museum, and its scope is unlike any seen in Jacksonville since the opening of the Ramses II Exhibition in the late 1980s...

Tombs And Temples Exhibit On Display At Cummer Museum, News 4 Jax, Florida, USA, December 28, 2006.

Egyptian art specialist works on Cummer exhibit

For Dr. Neal Spencer of The British Museum, it took just one trip to Egypt to realize he wanted to work with Egyptian art for a living.

Spencer studied Egyptology at England’s University of Cambridge and later earned his Ph.D. at the same school, researching pharaonic temple buildings during the Late Period (664-332 B.C.).

The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens has been preparing for “Temples and Tombs: Treasures of Egyptian Art from The British Museum” for over a year. A lot of planning had to go into bringing an exhibit of such stature to Jacksonville. Then, the Cummer Museum had to ensure the construction of the new Central Gallery would be complete in time for the opening of the exhibit. Finally, staff from the Cummer and The British Museum, including Spencer, had to carve out two weeks to prepare the gallery for the museum members’ opening tonight...

cf. Egyptian art specialist works on Cummer exhibit, Caroline Gabsewics, Jacksonville Daily Record, Florida, USA, December 22, 2006.

I'll give you 10,000 camels for your daughter!" It's the first day of our vacation and my father toys with the idea of getting me off his hands permanently. But no. "Imagine the duty I'd have to pay on those camels," he says to the dodgy-looking man who has just accosted us in downtown Cairo.

It wasn't my stunning beauty that drove the man to propose that lavish exchange. Like most citizens of his country - or so it seems to tourists - Romeo's goal was to relieve us of some of our Egyptian pounds. Given its proximity to the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, downtown Cairo is where the tourists are. Which means it's where you find the touts. Or rather, where the touts find you.

For Indians, Egypt is close to home. The Egyptians love Indians like brothers and worship Amitabh Bachchan as a god. And Cairo bears a strange resemblance to our own glorious country. It's hard to see Egypt as 'the cradle of civilisation' when its capital features battered, straight-from-the-junkyard cars, filth and pollution. Coming from Mumbai, I admit that this is rather like the pot calling the kettle black, but it is famously said that breathing the air in Cairo is akin to smoking 30 cigarettes a day.

However, the city has a definite buzz, with shops open late into the night and a floating population that never seems to sleep...

Time travel, The Hindustan Times, India, December 24, 2006.