When visiting Egypt, there are ten things you absolutely must do.

1. See the pyramids...

2. Learn to haggle...

3. Have an ahwa...

4. Check out the mummies...

5. Visit a mosque...

6. Dodge the traffic...

7. Cruise the Nile...

8. Go to the Valley of the Kings...

9. Eat sweets...

10. Visit the desert...

Egypt: How bazaar, Anya Kussler, The New Zealand Herald, New Zealand, August 06, 2007.

Last week, National Geographic aired a documentary that explored a controversy that has been brewing for many years: Has Nefertiti's mummy been found? For Dr. Susan James, author and La Cañada resident, this mystery has been part of her life since she wrote her first article about the issue in 2001.

"The program was an investigation of two female mummies that were transferred from a tomb," James said.

The show, "Nefertiti and The Lost Dynasty," examined two mummies archaeologists call the Elder Lady and the Younger Lady. They were discovered in a tomb named KV 35 in the Valley of the Kings in the late 1800s...

Even before her article was published in the KMT [Who is the Mummy ELDER LADY?, Vol. 12, No. 2, Summer 2001], a magazine on ancient Egypt, James had been fascinated by early Egyptian civilization. And Nefertiti has been of special interest, not only because of her mesmerizing bust that is probably one of the most recognized Egyptian artefacts, but also because of her strength. In a time when women were not leaders, Nefertiti was a ruler...

At the end of the National Geographic program, after CT scan results were released, Hawass concluded that neither mummy was Nefertiti.

"He concluded that the Elder Lady may be Queen Tiye," James said. Queen Tiye is Nefertiti's mother-in-law.

Both are quick to clarify that the term, Elder Lady, may be misleading. Though the exact age is still unknown, James thinks the age is closer to 30 and Hawass has determined the mummy to be slightly older.

James is not giving up her investigation into the Elder Lady, however, as she is still hoping to do more studies with the mummy and plans to do more articles. At present her goal is to get the mummies into a humidity controlled case and displayed at the Luxor Museum in Egypt...

Susan James Travels to Egypt to Find Nefertiti, Mary O'Keefe, La Ca&ntiled;ada Valley Sun, California, USA, August 02, 2007.

A Manchester scientist is the star of a documentary that unwraps the secrets of Egyptian mummies.

Dr Angelique Corthals, a lecturer at Manchester University, has just returned from the New York premiere of Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs.

The film, narrated by The Lord Of The Rings star Christopher Lee, was shown on the giant 88ft-diameter IMAX screen at the Liberty Science Centre. It will be released here in September.

Using special effects, the documentary takes viewers back thousands of years to the age of the great pharaohs, before recounting the 19th century discovery of 40 mummies, including 12 kings, in a single tomb...

Scientist stars in mummies film, Paul T Taylor, Manchester Evening News, UK, August 02, 2007.

Beyond suits of Japanese armour and a stuffed shark, it lies silently, wrapped in coffee-brown linen strips, clutching what appears to be an infant. A leg bone protrudes, and the Mummy of Fabyan Villa bares its teeth.

However, unlike mummies from the movies, the Fabyan Villa mummy isn’t cursed and has never walked.

In fact, the Fabyan Villa mummy is a fake that contains one bone — from a dog.

“For the time period, it was certainly a good fakery,” said Lynn Dransoff, director of the Fabyan Villa Museum, in the Fabyan Forest Preserve. “It was thought for many years to be real.”

In 1982, an expert examined the mummy, and an X-ray revealed the truth...

The tale of the mummy, Amelia Flood, Kane County Chronicle, Illinois, USA, August 06, 2007.

The Getty Museum has reached a compromise with Italy after a bitter dispute over antiquities in its collection that Rome says were looted, the Italian Culture Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The museum will return 40 artefacts to Italy, fewer than the 46 Italy initially demanded but more than the 26 it offered last year when the government threatened to cut ties with the museum.

"Both sides say they are satisfied that, after long and complex negotiations, an agreement has been reached and now we will proceed towards a relationship of renewed cooperation," the ministry said.

The deal will allow Getty ... to keep one of the key items on the list, a limestone and marble statue of Aphrodite, until 2010.

The two sides continue to disagree on one of the other most important items, the bronze Statue of a Victorious Youth, sometimes known as "the Getty Bronze"...

Getty to return art works to Italy, Reuters via CNN, USA, August 01, 2007.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit chaired a meeting of the ministry's working group that runs the support campaign for the nomination of Farouk Hosni, the Culture Minister, as UNESCO Director General.

"The Minister termed the nomination as very important and one of main priorities of Egypt's embassies abroad. The Minister gave directives on coordination with all the parties concerned in the country to mobilize international support for Hosni's nomination for the post", according to Alaa Al-Hadidi, the Foreign Ministry's Spokesman.

The two-year campaign requires intensive efforts to guarantee the support of all the countries for Egypt's nominee.

Foreign ministry starts campaign for Hosni's UNESCO post nomination, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, August 06, 2007.

Previously:

Egypt nominates Farouk Hosni for UNESCO top post, August 02, 2007.

There were no obvious signs of foul play.

The corpse had no broken bones, its skull was intact, and it had a full set of teeth. There was no evidence of a vitamin deficiency or previous trauma. And the bony tips of the fingers allowed examiners to rule out degenerative diseases.

“The normality of it all is what is so surprising,” said Dr. Lawrence Boxt, the director of cardiac MRIs and CT scans at North Shore University Hospital here, as he surveyed images on a series of computer screens. “He may have died a quiet, natural death.” As Demetrios, a 2,000-year-old Egyptian mummy belonging to the Brooklyn Museum, lay on the table of the “64-slice” CT scanner, a cluster of art curators, conservators and medical specialists looked on, riveted by the macabre spectacle.

While mummies have been subjected to CT scans for more than two decades, it was a first for the museum and for North Shore. The goal was to gain insights into who Demetrios was, how he died and what his mummified remains might tell them about Egyptian funerary practices.

Dr. Boxt immediately dismissed one hypothesis. These were not the bones of an 89-year-old man...

Dead on Arrival: Demetrios mummy slideshow, New York Times, August 06, 2007.

Mummy’s Log: Visited Scan God in Land of the Dead, Carol Vogel, New York Times, New York, USA, August 06, 2007.