Twenty-two people were killed on Saturday in violence that erupted in Port Said, northeast of Egypt's capital, after protesters took to the street angry that people from their city had be blamed for a soccer disaster, state television said. More than 200 people were also injured, state television reported, citing the Health Ministry. A court ruled on Saturday that 21 people, mostly from the city, were sente ...

Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi faced a rebellion from judges who accused him on Saturday of expanding his powers at their expense, deepening a crisis that has triggered violence in the street and exposed the country's deep divisions. The Judges' Club, a body representing judges across Egypt, called for a strike during a meeting interrupted with chants demanding the "downfall of the regime" - the rallying ...

Fifty people, mostly children, were killed when a train slammed into a school bus as it crossed tracks in a city south of Cairo on Saturday, state media and officials said. All but two of the dead were children, aged around four to eight, said a senior security official in Assiut, near the site. One woman and the bus driver also died, he added. The bus was broken in half by the force of the crash. Blood was ...

Earlier this week, Egyptian Tourism Minister Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour made a bold prediction for the country's beleaguered tourism industry, reports Reuters. The minister stated at a press conference that he expected over 12 million tourists by the end of the year, which would make for a 23 percent increase over last year. The minister quoted the number of tourists to Egypt in the first six months of this y ...

Egypt has lured world wanderers for millennia with some of civilization’s grandest treasures. From the Great Pyramid of Giza to King Tutankhamun’s tomb to mystical temples dotting the Nile, the country has long held a spot on adventurers’ bucket lists. Now, with tour prices dramatically slashed, ancient wonders decadently devoid of crowds, and the thrill of political change in the air, there may never be a ...

This year, the world was most interested in Egypt and Charlie Sheen, according to Twitter's annual report on the top trending hashtags. Second on the list was #tigerblood, a reference to one of the actor's online diatribes in which he claimed his fangs were dripping tiger blood. But - giving some hope for the world's sense of priority - this was pipped by #egypt, and public interest in the country's popular ...

Inscribed in clay: from 3100 BC In the river plains of Mesopotamia, where writing first develops, clay is an easily available commodity. It becomes the writing material of the temple scribes. Their implement is a piece of reed cut to form a rectangular end. These two ingredients define the first script. Characters are formed from the wedge-shaped marks which a corner of the reed makes when pressed into the ...

The first writing Writing has its origins in the strip of fertile land stretching from the Nile up into the area often referred to as the Fertile Crescent. This name was given, in the early 20th century, to the inverted U-shape of territory that stretches up the east Mediterranean coast and then curves east through northern Syria and down the Euphrates and the Tigris to the Persian Gulf. The first known wri ...

Nubia: from 3000 BC The region known in modern times as the Sudan (short for the Arabic bilad as-sudan, 'land of the blacks') has for much of its history been linked with or influenced by Egypt, its immediate neighbour to the north. But it also has a strong identity as the eastern end of the great trade route stretching along the open savannah south of the Sahara. Soon after the uniting of the kingdoms of E ...

Senet in Egypt: 3000 BC Games with pebbles, in spaces roughly drawn out on the ground, are a pleasant way of passing spare time - of which hunters and gatherers have more than one might imagine. In a settled community a flat and permanent surface is a clear improvement on the rough ground; and pleasantly carved pieces are much preferable to pebbles. The development of board games is an inevitable part of hu ...