CAIRO: Egypt is preparing to announce its largest archaeological discovery in recent memory, which includes wooden and gold coffins, with much of their original colour preserved.

Sources at the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said that the Supreme Council of Antiquities working in the Saqqara archaeological area discovered a new major archaeological cache.

The discovery includes human and animal burials, a group of shabti statues and statues of the gods Isis, Nephthys and Horus, in addition to masks and canopic vessels that belong to the late age.

Sources told local websites that about 50 coffins had been discovered so far, but that number is expected to double during the excavations.

None of the coffins are thought to belong to important historical figures, and work continues on identifying who was buried in the coffins.

The sources said that the  discovery would be announced during the next few days.

The archaeological area of Saqqara, an ancient burial ground in the governorate of Giza, has witnessed many archaeological discoveries in recent years. The most important of these was the discovery of the Tomb of Wahty and the sacred cache of animals and birds, in which a large number of animal mummies were found.

Sources revealed to Al-Watan, the local newspaper, that the discovery of the animal cemetery, which began in April 2018, continued till April 2020. It was on World Heritage Day, April 18 this year that a well measuring about 120 x 90 cm and a depth of about 11 meters was discovered.

Towards the end of 2019 the Egyptian archaeological mission working in the region discovered a cache of mummies of animals and sacred birds, including five mummies of large cats, which preliminary studies suggested could be small lions.

International news agencies circulated the discovery, saying that the  animals resembled the Sphinx.

BEIRUT: Rescue workers said Saturday there was no longer any sign of life in a collapsed Beirut building, dashing hopes raised by sensor readings showing a pulse beneath the rubble from last month’s blast.
The cataclysmic August 4 explosion in the port of Beirut killed at least 191 people, making it Lebanon’s deadliest peacetime disaster. One month on, seven people are still listed as missing
On Wednesday night, a sniffer dog deployed by Chilean rescuers detected a scent beneath a collapsed building in the heavily damaged Gemmayzeh neighborhood adjacent to the port.
High-tech sensors confirmed an apparent heartbeat and rescue teams took up the search.
But after three days’ work removing piles of masonry, Chilean rescue specialist Francesco Lermanda late Saturday said there was no longer any sign of life under the rubble.
“Sadly today we can say that technically we have no sign of life inside the building,” he told the media.
Two female rescue workers on Saturday slipped through a final tunnel to check for any victim in the last air pocket where there could possibly be but found nobody there, he said.
Work would however continue to make the zone secure and ensure there was no possibility of any victim being left inside, Lermanda said.
In the afternoon, engineer Riyadh Assad had said the workers had cleared two layers of rubble and reached a stairway, where they found no one.
The civil defense agency’s operations director, George Abou Moussa, in the morning said the chances of finding someone alive were “very low.”
But civil defense officer Qassem Khater said his team was determined not to give up.
“We are not leaving the site until we’ve finished going through the rubble, even if a new building collapse threatens,” he said.
Chilean specialist Walter Munoz in the morning had put the chances of finding a survivor at “two percent.”
Lebanese officials had played down the chances of anyone surviving so long beneath the rubble.
But even the faint hope of a miracle caught the imagination of a country already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic and the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.
“I was not aware I needed a miracle that much. Please God, give Beirut this miracle it deserves,” said Selim Mourad, a 32-year-old film-maker.
Lebanon lacks the tools and expertise to handle advanced search and rescue operations, so they have been supported by experts from Chile, France and the Unites States.
The Chileans, in particular, have been praised as heroes by many Lebanese on social media, who have compared their expertise with the lackluster performance of what they see as their own absent state.
The country observed a minute’s silence for the dead on Friday.

CAIRO: With the escalation of tension between Egypt and Turkey, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed with his Emirati counterpart Abdullah bin Zayed the latest developments in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The two sides also discussed relations between their countries and ways to enhance joint cooperation in all fields, according to UAE News Agency WAM.

This coincides with Greece’s denial of holding talks with Turkey, mediated by NATO, with the aim of easing tensions between the two parties due to disputes over maritime borders and gas exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey is provoking Greece — which has drawn its maritime borders with Egypt in accordance with recognized international agreements — by exploring gas in the Eastern Mediterranean on its own, a move that was met with great international condemnation.

“There are deep, brotherly relations between the UAE and the Arab Republic of Egypt and a continuous keenness to strengthen each other and develop areas of joint cooperation,” bin Zayed said.

Both countries share similar visions with regard to the Eastern Mediterranean, Libya, and a number of other issues.

Bin Zayed confirmed his country’s rejection of any measures threatening stability in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

Last month, Egypt and Greece signed an agreement to demarcate the maritime borders between them, which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described as worthless.
Egypt responded by expressing its astonishment at the Turkish position, explaining that it was surprising that such statements and allegations should be issued by a party that did not know the agreement and its details.

Two days ago, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on Athens and Ankara to de-escalate tension in the Eastern Mediterranean around the maritime borders and energy reserves in the region, after strong statements from Turkey.

AL-MUKALLA: Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has repeated accusations about the Houthis serving Iran’s agendas by fueling a “futile” war in Yemen, the official Saba news agency reported.

In a telephone conversation with the governor of Marib, Sultan Al-Arada, and the defense minister, Mohammed Al-Maqdishi, Hadi hailed army troops and allied tribesmen who have pushed back Houthi attacks on the central city of Marib and other areas in Yemen — and vowed to foil Iran’s plots against the country.

The Yemeni president said that the Houthis had dispatched thousands of “deceived” fighters to Marib and other contested areas, fueling a war that only served the agendas of their masters in Tehran.

According to Saba, Hadi thanked the Arab coalition for the military support to government troops, ordering army commanders to join forces to thwart Houthi attempts to seize control of new areas in Taiz, Jawf, Marib, Al-Bayda, Sanaa, Dhale and other contested locations.

Hadi’s repeated commitments to challenge the Iran-backed Houthis came as his forces, backed by the Saudi-led coalition’s air cover and military logistics, engaged in heavy battles with the rebels in the province of Marib.

Despite local and international calls to cease their attack on the densely populated Marib, the Houthis have sent thousands of fighters to the province over the past couple of weeks in an attempt to defeat government forces that have pushed them back, Yemeni officials say.

Rights groups fear that the Houthi invasion of Marib could trigger a huge humanitarian crisis and displacement since the city hosts more than a million people who have fled Houthi occupation of their home provinces.

Yemen is still reeling from the world’s worst humanitarian crisis caused by Houthi military expansions since late 2014.

Yemen’s army website reported on Friday that more than 3,000 Houthis, including senior commanders, were killed or wounded, in addition to losing 150 military vehicles and tanks and drones last month.

The army’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Sagheer bin Aziz, said that military operations against the Houthis would continue until the rebels were driven from the areas under their control, including the capital, Sanaa.

Inspecting battlefields in the northern province of Jawf, the chief of staff vowed to defeat the Houthis, saying the army and tribesmen had scored large victories.

On Friday, the army announced the seizing of control of a strategic mountain north of Houthi-controlled Hazem, the capital of Jawf, and the besieged Labenat military base in the province.

Yemeni Army’s spokesperson, Abdullah Abdu Majili, said that the continuing battles against the Houthis in Jawf, Al-Bayda and Marib had greatly diminished Houthi manpower and equipment, adding that Arab coalition warplanes played a role in paving the way for government forces to advance on the ground.

In Marib, hundreds of people on Friday attended the funeral of Roubesh Wahban, a member of parliament who was killed in fighting with the Houthis in Marib province.

CAIRO: President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has expressed his support for the construction of a dam at the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Station in Tanzania by two Egyptian companies.

Arab Contractors and Elsewedy Electric were awarded the contract for the construction of the dam on the Rufiji River by the Tanzanian government in December 2018, at a cost of $2.9 billion.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has held a meeting to follow upon the project. He said President El-Sisi wanted the dam in Tanzania “to express the ability of the Egyptian contracting sector to complete major projects to the highest quality.”

Minister of Housing Assem Al-Jazzar confirmed that the project aims to generate energy with a capacity of 2115 megawatts, to be transmitted through 400 kV lines.

Head of the Central Agency for Reconstruction Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Nassar said the Julius Nyerere dam protects the surrounding environment from the dangers of flooding and will store about 34 billion cubic meters of water in a new lake that ensures the constant availability of water throughout the year for agriculture and fishing and the preservation of surrounding wildlife.

He said that the project consists of the main concrete dam body and four supplementary dams to form the water reservoir, two temporary dams in front and behind the main dam, and a hydroelectric power station. He explained that a housing complex and a temporary and permanent road network will be established to serve the project, which will also involve a spillway, a 703-meter tunnel, a permanent concrete bridge and two bridges over the Rufiji River.

Gen. Nassar said that despite the challenges faced by those working on the project, mainly caused by four floods between December 2019 and March 2020, they had still managed to complete a large part of the project. The number of employees working on it stood at 5,233 workers, made up of 526 Egyptian workers, and 3,974 Tanzanian workers, as well as 733 foreign workers from other countries.