Pyramid Scan Shows Strange Heat Spots At Giza Could Reveal Hidden Chambers And Passages

Ancient hidden chambers and passages not explored for thousands of years could lie behind strange heat spots discovered during a scan of the Great Pyramid at Giza. The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities has revealed that an international team of archeologists, architects and scientists have observed the phenomena deep within the structure's core buried within its stones.

Despite the natural tendency of stone to be cooler than other materials, significantly higher temperatures were observed in three connected blocks at the base of the pyramid. Dating as far back as 2580 BC, the group of monuments at Giza were the final resting places of pharaohs Khufu, also known as Kheops, Khafre, known as Khephren, and Menkaure, as Mycerinus.

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Al Jazeera demands Germany release its journalist

Al Jazeera has urged Germany to immediately release its journalist Ahmed Mansour, who was detained at a Berlin airport at the request of the Egyptian authorities. Mansour, a senior Al Jazeera Arabic TV journalist, was arrested at Berlin's Tegel airport at 13:20 GMT on Saturday as he tried to board a Qatar Airways flight from Berlin to Doha.

"The crackdown on journalists by Egyptian authorities is well known. Our network, as the Arab world's most-watched, has taken the brunt of this. Other countries must not allow themselves to be tools of this media oppression, least of all those that respect freedom of the media as does Germany," Acting Director General of Al Jazeera network Mostefa Souag said. "Ahmed Mansour is one of the Arab world's most respected journalists and must be released immediately." In a phone call, Mansour told Al Jazeera that he would remain in custody until Monday when he will face a German judge who will decide on his case.

Mansour was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison by Cairo's criminal court in 2014 on the charge of torturing a lawyer in Tahrir Square in 2011. He denied the charges. And in October last year, Interpol rejected Egypt's request for an international arrest warrant against him. Al Jazeera dismissed the accusation as a flimsy attempt at character assassination against of one of its leading journalists.

Al Jazeera English

Putin Gives Egyptian President El-Sisi The Gift Of An AK-47

Russian President Vladimir Putin is visiting Egypt this week, and like any good guest he didn't come empty-handed. After arriving in Cairo airport on Monday, the Russian leader cracked open a metallic case to produce an AK-47 assault rifle, which he presented to Egypt's beaming President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Putin's present is perhaps a nod to the multibillion-dollar arms deal that Russia and Egypt are reportedly seeking to ink, or the Soviet history of military aid to the country, but the possible symbolism has lent the gift special significance. Criticized for serious human rights violations, el-Sisi's government has become know for crackdowns in which security forces have used live ammunition to shoot and kill protesters and activists.

Since the overthrow of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood government by the army in 2013, mass jailing and death sentences of Brotherhood supporters, as well as the arrest of journalists, have been commonplace in Egypt. The most notorious event was the August 2013 Rabaa massacre, in which security forces used brutal force to clear out a protest camp, killing an estimated 817 people.

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Peter Greste 'won't give up' until colleagues are free

The family of Peter Greste, who has been released by Egyptian authorities after 400 days in prison, have said the award-winning Al Jazeera journalist's relief at being free is marred by the continued imprisonment of his colleagues. Baher Mohamed, a producer, and the channel's Cairo bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy, who were working on the same stories as Peter, are still in jail and on Monday started their 401st day behind bars.

Greste's brother Andrew said on Monday that Greste was still worried about the fate of his colleagues. "Straight up he's not going to forget his two other colleagues. There's no doubt that his excitement is tempered and and restrained and will be restrained until those guys are free," Andrew said at a news conference in Brisbane. "He won't give up until Baher and Mohamed are out of there," he added: "We are thinking of Baher, Mohamed and their families."

Al Jazeera English

What It's Like To Walk Alone If You're A Woman In Cairo

Two female filmmakers have released a video documenting what it's like for a woman to walk by herself down a bustling street in Cairo, Egypt. The blatant stares from many of the men encountered along the way highlight the country's problem of rampant street harassment.

"Today we will be filming what it's like to walk down the busiest bridge in Cairo as a girl," says American-born filmmaker Colette Ghunim, introducing the short clip, above. From that point on there are no more words spoken -- just the leering gazes from almost every man Ghunim walks by.

World Post

Egyptian judge wishes al-Jazeera trio a happy Press Freedom Day then refuses bail

The judge trying three al-Jazeera journalists in Egypt wished them a happy World Press Freedom Day before refusing them bail and adjourning their case until 15 May.

In a brief session on Saturday, one of the trio, al-Jazeera English's Cairo bureau chief, Mohamed Fahmy, was allowed to leave the defendants' cage to explain to the judge the nature of journalism. The judge, Mohamed Nagy, then adjourned proceedings because Fahmy's lawyer had failed to turn up due to a private emergency.

Fahmy, the Australian ex-BBC journalist Peter Greste and a local producer, Baher Mohamed, have been in jail since late December, and stand accused of creating false news, smearing Egypt's reputation, and aiding terrorists. They are charged alongside five students with connections to the banned Muslim Brotherhood, and prosecutors have tried to show that al-Jazeera is part of a pro-Brotherhood conspiracy.

More at The Guardian

Egyptian judge sentences 720 men to death

A judge in Egypt has sentenced to death 720 men, including the head of the Muslim Brotherhood, in a pair of mass trials that were both completed after two brief court sessions. In the first case, 683 men – including the Brotherhood leader, Mohamed Badie – were sentenced to death on charges of killing a policeman in a southern Egyptian town last August.

Minutes later, in a second and separate case, the same judge, Saeed Youssef, upheld the death sentences of 37 of the 529 men he notoriously sentenced to hang last month. The remaining 492 had their sentences commuted to 25-year jail terms, with all 529 convicted of killing a second police officer in a neighbouring town on the same day.

In a separate development on Monday, a Cairo court banned the 6 April youth movement, the liberal protest group charged with playing a leading role in Egypt's 2011 revolution. A spokesman for the group, Ahmad Abd Allah, said the move highlighted the extent of Egypt's counter-revolution. "It shows that it's not just the Islamists who are being targeted, it's also liberal groups like us. And [the government] will continue all the way to close down all democratic forces," Abd Allah said. "What else did you think a military coup would do? It's something expected from a military regime that has killed thousands of people, and imprisoned thousands more. And it's just the beginning."

More at The Guardian

More than 500 sentenced to death in ‘grotesque’ ruling in Egypt

Today’s mass death sentences handed down by an Egyptian court are a grotesque example of the shortcomings and the selective nature of Egypt's justice system, Amnesty International said.

According to state media reports, in a single hearing this morning, the Minya Criminal Court sentenced 529 supporters of former President Mohamed Morsi to be executed for their alleged role in violence following his ousting in July last year. 

“This is injustice writ large and these death sentences must be quashed. Imposing death sentences of this magnitude in a single case makes Egypt surpass most other countries’ use of capital punishment in a year,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International.

"This is the largest single batch of simultaneous death sentences we’ve seen in recent years, not just in Egypt but anywhere in the world. Egypt's courts are quick to punish Mohamed Morsi's supporters but ignore gross human rights violations by the security forces. While thousands of Morsi's supporters languish in jail, there has not been an adequate investigation into the deaths of hundreds of protesters. Just one police officer is facing a prison sentence, for the deaths of 37 detainees.

Amnesty International

Egypt's military leaders unveil devices they claim can detect and cure Aids

Egypt's military leaders have come under ridicule after the chief army engineer unveiled what he described as a "miraculous" set of devices that detect and cure Aids, hepatitis and other viruses.

The claim, dismissed by experts and called "shocking to scientists" by the president's science adviser, strikes a blow to the army's carefully managed image as the saviour of the nation. It also comes as General Abdel Fatah el-Sisi, who toppled Mohammed Morsi in July after the Islamist leader ignored mass protests calling for him to step down, is expected to announce he will run for president.

The televised presentation – which was made to Sisi, the interim president Adly Mansour and other senior officials – raised concerns that the military's offer of seemingly inconceivable future devices will draw Egypt back into the broken promises of authoritarian rule, when Hosni Mubarak frequently announced grand initiatives that failed to meet expectations.

The Guardian

Scientific Scandal: Miracle Cure for HIV and Hepatitis C by Egypt Army a Hoax (International Business Times)

Egyptian Military Massacres Protesters in Cairo

The Revelation of the Pyramids

For the first time ever, a historical paradigm -- scientifically valid and robust -- has been directly presented to you. By itself alone, this demonstration may shake the artificial constructs imposed by education through disregard of inconvenient facts: These facts, the size sometimes of the great pyramids, are not included in the official palace claimed by the body of so-called rational knowledge and will, sooner or later, challenge and reshape it.

Chinese teenager exposed as Egypt’s temple graffiti vandal

The parents of a Chinese teenager who scratched his name into a 3,500-year-old Egyptian artwork have apologised for his actions after internet users tracked down the boy to name and shame him. The 15-year-old, from Nanjing, was identified after a photo of his graffiti – which said “Ding Jinhao was here” in Mandarin – at the Temple of Luxor was posted online on Friday.

A microblogger named Shen, who visited the temple on the banks of the River Nile three weeks ago, cited the graffiti as an example of shameful behaviour by Chinese tourists abroad. The posting attracted a torrent of replies, including suggestions that the perpetrator be tracked down.

Investigators used the internet (known in China as “the human flesh search engine”) to trace Ding Jinhao and released his age, his school and other personal details. Hackers even compromised his former primary school’s website, forcing visitors to click on a sign parodying Ding’s graffiti before they could enter the site, the Global Times newspaper reported.

From The Independent

Egyptian TV Host Removes Veil during Interview

Egyptian TV Host Riham Said Removes Veil during Interview, Clashes with Guest Cleric Sheik Yousuf Badri

Egypt's Islamists warn giving women some rights could destroy society

Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood warns that a U.N. declaration on women's rights could destroy society by allowing a woman to travel, work and use contraception without her husband's approval and letting her control family spending.

The Islamist movement that backs President Mohamed Mursi gave 10 reasons why Muslim countries should "reject and condemn" the declaration, which the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women is racing to negotiate a consensus deal on by Friday.

The Brotherhood, whose Freedom and Justice Party propelled Mursi to power in June, posted the statement on its website, www.ikhwanweb.com, and the website of the party on Thursday.

Egypt has joined Iran, Russia and the Vatican - dubbed an "unholy alliance" by some diplomats - in threatening to derail the women's rights declaration by objecting to language on sexual, reproductive and gay rights.

The Muslim Brotherhood said the declaration would give "wives full rights to file legal complaints against husbands accusing them of rape or sexual harassment, obliging competent authorities to deal husbands punishments similar to those prescribed for raping or sexually harassing a stranger."

Yahoo! News

Mystery of the Sphinx

Geological evidence that the world's most famous monument, The Great Sphinx of Egypt, may be thousands of years older than we have been taught.

Sexual Harassment of Women is State Sponsored

The Real News

The prison sentence against Alber Saber: another nail in the coffin of Egyptian democracy

Alber Saber was arrested last September when some of his neighbours accused of defaming religions on his social media accounts, upon which they gathered around his residence, chanting inciting slogans against him, which led his mother to call the police asking for help for fear the crowd might break into her house. The police came but instead of protecting her and her son arrested him and took him to El Marg police station as well as confiscated his computer. Inside the police station Alber was subject to physical assault upon incitement by one of the station officers, a fact that was officially documented with the prosecution. The aggression extended beyond Alber to include his mother who received murder threats and threats of burning her house if she did not leave, forcing her eventually to do so.

Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression

Radical jihadist leader threatens to bulldoze the Great Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza

The Great Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza are now the target of a radical Salafist jihadist leader. Murgan Salem al-Gohary, 50, an Islamist leader twice-sentenced under former President Hosni Mubarak for advocating violence, told Egyptian media that the historical landmarks are 'idolatrous' and must be destroyed. The threats are being taken seriously as ten years ago Gohary helped smash a pair of giant Buddha statues in Afghanistan.

Egyptian newspaper al-Masry al-Youm said Gohary is a jihadist leader with links to the Taliban, reported the Jerusalem Post. 'The idols and statutes that fill Egypt must be destroyed. Muslims are tasked with applying the teachings of Islam and removing these idols, just like we did in Afghanistan when we smashed the Buddha statues,' Gohary said in a Saturday night television interview, according to al-Masry al-Youm.

Mail Online

Revelation of the Pyramids

The Revelation Of The Pyramids takes an in depth look into one of the seven wonders of the world, the Great Pyramids of Egypt. Mystery has surrounded these epic structures for centuries with theories varying from the scientific to the bizarre.
However with over thirty-seven years of in depth research taking in sites from China, Peru, Mexico and Egypt, one scientist has as at last managed first to understand and then to reveal what lies behind this greatest of archaeological mysteries: a message of paramount importance for all mankind, through time and space.

Egypt court dissolves parliament

Judges appointed by Hosni Mubarak have dissolved the Islamist-dominated parliament and ruled his former prime minister eligible for the presidential runoff election this weekend - setting the stage for the military and remnants of the old regime to stay in power.

Thursday's politically charged rulings dealt a heavy blow to the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, with one senior member calling the decisions a "full-fledged coup", and the group vowed to rally the public against Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister to serve under Mubarak.

The decision by the Supreme Constitutional Court effectively erased the tenuous progress from Egypt's troubled transition in the past year, leaving the country with no parliament and concentrating power even more firmly in the hands of the generals who took over from Mubarak.

Egypt court dissolves parliament