‏إظهار الرسائل ذات التسميات pictures. إظهار كافة الرسائل
‏إظهار الرسائل ذات التسميات pictures. إظهار كافة الرسائل

7/15/2014

#Supermoon Photos: Amazing Full Moon Views for July 2014






























2/20/2014

#Ukraine Kiev's Maidan Square in surreal 'Before & After' images



The blackened ruins and gaping windows of Ukraine’s landmark Independence Square have left Kiev looking like a warzone for the first time since WWII. The square has always served as a main stage for Ukrainian politics – but not a literal battleground.

Featured on every postcard, the grandiose post-war complex of monuments has been the true – if slightly touristy – heart of Kiev.

But now, the square is divided by ad hoc barricades built from paving stones, wooden debris, and tires. The iconic Trade Union building, which has served as the protesters' headquarters, was set on fire earlier this week and is now just a shell, after its floors and walls collapsed one by one.


In contrast to the normal, everyday hustle and bustle, the square is currently filled with hastily-appointed leaders deciding who mans the entrances and who is responsible for food and barricade building. But regardless of security measures, people in the area are an easy target for snipers lurking in the buildings that surround the square from all sides.


Police dressed in riot gear are stationed several blocks away, taking turns between sitting in their vehicles and patrolling the perimeter. Journalists with the world 'PRESS' written on their jackets float between the two sides, but find themselves in the crossfire once skirmishes begin.

Once the conflict ends, the square will have to be rebuilt. It may be more difficult to do the same with the country that surrounds it.

2/18/2014

The Syrian child refugee whose photo hit a nerve online #Syria

It is an everyday occurrence at border crossings out of Syria, but for four-year-old Marwan, it must have been terrifying.
After being temporarily separated from his family at the remote Hagallat crossing on Sunday, he was found by staff from the UN's refugee agency.
Andrew Harper, the head of the UN refugee agency UNHCR in Jordan, took the picture and posted it on Twitter, where it hit a nerve with many users.
It was widely reposted online.
But however heartbreaking the picture was, Mr Harper said, it was not unusual in the "chaos and confusion" of refugee border crossings.
Most refugee groups were headed by mothers bringing several children and all their possessions out of Syria, he said.
When the gates open, there is a crush as desperate refugees surge forward. Every day, children get lost.
With UNHCR staff searching for them when the surge abates, they typically do not spend too long on their own.
Mr Harper said Marwan was taken across and reunited with his mother about 10 minutes after this picture was taken.
On Tuesday, he posted another photo on Twitter that shows Marwan was at the back of a group of refugees when he was met by UNHCR staff.

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Photograph showing Marwan among group of other Syrian refugees crossing border with Jordan (16 February 2014)The inset image shows Marwan was not far behind his family when met by UNHCR staff
"He is separated - he is not alone," Mr Harper added.
Crossing the border is a nervous time for the children and their families - one more trauma in the hellish journey from destroyed lives in Syria to an uncertain future as refugees in a foreign land.
Most of the refugees crossing at Hagallat - which lacks even a proper road - came from Homs and al-Quaryatayn, and it was likely Marwan was from there too, said Mr Harper.
He was just one of about 1,000 people who crossed into Jordan on that day alone.
There are now 600,000 Syrian refugees registered with the UNHCR in Jordan, part of an estimated 2.4 million across the region as a whole.
Smiling Syrian refugee children just inside the Jordanian borderA short distance inside Jordan, the mood of the children improved
Malala Yousafzai visiting the border and helping refugees with their bags, as part of her campaign for children's educationMalala Yousafzai visited the border as part of her campaign for children's education
It is not clear what the future holds for young Marwan.
But with the mood of other refugee children one of relief once they cross the border, it is hoped that he, too, might look forward to a brighter future.
Malala Yousafzai, the teenager who survived a Taliban assassination attempt in Pakistan and has become a global campaigner for children's education, was also at the border on Sunday.
She witnessed emotional scenes at the border and, with her father, helped several refugees cross the no-man's land that separates the two nations.
The Malala Fund is teaming up with local Jordanian and Syrian organisations to help Syrian children get an education.

2/12/2014

Tomb of ancient #Egyp t's beer maker to gods of the dead discovered


Imagine a warm brew of lager so heady you had to plunge a straw through the thick surface scum to get to the fermented liquor a.



Welcome to the favored brew of ancient Egypt's New Kingdom; a 3,200-year-old barley beer that a new archaeological find this month is shedding new light on.
A Japanese team headed by Jiro Kondo of Waseda University stumbled on the tomb of ancient beer-maker Khonso Em Heb while cleaning the courtyard of another tomb at the Thebes necropolis in the Egyptian city of Luxor.
The tomb, replete with highly colored frescoes, is being hailed as one of the most significant finds of recent times.
Egypt's antiquities minister Mohamed Ibrahim described Khonso Em Heb as the chief "maker of beer for gods of the dead" adding that the tomb's chambers contain "fabulous designs and colors, reflecting details of daily life... along with their religious rituals."
One fresco shows Khonso Em Heb -- who apart from being a brewer, headed the royal storehouses during the pharaonic Ramesside period (1,292--1,069 BC) -- making offerings to the gods along with his wife and daughter.
The newly discovered tomb is to be placed under tight security until the excavation work is completed, the ministry said in a press statement.
According to Professor Poo Mun Chou, a leading Egyptologist at Hong Kong's Chinese University, the discovery is not only significant in terms of what it tells archaeologists about life during the New Kingdom period of Ancient Egypt, but marks a new direction for Egypt's beleaguered antiquities ministry.
Still reeling from a disastrous break-in at the Cairo Museum in 2011 --- when looters smashed two mummies and made off with more than 50 artifacts --- Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities had slapped stringent restrictions on archaeological digs.
For Professor Poo, the latest discovery is a sign that archeology in Egypt may be returning to normal.
"The significance in this find is that for quite some time archaeologists haven't been able to excavate an intact tomb," he said.
This is a new find and is quite unexpected.
Poo Man Chou, Egyptologist


"An intact tomb will give us a more complete view of the funerary customs which can be compared with other tomb paintings."
He said the frescoes were well preserved.
"The Supreme Council of Antiquities has for some time had a policy of not excavating new tombs but preserving those tombs that have already been excavated.
"This is a new find and is quite unexpected."
Apart from the recent political turmoil in Egypt, which has led to a surge in the number of illegal digs and antiquities damaged by looters, Professor Poo said the sheer speed with which new discoveries were being made had meant the government was having difficulty keeping up with logging and preserving the finds.

Excavation around Thebes could be returning to normal.
Excavation around Thebes could be returning to normal.


Add to this the problem of protecting ancient tombs, which begin to degrade the moment they are opened, and Egypt's antiquities authorities have their work cut out for them.
"In Egypt, of course, the dry weather means the danger of this is less, but still after some time the color of the painting begins to fade away.
"That is why Egypt now has a stricter policy."
While foreign archaeological teams are still operating in Egypt, the political climate has made it more difficult for them to do their work.
Even the International Association of Egyptologists (IAE) was told late last year that Egypt --- because of the political situation --- was unable to host the 2014 International Congress of Egyptologists.
The IAE is currently seeking bids for a second country to host the prestigious congress.
Meanwhile, historians and archaeologists are making use of the latest find while it is still available to be studied.
"Alcohol in ancient Egypt was very important -- not just in terms of daily consumption but also as an offering to deities. Beer, in particular was very important," said Poo.
"Beer during the New Kingdom period was probably one-fifth or even one-tenth the price of wine making it a very popular drink for people of all social strata."

While the appeal of beer across all social classes remains to this day, Professor Poo says the modern drinker might struggle to recognize the barley or millet-based beverage of ancient times.
"While it's a close cousin to modern beer, it's manufacture was more primitive and they had to use a tube to extract the liquid from below which would have had a fermented layer of substance floating on the top of the jar," he said.
"It would have had bubbles," he added.

11/26/2013

Aliaa Magda Elmahdy again ! #egypt

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7/17/2013

#Egypt 3 Dead and Dozens Injured in Another Terrorist Attack In #Sinai “graphic”

It has become a daily routine in Sinai to read that security checkpoints and army patrols are being attacked. It is not a shock anymore to read that someone is killed there from security forces. It also had become a norm to read that Christians in North Sinai not only are being attacked but also to be kidnapped and beheaded.
Today we woke up on horrible terrorist act where a bus carrying workers in Al Arish was targeted by RPG missile. According to the Egyptian armed forces spokesperson the unknown terrorists hit the bus by mistake as their main target was a police patrol. 3 workers were killed and more than 16 have been injured. Yes 3 were killed and not 20 as it had been spread like fire.
Dear friend Mohamed Sabry tweeted from there and covered the attack. Here is a Storify report from there. You can read it after the break. 

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7/11/2013

Taking the temperature on a journey through #Egypt – in pictures

People line up for sweets called 'qatayef' specially prepared for Ramadan 




Young women prepare dough for sweets called 'qatayef' specially prepared for Ramadan, in Damanhour



 A man eats "iftar" at sunset at a roadside Ramadan table in the Nile Delta



  The highway is practically empty as the end of the first day of Ramadan, near Benha, Nile Delta



  Apartment blocks next to the highway in Cairo. Millions of residents of this mega-city live packed together in such buildings
  Graffiti on the walls of a school in Luxor celebrates the protesters who died during Egypt's uprising

A carriage driver waits for tourists across the street from Luxor Temple










Habu Temple is empty of tourists, in Luxor


Habu Temple is empty of tourists
 
Muhammad, a tour guide, walks through Habu Temple in Luxor

Men pray in a mosque in Port Said
 

A closeup of the inflatables in Port Said
 
 Holly Pickett: Military Coup in Egypt

Giant inflatables bearing signs in Arabic and English that say "Revolution. Not a coup" in Port Said
Holly Pickett: Giant inflated Tele-tubbies bearing signs in Arabic and English that say    
A woman crosses a street guarded by the Egyptian army in a closed area where the rally was held on Monday
Holly Pickett pictures: A woman crossed a street, Alexandria 
A woman touches a poster of General Sisi during the opposition rally in Alexandria  

Holly Pickett pictures: A woman touches a poster


  People chant while holding posters of General Sisi during the rally in Alexandria
Holly Pickett pictures: Military Coup in Egypt 
Another poster-seller 

Holly Pickett pictures: Another poster-seller in Alexandria 
  A man sells posters of General Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi in a crowded market area of Alexandria 

Holly Pickett pictures: A man sells posters
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