Egypt Says NY Neglecting Monument Gift

Egypt To NYC: Conserve Cleopatras Needle or Were Taking it Back
Zahi Hawass, Secretary General for the Supreme Council of Antiquities, claims it is his job to monitor the country’s antiquities, whether in Egypt or on a knoll in Central Park behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He claims the 3,500-year-old obelisk is in shoddy shape. “It has recently been brought to my attention that this incredibly valuable monument has been severely weathered over the past century and that no efforts have been made to conserve it,” Hawass wrote. He said ...

Egypt Demands Return of Cleopatras Needle.
Dr. Zahi Hawass is none too happy with New York Mayor Bloomberg. The Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council on Antiquities has sent the Mayor a letter demanding the City preserve a 3500 year old obelisk known as “Cleopatra’s Needle”  or send it back. Since 1881, the red granite monument has stood in Central Park near the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is nearly 68 feet high. According to Hawass, he has made several trips to New York to ...

Egypt threatens to take back New York obelisk
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Egyptian government official charged with protecting his country's ancient monuments is threatening to take back an iconic obelisk in Central Park unless New York City takes steps to restore it. The stone obelisk "has been severely weathered over the past century" with no effort made to conserve it, Zahi Hawass, Secretary General for Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, wrote in a letter this week to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The obelisk, which commemorates K...

Egypt Displeased With Treatment Of Obelisk In NYC
NEW YORK (AP) — An Egyptian official has chided New York City over the condition of “Cleopatra’s Needle,” an ancient column in Central Park. Zahi Hawass of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities wrote a letter to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg complaining that his city is not taking good care of the 3,500-year-old obelisk. Egypt gave the stone monument to the city as a gift more than a century ago. It now sits on a knoll near the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hawass...

Egypt Threatens to De-Gift Giant Central Park Obelisk
Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images Over a hundred years after Egypt gave New York a 71-foot-tall ancient obelisk in "an attempt to cultivate trade relations between the two countries," the country has decided it might want it back, even though we're pretty sure it's ours now. The condition of Cleopatra's Needle, which has sat in Central Park since 1881, recently caught the attention of the Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass. According to a letter he sent t...

Egypt Threatening To Repossess Cleopatra's Needle
galvarez51's flickr Cleopatra's Needle has been a cornerstone of Central Park since 1880, but now Egypt is threatening to take it back if the city doesn't keep it in better condition. Zahi Hawass, the Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, wrote to the Central Park Conservancy and Mayor Bloomberg imploring them to preserve the obelisk for future generations, or else face Egyptian repo men: I am glad that this monument has become such an integral part of New York City, bu...

Egypt to New York: Protect Ancient Obelisk or Else
By Andrea Leontiou, This story originally appeared on LiveScience.com Since 1880, the obelisk known as Cleopatra's Needle has stood in New York's Central Park, but a letter from the Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities indicates that this may change if the monument is not taken better care of. Recently, Zahi Hawass, the aforementioned Secretary General and archaeologist, wrote to the Central Park Conservancy and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to inform them that ...

Egypt Threatens NYC/Bloomberg Removal of Cleopatra's Needle
Since 1881, the obelisk known as Cleopatra's Needle has stood in New York's Central Park, but a letter from the Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities indicates that this may change if the monument is not taken better care of. Recently, Zahi Hawass, the aforementioned Secretary General and archaeologist, wrote to the Central Park Conservancy and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to inform them that if steps are not taken to prot...

Egypt Called. They Want Their Obelisk Back.
via MSNBC, LiveScience/Dreamstime ​More than a century ago, Egypt "gave" New York City a giant obelisk, you know, to cultivate trade and good faith and such. We called it Cleopatra's Needle, and we parked it in Central Park, where it's stood since 1881. But all of a sudden, Egypt is not happy with the care we've been taking of their 71-foot-tall monument. Perhaps we don't deserve the obelisk, after all! MSNBC has the note that Zahi Hawas, the Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council ...

A Closer Look at the Mostly Unsung Father of Greater New York
Ruth Fremson/The New York Times -Assistant curator, Thomas Lannon poses for a portrait Thursday, January 6, 2011 in the reading room at the library with some of the papers of Andrew Green bought by the New York public library recently. Andrew H. Green was 15-years-old, traveling alone from his family’s home in Worcester, Mass., when he got his first taste of the city that he would come to so profoundly define. In Connecticut, he wrote his father in 1835, “we changed stages and found in our ...

NYC Overprepares For New Snow After Blizzard Mess
NEW YORK — New York City came out overprepared Friday for a weak storm that delivered just a few inches of snow – not enough to plow in most places and not likely enough for the mayor to redeem himself from a disastrous response to a post-Christmas blizzard. Flakes melted onto wet streets as snowplows – some equipped with global positioning devices since the blizzard foul-up – and salt spreaders sat idle in neighborhoods all over the city. By nightfall, the National Wea...

NYC Kicks Off MulchFest To Recycle Christmas Trees
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The NYC Department of Parks & Recreation kicked off MulchFest 2011 Saturday in their effort to recycle Christmas Trees. The two day event will feature many sites, where city residents can drop off their trees and have them turned into wood chips, which will be used to nourish trees, plants and gardens across the area. The Parks Department along with the Department of Sanitation and GreeNYC are encouraging people to try and top the nearly 24,000 trees recycled in...

Early On, About One Truck for Every Snowflake
Earl Wilson/The New York Times A sanitation truck out to battle the snow on 34th Street. If you learned your Latin, or if you were a fan of “The Gilmore Girls,” you can think about this until there are two inches of snow on the ground: In omnia paratus. Or, if you prefer, semper paratus. Either phrase could be Friday’s motto for the Department of Sanitation, which already has 365 salt spreaders on city streets even it says there is only a trace of snow and the National Weather Service say

Locating the Zeckendorf Buyer: GPS Exec Purchased 15 CPW's Record-Setting Penthouse
We've been obsessing over William Lie Zeckendorf's former penthouse for a while now. After all, how could he leave the trophy building, 15 Central Park West, that he built with his brother and Robert A.M. Stern. Well, when presented with a record-setting price and the tantalizing prospect of Bruce Wasserstein's pad, why not? Part of the mystery surrounding the sail was who the buyer might be, and it's a surprising one. No, not a media mogul or master of the universe or movie sar. The buyer of ...

Videos: SNL Mocks Mayor Bloomberg's Snow Response
NEXT » Now that David Paterson has left office, Saturday Night Live performer Fred Armisen is tackling a different New York politician: Mayor Michael "Yeah, there's a blizzard, but go to Broadway and see a show" Bloomberg. While Armisen didn't quite nail Hizzoner's disdain for the little people, there were a few amusing parts during this Bloomberg blizzard cold opening, like how he hoped New York City would be plowed. And then maybe they'd get to Queens. Click through to see the video, a...

1000s Of Egyptian Muslims Show Up As Human Shields To Defend Coptic Christians From Terrorism
Source: Think Progress Thousands Of Egyptian Muslims Show Up As ‘Human Shields’ To Defend Coptic Christians From Terrorism On New Year’s Day, a devastating Terrorist bombing at a Coptic church in Egypt killed 21 people and injured 79 others. Although the identity of the culprits was not known, it was assumed that they were Muslim Extremists, intent on targeting those they saw as heretics. Religious tensions immediately rose in the country, and angry Copts stormed streets, battled with police,

Habib to sue US and Egypt over torture case
Mamdouh Habib. FORMER Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib will use the money received from an out-of-court settlement with the Federal Government to start an international Lawsuit against the US and Egyptian governments. Mr Habib, who reached an agreement last month in which he received a secret sum in exchange for absolving the government of liability in his Torture case, says he has fresh evidence, including film footage. ''I will take this money and use it to sue the Egyptian and the Unite...

Egyptian Muslims Serve As Human Shields During Coptic Christmas Services
After a New Year's Eve attack against Coptic Christian Churches in Egypt, there was some concern that this week's celebration of Christmas by Egypt's oldest...

A HEARTENING REPORT FROM EGYPT: Egypts Muslims attend Coptic Christmas mass, serving as human shi
A HEARTENING REPORT FROM Egypt: Egypt’s Muslims attend Coptic Christmas mass, serving as “human shields.” ...

Rwanda off to flying U17 start
Hosts Rwanda got off to a flying start at this year's African U17 Championship, defeating Burkina Faso 2-1 in the opening game on Saturday. The home side raced into the lead on three minutes thanks to a strike by Faustin Usengimana in Kigali. Rwanda doubled their lead just after the break with Tibingana Mwesigye scoring in the Group A game. The visitors rallied and got their consolation through Faisal Ouedraogo's 54th minute effort. The group's other game saw Egypt with an impressive 2-1 win ...

'Religion of peace' launching 'ferocious' attacks
Editor's Note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium online newsletter published by the founder of WND. Subscriptions are $99 a year or, for monthly trials, just $9.95 per month for Credit Card users, and provide instant access for the complete reports. It was only six days after the 9/11 attacks that President Bush described Islam as a religion of peace, specifically saying, "Islam is peace," but the Religion of Peace website reports that for 2010, ther...

Egyptian Muslim Majority Rejects Al-Qaeda in Iraq's Murderous Call
Ahram Online:Egypt’s majority Muslim population stuck to its word Thursday night. What had been a promise of solidarity to the weary Coptic community, was honoured, when thousands of Muslims showed up at Coptic Christmas Eve mass services in churches around the country and at candle light Vigils held outside. From the well-known to the unknown, Muslims had offered their bodies as “human shields” for last night’s mass, making a pledge to collectively fight the threat of Islamic Militant

Marc Van Ameringen: With a Little Innovation -- Bread Is (a Better) Life
The sight of stacks of baladi bread piled high in market places is a common one in Egypt. This mainstay of Egyptian diets, while tasty, cheap and filling, provides Calories but not necessary micronutrients. Millions of Egyptians suffer the effects of poor nutrition, including preventable miscarriages, Birth Defects and delayed physical and cognitive development. Iron and folic acid deficiencies lead to many Health Problems, most significantly Anemia and neural tube defects in Children which ca...

Thousands Of Egyptian Muslims Show Up As 'Human Shields' To Defend Coptic Christians From Terrorism
On New Year's Day, a devastating Terrorist bombing at a Coptic church in Egypt killed 21 people and injured 79 others. Although the identity of the culprits was not known, it was assumed that they were Muslim Extremists, intent on targeting those they saw as heretics. Religious tensions immediately rose in the country, and angry Copts stormed streets, battled with police, and even vandalized a nearby Mosque. The riots and heightened tensions between the Muslim and Coptic communities was likely ...

An I am Spartacus Christmas: Muslims Stand with Coptic Christians In Egypt
Egypt’s majority Muslim population stuck to its word Thursday night. What had been a promise of solidarity to the weary Coptic community, was honoured, when thousands of Muslims showed up at Coptic Christmas Eve mass services in churches around the country and at candle light Vigils held outside. From the well-known to the unknown, Muslims had offered their bodies as “human shields” for last night’s mass, making a pledge to collectively fight the threat of Islamic militan...