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CAIRO: Dr. Zahi Hawass, the world-renowned archaeologist and Egyptologist, has called for the removal or relocation of the statue of French archeologist Jean Francois Champollion, which is located in the courtyard of College de France, because it is offensive to the Egyptian people.
The statue depicts Champollion standing with his foot on the head of the statue of Ramses.
Hawass made the request during a lecture recently delivered at a major antiquities exhibition in Paris entitled “Ramses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs,” which continues until Sept. 17.
“This statue shows contempt and a lack of appreciation that is not reciprocated by the Egyptian people, who appreciated Champollion’s role in the field of Egyptology and named a street after him,” Hawass said.
“Therefore, we demand the same amount of respect.”
In addition to the coffin of one of ancient Egypt’s longest-ruling pharaohs, Ramses II, the exhibition includes an array of ancient Egyptian artefacts, including solid gold and silver jewelry, statues, amulets, masks and other sarcophagi.
State-of-the-art multimedia reproductions are showcasing ancient Egyptian civilization and provide visitors insight into the life and accomplishments of Ramses II.
The traveling exhibition has been held in several major cities.
It was inaugurated in Houston in November 2021 before moving to San Francisco in August last year.
Champollion’s statue is made from limestone, crafted from a single stone block. Champollion is the French scholar who unlocked the secrets of ancient Egypt’s hieroglyphs. It was sculpted by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi in 1875.
Meanwhile, Hawass also called on France to return other antiquities. “The Zodiac ceiling (Dendera zodiac) currently displayed in the Louvre Museum must be returned to its original home, to be placed in the Dendera Temple in Qena Governorate (southern Egypt).”
The Dendera zodiac is an ancient Egyptian depiction of the sky and stars. It is a circular bas-relief carving from the ceiling of the Temple of Hathor in Dendera.
The zodiac is one of the oldest known depictions of the constellations.
Gen. Louis Desaix, a member of Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt, was so captivated by the Zodiac Ceiling that he commissioned artist Denon to draw it for the Description de L’Egypte, the record of the expedition’s exploration of Egypt.
The ceiling’s beauty and significance did not go unnoticed by French collector Sebastien Saulnier. He decided that such a remarkable piece should belong to France.
However, Saulnier was determined to keep his plan a secret and announced that he was excavating at Thebes, where he purchased mummies and antiquities to cover his tracks.
During this time, some English visitors were also sketching at Dendera, and only after they left did Saulnier return.
With the help of his French agent, Saulnier removed the Ceiling of the Temple and transported it to Paris.
The ceiling was eventually sold to King Louis XVIII for 150,000 francs.
Last October, Hawass launched an electronic signature campaign to demand the return of the Rosetta Stone from the British Museum in London and the Zodiac Ceiling from the Louvre Museum in France.
Hawass said at the time: “The Zodiac is considered a unique and important Egyptian artifact, and removing it from its original location is immoral as it is a symbol of Egyptian civilization that must be returned to its rightful place.”
AMMAN – Amman’s ambassador to Tel Aviv has met Jordanian MP Imad Odwan, who is detained in Israel for allegedly trying to smuggle weapons and gold into the occupied West Bank.
A Jordanian Foreign Ministry statement said that Ghassan Al-Majali met Odwan on Tuesday as part of the “government’s intensified effort to resolve the case.”
The ministry’s spokesperson, Sinan Al-Majali, was quoted in the statement as saying that the ambassador discussed the circumstances surrounding Odwan’s detention and the treatment he is receiving from Israeli authorities.
The meeting sought to ensure that detention procedures were in compliance with the MP’s legal and humanitarian rights, as well as international conventions and protocols.
Al-Majali said: “The lawmaker confirmed that he is in good health condition and is not subject to any physical and psychological abuse.”
Odwan was arrested earlier this week for allegedly trying to smuggle weapons and gold into the occupied West Bank.
Israel said that border authorities foiled an attempt to smuggle the items at the King Hussein Bridge (Allenby) border crossing. Reports claimed that the items were found in Odwan’s car.
The Jordanian government said that it was notified about the arrest of the politician and is working to secure his release.
Some Jordanian MPs hailed their colleague as a “hero,” claiming he was sending weapons to the “Palestinian resistance.” Other lawmakers called on the government to “swiftly” work on bringing him home.
Legal experts said that as a member of the Jordanian Parliament, Odwan only receives domestic immunity, but is subject to legal proceedings abroad.
But Veteran MP Saleh Armout, an established lawyer and former president of the Jordanian Bar Association, claimed that Odwan should still receive immunity because he was arrested in the West Bank, which is considered occupied territory under international law.
Israel issued a gag order on all news related to Odwan’s case.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen was quoted in Israeli media as saying: “I don’t think that the episode is connected to Jordan in general, but to an irresponsible criminal act.
“I don’t want to assign guilt to the entire government or the entire parliament.”
Odwan, 34 from the city of Salt, is a lawyer, holding a master’s degree in international law and membership of the Palestine Committee in the Jordanian Parliament.
The frequent government critic is a young deputy in the Jordanian parliament.
GENEVA: The World Health Organization said Tuesday that fighters in conflict-ravaged Sudan had occupied the national public laboratory holding samples of diseases including polio and measles, creating an “extremely, extremely dangerous” situation.
Fighters “kicked out all the technicians from the lab… which is completely under the control of one of the fighting parties as a military base,” said Nima Saeed Abid, the WHO’s representative in Sudan.
He did not say which of the fighting parties had taken over the laboratory.
Abid said he had received a call from the head of the national laboratory in Khartoum on Monday, a day before a US-brokered 72-hour cease-fire between Sudan’s warring generals officially came into effect after 10 days of urban combat.
“There is a huge biological risk associated with the occupation of the central public health lab,” said Abid.
He pointed out that the lab held so-called isolates, or samples, of a range of deadly diseases, including measles, polio and cholera.
The director of the lab had also warned of the danger that “depleting stocks of blood bags risk spoiling due to lack of power,” Abid said.
“In addition to chemical hazards, bio-risk hazards are also very high due to lack of functioning generators,” he said.
The UN health agency also said that it had confirmed 14 attacks on health care during the fighting, killing eight and injuring two.
The fighting in Sudan has pitted forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan against those of his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The Sudanese health ministry has put the number of deaths so far at 459, with a further 4,072 wounded, the WHO said Tuesday, adding that it had not be able to verify that number.
The UN refugee agency meanwhile said it was bracing for up to 270,000 people to flee Sudan into neighboring Chad and South Sudan.
Laura Lo Castro, the UN refugee agency’s representative in Chad, said some 20,000 refugees had arrived there since the fighting began 10 days ago.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva via video-link, she said the agency expected up to 100,000 “in the worst-case scenario.”
Her colleague in South Sudan, Marie-Helene Verney, meanwhile said that around 4,000 of the more than 800,000 South Sudanese refugees living in Sudan had returned home since the fighting began.
Looking forward, she told reporters that “the most likely scenario is 125,000 returns of South Sudanese refugees into South Sudan.”
In addition, she said, UNHCR expected up to 45,000 Sudanese to flee as refugees into South Sudan.
JERUSALEM: A gunman fired at joggers from a passing car at a junction near the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday, medics said, and the Israeli military blocked roads and launched a search in response.
Israel’s ambulance service said it treated a 28-year-old with a hand injury before transferring him to hospital. He was running with a group in memory of fallen soldiers, as Israelis commemorate their military dead on Tuesday.
The shooting occurred along Route 60, the main north-south highway in the occupied West Bank that passes along some large Israeli settlements.
It was the latest in year-long series of incidents in an upsurge in Israeli-Palestinian violence, with frequent military raids and violence by Israeli settlers amid a spate of Palestinian attacks.
On Monday, a Palestinian drove his car into a crowd on a Jerusalem street in what police said was a deliberate attack, wounding five people, including a 70-year-old man in serious condition. Earlier, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian during a raid in the occupied West Bank.
More than 90 Palestinians and at least 19 Israelis and foreigners have been killed since January.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, territories Palestinians want for an independent state, in a 1967 Middle East war.
DIYARBAKIR: Turkish police detained 110 people over alleged militant ties, security sources said on Tuesday, with a pro-Kurdish lawmaker saying politicians, lawyers and journalists were among those arrested in raids that he linked to elections on May 14.
The security sources said the operation was focused on Diyarbakir, the largest city in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkiye, and extended over 21 provinces, targeting people accused of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group.
The operation came less than three weeks before presidential and parliamentary votes that represent the biggest electoral challenge President Tayyip Erdogan has faced since his AK Party first came to power in 2002.
“On the eve of the election, out of fear of losing power, they have resorted to detention operations again,” Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) lawmaker Tayip Temel said on Twitter.
He said tens of politicians, including top members of his party, journalists, artists and lawyers were among those detained in Diyarbakir on Tuesday morning.
LONDON: Britain launched a large-scale evacuation of its citizens from Sudan on Tuesday, joining other nations racing to get their people out of the North African country after its warring factions agreed to a 72-hour cease-fire.
Britain, which has estimated that about 4,000 of its nationals are in Sudan, said military flights would depart from an airfield outside Khartoum, and would be open to those with British passports.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesperson said that by 1500 GMT one flight had left with two more expected overnight, adding that Britain had the capacity to take over the running of the airfield to allow flights to continue if needed.
“The government has begun a large-scale evacuation of British passport holders from Sudan on RAF flights,” Sunak said on Twitter. “I pay tribute to the British Armed Forces, diplomats and Border Force staff.”
Sunak’s spokesman said flights would continue for as long as possible and British nationals would be taken to Cyprus, with the government facilitating their travel on to Britain.
Cyprus, a former colony and home to two sprawling British military bases, said it had activated a humanitarian rescue mechanism following a British request and would offer reception facilities for the evacuation of third-country civilians.
The flight tracking website Flightradar24 showed an RAF flight from Khartoum landed at the RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus shortly before 1230 GMT.
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the government was contacting nationals directly on routes for departure but would not be able to provide escorts to the airport.
Cleverly said he had spoken, either directly or through intermediaries, with the leaders of the warring Sudanese factions to facilitate the evacuation.
“We will continue to push for the maintenance of this cease-fire,” Cleverly told reporters in London.
Defense minister Ben Wallace said about 120 members of British armed forces were at the airfield, adding that they were ready to take over the running of the airfield from Germany, who said its last evacuation flight would be on Tuesday.
The British armed forces evacuated diplomatic staff and their family members from Sudan on Saturday and the government had come under criticism from British citizens still stuck there that they were not doing enough to help others.
Britain said it was working with its international partners on the evacuation and would also continue to look at other potential options for getting British nationals out.