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Egypt Bets on Success of 'Ramses and The Gold of Pharaohs' in Australia

The wooden coffin of Pharaoh Ramses II is on display Thursday, April 6, 2023 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
The wooden coffin of Pharaoh Ramses II is on display Thursday, April 6, 2023 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
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Egypt Bets on Success of 'Ramses and The Gold of Pharaohs' in Australia

The wooden coffin of Pharaoh Ramses II is on display Thursday, April 6, 2023 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
The wooden coffin of Pharaoh Ramses II is on display Thursday, April 6, 2023 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Egyptian and Australian officials said they are optimistic about the success of the 4th stop of the temporary historic exhibition “Ramses and the Gold of the Pharaohs”, set to open on November 17, in Sydney, Australia. Australian curators said they already sold 100,000 tickets a month before the opening.

During a press event to unveil the exhibition’s details on Monday, Ahmed Ghoneim, CEO of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), said he’s delighted to lend the coffin of Ramses II, which he described as “one of the most prominent antiquities displayed at NMEC”, adding that “it represents a great addition to the exhibition given the fame of Ramses II”.

The CEO believes that the participation of this coffin at the exhibition is “the best ambassador of Ancient Egypt and its eternal civilization.”

In its debut at the Houston Museum, US, in 2021, the exhibition hosted hundreds of thousands of visitors, and few more during its stop in San Francisco in 2022; but its third stop in Paris, at Lafayette Gallery during the first half of this year, it welcomed, 817,000 visitors within five months, according Mostafa Waziry, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

Waziri hailed the “great interest” the Australian museum has showed in hosting and promoting the exhibition, which promises success similar to that achieved in Paris.

He also expected the exhibition to achieve “a huge turnout and boost the influx of Australian tourists to Egypt in the near future, similar to the influx the country saw following the exhibition’s stop in France.”

The “Ramses and The Gold of Pharaohs” displays 181 antiquities from the collection of the Egyptian Museum, dating back to the Ramses II era, in addition to some antiquities discovered by the Egyptian expedition in the Bubasteum area in Saqqara.

Speaking at the press event, Zahi Hawass, a renowned Egyptologist and former Minister of Antiquities, described Ramses II, who ruled for 66 years, as the “King of Kings” and “ruler of the greatest and strongest Egyptian era”, noting that he was also known as “master of builders” because he built temples, statues, and obelisks more than any other king in Ancient Egypt.

For his part, John Norman, president of the firm curating the exhibition, expected the event to bring major success as over 100,000 tickets were sold before the opening.

“The coffin of Ramses II will be the star attraction in the exhibition,” said Kim McKay, the Australian Museum’s director and CEO, adding that “exhibiting this priceless antiquity, a strong symbol of one of the greatest leaders in the ancient world, is a remarkable success for our museum. Sydney is the world’s second city, after Paris, to display it. It’s an amazing opportunity for the Australian audience to see it alongside the other unique antiquities.”

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Varieties

Bethlehem Lights up Christmas Tree for First Time Since Gaza War

People gather during the lighting of the Christmas tree ceremony at the Manger Square, next to the Church of Nativity in the background, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, 06 December 2025. (EPA)
People gather during the lighting of the Christmas tree ceremony at the Manger Square, next to the Church of Nativity in the background, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, 06 December 2025. (EPA)
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Bethlehem Lights up Christmas Tree for First Time Since Gaza War

People gather during the lighting of the Christmas tree ceremony at the Manger Square, next to the Church of Nativity in the background, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, 06 December 2025. (EPA)
People gather during the lighting of the Christmas tree ceremony at the Manger Square, next to the Church of Nativity in the background, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, 06 December 2025. (EPA)

Christmas cheer returned to the traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ on Saturday as Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank lit up a tree for the first time since the war in Gaza began over two years ago.

Covered in red and gold baubles, the Christmas tree standing meters away from the Church of the Nativity on Manger Square has become a symbol of hope.

At the end of a two-hour ceremony, the tree was illuminated to cheers, its yellow lights twinkling and a bright red star on top shining against the clouded night sky irradiated by a luminescent, almost full moon.

It is the first time the city has held the usual celebrations since the outbreak of the war in Gaza following Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023.

“It’s like a symbol for resilience,” said 27-year-old Abeer Shtaya, who works at Al-Zaytoonah University of Science and Technology in Salfit in the West Bank.

She had traveled 100 kilometers (60 miles) with a group of the university’s students because “we want to celebrate and be with our brothers and sisters in Bethlehem to enjoy this day.”

“It’s a message for the world that it’s calm,” Mike Shahen, 43, said at his ceramic store on the square, after a handful of visitors came in for purchases.

Thousands of people attended, including Christians and Muslims, and many who traveled from Palestinian territories and Israel -- some from even further afield -- to enjoy the festive spirit return.

Nuns could be seen watching from one roof, while many families including small children filled balconies and roofs to catch a glimpse of the tree lit up.

Sounds of laughter filled the air as many could not help but smile despite moments of rain.

“This event didn’t happen for the last two years because of the war and it’s quite emotional after two years of nothing but war and death,” said 50-year-old Liyu Lu, who had traveled from northern Israel, close to the border with Lebanon.

Originally from China but now living in Israel for decades, she was with a group including Gary Lau, a traveling businessman and Christian staying in Jerusalem for the past couple of months.

“Being here, with the festivities, is something very nice and special,” Lau, 51, said, adding he was “taking in the atmosphere.”

For the past two years, Bethlehem has celebrated Christmas in a more somber manner, with no major public festivities.

Tentative return

Christian pilgrims, especially from Asia, South America and eastern Europe have, however, slowly returned in the past few months.

Fabien Safar, guide and director of Terra Dei which organizes pilgrimages to the Holy Land, said a few small groups would come for Christmas this year and he already saw some bookings for 2026.

Safar expected a real recovery in 2027 but “this obviously depends on how the situation evolves” in Gaza and Lebanon.

Despite a November 2024 ceasefire that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and militant group Hezbollah, Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon.

Pilgrims “remain afraid because there’s no official end to the war” in Gaza, Safar said, adding they were also worried about the situation in Lebanon.

‘Worse than COVID’

But it has all taken a toll on Bethlehem, which had only just cheered the return of tourists in 2022 after the COVID-19 pandemic, before the war in Gaza broke out.

Bethlehem’s economy relies almost completely on tourism.

“Covid was bad but nothing like the last two years,” said Shahen from the ceramic store.

Many visitors from Israel and the Palestinian territories spent hours on the road to reach Bethlehem including musician Lu.

She woke up at 6 am to get a bus at 7 am with a large group. They arrived at 12:30 pm, she said, without any trouble.

War isn’t the only reason for Bethlehem’s woes.

Since the 2023 Hamas attack, it is more difficult to travel around the West Bank with long queues on the roads with Israeli military checkpoints.

Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has also surged since the Gaza war. It has not stopped despite the fragile truce between Israel and Hamas that began this October.

Varieties

Number's Up: Calculators Hold Out against AI

Calculators are more affordable than phones, and run on batteries and solar power. Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP
Calculators are more affordable than phones, and run on batteries and solar power. Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP
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Number's Up: Calculators Hold Out against AI

Calculators are more affordable than phones, and run on batteries and solar power. Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP
Calculators are more affordable than phones, and run on batteries and solar power. Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP

The humble pocket calculator may not be able to keep up with the mathematical capabilities of new technology, but it will never hallucinate.

The device's enduring reliability equates to millions of sales each year for Japan's Casio, which is even eyeing expansion in certain regions.

Despite lightning-speed advances in artificial intelligence, chatbots still sometimes stumble on basic addition.

In contrast, "calculators always give the correct answer," Casio executive Tomoaki Sato told AFP.

But he conceded that calculators could one day go the way of the abacus.

"It's undeniable that the market for personal calculators used in business is on a downward trend," Sato said in Tokyo.

Smartphones and web browsers can handle everyday sums, while AI models achieved gold-level scores for the first time this year at a prestigious global maths contest.

But calculators are more affordable than phones, and run on batteries and solar power -- a plus for schools in developing countries, a potential growth area for Casio, Sato said.

And people who do buy calculators prefer the way they feel, he argued.

Thitinan Suntisubpool, co-owner of a shop selling red bags and beckoning cats in Bangkok's Chinatown, said she loves how durable her big calculator is, having dropped it several times.

"It's more convenient in many ways," the 58-year-old told AFP.

"We can use it to press the numbers and show the customer," avoiding language-barrier misunderstandings.

But at a nearby street stall selling clocks, torches and calculators, the vendor, who gave her name as Da, said calculator sales were "quiet".

'Optimised tools'

At a Casio factory in Thailand, assembly line workers slotted green circuit boards into place and popped cuboid buttons labelled "DEL" from a plastic tub onto pastel-blue calculator frames.

"Calculators are still in demand," said Ryohei Saito, a general manager for Casio in Thailand.

"Not everywhere in the world has smartphone connectivity, and calculators are optimised tools focused on necessary functions," he said.

In the year to March 2025, Casio sold 39 million calculators, general and scientific, in around 100 countries.

That compares to 45 million in 2019-20, but is still up from the 31 million that sold the following year after the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

The company has come a long way from the 1957 invention of the desk-sized "14-A", which it says was the first compact all-electric calculator.

Calculator history even made headlines recently when Christie's suspended the Paris sale of an early calculating machine, "La Pascaline", after a court said it could not be taken abroad.

The auction house called the ebony-decorated 1642 device "the first attempt in history to substitute the human mind with a machine".

Those attempts have accelerated with AI.

Scoring gold

In July, AI models made by Google, OpenAI and DeepSeek reached gold-level scores at the annual International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO).

But neither attained full marks at the annual contest for under-20s, unlike five human participants who achieved perfect scores.

IMO president Gregor Dolinar called the progress of artificial intelligence in the field "fascinating".

"When we talk about scientific calculators, in the past you needed them, but nowadays it's easier to just ask AI," he told AFP.

"If you pose the question in the right way," artificial intelligence can crunch abstract, logical questions and show how it reached its conclusion, Dolinar said.

Dolinar, a professor in engineering at the University of Ljubljana, thinks physical calculators are likely to "slowly disappear".

Something that has already happened for his students.

"They can calculate everything on a phone," he said.

Varieties

Saudi Arabia Ranks 5th Globally, 1st in Arab World for AI Sector Growth on Global AI Index

File photo of the Saudi flag/AAWSAT
File photo of the Saudi flag/AAWSAT
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Saudi Arabia Ranks 5th Globally, 1st in Arab World for AI Sector Growth on Global AI Index

File photo of the Saudi flag/AAWSAT
File photo of the Saudi flag/AAWSAT

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ranked fifth globally and first in the Arab world in artificial intelligence sector growth, according to the Global AI Index, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.

This marks a national achievement that builds on the Kingdom’s steady progress in artificial intelligence and reflects the effectiveness of its development plans and its ability to achieve high international competitiveness under Saudi Vision 2030.

During the period measured by the Global AI Index, Saudi Arabia launched a wide range of national initiatives led by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA). These initiatives strengthened Saudi Arabia’s position on the index.

They included several projects, notably the Rowad Package initiative, which supports entrepreneurs and startups by enabling them to verify customer data through electronic linkage with the National Information Center’s databases.

SDAIA also launched the AI Ethics Incentive Badges initiative to raise awareness of ethical practices and promote responsible use of technologies. The initiative provides a clear framework to help organizations and developers adhere to global best standards. More than 50 accreditation certificates have been granted to national AI companies for developing AI-based products serving priority sectors.

The generative Gaia AI accelerator, supported by SDAIA and the National Technology Development Program (NTDP) in collaboration with New Native, has helped numerous startups enter the market more quickly and efficiently.

These efforts also extended to the SDAIA Academy, which has focused on building national capabilities and empowering young talent through advanced training programs in data and AI, offered in partnership with international organizations.

As part of its efforts, the SDAIA Academy trained more than one million Saudi men and women in data and AI skills through the SAMAI initiative, conducted in collaboration with several government entities. The initiative is considered one of the world’s largest training programs targeting the general population.

These achievements highlight SDAIA’s success in the field of data and AI, both nationally and internationally. They reinforce its role as the Kingdom’s central authority for regulation, development, and application, and advance the nation toward leadership in data- and AI-driven economies.