Archaeologists have found a treasure trove of Asian and Islamic art from the tenth century in a sunken boat off the coast of Indonesia. An international team of divers recovered 250,000 artifacts over the last 18 months. The objects include perfume flasks, vases, porcelain dishes and glassware from the Fatimid dynasty that once ruled Egypt. The divers also found objects from China’s Five Dynasties period (907-960 AD), as well as 14,000 pearls, 4,000 rubies, 400 dark red sapphires and more than 2,200 garnets. This ancient treasure has led to modern-day greed. Cosmix, a secretive Dubai-based corporation, funded the €5 million (about LE35 million) salvage operation. The divers have also had to defend their booty from the Indonesian Navy and other treasure hunters. The artifacts will be offered at auction in 2006 and 2007, and Indonesia will receive 50 percent of the proceeds from the sale.

Egyptian actor Omar Sharif has just been sued for allegedly attacking and hurling racial slurs at a US parking attendant in June 2005. Guatemalan-born Juan Anderson, a valet at a chic Los Angeles restaurant, claims Sherif punched him in the side of the head and called him a “stupid Mexican.” Sharif was reportedly angry when the valet refused to accept a tip in euros rather than dollars. In 2001, the hot-headed Sharif was given a one-month suspended prison sentence for head-butting a police officer in a casino near Paris.

Daily images of the pyramids are now available to people around the world, thanks to a new website: http://www.pyramidcam.com. PyramidCam.com is a collaborative effort. Heading the project is Jim Sorenson, an American businessman who has lived and worked in Egypt for 30 years. Local partner Siag Hotel and Travel furnishes the vantage point forviewing: the top of the Siag Hotel in Giza. The high-definition network camera used at PyramidCam.com is from StarDot Technologies, a California company known for its cameras on the Yosemite and Yellowstone National Park websites.

As Ramadan ended, a vague consensus emerged about this year’s most popular soap operas. Hits included Hanan Turk’s Sara on Dubai channel, in which Turk played a woman stuck at the developmental stage of a 12-year-old by a childhood trauma and set upon by villainous relatives and acquaintances. The Satellite channel MBC had two popular shows as well. Raya and Sekina was a high-quality retelling of the crimes of the Alexandria murderesses, while the Syrian show Al Hur Al Ein tackled terrorism, recounting the 2003 bombing of a Riyadh apartment complex from the point of view of the Arab families living there.