The Mediterranean Cruise Directory Egypt is “Misr” in Arabic. It occupies the northeastern corner of Africa, and is connected to Asia by the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is bordered by Libya on the west, Sudan on the south, Israel on the east, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north. Egypt has a surface area of 386,662 square miles, approximately the same size as Texas. The population of Egypt is about 75 million. Cairo, Egypt's capital city, has a population of more than 17 million. This great metropolis is the meeting place of Africa, the Arab world, Europe and Asia. Cairo is the most important city in the country and is the political, cultural, and economic center. The oldest part of Cairo lies in the vicinity of the Khan El Khalili Bazaar and Al Azhar Mosque. The modern part of Cairo was built by a descendant of Mohamed Ali, in the 19th century.  Today a sprawling city, with its ever expanding suburbs, surrounds this historic core.  The most famous mosque, the Mohamed Ali Mosque, was built in Cairo in his memory. Cairo is known as the city of a thousand minarets due to the profusion of mosques. In approximately 3000 B.C., a civilization emerged on the banks of the River Nile. It reached a stage of development and sophistication that none of its contemporaries surpassed. The ancient Egyptians' ability to organize society, keep careful records, and maintain the continuity and advancement of their civilization almost without interruption for 30 centuries set them apart from all other civilizations. A land of motion within the stillness of centuries, the silent felucca sails in contrast to the chaos and cacophony along the Nile. Among today's monuments are the world's largest textile mill, one of the highest dams, and the largest manmade lake. Yet, all the noises of construction, cries of street vendors, even the braying of donkeys, in ever-expanding Cairo are absorbed by the eternal quiet of the deserts. Egypt is a country with many secrets tied to its past. It is an explorer's land, with places to find treasures such as antiquities, gold or jewels. It is a place to see palaces and bazaars, where the real and the reproduced can be considered. It is a land where flowers bloom in the desert and in the underwater gardens. For those who can “drink the water of the Nile,” the rewards are magnificent.

Loggerhead Turtle Territories Defined By Salinity of Sea Water In Western Mediterranean (Science Daily)
Researchers have shown that the salinity of sea water could act as a "barrier", preventing the turtles from moving between the areas of the Western Mediterranean. This is why loggerhead turtles from the south and north of the Western Mediterranean do not mix as juveniles. This finding could help in the development of measures to protect this migratory species.

Pilot study on sea levels threat (BBC News)
Three areas of Wales will take part in research on risk of flooding due to rising sea and river levels.

Guided missile frigate Elrod returning to Norfolk (The Virginian-Pilot)
NORFOLK The guided missile frigate Elrod is scheduled to return to Norfolk Naval Station today following a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea and Eastern Atlantic Ocean. The Elrod participated in joint exercises with allies including Russia, Morocco, Latvia and Cameroon.

'Air NZ family' gathers at Canet beach (Stuff)
It was a poignant piece of New Zealand on a Mediterranean beach. Just five days earlier, an Air New Zealand Airbus A320 had smashed into the Mediterranean Sea seven kilometres off the coast of France. All seven people on board died, five of them New Zealanders.

Message in a bottle gets reply, at last (The Record)
NORTH HALEDON — People have been doing it since 310 B.C., when the Greek philosopher Theophrastus tossed a message in a bottle into the Mediterranean Sea to prove which way the currents flowed.

Voices from the sea (Stuff)
The first answers as to why an Air New Zealand jet crashed into the Mediterranean Sea could be known in days, as investigators carefully piece together the doomed crew's final conversations.

French Divers Recover Body, Recorder From Air New Zealand Crash (Bloomberg)
Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- French divers recovered a third body and the flight data recorder from an Air New Zealand Ltd . plane that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea last week, the airline said.

Canadian navy crew makes hockey part of life at sea (CBC)
Troops on the HMCS Ville de Quebec, a Canadian patrol frigate currently stationed in the Mediterranean, have brought aboard a hockey net, goalie equipment and sticks to make the most of their recreational time on the ship.

Identities of airbus bodies may be known by weekend (NZPA via Yahoo!Xtra News)
The identities of the three bodies recovered after an Air New Zealand Airbus A320 crashed off the Mediterranean coast of France may be known by the weekend.

Divers search New Zealand plane's wreckage (UPI)
CANET, France, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- French divers working to recover bodies from a downed New Zealand jet in the Mediterranean Sea said Monday they had yet to find its flight data recorder.