ABU DHABI — Shaikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Chairperson of the Family Welfare Foundation, received a delgation of diplomats’ wives from Dubai and the Northern Emirates here yesterday. They had come to extend Eid greetings to Shaikha Fatima.

By Kate Gaier 6:45 pm January 1, 2007 An arrest is made in a year old murder case in Cairo... but the motive is still anyone's guess. Neighbors say Pearl Johnson was a kind-hearted woman. Even though she was disabled, she would help anyone.

Al-Qaida's number two man is aiming some New Year's criticism at the leaders of Egypt and the Palestinians. But Ayman al-Zawahri's statement hasn't been authenticated.

Panaji, Jan 1 Muslim brethren celebrated Bakr-Id with ritualistic fervour in Goa. Friends and relatives besides people from other faiths wished the members of Muslim community Eid Mubarak on the auspicious occasion. Prayers were offered at mosques throughout Goa during the day.

Israeli officials on Monday denied claims that they were close to a deal that would secure the release of a captured soldier held by Palestinian militants, citing excessive demands by the Islamic Hamas.

Mythology

Egyptian mythology is the name for the succession of beliefs held by the people of Egypt until the coming of Christianity and Islam. The timespan involved is nearly three thousand years, and beliefs varied considerably over time.

The main early beliefs can be split into 5 distinct localised belief groups:

1. the Ennead of Heliopolis, whose chief god was Atum;
2. the Ogdoad of Hermopolis, where the chief god was Ra;
3. the Chnum-Satet-Anuket triad of Elephantine, where the chief god was Chnum;
4. the Amun-Mut-Chons triad of Thebes, where the chief god was Amun;
5. the Ptah-Sekhmet-Nefertem triad of Memphis, unusual in that the gods were unconnected before the triad was formalised, where the chief god was Ptah.

As the leaders of the different groups gained and lost power, so the dominent beliefs merged and mutated. First, Ra and Atum became. At the end of this, all that remained, by the time of hellenic influence over Egypt, was the trinity of Osiris, Isis, and Horus, and their enemy, Set, as exemplified by the Legend of Osiris and Isis. The trinity had absorbed so many of the prior cults, that each was worhipped at their own cult centre - Abydos for Osiris, Dendara for Isis, and Edfu for Horus. Even by this stage, the amalgamation was continuing, with Osiris all but an aspect of Horus (and vice-versa), heading rapidly towards monotheism. Nethertheless, monotheism had briefly existed before, as, in the 13th century, Akhenaten had attempted to introduce the monotheistic worship of Aten, the sun-disc itself, although it was subsequently rejected.

According to the Turin Royal Canon, ten gods ruled Egypt, each for long (but finite) periods, prior to the First Dynasty: Ptah, Ra, Su, Seb, Osiris, Set, Horus, Thoth, Ma'at, Horus.