US-China tensions scuttle ASEAN accord

Asia

Military tensions over the South China Sea have forced a meeting of Asia-Pacific defense ministers to scrap plans for a joint statement. The impasse at the Kuala Lumpur 10-nation summit reflects an islands dispute.

China's Defense Ministry said Wednesday that "certain countries" outside of Southeast Asia were responsible for the cancellation of a joint statement at the end of a regional defense forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The diplomatic finger-pointing almost certainly refers to Washington, which is in a long-running dispute over the freedom to navigate shipping and military vessels in the strategic South China Sea.
"In our view, no statement is better than one that avoids the important issue of China's (land) reclamation and militarization in the South China Sea," a US defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Both US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and China's defense minister, Chang Wanquan, had been taking part in the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting, which brought together Russia, China, the US and other powers to discuss regional defense issues.
Carter had told Chang in a meeting late Tuesday that the United States would continue to sail its vessels in waters that China says belong to its territory. China has been constructing artificial islets to back up its claims.
During that bilateral talk, Chang described a "bottom line" below which it would defend the islands.
Beijing insists it has sovereign rights to nearly all of the South China Sea, a strategic, resource-rich waterway, through which about a third of all the world's traded oil passes. Beijing's assertion has been rejected by Washington.

Ancient Greek citadel discovered in Jerusalem under a car park

Culture

Acra, the legendary fortress built by Antiochus over 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem, has been unearthed under a parking lot. The lost citadel was considered one of the world's great unsolved archaeological mysteries.

Those familiar with Jewish traditions will know the name Antiochus, as he was the Greek King who tried to ban Jewish religious rites - and that sparked the Maccabean rebellion. The rebels defeated the Greeks, who starved after a long siege of their stronghold. The victory is remembered with the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.
This Greek fortress built by Seleucid Emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes (215-164 BC), called Acra, is mentioned in at least two ancient texts - the Book of Maccabees, which tells of the rebellion, and a written record by historian Josephus Flavius.
Yet archaeologists have puzzled for over a century as to the exact location of this legendary citadel. Many thought it stood in what is now Jerusalem's walled Old City, a site considered sacred for both the Jews who know it as Temple Mount and the Muslims who hold two holy sites there, the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque.
Now "one of Jerusalem's greatest archaeological mysteries" could be solved, said the Israel Antiquities Authority on Tuesday (03.11.2015). They claimed that this ancient Greek citadel had finally been found - buried under a car park.
The former Givati parking lot is outside the Old City, in a Palestinian neighborhood in occupied east Jerusalem, on what used to be known as the City of David in 168 BC.
"This sensational discovery allows us for the first time to reconstruct the layout of the settlement in the city, on the eve of the Maccabean uprising in 167 BC," said Doron Ben-Ami, who led the excavation.

Were these the arrowheads used during the seven-year long Maccabean revolt?

A massive wall which could have been the base of a tower was discovered - over 20 meters long (65 feet) and 4 meters wide (12 feet).
Lead sling stones and bronze arrowheads from the period were also found on the site around it. Archaeologists believe they were left over from battles between pro-Greek forces and Jewish rebels trying to take over the fortress.
"This is a rare example of how rocks, coins and dirt can come together in a single archaeological story that addresses specific historical realities from the city of Jerusalem," Ben-Ami said.
eg/kbm (AFP, Reuters)

German expert restores King Tut mask after botched glue job

Arts

The beard of King Tut's priceless golden mask fell off by accident. The employees of the Egyptian Museum hastily used epoxy to repair it; specialist Christian Eckmann says he now needs two months to restore it properly.

The 3,300-year-old solid gold funerary mask is one of the most famous archeological treasures of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
While repairing the relic's lighting in August 2014, a museum employee knocked its beard off. Employees tried to quickly fix the beard and used epoxy glue - and a crust of the chemical showed up on the mask.
Now a German-Egyptian team of experts, led by restoration specialist Christian Eckmann, need to carefully scrape off the glue and remove the beard. A joint scientific committee will then determine the best way to reattach it.
"We have not yet taken off the beard," said Eckmann during a press conference at the museum on Tuesday (21.10.2015). The restoration work is being done manually, using thin "wooden sticks" to remove the crust of dried glue, he explained.
As the restoration experts do not know how deep the glue went inside the beard, they can't say exactly how long it will take to remove it. The work should take a month or two, estimated Eckmann.
The restoration of the damaged mask at least offers the opportunity to study its materials and production techniques in detail. "We are using this chance to gain new information," said Eckmann.
King Tutankhamun died at the age of 19 in 1324 BC, after a reign of nine years. The pharaoh became legendary through the discovery of his burial chamber in the temple city of Luxor in 1922. Such tombs were usually plundered over the years, but his still contained over 5,000 intact artifacts and treasures.
eg/kbm (AP, AFP)