Selling? UAE developer Damac Properties is considering selling a large stake—as much as 51 per cent, according to the financial newspaper al-Mal—to Egypt’s government-controlled Housing and Development Bank. Financial analysts fear a change in ownership of Damac could be detrimental in the short term, with potential homebuyers becoming concerned about the stability of developers, leading to a greater number of cancellations and even weaker sales. Damac is Dubai’s largest private developer and has a number of planned projects in Egypt worth a combined value of over $20 billion. 30 mummies A storeroom housing Egyptian mummies has been unearthed inside a 2,600-year-old tomb at the vast necropolis of Saqqara south of Cairo. The tomb was located at the bottom of a 36-foot deep shaft, said Zahi Hawwas, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Eight sarcophagi were found as well as 22 mummies in niches along the tomb’s walls. Archaeologists opened one sarcophagus and found a mummy inside; mummies are believed to be inside the other seven too. According to Hawwas, the “storeroom for mummies” dates back to 640BC during the 26th Dynasty, which was Egypt’s last independent kingdom before it was overthrown by a succession of foreign conquerors beginning with the Persians. Most of the mummies are poorly preserved, and archeologists have yet to determine their identities or why so many were put in one room. Images from Nanoworld The photography exhibition “Blow up: Images from the Nanoworld” opened earlier this month at the Cairo Opera House and runs till 28 February. It includes images of atoms and molecular clusters derived from materials that come from biological and natural systems—including images of DNA—as well as from materials artificially created in the laboratory. The images carry explanatory notes in Italian, English and Arabic. The exhibition is the result of collaboration between the photographer Lucia Covi and the researchers of “S3 Research Centre on Nanostructures, Biosystems and Areas” of the National Institute for the Physics of Materials, a department of the National Research Centre. It was sponsored by the Italian Embassy in Cairo and the Ministry of Scientific Research in Egypt. Prison performance Inmates of Egypt’s prisons have been treated to concerts of religious chanting and folklore shows. The performances were organised by the General Authority for Cultural Palaces and represent the beginning of a series of performances to be held at all prisons in Egypt. Last week’s shows were performed at Benha and Fayoum prisons, as well as the women’s prison in Qanater north of Cairo.