Egypt (Arabic: مصر, romanized Misr, in Egyptian Arabic Már, ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a Middle Eastern country in North Africa. While the country is geographically situated in Africa, the Sinai Peninsula, east of the Suez Canal, is a land bridge to Asia.

Covering an area of about 1,001,450 square kilometres (386,560 square miles), Egypt borders Libya to the west, Sudan to the south, and Israel and the Gaza Strip to the northeast; on the north and the east are the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, respectively.

Egypt is the sixteenth most populous country in the world. The vast majority of its 78.8 million population (2006) live near the banks of the Nile River (about 40,000 km² or 15,450 sq. miles), where the only arable agricultural land is found. Large areas of land are part of the Sahara Desert and are sparsely inhabited. About half of the Egyptian people today are urban, living in the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, the largest city in Africa and the Middle East, and Alexandria.

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NPR Topics: Arts & Culture

Americans Say Oui, Oui To Foreign Graphic Novels
Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:01:00 -0400
Americans don't buy a lot of foreign novels, but go to any neighborhood bookstore and you'll find whole shelves devoted to international comics. In fact, more than half of the graphic novels sold in the U.S. are foreign-language imports.
In Concert, A Moment Of Sudanese Solidarity
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:28:00 -0400
At a time of outright genocide in Darfur, and civil unrest throughout the Sudan, an unprecedented gathering of musicians from across the war-torn country presented a contrasting picture — one of harmony and unity — at the Sudanese Festival of Music and Dance in Chicago.
'Buffy' Creator Proves Doogie Howser Can Sing
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:09:00 -0400
This week, in an unusual first, television producer Joss Whedon unveiled Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, a musical comedy written for — and released exclusively on — the Internet.

NYT > Arts

A High-Seas Show With Gay Family Values
Sat, 19 Jul 2008 04:51:56 -0000
Rosie O’Donnell and friends take a trip on the good ship Mom and Pop.
Theater Review | 'Eh Joe': Words Fail Him, but Memories Can’t Be Silenced
Sat, 19 Jul 2008 06:49:26 -0000
Although it lasts just half an hour, this staging of a Samuel Beckett piece is one of the most wholly satisfying nights I’ve spent at the theater this year.
Genealogy Records Are Given to Library
Sat, 19 Jul 2008 06:50:34 -0000
A New York society is turning over its archives for safekeeping.

Arts & Culture

Turf War
Elizabeth Kolbert Mon, 14 Jul 2008 04:00:00 -0000
In 1841, Andrew Jackson Downing published the first landscape-gardening book aimed at an American audience. At the time, Downing was twenty-five years old and living in Newburgh, New York. He owned a nursery, which he had inherited from his father, and for several years had been publishing loftily . . .
The Theatre
Mon, 14 Jul 2008 04:00:00 -0000
OPENINGS AND PREVIEWS Please call the phone number listed with the theatre for timetables and ticket information. ANIMALS OUT OF PAPER Second Stage’s Uptown Series concludes with this play by Rajiv Joseph, an origami-themed love story. Giovanna Sardelli directs. In previews. (McGinn/Cazale, Broadway at 76th St. 212-246-4422.) AROUND . . .
The Sister
Mon, 14 Jul 2008 04:00:00 -0000
This suspenseful first novel is set in a crumbling Dorset mansion and features two aging sisters, reunited after a separation of nearly fifty years. Virginia is the sensible older sister who stayed, carrying on the family tradition of lepidopterology, while the reckless and free-spirited Vivien left to lead a . . .

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