1.   Pharaonic antiquities in southern Egypt are well above the flood levels, said Mohammed El-Soghair, a culture ministry official.

2.   According to the Herald, last month Italian culture ministry official Vittorio Sgarbi told the Italian news agency ANSA he would resign if the obelisk were returned to Ethiopia.

3.   Berlin culture officials said they will take the case to the federal administrative court for a new ruling.

4.   But Culture Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy and Labor Minister Jacques Barrot had accepted the timetable Thursday night, culture ministry official Christine Bachellerie told the Associated Press.

5.   Last year, culture officials in Germany, Austria and Switzerland agreed to make changes to spelling and writing the German language.

6.   The reopening is the first step in the revival of the Villa Borghese gardens, which culture officials are now calling the Park of Museums.

7.   A Togolese culture ministry official was present at the time, he added.

8.   All over the country, culture officials are trying to purge imperial, western and vulgar identifiers.

9.   But whoever ends up acquiring them, they are almost certain to remain in Russia, a senior culture ministry official said.