A female Egyptian schoolteacher who cut two of her pupils' hair as punishment for not wearing the Islamic headscarf was given a six-month suspended prison sentence on Tuesday, a lawyer said.

She was tried after the government's national council for childhood and maternity requested an inquiry into the incident. The public prosecutor accused her of "treating children harshly."

Nile cruises from Egypt's capital Cairo to Luxor resumed over the weekend after being halted 18 years ago because of security concerns.

A ceremony marking the resumption of cruises from the capital was held in Luxor, the mecca of Egyptian tourism, after the arrival of a vessel from Cairo.

Taking advantage of Egypt's political upheaval, thieves have gone on a treasure hunt with a spree of illegal digging, preying on the country's ancient pharaonic heritage.

Illegal digs near ancient temples and in isolated desert sites have swelled a staggering 100-fold over the past 16 months since a popular uprising toppled Hosni Mubarak's 29-year regime and security fell apart in many areas as police simply stopped doing their jobs. The pillaging comes on top of a wave of break-ins last year at archaeological storehouses — and even at Cairo's famed Egyptian Museum, the country's biggest repository of pharaonic artifacts.

Ten people were killed when the soil caved in on them as they were illegally digging for ancient treasures under a house in a central Egyptian village, police officials told Agence France Presse on Monday.

The 10, including four brothers, were buried alive when the walls of the dig collapsed in the village of Arab al-Manasra, north of the historic city of Luxor.

Wandering unhurried in the Egyptian temple of Luxor and photographing the towering colonnades of Karnak without being jostled may be a dream come true for tourists.

But it is a nightmare for traders losing their precious livelihood.