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Egypt: smuggled ancient artifacts recovered

Egypt's Minister of Culture announced last that the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) stopped in the last hour the sale of two ancient Egyptian objects in London and Holland, in an attempt to save Egypt’s illegally smuggled heritage. He stated that one of the objects is an inscribed relief removed from a wall in the 26th Dynasty tomb of Mutirdis in Asasif on Luxor’s west bank, and was meant to be put on sale Thursday, May 1st at Bonhams, an auction house in London.
The relief om the tomb of Mutirdis appeared in Bonhams’s sale catalogue one week ago. In response, Hawass sent an urgent letter to Chantelle Waddington of Bonhams asking for the sale of the relief to be stopped, as it was stolen and smuggled from Egypt.
In collaboration with Egypt’s ambassador to Holland, a 19th Dynasty green ushabti figure of a woman called Hener was taken out of an auction sale, and will be returned to its homeland. This ushabti figure was stolen from a Saqqara storehouse and is now at the Leiden Museum awaiting its journey back to Egypt after the issuance of Amsterdam’s court verdict.

Source: eTurboNews; find full article here>>.

Egypt demands artifacts returned by world powers

Last week, the Egyptian Foreign Minister’s office sent an official letter to four countries - France, Germany, Great Britain and the United States - demanding the return of famous artifacts for showcase at a temporary exhibition of ancient Egyptian artifacts. The objects, in question, are currently on display in separate museums while in the hands of the said countries.
The antiquities demanded, all well-known, include the Zodiac at the Louvre, Nefertiti’s bust at the Berlin Museum, the statue of the engineer Hem Iunu who built Khufu’s pyramid now in the Roemer & Pelizea Museum in Hildesheim, the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum and the statue of the engineer Ankh Ha If who built the second pyramid on display at the Boston Museum.

Read more here.

Legal Action raised in Egypt Air Flight 990 Case

A legal action has been raised by relatives of a Syrian passenger killed as a result of the Egypt Air Flight 990 crash. The action has been raised in New York. The Syrian victim was working as a chef in New Jersey. The action is based on a claim for $50m wrongful death compensation alleging that Egypt Air were in breach of their responsibility to provide the hoghest level of safety to passengers. The action also accuses Boeing of negligence in design, repair and maintenance of the plane

(Originally posted by John Downes)

Egypt Air Flight 990

The search for the voice cockpit recorder continues. The plane crashed into the Atlantic soon after taking off from JFK Airport in New York on October 31. All 217 passengers and crew were killed. The US National Transportation Safety Board has made a preliminary report on the flight data recorder. the plane had been cruising normally at 9900 metres (33000 feet) when the autopilot disconnected. Although the plane had previously had a fault with the thrust reverser device, there was no evidence that this device had deployed accidentally.

(Originally posted by John Downes)