Egypt Pictures
IHOP to expand in the Middle East
DineEquity Inc., which owns the IHOP (International House of Pancakes) chain of restaurants, said Monday it plans to open 40 new IHOP stores in the Middle East with Kuwait-based franchiser M.H. Alshaya Co. in its first major expansion outside of the U.S.
The restaurants will open over the next 12 months in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain and Egypt.
No financial terms were disclosed.
DineEquity, which also operates Applebee's Neighborhood Bar and Grill, has previously only opened stores in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. But it has been looking further afield lately, opening stores in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guatemala.
The company plans to open 55 to 65 new restaurants in 2011, the majority in the U.S.
From Youm7
The restaurants will open over the next 12 months in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain and Egypt.
No financial terms were disclosed.
DineEquity, which also operates Applebee's Neighborhood Bar and Grill, has previously only opened stores in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. But it has been looking further afield lately, opening stores in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guatemala.
The company plans to open 55 to 65 new restaurants in 2011, the majority in the U.S.
From Youm7
Egypt Min of Antiquities discusses US tour
DineEquity Inc., which owns the IHOP (International House of Pancakes) chain of restaurants, said Monday it plans to open 40 new IHOP stores in the Middle East with Kuwait-based franchiser M.H. Alshaya Co. in its first major expansion outside of the U.S.
The restaurants will open over the next 12 months in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain and Egypt.
No financial terms were disclosed.
DineEquity, which also operates Applebee's Neighborhood Bar and Grill, has previously only opened stores in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. But it has been looking further afield lately, opening stores in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guatemala.
The company plans to open 55 to 65 new restaurants in 2011, the majority in the U.S.
From Youm7
The restaurants will open over the next 12 months in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain and Egypt.
No financial terms were disclosed.
DineEquity, which also operates Applebee's Neighborhood Bar and Grill, has previously only opened stores in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. But it has been looking further afield lately, opening stores in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guatemala.
The company plans to open 55 to 65 new restaurants in 2011, the majority in the U.S.
From Youm7
Egypt’s Mediterranean ports see growth in tourism
CAIRO: Egyptian Mediterranean ports witnessed a notable tourism increase, said the head of the tourism revival body, Amr el-Ezabi.
Meanwhile, big tourist ships have anchored at Egyptian ports and there have been many tourists from different parties of the world in the past few weeks, said the internal tourism sector chairman Magdi Selim.
He added that the Pacific Princess ship with 882 tourists anchored at Port Said.
From Youm7
Meanwhile, big tourist ships have anchored at Egyptian ports and there have been many tourists from different parties of the world in the past few weeks, said the internal tourism sector chairman Magdi Selim.
He added that the Pacific Princess ship with 882 tourists anchored at Port Said.
From Youm7
Germany refuses to return Nefertiti bust to Egypt
German officials have ruled out returning an ancient bust of Queen Nefertiti to Egypt - saying it is too fragile to be transported.
And they have insisted that the bust was acquired legally by the Prussian state nearly a century ago.
Egypt first requested the return of the antiquity in 1930, but successive German governments have refused.
Head of antiquities Zahi Hawass says the bust was smuggled out of Egypt by a German archaeologist in 1913.
Mr Hawass claims the archaeologist, Ludwig Borchardt, disguised its true value by covering it in a coating of clay.
The 3,300-year-old bust is the star attraction of the Egyptian collection at the Neues Museum in Berlin.
The collection's director, Friederike Seyfried, said: "The position of the German side is clear and unambiguous - the acquisition of the bust by the Prussian state was legal."
Queen Nefertiti is renowned as one of ancient history's great beauties.
She was the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaton - who initiated a new religion which involved worshipping the sun.
Egypt has been aggressively campaigning for the return of ancient artefacts, and last week secured the repatriation of fragments of a 3,200-year-old tomb from the Louvre.
Earlier this month Mr Hawass said he would drop a similar demand for the permanent return of the Rosetta Stone if the British Museum agreed to loan it.
The stone is a basalt slab dating back to 196 BC which was key to the modern deciphering of hieroglyphics.
And they have insisted that the bust was acquired legally by the Prussian state nearly a century ago.
Egypt first requested the return of the antiquity in 1930, but successive German governments have refused.
Head of antiquities Zahi Hawass says the bust was smuggled out of Egypt by a German archaeologist in 1913.
Mr Hawass claims the archaeologist, Ludwig Borchardt, disguised its true value by covering it in a coating of clay.
The 3,300-year-old bust is the star attraction of the Egyptian collection at the Neues Museum in Berlin.
The collection's director, Friederike Seyfried, said: "The position of the German side is clear and unambiguous - the acquisition of the bust by the Prussian state was legal."
Queen Nefertiti is renowned as one of ancient history's great beauties.
She was the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaton - who initiated a new religion which involved worshipping the sun.
Egypt has been aggressively campaigning for the return of ancient artefacts, and last week secured the repatriation of fragments of a 3,200-year-old tomb from the Louvre.
Earlier this month Mr Hawass said he would drop a similar demand for the permanent return of the Rosetta Stone if the British Museum agreed to loan it.
The stone is a basalt slab dating back to 196 BC which was key to the modern deciphering of hieroglyphics.
Egypt aims return of Asian, African stolen artifacts
Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass announced on Wednesday that he will hold a conference in the first quarter of 2010 to coordinate the strategy of African and Asian countries who had artifacts 'stolen' from within their borders
Hawass said that "At the end of March we will hold a conference to meet with others who suffered like us from stolen artifacts and to discuss how to help all of us in efforts to return the stolen artifacts"
In an interview with the German Press Agency dpa at his Cairo office, Hawass said that to date, Egypt had managed to recover some 5,000 items it claims were illegally removed from the country.
Egypt, home of the Sphinx, the great pyramids of Giza and the Valley of the Kings, aims as part of an official 'strategy' to recover any item not legally taken out of the country over the years.
'Our strategy became a good case for everyone.... China announced they will do same as we do,' Hawass said.
Hawass said that "At the end of March we will hold a conference to meet with others who suffered like us from stolen artifacts and to discuss how to help all of us in efforts to return the stolen artifacts"
In an interview with the German Press Agency dpa at his Cairo office, Hawass said that to date, Egypt had managed to recover some 5,000 items it claims were illegally removed from the country.
Egypt, home of the Sphinx, the great pyramids of Giza and the Valley of the Kings, aims as part of an official 'strategy' to recover any item not legally taken out of the country over the years.
'Our strategy became a good case for everyone.... China announced they will do same as we do,' Hawass said.
Pharaonic paintings return Egypt Louvre
Egyptian chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass reported on Tuesday that five ancient Egyptian paintings have returned to Cairo, after Paris' Louvre museum agreed to send them back.
The 3,500-year-old paintings, from the tomb of a nobleman near the southern Egyptian city of Luxor, were stolen some time after 1975 and were acquired by the Louvre in 2000 and 2003 Archaeologists from Germany's Heidelberg University in January 2009 notified Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities that the stolen paintings were at the Louvre.
"I believe returning these artifacts to Egypt is a good example to show that any museum that buys stolen artifacts will have an immediate reaction against them," Hawass said in a statement Tuesday.
"Any museum that buys stolen artifacts will receive this same treatment," Hawass said.
Cairo had cut relations with the Louvre over the paintings, but French President Nicolas Sarkozy last week symbolically returned them to Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak in a ceremony in Paris.
The announcement came amid a dispute over a 3,300-year-old bust of the ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertiti now housed in Berlin's Neues Museum.
Hawass on Sunday said he would formally request the bust's return to Egypt this week.
Hawass said documents presented by Friederike Seyfried, the director of Berlin's Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection, proved the bust was taken from Egypt fraudulently.
Seyfried disputes that reading of the documents.
"The German position is clear and unequivocal," she said. "The acquisition of the bust by the Prussian state was lawful."
Seyfried was in Cairo Sunday to discuss future cooperation, including shared exhibitions and an exchange programme for conservators, she said.
The Berlin museum has not ruled out the possibility of lending Nefertiti to Egypt for a fixed period, and is currently checking whether the 3,500-year-old bust is fit to travel.
The 3,500-year-old paintings, from the tomb of a nobleman near the southern Egyptian city of Luxor, were stolen some time after 1975 and were acquired by the Louvre in 2000 and 2003 Archaeologists from Germany's Heidelberg University in January 2009 notified Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities that the stolen paintings were at the Louvre.
"I believe returning these artifacts to Egypt is a good example to show that any museum that buys stolen artifacts will have an immediate reaction against them," Hawass said in a statement Tuesday.
"Any museum that buys stolen artifacts will receive this same treatment," Hawass said.
Cairo had cut relations with the Louvre over the paintings, but French President Nicolas Sarkozy last week symbolically returned them to Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak in a ceremony in Paris.
The announcement came amid a dispute over a 3,300-year-old bust of the ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertiti now housed in Berlin's Neues Museum.
Hawass on Sunday said he would formally request the bust's return to Egypt this week.
Hawass said documents presented by Friederike Seyfried, the director of Berlin's Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection, proved the bust was taken from Egypt fraudulently.
Seyfried disputes that reading of the documents.
"The German position is clear and unequivocal," she said. "The acquisition of the bust by the Prussian state was lawful."
Seyfried was in Cairo Sunday to discuss future cooperation, including shared exhibitions and an exchange programme for conservators, she said.
The Berlin museum has not ruled out the possibility of lending Nefertiti to Egypt for a fixed period, and is currently checking whether the 3,500-year-old bust is fit to travel.
