Spain Returns Smuggled Artifacts to Egypt

Some of the antiquities, which are to be returned to Egypt by the Spanish Civil Guard, are seen before the news conference at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, Spain, December 20, 2021. REUTERS/Juan Medina
Some of the antiquities, which are to be returned to Egypt by the Spanish Civil Guard, are seen before the news conference at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, Spain, December 20, 2021. REUTERS/Juan Medina
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Spain Returns Smuggled Artifacts to Egypt

Some of the antiquities, which are to be returned to Egypt by the Spanish Civil Guard, are seen before the news conference at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, Spain, December 20, 2021. REUTERS/Juan Medina
Some of the antiquities, which are to be returned to Egypt by the Spanish Civil Guard, are seen before the news conference at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, Spain, December 20, 2021. REUTERS/Juan Medina

Spain returned 36 stolen antiquities to Egyptian officials on Monday, including figurines of gods and goddesses and ancient jars meant to hold human remains.

The artifacts - among them a granite carving of the lion's head of the warrior goddess Sekhmet - were taken illegally from archaeological sites, officials said.

Smugglers brought them to Spain where police seized then after an investigation in 2014.

Egypt's ambassador to Spain, Youssef Diaeldin Mekkawy, received them at a ceremony at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid.

"The recovery of these 36 archaeological pieces is a successful operation that has lasted years, an operation coordinated between Egyptian and Spanish authorities," Reuters quoted him as saying.

The artifacts, worth more than 150,000 euros ($170,000), were all probably looted from sites at Saqqara and Mit Rahina, Spanish police said.

Egypt and other states have stepped up campaigns for the return of artifacts taken by smugglers or looted by imperial powers.



Heatwaves in Spain Caused 1,180 Deaths in Past Two Months, Ministry Says

The most affected regions were Galicia, La Rioja, Asturias and Cantabria. (Getty Images/AFP)
The most affected regions were Galicia, La Rioja, Asturias and Cantabria. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Heatwaves in Spain Caused 1,180 Deaths in Past Two Months, Ministry Says

The most affected regions were Galicia, La Rioja, Asturias and Cantabria. (Getty Images/AFP)
The most affected regions were Galicia, La Rioja, Asturias and Cantabria. (Getty Images/AFP)

High temperatures caused 1,180 deaths in Spain in the past two months, a sharp increase from the same period last year, the Environment Ministry said on Monday.

The vast majority of people who died were over 65 and more than half were women, the data it cited showed.

The most affected regions were Galicia, La Rioja, Asturias and Cantabria - all located in the northern half of the country, where traditionally cooler summer temperatures have seen a significant rise in recent years.

Like other countries in Western Europe, Spain has been hit by extreme heat in recent weeks, with temperatures often topping 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

The 1,180 people who died of heat-related causes between May 16 and July 13 compared with 114 in the same period in 2024, the ministry said in a statement citing data from the Carlos III Health Institute. The number of deaths increased significantly in the first week of July.

The data shows an event "of exceptional intensity, characterized by an unprecedented increase in average temperatures and a significant increase in mortality attributable to heatwaves", the ministry said.

In the period the data covers, there were 76 red alerts for extreme heat, compared with none a year earlier.

Last summer, 2,191 deaths were attributed to heat-related causes in Spain, according to data from the Carlos III Health Institute.

The data from Spain follows a rapid scientific analysis published on July 9 that said around 2,300 people died of heat-related causes across 12 European cities during a severe heatwave in the 10 days to July 2.

It was not immediately clear whether the study conducted by scientists at Imperial College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine was using the same methodology as the Spanish data.