Lebanon Returns 337 Artifacts of Different Eras to Iraq

An Iraqi clay tablet is displayed between a Lebanese flag, right, and an Iraqi flag during a ceremony held at the National Museum of Beirut, before 337 artifacts were handed over by Lebanese Minister of Culture Mohammed Murtada to Iraq's ambassador to Lebanon, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
An Iraqi clay tablet is displayed between a Lebanese flag, right, and an Iraqi flag during a ceremony held at the National Museum of Beirut, before 337 artifacts were handed over by Lebanese Minister of Culture Mohammed Murtada to Iraq's ambassador to Lebanon, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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Lebanon Returns 337 Artifacts of Different Eras to Iraq

An Iraqi clay tablet is displayed between a Lebanese flag, right, and an Iraqi flag during a ceremony held at the National Museum of Beirut, before 337 artifacts were handed over by Lebanese Minister of Culture Mohammed Murtada to Iraq's ambassador to Lebanon, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
An Iraqi clay tablet is displayed between a Lebanese flag, right, and an Iraqi flag during a ceremony held at the National Museum of Beirut, before 337 artifacts were handed over by Lebanese Minister of Culture Mohammed Murtada to Iraq's ambassador to Lebanon, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Lebanon’s Ministry of Culture handed over to Iraq on Sunday 337 ancient artifacts that had been on display in a Lebanese museum for years.

The items, which included clay tablets, were returned by Minister of Culture Mohammed Murtada to Iraq’s ambassador to Lebanon during a ceremony held at the National Museum of Beirut.

Murtada told Iraq’s state-run news agency in a Saturday report that a Lebanese committee had been investigating the items since 2018, The Associated Press reported.

The artifacts had been stored most recently at the private Nabu Museum in northern Lebanon. The report gave no further details about the artifacts’ provenance.

“We are celebrating the handing over of 337 artifacts that are of different eras of civilizations in Mesopotamia,” Iraq’s ambassador to Lebanon Haider Shyaa Al-Barrak said at the ceremony. This will not be the last handover, he added, without elaborating.

Many of Iraq’s antiquities were looted during the country’s decades of war and instability, mostly since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Iraq’s government has been slowly recovering the plundered antiquities since then. Archaeological sites across the country however continue to be neglected due to lack of funds.

At least half dozen shipments of antiquities and documents have been returned to Iraq’s museum since 2016, according to Iraqi authorities.



Prince William and Kate Mark Wedding Anniversary in Scotland

William and Catherine met while studying at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and married at London's Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011. (Reuters)
William and Catherine met while studying at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and married at London's Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011. (Reuters)
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Prince William and Kate Mark Wedding Anniversary in Scotland

William and Catherine met while studying at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and married at London's Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011. (Reuters)
William and Catherine met while studying at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and married at London's Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011. (Reuters)

Prince William and wife Catherine will celebrate their 14th wedding anniversary on the Scottish island of Mull on Tuesday, the latest step on the princess's road to recovery from cancer.

Catherine, Princess of Wales, revealed in January she was "in remission", having announced last March she had been diagnosed with an unspecified form of the disease and was undergoing chemotherapy.

She has since returned to frontline public duties, but with a slimmed-down schedule and shorter engagements.

The couple will spend two days touring the western Scottish islands of Mull and Iona, where they will "celebrate and connect with rural island communities", according to their Kensington Palace office.

They will celebrate their anniversary on Mull, the fourth-largest island in Scotland, which has a population of around 3,000 people and is known for its fishing and farming communities.

William and Catherine met while studying at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and married at London's Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011, in a ceremony watched by tens of millions around the world.

Since then, the royal family has undergone a tumultuous decade in which Queen Elizabeth II died after a record-breaking 70-year reign and William's father, King Charles III, ascended to the throne.

Charles revealed last year he had been diagnosed with cancer, and is still receiving weekly treatment.

William's brother Harry also dropped a bombshell when he announced in 2020 that he was quitting the family. He now lives in the United States with wife Meghan.

All of which drama should be a long way from the tranquility of rural Scotland, where the royal couple will arrive on Tuesday for a two-day trip.

William and Catherine will spend time with members of the local communities "reflecting on the power of social connection and the importance of protecting and championing the natural environment" -- two subjects close to both their hearts, said Kensington Palace.

On arrival, they will visit an artisan market in the Mull town of Tobermory, meeting some of the island's makers and creators before heading to a local croft to learn about sustainable farming and hospitality.

On the second day, the couple will visit an ancient woodland and join a local school group for an outdoor lesson.

They will round the trip off by taking a public ferry to Mull's tiny neighbor Iona, which has a population of around 170 people but receives around 130,000 visitors a year.