A piece of a valuable alabaster block stolen from a tomb in the Valley of Kings in Luxor in 1958 was posted back to officials almost 50 years after its disappearance, Egyptian antiquities authorities said on Tuesday.

The item, which is inscribed with hieroglyphics on one face and decorated with raised carvings on the other two faces, was returned to the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) on Monday following a letter from an American explaining the story behind its disappearance..."

Stolen artifact returned to Egypt, IOL, South Africa, July 20, 2005.

cf. Egypt retrieves antique taken by American in 1958, People's Daily, China, July 20, 2005.

After the US Tut tour it seems pretty much confirmed that Tut will move on to the Millennium Dome in London.   I have read also of further stops in Paris and Tokyo.   Now its looks like Australia may be added to the list.

A mega-exhibition dubbed Tut II, touring the United States, may come to Australia in a gesture of goodwill, after some smuggled Egyptian artefacts which turned up for auction in Melbourne were returned this week.

The Egyptian ambassador in Canberra, Mohamed Tawfik, says a show like Tutankhamen and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs "needs space, it needs organisation — the number of people who usually come to these exhibits are in the millions, the logistics are enormous — but I will do my best to see it comes here..."

Chance for Tut tour as goodwill, Sydney Morning Herald, Australia, July 21, 2005.

Renovation work continues on the galleries of Berlin's Museum Island, located between the River Spree and Kupfergraben.

The first to get a makeover was the Old National Gallery, which reopened in 2001.   Work is now under way on the Bode Museum, the neo-baroque home of Byzantine art.   It is scheduled to reopen to the public next year.

A refreshed Neues Museum — its Egyptian collection includes the famous limestone bust of Queen Nefertiti — will debut in 2009 with a glass skin preserving its classic faç ade.

Berlin's Museum Island gets a facelift, The Globe and Mail, Canada, July 16, 2005.