The St. Louis Art Museum has refused to meet a Monday deadline for returning a mummy mask to Egypt.

At a Friday press conference, museum director Brent Benjamin called upon Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, to "provide documentation substantiating his claim that the mask was stolen – or to cease his attacks on the St. Louis Art Museum."

In a letter dated Feb. 14 [2006], Hawass charged that the 3,200-year-old mask was illegally taken in the early 1990s from a storage facility near the site of its excavation, and he demanded that the process of returning it start within two weeks.

Hawass later changed his deadline for the mask's return to Monday. The museum maintains that it has not received any communication from him setting a date. He did not reply to a Post-Dispatch request for comment...

U.S. museum rejects deadline for returning mummy mask to Egypt, The Charlotte Observer, North Carolina, USA, May 12, 2006.

cf. Museum refuses to return mask, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Missouri, USA, May 13, 2006.

cf. Museum refuses to return mask, The Barre Montpelier Times-Argus, Vermont, USA, May 13, 2006.

cf. Egyptian complains of antiquity inequity, Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri, USA, May 13, 2006.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit on Monday attended during his visit to Japan the signing ceremony of an Egyptian-Japanese agreement to establish the National Grand Museum.

Under the agreement, Japan will grant Egypt a soft loan of $300 million and provide the technical know-how to establish the museum, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

The museum's construction is expected to complete by 2011 to be the largest museum in the world.

Assistant Foreign Minister for Asian Affairs Ali el-Hanafi signed for Egypt's side, while Kyosuke Shinozawa, the governor of Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), signed for the Japanese.

The museum is the brainchild of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, when he visited Egypt in 2003...

Egypt, Japan sign agreement to establish National Grand Museum, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 16, 2006.

An archaeological mission belonging to the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) announced the discovery of 36 tombs dating back to the pre-history era.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary-General of SCA said that the mission unearthed the tombs during an archaeological survey in Ain Hadra and Abul Rdeis, central Sinai.

Key archaeological finds in Sinai, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 16, 2006.