Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif chaired a meeting Thursday at the Smart Village on tourism development.

During the meeting, Nazif listened to a report by Minister of Tourism Zuheir Garana on a plan by his ministry for increasing incoming tourism and number of tourist nights.

The plan, which comes within the framework of President Hosni Mubarak's electoral platform, aims at increasing the number of incoming tourists to 14 million by 2011 versus the current 8.6 million tourists...

Integrated plan to develop tourism, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, September 29, 2006.

Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), won Thursday the Oscar Emmy Award presented by the Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences for the best TV film at the international level.

Hawass won the Prize over commenting at the background of a documentary film on Pharaoh King Tutankhamen and the Valley of Kings and expounding the old Egyptian civilization.

Also, the film's director won the same prize on the movie which was produced by the CBS channel in 2005.

The award is a golden statue of a winged woman holding ball with Hawass's names written at the bottom.

Hawass is the first Egyptian to win such a prize and it is the first time that the winner of such award was not working in the media domain.

SCA chief wins Oscar Emmy Award, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, September 29, 2006.

Boston's Museum of Fine Arts has returned 13 disputed ancient artefacts to Italy, including a statue and a bas relief believed to have decorated Hadrian's Villa near Rome, as part of a deal with the Italian government.

The pieces, including 11 vases in the ancient Greek style from central and southern Italy, were displayed for journalists Thursday at the Italian Culture Ministry before a signing ceremony in Rome.

In July, officials said the museum and Italy had reached a tentative deal for the return of the antiquities, which Italian authorities contend were stolen and later sold to the institution.

Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli and museum director Malcolm Rogers were scheduled Thursday to sign the final agreement, which also deals with loans of other Italian treasures...

Boston's MFA returns 13 disputed artefacts to Italy, Ariel David, AP via The Boston Globe, Massachusetts, USA, September 28 2006.

The Egyptian Tourism Authority has today revealed that its official website www.egypt.travel has attracted a staggering 1,596,096 visits since its launch in March 2006.

Created to provide travellers with a one-stop resource for finding out more about the country, Egypt was also the first international tourist board to pioneer the new '.travel' domain name.

The portal has been designed to appeal to a wide range of potential visitors to Egypt and provides users with information on the destination's wealth of historical and cultural attractions, as well as highlighting its beautiful beaches and range of activity based holidays such as diving, desert safaris, yachting and golfing...

Egyptian Tourism Authority reports record visits to www.egypt.travel, Lara Lynn Golden, AME Info, Dubai, September 27, 2006.