Egypt recovers trove of smuggled ancient artifacts from the US, officials say
Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
(CAIRO) — Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced this week it had successfully recovered a rare trove of smuggled artifacts from the United States, concluding a three-year diplomatic effort between the countries.
Gilded coffin lids from the Pharaonic era, gold funerary masks and what’s believed to be fragments of Queen Hatshepsut’s ancient temple were among the 25 items accepted in Cairo on Monday.
The items spanned centuries and included a range of styles from different eras of ancient Egyptian civilization, the ministry said.
A portrait of a mummy from Faiyum, Egypt, a gold coin from the reign of Ptolemy I — a Greek general and successor of Alexander the Great — and jewelry pieces that date back 2,400 years were also among the items returned, according to the ministry.
The pieces were recovered in New York City in coordination between Egypt’s consulate, the New York District Attorney’s Office and American security agencies, the Egyptian antiquities ministry said in a press release.
Officials did not specify how the artifacts were smuggled from Egypt or how they surfaced in America, but said the recovery was part of a continued effort to “combat illegal trade in cultural properties.”
Similarly, in 2016 the U.S. returned a collection of stolen artifacts to Egypt, including an ancient wooden sarcophagus, a mummy shroud and mummified hand.
“While we recognize that cultural property, art, and antiquities are assigned a dollar value in the marketplace, the cultural and symbolic worth of these Egyptian treasures far surpasses any monetary value to the people of Egypt,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Sarah R. Saldaña in a statement at the time.
That same year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement had returned more than 200 artifacts to India, as well as a stolen copy of Christopher Columbus’ 1493 letter describing his discoveries in the Americas to Italy.
(VATICAN CITY) — Pope Francis marked multiple firsts for the papacy, becoming the first Latin American pope and the first from the Southern Hemisphere when elected in 2013.
He was also the first head of the Roman Catholic Church born outside of Europe in over a millennium.
Following his death on Monday at the age of 88, the selection process to elect the 267th pontiff will soon begin.
Ahead of the secretive gathering of eligible cardinals for the vote, questions swirl over whether the next pope will similarly come from outside Europe, such as Asia or Africa, and potentially be another history-making leader.
“I do think it’s fair to say that election of an archbishop from Asia or Africa is certainly a real probability now. That is not unthinkable at all,” Bruce Morrill, the Edward A. Malloy chair in Roman Catholic studies and distinguished professor of theology at Vanderbilt University, told ABC News. “That’s very different from when, let’s say, someone like John Paul II was elected. It was a big deal back in 1978 because he wasn’t Italian.”
“To move a couple papacies later to a man from Argentina — clearly, it’s reflecting more than ever a global church,” he added.
The election of someone from the Global South would be a “move in that direction of how to be a global church,” Jaisy A. Joseph, an assistant professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University, told ABC News.
“That move from a Eurocentric church to a truly global church — I think that’s what Francis really inaugurated,” she said.
Pope Francis’ successor could be someone who continues his progressive legacy and mirrors his pastoral approach, or someone who counters it with a more conservative approach, experts say.
“Is he going to be someone who really strongly continues the primary emphases of the Francis papacy, or do they want to go with someone that they would see as bringing a balance or a certain pendulum swing, to use that language, in counter or contrast of priorities from the Francis papacy?” Morrill said.
Such a swing occurred when Pope Francis was elected, succeeding Pope Benedict XVI, Morrill noted.
“Is he going to be someone who really strongly continues the primary emphases of the Francis papacy, or do they want to go with someone that they would see as bringing a balance or a certain pendulum swing, to use that language, in counter or contrast of priorities from the Francis papacy?” Morrill said.
Such a swing occurred when Pope Francis was elected, succeeding Pope Benedict XVI, Morrill noted.
“If the electors are going to turn to someone and discern the way to go is to continue, strongly, the priorities of the late Pope Francis, Tagle fits the bill,” Morrill said.
“He’s likewise someone who smiles readily and has this warm pastoral way,” he added. “That’s what makes him the figure that we would think of as providing the most continuity.”
If elected, Tagle would be the first Asian pope.
Should the voting cardinals move in a more conservative direction, a potential pope could be found in Sub-Saharan Africa, Morrill said. Such a move would make for the first Black pope in modern history.
“There would be archbishops, cardinal archbishops in Sub-Saharan Africa that are much more focused on preservation or guarding of the strict traditional practices and teachings of the church,” Morrill said.
One name that comes to mind for Morrill is Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, 65, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Other conservative candidates from Africa that could gain recognition include Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, 76, and Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, 79, according to Miles Pattenden, historian of the Catholic Church at Oxford University.
Cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to participate in the secret conclave inside the Sistine Chapel to choose the next pontiff, a gathering that typically commences between 15 to 20 days after the pope’s death.
A two-thirds majority is required to elect a pontiff.
Francis appointed roughly 80% of the cardinals who are eligible to vote for his successor, which could impact the selection of the next pope, Morrill said.
“He was advancing and choosing more and more people from Asia and Africa, and so that does all feed these distinct probabilities or possibilities,” Morrill said. “But there really is no way to make any solid prediction.”
The Pew Research Center found that under Francis, voting-age cardinals from the Asia-Pacific region increased 10%, and those from Sub-Saharan Africa went up 8%, while those from Europe decreased 51%.
In all, there are 53 cardinal electors from Europe, 23 from Asia, 18 from Africa, 17 from South America, 16 from North America, four from Central America and four from Oceania, according to the Vatican.
For Phyllis Zagano, the senior research associate-in-residence in Hofstra University’s Department of Religion, it’s unclear at the moment how that shift in makeup will impact the election of the next pope.
“The College of Cardinals has expanded significantly under Pope Francis, who has included cardinals from the farthest reaches of the world,” Zagano told ABC News. “Whether that will make any difference in the election of his successor remains to be seen.”
(MOSCOW) — A failed Soviet-era spacecraft that became trapped in Earth’s orbit by mistake more than 50 years ago is expected to crash back down onto the planet in a matter of days, according to space experts.
Cosmos 482 was launched in 1972 as part of the Soviet Union’s Venera program, which intended to explore Venus, according to NASA.
The unmanned spacecraft experienced a successful initial launch on March 31, 1972, and temporarily orbited Earth.
However, it did not achieve sufficient velocity to launch into a Venus transfer trajectory, NASA said, and the payload — or the portion of the craft significantly related to the craft’s primary mission — was unable to exit Earth’s orbit.
Astronomers hypothesize that a malfunction on a timer caused the engine to burn prematurely, NASA said.
The spacecraft then broke into four pieces. Two of the pieces, which remained in low orbit, decayed within 48 hours. Orbital decay refers to an incremental decrease in altitude, gradually closing a craft’s distance to Earth, according to NASA.
The other two pieces — including the large lander probe — became stuck in Earth’s higher orbit. It has experienced orbital decay for decades, NASA said, and that decay has brought it close enough to reenter the planet’s atmosphere around May 10.
Because the probe was designed to withstand entry into Venus’ atmosphere — which is 90 times denser than Earth’s — it is possible that parts of it could survive reentry and continue onward to the planet’s surface, according to NASA.
The risk of Cosmos 482 striking people on the ground is low — but not impossible, Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, wrote on his website last month.
“No need for major concern, but you wouldn’t want it bashing you on the head,” McDowell wrote.
The lander probe is expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere between Friday and Sunday, NASA said. The craft is about 3.2 feet across and weighs about 1,100 pounds.
As of Tuesday, the landing location was estimated to be anywhere between 52 N and 52 S latitude. This large swath contains the United States, as well as most of the continents on Earth.
The time and location of a return to Earth will likely be predicted more accurately as reentry nears, according to NASA.
Astronomers are increasingly monitoring space junk left near Earth during launches of satellites and other spacecraft. There are currently more than 1.2 million known pieces of space debris, 50,000 of which measure more than 4 inches across, according to a 2025 report by the European Space Agency.
“Even if we created no new space debris, it would not be enough to prevent a runaway series of collisions and fragmentations,” the ESA said in a statement.
(NEW YORK) — Activists are demanding an investigation after they say a humanitarian ship headed to Gaza was bombed by a drone in the Mediterranean Sea overnight Friday.
The passenger vessel Conscience made a mayday call shortly after midnight, reporting a fire on its bow, the government of Malta said.
The ship, located off the coast of Malta in international waters at the time, was being operated by activists with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), which is campaigning to end Israel’s ongoing blockade of aid into Gaza.
Israel began the aid blockade on March 2 after the end of the temporary ceasefire deal, saying they were imposing the blockade to put pressure on Hamas to release the remaining Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel.
Malta’s government said that 12 crew members and four civilian passengers were on board and none were injured.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the reported attack.
FFC spokesperson Yasemin Acar told ABC News in a video interview from Valletta, the capital of Malta, that most of those aboard were asleep when they awoke to the sound of an explosion, Acar said the vessel was struck twice “which why they knew they were under attack.”
The group claims the blasts were caused by a drone whose immediate origin the group did not know. ABC News has not been able to verify the group’s claims.
Video and photos provided by the FFC showed fire and smoke on board Conscience, as well as damage to the bow of the vessel in the aftermath of the reported attack.
ABC News showed the FCC photos showing the damaged sustained to the Conscience to Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army explosive ordinance disposal specialist.
“The damage is consistent with two small blast munitions, which can be deployed by drone,” Ball said. “You’d need remnants to confirm that though, well as country of origin.”
Acar said the vessel had been carrying humanitarian aid, which Israel’s government is not allowing to enter Gaza.
In an online statement, the FFC called for an investigation into the reported attack and demanded that “Israeli ambassadors must be summoned and answer to violations of international law, including the ongoing blockade and the bombing of our civilian vessel in international waters.”
ABC News has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the U.S. State Department for comment on the incident.
The moments after the reported strike are visible in ship tracking data from MarineTraffic. Shortly after midnight, the Conscience can be seen veering off its course. According to MarineTraffic, the vessel left Bizerte, Tunisia, on Wednesday and was scheduled to dock in Malta on Friday.
There, the FFC said, the vessel planned to bring aboard more passengers — including climate activist Greta Thunberg and retired US Army Colonel Mary Ann Wright — before continuing on to Gaza.
Data from online flight tracker ADSBExchange shows that a military transport plane operated by Israel’s military flew over Malta in the hours before the attack.
The Lockheed KC-130H plane entered Maltese airspace at around 3:25 p.m. local time. Data shows the plane flying in a zig-zag pattern around the eastern coast of Malta at an altitude as low as 4,350 feet before beginning its return to Israel at around 7:30 p.m. local time, nearly five hours before the reported attack on Conscience.
ABC News’ Dana Savir and Benjamin Siu contributed to this report.
