Egyptian Tycoon, Naguib Sawiris, Offers Reward for Van Gogh Theft

CAIRO (REUTERS).- Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris has offered a 1-million Egyptian pound ($175,300) reward for information leading to the recovery of a stolen Van Gogh painting, television reported on Wednesday. Sawiris, chairman of the leading Arab mobile operator Orascom Telecom, is the first businessman to publicly get involved in the search for the panting, worth an estimated $55 million. The painting, known as “Poppy Flower” according to a statement in Arabic, was stolen on Saturday morning from Cairo’s Mahmoud Khalil [...]

Egypt Culture Chief, Farouk Hosni, Sleepless Over Van Gogh Theft

CAIRO (REUTERS).- Egypt’s culture minister blamed “incompetent” security staff for the theft of a $55 million Van Gogh painting from a Cairo museum and said worries for the safety of the country’s art treasures are depriving him of sleep. “I feel like I am working alone and that I alone spend time thinking of how to manage cultural affairs,” the minister Farouk Hosni told daily paper al-Masry al-Youm on Tuesday. “I can’t work with these incompetent employees,” he said. “I’m [...]