PARIS (AFP) –
France will return to Egypt five relics stolen from Luxor's Valley of the Kings and sold to the Louvre Museum, the culture ministry announced on Friday.

A special commission of the French museums agency decided unanimously to restitute the five painted wall fragments that were taken in the 1980s and ended up at the Louvre in 2000 and 2003.

The decision came two days after Egypt severed ties with the Louvre to press demands that the Paris museum return the artefacts.