The Shanghai Museum is inviting visitors to bring their pet cats on special tours this summer as it kicked off a major exhibition on ancient Egyptian civilization on Wednesday which features feline-themed artifacts.
With nearly 800 pieces of artifacts on display at the Egyptian exhibition, the museum is opening evening tours from Tuesday to Friday during summer as regular time slot tickets were already sold out.
For evening slots, the museum is hosting 10 special cat-themed tours which allow the entrance of pet cats.
Organizers hope touring the Egyptian exhibition, seeing ancient cat statues as well as the cat goddess Bastet, and participating in interactive activities would be an equally unique experience for house cats and their owners.
"The Temple of Bastet was discovered at the archaeological site of Saqqara. So we planned the cultural and creative activity based on this theme. Having cats inside the museum is also a challenge for us. We want to ensure the safety of cultural artifacts while we host this event, so we are inviting many professional organizations to support us on this," said Li Feng, deputy director of the museum.
The exhibition, titled "On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt," was jointly sponsored by the Shanghai Museum and the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt, and will run 13 months.
The museum is gradually releasing over 1,000 cultural and creative products themed around the Egyptian exhibition. It has also introduced VR activities and boat tours themed around the event.
Shanghai Museum invites visitors to bring their cats along for ancient Egypt exhibition
The European Commission on Friday announced its decision to close the four-year-long antitrust investigation into Apple's rules for competing e-book and audiobook app developers following the withdrawal of complaint.
However, the Commission also stated that the closure of the investigation should not be seen as confirmation that Apple’s actions align with EU competition rules.
The Commission will continue to monitor the business practices of technology companies, including Apple, in accordance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and competition rules, it said.
In 2020, an e-book and audiobook distributor filed an antitrust complaint against Apple, accusing the company of prohibiting developers from directing users to other purchasing channels and requiring all in-app purchases to be made through Apple’s payment system, a practice that violated EU competition rules.
In March, the European Commission slapped Apple with 1.84 billion euros in fines for alleged abuse of its dominant market position in distributing music streaming apps to iPhone and iPad users through its App Store.
The iPhone maker is not the only major U.S. company to face antitrust complaints in the EU in recent months. Earlier this month, Facebook owner Meta was fined 798 million euros (around 846 million U.S. dollars) related to allegations that its advertisement services unfairly favor its own classified service, Facebook Marketplace.
Meanwhile, Amazon may face an EU antitrust investigation amid allegations that the e-commerce giant has given priority to its own brands through its services, Reuters has reported.
EU closes antitrust probe into Apple's e-book rules after complaint withdrawal
