US retailer to pay $3mn fine, return Iraqi artifacts

US arts and crafts retailer Hobby Lobby has agreed to forfeit thousands of ancient Iraqi artifacts and pay $3 million to settle a civil suit brought by the US government, prosecutors announced Wednesday.The Department of Justice says thousands of cuneiform tablets and clay bullae, originally from Iraq, were smuggled into the United States via the United Arab Emirates and Israel in packages shipped to the Oklahoma-based company.Hobby Lobby said that in 2009 it began acquiring artifacts "consisten