Arts & Culture
In his new book "The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State", author Shane Harris lays out the U.S. government's real-life efforts to see and hear more in the face of growing terrorist threats. He pays particular attention to Total Inf...
Christie's auction house said Wednesday that it would put the Pablo Picasso portrait "Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto," also known as "The Absinthe Drinker" up for sale.
Tokyo's weirdest museums
Here are some of the Japanese capital's weirdest museums, which are hard to find in your ordinary guidebook.
About 5,200 naked people have lined up to embraced each other on the steps of Sydney's Opera House for a photo shoot by American nudist photographer Spencer Tunick.
J.K. Rowling, the world’s richest author, is accused of stealing ideas for "Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire" from another British author's children’s book. Rowling was added as a defendant to an ongoing legal claim filed against her publisher ...
Spotlight proves too much for 7-year-old samba queen at Rio carnival
A Michael Jackson impersonator performed atop a silver float, and Madonna and Jesus watched from a crowded balcony, but all eyes were on seven-year-old samba queen Julia Lira as she strutted her stuff in front of thousands of people at Brazil’s wo...
Carnival erupts in Rio amid scorching heat wave
RIO DE JANEIRO — Carnival's raucous street parties flooded Rio with drum-beating local revelers and sweaty foreigners escaping snowbound cities.
Ancient tribal language becomes extinct as last speaker dies
The last speaker of an ancient tribal language has died in the Andaman Islands, breaking a 65,000-year link to one of the world's oldest cultures.
China's Panchen Lama voted VP of state Buddhism body: report
BEIJING — China's controversial choice as the second highest Tibetan spiritual figure, the 19-year-old Panchen Lama, was voted vice president of the nation's Buddhist Association Wednesday, state media reported.
Sotheby's Sells Giacometti for Record $104.3 Million
A 1960 Alberto Giacometti sculpture sold for £65 million ($104.3 million) at Sotheby's, setting a record price for a work of art at auction and signaling a potential resurgence in the art market.
'People's History' author, historian Howard Zinn dead at 87
Howard Zinn, an author, teacher and political activist whose book “A People’s History of the United States” became a million-selling leftist alternative to mainstream texts, died Wednesday in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 87 and lived in Auburndale,...
Pulitzer Committee Says National Enquirer 'Ineligible' for Top Journalism Prize
The administrator of the Pulitzer Prize board said today that the National Enquirer is "ineligible" for the nation's top journalism prize, dashing the flamboyant tabloid's hopes of taking the award for breaking a story about John Edwards' mistress...
Google named 'word of the decade' by American speech scholars
Google's dominance of the internet has spread to the world of linguistics with the verb spawned from the brand name being voted word of the decade.
Jeffrey Deitch to Head L.A. Museum of Contemporary Art
The Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art is expected to announce later today that Manhattan gallery director Jeffrey Deitch will take over as director, according to people close to the matter.
Art Clokey, creator of Gumby, dies at 88
Art Clokey, the creator of the whimsical clay figure Gumby, died in his sleep Friday at his home in Los Osos, Calif., after battling repeated bladder infections, his son Joseph said. He was 88.
'Sully' leads off 121st annual Tournament of Roses Parade
Flower-covered floats, marching bands and a heroic grand marshal kicked off one of the nation's biggest New Year's celebrations Friday as thousands lined up to watch the Tournament of Roses Parade.
$1.1M Degas artwork stolen from French museum
French police were searching Friday for a Degas painting stolen from a Marseilles museum a day earlier.
'Tweets,' 'bromance' on list of 15 banished words for 2010
In 'these economic times' it's time to stop the 'tweeting' and 'sexting' and 'chillax' for a minute! It's time for the 35th annual List of Words banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness. In short ... annoying.
Gehry-designed New York theatre to open by 2012
A new theatre designed by Toronto-born architect Frank Gehry will go ahead in New York's theatre district after the city increased its contribution to financing the project.
Obama enlists Hollywood names for arts committee
WASHINGTON — The White House is enlisting "Sex and the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker, Forest Whitaker and others from Hollywood and beyond to help push President Barack Obama's arts initiatives.