Arts & Culture
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...
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.
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.
$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.
Japanese university plans huge 'manga' library
TOKYO — In a move to promote serious study of Japanese manga, a university in Tokyo plans to open a library with two million comic books, animation drawings, video games and other cartoon industry artifacts.
Unrecognised Leonardo da Vinci portrait revealed by his fingerprint
The ghost of a fingerprint in the top left corner of an obscure portrait appears to have confirmed one of the most extraordinary art discoveries.
Herta Müller Wins the Nobel Prize in Literature
Herta Müller, the Romanian-born German novelist and essayist who has written widely about the oppression of dictatorship in her native country and the unmoored life of the political exile, on Thursday won the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature.
From Kyoto to Machu Picchu: world's heritage at risk
NEW YORK — From vanishing Kyoto merchant houses to the tourist-inundated ruins of Machu Picchu, heritage sites around the world are under pressure as never before, according to a New York-based preservation group.
WASHINGTON — William Safire, a speechwriter for disgraced US president Richard Nixon and a longtime political columnist, died Sunday at the age of 79, his former employer The New York Times reported.
G-20 spouses to take in Warhol art, arts education
PITTSBURGH — From the pop artistry of the late Andy Warhol to the work of student performers, a display of arts was in store for the spouses of world leaders on the final day of an international economic summit.
Record Anglo-Saxon treasure trove found
LONDON — An unemployed metal detectorist has unearthed the biggest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver ever found in a country field, archaeologists said on Thursday.
Famed and feared Hope Diamond goes naked
WASHINGTON — For the first time, the famed and feared Hope Diamond is on display au naturel. The doors were locked. Tense looking security guards took their positions. In rolled a cart, a white cloth covering its contents. Smithsonian Institution ...
Portrait Artist Rejects Offer For $1.8 Million On One-Of-A-Kind Michael Jackson Homage
Dick Zimmerman, famed portrait artist and creator of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" cover and Painter of his Homage to Michael Jackson titled HOMAGEKOP8/15, which was recently unveiled Friday, September 18th nationally on Entertainment Tonight, has ...
New York's Sept 11 museum to display hijacker perspective
A museum dedicated to the September 11 attacks will display written quotations drawn from "martyrdom" videos made by the hijackers, along with witness testimonials that will be screened to prevent sympathizers from praising the perpetrators, museu...
Update of popular 'NIV' Bible due in 2011
The scholars and publishers behind the world's leading English language evangelical Bible announced Tuesday that they would publish a updated translation in 2011.
American Lutherans to allow sexually active gays as clergy
MINNEAPOLIS — The nation's largest Lutheran denomination took openly gay clergy more fully into its fold Friday, as leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to lift a ban that prohibited sexually active gays and lesbians from se...
Muslims begin Ramadan holy month
The Islamic holy month of Ramadan has begun across most of the Muslim world, ushering in 30 days of dawn to dusk fasting and extra prayer.