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New York, United States | AFP | A painting by Marc Chagall, which was among 15 works stolen by Nazis and eventually returned by France to the heirs of the affected families, sold for $7.4 million at auction in New York Tuesday. The sale at the Phillips auction house was part of the fall auction season, which sees major industry players sell hundreds of works of art for several billion dollars in a few […]
DOHA, Qatar (AFP) – Home to gleaming skyscrapers and upmarket shopping malls, World Cup host Qatar is also a conservative Muslim country deeply attached to its customs and traditions. Here are some of the cultural conventions football fans should know when visiting the gas-rich Gulf emirate, which, like other Arab nations, prides itself on its hospitality. – Greetings and handshakes – In public places, it is customary to stand up when greeting others, particularly the elderly, […]
New York, United States | AFP | Paintings and sculptures from the collection of late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen were auctioned off for a historic $1 billion Wednesday, Christie’s auction house said, with records set for works by Van Gogh, Cezanne, Gauguin, Seurat and Klimt. Five paintings entered the exclusive club of works of art sold for more than $100 million at auction, the New York auction house said, in a sign that the art […]
Tokyo, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s plastic food samples are a multi-million-dollar industry, but one pastry shop’s fake egg tarts are so life-like that its staff unwittingly sold five to customers. Plastic food samples, known as “shokuhin sampuru”, are made in painstaking detail to look as realistic as possible, from moisture droplets on a chilled glass of beer to the glistening surface of a bowl of ramen. The plastic pastries at Osaka-based Andrew’s Egg Tart are […]
Stockholm, Sweden (AFP) — Swedish maritime archaeologists have discovered the long-lost sister vessel of the iconic 17th-century warship “Vasa”, which sank on its maiden voyage, the Swedish Museum of Wrecks said on Monday. Launched in 1629, “Applet” (The Apple) was built by the same shipbuilder as the famed 69-metre (225-foot) “Vasa”, which is now on display in Stockholm after being salvaged in the 1960s. “Our pulses raced when we saw how similar the wreck was […]
Jerusalem, Undefined (AFP) — The Israeli government decided on Sunday to allocate millions of dollars for a museum to house the world’s largest collection of Albert Einstein documents, the Hebrew University said. It will be built on the university’s Givat Ram campus in Jerusalem, with the government committing to approximately $6 million and the university raising another $12 million. Einstein, one of the founding fathers of the Hebrew University, was a non-resident governor of the […]
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | by Huw GRIFFITH / and Manon BILLING in Paris Actress Angela Lansbury, who became a household name through her role as a writer-detective in “Murder, She Wrote,” died on Tuesday, her family announced. She was 96. The British-born star, who found fame and fortune as one of television’s most memorable characters, was also a hugely successful and decorated stage and film actress. “The children of Dame Angela […]
by Raphaelle Peltier Agence France Presse Al Wakrah, Qatar (AFP) — With its strong aroma of cardamom and its yellowy, tea-like consistency, Arabic coffee is a ubiquitous symbol of hospitality across Gulf countries, not least in World Cup host Qatar. Prepared by roasting coffee beans then boiling them with cardamom and saffron, the traditional “gahwa” is usually enjoyed in the Qatari majlis — the all-male gathering that forms the centrepiece of social life in the […]
Stockholm, Sweden (AFP) — Since 1901, the Nobel prizes have been awarded to men, women and organisations for work that has led to great advances for mankind, in line with the wishes of inventor Alfred Nobel. The winners of this year’s prizes will be announced daily from Monday, October 3 through October 10. Here are five things to know about the prizes and their creator. – Posthumous awards – Since 1974, the statutes of the […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) – The New York Philharmonic is tuning up to open their brand-new performance space next month — and it’s not only the instruments that need to strike the perfect pitch. The hall itself is getting trial runs, with the famed symphony testing their pieces as acousticians make adjustments to wall and ceiling panels to ensure warm, rich tones. It’s “almost like you’re going on a safari for sound,” said Jaap […]
by Anna Maria Jakubek Agence France-Presse WARSAW, Poland (AFP) — A new exhibition of child art from post-war Poland and present-day Ukraine shows that armed conflict is always the same for the world’s smallest citizens — no matter the where and the when. “How children perceive war, what they feel, what they convey through their drawings… is quite similar,” curator Dorota Sadowska told AFP. “What you see is suffering, plain and simple.” The outdoor exhibition […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – Former president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama finally got their official White House portraits Wednesday, after four years of being snubbed by Donald Trump, in an emotional ceremony doubling as a rousing defense of American democracy. The paintings, destined to hang alongside those of generations of previous first couples in the White House, were unveiled by the Obamas themselves. Deafening cheers sounded through the packed East Room as […]
