CAIRO: Swiss archaeologists have discovered the tomb of a female singer dating back almost 3,000 years in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said on Sunday. The rare find was made accidentally by a team from Switzerland’s Basel University headed by Elena Pauline-Grothe and Susanne Bickel in Karnak, near Luxor in Upper …

Currently at Safar Khan Gallery is artist Khaled Hafez’s painting exhibition titled "On Codes, Symbols & Stockholm Syndrome." His first solo show in two years, the collection of works presents a new twist on his earlier style, albeit with more depth and sophistication. Heavily involved in all the tumultuous happenings, Hafez, like many artists in …

Underground train travel to bypass a chaotic traffic system? Welcome to Gaza, one of the world’s most crowded places, where a conceptual art installation expresses this tantalizing idea. Palestinian artist Mohamed Abusal erected luminous red metro signs in 50 different, and often unlikely places, across the Gaza strip, the dusty coastal territory measuring 40 square …

Kingston Technology Co. is helping pack more entertainment into Apple gadgets and Kindle Fire tablets. A Wi-Drive demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show here by the computer memory specialty company allows data-devouring iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Kindle Fire fans easily tote more movies, music, pictures or digital documents. "Kindle Fire only gives you one …

After a period of critical and commercial success, Prime Minister David Cameron has urged the British film industry to focus on making more mainstream movies to allow them to compete with Hollywood. Six months after the multi-billion-dollar grossing "Harry Potter" series came to an end, and almost a year after the low-budget film "The King’s …

The chimes may have tolled midnight in Paris, but in Hollywood, it’s the dawn of another career revival for Woody Allen after his biggest hit in decades and a new round of awards accolades. How much will the success of "Midnight in Paris" change the filmmaker’s career? Not one bit, says Allen. In nearly 45 …

SHAWNEE MISSION, Kansas: Praising Ambassador Akbar Ahmed’s new book of poetry, “Suspended Somewhere Between: A Book of Verse,” Greg Mortenson, author of “Three Cups of Tea,” opined, “Anyone wanting to understand Islam today must read Akbar Ahmed’s collection. We are given rare glimpses into the dilemmas, pain and despair but ultimately love and hope of …

British artist and self-marketing genius Damien Hirst looks to connect the dots in a big way with the opening Thursday of a global show for his body of colored spot paintings. The Gagosian Gallery network, with 11 locations in New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Athens, Geneva and Hong Kong, has been turned over …

CAIRO: Expected to be a “monument” in itself, the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) entered its third and final phase of construction this week and will open in August 2015, the minister of antiquities said on Tuesday. Mohamed Ibrahim, Egypt’s minister of antiquities, said at the signing ceremony that there will be no delays to “the …

Steven Spielberg caught the filmmaking bug as a 12-year-old boy, and half a century on still goes "crazy" when he doesn’t have a story to tell, he admitted to fans packing a master class in Paris Monday night. Greeted with a standing ovation, the US director — whose works from "E.T" to "Indiana Jones" are …

The foundation that administers the iconic Guggenheim museums has given Helsinki the go-ahead to build a state-of-the-art museum, city officials said Tuesday. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation handed over its concept and development study to city officials on Tuesday, proposing that a new museum be built at a cost of €140 million ($179 million). "A …

A Pablo Picasso painting gifted to Greece by the Spanish-born master was stolen from Athens’ National Gallery early Monday with two other important artworks, prompting scorn from the Greek police minister. "Woman’s Head," a 1939 oil on canvas, had been given by Picasso to the Greek state in 1949 in recognition of the country’s resistance …

Bulgarian-born French concert pianist Alexis Weissenberg, considered one of the great classical music performers of the 20th century, has died aged 82. After suffering from Parkinson’s disease for 30 years, Weissenberg died on Sunday in Lugano, Switzerland, Paris Orchestra artistic director Didier de Cottignies said. "A virtuoso musician and a big-hearted man who spared no …

Michael Jackson’s three children are to sink their father’s shoes and famous sequined glove into the cement outside a storied Hollywood cinema and tourist site, organizers said Thursday. In a rare public appearance, Prince, Paris and Blanket will make their late father’s mark in the cement outside the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on January 26. The …

CAIRO: A joint venture between Egypt’s Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) and the Belgian BESIX Group was awarded the contract for phase three of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), a deal valued at $810 million. OCI said in a statement that the 50/50 joint venture was awarded the project on a turnkey basis and the final …

Bosnia’s oldest and most prestigious cultural institutions have begun closing their doors one after another, thanks to long-standing disputes among politicians from its three ethnic groups and dwindling state funding. In 2011, the seven institutions — among them the 125-year-old National Museum whose collection includes the famed 600-year-old Jewish manuscript known as the Sarajevo Haggadah …

Last year, the arts were largely not up to par, with a handful of exceptions that only just matched the events ablaze at the time. Concerned with levels of production, most galleries have put on a solid schedule of events that hope to crown this year one of change and progress. As usual, a pioneer …

Czech dissident writer and publisher Josef Skvorecky, who spent much of his life in Canada, died in Toronto on Tuesday, aged 87, CTK news agency reported. Skvorecky, who published the works of many dissident authors from his native Czechoslovakia including books by the late Czech president Vaclav Havel, was the founder of Sixty-Eight Publishers which …

By AFP British painter David Hockney has criticized controversial fellow artist Damien Hirst for employing other people to help create his works of art, saying it was “insulting”. A poster for a major exhibition of landscapes by the 74-year-old Hockney opening in London this month reads: “All the works here were made by the artist …

By Sim Sim Wissgott / AFP His golden “The Kiss” adorns scarves and coffee mugs worldwide, while his portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer sparked a decades-long restitution battle: in 2012, Austria celebrates 150 years since Klimt’s birth. Gustav Klimt, born on July 14, 1862, is one of the best known figures of the Jugendstil art period. In …

Andy Warhol stopped by for a cup of his coffee. So did princes, paupers, playwrights, poets and untold thousands for whom a visit to Vienna was unthinkable without a cup of steaming brew served by the bow-tied little man with the perpetual dancing smile. In this city of more than 1,900 cafes, Leopold Hawelka was …

The Colosseum lost another piece on Tuesday as Rome’s most famous monument deteriorates further ahead of a long-delayed restoration funded by an Italian billionaire now scheduled to start in March. The chunk of volcanic tuff fell from one of the iconic arches of the nearly 2,000-year-old structure – just two days after a similar incident …

By Joseph Fahim Real-life drama overshadowed everything shown at the movies in 2011. The Arab Spring captivated the attention of the whole world, gluing viewers the world over to their TV screens in anticipation of the history in the making. But while the real-life action provided a hazy picture for an uncertain, trepidatious future, cinema’s …

Steven Spielberg’s new film "War Horse" is almost deliberately old-fashioned, pitting noble beast against the horrors of war, with sweeping, emotional set pieces — and dividing critics as Hollywood’s awards season looms. The movie, which got a Golden Globe nomination this month ahead of its Christmas Day release in the United States, is even made …

Wrapped in a maroon robe, her head shaven, Ani Choying Dolma treads gingerly into a Kathmandu hotel, exuding the composure and serenity one might expect from a Buddhist nun. But this 40-year-old is no ordinary devotee, for Dolma — better known by her moniker "The Singing Nun" — is the most unlikely of music stars, …

CAIRO: The Ministry of Culture assigned Monday two committees to examine the demands of the Alexandria Opera employees, who have ended their 36-day strike. The committees, which were formed after a delegation of the employees met the minister on Dec. 21, would discuss all their demands with one tasked solely with examining the financial demands. …