By AFP The organizers of a €25,000 ($32,000) art prize said on Wednesday they have cancelled this year’s competition after sponsors Lacoste objected to an entry by a Palestinian photographer. Jerusalem-born artist Larissa Sansour said she was told the luxury clothing brand deemed her photo series “too pro-Palestinian”. The Elysee Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, had …

The Sistine Chapel has been fitted with detectors to check for pollution from its millions of visitors every year that could harm priceless frescoes by Michelangelo and Botticelli. Vatican Museums director Antonio Paolucci explained in the Holy See’s official daily, Osservatore Romano, on Thursday that the initiative was in order to update the building’s air …

The Grammys will pay special tribute to late Apple founder Steve Jobs, Brazil’s Tom Jobim – of "Girl from Ipanema" fame – and US singer Diana Ross at the upcoming awards show, the organization announced Wednesday. The Apple co-founder and mind behind the wildly popular iPod, iPad and iPhone died in October after battling pancreatic …

France marked the shortest day of the year on Wednesday with the launch of a nationwide short film festival, 30 years after starting a hugely popular music festival on the summer solstice. Dubbed "The shortest day", the festival is a mix of formal events, held in cinemas, museums or train stations around the country, with …

He kept his quick wit throughout jail terms, torture and solitary confinement, but it seems nothing quite prepared Myanmar’s most famous comedian for his first trip out of the military-dominated state. "When I saw the airplane I got a shock, when I saw the airport I got a shock, when I saw the big building …

By AFP One of 12 marble lions that stand watch in Spain’s historic Moorish palace, the Alhambra, in Granada returned to its spot Monday after being restored by experts. A miniature crane lowered the 300-kilogram (660-pound) stone beast into place at the foot of a fountain in the Court of the Lions at the heart …

Five shipwrecks dating from the 1500s to the 1700s have been found during renovation work on a quay in central Stockholm, the Swedish Maritime Museum said on Monday. "Five shipwrecks … from the 1500s to 1700s have been found in connection with the renovation of Stroemkajen," the museum said. The location is right outside the …

By AFP Fame boosts the risk of early death for rock stars but the claim that the peril is greatest at the age of 27 is false, according to a study published on Tuesday by the British Medical Journal (BMJ). The theory of the “27 Club” spread earlier this year when Amy Winehouse joined Jim …

Looks can be deceiving — especially with a city like Frankfurt. The fifth largest city in Germany is the financial and transportation center of the country, home to the European Central Bank and the German Federal Bank in addition to some of the largest commercial banks in Europe. The stodgy, serious veneer of Frankfurt makes …

By Maja Czarnecka / AFP Dressed in white tutus, seven pensioners from a village in southern Poland love to get on their tiptoes to dance ballet classics like Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake.” All these new found ballerinas are grandmothers — one is even a great-grandmother — and the oldest member of the troupe is 73. “If we …

On Thursday night, the US Embassy presented a concert featuring collaboration between Nubian Drums, one of the many musical heritage projects of Islamic Cairo mainstay Intissar Abdel-Fattah, and the Bombie Trio, a band from the US advertised as jazz but better described as a blues-rock cover band. The embassy’s forays into cultural programming seldom produce …

The renowned British writer and polemicist Christopher Hitchens, whose targets ranged from God and Mother Teresa to Henry Kissinger, has died after an 18-month battle against cancer. He was 62. Hitchens began his career in London but he moved to the United States in 1981 and enjoyed great success both as a writer and speaker, …

For the past fourteen years, the American University in Cairo Press has given the Naguib Mahfouz medal, named for Egypt’s most internationally known novelist, to a younger talent, to “recognize an outstanding contribution to Arabic writing.” This year, which is also the 100th anniversary of Mahfouz’s birth, the AUC Press instead decided to give the …

French-directed silent film "The Artist," a tribute to the pre-"talkies" era, won six Golden Globe nominations Thursday to lead the field as Hollywood gears up for its annual awards season. Tied for second were "The Help," about black servants in the pre-civil rights era US south, and "The Descendants" starring George Clooney, both nominated in …

"Cinema Komunisto" (2010), which recently screened at the fourth Panorama for European Film in Cairo, is a true feat of archival documentation and storytelling. The Serbian film narrates the construction of the image of the former country of Yugoslavia based on a compilation of archival footage from film productions and film that were made at …

A room in Gaza’s only music school fills with the sound of the qanun, a traditional Middle Eastern instrument, transporting listeners far from the impoverished territory. Seven-year-old Zeina Al-Hamamra confidently picks out a melody on the instrument, a kind of zither, leaning forward to pluck the farthest strings with tiny fingers strapped with silver picks. …

Steven Spielberg hopes he’s the typical American when it comes to Tintin: the filmmaker had never heard of the guy, but once he got acquainted, they became friends for life. Peter Jackson knows he’s the typical non-American when it comes to Tintin: he’s known him since before he could read, and the character’s globe-trotting adventures …

Controversial British artist Tracey Emin is to become the new Professor of Drawing at London’s prestigious Royal Academy, the country’s oldest art school, reports said Wednesday. The General Assembly of Royal Academicians (RAs) — an illustrious club of sculptors, architects, printmakers and painters — made the decision on Thursday, the Times reported, but a formal …

At the stroke of midnight this New Year’s, millions of people around the globe will hold hands and belt out the famous song "Auld Lang Syne" — but how many will have a clue what it means? The Scottish poem and heartstring-tugging tune are reckoned to vie for the title of most widely recognized song …

Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie has won praise for her directing debut — a powerful story of love amid the atrocities of the Bosnian war — from both film critics and victims’ relatives. The Hollywood "A" lister is used to being feted for her performances in films ranging from "Girl, Interrupted" — which won her the …

In the 19th century, the international order of power and commerce rested on the sea: the vast merchant navy and the gunboats of the British Empire. In the 20th century, power gradually passed to the skies, as air-power gradually became the defining tool of imperial wars, and planes the primary means of personal travel around …

George Clooney’s family drama "The Descendants" was chosen Sunday as the year’s best film by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, whose prizes are an early influence on the way to the Academy Awards. From "Sideways" director Alexander Payne, "The Descendants" stars Clooney as a neglectful father in Hawaii trying to tend his daughters after …

Fifty-five tapestries created by the French royal Manufacture des Gobelins and by contemporary artists like Picasso and Miro went on display from Friday in Bucharest, in a world premiere. "A selection of tapestries of such scope and quality is unprecedented," said Bernard Schotter, the administrator general of the Mobilier National, the French government’s treasure house …

A posthumous album by Amy Winehouse, a rough and ready assortment of alternative versions of hits, unreleased tracks and covers, has been hailed as a poignant snapshot of the singer’s troubled life. Critics said that "Lioness: Hidden Treasures" perfectly reflects the chaotic final years of the artist, whose death in July aged 27 after years …

On Nov. 24, Egyptian novelist Khaled Alkhamissi read excerpts from his bestselling novel “Taxi” to an audience in Frankfurt as part of the “Festival of Egyptian Culture.” “Taxi” is Alkhamissi’s 2006 debut novel, which gave him a sense of celebrity unknown to most contemporary Egyptian writers, selling thousands of copies more than other established contemporary …