Culture
Latest stories
U.S. Exhibition Traces History of Altered Photo Images

In this era of Photoshop software and Instagram filters, should people recoil at the notion of photo manipulation?

Not at all, said the curator of a landmark exhibition on the topic that opened in Washington this week. After all, we've been living with altered images since photography was invented in the 19th century.

W140 Full Story
Chinese Anger over Cultural Revolution Trial

China's Internet users cried foul Thursday over the trial of an elderly man for an alleged murder decades ago during the political and social upheaval of the Cultural Revolution under Mao Zedong.

China has never publicly estimated how many died in the decade-long period, during which people turned on their neighbors. Half a million died in 1967 alone, according to British historian Roderick MacFarquhar.

W140 Full Story
After Death Threats, Swedish Artist to Paint Mohammed

A Swedish artist who received death threats after depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a dog said Wednesday he would display new paintings of the prophet at an exhibition in the immigrant-heavy city of Malmoe later this year.

"It's important to continue because if you yield to the threats and back away, you have abandoned the democratic principle," Lars Vilks said.

W140 Full Story
Greek Man Accused of Stealing Dali Work in NYC

A Greek man proved inept at the art of thievery by swiping a Salvador Dali painting from a New York City gallery as security cameras rolled and, in a panic, later trying to send it back anonymously, authorities said Tuesday.

Phivos Istavrioglou also left fingerprints that helped detectives track him down — another misstep in a botched fine art caper that even he found foolish, according to an account of a confession contained in court papers.

W140 Full Story
National Pinball Museum Hits 'Tilt'

The United States' National Pinball Museum is closing its doors after failing to agree on a new lease with its landlord, but it's holding out hope for a replay.

In a statement, the non-profit museum -- which relocated from Washington to Baltimore, Maryland in 2012 -- said it would shut down on March 3 and search for a new home for its exhibits.

W140 Full Story
Canada Launches Office of Religious Freedom

Canada's prime minister unveiled on Tuesday an office of religious freedom tasked with protecting and advocating on behalf of religious minorities under threat around the world.

Housed in Canada's foreign affairs ministry, the new office will oppose religious hatred and intolerance and promote pluralism "as a Canadian foreign policy priority," said a statement.

W140 Full Story
Letters From Lennon Killer to NY Cop on Sale in LA

Letters from John Lennon's killer detailing his obsession with the novel "The Catcher in the Rye" to the police officer who arrested him went on sale Monday through a Los Angeles auction house.

The four missives from Mark David Chapman to Stephen Spiro are for sale through Moments In Time, which specializes in historical documents and rare autographs, at a fixed price of $75,000, auction house owner Gary Zimet said. Zimet is selling the letters on behalf of Spiro, who arrested Chapman on Dec. 8, 1980, shortly after he shot Lennon outside The Dakota, the ex-Beatle's Manhattan apartment building.

W140 Full Story
Nudes Check out Nudes at Austrian Museum

These museum goers didn't just leave their outerwear at the coat check. They handed over their shirts, trousers, underwear — everything, except their shoes and socks.

The occasion Monday at Vienna's Leopold Museum was a special after-hour showing of "Nude Men from 1800 to Today" — an exhibit of 300 paintings, photographs, drawings and sculptures focused on the bare male.

W140 Full Story
Bells Toll for Last Serbs in Kosovo Capital

The bells of Pristina's sole Orthodox Church toll for a liturgy that will bring brief spiritual peace to a small group of Serbs, remaining members of a dwindling community in Kosovo, five years after it broke away from Serbia.

At the Saint Nicolas church, three elderly Serbs listen to the mass held in a little corridor along the nave, too big and too cold for so few people.

W140 Full Story
Murakami's New Book Out in April

Author Haruki Murakami's new novel will hit book stores in April, three years after the final installment of "1Q84", his Japanese publisher has said.

Publishing house Bungeishunju Ltd posted a small advert in newspapers on Saturday, which said only: "Haruki Murakami: Long awaited novel to arrive in April."

W140 Full Story