George W. Bush famously turned to portrait painting as a hobby when he left office. Could President Donald Trump one day follow in his footsteps, encouraged by the recent sale of his drawing of New York City’s Empire State Building for $16,000?It is not the first time a Trump doodle sold for a serious sum: A 2005 sketch of the
File Photo of Lao The Lao government has set a plan to attract more than 5.2 million foreign arrivals to the country and increase the annual income generated by the foreign visitors to 900 million U.S. dollars in 2018. "In order to make a rebound in tourism growth, the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism plans to launch Visit
Photo: iran.ir Iran's Ministry of Health signed an investment and cooperation Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UK's International Hospitals Group (IHG), Financial Tribune daily reported on Tuesday. Based on the deal, IHG will invest 1.8 billion euros (2.12 billion U.S. dollars) in the construction of a network of modern cancer treatment centers in the capital Tehran and other Iranian
It will be the government’s second attempt to sell the 709-carat gem, known as the “Peace Diamond”, after it rejected the highest bid of $7.8 million at an initial auction in New York in May.Over half of the proceeds from the sale will be used to fund clean water, electricity, education and health projects in Sierra Leone, and particularly in
When you’re trying to open a brewery in a predominantly Muslim country, you do a lot of things yourself. At least that’s what Yazan Karadsheh, the founder of the first craft brewery in Jordan, learned.When he startedthe venture, in2010,there was no government application for a brewery license, much less a vocabulary for such terms as “craft brewery,”“hoppiness,” or “malt.”After two
If there’s one ingredient that’s key to the current food trends—from pickling toketchup to mayonnaise—it’s vinegar. Over the next three years, vinegar sales are forecast to rise more than 6 percent worldwide. Credit everything from diets that have caused a run on cider vinegarto America’s increasingly adventurous taste for cuisines such as Korean and all the intense, pucker-inducing, fermented kimchee
A floor mosaic from one of Roman Emperor Caligula’s opulent private ships, which was stolen after World War II, is on its way back to Italy from the United States where it has been recovered from a private collection.The first century AD marble, serpentine and porphyry mosaic came from one of Caligula’s ceremonial vessels, which was found at the bottom
Members of the Chinese National Peking Opera Company stage a performance at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in London, Britain, Oct 21, 2017. Photo: XinhuaThe China National Peking Opera Company (CNPOC) returns to Britain for the fourth time when it brings four performances to London's Sadler's Wells this weekend, with the debut of "A River All Red" on Saturday night attracting
Students and parents have always been the top concerns in the reforms of Gaokao, or the Chinese National College Entrance Examination, said Yu Lijuan, secretary of the CPC Shanghai Education and Health Work Committee, during the sixth group interview on the sidelines of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).The group interview held on Sunday afternoon
If you don’t like cranberries, Thanksgiving is probably your worst nightmare. It’s basically the only time of the year that they make an appearance, and if you don’t eat cranberry sauce, well, why even bother? After all, the undisputed best part of Thanksgiving is assembling the perfect bite of turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce.Not being into cranberry sauce doesn’t mean
Britain’s Evening Standard newspaper has apologized to Solange Knowles for digitally altering an image of the singer on the cover of its magazine.Knowles — who had released a song called “Don’t Touch My Hair” — complained on Instagram that an elaborate braided crown on her head had been digitally removed from the cover photo.The magazine article featured the singer talking
Columbian court ruled that the gift of more than 120 indigenous artifacts to the Spanish royal family violated the constitution, and ordered the government to recover them.AFP/File / GERARD JULIENAColombia's Constitutional Court Thursday ordered the government to recover more than 120 pieces of indigenous treasure given to the Spanish royal family by Colombia's president in the 19th century.According to the
Most galleries do their utmost to get theartists they represent into museum collections. It increases prestige for everyone involved and, in the case of young artists, helps solidify their reputations as legitimate subjects to collect: Someone good enough for the Museum of Modern Artis good enough for everyone else.Few dealers, though, could dream of the level of institutional attention that’s
A sample AM4LDN shoe is displayed, at the launch of Adidas' new shoe line, made in a factory largely operated by robots, in London, Britain October 19, 2017. REUTERS/Mary TurnerAdidas has launched the first of six planned city-themed running shoe models in London as it capitalizes on its first Speedfactory, which it has opened in Germany and equipped with time-saving
L‘Oreal, the world’s biggest cosmetics company wants to see more beauty tech like sensory hair brushes that tell you how to care for your hair, and skin patches that let you know how much sun you are getting.So it said on Friday it was launching a program of start-up collaborations in Paris as it ramps up digital investments and seeks
Tiny yellow flags fluttered over shops and stalls in Bangkok’s Chinatown to show those with vegetarian-friendly dishes. The festival is particularly popular among Thai Chinese.SponsoredSpending on food, transport and donations to Buddhist temples to ‘make merit’ during the festival was expected to reach 45 billion baht ($1.4 billion), the highest since estimates began 10 years ago, the Thai Chamber of
Artist Zeng Fanzhi has breathed new life in to Vincent Van Gogh's most iconic paintings in a series of striking new artwork. Photo: AFPIt’s hard to imagine that any artist would take on the daunting task of re-inventing some of Vincent Van Gogh’s most iconic self-portraits and paintings.But in a new exhibition opening Friday in Amsterdam, one of China’s best
Reducing nicotine levels in cigarettes to nonaddictive levels could prevent as many as 8 million tobacco-related deaths and keep 30 million people from becoming regular smokers this century, according to new estimates from the Food and Drug Administration.FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb revealed the initial estimates on Thursday during a tobacco discussion at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.“Just
AFP/File / DON EMMERTNew research suggests dogs are masters of body language and use their facial expressions to communicate and manipulate their owners.Your dog may be a master manipulator, deliberately making puppy eyes to pull at your heart strings, according to a study Thursday into a ploy many mutt owners have long suspected.The research suggests that dogs may
Abercrombie & Fitch’s new television commercial—its first in more than a decade—lacks the bare skin and chiseled torsos that once defined the label. Instead, a man in a rugged coat gamely stands in the snow, a bicycle atop his car. Twenty-somethings shoot pumpkins with a slingshot on a farm. Two womenkiss at a club.After years of declining sales, Abercrombie &
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