Pope Benedict XVI canonizes Australia’s first saint
VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI formally recognized Australia's first saint, Mary MacKillop, at a mass in Saint Peter's Square in the Vatican on Sunday in front of some 50,000 cheering…
Elders brand Gaza restrictions an obstacle to peace
GAZA CITY: A delegation of the Elders group of retired world figures on Saturday visited the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and called Israeli restrictions on the Palestinian enclave both illegal and…
Blonde or brunette? Celluloid rivals fight it out in Paris
On a wall-mounted screen, Marilyn Monroe sings a chorus from "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" next to a blown-up picture of Kristin Scott Thomas pulling off a peroxide wig to reveal the…
Italian animated film wins Anim’est award in Bucharest
Italian short film "Big Bang Big Boom" directed by Blu was awarded late Saturday the top prize at international animation festival Anim'est in Bucharest. The jury praised the creation for…
Alicia Keys gives birth to baby boy Egypt
US singer Alicia Keys, who was recently married to music producer and rapper Swizz "Kaseem Dean" Beatz, has given birth to a baby boy, People magazine reported Saturday. The boy,…
Leave it to Picasso to revitalize the art market at London fairs
With the Frieze Art Fair in full swing, artists, collectors and dealers have flocked to London on Oct. 14-17 to view works of art in every medium and for every…
Why are we afraid of nuclear power?
CONCORD, MASSACHUSETTS: Germany’s ambivalence about nuclear energy, common in many developed countries, has been on display again recently, following Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to extend the operating life of the…
Currency chaos
BRUSSELS: Guido Mantega, Brazil’s finance minister, aptly captured the current monetary Zeitgeist when he spoke of a looming “currency war.” What had seemed a bilateral dispute between the United States…
Dignity or decline?
TOKYO: Kokka no Hinkaku, The Dignity of a State, is the title of a recent book by the Japanese mathematician Masahiko Fujiwara that has sold three million copies. Talk about…
Inspired by Indonesia
JAKARTA: Preparing my next book, “Ceritalah: Indonesia” (Tell Me a Story, Indonesia), for publication — even if it’s just a compilation of past articles and essays about various aspects of…