The reclusive son of a Nazi-era art dealer who amassed a giant secret collection snuck a Monet with him into the German hospital where he died in May, investigators said Friday.

The executor of Cornelius Gurlitt's estate discovered the French Impressionist artwork in a suitcase handed over to him by the clinic this week.

Since its creation, BEIRUT ART FAIR gives great importance on the quality of the cultural program offered during the event. For the first time since its launch, the organizers, Laure d’Hauteville and Pascal Odille, are giving the opportunity to the public to create art pieces while they are introduced to the art of engraving.

Based on an idea by Fadi Mogabgab, who has been, for many years, presenting and digging for talents by accompanying young artists, BEIRUT ART FAIR, with the support of BankMed, presents an engraving workshop set up between the aisles of BIEL.

Ancient Buddhist temple famed for its kung fu monks seeks media directors to build brand. English and social media skills required. Not necessary to be a monk, practice martial arts or eat vegetarian.

That online ad placed by China's 1,500-year-old Shaolin temple already has drawn a brisk response, reflecting the institution's exalted place in Chinese history and popular culture.

The remains of "Lonesome George," the last of a subspecies of Galapagos Islands tortoise, will go on display at the Museum of Natural History in New York this month, Ecuador said Thursday.

The giant tortoise, who was thought to be over 100 years old when he died in June 2012, has undergone taxidermy and will return to Ecuador early next year.

Australia's prime minister will on Friday hand back to his Indian counterpart two statues allegedly looted from ancient temples, ending a long-running battle over the pieces, his office said.

Tony Abbott will return the sculptures during his meeting with Narendra Modi in New Delhi, following allegations the pieces, which had been displayed in Australian galleries, were part of an audacious art fraud.

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Thursday slammed Western values which he said, unlike those in the Islamic republic, undermine feminism.

His comments come amid political tensions in Iran where conservatives want to strengthen measures preventing women and men from mixing while President Hassan Rouhani advocates more social freedoms.

At the start of September 1914, after just one month of war in Europe, the German army were at the gates of Paris. The word on the street was that Emperor Wilhelm II had already booked a dinner table on the Champs-Elysees.

Poorly-equipped and badly-organised, the French army was in dire straits, retreating on all fronts alongside their newly-arrived British allies.

Egypt's top religious body demanded Wednesday that a new belly-dancing TV show be suspended for "corrupting morals" and serving "extremists" who could use it as a pretext to depict Egyptian society as anti-Islamic.

The call by Dar al-Ifta, the top body that advises Muslims on religious and life issues, follows others criticizing the show called "Dancer." But the debate over it isn't all about it being too racy for television — it's part of a concerted effort by Egypt's government to show its both challenging Islamists as a political forces while still respecting the country's more-conservative values.

Several historic buildings, including a colonial-era structure, have been blown up in Syria's second city of Aleppo, where fighting has wrought massive destruction, reports said Wednesday.

Rebel fighters destroyed "several old buildings on Tuesday night by placing explosives in a tunnel leading under the Old City of Aleppo," state television said.

"Summer of the Dead" (Minotaur Books), by Julia Keller

Small towns — where everyone knows your name and keeping secrets seems unfathomable — can be hotbeds of concealment. No one really knows what goes on behind closed doors or within a family's dynamics.