Mona Lisa painting undamaged in mug-throwing incident at Louvre

October 9th, 2009 French commission agrees to return Egyptian artPARIS — France's culture minister agreed Friday to return painted wall fragments to Egypt after a row over their ownership prompted the country to cut ties with the Louvre Museum. Experts with France's national museum authority met to discuss the painted wall fragments from a 3,200-year-old tomb near the ancient temple city of Luxor, and recommended that France return them, according to an official with the Culture Ministry.

October 9th, 2009 France to return Egyptian art after Louvre rowPARIS — France's culture minister agreed Friday to return five painted wall fragments to Egypt after a row over their ownership prompted the Egyptians to cut ties with the Louvre Museum. A committee of 35 specialists unanimously recommended that France give back the painted wall fragments from a 3,200-year-old tomb near the ancient temple city of Luxor.

October 5th, 2009 McDonald's to become Mona Lisa's new neighborPARIS — French culture and American convenience will come together in December — thanks to plans by the McDonald's restaurant chain to hang its shingle in the shadow of the Louvre. McDonald's is delighted at the prospect of feeding hungry culture vultures.

September 24th, 2009 Belgium: thieves make off with Magritte paintingBRUSSELS — Two armed robbers made off with a $1.1 million painting by Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte in a morning heist at a small museum in the Belgian capital on Thursday. Brussels city police spokesman Johan Berckmans says the two men escaped with the 1948 "Olympia" oil painting by car on Thursday after holding museum staff and tourists at gunpoint.

September 22nd, 2009 Exhibit showcases painting in ancient RomeROME — Frescoes that once adorned Roman villas are going on display in a new exhibit that shows the tastes of ancient Rome's wealthy through landscapes and the representation of gods and goddesses. The exhibit "Roman Imperial Painting," which opens Thursday, follows the development of Roman painting over the centuries and its influence on Medieval and Renaissance art, officials said Tuesday.

September 10th, 2009 NY's Met museum reattributes painting to VelazquezNEW YORK — New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art has reattributed a painting in its collection to the 17th-century Spanish master Velazquez. The museum had previously ascribed the portrait to the workshop of Velazquez, not to the artist himself.

August 27th, 2009 Doubts cast on authenticity of Picasso in IraqBAGHDAD — Authorities in the art world cast doubt Thursday on the authenticity of an alleged Picasso painting that was seized by Iraqi police south of Baghdad. A painting called "The Naked Woman" that police claimed was painted by Picasso was seized near the southern city of Hillah on Tuesday after the man allegedly tried to sell it for $450,000.

August 26th, 2009 Police: Iraqi forces recover stolen PicassoBAGHDAD — Special forces have recovered a stolen Picasso and arrested a man planning to sell the painting during a raid of his house in southern Iraq, Iraqi police said Wednesday. The painting, "The Naked Woman," apparently had been among the artwork looted from Kuwait during Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion, said police spokesman Maj.

August 20th, 2009 MELBOURNE - R 'n' B singer Beyonce's visit to the Croatian coastal resort of Dubrovnik is said to have ended with one of her bodyguards coming to blows with a local paparazzo. According to the online edition of the Jutarnji List daily, footage showed Beyonce and her rapper husband Jay-Z heading to a boat anchored in the medieval port, while the bodyguard kicked a 57-year-old Croatian cameraman in the back several times, reports the Daily Telegraph.

July 16th, 2009 NY gallery resumes sale of Warhol's JacksonEAST HAMPTON, N.Y. — An Andy Warhol portrait of Michael Jackson is back on the auction block at a New York art gallery.

June 8th, 2009 Rapper DMX avoids more Ariz. jail time for assaultPHOENIX — Rapper DMX will not have to serve any more jail time in Arizona despite his guilty plea for throwing a food tray at a jail officer.

May 9th, 2009 Italian painting stolen by Nazis recoveredNEW YORK — A late 16th century Italian Baroque painting that was looted by the Nazis from a German-Jewish art dealer has been recovered, a Canadian university announced Wednesday. The circa 1595 painting of St.

May 8th, 2009 NY man returns Nazi-looted art hanging in his roomNEW YORK — A late 16th century Italian Baroque painting that was looted by the Nazis from a German-Jewish art dealer and had been hanging in a man's living room has been recovered, a Canadian university announced Wednesday. The circa 1595 painting of St.

May 6th, 2009 New exhibition documents Louvre during WWIIPARIS — On the eve of World War II, curators at the Louvre swathed the museum's most priceless painting — the "Mona Lisa" — in layers of waterproof paper, boxed it up and spirited it to the French countryside for safekeeping. Leonardo da Vinci's smiling maiden moved another five times during the war before she was brought, safe and sound, back to the Louvre.

May 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - If actor and anchor Rohit Roy had his way, TV actress Mona Singh would have been co-hosting the ongoing season of 'Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa' like they did last year because the actor feels she has the 'chutzpah' that very few in the industry can match. 'I have to admit that I miss Mona.