Elephants may lead exhibition of Maharajas in London

October 7th, 2009 LONDON - A glittering exhibition exploring the opulence of India's royal courts will bring together more than 250 objects, including thrones, gem-encrusted weapons and a 1927 Rolls-Royce Phantom I. Maharaja: The Splendour of India's Royal Courts: will open at the Victoria and Albert Museum on Saturday, with many objects on loan to Britain for the first time from India's royal collections.

October 1st, 2009 UK's Tate Modern temporarily shuts exhibitionLONDON — Britain's Tate Modern has temporarily closed an exhibition that includes a nude image of a 10-year-old Brooke Shields, following a visit from a London police unit that deals with obscene publications. The Tate said in a statement Thursday that it has temporarily shut the room housing "Spiritual America" by artist Richard Prince.

September 29th, 2009 ABU DHABI - The Abu Dhabi International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition (ADIHEX) will open here Wednesday, WAM news agency reported. Various programmes including folklore dances, art, poetry, handicraft and coffee brewing competitions, among others, will be organised at the event from Sep 30 to Oct 3.

September 22nd, 2009 Giant cannon, big red blob in Kapoor's London showLONDON — A giant cannon that fires gruesome-looking globs of red wax into a white wall is one of the highlights of an exhibition by Turner Prize-winning artist Anish Kapoor opening this week in London. The British capital's Royal Academy of Arts is hosting a solo exhibition of the Indian-born Kapoor's large-scale and often bizarre-looking work.

August 14th, 2009 LONDON - Tony and Cherie Blair have incurred the wrath of an animal welfare charity after being snapped taking elephant rides while on holiday in Bali. The former British Prime Minister and his family faced the cameras as they watched elephants play football and paint with their trunks.

August 13th, 2009 LONDON - An elephant in West Midlands Safari Park knows how to play the harmonica. Five, an African elephant, took up the hobby after a silver harmonica was accidentally left on the side of his enclosure.

July 21st, 2009 LONDON - A major exhibition showcasing a treasure trove of never-seen objects owned by the former royals of India is to be launched at London's Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum, possibly heralded by a procession of elephants and Rolls Royce cars, museum officials said Tuesday. The exhibition, titled Maharaja: The Splendour of India's Royal Courts, is to open in October and include objects that have never been seen publicly in India or abroad, including thrones, a Rolls Royce and gem-encrusted weapons.

July 19th, 2009 KATHMANDU - They are Nepal's 'biggest' artists. Yet Khem Prasad and Sundar Kali are in a sore plight now, on the verge of losing both their jobs and muse.

July 10th, 2009 Mandela disowns a London exhibitionJOHANNESBURG — Nelson Mandela has distanced himself from a London exhibition of disputed lithographs bearing his signature, his lawyer said Friday. Bally Chuene said the Belgravia Gallery had scheduled a party and exhibition of artwork purported to be drawn by Mandela for Thursday — two day's before the elderly statesman's 91st birthday.

July 4th, 2009 NEW YORK - An eating competition held in Coney Island saw three elephants downing 505 hot dog buns, while three of their human contenders downed only 143. Eric "Badlands" Booker, 40, Juliet Lee, 43, and Gravy Brown did their best in the first-ever Elephants and Humans six-minute eating competition, but they were no match for the three circus elephants, Bunny, Susie and Minnie.

June 5th, 2009 JOHANNESBURG - The government of Malawi is teaming up with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to move over 60 elephants from a densely-populated area where at least 10 people have been killed by elephants scavenging for food, IFAW said Friday. A spokeswoman for IFAW told DPA Friday that the operation to move the wild elephants from Mangoche district on the southern shores of Lake Malawi to a wildlife reserve would begin at the weekend.

May 27th, 2009 LONDON - The British Museum is to launch a new exhibition of Rajasthani paintings as part of an 'Indian Summer' season opening Thursday, curators said Wednesday. The exhibition, titled 'Garden and Cosmos', displays 54 large paintings - on loan from the royal collection at the Mehrangarh Museum Trust in Jodhpur - that were produced between 1725 and 1843.

May 2nd, 2009 LONDON - Late rock legend John Lennon will be posthumously honoured at an exhibition in New York. Instruments and handwritten lyrics belonging to the former Beatle will go on display at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex in the Big Apple later this month, reported femalefirst.co.uk Entitled John Lennon: The New York City Years, the exhibition will also show personal photographs and a self-portrait of the late star.

April 10th, 2009 LONDON - A 500-year-old tapestry commissioned by Henry VIII has been returned to its colourful glory, courtesy an exhibition that uses digital technology. The exhibition, which has opened in London, allows visitors to see the vibrant colours originally woven into the fabrics at the Henry VIII's Tapestries Revealed exhibition with the help of light beams.

April 3rd, 2009 LONDON - School children as young as 11 had been put on an invitation list for an art show that was featuring gay porn. The invitations, which were set to be sent to every secondary school in Glasgow, was for a 240,000 pounds taxpayer-funded exhibition in the city.