LONDON (AP) -- It’s only rock ‘n’ roll -- but it isn’t, is it? 　The music business is about commerce as well as entertainment, and the Rolling Stones are one of its biggest multinational firms.　There’s plenty of both art and business in “Exhibitionism,” a vast exhibition that covers 1,850 square meters of London’s Saatchi Gallery with five decades of Stones history. 　The more than 500 artifacts, borrowed from the band’s archive and private collectors, include musical instruments, lyrics, sketche

VALLEY OF THE KINGS, Egypt (AP) -- Egypt on Friday invited archaeologists and experts from around the world to examine new data from new, extensive radar scanning conducted on King Tutankhamun's tomb to explore a theory that secret chambers could be hidden behind its walls.　The open invitation to a conference in Cairo in May, issued by the antiquities minister at a news conference just outside the tomb, aims to bring broader scientific rigor to what so far have only been tantalizing clues.　The n

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YANGON (AFP) - Teetering on bamboo scaffolding, expert craftsmen are busy attaching blocks of gold to a Buddhist pagoda in downtown Yangon, burnishing one of the city's major landmarks and racking up spiritual credit for devotees.　The five-yearly renovation at the Sule Pagoda sees the monument shed its weather-damaged frontage. It is re-clad in several hundred solid gold plates -- each costing around $1,100 -- and thousands of squares of gold leaf.　The cost is significant in the impoverished Sou

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- Cambodia on Monday welcomed home a 10th-century Khmer statue that was looted during the country's civil war before spending the past three decades at an American museum.　The sandstone Torso of Rama statue, which stands 157 centimeters high and is missing its head, arms and feet, was formally handed over at a ceremony in Phnom Penh attended by government officials, the US ambassador and the director of the Denver Museum of Art. Christoph Heinrich, director of the Denv

PARIS (AFP) - A Syrian expert for the UN‘s cultural body said Monday she was “very doubtful” the destruction caused to Palmyra’s ancient monuments during its occupation by the Islamic State group can be repaired.　“Everyone is excited because Palmyra has been ‘liberated,’ but we should not forget everything that has been destroyed,” said Annie Sartre-Fauriat, who belongs to a group of experts on Syrian heritage set up by UNESCO in 2013. 　“I am very doubtful about the capacity, even with internati

Chinese general supported the Korean Liberation Army from base in Xi’an

DAMASCUS (AFP) -- Ancient artifacts in the city of Palmyra are in much better shape than expected, Syria's antiquities chief said Sunday after regime forces recaptured the desert oasis from the Islamic State group. 　Antiquities director Maamoun Abdulkarim said much of Palmyra’s old city was intact and his department would try to restore relics destroyed during the jihadists' nearly year-long rule over the city. A general view shows the remains of the entrance to the iconic Temple of Bel that was

ROUEN, France (AFP) - A ring thought to belong to France's most famous historical martyr, Joan of Arc, was unveiled on Sunday at a theme park, even as historians remained sceptical about its authenticity.　The Puy du Fou historical theme park in the western Vendee region spent 376,833 euros ($425,000) to buy the ring, which is thought to have been in Britain for almost six centuries, at a controversial auction last month in London. 　The gold-plated silver ring was dated to the 15th century by an

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FLORENCE, Italy (AFP) - The days of scribbling “I woz here” on Florence’s historic monuments are gone: would-be vandals will now be able to graffiti via app instead, with their messages kept for posterity.　“Welcome to Giotto’s Campanile!” reads a message on a digital tablet for visitors scaling the Gothic white, green and pink marble tower by the famed Italian architect, which stands at one corner of the Cathedral in the Tuscan city.　“We have been protecting masterpieces for centuries: starting