An Egyptian-born magnate behind a recent sale of huge West African and Iraqi oil interests to China pledged 20 million Swiss francs to expand Geneva's art and history museum, authorities said Friday. Addax chief Jean Claude Gandur's donation (18. 6 million dollars, 13. 6 million euros) would double other private and public funding to revive a planned modern extension to the museum designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, officialis in the Geneva municipality said.

An Egyptian-born magnate behind the recent sale of huge West African and Iraqi oil interests to China has pledged 20 million Swiss francs to the art and history museum in Geneva, authorities said Friday. Addax chief Jean Claude Gandur's donation (18. 6 million dollars, 13. 6 million euros) would double other private and public funding to revive a planned modern extension to the museum designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, officials said.

More than 90 authors, including Nobel winner JM Coetzee, have condemned China for refusing an HIV-positive Australian writer entry to the country for a government-sponsored tour. Robert Dessaix revealed his health status in his application for a visa which was refused without explanation. The Australian Society of Authors condemned the decision, penning an open letter signed by more than 90 writers including "Schindler's Ark" author Thomas Keneally and 2004 Commonwealth Prize regional winner Michelle de Kretser.

The world's biggest antique fair opened its doors Friday to collectors and the curious in the southern Dutch city of Maastricht with a rare Paul Gauguin painting in the spotlight, organisers said. Some 260 art and antiques dealers from 17 countries are to display nearly 30,000 paintings, sculptures, items of furniture, jewelry, porcelaine, clothes and manuscripts until March 21 at the European Fine Art Fair.

A new blog will allow art lovers to follow the restoration, step by step, of Dutch post impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh's famous "The Bedroom", the Van Gogh Museum said Thursday. "It is the first time we have rendered each step of a restoration accessible to the public in this way," the museum's director Axel Ruger said in a statement.

The ex-wife of renowned Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, Julia Urquidi, has died in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz from respiratory complications, the family said Thursday. She was 84. Urquidi, who inspired one of Vargas Llosa's best-loved novels, "Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter," was born in Cochabamba in 1926.

A US lawmaker on Thursday proposed offering extra pay to federal workers who are bilingual or multilingual, saying the government needed to do more to assist Americans who are not fluent in English. Mike Honda, who heads the Asian American caucus in the House of Representatives, called for five percent extra pay for federal workers who can speak a second language needed for their positions.

Naked figures of human beings have appeared on rooftops and ledges around New York -- not in a sudden rash of suicide threats, but a daring new art installation. The lifelike, full-sized figures created by British artist Antony Gormley are already catching the eyes of pedestrians in Manhattan. The third went up Wednesday and a total of 31 are destined to be installed atop landmarks including the Empire State Building, the Flatiron Building and the New York Life Building.

A worsening drought is exacting a terrible toll on the world-famous mountain rice terraces of the northern Philippines, local officials said Tuesday. A state of calamity was this week declared for the Banaue area that is home to many of the ancient stone-walled paddies and one of the Southeast Asian nation's most popular tourist destinations, the officials said.

An art collection put together by British American Tobacco over five decades to liven up its factories and "inspire" workers was sold for a Dutch record 13. 6 million euros, Sotheby's said Tuesday. "The results represent the highest total ever achieved (18. 5 million dollars) in the Netherlands for a sale of fine art," the auction house said in a statement after Monday's sale in Amsterdam.