A rare egg from the giant extinct elephant bird will go under the hammer at auction house Sotheby's in London this week, and is expected to fetch up to 50,000 pounds ($77,000).

The enormous egg, dating from the 17th century or earlier, is about 200 times the size of a chicken egg. It is 31 centimetres high and 24 centimetres in diameter.

"It's the largest egg from the largest bird that ever existed," said David Goldthorpe, senior director and senior specialist in the books and manuscripts department at Sotheby's.

"The elephant bird was about three metres high, weighed 450 kilograms -- that's almost half a metric tonne -- and it's related to the cassowary and ostrich, which are still with us today."

Published: 01 May 2015

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The results are in of a battle that pitted London's culture vultures against a Chinese workshop churning out replicas of the world's most famous paintings, revealing a clear victory for the cut-price masters.

For nearly three months, visitors to London's Dulwich Picture Gallery have pored over 270 paintings in its permanent collection, including works by Rembrandt, Rubens and Gainsborough, knowing that there was one $120 (109-euro) fake in their midst.

Around 3,000 people voted for their pick of the replica, but only 300 correctly identified it as French artist Jean-Honore Fragonard's 18th century portrait "Young Woman".

"The white looks too bright and fresh," said visitor Emma Hollanby, as she looked at the two paintings side-by-side, depicting an unknown woman with rouged cheeks and red lips, peering seductively at the viewer.

"But it's easy to say when it's next to it (the original), and I probably wouldn't have got it," admitted the 26-year-old, who works in a gallery.

The experiment was the brainchild of American artist Doug Fishbone, who wanted to "throw down the gauntlet" to museum-goers and make them look more closely at the great works.

Chief curator Xavier Bray said he chose the Fragonard painting as "it's one of our great pictures, but tends to be something that doesn't engage".

The replica was ordered from Meisheng Oil Painting Manufacture Co. Ltd in Xiamen, in China's southeastern Fujian province.

The gallery emailed a jpeg of its chosen picture, paid $126 including shipping via PayPal, and received the rolled-up replica within three weeks by courier.

Bray called the response to the gallery's spot-the-fake challenge "very gratifying" and said it had boosted visitor numbers.

"People have been actually looking at the pictures," he told AFP. "Rather than looking at the label first and then the picture, they did the opposite."

Published: 29 April 2015

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Separated by thousands of miles from their devastated homeland, Britain's community of Gurkha soldiers past and present is rallying to help victims of the earthquake in Nepal.

The 2,500-strong Gurkha brigade, soldiers recruited in Nepal, has been part of the British army for 200 years including on the frontlines in Afghanistan and Iraq.

They are famed for their ferocity and tenacity, and they use as their symbol the curved, machete-like kukri knives which they carry in battle.

As well as serving soldiers, there are still communities of retired Gurkhas dotted around Britain who often settle near military bases after leaving the army.

"We're trying to raise money but how we're going to do this, I don't know. It's not just one village -- it's villages all over the country," Om Prakash Gurung, chairman of the British Gurkha Veterans Association, told AFP.

"Nepal is a very poor country and our families depend on us -- we're the breadwinners," he said.

Gurung served as a Gurkha for 22 years, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, and now runs a Nepalese restaurant in Nuneaton, central England.

"I feel very sad. When I watch television, I think 'what can I do?'" he said, adding that he and other members of the town's Nepalese community were trying to keep in touch with their families every few hours.

More than 5,000 people have died and the United Nations says a total of eight million have been affected by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake which struck mountainous Nepal on Saturday.

- Family on the street -

Dozens of serving Gurkhas flew out from Britain late Monday to help the aid effort, along with 1,100 shelter kits and 1,700 solar lanterns, and more troops could be mobilised to help in the coming days.

A march marking 200 years of Gurkha service to Britain on Thursday is expected to include a commemoration of the earthquake victims.

Meanwhile, former Gurkhas around the country -- who for years have supported relatives at home by sending money back -- are trying their hardest to help their country in its hour of need.

Dhan Gurung was a Gurkha for 18 years and still lives near Shorncliffe Camp in Kent, southeast England, regimental headquarters of the Royal Gurkha Rifles.

He organised a vigil on Monday night attended by 1,000 people carrying candles and waving Nepalese flags and is trying to raise cash for tents, sleeping bags, torches and cooking pots.

Published: 28 April 2015

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The British economy gre far more slowly than expected in the first quarter of 2015, official data showed Tuesday, delivering a blow to the government just nine days before a general election.

Gross domestic product expanded by 0.3 percent between January and March compared with GDP growth of 0.6 percent in the final quarter of 2014, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in an initial estimate.

Analysts' consensus had been for a slowdown in growth to only 0.5 percent in the first quarter, according to Bloomberg News.

Published: 28 April 2015

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Camped outside St Mary's Hospital in London, eccentrics decked out from head to toe in Union Jack colours are counting down to the latest addition to Britain's royal family.

"Diana superfan" John Loughrey cannot hide his excitement, dancing a jig and singing on the pavement.

"Get down here, you're missing something, the atmosphere is electrifying," he said, as hospital patients and staff hurried past, grinning.

"Once the baby is born we will be celebrating! We will be dancing for two hours!" he told AFP.

"This is what you call Shakespeare, this is theatre!"

The same loyal fans all came to the same clinic in 2013 for the birth of Prince George, the first child of Prince William and his wife Kate.

Two years later they are back to witness the birth of George's little brother or sister.

Around a dozen of them could be seen on Friday, preparing to spend a fifth night sleeping in two small two-person tents and on nearby benches.

Among them is Terry Hutt, the famous "Union Jack Man" who at 79 is still a feature at all royal events.

"It's important for me," he told AFP, wrapped in a sleeping bag donated to him by a television channel.

"Someone stole my sleeping bag. Unfortunately that night was freezing," he said, fixing his hat covered in Kate, Diana and Queen Elizabeth II badges.

Next to him are two beaming William and Kate impersonators, posing for a Japanese television station holding a plastic baby doll.

Published: 26 April 2015

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Kenya's Geoffrey Mutai has vowed to finally add the London Marathon title to his honours on Sunday, while three-time winner Paula Radcliffe prepares to bid a tearful farewell to the event.

Radcliffe's last appearance in the race that established her as one of the finest female marathon runners of all time will be the main focus for British fans.

But the battle for supremacy in the men's competition will provide a high-quality distraction from Radcliffe's emotional send-off.

Mutai has crossed the finish line in first place in the Boston, Berlin and New York Marathons, but he has been unable to emulate those triumphs on the streets of London.

In 2013 he dropped out with a hamstring problem at the 30-kilometre mark, while last year he was short of form and had to settle for sixth place.

To end his frustrating wait for a London victory, the 33-year-old will have to see off a star-studded field, including compatriots Wilson Kipsang, the defending London champion, and world record holder Dennis Kimetto.

"I have won in Boston, Berlin and New York, but the win I still want is this one," Mutai said.

"The fact that I have not done well here before is my main motivation now. It is what keeps me running and makes me want to come back.

"The London Marathon is more important to me now than the Olympics because it is more challenging. I will fight until my day comes."

With 2011 champion Emmanuel Mutai, 2014 runner-up Stanley Biwott, and 2014 Rotterdam and Chicago Marathon winner Eliud Kipchoge also on the start line, the race will feature the three quickest men in history and five of the all-time top 10.

Kipsang and Kimetto have never raced head-to-head before, and defending champion Kipsang, who set the London course record in two hours four minutes and 29 seconds last year, said: "I'm expecting a big challenge from Dennis.

"I've beaten him once and he's beaten me once. I have more experience in marathons but he has done very well in the few he's done."

Published: 26 April 2015

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France has many restaurants claiming the "bio" label, but only one to earn a star in the fabled Michelin Guide: Elsa, a Riviera eatery run by an Italian chef, Paolo Sari.

Sari boasts he takes the credo to such lengths that his 40-seat restaurant barely outside Monaco's border is "the only certified 100-percent bio establishment in the world".

Certainly he is inflexible in ensuring his Mediterranean cuisine, mixing French and Italian recipes, is entirely organic and sourced from local and near-local producers.

That means his asparagus comes from a village in Provence, his saffron from a mountaintop village near Nice, and seafood direct from fishermen. His almonds come from Sicily and go to make a diabolically delicious souffle.

Beef, though, is one ingredient that doesn't feature on his menu because there is no organic cattle farm nearby.

"Each ingredient, each supplier, even each transporter needs to have a certification," Sari told AFP.

Organisation is key, with records provided on every menu and the percentage of dishes sold, "because an inspector could come to check at any moment".

Published: 20 April 2015

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When Prince William and his wife Kate emerge from hospital cradling Britain's new royal baby for the cameras, the picture will be on the front of newspapers worldwide. But don't expect many photographs after that.

The second in line to the throne and his wife have fought hard for the right to bring up their family in private, despite being one of the most famous couples in the world.

Their first child, Prince George, is approaching his second birthday but has only appeared in public a few times -- outside the hospital when he was born in 2013, at his christening and on a tour of Australia and New Zealand last year.

The media are generally prepared to accept such scarce appearances by George and the new baby, expected this month.

"People have quite an outdated view of the British royal press pack," said Richard Palmer, royal correspondent for Britain's Daily Express newspaper.

"I think they still think we're hiding in hedgerows and doing things that people did 25 years ago.

"But the reality is the British press is pretty respectful to the royal family at the moment -- some might say it's a bit cowed."

"Readers don't want you to go too far," added Simon Perry, chief foreign correspondent of US celebrity magazine People.

"I don't think there is an appetite for people to be pursued or intruded upon in an excessive way."

- William 'blames press' over Diana -

The death of William's mother Diana, Princess of Wales, was a turning point in the royal family's relationship with the media.

She was being followed by paparazzi photographers when her car, driven by a chauffeur who had been drinking, crashed in Paris in 1997.

William "thinks the press were to blame" for Diana's death, said Judy Wade, Hello! magazine's royal correspondentKate is also suspicious of the media after incidents including the publication by a French magazine of paparazzi photographs of her topless on holiday in 2012, Wade added.

Although Britain has no overarching privacy law, newspapers now hardly ever publish paparazzi photographs of William, Kate or George, even though they are periodically published by magazines elsewhere and circulate on Twitter and Facebook.

Published: 20 April 2015

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Japan's top whaling negotiator said Tuesday Tokyo would try again to justify its "scientific" Antarctic Ocean hunt after a panel of experts said the government had not proved why it needed to kill the mammals.

Joji Morishita, Japan's commissioner to the International Whaling Commission (IWC), said he and his fellow officials would do their best to meet demands for evidence their hunt is scientific, with the Japanese government determined to restart what it claims is research.

"We respect their recommendations and we will make the best effort to respond to their recommendations, in good faith and in a sincere manner," Morishita told journalists in Tokyo.

"Our draft research plan is a draft from page one to the end, so all parts of the research plan can be improved, amended or changed in the course of the discussion."

Despite international disapproval, Japan has hunted whales in the Southern Ocean under an exemption in the global whaling moratorium that allows for lethal research.

It makes no secret of the fact that meat from the animals -- killed ostensibly for research -- is processed into food.

The International Court of Justice -- the highest court of the United Nations -- ruled in March last year that the research was a fig leaf for a commercial hunt and ordered that it end.

After that ruling, Japan said it would not catch whales during this winter's Antarctic season but has since expressed its intention to resume "research whaling" in 2015-16.

Japan tinkered with its programme and submitted a new plan to a panel of experts from the IWC. Amongst other things, the plan reduced the annual catch target to 333 from 900, and put a 12-year limit on the research.

- Sustainable hunting -

That panel on Monday said there was not enough evidence supporting why the whales need to be killed if Japan really wants to find out what they eat and how old they are.

"I believe our experts did a very scientific and technical job as... expected," Morishita told reporters.

Published: 14 April 2015

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After 21 blissful months of one-on-one care, world media attention and carefree splashing in the Buckingham Palace pool, Prince George is facing a spot of upheaval in his gilded life -- a sibling.

Later this month, the royal toddler's mother Kate is expected to give birth to a little brother or sister who will be fourth in line to the throne.

In his latest official photos, the son of Prince William and his wife Kate appears confident and curious -- a blond tot with an impish smile.

Shielded from the cameras, the prince's rare public appearances are exhaustively reported in British media and "Gorgeous George" is a social media star.

The little boy who has helped sustain the image of a British royal family once battered by scandal has been seen at public events just three times.

The first was in July 23, 2013 when he was shown to the world wrapped in a white blanket in the arms of his radiant parents -- aged just 27 hours.

"He's got a good pair of lungs on him," the young father told a crowd of some 200 journalists outside the same private maternity ward in London where Kate plans to give birth later this month.

George's second public engagement came three months later at his Christening, followed by a family tour of Australia and New Zealand in April 2014 where the chubby-cheeked royal stole the show.

In New Zealand, he was seen playing with other babies in the residence of his great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth's governor-general.

On a visit to a Sydney zoo, he showed particular interest in a bilby -- an endangered animal.

- Presents for George -

Besides these appearances, the royals have occasionally released official photographs of the baby prince born third in line to the throne.

George has been seen in the garden at Kate's parents' home after the birth; sat with the family in a Kensington Palace window ahead of his first overseas tour; playing with butterflies at the Natural History Museum to mark his first birthday; and sitting on the Kensington Palace steps for Christmas 2014.

Conscious of the role that he will have to play one day, William and Kate have said they want the prince to have as normal a childhood as possible.

George's first birthday was celebrated far from the cameras with a cake baked by his mother.

The family have a Spanish nanny, Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, and a dog, Lupo, a black cocker spaniel.

But any similarities with other children end there.

Published: 12 April 2015

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