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Social Painting Grows Popular at Bars, Art Studios

The Fox and Hound pub in downtown Philadelphia boasts all the fixings of a standard sports bar: huge TVs, numerous beers on draft and a menu filled with burgers, wings and nachos.

So what are all the easels and canvases for?

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Washington Monument to Reopen May 12 after Repairs

The National Park Service says the Washington Monument will reopen to visitors May 12 after being closed for nearly three years due to a 2011 earthquake.

The park service says the remaining scaffolding around the monument will begin to come down this week.

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Japanese Architect Wins Top Pritzker Award

Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, who uses cardboard tubes to make temporary housing for victims of natural disasters and refugees fleeing violence, has won his field's highest honor, the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Award sponsor The Hyatt Foundation said Monday that it had chosen the 56-year-old architect, who has offices in Tokyo, Paris and New York, as its 2014 laureate.

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Rare Tennessee Williams Story Published

Before his mother became the model for Blanche DuBois of "A Streetcar Named Desire" and his sister the inspiration for Laura Wingfield of "The Glass Menagerie," Tennessee Williams drew upon a college girlfriend — if only in name — to tell a story of desire, drunkenness and regret.

"Crazy Night" is a work of short fiction unseen by the general public until this month's release in the spring issue of The Strand Magazine, a quarterly based in Birmingham, Michigan. The story is narrated by a college freshman who confides about his romance with a senior, Anna Jean. Williams, while attending the University of Missouri at Columbia, briefly dated fellow student Anna Jean O'Donnell and wrote poetry about her.

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Two More Colossal Pharaoh Statues Unveiled in Egypt

Archaeologists on Sunday unveiled two colossal statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III in Egypt's famed temple city of Luxor, adding to an existing pair of world-renowned tourist attractions.

The two monoliths in red quartzite were raised at what European and Egyptian archaeologists said were their original sites in the funerary temple of the king, on the west bank of the Nile.

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Japan PM Hails 'Lessons of History' on Anne Frank Visit

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam on Sunday, hailing the lessons of history ahead of his first meeting with South Korean President Park Geun-Hye.

"We would like to face historical facts in a humble manner and we would like also to pass on the lessons and facts of history to the next generation," Abe said during the visit to the Jewish girl's former hideout.

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Saudi Clerics Urge Faithful to Shun 'Islamic' Superhero Series

Saudi Arabia's top clerics have declared an Islam-inspired cartoon series, which earned praise from U.S. President Barack Obama, a "work of the devil" that Muslims should not watch.

The television version of superhero comic book "The 99" is being aired by Saudi-owned satellite channel MBC3, based in Dubai in the neighboring United Arab Emirates.

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John Lennon's Artwork Coming to NYC Auction

A collection of John Lennon's drawings and manuscripts is going up for auction.

The "You Might Well Arsk" sale of the late Beatles' material is scheduled to take place June 4 in New York, Sotheby's said.

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Indian Guru Aims for World Record with Mass Yoga Event

An Indian guru said Friday he hopes to set a world record this weekend by practicing yoga with millions of other people, including opposition election frontrunner Narendra Modi.

Swami Ramdev, who heads a huge yoga empire and is a household name in India, has thrown his support behind Modi, the prime ministerial candidate for the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, tipped to win the polls due to kick off next month.

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Word Lovers Rejoice as OK Celebrates 175 Years

Whatever you're doing this Sunday, wherever you might be, take a moment to reflect on the most popular word in the English language, OK?

It will be 175 years since OK -- or, as some prefer, okay -- first appeared in print, on page two of The Boston Morning Post, then one of the most popular newspapers in the United States.

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