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A Cairo teenager found a priceless statue of Pharaoh Akhenaton near a garbage bin after it was stolen from the Egyptian Museum during anti-regime protests, Egypt's antiquities chief said Thursday. The museum's world renowned collection was burgled and several artifacts went missing last month, including statues of King Tutankhamun and Pharaoh Akhenaton. A 16-year-old protester found the sculpture near a rubbish bin in Tahrir Square,

Stalin statue blown up in Ukraine: CommunistsAFP January 2, 2011, 7:49 am KIEV (AFP) - Extremists blew up a controversial monument to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin on New Year's night in southeastern Ukraine in an "act of terror", the local Communist Party said on Saturday. The bust in the city of Zaporizhia, unveiled this May, caused a heated controversy in Ukraine which is still split between its nationalist west and the more Russian orientated east which fondly remembers the Soviet past. "A criminal broke into the grounds of the Communist Party regional headquarters, and laid an explosive charge which detonated...

SWIEBODZIN, Poland -- Step aside, Rio de Janeiro. This town is building a Jesus bigger than yours. A Polish priest is on the verge of realizing his dream of erecting what he says will be the world's largest statue of Jesus Christ in a small town in western Poland. Attempts were made Friday to complete the statue - which will rise a couple yards higher than the iconic Christ the Redeemer monument in Rio de Janeiro.

Here's the rub. One package at the Time Warner Center's mall is getting more attention than most from shoppers and visitors alike -- the genitals of a 12-foot-tall bronze nude statue that stands near the complex's entrance. Fernando Botero's "Adam" has provided a titillating temptation to passers-by at the Shops at Columbus Circle to rub his miniscule manhood as friends snap their pictures. In fact, there's so much fondling going on that the patina on the nude's nether regions has turned golden, making it stand out against the darker brown of the rest of the statue.

This is the moment a lightning bolt appears to strike the Statue of Liberty in New York. New York photographer Jay Fine had spent the night braving the storm in Battery Park City, Manhattan, in a bid to get the perfect picture. Jay spent nearly two hours poised with his camera and took more than 80 shots before striking lucky with this particular bolt of lightning at 8.45pm on 22 September. He said he had been waiting 40 years to get the picture. To capture the shots Jay used a Nikon D300s with 60mm f/2.8 lens on the following...

I've been on vacation, visiting the folks back in Colorado. One of my rest stops during the 18 hour drive was off of I-70 in Fruita, where there is a Vietnam memorial. I took a few pictures, including the one above of a mother and father welcoming home their son, returning from his tour. Then as I was driving off, I looked over and then gently slammed on the brakes... I had glanced over at the Memorial site for one last look and noticed a little girl hugging the statue of the young, returning vet. I got choked up....

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - the world famous Christ the Redeemer statue re-opened to the public Wednesday June 30, 2010 after a four month renovation. The 130 ft tall statue of Jesus with arms open wide (98 feet wide!) stands on a 31 ft. tall pedestal (included in the height) overlooking the city of Rio atop Corcovado hill. Money for the renovation came from private firms at a cost of approx. 4 million dollars. The internal structure was renovated and its soapstone mosaic covering was restored by removing a crust of fungi and other microorganisms and repairing small cracks. Lightning...

Thousands of Czechs are protesting plans to place a Michael Jackson statue in Prague. A group of fans plans to erect a 6-foot column with a bronze bust of the King of Pop in Letna Park, where Jackson held a concert in 1996. They want to unveil it Aug. 29 to mark Jackson's 52nd birthday. City authorities have approved the project. By Tuesday, more than 2,000 people had joined a Facebook protest claiming it makes no sense to put the statue in the park because Jackson had no connection with the Czech Republic.

A statue that will honor Nick Saban for his title-winning 2010 is nearing completion and will be unveiled in mid-August. Coaching legend Bobby Bowden already has a statue in his honor parked outside of Doak Campbell Stadium. Now comes word that Tim Tebow and his utter awesomeness will be cast in bronze for all eternity in the very near future. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Florida's University Athletic Association board members have approved construction of bronze statues that will honor Tebow, Danny Wuerffel and Steve Spurrier and will be placed outside of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The three former Gators...

Monroe, June 15, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The famous “Touchdown Jesus” statue which has amazed many travelers taking the Interstate 75 road is no more in its place. The statue that was placed before the evangelical Solid Rock Church in Monroe, north of Cincinnati, was struck by lightning on late Monday night that left behind only the steel frame. Being made of fiberglass, foam and plastic all of which are highly combustible, it did not take much time for the lightning to cause havoc on the statue. The fire was not restricted to the huge statue only. It affected an amphitheater that...

Solid Rock Church Jesus monument struck by lightning By Tiffany Y. Latta and Lauren Pack, Staff Writers Updated 8:28 AM Tuesday, June 15, 2010 MONROE — Charred remnants remained this morning, June 15, of the large Jesus statue iconic to Interstate 75 that was destroyed following an apparent lightning strike during a thunderstorm late Monday night. Those at the scene this morning as the fog lifted around I-75 also described smoke damage to the Lawrence Bishop Music Theater located east of the statue. The theater also suffered fire damage, according to officials. No firefighters were on scene this morning as...

In case you didn't hear, Ohio lost a semi-landmark to lighting last night. A tribute to it from Heywood Banks.

A statue of the Virgin Mary was vandalized and destroyed outside a Catholic church in Weymouth on Sunday, breaking it into three pieces in a crime that shocked the community, the church's pastor said today. "Right now, all I can say is I'm considering it a hate crime," said the Rev. Bill Salmon, who has been with the Immaculate Conception church for six years. "I don't know what their actual motivation would be, but when you start moving the base of a statue, you know it's deliberate." Salmon said one of his parishioners notified him of the vandalism after an...

Obama amputates our nuclear arms By: Charles Krauthammer ...snippet...Under President Obama’s new policy, however, if the state that has just attacked us with biological or chemical weapons is “in compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” explained Gates, then “the U.S. pledges not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against it.” Imagine the scenario: Hundreds of thousands are lying dead in the streets of Boston after a massive anthrax or nerve gas attack. The president immediately calls in the lawyers to determine whether the attacking state is in compliance with the NPT. If it turns out that the attacker...

SNIPPET: "BANGALORE: A day after two low-intensity blasts in the city, an explosive device weighing 2kgs was found wrapped in a yellow bag near Mahatma Gandhi statue on MG road." SNIPPET: "As stands filled on Saturday for the Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers IPL match, two bombs went off at the Chinnaswamy Stadium wounding 12 people and triggering panic. Roughly 20,000 people had packed into the stadium and hundreds more were streaming in when a loud explosion at Gate 12 rocked the arena and rattled nearby buildings. Six policemen were injured when the grill near the wall collapsed on them....

NEW YORK- Police responding to a report of a jumper at New York's Empire State Building said they discovered the male figure standing on the ledge was a cast iron statue. Investigators said the life-sized man statue that inspired Wednesday's 911 calls was part of the "Event Horizon" art installation, which features several of the realistic sculptures installed on various ledges around the Midtown area of the Manhattan borough, the New York Post reported Thursday. "It's a pain in the ass," a city police officer said of the art project. "It's a waste of manpower. We're short cops to begin...

Friday April 2, 2010 Imam issues fatwa on Senegal's "monument of shame" By Diadie Ba DAKAR (Reuters) - A leading imam on Friday issued a fatwa condemning Senegal's monument to the "African Renaissance" in the latest blow to President Abdoulaye Wade's project, a day before its inauguration. Slightly bigger than New York's Statue of Liberty, the giant group of man, woman and infant is perched on a hill overlooking the Senegalese capital Dakar and will be formally unveiled before foreign dignitaries and celebrities on Saturday. The $28-million statue has been criticised as a waste of money in a country with...

The familiar statue of Andy and Opie that greets those passing by the Surry Arts Council building on Rockford Street has a noticeably different look due to being painted red and green during a weekend vandalism. “It’s very disappointing,” Arts Council Executive Director Tanya Jones said Monday of an act that will require a huge expense to correct. “It’s disheartening that you’ve got people out here in the community that would do that,” said Lt. Jeff Inman of the Mount Airy Police Department, which is investigating the crime. “It’s a childish-prank kind of thing.”

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Authorities removed a statue of Barack Obama from a park in the Indonesian capital due to a public backlash and moved it Monday to a nearby elementary school that the U.S. president attended as a child.

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Authorities removed a statue of Barack Obama from a park in the Indonesian capital due to a public backlash (more)