Louvre Art "Hired" to USA

A ground-breaking cultural art exchange, intended to sweeten relations between France and the US, has provoked claims that the Louvre is "hiring out" some of its greatest art masterpieces. The Paris museum will be paid €13m (£9m) over three years to send 185 art works, including paintings by Raphael, Rembrandt and Poussin, to the High museum in Atlanta, Georgia. The unprecedented deal - loaning great works of art for a fee - has been portrayed in the US as a step towards healing the rift in Franco-American relations caused by the Iraq war in 2003. For the full story - click the title Irish Art