UNITED STATES
Copies of lost art on display
A Massachusetts art museum is offering visitors a unique glimpse of the 13 masterpieces stolen more than a quarter century ago from the Gardner Museum in Boston. The exhibit opening today at the Mead Art Museum in Amherst is the work of San Francisco-based artist Kota Ezawa. According to the museum, the artist has recreated the stolen works through a series of drawings set in glowing light boxes, including cartoon-like versions of paintings by Vermeer, Rembrandt and Manet. The unusual exhibit also includes an animated version of the security camera tape from the Gardner Museum on the night before the US$500 million theft in March 1990 — which remains the largest unsolved art heist in US history.
CANADA
Immigrants fleeing US
Seidu Mohammed lost all his fingers to frostbite when he made a perilous trek in sub-zero temperatures to cross the border illegally into Canada. He is one of a small but growing number of immigrants risking the northern border crossing out of fear of being deported from the US. The US’ neighbor to the north is increasingly being seen as a haven for asylum seekers turned away by the US and some are willing to risk a walk across the border in dangerous cold and snow to get there. In Manitoba, on the border of Minnesota and North Dakota, authorities say the pace has quickened since Donald Trump became US president.
UNITED STATES
Al Jarreau dies aged 76
Grammy-winning jazz singer Al Jarreau has died in a Los Angeles hospital just days after announcing his retirement from touring due to exhaustion. His official Twitter account and Web site said he died early on Sunday. He was 76. Jarreau was hospitalized earlier in the week and was said to have been improving slowly. The Wisconsin native has won seven Grammys over a 50-year career. His biggest single was 1981’s We’re in This Love Together. Jarreau was a vocalist on the all-star 1985 track We Are the World, and sang the theme to TV’s Moonlighting. He is one of the few artists to have won Grammys in three separate categories — jazz, pop and R&B.
UNITED STATES
Passers-by catch art thief
Police say three witnesses helped nab a man who they say tried to steal five paintings from a Boston art gallery, including etchings by Pablo Picasso and Rembrandt. Boston University student Mackenzie Thompson said she and two other students were walking near the Galerie D’Orsay after the Super Bowl last week when they heard glass breaking. Thompson, of Shelton, Connecticut, said a man walked out with several paintings. The trio chased the man down, apprehended him and flagged down a police officer.
UNITED STATES
Rivera quits Yale position
Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera said he resigned from a voluntary position at Yale University after the school decided to change the name of a residential college that honors a slavery supporter. Rivera on Sunday said Twitter that he resigned as an associate fellow of Calhoun College. He said the position was an honor, “but intolerant insistence on political correctness is lame.” Calhoun College was named after 19th century alumnus and former US vice president John C. Calhoun, an ardent supporter of slavery. After years of debate, Yale on Saturday announced it is renaming the college after trailblazing computer scientist Grace Murray Hopper.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of