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Picasso masterpiece depicting his young mistress sells for $139 million at auction

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:06:52 GMT

(CNN) — A Picasso masterpiece entitled “Femme à la montre” fetched more than $139 million on Wednesday, becoming the second most valuable work by the artist ever sold at auction.The 1932 oil painting took center-stage at a two-day event at Sotheby’s in New York, at the sale of late philanthropist Emily Fisher Landau’s private collection.The piece, which measures 51¼ x 38 inches (130 x 96.5 centimeters), depicts Picasso’s lover and “golden muse” Marie-Thérèse Walter, who featured in many of his portraits.According to the auction house, the portrait is from one of the most prolific years of the Spanish artist’s career, which was the subject of an entire exhibition organized by the Musée Picasso in Paris and London’s Tate Modern in 2018.In a statement announcing the sale in September, Julian Dawes, Sotheby’s head of Impressionist & Modern Art for the Americas, said: “Picasso’s ‘Femme à la Montre’ is a masterpiece by every measure. Painted in 1932 — Picasso’s ‘annus mirabilis’ — it ...

The driest place in North America has sprung to life with lakes and flowers after Hurricane Hilary

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:06:52 GMT

(CNN) — California’s Death Valley is the hottest place in the world and the driest place in North America. But two months after Hurricane Hilary’s epic rainfall, parts of the national park look more oasis than desert.Parched ground turned to ponds, wildflowers are in bloom in remote areas and a salt flat is now a massive lake. The salt flat-turned-lake is an exceptional but fleeting sight to behold.“It is definitely a rare and special event,” Death Valley park spokesperson Abby Wines told CNN, only happening roughly once a decade.It’s all because Hilary unloaded a year’s worth of rain, 2.2 inches, on Death Valley in just 24 hours on August 20 – the wettest day in the park’s history. Until then, the park had never recorded more than 2 inches of rainfall in a single day, according to records that date to 1911.The parched desert soil couldn’t absorb the excessive rainfall fast enough, which triggered flash flooding. The torrent of water washed away trails and much of everything else in...

Coral spawning season brings hope for the Great Barrier Reef

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:06:52 GMT

(CNN) — For a few days in the southern hemisphere every spring, the world’s biggest and most famous coral reef explodes. This is coral spawning season – a time when the Great Barrier Reef creates the next generation of corals.In fact, as some scientists explain it, it’s when the whole reef has sex.This year’s coral spawning began on November 2. During this period, different species of corals release sperm and eggs, which meet each other on the water’s surface and form coral polyps.But this isn’t just about witnessing an interesting natural experience. Coral spawning, which happens ahead of the southern hemisphere’s summer, gives clues about the health of the 133,000-square-mile (345,000-square-kilometer) reef.“The annual coral spawning is not only one of the most extraordinary natural phenomena on the planet,” says Anna Marsden, managing director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. “It provides us with an opportunity to fast-track world-leading research to safeguard its future fro...

Christie to visit Israel this weekend

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:06:52 GMT

(CNN) — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will visit Israel on Sunday, which will make him the first Republican presidential candidate to visit the country since the October 7 Hamas attacks.Christie, who has made US leadership on the world stage a focal point of his campaign, confirmed the trip, which was first reported by CNN, at a New Hampshire town hall Thursday.The former New Jersey governor said he would meet with families of people kidnapped by Hamas, as well as Israel Defense Force soldiers and Israeli government officials.He’s also scheduled to visit so-called Gaza envelope region in southern Israel, according to an itinerary of the trip shared with CNN.In what might have been a preview of his discussions this weekend with Israeli officials, Christie urged Israel from the debate stage Wednesday night in Miami to protect both its territorial integrity and the safety of its civilians and to ensure that “Hamas can never do this again.”“The fact is that Israel and their inte...

Rishi Sunak under pressure to sack Suella Braverman after row over pro-Palestinian rallies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:06:52 GMT

LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is facing mounting pressure to fire his home secretary after she accused the police of being too lenient on pro-Palestinian protests — an attack which was not cleared by No. 10 Downing Street.Ministerial colleagues have so far declined to endorse Braverman in the wake of her comments. The latest slap down from a Cabinet colleague came from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who said on Friday morning that the home secretary’s comments “are not words that I myself would have used.” Still, he noted, “the prime minister has said he has full confidence in her.”Hunt’s remarks come after Braverman accused the Met Police of “playing favorites” and failing to treat “pro-Palestinian mobs” the same way as right-wing and nationalist protestors. She compared the weekly “hate marches” to sectarian rallies held in Northern Ireland.Met Commissioner Mark Rowley has said the legal threshold to stop the National March for Palestine — in which...

Top American official for Europe is leaving her post

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:06:52 GMT

Amanda Sloat, the architect of U.S. President Joe Biden’s Europe policy, is ending her time at the National Security Council, leaving the administration amid deep uncertainties about Ukraine’s future.Sloat has been a quiet but key figure of the Biden administration’s efforts to mend relationships with traditional allies and counter Russia. From the transition team to her current role as senior director for European affairs, she drafted key pillars of the new team’s transatlantic strategy and accompanied Biden on eight trips to Europe, including for five NATO summits and two EU summits. She was also the driving force behind elevating the “Bucharest Nine,” a group of Eastern European NATO countries brought together to steel the region.U.S. officials say that her efforts serving a transatlanticist president are a main reason why relations with Europe markedly improved. But after being in the hottest of hot seats for so long, Sloat is looking to cool it.“It has been an ...

‘Traitors’: Vandals attack Spanish Socialists’ HQ in Brussels

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:06:52 GMT

The Brussels’ headquarters of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) was vandalized overnight, hours after party leader and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez signed a controversial deal to form a government with support from Catalan separatists.The building, located at Clos du Parnasse 12, was spray-painted with a profane insult and the word “traitors,” according to photos posted by PSOE.The party denounced the graffiti as a “vile attack.”“This act of vandalism … is an attack on democracy and the constitutional values ​​that our party, with more than 140 years of history, represents,” the party said on X.On Thursday, Sánchez took a step toward forming a government with Catalan separatists of the Junts party, after concluding a deal which includes an amnesty offer for those behind the illegal 2017 Catalan independence referendum.The deal was blasted by several judicial groups and triggered a wave of protests in Madrid, where 24 people were arrested on ...

Orbán: Ukraine not ready for EU membership talks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:06:52 GMT

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Friday that Ukraine is not ready for membership talks with the EU, despite the European Commission green-lighting negotiations earlier this week.While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the Commission’s decision, Orbán — a frequent needler of Kyiv — told Hungarian state radio that, “Ukraine is in no way prepared to negotiate.”“Ukraine is as far from EU membership as Makó is from Jerusalem,” Orbán said, referring to a small town near the Romanian border, Hungarian media reported.Orbán also stressed that Ukraine’s membership talks cannot be linked to Hungary’s frozen EU funds.“I would like to make it very clear that the opening of negotiations in Ukraine is not a matter of business,” the Hungarian leader said, adding that Brussels must give Hungary “what they owe.” While Budapest has agreed to EU sanctions against Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Hungary has clashed wit...

All eyes on Bill Belichick’s job status as Patriots head to Germany to face Colts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:06:52 GMT

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — In the past, playing a regular-season game abroad would bring a sense of festivity for a New England Patriots team that is unbeaten in three previous international appearances.This time, it has the feeling of a team and its long-celebrated coach reluctantly stepping into a bigger spotlight as they trudge through one of their most difficult seasons in decades.After a 24-year run in New England that has included six Super Bowl rings and two decades of dominance in the AFC, the Patriots are 2-7 — Bill Belichick’s worst start since his first season in 2000.It led to a pointed question from a reporter this week: Does Belichick think he’ll be coaching for his job this week when New England travels to Frankfurt, German for its matchup with Indianapolis on Sunday?“I’m going to control what I can control and get ready for the Colts,” Belichick responded.Inquiries about Belichick’s job status reached all the way to Colts coach Shane Steichen who was as...

Drying Out, Chilly Breeze

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:06:52 GMT

With showers tapering to drizzle yesterday and temps stuck in the upper 30s to lower 40s for most, it was quite the dismal day across the area weather-wise. While some of that leftover moisture on the cars froze on the windshields overnight, where temps dipped below 32, it’s an overall quiet start to the day. A few of you may just need to defrost the car for a couple minutes before heading back to work. The overall theme of the day is to keep it dry as moisture misses just to our south. While the rain stays away, mid to high level clouds are plentiful, obscuring the sunshine for a good portion of the day with only some breaks in there from time to time. A seasonable chill will be in the air too with highs in the upper 40s to lower 50s and a west breeze that gusts 20-25mph. The weekend is dry and chilly with temps in the upper 40s to near 50 Saturday with a cool breeze. The wind is lighter Sunday, but it’ll be cooler with highs stuck in the mid 40s. We continue the season...