Russian diplomat suspected of being a spy found dead outside embassy in Berlin | DW News

by Arshiya Jahanpour
December 8, 2021
in Videos

Germany’s Foreign Ministry on Friday confirmed the death of a diplomat outside the Russian Embassy in Berlin last month, but did not offer any further details.

News magazine Der Spiegel reported the 35-year-old was found early on October 19 after having fallen from an upper floor of the embassy.

Police in Berlin declined to comment and referred questions to the public prosecutors.

The Russian Embassy had not agreed to an autopsy, according to sources in the security services cited by Der Spiegel. It was therefore unclear how the reported agent died.

The man was officially serving at the Russian Embassy in the capacity of second secretary. Der Spiegel reports the embassy would only call it “a tragic accident” and said it would refrain from further comment “for ethical reasons.”

Bellingcat reports that the diplomat is the son of Gen. Alexey Zhalo, the deputy director of the FSB’s Second Directorate and head of the FSB’s Directorate for Protection of Constitutional Order, which handles terrorism cases. Officers from the latter directorate shadowed Alexei Navalny prior to his poisoning and are linked to the poisoning of another opposition figure, Vladimir Kara-Murza.

Christo Grozev of Bellingcat told DW the diplomat’s death created “some confusion within the German security apparatus as to what this meant,” whether it was an accident or due to some internal power struggle or purge.

“It took the German authorities some time to figure out whether it was something to even talk about,” Grozev said.

New Caledonia vote on independence from France to go ahead Sunday

by Arshiya Jahanpour
December 8, 2021



Issued on: 08/12/2021 

The Pacific territory of New Caledonia goes to the polls on Sunday for a third and final referendum on independence from France with campaigning marked by angry demands to call off the vote because of the Covid pandemic.

The territory, some 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) east of Australia, was allowed three independence referendums under a 1988 deal aimed at easing tensions on the island group.

Having rejected a breakaway from their French former colonial masters in 2018 and then again last year, the territory’s 185,000 voters will be asked one last time: “Do you want New Caledonia to accede to full sovereignty and become independent?”

The vote comes against the backdrop of increasingly strained ties between Paris and its allies in the region.

France regards itself as a major Indo-Pacific power thanks to overseas territories like New Caledonia.

Australia infuriated France in September by ditching a submarine contract in favour of a security pact with Britain and the United States.

Behind the recent spat looms China’s growing role in the region, with experts suspecting that an independent New Caledonia could be more amenable to Beijing’s advances, which are partly motivated by an interest in the territory’s mining industry.

China is already the biggest single client for New Caledonia’s metal exports, especially for nickel.

China’s ‘pearl necklace’

“If the French safeguard disappears, all elements would be in place for China to establish itself permanently in New Caledonia,” said Bastien Vandendyck, an international relations analyst specialising in the Pacific.

Other nations in the Melanesia region, which also includes Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, had already become “Chinese satellites”, Vandendyck told AFP.

“All China needs now to complete its pearl necklace on Australia’s doorstep is New Caledonia,” he said.

Pro-independence campaigners are boycotting Sunday’s vote, saying they want it postponed to September because “a fair campaign” is not possible while coronavirus infection numbers are high.

New Caledonia’s 270,000 inhabitants were largely spared Covid infections during the first phase of the global pandemic, but have suffered close to 300 Covid deaths since the appearance of the Delta variant in recent months.

The French government has rejected the demand, saying the virus spread had slowed down with the infection rate down to a relatively modest 80 to 100 cases per 100,000 people.

The pro-independence movement has still threatened non-recognition of the referendum outcome, and vowed to appeal to the United Nations to get it cancelled.

The French minister in charge of overseas territories, Sebastien Lecornu, said that while it was “a democratic right” to refuse to vote, the boycott would make no difference to the referendum’s “legal validity”.

‘Declaration of war’

The pro-French camp, meanwhile, has called on its supporters to turn out in numbers, fearing that the boycott by the pro-independence parties may prompt them to stay at home since victory may look like a foregone conclusion.

“It is important that the mobilisation of the no-independence supporters remains absolute, to show that they are in a majority and united in their wish for New Caledonia to remain part of the French Republic,” Thierry Santa, president of the conservative Rassemblement-LR party, wrote in a letter to voters.

In June, the various political parties agreed with the French government that Sunday’s referendum, whatever its outcome, should lead to “a period of stability and convergence” and be followed by a new referendum by June 2023 which would decide on the “project” that New Caledonia’s people want to pursue.

But hopes for a smooth transition were jolted when the main indigenous pro-independence movement, the FLNKS, deemed the government’s insistence on going ahead with the referendum “a declaration of war”.

Observers fear that renewed tensions could even spark a return of the kind of violence last seen 30 years ago, before the feuding parties reached successive deals to ensure the island group’s peaceful transition.

The pro-Paris side won the 2018 referendum with 56.7 percent of the vote, but that percentage fell to 53.3 percent in the 2020 election.

The archipelago has been a French territory since 1853.

(AFP)

Dene Nation launches on-the-land wellness camp

The Dene Nation has launched its own on-the-land healing camp, providing a safe space for people experiencing homeless to stay for extended periods.

The camp has been created at Aurora Village, a tourism operator based 20 minutes outside Yellowknife, and is federally funded until the end of January. The Dene Nation hopes to find more cash to extend the camp's life.

The Crazy Indian Brotherhood, Aurora Village, and the Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation are partners in the establishment and running of the camp.

Dene National Chief Norman Yakeleya said a camp on the land offers people a chance to heal.

“It’s an easy concept but it’s challenging to do,” he said.

“There are nearly 350 people under-housed in Yellowknife, our own people. These people are beautiful people and they have gotten the rough end of the stick in life. This camp is here to show them they are loved and respected, and they’re special and beautiful.”

Don Morin, the former N.W.T. premier who owns Aurora Village, said the location has never accepted overnight guests but was happy to adapt to the camp's needs.

Aurora Village's tipis, dining hall, kitchen, washrooms, gathering spaces and facilities for laundry and showering are all available to camp guests.

The camp will offer a variety of activities and won’t adhere to a strict schedule.

Michael Fatt, an advocate for Yellowknife's vulnerable people who has lived experience of homelessness, said the opportunity to go to a camp like this would be “unforgettable” for some people and help them make the best of new opportunities.

“This will be impacting all of their lives,” he said. “This is very, very important.”

Wilbert Cook, executive director of the Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation, stressed the value of a guaranteed place to sleep, eat, shower, and stay warm.

“We all know first-hand what our friends are going through, our friends on the street," Cook said.

"They wake up in the morning and they’re hungry. They go throughout the day and wonder: ‘Where am I going to sleep tonight? Am I going to be warm? Am I going to go to a place where I feel comfortable, and I’m being cared for?'"

Morin said the camp is a learning experience for everyone involved and a “completely out of the box” approach that he argues governments wouldn’t typically use.

“Our guests will help develop it and shape it, and that’s the most important thing – that you don’t go into something that’s a total tunnel vision of how you’re going to save Indigenous people,” he said.

“It’s our own people, we’ll develop it together, and that’s what makes the biggest difference.”

Trevor Teed, the Dene Nation's lands and environment director, said the goal is to make the camp accessible year-round.

Morin said some people have been at the camp for just over a week and there is already a noticeable difference.

He said his son, who works at the camp, called him and told him: “The ones that arrived a week ago are helping the ones that arrived today.”

“That just about brought me to tears to see it,” Morin said.

Speakers at a news conference on Thursday announcing the new camp expressed disappointment at what they characterize as a lack of territorial government support, for example in provisions of healthcare services for guests.

“We’re not medical people," said Teed, "and we have medical issues in this facility. People don’t want to leave here to go get help.

“They want that help to come to them because they feel safe, secure, and loved here.”

Organizers also worry about the gap once the camp eventually closes.

“The clients, customers here today – where are they going to be in 60 days? Are they going to go back on the street?" Morin asked.

Cook added: “We’re setting them up to get all their hopes up and everything, to let them out the door and say, ‘I’m sorry, there’s nothing else we can do for you.'

“We can’t do that. We wouldn’t do that to ourselves, we wouldn’t do that to our families. Why would we do that to anyone else?"

Sarah Sibley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cabin Radio

I regret to inform you that Digital Human as a Service (DHaaS) is now an acronym

Sean Hollister 1 day ago

Science fiction movies have prepared us for the distinct possibility that artificial intelligence will walk among us someday. How soon? No one can say — but that isn’t stopping a raft of companies by trying to sell “digital humans” before that whole intelligence thing gets figured out. Ah, but what if you don’t want to buy a digital human because that sounds icky? Rent one, of course! That’s why we now have the regrettable acronym Digital Human as a Service (DHaaS).

The actual news here is that Japanese telecom giant KDDI has partnered with a firm named Mawari (which means something along the lines of “surroundings” in Japanese) to create a virtual assistant you can “see” through the window of your smartphone in augmented reality, one who might automatically pop up to give you directions and interact if you point your phone at a real-world location.

If you peek the video atop this post, you can see it’s not that much more advanced than, say, Pokémon Go. But behind the scenes, the partners claim that KDDI’s 5G network, Amazon’s low-latency AWS Wavelength edge computing nodes, and a proprietary codec from Mawari combine to let “digital humans” stream to your phone in real time instead of running natively on your phone’s chip.

© Provided by The Verge
“the heavy processing requirements of real-time digital humans”

That “substantially lower[s] the heavy processing requirements of real-time digital humans, reducing cost, data size and battery consumption while unlocking scalability,” according to the press release. (It’s true that AR apps like Pokémon Go tend to chow down on battery, but it’s not just graphics to blame; some of that is running GPS, camera and cellular simultaneously.)

Who’s going to jump on board to actually populate the metaverse with experiences designed for KDDI and Mawari’s “digital humans” and pay monthly, quarterly or annually for the “service” part of the acronym? That’s always the question, but there’s no shortage of companies looking to lean into the buzzy metaverse these days. And if they can leverage their existing buzzwords like “5G”, “AI” and “Edge compute,” so much the better. It takes a lot of work to look like you’re paying attention to the future, and you never know if this is the moment someone actually manages to make fetch happen.

Want some more digital humans? We’ve got you covered:

DIRECT ACTION GETS THE GOODS

A former Burger King worker got 'WE ALL QUIT' tattooed on her arm after she and her coworkers ditched the chain

gdean@insider.com (Grace Dean) 

© Provided by Business Insider Rachel Flores

A former Burger King worker got "WE ALL QUIT" tattooed on her arm.

Kylee Johnson and eight coworkers quit their jobs in July, and their story soon went viral.

Johnson said almost everyone she knew who'd left had since a found better job.

A former employee at a Burger King, where staff resigned en masse in July, has commemorated the event by having the viral message "WE ALL QUIT" tattooed on her arm.

Kylee Johnson, who had worked at the Lincoln, Nebraska Burger King outlet for around seven months, was one of nine members of staff who left the restaurant, citing problems including understaffing, long hours, low pay, and broken air conditioning.

One member of staff changed the restaurant's front sign to "We all quit — sorry for the inconvenience," and a photo of it quickly went viral.

Johnson got the tattoo as a reminder of her worth, Nebraska media outlet Flatwater Free Press reported. "I was raised to give respect. But I was also taught that when you give respect, you should be given respect back," she told the outlet.

Many restaurant workers across the US are quitting their jobs in search of better wages, benefits, and working conditions, often leaving restaurants scrambling for staff. Hospitality workers have cited long and unsocial working hours, rude customers, and fears of catching COVID-19 as reasons for leaving their jobs.

Johnson told Flatwater Free Press in a recent interview that other staff who'd quit their jobs at the Lincoln Burger King had got new roles including as clerks or cooks at sit-down restaurants, hotels, and convenience stores. Most of the nine who left have not gone back into fast food jobs, according to the outlet.

Johnson said that she'd worked at the Burger King restaurant to help out her roommate Rachel Flores, its then general manager, while also working at a Ruby Tuesday restaurant as a server and bartender. She said that after leaving Burger King she stayed working at Ruby Tuesday, and that some of her Burger King coworkers moved to Ruby Tuesday, too.

"Almost everyone that I know that left has found better jobs making at least the same or more," Johnson told Flatwater Free Press.

"There's so many openings," Johnson added. "It does leave the door open."
Johnson: Working at Burger King was 'horrible'

Johnson told Flatwater Free Press that working at the Lincoln Burger King during the pandemic was "horrible" and "exhausting."

Johnson said that management was slow to fix the kitchen's air conditioning and that the store was understaffed.

"Four or five people left and upper management had not tried to bring in anybody new," she said.

Burger King didn't respond to Flatwater Free Press' or Insider's requests for comment.

Flores told Insider in July that she'd regularly had to cover unexpected absences, leaving her working many back-to-back, open-to-close shifts from 5:30 a.m. to 1 a.m., with just an hour off during the day to care for her child. She said that her team frequently worked six- and seven-day weeks for weeks on end.

Flores also said that the local area managers resisted her requests to raise wages above $12.50 per hour, even for an employee who had worked for 18 years at the restaurant. She also said that she was once hospitalized for dehydration.

"The work experience described at this location is not in line with our brand values," a Burger King spokesperson told Insider at the time. "Our franchisee is looking into this situation to ensure this doesn't happen in the future."

Johnson told Flatwater Free Press that she'd now been banned from the Burger King restaurant in Lincoln, and that she'd got the tattoo in mid-July.

Laurentian's effort to hide information a 'critical civil right' - lawyer

A Superior Court judge reserved his decision on Monday in an ongoing court battle between Laurentian University and Ontario’s auditor general.

The auditor general has accused the university of refusing to provide documents for a value-for-money audit into the institution’s finances amid Laurentian’s insolvency proceedings.

In her court filing, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk said Laurentian has failed to provide unfettered and timely access to information during the probe into the publicly funded university’s governance, operations, and financial decisions launched this past spring.

Laurentian has cut almost 200 staff and a number of programs this year in an effort to balance its books. In response, Ontario's Standing Committee on Public Accounts unanimously passed a motion in April asking the Office of the Auditor General conduct a value-for-money audit on Laurentian's operations from 2010 to 2020.

In September, the auditor filed an application with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice asking a judge to declare her legislated right to privileged information and documents that are necessary to her work.

Lysyk said this is the first time her office has had to take this step.

Laurentian has denied the auditor general’s allegations, claiming that the institution has the option, but not the obligation, to hand over documents covered by solicitor-client privilege.

The university is arguing that if the Auditor General Act does compel them to shared privileged information, it would amount to a “flagrant violation” of the Canadian constitution.

At issue during Monday’s hearing was Section 10 of the 2004 amendment to the Auditor General’s Act, which legislates a party’s duty to furnish information.

The act states that a party “shall give the auditor general the information regarding its powers, duties, activities, organization, financial transactions and methods of business” as necessary for the auditor to perform his or her duties.

Subsection 10.2 further states that the auditor “is entitled to have free access to all books, accounts, financial records, electronic data processing records, reports, files, and all other papers, things, or property.”

The final subsection in the amendment provides that “a disclosure to the auditor general under subsections one or two does not constitute a waiver of solicitor-client privilege, litigation privilege, or settlement privilege.”

The auditor general’s attorney, Richard Dearden, argued that solicitor-client privilege is not absolute, but it can be “limited or abrogated by statute.”

He submitted that Section 10 of the 2004 amendment “explicitly confirms the auditor general has a right to access privileged information” because of the inclusion of subsection 10.3. In other words, the entire section is meant to be read as a whole.

“Yes, it could have been clearer – no argument there,” said Dearden.

“But the legislature chose to add subsection 10.3. What else could they mean than disclosing any information or document to the auditor general that is subject to solicitor-client privilege?”

He added that the legislature provides for the disclosure of privileged information because there are a number of “safeguards” built into the act.

As an example, Dearden referred to subsection 27.13, which states that “a person required to preserve secrecy … shall not disclose any information or document disclosed to the auditor general under Section 10 that is subject to solicitor-client privilege.”

The attorney said that Laurentian University president Robert Hache’s interpretation that disclosure of privileged information is meant to be voluntary is “unreasonable.”

“Subsection 10.1 is a mandatory disclosure obligation. It says every grant recipient shall give the auditor general information. Shall give,” said Dearden.

“And 10.2 confers an entitlement, a right, of the auditor general to have free access to all the books and other records that are delineated in that subsection.”

In response, Laurentian University’s attorney, Brian Gover, said “the only question” in this application is whether Section 10 requires subjects to disclose privileged information.

“Everyone has the right to consult with their lawyers in private. Privilege is a fundamental civil and constitutional right. It is a principle of fundamental justice,” he said.

Gover added that any exceptions to that principle must be “rare, narrow, and justified by absolute necessity.”

“It has been determined that privilege cannot be abrogated except by legislative language that is clear, explicit, and unequivocal,” said Gover.

“The language of Section 10 does not disclose an intention, let alone a clear and explicit intention, to abrogate privilege.”

Gover said the auditor general claimed that Laurentian must provide her with “everything – including my emails, memoranda, and opinions to my client.”

“The auditor general says that she needs all of this so she can use it to inform her audit. That is not what the legislature intended in Section 10,” he said.

“Section 10, properly interpreted, allows for but does not require production of privileged information. It provides protection where privileged information is disclosed.”

He added that subsection 27.13 does the same thing.

Mandatory disclosure, said Gover, would increase the likelihood of a breach of privacy.

“It just takes one mistake for privileged information to be disclosed forever. I’m not questioning the sincerity of the auditor general’s staff,” he said.

“But we’ve all heard about data breaches or about electronic devices being misplaced.”

He also said that having access to privileged information would allow the auditor general to “reverse engineer” a report to use the privileged information to create a narrative that has the same effect as “disclosing the information directly.”

Gover said that solicitor-client privilege is not a “lawyer’s trick to avoid proper scrutiny” but rather a “critical civil right.”

“If doubt remains about the correct interpretation, it must be resolved in favour of upholding the privilege,” said Gover.

Gover said that if the court rules in Laurentian University’s favour, the institution will be asking for $25,000 in costs.

The auditor general is not seeking costs should it be successful on this application. By way of explanation, the auditor’s attorney said, “Laurentian University is in insolvency. It’s a publicly funded institution.”

Upon hearing the submissions on Monday, Superior Court Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz said he is taking the matter under reserve.

“I do thank both of you for some very complete submissions, both written and oral,” he said.

“I will endeavor to get to it as soon as possible.”

The Local Journalism Initiative is made possible through funding from the federal government.

dmacdonald@postmedia.com

Twitter: @SudburyStar

Colleen Romaniuk, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Sudbury Star

🔮 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖂𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍 𝕾𝖔𝖓𝖌𝖘 𝕮𝖔𝖑𝖑𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 🌙

Apr 7, 2021

Daniela

This is a collection of my most favourite witchy songs. Chants & spiritual and dance songs are included. This video is not a promotion of any kind of faith. It is simply about sharing some of the music I love. Therefore, I hope you enjoy these songs as much as I do, regardless of your spiritual beliefs. Blessed be! 🌕

🔮 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖂𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍 𝕾𝖔𝖓𝖌𝖘 𝕮𝖔𝖑𝖑𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 🌙 (𝕻𝖆𝖗𝖙 2): https://youtu.be/tYiQkf5y3ho

🔮 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖂𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍 𝕾𝖔𝖓𝖌𝖘 𝕮𝖔𝖑𝖑𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 🌙 (𝕻𝖆𝖗𝖙 3): https://youtu.be/3euQ6lFHbic

8 months ago (edited)

0:00 Inkubus Sukkubus - Wytches Chant '98

02:13 Alice Di Micele - Mother of Darkness

06:24 Robert Gass - Lady of the Flowing Waters

12:04 Libana - The Earth, the Air, the Fire, the Water

14:54 Wendy Rule - Elemental Chant

20:39 Lindie Lila - Born of Water

24:08 Spirits of Fire 

26:15 Elaine Silver - Call On The Moon

31:34 Lisa Thiel - Moon Mother

33:48 Heather Houston - Full Moon Chant

37:19 Marie Bruce - Moon Song

41:12 Blackmore's Night - Shadow of the Moon

46:19 Blackmore's Night - Darkness

49:40 Blackmore's Night - Under a Violet Moon

54:03 Wendy Rule - The Circle Song

59:10 Wendy Rule - The Water

01:04:19 Lisa Thiel - Song to Brighid

01:08:00 Lisa Thiel - Song to the Grandmothers

01:11:05 Michelle Mays - One Power-Closing

01:13:28 Lisa Thiel - Wolf Chant

01:15:54 Ordo Funebris - A Witches Song

01:19:43 Luna Santa - Bruja

01:23:53 Luna Santa - Una Con La Tierra

01:27:11 Luna Itzel - Luna, Lunita

01:32:21 Ashley Serena - The Witch's Daughter

01:35:03 Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble Of Shadows - In der Palästra (Instrumental)

01:42:12 Erutan - Come Little Children

01:45:08 Louisa John-Krol - The Witch in the Wood

01:48:55 Louisa John-Krol - Escalder

01:54:57 Jean Luc Lenoir - Witchery Fate Song

01:57:47 Tina Malia - Full Moonlight Dance

02:01:28 Blackmore's Night - The Other Side

02:04:47 An Danzza - Endless Night

02:10:02 An Danzza - Hekate

02:15:23 Cernunnas - Enheduanna

02:19:34 Natacha Atlas - I Put A Spell On You

02:23:18 Leah - Elixir of Life

02:27:25 Leah - Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep

02:32:03 Denean - As One

02:35:30 Eivor - Trøllabundin

02:40:01 Karliene - Witch

02:43:34 Wendy Rule - Dissolve

02:48:52 Loreena McKennitt - All Souls Night

02:54:01 Priscilla Hernandez - Off The Lane

02:57:58 E Nomine - Mysteria

03:01:35 Nox Arcana - Gypsy Spell

03:04:45 Gypsy - Magick

03:09:32 Priscilla Hernandez - Līgo 

03:14:05 Caitlin Grey - My Spirit

03:17:34 Mecano - Figlio della Luna

03:21:53 Galahad - Girl from the Woods

03:25:59 S.J. Tucker - Witch's Rune

03:30:23 S.J. Tucker - Song of the Witches

03:34:58 Omnia - Wytches' Brew

03:39:06 Faun - Walpurgisnacht

03:42:55 Circle Within A Circle

03:45:08 Robert Gass - May The Circle Be Open                                                                                                          

Newspaper publisher SaltWire offering employee buyouts

HALIFAX — East Coast newspaper publisher SaltWire Network Inc. is offering voluntary buyouts and an option of reduced hours for employees.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

In an internal memo, the company says that offers are part of its ongoing pivot from a traditional newspaper publisher to a digital media company.

SaltWire's head of people and process Nancy Cook says in the memo that the company's needs are shifting and it has to be nimble and ready to tackle the changes ahead.

The company doesn't specify how many employees it expects to take up the offer, but notes that there are several eligibility criteria and that management will have to approve any applications.

In 2020, SaltWire permanently laid off 109 staff who had been part of a wider temporary layoff, which the company said was prompted by lower ad revenue because of COVID-19.

SaltWire owns 27 media brands in Atlantic Canada including The Chronicle Herald in Halifax and The Telegram in St. John’s, N.L.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2021.

The Canadian Press

Napoléon’s sword, firearms from 1799 coup sold for $2.8 million at US auction

FRANCE 24 

The dress sword carried by Napoléon Bonaparte when he staged a coup in 1799 and five of his firearms sold at auction for nearly $2.9 million, US auctioneers announced Tuesday.

© Pack-Shot, Shutterstock

The lot, which was put up for sale by the Illinois-based Rock Island Auction Company, was sold on December 3 via phone to a buyer who has remained anonymous, company president Kevin Hogan told AFP.

The sword and five ornamented pistols had initially been valued at $1.5 million to $3.5 million.

With the $2.87 million sale, "the buyer of the Napoléon Garniture is taking home a very rare piece of history," Hogan said. "We are pleased to have provided the opportunity for them to acquire such a historic object."

The sword, with its scabbard, was the "crown jewel" of the collection, according to the auctioneers.

The weapon was made by Nicolas-Noël Boutet, who was director of the state arms factory in Versailles.

After being crowned emperor, Napoléon is believed to have presented the sword to general Jean-Andoche Junot, but the general's wife later was forced to sell it to pay off debts.

It was then recovered by a London museum. A US collector was its last owner, but the man recently died, according to the auction house.

In May, France celebrated the bicentennial of Napoleon's death.

The famed Corsican is one of the most divisive figures in French history, his huge contribution to the creation of the modern state set against his imperialism and war-mongering.

Josephine Bonaparte's tiaras fetch $760,000

Meanwhile a pair of "highly rare" centuries-old headpieces encrusted with jewels and believed to have belonged to Napoléon's wife, French empress Josephine Bonaparte, sold at auction in London Tuesday for more than $760,000.

The two tiaras — offered from a private British collection dating back at least 150 years — are thought to have been given to Napoléon's wife by his sister Caroline early in the 19th century, according to Sotheby's.

Both headpieces, each part of a parure — a set of matching jewellery designed to be worn together — are set with gemstones engraved with classical heads, several of which are possibly ancient, the auction house said.

"These majestic jewels mounted with cameos and intaglios certainly evoke the style of the grand Empress Josephine — her rank as wife of Napoléon Bonaparte, her impeccable taste and her interest in the classical world," said Kristian Spofforth, of Sotheby's.

Josephine Bonaparte was likely given just the engraved gems, which Sotheby's said were a possible combination of Roman examples dating back to as early as 100 BC as well as more contemporary Italian engravings.

The auctioneers believe the jewels were then mounted for her in the French capital in around 1808 in the neo-classical style, citing marks on the crowns pointing to Paris and its famed goldsmiths of the age.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)

The architect trying to finish the Sagrada Familia after 138 years

Jordi Fauli is the seventh chief architect of Barcelona's iconic Sagrada Familia since Antoni Gaudi began work on the basilica in 1883, and he had been expected to oversee its long-awaited completion.

© LLUIS GENE Architect Jordi Fauli has been working on the Sagrada Familia for three decades -- just a fraction of 140 years it has been under construction

But the pandemic has delayed efforts to finish this towering architectural masterpiece, which has been under construction for nearly 140 years, and it is no longer clear whether Fauli will still be in charge when it is finally done

.

© LLUIS GENE "I would like to be here for many more years, of course, but that's in God's hands," says Fauli

"I would like to be here for many more years, of course, but that's in God's hands," says Fauli, 62, a wry smile on his lips.

He was just 31 when he joined the architectural team as a local in 1990 -- the same age as Gaudi when the innovative Catalan architect began building his greatest work in the late 19th century, a project that would take up four decades of his life.

 

© LLUIS GENE Building such a vast monument which draws huge numbers of visitors is not welcomed by everyone

"When I arrived, only three of these columns were built and they were only 10 metres (33 feet) high," he explains from a mezzanine in the main nave.

"I was lucky enough to design and see the construction of the entire interior, then the sacristy and now the main towers."

When finished, the ornate cathedral which was designed by Gaudi will have 18 towers, the tallest of which will reach 172 metres into the air.

The second-highest tower, which is 138 metres tall and dedicated to the Virgin Mary, will be officially inaugurated on Wednesday with the illumination of the gigantic 5.5-tonne star crowning its highest point.

It is the tallest of the nine completed towers and the first to be inaugurated since 1976.

- Construction halted by Civil War -

In 2019, the Sagrada Familia welcomed 4.7 million visitors, making it Barcelona's most visited monument.

But it was forced to close in March 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold, with its doors staying shut for almost a year.

This year, there have been barely 764,000 visitors, municipal figures show.

And as entry tickets are the main source of funding for the ongoing building works, the goal of finishing the basilica by 2026 to mark the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death -- he was run over by a tram -- has been abandoned.

"We can't give any estimate as to when it will be finished because we don't know how visitor numbers will recover in the coming years," Fauli says.

It is far from the first time Gaudi's masterpiece has faced such challenges.

During the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s, construction work stopped and many of Gaudi's design plans and models were destroyed.

For critics, this major loss means they do not view what was built later as Gaudi's work, despite the research carried out by his successors.

UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural agency, has only granted World Heritage status to the Sagrada Familia's crypt and one of its facades, both of which were built during Gaudi's lifetime.

But Fauli insists the project remains faithful to what Gaudi had planned as it is based on the meticulous study of photographs, drawings and testimony from the late Modernist architect.

- Some local opposition -

Nominated chief architect of the project in 2012, Fauli took over at the head of a team of 27 architects and more than 100 builders.

Today, there are five architects and some 16 builders working to finish the Sagrada Familia.

"It is a lot of responsibility because it's an iconic project, which many people have an opinion about," says Fauli.

Building such a vast monument which draws huge numbers of visitors is not welcomed by everyone, with some arguing that the hoards of visiting tourists are destroying the area.

Many also oppose plans to build an enormous staircase leading up to the main entrance, the construction of which will involve the demolition of several buildings, forcing hundreds to relocate.

"My life is here and they want to throw me out," says one sign on a balcony near the Sagrada Familia.

Fauli said he understands their concerns and wants to find "fair solutions" through dialogue.

And if he could ask Gaudi one question? Fauli pauses to reflect for a few moments.

"I would ask him about his underlying intentions and what feelings he wanted to communicate through his architecture," he says.

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