Vermeer painting 'Girl with a Flute' declared a fake by National Gallery


A painting titled Girl with a Flute, long believed to have been made by the Dutch baroque master Johannes Vermeer, has been determined to be a fake. Photo courtesy of the National Gallery of Art

Oct. 7 (UPI) -- A 17th Century painting long believed to have been made by the Dutch baroque master Johannes Vermeer has been declared a fake by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

The painting, titled Girl with a Flute, is now believed to have been made by an associate of Vermeer in his studio, challenging long-held assumptions that Vermeer worked alone.

The National Gallery announced the new findings during a press conference Friday ahead of the Saturday opening of an exhibit called Vermeer's Secrets.

The museum has since updated its gallery notes for the painting, describing it as having been made by the "studio of Johannes Vermeer."

RELATED Mondrian painting could be auctioned for more than $50 million

"Although the general character and appearance of the work relate closely to works by Vermeer, especially Girl with the Red Hat, the quality falls short of Vermeer's standards," the gallery notes now read.

"Girl with a Flute demonstrates an awareness of Vermeer's idiosyncratic painting processes -- such as the use of certain unusual pigments and the distinctive application of highlights -- but a lack of skill or experience in reproducing them."

The National Gallery noted that no surviving documents provide evidence that Vermeer maintained a studio with pupils or assistants who worked with him.

"The existence of other artists working with Johannes Vermeer is perhaps one of the most significant new findings about the artist to be discovered in decades. It fundamentally changes our understanding of Vermeer," said Kaywin Feldman, director of the National Gallery of Art.

"I am incredibly proud of the interdisciplinary team of National Gallery staff who worked together to study these paintings, building on decades of research and using advanced scientific technology to uncover exciting discoveries that add new insight to what we know about the enigmatic artist."

The new research also determined that the Girl with the Red Hat, which has long been disputed to be a true Vermeer painting, was in fact made by the artist at a "turning point" in his career.

RELATED British artist covers entire mansion in doodles

The exhibit, which runs through January 8, will also include two other Vermeer paintings - Woman Holding a Balance and A Lady Writing -- as well as two 20th-century forgeries.

F FOR FAKE (1973) ORSON WELLES

 

ICYMI

SpaceX delivers Russian, Native American women to station

By MARCIA DUNN

October 7, 2022

1 of 8

In this image from video made available by NASA, Russian Cosmonaut Anna Kikina enters the International Space Station from a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022. Kikina is the first Russian to launch from the U.S., in 20 years. (NASA via AP)


CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A Russian cosmonaut who caught a U.S. lift to the International Space Station arrived at her new home Thursday for a five-month stay, accompanied by a Japanese astronaut and two from NASA, including the first Native American woman in space.

The SpaceX capsule pulled up to the station a day after launching into orbit. The linkup occurred 260 miles (420 kilometers) above the Atlantic, just off the west coast of Africa.

It was the first time in 20 years that a Russian hitched a ride from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the result of a new agreement reached despite friction over the war in Ukraine.

Cosmonaut Anna Kikina joins two Russians already at the orbiting outpost. She’ll live and work on the Russian side until March, before returning to Earth in the same SpaceX capsule.

Riding along with Kikina: Marine Col. Nicole Mann, a member of the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes in California, Navy Capt. Josh Cassada and Japan’s Koichi Wakata, the only experienced space flier of the bunch with five missions.

As the capsule closed in, the space station residents promised the new arrivals that their bunks were ready and the outside light was on.

“You guys are the best,” replied Mann, the capsule’s commander.

Mann and her crew will replace three Americans and one Italian who will return in their own SpaceX capsule next week after almost half a year up there. Until then, 11 people will share the orbiting lab.

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio arrived two weeks ago. He launched on a Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan, kicking off the cash-free crew swapping between NASA and the Russian Space Agency. They agreed to the plan last summer in order to always have an American and Russian at the station.

Until Elon Musk’s SpaceX started launching astronauts two years ago, NASA was forced to spend tens of millions of dollars every time an astronaut flew up on a Soyuz.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

EPA moves to address pollution from leaded fuel in small airplanes

By HealthDay News

The proposed endangerment finding is considered a first step in using EPA's authority under the Clean Air Act to address this source of lead pollution. Photo by Zorandim/Shutterstock

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken a major step to curb the largest remaining source of airborne lead pollution.

The agency has proposed a so-called endangerment finding that aircraft that use leaded fuel cause or contribute to pollution that could harm public health and welfare.

A majority of aircraft that use leaded fuel are smaller piston-engine aircraft that carry two to 10 passengers. Commercial jet aircraft don't use leaded fuel.

The proposed endangerment finding is considered a first step in using EPA's authority under the Clean Air Act to address this source of lead pollution.

RELATEDInterest in electric aircraft grows as NASA nears test of X-57 Maxwell

"When it comes to our children the science is clear, exposure to lead can cause irreversible and lifelong health effects," EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in an agency news release.

"Aircraft that use leaded fuel are the dominant source of lead emissions to air in the country," he said. "Today's proposal is an important step forward as we work to reduce lead exposure and protect children's health."

The next step is seeking public notice and comment on the proposed endangerment finding. The EPA will then review those comments and issue a final finding in 2023.

The agency is not proposing aircraft engine lead emission standards with this action, but it could propose regulatory standards later.

Levels of airborne lead in the United States have declined 99% since 1980.

The EPA action is the latest in a series of moves by the U.S. federal government to curb lead pollution. The Biden Administration has moved toward safe replacement of leaded aviation gas. Earlier this year, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) joined with aviation and energy industries in announcing an initiative to transition piston-engine aircraft to unleaded fuel.

The FAA has approved the safe use of an unleaded fuel that can be used in many piston-engine aircraft as well as other fuels for specific aircraft.

Besides jet fuel, lead exposure can come from several sources, including leaded paint, tainted soil and industrial emissions from battery recycling or metals processing.

No safe blood lead level has been identified for children, who can suffer irreversible health effects from lead exposure. Low levels can affect IQ, ability to pay attention and academic achievement. Adults can experience heart problems, increased blood pressure, decreased kidney function and reproductive issues from lead exposure.

More information
The World Health Organization has more on lead poisoning.

WHAT THEY LEARNED FROM DRESDEN
Searing 'Scorched Earth' revisits American bombing campaigns in Korean War
By Thomas Maresca

Scorched Earth, a documentary by director Mi Young Lee, offers detailed accounts of the U.S. bombing campaign during the Korean War that devastated much of the peninsula. 

Scorched Earth features declassified U.S. military footage along with pilot mission reports and testimony by South Korean survivors. 

Refugees in both North and South Korea were killed by airstrikes during the 1950-53 war, which the documentary argues was the result of deliberate policies. 

Screen capture courtesy of Busan International Film Festival/Mi Young Lee

BUSAN, South Korea, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Scorched Earth, a new documentary by filmmaker Mi Young Lee, examines the U.S. campaign of mass airstrikes during the 1950-53 Korean War, a devastating aerial bombardment that leveled much of North Korea.

The film, which premiered at the Busan International Film Festival on Saturday, is based on declassified U.S. military reports from over a million aircraft sorties, archival footage and testimonies from Korean survivors.

It paints a damning picture of the scorched-earth policy that used overwhelming air superiority against not just military targets but cities, villages, industrial facilities and dams -- as well as civilians in both North and South Korea.

Director Mi Young Lee premiered Scorched Earth on Saturday at the Busan International Film Festival. Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI

Lee, a South Korean director and teacher based in Halifax, Canada, told UPI that the inspiration for this project came during the "fire and fury" period of 2017, when nuclear tensions were sky-high between the United States and North Korea.

"Friends and acquaintances in Canada asked me a question: why does North Korea hate the U.S. so much?" Lee said in an interview at the Busan festival.

"I was able to only give them very simple answers but I knew I needed to learn more about this history," she said. "I started to read Korean War history books and wanted to research more, and I ended up at the National Archives in D.C."

There she found troves of declassified material, including previously unreleased pilot mission reports that document or correlate accounts of bombings and strafing runs -- such as attacks on North Korean refugees crossing the Imjin River on Jan. 1, 1951.

"I think the U.S. government didn't know what kind of evidence was in those documents," she said. "It wasn't even organized -- just tons of papers in boxes, like finding a needle in a haystack."

The United States has never acknowledged a policy of targeting civilian populations during the Korean War. The Pentagon's 2001 investigation of a July 1950 wartime civilian massacre near the South Korean village of No Gun Ri concluded the killings were "not deliberate." (Scorched Earth starts with footage from a press conference by defense officials announcing the findings.)

In all, American planes dropped 635,000 tons of bombs on Korea -- including 32,557 tons of napalm -- more than was dropped in the entire Pacific theater of World War II. The majority of the war's victims were civilians, with as many as two million killed.

For the film, Lee pieced together the written records of the bombing campaigns with U.S. military film footage, some previously unseen, as well as newsreels and propaganda clips of the time.

She also turned to survivor accounts compiled by South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which operated from 2005-10 and conducted investigations of civilian massacres during the Korean War.

Snippets of testimony are read in voiceover by South Korean students, with gruesome recollections of victims set ablaze by napalm, rolling in the dirt and crying out for water.

There are no Ken Burns-style reenactments, on-camera interviews or historians providing context in Scorched Earth. Instead, the film weaves an impressionistic tapestry of text, graphics and voices over grainy footage and an ominous, pulsating score -- an avalanche of information that at times overwhelms the emotional impact of the narrative.

The Korean conflict is often called the "forgotten war" in the United States but Lee argues that much about it has been systematically hidden, not just by Washington but Seoul as well.

For decades after the war, South Korea stifled public claims of civilian attacks under its draconian National Security Law -- creating a culture of silence that Lee said extended to her own grandmother, who lost three children to an airstrike.

"While I was researching all these records, I remembered my family's story, where my grandmother lost all three of her children during the war," Lee said. "My family never talked about it, I just vaguely heard it when I was a kid. It motivated me even more to complete this project."

Lee said she is currently working on a second film that focuses on specific airstrikes in South Korea and incorporates contemporary interviews with survivors, some of whom attended the Busan screening on Saturday.

"The immense sacrifice of these victims has almost been forgotten," Lee said. "This history should be spoken [about]. It's been 70 years, and while the Korean War survivors are still alive I think their stories should be made public. I think they want that, too."

Scorched Earth does not yet have a commercial release date. Lee said she plans to enter it on the festival circuit in North America.

https://chindits.wordpress.com/2015/06/08/dresden-1945

The Firebombing of Dresden | Hermes' Wings - WordPress.com 

Jun 8, 2015 ... The policy of nocturnal area bombing had much to do with Bomber Command pursuing a flawed military doctrine and punishing the Germans for their ...

https://academic.oup.com/book/9859/chapter/157134577

4 Terror Bombing in the Second World War - Oxford Academic 

Arthur Harris, undoubtedly the most strident public advocate of area bombing, ... According to Mark Connelly, throughout the war the media provided the ...

https://media.defense.gov/2010/Oct/27/2001330220/-1/-1/0/davis_bombing_european.pdf
Bombing the European Axis Powers - Department of Defense
Dr. Richard G. Davis is a member of the historical staff at the ... signed to the Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command and RAF ... 40 percent firebombs.

https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/other/irrc_859_maier.pdf

Debates and silences about the aerial bombing of World War II 

ted St. Michael's Cathedral and destroyed the centre of the city, ... far heavier bomb loads, were legitimate military actions (with Dresden perhaps.

https://guaciara.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/mike-davis-how-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-incendiary-bomb1.pdf

Firebomb - O blog do Guaciara 

Firebomb. How to Stop Worrying and Love the Incendiary Bomb. By Mike Davis. MacArthur fellow Mike Davis is the author of “City of Quartz”, “Ecology of Fear” ...

DOWNLOADABLE PDF

A Forgotten Holocaust: US Bombing Strategy, the Destruction of Japanese Cities & the American Way of War from World War II to Iraq
Mark Selden 
May 2, 2007
Volume 5 | Issue 5
Article ID 2414

World War II was a landmark in the development and deployment of technologies of mass destruction associated with air power, notably the B-29 bomber, napalm and the atomic bomb. An estimated 50 to 70 million people lay dead in its wake. In a sharp reversal of the pattern of World War I and of most earlier wars, a substantial majority of the dead were noncombatants. [1] The air war, which reached peak intensity with the area bombing, including atomic bombing, of major European and Japanese cities in its final year, had a devastating impact on noncombatant populations.

What is the logic and what have been the consequences—for its victims, for subsequent global patterns of warfare and for international law—of new technologies of mass destruction and their application associated with the rise of air power and bombing technology in World War II and after? Above all, how have these experiences shaped the American way of war over six decades in which the United States has been a major actor in important wars? The issues have particular salience in an epoch whose central international discourse centers on terror and the War on Terror, one in which the terror inflicted on noncombatants by the major powers is frequently neglected.

AVAILABLE AS PDF

Thirteen killed, dozens hurt in Zaporizhzhia city missile attack, Ukraine officials say
Reuters


Shelling levels five residential buildings overnight

Nine-storey building partially destroyed

People trapped under rubble, rescue operations underway

Zelenskiy calls strikes 'merciless'

KYIV, Oct 9 (Reuters) - A Russian missile attack early on Sunday struck an apartment block and other residential buildings in Ukraine’s southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, killing at least 13 people and injuring 87 others, including 10 children, Ukrainian officials said.

The pre-dawn fusillade was the second of its kind against the city in three days. It came a day after a blast hit Russia’s road-and-rail bridge to Crimea, the key supply line for Russian forces battling to hold territory around the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson.

Russian aircraft launched at least 12 missiles into Zaporizhzhia in the latest strike, partially destroying a nine-storey apartment block, leveling five other residential buildings and damaging many more, said Oleksandr Starukh, governor of the Zaporizhzhia region.

"Twelve missiles came, all from planes," he said on state-run television.

At least 13 people died and 87 others were wounded, 60 of whom were hospitalized, regional officials said. The wounded included 10 children.

The rescue operation at the nine-storey apartment building was complicated by a fire that broke out in the rubble, Starukh said.

"We pulled people out quickly and saved eight people already, but when the fire starts then people (under the rubble) have practically no chance of surviving as there is no oxygen," he added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned the attack as "absolute evil" by people he called "savages and terrorists", vowing those responsible would be brought to justice.



10/10
A local woman from a residential building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike looks at the rescue work, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, looks at a work of rescuers in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine October 9, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer

Zaporizhzhia city, about 52 km (30 miles) from a Russian-held nuclear power plant, has been under frequent shelling in recent weeks, with 19 people killed on Thursday.

“Zaporizhzhia again. Merciless strikes on peaceful people again. On residential buildings, just in the middle of the night," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app.

Emergency workers and firefighters cordoned off the nine-storey building and dug for survivors and casualties in the smouldering rubble of a massive central section that had collapsed.

The blast wrecked cars and left torn metal window frames, balconies and air conditioners dangling from the building’s shrapnel-pitted facade.

Rescue workers carried the bodies of residents who died out through a window and laid them out on the ground under blankets and in body bags.

Most of the Zaporizhzhia region, including the nuclear plant, have been under Russian control since the early days of Russia's invasion. The capital of the region, Zaporizhzhia city, remains under Ukrainian control.

Ukraine, the United States, the European Union, and human rights organizations have accused Russia of committing war crimes since its full-scale invasion began in February, saying attacks on civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, have killed and wounded thousands of people.

Moscow denies deliberately attacking civilians during what it calls a “special military operation” to demilitarize its neighbour.

'Residents have been left shocked by the strikes in Zaporizhzhia'

Russia missile strikes in Zaporizhzhia kill 13

By Max Hunder and Jonathan Landay

1/20
Rescuers and local residents remove debris at a site of a residential area heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine October 9, 2022.

 REUTERS/Stringer


Summary

Russian missile attacks in southeastern Ukraine kill 13

Russia says rail traffic across bridge running on schedule

Bridge across Kerch Strait vital to supply Russian troops

Imposing structure is a symbol of Russia's annexation of Crimea


KYIV, Oct 9 (Reuters) - A Russian missile attack early on Sunday struck an apartment block and other residential buildings in Ukraine's southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, killing at least 13 people and wounding 87 others, including 10 children, Ukrainian officials said.

Rail services and partial road traffic meanwhile resumed a day after a powerful blast damaged a bridge linking Russia to Crimea that is a key supply route to Moscow's forces battling in southern Ukraine and an imposing symbol of its annexation of the peninsula.

Saturday's explosion on the bridge over the Kerch Strait prompted gleeful messages from Ukrainian officials but no claim of responsibility. Russia did not immediately assign blame for the blast, which images showed blew away half of a section of the bridge's roadway, with the other half still attached.

The pre-dawn fusillade in Zaporizhzhia on Sunday was the second of its kind against the city in three days.

Russian aircraft launched at least 12 missiles, partially destroying a nine-storey apartment block, levelling five other residential buildings and damaging many more, Oleksandr Starukh, governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, said on state-run television.

At least 13 people died and 87 others were wounded, 60 of whom were hospitalized, regional officials said. The wounded included 10 children.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned the attack as "absolute evil" by people he called "savages and terrorists", vowing those responsible would be brought to justice.

Zaporizhzhia city, about 52 km (30 miles) from a Russian-held nuclear power plant, has been under frequent shelling in recent weeks, with 19 people killed on Thursday.

Emergency workers and firefighters cordoned off the nine-storey building and dug for survivors and casualties in the smouldering rubble of a massive central section that had collapsed.

The blast wrecked cars and left torn metal window frames, balconies and air conditioners dangling from the building's shrapnel-pitted facade.

Most of the Zaporizhzhia region, including the nuclear plant, have been under Russian control since the early days of Russia's invasion in February. The capital of the region, Zaporizhzhia city, remains under Ukrainian control.

KERCH STRAIT

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said divers would start work on Sunday examining damage to the Crimea Bridge, with a more detailed survey above the waterline expected to be complete by day's end, domestic news agencies reported.

"The situation is manageable - it's unpleasant, but not fatal," Crimea's Russian governor, Sergei Aksyonov, told reporters. "Of course, emotions have been triggered and there is a healthy desire to seek revenge."

Russia's transport ministry said freight trains and long-distance passenger trains across the bridge were running according to schedule on Sunday. Limited road traffic resumed on Saturday around 10 hours after the blast.

"Only passenger cars will use the road section of the Crimean bridge until a special order is issued. The railway line will operate as normal. Buses of all types and heavy vehicles will be transported by ferry," Aksyonov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

It was not yet clear if Saturday's blast was a deliberate attack, but the damage to such a high-profile structure came amid battlefield defeats for Russia, and could further cloud Kremlin reassurances that the conflict is going to plan.

Aksyonov has said the peninsula had a month's worth of fuel and more than two months' worth of food. Russia's defence ministry said on Saturday its forces in southern Ukraine could be "fully supplied" through existing land and sea routes.

Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and the 19-km (12-mile) bridge linking the region to its transport network was opened with great fanfare four years later by President Vladimir Putin.

Kyiv demands that Russian forces leave the Black Sea peninsula, as well as Ukrainian territory they have seized in the invasion Putin launched in February.

The bridge is a major artery for Russian forces in southern Ukraine and for the port of Sevastopol, where the Russian Black Sea fleet is based.

Russian officials said three people were killed in the blast early on Saturday morning. On the bridge's upper level, seven fuel tanker wagons of a 59-wagon train heading for the peninsula also caught fire.

Russia's federal anti-terrorism agency said on Saturday that a freight truck blew up on the bridge's roadway. It said two spans of road bridge had partially collapsed, but that the arch spanning the channel through which ships travel between the Black Sea and Azov Sea was not damaged.

Reuters  Jonathan Landay

WorldRussian bodies, shattered vehicles mark Moscow's loss of Ukrainian town, article with video


WorldUkrainian pensioner who lost legs defies Russian occupation, article with video

Russian rockets kill 17 in Zaporizhzhia as bloggers rip Putin after Crimea bridge blast

By Adam Schrader

Ukrainian rescuers inspect debris of a missile at the site of shelling in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Sunday. At least 17 persons were killed and 49 injured. Photo by Ukraine National Police/EPA-EFE

Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Russian forces blitzed the city of Zaporizhzhia overnight, firing a barrage of missiles that killed at least 17 people, Ukrainian officials said.

Anatolii Kurtiev, the acting mayor of Zaporizhzhia, said on Telegram that at least 40 other people were injured. Five homes were destroyed and dozens of buildings were damaged, including four educational institutions.

"At this time, 17 people are known to have died. Sincere condolences to the relatives," Kurtiev said.

Kurtiev said that 35 of the 40 people injured by the rocket strikes are in moderate condition and are being treated in city hospitals.

He added that two children are also being treated and are in "light condition" while Oleksandr Starukh, the governor of the Zaporizhzhia province, said that at least six children were hospitalized after the rocket strikes.

A video shared to Twitter by the citizen media organization Ukraine Front Lines shows dozens of emergency officials and volunteers sifting through the debris and looking for survivors.

Starukh said preliminary information showed that Russia had fired at least 12 missiles on Zaporizhzhia which partially destroyed a nine-floor apartment building, sharing images of the destruction on Telegram.

"There may be people under the rubble. A rescue operation is underway at the scene. Eight people have already been rescued. The victims are provided with the necessary assistance," Starukh said.

Russia has apparently been ramping up its targeting of civilians as Moscow fights to keep a hold on the four Ukrainian provinces it illegally annexed, including Zaporizhzhia - which is home to the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.

The rocket strikes also came a day after a blast damaged the Kerch Strait Bridge, the sole bridge linking Russia to Crimea -- the Ukrainian territory previously illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 as relations between the two countries deteriorated.

It was not immediately clear if the rocket strikes on Zaporizhzhia were linked to the destruction of the bridge, but Russian war bloggers criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for not publicly commenting on the damage to the bridge and calling for revenge.

"The Russian Federation is simply hit on the cheek and spit into an obediently open mouth," one Russian blogger wrote on Telegram.

"There are no such public responses for the results of activities, because the Russian Federation is run by traitors and degenerates. Degenerates and traitors."

Another Russian war blogger wrote on Telegram that "150 million people are eager to know if the time has come for the stubborn Ukrainian boss to understand what will be the retaliatory target" after the destruction of the bridge.

"If, after today's terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge, organized by Ukrainian terrorists personally by the President of Russia, no measures and decisive responses are taken, then this will be taken as weakness of the President himself," another Russian blogger wrote on Telegram.

"The Crimean bridge is a symbol of the Putin era. The attempt on the Crimean bridge is an attempt on Putin himself. In response to this terrorist attack, not a single bridge should remain in Ukraine."

Russia's Transport Ministry told the Moscow-controlled news agency TASS that passenger and freight traffic has since resumed across the bridge to Crimea.

"Currently, the railway traffic of long-distance passenger and freight trains across the Crimean Bridge proceeds under the statutory schedule," the statement from Russia's Transport Ministry reads.

Russian officials said that the blast had killed three people and caused two lanes to collapse but a lane remains intact.

"This is a future without occupiers. Throughout our territory, in particular in Crimea," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Saturday.

"If the occupiers flee while they have a chance, this will be the best option for them. If they are forced to stay, any occupier can find a way to surrender to Ukrainian captivity."

Twitter locks Kanye West's account for antisemitic tweet following warm Elon Musk welcome

Taylor Hatmaker
Sun, October 9, 2022



Elon Musk's troubling, nascent vision for Twitter was on full display this weekend after the SpaceX and Tesla CEO strode into the center of a content moderation controversy created by Kanye West, who now goes by Ye.

West popped up on Twitter Friday night for the first time since November 2020, tweeting "Look at this Mark, How you gone kick me off instagram" with a blurry photo of himself and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg singing karaoke. The company confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Instagram indeed removed content from West's account and placed restrictions on it following repeated policy violations. While West's account was still visible on Sunday, it's likely frozen from posting new content temporarily.

West's recent Instagram posts are all screenshots of texts, and the post that broke Instagram's rules appears to have been a conversation with Sean "Diddy" Combs in which he invoked antisemitic tropes, accusing the other musician of being controlled by "the Jewish people."

Future Twitter owner Elon Musk quickly swept in to welcome West back to the platform, in spite of the troubled artist's very recent expressions of antisemitism.

West appears to have interpreted Musk's warm welcome as a green light, elaborating on his antisemitic conspiracies in a tweet only 12 hours later. "I'm a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I'm going death [sic] con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE," West tweeted on Saturday night. " … You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda."



In spite of Musk's stamp of approval, Twitter removed the tweet, which invoked anti-Jewish stereotypes often espoused by white supremacists and locked West's account "due to a violation of Twitter’s policies," a Twitter spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch.

Just before sowing chaos on Instagram and Twitter, West stirred up controversy at Paris fashion week, debuting a new line in a pop-up warehouse show that included a shirt with the phrase "White Lives Matter." The incident immediately pitted West again much of the fashion industry, which spoke out against him and defended Vogue Editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, who West attacked for criticizing his stunt as "deeply offensive, violent and dangerous."

If Elon Musk gets his way, Twitter will lose years of progress

Instagram and Twitter Restrict Kanye West’s Accounts for Antisemitic Comments


Bryan Kress
Sun, October 9, 2022 

In this article:


The post Instagram and Twitter Restrict Kanye West’s Accounts for Antisemitic Comments appeared first on Consequence.

Kanye West’s Twitter and Instagram accounts have both been restricted after the controversial artist made antisemitic comments on the platforms over the weekend.

According to Rolling Stone, sources confirmed that certain content from West’s Instagram was restricted or deleted by Meta on Friday (October 7th). The action came after the rapper posted screenshots of a text exchange with Diddy in which Ye made several antisemitic innuendos. The post was subsequently deleted and condemned by groups like the American Jewish Committee via Instagram.

West then jumped to Twitter for the first time since 2020 on Saturday, where he posted a photo of him and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg along with the caption, “Look at this Mark – How you gone kick me off instagram.” Despite a warm welcome from would-be Twitter CEO Elon Musk, West was also booted from the platform within 24 hours after responding to antisemitic outcries with an unrepentantly racist post that read: “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.” The post was removed and West’s Twitter account was locked out by Sunday morning due to “violations of Twitter’s policies.”

The social media lockout caps a week of troubling public appearances by West, who debuted a “White Lives Matter” shirt at a Yeezy show and doubled down on his decision while directing further ire at Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, Gigi Hadid, Black Lives Matter, and Jared Kushner during an interview on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight.

West’s most recent rants are sadly no surprise in this era of the once-admired artist’s embattled career. His complicated history was summarized best by Consequence’s 15th anniversary coverage in which West earned spots in retrospectives like, “How Music Has Evolved Over the Last 15 Years” and more importantly, “How Do We Reckon with Great Music by Terrible People?”

Kanye West slams Zuckerberg for Instagram restriction, earns praise from Elon Musk

By Adam Schrader

American rapper and entrepreneur Kanye West, wearing a bulletproof vest, addresses supporters during his first campaign event in the 2020 presidential election. File Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Musician Kanye West has slammed Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg after Instagram, which is owned by the social media company, restricted his account over rants on the platform that have been viewed as anti-Semitic.

"Look at this Mark. How you gone kick me off Instagram. You used to be my [expletive]," West, 45, tweeted Saturday. Hours later, he added in another tweet: "Who you think created cancel culture?"

West's Instagram account was restricted Friday night after he posted a screenshot of text messages with Sean Combs, also known as P. Diddy, stemming from his controversial "White Lives Matter" shirt at Paris Fashion Week last Monday and a feud with Tremaine Emory over comments about the late Virgil Abloh.

A Twitter spokesperson confirmed to UPI on Sunday that West has now also been locked out of his account on that platform as well.

In the since-deleted messages with Combs, Diddy asked West to "stop playing these internet games" to which West responded that he would use Combs as "an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me."

West, in a now-deleted tweet, also said after the restriction he "can't be anti-Semitic" because "Black people are actually Jew also."

"You guys have toyed with me and tried to blackball anyone whoever opposes your agenda," West said.

West, who seemingly most recently tweeted in November 2020, returned to the platform Friday after he was restricted on Instagram.

"Welcome back to Twitter, my friend!" Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla who is seeking to acquire the platform, tweeted at the rapper.

Facebook has not restricted West.

West went on a rant during an interview with right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson on his Fox News program on Thursday in which he doubled down on his "White Lives Matter" shirt, called the promotion of obesity "genocide of the Black race" and criticized his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian.

UN’s Guterres calls for international troops to intervene in Haiti

Issued on: 10/10/2022 -

Gang violence has crippled transport and hampered efforts to combat Haiti’s first outbreak of cholera since 2019. Pictured, a cholera clinic run by Doctors Without Borders in Cité Soleil, a densely populated commune of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, October 7, 2022. 

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has proposed that one or several countries send “a rapid action force” to help Haiti’s police remove a threat posed by armed gangs, according to a letter to the U.N. Security Council, seen by Reuters on Sunday.

Guterres is not suggesting that the force be deployed by the United Nations. He said the 15-member Security Council should simply welcome such a force and notes that he may boost U.N. capacity to support a ceasefire or humanitarian arrangements and ensure coordination of efforts with an international force.

Haiti last week said it would ask for a “specialized armed force” to help combat crisis caused by a blockade of its main fuel port by a coalition of gangs that has crippled transport and forced businesses and hospitals to halt operations.

The blockade has also led to a shortage of bottled water, just as the country confirmed a new outbreak of cholera, the spread of which is controlled through hygiene and clean water.

The United States said on Saturday it was reviewing Haiti’s request.

Guterres said a rapid action force “would, in particular, support the HNP (Haitian National Police) primarily in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area in securing the free movement of water, fuel, food and medical supplies from main ports and airports to communities and health care facilities.”

“To this end, the force would support the HNP’s efforts to remove the threat posed by armed gangs and provide immediate protection to critical infrastructure and services,” he wrote.

Guterres said one country would need to lead the rapid action force and that the force “would be gradually phased out as the HNP regained state control of critical infrastructure targeted by gangs and began to restore general security and freedom of movement.”

At that point Guterres said the deployment of a multi-national police task force or multi-national special force could be considered to help Haiti in the medium term. He was not suggesting that such a force would be a U.N. deployment.



Protests and looting have rocked already unstable Haiti since early September 2022, when the government announced a fuel price hike Richard Pierrin AFP/File

The Security Council had asked Guterres in July to consult with Haiti, relevant countries and regional groups on “possible options for enhanced security support” for HNP efforts to combat high levels of gang violence” and report back by Oct. 15.

The council has also threatened targeted sanctions against criminal gangs and human rights abusers in Haiti and called on countries to stop a flow of guns to the country.

A U.N. political mission in Haiti works with the government to strengthen political stability and good governance, rights protection and justice reform and to help with the holding of free and fair elections.

U.N. peacekeepers were deployed to Haiti in 2004 after a rebellion led to the ouster and exile of then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Peacekeeping troops left in 2017 and were replacing by U.N. police, who left in 2019.

(REUTERS)

Lviv Book Forum hosts international stars

In the middle of a war, Ukraine's largest literature festival welcomes some of the world's most famous authors, including Margaret Atwood and Neil Gaiman.


Canadian writer Margaret Atwood is well-known for her dystopian novel 'The Handmaid's Tale'

In spite of the ongoing war, the Lviv Book Forum will take place in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv from October 6 to 9. It is the 29th edition of Ukraine's largest literary festival.

Countless world-famous authors will be in attendance, either digitally or in person: Margaret Atwood will be talking to Ukrainian literary critic and translator Yurii Prokhasko.

British author Neil Gaiman shares a panel with Sevgil Musayeva, editor-in-chief of the online newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda and Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari, best known for his "Brief History of Humankind."

The 2021 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Tanzanian-born British novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah, will be discussing decolonization with Ukrainian author Alim Aliev.

Yurri Prokhasko works at the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences in Lviv
A history of famous guests

It is not the first time that the Lviv Book Forum hosts world-renowned international guests. As part of the Ukrainian "Publishers' Forum Lviv," the annual festival has been welcoming international authors since 2001.

Singer Patti Smith, bestselling Brazilian author Paulo Coelho and Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk have previously appeared in Lviv.

Originally, this year's festival was to be held under the motto "Future Reimagined." However, after the outbreak of war, the festival's curators decided to focus instead on the role of art in times of war, the right way to remember the past, gender equality, loss, corruption, imperialism and hope.

Liuba Tsybulska from the Ukraine Crisis Media Center will talk to international colleagues about Russian war propaganda

Giving a voice to the people of Ukraine

As a sign of international solidarity, this year's events will be livestreamed in English for a global audience in cooperation with the British Hay Festival, one of the most renowned literary festivals in the English-speaking world.

"To have a voice in the middle of war is critical and crucial," Julie Finch, managing director of the Hay Festival, told DW.

"It is about recognizing that arts and culture are crucial to Ukrainian identity and the character and DNA of the country," Finch adds. "Self-expression is extremely important to the people of Ukraine."

Yaroslav Hrytsak is a Ukrainian historian and director of the Institute for Historical Research at Lviv's Ivan Franko University

The fact that the festival is taking place at all this year is an "act of defiance" against the war, says Finch, visibly impressed by her colleagues at the Lviv Book Forum. "Part of it is about giving people hope for the future, and writing is playing a part in that."

For Sofia Cheliak, translator and curator of this year's edition of the Lviv Book Forum, the festival aims to "tell our story to the world," she said in a statement.

She equally hopes that the presence of international guests will give hope to people in the country: "We want to show our Ukrainian audience that artists from all over the world are on our side."

The Lviv Book Forum takes place from Friday 6 to Sunday 9 October in Lviv, Ukraine. All events will be broadcast in English by Hay Festival at www.hayfestival.com.


This article was originally written in German.

UN experts condemn Egypt's human rights record ahead of COP27

Egypt's mistreatment of activists may cast a shadow over the upcoming international climate change conference. A group of UN experts has said future hosts must meet strict human rights criteria.

Arrests and detentions have created a climate of fear for Egyptian civil society group, UN experts said

A group of five UN experts has expressed concern over the treatment of human rights and civil society activists by Egyptian authorities in the run-up to the COP27 summit to be held in Sharm el-Sheikh in November.

A statement released by the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights on behalf of the group on Friday said a new wave of repression was undermining the right to participate in public affairs.

"Arrests and detention, NGO asset freezes and dissolutions and travel restrictions against human rights defenders have created a climate of fear for Egyptian civil society organizations to engage visibly at the COP27," the group of UN special rapporteurs said.

What is Egypt doing to hinder activists?

The statement pointed to Egypt's record of crackdowns on civil society, including the "harassment, intimidation and reprisals" some groups have experienced after working with the UN.

The UN experts said they were concerned about a series of tools they say are being used to try and minimize the amount of participation, and criticism, from activists at the COP27 summit.

The statement cited a "lack of information and transparent accreditation criteria for Egyptian NGOs, a coordinated increase in hotel room rates," and "undue restrictions to freedom of peaceful assembly outside the COP27 venue," as well as "unjustified delays in the provision of visas to those traveling from abroad were the main concerns for civil society activists."

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Egypt is in the same league as countries such as Turkey and China when it comes to arresting journalists. Human Rights Watch estimated that some 60,000 people were being detained as political prisoners in Egypt in 2019.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry denied allegations that it was thwarting participation, saying in a statement that the process for accreditation to the conference was governed by UN rules. Cairo has pledged to respect human rights and to include more opposition voices in a national dialogue.

But Amnesty International has spurned the measures as a "shiny coverup."

Human rights body calls for new host selection criteria

"Instead of further limiting their rights, civil society actors and human rights defenders, including those working on climate rights, must be given an opportunity to raise awareness about their views and protection needs," the UN experts wrote in their statement.

"We strongly believe that COP27, organized by the United Nations, should uphold the public's right to participate in the conduct of public affairs, as recognized by Egypt," they added.

Previous summits have seen large-scale protests as activists express their interest in taking concrete steps to avoid the most disastrous levels of warming and biodiversity destruction.

The UN High Commission on Human Rights called on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which organizes the COP summits, to consider a country's human rights record when next deciding who will host future COPs.

The Associated Press material contributed to this report.

Edited by: Sean Sinico