Canada Pension Says Loss in China’s Stock Market Muted Returns

Layan Odeh
Thu, May 19, 2022

(Bloomberg) -- Canada Pension Plan Investment Board said the selloff in stock markets, particularly in China, muted its annual returns.

The fund’s emerging-market holdings posted a loss “predominately driven by investments in China where public equity markets were negatively impacted by unanticipated regulatory reforms and a resurgence of COVID-19 cases,” according to a statement Thursday.

Turmoil in global markets during the last quarter exacerbated the pressure.

“The volatility affecting public equities during the final quarter, at levels not seen since the outset of the pandemic, muted returns achieved through the first nine months of the fiscal year,” the firm said. Investments in public equities returned 1.3% in the fiscal year ended March 31.

CPPIB earned 6.8% in fiscal 2022, pushing net assets to C$539 billion ($420.4 billion).

China’s stock market took a hit last year amid a government clamp down on technology firms, tightening regulations on real estate sector and a resurgence of Covid-19 cases. But since the beginning of 2022, global equities have been battered as well, by inflation, stricter monetary policy and the war in Ukraine. Shanghai’s stock exchange plunged more than 15% this year, while the S&P 500 has dropped 17.7% and Canada’s benchmark stock index is down 5.3%.

The decline in bond prices -- the fastest drop in more than 40 years -- also hurt returns, the fund said. CPPIB’s calendar-year return in 2021 was 13.8%.

CPPIB’s private equity investments returned 18.6%, driven by improved portfolio company earnings and outlooks in the information technology, financial and health care sectors in the U.S. and in Europe.

The pension plan continued to go deeper into private deals with acquisitions including cybersecurity company McAfee and Chinese mattress company AI Dream. CPPIB has teamed up with homebuilder Lennar Corp. to construct apartment buildings in the US.

(Updates throughout.)

Inside Nike's high-profile gender discrimination lawsuit, where plaintiffs claim unequal pay and more thanks to a 'boys' club' culture

mkish@insider.com (Matthew Kish) - 

 A "Do the right thing" sign atNike's headquarters. 

Natalie Behring/Stringer/Getty Images

Former female Nike employees sued the company over alleged gender discrimination in 2018.
The case is one of the most high-profile cases filed in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
Here's a guide to Insider's coverage of the lawsuit, which awaits a decision on class certification.

In March 2018, the Wall Street Journal first reported on allegations of a "boys' club" culture at Nike.

Two former female Nike employees filed a potential class-action lawsuit against the company over alleged gender discrimination and sexual harassment less than six months later. Nike has repeatedly said it has zero tolerance for discrimination.

Fast forward to January 2022, plaintiffs filed a motion for class certification, marking a critical stage in the lawsuit, which has become one of the most-watched corporate cases in the wake of the #MeToo movement. If successful, the case would proceed on behalf of roughly 5,000 women who have worked at Nike's headquarters since October 2017, instead of the 14 plaintiffs named currently.

The case is proceeding under a protective order, which means numerous documents remain sealed. In April, Insider, the Oregonian, and the Portland Business Journal intervened in the lawsuit in an effort to get more of the case unsealed. Nike has so far unsealed its motion against class certification and some supporting documents.

A ruling on the motion for class certification and Insider's motion to unseal the lawsuit could come as early as June.
Here's a rundown of the history of Nike's gender discrimination lawsuit:

Nike infuriated employees and helped spark a lawsuit with a 'tone-deaf' declaration about pay equity.

 Here's the leaked memo that drew so much scorn.

A catalyst of the lawsuit, Nike's top human resources official proclaimed victory on pay equity in a company-wide email in April 2017, saying women earned 99.6% of what men earned. The self-congratulatory tone of the email spurred an independent survey of pay practices that ultimately landed on the desk of then-CEO Mark Parker.

Nike is fighting to keep a massive gender-discrimination case from going forward. 3 lawyers walked us through what's at stake.

Motions for class certification are a "central moment" in such cases. Three lawyers explained the process and why companies like Nike fight so hard to defeat them.

Nike files motion to keep sensitive records in sweeping gender discrimination lawsuit sealed

In March 2022, Nike said in a legal filing it was willing to make the "overwhelming majority" of the lawsuit public, but it wanted several other records to remain sealed, including a plaintiffs' analysis of aggregate pay shortfalls and documents about three former employees who were the subject of complaints.

Nike pay and HR practices coming to light as part of lawsuit alleging gender discrimination

Nike unsealed more than 700 pages of records at the end of March that showed the company will likely argue in court that individual hiring managers make decisions about pay, therefore any disparities are isolated, not systemic.

Nike unseals internal memos and human-resource documents as it gears up to defend itself against allegations of gender discrimination

In late April, Nike also unsealed its motion against class certification. The motion, and supporting documents, give the fullest picture yet of Nike's internal response to the allegations of gender discrimination and sexual harassment.

Insider among publications working to unseal records in Nike's gender discrimination lawsuit

Insider, the Oregonian, and the Portland Business Journal have intervened in the lawsuit in an effort to get more of the case unsealed. Hundreds of court filings, including corporate records and witness testimony, remain off limits to the public. The judge is expected to rule on the motion in June.

Do you work at Nike or have insight to share? Contact reporter Matthew Kish via the encrypted messaging app Signal (+1-971-319-3830) or email (mkish@insider.com). Check out Insider's source guide for other tips on sharing information securely.
Read the original article on Business Insider

Ontario PC candidate faces heat over reported oversight of anti-LGBTQ+ church magazine

Doug Ford should condemn a Progressive Conservative candidate seeking re-election in a riding outside Hamilton, opposition party leaders said Wednesday, after a report he oversaw a youth magazine from his church that promoted homophobia and conversion therapy.

Before winning his seat representing the Brantford–Brant riding in the 2018 election, Will Bouma headed a committee of the Free Reformed Church of North America that published a magazine calling on young people to reject the “homosexual lifestyle,” according to a report from Press Progress.

That magazine espouses the church’s view imposing one acceptable form of sexual attraction, that of a man and a woman in a monogamous marriage, and suggests people become gay because they suffered drug addictions or were “love-starved” as children, the report said.

During Bouma’s time overseeing the publication, the magazine ran an interview with a pastor who is now part of an Australian church accused of having practised conversion therapy, the report said. The practice, which involves seeking to change, suppress or eradicate someone's sexual orientation or gender identity as a perceived physical or psychological dysfunction, was outlawed in Canada earlier this year.

“Doug Ford must fire Will Bouma,” the Liberals said in a statement. The leader of the Ontario Greens, Mike Schreiner, called on Ford to condemn the candidate’s role, and the NDP’s Andrea Horwath said there was never an excuse for expressing homophobia.

"You have the support of the vast majority of people in our province," Horwath said in a message to young people. "There are some who espouse these hateful beliefs, (but) just know that you are loved, that you're special, that you're respected, and that you belong. And we will always be with you."

A lack of acceptance from family and stigma imposed by other community contributes to heightened suicide risk among queer youth, research shows.

Bouma’s campaign manager did not respond to calls and email messages sent to his campaign office in Brantford, about an hour’s drive west of Hamilton. However, Bouma responded on Twitter, saying he “had no involvement in writing these articles” and that he was “a proud, loving, and supportive father” of an LGBTQ daughter.

“My views are clear, I support the rights of all of my constituents regardless of orientation,” he said.

Embedded media from twitter.com.

Ford defended the first-term MPP to reporters Wednesday, stressing Bouma was not involved in writing articles promoting homophobia and conversion therapy.

“He just doesn’t believe in that and he didn’t do it,” Ford said in Hamilton, according to the Star. “I don’t know who’s making this stuff up.”

The Free Reformed Church of North America did not respond to a request for comment.

Bouma won the seat in his riding in 2018, collecting just over 600 more votes than second-placed NDP candidate Alex Felsky.

Morgan Sharp, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

Edmonton could be headed toward housing supply shortage, real estate industry leaders warn

Madeleine Cummings

CBC

Supply chain problems, rising interest rates and more people moving to Alberta could contribute to a housing supply shortage in Edmonton, according to multiple industry leaders.


© Madeleine Cummings/CBC

Real estate leaders say supply chain delays and rising construction costs are limiting the supply of new homes and commercial buildings in Edmonton.

These trends, plus the rising cost of construction, were front and centre during multiple panel discussions at the Edmonton Real Estate Forum — a large industry conference held at the Edmonton Convention Centre — on Wednesday.

"All things are lining up for there to be a housing shortage in Edmonton in 12 months," said Rohit Gupta, president of Rohit Group of Companies.

Following a panel discussion on the multi-residential market, Gupta told CBC News that real estate developers may not be able to build houses fast enough to meet rising demand.
Supply chain snags

Multiple commercial real estate industry leaders, participating in a panel discussion on retail trends, said supply chain problems keep them up at night.

There are long lead times on mechanical items, including refrigeration, gas coolers and transformers — perhaps because of pent-up demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Jarrett Thompson, chief operating officer at Cameron Corporation.

The delays are resulting in more time-consuming and expensive commercial and residential projects, he added.

"Despite there being a market right now, a lot of the builders are pulling back, which is creating some major challenges," he said.

Among the many challenges is a lack of nails, linked to the war in Ukraine, said Gupta, of Rohit Group of Companies.

"It's everything," he said.

"At some point, we're so numb to the pain."

Few executives predict these problems will disappear any time soon.

Darren Quayle, vice president of Alberta client services for Oberfeld Snowcap, expects supply chains to get back to normal in 18 months to two years.

Population pressures

Statistics Canada data shows Alberta saw the most interprovincial migration during the last three months of 2021, marking the first time since 2015 that the province led the country in that metric.

Most of those people came from Ontario.

Gupta said most of the people moving from Ontario to Alberta have settled in Calgary, but Ontarians' interest in the Edmonton market has been accelerating.

The relative affordability of real estate in Alberta is a key part of their decisions to move, he said.

"We're seeing people [from Ontario] buying houses sight-unseen."

During Wednesday's multi-residential housing panel, Strachan Jarvis, managing partner of real estate investments for Toronto-based Hazelview Investments, pointed out that Canada welcomed a record number of immigrants last year but housing supply has not caught up.

"We simply are not building enough," he said.

KINSELLA: Jason Kenney ouster doesn't bode well for federal Conservatives

Warren Kinsella - 

Toronto Sun

© Provided by Toronto Sun

Jason Kenney meets supporters after speaking at an event at Spruce Meadows in Calgary on Wednesday, May 18, 2022.

Wither thou goest, Conservatives, in thine dark blue car at night?

Sorry to get all Jack Kerouac on y’all, but that little line from On The Road kind of fits, doesn’t it? I mean, after Conservatives committed ritual mass political suicide on Wednesday night — in the Conservative heartland, no less — it is fair for the rest of us to wonder: What the hell?

Jason Kenney — he who was Stephen Harper’s right hand, he who delivered the elusive ethnic vote and a majority, he who united the warring factions of the right and defeated the socialists — is gone. It is mindboggling.

As my colleague Brian Lilley put it to a few of us at the Sun: “Jason Kenney not being conservative enough for Alberta? The implications for the federal leadership race are huge.”

And Lilley is indisputably right. Kenney’s conservative credentials were impeccable. Nobody in Western Canada worked harder to advance the interests of Team Blue. And in Ottawa, Kenney was feared and respected — and could always be counted on to be the happy warrior for his side.

As premier, Kenney waged endless war with Liberal Justin Trudeau, or cheered on other Conservative politicians, or travelled tirelessly — just a few days ago to Washington, to advocate for Canadian energy — to push for policies that conservatives favoured.

So what happened? How can Conservatives win, as Lilley noted, if even Kenney isn’t good enough?
DUMBFOUNDED

As a member of the Alberta diaspora, I was and am dumbfounded by Kenney’s ouster. Kenney possesses a brilliant, agile political mind. He always seemed to be several steps ahead of his opponents.

And now, this, and his career is in ruins. Was it because the UCP malcontents felt he had become, in Preston Manning’s words, “Ottawashed,” and out of touch with his home province?

Was it because he was one of those politicians — like Paul Martin, say, or Al Gore — who needed a stronger, savvier boss in charge? Without Harper around, Kenney never seemed to be entirely what he had been. Or could have been.

Was it because Conservatives in Alberta have utterly lost any discipline? That they lack self-control and common sense?

INSUFFICIENTLY CONSERVATIVE?

Or was it because — as Lilley suggests — Kenney, of all people, was seen as insufficiently conservative? Was it because Kenney wasn’t right-wing enough?

If so, conservatives — federally, at least — are doomed. Kenney was a real-deal Tory. If Alberta Conservatives want someone even more to the right, they’ll perhaps get it. But they won’t get the support of most Canadian voters.

Voters, too, will be unimpressed by this latest conservative blood-letting. The federal Conservative leadership candidates were bad enough — smearing each other, calling each other liars, accusing each other of scandal and law-breaking.

But this? Jason Kenney led a majority government, and polls suggested he had a reasonable shot at re-election. To jettison him now doesn’t mean that he wasn’t good enough — it means that a lot of Alberta Conservatives have lost their minds. And their once-sterling commitment to political discipline.

Which leads us back to that first question.

Whither thou goest, Conservatives, in thine dark blue car at night?

From here, it looks like you are heading for the ditch.

WARREN KINSELLA IS A LAWYER, FORMER LIBERAL STRATEGIST,PUNK ROCKER, FORMER CALGARIAN, BLOGGER AND ZIONIST APOLOGIST 

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Residential school survivors didn't want to 'wear' decision to raise flag: documents

OTTAWA — Documents show some residential school survivors told Ottawa they didn't want to "wear" a decision to raise the Canadian flag, as the government spent months mulling how to lift the Maple Leaf from half-mast.

Hoisting the flag became a source of debate last year after it was lowered for months following the discovery of what were believed to be the remains of 215 children at the former Kamloops residential school site in British Columbia last May.

Next weekmarks the one-year anniversary of that discovery using ground-penetrating radar by the Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc First Nation.

It sent waves of grief, shock and anger through the country. As Indigenous communities reeled and more non-Indigenous Canadians joined them, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ordered the flags lowered at all federal buildings, including the one atop the Peace Tower.

By June, federal officials were trying to figure out the timing to raise the flag, reaching out to Indigenous leaders and drafting up options.

"This is the longest time in Canadian history that flags have been at half-mast," Crown-Indigenous Relations officials wrote in a briefing note released to The Canadian Press under access-to-information legislation.

How long the flag remains lowered is typically dictated by a strict set of rules. But when the federal government lowered it to honour Indigenous children who died and disappeared from the 140-year-long residential school system, the timeline for lifting it was not clear.

Ottawa was working to return the flag to full-mast ahead of Remembrance Day, documents show, which is what ultimately happened. The documents say survivors and those in the country's national Indigenous organizations saw the need to raise the flag in order for it to be lowered on Nov. 8, Indigenous Veteran's Day, and Nov. 11.

Among those consulted was the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation's survivors' circle. The group met last fall with Carolyn Bennett, the former federal Crown-Indigenous Relations minister before she was named to a new portfolio.

"Several participants mentioned that they did not want Canada to use this engagement to justify the raising of the flag to full-mast," officials said in a summary of the meeting.

"They did not want to 'wear' that decision," the summary said, adding Bennett signalled she understood and saw how not everyone agreed.

"Some said that they were not ready to see the flag go up to full-mast, others indicated that Canadians still needed to better understand why the flag was lowered."

Officials recorded differing opinions on the national symbol and how the country planned to mark the finding of more unmarked graves.

"Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami officials reinforced the critical need to honour all the lost children (more than 6,000) and to sustain public awareness of the tragedy of residential schools," the documents say.

"Officials from the Métis National Council also offered the suggestion that the flag be lowered to half-mast for a week each time a new residential school burial discovery is made."

In addition, officials said the organizations felt even though raising the flag was complicated, the issue was one that "the Canadian government will need to resolve." They also believed in the need for another "symbolic recognition at the national level" as a replacement if the flag were hoisted.

The office of the current Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister, Marc Miller, said in a statement it is working with the House of Commons, Senate Speakers’ Offices and other MPs to hoist the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation's survivors flag on Parliament Hill in June, which is Indigenous history month.

It also plans to lower the Canadian flag every Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

The Cowessess First Nation near Regina discovered 751 unmarked graves last year. Officials noted that Chief Cadmus Delorme "identified that this is a historic time for Canada" and “that with the number of residential schools, this issue will be present for years to come."

Indigenous groups also urged governments to take meaningful action on reconciliation, and not leave it at symbolic gestures, the documents show.

Chief Harvey McLeod of the Upper Nicola Indian Band in Merritt, B.C., said recently that more debate is needed about what the flag represents to Indigenous people and Canadians, as opposed to talking how long it should stay lowered or raised.

“I see being more important is us continuing to have the dialogue to correct what was implemented in that plan that was the way to implement the vision of Confederation,” he said. “It was the vision of the salvation of us savages, us Indians, to incorporate us into general society.”

“We really have to roll up our sleeves and find a way of how we can be inclusive of people like myself.”

Congress of Aboriginal Peoples National Vice-Chief Kim Beaudin said he's more concerned with justice for survivors than symbolic gestures from Ottawa.

"Quite honestly, we're not really treated as Canadians either, right? Full-(fledged) Canadian citizens in our own country," he said.

"A lot of times we're treated like foreigners."

One survivor of the Kamloops residential school said any gesture from the Canadian government on the flag is meaningful.

“Any recognition that Canada offers is good,” said Garry Gottfriedson, a 69-year-old poet who attended the institution from kindergarten to Grade 3.

"The smallest gestures are good. Any little gesture Canada can offer is a step towards healing."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 19, 2022.

— With files from Dirk Meissner in Kamloops, B.C.

Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press

COACHING IS ABUSE

'Pivotal moment:' Integrity commissioner starts process of cleaning up Canadian sport

Sarah-Eve Pelletier calls this a pivotal moment in Canadian sport.


© Provided by The Canadian Press'Pivotal moment:' Integrity commissioner starts process of cleaning up Canadian sport

The lawyer and former artistic swimmer opened shop as Canada's first sport integrity commissioner two weeks ago and, in what feels like not a moment too soon, she now faces the daunting task of trying to clean up Canadian sport amid a flurry of maltreatment complaints from hundreds of former and current athletes.

"There's an opportunity, if we act collectively," Pelletier said Wednesday. "It is the most important motivating factor in me taking on this role is that I want to be part of this important conversation. But there are so many things that need to happen so that no-one ever experiences any form of maltreatment or discrimination in sport in the future."

But Pelletier, armed with two law degrees, and what she called a positive, joyful experience in her own sport, said she relishes the challenge.

"What has been the driver of my career so far has been to be a positive agent for change in sports," she said.

The Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC), which will operate within the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC), will start receiving and addressing complaints on June 20 of violations of the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport.

There was a sense of urgency, Pelletier said, to begin operations amid what Sport Minister Pascale St-Onge has called a safe sport "crisis" in Canadian sport. More than 1,000 athletes have signed open letters to Sport Canada in recent weeks calling for independent investigations into the toxic culture in their sports.

"One of my biggest worries as I take on this role is that we can't get the results soon enough for the people who've been waiting for them," she said. "Whether we started two weeks ago, whether we started next month or whether we started in a year from now, the sense of urgency is there for us, and we want to work on addressing all matters as urgently as we can."

There's also the need, however, not to stumble out of the gate.

"Coming from an artistic sport, there's always this notion of perfection," Pelletier said. "We cannot compromise on building a trauma-informed system and as robust system as we can, that will be compassionate, and that will be efficient, and that will provide a fair process for all the parties involved."

"I don't know that we can create something perfect, but we really need to get it right."

St-Onge said there were three main asks from athletes and sport organizations that arose from recent discussions. The first was that the safe sport office be independent. Athletes have usually had to take complaints to someone within their sport, "and they didn't necessarily feel safe to do so," St-Onge told The Canadian Press in an interview Tuesday evening.

Pelletier said independence is "at the core" of the new safe sport office, and added they will largely rely on external expert resources for things like investigations to help safeguard independence. Policy creation, she said, was also informed by expertise outside of sports, such as human rights and child protection.

The second ask, St-Onge said, was for adequate funding, and she noted the $16 million earmarked in the recent federal budget to fund office operations over the next three years.

The third ask was for participation to be mandatory for all national sport organizations, and it will be a condition for federal funding. St-Onge said organizations that currently have their own safe sport mechanisms will shift over.

Pelletier's staff at OSIC currently consists of a director of investigations and a program manager who will help triage complaints, and it will expand as needed.

She said her office will have a process to handle historical claims as well. Gymnasts, boxers, and bobsled and skeleton athletes, for example, asked for independent investigations, with some of their allegations of maltreatment being several years old.

Pelletier said there was some collaboration with the United States Center for SafeSport in helping lay the groundwork in the OSIC. But she'd like to raise the bar even higher.

"Hopefully our model is best in class and . . . can be inspired and inspire other models worldwide," she said. "We want to advance this conversation, basically. We aspire to being a great example, on a worldwide basis."

St-Onge said that while the OSIC is a "very important piece of the safe sport file," it's just part of the solution.

"It is also my goal and my priority to work on the culture in sport," said St-Onge, who was appointed sport minister in October.

She also plans a review of the funding agreement with national sport organizations, to improve governance and accountability, and "all the other aspects of safe sport, to make sure that we respond properly when we're facing situations like those that were exposed in the past few months and weeks."

St-Onge also plans to work on the Canadian Sport Policy, which binds all sport organizations across Canada.

"Safe sport is definitely my priority for this new Sport Policy," she said. It's due for renewal in February of 2023.

St-Onge applauds the athletes for having the courage to come forward in recent weeks about their experiences of maltreatment.

"The positive thing that is coming out of these stories . . . is it put the conversation at the forefront of everybody's priorities," she said. "I feel like everyone understands now that what happened is unacceptable, that silence is unacceptable, that not doing anything is unacceptable. And that we need to do more.

"And, that's also about the sustainability of our sport system. Because if Canadians don't trust our sport system, parents are no longer going to send their kids to clubs and physical activity. And that's really problematic.

"We're ready to move forward and improve the Canadian sports system and my goal is to bring back joy in the sport practice."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 18, 2022.

Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press

WHEN ART BECOMES A COMMODITY FETISH

Pablo Picasso painting of muse Marie-Thérèse Walter fetches $67.5M at auction


"Femme nue couchée" is a surrealistic and abstract depiction of Pablo Picasso's lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter, in 1932. Photo courtesy of Sotheby's

May 18 (UPI) -- An abstract painting of a nude woman by Pablo Picasso has sold for $67.5 million, leading Sotheby's auction of Modern art that netted $408.5 million total.

With Tuesday night's sale, the 1932 painting, Femme nue couchée (Naked woman lying), became one of the most valuable paintings of Picasso's lover Marie-Thérèse Walter. It was sold as part of Sotheby's Modern evening auction, which also included the sale of Claude Monet's Le Grand Canal et Santa Maria della Salute for $56.6 million, a record for one of the French artist's paintings of Venice.

Picasso and Walter were in a romantic relationship from 1927 to 1935, during which time Walter served as the artist's model. He completed more than a dozen paintings featuring her likeness.

Together, they had a daughter -- Maya Widmaier-Picasso.

Femme nue couchée was among the first of a dedicated series of paintings Picasso completed of Walter in 1931 and 1932. The artwork was completed during a period when Picasso was heavily influenced by surrealism, featuring figures with twisted bodies and disorganized faces.

"A crowning achievement of painterly verve, energy and manipulation of the human form, the present work succinctly synthesizes the artist's groundbreaking achievements of the late 1920s and early 1930s into one colorful, dynamic canvas," Sotheby's said of the painting on its website.

Another six artworks by Picasso sold at Tuesday night's auction, including L'Étreinte (The Embrace), a painting of a couple in the middle of a tryst, for $14.1 million, and a sculpture titled Femme debout (Standing woman), for $2.1 million.

Other notable sales at Tuesday's auction included Paul Cézanne's Clairière (The Glade) for $42 million, Willem De Kooning's Leaves in Weehawken for $10 million and Henri Matisse's Fleurs ou Fleurs devant un portrait (Flowers or Flowers in front of a portrait) for $15.3 million.

Grand Canal painting fetches $56.6M, a record for Monet Venice work


"Le Grand Canal et Santa Maria della Salute" is one of six nearly identical paintings Claude Monet completed of this particular view of Venice's Grand Canal in 1908. Image courtesy of Sotheby's

May 17 (UPI) -- A Claude Monet painting of the Grand Canal in Italy sold at auction Tuesday for $56.6 million, the highest one of his Venice paintings has fetched, Sotheby's in New York announced.

The 1908 painting, Le Grand Canal et Santa Maria della Salute, sold as part of the auction house's Modern evening auction.

The painting is one of six artworks Monet completed of the Grand Canal and the Santa Maria della Salute, a Roman Catholic church near the waterway. All six are from nearly the exact same view and differ only in color palette depending on the time of day.

One is held by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, another by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the rest are in private hands. The identity of the buyer in Tuesday's auction has yet to be revealed.

Monet spent several weeks in Venice with his wife, Alice Hoschedé Monet, in the fall of 1908.

He completed dozens of artworks, often painting the same scenes at varying times of day, exploring how the city's waterways combined with the changing sunlight to alter the views' colors. This was a common approach to art throughout Monet's career as seen in his haystacks, cypress trees and water lilies series.

"The work stands as one of the finest paintings ever created by the artist, and the pinnacle of the series produced during the artist's Venetian sojourn," a release from Sotheby's said.

"Channeling the magic of the city on canvas, Le Grand Canal showcases a breath-taking view pure brushstrokes of color and light. As Monet continues to be recognized as one of the key progenitors of abstract art that would develop in the mid-20th century, Le Grand Canal is a pivotal work that bridges the artist's ground-breaking Impressionist innovations and their continued evolution into a more freeform abstract approach."

Other notable sales at Tuesday's auction include Paul Cézanne's Clairière (The Glade) for $42 million, Pablo Picasso's Mousquetaire à la pipe, buste (Musketeer with a pipe, bust) for $8.5 million, Willem De Kooning's Leaves in Weehawken for $10 million and Henri Matisse's Fleurs ou Fleurs devant un portrait (Flowers or Flowers in front of a portrait) for $15.3 million.

Basquiat owned by Japan's Maezawa sells for $85 mn

The Jean-Michel Basquiat artwork sold for $85 million at auction in New York 

(AFP/Tolga Akmen) 

Wed, May 18, 2022,

Jean-Michel Basquiat's "Untitled" 1982 sold for $85 million at auction in New York Wednesday, well above its pre-sale estimate and netting Japanese billionaire space tourist Yusaku Maezawa a tidy profit.

Phillips auction house sold the 16-foot-wide painting on behalf of Maezawa, who purchased it in 2016 for $57.3 million.

The auctioneers had tipped it to go for around $70 million.

Phillips announced in a statement in March that it would put the artwork under the hammer.

Maezawa, the mega-rich founder of Japan's largest online fashion mall, said in the statement that the past six years of owning the painting were "a great pleasure."

But art "should be shared so that it can be a part of everyone's lives," he added.

Ahead of its sale, the massive artwork went on an international tour, being displayed in London, Los Angeles and Taipei.

Maezawa, who in 2017 set a new auction record for Basquiat works when he paid $110.5 million for another painting by the 20th century giant, has said he plans to create a new museum to exhibit his collection.

He founded the Contemporary Art Foundation in Tokyo and was on the 2017 list of "Top 200 Collectors" by the ARTnews magazine based in New York.

He has been in the headlines more recently for becoming the first space tourist to travel to the International Space Station with Russia's space agency.

His odyssey is believed to have cost around 10 billion yen ($87 million), and he plans to follow it up with a trip around the Moon organized by Elon Musk's SpaceX.

pdh/wd

Sketch breaks Michelangelo record, selling at auction for €23 million

Issued on: 18/05/2022 

People sit during the auction of a recently rediscovered drawing by Michelangelo, the artist's first known nude, that was adjudicated 20 millions euros, at the Christie's auction house in Paris on May 18, 2022. 

© Emmanuel Dunand, AFP

Text by: NEWS WIRES

A recently rediscovered sketch by Michelangelo, the artist's first known nude, sold at auction at Christie's in Paris on Wednesday for 23 million euros ($24 million), a record for one of the Italian master's drawings.

Representing a naked man with two other background figures, the late 15th-century sketch in pen and brown ink recently resurfaced in a private French collection after more than a century.

Including the buyer's premium, the sale price far outstripped the Renaissance artist's previous record for a drawing of 9.5 million euros for "The Risen Christ" at Christie's in London in 2000 but fell short of the list price of 30 million euros.

"There are fewer than 10 drawings by Michelangelo which exist in private hands," Helene Rihal, director of Christie's ancient and 19th-century drawings department, told AFP ahead of the auction. The sketch was last put up for sale in 1907 at Paris's Hotel Drouot.

The nude, partly based on a fresco by Masaccio in the Brancacci chapel in Florence, had thus far managed to "escape the attention of specialists", according to Christie's, which has declared it to be very well preserved.

It was only in 2019 that experts identified it as the work of the Italian Renaissance genius (1475-1564) during an inventory of a private French collection.

In September that year it was declared a "national treasure of France", which prevented its exit from French territory for 30 months, while giving the French government and museums the opportunity to buy it.
No offer was forthcoming, however, and recent weeks saw the work exhibited in Hong Kong and New York to drum up interest ahead of the auction.

The sketch is the size of an A4 sheet of paper (eight by 12 inches, 21 by 30 centimetres) and closely resembles a figure in Masaccio's fresco "The Baptism of the Neophytes" (1426-27).

But "it's so much more than a copy", Christie's Old Masters expert Stijn Alsteens said on the auctioneer's website.

"Michelangelo has decided to make the figure into something that corresponded more to his aesthetic by making him much more robust and monumental, while at the same time keeping the fragility of the figure, who is exposed and shivering" as he awaits baptism, he said.

Alsteens added that the artist might have made the sketch aged around 21, on the cusp of his high-profile career.

(AFP)

Identical twins give birth on the same day at same hospital

May 18 (UPI) -- A pair of identical twins in California have something new in common after they both gave birth to baby boys at the same hospital on the same day.

Jill Justiniani and Erin Cheplak each gave birth to a 7-pound, 3-ounce baby boy at Kaiser Permanente hospital in Anaheim

Both baby boys measured 20 inches long at birth.

The twins said Justiniani has been scheduled for a C-section on May 5, and Cheplak's water broke that same day -- 10 days before she was due.

"Sharing our pregnancy together was really special because we really had the support of each other through every step of the process," Justiniani told Good Morning America. "Even just going through the day-to-day changes of pregnancy, all of the unknowns and the questions and the natural worries that come up, we were constantly able to check in with each other and support each other."

RICH WHITE BOY JUSTICE

Martin Shkreli released early from prison to halfway house


Former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli (R) smiles as he exits the courthouse with attorney Benjamin Brafman on August 2, 2017, in New York City. Shkreli was released early from his seven-year prison sentence, Brafman confirmed Wednesday.

 File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

May 18 (UPI) -- Former pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli was released from a Pennsylvania prison early Wednesday after serving part of a seven-year sentence for fraud, the federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed.

Shkreli was released to a halfway house, his lawyer confirmed in a statement to UPI, and is expected to remain in federal custody until Sept. 14.

"While in the halfway house I have encouraged Mr. Shkreli to make no further statement, nor will he or I have any additional comments at this time," Brafman said.

A jury convicted Shkreli in August 2017 on charges he ran a Ponzi scheme from 2009 to 2014 and bilked investors out of $11 million. He was found guilty on three out of the eight charges he faced after a week of deliberations, including securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud.

Prosecutors said Shkreli illegally took stock from his biotechnology firm, Retrophin Inc., and used it to pay off debts from a failed hedge fund -- which is illegal. The Retrophin board of directors later sued Shkreli and he was ousted from the company for which he served as CEO.

Shkreli was accused of fraudulently reclassifying a $900,000 equity investment as a loan from his defunct hedge fund, MSMB Capital Management, after it lost millions -- and made Retrophin pick up the tab.

Defense attorneys argued that Shkreli's investors were repaid.

Shkreli came to unrelated notoriety in 2015 after his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, hiked the price of anti-parasite medication Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per tablet. The drug is often used to treat HIV patients and others with compromised immune systems.