Tuesday, May 31, 2022

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Man in wig throws cake at glass protecting Mona Lisa

Posted: 30 May 2022 11:12 PM PDT

A MAN seemingly disguised as an old woman in a wheelchair threw a piece of cake at the glass protecting the Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum and shouted at people to think of planet Earth.The Paris prosecutor's office said Monday that the 36-year-old man was detained following Sunday's incident and sent to a police psychiatric unit. An investigation has been opened into the damage of cultural artifacts.Videos posted on social media showed a young man in a wig and lipstick who had arrived in a wheelchair. The man, whose identity was unknown, was also seen throwing roses in the museum gallery to slack-jawed guests.The cake attack left a conspicuous white creamy smear on the glass but the famous work by Leonardo da Vinci wasn't damaged.Security guards were filmed escorting the wig-wearing man away as he called out to the surprised visitors in the gallery: "Think of the Earth! There are people who are destroying the Earth! Think about it. Artists tell you: think of the Earth. That's why I did this."Guards were then filmed cleaning the cake from the glass. A Louvre statement confirmed the attack on the artwork involving a "patisserie."The 16th-century Renaissance masterpiece has seen a lot in its over-500 years in existence.The painting was stolen in 1911 by a museum employee, an event which increased the painting's international fame. It was also damaged in an acid attack perpetrated by a vandal in the 1950s, and has since been kept behind glass.In 2009, a Russian woman who was angry at not being able to get French citizenship threw a ceramic cup at it, smashing the cup but not harming the glass or the painting. (AP)

EU leaders agree on partial embargo on Russian oil

Posted: 30 May 2022 05:29 PM PDT

BRUSSELS — European Union leaders reached a compromise Monday to impose a partial oil embargo on Russia at a summit focused on helping Ukraine with a long-delayed package of sanctions that was blocked by Hungary.The watered-down embargo covers only Russian oil brought in by sea, allowing a temporary exemption for imports delivered by pipeline. EU Council President Charles Michel said the agreement covers more than two-thirds of oil imports from Russia.The new package of sanctions will also include an asset freeze and travel ban on individuals, while Russia's biggest bank, Sberbank, will be excluded from SWIFT, the major global system for financial transfers from which the EU previously banned several smaller Russian banks. Three big Russian state-owned broadcasters will be prevented from distributing their content in the EU."We want to stop Russia's war machine," Michel said, lauding what he called a "remarkable achievement.""More than ever it's important to show that we are able to be strong, that we are able to be firm, that we are able to be tough," he added.Michel said the new sanctions, which needed the support of all 27 member countries, will be legally endorsed by Wednesday.The EU had already imposed five previous rounds of sanctions on Russia over its war. It has targeted more than 1,000 people individually, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and top government officials as well as pro-Kremlin oligarchs, banks, the coal sector and more.But the sixth package of measures announced May 4 had been held up by concerns over oil supplies.The impasse embarrassed the bloc, which was forced to scale down its ambitions in a bid to get Hungary on board. When European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed the package, the initial aim was to phase out imports of crude oil within six months and refined products by the end of the year.Both Michel and von der Leyen said leaders will soon return to the issue, seeking to guarantee that Russia's pipeline oil exports to the EU are banned at a later date.Hungarian Prime minister Viktor Orban had made clear he could support the new sanctions only if his country's oil supply security was guaranteed. The landlocked country gets more than 60% of its oil from Russia and depends on crude that comes through the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline.Ursula Von der Leyen, the head of the EU's executive branch, had played down the chances of a breakthrough at the summit. But leaders reached a compromise after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged them to end "internal arguments that only prompt Russia to put more and more pressure on the whole of Europe."Von der Leyen said the punitive move will "effectively cut around 90% of oil imports from Russia to the EU by the end of the year."The EU gets about 40% of its natural gas and 25% of its oil from Russia, and divisions over the issue exposed the limits of the 27-nation trading bloc's ambitions.In his 10-minute video address, Zelenskyy told leaders to end "internal arguments that only prompt Russia to put more and more pressure on the whole of Europe."He said the sanctions package must "be agreed on, it needs to be effective, including (on) oil," so that Moscow "feels the price for what it is doing against Ukraine" and the rest of Europe. Only then, Zelenskyy said, will Russia be forced to "start seeking peace."It was not the first time he had demanded that the EU target Russia's lucrative energy sector and deprive Moscow of billions of dollars each day in supply payments.But Hungary led a group of EU countries worried over the impact of the oil ban on their economy, including Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. Hungary relies heavily on Russia for energy and can't afford to turn off the pumps. In addition to its need for Russian oil, Hungary gets 85% of its natural gas from Russia.Orban had been adamant on arriving at the summit in Brussels that a deal was not in sight, stressing that Hungary needed its energy supply secured.Von der Leyen and Michel said the commitment by Germany and Poland to phase out Russian oil by the end of the year and to forgo oil from the northern part of the Druzhba pipeline will help cut 90% of Russian oil imports.The summit also focused on continued EU financial support to Ukraine with the endorsement of a 9 billion-euro ($9.7 billion) tranche of assistance.The issue of food security will be on the table Tuesday, with the leaders set to encourage their governments to speed up work on "solidarity lanes" to help Ukraine export grain and other produce.

Crowd confronts cleric at Iran tower collapse that killed 32

Posted: 30 May 2022 03:51 PM PDT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Protesters angry over a building collapse in southwestern Iran that killed at least 32 people shouted down an emissary sent by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sparking a crackdown that saw riot police club demonstrators and fire tear gas, according to online videos analyzed on Monday.The demonstration directly challenged the Iranian government's response to the disaster a week ago as pressure rises in the Islamic Republic over rising food prices and other economic woes amid the unravelling of its nuclear deal with world powers.While the protests so far still appear to be leaderless, even Arab tribes in the region seemed to join them Sunday, raising the risk of the unrest intensifying. Already, tensions between Tehran and the West have spiked after Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard on Friday seized two Greek oil tankers seized at sea.Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari AleKasir tried to address upset mourners near the site of the 10-story Metropol Building but hundreds gathered Sunday night instead booed and shouted.Surrounded by bodyguards, the ayatollah, in his 60s, tried to continue but couldn't."What's happening?" the cleric stage-whispered to a bodyguard, who then leaned in to tell him something.The cleric then tried to address the crowd again: "My dears, please keep calm, as a sign of respect to Abadan, its martyrs and the dear (victims) the whole Iranian nation is mourning tonight."The crowd responded by shouting: "Shameless!"A live broadcast on state television of the event then cut out. Demonstrators later chanted: "I will kill; I will kill the one who killed my brother!"The Tehran-based daily newspaper Hamshahri and the semiofficial Fars news agency said the protesters attacked the platform where state TV had set up its camera, cutting off its broadcast.Police ordered the crowd not to chant slogans against the Islamic Republic and then ordered them to leave, calling their rally illegal. Video later showed officers confronting and clubbing demonstrators as clouds of tear gas rose. At least one officer fired what appeared to be a shotgun, though it wasn't clear if it was live fire or so-called "beanbag" rounds designed to stun.It wasn't immediately clear if anyone was injured or if police made any arrests.The details in the videos corresponded to known features of Abadan, located some 660 kilometers (410 miles) southwest of the capital, Tehran. Foreign-based Farsi-language television channels described tear gas and other shots being fired.Independent newsgathering remains extremely difficult in Iran. During unrest, Iran has disrupted internet and telephone communications to affected areas, while also limiting the movement of journalists inside of the country. Reporters Without Borders describes the Islamic Republic as the third-worst country in the world to be a journalist — behind only North Korea and Eritrea.Following the tower collapse in Abadan last Monday, authorities have acknowledged the building's owner and corrupt government officials had allowed construction to continue at the Metropol Building despite concerns over its shoddy workmanship. Authorities have arrested 13 people as part of a broad investigation into the disaster, including the city's mayor.Rescue teams pulled three more bodies from the rubble on Monday, bringing the death toll in the collapse to 32, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. Authorities fear more people could be trapped under the debris.The deadly collapse has raised questions about the safety of similar buildings in the country and underscored an ongoing crisis in Iranian construction projects. The collapse reminded many of the 2017 fire and collapse of the iconic Plasco building in Tehran that killed 26 people.In Tehran, the city's emergency department warned that 129 high-rise buildings in the capital remained "unsafe," based on a survey in 2017. The country's prosecutor-general, Mohammad Javad Motazeri, has promised to address the issue immediately.Abadan has also seen disasters in the past. In 1978, an intentionally set fire at Cinema Rex — just a few blocks away from the collapsed building in modern Abadan — killed hundreds. Anger over the blaze triggered unrest across Iran's oil-rich regions and helped lead to the Islamic Revolution that toppled Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.Abadan, in Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan province, is home to Iran's Arab minority, who long have complained about being treated as second-class citizens in the Persian nation. Arab separatists in the region have launched attacks on pipelines and security forces in the past. Videos and the newspaper Hamshahri noted that two tribes had come into the city to support the protests.Meanwhile, one of the two Greek tankers seized by Iran on Friday turned on its tracking devices for the first time since the incident. The oil tanker Prudent Warrior gave a satellite position Monday off Bandar Abbas, a major Iranian port, according to data from MarineTraffic.com analyzed by The Associated Press.Five armed guards were on the Prudent Warrior on Monday, though Iranian authorities were allowing the crew to use their mobile phones, said George Vakirtzis, the chief financial officer of the ship's manager Polembros Shipping."The whole thing is political and in the hands of the Greek Foreign Office and the Iranian government," Vakirtzis told the AP.Monday night, Iranian state TV aired footage of the raid on the Prudent Warrior. The video showed masked Guard troops land a helicopter on the ship, then storm the civilian ship's bridge armed with assault rifles.It remains unclear where the second ship, the Delta Poseidon, is. (AP)

WHO: Monkeypox won't turn into pandemic, but many unknowns

Posted: 30 May 2022 03:46 PM PDT

LONDON — The World Health Organization's top monkeypox expert said she doesn't expect the hundreds of cases reported to date to turn into another pandemic, but acknowledged there are still many unknowns about the disease, including how exactly it's spreading and whether the suspension of mass smallpox immunization decades ago may somehow be speeding its transmission.In a public session on Monday, WHO's Dr. Rosamund Lewis said it was critical to emphasize that the vast majority of cases being seen in dozens of countries globally are in gay, bisexual or men who have sex with men, so that scientists can further study the issue. She urged those at risk to be careful."It's very important to describe this because it appears to be an increase in a mode of transmission that may have been under-recognized in the past," said Lewis."At the moment, we are not concerned about a global pandemic," she said. "We are concerned that individuals may acquire this infection through high-risk exposure if they don't have the information they need to protect themselves."She warned that anyone is at potential risk for the disease, regardless of their sexual orientation. Other experts have pointed out that it may be accidental that the disease was first picked up in gay and bisexual men, saying it could quickly spill over into other groups if it is not curbed.Last week, WHO said 23 countries that haven't previously had monkeypox have now reported more than 250 cases. On Monday, the U.K. announced another 71 monkeypox cases.Lewis said it's unknown whether monkeypox is being transmitted by sex or just the close contact between people engaging in sexual activity and described the threat to the general population as "low."Monkeypox is known to spread when there is close physical contact with an infected person, their clothing or bedsheets.She also warned that among the current cases, there is a higher proportion of people with lesions that are more concentrated in the genital region and sometimes nearly impossible to see."You may have these lesions for two to four weeks (and) they may not be visible to others, but you may still be infectious," she said.Last week, a top adviser to WHO said the monkeypox outbreak in Europe, U.S., Israel, Australia and beyond was likely linked to sex at two recent raves in Spain and Belgium. That marks a significant departure from the disease's typical pattern of spread in central and western Africa, where people are mainly infected by animals like wild rodents and primates.Scientists haven't yet determined whether the monkeypox outbreak in rich countries can be traced to Africa, but the disease continues to sicken people on the continent.On Monday, authorities in Congo said nine people have died of monkeypox in 2022. Dr. Aime Alongo, chief of the Sankuru health division in Congo, also said 465 cases have been confirmed, making it one of the worst-hit nations in West and Central Africa.Nigerian authorities confirmed the country's first monkeypox death this year, in addition to six more cases. WHO says thousands of cases are reported from Nigeria and Congo every year.Most monkeypox patients experience only fever, body aches, chills and fatigue. People with more serious illness may develop a rash and lesions on the face and hands that can spread to other parts of the body. No deaths have been reported in the current outbreak beyond Africa.WHO's Lewis also said while previous cases of monkeypox in central and western Africa have been relatively contained, it was not clear if people could spread monkeypox without symptoms or if the disease might be airborne, like measles or Covid-19.Monkeypox is related to smallpox, but has milder symptoms. After smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980, countries suspended their mass immunization programs, a move that some experts believe may be helping monkeypox spread now, since there is now little widespread immunity to related diseases. Smallpox vaccines are also protective against monkeypox.Lewis said it was also uncertain how much immunity people who were previously vaccinated against smallpox might still have, since that was at least more than four decades ago. She said WHO's priority was to stop the current spread of monkeypox before the disease became entrenched in new regions."If we all react quickly and we all work together, we will be able to stop this," she predicted. "We will be able to stop it before it reaches more vulnerable people and before it establishes itself as a replacement for smallpox." (AP)
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