World

The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam will return a painting by Henri Matisse, which has been part of its collection since 1941, to the heirs of its original owner, a German Jewish textile manufacturer and patron of the arts who sold it to finance his family's escape from Nazi occupation Holland . The museum announced on Tuesday it was returning the artwork, titled “Odalisque,” ​​following “binding advice” from the Dutch Restitution Commission, a government body that handles cases of artworks looted by the Nazis. The heirs described the decision as symbolic justice. "Matisse made the same journey from Berlin to Amsterdam as our grandparents," they said. "But she remained there, in the Stedelijk, with almost no recognition of her provenance for 80 years." Before World War II, Matisse's “Odalis...

Violence erupted in Kenya on Tuesday, as protesters clashed with police in the streets and stormed the country's parliament building after lawmakers passed a bill to raise taxes. Columns of thick smoke poured from the Parliament complex. Protesters furious at the tax increase foreseen by the budget law threw stones and blocked the streets. Protests have paralyzed Kenya's capital, Nairobi, and images of protesters storming parliament and entering the complex have shocked the nation. According to several civic groups, more than 30 protesters were injured and at least five killed. Protests have spread across the country to Nakuru, Mombasa, Eldoret and other urban areas. Kenya is deeply in debt and the government says it needs to raise taxes. But many Kenyans say they cannot afford the prop...

The forced conscription of ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israeli army has become a controversial issue that has the potential to fracture the ruling coalition. This order, aimed at integrating the ultra-Orthodox community into military service, has sparked heated debate within Israeli politics. The policy of conscription has long been a point of contention, as ultra-Orthodox Jews have historically been exempted from mandatory military service. This exemption is rooted in a long-standing agreement between the Israeli government and ultra-Orthodox religious leaders, who argued that their community's religious studies were of paramount importance. However, this agreement has faced growing criticism from secular and moderate factions in Israeli society, who perceive it as an unfair b...

Linked media - Related media Cease-fire talks in Cairo faltered Negotiations between Israel and Hamas stalled again, meaning more uncertainty for the families of Israeli hostages and no quick reprieve for Palestinians in Gaza. Mediators struggled to bridge the remaining gaps, and a Hamas delegation left the talks, officials said. The main dispute was over the duration of a cease-fire, with Hamas demanding a permanent one and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, expressing openness to only a temporary halt in fighting. Hamas blamed the lack of progress on Netanyahu, who has vowed to stage a ground offensive in Rafah, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, with or without an agreement. Israel and the U.S. contend that Hamas has been holding up a deal. Netanya...

Linked media - Connected media Hamas hinted at progress on a cease-fire A Hamas leader said yesterday that the group was studying Israel’s latest cease-fire proposal with a “positive spirit,” raising hopes of progress in the stalled efforts for a truce. Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s political wing, said that a delegation would travel to Cairo to discuss the cease-fire. The current deal would include a weekslong truce and the release of hostages held by Hamas and of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The proposal would also allow civilians to return to northern Gaza and would enable increased delivery of aid to the territory. The complex cease-fire negotiations have dragged on for months. This week, Israel softened some of its positions, saying that it would allow Palestinia...

Connected media - Connected media Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said on Wednesday that protests at U.S. universities against Israel’s war in Gaza were “horrific” and should be stopped, using his first public comments on the subject to castigate the student demonstrators and portray them as antisemitic.Mr. Netanyahu’s comments could harden division over the demonstrations. They could also give ammunition to Republican leaders who have criticized the protesters and accused university administrators and Democrats of failing to protect Jewish students from attack. “What’s happening in America’s college campuses is horrific,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “Antisemitic mobs have taken over leading universities. They call for the annihilation of Israel. They attack Jewish students. They ...

Connected media - Associated media Still, with Hungary finally voting for Sweden’s accession to NATO, at last the pieces are falling into place for a sharply enhanced NATO deterrent in the Baltic and North Seas, with greater protection for the frontline states of Finland, Norway and the Baltic nations, which border Russia. Once Hungary hands in a letter certifying parliamentary approval to the U.S. State Department, Sweden will become the 32nd member of NATO, and all the countries surrounding the Baltic Sea, with the exception of Russia, will be part of the alliance. “Sweden brings predictability, removing any uncertainty about how we would act in a crisis or a war,” Mr. Dalsjo said. Given Sweden’s geography, including Gotland, the island that helps controls the entrance to the Balti...

Related media - Connected media Israel denied the allegations, arguing that statements by Israeli government and military officials were taken out of context, and that its military has taken steps to preserve civilian lives. After the hearings, the Israeli government declassified a set of 30 secret orders which it said showed the effort to minimize casualties. . Just under a month after the case was filed, the court issued a series of “provisional measures,” similar to a temporary injunction, ordering Israel to refrain from genocidal acts, to prevent and punish incitement and to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. The court, which stopped short of demanding that Israel halt its military offensive, also ordered Israel to send a report within one month detailing the measures it had taken...

Connected media - Associated media Early last summer, Nicole Peterson and Thomas Duong were alarmed by their young children’s blood-lead levels in a routine screening. Within weeks, the levels had doubled. Ms. Peterson said the couple worked with the local health department as they tried to determine what could be hurting their children. We “weren’t sleeping and we’re not eating — like this is driving us crazy,” said Ms. Peterson. She and her husband are suing Dollar Tree, where they bought the applesauce, and WanaBana, a U.S. distributor led by Austrofood officers. A Dollar Tree spokeswoman said the company is committed to the safety of the products it sells. Austrofood said that it had relied on its supplier’s certification and that none of its other products have been recalled. Th...

Linked media - Related media “It is evident that people are leaving all parts of the country,” said Emir Kremic, the director general of Bosnia’s state statistics agency. But how many have gone, he said, is not known with any precision, in a large part because it is not clear how many people remain. “We just don’t know how many people there are living here,” he said. For that, he added, “We need a new census.” That, however, is not something ethnonationalist politicians, fearful of the results, want. Bosnia’s three main ethnic groups — Muslim Bosniaks, Orthodox Christian Serbs and Roman Catholic Croats — each worry about losing out in the numbers game. It took three years of wrangling after the 2013 census for the results to be released, because each group wanted to see bigger number...