Author: Ohart

Egypt reopened on Saturday an ancient library that holds thousands of centuries-old religious and historical manuscripts at the famed St. Catherine Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in South Sinai.

The inauguration ceremony, attended by Egyptian and Western officials, comes after three years of restoration work on the eastern side of the library that houses the world’s second largest collection of early codices and manuscripts, outnumbered only by the Vatican Library, according to Monk Damyanos, the monastery’s archbishop.

“The library is now open to the public and scholars,” said Tony Kazamias, an adviser to the archbishop, adding that restoration work is still underway without specifying a completion date.

​Thousands of manuscripts, scrolls, books

The ancient library holds around 3,300 manuscripts of mainly Christian texts in Greek, Arabic, Syriac, Georgian and Slavonic, among other languages. It also contains thousands of books and scrolls dating to the 4th century.

At least 160 of the manuscripts include faint scratches and ink tints beneath more recent writing, according to Kazamias, who believes the palimpsests were likely scraped out by the monastery’s monks and reused sometime between the 8th and 12th centuries.

During the library’s renovation, archaeologists apparently found some of Hippocrates’ centuries-old medical recipes. The ancient Greek physician is widely regarded as the “father of western medicine.”

“The most valuable manuscript in the library is the Codex Sinaiticus, (which) dates back to the fourth century,” said the Rev. Justin, an American monk working as the monastery’s librarian. “This is the most precious manuscript in the world,” referring to the ancient, handwritten copy of the New Testament.

The library also held some ancient paintings that are on display in the monastery’s museum.

“There are beautiful paintings in the manuscripts. When you turn the (pages) there is a flash of gold and colors. It is a living work of art,” Justin said.

​Mosaic of the Transfiguration

The officials also inaugurated the Mosaic of the Transfiguration situated in the eastern apse of the monastery’s great basilica. It mosaic covers 46 square meters and features a rich chromatic range of glass paste, glass, stone, gold and silver tesserae. Jesus Christ is depicted in its center between the prophets Elias and Moses. The sixth century mosaic was created at the behest of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, who also requested building the monastery.

St. Catherine’s, where the monastery is located, is an area revered by followers of the Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Like the Old City of Jerusalem, it has become a popular destination and an attraction not only for pilgrims but also tourists from the world over. 

The sixth century monastery, one of the oldest Christian Orthodox ones, is home to a small number of monks who observe prayers and daily rituals unchanged for centuries. Its well-preserved walls and buildings are of great significance to the studies Byzantine architecture. It’s situated at the foot of Mount Sinai, also known as Jebel Musa or Mount Horeb, where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments.
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Top entertainment and business executives have agreed to found and fund a Commission on Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace.

The new group was established at a meeting in Los Angeles convened by Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, Nike Foundation founder and co-chair Maria Eite, talent attorney Nina Shaw and venture capitalist Freada Kapor Klein. It was attended by the heads of nearly every major Hollywood studio.

The establishment of the new group follows the recent avalanche of allegations about sexual misconduct and inequality in the entertainment industry.

“The Commission will not seek just one solution, but a comprehensive strategy to address the complex and inter-related causes of the problems of parity and power,” Kennedy said in a statement.

Anita Hill has been tapped to chair the newly formed group.  She was one of the first people to introduce the public to the concept of sexual harassment when she testified in 1991 against Clarence Thomas at his Senate confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court.

“It is time to end the culture of silence,” Hill said in a statement. “I’ve been at this work for 26 years.  This moment presents us with an unprecedented opportunity to make real change.”

Hill, a Brandeis law professor who has chaired the Human Rights Committee of the International Bar Association, said the commission will focus on issues ranging from “power disparity, equity and fairness, safety, sexual harassment guidelines, education and training, reporting and enforcement, ongoing research and data collection.”

Accounts in the New York Times and the New Yorker covering the allegations from women about predatory sexual behavior on the part of film producer Harvey Weinstein seemed to have opened the door for others to follow suit with allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against a host of other media and entertainment figures that have included Charlie Rose, Matt Lauer, Louis C.K., Russell Simmons, Kevin Spacey, Garrison Keilor and Brett Ratner. Not spared were political figures, including U.S. Senator Al Franken.

The commission said in a statement it will reconvene early next year to define its mission, scope and priorities.

 
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The biggest holiday of the season is in full swing, and holiday decor provides an important background for all the festivities. Cities, public buildings and most private homes are made ornate with Christmas trees, lights, bows, menorahs, Santas and other holiday figures. Some are now preparing for New Year’s Eve as well. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports on the new decor trends that are competing with the traditional, but lights are essential during the long winter nights.
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It’s a winter wonderland near Washington this holiday season, as it has been for nine years. It’s an exhibit called ICE!, and to it took more than 2 million pounds of ice to create sculptures that fill a huge indoor park. VOA’s Eunjung Cho reports.
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On a recent Saturday, BloomBars was filled with energy. “Give me the peace sign,” announced Baba Ras D, holding up his two forefingers in the “V” that is known in the U.S. as the peace sign.

“Pass the peace, pass the peace,” he said, touching his fingers with those of some of the toddlers in his audience, before beating on his drum. “Give me the peace sign!” The toddlers beat on drums, too.

The nonprofit community arts center in Washington rocked with sound and movement, some of it rhythmical, some of it not.

“They are children who can’t say peace. They can’t say the word, but they know how to pass it,” Baba Ras D says about his audience.

His program is called Harambee, which means “all pull together” in Swahili. Baba Ras D, who has Trinidadian and Caribbean roots, created it more than 25 years ago. 

“I was not born in Africa; Africa was born in me,” he said. “You can bring unity about with one word, and that word is harambee.”

Baba Ras D, whose name means “Father of Kings and Queens,” is a former college basketball player, who holds a degree in criminal justice and worked as a juvenile corrections officer. That experience helped make him aware of the importance of early childhood development and led him to start the Harambee program. 

“That is the most important move I have ever made,” he said. “Just to see where I can fit in to be able to help dismantle the cradle-to-prison pipeline, and a way where I can also be of an impact for our future to let them study war no more.”

Growing up in a musical family, Baba Ras D learned to play a variety of instruments, including his signature drum. “The Djembe drum from West Africa is a percussion instrument that I find resonates with my heartbeat,” he said. His drum also connects with the heartbeat of his audience. “That is the power of the drum to bring us all together as one.”

Toddler ambassadors

Baba Ras D, whose given name is Darren Campbell, hopes the children will learn compassionate communications and become peace ambassadors, peacekeepers and peacemakers.

“After the series of time coming to the Harambee experience, they just don’t practice it here,” he said. “They practice at home. They practice in the community. They practice it in the neighborhood.”

Matt Dull has brought his son Max to the program for three years, and he has seen changes in Max. “Max uses Baba Ras D as a reference point in many of our everyday activities. At his day care … I think he is a good sharer. I think he learned here.”

Parents benefit, too.

“It makes me feel a lot better than when I showed up here,” said Kaydee Dahlin, who has been bringing her 4-year-old daughter, Flora, to Harambee practically since she was born. Now, she also brings 1-year-old Gustavo.

“I love the messages,” she said. “Like today when we said over and over ‘Love Is on the Rise,’ I got a tear in my eye because these days there’s a lot of bad news, and to bring our children to a place where you can sing and play music and sing ‘Love is on the Rise’ — really it’s healing.”
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Britain’s Prince Harry and his American fiancee, Meghan Markle, will marry on Saturday May 19, Kensington Palace said.

Queen Elizabeth’s grandson, fifth-in-line to the throne, and Markle, who stars in the U.S. TV legal drama “Suits”, announced their engagement last month with the marriage to take place in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

“His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales and Ms. Meghan Markle will marry on 19th May 2018,” Kensington Palace said in a statement.

The couple have chosen to marry in Windsor, west of London, because it is “a special place for them”. Harry’s 91-year-old grandmother, Elizabeth, will attend the ceremony.

Markle, 36, who attended a Catholic school as a child but identifies as a Protestant, will be baptized and confirmed into the Church of England before the wedding.

She intends to become a British citizen, though she will retain her U.S. citizenship while she goes through the process.

The Gothic St George’s Chapel is located in the grounds of Windsor Castle, which has been the family home of British kings and queens for almost 1,000 years.

Within the chapel are the tombs of ten sovereigns, including Henry VIII and his third wife Jane Seymour, and Charles I.

 
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They say young children are like sponges. They soak up information from all around them unconsciously, and build on that core foundation for the rest of their lives. Baba Ras D, a corrections-officer-turned-singer, is a firm believer in the theory. He created a program for children that inspires peace and unity in the community. And the children love him and the program. VOA’s June Soh met him at a performance in Washington.
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Walmart and a book distributor distanced themselves from Tavis Smiley on Thursday after PBS said an investigation found “troubling allegations” of sexual misconduct by the radio and TV host.

The moves came a day after PBS said it was suspending Smiley following an independent investigation by a law firm. PBS said the firm uncovered “multiple, credible allegations of conduct that is inconsistent with the values and standards of PBS.” His show’s page at PBS was scrubbed on Thursday.

Smiley has denied any wrongdoing.

Walmart, which had been a sponsor of Smiley’s talk show and an upcoming touring theatrical show, cut ties with him. “We take these issues very seriously and are troubled by the recent allegations,” the retail giant said in a statement. “As a result, we are suspending our relationship with Mr. Smiley, pending the outcome of the PBS investigation.”

Hay House, which distributes the Smiley Books imprint, said all Smiley projects were “on hold” pending an internal review. Smiley had planned in September to release Leading by Listening: Connecting through Conversation to Transform Your Relationships and Your Business.

Smiley responded to the allegations on Facebook, saying PBS “overreacted” and calling it “a rush to judgment.” He said he has never harassed anyone and claimed one relationship the network uncovered was consensual.

“If having a consensual relationship with a colleague years ago is the stuff that leads to this kind of public humiliation and personal destruction, heaven help us,” he said. “This has gone too far. And, I, for one, intend to fight back.”

PBS responded to Smiley’s accusations by saying it stands by the integrity of the investigation. “The totality of the investigation, which included Mr. Smiley, revealed a pattern of multiple relationships with subordinates over many years,” a PBS spokesperson said.

The ouster comes weeks after PBS cut ties with anchor and talk show host Charlie Rose, citing “extremely disturbing and intolerable behavior” by him toward women at his PBS talk show.

Smiley brought rare diversity to late-night TV and has drawn the ire of conservatives and liberals alike for some of his views. He has worked for six networks over a 30-year career and his radio program “The Tavis Smiley Show” was distributed by Public Radio International from 2005 to 2013. He has been with PBS for 14 seasons and some 3,000 episodes.

Upcoming projects

Smiley also has a development deal with Warner Bros. Television and was working with J.J. Abrams to turn his new book about Michael Jackson’s last days and death into a limited TV series. He also has a podcast via PodcastOne.

Smiley next month is expected to launch a nationwide 40-city tour of a theatrical production focusing on the last year of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life. Death of a King: A Live Theatrical Experience is based on Smiley’s 2014 book of the same title and was to start Jan. 15, King’s birthday.

Death of a King is being produced by Mills Entertainment, which did not respond Thursday to requests for comment. Several of the venues slated to host the show did not respond to queries about whether the show would play as scheduled. One that did, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, said: “We just learned of these allegations and at this time will reserve comment.”

Smiley also oversees the publishing imprint Smiley Books and has written more than a dozen books, including his memoir What I Know for Sure and The Covenant with Black America.

Wave of dismissals

The dismissals of Smiley and Rose at PBS follow dozens of firings and suspensions of prominent men who have been accused of sexual misconduct or harassment. The wave began this fall with allegations lodged against Harvey Weinstein and has impacted numerous high-profile TV and media figures, with Matt Lauer, Garrison Keillor, journalist Mark Halperin, NPR news chief Michael Oreskes, reporter Glenn Thrush and New Republic editor Leon Wieseltier all felled, among others.

According to Variety, the investigation found that Smiley had engaged in sexual relationships with multiple subordinates and created “a verbally abusive and threatening environment.”

Smiley in his Facebook post claims PBS “refused to provide me the names of any accusers, refused to speak to my current staff, and refused to provide me any semblance of due process to defend myself against allegations from unknown sources.”
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The publisher of The New York Times Co. is stepping down after 25 years and will be succeeded by his 37-year-old son, the Times announced Thursday.

Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. will retire as of Dec. 31 but will remain as chairman of the board of directors, the Times said. His son and current deputy publisher, Arthur Gregg Sulzberger, will take over as publisher.

“It is the greatest honor to serve The Times — and the people who make it what it is — as the next publisher,” the younger Sulzberger, known as A.G., said in a staff-wide email.

Sulzberger praised his father as “the only publisher of his generation who took the reins of a great news organization and left it even better than he found.”

A.G. Sulzberger will be the fifth generation of the Ochs-Sulzberger family to serve as publisher since Adolph Ochs, his great great-grandfather, bought the Times in 1896.

The outgoing publisher, who is 66, took over from his own father, Arthur O. Sulzberger, in 1992 and went on to preside during an era of rapid change brought on by the rise of digital media.

The Times published its first color photo in 1993 and its first web edition in 1996.

The newspaper’s 2011 move to charge online readers through a pay wall was watched closely, with some doubting consumers would pay for content they were used to getting for free. The Times now has 3.5 million subscribers, 2.5 million of them paying for digital-only content.

“It has been an extraordinary honor to serve as publisher of The New York Times and I will step down at the end of the year prouder than I have ever been of the strength, independence and integrity of this institution,” Sulzberger said in a statement.

The Times won 60 Pulitzer Prizes during Sulzberger’s leadership but weathered controversies including a 2003 plagiarism scandal involving reporter Jayson Blair and the 2014 firing of Jill Abramson, the paper’s first female executive editor.

The younger Sulzberger headed a team that produced a 2014 “innovation report” that outlined strategies for adapting to the digital era.

The Times has set a goal of bringing in at least $800 million in digital revenue by 2020, double what the company earned in 2014.

The younger Sulzberger joined the Times in 2009 after working as a reporter at the Providence Journal and the Oregonian. He worked as a New York metro reporter and later as the head of the Times’ Kansas City bureau, where he wrote about his struggle to survive as a vegetarian in a “Mecca of meat.”

After Kansas City, he became an assistant editor and was appointed deputy publisher last year.
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India has issued a rare diktat to its powerful movie moguls, reminding Bollywood to keep women safe from the sort of sex abuse allegations poisoning the U.S. film industry.

India’s minister for women and child welfare Maneka Gandhi wrote to major production houses on Wednesday, asking them to comply with the Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act, which stipulates a series of processes to protect women at work.

“Bollywood filmmakers are ethically and legally accountable for the safety of not only their direct employees but of all outsourced and temporary staff as well,” read a tweet posted by Gandhi’s ministry, quoting from her letter.

Indian firms with 10 or more employees must set up committees to look into complaints of sexual harassment and ensure that female staff know their workplace rights.

Despite such laws, activists say very few of cases of sexual harassment are reported to the police in an industry, like Hollywood, that is run by men and operates by its own rules.

Film families

The vast majority of Bollywood’s biggest producers and film-makers come from prominent film families who until recently controlled most of the high-profile and lucrative industry.

Tales of sexual harassment have begun to surface in Mumbai, home to the world’s biggest film industry, following a wave of similar accusations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

More than 50 women have claimed that Weinstein sexually harassed or assaulted them over the past three decades.

Weinstein has denied having non-consensual sex with anyone.

But Bollywood has all the same elements that make it easy for men to exploit wannabe stars eager for fame and fortune.

Thousands of young boys and girls flock to the Bollywood capital Mumbai every year seeking film parts and are often exploited by agents who promise roles in exchange for favors.

While some big Bollywood names have been charged with rape and harassment, they have rarely lost their peers’ support.

 
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PBS television suspended broadcasts of Tavis Smiley’s late-night talk show because of what it calls “troubling allegations” against him.

“The inquiry uncovered multiple credible allegations of conduct that is inconsistent with the values and standards of PBS,” a network statement said late Wednesday.

PBS did not specify the complaints against Smiley.

But the show business newspaper Variety says they include alleged sexual relations between Smiley and a number of female employees who say they believed their jobs depended on whether they had sex with him.

Variety says others described Smiley as verbally abusive and that he created a threatening work environment.

The host has not yet commented on the allegations.

Smiley’s Los Angeles-based interview series began in 2004 and airs on a number of public television stations.

He is the latest of a number of well-known celebrities who have been fired or suspended from their jobs because of allegations of sexual misconduct.

Alabama Republican Roy Moore’s loss in Tuesday’s special election to the U.S. Senate is believed to be in part because of charges that he dated and sexually molested teenage girls in the 1970s.

Two Democratic members of Congress, Senator Al Franken and Representative John Conyers, resigned last week over such charges.

A number of women have renewed charges first made last year that President Donald Trump sexually harassed them in the 1970s, leading to calls from some in Congress for an investigation or that he resign.

Sexual misconduct charges cost television hosts Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose their jobs, and actor Kevin Spacey and comedian Louis C.K. have also been accused of inappropriate behavior.
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One of the world’s rarest records has resurfaced — several vinyl copies of Prince’s “Black Album,” which the eccentric pop legend had demanded destroyed 30 years ago.

Recordmecca, a collector’s site owned by a former executive on Prince’s Warner Brothers label, on Wednesday was selling a coveted sealed vinyl copy of the album for $15,000.

The Purple Rain star, then at the height of his fame, in December 1987 sought to release music like no one had attempted before — sending it to stores completely secretly, without his name or any art on it.

Warner, with which he had legendary feuds, discouraged Prince but eventually relented and ordered the pressing of the vinyl — which has no actual title but was informally called the “Black Album” for its blank, dark cover.

But Prince soon afterward declared that he had a spiritual revelation that the album was “evil” and demanded the destruction of all copies.

Warner largely succeeded in seizing and destroying the more than 500,000 copies at their factories. But Recordmecca owner Jeff Gold, who worked with Prince at Warner, said he was recently contacted by a fellow former executive who came upon five copies.

Gold said that the executive, who requested anonymity, had been sending records to his own daughter, who had bought a first turntable amid vinyl’s rebirth.

Sifting through his collection, the executive discovered two envelopes distributed within Warner. Inside were five copies of the “Black Album.”

“For 30 years, the two mailers had sat unopened among their other boxed-up vinyl,” Gold wrote.

The former executive decided to sell three copies. Gold was offering one copy online, saying he already sold another one directly and would list the third one later.

Gold said he would attach certificates of authenticity.

Prince in late 1994 finally released the “Black Album” on limited-edition CDs and cassettes but not vinyl, making the record a holy grail for record collectors.

Prince resented Warner’s constraints and in the 1990s changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol in hopes of getting out of contractual conditions.

He finally made peace with Warner in 2014 in a deal that gave him control over his classic albums. He died two years later at his Paisley Park estate in Minnesota from an accidental overdose of painkillers.
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There was a time — in this northwest corner of Montana — when glaciers ruled the land.

Crown of the Continent

The abundance of the massive rivers of ice — and their runoff — created “a land of striking scenery.” That’s how American anthropologist, historian, naturalist and writer George Bird Grinnell described Glacier National Park, nine years before the land was set aside as a national park on May 11, 1910.

Today, there are far fewer icy behemoths. And they’re all shrinking.

“There are currently 26 glaciers in Glacier National Park,” says national parks traveler Mikah Meyer.  “I can’t remember the exact number that there were when it was founded but it was vastly higher,” he added. “The glaciers are melting and the snowfall is not restoring their size in the way that they have in past years.”

Melting glaciers

But the glaciers – both those long gone and those that still remain — have left their mark. As they started melting 10,000 years ago, they carved out majestic mountains, lush valleys, and pristine lakes.

Glacial waters are the headwaters for streams that flow west to the Pacific Ocean, south to the Gulf of Mexico, and east across the continent to Hudson’s Bay, according to the National Park Service. It emphasizes that that runoff “affects waters in a huge section of North America.”

With more than 760 lakes and nearly half a million hectares of parkland, it’s easy to see why Mikah has returned.

“Five years ago I stood on this exact same spot; at the end of the dock on Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park,” he said as he stood in front of a landscape so serene, it could have passed as a painting.

“It was one of my first experiences with the National Park Service site and I was hooked,” he admitted.

Waters from those melting glaciers also feed Iceberg Lake — another popular attraction in the park. “It is very cold and very windy and lots of little icebergs floating back there by the snow,” Mikah said as he braved the winds to capture the scene with his camera.

But despite the cold, nearby wildflowers were in full bloom, creating a pastoral setting. As Mikah walked through a field of bear grass, he said he felt like he was “in some fairytale land.”

The elegant white blossoms are a common wildflower in Glacier National Park, which this year grew in prolific numbers. They provided a perfect environment to view the local wildlife, including deer, moose, marmots and mountain goats.

Generous tour companies

Mikah got lucky when several tour companies offered him a chance to explore the park from a variety of perspectives. With Red Bus Tours, Mikah got a nice overview of the park from their vintage 1930s buses.

“It’s a massive park — it takes an hour and a half just to cross it,” he noted. “So it’s a guided tour that allows you to focus on looking at the beauty of the park instead of having to stay on these tiny mountain roads.”

Swan Mountain Outfitters donated a horseback tour for an eight-hour trek to Cracker Lake, an eye-popping turquoise body of water which is also fed by melting glacial waters.

Mikah described the scene: “You crest over this hill on the horses and you’re in the middle, surrounded by bear grass and trees and flowers and these large gray mountains in the background, and it just pops like nothing else.”

And thanks to Montana Whitewater Rafting, Mikah got to experience those glacial waters up close during a rafting tour on the Middle Fork River — a 150-kilometer river in western Montana that forms the southwestern boundary of the park.

“It was a very clear river,” Mikah said, since the water was a combination of glacier melt and snow runoff. “So you could see down through the water to the bottom, see the rocks, and the fish, so very pure, very clear water.”

Mikah was pleased to have experienced the park from the depths of the water as well as from the top of a ski lift where he could see “where it all started.”

Mikah, who’s on a mission to visit all 417 national parks in the U.S., says he hopes to come back again one day, even if the glaciers are gone.

“Even if the physical glaciers don’t still exist because they melted away, it can still be Glacier National Park because that’s what created this amazing landscape.”

Mikah invites you to follow him on his epic journey by visiting him on his website MikahMeyer.com, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
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Director Sebastian Lelio feels that A Fantastic Woman has gone beyond the cinematic experience with its social message, to a great extent thanks to the performance of its star, Daniela Vega.

The film follows Marina, a transgender woman who, after the passing of her older lover, is mistreated by his family and the police officers investigating his death. It is Chile’s selection for the Academy Awards and on Monday was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the best foreign film category.

“I am very proud of Daniela, of how she faced the challenge of a movie that not only meant an absolute leading role … that goes through an emotional spectrum, but that in addition flies, faces windstorms, sings two operatic arias. In short, it’s a polytonal role of great complexity and she … didn’t have much experience, so it was an all-or-nothing betting,” Lelio told The Associated Press in a phone interview shortly after the Globes nominations were announced.

“It was very beautiful to see how she gave herself completely and played this character with such complexity and beauty,” he added about Vega, whose performance has received Oscars buzz. If she is nominated next month, it would be the first Oscar nomination for a transgender actress.

“Somehow Daniela’s presence and the power that her body brings are the heart of the movie and it has been very nice and exciting to witness how she has become a voice not only of the movie but a sort of symbol of everything that is fragile, cornered,” said Lelio. “In some ways this is when cinema surpasses cinema and gets in the social fabric, and that is very powerful.”

​A winner in Berlin

A Fantastic Woman debuted last February at the Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Teddy Award for best feature film as well as the Silver Bear for its screenplay, written by Lelio and Gonzalo Maza. Among other honors, it has also been nominated at the Independent Spirit Awards.

Lelio is in Los Angeles filming an English version of his acclaimed 2013 film Gloria, starring Oscar-winner Julianne Moore.

“It has been very exciting to be able to revisit what’s universal in the story and see a performer as powerful as Julianne Moore playing this role,” he said.

For now, he is savoring the Globes nomination, where A Fantastic Woman will compete against Angelina Jolie’s First They Killed My Father (Cambodia), In the Fade (Germany/France), Loveless (Russia) and The Square (Sweden/Germany/France).

“It’s a joy for the team, for everyone who made this movie, to be among this select group of such powerful movies that have been selected,” the director said.

As for Vega, he said: “I spoke to her this morning and she was very happy with the news. She is already getting her dress.”
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Seven-year-old Brooklynn Prince is sitting in a darkened TV studio with lights, cameras and control panels all around her. “Mission to Mars, mission to Mars,” she says. “This is Apollo.”

 

Brooklynn, the cheerful star of “The Florida Project,” has indeed lifted off. Her performance as Moonee, a brash, trouble-making pipsqueak living with her mom (Bria Vinaite) in a low-rent Orlando motel, may be the most spirited thing of 2017. Brooklynn is the exuberant energy at the center of one the year’s most acclaimed films, and some believe she should be the youngest Oscar nominee ever. Brooklynn included.

 

“I really want to be nominated,” she says. “Even if I get close to nominated, that’s a real honor.”

 

But she’d also — maybe even more so — really like to meet Emma Watson and Elle Fanning.

“They have been my girls for years,” she says.

 

None of the year’s breakthrough performers has enjoyed their moment more than Brooklyn. She has shot a selfie with Gary Oldman, shaken hands with Adam Sandler and met Margot Robbie, whom she confirms was “super-duper nice.”

 

“I never thought I would have this chance,” Brooklynn says. “It’s this crazy little movie that’s everywhere.”

She has Instagramed, Snapchatted and tweeted her adventures, from the Cannes Film Festival to the recent Gotham Awards, by borrowing her parents’ phones. She carries pins for homeless awareness with her to give away as a way to magnify the message of “The Florida Project.”

 

“I’ve always said: It doesn’t matter how small you are or what age you are to change the world. You can get into the business anytime. I was two when I got into the business,” says Brooklynn, the veteran. “Now I know that this is really what I want. My mom and dad aren’t pushing me for this. It’s what I want. Acting is, like, my life and I want to keep doing it forever.”
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“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” won warm reviews from most critics on Tuesday, a day before the latest installment in the sci-fi saga begins hitting movie theaters worldwide in what is projected to be the biggest-grossing movie of 2017.

The Walt Disney Co. movie received four or five stars from most reviewers, along with praise for its energy and emotion. “The Last Jedi” scored a 94 percent “fresh” rating on aggregator site RottenTomatoes.com.

The film, arriving in movie theaters from Dec. 13, picks up from 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which took in more than $2 billion at the global box office to become the third-biggest-grossing movie of all time.

Written and directed by Rian Johnson, “The Last Jedi” kicks off with the Resistance fighting Supreme Leader Snoke’s First Order, which is trying to take control of the galaxy.

The movie features the final appearance of Carrie Fisher, who plays the franchise’s Princess Leia. The actress died at age 60 last December, weeks after completing filming.

Numerous critics including The Hollywood Reporter felt that at 2-1/2 hours, the movie’s run time was a little too long. But the Hollywood Reporter added, “there’s a pervasive freshness and enthusiasm to Johnson’s approach that keeps the film, and with it the franchise, alive, and that is no doubt what matters most.”

The London Times newspaper deemed it the best “Star Wars” movie yet, calling it a “film of wit and wonder, of eye-gouging visual spectacle, and one that is buttressed by entirely unexpected, and frequently devastating, emotional power.”

Entertainment Weekly said “The Last Jedi” was a “triumph with flaws,” while USA Today said it was “a stellar entry” in the “Star Wars” franchise.

The Washington Post praised the film’s “irreverent humor and worshipful love for the original text.”

Variety was among a handful of less enthusiastic reviews, calling the film “ultimately a disappointment.” CNN said “Last Jedi” felt “like a significant letdown, one that does far less than its predecessor to stoke enthusiasm for the next leg in the trilogy.”

Before the reviews were out, Boxoffice.com projected that “Last Jedi” would haul in $185 million to $215 million in North America in its first weekend, which would rank as one of the biggest film debuts in history.

Disney said in November that Johnson will oversee a new trilogy of “Star Wars” films that will not follow the Skywalker saga, which George Lucas kicked off in 1977.

 

 
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This may or may not come as a surprise: Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2017 is “feminism.”

Yes, it’s been a big year or two or 100 for the word. In 2017, look-ups for feminism increased 70 percent over 2016 on Merriam-Webster.com and spiked several times after key events, lexicographer Peter Sokolowski, the company’s editor at large, told The Associated Press ahead of Tuesday’s annual word reveal.

 

There was the Women’s March on Washington in January, along with sister demonstrations around the globe. And heading into the year was Democrat Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and references linking her to white-clad suffragettes, along with her loss to President Donald Trump, who once boasted about grabbing women.  

 

The “Me Too” movement rose out of Harvey Weinstein’s dust, and other “silence breakers” brought down rich and famous men of media, politics and the entertainment worlds.

 

Feminism has been in Merriam-Webster’s annual Top 10 for the last few years, including sharing word-of-the-year honors with other “isms” in 2015. Socialism, fascism, racism, communism, capitalism and terrorism rounded out the bunch. Surreal was the word of the year last year.

 

“The word feminism was being use in a kind of general way,” Sokolowski said by phone from the company’s headquarters in Springfield, Massachusetts. “The feminism of this big protest, but it was also used in a kind of specific way: What does it mean to be a feminist in 2017? Those kinds of questions are the kinds of things, I think, that send people to the dictionary.”

Feminism’s roots are in the Latin for “woman” and the word “female,” which dates to 14th century English. Sokolowski had to look no further than his company’s founder, Noah Webster, for the first dictionary reference, in 1841, which isn’t all that old in the history of English.

 

“It was a very new word at that time,” Sokolowski said. “His definition is not the definition that you and I would understand today. His definition was, ‘The qualities of females,’ so basically feminism to Noah Webster meant femaleness. We do see evidence that the word was used in the 19th century in a medical sense, for the physical characteristics of a developing teenager, before it was used as a political term, if you will.”

 

Webster added the word in revisions to his “An American Dictionary of the English Language.” They were his last. He died in 1843. He also added the word terrorism that year.

 

“We had no idea he was the original dictionary source of feminism. We don’t have a lot of evidence of what he was looking at,” Sokolowski said.

 

Today, Merriam-Webster defines feminism as the “theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes” and “organized activities on behalf of women’s rights and interests.”

 

Another spike for the word feminism in 2017 occurred in February, after Kellyanne Conway spoke at the Conservative Political Action Committee.

 

“It’s difficult for me to call myself a feminist in the classic sense because it seems to be very anti-male and it certainly seems to be very pro-abortion. I’m neither anti-male or pro-abortion,” she said. “There’s an individual feminism, if you will, that you make your own choices…. I look at myself as a product of my choices, not a victim of my circumstances. And to me, that’s what conservative feminism is all about.”

She was applauded, and she sent many people to their dictionaries, Sokolowski said. The company would not release actual look-up numbers.

 

Other events that drew interest to the word feminism was the popular Hulu series, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and the blockbuster movie, “Wonder Woman,” directed by a woman, Patty Jenkins, Sokolowski said.

 

Merriam-Webster had nine runners-up, in no particular order:

Complicit, competitor Dictionary.com’s word of the year.
Recuse, in reference to Jeff Sessions and the Russia investigation.
Empathy, which hung high all year.
Dotard, used by Kim Jong-un to describe Trump.
Syzygy , the nearly straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies, such as the sun, moon and earth during a solar or lunar eclipse.
Gyro, which can be pronounced three different ways, a phenom celebrated in a Jimmy Fallon sketch on “The Tonight Show.”
Federalism, which Lindsey Graham referred to in discussing the future of the Affordable Care Act.
Hurricane, which Sokolowski suspects is because people are confused about wind speed.
Gaffe, such as what happened at the Academy Awards when the wrong best picture winner was announced. That was a go-to word for the media, Sokolowski said.
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Women were shut out of the directors race at the 2018 Golden Globe nominations Monday, while Ridley Scott’s scramble to reshoot All the Money in the World led to a surprise nod for actor Christopher Plummer, who replaced Kevin Spacey.

Greta Gerwig, who made her solo directorial debut with the warmly reviewed coming-of-age tale Lady Bird, was snubbed in a category in which Scott, Guillermo del Toro, Martin McDonagh, Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg were nominated.

Patty Jenkins, who delivered box office superhero smash Wonder Woman, was also left out, along with directors Dee Rees, of Netflix Inc’s racial period drama Mudbound, and Kathryn Bigelow, of the racially charged drama Detroit.

“It’s a terrible shame, to be honest,” said McDonagh, who wrote and directed small-town drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. “I know there have been great screenplays by women recognized this year but not directing, and maybe that will change in the Oscars.”

Gerwig, 34, was nominated for best screenplay for writing Lady Bird, which also landed two acting nods for its star, Saoirse Ronan, and supporting actress, Laurie Metcalf.

Metcalf told Reuters that Gerwig’s Lady Bird set was collaborative and stress-free.

“I’m spoiled rotten,” Metcalf said. “She just made it a beautiful and personal experience for the entire cast and crew.”

Scott’s All the Money in the World received nominations for supporting actor Plummer and lead actress Michelle Williams in the drama about the 1973 kidnapping of oil heir John Paul Getty III.

Plummer replaced Spacey last month in the role of Jean Paul Getty after Spacey was cut because of multiple sexual misconduct allegations against him.

Spacey issued an apology for the first reported incident, involving actor Anthony Rapp. Reuters could not independently confirm the allegations.

Scott did last-minute reshoots to have the Sony Pictures film completed in time for its Dec. 25 release.

“I am especially proud that the beautiful performances of Michelle and Chris were celebrated today,” Scott said in an emailed statement. “Despite the unexpected challenges we encountered after shooting was completed, we were determined that audiences around the world would be able to see our film.”

Other surprises included Vietnamese-American actress Hong Chau for her breakout role in the best supporting actress race for futuristic comedy Downsizing.

Other key snubs included Amazon’s interracial romantic comedy The Big Sick, which failed to land any nominations, especially for its star Kumail Nanjiani, who wrote the film with his real-life wife on the circumstances that brought them together.
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Mary J. Blige is dancing into the Golden Globe Awards as a double nominee — for her acting and songwriting — while Mariah Carey, Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood and Nick Jonas are some of the other popular singers also nominated.

Blige earned nominations Monday for her work in the Dee Rees’ period film Mudbound. She’s up for best supporting actress in a motion picture and best original song for “Mighty River,” which she co-wrote.

“I feel so good. I’ve been thanking God all morning long. I’ve been up since my phone has been ringing,” the 46-year-old singer said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

Mudbound, released on Netflix last month, follows two neighboring families — one black, one white — on a hardscrabble farm in 1940’s Mississippi. Blige plays the role of Florence Jackson, a mother and sharecropper’s wife.

They filmed last summer in New Orleans, around the time Blige announced she was divorcing from her husband and former manager. She said she took all of the emotion from her personal life and put it into the film.

“I would come over to [my acting coach’s] house and I would be going through it. And she would say, ‘Take all of that mess and give it to Florence. Give everything to Florence.’ And I just gave Florence everything that was good, bad, vulnerable, that was strong, that was sad, that was disappointing,” she said.

Blige detailed the very public breakup and infidelity claims on her album, Strength of a Woman, released in April.

“2016 was the year that I didn’t know what the heck was going on. As women we have intuition, we don’t know exactly what’s happening, we just feel everything. I know I feel everything. And I just gave … everything I was feeling to Florence,” she added.

Blige, who grew up in New York, said trips to the South to visit her family also helped her connect to the character: “I would see my grandmother and my aunts and they were this woman Florence, so I saw this woman a lot. I think I probably have her in my DNA.”

She also said it was tough transforming from Mary J. Blige, the 9-time Grammy-winning R&B superstar, to Mary J. Blige, the actress.

“I wear a lot of wigs and weaves and things like that, but for this I had to wear my own textured hair, which I was never really wanting to do, especially without a perm,” Blige said. “And [Dee Rees] was like, ‘No, I want nappy edges. I want Florence to look like she’s a sharecropper’s wife,’ and it was a little hard disconnecting from Mary J. Blige because she’s been around for a minute. So it was hard to get rid of her. But once I got rid of her, Florence actually liberated Mary. So it was sad but beautiful at the same time.”

Blige’s two nominations are the only ones Mudbound earned Monday.

The singer shares her best original song nomination with Taura Stinson and Raphael Saadiq, the singer-songwriter-producer who has worked on hits for Solange, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu and himself.

Blige’s competition includes Carey, who is nominated for the Christmas tune “The Star,” from the animated movie of the same name.

“Listen, I’ve been a fan of Mariah Carey since Mariah Carey came out. It’s a beautiful thing to see all of your peers at the same time being blessed and nominated and recognized for our work,” Blige said.

Jonas is also up for best original song for “Home” from the animated film Ferdinand. Jonas and Carey are first-time Globe nominees; Blige was up for an award at the 2012 show for “The Living Proof” from the film, The Help.

Other best original song nominees include Oscar-winning composers. Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, the husband-and-wife songwriting duo behind “Let It Go” from Frozen, are nominated for “Remember Me” from the film Coco, while Benj Pasek and Justin Paul — who earned an Oscar this year for “City of Stars” from La La Land, are up for “This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman.

Greenwood earned a nomination for best original score for Phantom Thread. Other nominees include Hans Zimmer for Dunkirk, Alexandre Desplat for The Shape of Water, Carter Burwell for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and John Williams for The Post.

The 75th annual Golden Globes will air live on January 7, 2018.
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Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn is warning young athletes in next year’s Pyeongchang winter Olympic Games not to underestimate the older competitors.

Vonn, who won gold in the downhill skiing at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, broke a bone in her arm last year but is training hard for Pyeongchang. She missed the Olympic Games in Sochi through injury.

“I have been anxiously awaiting these Olympic for the last eight years. I have been training especially hard this summer, you know really trying to make sure I don’t miss anything from my diet to my travel and of course my workouts, my skiing, everything I have done has been in preparation for these Olympics so right now I am trying to stay healthy going in,” she said.

“So far it’s not going very well but I feel that I am saving all of my luck for February and hopefully everything will work out how it is supposed to.”

Acting as ambassador for the 2020 Youth Olympic Games, Vonn met younger athletes, aged 14 to 18, in Lausanne on Sunday.

She said that young competitors at the Olympic Games should know the older athletes knew how to handle the pressure and had more experience of the sport.

“Most of the time younger athletes, I mean I was the same, underestimate the older athletes but the one thing I have is experience. I know how to handle the pressure and I just know a lot about the sport.”

Vonn has four World Cup overall titles in addition to gold and bronze Olympic medals.

She said the Olympic spirit was very important to her and she thought it was a great experience for the young athletes to meet others from different countries and cultures. She is taking the role of ambassador for the Youth Olympic Games for the third time.

“Well I think the Olympic spirit is something very important and I wish that I had had these Olympic Games when I was growing up. I think it is a great experience for the kids to meet other kids from different countries, different cultures. There is so much learning involved with all of these Olympic Games programs and I think it is very important. So I am proud to be an ambassador and I think Lausanne 2020 is going to be amazing.”

The meeting took place in St. Moritz where luge, skeleton, bobsled and speed skating events for the Youth Games will be held.
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Simeon Booker, a trail-blazing journalist and the first full-time African-American reporter at The Washington Post, has died at the age of 99.

Booker died Sunday in Solomons, Maryland, according to a Post obituary, citing his wife Carol.

Booker served for decades as the Washington bureau chief for the African-American publications Jet weekly and Ebony monthly. He is credited with bringing to national prominence the death of Emmett Till, the 14-year old African-American boy whose brutal murder in Mississippi became a galvanizing point for the nascent civil rights movement.

Booker was born in Baltimore and raised in Youngstown, Ohio. He joined the Post in 1952, but moved on two years later to found the Washington bureau for Jet and Ebony.

In 2016, he received a career George Polk Award in journalism.
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A rare painting by Albert Namatjira, one of Australia’s most iconic Aboriginal artists, is to be sold to raise money for kidney patients in remote parts of central Australia. Indigenous people suffer kidney disease at 15 times the national average.

Albert Namatjira was a trailblazer. Born in 1902 near Alice Springs in Australia’s rugged Northern Territory, he did not start painting seriously until he was 32-years old.

His Western-inspired watercolors were a radical departure from traditional Indigenous art’s symbols and design, and he became a household name in Australia. The renowned Aboriginal artist was even featured on an Australian postage stamp in the late 1960s.

His famous painting, called “Mount Hermannsburg”, is considered to be one of the most valuable examples of his work. It has been donated by an Aboriginal group to a renal center in Alice Springs to raise money to help indigenous patients receive treatment nearer to home rather than travel hundreds of kilometers.

Sarah Brown, the head of The Purple House, the kidney unit that has been given the Namatjira painting, says it is an incredible gesture.

“So I got a phone call saying ‘hey Sarah, the Ngurratjuta [Aboriginal Corporation] board has met, we would like you to come to the Araluen Arts Center [in Alice Springs] and choose an Albert Namatjira painting.’ And I thought I am never going to have a phone call like that ever again. Central Australia is really the center of the universe for kidney failure, there is well over 350 people in Central Australia who need dialysis, which is usually hemodialysis, which is three days a week, five-hours a session,” said Brown.

Namatjira’s ‘Mount Hermannsburg’ painting is expected to fetch about $75,000 at auction.

The painter died in 1959 at the age of 57.

Australia’s Aboriginal people are by far the country’s most disadvantaged group, suffering high rates of ill health, poverty, imprisonment and unemployment. They make up about 3 per cent of Australia’s population of almost 25 million people.

 
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Carrie Fisher may have been the “madcap Auntie Mame” to Mark Hamill’s “square” homebody, but despite their differences, the Star Wars siblings got along famously right till the end.

While both skyrocketed to celebrity with their Star Wars roles in 1977 and remained inextricably linked through their on-screen family, Hamill says he missed a lot of Fisher’s life — during “the Bryan Lourd years” and when her daughter Billie Lourd was an infant. That’s why, even before Fisher’s untimely death last year, he felt especially grateful to just get to spend time with his friend during the filming of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

 

“I’d see her periodically during charity events or when there were Star Wars celebrations and so forth. But this was the first time where we could really hang and enjoy each other. Even if I wasn’t shooting, I was coming in for stunt training and this or that, hair tests, coming into her trailer and hanging out with her and [her dog] Gary,” Hamill said. “There was a comfort level we’d developed over all these years. She knew me. She knew I hadn’t really changed. She knew I wasn’t out to get something.”

Fisher was apparently beloved by all in the cast, both for who she was and what the character of Leia meant to them. Her death at age 60 came after filming had finished and deep into post-production, but presented a bit of a conundrum for the filmmakers who had anticipated Leia being part of the next film, too.

Closure comes later

The Last Jedi writer-director Rian Johnson said he ultimately didn’t end up changing anything about her role in this installment, which is the eighth in the Star Wars films about the lives and adventures of the Skywalker clan. That’ll be something J.J. Abrams will have to grapple with in Episode IX, in which Fisher was meant to have a much more prominent role.

“We’ll have to find a way to give her closure in IX, but we’ll never be able to replace her,” Hamill said.

Although no one can talk about exactly what Leia’s arc entails in The Last Jedi, out December 15, Johnson expects it will be an emotional experience.

“She is so good in it,” Johnson said. “I always think about the fans who didn’t know her in real life and grew up watching her, and it’s like they’re all going through their own type of loss. It’s really going to be emotional for people whom she means something to see this. I hope it’ll be good. I hope it’ll mean something to them.”

Many in the cast speak almost interchangeably about the feisty princess-turned-general and the unapologetic boldness of Hollywood royalty who embodied her. The women in particular recall being deeply affected by the Leia character when they were young. 

 

“I truly remember thinking ‘She’s different. She’s not like all the rest,’ ” Gwendoline Christie said of seeing Leia for the first time when she was 6 or 7 years old. “I’m thinking, ‘I want to be like her.’ ”

But it was Fisher’s extraordinary persona that was atop call cast members’ minds.

“It’s hard to do it justice, describing the life of someone. She’s so complicated,” said Adam Driver, who plays her estranged son. “It is always exciting to see someone who is not interested in conforming to any way of how you should behave. And I think she embodied that with a really great sense of irony.”

Picture of courage

Fisher made newcomer Kelly Marie Tran realize “how much courage it takes to be yourself when you’re on a public platform.”

“She was so unapologetic and openly herself,” Tran said. “She will always be an icon as Leia but also as Carrie. What an example. I am so fortunate to have met her.”

But Fisher’s famed frankness and spirit was only one part of a complex person, according to Hamill, who, after 40 years of knowing her, got to see the nuance. 

 

“As tough as she was and as venomous as her wit could be, she was really vulnerable in a way. Even though we weren’t really brother and sister, there was sort of a protectiveness I felt. I was defensive when people would criticize her, and I’d get mad at her when she was self-indulgent, which was quite a lot. But I loved her so much,” Hamill said.

“When I get mad and selfish and think, ‘Darn it, Carrie, your timing used to be perfect — why now?,’ you have to say, ‘At least we have that. We should be grateful for the time we had with her.’ And I do know one thing: She would want us to be laughing and happy, not morose and depressed over her not being around anymore.”
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The U.S. Olympic Committee on Friday said it would send a full team to compete at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in February despite mixed messages this week from the White House about whether the U.S. would participate.

U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley had said it was an “open question” as to whether the U.S. would travel to South Korea amid weapons tests by its neighbor North Korea, and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters no official decision had been made before clarifying in a tweet that the “U.S. looks forward to participating.”

“I think there was just some miscommunication there, rather than anything intended to be substantive,” USOC CEO Scott Blackmun told reporters following a board meeting in New York.

“We are going to take a team to Pyeongchang unless it’s physically impossible or legally impossible to do that,” he said. “We are 100 percent committed to our athletes on that.”

Blackmun said no Olympic sponsor or athlete had raised concerns about the safety of traveling to South Korea despite growing tensions between the U.S. and North Korea.

“We are going to be bringing a team and showing up like 100 other nations,” he said.
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New-York based Christie’s auction house said Friday that Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism was acquiring Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of Christ, “Salvator Mundi,” a painting that sold for $450.3 million.

The latest twist in a saga over the painting came after a report in the Wall Street Journal which said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MbS, was identified as the buyer of the painting in U.S. intelligence reports, according to people with direct knowledge of the information.

A Saudi official denied MbS had purchased the artwork.

“Christie’s can confirm that the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi is acquiring ‘Salvator Mundi’ by Leonardo da Vinci,” the auction house said in a statement.

“We are delighted to see that this remarkable painting will be available for public view at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.”

The painting, sold last month, become the most expensive painting ever sold. At the auction, the painting was purchased by an unidentified buyer bidding via telephone after a protracted contest of nearly 20 minutes at the auction house.

A document seen by Reuters showed that a Saudi prince was authorized to purchase the painting on behalf of the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism.

The document, dated Nov. 12, is addressed to Prince Badr bin Abdullah al Saud and thanks him for “agreeing to bid as undisclosed agent for and on behalf of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi for the artwork” at Christie’s auction on Nov. 15.

The letter authorizes the Prince to “bid up to a hammer price” of $500 million.

A UAE government official confirmed the painting belonged to the Abu Dhabi government and would be put on display at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

“We own it,” the official said.

In November, MbS ordered Saudi security forces to round up members of the political and business elite, including princes and tycoons, holding them in Riyad’s opulent Ritz Carlton hotel in what was billed as a war on rampant corruption.

“Contrary to media reports, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman did not purchase this art piece,” a Saudi official told Reuters.

“But, yes, His Royal Highness and His Highness Prince Badr Al Saud are good friends,” the official said.

The official added that the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism had subsequently asked Prince Badr to act “as an intermediary purchaser.”

The Louvre Abu Dhabi, which opened last month, said on its Twitter feed it was “looking forward to displaying the Salvator Mundi by Leonardo Da Vinci” and said the work was acquired by the Department of Culture and Tourism for the museum.

A spokeswoman for the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism confirmed the department had acquired the painting to be displayed at the Louvre, but declined to say whether it was bought by the department.

The painting, only recently rediscovered, was the last da Vinci left in private hands and fetched more than four times Christie’s pre-sale estimate of about $100 million.
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U.S. Representative John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat, is one of the country’s best known living icons of the fight for civil rights in the 1960s.

But Lewis said Thursday he will refuse to attend Saturday’s opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum if President Donald Trump will be there. 

Lewis and Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson issued a joint statement calling it an “insult” that Trump will be on hand to inaugurate the museum.

“President Trump’s disparaging comments about women, the disabled, immigrants and National Football League players” disrespect those who fought for and died for equal rights for African-Americans, their statement said.

A number of other black politicians have also said they will boycott the museum’s opening. The country’s premier civil rights group, the NAACP, called Trump’s record in enforcing civil rights “abysmal.”

Lewis marched alongside the legendary Martin Luther King Jr., was a freedom rider protesting segregation throughout the southern U.S., spent time in a brutal Mississippi prison, and was badly beaten by police during the historic Selma-to-Montgomery march in Alabama in 1965.

Lewis has been one of the president’s severest critics, questioning his legitimacy, voting for failed impeachment measures and boycotting the presidential inauguration.

Trump has been equally harsh on Lewis, describing the congressman as “all talk, talk, talk — no action or results” and disparaging his district as crime-ridden and falling apart. 

The White House says it is “unfortunate” Lewis and Thompson will not join Trump in honoring “the incredible sacrifice civil rights leaders made to right the injustices in our history.”

The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum will be dedicated Saturday in Jackson. It will feature a stark look at the often bloody struggle for civil rights in the American South from 1945 through 1976.

Exhibits include such weapons of terror and hate as a Ku Klux Klan cross and the gun used to murder activist Medgar Evers.
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