
‘Sexist' Venus bronze removed from Berlin government building
The replica of the classical sculpture of the goddess of love covering her nakedness with her hands found favour with the pilot and art thief Goering, who exhibited her in his Carinhall country estate outside Berlin for eight years.
In the dying days of the Second World War, when the SS blew up Carinhall to stop it falling into the hands of the Soviets, she was thrown into a nearby lake, along with other unwieldy art treasures amassed by the Nazi.
After 45 years in the murk of

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The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Russia restricts calls via WhatsApp and Telegram, the latest step to control the internet
Russian authorities announced Wednesday they were 'partially' restricting calls in messaging apps Telegram and WhatsApp, the latest step in an effort to tighten control over the internet. In a statement, government media and internet regulator Roskomnadzor justified the measure as necessary for fighting crime, saying that 'according to law enforcement agencies and numerous appeals from citizens, foreign messengers Telegram and WhatsApp have become the main voice services used to deceive and extort money, and to involve Russian citizens in sabotage and terrorist activities.' The regulator also alleged that 'repeated requests to take countermeasures have been ignored by the owners of the messengers.' There was no immediate comment from either platform. Russian authorities have long engaged in a deliberate and multipronged effort to rein in the internet. Over the years, they have adopted restrictive laws and banned websites and platforms that won't comply. Technology has been perfected to monitor and manipulate online traffic. While it's still possible to circumvent restrictions by using virtual private network services, those are routinely blocked, too. Authorities further restricted internet access this summer with widespread shutdowns of cellphone internet connections and by adopting a law punishing users for searching for content they deem illicit. They have also threatened to go after WhatsApp — one of the most popular platforms in the country — while rolling out a new 'national' messaging app that's widely expected to be heavily monitored. Reports that calls were being disrupted in WhatsApp and Telegram appeared in Russian media earlier this week, with users complaining about calls not going through or not being able to hear each other speak. According to Russian media monitoring service Mediascope, WhatsApp in July was the most popular platform in Russia, with over 96 million monthly users. Telegram, with more than 89 million users, came a close second. Both platforms had their run-ins with the Russian authorities in the past. The Kremlin tried to block Telegram between 2018-20 but failed. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the government blocked major social media like Facebook and Instagram, and outlawed their parent company, Meta, that also owns WhatsApp, as extremist. In July, lawmaker Anton Gorelkin said WhatsApp 'should prepare to leave the Russian market,' and a new 'national' messenger, MAX, developed by Russian social media company VK, would take its place. MAX, promoted as a one-stop shop for messaging, online government services, making payments and more, was rolled out for beta tests but has yet to attract a wide following. Over 2 million people registered by July, the Tass news agency reported. Its terms and conditions say it will share user data with authorities upon request, and a new law stipulates its preinstallation in all smartphones sold in Russia. State institutions, officials and businesses are actively encouraged to move communications and blogs to MAX.


Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Police tighten net around Britain's Wolf of Wall Street
Police are tightening the net around 'Britain's Wolf of Wall Street', who absconded while on trial for defrauding investors out of £70m in a Ponzi-style scam. An international manhunt is under way for Anthony Constantinou, a 41-year-old City boss from north London convicted of a string of fraud offences at Southwark Crown Court in June 2023. Constantinou, a convicted sex offender, fled the UK before he was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment, and has been ordered to pay back £64m or have his sentence doubled. Interpol has issued a silver notice against Constantinou, which will allow British detectives to seize any overseas assets, such as cars or properties, that he owns. He is also the subject of a red notice, giving police in any one of the organisation's 196 member countries the authority to find and arrest him. The investigation is being led by City of London Police, which handles England's most high-profile fraud investigations. Constantinou's whereabouts are unknown, but police previously thought him to be in Turkey or Dubai after he was stopped in Bulgaria with a fake Spanish passport. A death certificate filed last year stated that he died of a heart attack while in Guadalajara, Mexico, but investigators have since claimed that some of the documents contain inaccuracies. The seven-week trial heard that hundreds of investors were duped out of a total of £70m between 2013 and 2015 while Constantinou ran Capital World Markets (CWM). The company promised investors they would receive 60 per cent on what he claimed were 'risk-free' foreign exchange investments of between £50,000 and £100,000. CWM had high-profile sponsorship deals with the Honda Moto GP, Chelsea Football Club, Wigan Warriors rugby league club, Cyclone Boxing Promotions and the London Boat Show. The company paid investors some of their money back and spent the rest. Constantinou spent £2.5m on his 'no expense spared' wedding on the Greek island of Santorini in September 2014, while his son's first birthday party a few days earlier cost more than £70,000. More than £470,000 was paid for private jets to fly him and his associates to Moto GP races across Europe as well as a return flight to Nice for a €150,000 (£130,000) five-day yacht cruise around the Mediterranean to Monaco. The company paid £200,000 each quarter to rent offices in the City's Heron Tower, while nearly £600,000 was spent on just six months rent of Constantinou's large home in Hampstead, north-west London, where his luxury cars were parked in the drive. Dept Commissioner Nik Adams, of the City of London Police, said: 'This is a significant step forward in our ongoing commitment to delivering justice and compensating the many victims of Constantinou. 'We recognise the profound impact this has had on those involved, and we are actively working to ensure they receive the compensation they deserve. 'Through close partnership, working both nationally and with our international counterparts, we will now work to recover potential assets held abroad and apply to confiscate them. 'As the national lead force for fraud, we remain committed in our mission to combat financial crime, and we will continue to support those affected by it.'


The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Richard Masters: Frustration over wait for Man City case decision ‘irrelevant'
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters says any frustration he might feel over the time it is taking to reach a decision in the Manchester City case is 'irrelevant' and says he and everyone else will 'have to be patient'. The Premier League issued more than 100 charges against City in February 2023 related to alleged breaches of its financial rules and with allegedly failing to co-operate with the subsequent investigation, and referred the matter to an independent commission. City have always strenuously denied any wrongdoing. The case was heard by a commission between September and December last year but no decision has been published. The issue continues to hang over the league as the 2025-26 season gets under way this weekend, with Masters reiterating his organisation has no control or say over the timings. Asked by Sky Sports News why the league could not hurry the process along, Masters said: 'I can't answer that specific question. What I can tell you about is the system and how it works. 'I mean, it's an independent judiciary, essentially. So once the allegations, the charge has been put forward, they go before an independent panel, which is independently selected, and they are then in charge of the process and its timings. 'They hear the case, they decide the outcome, and we have no influence over that, over it or its timing. 'And that's right, if you think from an independence point of view, that there is independent people making those decisions, and we just have to be waiting. 'My frustration is irrelevant, really. I mean, I just have to wait, and legal processes rarely take less time than you anticipated, but we have to be patient.'