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Straits Times
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Spain returns artwork seized during Civil War
Ernest Urtasun, Minister of Culture, gives a speech during a ceremony held by the Spanish government returning paintings stolen during the Spanish Civil War from Pedro Rico, former mayor of Madrid, to his family, at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, May 22, 2025. REUTERS/Ana Beltran A person looks at paintings, stolen from former mayor of Madrid, Pedro Rico, during the Spanish Civil War, displayed before being returned to his family during a ceremony held by the Spanish government at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, May 22, 2025. REUTERS/Ana Beltran A person looks at paintings, stolen from former mayor of Madrid, Pedro Rico, during the Spanish Civil War, displayed before being returned to his family during a ceremony held by the Spanish government at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, May 22, 2025. REUTERS/Ana Beltran Francisca Rico, granddaughter of Pedro Rico, former Mayor of Madrid, attends a ceremony held by the Spanish government returning paintings stolen during the Spanish Civil War from Rico to his family, at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, May 22, 2025. REUTERS/Ana Beltran Ernest Urtasun, Minister of Culture, gives a speech during a ceremony held by the Spanish government returning paintings to the family of Pedro Rico, former mayor of Madrid, stolen during the Spanish Civil War, at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, May 22, 2025. REUTERS/Ana Beltran MADRID - Spain on Thursday returned paintings belonging to a former Madrid mayor that were seized for their protection during the 1936-39 Civil War and never returned under Francisco Franco's dictatorship. The seven paintings had been kept in several museums throughout Spain, including the Prado Museum in Madrid, where the handover ceremony to the family of Pedro Rico, Madrid's mayor as the Civil War broke out, took place on Thursday evening. In 2022, the Prado published a list of artworks that had been seized during the war and set up a research project to track down their legitimate owners. The government has identified more than 6,000 items, including jewellery, ceramics and textiles, as well as some paintings, sculptures and furniture, which were safeguarded during the war by Republican forces fighting Franco's Nationalists and never returned by Francoist institutions when he came to power. "It's a very important moment of justice and reparation that the Spanish government is doing for their families," said Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun. The paintings returned to Rico's family nine decades later were mainly scenes of everyday life by 19th-century artists such as Eugenio Lucas and his son Lucas Villaamil. Francisca Rico said she was very moved by the restitution of the paintings belonging to her grandfather, who was mayor between 1931-1934 and then in 1936 and who died in exile in France. "(They're ) finally doing what should have been done long ago," she said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Palestinians mark Nakba day as fears of displacement grow
Police officers stand guard in front of Pro-Palestinian demonstrators during a protest against Israel to mark the 77th anniversary of the \"Nakba\" or catastrophe, in Berlin, Germany, May 15, 2025. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt People march to commemorate Nakba day, the \"catastrophe\" of the mass dispossession of the Palestinian territory in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation, in Madrid, Spain, May 15, 2025. REUTERS/Ana Beltran A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator speaks to a Police officer during a protest against Israel to mark the 77th anniversary of the \"Nakba\" or catastrophe, in Berlin, Germany, May 15, 2025. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator holds a mock body bag at a protest against Israel to mark the 77th anniversary of the \"Nakba\" or catastrophe, in Berlin, Germany, May 15, 2025. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt Pro-Palestinian demonstrators protest against Israel to mark the 77th anniversary of the \"Nakba\" or catastrophe, in Berlin, Germany, May 15, 2025. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt GAZA/JERUSALEM - Palestinians marked Nakba day on Thursday, commemorating the loss of their land after the 1948 war at the birth of the state of Israel, as Israeli military operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank have again displaced hundreds of thousands. The Nakba, or "catastrophe", has been one of the defining experiences for Palestinians for more than 75 years, helping to shape their national identity and casting its shadow on their conflicted relationship with Israel ever since. The resonance has been amplified by the war in Gaza and the Israeli army's months-long campaign in West Bank refugee camps, where hundreds of thousands of descendants of Palestinians who lost their homes in 1948 have lived for decades. The war has destroyed large swathes of Gaza and forced most of the more than 2 million people who live there to move multiple times, clinging on in tents or bombed-out houses and other makeshift shelters. "During all the wars that there have been, there has been nothing like what happened during this war," said Badryeh Mohareb, who lived through the Nakba as a child, when her family fled their home in the seaside city of Jaffa, near Tel Aviv to come to Gaza. The May 15 Nakba day commemoration marks the start of the 1948 war, when neighbouring Arab states attacked Israel a day after the new state declared its independence following the withdrawal of British forces from what was then called Palestine. The fighting lasted for months and cost thousands of lives, with more than 700,000 Palestinians fleeing their homes or driven away from villages in what is now Israel, most into makeshift camps like the ones now occupied by the displaced of Gaza. Sitting in front of the ruins of her house in the southern city of Khan Younis, where she moved after she was married, she said two of her grandchildren had been killed and everything she had was lost. "People are destroyed," she said. Israel's campaign in Gaza, launched in retaliation for the devastating Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 has been one of the longest, and certainly the most bloody in its history, leaving much of the Gaza Strip barely habitable. Hardliners in the government, encouraged by U.S. President Donald Trump's plan for a Gaza emptied of its Palestinian population and converted into a beachside resort, have spoken openly about seizing the entire enclave. After a two-month truce, Israel resumed its operation in Gaza in March, squeezing the population into an ever-narrowing area against the coast and in the area around Khan Younis as its forces have pressed in from the border zones. According to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, 70% of Gaza is now within the no-go areas set up along the edges of the enclave or in areas under displacement orders by the military and more than 436,000 people have been displaced since March. WEST BANK In the West Bank too, Palestinians have been facing growing pressure as Israeli settler violence and the military operations in northern cities like Jenin and Tulkarm have forced tens of thousands from their homes. "I only took two outfits with me, hoping that it would last for two, three or four days," said Mustafa Abu Awwad, an 88-year-old Palestinian, as he described his hurried departure from the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarm in January. "I move from one area to another... every week or 10 days we move from place to another." The military moved into the area in January, in a large-scale operation it said was aimed at rooting out militant groups that had become entrenched in refugee camps that have developed into crowded urban townships. The military has remained ever since, in the longest operation the West Bank has seen since the second Intifada uprising two decades ago, systematically destroying houses, roads and infrastructure. According to United Nations figures more than 40,000 people in the West Bank have been displaced since the start of the operation, a situation OCHA says could amount to forcible transfer, defined as a crime against humanity by the International Criminal Court. Stripped of their inhabitants, the camps in Jenin and Tulkarm have been reduced to ghost towns with no functioning power, water or other infrastructure, making it increasingly difficult for anyone to return. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Star
13-05-2025
- Sport
- The Star
Soccer-Vinicius, Vazquez add to Real's injury woes
FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - LaLiga - Real Madrid Celebrate Winning LaLiga - Cibeles Fountain, Madrid, Spain - May 12, 2024 Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr waves to the fans during the celebration REUTERS/Ana Beltran/ File Photo (Reuters) - Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr and defender Lucas Vazquez could miss some time in the title run-in after picking up injuries following Sunday's 4-3 loss to Barcelona, the club said. Vinicius, who has scored 11 goals and provided seven assists in the league this season, has a left ankle sprain while Vazquez has a thigh muscle injury, Real said in a statement on Monday. The news comes after the defeat by Barcelona at the weekend left Real seven points behind the leaders in the LaLiga title race with just three matches left. The club did not provide a timeline for the players' return. Real are already without a number of first-team players due to injury including Daniel Carvajal, Eder Militao, Eduardo Camavinga, Antonio Rudiger, Ferland Mendy and David Alaba. Real, who will play in the Club World Cup next month, host Mallorca on Wednesday. (Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
Egypt Today
14-02-2025
- Business
- Egypt Today
Real Madrid close in on Vinicius contract extension amid Saudi interest
Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr waves to the fans during the celebration REUTERS/Ana Beltran/File Photo (Reuters) - Real Madrid are close to agreeing a contract extension with Vinicius Jr after discussions began in January amid interest from Saudi Arabia to sign FIFA's Player of the Year to a record-breaking deal, multiple sources told Reuters on Thursday. Despite the Brazil forward's current contract running to the end of the 2026-27 season, the Spanish champions contacted the player's agents last month to rework his deal and put an end to the Saudi interest that has rumbled on for over a year. A source close to Vinicius Jr said that, despite multiple contacts from Saudi Arabia showing interest over a possible move to Al Ahli, a formal contract offer was never discussed and Saudi confidence in a possible move has waned in recent months. Real have denied being contacted by Saudi authorities but a source close to the Madrid club said they were approached by Saudi Public Investment Fund officials during the Spanish Super Cup in Jeddah in early January to enquire about Vinicius Jr. However, the European champions showed no interest in negotiating a transfer, highlighting the 24-year-old player's one billion euros ($1.04 billion) buy-out clause as the only scenario in which they would allow the Brazilian to leave. "I don't know anything, nobody has talked to me about (a Saudi offer)," Vinicius Jr told TNT Sports after Real's 3-2 win at Manchester City in their Champions League playoff first-leg on Tuesday. "They have to speak to (Real's) president. I hope I can stay here for a long time," added the player of the match. "It's always very exciting to be able to open talks with Real Madrid about my renewal. I have a contract until 2027, but I've always spoken of my desire to be able to play here for a long time, to be able to make history here." Real announced Vinicius Jr's last contract extension in October 2023, which was a four-year deal reportedly worth a net 13.5 million euros in salary per season. He opted for a shorter, incentive-based deal, rather than the usual five-to-six-year contracts most Real players sign, in a bet on his progress as one of Europe's leading young players. TOP SALARY Following a LaLiga and Champions League double last season and his FIFA Player of the Year award in 2024, sources said Vinicius Jr had achieved a series of performance and loyalty bonuses that boosted his salary to the top of Real's wage bill. Neither the club nor the players disclose the figures in their contracts but multiple soccer sources said Vinicius Jr's salary is already at about the same level as their new striker Kylian Mbappe's, around 18 million euros per year. However, the Frenchman's contract includes a 100 million euros signing bonus and a large percentage of his image rights that make him one of the highest-paid athletes in the world. Following a couple of face-to-face meetings in the last few weeks in Madrid attended by Vinicius Jr's father, Real have put forward new numbers and a third meeting between club executives and the player's team is scheduled for next week. There is growing optimism on both sides that there will soon be an agreement on a contract extension for Vinicius Jr. A source close to the player said he has no interest in joining another club in Europe and would only start listening to contract offers from Saudi Arabia above one billion euros. Vinicius Jr and his staff already have a fruitful business relationship with Saudi Arabia and he has participated in sponsorship and commercial meetings regarding tourism and E-sports events in the Gulf country. There is also interest from Saudi Arabia in making him an ambassador for the 2034 World Cup, which will be held there.
