Latest news with #Holberg
Bloomberg
26-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
DNB Sells Active Fund Manager Holberg to Norwegian Billionaire
DNB Bank ASA 's investment banking unit sold its stake in active fund manager Holberg to Kistefos AS, the investment company of Norwegian billionaire Christen Sveaas, for an undisclosed amount. The Bergen, Norway-based Holberg has about 36 billion kroner ($3.6 billion) under management in its bond and share funds. The transaction is expected to be finalized during the third quarter after customary regulatory approvals, according to an emailed statement Monday.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Yahoo
Conviction, death sentence reversed in 1996 Amarillo capital murder case
Judges with the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the conviction and death sentence of a 52-year-old woman convicted of capital murder in Amarillo 26 years ago. The judges found that prosecutors improperly withheld information from defense attorneys that their key witness in Brittany Marlow Holberg's capital murder trial was a confidential informant. The judges believed that information was material, and therefore subject to what's known as the "Brady Rule," since prosecutors heavily relied on Vickie Marie Kirkpatrick's testimony to convict Holberg and secure a death sentence. Holberg is the only death row inmate out of Randall County at present. "We find that if the State had disclosed Kirkpatrick's status as a confidential informant, there is a reasonable probability that the result of Holberg's proceedings would have been different," Circuit Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham wrote in the majority opinion. More: Attorney details drug-fueled spiral that led to murder The 2-1 ruling kicks the case back to the indictment phase. Randall County District Attorney Robert Love declined to comment on how his office will proceed. Holberg's appellate attorney, David F. Abernethy, did not respond to an email seeking comment Holberg, who at the time was a 23-year-old cocaine-addicted prostitute, was charged in connection with the Nov. 13. 1996 slaying of 80-year-old A.B. Towery, Sr. during a fight in his home. Prosecutors believed she killed Towery while robbing him of money. Responding officers found Towery in his home dead from multiple stab wounds. Part of a lamp was stuck in his throat. Meanwhile, Holberg left the apartment covered in cuts and bruises. She also bled from the head where she said Towery struck her and tore out clumps of her hair, according to court documents. Holberg was arrested in Memphis in February 1997 and was extradited to Amarillo, where she was held in the Randall County Jail. During her trial, Holberg told jurors that she had an ongoing relationship with Towery, who was a former customer of her. As part of the relationship, she said, 'sexual favors [were] exchanged for money.' She said there were times when 'he got angry' and frightened her. She said Towery would get angry if he 'had a hard time performing' or if he thought she was on drugs when with him. Holberg said she killed Towery that night in self-defense. She said she was high on crack cocaine that night and had wrecked her car before going to Towery's apartment and met him as he was bringing in his groceries. She said the elderly man became upset with her when he saw her crack pipe in the kitchen and started screaming at her, saying, 'You stupid [expletive], [expletive]. What do you want? You want money? Is that what you want to do so you can smoke the rest of the day away?' Holberg told jurors that Towery approached her from behind, struck her on the back of her head and shoved her to the floor. At some point during the struggle, Towery pulled money out from his wallet and threw it at her. She said Towery pulled Holberg by her hair and refused to stop even after she begged him to release her. Fearing for her life and fueled by crack cocaine, she overcame Towery and stabbed him repeatedly -- 58 times according to an autopsy report. The evidence showed Holberg also beat Towery with a claw hammer multiple times. 'I lost it," Holberg told jurors. Holberg told jurors that she didn't kill Towery for his money and drugs but did take the cash he threw at her. Meanwhile, prosecutors told jurors that Holberg's self-defense claim was belied by the savagery of Towery's injuries. They called on Kirkpatrick to challenge Holbergs' version of events. At the time, Kirkpatrick, who worked as a confidential informant for an Amarillo police corporal, was arrested on a burglary charge in May 1997 and placed in the same cell as Holberg. Two days later, Kirkpatrick gave a statement to Amarillo police detailing Holberg's alleged admission that she started the fight and killed Towery for drugs. That same day, the police officer who worked with Kirkpatrick was able to dismiss a criminal trespass charge against her and helped her bond out of jail on the felony burglary charge. The details in Kirkpatrick's statement corroborated findings from Towery's autopsy report and the crime scene investigation, which had been with law enforcement for six months. She told jurors that Holberg told her she stabbed Towery with a fork and that she had stuck the lamp down Towery's throat because she got tired of hearing him make 'gurgling' or 'gagging' noises. Kirkpatrick told jurors that Holberg said she enjoyed killing Towery, saying she thought the 'fountain' of blood was 'pretty,' 'fun,' and 'amazing'; and that Holberg would do it all over again for more drugs. Meanwhile, Holberg told jurors that she never spoke with Kirkpatrick at the jail. Melissa Wisemen, who also shared the same cell as Holberg and Kirkpatrick, told jurors she never heard a conversation between Holberg and Kirkpatrick in which Holberg described killing Towery. Jurors convicted Holberg and later sentenced her to death. However, Holberg's attorneys, and therefore the jury, were unaware of Kirkpatrick's status as a confidential police informant who was paid to help with undercover drug buys. In fact, Kirkpatrick's efforts helped the Amarillo police run approximately 40 search warrants and secure multiple convictions. After Holberg's conviction and sentence, Kirkpatrick stood trial for an unrelated charge and was described by prosecutors and police witnesses as a confidential information who had helped the Amarillo Police Department on "many, many things." Kirkpatrick would later recant her testimony more than a decade later. In Holberg's initial appeal, Kirkpatrick said prosecutors leveraged her pending burglary charge to ensure her testimony against Holberg. Defense attorneys also spoke with other jail inmates who reportedly said jailers questioned several inmates about Holberg and offered "deals" if they could help the prosecution. One inmate reportedly said she was approached twice by the people from the District Attorney's Office to give testimony against Brittany. "Specifically, Kirkpatrick stated that then-District Attorney James Farren coached her statements at Holberg's trial, and that Farren both 'threatened to send Kirkpatrick to jail if she did not give him what he wanted but also offered her a deal if she cooperated.' Kirkpatrick also said she believed Holberg was remorseful and sad about [Towery's] death, and that she never used the words 'fountain,' 'pretty,' 'fun,' or 'amazing' when discussing the slaying. The judges said the recantation destroyed Kirkpatrick's credibility. Either she was lying at trial or she was lying now. "Against this context, the State's intentional nondisclosure of Kirkpatrick's informant status strikes at the heart of the jury's conviction, and most assuredly its sentence of death," the judges ruled. However, in a dissenting opinion, Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan said the record before the court shows that Kirkpatrick's role in Holberg's conviction was not as crucial to Holberg's conviction. He said the physical evidence, particularly the brutality of Towery's injuries, goes beyond self-defense. "No jury in its right mind would believe that a 23-year-old cocaine-addled prostitute 'defended' herself against a frail old man by (1) stabbing him 58 times, (2) bludgeoning him with various objects including a steam iron, and (3) ramming a lamp base down his throat while he was still alive," Duncan wrote. However, the majority of the judges believed prosecutors heavily relied on Kirkpatrick's testimony -- particularly her description of how Holberg enjoyed killing Towery -- to secure the conviction and during the punishment phase of the trial when they asked for the death sentence. This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Death sentence vacated in 1996 Amarillo capital murder case
New York Times
28-01-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
France, Finally, Wins the World's Top Food Award Again
French haute cuisine is, officially, the best in the world again. At least, that's according to the judges of the Bocuse d'Or, a fine-dining competition held every two years. The last time the contest was held, in 2023, France did not even place in the top three. 'It's a real pride to bring France to the top again,' Paul Marcon, the 29-year-old French chef who led the team that won gold, told reporters. Mr. Marcon's victory on Monday was also, for some, a victory for French cuisine itself. The country reigned as the undisputed king of 20th-century European fine dining — even the word 'gastronomy' itself comes from French. But Denmark, the seat of New Nordic cooking, has become something of the Hamlet of the 21st. The Bocuse serves as an ideal place for an international culinary joust. Although there are many food contests, this one is widely seen as the true Olympic Games of high gastronomy. 'You have the Eurovision, and then you have the Bocuse d'Or,' Nina Bauer, a Danish food historian, said in a phone call, referring to an international song competition. 'You become famous if you win them, and not just in your own professional circle — but all over the world.' Over the course of the 20 contests held since the Bocuse began in 1987, France stands out as the dominant victor: Its chefs have won almost half the time. In the first 10 competitions, from 1987 to 2005, France won five gold medals. But France's hold over fine dining has since slipped, some say, as Nordic chefs have risen to prominence. Since 2007, France won the Bocuse only four times in 10 competitions, including in 2021. Denmark won three times, the second most. Even the United States managed to triumph, in 2017. 'It has become a lot more about the chef's creativity,' Ms. Bauer said. 'There's a lot more focus, I think, now about uniqueness — instead of just being the best version of the classics.' This year, France again faced stiff competition from Denmark, which won the Bocuse in 2023. 'The things they're making are amazing — it's extremely tasty,' Sebastian Holberg, 26, the leader of the Danish team this year, said of his French peers. 'And of course, they're creative, too.' He led Denmark's team to the silver medal. Mr. Holberg described French techniques as the base, a standard upon which he and other Nordic chefs can riff. But sometimes, he said, France is holding onto classic techniques while Danish chefs are trying to experiment and let their ingredients lead. 'It's just more elegance in the flavor — like, we don't try to overcomplicate it,' Mr. Holberg said. At the finale of the Bocuse on Sunday and Monday, France kept up its edge. The 24 teams, each led by a chef and a helper, had five hours and 30 minutes to make a series of dishes on a platter, using a back of venison. Each team had to create a foie gras pie, a garnish based around a fruit from their own country and '16 closed, bi-colored ravioli, served hot, with a clarified venison consommé infused with tea.' And that, of course, had to be served to the judges in two teapots. The chefs also made a dish in four hours and 40 minutes with celery (both stalk and root), stone bass and lobster. This, too, had requirements: 'The celeriac root must be offered in two identical whole pieces,' but the chefs could do what they liked with the stalk. For many, France's win is a real 'football's coming home' moment. The award is named after the acclaimed French chef Paul Bocuse, who died in 2018. It's hosted on the outskirts of Lyon, where Mr. Bocuse lived and cooked, a city that is known by many as the 'World Capital of Gastronomy.' In videos from the event, French fans waved the tricolor flag in triumph, as Mr. Marcon's team hoisted him high onto their shoulders. With his medal glinting around his neck, he grinned, pumping his golden award in the air. 'It's my childhood dream come true,' Mr. Marcon — whose father, Régis Marcon, won in 1995 — said in a statement in an Instagram post from the French team for the Bocuse d'Or. 'We succeeded together for France,' he added.
Observer
27-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Observer
Young Danish chef ready to shine at gastronomy's Olympic Games, the Bocuse d'Or
Danish chef Sebastian Holberg Svendsgaard struggled at school as a child but loved competing -- a skill he'll put to the test when he goes for gold at gastronomy's Olympic Games, the Bocuse d'Or. "Now it is my time to shine," the 25-year-old shared before the competition in Lyon, France, on Monday involving 24 hopefuls. Holberg has been a member of Denmark's Bocuse d'Or team since 2019 and won the European title in 2024. Raised in a small town southwest of Copenhagen, the youngest contestant in this year's competition said he was often bored at school. "I was not good in school, not at all. I was in the bottom," he said. "I was dyslexic, I had to get a lot of help. So I had to find my passion. I had to find something I was good at." He spent a lot of time with his father, a butcher and amateur hunter, and eventually his calling dawned on him. "When my dad shot a deer, at home we tried to cook it a fun way. I think I was 12 when I figured out, OK, I have to be a chef," he recalled. Holberg left school in his mid-teens to enrol in culinary school. Picture taken on March 19, 2024 in Trondheim, Norway, shows Danish chef Sebastian Holberg Svendsgaard (C) during the European final in the Bocuse d'Or Europe competition in Trondheim Spektrum. Struggling at school but eager to compete, Danish chef Sebastian Holberg Svendsgaard is hoping to win the Bocuse d'Or in Lyon on Monday, January 27, 2025, the ultimate title in the culinary "Olympics". - Norway OUT (Photo by Gorm Kallestad / NTB / AFP) While on a study trip, he discovered his love of cooking competitions at student contests. "I remember the intensity... I said to myself, one day I have to be standing there." Danish chefs have won the Bocuse d'Or three times, placing Denmark third in the overall standings behind France, with eight wins, and Norway, with five. This year, the competition's theme is "gastronomic heritage". The requirements for the dishes the contestants must prepare are very detailed and restrictive this year, he noted. "But of course, the creativity can still be there." - Months of preparation - Holberg attributes Scandinavia's culinary success to its chefs' respect for flavours. "For example, take an apple. We'll figure out the best an apple can taste in respect of the apple. "But what makes apple better? Maybe a bit of horseradish, maybe a bit of kohlrabi. So we're trying to keep the same flavour but give it the energy back," he explained. For competition day, which lasts five and a half hours, Holberg insists he has "moved the limits for what is possible" -- and has left nothing to chance. "We're going to make all the food on the day but everything has been tested for seven months," he said. "So by that time, the food is perfect. We know when we're boiling a potato slice, we'll slice it perfectly every time, three millimetres." Christophe Parisot, France's ambassador to Denmark, said he was impressed by the Danes' dedication to the competition. "It's interesting to see just how much effort Danes put into it," he told AFP. "They've understood the power and influence that gastronomy can have on a country," he said, adding that haute cuisine "conveys a very positive image of France". - Viking adaptability - Francis Cardenau, a Denmark-based French chef and head of the Danish delegation at the Bocuse d'Or, said Denmark's gastronomic breadth boils down to its chefs' ability to adapt. "Scandinavians are very flexible, malleable. They're Vikings. They're used to travelling," he said. "They go to other countries to see what tool boxes are being used, then they see if there is something they can bring back and use in their own tool box." This curiosity and adaptability enables them to develop a food culture in a region that has little gastronomic tradition. "We are building the country's culture," Cardenau said. Once the Bocuse d'Or is over, Holberg has vowed to spend more time on life outside the kitchen. "This is the biggest thing I can do for myself and I can do in my professional career as a chef. I have to be good in Lyon!" he said. But after that, he will focus on a new chapter. "Afterwards, the new dream is to do everything for my son." —AFP
