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Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Leona Maguire: ‘A lot of girls in our class had posters up of pop stars – we had pictures up of all the Ryder Cup players'
Leona Maguire was just 12 when she took part in her first senior tournament. Now, 18 years on, the Cavan woman shares her career highlights, the sports stars who supported her, and her hopes of inspiring the next generation of golfers at the Women's Irish Open 'I was definitely out of my comfort zone,' Leona Maguire admits of her Life magazine fashion shoot at Carton House. 'It was fun to try on all the outfits, and to have a stylist for the day – all the hair and make-up. It was a departure from my usual polo tops, hats and all the rest. It's nice for people to see a different version of me.' The version of Maguire that most sports fans are familiar with is a steely competitor on the golf course, and a player gifted with an excellent short game. She's a Solheim Cup star and this country's best hope for a major in the women's game. The Cavan woman is only 30, but has been on the golf scene for two decades.
Metropolis Japan
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metropolis Japan
International Hokusai Club
When The Great Wave off Kanagawa started appearing on t-shirts and phone cases, I wondered if people knew the artist behind it. The name Katsushika Hokusai doesn't always come up, but his brushwork has rippled through global art history—from Monet's garden to pop culture timelines. Now, a new initiative is putting Hokusai back at the center of the conversation, and not just in Japan. The International Hokusai Club was recently launched to share Hokusai's legacy beyond museum walls, focusing on his role not just as a ukiyo-e printmaker but also as an educator, innovator and global bridge between Edo-period aesthetics and modern design. In a 1999 issue, Life magazine named Hokusai the only Japanese person among the top 100 people who shaped the last millennium. That's no small recognition. But ironically, many in Japan still associate him with just a few famous prints. In contrast, overseas curators, collectors and scholars have been unpacking his layers for decades. At a recent press presentation hosted by the Japan Art Academy, cultural experts—including art historian Hidehiko Tsunoda and Fujihisashi, a global arts advisor—highlighted how museums in the U.S. and Europe see Hokusai as more than an artist. He's studied as a designer, animator even a kind of social commentator. What stood out was the idea that Hokusai's value isn't static—it's still being uncovered. That's where the club comes in. Think of it as a cultural platform: part fan club, part think tank. The club is structured with multiple membership tiers—corporate, full and general—allowing institutions, collectors and individuals to participate in different ways. Membership fees are still being finalized, but applications can be submitted through flyers at each event or via the Japan Art Academy website. The real mission? To reintroduce Hokusai as a dynamic figure through global exhibitions, educational outreach and high-tech preservation. In 2026, the club plans to launch the traveling 'Educator Hokusai Exhibition,' featuring animated shorts based on Hokusai Manga , rare hand-painted scrolls and interactive displays using ultra-high-resolution digital scans. Stops will include California, Singapore, Dubai, Paris and Milan. And it won't just be a passive experience. Workshops for families, school tours and lectures will be part of the rollout. The club is also working with overseas museums and collectors to expand Hokusai's representation in Western collections. TOPPAN Holdings introduced a demo of their digital imaging tech at the launch event—scanning Hokusai's brushstrokes down to the micron. The goal? To protect these fragile works for future generations while also using the data for research and exhibition. There's also a grassroots side to the club. Monthly 'Hokusai Club' meetups are being planned in Japan, and art-focused tours both domestically and abroad are in the works. The club isn't just about fans—it's got some serious backing. Honorary patrons include kabuki masters, art dealers, professors and even former ambassadors. But the door's open to anyone. If you're into traditional art, digital preservation or just wondering how a painter from the Edo period ended up on sneakers, there's a place for you here. How to Join or Learn More: Visit the Japan Art Academy's site at Or, reach out to contact@ to learn more. English applications and inquiries are welcome! Interested in Japanese art? Check out our other articles on quintessential Japanese artists: Kiyoshi Awazu and the Reinvention of Contemporary Japanese Aesthetics Ryushi Kawabata Dragon Knots by Yumiko Yamakawa
Chicago Tribune
04-05-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Steve Lasker, pioneering photojournalist who captured iconic Our Lady of the Angels fire image, dies at 94
It is an image seared into the minds of generations of Chicagoans, the photo of firefighter Richard Scheidt, cradling the lifeless body of John Michael Jajkowski Jr., as he walked from the fiery devastation at Our Lady of the Angels School. That photo was taken on Dec. 1, 1958, by Steve Lasker, a young Chicago American photographer, and it would appear in that paper, in Life magazine, and in hundreds of publications across the globe. Lasker would have a pioneering, prolific and distinguished career, filling his 94 years of life with millions of compelling images. He died Wednesday, April 30, in home hospice care in Lincolnwood, where he and his wife, Fran, had lived since their marriage in 1965. It was the end of his long battle with bladder cancer. 'It wasn't the hardship one might imagine. He was a wonderful patient,' Fran said. 'And a wonderful man. He was such a mensch.' The two had met when Lasker arrived at Lincoln Park Zoo to photograph its president, Marlin Perkins. Perkins was not there so Lasker spent time with his assistant. 'That was me,' Fran said. 'It was brutally hot and so the two of us spent three hours in Mr, Perkins' office, the only place that was air-conditioned, just talking. He asked me out and we had drinks the next night.' They were married three months later and would have three children, daughter Stacey and sons Scott and David. 'He was a wonderful husband and a great dad. We always said that for him it was the job that came first, children second and me third,' said Fran, with a chuckle. Lasker came to photography early. His parents owned and operated a dry cleaning store on the North Side before relocating south. When he was 13 years old he was shooting photos of World War II aircraft at Midway Airport. As a student at Hyde Park High School he shot for the school paper and also for the neighborhood's Hyde Park Herald. He was a frequent visitor to local firehouses, and the firefighters grew fond of him. They taught him to play poker and would often let him ride along and take pictures on emergency calls, such as the one that occurred on May 25, 1950, when a gasoline truck crashed into a streetcar, bursting into flames and killing 34 people. Lasker was the first photographer on the scene and his photos were purchased by and displayed in Life Magazine and on television's Channel 5. So impressed were the bosses at the television station that they formally began Lasker's career by hiring him to shoot stills for newscasts. After five years with the WMAQ, he was hired as a photographer at the Chicago American, and only months later was the first photographer to arrive at the Our Lady of the Angels fire on the West Side. He had been on his way to an assignment that day when he heard a call come over a radio tuned to the police frequency: 'They're jumping out the windows!' He recalled what he saw at the school, talking to the Tribune in 2008: 'Mayhem was going on and they started pulling kids out of there left and right. To this day I still have dreams about that horrible scene.' Willaim Vendetta / Chicago Tribune Parents watch as firefighters battle a fire and pull victims out of the smoldering Our Lady of the Angels grade school building Dec. 1, 1958, in Chicago. But he and the photo would be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, launching a career that would earn him nearly 40 awards for his work. In 1970, he moved to WBBM-Channel 2 and became a news and documentary cameraman. Over the next quarter century, he would be known as 'the man with the golden eye' as he travelled the world and the city, working on hundreds of stories and documentaries, many in collaboration with esteemed producer Scott Craig. He also worked often with anchorman and reporter Bill Kurtis. ''He led our stellar stable of photo masters. Quiet. Respectful. A privilege to know. And he really did have a 'golden eye'' Kurtis said. 'But that's just part of what makes a great photographer. The eye is connected to the brain and an uncanny third eye that is able to anticipate what's going to happen before it happens. It's like Steve was waiting for the great shot. That always came.' Kurtis told a story: 'We were in Horicon Marsh north of Milwaukee to cover the migration of thousands of Canada geese. I saw some hunters in a nearby rowboat. I said to Steve, 'Wouldn't it be great to get a shot of them in action?' When I turned back to Steve he was pointing the camera to the sky above the hunters as if that was where the birds would fly over. Before I could say a thing, a shot went off and a bird was falling from the sky and Steve was following it all the way to the water. He won an Emmy for that one.' Lasker retired in 1995 but kept shooting. If there was an event — a block party or parade — in or around Lincolnwood, Lasker was there with his camera, later supplying photos to organizations or local publications. He also served as a member of the suburb's Fire and Police Commission. In addition to his wife and children he is survived by a grandchild.
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First Post
29-04-2025
- Politics
- First Post
Pakistan is a criminal enterprise: After Pahalgam, West must cut off its ties with Islamabad
Having turned over the decades into what Pakistan truly aspired to be — a jihadi state — it will be in the interest of the West, especially the US, to cut its ties with Islamabad read more Bharat's Pakistan problem, is as much the handiwork of the Rawalpindi-based generals as it has been the result of Western malice, doublespeak and interference on behalf of Islamabad. Representational image: REUTERS Pakistan's relations with Bharat have been defined by two fundamental features: One, Pakistan's tendency to look at itself as an ideological fountainhead of Islam, which makes it position itself as a perpetual enemy of Bharat. Second, the Western proclivity to come to Islamabad's support, if not rescue, each time it is threatened both geostrategically as well as economically. Bharat's Pakistan problem, thus, is as much the handiwork of the Rawalpindi-based generals as it has been the result of Western malice, doublespeak and interference on behalf of Islamabad. In fact, Pakistani jihadi viruses would not have become so widespread and malignant had it not been for repeated antidotes provided by the West. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Last week, Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif publicly admitted that the country had the history of supporting, training and funding terrorist organisations as 'dirty work' for the West — a mistake for which he said Pakistan had suffered immensely. In an interview with Sky News, he said, 'Well, we have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about three decades, you know, and the West, including Britain.' What the defence minister didn't say was that the Pakistani state, since the time of its inception in 1947, was more than willing to do the West's dirty work for funds and weapons in return. It, in fact, sought to do that work, even when the Americans themselves were not too sure about it. 'Soon after independence, Pakistan's founding fathers, encouraged by some British geostrategists, decided that they would continue to maintain the large army they had inherited even though the new nation could not afford to pay for it from its own resources and did not immediately face a visible security threat. Given Pakistan's location at the crossroads of the Middle East and South Asia and its relative proximity to the Soviet Union, Pakistanis assumed that the United States would take an interest in financing and arming the fledgling new state," writes Husain Haqqani in Magnificent Delusions: Pakistan, the United States and an Epic History of Misunderstanding. In fact, the culture of seeking aid from the West, especially in return for supposedly behaving like a geostrategic arm of Washington in the region, began with Mohammed Ali Jinnah when he asked America for a $2 billion aid package in September 1947, but the US gave Pakistan only $10 million in assistance that first year. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In an interview with Life magazine reporter and photographer Margaret Bourke-White, Jinnah said that 'America needs Pakistan more than Pakistan needs America'. He added, 'Pakistan is the pivot of the world, as we are placed the frontier on which the future position of the world revolves… Russia is not so very far away.' He spoke of America's interest in arming Greece and Turkey and expressed the hope that the US would pour money and arms into Pakistan as well. Bourke-White could see through the real intent of Jinnah. She wrote quite disapprovingly: 'In Jinnah's mind this brave new nation had no other claim on America's friendship than this — that across a wild tumble of roadless mountain ranges lay the land of the Bolsheviks. I wondered whether the Quaid-e-Azam considered his new state only as an armoured buffer between opposing major powers.' The Pakistani ambition to be 'an armoured buffer' between the West and the erstwhile Soviet Union came into its own in the 1970s and 1980s when the USSR invaded Afghanistan. This made Pakistan a truly frontier state in the warfare between the US and the USSR. Also, the changing geopolitical situation in the world, with the US reaching out to Mao's China through Pakistan's agency, provided Islamabad enough elbow room to get what it desperately wanted: more American/Western funds and arms. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD It became obvious to the Americans, especially in the late 1980s and 1990s, that the weapons Pakistan was seeking — and getting — from the US were hardly utilised against the Soviets. It was instead pushed eastward to bleed Bharat, for a war that Pakistan regarded as 'perpetual'. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Steve Coll mentions an interesting episode in Ghost Wars, exposing the Pakistani hypocrisy during the Afghan war. He writes, 'In their dim meeting room, (CIA man Gary) Schroen handed (Afghan fighter Ahmed Shah) Massoud a piece of paper. It showed an estimate of just more than two thousand missiles provided by the CIA to Afghan fighters during the jihad. Massoud looked at the figure. 'Do you know how many of those missiles I received?' He wrote a number on the paper and showed it to Schroen. In a very neat hand Massoud had written '8'. 'That was all,' Massoud declared, 'and only at the end of the fight against the communist regime'.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Schroen reported his conversations to his seniors, and the CIA determined that Massoud was correct. 'It seemed incredible to some who had lived through the anti-Soviet Afghan war that Massoud could have received so few. He had been one of the war's fiercest commanders,' Coll writes. America's tolerance of the Pakistani perfidy could be understood during the Cold War when the Soviets posed an existential threat to the US, and Bharat, despite being a non-aligned nation, was largely seen to be an ally of the USSR. But to continue with the same pro-Islamabad policy post-Cold War seems both unreasonable and undesirable. Yet, one witnesses the continuation of the same old policy in the American establishment, especially the State Department, which finds it difficult to reconcile with the rising Bharat phenomenon. To add to it is the growing malaise of Left-inspired wokeism in American/Western society, hijacking educational institutions, think tanks and media of that country. In this wokeist worldview, countries like Bharat and Israel are projected as evil states, while Islamist terrorism is defended — and even rationalised — in the name of Islamophobia. This is hurting American interests as much as it is harming Bharat and its people. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In conclusion, one may say that the Pakistan Defence Minister's claim that his country has been doing the West's 'dirty work' is true, but what he doesn't say is that ever since its inception in 1947, Pakistan has been more than eager to be America's 'armoured buffer'. The truth is that Islamabad was never lured or invited into doing the West's dirty work. Instead, it was Pakistan that kind of encouraged the Americans to let it do their 'dirty work'. Today, as Pakistan has been exposed as a 'criminal enterprise' of the worst order, having turned over the decades into what it truly aspired to be — a jihadi state — it will be in the interest of the West, especially the US, to cut its ties with Islamabad. After all, democracy and terrorism cannot go hand in hand. Pahalgam, in that way, gives the West, especially the US, an opportunity to come clean on its terror ties, especially with Pakistan. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
New European
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New European
The last man to die in World War Two
Lehmann is weeping, and as I watched the film, so did I. The footage shows him moving around the upstairs room and the balcony where he and Private Bowman were manning a machine gun, half-hidden behind the balustrade. In the video an elderly American veteran, Lehmann Riggs, was returning to Germany for the first time since the end of the second world war. He relived the moment when his comrade Raymond J Bowman was shot dead, just two feet away from him. Here, in this house. 'I saw him fall, right here,' says the old man. 'I knew he was gone, right away. There was nothing I could do. I stepped up to the gun and took over.' It was April 18, 1945. But they were not alone in the bedroom of the old house overlooking the Zeppelin Bridge in Leipzig. The war photographer Robert Capa was also there. His camera captured the last snapshot of Private Bowman alive, reloading the machine gun, and then the moment of his death. Capa sold the pictures to Life magazine, where they were published under the banner deadline: 'The last man to die'. No one knows for sure if he really was the last allied serving soldier to die. The war in Germany officially ended on May 8. But we can be sure he was the last one to die on camera. Bowman had celebrated his 21st birthday only two weeks earlier. He had taken part in the Normandy landings on D-day, been wounded in action and achieved the rank of Private First Class, as well as the Army Good Conduct Medal and a Purple Heart. Bowman's remains were flown to his home town of Rochester in New York State, where they were interred in the Holy Sepulchre Veterans' cemetery. The street where he died has been re-named Bowmanstrasse. And the house where he and Lehmann Riggs had their machine-gun position is now a memorial. It's all thanks to a citizens' fundraising initiative (Bürgerinitiative) supported by – of all people – the famous local comedian Meigl Hoffmann. Funds were raised to restore the 'Capa House' at No 61, Jahnallee, without modernising it too much, so that it still has the authentic look and feel of the 1940s. Enough money was raised for an exhibition entitled War is Over, and some of the funds were used to bring Lehmann Riggs back to Leipzig from the US for the official opening ceremony. Now the Capa House has developed into a full-scale museum. It does not only honour Raymond J Bowman but also Robert Capa, the American-Hungarian Jewish journalist who teamed up with German photographer Gerda Taro, also Jewish, to change the face of war photography. They were colleagues and lovers. Together they travelled to Spain during the civil war, always on the side of the anti-fascists. They documented the massacre at Málaga, the hunger and desperation of displaced persons, the brutality of Franco's shock troops. These photos are now on display in the Capa House in Leipzig. But Taro did not live to see the second world war. She was crushed by a tank while photographing clashes at El Escorial in Spain in 1937. In Leipzig, they remember her name on Tarostrasse, near the university halls of residence, and in the Gerda Taro Gymnasium (high school). Capa was also killed in action, but much later. He trod on a landmine while photographing French troop movements in Vietnam in 1954. This year they are marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war across Germany and here, in the former Russian occupation zone, the slogan most frequently used is not, as we usually say in Britain, 'Lest we forget'. It's much more urgent, rooted in the present political polarisation, antisemitism and tensions: Nie wieder fascismus. Nie wieder. 'Never again for fascism. Never again.' Jane Whyatt has worked as a journalist, newsreader and independent producer for TV networks
