Commemoration against a background of war
Despite World War II commemorations in most of Europe yesterday and in Russia today, there is no indication that the war in Ukraine is nearing an end. In the 77 years since the end of World War II, the possibility of a wide conflagration in Europe rarely seemed more plausible. Follow the latest updates.
In Moscow yesterday, fighter jets shot through the skies and nuclear weapons were displayed in preparation for Victory Day, the celebration of the Soviet defeat by the Nazis. Russia’s president Vladimir Putin seemed determined to orchestrate the war in Ukraine until he could conjure something that could be claimed as victory. Russian troops have continued to bomb Ukrainian towns and villages.
In a statement, leaders of the G7 countries recalled the devastation of World War II and the millions of victims, including those from the Soviet Union, and expressed their continued support for Ukraine. “We remain united in our determination that President Putin must not win his war against Ukraine,” they said. The statement made no mention of diplomacy or a ceasefire.
divestment: Leaders of the world’s richest democracies vowed to stop buying Russian oil.
Inequality in the global fight against Covid-19
Global health agencies and the Biden administration are working to bring coronavirus tests and expensive antiviral pills to low- and middle-income countries, the next step in a global pandemic response largely focused on vaccinations. But the effort faces obstacles and inequalities comparable to the difficulties of the HIV epidemic.
Rich countries, including the US, have gobbled up much of the stock of antiviral pills and tests. In middle-income countries, generic alternatives have been limited by pharmaceutical companies trying to protect their patents. Only 20 percent of the 5.7 billion tests conducted worldwide have been conducted in low- and middle-income countries. Low-income countries, which have no money to buy the tests and where demand has fallen, account for less than 1 percent of the tests.
Paxlovid, the more potent of the two Covid antiviral pills approved by US health officials, is so abundant in the US that pharmacies are struggling to use up their stock. The WHO recently issued a “strong recommendation” to give the drug to patients at high risk of hospitalization and called for its “wide geographic distribution”.
American pressure: At his second international Covid-19 summit this week, President Biden will call on rich countries to donate a total of $3 billion to purchase Covid treatments and oxygen supplies for poorer countries. But Senate Republicans’ refusals to approve funding could mean he ends up empty-handed at his own summit.
Time bomb: “We’re all expecting a big new wave of Omicron or a new variant in the south of the world from June to September, and if that happens, we won’t be ready,” said Dr. Bill Rodriguez, who leads the testing arm of the ACT Accelerator, the Geneva-based consortium coordinating the global response.
Taliban order women to cover up
The Taliban ruled on Saturday that women must cover themselves from head to toe in public. The move extends a series of tough Taliban restrictions on women that dictate nearly every aspect of public life, including their work, education, travel and behavior.
A burqa is the favorite item of clothing, but the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice – which replaced the previous government’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs – did not mandate burqas as long as women otherwise cover themselves with a hijab.
Male householders who fail to heed warnings about women’s clothing could face jail time, termination of employment, or even appearance in a religious court. The relatively few women who are allowed to have a job can be fired if they don’t cover up in public.
History: The Taliban needed the burqa, which leaves only a woman’s hands and feet visible and includes a stitched facial net for eyesight, when it ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
Eid: For many Afghans, the end of Ramadan showed the dissonance between the promise of peace that many had envisioned and the reality of the end of the war.
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Dive into “Still Life with a Gilded Cup”, painted in 1635 by Willem Claesz Heda, and ponder questions such as: can something be real and at the same time an illusion? Why was this meal of oysters so suddenly interrupted? And is this world we live in really anything but a bunch of random things?
For Sale: A $200 Million ‘Marilyn’
Tonight, an Andy Warhol screen print from 1964, “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn,” is estimated to sell for about $200 million at Christie’s, possibly surpassing the record for a 20th-century artwork sold at auction, the $179. Paid .4 million in 2015 for Picasso’s “Les Femmes d’Alger (version ‘O’).”
Kicking off the spring auction season in New York, tonight’s event is widely regarded as a whistleblower for the next two weeks of sales, as well as an indicator of the broader health of an international art market still emerging from the pandemic. Can top quality trophies continue to command high prizes, even in a world of uncertainty and instability?
“There’s been a huge amount withheld over two years, and there’s a huge amount of pent-up demand from new clients,” said Philip Hoffman, an art consultant. “Everyone waited for the right time, and the right time has come.”
Nevertheless, the pool of buyers who can afford to spend more than $100 million for a painting remains small. And given that there will be a plethora of blue-chip art on sale for the next two weeks, it’s still unclear whether there are enough wealthy collectors out there who can absorb so much big-ticket material.
For more: If Warhol seems particularly ubiquitous right now, it’s because he is: on the big screen, in museums, and on the street.