PARIS (AP) — Planted in a field, Vincent van Gogh painted furiously, bending the thick oils, riotous yellows and sumptuous blues to his will. The resulting masterpiece, “Wheatfield with Crows,” bursts off the canvas like technicolor champagne. Art historians believe the Dutch master painted it on July 8, 1890. As far as they can tell
The last bus carrying ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh left the region Monday, completing a grueling weeklong exodus of over 100,000 people — more than 80% of the residents — after Azerbaijan reclaimed the area in a lightning military operation.Gegham Stepanyan, Nagorno-Karabakh’s human rights ombudsman, said that the bus that drove into Armenia carried 15 passengers
MADRID (AP) — Five people who were missing and feared dead in a nightclub fire in the city of Murcia have been located, a Spanish official said Monday. The death toll in the country’s worst nightclub fire in 33 years stands at 13, with 24 people injured. Francisco Jiménez, the national government representative in the
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s government on Monday reassured the country there is sufficient rice in the market and urged people not to hoard locally produced rice after recent panic-buying led to empty shelves in supermarkets and grocery stores nationwide.Agriculture and Food Security Minister Mohamad Sabu said the government will increase distribution to rural
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Typhoon Koinu, traveling westward from the Pacific, was strengthening as it moved toward Taiwan, meteorologists on the island said Monday.The storm was expanding in size and was expected to make landfall by Thursday morning, they said.The typhoon was moving northwest with sustained winds of 144 kph (89 mph) and gusts of
BAGHDAD (AP) — Christian religious leaders in northern Iraq called for an international investigation Monday into a deadly wedding fire that killed more than 100 people last week and slammed the government’s probe, which had blamed the blaze on negligence and lack of precautionary measures.An Iraqi Syriac Catholic priest, meanwhile, said widespread corruption in the
JAYAPURA, Indonesia (AP) — Five Papuan independence fighters were killed in a clash between security forces and a rebel group in Indonesia’s restive Papua region, police and rebels said Monday.A joint military and police force killed the five fighters from the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, in a
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan launched its second nationwide anti-polio campaign of the year Monday in an effort to inoculate 44 million children under the age of 5 amid signs the country was close to eradicating the disease. Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul-Haq-Kakar launched the five-day vaccination campaign in the capital, Islamabad, and urged parents in a
PALEMBANG, Indonesia (AP) — More than 300 forest and peatland fires on Indonesia’s Sumatra island caused hazy skies across the region on Monday, prompting government officials to ask people to work from home.The military, police and local government were working together to extinguish the fires, which were burning in 316 places across South Sumatra province
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Britain’s Treasury chief is to announce a hike in the national minimum wage on Monday, as the governing Conservative Party tries to persuade voters it is on the side of those who are struggling financially.Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt has ruled out tax cuts, saying they would fuel inflation.According to
