A priceless 16th century Italian painting that was looted by Nazi Germany during World War II and discovered in Japan has been returned to Poland, authorities in Warsaw said Wednesday.
The “Madonna with Child” attributed to Alessandro Turchi, is the latest of some 600 looted artistic pieces that Poland has successfully repatriated. More than 66,000 so-called war losses remain unaccounted for. The painting was handed over during a ceremony at Poland’s Embassy in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Culture Minister Piotr Glinski told reporters in Warsaw that the baroque painting was on the Nazis’ list of the 521 most valuable pieces of art among the tens of thousands of artworks that they looted when they occupied Poland between 1939-45.”
The painting was identified by ministry experts at an auction in Tokyo in 2022. It comes from a collection of Poland’s 18th century aristocrat Stanislaw Kostka-Potocki.
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes entered a Texas prison Tuesday where she could spend the next 11 years for overseeing a blood-testing hoax that became a parable about greed and hubris in Silicon Valley.
While she was building up Theranos, Holmes grew closer to Ramesh, “Sunny” Balwani, who would become her romantic partner as well as an investor and fellow executive in the Palo Alto, Calif., company.
Together, Holmes and Balwani promised Theranos would revolutionize health care with a technology that could quickly scan for diseases and other problems with a few drops of blood taken with a finger prick.
In 2018, the U.S. Justice Department charged both with a litany of white-collar crimes in a case aimed at putting a stop to the Silicon Valley practice of overselling the capabilities of a still-developing technology — a technique that became known as “fake it ‘til you make it.”
A jury found “That ‘70s Show” star Danny Masterson guilty of two out of three counts of rape Wednesday in a Los Angeles retrial in which the Church of Scientology played a central role.
The jury of seven women and five men reached the verdict after deliberating for seven days spread over two weeks. They could not reach a verdict on the third count, that alleged Masterson raped a longtime girlfriend. They had voted 8-4 in favor of conviction.
Masterson was led from the courtroom in handcuffs, and will be held without bail until he is sentenced.
No sentencing date has yet been set, but the judge told Masterson and his lawyers to return to court Aug. 4 for a hearing. The 47-year-old actor could face 30 years to life in prison.His wife, actor and model Bijou Phillips, wept as he was led away. Other family and friends sat stone-faced.
“I am experiencing a complex array of emotions — relief, exhaustion, strength, sadness — knowing that my abuser, Danny Masterson, will face accountability for his criminal behavior,” one of the women, whom Masterson was convicted of raping at his home in 2003, said in a statement.
Prosecutors declined to speak to reporters as they left the courthouse Wednesday. A spokesperson for Masterson had no immediate comment.
U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart on Wednesday announced plans to resign his Utah seat due to his wife’s illness, triggering a special election to replace him in a reliably Republican district.
The six-term Utah Republican did not offer details about his wife’s illness or indicate when he planned to vacate his seat but said in the statement that he planned to retire “after an orderly transition can be ensured.”
Under Utah law, Gov. Spencer Cox has seven days to lay out a schedule to replace Stewart with a special election.
Though Stewart’s departure will mean one less Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, it is not expected to affect House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ability to steer a tight Republican majority.
The district is reliably Republican and Stewart defeated a Democratic challenger by more than 30 percentage points in 2022.
— The Associated Press
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