Tehran: Ebrahim Raisi, who became the first Iranian President to visit Damascus after the Syrian war erupted in 2011, said on Friday that the landmark two-day trip was a “turning point” in improving bilateral political, economic, trade and security ties.
Raisi told reporters here following his arrival from Syria that the trip was of great importance for both sides and the region after 12 years of resistance by the Syrian people and government against enemies’ conspiracies and seditious acts, Xinhua news agency reported citing local media.
He noted that Iran appreciates Syria’s resistance against the “tough attacks,” and Tehran’s support in the process made Syria and the region believe that Iran is a “strong pillar” they can trust and rely on.
The two sides are capable of enhancing cooperation regarding economic and trade relations, said the President, noting that they have signed 15 documents on cooperation in the fields of producing and distributing energy, establishing joint banks and insurance companies, reducing trade tariffs, enhancing transit among Iran, Iraq and Syria and reviving Syria’s agricultural, industrial and energy sectors.
Raisi had reached Damascus on Wednesday for extensive political and economic talks with his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, with a high-level political and economic delegation.
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Kolkata: Indian boxing superstar MC Mary Kom, who is recovering from an ACL tear surgery, has not given up hope of returning to the ring and said she still has at least three-four years in which she can make a pro career.
Mary Kom, who was heading the oversight committee enquiring into sexual harassment charges against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, remained silent on the ongoing controversy.
Having failed in her attempt to win a second Olympic medal in Tokyo 2020, the six-time world champion sustained a grade-III tear on the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee during the 2022 Commonwealth Games trials in June last year.
“(The) Injury is much better now. I can walk, run, though not on hard surface. I just started running on (a) tread mill,” Mary Kom told reporters after she was awarded the PC Chandra Puraskaar 2023 here.
“I’m pushing myself. After one month, I’ll be fully fit and recovered. I’ll be ready to fight in the ring in two months’ time,” she said.
Asked whether she will compete at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, Mary Kom said, “This year I’ve a chance to compete in any competition. Next year by force, I’m not eligible.”
Her quest for a second Olympic medal is over as she will turn 40 in November and hence won’t be eligible to compete thereafter in any international championship, including the 2024 Paris Olympics.
‘Nobody can stop me from fighting’
Mary Kom, however, said that while rules can stop her from competing in another Olympics, “nobody can stop me from fighting”.
“By force I’m not eligible to fight in the Olympics because of the age limit. I’m very sorry for that. But I want to continue, keep fighting for another three-four years. I still have that confidence and willpower.
“I’m thinking, I can also become a pro. I’ve that confidence. Nobody can stop me from fighting.”
The boxing legend underwent surgery at a Mumbai hospital in August last year.
Terming it as the worst phase of her career, Mary Kom said she would have preferred “death” to the painful phase.
“It was so painful… I didn’t expect this injury. It was bad luck. It wasn’t a minor injury, but a major grade-III ACL tear. People said I won’t be able to run again, forget (about) fighting. Six months after the operation, there was still unbearable pain that (I) preferred death.
“In my life, I’ve struggled a lot, did hard work… so much that I never cried and took all the pain. But this (recovery) was unbearable. Only once before in my life, I had cried when I had lost my passport and then I attempted suicide, as I did not have the money to apply for a fresh passport,” she recalled.
India made history earlier this year, winning four gold medals (Nitu Ghanghas, Nikhat Zareen, Lovlina Borgohain and Saweety Boora) at the Women’s World Boxing Championships.
In 2006, the quartet of Mary Kom, Sarita Devi, Jenny Lalremliani and Lekha KC had achieved the feat for the first time.
Stay grounded: Mary tells Nikhat and Co
Urging them to stay grounded, Mary Kom said, “Nowadays, whenever one becomes a champion, arrogance, attitude and indiscipline creep in because of money and fame.
“They (boxers) have to guard against it. My uniqueness is that I always love everyone and care for everyone. I’m blessed, which is why I am here. They (young boxers) have to be guided well.”
Asked about India’s medal chances in Paris, Mary Kom said, “Their fate is in their hands. The federation is doing its best. They (boxers) are not lacking anything, everything is being provided. Now, it’s all in the hands of the boxers… how many of them qualify and win medals in Paris.”
Asked about Nikhat, Mary said, “She has been doing well. I just want her to keep doing well and become responsible. There’s a lot of stress, pressure at this level. If, she (Nikhat) handles the pressure well, she will do better. If she’s unable to handle pressure, she will falter. You have to guide them in a proper way.”
Frank Auerbach once said that London after the second world war was a “marvellous landscape with precipice and mountain and crags, full of drama”. It’s a description that could just as easily apply to his own aged face, judging by the works that have just gone on display at a new show in the city.
Entitled Twenty Self-Portraits and showing at the Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert gallery, the exhibition comprises paintings on boards and drawings on paper, all done since 2017. Here he is looking like a bird; there, like a tree; there, a boulder unmoved by a storm. The artist, just turning 92, still lives where he works, as he always has done – alone in a north London studio. I call him at 9am on Good Friday. He picks up on the first ring.For decades, writers have struggled to find the right words to describe Auerbach: a hermit, a recluse, a monk, an obsessive. His daily routine seemed like it would never change: up before 7am to draw in quiet streets, then work in the studio – every day of the year – with one of the handful of people who have sat for him over the decades. As one veteran sitter, the art historian Catherine Lampert, puts it: “He’s all by himself, every evening, by choice.”
“I don’t any longer do the daily drawing actually,” says Auerbach. “I’m doing what may be my last two little paintings in the studio, of a scene outside. But I have been working this morning. When I got up, I saw [in what I’d done yesterday] something that seemed perfectly adequate but totally unnecessary and I rubbed it all out. Of course, now it looks utterly different. But it still isn’t any good – and I shall go on with that process for as long as it takes.”
The critic Robert Hughes, who wrote an acclaimed Auerbach monograph in the 1990s, said that an “overriding sense of being alone in the world” was at the heart of the German-born British artist’s work. It would be tempting to link that summation to Auerbach finally arriving at self-portraiture. Yet, when seen in the round, it strikes me that his work is actually run through with steadfast relationships. The names of his sitters often make it into the titles: EOW (Auerbach’s erstwhile companion Estella Olive West), JYM (Julia Yardley Mills, a professional model who sat for 40 years), Julia (his wife since 1958), Jake (his son) and a trio of art writers, William Feaver, Lampert and David Landau. Their presences are captured by Auerbach’s exacting process of repeatedly trying, then erasing, then trying again to make an image that is true. And doing so, in most cases, for at least 20 years, sometimes well past 40.
When I suggest that his work speaks not of solitude but connection, he replies: “That is absolutely true. And it’s possibly true that our deepest experiences are other people. I do think subject matters. And it seems that the only thing worth using for one’s art is one’s deepest experiences. I think my drawings sometimes, in retrospect, tell me a lot about my relationship with people I’ve been drawing. People say they’re expressing themselves – but I’m not expressing myself at all. I’m trying to make an image.” Yet, years later, he might look at a work “and see how I felt at the time, but wasn’t aware of then”.
Auerbach has always rejected any notion that his work is expressionist. He speaks in formal terms, about needing to have or feel “the lump” of whatever he’s drawing in his mind. Feaver, the writer who has sat for him weekly since 2003, once described himself as “a useful lump”. I can’t resist asking Auerbach: “Are you a useful lump?”
“I’m an extremely useful lump!” he says brightly. “I don’t chat. I’m very well aware of the enormous sacrifice my saintly sitters are making when they come to sit for me. But if I feel I want to go next door for 20 minutes, to see the thing with a fresh eye on my return, I can do that.”
The catalogue for Twenty Self-Portraits features an article by Michael Roemer, the US film director and writer, who was among the very first to buy an Auerbach. It was 1950 and the painter was just 19. Roemer paid 10 guineas. He couldn’t explain why, but he needed the piece. And he went on to collect more and live surrounded by them for 40 years. Speaking by phone from Florida, he describes his favourite charcoal: the one with the paper completely worn away, and backed up with another piece of paper, also worn away and patched. I know what he’s referring to: one of the heads of EOW from the late 1950s.
The two men met as boys, aged 11 and 8. It was 1939 and they were at Bunce Court, a Kentish boarding school for orphans, mostly sent by their families from Berlin via the Kindertransport. Roemer, now 95, last met Auerbach three years ago. They said their goodbyes. But, adds Roemer, when they speak on the phone, they just pick up where they left off. “It’s as though there were no years.”
Roemer left the UK for the US at the age of 17. He remembers Auerbach, three years his junior, doing a watercolour of some boots, shortly before. “It wasn’t a finished thing but it wasn’t sketchy. It was just very different from everything the other children were doing and much better than anything I could do.”
Auerbach has described some of the lines in earlier self-portraits as being “an old man’s marks”. But these new works feel really fresh. They’re small with a markedly vertical emphasis, the brush and charcoallines running downwards like spines or trunks. They’re sparser than previous works, too.
Auerbach used to work for longer periods. “It was a physical affair,” he says – a performance described by sitters in terms one might use for a boxing match, all shuffle and stomp. But his balance isn’t so good now. “It’s still physical, but I find I’m holding on to the easel with one hand and working with the other. Possibly the marks become slightly more summary and reduced.”
It’s also the distillation of a lifetime of, as he puts it, teaching himself how to draw. Even now, a work is only deemed finished and valid if it passes the final test: a black and white photograph is taken of it, to check the graphic structure. When drawing himself, I suggest, he must also feel his own structure, his actual bones. Does this feed into his understanding? Almost everything does, he says. “Sometimes I keep on drawing in my sleep. Before, I was hardly conscious of my dreams, but I now find myself working things out, thinking I should be doing this with that.”
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Summer Building Site, a work from 1952 in which two yellowstepladders stand amid bold shapes in orange and green, has become essential to Auerbach’s origin story: this was the first time he felt he had done his own painting – and he didn’t know if he’d ever manage another. “I remember it all exactly,” he says. “I felt I was breaking the sound barrier. I was crossing through and making something new.”
As we talk, there is – as there always is – a book open on the studio floor. This time, it’s one about his old tutor David Bomberg. Auerbach can still hear the things – uncensored, impatient – that Bomberg would say. Auerbach once traced his painting lineage back, from Bomberg (“who attended Walter Sickert’s evening classes”) to Whistler to Degas to Ingres and all the way back to Raphael. These days he thinks about Picasso a lot, as well as Rembrandt and Michelangelo. He talks of these greats as being in the room with him: they’re his community, he says, his conversation.
In London’s Tate Britain hangs Auerbach’s EOW Nude from from 1953-4, a painting about the length of an arm, but utterly confounding. I go back to see it. Up close, I gauge the paint’s thickness then, from a distance, I see the prone figure emerging like cleft marble from a lava field. Nearly seven decades on, it is pure punk, obdurate, still Hughesian in its shocking newness. “My vision of painting,” Auerbach once said, “was of an explosion.”
Roemer tells me he is writing a book. He just hopes he’ll live long enough to finish it. Auerbach hopes so too. “As long as I can put on my painting trousers and have a brush in my hand, or a stick of graphite, I feel active. I wish for both of us that we fall over while still trying to work.”
Frank Auerbach, Twenty Self-Portraits ispresented by Frankie Rossi Art Projects, at Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert, London, until 14 July.
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
SRINAGAR: In a region where conformity is the norm, two engineering cousins stood out with their unconventional thinking and unwavering determination. Their remarkable creativity and innovation resulted in the birth of Epoxy Resin Art furniture in Kashmir, turning heads and sparking interest in the design world.
Epoxy is a type of synthetic resin used in a variety of applications such as adhesives, coatings, and paints. It is made by mixing two components, a resin and a hardener, which react to form a strong, durable and often waterproof material. Epoxy can bond materials together, fill gaps or cracks, and create a protective layer over a surface. It is commonly used in construction, woodworking, automotive repair, and marine applications.
During Covid, Kashif began researching and making use of internet resources. He believes that the internet can be resourceful if used to surf the right things. After a lot of brainstorming and hard work, the business venture officially started in 2021. As Covid led to job losses on a large scale, an idea like this seemed like a good option for employment generation. Moreover, Kashmir is known for its wood, and Kashmiris share a common love for wood in general, as seen from the popular Kashmiri wood-carved furniture found in many Kashmiri households.
The catch is that Divine Epoxy Furniture uses scrap wood to create unique and durable pieces of furniture that showcase the natural beauty of the wood. Scrap wood can be repurposed and incorporated into epoxy furniture as a sustainable and eco-friendly option, adding a rustic touch to the design while reducing waste and contributing to a more environmentally conscious approach to furniture making. Scrap wood can create a one-of-a-kind piece of furniture that tells a story and adds sentimental value to the item, making it more meaningful and valuable to the owner. Moreover, epoxy resin art gives a unique new look to the furniture, and since epoxy is waterproof, it also increases the lifespan of the furniture.
The harmonious marriage of wood and epoxy resin in furniture making creates a captivating and luxurious aesthetic that effortlessly blends organic warmth with modern elegance, resulting in exquisite pieces that are as visually striking as they are durable and functional. “Initially, people were surprised that something like this was made in Kashmir itself,” said Tanzeel Khan, a Research Scholar from SKUAST Shalimar who has been working with the duo and is part of the team.
Divine Epoxy Furniture mainly deals with Epoxy Coffee tables, Epoxy Wall clocks, Fractal burn kitchen cabinets, Customized Epoxy doors, and much more. Customers have given high praise to the craftsmanship and quality of their work. One customer shared, “I had a custom epoxy river table made for my living room, and it is absolutely stunning. The combination of wood and resin is breathtaking, and it is a real conversation starter.” Another customer stated, “I purchased an epoxy desk for my home office, and it has been a game-changer. It is so much more stylish than a regular desk, and it makes working from home feel like a luxury. The fact that it is so durable and easy to clean is just a bonus.”
They have recently started Fractal burning art as well, which involves using high voltage electrical currents to burn branch-like patterns into the wood. It gives an artistic look to the furniture and adds character to it.
Tanzeel Khan expressed his vision for the future by saying, “Our aim is to create a Hybrid industry.” While their journey has been filled with obstacles and challenges, they have persevered and learned valuable lessons along the way. They faced the challenge of entering the market and establishing their own unique niche. However, they view their journey as a great learning experience. The power of imagination is evident in their success, as they have brought their ideas to life through hard work and determination. Tanzeel Khan believes that exploring our potential can lead to limitless possibilities, and he encourages others to do the same.
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Colombo: Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday emphasised that seeking the IMF bailout package was the only option available to the debt-ridden country to overcome the ongoing economic crisis.
“When a country goes bankrupt, it has to go to the International Monetary Fund. Apart from that, there is no other organisation in the world that provides aid when a country goes bankrupt,” Wickremesinghe said.
Addressing a gathering in the central town of Kandy, he said that each nation that experienced an economic catastrophe recovered after engaging in talks with the IMF and cited the example of Greece which took 13 years to recover from the collapsed economy.
“I have no hope of being President for 13 years,” Wickremesinghe said, amidst opposition to his hard economic reforms which had triggered utility rate hikes and increased personal taxes.
“There is only one way to rebuild this collapsed economy. That is the International Monetary Fund. Different political parties are presenting different stories. I suggested to them to let me know if there is another way to resurrect the collapsed economy.
“The IMF indicates that our tax revenue should be 15 per cent of the GDP as it was in 2019. So far it has gone down to 09 per cent,” he added.
He said the IMF had assigned Sri Lanka 15 tasks to complete.
“The IMF gave us until December 31 to implement it. But we couldn’t do it on that particular day. Then we made plans to get time until January 31. Even at that time, we were unable to complete those 15 points. Finally, the deadline was pushed back to February 15… All 15 tasks assigned to us have been completed. Now it is up to the IMF,” he added.
Wickremesinghe acknowledged that delays over Chinese willingness to restructure Sri Lanka debt had caused problems.
“This is being discussed further. The IMF also suggested that everyone should get on one platform and discuss. However as China is a world power, their procedure is different,” he said.
He said he would meet the Chinese finance minister on February 23 in Bengaluru at the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting this week.
“There, I hope to discuss the debt restructuring method of Sri Lanka with the Chinese Finance Minister,” he added.
Wickremesinghe said if the IMF did not provide assistance, the island nation would have to return to its last year situation of unavailability of fuel and 12-hour power cuts.
Sri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves, sparking political turmoil in the country which led to the ouster of the all-powerful Rajapaksa family.
The IMF in September last year approved Sri Lanka a 2.9 billion dollar bailout package over 4 years pending Sri Lanka’s ability to restructure its debt with creditors — both bilateral and sovereign bond holders.
With assurances from creditors, the 2.9 billion dollar facility could get the IMF board approval in March.
The IMF facility would enable the island nation to obtain bridging finance from markets and other lending institutions such as the ADB and the World Bank.
The officers were all fired from the department last week and have been charged with murder and other crimes related to the death of Nichols.
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis told CNN Friday morning that the video shows “acts that defy humanity” and “a disregard for life” — namely, the officers using what she said was a group-think mentality to exert an “unexplainable” amount of aggression toward Nichols. She added the video is “about the same if not worse” than the graphic video of Los Angeles police officers brutally attacking Rodney King in 1991.
“I was outraged. It was incomprehensible to me. It was unconscionable, and I felt that I needed to do something and do something quickly,” Davis said. “I don’t think I’ve witnessed anything of that nature in my entire career.”
Garland on Friday said though he hasn’t seen the video, he’s been briefed on its contents and called it “deeply disturbing” and “horrific.” FBI Director Christopher Wray, who was also at the briefing, said he was “appalled” by the video.
“I have seen the video myself, and I will tell you I was appalled,” Wray said. “I’m struggling to find a stronger word, but I will just tell you I was appalled.”
Wray added that all of the FBI’s field offices have been alerted to work closely with their state and local partners, particularly in Memphis, “in the event of something getting out of hand” during protests over the weekend. U.S. Capitol Police have beefed up security on the Hill — with bike-rack style security fencing erected overnight — as police departments across the country are also bracing for protests related to the footage.
“There’s a right way and a wrong way in this country to express being upset or angry about something, and we need to make sure that if there is that sentiment expressed here, it’s done in the right way,” Wray said.
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#DOJ #warns #protests #turning #violent #ahead #Tyre #Nichols #footage #release
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
