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Picasso portrait sells for £28.6 million
LONDON - A Pablo Picasso portrait of his mistress and muse Marie-Therese Walter titled Femme assise pres d'une fenetre (Woman sitting near a window) sold for £28.6 million (HK$347.25 million) at a Sotheby's auction of impressionist, modern and surrealist art. Prices for the most sought-after works have soared in recent years with collectors in China, Russia and the Middle East joining more established patrons in the United States and Europe. Reuters
 
Merkel backs minister accused of plagiarism
BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel rallied to the side of her education and research minister after she was stripped of her doctorate amid allegations of plagiarism. Annette Schavan said that she was challenging the decision by the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf after it concluded that she had "systematically" copied parts of her 1980 doctoral thesis on philosophy. The opposition called on Schavan to quit, seeking to put Merkel under pressure eight months before federal elections. Bloomberg
 
11,000 elephants slaughtered in park
LIBREVILLE, Gabon - Poachers have killed more than 11,000 elephants in the Minkebe National Park rainforest since 2004, the government said, with the massacre fuelled by increasing demand for ivory in Asia. The densely forested central African country is home to about half the world's roughly 100,000 remaining forest elephants, coveted by ivory dealers for their harder and straighter tusks. Reuters
 
Muslim leaders want talks to end Syrian war
CAIRO - Leaders of Islamic nations called for a negotiated end to Syria's civil war at a summit in Cairo that began yesterday, thrusting Egypt's new Islamist president to centre stage amid turbulence at home. In a keynote address, Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi urged all 57 member states of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation to support the Syrian opposition. Mursi called on "the ruling regime" in Damascus to learn the lessons of history and not put its interests above those of the nation. AFP
 
CIA uses Saudi base to launch drone strikes
WASHINGTON - The CIA conducts lethal drone strikes against al-Qaeda militants inside Yemen from a remote base in Saudi Arabia. The location of the base was disclosed by The New York Times online on Tuesday. Any operation by US military or intelligence officials inside Saudi Arabia is politically and religiously sensitive. AP
 
Seized French tanker released by pirates
ABIDJAN - A French-owned tanker hijacked by suspected Nigerian pirates off the Ivory Coast at the weekend has been released and its 17-person crew is safe, the vessel's owner said. SEA Tankers, which owns the vessel Gascogne, lost contact with the ship off the West African nation's coast on Sunday. It was the second tanker hijacking in Ivorian waters in the last three weeks and occurred amid an increase in armed hijacking in the Gulf of Guinea, which is second only to the waters off Somalia for piracy. Reuters
 
Protesters' sit-in at Libyan parliament
TRIPOLI - Sixteen Libyan protesters are occupying the main chamber of the country's parliament, forcing lawmakers to work elsewhere and delaying ratification of the budget, Prime Minister Ali Zaidan said. Authorities did not want to use force to move the protesters, who were wounded during the 2011 revolution against former ruler Muammar Gaddafi, said Zaidan. The protesters are seeking compensation for their injuries. Bloomberg
 
Syrian refugee total 'is set to reach 1.1m'
TOKYO - The UN said yesterday that the number of people fleeing fighting in Syria could reach 1.1 million by June. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres urged support for a US$1 billion plan, pushed by his and other groups, to help those displaced by the conflict. He said the humanitarian situation in Syria was "the most dramatic crisis we are facing today" and that developed nations must accept more refugees. AFP
 
Obama to promote peace on Israel visit
JERUSALEM - US President Barack Obama will take an "urgent" peacemaking agenda to Israel, focusing on the resumption of talks between Israel and the Palestinians, US ambassador Dan Shapiro said. He was speaking a day after the White House announced that Obama would visit Israel, Jordan and the West Bank, possibly as soon as next month. AP
 


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Briefs, February 7, 2013

Pablo Picasso's Femme assise pres d'une fenetre. Photo: Reuters

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A Pablo Picasso portrait of his mistress and muse Marie-Therese Walter titled Femme assise pres d'une fenetre (Woman sitting near a window) sold for £28.6 million (HK$347.25 million) at a Sotheby's auction of impressionist, modern and surrealist art. 
