Category: today’s top story

“New York City Opera choristers and orchestra members have offered to perform for free this season in exchange for health care and power over future venues, in a bid to stop the opera from eliminating their guaranteed employment.”

“The international literary community is demanding the immediate release of Turkish publisher and free speech activist Ragip Zarakolu, who has been arrested and imprisoned in Turkey” as part of a crackdown on a Kurdish party alleged to be connected to rebels in the country’s southeast.

“On 8 November, when guests turn up to the preview of Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan at the National Gallery, the event will be broadcast live not just on Sky HD, but also in cinemas all over Britain.”

“The looted treasure, which includes Greek and Roman gold, had been stored in two padlocked second world war military chests and a safe. It has never been displayed in Libya and its existence had been virtually forgotten, except by specialist archaeologists.”

“It was due to go for sale as a portrait by the minor 19th-century British artist Matthew Shepperson, but – as the auction house Bonhams revealed on Thursday – it is nothing less than a previously unknown work by one of the greatest of all painters, Diego Velzáquez.”

“Heathcliff was described in the original book as a ‘dark-skinned gypsy’ and ‘a little lascar’ – a 19th-century term for Indian sailors. Among the many screen adaptations of Wuthering Heights … a dark-skinned actor has never been given the role” – until now.

“Musicians in crucial chairs of the KBS Symphony Orchestra have either walked out or been dismissed … Others are donning protest T-shirts and offering subpar work during practices and even some performances.” The players insist that conductor Hahm Shinik is incompetent, unable to identify different instruments or out-of-tune playing.

“A letter sent Wednesday outlining the offer … states that the musicians have until 4 p.m. on Friday to approve the proposal or orchestra management will ‘begin the process of hiring permanent replacements for its musicians’.”

“A few years ago, someone brought a smile to Rushdie’s lips. What’s worse, he asked him: living in hiding for years with a death sentence hanging over you, or being asked thousands of times what it’s like to live with a death sentence hanging over you? ‘It’s pretty close,’ the writer replied ironically.”

“Julian Barnes finally won the literary prize that has eluded him on three previous occasions when he was tonight presented with the Man Booker prize for his short novel, The Sense of an Ending. His victory came after one of the most bitter and vituperative run-ups to the prize in living memory.”