World news in brief
Anger at altered photos of Khmer Rouge victims
Cambodians have condemned an Irish photo restorer for altering photographs of victims of their country’s 1970s genocide to show them smiling, saying his decision and that of an international media group to publish them showed horrible judgment. Vice on Friday published an interview with Matt Loughrey, who had colourised photos taken of prisoners of the Khmer Rouge’s notorious S-21 prison in Phnom Penh, where an estimated 17,000 people suspected of being enemies of the communist regime were jailed, tortured and executed. Vice has since taken the article down and says it is investigating.
“To imagine the smiling faces of victims of the Khmer Rouge, your judgment must be horrible,” said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, which recorded atrocities by the Khmer Rouge, who are blamed for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people through execution, starvation and lack of medical care.
Mr Loughrey said he had been hired by family members of some of the S-21 victims to colour photos of their loved ones, and he then on his own worked on more images from the prison, which today is the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Several photos accompanying the article showed prisoners smiling for the camera, but critics pointed out that in at least some of the original photos, the subjects were not smiling. A Vice statement said: “The article included photographs of Khmer Rouge victims that Loughrey manipulated beyond colourisation. The story did not meet the editorial standards of Vice and has been removed. We regret the error and will investigate how this failure of the editorial process occurred.”
Brazil overtaken by India for Covid infections
India has again become the country with the world’s second-highest number of coronavirus infections, overtaking Brazil, as doctors report shortages of hospital beds and ventilators, warning of a situation that could fast slip out of control. The world’s second most populous country has been hitting new records each day with single-day cases peaking six times last week, crossing the 100,000 mark. Yesterday daily cases hit a new record, with nearly 170,000 in 24 hours. The country’s second wave has pushed the infection tally to 13.53 million cases, surpassing Brazil’s 13.45 million, behind the US by 8 million cases. India now has the highest daily average of new infections in the world.
Experts and doctors have raised an alarm over the “critical” situation and warned that the worst is yet to come. Dr Arvind Kumar, leading robotic chest surgeon at Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, told The Independent that the situation was critical across India as hospitals were short of ventilators, ICU beds and oxygen tanks. “People are rushing from one place to another to seek help for their loved ones. From morning my phone is ringing for arranging hospital beds and ventilators, including in my own hospital where everything is full,” he said.
Cyclone wreaks havoc in Australia
A cyclone has damaged several towns on Australia’s western coast, shattering windows, snapping trees and knocking out power. Tropical Cyclone Seroja crossed the Western Australia state coast south of the tourist town of Kalbarri, with winds gusting up to 106mph, shortly after dark on Sunday. There are no reports of any injuries, but around 70 per cent of buildings in Kalbarri, a town of 1,400 people, had been damaged, Department of Fire and Emergency Services commissioner Darren Klemm said. About 30 per cent of that damage was significant, he added.
Other coastal towns sustained less damage but utility company Western Power reported 31,500 customers had lost power. Such powerful cyclones are rare in subtropical Australia. Wind gusts recorded in Kalbarri and nearby areas were likely to have been the strongest in more than 50 years, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said. Cyclone Seroja caused flooding and landslides that killed at least 174 people and left 48 missing in Indonesia and East Timor last week.
Off-duty Italian police discover stolen antiquity in Belgium
Italian police have recovered a 1st-century Roman statue stolen from an archaeological site in 2011 that was found in a Belgian antiques shop by two off-duty Italian art-squad police officers. An Italian businessman who used a Spanish pseudonym has been referred to prosecutors for further investigation into allegations he received and exported the statue, the Carabinieri art squad said.
The Togatus statue, featuring a headless Roman wearing a draped toga, was stolen a decade ago from the Villa Marini Dettina archaeological site on the outskirts of Rome. It is worth €100,000 (£86,000). Two
members of the squad’s archaeological unit were on assignment in Brussels when they spotted the marble statue, and confirmed their suspicions when they cross-referenced it with a database of stolen antiquities, the statement said.
Italy has for decades worked to recover looted artefacts that have ended up in private collections, famous museums and commercial antique shops around the world.