News of the World: What you missed this week internationally
IVORY COAST
After over a century, a sacred “talking drum” taken by French forces in 1916 during the country’s colonial rule has been returned. The more than 10-foot drum, called the Djidji Ayôkwé, which means the Panther Lion, had been on display in Paris, first at the Trocadéro Museum and then at the Quai Branly Museum. Its original owners, the Ebrié community, welcomed it back home, and a group of local chiefs were at Abidjan International Airport upon its arrival.
MEXICO
During the construction of a railway bypass, a 1,000-year-old pre-Columbian town was discovered with foundations of up to 60 dwellings, a cemetery with 40 human remains and 28 urns with ashes. Experts from the National Institute of Anthropology and History identified the village, called La Ciénega, which means The Marsh, in the Cocóspera River valley and canyon in Sonora, 100 miles south of Tucson. The findings shed light on ancient cultural ties in what is now Arizona.
ITALY
It was really drawn to it. Italy’s Culture Ministry just revealed it shelled out around $35 million for a rare painting by the baroque artist Caravaggio. The work, which dates back to 1598 and is a portrait of Maffeo Barberini, a nobleman who became Pope Urban VIII, will now hang at Rome’s Palazzo Barberini. This jaw-dropping sale marks one of the largest state investments for a piece of art.
CANADA
A regional chair resigned after it was discovered he owned a signed copy of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.” Niagara Regional Chair Bob Gale resigned hours after anti-racism groups demanded he apologize for owning the leader of the Nazi Party’s mainfesto. In his resignation letter, he didn’t name “Mein Kampf,” but referred to it as “a historical book found in many libraries.”
JAPAN
After alpine skier Momoka Muraoka won silver in the giant slalom sitting race at the Milano Cortina Winter Paralympics this week, she became the most decorated winter para athlete in the country. The 29-year-old, who has been in a wheelchair since the age of four, has won a total of 11 medals since since making her Paralympic debut at Sochi in 2014.
With Wires
