on the water photography has added a photo to the pool:

The deposed Venezuelan president and his wife appeared in a Manhattan courtroom as rival protests took place outside

The deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro had a smile on his face as he walked into a Manhattan court with shackles around his ankles and affably shook hands with attorneys at the defense table.

But though he appeared at ease on Thursday, Maduro, who was captured in Caracas by US special forces on 3 January, faces a “narco-terrorism” indictment that could land him in federal prison for life.

Continue reading...

Conservative former cabinet minister says nurse convicted of murdering seven babies has suffered a miscarriage of justice

The police force that conducted the investigation into the nurse Lucy Letby made “egregious” failures and did not follow official guidance or best professional practice, David Davis has said in parliament.

Speaking in the final parliamentary debate before the Easter recess, the Conservative former cabinet minister made a series of criticisms of Cheshire police and said Letby has suffered a miscarriage of justice. Davis said Cheshire police failed to appoint appropriate medical and statistics experts, and pursue all possible lines of inquiry into why babies died and collapsed on the “failing” neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester hospital in 2015-16.

Continue reading...

Anthony Edwards takes on Obama in hoops, ping pong and Connect 4. (slyt)

I’m sorry, Dave. I can’t give you your job back, but here’s the form you fill out to collect benefits

There’s a joke in Boston that goes: the people in Southie will steal your wallet and help you look for it.…

For Olaf Hajek, difference isn’t about opposition but rather about identifying connections. The Berlin-based illustrator renders dense, uncanny compositions that nod to Surrealist icons like Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo. Nature and culture entwine, and magic and mystery veil each scene. These dreamlike moments of intrigue ask the viewer to suspend preconceived notions and instead, enjoy the allure of the ambiguous.

Hajek is an avid traveler and cultural consumer, offering him a vast repository of images from a variety of sources and locales. Folklore, vernacular traditions, spiritual practices, and natural motifs blend into a distinguishable aesthetic. “What interests me is not so much their differences, but the connections between them—the possibility of developing a universal visual language by bringing diverse influences together. This blending becomes a way of transcending cultural boundaries and revealing something shared and timeless,” he says.

Ambiguity is a central point of Hajek’s practice, emerging technically through superimposed florals and figures, dramatic shifts in scale, and a tension between decay and renewal. Gender and conceptions of masculinity, in particular, are depicted with a sense of softness and fluidity, particularly through symbolic, botanical motifs in vibrant color.

Hajek works in parallel, if not complementary, practices, sketching and painting on paper in a looser, more reflexive manner. “I embrace the unexpected—how colors interact, how forms dissolve into one another, and how compositions evolve organically. Especially in works on paper, intuition plays a central role; they feel more immediate, almost like a direct dialogue with the moment,” he tells Colossal.

Shifting to the canvas, though, requires a clearer vision, and the two approaches are an essential pairing in his practice. “They are part of the same artistic process, which constantly moves between intention and surprise, between structure and freedom,” he says.

Hajek is participating in several upcoming exhibitions, including a group show at Feinkunst Krüger in Hamburg and two solo presentations at Museum Franz Xaver Stahl in Erding and Kaplan Projects in Palma de Mallorca. Until then, find more of his work on Instagram.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Ambiguity Reigns in Olaf Hajek’s Mysterious Illustrations appeared first on Colossal.

The spotless mind, Depth of field

Aan de Jozef Oreliosingel in Schiedam is donderdagavond rond 20:45 uur een auto in de sloot beland. De bovenkant van het voertuig stak nog uit het water toen de hulpdiensten kwamen.

Bij de gemeenteraadsverkiezingen verloor de ChristenUnie terrein ten opzichte van rechtse, christelijke partijen. Schuift de christelijke kiezer steeds meer op naar rechts?

WASHINGTON (ANP) - De VS schorten de aanvallen op Iraanse energievoorzieningen tien dagen langer op, tot 6 april. Dat zegt de Amerikaanse president Donald Trump op zijn kanaal Truth Social. Volgens Trump volgt het besluit op een verzoek vanuit Iran. De onderhandelingen met dat land zouden "zeer goed verlopen", aldus Trump.