UKRAINE  – US Vice-President Kamala Harris has pledged a $1.5bn (£1.18bn) package of aid to Ukraine, mostly for the country’s energy sector.

The funding, announced at a Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland, will help repair infrastructure damaged by Russian bombardments. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that half of the country’s power-producing capacity had been destroyed in the war. He has called on Western countries to provide more air defences to protect both energy infrastructure and urban population centres, and some have responded.

Russian attacks on the power grid have forced energy companies to institute rolling blackouts. The package, from USAID and the State Department, includes $500m of new money for energy assistance and $324m redirected for emergency energy needs, a White House statement said.

“These efforts will help Ukraine respond to Russia’s latest attacks on Ukraine energy infrastructure by supporting repair and recovery, improving Ukraine’s resilience to energy supply disruptions, and laying the groundwork to repair and expand Ukraine’s energy system,” it added.

Another $369m has been pledged as humanitarian assistance to help displaced persons and communities affected by the conflict, and there are plans to send a further $300m to provide life-saving equipment for border guards and law enforcement. Since the start of the war, the US has spent more than $3.2m on humanitarian aid for Ukraine, and nearly $1.5bn on the energy sector, the statement added. Ms Harris is attending the summit in the Swiss mountain resort of Burgenstock, which aims to discuss basic principles for ending the conflict in Ukraine, in the absence of President Joe Biden. (BBC) …[+]

Henry K was recently sentenced to 30 years in prison after he was found guilty of killing his ex wife, Sherida Tjokrokarijo. The judge pointed out that there was enough hard evidence to prove that the defendant who had already been convicted of murder in the past had also killed his ex wife. The defendant could not accept the fact that his ex had rejected him. District Attorney Mirella van Dijk told the court that the defendant entered the house of the victim against her will. She pointed out that the murder was premeditated because the defendant was armed with a dagger. When he could not convince the woman to take him back, he attacked her. The defendant who had stabbed the victim several times claimed that another man had attacked him. But a witness and the forensics investigators contradicted this explanation…[+]

SWITSERLAND – One of Switzerland’s leading art museums says it will remove five paintings from one of its exhibitions while it investigates whether they were looted by the Nazis.

The works – part of a collection at the Kunsthaus Zurich museum – are by some of the world’s most acclaimed artists, including Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh.  There have long been suspicions about the provenance of works in the Emil Bührle Collection – named after a German-born arms dealer who made his fortune during World War Two by making and selling weapons to the Nazis.

The decision to remove the paintings comes following the publication of new guidelines aimed at dealing with the large number of cultural works that have still not been returned to the families they were stolen from. The artworks that are under investigation are: Jardin de Monet à Giverny by Claude Monet, Portrait of the Sculptor Louis-Joseph by Gustave Courbet, Georges-Henri Manuel by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, The Old Tower by Vincent van Gogh, and La route montante by Paul Gauguin.

The foundation board for the Emil Buhrle Collection said in a statement it was “committed to seeking a fair and equitable solution for these works with the legal successors of the former owners, following best practices”. A sixth work in the collection, La Sultane by Edouard Manet, has also come under further scrutiny but the foundation said it did not believe the new guidelines applied to it and that the painting would be considered separately.

“Due to the overall historical circumstances relating to the sale, the Foundation is prepared to offer a financial contribution to the estate of Max Silberberg in respect to the tragic destiny of the former owner,” it said. Silberberg was a German Jewish industrialist whose extensive art collection was sold at forced auctions by the Nazis. It is thought he was murdered at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp during the Holocaust. According to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper, there has been debate about whether Silberberg was forced to sell La Sultane or whether he freely did so for financial reasons. …[+]