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New York (AFP) – A prominent US art collector and billionaire philanthropist has returned 180 works of art and antiquities stolen from around the world — some from ancient Greece — that are estimated to be worth $70 million, Justice Department officials in New York said Monday. The move, announced by Manhattan attorney general Cyrus Vance’s office, allows 80-year-old Michael Steinhardt to avoid indictment and trial for the time being, but bans him for life from acquiring antiques on the legal art market. The works of art include a Greek drinking vessel fashioned in the shape of a deer’s head… Continue reading “US billionaire returns $70 mn worth of stolen antiquities”

By Tariq MaQbool For a de facto lifer like me, contact with family and friends is crucial to my mental health and survival. Visits and phone conversations are my lifelines out of this dark place. And when visits were cancelled due to the pandemic, daily calls kept me from becoming totally depressed. One day, during one of those calls, a childhood friend asked me a surprising question. “Tariq, what do you do to … control yourself?” she asked uneasily. Our relationship spans continents and almost a lifetime, so we usually speak freely. But, you see, she and I are devout Muslims from Pakistan. In… Continue reading “Tackling a huge taboo: Sexual desire behind bars | Opinion”