The birth of John James Audubon, the naturalist and artist who catalogued the birds of America and influenced Charles Darwin, has been celebrated with a Google doodle.
The Google doodle celebrating American artist James Audubon's 226th birthday
The search engine featured images from the pioneering ornithologist’s popular 19th Century prints to mark his 226th birthday.
Birds of prey, songbirds and a watchful owl replaced Google’s distinctive logo on the doodle.
The son of a French sugar plantation owner in what is now Haiti, Jean-Jacques Audubon emigrated to America at the turn of the 19th Century and made his name studying and recording the country’s bird life.
He set himself the challenge of painting North America’s bird species in greater detail than ever before.
A keen hunter, he earned the nickname the "American woodsman" in Europe, symbolising the frontier spirit of the United States to many.
Born on April 26 1785 on his father’s sugar plantation in the former French colony of Saint-Domingue, he moved to France on the eve of the revolution and grew up there.
In 1803 his father sent him to America where he began studying and recording the country’s bird life, selling prints of his work across America and overseas.
In the 1820s he took an exhibition of his work to Britain where it was a hit.
The tour helped him raise the money to publish Birds of America, his monumental work cataloguing almost 500 species in intricate detail.
He was quoted by Charles Darwin in On the Origin of Species and also in later works.
Guantanamo Bay has been used to incarcerate dozens of terrorists who have admitted plotting terrifying attacks against the West – while imprisoning more than 150 totally innocent people, top-secret files disclose.
The files detail the background to the capture of each of the 780 people who have passed through the Guantanamo facility in CubaPhoto: GETTY IMAGES
By Christopher Hope, Robert Winnett, Holly Watt and Heidi Blake1:03AM BST 25 Apr 2011
Al-Qaeda terrorists have threatened to unleash a “nuclear hellstorm” on the West if Osama Bin Laden is caught or assassinated, according to documents to be released by the WikiLeaks website, which contain details the interrogations of more than 700 Guantanamo detainees.
However, the shocking human cost of obtaining this intelligence is also exposed with dozens of innocent people sent to Guantanamo – and hundreds of low-level foot-soldiers being held for years and probably tortured before being assessed as of little significance.
The Daily Telegraph, along with other newspapersincluding The Washington Post, today exposes America’s own analysis of almost ten years of controversial interrogations on the world’s most dangerous terrorists. This newspaper has been shown thousands of pages of top-secret files obtained by the WikiLeaks website.
The disclosures are set to spark intense debate around the world about the establishment of Guantanamo Bay in the months after 9/11 – which has enabled the US to collect vital intelligence from senior Al Qaeda commanders but sparked fury in the middle east and Europe over the treatment of detainees.
The files detail the background to the capture of each of the 780 people who have passed through the Guantanamo facility in Cuba, their medical condition and the information they have provided during interrogations.
Only about 220 of the people detained are assessed by the Americans to be dangerous international terrorists. A further 380 people are lower-level foot-soldiers, either members of the Taliban or extremists who travelled to Afghanistan whose presence at the military facility is questionable.
At least a further 150 people are innocent Afghans or Pakistanis, including farmers, chefs and drivers who were rounded up or even sold to US forces and transferred across the world. In the top-secret documents, senior US commanders conclude that in dozens of cases there is “no reason recorded for transfer”.
However, the documents do not detail the controversial techniques used to obtain information from detainees, such as water-boarding, stress positions and sleep deprivation, which are now widely regarded as tantamount to torture.
The Guantanamo files confirm that the Americans have seized more than 100 Al-Qaeda terrorists, including about 15 kingpins from the most senior echelons of the organisation.
The most senior detainee at the facility is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the operational commander of Al-Qaeda and the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, who will face a military tribunal later this year after plans for a full-scale trial in New York were abandoned.
His 15-page-file discloses that he was plotting Al-Qaeda attacks around the world in Asia, Africa, America and Britain. It concludes: “Detainee had numerous plots and plans for operations targeting the US, its allies, and its interests world-wide.”
It adds: “Detainee stated that as an enemy of the US, he thought about the US policies with which he disagreed and how he could change them. Detainee’s plan was to make US citizens suffer, especially economically, which would put pressure on the US government to change its policies. Targeting priorities were determined by initially assessing those that would have the greatest economic impact, and secondly which would awaken people politically.”
It can also today be disclosed that:
*A senior Al-Qaeda commander claimed that the terrorist group has hidden a nuclear bomb in Europe which will be detonated if Bin-Laden is ever caught or assassinated. The US authorities uncovered numerous attempts by Al-Qaeda to obtain nuclear materials and fear that terrorists have already bought uranium. Sheikh Mohammed told interrogators that Al-Qaeda would unleash a “nuclear hellstorm”.
*The 20th 9/11 hijacker, who did not ultimately travel to America and take part in the atrocity, has revealed that Al-Qaeda was seeking to recruit ground-staff at Heathrow amid several plots targeting the world’s busiest airport. Terrorists also plotted major chemical and biological attacks against this country.
*A plot to put cyanide in the air-conditioning units of public buildings across America was exposed along with several schemes to target infrastructure including utility networks and petrol stations. Terrorists were also going to rent apartments in large blocks and set off gas explosions.
*About 20 juveniles, including a 14-year old boy have been held at Guantanamo. Several pensioners, including an 89 year old with serious health problems were incarcerated.
*People wearing a certain model of Casio watch from the 1980s were seized by American forces in Afghanistan on suspicion of being terrorists, because the watches were used as timers by Al-Qaeda. However, the vast majority of those captured for this reason have since been quietly released amid a lack of evidence.
*Bin Laden fled his hideout in the Tora Bora mountain range in Afghanistan just days before coalition troops arrived. The last reported sighting of the Al-Qaeda leader was in spring 2003 when several detainees recorded he had met other terrorist commanders in Pakistan.
Guantanamo Bay was opened by the American Government in January 2002 at a military base in Cuba. The establishment of the controversial facility required a special presidential order as “enemy combatants” were held without trial.
A series of controversial torture-style techniques were also approved to be used on prisoners and many foreign Governments, including the British, pressed for their citizens to be released. However, the files disclose that British intelligence services apparently co-operated with Guantanamo interrogators.
Barack Obama had pledged to close the facility and hold open trials for those found to have committed crimes. However, the US President has failed to fulfil his pledge amid concerns over the admissibility of evidence collected during torture.
The files disclosed today also show that American military commanders implicitly acknowledged that dozens of people were incorrectly captured and sent to Guantanamo.
Many of the details are likely to be seized upon by human-rights campaigners and add to pressure of George W Bush, the former US President, to apologise for the operation of the camp.
For example, Muhammed al Ghazali Babaker Mahjoub, was the director of orphanages for a Saudi charity working in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The charity was suspected of having financial links to Al Qaeda and Mahjoub was therefore arrested and transferred to Guantanamo because of “his knowledge of displaced persons in and around Pakistan and Afghanistan, specifically the orphan population.”
But, after a year in detention, and several interrogations in which he co-operated fully, the US military concluded his information was “not valuable” and that the charity worker had no links to any terrorist organisation. He was released.
An analysis of the Guantanamo files shows that at least 150 people were assessed by the Americans as innocent and released.
A total of about 200 detainees are classified as genuine international terrorists by the American military, with the remainder being mid or low level foot-soldiers.
599 detainees have already been released – some to prisons in other countries. About 180 people are still held at Guantanamo.
In the coming days, The Daily Telegraph will expose the crucial role that Britain has played in the global terrorist network that has been documented by those held at Guantanamo – with London emerging as a key “crucible” where extremists from around the world are radicalised and sent to fight jihad.
Rolling coverage of events in Libya, as behind-the-scenes moves against Col Moammar Gaddafi intensify, with updates from other conflicts around the world.
By Martin Evans and Chris Irvine3:30PM BST 05 Apr 2011
2011-04-05 15:48:44.0
Latest
15.47 Nato's Brig Gen Mark van Uhm has said that the death of Libyan civilians in an air strike last week was an "unfortunate accident". The air raid on Friday killed 13 people, four of them civilians, 10 miles east of Brega after rebels fired celebratory gunfire into the air prompting warplanes to act in self defence.
15.46 Shifting focus to Yemen for a moment, William Hague has said he is "appalled" by the bloodshed. At least 24 people have been killed in as many hours.
I condemn the Yemeni security forces' indiscriminate violence against demonstrators in Taiz, Hodeida and Sanaa.
In early March, President Saleh promised to maintain maximum restraint in the use of the Yemeni security forces in controlling peaceful demonstrations. We strongly urge him to keep that promise.
As we have said before, the government of Yemen should act urgently to respond to the legitimate demands of the Yemeni people for political change and move towards implementing much-needed reform.
A lengthy transition heightens the risk of accelerating political and economic instability and further needless violence.
15.30 Andrew Mitchell, the international development secretary has told the Commons that the international community will learn the lessons of Iraq in planning to rebuild Libya.
In the past the links between humanitarian aid and post-conflict stabilisation have not always been well understood.
We must not make the same mistakes that were made in Iraq. The international community must agree and implement a single UN-led plan to rebuild lives, peace and security.
A plan which has the full support of the Libyan people and strong regional buy-in...
This will require clear, strong, multi-lateral leadership and a shared assessment of what needs to be done.
We have learnt lessons from Iraq and indeed from events in Afghanistan, the Balkans and Sierra Leone.
15.25 The US Air Force secretary has admitted that they are spending about $4 million (£2.5 million) a day to keep 50 fighter jets and nearly 40 support aircraft in the Libya conflict.
Michael Donley said they had spent $75 million as of this morning ont he war.
15.00 Sky News's Jeremy Thompson, who is in Tripoli this week, Tweets that a mosque on Zawiyah that was the subject of a Sky report three weeks ago, is now no longer there.
#Zawiya mosque now flattened was scene of #skynews Alex Crawford's dramatic report 3 wks ago.
14.38 CNN's senior International Correspondent, Nic Robertson, Tweets from Zawiyah:
Zawiya center: store owners repairing shop fronts, rebel medical clinic welded shut. Nearby, a govt tank is hiding camouflaged under a tree
14.18 The actress Angelina Jolie, who is also a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR, visited the Libyan-Tunisian border to give her opinion.
The international community has done well to reinforce Tunisia's remarkable relief effort.
But with 2,000 people still crossing each day, we cannot let the funding dry up and need to sustain the momentum.
UNHCR goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie at the Tunisian-Libyan border town of Ras Djir
14.00 Nato has claimed that the allied strikes have taken out 30 per cent of Gaddafi's military capacity according to Big Gen Mark van Uhm.
13.55Alistair Burt, Britain's foreign minister, stressed there will be no foreign occupation in Libya in an interview with the Arabic daily El Chourouk.
There will be absolutely no foreign occupation or invasion in Libya... the UK believes that Gaddafi should go, and should go now. Libya has no future with him at the helm.
He has unleashed hell onto his people. He has murdered civilians. He stands accused of dreadful crimes. Now those crimes are a matter for the International Criminal Court.
13.46 A Turkish ship evacuating hundreds of wounded from Libya has arrived at Turkey's Aegean coast. The ferry-turned-hospital brought wounded residents from Misurata for treatment. The ferry is carrying more than 300 wounded. The Telegraph's Ben Farmer last week reported from the boat.
13.25 A rather bizarre incident at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk this morning. The British airbase, from which American warplanes are flying to Libya, was at the centre of a major security alert - after a sniffer dog mistook a lump of mud for explosives.
The drama began when a building firm's van arrived at the gates of the base and was being checked.
Although the Norfolk-based company has been working on a contract to refurbish homes on the base for more than two years, the six men were ordered out of the vehicle.
US security personnel set up a 0.7 mile safety cordon blocking off nearby roads after a specially-trained dog picked up a suspect scent.
A bomb disposal team from Colchester Garrison 50 miles away was called in and used a remote controlled probe to examine the white van.
But six hours later the emergency was lifted and an Army spokesman said the base dogs smelled mud which was "likely at some stage to have been in or near a field where explosives had been used".
13.20 Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the African Union chairman, has condemned foreign military intervention in Ivory Coast and Libya
Africa does not need any external influence. Africa must manage its own affairs.
Each foreigner is susceptible to proposing erroneous solutions. African problems cannot be resolved with an European, American or Asian view.
13.01David Cameron, who is in Pakistan, has sought to reassure the Muslim population that the military operation in Libya is not an "attack on Islam".
Nothing could be further from the truth.
I don't think anyone can seriously argue that international action in Libya is an attack on Islam. Backed by the United Nations and the Arab League, we have taken action to protect people - predominantly Muslim people - from slaughter, just as we did in Kosovo over a decade ago.
12.50 In Bahrain, authorities have deported two journalists working for the Al Wasat opposition newspaper. The journalists, both Iraqi, had been accused by the government of "unethical" coverage of the Shiite uprising against the Sunni rulers.
12.37 Meanwhile in Yemen, two dissident soldiers and three other people have been killed in a firefighter in the capital Sanaa.
12.33 The International Criminal Court prosecutor has now said he wants to speak with Moussa Koussa, the former foreign minister, for his investigation into crimes against civilians in Libya.
12.30 Great story on Twitter, courtesy of Libyans forever in unity. Appears to have come originally from Wefaq Media and ShababLibya.
If you don't want to follow the link, basically, rebels unloaded a fuel station no a service road outside Misurata. The petrol in it was emptied and replaced with water. Gaddafi forces then came along and began filling their vehicles with "fuel". When they attempted to leave, the vehicles stopped working and the rebel fighters ambushed them, forcing them to flee and abandoning their vehicles.
12.25 Francesca Cicardi, a freelance journalist in Cairo, Tweets:
Rebel spokesman in #Benghazi: "be patient, the end is near, one week, two weeks"... political solution is now the focus - and patience... #Libya
Saif now has delusions of grandeur, and sees himself as the potential peace-maker in the Libyan crisis. But no one is going to be fooled by Saif’s grand-standing. You only have to listen to his comments regarding Mr Koussa – he’s old and sick and no one should believe a word he says to his MI6 minders – to see how manipulative Saif can be.
I imagine Mr Koussa, who helped to negotiate the disarmament of Libya’s nuclear weapons programme at a time when Saif was insisting that his father’s regime had no such programme, will provide some useful information both about all the Gaddafis’ involvement in committing war crimes against their own people. No wonder Saif is starting to feel the heat.
11.59William Hague yesterday assured the House of Commons that Britain is not involved in arming Libyan rebels but that non-lethal military equipment may be provided to support them.
11.44 A Libyan-owned ship carrying a cargo of imported petrol has docked at a government-controlled port helping to relieve a fuel shortage, according to government officials. They said the ship was owned by the Libyan state shipping company and was unloading at the port of Zawiyah.
11.12 And the latest Telegraph video on Libya is footage of Col Gaddafi's spokesman saying that the government is ready to discuss reforming its political system but Gaddafi must remain at the helm.
11.09 The Telegraph's latest video on the UN calling on Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo to step down,
11.07 More on this morning's Libyan airstrikes (see 10.25). Nato struck some 18 miles east of the key oil port, which has been the scene of fierce fighting over the past week.
A rebel fighter stands in front of two burning government military vehicles manned by loyalists to Muammar Gaddafi after they were hit by a Nato air strike on the eastern outskirts of Brega
Two government pick-up trucks heading for rebel positions were destroyed, although the soldiers inside appeared to escape unhurt, according to reports.
11.06 Gbagbo's camp is also now denying that he has reached the point of surrender.
10.49 The Gbagbo camp is now saying that an assault by UN and French forces on two military camps killed many, as soldiers lived with their families on the bases.
10.40 The Telegraph's Aislinn Laing, on Ivory Coast reports:
Rinaldo Depagne, Ivory Coast expert for the of the International Crisis Group, said that Mr Ouattara will be hoping his forces follow his orders not to kill Gbagbo if they find him: "Some of the Force Nouvelles (soldiers) I met when the war started in 2002 have a special bullet they keep in their pockets they say they are saving for Mr Gbagbo."
If reports Mr Gbagbo has been captured are true, he advised Mr Ouattara not to rush into setting up his government. "It's very difficult to install a cabinet in a city of chaos and anarchy and if it's rushed, it could unravel, the glue holding them all together could melt."
10.35 In Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo's spokesman has insisted that his forces remain in control of his residence, presidential palace and the country's biggest military campaing Abidjan.
10.25 Reports from AFP breaking that Nato has launched its latest airstrike on Gaddafi forces near the eastern oil town of Brega.
10.23 A tanker is due to dock in the key oil port of Tobruk to picm up the first oil cargo from the rebel-held part of Libya in 18 days, according to Lloyd's List.
10.14 Libyan rebels have been sent scattering under a barrage of shelling early today by Gaddafi forces on the edge of Brega, according to AFP.
In the video a convoy of vehicles can be seen driving through a crowd outside Gaddafi's compound although you will notice that you cannot actually see the "brother leader".
09.45 In Afghanistan, around 250 young Afghans have gathered at Kabul University on the fifth day of protests against the burning of a Koran by the US pastor Terry Jones.
There has been deadly violence in two cities, with seven foreign UN staff and five Afghan protesters killed after demonstrators overran their office in Mazar-i-Sharif.
09.41 Eman al-Obeidy, the woman who burst into a hotel in Tripoli to tell journalists she was beaten and raped, has been speaking to CNN. Although no longer in custody, she told the network she still fears for her life.
My life is in danger, and I call on all human rights organization ... to expose the truth and to let me leave now. I am being held hostage here.
They have threatened me with death and told me I will never leave prison again, if I go to the journalists or tell them anything about what's happening in Tripoli.
09.33 And in Syria, authorities are to unveil new legislation to replace the country's emergency laws before the weekend, according to the al-Watan newspaper.
Despite America's previous longtime support for Ali Abdullah Saleh, reports have indicated that the White House has concluded that Yemen's president is unlikely to bring about reform and should be eased out of office under a US-brokered deal.
Libyan rebels fighting forces loyal to Libyan leader Gaddafi gather outside the eastern oil town of Brega
We know that this is not the first convoy and that it is still ongoing. Several military barracks have been pillaged in this region [eastern Libya] with their arsenals and weapons stores and the elements of AQIM [Al-Qaeda in Islamic Magreb] who were present could not have failed to profit from this opportunity.
09.17 The Ukrainian nurse who treated Col Gaddafi has dismissed rumours he had a nurse as a mistress, but admitted that the man they call "Papa" gave his staff gold watches every year.
08.55 Meanwhile in war-torn Ivory Coast, The Telegraph's Africa Correspondent Aislinn Laing is reporting that defeated Presidential candidate Laurent Gbagbo is negotiating his surrender.
Forces loyal to Mr Ouattara, Ivory Coast's internationally recognised president, said they had captured Mr Gbagbo's Abidjan residence. Heavy weapons fire rocked the economic capital early on Tuesday, after UN and French helicopters last night attacked targets near the presidential residence. Mr Gbagbo's presidential palace and two military camps under his control, were struck, the UN confirmed, in retaliation for "reckless and mindless" attacks on civilians and UN personnel.
08.45 Col Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi claims Moussa Koussa was allowed to leave Libya and insists he knows nothing about the Lockerbie bombing. He tells BBC world affairs editor John Simpson:
The British and the Americans they know about Lockerbie, they know everything about Lockerbie so there are no secrets anymore. Come on. The British government say this: you have no immunity unless you co-operate. He [Moussa Koussa] is sick, he is sick and old so if you put it this way, no immunity of course... [he] will come out with the funny stories.
08.30 The Libyan government has said it is ready to discuss reforms to its political system, but insisted that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi must be allowed to stay in the country. Moussa Ibrahim, the government spokesman said:
Many Libyans, many Libyans want him [Gaddafi] to lead the process forward because they are scared if he is not there for any reason we will have what happened in Iraq, we will have what happened in Somalia, we will have what happened in Afghanistan.
In a report MPs from the arms export control committees accused the Coalition Government of misjudging the risk that arms could be used for internal repression. Sales only stopped in January this year.
08.41 Reports are emerging of a family rift opening up between Gaddafi's two sons Mutassim and Saif over plans for a ceasefire.
While Saif believes that talks would be impossible without a ceasefire, Mutassim wants to ensure the regime cannot be beaten. He is reported to have said 'people get sick of dying, we have to keep fighting until we've beaten the opposition'.
08.00 The Telegraph today reveals exclusively how Libyan defector Moussa Koussa could face criminal proceedings in a British court over alleged involvement in IRA bombings. The legal team representing 160 families of Republican atrocities are considering bringing private prosecutions against the former Libyan foreign minister alleged to be involved in the suuply of Semtex to Irish terrorists. Matthew Jury, a solicitor at H20 Law representing the families said Koussa's role in arming the IRA is unequivocal. Moussa Koussa could face UK private criminal prosecution
We had not anticipated that Moussa Koussa would come to this jurisdiction. Now that he has, such considerations are whether to commence private civil and or criminal prosecutions against him and the making of enquiries of his asset position in the UK and elsewhere. We have spent nearly 20 years gathering evidence and his role in this is unequivocal.
.A car passes a Gaddafi army tank that was destroyed during a NATO air strike in the town of Ajdabiya
07.35 Prosecutors investigating the Lockerbie bombing are expected to meet Libyan defector Moussa Koussa in the next few days. Mr Kusa, who was a Libyan intelligence officer at the time of the 1988 atrocity arrived in the UK last week after abandoning the Gaddafi regime.
07.30 Welcome back to the Libya live blog for April 5. The Telegraph has comprehensive coverage of events in Libya, the wider Middle East and from conflict zones elsewhere including the Ivory Coast.
Eighteen million dollars (£11.2 million) of art and jewellery goes up for auction in Dubai this month as Bonhams and Christie’s go head to head in a duel under the sun.
See before you buy: Edwin Lord Weeks's 'Promenade on an Indian Street'
By Colin Gleadell12:09PM BST 05 Apr 2011
But the strategies and contents of the two sales could hardly be more different.
While the sale of Middle Eastern art is not new, auctions in the Gulf are still in a developmental stage. Following the first sale there, held by Christie’s in 2006, the company’s president of Europe, Jussi Pylkkanen, said: “If the growth of Dubai as a commercial centre continues, there’s no question that it could emerge as a force in the international art market more quickly than Hong Kong did.” It took Christie’s 20 years to build up an annual $250 million market in Hong Kong. In Dubai, Christie’s bi-annual sales of art, jewellery and watches in Dubai have so far risen from $8.5 million in 2006 to $57 million in 2008. A dramatic fall in 2009 was then followed by an equally dramatic recovery last year as sales topped $50 million again.
Whereas Christie’s art sales in Dubai have in the past contained a rich mix of modern and contemporary Western, Middle Eastern and Indian art, this month’s offerings are exclusively Middle Eastern and contemporary, appealing to the new young Emirati collectors. A feature will be a group of works by Saudi Arabian artists made during the past two years which are being sold to raise funds for the educational charity Edge of Arabia.
Bonhams’ sales strike quite a contrast. The company set up business in Dubai in 2007 in partnership with local billionaire collector His Excellency Mohammed Mahdi al-Tajir, the former UAE Ambassador to Britain. Having held its first sale in 2008, which achieved an astonishing $13 million, and included a record $1 million for a Swarovski crystal-studded painting by Iran’s answer to Damien Hirst, Farhad Moshiri, Bonhams’ twice-yearly Dubai sales then struggled to cope with the economic downturn.
They were not alone. Sotheby’s, which normally holds its Middle Eastern art sales in London, held its first series of sales in Doha that year. But the mixture of Islamic antiques, 19th-century Orientalist paintings, and contemporary Middle-Eastern art brought only half of the minimum expected amount. Last year, it held just one sale in Doha, devoted to modern calligraphic art, and its plans this year are still unclear.
Bonhams, meanwhile, is busy experimenting in the Gulf. Last year it held the first sale of vintage cars in the region, and established record prices for two BMWs. It also held its first sale of Orientalist paintings – 19th-century paintings of Middle-Eastern subjects from North Africa to India by Western artists – to appeal to the older collector with more traditional tastes, and is following that up with another sale this month.
With the exception of the Doha sale, Sotheby’s and Christie’s both hold Orientalist sales in London and New York. But Taline Aylnilian, a former Christie’s expert who now works for Bonhams, says that most collectors of Orientalist art are based in the Middle East, so it makes sense to sell there. The genre is enjoying increased public visibility with an exhibition currently at the Sharjah Art Museum, a display at the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar, and an Orientalist Museum scheduled to open in Doha next year.
More importantly, many of the works sold in London and New York are bought by agents for private Middle-Eastern collectors, she says, but in Dubai they can more easily be inspected first hand by the collectors themselves.
Two weeks ago, several of these clients attended a private preview at Bonhams’ beachside villa for the sale, which includes American artist Edwin Lord Weeks’s 1880s painting Promenade on an Indian Street (pictured) with an estimate of $200,000 to $400,000.
Another first for Bonhams will be a sale devoted entirely to photography, where prices will start at just a few thousand dollars. Aimed at the international community in Dubai, it will include Western fashion and celebrity photographs alongside emerging and established Middle-Eastern artists.
This is the only area where the two auction houses are competing this month.
While Christie’s has undisputed majority market share in Dubai, Bonhams is looking to supply different segments of the local and international market.
“It’s a calculated risk,” says Bonhams’ regional director, Guy Vesey. “But it’s a risk worth taking.”
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Each of the images in this gallery is made of up up to 200,000 words of varying lengths, heights and colours. Amateur Spanish artist Juan Osborne scours speeches, lyrics and books for the words associated with his subjects. For instance, thispicture of Kate Middleton and Prince William...
Live updates from the conflict in Ivory Coast, as UN and French forces attack the main city Abidjan and President Laurent Gbagbo is reported to be negotiating surrender.
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UN peacekeepers from Jordan patrol the streets in AbidjanPhoto: AP
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UN air strikes are seen behind a tree in AbidjanPhoto: REUTERS
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Mr Gbagbo, Ivory Coast's president since 2000, has refused to step down despite losing an election in November last yearPhoto: AFP/GETTY
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UN air strikes are seen behind a tree in AbidjanPhoto: REUTERS
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Ivory Coast explosions
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Mr Gbagbo, Ivory Coast's president since 2000, has refused to step down despite losing an election in November last yearPhoto: AFP/GETTY
Tom Chivers11:56AM BST 05 Apr 2011
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2011-04-05 15:45:23.0
Latest
15:44 President Barack Obama has called on Mr Gbagbo to quit "immediately", according to AFP. He has also voiced strong support for the UN efforts in the country. More to follow.
15.24 Andrew Mitchell, the International Development Secretary, confirms that up to a million people have been forced to flee the violence:
Britain has responded swiftly. We are seeking to provide up to 25,000 displaced people with enough food to last them for up to six months, to supply enough tents to shelter up to 15,000 people, to treat 10,000 people for malnutrition and to help 3,000 West African nationals to return home.
15.17 A group of African intellectuals has protested against the French and UN intervention in Ivory Coast. The Dakar-based Committee of African Intellectuals said in a letter sent to the French ambassador in Senegal:
If it is the future of Ivory Coast that so interests you, and not controlling the country's people and resources, this objective is not attainable by arms, but by the Ivorians renegotiating themselves.
15.01 The British Red Cross says that more than one million people have fled the conflict:
14.55 A little earlier, one of the Gbagbo government's lawyers, Lucie Bourthoumieux, denied that the country's foreign minister, Alcide Djedje, had defected, saing that he was being held against his will at the French embassy:
He has absolutely not resigned and is currently being scandalously held against his will.
14.50 Fuller quote from Ahoua Don Mello, the Gbagbo government's spokesman, on negotiations ahead of the president's possible departure from power:
There are direct negotiations based on African Union recommendations which said Alassane Ouattara is president. They are also negotiating judicial and security conditions for Gbagbo's camp and his relatives.
14.43 Alain Juppe says "We are very close to convincing [Gbagbo] to leave power."
Pro-Ouattara fighters prepare for the "final assault" on Gbagbo's forces in front of the Golf Hotel in Abidjan (AFP/GETTY)
14.30 Now President Gbagbo's own spokesman has told Reuters that they are negotiating terms for the president's departure.
14.26 Two Ivory Coast generals are negotiating the president's surrender, according to Francois Fillon, the French Prime Minister:
As we speak we are speaking to two generals to negotiate President Gbagbo's surrender.
14.15 Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, says that he is "aware" of talks with Gbagbo about the Ivorian president stepping down.
We are aware. If there are possibilities to see him leave power then we are ready.
Ouattara's troops patrol the streets of Abidjan while U.N. and French forces fire on Gbagbo's soldiers, earlier today. (REUTERS)
14.10 Alcide Djédjé has told Radio France International that he has gone to the French embassy in order to broker peace:
I'm at the residence of the French ambassador to negotiate a ceasefire. [Gbagbo's departure] is another stage that I am not in charge of. We have to wait for the coming hours on that. I had a mandate to negotiate this stage [a ceasefire]. Now we have to wait.
14.07 The Ivorian crisis could be over very soon, according to Gerard Longuet, the French defence minister:
We are in a situation where everything could be resolved in the next few hours. The use of force is not reasonable. This is what has been shown by UNOCI [the UN peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast] and which must convince Laurent Gbagbo and especially his friends to accept the decision of universal suffrage recognised by the international system.
13.54 AP confirms that forces backing Ouattara have seized Gbagbo's home, and a senior diplomat has spoken on condition of anonymity saying that the fighters are trying to coax Gbagbo himself out of a reinforced bunker. The diplomat also confirms that Alcide Djédjé has abandoned the regime and sought refuge in the French embassy. Mr Djédjé, one of Pres Gbagbo's oldest friends, co-founded Gbagbo's political party and spent time with him in jail several decades ago.
A soldier loyal to Ivory Coast presidential claimant Ouattara lies on a road as fighting flares across the country's main city Abidjan. (REUTERS)
13.13 A fuller quote from Gen Mangou, via AFP, saying that his troops have laid down their weapons and calling on the UN to declare a ceasefire:
Following the bombardment by the French forces on some of our positions and certain strategic points in the city of Abidjan, we have ourselves stopped fighting and have asked the general commanding ONUCI (the UN force) for a ceasefire [to allow for the] protection of the population, soldiers, the Republican Guard ensuring the president's security, the president himself and his family, and members of government. We ask UNOCI to ensure there is no looting or witch hunts.
13.11 The BBC's Andrew Harding has some confirmation that the fighting is coming to an end:
@hardingbbcBig news here in Abidjan. UN confirms Gbagbo trapped in basement. Generals defecting. UN urges end. Will the militia follow suit?
13.06 General Mangou, the Ivorian army chief, has told that he has requested a ceasefire from UN peacekeepers, who have taken part in an assault against pro-Gbagbo forces.
13.01 A "senior diplomat" has told AP that Outtara forces have now seized the presidential home in Abidjan. Gbagbo and his inner circle are sheltering in a bunker.
A soldier loyal to Ivory Coast presidential claimant Ouattara sits along a road in Abidjan. (REUTERS)
12.47 Senam Beheton, a Washington-based Ivorian political scientist, speculates on Twitter that Djédjé is acting under orders from Mr Gbagbo:
@SenamBehetonAlcide Djedje probably went 1st to negotiate Gbagbo's turn. He will take the same tunnel to French Embassy. Djedje can't just get up and defect. Djedje is on his last diplomatic mission for Gbagbo. Negotiate his exit to French protection.
12.40 A direct quote from Alcide Djédjé, who is reported to have defected from Mr Gbagbo's government - via AFP:
President Gbagbo is at his home with his family, including his wife, members of his government and his cabinet. The residence is under attack. I am at the French (ambassador's) residence.
He did not explain why he had sought refuge there.
Alcide Djédjé, the Ivorian foreign minister who is reportedly taking refuge in the French embassy in Abidje. (REUTERS)
12.38 Reports, via AFP, that Gbagbo's forces have stopped fighting. The army chief of staff loyal to Mr Gbagbo, General Philippe Mangou, told the news agency that his troops had stopped fighting against Alassane Ouattara's forces.
12.36 Russia has joined the African Union in questioning the use of force by UN and French forces in Ivory Coast, saying that they must remain neutral. The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, told reporters:
We are studying the legal side of the situation, because the peacekeepers had a mandate which obliges them to be neutral and impartial.
He says that they have "not heard very clear answers" from the UN Security Council and have requested an urgent briefing.
@SaveChildrenPRWe’re concerned for our staff, trapped in #Abidjan in the midst of the fighting in Cote d’Ivoire. ‘We heard something fly overhead,didn’t sound like a helicopter. Trying 2 ensure all r safe. We can hear gunshots & heavy mortar fire, but not sure where it is coming from,’ say our staff. Our staff have had bullets on their roofs and others have felt their houses tremble with shock of heavy mortar rounds.
12.28 The African Union has condemned the French and UN intervention in Ivory Coast and Libya, according to Reuters. African Union chief Teodoro Obiang Nguema said that Africa must be allowed to manage its own affairs.
A UN peacekeeper during battle with troops supporting Laurent Gbagbo in Abidjan (AP)
12.26 According to Mr Ouattara's spokesman, Mr Gbagbo's residence is now surrounded and Mr Gbagbo and his family are sheltering in the basement.
12.23 A bit more on Alcide Djédjé's apparent defection - I'll quote the Reuters report in full:
Alcide Djedje, the foreign minister of Ivory Coast's incumbent leader Laurent Ggbagbo, is at the residence of the French ambassador in Abidjan, an Ivorian source told Reuters on Tuesday.
"It is true that the minister Djedje is at the residence of the French ambassador," the source said asking not to be named. The source added that Djedje was there to negotiate, but did not explain what for.
The TCI television channel controlled by Gbagbo's rival Alassane Ouattara said the foreign minister and his chief of protocol were seeking refuge at the residence.
12.17 Don Ahou Mello, a spokesman for President Gbagbo, has told Associated Press that the presidential home has been hit at least 50 times in an attack by a United Nations Mi-24 helicopter. No confirmation so far. Mr Mello refused to be drawn on whether Pres Gbagbo is considering resigning.
A Mi-24 helicopter, similar to that reportedly used in an attack on the Abidjan presidential palace. (WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)
12:12 Further to that, it appears that Mr Djédjé may have defected and is now in refuge in the French ambassador's residence. More when we have it.
12:08 Alcide Djédjé, the foreign minister in President Gbagbo's government, has told AFP that the president and his family are at home and "under attack" by forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara.
12:03 Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has spoken to the recognised winner of Ivory Coast's presidential elections Alassane Ouattara today, according to a spokesman from Mr Sarkozy's office.
UN peacekeepers from Jordan patrol the streets in Abidjan (AP)
11.56 The Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) has called upon President Gbagbo to step down, according to Reuters, saying it is ready to help him ensure a "safe and dignified exit":
The (ECOWAS) Commission urges Mr. Gbagbo once again to consider the greater interest of the Ivorian nation, as well as the unacceptably high levels of human suffering, death and destruction, and cede power immediately.
In this regard, the Commission stands ready to ensure that the conditions prescribed (by the African Union Peace and Security Council), especially with regard to ensuring a safe and dignified exit for Mr. Gbagbo, are fulfilled.
11.06 Gbagbo's camp is also now denying that he has reached the point of surrender.
10.49 The Gbagbo camp is now saying that an assault by UN and French forces on two military camps killed many, as soldiers lived with their families on the bases.
10.40 The Telegraph'sAislinn Laing, on Ivory Coast reports:
Rinaldo Depagne, Ivory Coast expert for the of the International Crisis Group, said that Mr Ouattara will be hoping his forces follow his orders not to kill Gbagbo if they find him: "Some of the Force Nouvelles (soldiers) I met when the war started in 2002 have a special bullet they keep in their pockets they say they are saving for Mr Gbagbo."
If reports Mr Gbagbo has been captured are true, he advised Mr Ouattara not to rush into setting up his government. "It's very difficult to install a cabinet in a city of chaos and anarchy and if it's rushed, it could unravel, the glue holding them all together could melt."
Mr Gbagbo, Ivory Coast's president since 2000, has refused to step down despite losing an election in November last year (AFP/GETTY)
10.35 Laurent Gbagbo's spokesman has insisted that his forces remain in control of his residence, presidential palace and the country's biggest military campaing Abidjan.
Forces loyal to Mr Ouattara, Ivory Coast's internationally recognised president, said they had captured Mr Gbagbo's Abidjan residence. Heavy weapons fire rocked the economic capital early on Tuesday, after UN and French helicopters last night attacked targets near the presidential residence. Mr Gbagbo's presidential palace and two military camps under his control, were struck, the UN confirmed, in retaliation for "reckless and mindless" attacks on civilians and UN personnel.
Ben Farmer has been Afghanistan Correspondent for The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph since 2008. He previously worked as a reporter in London.
Aislinn Laing (formerly Simpson) is the Southern Africa Correspondent for the Telegraph titles, based in Johannesburg. She was previously a defence correspondent and general news reporter based in London.
I condemn the Yemeni security forces' indiscriminate violence against demonstrators in Taiz, Hodeida and Sanaa. 
#Zawiya mosque now flattened was scene of #skynews Alex Crawford's dramatic report 3 wks ago. 
UNHCR goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie at the Tunisian-Libyan border town of Ras Djir 
11.59 
A rebel fighter stands in front of two burning government military vehicles manned by loyalists to Muammar Gaddafi after they were hit by a Nato air strike on the eastern outskirts of Brega 
Rinaldo Depagne, Ivory Coast expert for the of the International Crisis Group, said that Mr Ouattara will be hoping his forces follow his orders not to kill Gbagbo if they find him: "Some of the Force Nouvelles (soldiers) I met when the war started in 2002 have a special bullet they keep in their pockets they say they are saving for Mr Gbagbo." 
My life is in danger, and I call on all human rights organization ... to expose the truth and to let me leave now. I am being held hostage here. 
Despite America's previous longtime support for Ali Abdullah Saleh, reports have indicated that the White House has concluded that Yemen's president is unlikely to bring about reform and should be eased out of office under a US-brokered deal. 
Libyan rebels fighting forces loyal to Libyan leader Gaddafi gather outside the eastern oil town of Brega 
Damien McElroy reports in today's paper: 
.A car passes a Gaddafi army tank that was destroyed during a NATO air strike in the town of Ajdabiya 
Pro-Ouattara fighters prepare for the "final assault" on Gbagbo's forces in front of the Golf Hotel in Abidjan (AFP/GETTY) 
Ouattara's troops patrol the streets of Abidjan while U.N. and French forces fire on Gbagbo's soldiers, earlier today. (REUTERS) 
A soldier loyal to Ivory Coast presidential claimant Ouattara lies on a road as fighting flares across the country's main city Abidjan. (REUTERS) 
A soldier loyal to Ivory Coast presidential claimant Ouattara sits along a road in Abidjan. (REUTERS) 
Alcide Djédjé, the Ivorian foreign minister who is reportedly taking refuge in the French embassy in Abidje. (REUTERS) 
A UN peacekeeper during battle with troops supporting Laurent Gbagbo in Abidjan (AP) 
A Mi-24 helicopter, similar to that reportedly used in an attack on the Abidjan presidential palace. (WIKIMEDIA COMMONS) 
