Australia: The curator of the Lucy Osburn-Nightingale Foundation Museum in Sydney Hospital threatened to go on hunger strike to stop its closure and the dispersal of a collection that dates back to the 1890s.
The chief executive of South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Area Health Service, Terry Clout, was forced to grant the museum a reprieve when the curator, Eleanor Wrobel, a 75-year-old former nurse rallied support against the plan to convert it into offices for administrators.
France: Japanese expats have joined forces to spring clean the doorsteps of the French capital's major museums and monuments. Greenbird Paris is the first overseas arm of a Tokyo-based anti-litter charity.
The Greenbirds recently swooped on the Musée d'Orsay, where cigarette butts, food scraps, old Metro tickets and dog mess were soon tidied up. Yoshiko Inai, a Greenbird volunteer working in Paris, said that while "Paris City Hall does its best, Parisians, by habit, pollute the streets".
Netherlands: The Rijksmuseum's title to Gerrit Adriaensz Berckheyde's 17th-century painting, The Bend in the Herengracht, has been legally challenged by ABN Amro. The Dutch bank alleges that the work's former owner, the collector Louis Reijtenbagh, used the painting of a canal scene as collateral for a loan.
Reijtenbagh also borrowed $50m from the US bank JP Morgan Chase, using the painting and other works of art as collateral. The Rijksmuseum acquired the disputed painting in September.
Serbia: The board of the Serbian National Museum has resigned, putting pressure on the government to fund its reconstruction and reopening. The museum and its collection, which includes Italian, Dutch, French and Serbian art, has been closed for eight years. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, is also closed, because of its leaking roof, but organises temporary exhibitions, weather permitting.
US: Lenders to the Sports Museum of America, which went bankrupt in February, are angry at having to pay a fee to recover their artefacts that has been imposed by the trustees for the museum's creditors. The charges range from $250 per object to $2,500 for more than 20 pieces.
Lawyers for the trustees said the fees would cover the cost of storage, insurance and administration of the sporting memorabilia lent by athletes and collectors. John Doleva, president of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Massachusetts, accused the trustees of holding the artefacts "for ransom".
Compiled by Javier Pes.
Seen in Deutsche Press Agency, Sydney Morning Herald, AFP, New York Times and Japan Times
The chief executive of South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Area Health Service, Terry Clout, was forced to grant the museum a reprieve when the curator, Eleanor Wrobel, a 75-year-old former nurse rallied support against the plan to convert it into offices for administrators.
France: Japanese expats have joined forces to spring clean the doorsteps of the French capital's major museums and monuments. Greenbird Paris is the first overseas arm of a Tokyo-based anti-litter charity.
The Greenbirds recently swooped on the Musée d'Orsay, where cigarette butts, food scraps, old Metro tickets and dog mess were soon tidied up. Yoshiko Inai, a Greenbird volunteer working in Paris, said that while "Paris City Hall does its best, Parisians, by habit, pollute the streets".
Netherlands: The Rijksmuseum's title to Gerrit Adriaensz Berckheyde's 17th-century painting, The Bend in the Herengracht, has been legally challenged by ABN Amro. The Dutch bank alleges that the work's former owner, the collector Louis Reijtenbagh, used the painting of a canal scene as collateral for a loan.
Reijtenbagh also borrowed $50m from the US bank JP Morgan Chase, using the painting and other works of art as collateral. The Rijksmuseum acquired the disputed painting in September.
Serbia: The board of the Serbian National Museum has resigned, putting pressure on the government to fund its reconstruction and reopening. The museum and its collection, which includes Italian, Dutch, French and Serbian art, has been closed for eight years. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, is also closed, because of its leaking roof, but organises temporary exhibitions, weather permitting.
US: Lenders to the Sports Museum of America, which went bankrupt in February, are angry at having to pay a fee to recover their artefacts that has been imposed by the trustees for the museum's creditors. The charges range from $250 per object to $2,500 for more than 20 pieces.
Lawyers for the trustees said the fees would cover the cost of storage, insurance and administration of the sporting memorabilia lent by athletes and collectors. John Doleva, president of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Massachusetts, accused the trustees of holding the artefacts "for ransom".
Compiled by Javier Pes.
Seen in Deutsche Press Agency, Sydney Morning Herald, AFP, New York Times and Japan Times
