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Frida Kahlo’s “El sueo (La cama)” in English, “The Dream (The Bed)” is causing a stir among art historians as its estimated $40 million to $60 million price tag would make it the most expensive work by any female or Latin American artist when it goes to auction later this month.Sotheby’s auction house will put the painting up for sale on Nov. 20 in New York after exhibiting it in London, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Paris.“This is a moment of a lot of speculation,” said Mexican art historian Helena Chávez Mac Gregor, a researcher at UNAM’s Institute of Aesthetic Research and author of “El listón y la bomba. El arte de Frida Kahlo.” (The ribbon and the bomb. The art of Frida Kahlo).In Mexico, Kahlo’s work is protected by a declaration of artistic monument, meaning pieces within the country cannot be sold or destroyed. However, works from private collections abroad like the painting in question, whose owner remains unrevealed are legally eligible for international sale.“The system of declaring Mexican modern artistic heritage is very anomalous,” said Mexican curator Cuauhtémoc Medina, an art historian and specialist in contemporary art. Judas in bed “El sueo (La cama)” was created in 1940 following Kahlo’s trip to Paris, where she came into contact with the surrealists.Contrary to contemporary belief, the skull on the bed’s canopy is not a Day of the Dead skeleton, but a Judas a handmade cardboard figure. Traditionally lit with gunpowder during Easter, this effigy symbolizes purification and the triumph of good over evil, representing Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus.In the painting, the skeleton is detailed with firecrackers, flowers on its ribs and a smiling grimace a detail inspired by a cardboard skeleton Kahlo actually kept in the canopy of her own bed.Kahlo “spent a lot of time in bed waiting for death,” said Chávez Mac Gregor. “She had a very complex life because of all the illnesses and physical challenges with which she lived.” Frida and surrealism Although Kahlo’s painting is being auctioned alongside works by surrealists like Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning, she did not consider herself a member of the movement, despite having met its founder, André Breton, in Mexico and had an exhibition organized by him in Paris in 1939.“Breton was fascinated by Frida’s work, because he saw that surrealist spirit there,” said Chávez Mac Gregor.Kahlo, a committed communist, considered surrealism a movement proposing a revolution of consciousness to be bourgeois. As Chávez Mac Gregor noted, “Frida always had a critical distance from that.”Despite this, specialists have found elements of surrealism in Kahlo’s work related to the dreamlike, to an inner world and to a revolutionary and sexual freedom a concept visible in a bed suspended in the sky with Kahlo sleeping among a vine. ‘Crazy-priced purchases’ “El sueo (La cama)” was last exhibited in the 1990s, and after the auction, it could disappear from public view once again, a fate shared by many paintings acquired for large sums at auction.There are exceptions, including “Diego y yo” ( “Diego and I”), which set Kahlo’s record sale price when it sold for $34.9 million in 2021.The painting, depicting the artist and her husband muralist Diego Rivera, was acquired by Argentine business owner Eduardo Costantini and then lent to the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires (Malba) where it remains on exhibit.Medina, the art historian, regretted that the “crazy-priced” purchases have reduced art to a mere economic value.He lamented that when funds purchase art as mere investments like buying shares in a public company the works are often relegated to tax-free zones to avoid costs. Their fate, he said, “may be worse; they may end up in a refrigerator at Frankfurt airport for decades to come.” A female artist The current sale record for a work by a female artist is held by Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1,” which fetched $44.4 million at Sotheby’s in 2014.However, the auction market still reflects a profound disparity as no female artist has yet exceeded the maximum sale price of a male artist. The current benchmark is “Salvator Mundi,” attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, which was auctioned by Christie’s for $450.3 million in 2017. Berenice Bautista, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Vaishnavi Srinivasagopalan, a skilled Indian IT professional who has worked in both India and the U.S., has been looking for work in China. Beijing’s new K-visa program targeting science and technology workers could turn that dream into a reality. The K-visa rolled out by Beijing last month is part of Chinas widening effort to catch up with the U.S. in the race for global talent and cutting edge technology. It coincides with uncertainties over the U.S.’s H-1B program under tightened immigrations policies implemented by President Donald Trump. (The) K-visa for China (is) an equivalent to the H-1B for the U.S., said Srinivasagopalan, who is intrigued by Chinas working environment and culture after her father worked at a Chinese university a few years back. It is a good option for people like me to work abroad. The K-visa supplements China’s existing visa schemes, including the R-visa for foreign professionals, but with loosened requirements, such as not requiring an applicant to have a job offer before applying. Stricter U.S. policies toward foreign students and scholars under Trump, including the raising of fees for the H-1B visa for foreign skilled workers to $100,000 for new applicants, are leading some non-American professionals and students to consider going elsewhere. Students studying in the U.S. hoped for an (H-1B) visa, but currently this is an issue, said Bikash Kali Das, an Indian masters student of international relations at Sichuan University in China. China wants more foreign tech professionals China is striking while the iron is hot. The ruling Communist Party has made global leadership in advanced technologies a top priority, paying massive government subsidies to support research and development of areas such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors and robotics. Beijing perceives the tightening of immigration policies in the U.S. as an opportunity to position itself globally as welcoming foreign talent and investment more broadly, said Barbara Kelemen, associate director and head of Asia at security intelligence firm Dragonfly. Unemployment among Chinese graduates remains high, and competition is intense for jobs in scientific and technical fields. But there is a skills gap China’s leadership is eager to fill. For decades, China has been losing top talent to developed countries as many stayed and worked in the U.S. and Europe after they finished studies there. The brain drain has not fully reversed. Many Chinese parents still see Western education as advanced and are eager to send their children abroad, said Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore. Still, in recent years, a growing number of professionals including AI experts, scientists and engineers have moved to China from the U.S., including Chinese-Americans. Fei Su, a chip architect at Intel, and Ming Zhou, a leading engineer at U.S.-based software firm Altair, were among those who have taken teaching jobs in China this year. Many skilled workers in India and Southeast Asia have already expressed interest about the K-visa, said Edward Hu, a Shanghai-based immigration director at the consultancy Newland Chase. Questions about extra competition from foreign workers With the jobless rate for Chinese aged 16-24 excluding students at nearly 18%, the campaign to attract more foreign professionals is raising questions. The current job market is already under fierce competition, said Zhou Xinying, a 24-year-old postgraduate student in behavioral science at eastern China’s Zhejiang University. While foreign professionals could help bring about new technologies and different international perspectives, Zhou said, some Chinese young job seekers may feel pressure due to the introduction of the K-visa policy. Kyle Huang, a 26-year-old software engineer based in the southern city of Guangzhou, said his peers in the science and technology fields fear the new visa scheme might threaten local job opportunities. A recent commentary published by a state-backed news outlet, the Shanghai Observer, downplayed such concerns, saying that bringing in such foreign professionals will benefit the economy. As China advances in areas such as AI and cutting-edge semiconductors, there is a gap and mismatch between qualified jobseekers and the demand for skilled workers, it said. The more complex the global environment, the more China will open its arms, it said. Beijing will need to emphasize how select foreign talent can create, not take, local jobs, said Michael Feller, chief strategist at consultancy Geopolitical Strategy. But even Washington has shown that this is politically a hard argument to make, despite decades of evidence. China’s disadvantages even with the new visas Recruitment and immigration specialists say foreign workers face various hurdles in China. One is the language barrier. The ruling Communist Party’s internet censorship, known as the Great Firewall, is another drawback. A country of about 1.4 billion, China had only an estimated 711,000 foreign workers residing in the country as of 2023. The U.S. still leads in research and has the advantage of using English widely. There’s also still a relatively clearer pathway to residency for many, said David Stepat, country director for Singapore at the consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates. Nikhil Swaminathan, an Indian H1-B visa holder working for a U.S. non-profit organization after finishing graduate school there, is interested in Chinas K-visa but skeptical. I wouldve considered it. Chinas a great place to work in tech, if not for the difficult relationship between India and China, he said. Given a choice, many jobseekers still are likely to aim for jobs in leading global companies outside China. The U.S. is probably more at risk of losing would-be H-1B applicants to other Western economies, including the UK and European Union, than to China, said Feller at Geopolitical Strategy. “The U.S. may be sabotaging itself, but its doing so from a far more competitive position in terms of its attractiveness to talent, Feller said. China will need to do far more than offer convenient visa pathways to attract the best. Chan Ho-Him, AP business writer AP writer Fu Ting and researchers Yu Bing and Shihuan Chen contributed.
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E-Commerce
Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz have been indicted on charges they took bribes from sports bettors to throw certain types of pitches, including tossing balls in the dirt instead of strikes, to ensure successful bets.According to the indictment unsealed Sunday in federal court in Brooklyn, the highly paid hurlers took several thousand dollars in payoffs to help two unnamed gamblers from their native Dominican Republic win at least $460,000 on in-game prop bets on the speed and outcome of certain pitches.Clase, the Guardians’ former closer, and Ortiz, a starter, have been on non-disciplinary paid leave since July, when MLB started investigating what it said was unusually high in-game betting activity when they pitched. Some of the games in question were in April, May and June.Ortiz, 26, was arrested Sunday by the FBI at Boston Logan International Airport. He is expected to appear in federal court in Boston on Monday. Clase, 27, was not in custody, officials said.Ortiz and Clase “betrayed America’s pastime,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said. “Integrity, honesty and fair play are part of the DNA of professional sports. When corruption infiltrates the sport, it brings disgrace not only to the participants but damages the public trust in an institution that is vital and dear to all of us.”Ortiz’s lawyer, Chris Georgalis, said in a statement that his client was innocent and “has never, and would never, improperly influence a game not for anyone and not for anything.”Georgalis said Ortiz’s defense team had previously documented for prosecutors that the payments and money transfers between him and individuals in the Dominican Republic were for lawful activities.“There is no credible evidence Luis knowingly did anything other than try to win games, with every pitch and in every inning. Luis looks forward to fighting these charges in court,” Georgalis said.A lawyer for Clase, Michael J. Ferrara, said his client “has devoted his life to baseball and doing everything in his power to help his team win. Emmanuel is innocent of all charges and looks forward to clearing his name in court.”The Major League Baseball Players Association had no comment. Unusual betting activity prompted investigation MLB said it contacted federal law enforcement when it began investigating unusual betting activity and has fully cooperated with authorities. “We are aware of the indictment and today’s arrest, and our investigation is ongoing,” a league statement said.In a statement, the Guardians said: “We are aware of the recent law enforcement action. We will continue to fully cooperate with both law enforcement and Major League Baseball as their investigations continue.”Clase and Ortiz are both charged with wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery. The top charges carry a potential punishment of up to 20 years in prison.In one example cited in the indictment, Clase allegedly invited a bettor to a game against the Boston Red Sox in April and spoke with him by phone just before taking the mound. Four minutes later, the indictment said, the bettor and his associates won $11,000 on a wager that Clase would toss a certain pitch slower than 97.95 mph (157.63 kph).In May, the indictment said, Clase agreed to throw a ball at a certain point in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the batter swung, resulting in a strike, costing the bettors $4,000 in wagers. After the game, which the Guardians won, Clase sent text messages to one of the bettors with images of a man hanging himself with toilet paper and a sad puppy dog face, the indictment said.Clase, a three-time All-Star and two-time American League Reliever of the Year, had a $4.5 million salary in 2025, the fourth season of a $20 million, five-year contract. The three-time AL save leader began providing the bettors with information about his pitches in 2023 but didn’t ask for payoffs until this year, prosecutors said.The indictment cited specific pitches Clase allegedly rigged all of them first pitches when he entered to start an inning: a 98.5 mph (158.5 kph) cutter low and inside to the New York Mets’ Starling Marte on May 19, 2023; an 89.4 mph (143.8 kph) slider to Minnesota’s Ryan Jeffers that bounced well short of home plate on June 3, 2023; an 89.4 mph (143.8 kph) slider to Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. that bounced on April 12; a 99.1 mph (159.5 kph) cutter in the dirt to Philadelphia’s Max Kepler on May 11; a bounced 89.1 mph (143.4) slider to Milwaukee’s Jake Bauers on May 13; and a bounced 87.5 mph (140.8 kph) slider to Cincinnati’s Santiago Espinal on May 17.Prosecutors said Ortiz, who had a $782,600 salary this year, got in on the scheme in June and is accused of rigging pitches in games against the Seattle Mariners and the St. Louis Cardinals.Ortiz was cited for bouncing a first-pitch 86.7 mph (139.5 kph) slider to Seattle’s Randy Arozarena starting the second inning on June 15 and bouncing a first-pitch 86.7 mph (139.5 kph) slider to St. Louis’ Pedro Pagés that went to the backstop opening the third inning on June 27. Dozens of pro athletes have been charged in gambling sweeps The charges are the latest bombshell developments in a federal crackdown on betting in professional sports.Last month, more than 30 people, including prominent basketball figures such as Portland Trail Blazers head coach and Basketball Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, were arrested in a gambling sweep that rocked the NBA.Sports betting scandals have long been a concern, but a May 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling led to a wave of gambling incidents involving athletes and officials. The ruling struck down a federal ban on sports betting in most states and opened the doors for online sportsbooks to take a prominent space in the sports ecosystem.Major League Baseball suspended five players in June 2024, including a lifetime ban for San Diego infielder Tucupita Marcano for allegedly placing 387 baseball bets with a legal sportsbook totaling more than $150,000. Associated Press reporters Eric Tucker in Washington and Ron Blum in New York contributed to this report. Michael R. Sisak, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
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