United News of Bangladesh

Thieves made off with three paintings by Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse worth millions of euros (dollars) from a museum near the city of Parma in northern Italy, police said on Monday. The heist took place on the night of March 22-23, with thieves forcing open the entrance door, police said. The three stolen paintings are “Fish” by Auguste Renoir, “Still Life with Cherries” by Paul Cézanne, and “Odalisque on the Terrace” by Henri Matisse. The Magnani Rocca Foundation, a private museum, lies in the heart of the countryside 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Parma. Local media reported that the thieves were able to nab the paintings in less than three minutes and escape across the museum gardens. Established in 1977, the foundation hosts the collection of the art historian Luigi Magnani and also includes works by Dürer, Rubens, Van Dyck, Goya and Monet. The museum believes a structured and organized gang was responsible for the theft, which was interrupted by the alarm, local media reported. The museum didn't post any statement about the theft on its website and wasn't reachable for a comment, as it is closed on Monday. The crime in Parma comes after a series of high-profile heists at major European museums, including a major incident in October where thieves stole jewels and other items worth 88 million euros ($101 million) from the Louvre in Paris.

Dhaka University Mime Action (DUMA), one of Bangladesh's most celebrated cultural organizations, is set to make history with its first-ever performance in Europe. Ubaidullah Ridwan, President of DUMA, has been invited by the Embassy of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Warsaw to perform mime at the National Day Reception on March 26, 2026, commemorating Bangladesh’s Independence and National Day. The event will take place at 18:00 hrs at the Ratuszowa Hall, Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw. In its official invitation the embassy highlighted that distinguished performances like DUMA’s would strengthen artistic and people-to-people ties between Bangladesh and Poland. This milestone underscores DUMA’s role in advancing mime as a medium of artistic expression in Bangladesh. Over the years, the troupe has staged performances addressing human rights, social justice, and awareness campaigns, earning recognition both domestically and internationally. The performance will showcase the richness of Bangladeshi artistic heritage on the international stage and celebrate 55 years of Bangladesh’s nationhood, DUMA said in a statement. Through this landmark cultural presentation, DUMA aims to carry the pride of Bangladesh’s independence and its cultural legacy to Europe, marking a notable achievement for Bangladeshi performing arts.

The reported unmasking of elusive street artist Banksy has sparked renewed debate over whether anonymity is essential to his artistic and commercial appeal. For decades, Banksy’s identity has remained one of the art world’s most enduring mysteries, adding to the intrigue of his politically charged works seen across major cities and conflict zones. A recent report by Reuters has reignited speculation, prompting mixed reactions among fans and experts. Many admirers expressed disappointment, arguing that revealing the artist’s identity diminishes the mystique surrounding his work. Some compared it to exposing a magic trick, saying the secrecy was part of the experience. Banksy, widely believed to be Bristol-born Robin Gunningham, emerged from a tradition of street artists who used anonymity as a form of resistance. His works often address themes such as inequality, war and state power. However, art dealers and analysts say the value of his work is unlikely to decline. They argue that collectors are drawn more to the message and cultural impact of the art than to the identity of the artist. Experts also note that Banksy’s identity has long been an open secret in art circles, with previous media reports and investigations pointing to similar conclusions. Despite the controversy, his work continues to resonate globally, from public murals to high-profile auction pieces. As debate continues, many believe Banksy’s legacy will ultimately rest not on who he is, but on what his art represents.

Japan has officially marked the start of its cherry blossom season, with the first blooms confirmed in three cities, government observers said Monday. Officials from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) verified the flowering of the Somei Yoshino variety at designated benchmark trees in Kochi in the southwest, and Gifu and Yamanashi in central Japan, after at least five blossoms were observed on each tree — the threshold for declaring the season open. Kochi recorded the earliest bloom for the third consecutive year, arriving six days ahead of the average, while Gifu and Yamanashi saw blossoms nine days earlier than usual, according to the JMA. Shinobu Imoto of the Kochi Meteorological Agency attributed the early flowering to lower winter rainfall and extended sunshine hours. Cherry blossoms, known as “sakura,” typically peak between late March and early April, coinciding with the beginning of Japan’s academic and business year. During this period, people gather under the blooming trees for walks and picnics. However, in recent years, popular viewing spots have faced issues such as littering and noise due to overtourism. Sakura have remained a central symbol in Japanese culture for centuries.

Italy has purchased a rare painting by 16th-17th century Baroque master Caravaggio for €30 million (£25.9 million), marking one of the highest amounts the state has ever spent on an artwork. Italy’s culture minister said the painting, a portrait of cleric Monsignor Maffeo Barberini who later became Pope Urban VIII, holds exceptional historical and artistic value. The acquisition is part of a broader effort to ensure significant artworks remain accessible to the public instead of being sold to private collectors. The portrait had been part of a private collection in Florence and was first displayed publicly in Rome in 2024. Caravaggio, known for his dramatic use of lighting that made subjects appear vividly lifelike, has around 65 surviving works worldwide. Only three of them are known to be portraits. The newly acquired painting has been added to the permanent collection of the Palazzo Barberini in Rome, the historic residence of the Barberini family. It will now be displayed alongside other works by the renowned artist. Created around 1598, the portrait depicts Barberini as a bearded cleric extending his right hand as if giving instructions. How people woke up before alarm clocks Barberini was elected pope in 1623 and led the Catholic Church until his death in 1644. He was widely recognized as an influential patron of the arts. Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli said the purchase forms part of a wider initiative by the Ministry of Culture to strengthen Italy’s national heritage and ensure that important masterpieces remain available to scholars and the public rather than entering the private art market. Caravaggio, whose real name was Michelangelo Merisi, died in 1610 at the age of 38. He was famous for his use of chiaroscuro, a technique that employs strong contrasts of light and shadow to create dramatic and psychologically powerful scenes. #From BBC

By 23, Emma MacTaggart noticed her free time was rare and mostly spent on screens. Working long hours in investment banking, she often turned to her phone after logging off. Seeking a break, she and her roommates took up needlepoint, a childhood craft she hadn’t practiced in years. “It was a therapeutic way to distract yourself from work or stress while doing something with your hands instead of doomscrolling,” she said. MacTaggart is among many young people embracing analog hobbies to escape technology and reconnect with creativity. Knitting, gardening, and needlepoint-sometimes called “grandma hobbies” have gained popularity among Gen-Z and millennials. Other crafts, including pottery, origami, and blacksmithing, are also seeing renewed interest. Six morning habits can improve mental health, says US psychiatrist Now 26, MacTaggart has turned her passion into a business, What’s the Stitch, selling needlepoint canvases, accessories, and digital designs online, often adding humor and occasional profanity. Experts highlight the mental health benefits. Jaime Kurtz, psychology professor at James Madison University, said hobbies reduce stress and offer accomplishment. Clara Sherman, co-founder of So Bam Fun, said playing mahjong creates a “zen state” with friends. Some use technology to enhance their hobbies. Isaiah Scott, 22, compares birdwatching to “a video game, but in real life,” using eBird to log sightings and support conservation. He founded the nonprofit Rookery and Roots Conservancy and bought land in Georgia to protect habitats. Other hobbyists, like blacksmith Anna Weare and poet Kristie Landing, have leveraged social media to reach global audiences and create communities. Many say these crafts are not a trend but a deliberate embrace of analog life. MacTaggart, for instance, welcomed the “grandma hobbies” label. “I’ve been a grandma my whole life, so it’s fitting this is now my career,” she said.

From the coast of Perth, a striking blue rise appears on the horizon, sometimes vivid, sometimes obscured by mist or ships at sea. To Glen Stasiuk, a lecturer at Murdoch University and director of the documentary Wadjemup: Black Prison — White Playground, the island feels alive. “Sometimes it wants to be seen, sometimes it wants to hide,” he says. “It has a heartbeat.” That island is Rottnest Island, known to the Noongar people as Wadjemup, located about 19 kilometres off the coast of Fremantle. Today, more than 800,000 visitors flock there each year for its white beaches, turquoise waters and quokkas, the small marsupials that have become global social media stars. For the Noongar people, however, Wadjemup is a deeply spiritual place. Len Collard, emeritus professor at the University of Western Australia, explains that in Noongar belief, spirits travel west to the islands after death. “It was always a place of spirits,” he says, “but it became even more so after colonisation, when it turned into a site of immense suffering.” A prison island Wadjemup became a prison for Aboriginal boys and men in 1838. Britain had claimed Australia in the late 18th century, and violent clashes between colonisers and Indigenous peoples followed. Aboriginal prisoners were transported to the island, often in chains, accused mainly of stealing livestock or food rations. Many inmates came from far-flung regions such as the Kimberley, more than 2,000 kilometres away. Some had never seen the ocean before arriving. They were forced into hard labour, quarrying limestone and constructing much of the island’s infrastructure, including jetties, cottages and government buildings. ‘Fabled knights of old’: the real story behind Japan’s samurai Conditions were brutal. Cells were overcrowded, disease was widespread, and punishment was severe. One superintendent, Henry Vincent, was notorious for his cruelty, yet was never convicted. By the time the prison closed in 1902, nearly 4,000 Indigenous men and boys had been incarcerated there. At least 373 died, most of them buried in unmarked graves. From prison to playground After the prison shut down, Wadjemup was quickly reimagined as a leisure destination. In 1911, the main cell block was converted into holiday accommodation, stripping away much of its historical fabric. Even more disturbing, the burial ground of deceased prisoners was turned into a campground known as Tentland. For nearly 90 years, holidaymakers unknowingly slept just metres above one of Australia’s largest Indigenous burial sites. Although human remains were discovered in 1970, the campground was not closed until 2007. The former prison itself continued operating as tourist lodging until 2018. Reckoning with the past For Noongar communities, the island remains both painful and powerful. Collard describes Wadjemup as a sentinel or lighthouse, signalling a truth that must not be ignored. In 2020, the Rottnest Island Authority launched the Wadjemup Project to formally acknowledge the island’s history of Aboriginal incarceration and deaths in custody. The initiative focuses on truth-telling, memorialisation and healing. As part of this effort, the Wadjemup Wirin Bidi or Spirit Trail was held in 2024, bringing together around 200 Aboriginal people from across Australia to honour those buried on the island and help lay their spirits to rest. Today, visitors can also take Aboriginal cultural tours that explore both the beauty of the island and its traumatic history. Local Noongar guide Casey Kickett, who runs Koordas Crew, works with children through art and nature-based activities to introduce them gently to Wadjemup’s cultural significance before confronting its darker chapters later in life. Road to Heaven: Gujarat’s surreal highway flanked by water and salt pans Despite everything, Collard says he still loves visiting the island. “My people are buried there,” he says. “I go over and say hello to them.” Kickett offers visitors a simple gesture of respect: when stepping off the jetty, throw a handful of sand into the water and introduce yourself to the land and its ancestors. It is a small act, she says, but one that acknowledges the deep, complex history beneath this island paradise.

From medieval beginnings, the samurai have captured imaginations across centuries, inspiring art, literature, and films—from Shōgun to Star Wars. Yet their true history is far more complex and nuanced than the myths suggest. The samurai’s legacy is unique in world culture. Few medieval social groups have been celebrated and mythologized as relentlessly as they have—from 18th-century ukiyo-e prints to contemporary video games, TV shows, and films. Over time, however, fame often bends toward exaggeration, and the samurai are no exception. Were they truly fearless, loyal, self-sacrificial, disciplined, and uniquely Japanese? The British Museum’s new Samurai exhibition seeks to cut through the myth, presenting a more accurate and fascinating history of these enigmatic warriors. Origins and evolutionThe samurai did not constitute a uniform group across history. “The perception in the West is that samurai are warriors—and they certainly were,” says Rosina Buckland, the exhibition’s curator. “That’s how they rose to power in the Middle Ages. But that’s not the full story.” Samurai origins trace back to the 10th Century, when they were recruited as mercenaries for the imperial courts. Over time, they evolved into rural gentry, but contrary to popular belief, they were not idealized crusaders bound by codes of chivalry. In battle, they often employed ambushes, deception, and opportunistic tactics, motivated more by land and status than honor or duty. The samurai were adaptable, embracing foreign technology and multicultural influences. For instance, a samurai cuirass in the exhibition shows a Portuguese-inspired design, with a pointed front and angled sides to deflect musket bullets—a necessity after European firearms arrived in Japan in 1543. Power, culture, and governanceThe samurai rose to political power amid imperial succession disputes, with the Minamoto clan eventually establishing a government parallel to the imperial court in 1185. Buckland emphasizes that even early on, culture was central to power: “Culture is power.” Military leaders, or Shōguns, complemented their battlefield might with cultural sophistication to consolidate authority. They drew on Neo-Confucian philosophy, balancing military force with cultural skill. Alongside warfare, samurai mastered refined arts such as painting, poetry, music, theatre, and tea ceremonies. One notable exhibit features a 19th-century fan painted with orchids by a samurai artist. The Disney/FX series Shōgun fictionalizes one turning point: in the 1500s, Tokugawa Ieyasu (represented by the fictional Yoshii Toranaga) established a government that lasted 250 years. With peace established, samurai shifted roles from warriors to bureaucrats: ministers, lawmakers, tax collectors, and guards in castle gates. Role of womenDuring the Tokugawa Shogunate, Daimyo families were relocated to Edo (modern Tokyo) to ensure loyalty, placing women in charge of households. Buckland explains that women oversaw large households—sometimes 40–50 people—managing staff, tradespeople, children’s education, and hosting guests according to strict rituals. Exhibition items, including robes and etiquette manuals, reveal the crucial role of samurai women. The era also saw the rise of legendary portrayals in plays, poems, and artworks, often celebrating male heroism but sometimes highlighting female warriors. An 1852 ukiyo-e print depicts Tomoe Gozen, wife of a Minamoto general, who reportedly fought at the Battle of Awazu in 1184, defeating enemy warriors with her bare hands. Demise and legacyDuring the Meiji era (1868–1912), Japan modernized politically, socially, and militarily, officially abolishing the samurai class in 1869. “At this point, the samurai image becomes pure fiction,” Buckland says, noting that nostalgia revived the image about 25 years later. International fascination grew, including Nitobe Inazō’s Bushido: The Soul of Japan (1899), which explained Japan’s success in the wake of the Sino-Japanese War and victory over Russia. The samurai image was later used domestically as military propaganda and a national symbol. Samurai culture also influenced global media: Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress (1958) inspired Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), and the costumes drew on samurai armor, with Darth Vader’s iconic outfit on display in the exhibition. The true story of the samurai is one of evolution—from medieval mercenaries to gentrified bureaucrats and patrons of the arts. Yet their legend continues to captivate through art, film, video games, and fiction. Buckland hopes the British Museum exhibition will inspire new representations of these fascinating warriors. The Samurai exhibition is open at the British Museum until May 4.

A towering mural in the southern Greek city of Kalamata, inspired by legendary soprano Maria Callas, has been named the “Best Mural of the World” for 2025 by Street Art Cities, placing the olive-growing coastal town firmly in the global spotlight. Created by artist Kleomenis Kostopoulos, the artwork reimagines Callas as an allegorical figure representing Kalamata’s identity, culture and agricultural heritage. The mural incorporates local elements such as olives, figs, grapes, native birds and tree branches, symbolising the region’s fertile land and deep-rooted traditions. City officials said the project was designed to make abstract ideas like sustainable development, agri-food initiatives and economic growth more tangible for residents. Kalamata, about 240 kilometers southwest of Athens, is among a small group of Greek cities aiming to become climate-neutral by 2030. Deputy mayor Vassilis Papaefstathiou said combining the city’s humble agricultural products with high art aimed to strengthen civic pride and identity. Recent heatwaves, droughts and wildfires have underscored the importance of sustainability for the olive-dependent local economy. Although Callas was born in New York, her father hailed from a village south of Kalamata, and she remains a revered cultural symbol in Greece. The mural, titled “Kalamata,” took about two weeks of work spread over a month due to bad weather, using brushes, spray paint and a cherry-picker. Officials say the artwork has boosted tourism promotion and sparked wider interest in public art, with more building owners expressing interest in hosting murals.  

People across China and many parts of the world welcomed the Lunar New Year on Tuesday with prayers, fireworks and colourful festivities, ushering in the Year of the Horse, the seventh sign in the Chinese zodiac, which follows the Year of the Snake. The Lunar New Year is the most significant annual festival in China and is also widely observed in other East Asian countries and overseas communities. In China, the celebrations featured the traditional CCTV Spring Festival Gala, where humanoid robots again drew major attention. During Monday night’s show, robots from Unitree Robotics joined children in a martial arts display, performing choreographed moves and even wielding swords, highlighting China’s rapid progress in AI-powered robotics. In Hong Kong, large crowds gathered at temples just before midnight to pray for good fortune. Worshippers held bundles of incense, bowed repeatedly and placed them in urns outside temple halls as smoke filled the air. Vietnam also marked the occasion  known locally as Tet with outdoor countdown concerts followed by fireworks displays in several cities. Light shows illuminated bridges and high-rise buildings while crowds cheered to live pop performances. Festivities extended beyond Asia as well. In Moscow, visitors enjoyed Chinese street fairs featuring traditional foods, red lantern decorations and dragon motifs during a two-week celebration across the Russian capital, reflecting growing cultural exchanges between China and Russia. In Taiwan, devotees flocked to Taipei’s Baoan Temple where a ceremonial bell rang 108 times, a number considered auspicious. People offered flowers and incense while praying for blessings in the new year. Tech-themed fair showcases dancing robots for Lunar New Year Meanwhile, thousands gathered in Buenos Aires’ Chinatown to join dragon and lion dances and martial arts demonstrations on the main stage. Argentina’s Chinese community, numbering more than 180,000, played a key role in organising the celebrations. Overall, prayers, performances and fireworks across different continents reflected the global spirit of the Lunar New Year festival.