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President Donald Trump’s proposed “National Garden of American Heroes” has hit another setback as a coalition of Washington-era preservation and cultural groups sues to halt its construction. The lawsuit, filed Monday, argues that the statuary garden—featuring roughly 250 Americans and planned for West Potomac Park—cannot proceed without congressional approval. The filing seeks to halt the project, which is already underway on a tract connected to the National Mall, as statues are commissioned and funding is secured. The sculpture garden was first mentioned by Trump in July 2020, during his first term. “Congress put clear laws in place to safeguard the National Mall from new construction and to ensure the public has a meaningful voice in decisions about landscapes that belong to them, as space open to all,” Tiernan Sittenfeld, president and CEO for the National Parks Conservation Association, said in a statement, as first reported by the Washington Post ...

Art Basel opens its doors in Switzerland this week in an art market that has had an intriguing first half of 2026. The fair company hosted a successful first edition of Art Basel Qatar in February, and last November’s strong auction seasons, led by the blockbuster sales of trophy works, continued into May. What’s becoming clearer is that the current market looks increasingly bifurcated: the highest strata is performing well, as are safer categories like Old Masters and Impressionism, even as contemporary art’s middle and emerging markets continue to struggle. That gap was underlined earlier this month when the mega-gallery Pace announced that it was laying off 50 staff members and cutting 50 artists from its roster, and CEO Marc Glimcher said galleries need a “model correction.” Against that backdrop, Art Basel has spent the last year retooling both its in-person fair experience and instituting support measures for its exhibitors. ...

As the one-point margin of victory suggests, this fixture contained several twists and turns before eventually being settled in the 76th minute with a try to replacement halfback Kaide McCashin, burrowing over from a ruck after a concerted crescendo of phase play in front of the line. This wasn’t the end of it though. Replacement...

The government now has a structured process for identifying and working with select Canadian defence companies on long-term sovereign capability development. Ottawa is starting to put structure around one of the biggest promises in Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy: building Canadian defence champions, not just buying from the lowest compliant bidder. Published June 3, the Strategic Partnership Framework gives the Defence Investment Agency (DIA), the Department of National Defence (DND) and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) a formal mechanism for identifying and designating select Canadian companies as Strategic Partners. It sits inside the Build-Partner-Buy model from Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy and complements existing tools like the Industrial and Technological Benefits Policy. Inside lane A Strategic Partner designation could give selected companies earlier access to CAF capability planning, co-development opportuniti...

Action from the Petone Rec on Saturday, during the latter stages of the first round Colts decider. Photo: Warwick Burke Visitors HOBM won the Paris Memorial Trophy, joining the Tawa Ducks (U85kgs) and Petone Women as first round winners so far. Will the Swindale Shield and Harper Lock Shield titles be decided in this coming...

LIVE scoring updates Wellington club rugby (on Saturday 13 June 2026)   CLICK on the link directly below for live Swindale Shield and lower grade Scoring and fulltime scores updated as they happen. WRFU Men’s Premier WRFU Men’s Premier 2 WRFU Men’s Reserves WRFU Women’s Premier WRFU Restricted U85 WRFU Colts Alternatively, follow live scores...