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The Azcatitlan Codex, a rare manuscript about Aztec history and civilization, recently went on view at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, as the Mexican Culture Ministry continues its nearly two-century-long quest to have it repatriated. The illustrated document, created between the late 16th and early 17th centuries, is on loan from the National Library of France (BnF) as part of the celebrations for the bicentennial of diplomatic relationships between France and Mexico, Le Figaro reports . In exchange, the National Museum of Anthropology sent the Boturini Codex to the BnF. Each document will return to the country that currently owns it by the end of the year. On view until December 6, the manuscript is returning to Mexico for the first time since 1840. Across 20 folios, the codex “combines Mesoamerican pictographic traditions with elements of European writing” and “narrate[s] the Mexica migration from Aztlan to the founding of Mexico-T...

In what will surely make for a survey to remember, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has acquired 38 works by the revered Chinese ink painter Chang Dai-chien. The trove includes studies from Dai-chien’s time at Dunhuang, an ancient Buddhist temple complex on the edge of the Gobi Desert, in the 1940s, as well as works from the 1960s and beyond, when his delicate landscapes and still-life unraveled into radiant abstractions. “Chang Dai-chien stands as one of the most important painters of the modern era. He combined a deep knowledge of classical Chinese culture with a transnational perspective to fashion a style of ink painting that was both locally rooted and connected to a wider global outlook,” Met director Max Hollein said in a statement, alluding to the artist’s three-decade artistic journey, from his birth and early life in China through South Asia—from India to Japan and Taiwan—and, in the 1970s, to his later years in Monterey, California. According t...

For the neutral observer, this match featured some cracking tries by both teams – and its all packaged up in the highlights below. Hawke’s Bay trailed the whole game but scored a try when it mattered with the final play of the game and kicked the winning conversion on fulltime. Earlier, the Centurions had got...

Horowhenua-Kapiti and Ories flanker David Leota-Johnson surges forward on Saturday, flanked by teammates, including Petone prop Kafa Katoa and HOBM No. 8 Mika Alaifatu. Photo: Stewart Baid. They beat Thames Valley 57-26.  Monday morning edition: The first week of spring and the start of daylight savings at the end of this week mean the 15s...

When Getty photographer Brendan Smialowski captured a photo on Wednesday night of Air Force One after landing at Joint Base Andrews, outside Washington, D.C., it showed president Donald Trump in a red baseball cap reading a placard that seems to read “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.” This led to an emergency Thursday filing by Joyce Beatty, Democratic US Representative for Ohio’s Third Congressional District and an ex officio trustee of the Center, asking the federal judge in the ongoing Kennedy Center case “to make crystal clear that its order prohibits demolishing the structure.” On Wednesday, Trump said , “For me to go and fix it and subsidize it, I think the Trump administration should have recognition. If we don’t do that, it’s going to close and get ripped down.” “It goes without saying that demolishing the Kennedy Center’s main building would violate the Court’s preliminary injunction: Closure is both a prelude to and the necessary consequence of demol...

New archaeological discoveries at Tell Al-Abqain in Beheira are revealing details about life within the ancient Egyptian fortress, the country’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced on Wednesday. According to the ministry, they also underscore Tell Al-Abqain’s importance as a military stronghold during the New Kingdom period (1570–1069 BCE), when it was established to protect Egypt against incursions by Libyan tribes. The finds, made by an Egyptian archaeological mission, include a residential complex, stelae, and, most intriguingly, the possibly ceremonial burial of a horse. In a statement, Egypt’s minister of tourism and antiquities Sherif Fathy emphasized that the discoveries not only shed light on the fortress’s military function but on the daily lives of its inhabitants. Chief among the discoveries is a large mudbrick housing complex connected to the southern entrance of the fortress. In its northern section excavators found a main street ru...