- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Israel pounds Lebanon ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Toddler among 4 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
Iraq exhibits restored art pillaged after 2003 invasion
Verdant landscapes, stylised portraits of peasant women, curved sculptures -- an exhibition in Baghdad is allowing art aficionados to rediscover the pioneers of contemporary Iraqi art.
Around one hundred items are on display in the capital, returned and restored nearly two decades after they were looted.
Many of the works, including pieces by renowned artists Jawad Selim and Fayiq Hassan, disappeared in 2003 when museums and other institutions were pillaged in the chaos that followed the US-led invasion to topple dictator Saddam Hussein.
Thousands of pieces were stolen, and organised criminal networks often sold them outside Iraq.
Tracked down in Switzerland, the US, Qatar and neighbouring Jordan, sculptures and paintings dating between the 1940s and 1960s have been on display since late March at the Ministry of Culture, in a vast room that used to serve as a restaurant.
"These works are part of the history of contemporary art in Iraq," ministry official Fakher Mohamed said.
- Artistic renaissance -
Pictures and sculptures were in 2003 spirited away from the Saddam Arts Centre, one of Baghdad's most prestigious cultural venues at the time.
While he crushed all political dissent, Saddam cultivated the image of a patron of the arts. The invasion and years of violence that followed ended a flourishing arts scene, particularly in Baghdad.
Now, relative stability has led to a fledgling artistic renaissance, including book fairs and concerts, of which the exhibition organised by the ministry is an example.
It helps recall a golden age when Baghdad was considered one of the Arab world's cultural capitals.
Among canvases of realist, surrealist or expressionist inspiration, a picturesque scene in shimmering colours shows a boat sailing in front of several "mudhif", the traditional reed dwellings found in Iraq's southern marshes.
Other paintings, in dark colours, depict terrified residents surrounded by corpses, fleeing a burning village.
Elsewhere, a woman is shown prostrate in a scene of destruction, kneeling in front of an arm protruding from stones.
There is also a wooden sculpture of a gazelle with undulating curves, and the "maternal statue" -- a work by Jawad Selim that represents a woman with a slender neck and raised arms.
The latter, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, was rediscovered in a Baghdad district known for its antiques and second-hand goods shops. It was in the possession of a dealer unaware of its true value, according to sculptor Taha Wahib, who bought it for just $200.
- 'Priceless works' -
Looters in some cases had taken pictures out of their frames, sometimes with cutters, to steal them more easily.
"Some pieces were damaged during the events of 2003 -- or they were stored in poor conditions for many years," Mohamed, the culture ministry official, told AFP.
But "they were restored in record time," he said.
Other works are being held back for now, with some waiting to be restored -- but they will be exhibited once more, Mohamed pledged.
He wants to open more exhibition rooms to show the entire collection of recovered items.
"Museums must be open to the public -- these works shouldn't remain imprisoned in warehouses," he said.
The 7,000 items stolen in 2003 included "priceless works", and about 2,300 have been returned to Iraq, according to exhibition curator Lamiaa al-Jawari.
In 2004, she joined a committee of artists committed to retrieving the many stolen national treasures.
"Some have been recovered through official channels" including the Swiss embassy, she said, but individuals also helped.
Authorities coordinate with Interpol and the last restitutions took place in 2021.
The selection on display will be changed from time to time, "to show visitors all this artistic heritage," Jawari said.
Ali Al-Najar, an 82-year-old artist who has lived in Sweden the past 20 years, has been on holiday in his homeland.
He welcomed the exhibition.
"The pioneers are those who initiated Iraqi art. If we forget them, we lose our foundations" as a society, Najar said.
O.Johnson--AMWN