Aleppo Empties, Kim Threatened, Art Smash

World: A half million people have fled the fighting in the Syrian city of Aleppo in recent weeks, according to the United Nations. In some areas of nearby Turkey the refugees outnumber the residents.

  Secy. of State John Kerry in Indonesia yesterday called out Russia for it’s support of the Syrian military while the world tries to negotiate peace. Kerry said, “Russia needs to be a part of the solution and not be contributing so many more weapons and so much more aid that they’re, in fact, enabling Assad to double down, which is creating an enormous problem.”

>Four people were killed, including one police officer, as riot police moved in to clear protesters away from the streets around the prime minister’s office In Bangkok, Thailand. Dissenters are trying to dislodge the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

>In Kiev, Ukraine, four people are dead in violence today as authorities set a 6pm deadline for the end of political “disorders”.

>Two members of the Russian punk group Pussy Riot were briefly detained at the Winter Olympics. Police said they were investigating a theft at the hotel where the women were staying. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina who were held along with several other people.

North Korea: The UN sent a letter to dictator Kim Jong-un saying threatening to prosecute him in the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. A UN report says Kim and his regime use murder, torture, slavery, sexual violence, and mass starvation to terrorize “the population into submission.”

Old Man: Messy weather has descended on the East again from Chicago to Maine. It’s foggy with light snow in New York, but above average temperatures are on the way.

Art News: A man walked into the Pérez Art Museum Miami in Miami Sunday and destroyed a valuable vase made by the Chinese dissident artist  Ai Weiwei. Authorities grabbed Maximo Caminero, 51, who was quoted in the Miami New Times saying he broke the vase to protest the museum’s exclusion of local artists. The  vase was part of an installment of freeform-colored vases. Caminero told the newspaper he was inspired by photographs of Ai in which he shattered a priceless Han Dynasty vase to make a point about the fragility of cultural objects. Caminero told the New Times, “I saw it as a provocation by Weiwei to join him in an act of performance protest.”  The artist Ai Weiwei has spent time in prison for his protests and Caminero might get the opportunity to do the same.

Sochi: All the following results have already appeared on television.

-Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White became the first ever from this country to win the ice-dancing event in the Olympics. Davis, 27, and White, 26, perfected their act skating as partners for 17 years. Their chief rivals Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada, who won gold in Vancouver when Davis and White took silver.  And there’s some second-guessing today about how and why the judges picked the Americans over the Canadian favorites. The judging of ice skating is a riddle wrapped in an enigma.

-The US women beat Sweden, and the Canadians beat Switzerland, to set up a US/Canada final Thursday in women’s hockey.

-Gold medal driver Steven Holcomb piloted the two-man bobsled to take bronze, America’s first medal win in that event in 62 years. Four years ago in Vancouver he also ended a 62-year losing streak for America when his team finished first in the four-man sled. Holcomb said, “If anybody else has a 62-year drought you need to break, let me know.”

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It's Been Said

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