INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION FORCULTURAL PROPERTY PROTECTION
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Reposted from Jamaica Observer
Two family members of late renowned Jamaican painter Barrington Watson say thieves broke into their house on Saturday evening and stole 10 paintings worth tens of millions of dollars. The robbery has left Watson’s former wife and son — who asked not to be named — rattled and worried as it was committed while they were at home and had fallen asleep after smelling a strange odor. A few of the stolen paintings — including one that was featured in the Bob Marley movie
One Love — were done by Watson, who died in 2016.
The stolen works, the former wife said, were not insured. “My son and I were here. I was out on the verandah until about 5:00 pm, then I went inside. I locked the grille to the house. The main gate entrance was opened because my son was going to lock it later in the night. I was watching TV in my room, and he was in his room. When he came out at about 7:00 pm, he came into my room and said I didn’t lock the entrance grille. I came out and looked and I saw the chain and padlock on the ground. It was frightening,” she told the Jamaica Observer on Monday morning.
“We started looking around and we saw that paintings were missing. One was right here on this verandah wall. Everything else other than the painting remained the same — untouched,” she said, pointing to the wall and stating that the painting is too large for one person to lift.
“They lifted off the painting on the verandah, which two people have to lift. Then they went into the foyer and took another big one off the wall. Stacked close to that one was several other smaller paintings on the ground,” she added. “From the start of the hurricane season we just took down most of the paintings that were hanging out here and put them inside,” she explained. The mother said that what has worried her most is the fact the robbers struck at a time when she and her son were at home and before the time they would normally go off to bed. “We could be dead,” she said, sharing that the thieves must have seen her as she had fallen asleep watching television. She told the Observer that she recalled a strange odor in the air before she fell asleep.
“They could see me from where they were taking off the painting off the wall. I was sitting in my chair. One interesting thing is that I smelled something funny… I went to see if my bedroom window was opened, but it was closed… They definitely could see me because my night light was on as well as the TV light,” she said. “I never heard any car drive in, and I usually hear everything out there from my bedroom,” the woman added. “We called the police, and the detectives came from Matilda’s Corner, and they were given photographs [of the stolen paintings]. About three or four paintings were from Barrington Watson, one was by Lois Lake-Sherwood, and others were from other painters. I don’t think they really went into any other part of the house. I think they came specifically for those paintings,” she said. “The very big one that they took was in the Bob Marley movie. It was nicely framed. We have had it for donkey years. It is called Orange Park, and it is a painting of where we used to live in Yallahs,” she told the Observer.
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Reposted from ArtNet News
Axe-wielding thieves targeted an exhibition of miniature precious objects at the Musée Cognacq-Jay in Paris on Wednesday morning, stealing seven highly prized snuffboxes, including two loaned by the British Crown. French media has widely reported that treasures worth a whopping €1 million ($1 million) were taken during the heist, but this figure has not been confirmed by Paris Musées, which is still assessing the damage. In a brazen act of daylight robbery that was committed in front of visitors and staff, the gang broke into the building on Wednesday morning, during its opening hours and used axes and baseball bats to smash a display case.
Within just three minutes, they were already fleeing the scene on motorcycles. Nobody was injured. The stolen objects were all loans from world class collections, including Collection on loan to the V&A in London, and another two from the U.K.’s Royal Collection. “Investigations linked to the enquiry and the assessment of this immense loss are underway,” said Paris Musées in an update statement published today. these are being coordinated by the City of Paris, the Brigade for the Suppression of Banditry (BRB), and national police. “Naturally, all protective measures have been taken.”
These included several snuffboxes, which were used in the 18th century to store snuff, a mixture of ground tobacco and scented oils. The most valuable, decorated examples became coveted collectors’ items in the 19th century. One of the stolen items was a particularly exquisite piece from the Royal Collection, which loaned five items to “Pocket Luxury.” Made in Berlin in the 1770s for Frederik III of Prussia, the snuffbox’s green jasper case has mounted gold borders and foliage decorations encrusted with nearly three thousand diamonds.
Reposted from ICOM
GET READY TO HOST THE ICOM GENERAL CONFERENCE 2028! The International Council of Museums (ICOM) is excited to announce the call for applications to host the 28th edition of the ICOM General Conference, the global event that shapes the future of museums and drives cultural exchange worldwide. The ICOM General Conference has a rich history, dating back to its inaugural event in Paris in 1948. Since then, twenty-six conferences have taken place around the globe, culminating in the next ICOM Dubai 2025. This global cultural hub brings together over 4,000 museum professionals from around the world to discuss the future of museums, cultural exchange, and innovation. Past conferences have made significant contributions to the global museum community, including the adoption of a new museum definition in Prague 2022, and the groundbreaking resolution on sustainability in Kyoto 2019. Hosting this event offers cities a chance to shine on the international stage and make a lasting impact on the global museum community.
Reposted from EMR-ISAC
On Nov. 18, CISA announced the launch of CISA Learning, a learning management system that will modernize training and education for its employees and key stakeholders. This transformative platform is a critical component of CISA's ongoing efforts to streamline and enhance its enterprise learning environment, ensuring the same training available to CISA personnel is also available free of charge to the nation’s veterans and partners from federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels of government. CISA Learning replaces the Federal Virtual Training Environment (FedVTE). CISA Learning represents a significant milestone in the agency's workforce and stakeholder development, as it prepares to meet the demands of an ever-changing cybersecurity landscape. The new LMS will be the cornerstone of CISA’s strategy to maintain its position as a leader in cybersecurity education and training.
On Nov. 20, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), in collaboration with the Homeland Security Systems Engineering and Development Institute (HSSEDI), operated by MITRE, released the 2024 CWE Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses. This annual list identifies the most critical software weaknesses that adversaries frequently exploit to compromise systems, steal sensitive data, or disrupt essential services. Addressing these weaknesses is integral to CISA’s Secure by Design and Secure by Demand initiatives, which advocate for building and procuring secure technology solutions.
In stressful emergency transport and evacuation situations, individuals with sensory disabilities may face greater difficulties. Emergency management resources, considerations, and techniques can overcome increased threat perception, as well as various mobility and communication barriers. TRB hosted a webinar on Tuesday, November 26, 2024, from 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM Eastern that provided a holistic overview of the mobility challenges of people with sensory disabilities (e.g., vision, hearing, spatial awareness, etc.) in emergency situations, practical planning practices to enhance emergency preparedness, accessible and inclusive communications, and strategies to secure organizational support. This webinar was sponsored by TRB’s Standing Technical Committees on Disaster Response, Emergency Evacuations, and Business Continuity; Transportation and Public Health; and Equity in Transportation.
The slides are available. Please contact trbwebinar@nas.edu for a link to the recording. There may be a $90 fee.
Webinar agenda and presenters
Incorporating vulnerable populations into hospital emergency planning – Rosemary McDonnell, DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency and St. John’s University
Outreach strategies for enhancing the emergency preparedness for individuals with sensory loss – Meg Robertson, retired from Massachusetts Commission for the Blind
Building effective alerts and warnings for persons with access and functional needs – Jeannette Sutton, University at Albany, State University of New York
Question and answer session moderated by Thayanne Ciriaco, University of Alberta
The first 60 minutes of the webinar were for presentations and the final 30 minutes were reserved for audience questions.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this webinar, participants can:
Assess their organization’s current level of emergency planning for people with sensory disabilities and share best practices to improve it in an engaging and meaningful way
Use effective strategies to engage technical and organizational support to enhance emergency preparedness in terms of transportation, evacuation, and sheltering for people with disabilities or other access and functional needs
Implement effective communication strategies, including warning messages in accessible and preferred languages and formats
This webinar was delivered as a scheduled – e-learning live event and is categorized within RCEP as Technical, Health and Safety. Professional Development Hours (PDHs) earned on completion of this program were reported to the Registered Continuing Education Program (RCEP). Certificates of Completion are issued to all participants via the RCEP.net online system.
As colder weather approaches, homeowners will turn on their furnaces and gas fireplaces for the first time in several months. Some may also use portable generators to heat their homes during power outages caused by heavy snow, ice storms, or other extreme winter weather. Fuel-burning home heating equipment – like gas furnaces, boilers, stoves, portable generators, and portable heaters - can generate significant amounts of carbon monoxide. For example, a single portable generator can produce as much carbon monoxide as hundreds of cars. November is Carbon Monoxide Awareness Month. Carbon monoxide (CO) is called the “invisible killer” because it's a colorless, odorless, poisonous gas. If not maintained and operated safely, home heating equipment can expose people to toxic or lethal amounts of CO. Without a CO detector, CO can accumulate in the atmosphere undetected until it’s too late. A February 2024 report from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) found that accidental non-fire related CO poisoning deaths associated with consumer heating products have been trending upward for the 11-year period from 2010 to 2020. Over 200 people die of non-fire CO poisoning every year. Nearly half of these deaths are associated with portable generators, and more than half of non-fire CO deaths each year occur in the colder months between November and February. Public safety and health professionals can help prevent CO poisoning by keeping their communities informed about the dangers of CO, how to safely operate their heating equipment, and how use and maintain their CO detectors. One of the most critical safety measures is to ensure that CO detectors are installed on each level of the home, especially near sleeping areas. CO detectors must be checked regularly to be sure they are functioning properly. Additionally, CO detectors and home heating equipment are subject to safety recalls. Just this month, CPSC announced two recalls related to CO poisoning risk:
Check to see if your CO detector or home heating equipment has been recalled at www.cpsc.gov/recalls and stay up to date on the latest recalls by subscribing to updates from the CPSC. Read more safety tips at the CPSC’s Carbon Monoxide Safety Center. Visit the NCOAA’s website for instructional materials and information about initiatives that are working to prevent CO poisoning through codes and standards, regulations, products, and public awareness. See the U.S. Fire Administration’s (USFA’s) messages and free materials to educate your community on CO poisoning prevention.
Reposted from CISA/DHS
We would like to invite you to the Commercial Facilities Sector's Quarterly Threat & Initiatives Briefing on Tuesday, December 10th, 2024, from 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EST. This virtual briefing will focus on Seasonal Security Threats Facing Commercial Facilities Post-Election and During the Holiday Period. While this session is primarily for stakeholders within the Commercial Facilities Sector, all partners and interested parties are welcome to attend.
Please click the link below to register: https://events.gcc.teams.microsoft.com/event/d3e46091-06d4-4958-8f0b-0adbf0d0793a@69c613d2-b051-4234-8ed1-fd530b70d5d3
Agenda:
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) published Enhancing Cyber Resilience: Insights from CISA Red Team Assessment of a U.S. Critical Infrastructure Sector Organization. This advisory provides network defenders and software manufacturers with recommendations for improving their cybersecurity posture based on lessons learned and key findings from an assessment. Key findings of ineffective cybersecurity practices in this advisory include:
Lessons learned from this assessment include:
CISA encourages all organizations to review this advisory and apply the recommended mitigations which will help ensure security processes and procedures are up to date and effective.
CISA also urges software manufacturers to embrace Secure by Design principles and implement the recommended actions and mitigations to improve security outcomes of their customers from real-world threats. The findings in this advisory illustrate the outsized burden and costs of compensating for insecure software and hardware borne by critical infrastructure owners and operators.
To celebrate National Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence NCSC and CISA, as the National Coordinator for Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience, released NEW guidance to assist critical infrastructure owners and operators to detect and mitigate efforts by foreign intelligence entities to disrupt U.S. critical infrastructure. We are excited to share this guidance with you! As a nation, we are seeing continued cyber and physical threats to critical infrastructure Americans rely on every day. U.S. adversaries and their foreign intelligence entities understand the importance of the critical infrastructure sectors and how degrading them could hinder our national response to events. Resolve to #BeResilient. Read more about the threat and mitigation steps at Safeguarding Our Critical Infrastructure.
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