Beauty in disability? This new art series is working towards highlighting the importance of body diversity with the help of a series of chic wearable sculptures. Created by students at NuVu Studio in Massachusetts, the wearable sculptures are designed for dancers and performance artists with disabilities.&nbsp;

In their latest performance art piece titled &ldquo;On Display&rdquo;, the artists paired with performers from Heidi Latsky Dance in New York City&nbsp;to create wearable designs that puts emphasis on each dancer&#39;s strength and resilience. It tackles an important issue of exploring body image and appearance-based judgment. The sculptures debuted earlier this March as part of the ReelAbilities Film Festival in New York City.

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The NuVu Studio runs a three-month long design programme for middle school and high school students.&nbsp;

In their official release,&nbsp;the art pieces &ldquo;encourages viewers to look at each performer&#39;s physical differences for longer than would normally be socially acceptable, in order to gain a deeper understanding for what life is like when you constantly feel &#39;on display&#39;&#39;&rdquo;.&nbsp;

This particular project features five performers who have different disabilities, ranging from cerebral palsy to low vision. Each performer wore white sculptures and expressed with their unique wearables, how they embody their bodies.&nbsp;

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&quot;On Display&quot;&nbsp;is currently an ongoing performance art project with multiple parts that tours throughout the country.&nbsp;

(WION)

The 'wearable sculptures' are designed for dancers and performance artists with disabilities

Beauty in disability? This new art series is working towards highlighting the importance of body diversity with the help of a series of chic wearable sculptures. Created by students at NuVu Studio in Massachusetts, the wearable sculptures are designed for dancers and performance artists with disabilities. In their latest performance art piece titled “On Display”, the artists paired with performers from Heidi Latsky Dance in New York City to create wearable designs that puts emphasis on each dancer's strength and resilience. It tackles an important issue of exploring body image and appearance-based judgment. The sculptures debuted earlier this March as part of the ReelAbilities Film Festival in New York City. The NuVu Studio runs a three-month long design programme for middle school and high school students. In their official release, the art pieces “encourages viewers to look at each performer's physical differences for longer than would normally be socially acceptable, in order to gain a deeper understanding for what life is like when you constantly feel 'on display''”. This particular project features five performers who have different disabilities, ranging from cerebral palsy to low vision. Each performer wore white sculptures and expressed with their unique wearables, how they embody their bodies. "On Display" is currently an ongoing performance art project with multiple parts that tours throughout the country. (WION)

Students at Massachusetts design 'wearable sculptures' to bring out beauty in disability

16-year-old Rababa Mohammadi from Afghanistan&rsquo;s capital, Kabul, was born with partial paralysis in her limbs. The disability, however, does not bring her down anymore. 
 
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0VqvYvvNTTU?list=PLmWa9ZZLlCjt0Jlg7kN3JBNX4LH1sRsGh" width="970"></iframe> &nbsp; 
 
She saw the adverse conditions as an opportunity for herself and learnt to draw and paint using her mouth.&nbsp;The highly talented Afghan girl has decided to not let her disability stop her dreams of becoming a well-known artist. 
 
The amateur teenage painter recently became a rage on social media when she drew a sketch of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.

The teenage painter became a rage on social media when she drew a sketch of Canadian PM

16-year-old Rababa Mohammadi from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, was born with partial paralysis in her limbs. The disability, however, does not bring her down anymore. She saw the adverse conditions as an opportunity for herself and learnt to draw and paint using her mouth. The highly talented Afghan girl has decided to not let her disability stop her dreams of becoming a well-known artist. The amateur teenage painter recently became a rage on social media when she drew a sketch of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Video: Disabled Afghan girl paints using her mouth

16-year-old wonder girl from Afghanistan defeated partial paralysis of her limbs to pursue painting dreams!

Afghanistan's inspiring disabled artist

Some 2.5 million people are still becoming infected with HIV every year even as drugs have slashed the death rate and virus-carriers live longer than ever, a global AIDS study said today. 
 
New infections have plateaued for the past 10 years after a steep dip from the peak rate of 3.3 million in 1997, said the authors of a comprehensive analysis in The Lancet HIV journal. 
 
It was published to coincide with the International AIDS conference underway in Durban, South Africa to assess progress in stemming an outbreak that has killed more than 30 million people since the 1980s. 
 
The report paints &quot;a worrying picture of slow progress in reducing new HIV infections,&quot; according to lead author Haidong Wang from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, Seattle. 
 
This could be worsened by &quot;stagnating&quot; funding for HIV/AIDS programmes and medicines. 
 
&quot;Therefore, a massive scale-up of efforts from governments and international agencies will be required to meet the estimated $36 billion (33 billion euros) needed every year to realise the goal of ending AIDS by 2030,&quot; IHME director Christopher Murray said in a statement. 
 
Over the past 15 years, countries have contributed $110 billion in &quot;development assistance&quot; for HIV/AIDS programmes. 
 
Today, there are some 38.8 million people living with the AIDS-causing virus, a steady increase from 28 million in 2000 thanks to the advent in 1996 of life-prolonging antiretroviral therapy (ART). 
 
Annual AIDS deaths have declined from a peak of 1.8 million in 2005 to 1.2 million in 2015. 
 
There is no AIDS cure or vaccine. 
 
ART cocktails suppress the virus, enabling people to live long lives, though the drugs are expensive and can have side effects. 
 
 
Dramatic change required 
 
Use of antiretrovirals, for long the preserve of the rich, grew from 6.4 percent of infected men in 2005 to 38.6 percent ten years later, and from 3.3 percent to 42.4 percent for women over the same period, the study found. 
 
Another factor that has helped cut the death rate was education and medicines to prevent infected women passing the virus onto their unborn children, said the report. 
 
The study saw researchers collate HIV data recorded from 1980 to 2015 for 195 countries. 
 
In spite of advances, most countries are still far from achieving the UNAIDS goal of ensuring that by 2020, 90 percent of infected people will know their status, and 90 percent of those will receive ART. 
 
In 2015, 41 percent of HIV-infected people received ART, said the report. 
 
The picture varied vastly between countries and regions. 
 
In 2015, 1.8 million new HIV infections, some 75 percent, were in sub-Saharan Africa, followed by 212,500 (8.5 percent) in south Asia. 
 
&quot;The highest rates of infection were in southern Africa, with more than one percent of the population per year becoming infected in Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland,&quot; said the report. 
 
In Europe, the highest rate of new infections was in Russia (57,340) and Ukraine (13,490). 
 
&quot;Global efforts have had less impact on the incidence of new infections than on HIV mortality,&quot; concluded the report. 
 
&quot;Ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 will require a dramatic change in how HIV prevention is pursued.&quot; 
 
(AFP)

New infections have plateaued for the past 10 years after a steep dip from the peak rate of 3.3 million in 1997

Some 2.5 million people are still becoming infected with HIV every year even as drugs have slashed the death rate and virus-carriers live longer than ever, a global AIDS study said today. New infections have plateaued for the past 10 years after a steep dip from the peak rate of 3.3 million in 1997, said the authors of a comprehensive analysis in The Lancet HIV journal. It was published to coincide with the International AIDS conference underway in Durban, South Africa to assess progress in stemming an outbreak that has killed more than 30 million people since the 1980s. The report paints "a worrying picture of slow progress in reducing new HIV infections," according to lead author Haidong Wang from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, Seattle. This could be worsened by "stagnating" funding for HIV/AIDS programmes and medicines. "Therefore, a massive scale-up of efforts from governments and international agencies will be required to meet the estimated $36 billion (33 billion euros) needed every year to realise the goal of ending AIDS by 2030," IHME director Christopher Murray said in a statement. Over the past 15 years, countries have contributed $110 billion in "development assistance" for HIV/AIDS programmes. Today, there are some 38.8 million people living with the AIDS-causing virus, a steady increase from 28 million in 2000 thanks to the advent in 1996 of life-prolonging antiretroviral therapy (ART). Annual AIDS deaths have declined from a peak of 1.8 million in 2005 to 1.2 million in 2015. There is no AIDS cure or vaccine. ART cocktails suppress the virus, enabling people to live long lives, though the drugs are expensive and can have side effects. Dramatic change required Use of antiretrovirals, for long the preserve of the rich, grew from 6.4 percent of infected men in 2005 to 38.6 percent ten years later, and from 3.3 percent to 42.4 percent for women over the same period, the study found. Another factor that has helped cut the death rate was education and medicines to prevent infected women passing the virus onto their unborn children, said the report. The study saw researchers collate HIV data recorded from 1980 to 2015 for 195 countries. In spite of advances, most countries are still far from achieving the UNAIDS goal of ensuring that by 2020, 90 percent of infected people will know their status, and 90 percent of those will receive ART. In 2015, 41 percent of HIV-infected people received ART, said the report. The picture varied vastly between countries and regions. In 2015, 1.8 million new HIV infections, some 75 percent, were in sub-Saharan Africa, followed by 212,500 (8.5 percent) in south Asia. "The highest rates of infection were in southern Africa, with more than one percent of the population per year becoming infected in Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland," said the report. In Europe, the highest rate of new infections was in Russia (57,340) and Ukraine (13,490). "Global efforts have had less impact on the incidence of new infections than on HIV mortality," concluded the report. "Ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 will require a dramatic change in how HIV prevention is pursued." (AFP)

2.5 million people suffer from HIV every year

Fans of renowned artist Christo faced disappointment for a second day today after his latest work in northern Italy was partly closed by rain. 
 
His ambitious three kilometre-long (1.9 miles) walkway of 200,000 floating cubes covered in orange fabric floating atop Lake Iseo was evacuated Saturday evening after wind and rain made it unstable. 
 
&quot;Given the influx of people and potentially bad weather, it is advisable to rethink your trip,&quot; said a manager at the installation in a statement. 
 
Local authorities have also cancelled train services to the lake to limit the numbers able to reach the project. 
 
After being closed throughout Saturday night, the project only partly reopened Sunday morning with one of the two walkways still closed to the public. 
 
Crowds of visitors hoping to visit Christo&#39;s &quot;The Floating Piers&quot; have been gathering around the lake since it opened on Saturday, with organisers hoping that 500,000 people will experience it by July 3 when the pontoons close to the public. 
 
But the walkways can only hold 11,000 people at any one time and only if weather conditions allow. 
 
More than 55,000 visitors attempted to cross the walkways on Saturday, forcing organisers who had anticipated just 40,000 to ask that they return another day. 
 
And by the early evening the bridges had been forced to close by heavy winds and driving rain. 
 
Christo first conceived the project in 1970 for the River Plate delta in Argentina but was thwarted after failing to secure the necessary permits. 
 
Despite the long delay in realising his vision Christo said on Thursday that the project, his first since 2005, &quot;stayed in our hearts&quot;. 
 
(AFP) 
&nbsp;

Crowds of visitors hoping to visit Christo's "The Floating Piers" have been gathering around the lake since it opened on Saturday

Fans of renowned artist Christo faced disappointment for a second day today after his latest work in northern Italy was partly closed by rain. His ambitious three kilometre-long (1.9 miles) walkway of 200,000 floating cubes covered in orange fabric floating atop Lake Iseo was evacuated Saturday evening after wind and rain made it unstable. "Given the influx of people and potentially bad weather, it is advisable to rethink your trip," said a manager at the installation in a statement. Local authorities have also cancelled train services to the lake to limit the numbers able to reach the project. After being closed throughout Saturday night, the project only partly reopened Sunday morning with one of the two walkways still closed to the public. Crowds of visitors hoping to visit Christo's "The Floating Piers" have been gathering around the lake since it opened on Saturday, with organisers hoping that 500,000 people will experience it by July 3 when the pontoons close to the public. But the walkways can only hold 11,000 people at any one time and only if weather conditions allow. More than 55,000 visitors attempted to cross the walkways on Saturday, forcing organisers who had anticipated just 40,000 to ask that they return another day. And by the early evening the bridges had been forced to close by heavy winds and driving rain. Christo first conceived the project in 1970 for the River Plate delta in Argentina but was thwarted after failing to secure the necessary permits. Despite the long delay in realising his vision Christo said on Thursday that the project, his first since 2005, "stayed in our hearts". (AFP)

Christo fans told rain may prevent walking on water

Delving into the history of a family art business she once shunned, French celebrity journalist Anne&nbsp;Sinclair&nbsp;is returning to public life by reconnecting with her roots.

She was France&#39;s star television interviewer in the 1980s and 1990s. But her gilded life was upended five years ago when her husband, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was arrested in New York on charges, since dropped, of sexual harassment of a hotel maid.

While U.S. prosecutors investigated the case that forced the Socialist politician to resign as managing director of the International Monetary Fund and abandon plans to run for president in France,&nbsp;Sinclair&nbsp;stood by her man in public - before divorcing him after their return to Paris.

She used some of their &quot;sad, enforced stay&quot; in New York to research a book on her grandfather, Paul Rosenberg, one of Europe&#39;s greatest 20th century art merchants, who was the exclusive dealer of Picasso, Braque and Matisse.

&quot;When I was growing up, my family told me a lot about him but I wanted to be on my own and make my career outside of the art family,&quot;&nbsp;Sinclair, 67, now editorial director of the French edition of the Huffington Post online newspaper, told Reuters in an interview.

More than 60 masterpieces that went through Rosenberg&#39;s galleries in Paris and New York - some looted by the Nazis and recovered after World War Two - will go on display for the first time together in the Belgian city of Liege in September.

The exhibition of works from public and private collections, including a couple of&nbsp;Sinclair&#39;s personal heirlooms, will tell the story of &quot;21 rue La Boetie&quot;, the address of Rosenberg&#39;s pre-war Paris gallery. It was raided by the Nazis in 1940 and handed to their French collaborators, who turned it into an anti-Semitic propaganda centre.

&quot;A gallery that was a temple of art became a temple of horror,&quot;&nbsp;Sinclair&nbsp;said.

The Pompidou Centre and the Picasso Museum in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Vienna&#39;s Albertinum, all former customers of Rosenberg, who died in 1959, and of his son Alexandre, who ran the gallery after his death until 1987, are lending works for the show.

Sinclair&nbsp;said her grandfather took big commercial risks to promote the work of his proteges Picasso, Braque, Matisse and Leger before their avant garde styles were widely acclaimed. He sold works by Impressionist masters to pay for their canvases, but only sold his first Picasso as late as 1925.

&quot;He had to sell a lot of other paintings to buy the modern art he believed in,&quot;&nbsp;Sinclair&nbsp;said. Rosenberg built friendships with his artists, documented in many letters preserved in family archives. Picasso became a neighbour and close friend.

When the Jewish merchant and his family fled Paris in 1940, during the phoney war before Germany invaded France, Matisse visited him in a rented house near Bordeaux for long conversations about beauty, nature and art as the drums of war beat ever closer.

After the family emigrated to the United States a few weeks later, French informers helped the German embassy locate and remove paintings Rosenberg had hidden at the house and in a bank vault in the nearby town of Libourne.

Sinclair&nbsp;said Rosenberg, a private man who eschewed the social life of his wealthy clients and had left-wing political sympathies, was painfully aware that he was a merchant with an eye for art, but not a creator himself.

Nowadays, Rosenberg might be categorised as belonging to the &quot;caviar left&quot;,&nbsp;Sinclair&nbsp;said, citing a label often applied by critics to herself and Strauss-Kahn because of their lifestyle.

&quot;That&#39;s typically French... If you are rich, you have to be on the right,&quot; she said. &quot;I was accused a lot of being from the &#39;caviar left&#39; because I&#39;m a bourgeoise. I earned my living by my work with comfort, and it&#39;s always an accusation.&quot; 
(Reuters)

Sinclair's grandfather, Paul Rosenberg, was one of the greatest art merchants in Europe and exclusive dealer of Picasso,Braque and Matisse

Delving into the history of a family art business she once shunned, French celebrity journalist Anne Sinclair is returning to public life by reconnecting with her roots. She was France's star television interviewer in the 1980s and 1990s. But her gilded life was upended five years ago when her husband, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was arrested in New York on charges, since dropped, of sexual harassment of a hotel maid. While U.S. prosecutors investigated the case that forced the Socialist politician to resign as managing director of the International Monetary Fund and abandon plans to run for president in France, Sinclair stood by her man in public - before divorcing him after their return to Paris. She used some of their "sad, enforced stay" in New York to research a book on her grandfather, Paul Rosenberg, one of Europe's greatest 20th century art merchants, who was the exclusive dealer of Picasso, Braque and Matisse. "When I was growing up, my family told me a lot about him but I wanted to be on my own and make my career outside of the art family," Sinclair, 67, now editorial director of the French edition of the Huffington Post online newspaper, told Reuters in an interview. More than 60 masterpieces that went through Rosenberg's galleries in Paris and New York - some looted by the Nazis and recovered after World War Two - will go on display for the first time together in the Belgian city of Liege in September. The exhibition of works from public and private collections, including a couple of Sinclair's personal heirlooms, will tell the story of "21 rue La Boetie", the address of Rosenberg's pre-war Paris gallery. It was raided by the Nazis in 1940 and handed to their French collaborators, who turned it into an anti-Semitic propaganda centre. "A gallery that was a temple of art became a temple of horror," Sinclair said. The Pompidou Centre and the Picasso Museum in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Vienna's Albertinum, all former customers of Rosenberg, who died in 1959, and of his son Alexandre, who ran the gallery after his death until 1987, are lending works for the show. Sinclair said her grandfather took big commercial risks to promote the work of his proteges Picasso, Braque, Matisse and Leger before their avant garde styles were widely acclaimed. He sold works by Impressionist masters to pay for their canvases, but only sold his first Picasso as late as 1925. "He had to sell a lot of other paintings to buy the modern art he believed in," Sinclair said. Rosenberg built friendships with his artists, documented in many letters preserved in family archives. Picasso became a neighbour and close friend. When the Jewish merchant and his family fled Paris in 1940, during the phoney war before Germany invaded France, Matisse visited him in a rented house near Bordeaux for long conversations about beauty, nature and art as the drums of war beat ever closer. After the family emigrated to the United States a few weeks later, French informers helped the German embassy locate and remove paintings Rosenberg had hidden at the house and in a bank vault in the nearby town of Libourne. Sinclair said Rosenberg, a private man who eschewed the social life of his wealthy clients and had left-wing political sympathies, was painfully aware that he was a merchant with an eye for art, but not a creator himself. Nowadays, Rosenberg might be categorised as belonging to the "caviar left", Sinclair said, citing a label often applied by critics to herself and Strauss-Kahn because of their lifestyle. "That's typically French... If you are rich, you have to be on the right," she said. "I was accused a lot of being from the 'caviar left' because I'm a bourgeoise. I earned my living by my work with comfort, and it's always an accusation." (Reuters)

France's Sinclair mines family art history for comeback

Furniture, artwork, jewelry and collectible objects that once graced the Los Angeles home of President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, are headed for the auction block, Christie&#39;s said on Thursday. 
 
The landmark sale, a series of live and online auctions scheduled for September, also encompasses decorative pieces of art, books, ephemera, sculpture, drawings and prints from the Reagans&#39; home in the affluent Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles. 
 
Christie&#39;s said it expects the sale of some 700 lots to take in more than $2 million. But estimates are based on the items&#39; market value, and the possessions of celebrated figures offered at auction typically have soared to many times their estimates. 
 
Proceeds will benefit the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, in line with the Reagans&#39; wishes. 
 
&quot;This prestigious collection offers unprecedented insight into the private lives of President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan,&quot; said Brook Hazelton, president of Christie&rsquo;s Americas. &quot;Each object offers a &#39;through-the-keyhole&#39; experience revealing as-yet-untold stories of two of the 20th century&rsquo;s most celebrated public figures.&quot; 
 
Reagan, a former Hollywood actor and California governor, was elected the 40th US President in 1980. He died in 2004. Nancy Reagan died earlier this year at age 94. 
 
The couple presided over a glamorous White House, where bold-faced names from the Reagans&#39; years before the cameras as actors injected a glitzy element into Washington&#39;s traditionally staid social scene. 
 
Details on the auction items will be announced in coming weeks. Christie&#39;s said the collection includes American, English and Chinese furnishings, many evoking the &quot;Hollywood Regency&quot; style, and many personal objects. 
 
Estimates on individual items range from $1,000 to $50,000. 
 
The auction house said the collection was noteworthy for reflecting the simple and elegant private life the Reagans enjoyed together in Bel Air, where they often entertained. 
 
Nancy Reagan, whose family and estate trustees are holding the sale, once reflected, &quot;So much of your life is on display that to be alone and relaxed was a luxury we looked forward to.&quot; 
 
The sale&#39;s proceeds &quot;will ensure that the foundation, and the presidential library it supports, will be equipped to pursue its mission,&quot; John Heubusch, the foundation&#39;s executive director, said in a statement.

Proceeds will go to the non-profit Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation which promotes global democracy and individual liberty

Furniture, artwork, jewelry and collectible objects that once graced the Los Angeles home of President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, are headed for the auction block, Christie's said on Thursday. The landmark sale, a series of live and online auctions scheduled for September, also encompasses decorative pieces of art, books, ephemera, sculpture, drawings and prints from the Reagans' home in the affluent Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles. Christie's said it expects the sale of some 700 lots to take in more than $2 million. But estimates are based on the items' market value, and the possessions of celebrated figures offered at auction typically have soared to many times their estimates. Proceeds will benefit the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, in line with the Reagans' wishes. "This prestigious collection offers unprecedented insight into the private lives of President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan," said Brook Hazelton, president of Christie’s Americas. "Each object offers a 'through-the-keyhole' experience revealing as-yet-untold stories of two of the 20th century’s most celebrated public figures." Reagan, a former Hollywood actor and California governor, was elected the 40th US President in 1980. He died in 2004. Nancy Reagan died earlier this year at age 94. The couple presided over a glamorous White House, where bold-faced names from the Reagans' years before the cameras as actors injected a glitzy element into Washington's traditionally staid social scene. Details on the auction items will be announced in coming weeks. Christie's said the collection includes American, English and Chinese furnishings, many evoking the "Hollywood Regency" style, and many personal objects. Estimates on individual items range from $1,000 to $50,000. The auction house said the collection was noteworthy for reflecting the simple and elegant private life the Reagans enjoyed together in Bel Air, where they often entertained. Nancy Reagan, whose family and estate trustees are holding the sale, once reflected, "So much of your life is on display that to be alone and relaxed was a luxury we looked forward to." The sale's proceeds "will ensure that the foundation, and the presidential library it supports, will be equipped to pursue its mission," John Heubusch, the foundation's executive director, said in a statement.

Art, furniture, and more from the Reagans' home to be auctioned

The Louvre and Orsay&nbsp;museums&nbsp;in&nbsp;Paris&nbsp;moved&nbsp;art&nbsp;works&nbsp;stored underground to safety on Friday as the swollen river Seine kept rising, the city&#39;s deputy mayor said, following days of torrential rains that have killed two people.

Floodwaters&nbsp;have forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes and dozens of schools have closed south of&nbsp;Paris. Earlier this week the army was also called in to rescue stranded motorists on a major highway.

&quot;For the&nbsp;museums, even if fortunately there isn&#39;t any&nbsp;flooding of storerooms as of today, there is an automatic process above 5.50 metres to&nbsp;move&nbsp;works&nbsp;in the deepest storerooms higher,&quot; Bruno Julliard,&nbsp;Paris&#39; deputy mayor, told France Inter radio.

The Louvre and the Musee d&#39;Orsay are both home to world-renowned&nbsp;art&nbsp;collections.

Julliard said the&nbsp;works&nbsp;in the&nbsp;museums, which overlook the Seine, were not at risk as of early Friday. Some low lying roads running along the river are underwater and one underground commuter line has been closed.

Officials forecast the Seine could peak at 6 metres in central&nbsp;Paris&nbsp;on Friday, stressing this is still well below the level where it would threaten residents and businesses.

The river reached a record high of 8.6 metres in 1910, when thousands of&nbsp;Parisians had to flee flooded low-lying areas of the city.

Environment minister Segolene Royal told France 2 television on Friday that the&nbsp;floods may take several weeks to subside.

&quot;What&#39;s going to be even more painful for the families who have lost their homes, the heads of companies who have lost their businesses, the employees who will be unable to go to work, is that the drop in the water level will be very slow,&quot; Royal&nbsp;said.

The retreating&nbsp;waters&nbsp;could reveal further victims, she&nbsp;added.

In Evry-Gregy-sur-Yerre, south of&nbsp;Paris, a man on horseback drowned on Thursday, becoming the second fatality. Le&nbsp;Parisien newspaper said the 74-year-old had been trying to cross a flooded field.

The Louvre and Orsay?museums?in?Paris moved?art?works to safety on Friday as the river Seine kept rising. Thousands of people have evacuated their homes and dozens of schools closed down.

The Louvre and Orsay museums in Paris moved art works stored underground to safety on Friday as the swollen river Seine kept rising, the city's deputy mayor said, following days of torrential rains that have killed two people. Floodwaters have forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes and dozens of schools have closed south of Paris. Earlier this week the army was also called in to rescue stranded motorists on a major highway. "For the museums, even if fortunately there isn't any flooding of storerooms as of today, there is an automatic process above 5.50 metres to move works in the deepest storerooms higher," Bruno Julliard, Paris' deputy mayor, told France Inter radio. The Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay are both home to world-renowned art collections. Julliard said the works in the museums, which overlook the Seine, were not at risk as of early Friday. Some low lying roads running along the river are underwater and one underground commuter line has been closed. Officials forecast the Seine could peak at 6 metres in central Paris on Friday, stressing this is still well below the level where it would threaten residents and businesses. The river reached a record high of 8.6 metres in 1910, when thousands of Parisians had to flee flooded low-lying areas of the city. Environment minister Segolene Royal told France 2 television on Friday that the floods may take several weeks to subside. "What's going to be even more painful for the families who have lost their homes, the heads of companies who have lost their businesses, the employees who will be unable to go to work, is that the drop in the water level will be very slow," Royal said. The retreating waters could reveal further victims, she added. In Evry-Gregy-sur-Yerre, south of Paris, a man on horseback drowned on Thursday, becoming the second fatality. Le Parisien newspaper said the 74-year-old had been trying to cross a flooded field.

Paris museums move art works as flood waters rise

The statue in the town square of a Houston suburb depicting two young&nbsp;women&nbsp;posing for a selfie was meant to be a sign of the times. It has unleashed another sign of the times - a heated social media debate. 
 
The statue in Sugar Land, just outside of City Hall, was part of an installation of pieces donated to the city. Residents have been quick to weigh in on social media. 
 
&quot;Selfie Statue, Seriously? Sugarland what are your officials thinking,&quot; one Twitter comment read. Said another: &quot;I hope someone demolishes that disgrace of culture and an eye sore.&quot; 
 
Others defended the selfie statue. &quot;Let&rsquo;s Be Honest: The #SelfieStatue in #SugarLand, TX is a Perfect Sign of the Times,&quot; said one commentator. Added another: &quot;Unpopular Opinion: The Sugar Land, TX, selfie statue everyone is talking about is both art and good art.&quot; 
 
The statue in question is part of a group donated from a local resident. Others in the group include a statue of a man playing a guitar, and one of an alligator, installed near a pond. 
 
Some fans of the selfie statue have posed for selfies in front of it, while others praised the work but slammed the artist for depicting the&nbsp;women&nbsp;using what appears to be an outdated phone. 
 
Sugar Land city spokesman Doug Adolph said the selfie statue depicts something seen every day and yet &quot;it has upset some people.&quot; 
 
&quot;You can&#39;t please everyone,&quot; he said.

The statue in the town square of a Houston suburb depicting two young?women?posing for a selfie has sparked off a heated social media debate

The statue in the town square of a Houston suburb depicting two young women posing for a selfie was meant to be a sign of the times. It has unleashed another sign of the times - a heated social media debate. The statue in Sugar Land, just outside of City Hall, was part of an installation of pieces donated to the city. Residents have been quick to weigh in on social media. "Selfie Statue, Seriously? Sugarland what are your officials thinking," one Twitter comment read. Said another: "I hope someone demolishes that disgrace of culture and an eye sore." Others defended the selfie statue. "Let’s Be Honest: The #SelfieStatue in #SugarLand, TX is a Perfect Sign of the Times," said one commentator. Added another: "Unpopular Opinion: The Sugar Land, TX, selfie statue everyone is talking about is both art and good art." The statue in question is part of a group donated from a local resident. Others in the group include a statue of a man playing a guitar, and one of an alligator, installed near a pond. Some fans of the selfie statue have posed for selfies in front of it, while others praised the work but slammed the artist for depicting the women using what appears to be an outdated phone. Sugar Land city spokesman Doug Adolph said the selfie statue depicts something seen every day and yet "it has upset some people." "You can't please everyone," he said.

Selfie statue fails to click with some in Houston suburb

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