Four Afghans freed

KUNDUZ: The Taliban have freed four Afghans abducted in the north earlier this month along with two Chinese engineers, who remain in militant custody, a police official said on Monday.Two Chinese engineers and their two Afghan drivers and two guards were snatched in the province of Faryab on January 16, and the Taliban militia claimed responsibility for the kidnapping the same day.

Picasso painting torn

NEW YORK: A significant Pablo Picasso painting was damaged after a woman attending art class lost her balance, fell into “The Actor” and tore it, The Metropolitan Museum of Art said. The unusually large canvas, measuring 196 by 115 cm, sustained a vertical tear of about 15 cm in the lower right-hand corner in the accident on Friday. The museum did not elaborate on why the woman fell.