Churchill mania in France

New translation of Churchill’s memoirs is bestseller in France
Churchill is known in France as ‘Le Vieux Lion’. The Times’ Paris correspondent Charles Bremner reports on what he describes as the recent ‘Churchill boom’ in France.

Women of Steel recognised
Kathleen Roberts, aged 88, Kit Sollitt, 90, Ruby Gascoigne, 87, and 88 year-old Dorothy Slingsby travelled to London, today, to be granted official recognition for their work in the foundries and steel mills of South Yorkshire during the Second World War. Their recognition is the result of a campaign led by the Sheffield Star newspaper. The Sheffield Telegraph and The Times report.

Chile apologises for mistreatment of indigenous people
The BBC reports on President Michelle Bachelet’s recent apology for the mistreatment of indigenous peoples in 19th century Chile. In 1881, German explorers captured a group of 11 tribespeople and shipped them to Europe to be exhibited in European cities as curiosities.

The first map in Chinese to show the Americas
The 400-year-old Matteo Ricci World Map depicts China at the centre of the world and is the first map in Chinese to show the Americas. The map was created, in 1602, by the Italian Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci (1552-1610). It went on display for the first time in North America yesterday, January 12th, at the Library of Congress in Washington. It will be exhibited until April 10th before travelling to the James Ford Bell Library at the University of Minnesota. Read the article published on the website of The Guardian or the press release published by the Library of Congress.

Hunt for £15 million worth of sunken treasure on the bed of the Mediterranean
The Italian liner Ancona sunk between Sicily and Sardinia on November 7th, 1915, after being torpedoed by a German U-boat. The ship is believed to have been transporting 12 trunks of gold and a shipment of silver bars, intended to purchase arms for Italy. The US company Odyssey Marine Exploration is currently seeking to recover the treasure from the seabed, but some Italian officials are battling for the preservation of the vessel. According to a report in The Guardian, lawyers in the US have recently taken action in the US courts so that neither the Italian government nor Odyssey could take any initiative without first giving 45 days notice to the other party.