Secret treasures of Nazis' art dealer revealed at last to the public

Visitors watch the paintings in an exhibition in Bern of art collected by a Nazi dealer. Photo / AP

Germany: A hoard of precious art works collected by a Nazi dealer and kept in secret by his reclusive son will go on public display today for the first time. Paintings by Monet, Renoir, Cézanne and Otto Dix are among hundreds of works once hidden in the home of Cornelius Gurlitt that will be shown in two simultaneous exhibitions in the Bern Kunstmuseum, Switzerland, and Bonn's Bundeskunsthalle in Germany. Many are believed to have been stolen from their Jewish owners by the Nazis. Others were confiscated as "degenerate art", modernist works which Hitler found offensive. While hundreds of the works are suspected of being appropriated by the Nazis, only six have so far been identified as looted, and only four returned to their rightful owners. Gurlitt's father, Hildebrand, was himself persecuted by the Nazis as the grandchild of a Jew, and for refusing to fly a swastika outside his gallery. But he later volunteered to become one of the party's four official art dealers.

Australia: Queensland police believe a southeast Brisbane home set alight while two children and a heavily pregnant woman were inside was a targeted attack. A manhunt is underway for the three men who set fire to the Mackenzie home late yesterday. Police say the trio smashed a window and poured accelerant into the house, before igniting it and escaping in a car. Firefighters rushed to the scene and extinguished the blaze, which was contained to the front room of the house. Inspector Steve Flori told the Nine Network today there was "certainly evidence to indicate it was deliberately done and certainly with some motivation to cause maximum damage". A man, 44, was taken to hospital in a serious but stable condition after he suffered severe burns.

Britain: British police have been granted a warrant for the arrest of the brother of the Manchester Arena suicide bomber for murder and are now trying to bring him back to the UK from Libya, anti-terror police say. An extradition request has been handed to authorities in Libya where Hashem Abedi, brother of the bomber Salman Abedi, is currently in custody. Both brothers travelled to Libya in April, before Salman returned alone before carrying out the attack on May 22, which left 22 dead and hundreds injured. Hashem Abedi is understood to be currently held by a militia group in Libya.

Senior Constable Tony Potter with Ink, who will shortly be retired, in Adelaide, Australia. Photo / AAP

Australia: After 56 arrests, broken ribs a punctured lung and a ruptured disc in his spine, all in the line of duty, police dog Ink is retiring from the South Australian force. The 5-year-old German Shepherd survived the life-threatening incident in 2014 while investigating an ATM robbery in Adelaide. Ink successfully returned to active duty following treatment, but is now suffering from degenerative arthritis after being deployed 826 times since beginning his career in 2013. He will remain with his handler as a pet.

Mexico: Two severed heads were dumped on a street corner near Mexico City's historic colonial core, a rare instance in the capital of the kind of grisly killings and public displays of murder victims more commonly seen in other parts of the country. A statement from the city prosecutor's office reported that a man left the heads in two black bags in the morning at an intersection about eight blocks from the city's Zocalo, or main square, and about four blocks from the notoriously gritty neighbourhood of Tepito.

India: An explosion at an Indian power plant has killed 20 people and injured up to 100 in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh in one of the country's deadliest industrial accidents in years. More than 20 survivors suffered severe burns in the blast in the coal-fired plant operated by state-run NTPC, and casualty numbers would probably rise, state police said. The 1550-megawatt plant in the town of Unchahar supplies electricity to nine states, according to NTCP's website. But the company said other facilities would make up the shortfall and outages were unlikely. "Ash had piled up in the furnace beneath the boiler, which then led to building up of pressure resulting in the explosion," senior state police official Anand Kumar said.

Rohingya Muslims carry their young children and belongings after crossing the border from Burma into Bangladesh yesterday. Photo / AP

Bangladesh: The scene has played out with heartbreaking regularity as hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled persecution in Burma and escaped to neighbouring Bangladesh: terrified knots of men, women and children crossing the swollen Naf River and waiting along the border for permission to cross. At least 2000 exhausted and starving people waited in rice paddy fields yesterday at one border crossing for Bangladesh border guards to let them enter. Evening fell, with no permission granted. So they waited, crouched in the muddy fields. The children carried younger siblings. The elderly were helped along by relatives. All of them were hungry and exhausted as they waited. Some collapsed. Others wept as they clung to their children. The exodus of Rohingya Muslims started August 25 when insurgents attacked dozens of police posts in Burma.

- agencies