World Briefs

James Rizzi, a New York-born and based pop artist best known for his playful and childlike three-dimensional sculptures, has died. He was 61.

Rizzi’s managers, Art 28 GmbH & Co KG, based in Stuttgart, Germany, said in a statement on its website that the artist died peacefully at his studio in New York’s SoHo district on Monday. They gave no cause of death.

Rizzi was born in Brooklyn and studied art at the University of Florida. He returned to New York in 1974 and first made his name as a street artist. He became known for his bright, cartoon-like drawings and 3D constructions.

In 1996, Lufthansa commissioned him to decorate a jet with pastel stars, birds and travellers.

Rizzi developed a large international following, especially in Germany. Last year a school in Duisburg was named after him.

Season’s greetings?

An ultraconservative Egyptian Islamist group has said sending Christmas greetings to Christians was “against our beliefs”.

The hard-line Al-Nour party said Muslims should give greetings to Christians only on “personal occasions”, not religious ones.

The remarks prompted Egypt’s Al Azhar, the most eminent religious institution, to issue a religious edict approving Christmas greetings and the country’s most influential Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood responded by sending “its best Christmas wishes to our brotherly Christians and Muslims as well”.

Fattest orang-utan on diet

A New Year’s resolution for Britain’s fattest orang-utan has paid off after she lost a quarter of her body weight.

Tubby Oshine tipped the scales at 100kg (220lb) – more than double her natural weight – but after switching to a new regime has lost 25kg (55lb) over the past year.

The 14-year-old ape has cut out sweets, jelly and marshmallows and instead eats fruit, vegetables and takes exercise.

Oshine arrived at Monkey World in Dorset last year from Johannesburg in South Africa, where she enjoyed a sedentary and unnatural lifestyle after being kept as a pet for 13 years.

BBC’s panda-face of 2011

The BBC has defended its decision to name a panda among the 12 women in its Faces of 2011 as “a light-hearted addition” to the list.

Sweetie, who is also known as Tian Tian, is one of a pair of pandas newly installed at Edinburgh Zoo.

The animal joins 11 other notable names on the BBC list including shot US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and singer Adele.

A BBC spokeswoman pointed out that last year Peppa the Pig was on the female list.

Painkiller pleas gone amiss

A man in Montana, US, shot himself in the ankle after hospital staff refused to give him painkillers for his back.

Police said the 48-year-old man was upset when he left Holy Rosary Healthcare hospital on Monday night, so he grabbed a gun from his car and shot himself in the hospital car park to get treatment.

Prosecutors are reviewing the case to determine whether to charge the man.

Elephant-themed festival

Football-playing elephants used all four feet and even their trunks trying to score goals, and the animals sported nail polish on their not-so-dainty toes in a beauty pageant which formed part of an elephant-themed festival in Nepal.

The three-day event was held to promote conservation awareness and lure foreign visitors to Nepal.

The elephants were trained for weeks for the games, taking time off their normal jobs carrying tourists through protected jungles near Chitwan. Tourism is picking up in Nepal as it slowly recovers from a 10-year Maoist insurgency that killed more than 13,000 people.