An artist in the south of France says he’s planning to destroy up to $45 million worth of art, including pieces by Rembrandt, Picasso, and Andy Warhol, if WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange dies in prison, British broadcaster Sky News reports. Andrei Molodkin told Sky that he put a collection of masterpieces that had been donated to him into a 29-ton …

An elderly man in Alaska has died from Alaskapox, the first known fatality from the recently discovered virus, state health officials said. It’s unclear how the man contracted the virus but officials say it’s possible that it could be linked to a stray cat that lived with him. The man, who lived in the remote Kenai Peninsula, was hospitalized last …

Washington — Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he spoke with Paul Whelan, an American businessman the U.S. considers to be wrongfully detained in Russia, on Monday. “Yesterday, as it happens, I spoke on the phone with Paul Whelan,” Blinken said Tuesday at an event on hostage diplomacy at the Wilson Center in Washington. “Our intensive efforts to bring Paul …