LONDON (AP) — Alfred Brendel, a pianist and poet renowned for his refined playing of Beethoven over a six-decade career, died Tuesday at his home in London. He was 94.

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Brendel’s death was announced by the public relations agency Bolton & Quinn.

Born in what is now the Czech Republic, Brendel gave his first recital in Graz, Austria, in 1948 at age 17. His final concert was with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Musikverein on Dec. 18, 2008.

“I grew up in a family that was not musically inclined, not artistically inclined and not intellectual, so I had to find out a lot of things for myself,” he said in a 2012 interview for the Verbier Festival. “I was a young person who in the early 20s did not think I have to achieve something within five years but I thought I would like to be able to do certain things when I’m 50. And when I was 50 I said to myself I have actually done most of the things I want to do.”

Brendel also was praised for his interpretations of Mozart, Schubert, Liszt and Haydn. He recorded the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas three times, and he played them over a month at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1983, among 77 recitals in 11 cities during the 1982-83 season. He repeated the sonatas again at Carnegie over three seasons in the 1990s.

“With winks to the audience and demonstrative hand movements, he has a playful manner that offsets his serious, contemplative interpretations,” The Associated Press wrote during the 1990s cycle.

Born on Jan. 5, 1931, in Wiesenberg, northern Moravia, Brendel studied piano in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, with Sofia Dezelic and then at the Graz Conservatory with Ludovika von Kaan. He also took composition lessons with Artur Michl. His studies were interrupted when he and his mother fled as the Russian army invaded during World War II.

“When I turned 16, my piano teacher told me I should now continue on my own and give a first public recital,” he recalled during a lecture after his retirement. “I should also audition for the great Swiss pianist Edwin Fischer, which I did the following year. Three of his masterclasses that I attended during the Lucerne festivals made an impact that lasts to this day. I also met Eduard Steuermann, the pupil of Busoni and Schoenberg. Apart from these encounters, I studied on my own.”

Brendel had lived in London since 1971. He received 10 Grammy nominations without winning. He wrote several books, including a collection of poems called “Cursing Bagels.”

“I used to live a double life,” he said in a 2012 interview with the Verbier Festival. “I’m also a literary person lecturing, giving readings of my poems and teaching.”

A candlelight vigil in remembrance of Rep. Melissa Hortman and Mark Hortman will be held Wednesday on the steps of the State Capitol after the couple was slain in what authorities are calling a political assassination in their Brooklyn Park home.

The vigil will be held from 8 to 9:30 p.m. and will not have a slate of speakers. People are asked to bring their own candles and not to bring signs of any kind. The Capitol building will be closed to the public during the vigil.

Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were photographed Friday, June 13, 2025, at the annual Humphrey-Mondale Dinner in Minneapolis. (Courtesy of Minnesota House DFL Caucus)

The Hortmans were shot and killed early Saturday, about 90 minutes after a gunman also shot and injured Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, in Champlin. Between the two shootings the gunman stopped at legislators’ homes in Maple Grove and New Hope. He found no one home in Maple Grove and was interrupted by a police officer in New Hope.

Fundraising accounts have been set up for both families.

A GoFundMe account (gofund.me/08964165) set up for the Hortmans’ adult children had raised more than $116,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.

A GoFundMe account (gofund.me/8f5ab066) set up for the Hoffmans’ medical expenses had raised more than $165,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.

A memorial for the Hortmans has been created outside the Capitol and includes flowers, American flags, photos and handwritten messages.

Gov. Tim Walz ordered on Saturday the U.S. and Minnesota flags be flown at half staff in remembrance of Hortman, saying “Hortman was a formidable public servant and a fixture of the state Capitol, who woke up every morning determined to make Minnesota a better place … remembered for her compassion, grace, humor, and sense of service. She is irreplaceable and her death is a monumental loss. The state extends its prayers and deepest condolences to her friends, family, and loved ones.”

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By DAVE COLLINS, Associated Press

The trustee overseeing Infowars host Alex Jones’ personal bankruptcy case is accusing the far-right conspiracy theorist of trying to shield more than $5 million from creditors, including relatives of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut.

Three new lawsuits filed by the trustee on Friday alleging fraudulent asset transfers are the latest developments in Jones’ long-running bankruptcy case, which has been pending in federal court in Houston for more than two years. In financial statements filed in bankruptcy court last year, Jones listed his net worth at $8.4 million.

The Sandy Hook families won nearly $1.5 billion in judgments in 2022 in lawsuits filed in Connecticut and Texas accusing Jones of defamation and emotional distress for saying the school shooting that killed 20 first graders and six educators was a hoax. Victims’ relatives testified in court about being terrorized by Jones’ supporters.

Attempts to liquidate Jones’ Infowars broadcasting and product-selling platforms and give the proceeds to the families and other creditors have been hindered by a failed auction and legal wrangling. Jones, meanwhile, continues to appeal the Sandy Hook judgments.

Here’s what to know about the status of Jones’ bankruptcy case:

Trustee sues Jones alleging improper money and property transfers

The trustee, Christopher Murray, alleges that Jones tried to shield the money through a complex series of money and property transfers among family members, various trusts and limited liability companies. Other named defendants include Jones’ wife, Erika; his father, David Jones; and companies and trusts.

Murray alleges that a trust run by Jones and his father fraudulently transferred nearly $1.5 million to various other Jones-associated entities in the months leading up to the bankruptcy. Jones is also accused of fraudulently transferring $1.5 million to his wife, more than $800,000 in cash and property to his father and trying to hide ownership of two condominiums in Austin, Texas, with a combined value of more than $1.5 million.

Murray is trying to recoup that money and property for creditors.

Jones’ bankruptcy lawyers did not return email messages seeking comment.

In an email to The Associated Press, Erika Wulff Jones called the lawsuits “pure harassment” and said she already had sat for a deposition. She said “the accounting has been done,” but did not elaborate.

A lawyer for David Jones did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

Jones railed against the new allegations on his show on Saturday. He has repeatedly said Democratic activists and the Justice Department are behind the Sandy Hook defamation lawsuits and bankruptcy proceedings, and claimed they were now “trying to get” to him by suing his father, who he says is seriously ill.

The fraud allegations are similar to those in a lawsuit in a Texas state court filed by Sandy Hook families. Jones also denied those claims. That lawsuit was put on hold because of the bankruptcy.

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Sandy Hook families still haven’t received money from Jones

Jones says the fact that the Sandy Hook families haven’t received any money from him yet should be expected because he is appealing the $1.5 billion in judgments.

Infowars’ assets continue to be tied up in the legal processes. Those assets, and some of Jones’ personal assets, are being held by Murray for eventual distribution to creditors.

An effort to sell Infowars’ assets was derailed when U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez rejected the results of a November auction in which The Onion satirical news outlet was named the winning bidder over only one other proposal by a company affiliated with Jones. The Onion had planned to turn the Infowars platforms into parody sites.

Lopez had several concerns about the auction, including a lack of transparency and murky details about the actual value of The Onion’s bid and whether it was better than the other offer. The judge rejected holding another auction and said the families could pursue liquidation of Jones’ assets in the state courts where the defamation judgments were awarded.

In a financial statement last year, Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, listed $18 million in assets, including merchandise and studio equipment.

What’s next

Lawyers for the Sandy Hook families said they will soon move their effort to sell Infowars’ assets to a Texas state court in Austin, where they expect a receiver to be appointed to take possession of the platform’s possessions and sell them to provide money to creditors. A court schedule has not been set.

“The families we represent are as determined as ever to enforce the jury’s verdict, and he will never outrun it,” Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families in the Connecticut lawsuit, said Tuesday.

Jones’ appeals, meanwhile, continue in the courts. He said he plans to appeal the Connecticut lawsuit judgment to the U.S. Supreme Court, after the Connecticut Supreme Court declined to hear his challenge. A lower state appeals court upheld all but $150 million of the original $1.4 billion judgment. The $49 million judgment in the Texas lawsuit is before a state appeals court.

He said in 2022 that he believes the shootings were “100% real.”

Because Infowars’ assets are still tied up in the courts, Jones has been allowed to continue broadcasting his shows and hawking merchandise from Infowars’ Austin studio.

By RIAZAT BUTT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Iran-Israel conflict has shuttered airspace across the Middle East as the two bitter enemies launch attacks and reprisals at one another.

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The worsening security situation has seen foreigners scramble to evacuate. But, with so much travel disruption in the region, it’s a tough task.

Some governments are using Iran’s land borders to get their nationals out. Others are advising their citizens on how to leave voluntarily or stay safe until an official exit plan is in place.

Here’s a look at evacuation efforts from Iran and Israel:

Border buses and convoys

Iran shares land borders with seven countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, and Turkmenistan.

Italy’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it had evacuated dozens of its citizens from Iran in convoys heading to Azerbaijan and Turkey on Monday. Poland is evacuating some of its diplomatic staff from Tehran through Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that the Russian Embassy in Tehran was working “around the clock” to ensure nationals could leave Iran via a checkpoint on the border with Azerbaijan.

“All (Russian) citizens who are in Tehran and got in touch (with the embassy), for all of them the possibility of evacuating is being provided,” Peskov said during his daily conference call with the media.

Moscow had earlier advised citizens to leave Iran and Israel by commercial means. The Russian Embassy in Tehran said several hundred people had already left Iran via the Astara border crossing into Azerbaijan, including the families of those working in Iran, members of the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, and citizens from Belarus, Serbia, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.

Peskov said that he was unaware of state-organized evacuations, but that such plans could be put in place if needed.

The Astara crossing has also been used by citizens of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Portugal, the Philippines and Finland.

Pakistan has started voluntary repatriations from Iran by bus to land border crossings. Pakistani passport holders are barred from traveling to Israel.

China said that its Foreign Ministry and diplomatic missions in Iran and Israel had promptly activated “emergency consular protection mechanisms” upon the outbreak of hostilities and was “actively assisting” Chinese nationals seeking to leave.

Third-country options

Cyprus, the closest European Union country to Israel, says Portugal and Slovakia have asked for help in repatriating their citizens.

Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said Monday that his government has received informal requests from other governments about Cyprus’ ESTIA plan, which provides for the brief accommodation of evacuated third-country nationals before their repatriation.

Cyprus has acted as a transfer point for third-country evacuees following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, attack. In April 2023, Cyprus also assisted in the repatriation of U.K. nationals from Sudan.

Turkmenistan is making its territory available for the departure of foreign diplomats and their family members, as well as other citizens in Iran. Those who have arrived so far have been given food, accommodation and other essential items, according to the Foreign Ministry in Ashgabat.

Albania has thanked the Greek and Bulgarian Embassies in Tel Aviv, Israel, for helping Albanians who were in Israel for business and tourism. The Albanians are in Egypt and are expected to make their way home from there.

Taiwan’s government helped its citizens in Israel to leave by land for Jordan early Sunday on a bus that was arranged by Taiwan’s representative office in Israel.

Taiwan’s representative office in Jordan is helping the Taiwanese nationals return home.

Guidance and eventual help

The French Foreign Ministry has urged citizens in Israel to be “’in a position to reach a shelter in a short time frame” and said there is a ban on any public gatherings and nonessential professional or educational activities.

It has urged citizens to register with French authorities for eventual help. The ministry reiterated an earlier warning against nonessential travel to Israel and provides guidance on overland journeys to Jordan or Egypt. It also reiterated warnings against all travel to Iran.

The Thai Embassy in Tehran on Tuesday advised nationals to leave the Iranian capital as soon as they could. It has set up a temporary shelter for Thai citizens in the historic Iranian city of Amol, which is about 12 miles south of the Caspian Sea.

Thailand’s government said that it’s ready to evacuate Thai people in Israel and Iran if necessary, adding that no Thais have been injured in the ongoing conflict.

The U.K. Foreign Office said that family members of staff at the U.K. Embassy in Tel Aviv and the U.K. Consulate in Jerusalem have been temporarily withdrawn as a precautionary measure. It advises against all travel to Israel and Iran, but hasn’t ordered an evacuation.

Instead, it advises people to “register their presence” if they are in Israel or the Palestinian territories, and offers information on international land border crossings to Jordan and Egypt that are open.

In Iran, having a British passport or connections to the U.K. can be “reason enough” for authorities to detain someone, warns the Foreign Office.

“U.K. government support is extremely limited in Iran,” it said. “Assume that no face-to-face consular assistance will be possible in an emergency.”

AP journalists from around the world contributed to this report.