NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Italian farmer turns field into Putin portrait ahead of Group of 20

MILAN

An Italian artist has used his tractor to transform a field near the Italian city of Verona into a giant portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of this week’s Group of 20 summit.

The 135-meter (443-foot) -wide Putin portrait that artist Dario Gambarin created only can be properly viewed from above due to its scale.

Gambarin created similar land portraits of Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton during the U.S. presidential race last year.

The artist says he doesn’t measure fields before he starts driving, but creates his giant images with a good eye and tractor skills.

Gambarin limits his creations to the brief period between the harvest of one crop and the planting of the next, meaning Putin’s portrait will be cut down after a few days.

Oh, Mr. Faulkner, do you spend? Money is conference topic

OXFORD, Miss.

Finances were a constant worry for William Faulkner during his early years as a writer.

So an expert says it’s fitting that a literary conference will focus on the theme “Faulkner and Money.”

Jay Watson is a professor of Faulkner studies at the University of Mississippi and director of the Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference.

The 44th annual conference takes place July 23-27 on the Ole Miss campus in Oxford.

Watson says in a university news release that Faulkner spent the first 25 years of his writing career in “constant financial difficulty.” The Nobel laureate’s writing is also full of financial themes, including get-rich-quick schemes and con games.

Watson says many of Faulkner’s characters are “unduly preoccupied with money, much like their creator.”

Actress and internet star Stevie Ryan dies

LOS ANGELES

Stevie Ryan, an actress and comedian who gained fame with impersonations of celebrities on YouTube, has died. She was 33.

Los Angeles County coroner’s spokesman Ed Winter says Ryan died Saturday at her home in Los Angeles. He says her death has been ruled a suicide after the agency performed an autopsy.

Ryan had gained fame on YouTube with impersonations of celebrities, including Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian and Amy Winehouse.

She also had a sketch comedy show on VH1, “Stevie TV,” and co-hosted a relationship talk show with Brody Jenner.

British royals to bring children along on European tour

LONDON

Kensington Palace says the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will take their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, along with them when they tour Germany and Poland.

The palace said Monday that the five-day tour beginning July 17 in Warsaw will feature appearances by the royal children. The trip is being seen as an effort to bolster Britain’s goodwill ties with Europe amid the country’s negotiations to leave the 28-nation European Union.

William and the former Kate Middleton also took George, 3, and Charlotte, 2, on an official tour to Canada last year.

Associated Press