Art Gallery of Ontario reopens with Gehry’s stamp

Architect Frank Gehry hopes people can find their way around the Art Gallery of Ontario when it opens Friday to the public after a $276-million renovation.

The celebrity Canadian architect, who redesigned the Toronto gallery, was juggling numerous demands in the design process, including the need to stay on budget and showcase a collection of 2,000 works from principal donor Ken Thomson, and the requirements of the AGO’s board and curators.

But he has definite ideas himself about what a public building should do, as he explained during a press conference Thursday.

“A public building is something that invites people in, is user friendly, functions as intended and is responsive to the community around it,” Gehry said, addressing a crowd of more than 300 who came to see the result of his design process.

Former Taiwan leader’s son questioned

TAIPEI, Taiwan: Prosecutors questioned the son and daughter-in-law of jailed former Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian in connection with his graft case Friday as his lawyer confirmed he was continuing his hunger strike into a third day.

Chen, the subject of a complex graft investigation, was arrested Wednesday after a marathon court hearing concluded there was enough evidence to hold him for an unspecified period of time to prevent him from colluding with alleged coconspirators.

Taiwanese law permits suspects be jailed for up to four months without formal indictments being brought against them.

On Friday, prosecutors questioned Chen Chih-chung, the former leader’s son, and daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching about their possible roles in the case. After four hours the couple was released.

In August, Chen admitted he broke the law by not fully disclosing campaign donations he had received, after a lawmaker from the rival Nationalist Party alleged that Chen’s son and daughter-in-law moved US$21 million to Switzerland in 2007 and then forwarded the funds to the Cayman Islands.

Korea ties may be heading to disaster: ex-president

SEOUL (Reuters) – Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, architect of a policy a decade ago to bring the two Koreas together, has warned relations may be heading toward catastrophe as the prickly North draws deeper into its shell.

The reclusive state, blaming the South’s conservative government for dragging relations to a dangerous low, has said it would close their border on December 1 and is also limiting travel across the border with its main benefactor China.

“South-North relations now stand at a crossroads — heading toward catastrophe or reconciliation,” the former president, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end decades of enmity between the two Koreas, told the Hankook Ilbo daily.

The reclusive state’s retreat into its cocoon comes amid widespread speculation its leader Kim Jong-il, 66, may have suffered serious illness, possibly a stroke, and could be losing his iron grip on power.