National Post from Toronto, Ontario, Canada • A10

A10 nationalpost.com NATIONAL POST, THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 2019 WORLD WAS SHE 99? Jeanne Calment, widely recognized as oldest woman upon her death in 1997 at age 122, may have actually been a 99-year- old impostor, according to an explosive new theory being pushed by Russian researchers. According to a paper written by mathematician Nikolay Zak and supported by gerontologist Valery Novose lov, the real Jeanne Calment died in 1934 at the age of 59. The woman who achieved fame as oldest person was actually her daughter Yvonne, who assumed her dead identity to dodge inheritance taxes. The paper is not peer reviewed and relies exclusively on circumstantial evidence. One of the key evidentiary points, for instance, is a Facebook poll of 224 people reporting that Calment did not like a supercentenarian.

Nevertheless, Zak provides evidence to show that Calment seemed to bear a closer resemblance to Yvonne than purported photos of herself as a young woman. It cites reports from witnesses, including a former mayor of Arles, saying that she looked and acted younger than her supposed age. Zak also shows that interviews with age verificators were replete with tiny inconsistencies, such as confusing her husband and father or saying that she was accompanied to school by a family maid who would actually have been 10 years her junior. Perhaps most notably, Calment had most of her personal papers destroyed rather than turning them over to the local Arles archive. remote destruction of photos and family archives after moving to the nursing home suggests that Jeanne had something to the paper says.

The impostor theory has been dismissed by Jean- Marie Robine, the French gerontologist who helped validate age in the 1990s. of this is incredibly shaky and rests on he told Le Parisien. Robine said he and a colleague made sure to ask Calment questions that only she would know the answer to, such as the name of her mathematics teacher. daughter have known he said. you have any idea how many people would have needed to Robine told Le Parisien.

day Fernand Calment starts passing off his daughter as his wife and everyone keeps quiet about it? National Post 122-year-old woman was a fraud, theory says The director of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence is urging Germany to return a Dutch masterpiece stolen by Nazi troops during the Second World War, dramatizing its absence by hanging a black and white photo of the work with the label in three languages. Eike Schmidt said in a New appeal that the still-life Vase of Flowers by Dutch artist Jan van Huysum is in the hands of a German family who returned it despite numerous appeals. The oil painting had been hanging as part of the Pitti Palace collection in Florence from 1824 until the outbreak of the war. It was moved for safety but was stolen by retreating German troops. It surface again until reunification in 1991, when the offers to sell it back to Italy began.

The Associated Press ITALY GALLERY URGES RETURN OF PAINTING LOOTED BY NAZIS Jeanne Calment MELBOURNE, FLA. A zoo where a toddler stumbled into a rhinoceros enclosure is suspending exhibits offering animal experiences while officials review safety protocol. The Brevard Zoo announced the suspension of the Rhino Encounters exhibit and similar displays in a statement Wednesday. The two-year-old girl was taken to a hospital for treatment Tuesday after she stumbled through steel poles separating the rhinos and spectators. Officials at the zoo on Space Coast say a snout touched the girl before she was retrieved in a matter of seconds from the exhibit.

The father said in a statement Wednesday that his daughter is doing well. The Associated Press U.S. TODDLER ON MEND AFTER FALL INTO RHINO COMPOUND FORCE STILL OPTION TH in Taipei in Beijing China is willing to use force to ensure the historic of its complete reunification with Taiwan, Xi Jinping said Wednesday, as he warned that independence for the island would bring In one of his most significant addresses on Taiwan since taking power, the Chinese president told a gathering in Beijing that must and will be united, which is an inevitable requirement for the historical rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in the new attack Chinese people. We are willing to use the greatest sincerity and expend the greatest hard work to strive for the prospect of peaceful Xi said. But he added that China not promise to renounce the use of and would the option to use all necessary to prevent independence for Taiwan.

The threat was aimed at foreign forces seeking to interfere as well as advocates of Taiwanese independence, the president said, in been perceived to be a reference to the United States, strongest backer. Xi sought to reassure the Taiwanese people that would bring them and prosperous even though the majority would prefer good relations with China without being ruled by Beijing. Responding to remarks, Tsai Ing-wen, the Taiwanese president, said the country was to sit down and but only if Taiwan was represented by its own government. She also rejected the concept of country, two favoured by China. Tsai had pre-empted address with her own speech on Tuesday, in which she emphasized commitment to democracy and called on Beijing to seek peaceful means to solve their differences.

Taiwan rejects territorial claims. As a result, Beijing has tried in recent years to undermine Taiwanese sovereignty and has stepped up pressure on the international community to exclude Taipei from global forums. Victor Gao, a commentator on state broadcaster, said the could be seen as a turning point in cross-strait relations. However, overtures received a muted response in Taiwan. The Daily Telegraph, with a file from The Washington Post Xi calls return Xi Jinping COPENHAGEN A Danish passenger train apparently hit falling cargo from a passing freight train Wednesday, killing six people and injuring 16 others as it crossed a bridge linking the islands, authorities said.

The accident was the worst in Denmark in more than 30 years. The rail operator, Danish Railways, told TV2 that the victims were passengers on a train going from the city of Odense, on the island of Funen, to Copenhagen when the accident took place about 8 a.m. Authorities said the trains were passing in opposite directions. Aerial TV footage showed one side of front of the passenger train had been ripped open. Photos showed that the freight train was carrying crates of beer, and the tarpaulin that covered it was torn in pieces.

The Associated Press DENMARK FALLING CARGO HITS PASSENGER TRAIN, 6 KILLED Two women made history Wednesday by entering one of holiest Hindu temples in defiance of hardline activists blockading the shrine from female worshippers. The Sabarimala temple, in Kerala state, has been at the centre of a politically charged standoff after the Supreme Court lifted a centuries-old ban on women of child-bearing age from praying within its sacred walls. Violence erupted as news spread that the women had defied traditionalists, backed by Prime Minister Narendra Hindu nationalist party, by entering the temple for the first time since the court ruling in September. Police fired tear gas, stun grenades and used a water cannon as clashes between rival groups erupted across Kerala, local media reported. Several officers were reportedly injured.

The women entered under police escort before dawn and left undetected after offering prayers inside the shrine. The Daily Telegraph INDIA WOMEN DEFY PROTESTS, SNEAK INTO HINDU TEMPLE NEW YORK Netflix faced criticism Wednesday from human rights groups for pulling an episode in Saudi Arabia of comedian Hasan series that criticized the powerful crown prince. The American comedian used his second episode, released Oct. 28, to criticize Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the killing of writer Jamal Khashoggi and the war in Yemen. Human rights group Amnesty International said Saudi censorship of Netflix is proof of a relentless crackdown on freedom of Netflix, in a statement Wednesday, said the episode was removed from the kingdom as a result of a legal request from authorities and not due to its content.

The Associated Press S. ARABIA NETFLIX PULLS SHOW OVER CRITICISM ATHENS, GREECE Three migrant fishermen received Greek citizenship Wednesday for helping to rescue scores of people who were forced into the sea by flames from a summer wildfire that would leave 100 people dead. Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos hosted a cere- mony for Gani Xheka, 35, from Albania and Egyptians Emad El Khaimi, 50, and Mahmoud Ibrahim Musa, 46, both to honour them and aimed at a message to to counter anti- immigrant sentiment. The three men pulled people from the water who had fled the out-of-control wildfire in the resort of Mali by swimming out to sea and had difficulty breathing because of heavy smoke. The trio also guided survivors to a port after the July 23 blaze reached the shoreline and gutted hundreds of homes.

The Associated Press GREECE THREE MIGRANTS BECOME CITIZENS FOR FIRE RESCUES AFP GETTY IMAGES.