ISIS Sledgehammers Palmyrene Busts

It is being reported that ISIS has confiscated Palmyrene statuary from locals who were then forced to smash the statues before being flogged.  This report suggests the locals were activists trying to save them.  Other reports suggest those arrested may have instead been looters acting without ISIS authorization.  Whatever the truth, the destruction of portable statuary of the sort that ISIS is supposedly selling undercuts the claim that ISIS' professed iconoclasm is just a cover for looting.  Perhaps, instead they actually believe what they say, which, of course, does not bode well for this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A Mystery to Unravel

A follower of this blog has sent this photo.  He/she have asked me to help identify the cat.  The head, of course, which is said to have appeared in the US, is rubbish, probably a modern copy of an Egyptian pharaoh.  Any thoughts?