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Brian Williams — the NBC Nightly News anchor who apologized earlier this week for misremembering that a military helicopter he was in during the 2003 invasion of Iraq had been fired upon — says he has temporarily taken himself off the air over the controversy.

In a statement released today, Williams said that "it has become painfully apparent to me that I am presently too much a part of the news, due to my actions.

"I have decided to take myself off of my daily broadcast for the next several days," Williams wrote, adding that colleague Lester Holt would be taking over his nightly anchoring duties during his absence.

"Upon my return, I will continue my career-long effort to be worthy of the trust of those who place their trust in us," he said.

The move by Williams comes a day after news organizations reported that NBC had launched an internal investigation of the anchor's claim, which he backed away from when challenged by veterans. Despite having publicly recounted the false story several times over the years, Williams now acknowledges that he was in fact aboard a helicopter that came in behind the one that was hit by enemy fire.

As NPR's Krishnadev Calamur reported on Friday:

"Williams and his network, until this week, had said the helicopter had been hit by an RPG and forced down during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Following pushback from soldiers who were there, Williams apologized Wednesday."

"The story is the latest twist to the scandal that has tarnished the reputation of the NBC news anchor, and it comes the same day The New Orleans Advocate raised doubts about Williams' claim during his reporting of Hurricane Katrina. Williams had said he saw a body float by in the French Quarter, a part of the city that had remained largely dry during the 2005 storm that devastated the city."

Brian Williams

NBC

Iraq

A work by French painter Paul Gauguin, who died penniless in 1903, has reportedly smashed the record books as the most expensive ever sold. The piece, Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?), is believed to have fetched $300 million.

The oil-on-canvas was produced in 1892 during Gauguin's first visit to French Polynesia. It features a pair of Tahitian girls seated next to a tree.

The painting was sold by Swiss collector Rudolf Staechelin, a retired Sotheby's executive. Although Staechelin has declined to name the buyer or the price, The Telegraph reports that is believed to have been purchased by the state-financed Qatar Museums and to have topped the previous record, also set by Qatar, which reportedly bought Cezanne's The Card Players in 2011 for $259 million.

"The market is very high and who knows what it will be in 10 years. I always tried to keep as much together as I could. Over 90% of our assets are paintings hanging for free in the museum." Staechelin told The New York Times.

The Times reports: "In recent years the Qatar royal family and the museums authority have been reported to be expansive buyers of trophy quality Western modern and contemporary art by Mark Rothko, Damien Hirst and Czanne."

Gauguin, a French Post-Impressionist, visited Tahiti twice.

According to The Guardian:

"His first trip was in 1891 after becoming estranged from his wife and was facing financial difficulties given the unpopularity of his art.

"He came up with the idea of making the voyage to paint illustrations for the most popular novel at the time, Pierre Loti's The Marriage of Loti."

"He portrayed the natives as living only to sing and to make love," Nancy Mowll Mathews, the author of Paul Gauguin, An Erotic Life, told the Guardian in a 2001 interview. "That's how he got the money from his friends and raised the public's interest in his adventure. But, of course, he knew the truth, which was that Tahiti was an unremarkable island with an international, Westernized community."

Gauguin's efforts failed and on his return to France two years later, "what should have been a triumphant return turned into a morass of misunderstanding and disappointment as his paintings remained unsold," the newspaper says.

Within a few years, Gauguin returned to French Polynesia, where he eventually died of a morphine overdose.

"Gauguin seems to have fallen for the myth of Tahiti he created," Mathews told the Guardian in 2001.

"He returned expecting the erotic idyll that was only ever a figment of his imagination. Of course, he didn't find it and the disappointment was profound: he died a twisted and bitter man, having alienated everyone both at home and in Tahiti. It's a sad story of a man who believed his own fiction," the author said.

Paul Gauguin

painting

South Pacific

France

The issue is this: Should the West arm Kiev against Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine?

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says no, and she is joined by French President Francois Hollande. They have the outline of a plan that Hollande says includes "rather strong" autonomy for Ukraine's east. And they are taking it to President Obama.

As for the U.S., White House press secretary Josh Earnest says this: "The president is going to make a decision that he believes is in the broader national security interests of the United States," adding, "and part of that is understanding what sort of impact the decisions that we make have on our allies."

NATO's top military commander, U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove has made it clear that Washington has not ruled-out the option to arm Kiev.

"I don't think we should preclude out of hand the possibility of the military option," Breedlove told reporters, according to Reuters. He clarified that he was talking about weapons and capabilities, not "boots on the ground."

Reuters says it's part of an "emerging rift between America and Europe on over how to confront [Russian President Vladimir] Putin as the Moscow-backed rebels gain territory."

Obama has been under increasing pressure at home to provide weapons to Kiev to bolster its ability to defeat the rebels.

The Franco-German peace plan is being described as a last-ditch effort to forestall a broader conflict. Merkel and Hollande are hoping the U.S. will sign on.

To that end, Merkel, who met today in Munich with Vice President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, will be in Washington on Sunday to make her case at the White House.

Even so, the German chancellor has expressed caution over the peace plan's chances of success and Hollande sounded a note of desperation, telling reporters in France: "If we don't manage to find not just a compromise but a lasting peace agreement, we know perfectly well what the scenario will be. It has a name, it's called war."

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is sounding a more optimistic note even as he issued a strong warning against arming Kiev, according to Reuters.

"We believe that there are good grounds for optimism, to issue recommendations for conflict resolution," Lavrov said after talks on Friday.

However, speaking at a debate in Munich today, Lavrov pointed to growing calls in the West to "pump Ukraine full of lethal weapons," Reuters says.

"This position will only exacerbate the tragedy of Ukraine," he said.

crisis in Ukraine

Francois Hollande

German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Russia

President Obama

The family of the Arizona woman who Islamic militants claim was killed in a Jordanian airstrike is hoping she is still alive.

Kayla Jean Mueller's parents are not speaking to reporters, but issued a statement through a family representative late Friday asking for privacy and requesting that the so-called Islamic State, which has held the aid worker since 2013, contact them privately.

Jordan called ISIS's claim "criminal propaganda," and U.S. officials say they can't confirm her death, says Martin Kaste of our Newcast desk.

"ISIS is claiming she was killed in this Jordanian airstrike, but that's a very convenient thing for ISIS to say right now, and it's not known for sure how she died, or whether she died," Kaste reports.

Jordan launched strikes against ISIS after the extremists released a video this week showing a Jordanian hostage, pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, being burned to death.

Carl and Marsha Mueller's statement addressed "those in positions of responsibility for holding" their daughter.

The Two-Way

ISIS Claims U.S. Hostage Was Killed Friday In Jordanian Attack

"This news leaves us concerned, yet, we are still hopeful that Kayla is alive. We have sent you a private message and ask that you respond to us privately. We know that you have read our previous communications, [kidnapped British journalist] John Cantlie made references to them in October.

"You told us that you treated Kayla as your guest, as your guest her safety and wellbeing remains your responsibility.

"Kayla's mother and I have been doing everything we can to get her released safely."

Meuller is the last known American to be held prisoner by ISIS. The militant group has beheaded three Americans, two Japanese and three British hostages.