art

'Extraordinary news': Dutch recover stolen gold Romanian helmet

BY RICHARD CARTER

  • Under huge pressure from Romania, Dutch authorities have made multiple attempts to convince the suspects to tell them where the treasures are stashed.
  • Dutch authorities on Thursday showed off a recovered priceless gold 2,500-year-old helmet from Romania that was stolen last year during a brazen heist in the Netherlands.
  • Under huge pressure from Romania, Dutch authorities have made multiple attempts to convince the suspects to tell them where the treasures are stashed.
Dutch authorities on Thursday showed off a recovered priceless gold 2,500-year-old helmet from Romania that was stolen last year during a brazen heist in the Netherlands.
Flanked by balaclava-clad police officers, a spokesman for Dutch prosecutors unveiled the 5th-century BC golden Helmet of Cotofenesti and two of the three gold bracelets stolen in January 2025.
Dutch police officer Corien Fahner said: "the Cotofenesti helmet and two Dacian gold bracelets have been returned and we are delighted to be able to announce this."
The search for the third bracelet is ongoing, said Fahner.
The theft had sparked outrage in Romania and prompted a huge police search.
Dutch art detective Arthur Brand had confirmed the find to AFP hours earlier on Thursday.
"It's amazing. It's the best news we could have got," said Brand.
A gang of robbers used firework bombs to break into the Drents Museum in the northern Netherlands in January 2025, and smashed display cases inside.
Three men are on trial for the theft but have largely remained silent in court.
Brand said he and police have been working their contacts to persuade the alleged robbers to hand over the helmet in exchange for a more lenient punishment.
"We were pretty sure it had not been melted down because there were only four days between the robbery and the arrests," said Brand.
"It's a fantastic job by the Dutch police."
Museum director Robert van Langh told reporters that there was a tiny bit of damage to the helmet, "very difficult even to see."
The helmet can be "completely restored to its original state," said van Langh, who added that the two bracelets were in "perfect condition."
Under huge pressure from Romania, Dutch authorities have made multiple attempts to convince the suspects to tell them where the treasures are stashed.
Police offered to halve the sentence of one suspect if he revealed the location of the helmet.
An undercover officer posing as a criminal mastermind reportedly offered another suspect 400,000 euros ($420,000) to tell him where the booty was hidden.
Police have also offered a reward of 100,000 euros for information leading to the helmet's recovery.

'People are devastated'

The theft and the search for the Dacian artefacts has gripped the Netherlands and regularly makes headline news. 
In the aftermath of the theft, then Romanian prime minister Marcel Ciolacu voiced outrage that "priceless objects" had been stolen and was considering claiming "unprecedented damages".
"You have no idea what the impact of this is on the Romanian community," Romanian cultural journalist Claudia Marcu, who has lived in the Netherlands since 2003, told public broadcaster NOS.
"When I heard about the theft I thought: for the Dutch this would be like (Rembrandt's) 'The Night Watch' being stolen. People are devastated."
The Dutch government had set aside 5.7 million euros ($6.5 million) for a likely payout following the brazen theft.
The pieces were on loan from a Bucharest museum, whose head was promptly sacked for lending the works out in the first place.
Dutch museums and galleries have been targeted by thieves in the past -- including in November when works by artist Andy Warhol were taken, as well as a Van Gogh stolen from a museum in 2020.
The heists have prompted calls for better security to protect valuable artworks.
Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Toiu described the find as "extraordinary news."
"It is so important not to give up when something is so valuable to multiple generations," said the minister.
ric/ach 

conflict

Ukrainian death metal band growls against Russia's war

BY ROMAIN COLAS

  • Herself a metal band singer, she was one of the few women in the audience.
  • A singer emerges from the grave, his beard covered in mud, head bowed and fist raised as he extends a Ukrainian flag towards the audience: this is his entrance onstage.
  • Herself a metal band singer, she was one of the few women in the audience.
A singer emerges from the grave, his beard covered in mud, head bowed and fist raised as he extends a Ukrainian flag towards the audience: this is his entrance onstage.
Around him, in a concert hall in Warsaw, a shrill guitar tremor rises and falls whilst the drums unleash a barrage of semiquaver notes.
Finally, clad in a costume resembling a butcher's tunic, Dmytro Ternushchak releases guttural, growling death-metal vocals, and proclaims, in English: "One day, the Empire will fall."
Going by the stage name Dmytro Kumar, he is the frontman of 1914, one of the best-known Ukrainian metal bands.
But their career has been upended by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The band cancelled a tour in 2023 because they did not have permission to leave Ukraine, required for men aged 23-60.
Having finally obtained the necessary authorisation, 1914 began their first proper tour in six years in Poland, and their political message is amplified.
For Mykyta Dokiychuk, 15, this was his first metal concert.
His family fled Ukraine at the start of the full-scale Russian invasion.
"I love this genre, it fires me up," said the long-haired, bespectacled teenager. He accused Russia, ravaging Ukraine, of seeking to "destroy the Ukrainian people".
During the concert, Dokiychuk moved gingerly. Next to him, a man performed a majestic display of headbanging, his hair flying back and forth to the rhythm like windscreen wipers.
"It's important that we... stand against these imperial ambitions of Russia," said Mikolaj Boratynski, 33, a Polish concertgoer with a thin moustache.
The chorus of his favourite 1914 song encourages people to smash the Russian aggressor.
"It is important for art to address these issues, not just love and beer," agreed Katsiaryna Mankevich, stage name Nokt, a 37-year-old Belarusian who lived under occupation near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv until 2022 before fleeing to Poland.
Herself a metal band singer, she was one of the few women in the audience.

'Aberration'

Kumar, 43, founded the group in 2014, at the beginning of the war between Kyiv and Moscow-backed separatists, in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.
A former journalist, he spoke to AFP before the show, talking of his love for Polish punk and his loathing of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kumar's band is dedicated to the First World War. The five members dress as soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which, in 1914, controlled the historical region of Galicia where Lviv is located.
Across their four albums, 1914 recreate the horror of World War I. Their tracks are interspersed with poignant period music and film excerpts.
On stage, Kumar either stands still or frantically paces around, clutching his face like a demon or a man in tears.
His lyrics are based on thorough historical research.
He joked that he practised "necrophilia, or as they call it, history".
Kumar said his anthropological obsession was to understand "aberration", how humans revert back to their primal instinct and engage in "its most vulgar form of aggression": war.

'Strong Ukrainian spirit'

Ukrainian soldiers have worn 1914 merchandise whilst attacking on the front line, and have used the band's tracks in videos showing strikes on Russian troops.
Kumar said he was "shocked" when he found this out. But if his music can inspire Ukrainian soldiers, then "well damn, that means I did something useful".
He himself cannot enlist into the army, having had surgery for cancer that still requires him to take medication.
Kumar feels "ashamed" of not being able to fight, he said. He currently refuses to tour in Ukraine, saying he does not have the right to perform in front of people who have truly experienced the trenches.
Like other bands, 1914 are raising money for the Ukrainian army. Kumar is attempting to "open the eyes" of Europeans to the Kremlin's warmongering, showing that Ukraine was the continent's "eastern shield", he said.
Their latest album, "Viribus Unitis", follows the story of a Ukrainian from Galicia in their fight, notably against Russia, in World War I.
At the Warsaw gig, several cries of "Glory to Ukraine" rang out, along with chants against the Russian troops.
Mykyta Dokiychuk cracked a smile.
During the concert, he felt a "strong Ukrainian spirit".
rco/blb/ali/mmp/jhb

music

'Wake-up call': Megan Thee Stallion falls ill during Broadway show

  • One of the leading women in American rap alongside the likes of Cardi B and Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion is known for her powerful stage presence, freestyles and aggressive flow. rh-bjt/pnb/js
  • American rapper Megan Thee Stallion said Wednesday that she had a "wake-up call" after she was taken to hospital in the middle of a Broadway performance of "Moulin Rouge!"
  • One of the leading women in American rap alongside the likes of Cardi B and Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion is known for her powerful stage presence, freestyles and aggressive flow. rh-bjt/pnb/js
American rapper Megan Thee Stallion said Wednesday that she had a "wake-up call" after she was taken to hospital in the middle of a Broadway performance of "Moulin Rouge!" in New York City. 
"I've been pushing myself past my limits lately, running on empty, and my body finally said enough. It honestly scared me," the 31-year-old wrote on Instagram. 
"I thought I was gonna faint on stage, I really tried to push through my performance but I just couldn't."
Megan Thee Stallion, who has been playing club owner Harold Zidler in the musical, was replaced halfway through the show Tuesday night after she fell ill. 
She said she would be back on stage Thursday after taking off Wednesday to rest.
A spokesperson for the artist, who has won three Grammy awards, said she was transferred to a hospital after experiencing "concerning symptoms."
"Doctors ultimately identified extreme exhaustion, dehydration, vasoconstriction and low metabolic levels as the cause of her symptoms," the spokesperson told AFP. 
"Megan has since been treated, discharged and is now resting."
One of the leading women in American rap alongside the likes of Cardi B and Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion is known for her powerful stage presence, freestyles and aggressive flow.
rh-bjt/pnb/js

games

Far cry from 16-pixel start, Mario makes it 'so big' on screen: creator Miyamoto

BY MATHIAS CENA

  • Transposing the game's distinctive floating-in-space dynamics to the big screen was not easy, Miyamoto said.
  • Super Mario's creator Shigeru Miyamoto told AFP he had never imagined that the "little character I drew would become so big", bouncing through the decades from pixellated New York sewers to a silver-screen space epic.
  • Transposing the game's distinctive floating-in-space dynamics to the big screen was not easy, Miyamoto said.
Super Mario's creator Shigeru Miyamoto told AFP he had never imagined that the "little character I drew would become so big", bouncing through the decades from pixellated New York sewers to a silver-screen space epic.
There were more technical constraints when the red-capped plumber made his 1980s debut, the design mastermind of Japan's Nintendo said in an interview ahead of the release of "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" on Wednesday.
In the earliest Mario arcade games, the character was only 16-pixel tall, a far cry from the rich visuals of the new film, a sequel to 2023 smash hit "The Super Mario Bros. Movie".
The simple original format forced the young Miyamoto to use his imagination -- resulting in some of Mario's most distinctive features, from his moustache to his dungarees, which were easy to render and stood out on screen.
But the near-infinite possibilities granted by modern technology come with their own challenges, Miyamoto told AFP in Kyoto, where the video game giant is based.
"If there are no longer any limits, anyone can do it. And Nintendo has always wanted to make things that only we are able to."
The first feature-length Mario animation was that year's second-highest-grossing title after "Barbie", bringing in $1.3 billion despite a mixed reception from critics.
It was co-produced by Miyamoto and Chris Meledandri of Illumination, the US studio behind the "Despicable Me" franchise, and the pair teamed up again for the sequel.
The aim was to "build something incredible, so we could include elements that are typically Nintendo", the 73-year-old Miyamoto said.

Zero gravity

Burned by the first-ever Mario film -- a 1993 live-action flop that was one of the earliest game-to-movie adaptations, now relegated to kitsch curiosity -- Nintendo has sought tighter control of its intellectual property.
The new film takes place in the universe of "Super Mario Galaxy", a 2007 platform game made for the Wii console.
Transposing the game's distinctive floating-in-space dynamics to the big screen was not easy, Miyamoto said.
"There were lots of discussions about the difference between a gravity experience that's fun to play, and one that's fun to watch."
Meledandri told AFP that "we didn't set out to try to create the same sensations, because it just wouldn't be possible".
For example, one scene unfolds in a zero-gravity space casino.
"And as we were making that sequence, (Miyamoto) would also point to opportunities within the sequence to even more fully evoke the feeling of the game," Meledandri said.
Meledandri's animation studio is based in Paris, and he said he likes to encourage a "French sensibility, whether it's through visual expression or character performance" in the films.
While the 2023 feature cashed in on its stream of cheeky insider references, the mission this time around was to develop the sense of story.
"With the first film, we wanted above all to translate the experience of game play into the movie," Miyamoto said.
This time, the team wanted to give more depth to characters whose background had deliberately been left sparse in the video games.
"We had plenty of back-and-forth (with the screenwriters) until we were happy that the scenarios and plot did not contradict what's in the games," Miyamoto said.

'Too many' characters

"The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" introduces green dinosaur Yoshi and the mercenary Fox McCloud, while exploring the mysterious origin story of Princess Peach -- long portrayed as a damsel in distress, kidnapped by the evil turtle-like Bowser.
Nintendo's voluminous line-up of characters forced some difficult choices.
"There were too many, we had to drop some," said Miyamoto.
The game designer is legendary among Nintendo teams for "upending the tea table", a Japanese phrase referring to his tendency to want everything re-done at a very late stage.
But he said he has changed his ways for the movie project.
"In a game, we have the ability to complete the individual pieces and then change the structure. But for a film, that's impossible."
Meledandri said Miyamoto "is never shy about challenging a decision".
"But out of that challenging, we actually may find an unexpected path," he added.
For Miyamoto, as Mario's creator, "I try to provide as much information, context and ideas as possible on my vision of these characters, and this world."
But "it's Chris and his team who make the film", Miyamoto said.
"This balance works well," he added, and Nintendo is trying to use the approach for separate projects like the live-action film based on the "Legend of Zelda" franchise, due for release in May 2027.
mac/kaf/aph/ami

investigation

US Army helicopter pilots cleared after Kid Rock flyby

  • US Army pilots suspension LIFTED. No punishment.
  • The US Army helicopter pilots who flew near the Tennessee home of musician Kid Rock have had their suspension lifted, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday.
  • US Army pilots suspension LIFTED. No punishment.
The US Army helicopter pilots who flew near the Tennessee home of musician Kid Rock have had their suspension lifted, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday.
"Thank you Kid Rock. US Army pilots suspension LIFTED. No punishment. No investigation. Carry on, patriots," Hegseth wrote on X.
The pilots were suspended earlier Tuesday after the musician -- an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump -- posted a video on X over the weekend showing an Apache attack helicopter hovering near his mountaintop home's swimming pool as he clapped and saluted.
"God Bless America and all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend her," he wrote in text accompanying the video, while a second clip showed there were two of the aircraft in the area.
On Tuesday afternoon, Trump said he had not seen the video, but that he was "sure they had a good time."
He said that they "probably shouldn't have been doing it," but "they like Kid Rock, I like Kid Rock. Maybe they were trying to defend him."
Army spokesman Major Montrell Russell said earlier in the day that the military "has confirmed that on March 28, two Apache helicopters from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade at Fort Campbell conducted a flight in the Nashville area that has attracted public and media attention."
"The personnel involved have been suspended from flight duties while the Army reviews the circumstances surrounding the mission," including compliance with Federal Aviation Administration regulations as well as "aviation safety protocol and approval requirements," Russell said in a statement.
Kid Rock performed at the 2024 Republican National Convention as well as the "All-American Halftime Show" that was billed as an alternative to the Super Bowl halftime performance by Puerto Rican headliner Bad Bunny.
wd/mjf/des/pnb/mlm

Trump

Golden toilet statue mocks Trump near renovated White House

  • William Hoker, who bicycled to the satirical golden toilet, said it was a fitting memorial.
  • Here's one monument President Donald Trump probably isn't too happy to see emblazoned with his name: a golden toilet near the White House.
  • William Hoker, who bicycled to the satirical golden toilet, said it was a fitting memorial.
Here's one monument President Donald Trump probably isn't too happy to see emblazoned with his name: a golden toilet near the White House.
Ensconced in the kind of over-the-top faux marble that Trump loves, the gold-painted toilet bears a plaque reading: "A throne fit for a king."
The pop-up installation created by a clandestine artistic group calling itself the "Secret Handshake" drew long lines of tourists and Trump opponents near the Lincoln Memorial on Tuesday, blocks from the White House.
"I came to Washington to take this photo because I hate Trump," Nancy Chase, 78, told AFP.
Trump has spent much of his first year back in power putting his distinctive style on Washington.
The famed Oval Office now drips with gold ornaments, the once low-key elegant Rose Garden has been paved over, and the entire East Wing of the White House has been torn down to make way for a giant ballroom.
Trump is especially fond of pushing himself to front and center -- with his likeness due to appear on a new coin and his name already featuring in huge letters on the Kennedy Arts Center in the capital.
William Hoker, who bicycled to the satirical golden toilet, said it was a fitting memorial.
"I wanted to see this statue before it disappeared, and I think it epitomizes perfectly the guy in the White House, he's just a vulgar display," the 69-year-old retiree told AFP.
"I think it definitely needs to poke fun at the President," his friend Steve Toulotte added.
A sort of guerrilla arts group, "Secret Handshake" have seeded Washington with provocative temporary statues over the last year, including one depicting Trump with his former friend, the notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 
eml/jz/jpo/sms/des

Trump

Ballroom, library, airport: Trump aims to leave his mark

BY AURéLIA END

  • I'm fighting wars and other things.
  • While returning to Washington from Florida aboard Air Force One on Sunday, President Donald Trump chatted with journalists for a few minutes about the Iran war.
  • I'm fighting wars and other things.
While returning to Washington from Florida aboard Air Force One on Sunday, President Donald Trump chatted with journalists for a few minutes about the Iran war.
But then he abruptly pulled out large color images of the ballroom he is building on the East Wing of the White House, and talked extensively about the neoclassical building, praising its "hand-carved" Corinthian columns as "the best, most beautiful by far."
The president is at heart a real estate developer, and it shows. 
"Everything's drone proof and bulletproof," an animated Trump said of the ballroom. "I'm so busy that I don't have time to do this. I'm fighting wars and other things. But this is very important because this is going to be with us for a long time."
The ballroom, which involved demolishing the historic East Wing and drew thousands of critical comments from the public, is just one of several Trump projects aimed at leaving his mark on the American landscape.

Promoting his brand

Since becoming president, Trump has essentially replicated the formula that characterized his career as a businessman: promoting his name like a brand, engraved in gold letters on his golf clubs, hotels and merchandise.
Barely into the second year of his second term in office, Trump has already added his name to the John F. Kenney Center for the Performing Arts, thanks to a hand-picked board of directors, and to the Institute of Peace in the nation's capital.
He has already hung portraits of himself inside the White House, breaking with the tradition that a president wait until the end of his term to be invited by a successor to unveil a portrait.
Last Friday, the US Treasury announced that Trump's signature would appear on future US banknotes, also a first for a sitting president. 
And this year he will have a commemorative coin bearing his image, minted to mark America's 250th birthday.
- Sheer scale - 
Trump has also proposed building an enormous, 250-foot tall "Independence Arch" -- reminiscent of Paris' Arc de Triomphe -- on the bank of the Potomac River near the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery.
Since Herbert Hoover (1929-1933), American presidents have traditionally erected libraries bearing their names where documents and objects related to their terms in office are kept and displayed. 
But the projects spearheaded by Trump stand out for their sheer scale and self-promotional nature.
On Monday, his son Eric Trump posted computer-generated images of a future Trump Library on X showing an imposing skyscraper on the Miami waterfront. Inside, the images showed an auditorium dominated by a gigantic golden statue of Trump.
Also on Monday, Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed a law renaming Palm Beach International Airport  -- not far from the US leader's Mar-a-Lago estate -- the President Donald J. Trump International Airport.
The US president already has a boulevard leading to the airport named after him. 
aue/ube/mjf/js

royals

Prince Harry lawyers call for 'substantial damages' from UK tabloids

BY AKSHATA KAPOOR

  • "The court is invited to make a substantial award of damages, including aggravated damages, in respect of each of the (claimants) for misuse of their private information," lawyers representing the group said in the closing statement.
  • Prince Harry's legal team demanded a UK tabloid publisher pay him and six other claimants "substantial" damages for invading their privacy as a lengthy High Court civil trial wrapped up Tuesday.
  • "The court is invited to make a substantial award of damages, including aggravated damages, in respect of each of the (claimants) for misuse of their private information," lawyers representing the group said in the closing statement.
Prince Harry's legal team demanded a UK tabloid publisher pay him and six other claimants "substantial" damages for invading their privacy as a lengthy High Court civil trial wrapped up Tuesday.
The publisher of the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday dismissed the allegations as "speculative" after nine weeks of dramatic testimonies and cross-examinations of celebrities, journalists and private investigators.
King Charles's estranged younger son Harry, pop star Elton John, and actor Elizabeth Hurley are among the seven public figures suing Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) for allegedly unlawfully gathering intimate information for stories.
They accuse the publisher of spying on them, including placing listening devices in cars and homes.
During an emotional day in the witness box in January, Harry accused the Daily Mail of making his wife Meghan's life "an absolute misery" and said he came to feel "paranoid beyond belief".
He and his co-claimants accuse the newspapers of authorising unlawful practices such as accessing private phone conversations and blagging -- impersonating individuals to obtain medical information.
ANL has denied all the claims, which relate to articles dating from 1993 to 2018.
"The court is invited to make a substantial award of damages, including aggravated damages, in respect of each of the (claimants) for misuse of their private information," lawyers representing the group said in the closing statement.
Closing the trial, Justice Matthew Nicklin said the judgement would take "some time", with a written judgement expected at a later date.
It is the third, and set to be final, case brought by the Duke of Sussex in his acrimonious legal battle with the British press.
Harry has long blamed the media for the death of his mother Princess Diana, who was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997 while trying to shake off the paparazzi.

'By the book'

Defence lawyers argued there was no "wide practice" of unlawful information gathering at the newspapers, adding the claimants were "clutching at straws."
"Ordinary, legitimate journalism, often drawing on previous reporting or confidential sources, is usually more likely than phone hacking or phone tapping or other forms of unlawful information gathering," Antony White, representing ANL, said in court.
David Sherborne, representing the claimants, accused the newspapers on Monday of "extensive use of private investigators".
But in his closing statement, White said while private investigators were sometimes used to obtain phone numbers and addresses, the journalists denied using unlawful means.
Journalist Barbara Jones, said she had done "everything by the book" and had uncovered information about the prince's former girlfriend on her own.

'Monstrous'

The case saw a dramatic U-turn even before the start of the High Court trial, with a key witness retracting important statements.
Private investigator Gavin Burrows allegedly admitted to tapping phones and procuring private information for ANL in a 2021 witness statement.
But Burrows, retracted the statement last year, and told the court his so-called confessions were "fake" and forged.
Sherborneaccused Burrows of "switch(ing) sides out of revenge" after a spat with the claimants' team, which the private investigator denied.
Private investigator Dan Portley-Hanks, said he recalled working for The Mail in relation to Prince Harry.
"I know that I did unlawful stuff on him, but I cannot recall what exactly," he said in a written statement.
Harry, 41, stepped back from royal duties in 2020 and later relocated to California with Meghan amid a bitter royal family rift.
The couple, who have two children, have long complained about media intrusion and Meghan's treatment by Britain's newspapers after years of negative stories.
British actor Liz Hurley also broke down in tears while testifying, accusing ANL of "monstrous" conduct including planting secret microphones in her home's window.
A furious Elton John, testifying by video-link, accused the papers of "abhorrent" privacy invasions including accessing his family's medical records.
aks/jkb/giv

music

Celine Dion announces comeback following health struggle

  • "This year, I'm getting the best birthday gift of my life.
  • Megastar singer Celine Dion on Monday announced her return to performing after a lengthy break prompted by a rare health condition, calling the comeback news revealed on her birthday "the best gift". 
  • "This year, I'm getting the best birthday gift of my life.
Megastar singer Celine Dion on Monday announced her return to performing after a lengthy break prompted by a rare health condition, calling the comeback news revealed on her birthday "the best gift". 
Addressing fans in a video released on social media, the 58-year-old Canadian said her condition had improved and she would perform a series of shows in Paris beginning in September. 
"This year, I'm getting the best birthday gift of my life. I'm getting the chance to see you, to perform for you once again," she said. 
"I want to let you know that I'm doing great, managing my health, feeling good."
Dion first disclosed in December 2022 that she had been diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome, an incurable autoimmune disorder.
The Quebec-born star was forced to cancel the remainder of her shows indefinitely.
Treatment can help alleviate symptoms of the condition that can cause stiff muscles in the torso, arms and legs.
The 2024 documentary "I Am: Celine Dion" provided an intimate look at the charismatic performer's career and the severity of her pain from the condition, including suffering a seizure.
Despite the diagnosis, Dion vowed she would fight her way back to the stage.
"I'm not dead," the singer told AFP in 2024 on the red carpet ahead of the premiere of the documentary.
Later that year Dion sang from the Eiffel Tower for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games opening ceremony, while athletes sailed down the river in pouring rain.

Singing again

Dion was launched onto the global stage in 1988 representing Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin.
Then aged 20, she sang "Ne partez pas sans moi" (Don't Leave Without Me), which won her the prize. 
The following year, Dion opened the TV extravaganza for host Switzerland with her winning French-language song. 
She then premiered the single "Where Does My Heart Beat Now" -- heralding her career switch into English, which set her on the path to global chart domination.
She has sold more than 260 million albums during a career spanning decades, and has won five Grammys -- two for "My Heart Will Go On", the hit song from the 1997 epic "Titanic".
On Monday, Dion told fans that she has continued to feel their support despite her years off stage. 
"Even in my most difficult times, you were there for me. You've helped me in ways that I can't even describe, and I'm truly so fortunate to have your support," she said, describing that she was now "singing again, even doing a little bit of dancing". 
Dion is set to perform 10 shows over five weeks at the Paris La Defense Arena beginning on September 12. 
burs-giv/pdw

Canada

'Project Hail Mary' tops N. America box office for second week

  • Debuting in third place was horror flick "They Will Kill You," at $5 million.
  • Space adventure flick "Project Hail Mary" topped the North American box office for a second straight week with $54.5 million in ticket sales, industry estimates showed Sunday. 
  • Debuting in third place was horror flick "They Will Kill You," at $5 million.
Space adventure flick "Project Hail Mary" topped the North American box office for a second straight week with $54.5 million in ticket sales, industry estimates showed Sunday. 
Ryan Gosling stars in the Amazon MGM film as a teacher-turned-astronaut who awakes on a spaceship with a mission to save Earth from a sun-dimming phenomenon.
It is adapted from a novel by Andy Weir, the author behind the 2015 hit "The Martian" starring Matt Damon.
Standing firm in second place was Disney/Pixar animated hit "Hoppers," with $12.2 million in the United States and Canada, according to Exhibitor Relations.
The latest original film from Disney's Pixar tells the story of a young animal lover who uses technology to transfer her consciousness into a robotic beaver so she can better communicate and protect wildlife.
Debuting in third place was horror flick "They Will Kill You," at $5 million.
The Warner Bros film -- which stars Zazie Beetz (TV's "Atlanta"), Tom Felton (of "Harry Potter" fame) and Oscar winner Patricia Arquette -- tells the tale of a woman working as a maid in a mysterious New York building where disappearances are common.
"These are respectable numbers for an original horror comedy with a modest budget of around $20 million to produce," said analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. "Foreign business should be solid."
Fourth place went to Hindi-language spy thriller "Dhurandhar: The Revenge" with $4.75 million.
Released just three months after the original aired in North America, "Dhurandhar" continues the story of an Indian spy infiltrating Pakistani crime syndicates and politics, seeking to dismantle a terror network.
Considered political propaganda by some of India's neighbors, it has been notably banned in Pakistan.
Fifth place went to Universal's romance film "Reminders of Him," with $4.7 million.
It is the latest adaptation of a novel by Colleen Hoover and stars Maika Monroe and Tyriq Withers.
Rounding out the top ten:
"Ready or Not 2: Here I Come" ($4 million)
"Scream 7" ($2.6 million)
"GOAT" ($2.2 million)
"Undertone" ($1.65 million)
"Forbidden Fruits" ($1.2 million)
bur-sst/dw

Raphael

Renaissance master Raphael honored at New York's Met museum

  • Carmen Bambach, a specialist in the Italian Renaissance, curated 175 works by Raphael for the first major exhibition devoted to the painter in the United States.
  • Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and now Raphael: New York's prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art is dedicating a retrospective to the third of the great masters of the Italian Renaissance.
  • Carmen Bambach, a specialist in the Italian Renaissance, curated 175 works by Raphael for the first major exhibition devoted to the painter in the United States.
Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and now Raphael: New York's prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art is dedicating a retrospective to the third of the great masters of the Italian Renaissance.
The exhibition opening Sunday traces Raffaello di Giovanni Santi's journey, from his training in his native city of Urbino, in central Italy, to the papal court in Rome before his death in 1520 at age 37. 
Highlights include the first painting he completed entirely on his own, as well as tapestries designed for the Sistine Chapel. 
Carmen Bambach, a specialist in the Italian Renaissance, curated 175 works by Raphael for the first major exhibition devoted to the painter in the United States.
"If we only look at his paintings, we see this supreme, sublime beauty and perfection," she told AFP. 
By placing them side by side with his preparatory drawings, visitors can better understand Raphael's creative process. 
"They're very intimate. We really seem to be right there looking over his shoulder and seeing him try out things," Bambach said. 
She noted that the human figures depicted by Raphael served as "the model for 300 years" for generations of artists.
Italian-American actress Isabella Rossellini lends her voice to an audio guide for the exhibition, which brings together works from museums including France's Louvre. 
"Raphael: Sublime Poetry" runs through June 28, 2026.
pel/bjt/msp

conflict

Russia labels 'Mr Nobody Against Putin' teacher a 'foreign agent'

  • The "foreign agent" label -- which Russia applies to those it considers enemies of the state -- effectively bans an individual from holding public office and forces them to register their activities with the authorities.
  • Russia declared the teacher and central protagonist of the Oscar-winning documentary "Mr Nobody Against Putin" a foreign agent on Friday, a label akin to being an enemy of the state.
  • The "foreign agent" label -- which Russia applies to those it considers enemies of the state -- effectively bans an individual from holding public office and forces them to register their activities with the authorities.
Russia declared the teacher and central protagonist of the Oscar-winning documentary "Mr Nobody Against Putin" a foreign agent on Friday, a label akin to being an enemy of the state.
Pavel Talankin, who won Best Documentary at the Academy Awards earlier this month together with US director David Borenstein, spent two years documenting pro-war propaganda at a school in Russia's Chelyabinsk region while working as the school's videographer.
Talankin fled Russia in 2024, smuggling out the footage to be used in the film.
A Russian court banned the documentary from several streaming platforms on Thursday, saying it promoted "negative attitudes" about the Russian government and the war in Ukraine.
The justice ministry added Talankin to its "register of foreign agents", updated on Friday.
Without naming the film, it said in a statement that Talankin had "disseminated inaccurate information" about Russia's leadership and "spoken out against the special military operation in Ukraine", Moscow's official term for the offensive on its neighbour.
Since launching the full-scale military assault on Ukraine four years ago, Russian authorities have sought to totally suppress opposition to the war while aiming to rally support for the offensive among citizens.
Authorities have amended school curriculums to promote Moscow's narrative about the offensive, and introduced compulsory lessons aimed at teaching the Kremlin's worldview.
The "foreign agent" label -- which Russia applies to those it considers enemies of the state -- effectively bans an individual from holding public office and forces them to register their activities with the authorities.
It has been widely applied to critics of the Kremlin over the last decade.
bur/jhb

film

Oscars to leave Hollywood in 2029: Academy

  • The 2029 edition will instead be held at The Peacock Theater, part of the vast LA LIVE complex, next to the Crypto.com Arena, home to the Los Angeles Lakers.
  • The Oscars will leave Hollywood after celebrating their centenary, organizers said Thursday, as they announced a long-term deal to hold the gala in central Los Angeles.
  • The 2029 edition will instead be held at The Peacock Theater, part of the vast LA LIVE complex, next to the Crypto.com Arena, home to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Oscars will leave Hollywood after celebrating their centenary, organizers said Thursday, as they announced a long-term deal to hold the gala in central Los Angeles.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said the ceremony, the most important night of the year for the global film industry, would leave the Dolby Theatre on the Hollywood Walk of Fame after 2028.
The 2029 edition will instead be held at The Peacock Theater, part of the vast LA LIVE complex, next to the Crypto.com Arena, home to the Los Angeles Lakers.
"For the 101st Oscars and beyond, the Academy looks forward to closely collaborating with (owners) AEG to make LA LIVE the perfect backdrop for our global celebration of cinema, both for our live in-theater audience and for film fans around the world," Academy CEO Bill Kramer and President Lynette Howell Taylor said.
The 10-year deal with AEG comes as the ceremony leaves network television in the United States, to be broadcast instead worldwide by YouTube.
It also marks an end to a decades-long run for the ceremony at the Dolby, which is just a stone's throw from the Roosevelt Hotel, where the very first Oscars were handed out in 1929.
While Hollywood is synonymous with the Oscars, the ceremony has not always been held there.
Stars have previously descended on a number of venues in the Downtown area, and for much of the 1960s, the ceremony was hosted in the beachside city of Santa Monica.
At this year's awards, held on March 15, Paul Thomas Anderson's "One Battle After Another" -- a wild tale of leftist revolutionaries, white supremacists and immigrant detention centers -- was crowned as best picture.
hg/sst

McCartney

Paul McCartney recalls Yesterday with first album in five years

  • McCartney named the album, which will be released on May 29, after Dungeon Lane, a place close to his childhood home in the Liverpool suburb of Speke.
  • British pop legend and former Beatle Paul McCartney on Thursday released a new single and announced his first album in over five years, examining his life in Liverpool before global stardom.
  • McCartney named the album, which will be released on May 29, after Dungeon Lane, a place close to his childhood home in the Liverpool suburb of Speke.
British pop legend and former Beatle Paul McCartney on Thursday released a new single and announced his first album in over five years, examining his life in Liverpool before global stardom.
The 83-year-old, one of the most successful artists of all time, announced the 14-track album titled "The Boys Of Dungeon Lane", taking listeners on a trip down memory lane in the northern English city.
It will include early adventures with his late bandmates George Harrison and John Lennon, prior to Beatles fame, according to the singer's website.
"The Boys of Dungeon Lane is his most introspective album to date and takes the listener back to where it all began," McCartney's website states. 
McCartney named the album, which will be released on May 29, after Dungeon Lane, a place close to his childhood home in the Liverpool suburb of Speke.
It is referenced in the newly released single "Days We Left Behind", which the songwriter described as a "memory song" that inspired the album title.
The record will also feature new love songs and memories of life before the Beatles.
"I do often wonder if I'm just writing about the past but then I think how can you write about anything else?" McCartney said in a statement on his website. "It's just a lot of memories of Liverpool."
"We didn't have much at all but it didn't matter because all the people were great and you didn't notice you didn't have much."
The announcement comes ahead of two live performances in Los Angeles this weekend, his first since the November 2025 finale of his over three-year-long "Got Back Tour".
Formed in 1960, the Beatles -- McCartney, Lennon, Harrison and Ringo Starr -- went on to become the best-selling musical act of all time.
McCartney wrote or partnered with Lennon to write many of their biggest hits, including "Yesterday", "Hey Jude", "Let it Be" and "Yellow Submarine".
Following the band's split in 1970, the Beatles bassist continued writing and performing with hits including "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Live and Let Die" and "Band on the Run".
mp/aks/st