award

Paul Thomas Anderson wins top director prize for 'One Battle After Another'

  • Twenty of the 22 winners of the Directors Guild Awards have subsequently won the Oscar for best director, including the winners of the last three years: "Everything Everywhere All at Once," "Oppenheimer" and "Anora." 
  • "One Battle After Another" director Paul Thomas Anderson won top honors at the Directors Guild of America Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday, solidifying his film's position as a strong favorite for the Oscars.
  • Twenty of the 22 winners of the Directors Guild Awards have subsequently won the Oscar for best director, including the winners of the last three years: "Everything Everywhere All at Once," "Oppenheimer" and "Anora." 
"One Battle After Another" director Paul Thomas Anderson won top honors at the Directors Guild of America Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday, solidifying his film's position as a strong favorite for the Oscars.
Anderson, whose movie follows a former revolutionary who tries to protect his teenage daughter when the past comes back to haunt him, won the feature-film prize -- the award considered a key indicator of what might happen at the Academy Awards, which cap off the Hollywood awards season.
"It's a tremendous honor to be given this," Anderson said upon accepting the award at the gala held in Beverly Hills.
"We're going to take it with the love that it's given and the appreciation of all our comrades in this room," he added.
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, the film, which depicts a timeless America where white supremacists plot behind the scenes, immigration raids sweep through communities and revolutionary groups take up arms, also won recognition in January at the Critics' Choice Awards and the Golden Globes.
"One Battle After Another" will enter the Oscars as the second-most-nominated film, with 13 nominations. It is behind only the vampire film "Sinners" directed by Ryan Coogler, which garnered 16 nominations, a record for the Academy Awards.
Coogler was also nominated for the feature-film prize at the Directors Guild Awards.
Anderson received the statuette from Sean Baker, who won last year with his dark comedy "Anora," which went on to be an Oscar winner.
Twenty of the 22 winners of the Directors Guild Awards have subsequently won the Oscar for best director, including the winners of the last three years: "Everything Everywhere All at Once," "Oppenheimer" and "Anora." 
Also on Saturday, Oscar-winning Ukrainian filmmaker and journalist Mstyslav Chernov won the award for best documentary film. His film "2000 Meters to Andriivka" follows a Ukrainian platoon on a campaign to liberate a Russian-occupied village and offers a glimpse into the harsh realities of war.
"It's scary to live in a world where, instead of a camera, you have to get a gun to defend your home, to defend what you believe in," Chernov said at the event hosted by comedian Kumail Nanjiani.
"I want to thank… every soldier, every civilian, every filmmaker who made a choice to leave the camera for now and get a gun and go and fight so I have a chance," he added.
pr/mas/lga/jfx

SuperBowl

NFL embraces fashion as league seeks new audiences

BY ANDREW MARSZAL

  • The adventures into fashion can relax players in the locker room prior to games, as athletes rib one another for their more brash selections.
  • It has become a staple of every NFL game's pre-show coverage -- footage of players strutting their way to stadium locker rooms wearing the latest daring sartorial choices.
  • The adventures into fashion can relax players in the locker room prior to games, as athletes rib one another for their more brash selections.
It has become a staple of every NFL game's pre-show coverage -- footage of players strutting their way to stadium locker rooms wearing the latest daring sartorial choices.
And a VIP fashion show Saturday ahead of the New England Patriots' Super Bowl clash with the Seattle Seahawks was the latest bet by the league that indulging its players' penchant for high-end designers is also good for the NFL's bottom line.
A sport for decades associated with no-nonsense jocks has in recent years encouraged its stars' newfound obsession with attire as a way to capture new fans beyond the sport's traditional base.
Female and global supporters are particularly coveted by a league that has essentially saturated its core, male-heavy demographic, with some 125 million Americans already tuning into last year's Super Bowl.
"People who love fashion are paying attention to it. Brands are getting involved. So I think it's opened another element to the game," Detroit Lions star wide receiver Amon-Ra St Brown told AFP at the event.
NFL marketing bosses have been pursuing a broader "helmets off" strategy, including behind-the-scenes documentaries and social media clips, that seeks to make players more relatable by emphasizing their personalities and off-field interests.
Clubs regularly share footage of their players in designer outfits, or attending events like an Abercrombie & Fitch fashion event in San Francisco, hosted the night before Sunday's Super Bowl. 
Guests included league boss Roger Goodell and Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
"Fashion is global," the San Francisco 49ers' All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey, also in attendance, told AFP.
"Especially when you talk about the European market, a lot of the Asian markets where fashion is such a big part of culture.
"I think when you add a lot of our walk-out or entrance outfits that guys wear now, it helps reach a global audience."

'Gives us that swagger'

Abercrombie & Fitch was last year named the NFL's first official fashion partner, and athletes have countless personal tie-ins with brands like American Eagle.
Some of the game's top players, including Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, have dedicated personal stylists and have popped up at global fashion shows in Paris and at the Met Gala.
According to Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins, experimenting with haute couture can serve as a confidence booster.
"We don't just do it when we go to the games," he said. "We put this stuff on because it makes us feel good personally, and just gives us that little swagger, just to go about our day like that."
The adventures into fashion can relax players in the locker room prior to games, as athletes rib one another for their more brash selections.
"You'll always get some comments, especially when your outfit is pretty loud. But guys have fun with it, man," said McCaffrey.
Still, St Brown added, the fun stops when game time arrives.
"At the end of the day I'm still there to play football. It's not a fashion show," he said.
"But I still want to dress nice and feel good."
amz/nro/jfx

SuperBowl

Super Bowl set for Patriots-Seahawks showdown as politics swirl

BY ANDREW MARSZAL

  • Away from the sporting contest, all eyes will be on a historic half-time performance from Bad Bunny, the Grammy-winning Puerto Rican superstar.
  • The biggest event in American sports kicks off Sunday as the New England Patriots take on the Seattle Seahawks at a Super Bowl tinged by controversy over Bad Bunny's half-time show.
  • Away from the sporting contest, all eyes will be on a historic half-time performance from Bad Bunny, the Grammy-winning Puerto Rican superstar.
The biggest event in American sports kicks off Sunday as the New England Patriots take on the Seattle Seahawks at a Super Bowl tinged by controversy over Bad Bunny's half-time show.
More than 120 million Americans are expected to tune in for an annual pop culture nonpareil, which this year features two teams nobody expected to reach the NFL championship decider.
The Seahawks, boasting the league's best defense, are the marginal favorites. But they come up against a Patriots team who know how to win.
New England is seeking a record seventh Lombardi Trophy, and its first since the departure of Tom Brady, widely considered the NFL's greatest ever player.
It is, according to bookmakers, the unlikeliest Super Bowl match-up of modern times. Both teams began the season with odds of 60-1 or worse to go all the way.
"We're in great shape. Guys are in good spirits," said Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald, after Seattle's final practice Saturday.
"Finally. It's taken a while to get here. But it's here. It's awesome."
Away from the sporting contest, all eyes will be on a historic half-time performance from Bad Bunny, the Grammy-winning Puerto Rican superstar.
He is expected to deliver the first-ever Super Bowl set sung entirely in Spanish.
One of the world's biggest artists, Bad Bunny has been a vocal critic of Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Speculation is rife that he could use the giant Super Bowl platform to double down.
The US president has claimed the performance will "sow hatred" and is not attending this year's game.
The Super Bowl kicks off at 3:30pm local time (2330 GMT) at the 75,000-capacity Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

'Evil Empire'

A franchise once so dominant they were dubbed the "Evil Empire," New England have floundered since Brady left in 2020, but they have been reborn this season under coach of the year Mike Vrabel.
Rising star quarterback Drake Maye led the resurgent Patriots to a league-best 17 wins, including playoffs.
At 23 he would be the youngest starting quarterback to win football's biggest prize, and this week missed out on being named the season's Most Valuable Player by a single vote.
Maye is a prodigious ball-carrying runner who is also the league's best at throwing long-range passes.
But the young phenom also gets sacked more than almost any other quarterback.
And Maye comes up against a Seattle defense that loves to swarm the opposing signal-caller and has yielded the fewest points in the league.
The Seahawks have just one Super Bowl in their trophy cabinet, and their most recent appearance came in a 2015 loss to Brady's Patriots.
For Seattle to get revenge in Sunday's rematch, quarterback Sam Darnold must shed his long-standing reputation for wilting under pressure.
Journeyman Darnold passed through four NFL clubs before emerging revitalized with a superb debut year in Seattle.
The Seahawks also boast wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who was named the season's top offensive player.

'Huge party'

A win Sunday would be historic for the Patriots, who are currently tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most Super Bowl titles with six.
Some 90,000 fans have flocked to the Bay Area, which is expected to receive a $500 million economic boost from the sports bonanza.
The game is being played out against the backdrop of Trump's divisive and brutal immigration crackdown. Anger has soared over the killing of two US citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis last month.
NFL security chiefs this week scotched media reports that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers would have a role at the game.
But politics may not be entirely absent. Bad Bunny used the Grammys stage last weekend to condemn ICE.
Details of his Super Bowl set are under wraps, though Bad Bunny has pledged to showcase Puerto Rican culture in "a huge party."
amz/bb

France

Veteran French politician loses culture post over Epstein links

  • Lang is best known as an innovative and popular culture minister during the presidency of socialist Francois Mitterrand in the 1980s and 90s.
  • Veteran French politician Jack Lang, a former minister, was forced out of a key cultural post Saturday as pressure grew on him over revelations in the latest release of the Epstein files.
  • Lang is best known as an innovative and popular culture minister during the presidency of socialist Francois Mitterrand in the 1980s and 90s.
Veteran French politician Jack Lang, a former minister, was forced out of a key cultural post Saturday as pressure grew on him over revelations in the latest release of the Epstein files.
He offered to resign in a letter to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who told reporters he planned to launch the process to name an interim president for the IMA.
But Lang continued to insist he was innocent of any wrongdoing.
Lang, who has headed the Arab World Institute (IMA) since 2013, is the most high-profile public figure in France caught up in the latest release of private messages from the convicted sex offender.
"I offer to submit my resignation" at the next board meeting, the 86-year-old wrote in the letter, seen by AFP. As recently as Wednesday, he had ruled out stepping down from his post over the affair.
Lang had been summoned to the foreign ministry for a meeting on Sunday but that has now been cancelled, said a source at the ministry who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Lang's lawyer, Laurent Merlet, told broadcaster BFM TV his client was "very sad" to be leaving an institution he loved so much but also "extremely combative and will not let slander gain ground".
On Friday, French prosecutors said they had opened a preliminary investigation of him and his daughter Caroline over "laundering of aggravated tax-fraud proceeds" after they were mentioned in files related to Epstein.

'Baseless' accusations 

Earlier Saturday, before news of his resignation emerged, Lang told AFP that the accusations against him were "baseless" and he welcomed the probe.
"It will bring much light on to the accusations that are questioning my probity and my honour," said Lang, whose name appears more than 670 times in the released documents.
He has denied any wrong-doing, saying he was "shocked" that his name appeared in the statutes of the offshore company in 2016 and that he had only appealed to Epstein as a philanthropist.
His daughter Caroline, a film producer, also appeared in Epstein's will as a beneficiary of five million euros, according to investigative website Mediapart. 
She has already resigned from her job as head of the Union of Independent Producers (SPI), which represents independent film producers in France.
A mere mention in the files does not imply wrongdoing.
Le Monde newspaper and Mediapart said no files released by the US Justice Department suggested either Lang or his daughter had been implicated in Epstein's sexual crimes.
Lang is best known as an innovative and popular culture minister during the presidency of socialist Francois Mitterrand in the 1980s and 90s.
He launched popular events such as the annual "Fete de la Musique" street party which exists to this day, an idea since picked up by other countries.
Lang also oversaw major modern architectural projects such as the building of the Louvre Pyramid and the Bastille opera house.
- Pressure - 
Public pressure had grown on Lang throughout the week despite his insistence that he had done nothing wrong and that he was unaware of Epstein's criminal behaviour.
Epstein was convicted in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution.
The head of the Socialist party, Olivier Faure, on Thursday had urged Lang to step down "to protect the institution he runs".
The Arab World Institute ("Institut du Monde Arabe") promotes Arab culture from its prestigious left-bank headquarters that frequently host some of the capital's most talked-about exhibitions. 
Lang has said he was introduced to Epstein by American actor-director Woody Allen.
Epstein owned a vast apartment on a west Paris street favoured by the rich and famous -- Avenue Foch -- and was a frequent visitor to the French capital before his death in prison in 2019.
mng-adp/jj/

media

Opinions of Zuckerberg hang over social media addiction trial jury selection

BY BENJAMIN LEGENDRE

  • - 'Start fairly' - Jury selection was dominated by recurring references to Zuckerberg, the head of Meta and co-founder of Facebook who reached global fame after the Hollywood film "The Social Network."
  • A jury has been confirmed in a landmark social media addiction trial in the US state of California, a process dominated by references to tech giant Meta's divisive founder Mark Zuckerberg.
  • - 'Start fairly' - Jury selection was dominated by recurring references to Zuckerberg, the head of Meta and co-founder of Facebook who reached global fame after the Hollywood film "The Social Network."
A jury has been confirmed in a landmark social media addiction trial in the US state of California, a process dominated by references to tech giant Meta's divisive founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Meta's lawyers fought for six days in court to remove jurors who they deemed overly hostile to Facebook and Instagram, two of the social media platforms involved in the case.
The plaintiff's lawyers sought to dismiss people, mostly men, who believed that young internet users' mental health issues are more attributable to parental failures rather than tech platform designers.
With the jury of 12 members and six alternates approved on Friday, arguments in the case are now scheduled to begin Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The case is being called a bellwether proceeding because its outcome could set the tone for a tidal wave of similar litigation across the United States.
Defendants at the trial are Alphabet and Meta, the tech titans behind YouTube and Instagram. TikTok and Snapchat were also accused, but have since settled for an undisclosed amount.
The trial focuses on allegations that a 20-year-old woman identified by the initials K.G.M. suffered severe mental harm because she became addicted to social media as a child.
She accuses Meta and YouTube of knowingly designing addictive apps, to the detriment of her mental health. 

'Start fairly'

Jury selection was dominated by recurring references to Zuckerberg, the head of Meta and co-founder of Facebook who reached global fame after the Hollywood film "The Social Network."
"I feel impartial toward the plaintiff, but based on things Mark Zuckerberg has done objectively -- I have strong feelings about -- and I think the defendant would start further behind," said one young woman.
Many potential jurors criticized Facebook's early days -- it was designed as a platform for college students to rate women's looks -- and cited the Cambridge Analytica privacy breach of 2018.
They also said it would be difficult for them to accept the billionaire's testimony -- expected in the next two weeks -- without prejudice.
Meta's lawyer, Phyllis Jones, raised frequent objections to such jurors.
She said it was "very important that both sides start fairly, with no disadvantage, that you look at the evidence fairly and decide."
Others were dismissed for the opposite reason.
"I like this guy," said one rare Zuckerberg fan. "I regret not owning Meta shares." 
He was dismissed by the plaintiff's lawyer, Mark Lanier.
Others to be removed included a man who expressed his anger against psychiatrists, and several people whose loved ones suffered from social media addiction or harassment.

Seeking distance

Alphabet's lawyers were keen to ensure that their platform YouTube was not lumped in with Meta.
"Does everybody understand that YouTube and Meta are very different companies? Does everyone understand that (Zuckerberg) doesn't run YouTube?" asked Luis Li, a lawyer for Google's video platform.
One man said he saw the potential for YouTube to seek to trigger "immediate dopamine" rushes among users through its "Shorts" feature.
He said his niece spends too much time on TikTok, which popularized a platform that provides endless scrolling of ultra-short-format videos.
The case will focus not on content, on which front platforms are largely protected by US law, but on the design of algorithms and personalization features.
The plaintiffs allege that the platforms are negligent and purposely designed to be harmful, echoing a strategy successfully used against the tobacco industry.
Meta and YouTube strongly deny the allegations, and also unsuccessfully argued on Friday for the judge to declare statements comparing their platforms to tobacco and other addictive products to be illegitimate.
The debate on the platform's level of responsibility for their effect on users was already underway, even at this early stage of the trial.
Alphabet's lawyer Li asked the panel if people spend too much time on phones, with the majority nodding in agreement.
"As a society, is it a problem?" he asked, with most hands again going up.
He then asked if this is "because of YouTube?" prompting hesitation from the jurors.
bl/aha/mlm

SuperBowl

Stars, Clydesdales and an AI beef jostle for Super Bowl ad glory

  • Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell and his wife Susan have pledged to seed 25 million of the accounts "with $250 each for children across all 50 states," he wrote in a post on X. - 'Free Bird' - Budweiser's "American Icons" spot, marking the brewer's 150th anniversary, pairs its iconic Clydesdale horses with a bald eagle in a soaring tribute set to Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird."
  • From dueling AI giants to Budweiser's Clydesdale horse mascots bonding with a bald eagle, the commercials vying for attention during Sunday's Super Bowl are shaping up as one of the most star-studded — and contentious — advertising battles in years.
  • Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell and his wife Susan have pledged to seed 25 million of the accounts "with $250 each for children across all 50 states," he wrote in a post on X. - 'Free Bird' - Budweiser's "American Icons" spot, marking the brewer's 150th anniversary, pairs its iconic Clydesdale horses with a bald eagle in a soaring tribute set to Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird."
From dueling AI giants to Budweiser's Clydesdale horse mascots bonding with a bald eagle, the commercials vying for attention during Sunday's Super Bowl are shaping up as one of the most star-studded — and contentious — advertising battles in years.
With 30-second spots commanding as much as a record $10 million apiece, brands are pulling out all the stops for the Sunday matchup between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. 
Here are some ads generating buzz ahead of kick-off:

AI slugfest

The fiercest pre-game battle isn't on the field — it's between rival AI companies.
Anthropic, the maker of chatbot Claude, is making its Super Bowl debut with an ad openly mocking OpenAI's decision to introduce advertising in ChatGPT.
In one spot, a man asking an AI chatbot for advice on communicating with his mother receives earnest guidance before the conversation veers into a pitch for a fictional cougar-dating site called "Golden Encounters."
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman fired back on social media, calling the spots "funny" but "clearly dishonest."
Google and Amazon are also in the AI fray, with Google showcasing its Gemini assistant in an emotional spot about a mother helping her son cope with moving house, and Amazon's Alexa playfully tormenting actor Chris Hemsworth.

'Free Money!'

An ad for so-called "Trump accounts" will invite Americans to take advantage of "free money!" with the new savings option for children, created under US President Donald Trump's "big beautiful bill."
The ad features a montage of diverse children speaking about the virtues of saving through the 530A accounts.
"And millions will be pre-funded," a child says in the ad, before the next exclaims: "That's free money!"
Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell and his wife Susan have pledged to seed 25 million of the accounts "with $250 each for children across all 50 states," he wrote in a post on X.

'Free Bird'

Budweiser's "American Icons" spot, marking the brewer's 150th anniversary, pairs its iconic Clydesdale horses with a bald eagle in a soaring tribute set to Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird."
Bud Light, meanwhile, reunites NFL-great Peyton Manning, Post Malone and comedian Shane Gillis at a wedding where a runaway keg sends the entire party tumbling downhill to the strains of Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You."
In what may reignite the cola wars, Pepsi's spot for its Zero Sugar line features a polar bear — long associated with rival Coca-Cola — suffering an existential crisis after picking Pepsi in a blind taste test.

Celebrities everywhere

The roster of A-listers appearing in this year's ads reads like an Oscar night party list.
In a throwback to the 1990s, Ben Affleck returns for donut brand Dunkin' alongside Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc and Jason Alexander. George Clooney hosts an opulent banquet for GrubHub, a food delivery app. Emma Stone teams up with her frequent collaborator, director Yorgos Lanthimos, for website builder Squarespace.
Adrien Brody goes full method-actor in a noir-inspired TurboTax spot. And Melissa McCarthy channels telenovela drama for cosmetics brand e.l.f. — a nod to Bad Bunny's request that fans learn Spanish before his halftime performance.
At 94, "Star Trek" legend William Shatner chews the scenery in a Raisin Bran ad that leans into fiber jokes, introducing himself as a character named "Will Shat."

The newcomers

Novo Nordisk makes its Super Bowl debut promoting its new Wegovy weight-loss pill with an ensemble cast including "Saturday Night Live" comic Kenan Thompson, DJ Khaled and actor John C. Reilly.
The inaugural spot from Fanatics Sportsbook, a gambling site, stars Kendall Jenner, who playfully leans into the internet's "Kardashian Curse" meme about athletes whose careers supposedly falter after dating members of the famous family.

Tear jerkers

Toyota's "Superhero Belt" traces a grandfather-grandson relationship across three decades, bookended by rides in a first-generation and the latest RAV4.
Instacart recruited director Spike Jonze for a spot pairing Ben Stiller with pop star Benson Boone in an '80s-style band, with chaotic results when Stiller attempts one of Boone's signature backflips.
Super Bowl LX, the most watched event in the United States, kicks off Sunday at 2330 GMT.
arp/sla

media

Elton John accuses UK tabloids publisher of 'abhorrent' privacy breaches

BY AKSHATA KAPOOR

  • "I have found The Mail's deliberate invasion into my medical health and medical details surrounding the birth of our son Zachary abhorrent and outside even the most basic standards of human decency," John wrote in a witness statement released as he began testifying by video link.
  • Pop icon Elton John on Friday accused the publisher of two UK tabloids of "abhorrent" privacy invasions "outside even the most basic standards of human decency" as he testified at London's High Court.
  • "I have found The Mail's deliberate invasion into my medical health and medical details surrounding the birth of our son Zachary abhorrent and outside even the most basic standards of human decency," John wrote in a witness statement released as he began testifying by video link.
Pop icon Elton John on Friday accused the publisher of two UK tabloids of "abhorrent" privacy invasions "outside even the most basic standards of human decency" as he testified at London's High Court.
Giving evidence in the joint legal action against Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) --  the publisher of the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday -- John claimed the papers had unlawfully accessed his and his family's medical records.
Other complainants in the case include Prince Harry, King Charles III's younger son, and actor Liz Hurley.
"I have found The Mail's deliberate invasion into my medical health and medical details surrounding the birth of our son Zachary abhorrent and outside even the most basic standards of human decency," John wrote in a witness statement released as he began testifying by video link.
Wearing a green blazer and purple tie, the 78-year-old musician who has a rocky relationship with British tabloids appeared furious while giving evidence.
He and his husband David Furnish -- who testified on Thursday -- accuse the UK publisher of using unlawful means to gather information used in 10 articles between 2000 and 2015.
ANL has strongly denied claims made against its journalism calling them "lurid" and "preposterous".
Hurley, a friend of the couple, and Prince Harry each took the stand in the first two weeks of the trial.
The seven claimants suing ANL also include actor Sadie Frost, and two other public figures.
The case "contains the most horrendous things in the world that you can ever suffer from a privacy point of view," John told the trial, which is in its third week and expected to last until March.
The "Rocket Man" singer alleged that all three of the family's landlines "were hacked, including the junction box at the end of the road".
"I was incensed," John told the court, adding that he has "never been afraid of fighting my corner... with the British press".

Not 'fair game'

Furnish on Thursday accused The Mail of "stealing" and publishing their son Zachary's birth certificate before the couple had received a copy.
The filmmaker, who also manages his musician husband, also accused tabloid of having been "actively homophobic" for years.
An emotional Prince Harry blasted the publisher when he was in the box in January, accusing the tabloids of making his wife Meghan's life "an absolute misery".
ANL has countered that evidence will prove it sourced its stories legitimately and that claims around the use of private investigators were "clutching at straws in the wind".
Lawyer Catrin Evans for the publisher suggested that for some Mail articles mentioned in John and Furnish's case, a "certain amount of the information... had already been put into the public domain".
The publisher's lawyers have also suggested that the claimants' were surrounded by a "leaky" circle of friends that passed on information to the media.
When quizzed about this, the singer replied bluntly: "My friends do not talk to the press, and that's why they are still my friends."
In his written witness statement, John said: "I have devoted my life to my music but this does not mean deeply personal things which I have a right to deal with in private are fair game.
"It has been truly sickening for David and me to see the disclosure in our case, with Zachary as a target when he was just born, with David and me as targets, with me as a target when I was sick and unwell," he said.
aks/har/ach 

books

'Mona's Eyes': how an obscure French art historian swept the globe

BY JéRôME RIVET AND ADAM PLOWRIGHT

  • Book-selling behemoth Barnes and Noble named it its book of the year.
  • French art historian Thomas Schlesser is still adapting to life as a best-selling global author having written one of the break-out hits of the last year in "Mona's Eyes".
  • Book-selling behemoth Barnes and Noble named it its book of the year.
French art historian Thomas Schlesser is still adapting to life as a best-selling global author having written one of the break-out hits of the last year in "Mona's Eyes".
For a man more used to university lecture halls or the dry world of academic publishing, becoming a literary phenomenon, particularly in the United States, was unexpected.
"I was very surprised that the book achieved such success in France and abroad," Schlesser told AFP in an interview in Paris to promote his next work. 
"The United States is an incredibly tough market since Americans read English-language authors," he added. "It goes without saying that I'm very happy, and very proud, but at the same time astonished."
The English translation of "Mona's Eyes" peaked at number four in The New York Times best-selling hard-back fiction chart shortly before Christmas and has sold an estimated 250,000 copies there.
Book-selling behemoth Barnes and Noble named it its book of the year.
Worldwide, it has been translated into 37 languages and has sold a million copies, around half of them in home market France where Schlesser has become a literary celebrity.

Success formula

It tells the story of a grandfather who educates his granddaughter Mona about the beauty of art after she is told by doctors she risks going blind.
The pair visit the most famous museums in Paris -- the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay and the Pompidou Centre -- where Mona learns about everything from Renaissance work to abstractism.
Paris and its cultural heritage are a winning literary combination -- from The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo to The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown -- but Schlesser thinks he hit a chord for other reasons.
"There’s a passion for the arts, but what I feel above all is universal sensitivity to the bonds around transmission between generations, between a grandfather and a granddaughter. 
"And there's another very important thing, particularly among Americans I sensed, it's that 'Mona's Eyes' is a book that addresses the subject of disability," he added.
In an article about the "surprise hit novels" of 2025, The New York Times noted that at a time when thrillers and "sexy fantasy books about dragons" were the hottest reads, "'Mona’s Eyes' is something different."
Not everyone appreciated it, however.
A reviewer in Britain's Guardian newspaper sniffed that "an undeniable strain of sentimentalism runs throughout" the book and its prose.

Poetry

Schlesser, the tousle-haired son of a writer, is about to publish a follow-up of sorts called the "The Gardener’s Cat", which focuses on the healing power of poetry.
"I’ve been reading (poetry) since I was 12, and I make a point of reading at least one poem a day. It’s excellent for your well-being," he told AFP.
"The Gardener’s Cat" features Louis, a hypersensitive gardener devastated by the impending loss of his kitten, which has a tumour. 
His new neighbour, Thalie, a retired literature teacher, lifts his spirits by introducing him -- over glasses of pastis liquor -- to some 80 poets, from Verlaine to Aimé Césaire, including Baudelaire and the Italian Gaspara Stampa.
"I can personally attest that poetry can truly save your life when you’re struggling. And even when you’re doing well, it can make life more intense," Schlesser explained. 
He believes there is a "resurgence of poetry among younger generations".
Having helped popularise art and museum-going, he is hoping to have the same effect on the written word. 
jri-adp/yad

entertainment

Sells like teen spirit? Cobain's 'Nevermind' guitar up for sale

  • "(Smells Like Teen Spirit) was the anthem of that generation.
  • The guitar played by late rock legend Kurt Cobain on the anthemic grunge track "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is going under the hammer next month.
  • "(Smells Like Teen Spirit) was the anthem of that generation.
The guitar played by late rock legend Kurt Cobain on the anthemic grunge track "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is going under the hammer next month.
The 1966 Fender Mustang is among a treasure trove of instruments and musical memorabilia that also includes the logo-emblazoned drum that announced The Beatles to the United States when the Fab Four played "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1964.
The Jim Irsay collection -- put together by the one-time owner of the Indianpolis Colts NFL team -- includes guitars played by musicians who defined the 20th century, including Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour, The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia, as well as Eric Clapton, John Coltrane and Johnny Cash.
But at the center of the collection are handwritten lyrics for The Beatles' smash "Hey Jude" as well as guitars played by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
"I think it's fair to say that this collection of Beatles instruments...is the most important assembled Beatles collection for somebody who wasn't a member of the band," Amelia Walker, the London-based head of private and iconic collections at Christie's, told AFP in Beverly Hills.
"There are five Beatles guitars in his collection, as well as Ringo Starr's first Ludwig drum kit (and) John Lennon's piano, on which he composed several songs from Sergeant Pepper."
Also included is "the drum skin from Ringo's second Ludwig kit, which is the vision which greeted 73 million Americans who tuned in to watch 'The Ed Sullivan Show' on the ninth of February 1964 when the Beatles broke America."
The drum kit is expected to fetch around $2 million, while the guitars could sell for around $1 million at the auction in New York, Christie's estimates.
Perhaps the most expensive item in the collection is Cobain's guitar, which experts say might sell for up to $5 million.
"It's a talismanic guitar for people of my generation... who lived through grunge," said Walker.
"(Smells Like Teen Spirit) was the anthem of that generation. That video is so iconic.
"We're incredibly proud and privileged to have that here."
hg/sla

SuperBowl

Party or politics? All eyes on Bad Bunny at Super Bowl

BY THOMAS URBAIN

  • Right-wing political organization Turning Point USA has even organized an alternative "All-American Halftime Show" featuring artists including Kid Rock.
  • The argument that sport and politics should not mix could be tested at the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday, when Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny performs against a backdrop of fury from right-wing critics.
  • Right-wing political organization Turning Point USA has even organized an alternative "All-American Halftime Show" featuring artists including Kid Rock.
The argument that sport and politics should not mix could be tested at the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday, when Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny performs against a backdrop of fury from right-wing critics.
One week after capturing headlines at the Grammys, where he won top Album of the Year honors and delivered a searing indictment of the US government's immigration crackdown, the 31-year-old will be back in the national spotlight at the NFL's biggest game in California.
The crackle of anticipation about Bad Bunny's performance -- and the question of whether the singer will use his platform to renew his criticism of President Donald Trump's administration in front of tens of millions of viewers -- is palpable.
Prediction site Polymarket is taking bets on whether the star will drop an F-bomb to disparage the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on live television.
While the odds are firmly against -- just nine percent, as of Thursday -- the wager underscores the balancing act faced by the National Football League as it prepares for its most-watched broadcast of the year.
The league has been in the crosshairs of critics ever since Bad Bunny was announced to headline the show back in September, with former Trump aide Corey Lewandowski decrying the "shameful" choice of an artist "who just seems to hate America."
Trump, who attended the Super Bowl last year but is staying away this time, recently called this year's entertainment lineup "a terrible choice" that will "sow hatred."
Also featuring in the opening ceremony of Super Bowl LX -- in which the New England Patriots play the Seattle Seahawks -- will be rock band Green Day, who have been vociferous critics of Trump for years.
Right-wing political organization Turning Point USA has even organized an alternative "All-American Halftime Show" featuring artists including Kid Rock.

Expanding NFL audience

The NFL has remained steadfastly unmoved by the backlash.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell this week described Bad Bunny as "one of the great artists of the world" and downplayed the suggestion Sunday's show could turn political, saying he expects the performance to "unite people."
The wildly popular Bad Bunny -- real name Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio -- steered clear of politics when talking about this weekend's performance at a press conference in San Francisco on Thursday.
Instead, he indicated he plans to make the occasion a "huge party."
"I want to bring to the stage of course a lot of my culture," he said. "But I don't want to give any spoilers. It's gonna be fun and it's gonna be a party."
While Bad Bunny's presence at the Super Bowl has antagonized political critics on the right, analysts say the choice of the entertainer reflects the NFL's broader strategy of expanding the sport's global fan base.
"The NFL knew that they would receive criticism from a certain sector of its fan base," said Albert Laguna, an associate professor of ethnicity, race and migration and American studies at Yale University.
"But it's obvious that when they conducted a thorough review of the pros and cons, the reach of Bad Bunny and the benefits of that expanded audience outweighed any criticism."
A growing number of NFL regular season games are now held overseas, with fixtures in recent months in Brazil and Spain.
"The NFL, are not idiots. They've crunched the numbers," said Patrick Bennett, global chief creative officer at marketing firm Jack Morton. 
"They know where they're saturated in the marketplace. Getting a 55-year-old white guy from Texas to buy another cowboy shirt is only going to get them so far."
tu/rcw/sst

diplomacy

Iran filmmaker Panahi fears Iranians' interests will be 'sacrificed' in US talks

BY ADAM PLOWRIGHT

  • "They are okay, but all of them are in shock -- a shock that, like the rest of the people of Iran, has put everyone in a state of mourning," Panahi said.
  • Dissident Iranian film director Jafar Panahi told AFP he believes ordinary Iranians risk being "sacrificed" in talks between Iran and the United States on Friday, with his country still "in shock" over a deadly crackdown on protests.
  • "They are okay, but all of them are in shock -- a shock that, like the rest of the people of Iran, has put everyone in a state of mourning," Panahi said.
Dissident Iranian film director Jafar Panahi told AFP he believes ordinary Iranians risk being "sacrificed" in talks between Iran and the United States on Friday, with his country still "in shock" over a deadly crackdown on protests.
Panahi, Iran's best-known director, offered support for anti-government protests last month in which thousands of people were killed by security forces, according to rights groups.
US President Donald Trump, having initially encouraged the demonstrations, has since focused his attention on making a deal with Iran's clerical leadership over the country's nuclear and missile programmes.
In an interview in Paris on Wednesday, Panahi told AFP that "whatever happens in these negotiations they will not be in the people's favour".
"The people have no representative in these negotiations, and their interests are never taken into account. They can easily be sacrificed in these exchanges," he added.
Panahi's comments reflect concerns that the talks between US and Iranian officials scheduled for Friday in Muscat could help consolidate the power of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Panahi has been out of Iran for the last few months and his latest film "It Was Just an Accident" is in the running for Best International Feature at the Oscars.
The 65-year-old has been sentenced to a year in jail during his absence for "propaganda activities" against the state, but insisted to AFP he planned to return home.

Detention

The director is still absorbing the news that Mehdi Mahmoudian, who worked on the script of his latest film, was detained at the weekend in a sweep that also saw student leader Abdollah Momeni and journalist Vida Rabbani arrested.
"Friends told us that Mehdi Mahmoudian and Abdollah Momeni were each able to make a one-minute phone call to say they are okay and that they are in detention," Panahi said.
He met Mahmoudian, a human rights campaigner, while the two men were in jail during the second of Panahi's stints behind bars.
Iranian filmmaker Javad Ganji was shot dead during the protests in early January in Tehran, according to reports.
Despite his previous convictions, Panahi was one of several leading film figures to sign a statement supporting the latest anti-government demonstrations. 
Panahi's son and other family members have remained in Iran during his foreign travels and talking candidly about recent events is impossible over unsecure phone lines.
"They are okay, but all of them are in shock -- a shock that, like the rest of the people of Iran, has put everyone in a state of mourning," Panahi said.
Rights groups and witness statements point to an unprecedented mass killing by Iranian security forces last month under the cover of a weeks-long internet blackout.
Tehran has acknowledged more than 3,000 deaths during the unrest, while some rights groups think the final toll could be as high as 30,000.
"This number is beyond imagination. This shows that the regime has reached a point where it knows it has no legitimacy left. It lost legitimacy long ago, and this massacre is the final confirmation," Panahi said.
"As we've seen in other places -- India, South Africa -- when people emerge from mourning, when they rediscover themselves, they find ways to continue their struggle," he added.

'I will return'

"It Was Just an Accident" has won over critics and filmgoers as a wry and humane thriller that spotlights the dilemmas of a group of ordinary Iranians as they confront a man they believe to have tortured them in jail.
After being released from a travel ban last year, Panahi travelled to the Cannes Film Festival in France in May to present "It Was Just an Accident", which went on to scoop the top prize.
The feature is clearly allegorical, imagining what might happen to the country if the current clerical system headed by Khamenei falls.
"I have always felt that our people are non-violent, and this regime has always tried to inject violence into them," Panahi said.
Despite a prison sentence and a two-year travel ban hanging over him, he insisted he would return home after the Oscars ceremony on March 15.
"It is my home and I will return to my country," he told AFP.
adp/amj

SuperBowl

Bad Bunny promises to bring Puerto Rican culture to Super Bowl

BY ANDREW MARSZAL

  • An official trailer for the half-time show features Bad Bunny dancing with men and women of different ethnicities, including a white male in a cowboy hat.
  • Bad Bunny on Thursday pledged to bring Puerto Rican culture to his historic and highly anticipated Super Bowl half-time show that has triggered fury among right-wing US critics.
  • An official trailer for the half-time show features Bad Bunny dancing with men and women of different ethnicities, including a white male in a cowboy hat.
Bad Bunny on Thursday pledged to bring Puerto Rican culture to his historic and highly anticipated Super Bowl half-time show that has triggered fury among right-wing US critics.
The Latino singer -- one of the world's most popular artists -- is expected to perform the first-ever Super Bowl set entirely in Spanish this Sunday.
He has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, who is pointedly not attending this year's NFL flagship event, and used the Grammys stage last weekend to condemn the White House's immigration crackdown.
At a press conference Thursday, Bad Bunny steered clear of politics, instead promising "a huge party."
"I want to bring to the stage of course a lot of my culture," he said.
"But I don't want to give any spoilers. It's gonna be fun and it's gonna be a party.
"It's going to be easy. People only have to worry about dance... they don't even have to learn Spanish," he joked.
The 31-year-old -- real name Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio -- is wildly popular both stateside and abroad, and highly critically acclaimed.
He has been Spotify's most-streamed artist in the world four separate times, including last year, and won Album of the Year at last weekend's Grammys with "Debi Tirar Mas Fotos" -- the first Spanish-language work to win music's highest accolade.
Yet the selection of Bad Bunny to perform at the Super Bowl in Santa Clara, California, has drawn harsh criticism from the Trump administration.
Corey Lewandowski, a Department of Homeland Security advisor, said the choice of the Puerto Rican superstar -- a US citizen -- was "shameful" because he "seems to hate America so much."
Trump, who attended the Super Bowl last year but is staying away this time, recently called this year's entertainment lineup "a terrible choice" that will "sow hatred."
Also featuring in the opening ceremony of Super Bowl LX -- in which the New England Patriots play the Seattle Seahawks -- will be rock band Green Day, who have likewise been vociferous critics of Trump for years.
Right-wing political organization Turning Point USA has organized an alternative "All-American Halftime Show" featuring artists including Kid Rock.

'Unite people'

With anger soaring over the killing of two US citizens by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis last month, speculation has risen that Bad Bunny could use the Super Bowl platform to further rebuke Trump's policies.
Online betting website Polymarket has taken tens of thousands of dollars' worth of bets on whether Bad Bunny will directly call out ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), the federal agency responsible for the immigration crackdown.
But marketing experts say the commercial opportunity to bring in more Latino fans represented by Bad Bunny's appearance at the NFL's flagship event justifies any controversy.
"The NFL, are not idiots. They've crunched the numbers," said Patrick Bennett, Global Chief Creative Officer at marketing firm Jack Morton.
"They know where they're saturated in the marketplace. Getting a 55-year-old white guy from Texas to buy another cowboy shirt is only going to get them so far."
NFL chief Roger Goodell this week said he was confident Bad Bunny will use the Super Bowl space to "bring people together.
Bad Bunny was chosen in part because "he understood the platform he was on and that this platform is used to unite people," said the NFL commissioner.
An official trailer for the half-time show features Bad Bunny dancing with men and women of different ethnicities, including a white male in a cowboy hat.
"The world is gonna be happy this Sunday," said Bad Bunny.
amz/rcw

crime

Top US news anchor pleads with kidnappers for mom's life

  • The news anchor confirmed that she had heard media reports of a ransom letter and said her family was working to do "everything that we can." 
  • US news anchor Savannah Guthrie tearfully pleaded with kidnappers to share proof that her 84-year-old mother was still alive in a video posted to her social media Wednesday night.
  • The news anchor confirmed that she had heard media reports of a ransom letter and said her family was working to do "everything that we can." 
US news anchor Savannah Guthrie tearfully pleaded with kidnappers to share proof that her 84-year-old mother was still alive in a video posted to her social media Wednesday night.
"We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her," Guthrie said, after noting that "voices and images are easily manipulated." 
Flanked by family members, the 54-year-old NBC News co-host of the morning program "Today" addressed kidnappers directly, weeping.
"We want to hear from you and we are ready to listen."
Police in Arizona said Monday they believed Nancy Guthrie was kidnapped from her home in Pima County after she went missing Sunday under suspicious circumstances.
"She did not leave on her own, we know that," Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told a press conference Monday, describing the home as a "crime scene."
Nanos said in a statement posted to X on Wednesday that "investigators have not identified a suspect or person of interest" in the case.

'Where is Nancy?'

In his post, Nanos said detectives "continue to speak with anyone who may have had contact with Mrs. Guthrie."
"We're working towards, where is Nancy? Where is Ms. Guthrie? We want to find her," Nanos told CBS News on Wednesday. 
US President Donald Trump said on his Truth Social platform Wednesday he had spoken to Savannah Guthrie "and let her know that I am directing ALL Federal Law Enforcement to be at the family's, and Local Law Enforcement's, complete disposal, IMMEDIATELY." 
"We are deploying all resources to get her mother home safely," Trump added.
In the video she posted, Guthrie described her mother's fragile heart and health, saying "she lives in constant pain. She is without any medicine. She needs it to survive, and she needs it not to suffer."
The news anchor confirmed that she had heard media reports of a ransom letter and said her family was working to do "everything that we can." 
She also addressed her missing mother directly.
"Mommy, if you are hearing this, you are a strong woman. You are God's precious daughter, Nancy," Savannah Guthrie said. 
Nancy Guthrie was reported missing after she didn't show up to her regular Sunday church service, the New York Times reported.
des-sla/jgc/cms/lga

Sony

Sony hikes forecasts even as PlayStation falters

BY MATHIAS CENA

  • Sony's forecast for the estimated impact of tariffs this year imposed on Japanese imports by US President Donald Trump's administration remained at 50 billion yen. mac-stu/pbt
  • Japanese giant Sony hiked its full-year forecasts on Thursday, as a weaker yen compensates for its ageing PlayStation games console and a memory chip crunch.
  • Sony's forecast for the estimated impact of tariffs this year imposed on Japanese imports by US President Donald Trump's administration remained at 50 billion yen. mac-stu/pbt
Japanese giant Sony hiked its full-year forecasts on Thursday, as a weaker yen compensates for its ageing PlayStation games console and a memory chip crunch.
Sony now expects net profit of 1.13 trillion yen ($7.2 billion) in the 2025-26 fiscal year, up from its previous projection of 1.05 trillion yen, and a six percent rise on last year.
It also projected a 20.6 percent rise in operating profit and revenues of 12.3 trillion yen, up 2.2 percent, as well as an improved operating margin of 12.5 percent, a statement said.
For its third quarter, Sony's net profit rose 11 percent and revenues were up one percent. Operating income of 515 billion yen beat analysts' expectations.
Sony's PlayStation 5 (PS5), launched in 2020, is beginning to get old, and sales volumes of the games console fell 16 percent in the last quarter.
The company offered steep discounts on the device last year in an attempt to boost demand.
However, the Japanese group, like its competitors worldwide, is suffering from a growing shortage of memory chips.
That is driving up the prices of the chips and eroding profit margins of all sorts of electronic goods.
Shares in Nintendo, maker of the rival Switch 2, dived 11 percent on Wednesday over concerns about software sales and the impact of the memory chip supply crunch.
Sony shares initially soared almost six percent on Thursday but were flat in late trade in a falling overall market.

AI boom

The artificial intelligence boom has pushed up prices and shipments of conventional NAND and DRAM memory chips, while demand for high‑bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in AI servers has soared.
"It will definitely get more difficult to offer reduced prices (of the PS5) this year than in 2025," gaming industry consultant Serkan Toto told AFP.
Sony made no comment on the chip issue in its earnings release, which analysts say could also hit its hardware products such as cameras, TVs and smartphones, as well as its image sensor segment.
Last month, Sony said it was spinning off its home entertainment business -- which includes TVs -- into a joint venture with Chinese giant TCL.
It might also force Sony to delay the launch of a potential PlayStation 6 to the second quarter of 2028, Yasuo Nakane from Mizuho said in a recent note.
The hotly anticipated upcoming release of "Grand Theft Auto VI" is also important for the PlayStation's continued sales.
GTA's creators Rockstar Games delayed the launch again last year, this time until November.
"In 2026, GTA VI will do to PS5 what Covid did a few years ago to Sony: provide a massive boost, enough to carry the platform to 2028," Toto said.
"Nobody doubts that GTA VI will be the biggest game launch (and perhaps of an entertainment product) of all time."
Sony is also banking on growth in the music division thanks to increased sales related to concerts and merchandise, while results are expected to stagnate in film and consumer electronics.
It began reducing its exposure to this low-margin sector several years ago to focus on entertainment and imaging technologies, its main growth drivers.
Sony's forecast for the estimated impact of tariffs this year imposed on Japanese imports by US President Donald Trump's administration remained at 50 billion yen.
mac-stu/pbt

art

Rijksmuseum puts the spotlight on Roman poet's epic

BY STéPHANIE HAMEL

  • "Everybody to whom we said we want to make an exhibition about "Metamorphoses" was immediately enthusiastic, because it's a theme that has inspired artists over so many centuries, and there was never really an exhibition about it," Rijksmuseum director Taco Dibbits told AFP. There are paintings from Italian master Caravaggio and the Belgian Surrealist Rene Magritte, while a 17th-century marble sculpture, Bernini's Sleeping Hermaphroditus, is one of the centrepieces.
  • Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum on Friday opens the biggest exhibition ever devoted to art inspired by "Metamorphoses", Roman poet Ovid's most famous work, featuring contributions from artists as varied as Caravaggio, Magritte and Bernini.
  • "Everybody to whom we said we want to make an exhibition about "Metamorphoses" was immediately enthusiastic, because it's a theme that has inspired artists over so many centuries, and there was never really an exhibition about it," Rijksmuseum director Taco Dibbits told AFP. There are paintings from Italian master Caravaggio and the Belgian Surrealist Rene Magritte, while a 17th-century marble sculpture, Bernini's Sleeping Hermaphroditus, is one of the centrepieces.
Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum on Friday opens the biggest exhibition ever devoted to art inspired by "Metamorphoses", Roman poet Ovid's most famous work, featuring contributions from artists as varied as Caravaggio, Magritte and Bernini.
Ovid's epic poem, written more than 2,000 years ago, has been the source for countless Roman, Greek and modern era paintings, statues and literary works.
More than 80 of them -- from more than 50 museums around the world -- have been assembled by the Rijksmuseum and the Borghese gallery in Rome for this exhibition.
The exhibition, said the museum, would reveal the work's "passion, desire, lust, jealousy and cunning".
"Everybody to whom we said we want to make an exhibition about "Metamorphoses" was immediately enthusiastic, because it's a theme that has inspired artists over so many centuries, and there was never really an exhibition about it," Rijksmuseum director Taco Dibbits told AFP.
There are paintings from Italian master Caravaggio and the Belgian Surrealist Rene Magritte, while a 17th-century marble sculpture, Bernini's Sleeping Hermaphroditus, is one of the centrepieces.
Ovid's 15-book "Metamorphoses" tells the story of the world from its creation until the death of Emperor Julius Caesar through myths.
The Sleeping Hermaphroditus tells how nymph Salmacis falls in love with Hermaphroditus and implores the gods to unite the two. Their bodies become one, both man and woman.
"It's a very modern idea in itself, with its fluidity of gender," said Frits Scholten, head of sculpture at the the Rijksmuseum.
"But at the same time, it's very ancient, which makes it all the more relevant."

'Universal' theme

Modern readers may find "Metamorphoses" somewhat impenetrable, Scholten conceded. But it still inspires art even after more than 2,000 years.
"The theme is universal," he argued.
"You find it in games, you find it in modern art, you find it everywhere, people are constantly inspired, it's like with fairy tales, and these are the fairy tales -- to a certain extent -- of the ancient period."
The figure of Medusa, represented in the exhibition by works dating from the 16th to the 21st century are shown in the exhibition.
Long presented as an evil symbol, Medusa, raped by the god Poseidon and whose eyes have the power to petrify anyone who meets her gaze, has been reclaimed in recent decades as a feminist symbol.
The exhibition has different forms of Medusa "to show that each generation uses its own, takes the motifs from Ovid, from the Metamorphoses, for its own use," said Scholten.
The exhibition runs until May 25 at the Rijksmuseum before transferring to the Borghese gallery in Rome.
sh/tw/jj

music

Barry Manilow cancels Las Vegas shows but 'doing great' post-surgery

  • "I'm doing great and recovering very well after my surgery," he said in a post on Instagram Wednesday.
  • US singer-songwriter Barry Manilow on Wednesday announced the cancellation of his upcoming run of shows in Las Vegas, but assured fans he was recovering well from surgery to remove lung cancer.
  • "I'm doing great and recovering very well after my surgery," he said in a post on Instagram Wednesday.
US singer-songwriter Barry Manilow on Wednesday announced the cancellation of his upcoming run of shows in Las Vegas, but assured fans he was recovering well from surgery to remove lung cancer.
The 82-year-old crooner, known for 1970s hits "Copacabana" and "Mandy," revealed a lung cancer diagnosis in December and planned to have an operation to treat it.
"I'm doing great and recovering very well after my surgery," he said in a post on Instagram Wednesday.
"With my doctor's guidance and recommendation, however, we have decided to postpone my residency dates at Westgate Las Vegas from February 12-21 so I can stay focused on healing and getting ready for the tour that's kicking off at the end of February," he added.
Born and raised in New York, Manilow saw his biggest success in the 1970s, and has since continued to perform and record, with frequent residencies in Las Vegas.
rfo/vla/des/sla

award

On a roll, Brazilian cinema seizes its moment

BY LUCíA LACURCIA

  • It has been nominated for Oscars in the categories of Best Picture, Best International Feature Film, Best Actor for Wagner Moura and Best Casting.
  • For the second year in a row, a Brazilian movie has wowed international audiences and critics, securing multiple Oscar nominations and drawing fresh interest in the Latin American giant's film industry.
  • It has been nominated for Oscars in the categories of Best Picture, Best International Feature Film, Best Actor for Wagner Moura and Best Casting.
For the second year in a row, a Brazilian movie has wowed international audiences and critics, securing multiple Oscar nominations and drawing fresh interest in the Latin American giant's film industry.
Experts say the success of "The Secret Agent", which has won four Oscar nominations, a year after "I Am Still Here" won Brazil its first Oscar, is no fluke, with a bit of a push from the country's political climate.
"This is neither a coincidence nor a miracle. It is the result of a lot of work, consistent policies, and, of course, talent," Ilda Santiago, director of the Rio International Film Festival and an Oscar voter, told AFP.
Directed by Kleber Mendonca Filho, "The Secret Agent" is a political thriller infused with magical realism. Like "I Am Still Here", it is set during Brazil's 1964-1985 military dictatorship.
It has been nominated for Oscars in the categories of Best Picture, Best International Feature Film, Best Actor for Wagner Moura and Best Casting.
Santiago said these two big Brazilian movies resonated with foreign audiences "because they show how our daily lives can be transformed by governments, and that is a mirror of today's world."
This is especially true for Brazil, whose far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro -- an open admirer of the dictatorship -- is serving a 27-year prison term for plotting a coup.
Before Bolsonaro came to power in 2019, Brazil's film industry had well-established financing mechanisms, much like those in countries like France, Canada and Germany.
Brazil has enjoyed waves of international breakout moments, with films such as 'Central Station' in 1998, 'City of God' in 2002 and 'Elite Squad' starring Moura in 2007.
Mendonca Filho was also behind the art house hits 'Aquarius' (2016) and 'Bacurau' (2019).

Film revived under Lula

During his time in office Bolsonaro cut the budget of the Audiovisual Sector Fund by almost half, froze bidding for film project grants and threatened to shut down the national film agency if it did not impose an ideological "filter."
"Brazilian cinema was plugged back in with Lula's election in 2022, after four years in which culture, in practical terms, was extinguished," Mendonca Filho told AFP in an interview.
Lula's government reactivated the funding application process and injected record amounts into the sector. The film industry received 1.4 billion reais ($269 million) in 2025, 180 percent more than in 2021.
Nevertheless, "putting each of those bricks that were dismantled back in place is a task that takes years", said Santiago.
Influential film critic Isabela Boscov said that in the past "there was a failure to take advantage" of hit films.
She said Brazil was now "breaking out of the bubble", much like Iranian cinema in the 1990s, Mexican cinema in the 2010s, and more recently, South Korean cinema.

'Small and big victories'

Last year 'I Am Still Here' racked up several international awards, and won Fernanda Torres a Golden Globe for best actress.
The film won Brazil its first Oscar -- for best international feature film.
"The Secret Agent" first earned plaudits at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won for best director and Wagner Moura won best actor.
The movie then won two Golden Globes, for best non-English film and best male actor.
"It's an accumulation of small and big victories, like Cannes, which form the foundation on which a campaign is built," said Boscov.
She also pointed to the charm and wit of actors like Torres and Moura on the talk show circuit ahead of awards season as playing a fundamental role in promoting their films.
Several other movies have scored successes at film festivals, such as 'Manas' in 2024 which tells the story of a 13-year-old confronting abuse on an Amazon island, and the dystopian 2025 drama 'The Blue Trail' -- in which Brazil's elderly are ordered to move to remote housing colonies.
ll/app/fb/dw

theft

Empress's crown dropped in Louvre heist to be fully restored: museum

  • The Louvre said in a statement the piece had been "badly deformed", but remained "nearly intact" and would be restored to its original state, "without the need for reconstruction".
  • The crown of French Empress Eugenie, which was abandoned by fleeing thieves who staged a brazen robbery at the Louvre last year, is nearly intact and will be fully restored, the museum said Wednesday.
  • The Louvre said in a statement the piece had been "badly deformed", but remained "nearly intact" and would be restored to its original state, "without the need for reconstruction".
The crown of French Empress Eugenie, which was abandoned by fleeing thieves who staged a brazen robbery at the Louvre last year, is nearly intact and will be fully restored, the museum said Wednesday.
The thieves who robbed the famed Paris museum last October made off with an estimated 88 million euros ($104 million) in jewels, but dropped the empress's diamond- and emerald-studded crown as they escaped, leaving it crushed and broken.
Investigators have yet to locate the other jewels, but recovered the dropped crown.
The Louvre said in a statement the piece had been "badly deformed", but remained "nearly intact" and would be restored to its original state, "without the need for reconstruction".
The museum said the crown was damaged when the thieves tried to remove it through a narrow hole they had sawed in the glass case where it was displayed.
The Louvre said the crown still had all its pieces, except for one of the eight golden eagles that adorned it.
It retains all 56 of its emeralds and all but 10 of its 1,354 diamonds, the museum said.
It said an expert committee led by the museum's president, Laurence des Cars, had been selected to supervise the restoration, which would be carried out by a qualified expert chosen in a competitive selection process.
Authorities have arrested all four alleged members of the heist crew, but have not found the mastermind -- or the remaining jewels.
The thieves made off with eight other items of jewellery, including a diamond-studded tiara that belonged to Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III.
agu/jlo/cbn/jhb/gv

church

Artist rubs out Meloni church fresco after controversy

  • The agency, part of the Italian culture ministry, had ordered an inspection of the fresco on Saturday. jra/dt/ar/gv
  • An artist who restored a fresco in a church in central Rome with a likeness of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has wiped out his own artwork after it sparked outrage.
  • The agency, part of the Italian culture ministry, had ordered an inspection of the fresco on Saturday. jra/dt/ar/gv
An artist who restored a fresco in a church in central Rome with a likeness of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has wiped out his own artwork after it sparked outrage.
The story began on Saturday when La Repubblica daily revealed that the face of a freshly-restored winged figure in the San Lorenzo in Lucina church closely resembled Meloni.
Meloni herself left a bemused comment on Instagram next to her supposed likeness, saying: "No, decidedly I do not resemble an angel."
The artist behind the restoration, Bruno Valentinetti, told La Repubblica that he had rubbed out her face on Tuesday night following a request by the Vatican administration.
Contacted by AFP, the Vatican did not immediately confirm this claim -- but an AFP reporter confirmed the likeness had been removed.
The restorer also told the paper that he had indeed painted the figure to resemble Meloni after initially denying it.
"Well, it really was Meloni but in the same style of the fresco that was there before," he told La Repubblica.
The church, located just a few metres from Meloni's office, has seen a large influx of curious onlookers in recent days.
Arianna de Gregoriis, 23, said she had come to see the Meloni fresco and was returning after reading the news that the face had been deleted.
She said she was "even more curious" and wanted to "come back and see it".
"I think putting the face of a political figure inside a place of worship like this one and more generally in a work of art is not a positive message," she said.
The agency in charge of cultural preservation in Rome said in a statement on Wednesday that authorisation "accompanied with a sketch of the image" would be required for any further restoration.
The agency, part of the Italian culture ministry, had ordered an inspection of the fresco on Saturday.
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trial

Netflix film probes conviction of UK baby killer nurse

BY ALEXANDRA DEL PERAL

  • Her case shocked the nation during lengthy trials in 2023 and 2024, after which she was convicted and jailed for life for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven more.
  • A Netflix documentary released Wednesday about a former UK nurse jailed for life for murdering seven babies is taking a fresh look at the puzzling case of the prolific child killer. 
  • Her case shocked the nation during lengthy trials in 2023 and 2024, after which she was convicted and jailed for life for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven more.
A Netflix documentary released Wednesday about a former UK nurse jailed for life for murdering seven babies is taking a fresh look at the puzzling case of the prolific child killer. 
Lucy Letby, 36, from Hereford, western England, was charged in 2020 following a string of deaths at a hospital's neo-natal unit. 
But she has always maintained her innocence and a panel of international experts has since argued her conviction was wrong.
Her case shocked the nation during lengthy trials in 2023 and 2024, after which she was convicted and jailed for life for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven more.
Her young victims were either sick or born prematurely, and she was accused of injecting them with air, overfeeding them milk and poisoning them with insulin.
Ahead of the release of "The Investigation Of Lucy Letby", the former nurse's parents called the film "a complete invasion of privacy" for its use of previously unseen police bodycam footage of their daughter being arrested at their family home, The Sunday Times reported.
In a statement after watching the film's trailer, John and Susan Letby said they did not plan to watch the documentary.
"It would likely kill us if we did," they said. 
"The previous programmes made about Lucy, including Panorama and the almost nightly news showing her being brought out handcuffed in a blue tracksuit are heartbreaking for us," they said. 
"However, this Netflix documentary is on another level. We had no idea they were using footage in our house."
The film opens with the scene they refer to, of Letby's arrest in June 2019. 
Police enter her bedroom and she is seen sitting up in bed, in pyjamas, appearing confused, as police say they are arresting her for murder. She is then taken away in her dressing gown.
The 90-minute film does not claim to be exhaustive, but aims to offer the public the perspectives of both sides of a case that continues to prompt questions and accusations of a miscarriage of justice.
It highlights unsettling elements, such as Letby responding "no comment" to police questions while in custody, and excerpts from her diary where dates coinciding with the babies' deaths are marked with an asterisk.

'Wrong person?'

Conversely, the film also includes testimony from Canadian physician Shoo Lee, who challenged the expert evidence presented at trial. It ends with that of John Gibbs, a former pediatrician at the hospital where Letby worked.
"I live with two guilts," he says. 
"Guilt that we let the babies down, and tiny, tiny, tiny guilt: did we get the wrong person? You know, just in case: a miscarriage of justice. I don't think there was a miscarriage of justice, but you worry that no one actually saw her do it."
Letby was twice denied permission to appeal against her convictions in 2024.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, is considering evidence presented on her behalf from an international panel of medics who claim poor medical care and natural causes were the reasons for the babies.
Inquests into the deaths of six babies who Letby was convicted of murdering have been opened and then adjourned to May 5.
The inquest into the seventh baby did not determine the cause of death.
The senior coroner at the inquests adjourned them until September pending the outcome of a public inquiry into the Letby case which is due to be published this year.
Health Minister Wes Streeting told LBC radio Wednesday her fate should be decided by the courts and not campaigners "unless and until there is a judicial process that says that the court has got it wrong".
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