music

Major sponsors drop Kanye West London gigs as PM voices concern

  • A spokesperson for Pepsi, the festival's top sponsor, told AFP on Sunday that the brand "has decided to withdraw its sponsorship of Wireless Festival", without giving a reason.
  • Drinks giants Pepsi and Diageo on Sunday pulled out of sponsoring a music festival in London headlined by US rapper Kanye West, who has a history of antisemitic outbursts.
  • A spokesperson for Pepsi, the festival's top sponsor, told AFP on Sunday that the brand "has decided to withdraw its sponsorship of Wireless Festival", without giving a reason.
Drinks giants Pepsi and Diageo on Sunday pulled out of sponsoring a music festival in London headlined by US rapper Kanye West, who has a history of antisemitic outbursts.
The disgraced 48-year-old hip-hop star -- now known as Ye -- is due to play three nights at the Wireless Festival in London in July as part of a European comeback tour.
A spokesperson for Pepsi, the festival's top sponsor, told AFP on Sunday that the brand "has decided to withdraw its sponsorship of Wireless Festival", without giving a reason.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed concern about West's appearances, while campaigners against antisemitism urged the government to stop the rapper entering the UK.
Starmer told The Sun newspaper it was "deeply concerning Kanye West has been booked to perform at Wireless despite his previous antisemitic remarks and celebration of Nazism".
He added that "antisemitism in any form is abhorrent and must be confronted firmly".
Diageo, whose labels Johnnie Walker and Captain Morgan were slated to be partner brands, also dropped out.
"We have informed the organisers of our concerns and as it stands, Diageo will not sponsor the 2026 Wireless Festival," a spokesman told AFP.
The festival's operating company, Live Nation, has not so far responded to a request for comment from AFP.
Festival organisers announced West's appearance on social media last month, prompting criticism from Jewish organisations and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Campaign Against Antisemitism, a British charity, on Sunday urged Starmer not to be a "bystander" and to ban West from entering the country.
"Surely this is a clear case," the charity said on X, suggesting West could be banned as a non-citizen whose presence is not "conducive to the public good".
West's European tour has already provoked controversy. In France, the mayor of Marseille said the rapper was "not welcome" for a concert there in June.
West has expressed regret over his antisemitic rants, which he blamed on his bipolar disorder.
In May 2025, he released a song called "Heil Hitler" to mark the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. 
The song was banned by major streaming platforms.
am-mhc/jhb/pdw/ksb

Canada

'Super Mario Galaxy' blasts off in N. America box office debut

  • "Family moviegoing is leading the industry now and these series are a lot of the reason why."
  • "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie," based on the wildly popular Nintendo video game, crushed the competition at the North American box office in its opening weekend with $130.9 million in ticket sales, industry estimates showed Sunday.
  • "Family moviegoing is leading the industry now and these series are a lot of the reason why."
"The Super Mario Galaxy Movie," based on the wildly popular Nintendo video game, crushed the competition at the North American box office in its opening weekend with $130.9 million in ticket sales, industry estimates showed Sunday.
The animated sequel from Universal and Illumination Studios tracks the adventures of Mario, Luigi and friends in outer space, where they must save Princess Rosalina. It features the voices of Jack Black, Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy and Brie Larson. 
"This is a sensational opening for the second episode in an animation series," said analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.
"Family moviegoing is leading the industry now and these series are a lot of the reason why."
Dropping to second place in its third week in theaters is another space adventure flick, "Project Hail Mary," which earned $30.7 million over the three-day Easter weekend in the United States and Canada, Exhibitor Relations reported.
The Amazon MGM film stars Ryan Gosling as a teacher-turned-astronaut who awakes on a spaceship with a mission to save Earth from a sun-dimming phenomenon.
Debuting in third place was "The Drama," a romantic comedy starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson about a couple unraveling just before their wedding. The A24 film earned $14.4 million.
"Current romantic comedies are about the misery of romance... all played by bigger-than-life stars," said Gross, citing past successes "Anyone but You" with Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, and "Ticket to Paradise" with Julia Roberts and George Clooney.
Dropping to fourth place at $5.8 million was Disney/Pixar animated hit "Hoppers," 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.
Fifth place went to Universal's romance film "Reminders of Him," with $2.2 million. The movie, the latest adaptation of a novel by Colleen Hoover, stars Maika Monroe and Tyriq Withers.
"Moviegoing has momentum right now. The big films are working and audiences like what they're seeing," Gross said.
Rounding out the top ten:
"They Will Kill You" ($1.9 million)
"Dhurandhar: The Revenge" ($1.82 million)
"Ready or Not 2: Here I Come" ($1.8 million)
"Scream 7" ($915,000)
"GOAT" ($800,000)
bur-sst/des

opera

At Met Opera, life after a school shooting takes center stage

BY JOHN BIERS

  • - Opening minds - The New York production of "Innocence" marks its second run at an American opera house after performances by the San Francisco Opera in June 2024.
  • School shootings are a tragically common occurrence in the United States, but rarely do they grace the stage of one of the world's premier opera houses.
  • - Opening minds - The New York production of "Innocence" marks its second run at an American opera house after performances by the San Francisco Opera in June 2024.
School shootings are a tragically common occurrence in the United States, but rarely do they grace the stage of one of the world's premier opera houses.
But on Monday, Kaija Saariaho's "Innocence" -- which explores how a devastating attack at an international school in Finland reverberates through the lives of its survivors and the community -- will debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
For celebrated US mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, taking on the piece at the current time was necessary.
"It was the subject matter and feeling the importance of telling the story and telling the story in America in 2026," DiDonato told AFP ahead of the premiere.
The 110-minute piece, first performed at the Aix-en-Provence music festival in 2021, has been performed around the world, but takes on particular resonance in a country where at least eight school shootings have occurred this year, according to CNN.
The action in "Innocence" shifts constantly between a well-heeled wedding ceremony in Helsinki, where the groom is revealed to be the brother of the man responsible for a shooting a decade earlier, and the fraught moments before and after the calamity.
DiDonato plays the waitress Tereza, the mother of a shooting victim who unexpectedly finds herself at the wedding, serving wine to family members she met after the tragedy but who don't recognize her. She eventually erupts in anger.
The opera's 13 characters are forever changed -- the shooter's relatives face stigma, while the survivors are told to move on despite the lingering effects of trauma.
The Kansas-born DiDonato said she is "horrified" by shootings but sees "Innocence" as also addressing a normalization of violence that extends into other areas such as deportations and war.
"It's important to participate in these things and shine a light on injustice, shine a light on inhumanity, shine a light on suffering," DiDonato said.
The opera "speaks to the obscene glut of violence that we're living through right now," she added.

Opening minds

The New York production of "Innocence" marks its second run at an American opera house after performances by the San Francisco Opera in June 2024.
Finnish American tenor Miles Mykkanen, who will play the groom Tuomas in New York as he did in San Francisco, said while audience members have hailed Saariaho's artistry, some see the piece -- performed without intermission -- as too grim to see more than once.
During a month of rehearsals before opening night, Mykkanen made exercising and walking through Central Park part of his ritual to escape from the opera's dark themes.
But he told AFP he still wakes up sometimes in the middle of the night "wide awake thinking about this piece."
"Opera singers, we often carry the heavy grief and drama and trauma in our own work," he said. "But I've never encountered a piece that has to carry so much violence."
DiDonato, one of the Met's biggest names following star turns in bel canto works, also won plaudits for her performance as Sister Helen Prejean in "Dead Man Walking," another modern opera with heavy subject matter -- the death penalty debate.
She spoke of one audience member, a relative of someone who was murdered, who became more open to a debate about the merits of capital punishment after seeing the opera.
That gave her hope that "Innocence" could prompt a rethink of gun violence in America and other issues.
"These kinds of stories can put cracks in the hearts of people in a good way," she said. "It can crack open people."
jmb/sst

celebrity

Judge dismisses Lively sex harassment claim against Baldoni

  • Manhattan federal judge Lewis Liman also dismissed Thursday defamation and conspiracy claims brought by Lively -- but her claims of retaliation and breach of contract against Baldoni still stand as their May 18 civil trial approaches.
  • A US judge has dismissed sexual harassment claims brought by actor Blake Lively against co-star Justin Baldoni that were at the heart of explosive public row between the two, a court filing showed.
  • Manhattan federal judge Lewis Liman also dismissed Thursday defamation and conspiracy claims brought by Lively -- but her claims of retaliation and breach of contract against Baldoni still stand as their May 18 civil trial approaches.
A US judge has dismissed sexual harassment claims brought by actor Blake Lively against co-star Justin Baldoni that were at the heart of explosive public row between the two, a court filing showed.
Manhattan federal judge Lewis Liman also dismissed Thursday defamation and conspiracy claims brought by Lively -- but her claims of retaliation and breach of contract against Baldoni still stand as their May 18 civil trial approaches.
Lively had filed a complaint against Baldoni and producer Jamey Heath for allegedly inappropriate behavior and comments during the shooting of the romantic drama "It Ends with Us."
The complaint said Baldoni -- who also directed the film -- had spoken inappropriately about his sex life and sought to alter the film to include sex scenes that were not in the script and had not been agreed to.
It also said Heath had watched Lively while she was topless, despite having been asked to turn away. It further said Baldoni waged a PR campaign to wreck Lively's reputation.
Baldoni and the studio Wayfarer countersued Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds with claims of extortion and defamation -- but judge Liman dismissed those claims last year.
Wayfarer previously insisted that neither the studio, its executives, nor its PR team did anything to retaliate against Lively.
Based on a best-selling novel by the US writer Colleen Hoover, "It Ends with Us" that made more than $350 million at the box office in 2024, making it one of the biggest hits of the year.
gw/bgs

TikTok

AI-generated 'Fruit Love Island' takes TikTok by storm

BY KATIE FORSTER

  • The sudden popularity of "Fruit Love Island" has spawned many fake TikTok accounts publishing copycat episodes, while some of the original clips appear to have been removed from the platform.
  • Millions of people have been gripped by the juicy twists of an AI-generated TikTok micro-series based on the television hit "Love Island" -- except all the participants are sexy human-like fruit.
  • The sudden popularity of "Fruit Love Island" has spawned many fake TikTok accounts publishing copycat episodes, while some of the original clips appear to have been removed from the platform.
Millions of people have been gripped by the juicy twists of an AI-generated TikTok micro-series based on the television hit "Love Island" -- except all the participants are sexy human-like fruit.
The exploits of the bizarre animated characters, including "Strawberina" and a buff open-shirt "Bananito", parody reality TV tropes, from love triangles to emotional re-couplings.
Each short clip is hosted by a voluptuous green apple, and the most popular, "Episode 15: New Dates... New Doubts", has been viewed 39 million times since being posted two weeks ago.
For comparison, the big-budget 2025 Eurovision Song Contest says it reached 166 million people.
Many have dismissed the fruity videos as so-called artificial intelligence "slop" -- poor-quality content churned out to appeal to the lowest common denominator.
But their mass consumption also signals "demand for media that helps people to switch off, to have a laugh, or to relax for a few minutes", Ludmila Lupinacci, lecturer in digital media at the University of Leeds, told AFP.
That desire may be heightened when "social platforms also give us access to horrifying, stressful, violent, and overall negative experiences", she added.
The micro-drama was started in mid-March by an account called "Ai Cinema". It does not disclose who runs it or where it is based.
"Thank you guys for watching this has been fun!" it said in the caption of a series finale posted Wednesday.
The sudden popularity of "Fruit Love Island" has spawned many fake TikTok accounts publishing copycat episodes, while some of the original clips appear to have been removed from the platform.

'Hate-watching'

"I'm not going to lie, I didn't expect you to be this easy to talk to," a watermelon woman tells her dragon-fruit date over their corresponding fruit cocktails at sunset.
"Is this cannibalism?" laughed YouTuber Annamarie Forcino in a review posted this week, titled "Fruit Love Island is pure AI slop".
"Sure, AI data centres consume massive amounts of energy, contribute to air pollution, and drain the water supply from local communities," Forcino said.
"But would you rather have clean air and lower electricity bills or Cocomelon for adults?" she joked, referring to the animated children's channel that is among YouTube's most subscribed.
In her video, Forcino points out the tell-tale visual inconsistencies that pepper AI-generated videos: "Why is this girl's right arm pink, but this one green?"
ChatGPT maker OpenAI recently said it would shut down its AI video generation app Sora, barely six months after its launch, in a shift towards business tools.
Meanwhile, Chinese video generators, like Seedance 2.0 from TikTok creator ByteDance, have wowed users and spooked the creative industries with their almost-cinematic quality.
"Fruit Love Island" is one of a bunch of other fruit-themed content spreading on social media, from fellow TV parody "Fruit Paternity Court" to a slew of other memes in different languages that often reinforce sexist or racist stereotypes.
Fruit is an absurd but also simple way to reflect the formulaic, sensationalist and stereotypical world of dating reality TV, Lupinacci said.
Its AI quirks "might indeed be actually part of the appeal, as they make it funnier, more bizarre, and potentially more engaging -- even if prone to mockery and hate-watching".
kaf/lkd/abs

arts

Irish income scheme throws artists unique lifeline

BY PETER MURPHY

  • In a light-filled artists' studio complex in central Dublin, Caelainn Hogan, a journalist and author who has been building a reputation for her writings, described the scheme as "life-changing", but shared conflicting feelings.
  • In a maze of plywood artists' studios built into a Dublin warehouse, author and filmmaker Seanan Kerr stitches together a career that -- until recently -- had little guarantee of stability.
  • In a light-filled artists' studio complex in central Dublin, Caelainn Hogan, a journalist and author who has been building a reputation for her writings, described the scheme as "life-changing", but shared conflicting feelings.
In a maze of plywood artists' studios built into a Dublin warehouse, author and filmmaker Seanan Kerr stitches together a career that -- until recently -- had little guarantee of stability.
That all changed in 2022, when Ireland began paying 2,000 practising artists, including Kerr, a no-strings-attached guaranteed weekly stipend of 325 euros for three years.
For the 45-year-old, who is also a performer, the groundbreaking scheme was nothing short of "radical".
"It's almost unbelievable it even happened," he told AFP in his tiny, box-like workshop amid piles of books, sketches and scribbles.
The "Basic Income for the Arts" (BIA) initiative is a first for Ireland, and unique in Europe, attracting interest from other nations such as Germany and Finland.
The scheme "sets Ireland apart in how we support our artists," Ireland's Minister for Culture, Patrick O'Donovan, said last month.
Framed as "recognition, at government level, of the important role of the arts in Irish society," the government has declared the pilot a success. 
It was made permanent in February, and the government set aside around 18 million euros for 2026 to fund 2,000 artists from September for three years.

Freed for 'total creativity'

The benefits recorded in the culture ministry's data include increased productivity and reduced anxiety among participants.
Those chosen for the stipend can earn extra money on top, and pocket more than the average unemployment benefit of about 250 euros a week.
"Giving artists freedom to just take the money, do what you want, allows them to step into a mindset of pure, total creativity," Kerr said.
"It's allowed me to rebuild my sense of self as an artist, and set myself up for the future," he said.
Being able to afford a morning coffee, buy clothes or attend artists' workshops gave him "a basic level of decency", he said, before heading out to a poetry night.
In another of the box spaces which can be rented for between 150-300 euros a month, Kieran Guckian, 42, a landscape artist, said he was "excited" to apply before a May deadline.
"Everyone's always doing little side gigs, I teach and do workshops," he said.
"Having that basic income would free me up for more studio time," he added, glancing at half-finished canvases.

'Precarity'

While many hail the scheme as transformative, some worry its limited scale casts a shadow over its promise.
In a light-filled artists' studio complex in central Dublin, Caelainn Hogan, a journalist and author who has been building a reputation for her writings, described the scheme as "life-changing", but shared conflicting feelings.
The 37-year-old found out she was pregnant six months into the pilot payments.
"That was frightening as a writer, as someone without financial security," she told AFP.
Her last payment was in February, and with over 10,000 artists expected to apply in May her chances of being selected again in the future are slim.
Once they have determined the eligible candidates, they are all anonymised before a software using a randomised process selects the winners -- a kind of high-tech lottery.
"I'm raising a child and want to continue creative work, but even if I got lucky again it would only last for three years," said Hogan. 
"That's precarity, not sustainable support," said Hogan. Arguing the scheme could be extended to all eligible artists, she warned of a divisive two-tier system of haves and have-nots.
With rents in Dublin among the highest in Europe, Hogan also blasted politicians "boasting about supporting artists" while overseeing a housing crisis.

'Social dividends'

Across town, visual artist Day McGee, who lived in a subsidised studio-apartment during the pilot, will soon be moving out to a friend's spare room.
The "stability" of the payments helped Magee, 33, stage a first solo show and secure writing commissions.
The BIA "was a temporary chance to live," Magee said. "Now I don't know if I can continue leading a normal adult life." 
Government research indicates artists are three times more likely to live in deprivation than others.
Even big names suffer precarity, said Carla Rogers of the National Campaign for the Arts.
"You might have a great run performing on a West End stage only to come home to couch-surf," she told AFP.
The NCFA also hopes payments will eventually reach all eligible artists.
The scheme can pay for itself, generating around 1.39 euros for every euro invested according to the government's own research, Rogers said.
"It's a financial investment that pays social dividends: creativity fuels culture, tourism, and communities," she said.
O'Donovan has hinted the scheme may be expanded, but with the lottery oversubscribed many will be disappointed. 
"Not all eligible applicants will receive funding," a government spokesperson told AFP.
pmu/jkb/jj

Global Edition

Geisha spectacle in Japan's Kyoto celebrates arrival of spring

BY CAROLINE GARDIN

  • "Just as cherry blossoms bloom when spring approaches, the Miyako Odori is a spring tradition in Kyoto," Kyoko Sugiura, head of the Yasaka Nyokoba Gakuen, a school for geishas in Kyoto's Gion district, told AFP. In Japanese, the word geisha means "person of the arts", and can refer to a woman or man trained in traditional Japanese performing arts.
  • Against a backdrop of blooming cherry blossoms, a group of geishas elegantly shuffle onto a stage in Japan's Kyoto city to begin a centuries-old performance celebrating the arrival of spring.
  • "Just as cherry blossoms bloom when spring approaches, the Miyako Odori is a spring tradition in Kyoto," Kyoko Sugiura, head of the Yasaka Nyokoba Gakuen, a school for geishas in Kyoto's Gion district, told AFP. In Japanese, the word geisha means "person of the arts", and can refer to a woman or man trained in traditional Japanese performing arts.
Against a backdrop of blooming cherry blossoms, a group of geishas elegantly shuffle onto a stage in Japan's Kyoto city to begin a centuries-old performance celebrating the arrival of spring.
Dressed in sky blue kimonos emblazoned with flowers, the dancers twist and twirl in unison in front of hundreds of spectators eager to see the annual "Miyako Odori" in the nation's spectacular ancient capital.
Geishas, known as geikos in Kyoto, and apprentices called maikos have been donning elaborate costumes and fluttering fans since the Miyako Odori -- or "capital city dance" -- first started in 1872.
"Just as cherry blossoms bloom when spring approaches, the Miyako Odori is a spring tradition in Kyoto," Kyoko Sugiura, head of the Yasaka Nyokoba Gakuen, a school for geishas in Kyoto's Gion district, told AFP.
In Japanese, the word geisha means "person of the arts", and can refer to a woman or man trained in traditional Japanese performing arts.
In the popular imagination geishas are often confused with courtesans but their work as trained masters of refined old artforms does not involve selling sex.
Their performances are usually small and private, and take place at high-class establishments which operate a no first-time customer policy. 
"That's why it is often thought of as a very exclusive world," Sugiura said.
"But the Miyako Odori is a one-hour show in which geisha and maiko have the opportunity to showcase the arts they practise daily," she said. 
"Anyone and everyone with a ticket can enjoy the show."
The Miyako Odori began soon after Kyoto hosted Japan's first national expo -- an effort to revitalise the western city following the relocation of the capital to Tokyo in 1869.
The format of the performance has not changed much, Sugiura explained, although the music and dance moves are sometimes switched up.
Maria Superata, a geisha expert who has worked with them as an interpreter, explained that the show "combines all of the traditional performing arts that you can see in Japan".
"For example, elements from kabuki (classical Japanese theatre), elements from traditional dance. So they have to act, they have to sing, they have to play the instruments, everything all in one," she said.
"That's why it's so special."
But the number of geishas, who once made a living through performing for Japan's wealthy elite, is in decline.
Superata said that fewer young Japanese want a life that demands huge discipline and comes with a strict practise schedule. 
"Nowadays, young Japanese people... are not very interested that much in traditional art and in kimono."
cg-nf/aph/ane/lga

Israel

Israeli director Nadav Lapid wants new satire to 'shake souls'

BY PAULA RAMON

  • But he thinks some of that feeling is misdirected.
  • Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid thinks sometimes movies can change history; other times they simply narrate it.
  • But he thinks some of that feeling is misdirected.
Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid thinks sometimes movies can change history; other times they simply narrate it.
With his latest production, which hits US theaters Friday, the filmmaker has set himself a different goal.
"I hope 'Yes' shakes people's souls," he said.
The chaotic satire -- which premiered in Europe last year -- follows musician Y (Ariel Bronz) and dancer Yasmin (Efrat Dor), a young couple in Tel Aviv who raise their newborn son during the day, while entertaining at wild fetish parties for the wealthy by night.
The couple's lives schizophrenically jump between booze-fueled submissive sexuality and the banality of paying the babysitter.
This routine begins to unravel into a quest for identity and existential meaning when Y is hired to compose a new patriotic anthem.
"Yes" is set in the aftermath of October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters launched an unprecedented attack against Israel, whose retaliation has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run authorities.
Lapid began writing the screenplay before the assault on Israel, which left 1,221 people dead, according to AFP data. 
He made only slight changes following the massacre. 
"The modifications weren't so big because, in a way, already the first version of the script -- this described a society on the edge, on the edge of a moral abyss, on the edge of its collapse, on the edge of the catastrophe," he told AFP in Los Angeles.
"Everything was there, but a little bit contained, a little bit restrained," he said.
"And then such an extreme event takes place, and in a way, liberates everything -- all the emotions, all the ideas and the passions, all the terrible things."
— Nationalism - 
Lapid, who has frequently criticised the Israeli government, says he understands the wave of anti-Israel feeling washing around parts of the world.
But he thinks some of that feeling is misdirected.
"It's too easy to project everything...to turn Israel to a kind of... demon," he said.
"I think sometimes it enables people not to look in the mirror, not to observe themselves and their own societies."
In any case, he insists, "Yes" is not about Israel per se; rather, the country serves merely as a setting in which to observe that "strong feeling of chaos" he sees in the world today.
And that, the director believes, is why audiences can connect with the film.
Cinemagoers can see similarities between their own lives and those of the characters.
Society is depicted as "worshiping only power and money, despising art, sensitivity, tenderness, where people ...don't talk anymore."
What he calls a "mixture between vulgarity, nationalism and authoritarianism," that is creeping around the world.
- 'Dancing with the Devil' -  
The film explores fear — a sentiment Lapid believes is pervasive today. 
The protagonist's "reaction to this fear is to convince himself that the right thing to do is to say 'yes', instead of resisting."
That's a fundamentally human impulse, says Lapid. "We all look for belonging, want to love and be loved, to believe in the end everything is okay."
However, "slowly, slowly, you find yourself dancing with the devil," he said. "I think what characterizes this moment is that people are afraid."
"Yes" opens in select cinemas in the US on Friday.
pr/hg/pnb

carnival

Russian court convicts German carnival float artist: reports

  • The court in Moscow ordered Tilly to pay a fine equivalent to around 2,000 euros ($2,300) and banned him from working for four years, the magazine said.
  • A German artist known for his carnival floats that satirise politicians has been sentenced in absentia to eight years and six months in jail by a court in Moscow, German media reported Thursday.
  • The court in Moscow ordered Tilly to pay a fine equivalent to around 2,000 euros ($2,300) and banned him from working for four years, the magazine said.
A German artist known for his carnival floats that satirise politicians has been sentenced in absentia to eight years and six months in jail by a court in Moscow, German media reported Thursday.
Jacques Tilly, head float designer for the Rose Monday carnival parade in the city of Duesseldorf, was convicted of "offending religious feelings and spreading false information about the Russian military", according to Der Spiegel magazine.
Tilly has designed satirical floats for the Duesseldorf carnival since the 1980s, with many featuring world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The artist's creations this year included a papier-mache of the Russian president being hit over the head by a face-painted jester marked "satire".
In previous years, he has depicted Putin taking a bath in blood, and behind bars.
The Moscow trial focused on a 2024 carnival float featuring figures of Putin in uniform and Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, engaged in oral sex, according to Der Spiegel.
The court in Moscow ordered Tilly to pay a fine equivalent to around 2,000 euros ($2,300) and banned him from working for four years, the magazine said.
In an interview with the Phoenix TV channel, Tilly, 62, said the verdict would serve as "a little extra motivation" for him, because it showed that "satire hurts, my work is having an effect".
Although he accepts the verdict on a practical level, "internally, of course, I do not accept it, because Russia is simply not a democratic state and because the whole thing is a farce", he said.
Tilly said he would continue his work just as before and the verdict "doesn't affect me as long as... I don't travel to countries where it could actually become dangerous".
fec/yad

festival

Travolta returns to Cannes with aviation-inspired directorial debut

  • "The story unfolds as a nostalgic journey set in the golden age of aviation," the festival said.
  • US movie legend John Travolta will present his directorial debut "Propeller One-Way Night Coach", about a young boy's journey in the "golden age of aviation", at the Cannes Film Festival in May, organisers said Thursday.
  • "The story unfolds as a nostalgic journey set in the golden age of aviation," the festival said.
US movie legend John Travolta will present his directorial debut "Propeller One-Way Night Coach", about a young boy's journey in the "golden age of aviation", at the Cannes Film Festival in May, organisers said Thursday.
The film, to make its world premiere, is adapted from the 72-year-old star's own 1997 book, inspired by his lifelong passion for aviation, the festival said.
Among the three Travolta films showcased at the Festival de Cannes in the past was "Pulp Fiction" (1994), famed for the actor's two-fingered swipe in its cult dance scene.
"The unforgettable Vince Vega of Pulp Fiction returns to the Croisette for an event as unexpected as it is exciting: his very first film as a director," the festival said.
Travolta wrote the book for his son Jett, who suffered from epileptic seizures and died in 2009 at the age of 16.
The film follows a young airplane enthusiast Jeff and his mother embarking on a one-way journey to Hollywood.
"The story unfolds as a nostalgic journey set in the golden age of aviation," the festival said.
"The journey unfolds in moments both magical and unexpected, charting the course for the boy's future," the statement said, adding that one of the flight attendants is played by the star's only daughter, Ella Bleu, 25.
The actor, who grew up not far from LaGuardia Airport near New York, is a professional pilot and began flying when he was 15.
"Travolta is certified to fly Boeing 707s, 737s, and 747s, Bombardier's Global Express and was the first private pilot to fly an Airbus A380," the festival said.
Travolta has become a pop‑culture icon, celebrated for his roles in films such as Saturday Night Fever (1977), Grease (1978), and Hairspray (2007).
"Propeller One-Way Night Coach" will make its global debut on Apple TV in May.
agu-as/ah/giv

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 

entertainment

Trump urges Bruce Springsteen boycott in social media rant

  • In January the veteran singer released his song "Streets of Minneapolis" in response to the crackdown, where masked immigration agents shot dead two protesting US citizens -- Renee Good and Alex Pretti. 
  • Donald Trump told his followers Thursday to boycott Bruce Springsteen in an angry rant against the rock icon who has emerged as a fierce critic of the US president's often harsh immigration crackdown.
  • In January the veteran singer released his song "Streets of Minneapolis" in response to the crackdown, where masked immigration agents shot dead two protesting US citizens -- Renee Good and Alex Pretti. 
Donald Trump told his followers Thursday to boycott Bruce Springsteen in an angry rant against the rock icon who has emerged as a fierce critic of the US president's often harsh immigration crackdown.
Calling Springsteen "a dried up prune who has suffered greatly from the work of a really bad plastic surgeon," Trump said his right-wing supporters should keep away from the singer's concerts.
The shows are "overpriced" and "suck," 79-year-old Trump wrote on his Truth Social site in a post filled with his trademark insults and boasts about his record as president.
Springsteen, a major US rock figure for more than half a century and winner of 20 Grammys, has been outspoken against Trump's bid to carry out mass deportations of undocumented migrants.
The raids, often by masked agents, have prompted widespread anger but are popular in Trump's core right-wing base.
On Saturday, Springsteen headlined a "No King's" rally in the northern city of Minneapolis months after the city became a protest flashpoint. Organizers estimated around 200,000 people attended the event. 
In January the veteran singer released his song "Streets of Minneapolis" in response to the crackdown, where masked immigration agents shot dead two protesting US citizens -- Renee Good and Alex Pretti. 
Springsteen's song calls the immigration agents "King Trump's private army."
jpo/sms

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