Brussels, Belgium | AFP | EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said Wednesday “no solution” has been found so far to break the deadlock over Brexit, a spokesman reported after the latest negotiations in Brussels. Briefing the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, Barnier said the talks “have been difficult”, spokesman Margaritis Schinas said following the …
Read More »Trump lashes out at ‘crazy’ opponents as pressure mounts
Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump branded Democratic opponents “crazy” and guilty of overreach Tuesday in a fevered response to a huge new Democratic-led probe of his alleged crimes. In a searing burst of early morning tweets, the president said the House Judiciary Committee investigation launched Monday was “the greatest overreach in …
Read More »Jackson’s defamed legacy has superfans up in arms
New York, United States | AFP | A documentary on pedophilia accusations against Michael Jackson has left some fans grappling with the late superstar’s tarnished legacy — but among his outraged superfans, protecting it is all that matters. Celebrity fandom has morphed into a vicious online tool, with superfan gangs — Beyonce’s Beyhive, Justin Bieber’s …
Read More »Second HIV remission patient ignites cure hope
Paris, France | AFP | For just the second time ever a HIV patient is in sustained remission from the virus in what was hailed by experts Tuesday as proof that the AIDS-causing condition could one day be curable. Ten years almost to the day since the first confirmed case of an HIV-infected person being …
Read More »Nude ‘Mona Lisa’ may be by Leonardo, say experts
Paris, France | AFP | A nude drawing that bears a striking resemblance to the “Mona Lisa” was done in Leonardo da Vinci’s studio and may be the work of the master himself, a French museum said Monday. Experts at the Louvre in Paris, where the world’s biggest collection of Leonardo’s work is held, have …
Read More »Juan Guaido: the ‘kid’ taking on Venezuela’s Maduro
Caracas, Venezuela | AFP | Juan Guaido proudly calls himself a “survivor,” and he proved just that in defying the threat of arrest to make a triumphant return to Venezuela on Monday. Since stunning the world on January 23 when issuing a direct challenge to Nicolas Maduro’s authority by declaring himself acting president, Guaido has …
Read More »Google fights European copyright overhaul
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | Internet giant Google on Monday urged the European Parliament to resist approving a planned overhaul of the bloc’s online copyright law that the company said would hurt Europe for “decades to come”. European lawmakers could vote as soon as next week on the landmark legislation that is intended to modernise …
Read More »Vatican to open archives of WWII pope Pius XII in 2020
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis announced Monday that the Vatican will open the secret archives of the era of Pius XII in March next year, which could shed light on the Catholic Church’s actions during World War II. Researchers have long sought to examine the archives …
Read More »Side-front in Britain’s Brexit drama — the US Congress
Washington, United States | AFP | With Britain deadlocked on negotiating its divorce from the European Union, an unexpected side-front is emerging — the US Congress. Conservatives who pushed the June 2016 referendum that ended in the shock decision to leave the 28-member bloc dangled the prospect of a free trade agreement with the United …
Read More »Convicted Australian cardinal to be sued over alleged abuse: reports
Melbourne, Australia | AFP | A man is set to sue convicted Australian Cardinal George Pell over child sex abuse allegations, reports said Monday, days after state prosecutors dropped his criminal case against the disgraced cleric. Pell — the most senior Catholic clergyman to be found guilty of child sex abuse — is currently in …
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