Bill Cosby found guilty of sexual assault

Bill Cosby found guilty of sexual assault
source: AFP

AFP / Dominick Reuter Actor and comedian Bill Cosby (C) leaves the courthouse in Norristown outside Philadelphia, after being found guilty of sexual assault

US television icon Bill Cosby was convicted of sexual assault Thursday in the first celebrity courtroom battle of the #MeToo era -- a combative retrial that capped his fall from grace and offered vindication to scores of women who accused him of abuses.

The frail, 80-year-old Cosby -- once beloved as "America's Dad" -- risks spending the rest of his life behind bars when he is sentenced for drugging and molesting Andrea Constand at his Philadelphia mansion in January 2004.

Cosby sat emotionless in the packed courtroom in Norristown, just outside Philadelphia, as the verdict was read out to stifled sobs and gasps in the gallery. Cosby's attorney vowed to appeal.

It was a devastating downfall for the once towering figure in late 20th century American popular culture, the first black actor to grace primetime US television, hitting the big time after growing up as the son of a maid.

Constand, a 45-year-old Canadian former basketball player turned massage therapist, sat in court to witness the moment when Cosby was reduced to a convicted sex offender staring prison in the face.

After the jury was led out, the Emmy winner -- dogged by allegations of similar assaults against 60 women -- erupted in an expletive-laden tirade when prosecutors demanded his $1 million bail be revoked.

"He doesn't have a plane, you asshole!" yelled the actor, after the district attorney claimed he could flee anywhere in the world by private jet.

"I'm not going to simply lock him up right now," hit back an irritated Judge Steven O'Neill, referencing Cosby's age and medical condition.

Cosby's first trial ended last June with a hung jury, hopelessly deadlocked after 52 hours of deliberations.

But on Thursday, a new sequestered panel, which deliberated for more than 14 hours over two days, found him guilty on all three counts of aggravated indecent assault.

- 'Fight not over' -

Each count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. O'Neill is expected to hand down a sentence in the next 60 to 90 days.

The pioneering African American actor and entertainer, adored by millions for his defining role on "The Cosby Show," has now been ordered by the judge not to leave his home until sentencing.

The verdict was a vindication for the prosecution, with the district attorney who presided over the conviction saying the real Cosby had been unmasked after he "spent decades preying on women."

"He used his wealth, he used his network of supporters to help him conceal his crimes. Now we know today who was behind that act, who the real Bill Cosby was," said the chief prosecutor, Kevin Steele, hoping the verdict would embolden other victims of sex crimes to come forward.

Other women who claimed to have been assaulted by the disgraced megastar were elated. One was so emotional, she broke down in muffled sobs and had to be escorted out of the courtroom.

"We are so happy that finally we can say, women are believed, and not only on #MeToo, but in a court of law," said Gloria Allred, the high-profile lawyer who represents 33 Cosby accusers.

The verdict ended a winning streak for Los Angeles lawyer Tom Mesereau, who leapt to fame for getting Michael Jackson acquitted of child molestation in 2005, but whose defense that hinged on his portrayal of Constand as a money-grabbing con artist ultimately failed.

"We don't think Mr. Cosby is guilty of anything and the fight is not over," he told reporters.

A case with no physical evidence, the trial essentially boiled down to he-said, she-said, and what the jury thought of Constand's credibility.

- 'Could not fight him off' -

Experts had suggested that the #MeToo movement, which since last year has disgraced a litany of powerful men including Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, could make jurors more inclined to believe female victims.

Constand said she went to Cosby's home to discuss her impending resignation as director of operations for women's basketball at Temple University, where he was on the board of trustees.

The actor offered her three blue pills to "help take the edge off," but within minutes, she lost consciousness.


AFP / Dominick Reuter Andrea Constand, the main accuser in the Bill Cosby sexual assault retrial, leaving the courtroom in Norristown, Pennsylvania on April 26, 2018


When she came to, she said Cosby was penetrating her vagina with his fingers, groping her breasts and making her masturbate him.

"I could not fight him off," she testified.

On Thursday, she beamed and hugged her attorney, but declined to speak to reporters.

When Constand first reported the assault, Montgomery County refused to press charges.

Prosecutors reopened the case in 2015, nearly a decade after she signed a $3.4 million settlement with Cosby in 2006, claiming that new evidence had come to light just as other accusers came forward.

Around 60 women, many of them onetime aspiring actresses and models, publicly branded him a calculating, serial predator who plied victims with sedatives and alcohol to bed them over four decades.

Crucial to the second trial was the judge's decision to let five other accusers testify. Constand's case against Cosby was the only one that happened recently enough to prosecute.

Evidence of world's biggest child sacrifice found in Peru

Evidence of world's biggest child sacrifice found in Peru

source: AFP

ANDINA/AFP/File / -- Excavations near the northern Peruvian coastal city of Trujillo began in 2011 when archaeologists uncovered the remains of 42 children and 76 llamas

Archaeologists in Peru have found evidence of the biggest-ever sacrifice of children, uncovering the remains of more than 140 youngsters who were slain alongside 200 llamas as part of a ritual offering some 550 years ago, National Geographic announced on Thursday.

The site was located on top of a cliff facing the Pacific Ocean in La Libertad, a northern region where the Chimu civilization arose, an ancient pre-Columbian people who worshipped the moon.

The cliff is located just outside the northwestern coastal city of Trujillo, Peru's third largest city which today has 800,000 inhabitants.

"While incidents of human sacrifice among the Aztec, Maya and Inca have been recorded in colonial-era Spanish chronicles and documented in modern scientific excavations, the discovery of a large-scale child sacrifice event in the little-known pre-Columbian Chimu civilization is unprecedented in the Americas -- if not in the entire world," National Geographic said.

The investigations were carried out by an international team led by National Geographic's Peruvian explorer Gabriel Prieto, of the National University of Trujillo, and John Verano, a physical anthropologist from Tulane University in New Orleans.

The team uncovered evidence of "the largest single incident of mass child sacrifice in the Americas -- and likely in world history."

"I, for one, never expected it," Verano told the magazine of the sacrifice site, known to the researchers as "Las Llamas."

"And I don't think anyone else would have, either," he added.

The excavations began in 2011 when the team uncovered the remains of 42 children and 76 llamas at a 3,500-year-old temple nearby.

By the time the excavations had finished five years later, they had uncovered more than 140 sets of child remains and 200 juvenile llamas, as well as rope and textiles dating to between 1400 and 1450.

Located about 300 meters above sea level, the site is in the middle of a cluster of residential compounds in Huanchaco, a neighborhood bordering Trujillo.

- Hearts removed? -


AFP/File / CRIS BOURONCLE The sacrifice site was found on a cliff just outside the northwestern coastal city of Trujillo, Peru's third largest city


"The skeletal remains of both children and animals show evidence of cuts to the sternum as well as rib dislocations, which suggest that the victims' chests were cut open and pulled apart, perhaps to facilitate the removal of the heart," the magazine said.

Researchers determined that the children were between the ages of five and 14, although most were between eight and 12 when they died, with their bodies buried facing west -- out to sea.

The llamas were all less than 18 months and they were buried facing east, toward the Andes, they said.

"It is ritual killing, and it's very systematic," Verano said.

The Chimu civilization extended along the Peruvian coast to where Ecuador begins, with its empire brought down by the Incas in around 1475, just a few decades after the sacrifice at Las Llamas.

"Until now, the largest mass child sacrifice event for which we have physical evidence is the ritual murder and interment of 42 children at Templo Mayor in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan," National Geographic said, referring to what is modern-day Mexico City.

Handshakes that shook the world

Handshakes that shook the world
source: AFP

KOREAN BROADCASTING SYSTEM/AFP / KOREAN BROADCASTING SYSTEM North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in made history when they reached across the Military Demarcation Line

When the leaders of North and South Korea reached across the Military Demarcation Line to shake hands on Friday, they symbolically -- if fleetingly -- united a peninsula that has been divided for decades.

The handshake between the two leaders marked the latest milestone in a rapid rapprochement after months of global fears about a nuclear conflict.

Here are some other handshakes that shook the world:

- Arafat-Rabin, 1993 -

After months of secret negotiations in Norway, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat stood in the South Lawn of the White House on September 13, 1993 to witness the signing of the Oslo Accords.


AFP/File / J. DAVID AKE The Rabin-Arafat handshake at the White House was one of the most dramatic moments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict


And then, in one of the most dramatic moments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Clinton's arms stretched around both leaders, Arafat and Rabin shook hands.

The abortive process granted autonomy to the occupied Palestinian territories without creating a separate state, and ended the six-year-long popular Palestinian uprising -- the Intifada -- in which over 1,200 Palestinians and around 150 Israelis were killed.

Rabin was assassinated a year later by a Jewish extremist opposed to the peace process, which faltered in the years that followed. A second Intifada broke out in 2000.

- Obama-Castro, 2013 -

At a memorial service for Nelson Mandela in 2013, US President Barack Obama made headlines when he shook hands with Cuba's Raul Castro, the first such public greeting between leaders of the bitter neighbours after decades of enmity.


AFP/File / ODD ANDERSEN There was a rapid thaw in US-Cuba ties after Barack Obama and Raul Castro shook hands in 2013

Within months, there was a rapid thaw. Full diplomatic relations were restored in July 2015, followed by once-unthinkable steps to mend ties after more than half a century of enmity.

Obama visited Cuba in 2016 -- the first such trip by an American president in 88 years. Washington also relaxed its decades-long embargo on the communist-ruled island, and US airlines resumed direct flights to Havana in November 2016.

- Queen Elizabeth-McGuinness, 2012 -

In a landmark moment in the Northern Ireland peace process, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II met Martin McGuinness, a former top commander in the paramilitary Irish Republican Army during the many years of bloody hostilities with British forces.


AFP/File / PAUL FAITH The 2012 handshake between Queen Elizabeth II and former IRA commander Martin McGuinness was a gesture that was once unimaginable


The IRA wanted an end to British rule in the province, and for it to be merged with the Republic of Ireland. McGuinness later became one of the figures that helped negotiate an end to the violence.

McGuinness -- then a deputy first minister of Northern Ireland -- shook hands with the Queen during her 2012 visit to the province.

It was a gesture towards reconciliation that would once have been unimaginable, with McGuinness' militant past and British security operations still a source of anger for many.

- Xi-Ma, 2015 -

After decades of estrangement following a traumatic split at the end of a civil war in 1949, the presidents of China and Taiwan met for the first time ever in Singapore.


AFP/File / ROSLAN RAHMAN The Xi-Ma summit in 2015 was the first time leaders from Beijing and Taipei met since Taiwan split from the mainland in 1949

In unprecedented scenes, China's Xi Jinping and Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeou shook hands for more than a minute and smiled for a mass of reporters before holding talks. The summit led to the setting up of a hotline between Beijing and Taipei and a lowering of tensions between the self-ruled island and the mainland.

While the meeting was undeniably historic, there were no major concessions from either side. Ma ended up paying a heavy political price at home: Taiwanese voters chose to back Beijing-sceptic Tsai Ing-wen in the 2016 election amid fears about the island's sovereignty.

- Donald Trump -

The next major handshake on the global calendar is expected to feature Kim Jong Un again -- this time with US President Donald Trump.

While it will certainly mark a historic moment, handshakes involving Trump sometimes make headlines for the wrong reasons, and the businessman-president has become well-known for his awkward grapples
.
AFP/File / Brendan Smialowski Clips of US President Donald Trump's awkward handshakes with other world leaders often go viral on social media

US lynching memorial seeks reflection on racist history

US lynching memorial seeks reflection on racist history
source: AFP

 GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP / Bob Miller Markers display the names and locations of individuals killed by lynching at the National Memorial For Peace And Justice in Montgomery, Alabama

A unique memorial remembering the thousands of black Americans lynched in public acts of torture opened Thursday in the southern US.

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, aims to promote reflection on the country's history of racial inequality, the reverberations of which are still felt today.

"This shadow cannot be lifted until we shine the light of truth on the destructive violence that shaped our nation, traumatized people of color, and compromised our commitment to the rule of law and to equal justice," Bryan Stevenson, director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) behind the project, says on the memorial's website.


GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP / Bob Miller DJ Briggs, 69, visits the National Memorial For Peace and Justice on its opening day


EJI, a non-profit legal assistance group, documented the lynching of more than 4,400 black people in the United States between 1877 and 1950.

While slavery lasted for centuries, "nothing sustained racial inequality more than lynching," it said on its website.

"Lynching was racial terrorism."

Set on a six-acre (2.4 hectare) site, the memorial contains 800 suspended steel monuments, one for each county where a lynching occurred. Each is engraved with the names of victims.


GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP / Bob Miller Markers display the names and locations of individuals killed by lynching at the National Memorial For Peace and Justice

Identical monuments in the surrounding field are "waiting to be claimed and installed in the counties they represent," the museum website said.

"Over time, the national memorial will serve as a report on which parts of the country have confronted the truth of this terror and which have not."

Sculptures of black men and women in chains are also displayed.

US civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, pictured on his Twitter account visiting the grassy memorial, said it "has exposed our dark history."

He said that despite 200 attempts, Congress has yet to pass an anti-lynching law.

"Congress must respond and pass legislation," he said on Twitter.

Although the United States ended racist policies decades ago, the legacy of discrimination can still be felt.
GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP / Bob Miller Wretha Hudson, 73, examines a monument recording lynchings in Lee County, Texas, one of 800 such markers at the National Memorial For Peace and Justice

Interview with a robot: AI revolution hits human resources

Interview with a robot: AI revolution hits human resources
source: AFP

 AFP / Lars Hagberg Your next job interview may be with this...

You have a telephone interview for your dream job, and you're feeling nervous. You make yourself a cup of tea as you wait for the phone to ring, and you count to three before picking up.

Now imagine that your interviewer is a robot named Vera.

Russian startup Stafory co-founder Alexei Kostarev says Robot Vera, which his company developed, is driven by artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms.

"It's machine learning," Kostarev said, as he explained that his firm programmed Vera using 1.4 million interviews, as well as Wikipedia and 160,000 books.

When Vera first started conducting phone interviews, she followed a script, but that has since changed.

"Vera understands the kind of answers candidates give," Moscow-based Kostarev told AFP by phone.

And while robot recruiters will appeal to companies trying to keep costs down, there may also be another, more subtle advantage.

"When (candidates) give feedback on a job offer for example, they (say) more honest things they would not tell ... a human," Kostarev said.

Stafory says Robot Vera currently has 200 clients, major companies which then take the selected job candidates through conventional interviews and final selection.

- Danger of bias -

More broadly, human resources specialists are looking to AI solutions to speed up recruitment processes as a whole.

US company ZipRecruiter is touting a real-time selection service, with each job offer posted immediately on as many as 100 websites.

In the blink of an eye, its algorithm then trawls through the 10 million jobseekers who have registered with ZipRecruiter to see which best suit the job description.

The prospective employer then gets a shortlist of the top candidates, making recruitment a far less time-consuming exercise.

Ian Siegel, head of ZipRecruiter, told AFP the system works well because "employers aren't great at describing what they want but they know what they want when they see it".

Algorithms get better and better over time at detecting what kind of profile companies are looking for, as human resources staff give a virtual thumbs up to their preferred candidates.

So far so good, but of course there are concerns.

For one, the algorithms are learning so fast it is hard to work out how they make such crucial choices.

There is also a fear that the robots cannot remain immune to weaknesses such as bias or prejudice -- when all their learning comes from humans.

ZipRecruiter is trying its best to take the risk of bias into account in its algorithms.

But "the thing is, the algorithm is so sophisticated, there's so many different pieces of information, we can't reverse engineer exactly how it's coming up with the matches," Siegel said by phone.

- 'It takes two' -

Jeremy Lamri of the Paris-based association of human resources start-ups called LabHR said one way to counter this risk is to dial down the AI in the system.

"It is enough to tell the machine what to look out for; there is no need for machine learning in this," he said.

Technology is developing all the time as employers look for candidates with soft skills such as learning capacity, adaptability, and the ability to work well in a team.

"If tomorrow someone invents a scanner which can tell simply by looking into your eye whether you can perform well in a job, then I would think most (companies) would adopt it," said Lamri.

But if machines can make the initial selection, it should always be up to human beings to make the final choice, said Laurent da Silva, head of Adecco recruitment units Badenoch & Clark and Spring.

"It's like in our private lives," he said.

"AI can help facilitate meetings, but at the end of the day, it takes two real people to tango."

Trump warns countries that might oppose North American World Cup bid

Trump warns countries that might oppose North American World Cup bid
source: AFP

 AFP / NICHOLAS KAMM President Donald Trump says it would be a shame if countries that the US always supports were to lobby against the US' FIFA World Cup bid.

US President Donald Trump tweeted support for the North American FIFA World Cup bid Thursday, and hinted nations who oppose it could face political repercussions.

"The U.S. has put together a STRONG bid w/ Canada & Mexico for the 2026 World Cup," Trump tweeted.

"It would be a shame if countries that we always support were to lobby against the U.S. bid. Why should we be supporting these countries when they don't support us (including at the United Nations)?"

Morocco is the only other nation bidding for the 2026 football showpiece against the combined North American bid.

World football's governing body FIFA will announce the winning bid after a vote on June 13 in Moscow, ahead of the start of this year's World Cup in Russia.

Noel Le Graet, president of the French Football Association, has said France will back Morocco.

Le Graet said this month that Africa, where the World Cup has only been hosted once before -- in South Africa in 2010 -- "has often been neglected".

Ahmad Ahmad, president of the Confederation of African Football, has urged European countries to support Morocco.

In an exclusive interview with AFP this week, he appealed to European self-interest saying: "Vote for us and we'll vote for you next time."

While Morocco can expect widespread support from African countries, the 10 countries of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) said this month in a joint statement they had decided "unanimously" to support the North American bid.

The North American bid has long been viewed as the front-runner to stage the tournament, thanks to its well-developed infrastructure.

But there have been concerns that Trump's comments on such issues as immigration could hurt the bid.

US law enforcement were also responsible for exposing systemic corruption in FIFA in 2015, but US Soccer Federation chief Carlos Cordeiro said in March that he didn't believe anti-US sentiment would be a factor in the vote.

"This is not geopolitics this is football," he said.

Pompeo sworn in as US secretary of state; heads to Europe, Middle East

Pompeo sworn in as US secretary of state; heads to Europe, Middle East
source: AFP

AFP/File / JIM WATSON Former CIA director Mike Pompeo won Senate support in a vote Thursday to be secretary of state

Former CIA director Mike Pompeo was sworn in as America's top diplomat Thursday after a bruising battle over his hardliner image, and immediately embarked on a mission to Europe and the Middle East with a strong declaration of support from President Donald Trump.

Pompeo overcame stiff opposition in the Senate from Democrats who warned he would add fuel to Trump's aggressive foreign policy.

But ultimately, the 54-year-old West Point graduate and former congressman beat back critics, easily winning Senate confirmation in a 57-42 vote.

Just over one hour later, he was sworn in as secretary of state by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito at the White House.

The State Department immediately announced Pompeo would lead the US delegation to NATO foreign minister talks in Brussels on Friday, and follow that with stops in Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, stops chosen to reflect their "importance as key allies and partners in the region," the department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

- Trump: 'He has my trust' -


AFP / NICHOLAS KAMM President Donald Trump says Pompeo "has my trust"


"Having a patriot of Mike's immense talent, energy and intellect leading the Department of State will be an incredible asset for our country at this critical time in history," Trump said in a statement.

"He will always put the interests of America first. He has my trust. He has my support."

After the swearing-in ceremony, Pompeo said he was "completely humbled by the responsibility" of his new post.

"I'm looking forward to serving the American people and getting to work right away," he added.

Pompeo replaces Rex Tillerson, the former oil executive Trump fired in March after a year of tensions with the White House over policy and turmoil in the State Department, where his cutbacks and aloofness alienated staff and left the body deeply demoralized.

But where Tillerson was seen as a voice of moderation in the Trump administration, Pompeo is viewed as a hawk who could combine with new White House National Security Advisor John Bolton to back Trump's aggressive posturing on the world stage.

- Promises diplomacy, 'swagger' -

In a bruising fight against his appointment, Democrats accused Pompeo as too bellicose and harboring anti-Muslim and homophobic sentiments.

During his confirmation hearing at the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Pompeo rejected those accusations.

He insisted his focus will be on diplomatic solutions to problems, while pledging to bring "swagger once again" to the State Department.

"One of the many values of robust diplomacy is that it increases our chances of solving problems peacefully, without ever firing a shot," Pompeo said.

- Secret North Korea trip -

Thursday's move to the state department marks the high point so far in the career of the ambitious Pompeo, who some say has his eyes on the White House.

He graduated first in his class at the elite US Military Academy at West Point, and later earned a law degree from Harvard.


US Government/AFP / HO

Pompeo served four terms as a Republican congressman from Kansas before Trump tapped him to head the Central Intelligence Agency last year.

There, he promised a more "vicious" intelligence operation, making unapologetically menacing statements toward North Korea and Iran.

He also earned Trump's ear in regular intelligence briefings at the White House, accommodating Trump's desire for simplified, visual presentations rather than detailed written assessments of the world's security dangers.

Behind the scenes, he made numerous trips abroad to meet foreign political and security leaders, especially in the Middle East.

He also took the lead in creating a dialogue with North Korea as Pyongyang demonstrated its theoretical ability to strike the United States with a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile.

In late March, Pompeo secretly traveled to Pyongyang, where he met with Kim to discuss what could become a historic summit between the two countries possibly as early as in May.

The White House released pictures from their meeting Thursday, attesting to Pompeo's central role in relations with North Korea.

That served to underscore that he could easily slip into the diplomatic driver's seat as soon as he was sworn in.

US Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison‏ said she was "pleased that he will be leading the delegation" to the NATO meeting. "His efforts to come to Brussels tonight shows America's commitment to NATO and our Allies and Partners," she said.

Time now the enemy in battle to find missing GIs in jungles of Vietnam

Time now the enemy in battle to find missing GIs in jungles of Vietnam
source: AFP

AFP / Thanh NGUYEN Some of the personal belongings of US soldiers missing in action recovered from the jungles of Vietnam

When Tycoria Johnson told her family she was going to Vietnam to help recover the remains of an American killed there during the war, her mother was proud -- but anxious.

Seventeen years earlier, Johnson's father died in a helicopter crash on a similar mission to find some of the 1,600 US servicemen and women killed in the Vietnam War whose bodies have still not been located.

"The last time (my mother) had a family member here, he didn't come back, so she was kind of nervous," said 26-year-old Johnson, a radio frequency transmission systems technician stationed in Japan with the US Air Force.

In an unlikely twist of fate, Johnson was assigned to help recover the remains of a Marine pilot whose plane crashed during a night mission in central Quang Ngai province in 1966.


US Department of Defense/AFP / Handout A US search team scours a site in Quang Ngai province in Vietnam for the remains of a marine pilot who was killed in 1966 in a plane crash but whose remains have never been recovered


She spent weeks scouring the forest for bone shards or tooth fragments, learning a few words of Vietnamese, the same work her father, US Army Sergeant First Class Tommy Murphy, did before he died in 2001.

He was among seven Americans and nine Vietnamese killed when their helicopter slammed into the side of a mountain in bad weather.

Johnson said her trip was a chance for closure.

"I feel like he didn't complete it, so I wanted to do that for him, to say that he finished the mission," Johnson told AFP, sitting near a framed photo of her father working on a dig site in Vietnam.

Johnson was on the mission with the US agency in charge of recovering American remains around the world, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).

It has been working in Vietnam for more than 30 years, before the former war foes established diplomatic ties in 1995.

The agency was born out of a war-era effort by the wives of American POWs in Vietnam who demanded US leaders do more to get their imprisoned husbands home, many of whom were held in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" prison in the capital of the Communist North.

Now it focuses on returning bodies and has repatriated more than 1,000 American remains from the Vietnam War since 1973, including fallen soldiers found in neighbouring Laos, Cambodia and China, according to DPAA figures.


AFP / Linh PHAM US troops standing next to three flag-draped coffins bearing the remains of American soldiers killed in Vietnam whose remains were only recently recovered

Of the more than 1,600 still unaccounted for, about 1,200 are in Vietnam.

That includes the pilot whose remains Johnson was looking for, though her team never found him.

Instead she capped her mission at a stoic repatriation ceremony in Danang for three other soldiers whose remains found in Vietnam were placed in a box wrapped with an American flag to be shipped to the US state of Delaware for DNA testing.

- Race against time -

DPAA works around the world to recover US war missing. Those unaccounted for include 72,000 from World War II and 7,700 from the Korean War.

A further 126 are listed as unaccounted for from the Cold War -- many of them aircrew who went missing during reconnaissance flights over or near former Soviet bloc countries.


AFP / Thanh NGUYEN Tycoria Johnson's father died in a helicopter crash on a mission to find some of the 1,600 US servicemen and women killed in the Vietnam War whose bodies have still not been recovered


Its reach is broad: the agency has brought home remains from Papua New Guinea to China, Pearl Harbor and the former Soviet Union, and has even identified remains of soldiers handed over by North Korea decades ago.

All the sites share a similar challenge, and Vietnam is no exception.

"Time is our biggest enemy," DPAA director Kelly McKeague told AFP in Hanoi. "Because witnesses are ageing and dying it's important for us to accelerate the pace and scope."

Many bodies are in remote jungle terrain or on land that is due to be paved over for shopping malls or apartment complexes in the fast-developing country.

Plus, the acidic soil that eats away at bone erodes evidence for search teams to recover.

McKeague said it's impossible to estimate how long it will take to bring back the remaining soldiers from the region, with only the "hard cases" remaining. Hundreds more are deemed non-recoverable.

The number of unaccounted-for Americans pales compared to the estimated 300,000 Vietnamese soldiers still not found, as official efforts to recover them has dragged amid funding shortfalls and limited DNA testing.


AFP / Thanh NGUYEN Weapons and personal belongings of US soldiers recovered in Vietnam displayed at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in Hanoi

"We need support from the international community, including the American side," Le Thanh Tung, director of the Vietnamese Office for Seeking Missing Persons, which works with DPAA to help recover American remains.

"Cooperating with the US to search for American MIA remains in Vietnam is a way to mobilise US support to find Vietnamese martyrs," he told AFP.

In the absence of a coordinated national effort to find the bodies of Vietnamese fighters, some families turn to psychics to lead them to suspected death sites, or dig so-called empty graves so they have a place to worship the dead.

Johnson knows well the importance of having remains returned. Since her own father was repatriated and buried in Virginia, her family visits his grave a few times a year to lay flowers and give him updates on their lives.

Sitting in the DPAA office in Hanoi, next to a war-era Budweiser beer can, aftershave bottle and machine guns unearthed from past digs, Johnson described the feeling of helping American families whose relatives have been missing for decades.

"To know that we can help others feel complete, that's what makes this an amazing mission for me."

Time now the enemy in battle to find missing GIs in jungles of Vietnam

Time now the enemy in battle to find missing GIs in jungles of Vietnam
source: AFP

AFP / Thanh NGUYEN Some of the personal belongings of US soldiers missing in action recovered from the jungles of Vietnam

When Tycoria Johnson told her family she was going to Vietnam to help recover the remains of an American killed there during the war, her mother was proud -- but anxious.

Seventeen years earlier, Johnson's father died in a helicopter crash on a similar mission to find some of the 1,600 US servicemen and women killed in the Vietnam War whose bodies have still not been located.

"The last time (my mother) had a family member here, he didn't come back, so she was kind of nervous," said 26-year-old Johnson, a radio frequency transmission systems technician stationed in Japan with the US Air Force.

In an unlikely twist of fate, Johnson was assigned to help recover the remains of a Marine pilot whose plane crashed during a night mission in central Quang Ngai province in 1966.


US Department of Defense/AFP / Handout A US search team scours a site in Quang Ngai province in Vietnam for the remains of a marine pilot who was killed in 1966 in a plane crash but whose remains have never been recovered


She spent weeks scouring the forest for bone shards or tooth fragments, learning a few words of Vietnamese, the same work her father, US Army Sergeant First Class Tommy Murphy, did before he died in 2001.

He was among seven Americans and nine Vietnamese killed when their helicopter slammed into the side of a mountain in bad weather.

Johnson said her trip was a chance for closure.

"I feel like he didn't complete it, so I wanted to do that for him, to say that he finished the mission," Johnson told AFP, sitting near a framed photo of her father working on a dig site in Vietnam.

Johnson was on the mission with the US agency in charge of recovering American remains around the world, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).

It has been working in Vietnam for more than 30 years, before the former war foes established diplomatic ties in 1995.

The agency was born out of a war-era effort by the wives of American POWs in Vietnam who demanded US leaders do more to get their imprisoned husbands home, many of whom were held in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" prison in the capital of the Communist North.

Now it focuses on returning bodies and has repatriated more than 1,000 American remains from the Vietnam War since 1973, including fallen soldiers found in neighbouring Laos, Cambodia and China, according to DPAA figures.


AFP / Linh PHAM US troops standing next to three flag-draped coffins bearing the remains of American soldiers killed in Vietnam whose remains were only recently recovered

Of the more than 1,600 still unaccounted for, about 1,200 are in Vietnam.

That includes the pilot whose remains Johnson was looking for, though her team never found him.

Instead she capped her mission at a stoic repatriation ceremony in Danang for three other soldiers whose remains found in Vietnam were placed in a box wrapped with an American flag to be shipped to the US state of Delaware for DNA testing.

- Race against time -

DPAA works around the world to recover US war missing. Those unaccounted for include 72,000 from World War II and 7,700 from the Korean War.

A further 126 are listed as unaccounted for from the Cold War -- many of them aircrew who went missing during reconnaissance flights over or near former Soviet bloc countries.


AFP / Thanh NGUYEN Tycoria Johnson's father died in a helicopter crash on a mission to find some of the 1,600 US servicemen and women killed in the Vietnam War whose bodies have still not been recovered


Its reach is broad: the agency has brought home remains from Papua New Guinea to China, Pearl Harbor and the former Soviet Union, and has even identified remains of soldiers handed over by North Korea decades ago.

All the sites share a similar challenge, and Vietnam is no exception.

"Time is our biggest enemy," DPAA director Kelly McKeague told AFP in Hanoi. "Because witnesses are ageing and dying it's important for us to accelerate the pace and scope."

Many bodies are in remote jungle terrain or on land that is due to be paved over for shopping malls or apartment complexes in the fast-developing country.

Plus, the acidic soil that eats away at bone erodes evidence for search teams to recover.

McKeague said it's impossible to estimate how long it will take to bring back the remaining soldiers from the region, with only the "hard cases" remaining. Hundreds more are deemed non-recoverable.

The number of unaccounted-for Americans pales compared to the estimated 300,000 Vietnamese soldiers still not found, as official efforts to recover them has dragged amid funding shortfalls and limited DNA testing.


AFP / Thanh NGUYEN Weapons and personal belongings of US soldiers recovered in Vietnam displayed at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in Hanoi

"We need support from the international community, including the American side," Le Thanh Tung, director of the Vietnamese Office for Seeking Missing Persons, which works with DPAA to help recover American remains.

"Cooperating with the US to search for American MIA remains in Vietnam is a way to mobilise US support to find Vietnamese martyrs," he told AFP.

In the absence of a coordinated national effort to find the bodies of Vietnamese fighters, some families turn to psychics to lead them to suspected death sites, or dig so-called empty graves so they have a place to worship the dead.

Johnson knows well the importance of having remains returned. Since her own father was repatriated and buried in Virginia, her family visits his grave a few times a year to lay flowers and give him updates on their lives.

Sitting in the DPAA office in Hanoi, next to a war-era Budweiser beer can, aftershave bottle and machine guns unearthed from past digs, Johnson described the feeling of helping American families whose relatives have been missing for decades.

"To know that we can help others feel complete, that's what makes this an amazing mission for me."

North Korea sued for 'killing' former detainee Otto Warmbier

North Korea sued for 'killing' former detainee Otto Warmbier
source: AFP

KCNA via KNS/AFP/File / The trial of US student Otto Frederick Warmbier, who was arrested for committing hostile acts against North Korea, at the Supreme Court in Pyongyang in March 2016

The parents of Otto Warmbier, the US student jailed by North Korea before being sent home in a coma where he died days later, sued the Pyongyang regime Thursday for the alleged torture and murder of their son.

Cindy and Fred Warmbier said in the civil suit filed at Washington District Court that their son was imprisoned by North Korea after being forced to confess to stealing a poster while he was on a tourist visit in early February 2016.

"North Korea, which is a rogue regime, took Otto hostage for its own wrongful ends, and brutally tortured and murdered him," they said in the suit.

Their action comes at a sensitive time as US officials prepare for a summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.



AFP / Nicholas Kamm Cindy and Fred Warmbier are recognized during the State of the Union address at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 30, 2018.

Trump has demanded that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons.

After having repeatedly castigated Pyongyang last year over Warmbier's death, earlier this week Trump praised Kim as "very honorable" and "very open."

Earlier this year, however, Warmbier's parents attended Trump's first State of the Union address where he heralded them as "powerful witnesses to a menace that threatens our world."

The lawsuit says Warmbier, a University of Virginia student, was on an innocent five-day trip to North Korea in December 2015 at the time that the US announced new sanctions against Kim's regime over its nuclear weapons proliferation activities.



AFP / Gal ROMA What happened to Otto Warmbier?

Warmbier was detained on January 2, 2016 as his tour group was departing, accused of hostile acts against the country as an agent of the US government -- specifically, stealing a political poster from his hotel as a "trophy".

Forced to make what his parents said was a "false confession", he was sentenced to 15 years' hard labor.

After lengthy negotiations, he was returned to the United States on June 13, 2017, comatose. The North Koreans blamed his condition on medicine they said he took for botulism.

Told by doctors he would never recover, the parents agreed to remove him from life support and he died six days later, age 22.

The suit tied his detention and mistreatment to the escalating tensions between the two countries over North Korea's test of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles at the time.

"In an attempt to extract various concessions from the United States government, North Korea detained Otto, forced him to falsely 'confess' to an act of subversion on behalf of the United States government, tortured him, kept him in detention for a year and a half without allowing him to communicate with his family, and returned him to them in a non-responsive state and brain dead."

The suit asks for unstated damages as well as punitive fines.

North Korea sued for 'killing' former detainee Otto Warmbier

North Korea sued for 'killing' former detainee Otto Warmbier
source: AFP

 KCNA via KNS/AFP/File / The trial of US student Otto Frederick Warmbier, who was arrested for committing hostile acts against North Korea, at the Supreme Court in Pyongyang in March 2016

The parents of Otto Warmbier, the US student jailed by North Korea before being sent home in a coma where he died days later, sued the Pyongyang regime Thursday for the alleged torture and murder of their son.

Cindy and Fred Warmbier said in the civil suit filed at Washington District Court that their son was imprisoned by North Korea after being forced to confess to stealing a poster while he was on a tourist visit in early February 2016.

"North Korea, which is a rogue regime, took Otto hostage for its own wrongful ends, and brutally tortured and murdered him," they said in the suit.

Their action comes at a sensitive time as US officials prepare for a summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.


AFP / Nicholas Kamm Cindy and Fred Warmbier are recognized during the State of the Union address at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 30, 2018.


Trump has demanded that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons.

After having repeatedly castigated Pyongyang last year over Warmbier's death, earlier this week Trump praised Kim as "very honorable" and "very open."

Earlier this year, however, Warmbier's parents attended Trump's first State of the Union address where he heralded them as "powerful witnesses to a menace that threatens our world."

The lawsuit says Warmbier, a University of Virginia student, was on an innocent five-day trip to North Korea in December 2015 at the time that the US announced new sanctions against Kim's regime over its nuclear weapons proliferation activities.


AFP / Gal ROMA What happened to Otto Warmbier?

Warmbier was detained on January 2, 2016 as his tour group was departing, accused of hostile acts against the country as an agent of the US government -- specifically, stealing a political poster from his hotel as a "trophy".

Forced to make what his parents said was a "false confession", he was sentenced to 15 years' hard labor.

After lengthy negotiations, he was returned to the United States on June 13, 2017, comatose. The North Koreans blamed his condition on medicine they said he took for botulism.

Told by doctors he would never recover, the parents agreed to remove him from life support and he died six days later, age 22.

The suit tied his detention and mistreatment to the escalating tensions between the two countries over North Korea's test of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles at the time.

"In an attempt to extract various concessions from the United States government, North Korea detained Otto, forced him to falsely 'confess' to an act of subversion on behalf of the United States government, tortured him, kept him in detention for a year and a half without allowing him to communicate with his family, and returned him to them in a non-responsive state and brain dead."

The suit asks for unstated damages as well as punitive fines.

EU, US police cripple Islamic State media mouthpieces

EU, US police cripple Islamic State media mouthpieces
source: AFP

 AFP / AHMAD AL-RUBAYE The Islamic State group, whose flags are pictured here in northern Iraq, has lost large swathes of its territory since a US-led alliance started an offensive in 2014

European and US police forces have struck at the heart of Islamic State's propaganda machine, seizing servers and "punching a hole" in its ability to spread its radical jihadist message online.

The transatlantic takedown was spread over eight countries and was coordinated by the EU's police agency in "a major operation over a two-year period", the head of Europol Rob Wainwright told AFP on Friday.

Wednesday and Thursday's operation was the latest in a campaign targeting in particular the Amaq news agency used by IS to broadcast claims of attacks and spread its message of jihad.

"With this takedown action, targeting major IS-branded media outlets like Amaq, but also al-Bayan radio, Halumu and Nasher news, IS's capability to broadcast and publicise terrorist material has been compromised," Europol said in a statement.

The "simultaneous multinational takedown" was coordinated by Europol from its headquarters in The Hague, and led by the Belgian federal prosecutor.

- 'Technically challenging' -

"Dozens and dozens" of national police forces fanned out in their countries, seizing servers in the Netherlands, Canada and the United States as well as in Bulgaria, France and Romania.

The goal was "to destabilise this apparatus by seizing and dismantling servers used to diffuse IS propaganda and to identify and arrest its administrators," the Belgian prosecutor said in a statement.

"With this groundbreaking operation we have punched a big hole in the capability of IS to spread propaganda online and radicalise young people in Europe," Wainwright said.

Britain's Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit was also involved in identifying "top-level domain registrars abused by IS".

"It was so technically challenging that we were only really able to do it because of our experience in major cybercrime takedowns," Wainwright told AFP.

"We basically ran the cyber playbook against IS," he said, adding police forces around the world had spent years gathering intelligence to locate the servers being used by the jihadists.

Europol began warning about the rise of Amaq in late 2015, stressing "the technical resilience of the terrorist online infrastructure".

- 'Squeezed' in battle and online -

While a US-led international coalition has been combatting IS on the battlefields of Iraq and Syria gaining back territory it seized in 2014, nations have also warned about that a multi-pronged attack was needed, including choking off its online access.

"They've been squeezed on the battlefield, and now they've been really badly squeezed, badly hit, on the online platform as well," said Wainwright.

IS used Amaq to claim "every major attack since 2015 in Europe", he said, including the deadly assaults in Paris, Brussels, Barcelona and Berlin.

Amaq was also used to claim the March supermarket siege in Trebes, France, where a 25-year-old gunman killed four people, including a policeman who took the place of a hostage.

"The technical infrastructure which allows it to put these terrible propaganda videos and messages out has been knocked offline," Wainwright told AFP, speaking on his last day as Europol chief.

But Europol's investigation is still ongoing, and arrests could follow.

Al-Bayan radio, which once broadcast on frequency mode and offered a wide range of statements, news and talks in several languages, had long moved online and reduced its activities, only offering sporadic updates.

On Friday however, Nasher news -- the main Telegram account on which Amaq statements were posted in the region -- remained active, claiming jihadist fighters had damaged three Syrian army vehicles in fighting in the Qadam neighbourhood of southern Damascus.

"We are realistic in recognising that there still might be a retained possibility of re-establishing the network," Wainwright said, highlighting that this week's action was the third in a series of such takedowns.

"But we're getting stronger every time, and narrowing the space for them to re-create their online presence."

Kim's security: 'not even an ant can pass through'

Kim's security: 'not even an ant can pass through'
source: AFP

 Korea Summit Press Pool/AFP / Korea Summit Press Pool Is that a gun in your pocket? North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is always surrounded by tight security, and his bodyguards are chosen for their fitness, marksmanship and martial arts skills

When Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong Un came down the steps towards the inter-Korean border Friday he was escorted by a phalanx of bodyguards carefully chosen for their fitness, marksmanship, martial arts skills and even looks.

Men in sharp suits and matching blue and white striped ties fanned out ahead of and around Kim as he approached the Military Demarcation Line for a historic handshake with his Southern counterpart Moon Jae-in.

Some of the men had bulging pockets. All sported red North Korean lapel badges and the curly-wired earpieces beloved of the US Secret Service.

As the leader left after the morning session of talks, a dozen of them were given a pre-lunch work-out, jogging alongside and behind Kim's official car to form a human shield, ties flapping as they ran.

North Korea is one of the world's most tightly-controlled societies, but even so security for its leader is iron-clad.

Foreigners attending any event where Kim will be present must go through hours of security procedures beforehand, and surrender all electronics, including phones.

The Guard Command, the military unit tasked with ensuring the safety of the leadership, is an elite institution close to the centre of North Korean power -- it provides the centrepiece display of the annual kimjongilia and kimilsungia flower festivals in Pyongyang to honour Kim's father and grandfather.


Korea Summit Press Pool/AFP / Korea Summit Press Pool North Korean bodyguards jog next to a car carrying leader Kim Jong Un returning to the North for a lunch break after a morning session of the inter-Korean summit at the truce village of Panmunjom


Ri Yong Guk, a defector from the North who served on a security detail for Kim Jong Il, wrote in a 2013 memoir that as many as six different layers of security guards protected the leader on trips to the countryside to inspect military units, plants or farms.

"It is one of the world's tightest security blankets through which even a single ant would find it hard to go," he wrote.

The arrangements for the current leader are reportedly even tighter, and during a military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the foundation of its regular armed forces in February, Pyongyang paraded three kinds of security units dedicated to protecting Kim's life.

Kim was repeatedly seen accompanied by a stout military general in uniform with a holstered gun.

The protection afforded to the Kim family was also on display when the leader's sister Kim Yo Jong visited the South for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, accompanied by tall bodyguards with crew cuts, sunglasses and earpieces.

- 'Scariest place on Earth' -

Former US president Bill Clinton once described the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula and where Friday's summit was being held as "the scariest place on Earth".


Korea Summit Press Pool/AFP / Korea Summit Press Pool South Korea's President Moon Jae-in (front) waits before the Military Demarcation Line for North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (centre R) ahead of the inter-Korean summit at the truce village of Panmunjom

Despite its name, the DMZ is among the most heavily fortified areas on the planet.

Around 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the South Korean capital Seoul, the four-kilometre-wide space stretches for 250 kilometres across Korea and bristles with electric fences, minefields and anti-tank barriers.

At the joint security area at Panmunjom the two sides, technically still at war, come face-to-face, with stern South Korean guards -- also chosen for their height and looks -- standing stock still only metres from the North Korean positions.

Soldiers are permitted to carry only sidearms in the area, but it is an open secret that both sides have

larger weapons stashed nearby for use in case of emergencies. UNITED NATIONS COMMAND/AFP/File / Handout A North Korean solider came under a hail of bullets from his comrades as he defected in the DMZ last year

What the world is saying about historic Korea summit

What the world is saying about historic Korea summit
source: AFP

Korea Summit Press Pool/AFP / Korea Summit Press Pool North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met for the first North-South summit in 11 years

World leaders and governments hailed the historic summit Friday between the leaders of North and South Korea as a step towards peace, but also sounded a note of caution about the challenges ahead.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-In, at the first such summit in 11 years, agreed to pursue a permanent peace and the complete denuclearisation of the divided peninsula.

- 'Only time will tell' -

"After a furious year of missile launches and Nuclear testing, a historic meeting between North and South Korea is now taking place," tweeted US President Donald Trump.

"Good things are happening, but only time will tell!" added Trump, who is scheduled to meet Kim within weeks.

In a second tweet, Trump wrote: "KOREAN WAR TO END! The United States, and all of its GREAT people, should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!"

- 'New journey to stability' -

"We applaud the Korean leaders' historic step and appreciate their political decisions and courage," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a press briefing.

"We hope and look forward to them taking this opportunity to further open a new journey of long-term stability on the peninsula."

She also cited a poem that reads: "We remain brothers after all the vicissitudes; let's forgo our old grudges, smiling we meet again."

- 'Watching North's movements' -

"Today President Moon Jae-in and Chairman Kim Jong Un held earnest discussions about North Korea's denuclearisation. I want to welcome that as a positive move toward comprehensive resolution of various issues concerning North Korea," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters.

"We strongly hope that North Korea will take concrete action through this meeting and a summit between the US and North Korea.

"We will keep watching North Korea's future movements.

"All in all, I wish to continue close coordination between Japan, the United States and South Korea towards comprehensive resolution of the abduction, nuclear and missile issues, and towards the US-North Korea summit talks."

- 'Very positive news' -

"This is very positive news," Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman told reporters.

"Today we see that this direct dialogue has taken place (and) it has certain prospects," he said.

"The will to seek agreement can be seen on both sides, including the most important thing -- the will to begin and continue dialogue. That is a positive fact," Dmitry Peskov said.

- 'Hard work lies ahead' -

"This is a first step, it is encouraging, but we have to realise there is still a lot of hard work that lies ahead of us," NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.

- 'Don't be over-optimistic -

"I am very encouraged by what's happened. I don't think that anyone looking at the history of North Korea's plans to develop a nuclear weapon will be over-optimistic but it's clearly good news that the two meet," British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in Brussels.

Prince William and Kate name baby son Louis

Prince William and Kate name baby son Louis
source: AFP

AFP/File / Isabel INFANTES Prince William and Kate named their third child after Louis Mountbatten, who was killed by the IRA in 1979

Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate have named their baby son Louis Arthur Charles, Kensington Palace announced on Friday.

"The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to announce that they have named their son Louis Arthur Charles," said a palace statement.

"The baby will be known as His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge."

The name pays tribute to William's great-great uncle Louis Mountbatten, who was killed by the IRA in 1979, while Charles is the name of William's father.

Arthur had been the bookmakers' favourite for the couple's third child.

Louis is currently the 71st most popular name for a baby boy in England and Wales.


POOL/AFP/File / John Stillwell Prince Louis is a sixth great-grandchild for Queen Elizabeth, who turned 92 on Saturday, and her husband Prince Philip


He weighed eight pounds and seven ounces (3.8 kilogrammes) when he was born at 11:01 am (1001 GMT) on Monday with William, the Duke of Cambridge, present for the birth.

The couple stepped out of St. Mary's Hospital in central London to cheers from a crowd of supporters and global media outlets gathered outside.

Their two other children -- Prince George, aged four, and two-year-old Princess Charlotte -- had met the latest addition to the family earlier in the afternoon, before returning home to Kensington Palace.

- Sixth great-grandchild -

Louis is a sixth great-grandchild for Queen Elizabeth, who turned 92 on Saturday, and her husband Prince Philip.

He will hold the title of prince after the Queen changed the rules in 2012 to ensure that all of William's children would be entitled to the style, not just his eldest son.

Prince Louis is also the first male royal who will not overtake his sister in the line of succession after a reform that ends male primogeniture.

Louis Mountbatten was the beloved great-uncle of Prince Charles, and the uncle of the Duke of Edinburgh.


AFP / Kun TIAN Family tree of the British royals

Known to Charles as "Uncle Dickie", Mountbatten was the last British Viceroy of India before independence in 1947.

He was assassinated by Irish republicans when his boat was blown up on a fishing trip off the coast of County Sligo in the Republic of Ireland.

Louis is also a middle name of Prince George.

William, who is destined to become king after Charles, met Kate at St Andrews University in Scotland.

They tied the knot at Westminster Abbey in London on April 29, 2011, in a ceremony watched by up to two billion people worldwide, helping to breathe new life into Britain's monarchy after years of crisis.

The birth kicks off a busy summer of royal celebrations, with Prince Harry set to marry his US actress wife Meghan Markle on May 19.

William joked on Thursday that "revenge will be sweet" after being named as best man for the occasion, a role reversal of the 2011 wedding.

The Sun newspaper has reported that Kate's sister Pippa Middleton, 34, is pregnant with her first child, while William's cousin Zara is set to give birth towards the end of the summer.

EU to ban bee-killing pesticides

EU to ban bee-killing pesticides
source: AFP

AFP / Emmanuel DUNAND Campaigners rallied outside the European Commission in Brussels as member states voted in favour of banning bee-killing pesticides

The EU on Friday backed an almost total ban on insecticides blamed for killing off bee populations, in a move hailed by environmentalists as a "beacon of hope".

Bees help pollinate 90 percent of the world's major crops, but in recent years have been dying off from "colony collapse disorder," a mysterious scourge blamed partly on pesticides.

European Union countries voted for a ban on the use of three neonicotinoid pesticides in fields, the European Commission said, meaning that they can only now be used in covered greenhouses where they cannot get into the environment.

Campaigners dressed in black and yellow bee suits brought a huge inflatable bee to a rally outside the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels ahead of the vote.

Chemical giants opposed the decision, saying it would hurt European farmers.

The EU brought in a partial ban in 2013 but decided on more drastic action after a major report by European food safety agency said in February that the chemicals posed a risk to honey bees and wild bees.

- 'Victory for bees' -

EU Environment Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis said he was "happy that member states voted in favour of our proposal" to restrict the chemicals and tweeted a picture of the activists.

A Commission statement said EU states had "endorsed a proposal by the European Commission to further restrict the use of three active substances... for which a scientific review concluded that their outdoor use harms bees."

The pesticides -- clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam -- are based on the chemical structure of nicotine and attack the nervous systems of insect pests.


AFP/File / Yuri KADOBNOV Environmental groups, which have long campaigned for a ban on neonicotinoids, were abuzz


Environmental groups, which have long campaigned for a ban on neonicotinoids, were abuzz.

Greenpeace said it was "great news for bees, other pollinators and our wider environment". But it added that "the EU must make sure they're not simply replaced with other harmful pesticides."

Friends of the Earth Europe's bee campaigner Sandra Bell said it was a "tremendous victory for our bees and the wider environment".

The Avaaz campaign group said that "banning these toxic pesticides is a beacon of hope for bees."

"Finally, our governments are listening to their citizens, the scientific evidence and farmers who know that bees can't live with these chemicals and we can't live without bees," Avaaz senior campaigner Antonia Staats said.

- 'Sad day for farmers' -

But two chemical giants whose products are affected -- Switzerland's Syngenta and Bayer of Germany -- opposed the ban.

Bayer said it was "a sad day for farmers and a bad deal for Europe".

It said in a statement that it "will not improve the lot of bees or other pollinators. The decision will further reduce European farmers' ability to tackle important pests, for many of which there are no alternative treatments available."

Sygenta said the decision was "disappointing, but not unexpected", adding that it "does not believe today’s decision is the right outcome for European farmers or for the environment."

Unlike contact pesticides -- which remain on the surface of foliage -- neonicotinoids are absorbed by the plant from the seed phase and transported to leaves, flowers, roots and stems.

They have been widely used over the last 20 years, and were designed to control sap-feeding insects such as aphids and root-feeding grubs.

Past studies have found neonicotinoids can cause bees to become disorientated such that they cannot find their way back to the hive, and lower their resistance to disease.

Fears have been growing globally in recent years over the health of bees.

Pesticides have been blamed as a cause of colony collapse disorder along with mites, pesticides, virus and fungus, or some combination of these factors.

The United Nations warned last year that 40 percent of invertebrate pollinators -- particularly bees and butterflies -- risk global extinction.

Brigitte Macron praises 'fun' Melania Trump

Brigitte Macron praises 'fun' Melania Trump
source: AFP

 AFP/File / SAUL LOEB US First Lady Melania Trump and Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, bonded during the French leader's visit to Washington

French first lady Brigitte Macron has heaped praise on her "fun" and "intelligent" American counterpart Melania Trump after her three-day visit to Washington.

Speaking to Le Monde newspaper and RTL radio, Brigitte said she and "kind, charming, intelligent" Melania had bonded further this week after their first meeting in Paris last July.

In Brigitte's telling, Melania is very different in private to in public, where the 48-year-old former model from Slovenia displays little emotion during appearances with her husband.

"On the contrary she is really fun," Brigitte said, Le Monde reported in its Friday edition. "We have the same sense of humour, we laugh a lot together.

"Everything is interpreted, over-interpreted. She's someone who has a strong personality but she makes an effort to hide it. She laughs very easily at everything, but she shows it less than I do," said Brigitte, who recently celebrated her 65th birthday.

Macron's wife, his former drama teacher from high school who is 25 years older than him, said she was still adjusting to the constraints of life as France's first lady, but she was still able to find moments of freedom.

"Melania can't do anything, she can't even open a window at the White House. She can't go outside. Every day, I go out in Paris," she said during the interview on Wednesday during the final day of the Macrons' US trip.

Brigitte also played down her role as a fashion icon, with each of her outfits widely commented on during her trips abroad.

She said the tailored outfits, which are usually provided by French fashion house Louis Vuitton, were a sort of "skin" that helped shield her from all of the attention.

"I don't really have that many ideas about what to put on," she said, adding that Louis Vuitton artistic director Nicolas Ghesquiere was in charge of her wardrobe.

As for her public responsibilities, she said she did her best not to be a "vase of flowers" in the background of her husband while abroad and joked about the need to respect the choreography of the US state visit.

This often involved following stickers on the floor to her position during the ceremonies. "Can it be any other way? I don't know," she said.

Brigitte insisted that only her clothes had changed, not her -- reinforcing her down-to-earth image which has made her a more popular figure than her husband, according to polls.

"In my head, I'm Emmanuel Macron's wife, not the president's wife. I don't feel like a first lady even though I'm aware of my responsibilities," she said.

Mamma Mia! ABBA make new music after 35 years

Mamma Mia! ABBA make new music after 35 years
source: AFP

 SCANPIX SWEDEN/AFP/File / Olle Lindeborg Abba came to fame after the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with the song "Waterloo".

"Mamma Mia! Here we go again": Sweden's legendary disco group ABBA announced on Friday that they have reunited to record two new songs, 35 years after their last single.

"We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio. So we did," the group said in a statement after repeated comments that they would never reunite.

They said they had recorded two new songs, one titled "I Still Have Faith In You", and another unnamed track.

The quartet split up in 1982 after dominating the disco scene for more than a decade with hits like "Waterloo", "Dancing Queen", "Mamma Mia" and "Super Trouper".


AFP/File / JONATHAN NACKSTRAND ABBA member Bjorn Kristian Ulvaeus poses at the world's first permanent ABBA museum


"It was like time had stood still and that we only had been away on a short holiday. An extremely joyful experience!" members Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson added.

The group, who sold more than 400 million albums, have not sung together on stage since 1986.

- 'Come of age' -

But now, computerised avatars are to perform "I Still Have Faith In You" in a TV special produced by NBC and the BBC to be broadcast in December, the group said.


AFP / JONATHAN NACKSTRAND Swedish music band ABBA -- who feature as wax figures at a museum in Stockholm -- are planning to release two new songs

"We have come of age, but the song is new. And it feels good."

They said the "exciting ABBA avatar tour project had an unexpected consequence".

Bjorn, 73, was married to Agnetha, 68, and Benny, 71, was married to Anni-Frid, 72.

The group dominated the 1970s disco scene with their glitzy costumes, kitsch dance routines and catchy melodies.

They first found global fame after winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with "Waterloo".

While they have appeared in public together on rare occasions, they have never reunited to perform as a group, and have vowed that won't ever happen.

"There is simply no motivation to regroup. Money is not a factor and we would like people to remember us as we were," Ulvaeus said in a 2008 interview.

Contacted by AFP, he was not immediately available for comment on the latest announcement.

- 'The same wonderful chemistry'-

The group's manager Gorel Hanser told TT news agency that hearing them record the two new songs was "just like in the ABBA days".

"It was the same wonderful chemistry. It was as if time had stood still," Hanser said.

"Everyone got into their role and sang, and sang and sang," she said adding the band was not planning to tour together in real life.

Their popularity has continued to grow over the years, with the 1999 hit musical "Mamma Mia" and the 2008 film of the same name starring Meryl Streep bringing their music to a whole new generation of fans.

And ABBA's music featured prominently in two cult Australian films, "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" and "Muriel's Wedding", both released in 1994
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AFP/File / JONATHAN NACKSTRAND The ABBA museum opened in 2013