UniCredit raises capital ahead of Commerzbank takeover bid

American actor Demi Moore, still riding high from the late-career boost of her Oscar-nominated turn in "The Substance", will join the jury for the Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off next week, organisers announced on Monday.

The film extravaganza on the French Riviera, one of the world's most important annual cinema events, hands out a host of prizes, including the prestigious Palme d'Or for best film, decided by a nine-person jury.

Moore, 63, along with Chinese filmmaker Chloe Zhao, whose films from "Nomadland" to "Hamnet" have become awards-season favourites, will add some A-list sparkle to the jury, which also includes Ivorian-American actor Isaach de Bankole, who is set to play in the upcoming third instalment of the "Dune" franchise.

As previously announced, the jury will be headed by arthouse South Korean director Park Chan-Wook ("Oldboy").

The other jury members are Irish-Ethiopian actress Ruth Negga, Belgian director Laura Wandel, Chilean director Diego Cespedes, Irish screenwriter Paul Laverty and Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard.

The Cannes Festival runs from May 12 to 23.

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A car ploughed into people on a street Germany's eastern city of Leipzig on Monday, leaving at least two dead and several injured, authorities said. 

The driver was arrested after the vehicle careered from a main square down a major city centre street, close to historic sites. 

Leipzig mayor Burkhard Jung confirmed two people had died, adding: "We still don't really know the motivation. We don't know anything about the perpetrator."

Leipzig fire service chief Axel Schuh also gave a death toll of two. 

Two people were also seriously injured and two others were "affected," he said. 

Police said in a post on X that the car ploughed into people on Grimmaische street and then "fled the scene".  

But they later arrested the driver, adding that "there is currently no further danger from him". 

Police deployed in large numbers along with firefighters, emergency medical personnel and two helicopters. 

Germany has faced a string of car-ramming attacks in recent years.

In December 2024, at least six people were killed and hundreds wounded in a car-ramming attack on the Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg.

There have also been similar attacks in Munich and Berlin.

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Jamahl Mosley was fired as coach of the Orlando Magic on Monday, hours after the team was eliminated from the NBA playoffs with a blowout loss in Detroit.

The top-seeded Pistons rallied from a 3-1 deficit in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference first round series to eliminate Orlando with a 116-94 triumph in game seven on Sunday.

The Magic was barely back in Florida before team president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman announced Mosley's dismissal.

"We're grateful to Jamahl for all he has done for the Orlando Magic," Weltman said. "We appreciate his leadership and the positive contributions he made as head coach.

"While this was a difficult decision, we feel it's time for a new voice and fresh perspective."

Mosley, 47, served as an assistant coach for Denver, Cleveland and Dallas before being hired by the Magic as head coach in July 2021.

His five seasons marked the longest tenure for any Magic coach since Stan Van Gundy, who guided Orlando to the 2009 NBA Finals, where they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers.

But the Magic have not won a playoff series since 2010, falling in the first round seven times and missing the playoffs nine times since then.

Under Mosley, the Magic went 189-221, including a 45-37 record this past campaign, and made the playoffs the past three seasons before making quick exits.

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The brightest stars in Hollywood, music, sports and style will hit the red carpet Monday for the Met Gala, the extravagant Manhattan charity ball that this year spotlights the intersection between fashion and art.

The A-listers invited to New York's biggest social event of the year have been asked to dress for the theme "Fashion is Art," which dovetails with the exhibit "Costume Art" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute.

But for the fashionistas, the Met Gala -- traditionally held on the first Monday in May -- is simply one of the world's top red carpets with blinding star power.

Music mega-star Beyonce will make her first appearance at the event in a decade, serving as a co-chair of fashion's marquee event along with tennis legend Venus Williams and Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman.

Of course, the entire evening is overseen by Vogue's global editorial director Anna Wintour -- the ultimate tastemaker in US fashion who has helmed the event for 30 years. 

The gala is a fundraiser for the Met's Costume Institute, but it is also a social media extravaganza that sees stars don over-the-top looks, vying to create the greatest spectacle.

The Met also announced a gala "host committee" led by Saint Laurent designer Anthony Vaccarello and actress Zoe Kravitz. It features singers Sabrina Carpenter and Doja Cat, retired ballet superstar Misty Copeland, and WNBA champion A'ja Wilson.

Last year's event showcased the subversive style of Black dandyism, and was a rare Met Gala spotlighting men and male fashion.

This year's function has drawn controversy after Amazon boss Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez Bezos were announced as the lead sponsors and honorary co-chairs of the gala.

In the run-up to Monday, a campaign opposing the billionaire couple's involvement cropped up in New York's streets and subways, with some calling for a boycott of an event some see as a gross display of immense wealth.

Behind the campaign is a group founded in Britain called "Everyone Hates Elon" -- which, a spokesperson stressed, "targets other billionaires" beyond Elon Musk, the world's richest person. 

The Met Gala was first organized in 1948 and for decades was reserved for New York high society -- until Wintour transformed the party into a high-profile catwalk for the rich and famous in the 1990s.

The "Costume Art" exhibit, which opens on May 10 at the venerable museum in Manhattan, will seek to explore the "dressed body" in artworks across the centuries.

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French university canteens began offering one-euro meals to all students regardless of income on Monday, in a measure designed to address financial hardship.

The move follows a push by student unions to extend the one-euro rate ($1.17) for a three-course meal to all students, down from the usual 3.30 euros.

The price, which covers a starter, main course and dessert, was previously only available to those with low incomes or receiving financial aid.

For Alexandre Ioannides, an 18-year-old student in Paris, the measure will slash his monthly canteen expenses.

"I come here 20 times a month. That's about 60 euros. Whereas now, I'll pay 20 euros," he said, adding the savings would go towards "going out or eating at a restaurant".

The policy aims to alleviate financial strain for students in France, where a January survey by a student union organisation found 48 percent have gone without food for financial reasons and 23 percent do so several times a month.

Around 667,000 students benefited from the one-euro lunch scheme in 2024, a 5.3-percent increase from the previous year, with around 46.7 million meals served at both the discounted and standard 3.30-euro rates, according to university restaurant operator Crous.

Authorities are preparing for a rise in demand, with Higher Education Minister Philippe Batiste promising 120 million euros in 2027 to back the scheme.

"It is a small internal revolution," said Batiste, who pledged to oversee the programme to ensure it does not lead to an excessive workload for canteen staff or a decline in food quality.

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The US Supreme Court on Monday temporarily lifted a lower court's ban on mail delivery of the widely used abortion drug mifepristone.

The top court's order restores mail access to mifepristone, which is used in the majority of abortions in the United States, until at least May 11.

A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals had halted mail delivery of mifepristone on Friday in a lawsuit brought by the southern state of Louisiana, which has some of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country, against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Danco Laboratories, which manufactures mifepristone, asked the Supreme Court for a one-week pause on the appeals court order while it prepares to bring an emergency case to the top court.

The Supreme Court agreed without explanation to block the appeals court ruling until at least May 11 while the parties file legal briefs.

The 5th Circuit ruling requires women seeking abortions anywhere in the United States to obtain mifepristone in person from health clinics and bans delivery by mail or through a pharmacy.

The conservative-dominated appeals court overturned a lower court ruling that allowed mifepristone to continue to be delivered by mail while the FDA conducts a review of its regulations regarding the drug.

Mifepristone has been approved by the FDA since 2000 and is also routinely used for managing early miscarriages.

Anti-abortion activists, however, have called the drug's safety into question, with some citing a study conducted by a conservative think tank that never underwent a formal peer review.

Mifepristone, which prevents pregnancy progression, and misoprostol, which empties the uterus, are approved to terminate a pregnancy up to 70 days of gestation in the United States.

Some 20 states have banned or restricted abortion since the Supreme Court in June 2022 overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that enshrined the constitutional right to abortion for half a century.

Polls show a majority of Americans support continued access to safe abortion, even as conservative groups push to limit the procedure or ban it outright.

In 2024, the US Supreme Court rejected a bid to restrict mifepristone, ruling that anti-abortion groups and doctors challenging the medication lacked the legal standing to bring the case.

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At least three people were killed and 38 injured at a Colombian monster truck show when a vehicle veered out of control during a stunt and ploughed into a group of spectators, local authorities said Monday.

A young girl was among the dead at Sunday's exhibition in the southwestern city of Popayan, which was packed with families, local media reported.

Images circulating on social media showed the truck performing a wheelie before swerving off the track and crashing into the barriers separating the public from the track. 

"We are deeply pained by the accident...which has preliminarily left more than 38 people injured and 3 dead," Popayan mayor Juan Carlos Munoz wrote on X.

Local media said several children were among the injured.

Francisco Arboleda, head of the Popayan fire department, said some of the spectators rushed to hospital were in serious condition.

Andres Hurtado, a paramedic who was standing close to the scene when the crash occurred, said he treated three people who were badly injured, including a girl.

Munoz ordered an investigation into the disaster, which he said "should never have happened."

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(The Center Square) – The U.S. Supreme Court will temporarily allow women to obtain abortion pills through the mail, without visiting an in-person doctor. 

Justices on the court blocked a ruling out of Louisiana that would have restricted a woman's ability to access a pill through the mail. Louisiana already has a ban on the abortion drug mifepristone, but sought to prevent its access through the mail from other states. 

An order, finalized by the Joe Biden administration in 2023, allowed for women to access mifepristone without an in-person doctor's visit. A federal judge ruled in favor of Louisiana last week, blocking access to the pill through the mail. 

Danco and GenProBio, two abortion drug makers, filed emergency requests to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking relief from the order. The high court's temporary order, from Justice Samuel Alito, will give time to weigh the requests for one more week.

“Making it a federal crime to mail drugs for lawful medical purposes contravenes nearly a century of precedent and all indicia of Congressional intent,” Danco Laboratories wrote. “It would also significantly interfere with states’ traditional power to enact their own ‘health and welfare laws.’”

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said removing the in-person doctor's visit requirement causes undue harm to women. She said the lack of an in-person doctor's visit facilitates potential abuse an coercion for women who do not want abortions. 

"We will continue to pursue enforcement of our laws, both civilly and criminally, against anybody who has facilitated the distribution of these drugs for the purposes of causing an abortion,” Murrill said. “It is a violation of our criminal laws, and we will pursue them and hold everyone accountable.”

Louisiana is not the only state challenging either the approval of mifepristone or subsequent actions easing the restrictions for mailing abortion pills. Missouri, Idaho, Kansas, Florida and Texas have also challenged the ease of restrictions. 

Justices on the nation's highest court will hold the ban in place until May 11, while they further consider the restrictions and weigh whether to take up the emergency petitions. 

Shareholders in Italy's UniCredit approved on Monday an increase in share capital that enables the Italian bank to mount a 35-billion-euro ($41-billion) hostile bid for its German rival Commerzbank

UniCredit shareholders approved a motion to issue additional shares to raise share capital by up 6.7 billion euros at an extraordinary meeting, the bank said in a statement.

UniCredit plans to formally launch on Tuesday its offer to Commerzbank shareholders of 0.485 UniCredit shares per Commerzbank share.

At the share prices of the banks on Monday, that offer represents a loss of around three euros per share for Commerzbank shareholders.

Italy's second-largest bank is already the leading shareholder in Commerzbank with a stake of 25 percent.

Under German market rules, if it increases its holding above 30 percent it has to make other shareholders an offer to acquire their shares.

UniCredit has wooed Commerzbank shareholders with promises of higher returns by refocusing its activity on the German market to spur faster growth.

However Commerzbank has said its strategy offers shareholders better perspectives, and is set to provide an updated growth trajectory through 2030 when it presents first quarter results on Friday.

"Our opinion remains unchanged" about the value of the UniCredit offer, a Commerzbank spokesman told AFP.

The German government has also repeatedly voiced its opposition to a takeover of Commerzbank.

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A tiny, little-known world beyond Pluto appears to have an atmosphere, Japanese astronomers said Monday, defying what had been thought possible for icy objects in our cosmic backyard.

If confirmed, the roughly 500-kilometre-wide (310-mile) rock would become just the second world past Neptune in our Solar System to host an atmosphere -- after only Pluto itself.

Formerly classified as a planet, Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet status in 2006, in part because astronomers were discovering other similar objects in a distant region called the Kuiper Belt.

While NASA under US President Donald Trump has floated the idea of restoring Pluto's planet status, the discovery of another atmosphere nearby could undermine the argument for its reinstatement.

For the new discovery, Japanese researchers and an amateur astronomer pointed their telescopes at an object with the unwieldy name of (612533) 2002 XV93.

The icy world is nearly 40 times further from the Sun than Earth -- or roughly six billion kilometres away.

These dark objects can only be seen when they pass in front of a distant star. 

When this happened in January 2024, the astronomers observed that the starlight did not immediately reappear, suggesting a thin atmosphere was filtering some of the light.

They estimate that the world has an atmosphere five to 10 million times thinner than Earth's, according to a new study in Nature Astronomy.

"This is important because, until now, Pluto was the only trans-Neptunian object with a confirmed atmosphere," lead study author Ko Arimatsu of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan told AFP.

Such small worlds had not been thought capable of hosting an atmosphere.

"This discovery therefore challenges the conventional view that small icy worlds in the outer Solar System are mostly inactive and unchanging," he added.

- Ice volcanoes or comet smash? -

The researchers could not say for sure what created the atmosphere, which is nowhere near thick enough to support life.

But they suggested it could have been made by gas being shot out from the world's interior by erupting ice volcanoes. 

Or it could have been kicked up by a comet smashing into the world, which would mean it will gradually disappear.

Jose-Luis Ortiz, a Spanish astronomer not involved in the research who studies dwarf planets beyond Neptune, said the results were interesting, but urged caution.

"I still doubt that it is an atmosphere. We need more data," he told AFP.

An alternative explanation for the observations could be that the object has a ring close to its body, Ortiz said.

Ko Arimatsu acknowledged that he could not rule out "exotic alternatives" to an atmosphere.

However, "a nearly edge-on ring does not seem consistent with the main features of our observations," he added. 

Both astronomers called for further observations to reveal more about this strange world -- particularly with the James Webb space telescope.

There have also been suggestions that a dwarf planet called Makemake, which is slightly smaller than Pluto, could have a very thin atmosphere, though some scientists are sceptical.

Last week, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman suggested the US space agency was considering reinstating Pluto as a fully-fledged planet.

Isaacman made the comments while endorsing a proposal to halve NASA's science budget, riling some astronomers, Nature reported.

"It's wild to 'make Pluto a planet again' while decimating the careers of those of us that study it!" planetary scientist Adeene Denton wrote on Bluesky.

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