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May 9, 2025 - World

Switzerland’s president has lamented “disappointing” talks with U.S. President Donald Trump’s treasury secretary that did not ease stiff U.S. tariffs on Swiss goods

May 9, 2025 - World

Led by President Vladimir Putin in Red Square, Russians Friday celebrated the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe -- a war in which more than 24 million Soviets were killed.

May 9, 2025 - World

An Australian woman accused of triple murder with a toxic mushroom-laced beef Wellington had rarely invited her four guests to eat at her home before, a court heard Friday.Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with murdering the parents and aunt of her estranged husband in July 2023 by serving them the pastry-and-beef dish with death cap mushrooms.She is also accused of the attempted murder of her husband's uncle, who survived the meal after a long stay in hospital.Patterson has pleaded not guilty to all charges.In a trial that has seized international attention, prosecutors played a recording of a police interview with Patterson's son, then 14, following the lunch. The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said his mother had hosted his paternal grandparents at her house "once before". And she had "never" previously invited over Heather and Ian Wilkinson, his father's aunt and uncle, the boy said.His mother's relationship with the couple was "not a negative one, but it is not strong", the youngster told police.The accused's estranged husband, Simon Patterson, had declined the invitation to lunch at her home in the sedate Victoria state farm village of Leongatha.Four members of his family attended: his parents Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt and uncle. While the guests had lunch, Patterson's children went to a McDonald's and the cinema.Within hours after eating, the four guests developed diarrhoea and vomiting and were taken to hospital, where doctors diagnosed death cap mushroom poisoning.Days later, three of the guests were dead. Ian Wilkinson, a local pastor, lived after weeks of hospital treatment.The teenager told the court that his parents had a "very negative" relationship in the months leading up to the lunch."Dad does a lot of things to try hurt mum such as messing around with the school," he said. - Good cook-On the morning after the lunch, Patterson's son said she was "a little bit quieter" than usual, complaining of "feeling a bit sick and had diarrhoea".The family had missed their local church service because "mum was feeling too sick", he said.The teenager said that afternoon Patterson drove him for an hour to his flying lesson, which was cancelled last minute due to weather. When they returned home, the boy said Patterson raced inside to use the bathroom. That night, Patterson and her children ate the purported leftovers of the beef Wellington. The defendant has said she scraped off the mushrooms because her children were picky eaters."It was probably some of the best meat I've ever had," her teenage son said. "Mum said it was leftovers." Jurors also heard a recording of a police interview with Patterson's daughter, then nine, who said her mum was a good cook."We make cupcakes and muffins," she said.The girl, who also cannot be named for legal reasons, said she did not get sick from eating the claimed leftovers.The prosecution alleges Patterson deliberately poisoned her lunch guests and took care that neither she, nor her children, consumed the deadly mushrooms. Her defence says it was "a terrible accident" and that Patterson ate the same meal as the others but did not fall as sick. The trial is expected to last another five weeks.lec/djw/tym© Agence France-Presse

May 9, 2025 - World

One MSNBC guest believes there is a very telling reason Bishop Robert Prevost chose the name Pope Leo XIV. Morning Joe guest Bishop Robert Barron, from the diocese of Winona, Rochester in Minnesota, pondered the name which was last selected by a pontiff in 1878. Barron also grew up just 25 minutes from Pope Leo, and he is still in awe that there is an American Pope. “I was one of those people saying it will never be an American. His name was mentioned [before the conclave]. Everyone knew his qualities, but everybody said it won't be an American,” Barron recalled. “After I've gotten over the shock of it, and last night with the adrenaline going, I had trouble getting to sleep. I kept drifting back to his name. His name, I think, is extraordinarily important.”ALSO READ: ‘Pain. Grief. Anger’: Families heartbroken as Trump backlash smashes adoption dreamsBarron went through his thoughts, “If he was, you know, simply continuity with Francis, why wouldn't he be Francis II? He didn't choose that name. He could have chosen a name like John Paul III, like John the 24th, and would have given a very clear indication I'm on this side or that side.”“The fact that he reached back to the very end of the 19th century to this figure, Leo XIII, is very telling. Leo was someone who, at a pivotal moment, engaged modernity in a creative way. The church had said no initially to the, you know, political reforms of the 18th century, the philosophical innovations of the 19th century, especially Marxism,” Barron said. “Simply said, no Leo gave a very nuanced response that was both affirming and challenging, and therefore he sets the tone, I think, for a very intelligent creative engagement for the world.”Watch below or click the link here. - YouTube youtu.be

May 9, 2025 - World

Crowning of country’s first world champion set to give fresh boost to sport that has boomed in popularity in ChinaChain smoking under the fluorescent lights of a cavernous billiards hall in Beijing, Brother Yuan can’t stop smiling. The previous day, along with 150 million other people across China, he had been at home watching the snooker world championships final. Now he’s with his fellow cue-heads, celebrating the win of China’s first snooker world champion, Zhao Xintong.“He’s a great role model for young people in China,” Yuan, 55, says of the generation Z upstart who on Monday claimed snooker’s top prize. “He’s bringing the excitement back.” Continue reading...