US VP Vance defends wish for wife to convert to Christianity

US Vice President JD Vance has defended saying that he hopes his wife Usha — who was raised as a Hindu — converts to Christianity.A fervent Catholic who himself converted in 2019, Vance said on Friday that pushback against his remarks reeks of “anti-Christian bigotry.”The 41-year-old was asked about raising their three children in an interfaith marriage at a Turning Point USA event honoring assassinated right-wing activist Charlie Kirk at the University of Mississippi on Wednesday.”Do I hope eventually that she is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved in by church? Yeah, I honestly do wish that,” he said. “But if she doesn’t, then God says everybody has free will, and so that doesn’t cause a problem for me.”Vance, who has been tipped by President Donald Trump as a likely candidate in the 2028 US election, then responded to criticism of his remarks on social media.Replying to one critic who accused him on X of throwing the Second Lady’s religion “under the bus” to placate right-wingers, Vance replied: “What a disgusting comment, and it’s hardly been the only one along these lines.””She is not a Christian and has no plans to convert, but like many people in an interfaith marriage — or any interfaith relationship — I hope she may one day see things as I do,” Vance wrote.Usha Vance was born in San Diego to parents who emigrated from India. She told Fox News in 2024 that her parents’ Hindu religion helped make them “really good people.”Vance was raised as an evangelical in a chaotic and sometimes deprived upbringing that he described in his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.”The couple met at Yale Law School and married in 2014.Since Vance’s conversion to Catholicism five years later, he has frequently spoken about how his faith has informed his conservative political views.

US VP Vance defends wish for wife to convert to Christianity

US Vice President JD Vance has defended saying that he hopes his wife Usha — who was raised as a Hindu — converts to Christianity.A fervent Catholic who himself converted in 2019, Vance said on Friday that pushback against his remarks reeks of “anti-Christian bigotry.”The 41-year-old was asked about raising their three children in an interfaith marriage at a Turning Point USA event honoring assassinated right-wing activist Charlie Kirk at the University of Mississippi on Wednesday.”Do I hope eventually that she is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved in by church? Yeah, I honestly do wish that,” he said. “But if she doesn’t, then God says everybody has free will, and so that doesn’t cause a problem for me.”Vance, who has been tipped by President Donald Trump as a likely candidate in the 2028 US election, then responded to criticism of his remarks on social media.Replying to one critic who accused him on X of throwing the Second Lady’s religion “under the bus” to placate right-wingers, Vance replied: “What a disgusting comment, and it’s hardly been the only one along these lines.””She is not a Christian and has no plans to convert, but like many people in an interfaith marriage — or any interfaith relationship — I hope she may one day see things as I do,” Vance wrote.Usha Vance was born in San Diego to parents who emigrated from India. She told Fox News in 2024 that her parents’ Hindu religion helped make them “really good people.”Vance was raised as an evangelical in a chaotic and sometimes deprived upbringing that he described in his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.”The couple met at Yale Law School and married in 2014.Since Vance’s conversion to Catholicism five years later, he has frequently spoken about how his faith has informed his conservative political views.

Egypt set to open grand museum in lavish ceremony

After years of delays, Cairo is finally set to open the Grand Egyptian Museum on Saturday — a long-awaited, billion-dollar showcase of pharaonic grandeur that Egypt hopes will help revive tourism and boost its troubled economy.”This is the dream that all of us imagined. We all dreamed that this project would be realised,” Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly told a press conference in Cairo on Saturday.Seventy-nine delegations, including 39 heads of state and government, are expected at the ceremony, which begins at 7:30 pm local time (1730 GMT). Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Spain and Denmark will be among those sending representatives, according to a statement from the Egyptian presidency.On Saturday morning, roads around the museum were cordoned off and security tightened ahead of the opening, with giant banners draped from buildings and strung across streets — advertising the launch.In the nights leading up to the opening, shafts of light have illuminated both the pyramids and the museum’s colossal facade — a prelude to Saturday’s spectacle.Set on a gentle slope overlooking the Giza Plateau, just beyond the shadow of the pyramids, the museum was built with major financial and technical support from Japan, and spreads across nearly half a million square metres.Madbouly said that the “largest part of construction, finishing and bringing this global landmark to its current form occurred during the past seven to eight years”.More than two decades in the making, the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) faced multiple delays due to setbacks related to political unrest, regional conflicts and the Covid-19 pandemic.The museum houses more than 100,000 artefacts, half of which will be on display, making it the world’s largest collection devoted to a single civilisation, according to Egyptian officials.Inside, visitors will enter vast, light-filled halls with soaring ceilings and sand-coloured stone walls that echo the surrounding desert. At the centre of the main atrium stands an 83-tonne statue of Ramses II, the pharaoh who ruled Egypt for 66 years and presided over its golden age. Unlike the cramped, century-old Egyptian Museum in central Cairo, the GEM features immersive galleries, precision lighting, virtual-reality exhibits and even a children’s museum. One highlight is a live conservation lab, visible through floor-to-ceiling glass, where visitors can watch restorers assembling a 4,500-year-old solar boat buried near Khufu’s pyramid, built to carry his soul across the sky with the sun god Ra. The undisputed star of the show, however, is King Tutankhamun’s collection of more than 5,000 objects, many displayed together for the first time. Details of the boy pharaoh’s gold mask display remain under wraps.The museum opens to the public on Tuesday, showcasing thousands of funerary artefacts previously scattered across Egypt.- Tourism hopes -Egypt’s tourism sector, a vital source of foreign currency and jobs, has been repeatedly shaken over the past decade and a half, from the 2011 uprising to waves of unrest and sporadic terrorist attacks in the aftermath.In recent years, tourism has shown signs of recovery, with 15 million visitors travelling to Egypt in the first nine months of 2025 and generating $12.5 billion, up 21 percent from a year earlier.Egyptian tourism minister Sherif Fathy expected on Saturday total tourist arrivals to stand at 18 million by the end of this year.He told reporters the government expects the museum to draw five million visitors annually, adding that it currently welcomes 5,000 to 6,000 visitors each day.”We hope to increase that to 15,000 daily,” said Fathy.Elhamy al-Zayat, former head of the Egyptian Tourism Federation, told AFP the museum was part of a broader plan to transform the entire Giza Plateau.”Egypt has created an entirely new cultural and tourist zone” at the plateau, with a nearby airport and upgraded visitor facilities at the pyramids, he said. Roads leading to the plateau have been refurbished, digital ticketing introduced and air-conditioned electric buses now glide past the pyramids. 

Présidentielle au Cameroun: à Douala, des familles endeuillées par les violences post-électorales

Sous un ciel gris, la cour d’une maison familiale du 3ème arrondissement de Douala s’est mué en lieu de recueillement: Achille Simo, 45 ans et père de cinq enfants, a été tué mercredi par balles en marge des violences qui secouent le Cameroun depuis la réélection contestée de Paul Biya.Des proches de la famille sont …

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US not sending any high-level officials to COP30

The United States will not send any top officials to the COP30 climate talks in Brazil later this month, a White House official said Saturday, as President Donald Trump instead works to boost fossil fuels.Trump, who withdrew from the Paris climate agreement for a second time upon his return to the White House in January, had not been expected to attend a leaders’ summit ahead of the annual UN climate conference in Belem.But it now appears he will not dispatch any top negotiators to the talks, to be held from November 10 to 21, either.”The US is not sending any high level representatives to COP30,” a White House official said on condition of anonymity. “The president is directly engaging with leaders around the world on energy issues, which you can see from the historic trade deals and peace deals that all have a significant focus on energy partnerships.”Brazil said Friday that fewer than 60 world leaders have confirmed they will attend the climate summit on November 6-7 — held separately this year to ease accommodation pressures.The leaders of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Norway, Colombia, Chile, Cape Verde and Liberia will attend, their governments have confirmed to AFP.China has said Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang will represent President Xi Jinping.While Trump also exited the Paris deal in his first term, his administration has gone further this time, exerting its clout to boost fossil fuels globally. This includes, for example, threatening countries with retaliatory measures if they agreed to a carbon pricing system by the UN’s International Maritime Organization, effectively curtailing its implementation.Climate advocates fear the administration could seek to withdraw from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change — the treaty that underpins the Paris Agreement.Doing so could prevent future administrations from re-entering the deal, but it is not clear if the executive branch has the legal authority to undo a Senate-ratified treaty.- Lower level participation -While Trump’s administration appears to be ignoring the summit, more than 100 state and local US leaders — including governors and mayors — are still expected to join the talks.”We are showing up in force,” Gina McCarthy, co-chair of the “America Is All In” coalition, told reporters on a call Thursday.McCarthy formerly served as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency under former president Barack Obama and as a climate advisor to Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden.She said the group heading to Brazil represented “two-thirds of the US population and three quarters of the US GDP, and more than 50 percent of US emissions.””We’ll deliver on the promises we made to the American people and our international colleagues,” she said. “Local leaders here have authority to act on their own behalf, to take climate action at home and abroad.”In all, 170 delegations are accredited for the main COP30 conference, taking place at a time of global political turmoil that many fear will overshadow the climate crisis.

Soupçons de viol au dépôt du tribunal de Bobigny: un des policiers interpellés mis en examen, selon son avocat

Un des deux policiers interpellés après avoir été accusés de viol par une femme au dépôt du tribunal de Bobigny a été mis en examen samedi pour viol aggravé, a indiqué son avocat Xavier Nogueras à des journalistes au palais de justice de Paris.Le parquet a requis son placement en détention provisoire, a-t-il précisé.Aucune information n’a encore pu être obtenue concernant le second policier mis en cause.Les deux policiers ont reconnu avoir eu des relations sexuelles avec cette femme, tout en affirmant qu’elles étaient consenties, avait expliqué vendredi à l’AFP une source proche du dossier.Me Nogueras a fait état lui aussi d’une “relation consentie”.Selon l’avocat, le policier qu’il défend, “a huit ans d’expérience”, “est aguerri, expérimenté, passionné par son métier” et “se retrouve en face de quelqu’un qui porte des accusations, alors qu’elle-même est particulièrement habituée aux locaux de garde à vue, de ses propres aveux”.Après avoir “vu trois magistrats, puisqu’elle a été condamnée à une peine de 18 mois d’emprisonnement”, cette femme “va très opportunément déclarer que l’acte, qui est reconnu par ailleurs par mon client comme étant un acte parfaitement consenti, aurait été commis sous la contrainte, sous prétexte que celui-ci est en uniforme”, a déclaré l’avocat.”Il y a un volet évidemment disciplinaire, il y a un volet moral, mais on n’est pas ici pour faire ni de la morale ni de la déontologie des policiers: on est sur un volet pénal et le seul port d’un uniforme ne nous permet pas d’affirmer que celui-ci exerçait une quelconque contrainte sur une personne qu’il dit être seule à l’initiative de ce qu’il s’est passé”, a encore affirmé le conseil.La qualification retenue est viol aggravé par personne ayant abusé de l’autorité que lui confèrent ses fonctions.”C’est très consternant pour nous de constater qu’un dossier a autant fuité dans la presse”, avant même que “nous puissions avoir accès au dossier”, a par ailleurs déploré Me Nogueras.”Ce qu’on souhaiterait, c’est que le secret soit respecté le plus longtemps possible pour permettre à ce policier, que nous avons l’honneur de défendre, de pouvoir parler librement et que ce ne soit pas sous pression”, a-t-il ajouté.

India captain Kaur sees World Cup final as possible turning point

Winning the ODI World Cup could be a turning point for the women’s game in cricket-crazy India, captain Harmanpreet Kaur said on Saturday, and encourage more girls to take the field.Hosts India face South Africa in the final in Mumbai on Sunday, with both teams hoping to win the women’s one-day showpiece for the first time in its 52-year history.India have been runners-up twice, in 2005 and 2017, and reached their third final after beating seven-time champions Australia in a thriller.”Last time when we reached the final and came back to India, we saw a big change,” Kaur told reporters.”Women’s cricket moved ahead and we saw many girls on the ground. So I am sure that if we win this final, we will see many more changes and we will see more cricket, not only on the international level but also on the domestic level.””So I think we are really looking forward to that moment when we will see women’s cricket in a more serious manner and we will see more girls (playing),” she said.Indian players like Kaur and Smriti Mandhana have become household names in the world’s most populous nation since the Women’s Premier League T20 tournament began in 2023.Jemimah Rodrigues played a champion’s knock with an unbeaten 127 to help India chase down a record 339 against Australia in Thursday’s semi-final.”I think it’s a proud moment for me and the entire team,” Kaur said.”I am sure the entire country must be also very proud of the way we have played the last two games and, yeah, it’s a big day.”South Africa, led by Laura Wolvaardt, beat four-time winners England to reach their first ODI World Cup final.Wolvaardt said the pressure on the home team could work in South Africa’s favour.”I think with the whole crowd behind India, probably a sold-out stadium, it’s going to be a very exciting opportunity,” Wolvaardt said.”But at the same time, I think it puts a lot of pressure on them as well. So yeah, I think it sort of plays in our favour, hopefully.”Kaur said a new winner will be good for the sport.”Because of that we are seeing more excitement,” she said. “And for us to reach the final is also very special, not only for us but for the Indian fans who have been a big support for us.”

Casse du musée du Louvre: des suspects interpellés mercredi en cours de défèrement

Des défèrements de suspects ayant été interpellés mercredi dans le cadre de l’enquête sur le casse du Louvre, dont le butin a été estimé à 88 millions d’euros, étaient en cours samedi devant des magistrats du tribunal judiciaire de Paris.”Il y a des défèrements sur commission rogatoire”, a indiqué le parquet de Paris sollicité par l’AFP, sans préciser le nombre de suspects déférés.Un des cinq suspects a en revanche été remis en liberté vendredi à l’issue de sa garde à vue, sans poursuites à son encontre, ont indiqué à l’AFP ses avocates, Mes Sofia Bougrine et Noémie Gorin.”Dans ces affaires de grande criminalité, nous constatons que les vagues d’interpellation ressemblent davantage à des filets dérivants”, ont-elles déploré.Ces cinq nouvelles interpellations liées à ce cambriolage spectaculaire avaient été annoncées jeudi matin par la procureure de Paris Laure Beccuau qui avait précisé que les bijoux volés restaient introuvables.Elles se sont ajoutées à celles de deux trentenaires arrêtés il y a une semaine et qui sont soupçonnés d’avoir fait partie du commando de quatre hommes sur place.Ces deux habitants d’Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis), âgés de 34 et 39 ans, ont été mis en examen et placés en détention provisoire mercredi soir.En garde à vue, ces deux hommes – un arrêté à l’aéroport de Roissy alors qu’il tentait de rejoindre l’Algérie, l’autre à Aubervilliers – “se sont livrés à des déclarations (…) minimalistes par rapport à ce qui nous paraît être démontré par le dossier”, avait indiqué Laure Beccuau.Parmi les nouveaux interpellés se trouve un autre membre présumé du commando ayant commis le 19 octobre en moins de huit minutes ce casse qui a fait le tour de la planète, avait précisé la procureure. “Des traces ADN” le lient au vol, avait-elle noté.Les autres personnes interpellées “peuvent éventuellement nous renseigner sur le déroulement de ces faits”, avait éclairé la procureure, sans vouloir en dire plus sur leur profil.Ces nouvelles interpellations “n’ont pas été du tout liées aux déclarations” des deux mis en examen, mais “à d’autres éléments dont nous disposons au dossier”, les traces ADN, la vidéosurveillance ou encore l’examen de la téléphonie, avait-elle ajouté.Les nouvelles interpellations ont eu lieu à Paris et dans son agglomération, notamment en Seine-Saint-Denis, avait-elle indiqué.- “Faille sécuritaire majeure” -Mme Beccuau avait souligné sa “détermination”, comme celle de la centaine d’enquêteurs mobilisés, à retrouver le butin et l’ensemble des malfaiteurs impliqués.Concernant les bijoux, la procureure avait expliqué que l’Office central de lutte contre le trafic des biens culturels (OCBC) explorait “un certain nombre de marchés parallèles” car ce n’est vraisemblablement pas sur le marché légal des œuvres d’art qu’ils surgiront.Parmi les hypothèses des enquêteurs: celle que ces joyaux puissent “être une marchandise de blanchiment, voire de négociation dans le milieu”, a-t-elle pointé.L’affaire a provoqué des débats-fleuves sur la sécurité du Louvre, musée d’art le plus visité du monde.La ministre de la Culture Rachida Dati a dévoilé vendredi les premières conclusions de l’enquête de l’Inspection générale des affaires culturelles, avec un bilan très critique: “une sous-estimation chronique, structurelle, du risque intrusion et vol” par le Louvre, “un sous-équipement des dispositifs de sécurité”, une gouvernance “pas adaptée” et des protocoles de réaction aux vols et intrusions “totalement obsolètes”.”On ne peut pas continuer comme ça”, a martelé Rachida Dati.Le jour du casse, les quatre malfaiteurs avaient pu garer un camion-élévateur au pied du musée, permettant à deux d’entre eux de se hisser avec une nacelle jusqu’à la galerie d’Apollon où sont conservés les joyaux de la Couronne.Tout en réaffirmant que les dispositifs de sécurité à l’intérieur du Louvre avaient fonctionné, Mme Dati a annoncé des mesures pour répondre à une “faille sécuritaire majeure” à l’extérieur du musée.”Nous allons mettre des dispositifs anti-voiture-béliers, anti-intrusion”, a-t-elle annoncé, assurant que ces nouvelles installations seraient en place “avant la fin de l’année”.