• Associated Press

    Women who say they were abused by ex-Jesuit artist ask Catholic bishops to remove his mosaics

    Five women who say they were psychologically, spiritually and sexually abused by a famous ex-Jesuit artist asked Catholic bishops around the world on Friday to remove his mosaics from their churches, saying their continued display in places of worship was “inappropriate” and retraumatizing to victims. Through their lawyer, the women sent letters to bishops from Brazil to Lebanon and dioceses in between where chapels, churches or basilicas feature some of the nearly 230 mosaics designed by the Rev. Marko Rupnik and his Centro Aletti art studio. The letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, marked the latest salvo in the long-running scandal over Rupnik, whose mosaics decorate some of the Catholic Church's most-visited sanctuaries but whose reputation has been marred by allegations of abuse by more than a dozen women.

  • Reuters

    Biden's shaky debate has overseas allies bracing for the return of Trump

    While the first U.S. presidential debate of the 2024 race dwelled little on foreign policy, a shaky performance by Joe Biden will have America's allies steeling for the return of Donald Trump, analysts say. Biden's supporters had hoped the debate would erase worries that he was too old to serve, but several lawmakers, analysts and investors also said the event had given Trump a boost. "Mr. Trump didn't win but Mr. Biden might have imploded," said Kunihiko Miyake, a former Japanese diplomat and now research director at the Canon Institute for Global Studies, a think tank.

  • Reuters

    ECB survey shows consumers becoming more optimistic on inflation

    Euro zone consumers continued to cut their inflation expectations and also grew more optimistic on employment prospects even as they still saw economic contraction ahead, a fresh European Central Bank survey showed on Friday. Inflation has fallen rapidly from double digit territory in late 2022, but policymakers now see it hovering on either side of 2.5% for the rest of the year, before falling back to their 2% target in late 2025. Economic growth expectations for the next 12 months remained unchanged at minus 0.8% while expectations for the unemployment rate decreased to 10.7% from 10.9%, the ECB's Consumer Expectations Survey showed.