
-
Real Madrid coach Ancelotti tax fraud trial set to begin
-
Warner showcases 'Superman' reboot, new DiCaprio film
-
'Incredible' Curry scores 52 as Warriors down Grizzlies, Bucks edge Suns
-
Asian markets edge up but uncertainty rules ahead of Trump tariffs
-
Nintendo's megahit Switch console: what to know
-
Nintendo to unveil upgrade to best-selling Switch console
-
China practises hitting key ports, energy sites in Taiwan drills
-
Oil, sand and speed: Saudi gearheads take on towering dunes
-
All eyes on Tsunoda at Japan GP after ruthless Red Bull move
-
'Image whisperers' bring vision to the blind at Red Cross museum
-
Hay shines as New Zealand make 292-8 in Pakistan ODI
-
Other governments 'weaponising' Trump language to attack NGOs: rights groups
-
UK imposes online entry permit on European visitors
-
How a Brazilian chief is staving off Amazon destruction
-
Meme politics: White House embraces aggressive alt-right online culture
-
China launches military drills in Taiwan Strait
-
US senator smashes record with 25-hour anti-Trump speech
-
Brazil binman finds newborn baby on garbage route
-
US senator smashes record with marathon anti-Trump speech
-
Trump advisor Waltz faces new pressure over Gmail usage
-
Niger junta frees ministers of overthrown government
-
Trump set to unleash 'Liberation Day' tariffs
-
Boeing chief to acknowledge 'serious missteps' at US Senate hearing
-
Real Madrid hold Real Sociedad in eight-goal thriller to reach Copa del Rey final
-
Nuno salutes 'special' Elanga after stunning strike fires Forest
-
PSG survive scare against Dunkerque to reach French Cup final
-
Sundowns edge Esperance as crowd violence mars quarter-final
-
Nottingham Forest beat Man Utd, Saka scores on Arsenal return
-
Elanga wonder-goal sinks Man Utd as Forest eye Champions League berth
-
Stock markets mostly advance ahead of Trump tariffs deadline
-
US movie theaters urge 45-day 'baseline' before films hit streaming
-
Saka scores on return as Arsenal beat Fulham
-
Third-division Bielefeld shock holders Leverkusen in German Cup
-
Ball-blasting 'Torpedo bats' making waves across MLB opening weekend
-
Newsmax shares surge more than 2,000% in days after IPO
-
Thousands of Hungarians protest against Pride ban law
-
GM leads first quarter US auto sales as tariffs loom
-
Tesla sales tumble in Europe in the first quarter
-
No 'eye for an eye' approach to US tariffs: Mexico
-
NFL club owners back dynamic kickoffs, delay tush push vote
-
Trump 'perfecting' new tariffs as nervous world braces
-
Trump nominee says to press UK on Israel arms
-
French court says Le Pen appeal ruling could come before presidential vote
-
The battle to control assets behind Bosnia crisis
-
Prabhsimran powers Punjab to IPL win over Lucknow
-
Mass layoffs targeting 10,000 jobs hit US health agencies
-
Tiger's April Foolishness: plan to play Masters just a joke
-
Myanmar quake toll passes 2,700, nation halts to honour victims
-
Turkish fans, artists urge Muse to cancel Istanbul gig
-
US seeks death penalty for accused killer of insurance CEO

Arthouse favourite Andre Wilms dies aged 74
French actor Andre Wilms, who appeared in a string of arthouse hits by cult Finnish film director Aki Kaurismaki, has died at the age of 74.
Wilms' hangdog expression was deployed by the Finnish master of melancholy in an array of roles in his lugubrious tragicomedies, from a struggling author who ends up shining shoes in "Le Havre" (2011) to a CIA agent hunting a Russian rock band who stole the Statue of Liberty's nose in "Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses".
He won best supporting actor at the European Film Awards in 1992 for his part in the critically acclaimed "La vie de boheme", in which Kaurismaki begins the stories of the battered characters who later appear in "Le Havre".
Often seen as the director's alter ego, Wilms also appeared in "Juha" as well as such international hits as Patrice Leconte's "Monsieur Hire" and Agnieszka Holland's Holocaust drama "Europa Europa" (1990).
Wilms, who was expected to star in several forthcoming plays and films, died in a Paris hospital on Wednesday, his agent told AFP, though his family declined to give a cause of death.
- Brooding presence -
Born in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, hard by the German border, Wilms began as a plasterer before going to work as a technician in a theatre in Toulouse.
It was there that he began his acting career as an extra before his brooding presence and care-worn face began to win him bigger roles.
"They always cast me as a Nazi because I spoke good German," he recalled.
He soon made the leap to film as French cinema looked for authentic-looking working class leading men to be the next Gerard Depardieu.
However, he was cast against type in his first French hit, the class divide comedy "Life Is a Long Quiet River" as the head of a snobby Catholic family.
The nature-against-nurture satire turns on his son being swapped at birth with the daughter of a clan of petty criminal working-class layabouts.
A far-left activist in his youth, Wilms was a committed Maoist in the early 1970s.
"We were desperately searching for that utopia," he later recalled. "We hoped and believed in the Chinese revolution. And then all that collapsed. A few of my comrades killed themselves, others became mute" after the fall of the Soviet Union.
"I really believed in it. I thought even that theatre could change things," he added.
Wilms' latest film, "Maigret" in which he starred opposite Depardieu, is due to be released in France later this month.
M.A.Colin--AMWN