Twitnuuz: Brussels culture

Is it the pomp and circumstance? The celebrities? Or something else? Why are Americans so obsessed with the British monarchy?

Beyond the human cost of two earthquakes last month, concerns are turning to the looming economic uncertainties for an area that is a center for production of medical devices.

A European Union treaty on the ballot is designed to stabilize the euro by punishing member states who fail to adhere to strict budgetary constraints.

The Human Rights Council was preparing to call on Friday for an international inquiry into last week’s massacre of more than 100 Syrian civilians at Houla.

Vladimir V. Putin has emerged as the fulcrum in efforts by Western nations and Arab foes to force President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to step down.

Fazil Say, who has said he is an atheist and has criticized Turkey’s pro-Islamic government, is accused of “publicly insulting religious values.”

For nearly two weeks now, on-site teams have been charting the extent of the damage to historic buildings caused by two strong earthquakes in the Emilia-Romagna region on a disaster map that continues to grow.

The clash revived tensions in the Serb-controlled area, where Kosovo Serbs set up roadblocks last year to stop the ethnic Albanian government from extending control over the region.

The White House said Friday that President Obama had written a letter to the Polish president expressing “regret” for using the term “Polish death camp” this week while honoring a Polish World War II resistance hero.

Alexis Tsipras, leader of the Syriza party, laid out specific economic policy proposals that, if followed, would seem to put the country on a collision course with its foreign creditors.

Never before in Britain has it been so fashionable — and financially smart — to fly the flag.

A 31-year-old Oklahoma woman helped make medical history and started a chain of “paying it forward” when she decided to donate her kidney to a stranger halfway around the world, a man in Athens, Greece, officials announced Friday.

Collapse of Spain’s housing market has hurt banks balance sheets. CNN’s Al Goodman reports.

Americans love the queen.

Our world today is almost unrecognizable compared with 1952, the year Queen Elizabeth took her coronation oath. Since the UK’s queen ascended to the throne, man has taken his first steps on the moon and the internet has connected the world on a previously…

Second seed Maria Sharapova continued her quest for a career grand slam with a convincing win at the French Open on Friday, while world No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska and former champion Ana Ivanovic crashed out of the Paris tournament.

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Votes are being counted in Ireland in a referendum on the ratification of a treaty aimed at ensuring fiscal discipline in Europe, as it struggles to overcome a debt crisis.

A 30-meter- turbine anchored to the seafloor off the Scottish coast is proving that tidal farms are a turn closer to being a viable renewable energy source.

UK Culture Minister Jeremy Hunt defended his conduct over a bid by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. to take over British satellite broadcaster BSkyB at a hearing Thursday.

Bring up the Bodies Hilary Mantel (Author) 61 days in the top 100 (34) Buy new: £20.00 £8.86 43 used & new from £7.99 (Visit the Bestsellers in Books list for authoritative information on this product’s current rank.)

Fifty Shades of Grey E L James E L James (Author) › Visit Amazon’s E L James Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author name Are you an Author? Learn about Author Central (Author) 71 days in the…

Fifty Shades Darker E L James E L James (Author) › Visit Amazon’s E L James Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author name Are you an Author? Learn about Author Central (Author) 56 days in the top…

Me Before You Jojo Moyes (Author) 156 days in the top 100 (779) Buy new: £7.99 £3.86 56 used & new from £3.00 (Visit the Bestsellers in Books list for authoritative information on this product’s current rank.)

Fifty Shades Freed E L James E L James (Author) › Visit Amazon’s E L James Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author name Are you an Author? Learn about Author Central (Author) 56 days in the top…

The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller (Author) 3 days in the top 100 (61) Buy new: £7.99 £4.87 20 used & new from £3.75 (Visit the Bestsellers in Books list for authoritative information on this product’s current rank.)

The Thread Victoria Hislop (Author) 32 days in the top 100 (66) Buy new: £7.99 £2.99 29 used & new from £2.47 (Visit the Bestsellers in Books list for authoritative information on this product’s current rank.)

The World of Poo (Discworld) Terry Pratchett (Author) 11 days in the top 100 Release Date: 7 Jun 2012 Buy new: £12.99 £6.88 (Visit the Bestsellers in Books list for authoritative information on this product’s current rank.)

Gok Cooks Chinese Gok Wan (Author) 25 days in the top 100 (11) Buy new: £20.00 £8.86 28 used & new from £8.86 (Visit the Bestsellers in Books list for authoritative information on this product’s current rank.)

The Long Earth Terry Pratchett (Author), Stephen Baxter (Author) 32 days in the top 100 Release Date: 21 Jun 2012 Buy new: £18.99 £9.87 (Visit the Bestsellers in Books list for authoritative information on this product’s current rank.)

A state appellate court in Brooklyn has ordered the family to return an ancient artifact to a German museum, turning on its head the familiar scenario of Holocaust survivors suing to reclaim property.

Vladimir V. Putin has emerged as the fulcrum in efforts by Western nations and Arab foes to force President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to step down.

What’s the weather going to be like? It’s going to get harder to predict, which could well spell disaster for us all.

Mr. Faber, a Nazi collaborator, was convicted of taking part in killings at three Dutch locations. He escaped prison and lived in Germany for nearly 60 years.

The black market in human kidneys, traditionally based in China, India, Brazil and the Philippines, is expanding to crisis-hit Western countries like Greece, Spain, Italy and poor Balkan nations.

Jeremy Hunt, the culture minister, told a British panel that he had been personally sympathetic to a bid by Rupert Murdoch to take over British Sky Broadcasting but that he did not act with any favorable bias.

Leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church say protecting Syria’s Christians means supporting the rule of Bashar al-Assad. It’s a position the government cannot ignore.

The Human Rights Council was preparing to call on Friday for an international inquiry into last week’s massacre of more than 100 Syrian civilians at Houla.

Spain negotiated their freedom from prison and gave them a new homeland, but they’re living conditions have become precarious amid the country’s economic downturn.

The retired officer, Col. Vladimir Lazar, was charged with espionage for selling what officials said were classified topographical maps to a man they said was a Pentagon agent.

UK Culture Minister Jeremy Hunt defended his conduct over a bid by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. to take over British satellite broadcaster BSkyB at a hearing Thursday.

If Greece was the focus of markets’ angst last week, attention this week has shifted to Spain, where a worsening banking crisis threatens to deepen an already painful recession and endanger the future of the eurozone.

Pope Benedict XVI’s spokesman has denied the pontiff will resign over the arrest of his butler on suspicion of leaking confidential documents, the Vatican press office said.

The Epsom Derby is the most famous horse race in Britain — and, arguably, the world.

Sixty decades, 2,868 diamonds and … zero driver’s license? On this 60th anniversary year of her coronation, check out the numbers behind Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.

One of Turkey’s biggest clubs will not play European football next season after being found guilty of breaching UEFA’s financial fair play rules.

Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso fears Formula One is in danger of becoming a “lottery” and is in danger of losing its credibility.

The first former head of state to be convicted of war crimes since World War II was sentenced to 50 years in prison by an international court in The Hague, Netherlands.

With all the fuss in the media at the moment about Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee anyone could be forgiven for thinking that the British are united in their adoration of their monarch. The reality is that while a large swathe of public opinion is…

In one of the largest political rallies since 2003, protesters demonstrated in the capital, Tbilisi, to campaign for a fall parliamentary election.

Research shows that the closer bonds between young adults and their parents should be celebrated, and do not necessarily compromise the independence of the next generation.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk denounced President Obama for using the term instead of “Nazi death camps” while conferring a Presidential Medal of Freedom on a Polish resistance hero.

A European Union treaty on the ballot is designed to stabilize the euro by punishing member states who fail to adhere to strict budgetary constraints.

Jeremy Hunt, the culture minister, told a British panel that he had been personally sympathetic to a bid by Rupert Murdoch to take over British Sky Broadcasting but that he did not act with any favorable bias.

With a bailout of Spain becoming a more distinct possibility, European policy makers are questioning who will provide the money that Madrid needs to stay in business.

A kind of pub on wheels, the beer bike has grown in popularity, spreading beyond the Dutch border to other European countries and the United States.

Beyond the human cost of two earthquakes this month, concerns are turning to the looming economic uncertainties for an area that is a center for production of medical devices.

The European Commission said Hungary had made enough progress to correct its deficit that aid, which had been suspended in March, should resume.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has acknowledged that her ambition for a Germany that runs on renewable energy is falling behind schedule and faces a range of obstacles.

CNN’s Richard Quest talks to Richard Bruton, Irish Min. for Jobs, on the Ireland voting on EU deficit fighting agreement.

The death toll from a 5.8-magnitude earthquake in northern Italy rose to 17 after the discovery of another body, officials said Wednesday, as questions were asked about why factory buildings collapsed.

A former editor of Rupert Murdoch’s disgraced News of the World tabloid was detained Wednesday on perjury charges over court testimony about phone hacking.

The first former head of state to be convicted of war crimes since World War II was sentenced to 50 years in prison by an international court in The Hague, Netherlands.

CNN’s Richard Quest gets to the bottom of a cup of tea as Britain prepares to toast the Queen’s jubilee.

Some of Queen Elizabeth II’s acquaintances describe their view points of her to CNN’s Max Foster.

The Vatican expressed rare public anger Wednesday in blasting the leaking of secret papers from the pope’s apartment, a scandal which lifts the lid on a secret power struggle going on behind the closed doors of the Catholic Church.

The English Premier League has retained its place as European football’s most lucrative competition after revenues for the 2010/11 season increased by 12% to top £2.27 billion ($3.5 bn), according to a new report.

English Premier League club Liverpool are close to appointing Swansea City’s Brendan Rodgers as their new manager.

US benchmark borrowing costs plunged to levels last seen in 1946 and those for Germany and the UK hit all-time lows as investors took fright at what they see as a disjointed policy response to the debt crisis in Spain and Italy.

Britain’s highest court ruled on Wednesday that the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, should be deported to Sweden to face allegations of sexual abuse there.

José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said that investor confidence would rise if concrete steps were laid out for further integration of the euro zone.

The government dropped its program to impose a 20 percent sales tax on certain baked goods, after an uproar that became a symbol of the wealth gap in Britain.

Chapel Down Winery learned that it breached regulations that ban the use of grapes from outside the European Union to make wine inside it.

Britain’s highest court is to announce Wednesday whether Julian Assange should be deported to Sweden to face allegations of sexual abuses there.

The fundamental question the Chinese government must face is lawlessness. China does not lack laws, but rather the rule of law.

The prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, compared each abortion to an airstrike that killed dozens of civilians, and said that the procedure was the same as murder.

Italian officials have been eager to upgrade their Reapers, a larger, more lethal version of Predator drones, since an Italian soldier was killed in Afghanistan while an unarmed drone hovered overhead.

The Vatican on Tuesday denounced the theft of secret papal documents, in response to accusations that Pope Benedict XVI’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, leaked confidential correspondence.

Less than 10 days after an earthquake struck the Emilia-Romagna region, a 5.8-magnitude tremor shook the same area, killing at least 15 people.

New movie by Joachim Lafosse with Niels Arestrup, Tahar Rahim, Emilie Dequenne.

New movie by David Cronenberg with Robert Pattinson, Paul Giamatti, Samantha Morton, Juliette Binoche, Mathieu Amalric, Sarah Gadon.

New movie by Safinez Bousbia.

New movie by Asghar Farhadi with Hedye Tehrani, Taraneh Alidoosti, Hamid Farokhnezhad.

New movie by Wes Anderson with Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray.

New movie by Ridley Scott with Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Noomi Rapace.

“Bill W.” traces the history of Bill Wilson, a co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, in the 1930s.

The Austrian director Michael Haneke won the Palme d’Or at the 65th Cannes Film Festival on Sunday for “Amour,” a story of love and death focusing on an elderly Parisian couple.

Because of term limits, Tom Sherak, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is leaving a post that has emerged as one of the few bully pulpits in the film business.

How the original girl with the dragon tattoo became Ridley Scott’s new heroine.

J. A. Kerswell’s “Slasher Movie Book” looks back lovingly at posters for horror movies both classic and wretched.

Denis Lavant, a front-runner for best actor at Cannes, discusses his role in “Holy Motors,” which requires him to assume multiple roles.

Six foreign tourists in Ukraine encounter carnivorous humanoids in “Chernobyl Diaries.”

If there is one area where women in the film industry hold more positions and influence behind the scenes, it’s editing. But why?

A guide to movies playing in and outside the New York area.

“Summer With Monika,” Ingmar Bergman’s 1953 film, was called by Jean-Luc Godard, “the most original film by the most original of filmmakers.”