Ex-porn actor to be Colombian equality minister
Florian, who was a sex worker and creator of gay porn, will head up a department that guarantees vulnerable communities get access to social programs.
He has already served as a junior minister and worked in various international organizations.
More than 50 ministers have passed through leftist Gustavo Petro's cabinet since he took office three years ago.
© 2025 AFP
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LeMonde
3 hours ago
- LeMonde
Up to a million young Catholics expected in Rome for Pope Leo vigil
Up to a million young Catholic believers are expected Saturday, August 2 for a night-time vigil led by Pope Leo XIV, the culmination of a week-long pilgrimage, a key event in the Jubilee holy year. The "Jubilee of Youth" – when the Vatican invites Catholics aged 18 to 35 to the seat of the global Church's power – has seen thousands of young pilgrims from around the world flood Rome this week. It is taking place just under three months since 69-year-old Leo – the first American pope – took over the papacy. Large groups of pilgrims have packed the streets of Rome all week, waving the flags of their countries or cities and chanting religious songs. Excitement has mounted over the course of the week for the new pope's final appearance to the youths on Saturday. "I feel mainly curiosity, as we don't know him very well yet," Parisian student Alice Berry, 21, told AFP. "What does he have to say to us? What is his message for young people?" Uncertainty, anxiety Various events have been planned for them by the Church throughout the city, including at Circus Maximus, where on Friday approximately 1,000 priests were on hand to take confession. Some 200 white gazebos lined the hippodrome where chariot races were once held in Ancient Rome, where youth lined up to speak to priests in 10 different languages. Spanish was one of the main languages heard on the streets of the Italian capital. The pilgrimage is taking place as economic uncertainty hits young people across the world and as climate change anxiety rises among the under-30s. Many young pilgrims said they wanted to hear the Vatican's position on climate change, wars and economic inequalities. Samarei Semos, 29, said she had travelled three days from her native Belize to get to Rome. "We are still trying to understand his leadership," she said of the new pope, adding she hoped he would have a strong say about "third world countries." The pilgrimage also comes amid global alarm over starvation in Israel-blockaded Gaza, and more than three years into Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Night vigil The Vatican has praised Catholic youths who travelled to Rome from war-scarred countries like Ukraine or Syria, with Pope Leo repeatedly calling for the youths to "pray for peace." The voices of the amassed young people "will be heard to the end of the earth," Pope Leo told them earlier this week. The Vatican has said that more than 146 countries are represented. The mass that is the climax of the event will take place in Rome's Tor Vergata area in a vast open-air space with a newly built stage for the pope. It is the same area used 25 years ago for the last youth jubilee under Pope John Paul II. More than 4,300 volunteers will be working the event to welcome the young pilgrims, along with over 1,000 police, according to organizers. In an unprecedented move, Leo hosted a mass Tuesday for Catholic social media influencers, signaling the Vatican's openness to supporting the Internet-savvy youth. Rome authorities have tightened security in the city – which has seen an unprecedented number of people, with both tourists and pilgrims inundated the city.
France 24
14 hours ago
- France 24
Ex-porn actor to be Colombian equality minister
Juan Carlos Florian is to be named to the cabinet, an official said, in a move sure to spark debate in the deeply Catholic nation. Florian, who was a sex worker and creator of gay porn, will head up a department that guarantees vulnerable communities get access to social programs. He has already served as a junior minister and worked in various international organizations. More than 50 ministers have passed through leftist Gustavo Petro's cabinet since he took office three years ago. © 2025 AFP
France 24
15 hours ago
- France 24
Epstein accomplice Maxwell moved to minimum security Texas prison
No reason was given for Maxwell's transfer but it comes a week after a top Justice Department official met with her to ask questions about Epstein, who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial for allegedly sex trafficking underage girls. "We can confirm Ghislaine Maxwell is in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan in Bryan, Texas," a Bureau of Prisons spokesman said. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, interviewed Maxwell for two days at a Florida courthouse last week in a highly unusual meeting between a convicted felon and high-ranking Justice official. Blanche has declined so far to say what was discussed but Maxwell's lawyer, David Markus, said she answered every question she was asked. Maxwell has offered to testify before Congress about Epstein if given immunity and has also reportedly been seeking a pardon from Trump, a one-time close friend of Epstein. She had been subpoenaed to give a deposition to the House Oversight Committee on August 11, but Politico reported Friday it had been postponed indefinitely. The former British socialite is serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted in 2021 of recruiting underage girls for Epstein. Two women who said they were sexually abused by Epstein and Maxwell and the family of another accuser who recently committed suicide condemned the prison transfer. "It is with horror and outrage that we object to the preferential treatment convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has received," Annie and Maria Farmer and the family of Virginia Giuffre said in a statement Friday. "Ghislaine Maxwell is a sexual predator who physically assaulted minor children on multiple occasions, and she should never be shown any leniency," they said. "Yet, without any notification to the Maxwell victims, the government overnight has moved Maxwell to a minimum security luxury prison in Texas," they said. "This move smacks of a cover-up. The victims deserve better." 'Cover-up in real time' Tim Hogan, a senior Democratic National Committee advisor, also denounced what he alleged was a "government cover-up in real time." "Donald Trump's FBI, run by loyalist Kash Patel, redacted Trump's name from the Epstein files -- which have still not been released," Hogan said. "While Trump and his administration try to cover up the heinous crimes included in those files, they're simultaneously doing favors for convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell." Trump is facing mounting demands from Democrats and many of his conspiracy-minded Make America Great Again supporters to be more transparent about the case of the wealthy and well-connected Epstein. Trump's supporters have been obsessed with the Epstein case for years and have been up in arms since the FBI and Justice Department said last month that Epstein had committed suicide while in jail, did not blackmail any prominent figures, and did not keep a "client list." The president raised further questions this week as he told reporters he fell out with Epstein after the financier "stole" female employees from the spa at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. One of those girls was Giuffre, who accused Epstein of using her as a sex slave and committed suicide at her home in Australia in April. Giuffre's family issued a statement this week appealing to Trump not to consider pardoning Maxwell, who they called a "monster who deserves to rot in prison for the rest of her life."
