Briefly

SOUTH CAUCASUS

Azerbaijan ready for talks with Armenia

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said on Wednesday that his country would return to talks with Armenia after the acute phase of the military conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region ends, Russian news agency TASS cited him as saying. Aliyev, who spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone, said in an interview with Russian state television that Turkey had the right to participate in mediation. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told Time magazine that Armenia would agree to a cease-fire only if Turkey discontinued its engagement and mercenaries were withdrawn.

GREECE

Golden Dawn party leaders found guilty

Leaders of Greece's far-right Golden Dawn, the country's third most popular party in Parliament during the debt crisis, were guilty of running a criminal group, a Greek appeals court ruled on Wednesday. The killing of 34-year old leftist rapper Pavlos Fyssas by a party supporter in 2013 prompted a crackdown that led prosecutors to arrest and investigate Golden Dawn leaders and lawmakers over a series of crimes. Earlier on Wednesday, the court found Golden Dawn sympathizer Yiorgos Roupakias guilty of killing Fyssas. Tens of thousands rallied outside the heavily policed appeals court area, holding banners reading "Fascism, Never Again".

UNITED STATES

Panel details Big Tech's market abuses

A US House of Representatives panel looking into abuses of market power by four big technology companies found they used "killer acquisitions" to smite rivals, charged exorbitant fees and forced small businesses into "oppressive" contracts. The antitrust subcommittee of the judiciary committee recommended that Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Alphabet Inc's Google－which have a combined market value of more than $5 trillion－should not control and compete in related businesses. The panel recommended structural separations but stopped short of saying a specific company should be broken up.

Rock guitar legend Eddie Van Halen dies

Eddie Van Halen, the guitar virtuoso whose blinding speed, control and innovation propelled his band Van Halen to fame as one of hard rock's biggest groups and who was elevated to the status of "rock god", has died. He was 65. A person close to Van Halen's family confirmed the rocker died on Tuesday due to cancer. With his distinctive solos, Eddie Van Halen fueled the ultimate California party band and helped knock disco off the charts starting in the late 1970s with his band's self-titled debut album and then with the blockbuster record 1984, which contains the classics Jump, Panama and Hot for Teacher. Rolling Stone magazine put Eddie Van Halen at No 8 in its list of the 100 greatest guitarists.

Agencies via Xinhua