China

Shein under EU pressure over childlike sex dolls

Malaysia

Thailand, Indonesia begin clean-up after massive floods kill hundreds

BY ALFATH ASMUNDA

  • Flooding and landslides in Indonesia have killed more than 300 people, according to the latest figures from the disaster authority on Saturday.
  • The death toll from devastating floods and landslides in Southeast Asia climbed past 400 on Saturday as clean-up and search-and-rescue operations got underway in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.
  • Flooding and landslides in Indonesia have killed more than 300 people, according to the latest figures from the disaster authority on Saturday.
The death toll from devastating floods and landslides in Southeast Asia climbed past 400 on Saturday as clean-up and search-and-rescue operations got underway in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.
Heavy monsoon rain overwhelmed swaths of the three countries this week and left thousands stranded, many on rooftops awaiting rescue.
Rescuers in Indonesia were struggling to reach the worst-affected areas of Sumatra island, where more than 270 people were still missing.
Flooding and landslides in Indonesia have killed more than 300 people, according to the latest figures from the disaster authority on Saturday.
Of those, 166 were in North Sumatra province, 90 were in West Sumatra, and 47 were in Aceh.
Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated, although access to many parts of those three provinces remains cut off, National Disaster agency head Suharyanto said.
He told a news conference that a cloud seeding operation had begun in West Sumatra to reduce the rainfall, most of which had already subsided by Saturday.
Novia, a resident of Pidie in Aceh, said the water in his house had receded "but the entire place is covered in mud".
"Some of the items in the house are damaged or have fallen, and we haven't been able to clean them yet.
"We, the community, are working together to clean up the mud," the 30-year-old told AFP.
Firda Yusra said he left his home with his wife and child to take shelter in a nearby mosque with around a thousand others.
"Here, we eat whatever is available," he said.

Thailand clean-up

Water levels reached three metres (nearly 10 feet) in Songkhla province in southern Thailand and killed 162 people in one of the worst floods in a decade.
Workers at one hospital in hard-hit Hat Yai moved bodies into refrigerated trucks after the morgue exceeded capacity.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul apologised for the destruction caused by the floods.
"Whenever there are losses, deaths, or injuries, it's always the prime minister's fault," he said on Saturday.
"I will use all my expertise and dedication to improve the situation," he said, announcing a two-week timeframe for the district's cleanup.
The Thai government rolled out relief measures for those affected by the flooding, including compensation of up to two million baht ($62,000) for households that lost family members.
More than 40,000 people have taken shelter in evacuation centres, according to Wanchana Sawasdee, spokesman of the flood relief operations centre, although "some people have already returned home".
Malaysia's foreign affairs ministry said more than 6,000 Malaysians who were stranded by severe flooding in Hat Yai had been rescued.
Two people were killed in Malaysia after floods left stretches of northern Perlis state underwater.

Public criticism

Shop owner Rachane Remsringam picked through rubbish strewn between the aisles of his general goods store as floodwaters in southern Thailand receded, lamenting hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses.
There has been growing public criticism of Thailand's flood response, and two local officials have been suspended over their alleged failures.
An MP from the opposition People's Party criticised the administration, saying it "wrongly estimated the situation" and made "errors in handling the flood crisis".
The annual monsoon season, typically between June and September, often brings heavy rain, triggering landslides and flash floods.
A tropical storm has exacerbated conditions, and the tolls in Indonesia and Thailand rank among the highest in floods in those countries in recent years.
Climate change has affected storm patterns, including the duration and intensity of the season, leading to heavier rainfall, flash flooding and stronger wind gusts.
"Since I was a child until now at 30 years old, this is the worst flood that has ever occurred in our village," said Novia in Aceh.
"There were floods before... but it wasn't like this."
burs-sjc/pbt

fire

Hong Kong begins mourning period after fire kills at least 128

BY TOMMY WANG

  • The blaze was Hong Kong's deadliest since 1948, when an explosion followed by a fire killed at least 135 people.
  • An outpouring of grief swept Hong Kong on Saturday as thousands paid their respects and laid flowers for the 128 people killed in one of the city's deadliest fires, marking the start of an official, three-day mourning period.
  • The blaze was Hong Kong's deadliest since 1948, when an explosion followed by a fire killed at least 135 people.
An outpouring of grief swept Hong Kong on Saturday as thousands paid their respects and laid flowers for the 128 people killed in one of the city's deadliest fires, marking the start of an official, three-day mourning period.
People from across the city flocked to a small park near the charred shell of Wang Fuk Court, the residential complex that burned for more than 40 hours, to place white and yellow flowers and leave handwritten messages of remembrance.
The queue kept growing and by nightfall the area was filled with solemn mourners, many dressed in dark colours.
A 69-year-old woman surnamed Wong, who lived in the estate for more than four decades, sat dazed nearby as she counted off a list of deceased neighbours and friends.
"It was a grandmother with a 18-month-old baby... I was very close with them," Wong told AFP, adding that many of the elderly homeowners had a tight bond.
"Yesterday it was confirmed they died."
Even for those who were physically unscathed, some -- like resident Wong Kuen-mui, a 67-year-old insurance worker -- struggled with a profound sense of loss.
"Forty years' worth of memories have all been lost... All the old photos (of my children) are gone, it's hard to recall what they looked like as kids, and that's the most painful," she said.
Elsewhere in the Tai Po neighbourhood, a hall in a community centre was turned into a "condolence point" for the public, one of 18 across the Chinese finance hub.
A man surnamed Ki, 52, was among the dozens who queued to sign the condolence book in silence, which was only broken by sounds of sobbing.
"I can't do anything. I can only hope they rest in peace," he told AFP.
Raymond Tang, who was also in the queue, said his wish was that the deceased can "cross the sea of suffering and depart to the other side".
City leader John Lee and top ministers stood in silence for three minutes at 8:00 am outside the government headquarters, where the flags of China and Hong Kong were flown at half-mast.
During the mourning period, celebratory events organised by the government will be axed or postponed, and officials will reduce their non-essential public appearances.
Meanwhile, China launched a campaign against "major fire risks and hazards" in high-rise buildings, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Saturday.

Desperate search

Police on Saturday said the death toll remained 128 and told a news conference that 44 of the dead were "awaiting body identification".
Legions of police officers from the Disaster Victim Identification Unit, dressed in white full-body protective gear, finished searching two of the eight tower blocks and found no new bodies.
Rescuers were still trying to sort out the situation of around 150 people who were reported missing and could not be contacted. Police said the missing person reports varied in terms of information quality.
Those anxious about their missing loved ones continued desperate searches at hospitals and victim identification stations.
More than 40 people remained hospitalised on Saturday, with 11 in critical condition, and 21 listed as "serious".
On Friday, the city's anti-corruption watchdog arrested eight people in connection with the blaze, on top of three earlier arrests by police.
Flames had spread quickly through the housing estate in the city's northern Tai Po district on Wednesday afternoon, engulfing seven of the eight high-rises in the densely packed complex.
Authorities said the cause was yet to be determined, but preliminary investigations suggested the fire started on protective netting on the lower floors of one of the towers and that "highly flammable" foam boards, as well as bamboo scaffolding, had contributed to its spread.
Fire services chief Andy Yeung said they discovered that alarm systems in all eight apartment blocks "were malfunctioning", and vowed action against the contractors. 
Residents had told AFP they did not hear any fire alarms and went door-to-door to alert neighbours to the danger.
The blaze was Hong Kong's deadliest since 1948, when an explosion followed by a fire killed at least 135 people.
On Saturday, at least, police regional commander Lam Man-han had one item of good news in an update on the building searches.
"During the search, we did not find any human remains," Lam said.
"We rescued three cats from Wang Yan House and one turtle from Wang Tao House."
hol/mtp

flood

Sri Lanka declares emergency as cyclone toll hits 132

BY AMAL JAYASINGHE

  • Cyclone Ditwah moved away from the island on Saturday and was heading towards neighbouring India to the north.
  • Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency on Saturday and appealed for international assistance as the death toll from heavy rains and floods triggered by Cyclone Ditwah rose to 132, with another 176 reported missing.
  • Cyclone Ditwah moved away from the island on Saturday and was heading towards neighbouring India to the north.
Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency on Saturday and appealed for international assistance as the death toll from heavy rains and floods triggered by Cyclone Ditwah rose to 132, with another 176 reported missing.
The extreme weather system has destroyed more than 15,000 homes, sending 78,000 people to state-run temporary shelters, the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake invoked emergency laws, granting him sweeping powers to deal with the devastation after a week of torrential rain across the island.
"We have 132 confirmed dead and another 176 missing," DMC Director-General Sampath Kotuwegoda said, adding that relief efforts had been bolstered with the deployment of the army, navy and air force.
The military rescued 69 bus passengers on Saturday, including a German tourist, who were marooned in the Anuradhapura district after a 24-hour operation involving a helicopter and naval boats.
One of the passengers, speaking to reporters at a local hospital, said navy sailors had helped them climb onto the roof of a nearby home after using ropes to help them safely wade through flood waters.
"We were very lucky... while we were on the roof, a part of it collapsed... three women fell into the water, but they were helped back onto the roof," Shantha said.
A helicopter had to abort an initial rescue attempt as the downdraft from the rotors threatened to blow away the roof they were perched on, he said.
They were later rescued by naval boats.
Roads in the central district of Badulla remained inaccessible, leaving many villages cut off and relief supplies unable to get through.
"We lost two people in our village... others are sheltering at a temple and a house that is still standing," said Saman Kumara from the village of Maspanna in Badulla, one of the worst-affected districts.

No clean water

"We can't leave the village and no one can come in because all roads are blocked by earth slips. There is no food and we are short of clean water," he told media website News Center by telephone. 
Officials said about a third of the country was without electricity and running water as power lines had collapsed and water purification facilities were inundated. Internet connections were also disrupted in many areas.
Cyclone Ditwah moved away from the island on Saturday and was heading towards neighbouring India to the north.
India's Chennai Airport has cancelled 54 flights in view of the cyclone's approach, with the weather department forecasting extremely heavy rainfall and strong winds over the next 48 hours.
Fresh landslides hit the central district of Kandy, 115 kilometres (71 miles) east of Colombo, with the main access road underwater at several locations.
The government has issued an appeal for international help and asked Sri Lankans abroad to make cash donations to support affected communities.
Officials said Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya had met Colombo-based diplomats to update them on the situation and seek assistance from their governments.
India was the first to respond, sending two plane loads of relief supplies, while an Indian warship already in Colombo on a previously planned goodwill visit donated its rations to help victims.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences over the loss of lives in Sri Lanka and said New Delhi was ready to send more aid.
Flooding in low-lying areas worsened on Saturday, prompting authorities to issue evacuation orders for those living along the banks of the Kelani river, which flows into the Indian Ocean from Colombo.
Rain had eased in most parts of the country, including the capital, but the island's north was still experiencing showers due to the residual effects of Cyclone Ditwah.
The cyclone is Sri Lanka's deadliest natural disaster since 2017, when flooding and landslides killed more than 200 people and displaced hundreds of thousands of others.
The worst flooding Sri Lanka has experienced since the turn of the century occurred in June 2003, when 254 people were killed.
aj/abh/tc

pope

Pope visits Istanbul's Blue Mosque

BY CLéMENT MELKI AND REMI BANET

  • The Blue Mosque is one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions, with six minarets and a roof of cascading domes, its interior lined with vibrant blue Iznik tiles. 
  • Pope Leo XIV visited Istanbul's famed Blue Mosque early on Saturday on the third day of his trip to Turkey.
  • The Blue Mosque is one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions, with six minarets and a roof of cascading domes, its interior lined with vibrant blue Iznik tiles. 
Pope Leo XIV visited Istanbul's famed Blue Mosque early on Saturday on the third day of his trip to Turkey.
It was the first time the American pope, elected in May as leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, visited a Muslim place of worship since taking over from his late predecessor Francis.
The Blue Mosque is one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions, with six minarets and a roof of cascading domes, its interior lined with vibrant blue Iznik tiles. 
With such a highly symbolic gesture, Leo follows in the footsteps of Pope Benedict XVI, who visited the site in 2006, and Francis who did the same in 2014.
Like all visitors, the pope removed his shoes to enter the mosque, walking onto the burnt orange carpet in white socks -- not a mandatory part of the papal uniform but in this case a likely nod to Leo's favourite baseball team, the Chicago White Sox.
He spent about 15 minutes inside, with Muslim dignitaries showing him around, as overhead a stray crow circled under the vast domes, cawing as it sought a way out, according to an AFP correspondent with the delegation. 
"He wanted to see the mosque, he wanted to feel the atmosphere of the mosque and he was very pleased," Askin Tunca, the Blue Mosque's muezzin who calls the faithful to prayer, told reporters. 
Outside several dozen onlookers gathered behind high barriers, most of them foreign tourists. 
"The pope's travels are always very beautiful thing because he brings peace with him," smiled Roberta Ribola, a 50-year-old tourist from northern Italy who was waiting outside. 
"It's good that people from different cultures meet, especially as foreigners are riddled with Islamophobia," said Sedat Kezer, 33, a street food vendor hawking grilled corn-on-the-cob. 
"But the pope would seem more sincere if he mingled with the public. No one can see or interact with him," he said, gesturing to the huge security deployment outside the mosque. 
Others were openly frustrated. 
"The pope has no business here," snapped Bekir Sarikaya, a Turkish tourist in his 40s who said his parents had "travelled 1,000 kilometres" to pray there only to be denied access. 
But his wife disagreed. "We can visit the churches of Istanbul, so he has the right to visit our mosques," she argued.
Unlike his predecessors, Leo did not visit the nearby Hagia Sophia, the legendary sixth-century basilica built during the Byzantine Empire, which was converted into a mosque under the Ottoman Empire then became a museum under Turkey's newly established republic. 
But in 2020, the UNESCO World Heritage site was converted back into a mosque in a move that drew international condemnation, including from the late Francis who said he was "very saddened".
On Saturday afternoon, Leo meets local church leaders and joins a brief service at the Patriarchal Church of St. George before meeting Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I at his palace on the banks of the Golden Horn estuary.
There, the pair will sign a joint declaration, the content of which has not yet been made public.
At 1400 GMT, Leo will hold a mass at the city's Volkswagen Arena, where some 4,000 worshippers are expected to join him.
On Sunday morning, after a prayer service at the Armenian cathedral and leading a divine liturgy, the Orthodox equivalent of a mass, at St George's, he will head to Lebanon for the second leg of his trip -- his first overseas tour since being elected to the position.
bur-hmw/giv

corruption

Kyiv hit by overnight attack after Zelensky removes top aide

BY ANIA TSOUKANOVA AND DARIA ANDRIIEVSKA

  • Just last week, Zelensky had named Yermak as Ukraine's top negotiator in a vote of confidence despite growing pressure from opposition figures to remove the divisive chief of staff.
  • Ukraine's capital faced a night of attacks Friday to Saturday, hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky removed his powerful chief of staff and top negotiator following a raid on Andriy Yermak's house as part of a sweeping corruption probe.
  • Just last week, Zelensky had named Yermak as Ukraine's top negotiator in a vote of confidence despite growing pressure from opposition figures to remove the divisive chief of staff.
Ukraine's capital faced a night of attacks Friday to Saturday, hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky removed his powerful chief of staff and top negotiator following a raid on Andriy Yermak's house as part of a sweeping corruption probe.
Yermak's removal dealt a serious blow to Zelensky, who faces a mounting Russian offensive in the east as Washington peddles a plan to end the war that Kyiv fears will hand big concessions to Moscow.
Ukrainian negotiators are expected in the United States this weekend for talks on the US plan to end the war. 
Yermak, 54, was supposed to have negotiated on behalf of Ukraine at the talks and Zelensky said he would hold consultations Saturday over a replacement for him.
Russian drones struck Kyiv, killing one person and causing damage and massive power cuts in the capital, city officials said.
Around a dozen people were wounded, as residential buildings were hit in several districts, city officials said. 
Explosions were heard through the night and the air alert lasted over nine hours.
"The western part of the capital is without electricity. Power workers will be working to restore supply," Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said on Telegram.
Leading the talks this weekend is now Ukrainian security council secretary Rustem Umerov, according to two senior Ukrainian officials, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Just last week, Zelensky had named Yermak as Ukraine's top negotiator in a vote of confidence despite growing pressure from opposition figures to remove the divisive chief of staff.
But on Friday, Zelensky announced in a video address: "The Office of the President of Ukraine will be reorganised. The head of the office, Andriy Yermak, has submitted his resignation."
Minutes later, Zelensky signed a decree "to dismiss" Yermak.
On Friday, investigators from the National Anti-Corruption Agency (NABU) said it and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office had raided Yermak's apartment as part of an investigation.
They did not say what it was about, and Yermak said he was cooperating fully.
Yermak has been accused of involvement in a $100-million kickback scheme in the strategic energy sector, uncovered by investigators earlier this month.
The case triggered widespread public anger at a time when Russia is hammering Ukraine's power grid, causing blackouts and threatening winter heating outages.
In the face of the scandal, Zelensky sought to rally the population on Friday.
"If we lose our unity, we risk losing everything: ourselves, Ukraine, our future," he said in the address.

Yermak's influence

Yermak was Zelensky's most important ally but in Kyiv, his opponents say he has accumulated power, gate-keeps access to the president and ruthlessly sidelines critical voices.
A former film producer and copyright lawyer, he came into politics with Zelensky in 2019, having previously worked with the now-president during his time as a popular comedian.
Yermak was widely considered the second-most influential man in the country and even sometimes nicknamed "vice-president".
"Yermak doesn't allow anyone to get to Zelensky except loyal people," a former senior official who worked with Zelensky and Yermak told AFP, describing him as "super paranoid".
"He definitely tries to influence almost every decision," they added.
A senior source in Zelensky's party said Yermak's influence over the president was akin to "hypnosis".
Speaking after the raid on Yermak, the European Union backed the work of Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies.
"We have a lot of respect for those investigations which show that the anti-corruption bodies in Ukraine are doing their work," said European Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho.
Zelensky had in the summer tried to strip the independence of NABU and SPO, triggering rare wartime protests and forcing him to walk back the decision after criticism from the EU.

Pressure on Zelensky

Yermak had been a stalwart by Zelensky's side throughout the war.
The two men are seen together on official photos of almost all presidential events. 
According to media reports, their beds stand side by side in the presidential office's underground bunker, and in their free time, they play table tennis, watch movies or work out.
But he is widely unpopular in society and distrusted by two-thirds of the population, according to a March 2025 poll by the Razumkov Centre, an NGO.
Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko told AFP before Yermak's removal that he needed to go to shore up Kyiv's position in talks with the United States.
Alluding to the vulnerability of the moment, Zelensky also stressed that he could not afford to make political missteps at this moment.
"Russia really wants Ukraine to make mistakes," he said.
"There will be no mistakes on our part."
bur/kjm/giv

aviation

Air travel disrupted over Airbus A320 software switch

BY OLGA NEDBAEVA WITH THOMAS URBAIN IN NEW YORK

  • Its competitor, American Airlines, said it had already begun updating software following Friday's alert, and expected "the vast majority" of approximately 340 affected aircraft to be serviced by Saturday.
  • More airlines around the world announced delayed or cancelled flights Saturday following an Airbus alert that up to 6,000 A320 aircraft may require upgrades.
  • Its competitor, American Airlines, said it had already begun updating software following Friday's alert, and expected "the vast majority" of approximately 340 affected aircraft to be serviced by Saturday.
More airlines around the world announced delayed or cancelled flights Saturday following an Airbus alert that up to 6,000 A320 aircraft may require upgrades.
Airbus instructed its clients Friday to take "immediate precautionary action" after evaluating a technical malfunction on board a JetBlue flight in October.
"Intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls," it said, adding that "a significant number of A320 Family aircraft currently in-service" may be affected.
Replacing the software will take "a few hours" on most planes but for some 1,000 aircraft, the process "will take weeks", a source close to the issue told AFP.
Air France told AFP it was calculating how many more flights would be cancelled Saturday.
"Customers affected by cancellations are being notified individually by SMS and email," a spokesperson said Friday.
It cancelled 35 flights on Friday, while Colombian airline Avianca said 70 percent of its fleet had been impacted by a technical issue in the European plane-maker's software.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said in a statement that Airbus had informed it about the issue.
"These measures may cause short-term disruption to flight schedules and therefore inconvenience to passengers," EASA said, adding that "safety is paramount".

Emergency landing

Aerospace and defence giant Thales told AFP that it makes the flight control computer, which it said was "fully compliant with the technical specifications issued by Airbus" and certified by the EASA and its US equivalent, the FAA.
But it added: "The functionality in question is supported by software that is not under Thales' responsibility."
The Airbus statement did not specify which company had designed the software.
"Airbus acknowledges these recommendations will lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers," it said, apologising for the inconvenience.
On October 30, a JetBlue-operated A320 aircraft encountered an in-flight control issue due to a computer malfunction.
The plane suddenly nosedived as it travelled between Cancun in Mexico and Newark in the United States, and pilots had to land in Tampa, Florida.
US media quoted local firefighters saying that some passengers were injured.
Contacted by AFP, JetBlue did not comment on the incident but said it had already begun necessary changes on some A320 and A321 models.
Its competitor, American Airlines, said it had already begun updating software following Friday's alert, and expected "the vast majority" of approximately 340 affected aircraft to be serviced by Saturday. "Several delays" would occur as a result, it added.
After initially saying it had not been affected, its competitor United Airlines said it had identified six affected aircraft and said it expected minor disruptions on a few flights.
Delta Air Lines said it expected to have made the necessary updates by Saturday morning.
Air India warned Saturday of delays, while an Avianca statement warned of "significant disruptions over the next 10 days".
In the Philippines, local carriers Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific were offering refunds or rebooked tickets after grounding at least 40 domestic flights on Saturday.
Produced since 1988, the A320 is the world's best-selling aeroplane. Airbus sold 12,257 of the aircraft by the end of September compared with the sale of 12,254 Boeing 737s.
neo/hh/vmtv/cc/rlp-kjm/fox/mtp

flood

Sri Lanka flood, landslides toll rises to 123: official

  • The worst flooding Sri Lanka has experienced since the turn of the century occurred in June 2003, when 254 people were killed. aj/abh/mtp
  • Torrential rains and floods triggered by Cyclone Ditwah have killed 123 people across Sri Lanka so far, with another 130 still missing, the Disaster Management Centre said Saturday.
  • The worst flooding Sri Lanka has experienced since the turn of the century occurred in June 2003, when 254 people were killed. aj/abh/mtp
Torrential rains and floods triggered by Cyclone Ditwah have killed 123 people across Sri Lanka so far, with another 130 still missing, the Disaster Management Centre said Saturday.
Director General Sampath Kotuwegoda said relief operations were underway with 43,995 people moved to state-run welfare centres after their homes were destroyed in the week-long heavy rains.
The weather system was moving away from the island towards neighbouring India but it has already left massive destruction, the DMC said.
"Relief operations with the help of the armed forces are underway," Kotuwegoda told reporters in Colombo.
The effects of the weather system have been felt since Monday, although the cyclone made landfall on Wednesday, triggering record rainfall across the island.
The flooding situation in low-lying areas worsened on Saturday, prompting authorities to issue evacuation orders for those living along the banks of the Kelani River, which flows into the Indian Ocean from Colombo.
The Kelani burst its banks on Friday evening, forcing hundreds of people to move to temporary shelters, the DMC said.
Rains had subsided in most parts of the country, including the capital, but parts of the island's north were experiencing showers due to the residual effects of Cyclone Ditwah.
Officials said India had rushed a planeload of supplies early on Saturday for the victims.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences over the loss of life in Sri Lanka and said New Delhi was ready to send more aid.
"We stand ready to provide more aid and assistance as the situation evolves," Modi said on X.
The government has deployed the armed forces to bolster rescue and relief operations across the country, with military helicopters and boats used to evacuate marooned residents.
DMC officials said they expected flood levels to be worse than in 2016, when 71 people were killed nationwide.
This week's weather-related toll is the highest since June last year, when 26 people were killed following heavy rains. In December, 17 people died in flooding and landslides.
The worst flooding Sri Lanka has experienced since the turn of the century occurred in June 2003, when 254 people were killed.
aj/abh/mtp

migration

Peru declares state of emergency over expected migrant surge from Chile

  • Peru's President Jose Jeri had announced earlier on Friday that such an action was forthcoming, after dozens of migrants were reported to be stuck at the Chile-Peru border.
  • Peru's government declared a state of emergency at its southern border with Chile on Friday, expecting an influx of people trying to flee far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast's potential presidency.
  • Peru's President Jose Jeri had announced earlier on Friday that such an action was forthcoming, after dozens of migrants were reported to be stuck at the Chile-Peru border.
Peru's government declared a state of emergency at its southern border with Chile on Friday, expecting an influx of people trying to flee far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast's potential presidency.
Under the decree, Peru's military will reinforce border control in the southern Tacna region for 60 days, past Chile's December 14 run-off election, in which immigration hardliner Kast is facing off against left-wing candidate Jeannette Jara.
The state of emergency will also serve "to address crime and other situations of violence" in the border area.
"The Peruvian National Police will maintain control of internal order, with support from the Armed Forces," according to the order.
Peru's President Jose Jeri had announced earlier on Friday that such an action was forthcoming, after dozens of migrants were reported to be stuck at the Chile-Peru border.
A video posted by the Chilean governor of the Arica border region, around 2,200 kilometers (1,370 miles) north of Santiago, showed dozens of people attempting to exit from Chile at the Chacalluta-Santa Rosa border crossing. 
A Venezuelan migrant told the online news outlet The Clinic that the group was trying to leave Chile "for fear that they remove us by force" if Kast becomes the next president.
"They don't want to let us into Peru," the migrant, who preferred to remain anonymous, said.
The Peruvian station Radio Tacna broadcast images of migrants carrying children on the highway near the border crossing. 

'103 days left'

Peru is both a source of, and country of transit for, migrants fleeing other parts of Latin America to Chile, one of the region's most prosperous and stable nations. 
The reverse migration trend comes just over two weeks before the Chilean presidential run-off, in which Kast is favored to win.
Kast, a 59-year-old ex-MP on his third run for president, has given the country's around 330,000 undocumented migrants an ultimatum to self-deport or be thrown out and lose everything if he takes office.
He blames undocumented migration for a surge in violent crime over the past decade.
"To undocumented immigrants in Chile, I say you have 103 days left to leave our country voluntarily," Kast said in a video posted on Friday on his social media. 
He was referring to March 11, the date when the successor of outgoing center-left President Gabriel Boric, is sworn in.
Peru's Foreign Minister Hugo de Zela told a press conference Friday evening that the issue will be addressed via a "binational migration cooperation committee" beginning next week.
However, he stressed that Peru will not accept any more undocumented migrants.
Since 2015, more than 1.5 million Venezuelans have arrived in the country, fleeing a humanitarian and political crisis.
"We will not allow irregular migration. We do not have the conditions or capacity to receive more migrants," he said.
bur-des/lb

politics

US halts asylum decisions as troop killing sparks migrant crackdown

BY ANUJ CHOPRA

  • Trump has insisted that Lakanwal had been granted unvetted access to the United States because of lax asylum policies after the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan under former president Biden.
  • The United States is freezing all asylum decisions, officials said Friday, as President Donald Trump hardens his anti-migrant stance after an Afghan national allegedly shot two National Guard members this week in Washington.
  • Trump has insisted that Lakanwal had been granted unvetted access to the United States because of lax asylum policies after the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan under former president Biden.
The United States is freezing all asylum decisions, officials said Friday, as President Donald Trump hardens his anti-migrant stance after an Afghan national allegedly shot two National Guard members this week in Washington.
Wednesday's attack on the soldiers -- one of whom died from her injuries -- has ignited a fresh crackdown on foreigners in the United States, with Trump also pledging to suspend migration from "third world countries."
Joseph Edlow, director of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said his agency has "halted all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible."
That followed Trump's announcement late Thursday of plans to "permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the US system to fully recover."
Asked which nationalities would be affected, the Department of Homeland Security pointed AFP to a list of 19 countries -- including Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran and Myanmar -- already facing US travel restrictions since June.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that the US had temporarily stopped issuing visas to all individuals traveling on Afghan passports.
"The United States has no higher priority than protecting our nation and our people," he said.

'Monster'

The shooting has brought together three politically explosive issues: Trump's controversial use of the military on American soil, immigration, and the lingering legacy of the 20-year conflict in Afghanistan.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, who allegedly opened fire on the guardsmen just a few blocks from the White House, had been part of a CIA-backed "partner force" fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
He entered the United States as part of a resettlement program following the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for Washington DC, said Friday that Lakanwal would be charged with murder over the attack. 
Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old West Virginia National Guard member deployed in the US capital as part of what Trump called a crackdown on crime, died from her wounds.
The second injured soldier, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, was "fighting for his life," Pirro told the Fox News program Fox & Friends.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has pledged to seek the death penalty against Lakanwal, describing him as a "monster."

'Long planned'

In his social media post Thursday, Trump also threatened to reverse "millions" of admissions granted under his predecessor Joe Biden, in a new escalation of his anti-immigration stance.
Separately, the USCIS said it would reexamine the green cards -- permanent residency cards -- issued to individuals who had migrated to the US from the same 19 countries also cited by the Department of Homeland Security.
More than 1.6 million green card holders, roughly 12 percent of the total permanent resident population, were born in the countries listed, according to US immigration data analyzed by AFP.
Afghanistan has over 116,000 green card holders.
Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac, a group that helped resettle Afghans in the country after the military withdrawal, blasted Rubio's move to halt all visa issuances.
"They are using a single violent individual as cover for a policy they have long planned," he said in a statement.
Lakanwal had been living in the western state of Washington with his family and drove across the country to the capital before Wednesday's shooting, officials said.
Trump has insisted that Lakanwal had been granted unvetted access to the United States because of lax asylum policies after the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan under former president Biden.
However, AfghanEvac said the Afghans had undergone "some of the most extensive security vetting" of any migrants. It added that Lakanwal applied for asylum under Biden but received it later, under Trump.
bur-ac/bjt/des

Bolsonaro

Brazil's Bolsonaro seeks appeal of coup conviction to full Supreme Court

  • The defense is requesting "the annulment of the criminal process" and that Bolsonaro be acquitted, according to a document seen by AFP, three days after the Supreme Court ordered Bolsonaro to begin serving his prison term.
  • Lawyers for Brazil's ex-president Jair Bolsonaro filed a new appeal Friday requesting the annulment of his coup-plotting conviction, which saw him sentenced to 27 years in prison.
  • The defense is requesting "the annulment of the criminal process" and that Bolsonaro be acquitted, according to a document seen by AFP, three days after the Supreme Court ordered Bolsonaro to begin serving his prison term.
Lawyers for Brazil's ex-president Jair Bolsonaro filed a new appeal Friday requesting the annulment of his coup-plotting conviction, which saw him sentenced to 27 years in prison.
The defense is requesting "the annulment of the criminal process" and that Bolsonaro be acquitted, according to a document seen by AFP, three days after the Supreme Court ordered Bolsonaro to begin serving his prison term.
Bolsonaro was tried and convicted by a five-member section of the Supreme Court by a vote of 4-1.
Now his lawyers are appealing to the full 11-member court for it to throw out his trial, citing that lone, initial vote against conviction as grounds for the new appeal. An earlier appeal was already thrown out.
"The unfair conviction imposed on Jair Messias Bolsonaro," the defense petition says, "must be submitted for the scrutiny of the Full Chamber of the Federal Supreme Court so that, in the end, his innocence is recognized and declared."
It was not immediately clear if this appeal can proceed with a chance of success.
The smaller court section that convicted Bolsonaro and rejected an initial appeal said all avenues for such challenges had been exhausted.
Bolsonaro, the brash former army captain who fired up Brazil's right and reshaped the country's politics, is ending a divisive career jailed at a police headquarters in Brasilia.
The 70-year-old was convicted in September over a scheme to stop Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office as president after winning the 2022 elections. The plan included a plot to kill the veteran leftist.
Prosecutors said the scheme failed only due to a lack of support from military top brass.

Ankle monitor

Section number one of the Supreme Court rejected an appeal to his sentence earlier this month, and on Tuesday ruled the judgment was final.
Bolsonaro, who was president from 2019 to 2022, maintains that he is innocent and a victim of political persecution.
He has won support from US President Donald Trump, who has slammed a "witch hunt" of his ally and imposed sanctions and punitive tariffs on Brazil. Many of the tariffs have since been rolled back.
Bolsonaro had been under house arrest until last Saturday, when he was detained at police headquarters in the capital Brasilia for tampering with his ankle monitor using a soldering iron.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said there were signs Bolsonaro was planning to flee during a planned vigil organized by his son outside his home.
The justice pointed to the location of the nearby US embassy, and Bolsonaro's close relationship with Trump, suggesting he may have tried to escape to seek political asylum.
Bolsonaro has since been detained in the police headquarters, in a room equipped with a TV, mini-fridge, and air-conditioning.
His lawyers are seeking a return to home confinement, citing health issues related to a 2018 stabbing attack.
With Bolsonaro out of the running, Brazil's large conservative electorate is without a champion heading into 2026 presidential elections, in which Lula, 80, has said he will seek a fourth term.
ll/mr/bjt/dw/des

diplomacy

Trump says pardoning Honduras ex-president days before vote

  • Trump's stunning announcement came in a social media post proclaiming support for Nasry Asfura, the candidate of Hernandez's right-wing party in Honduras's presidential election on Sunday.
  • US President Donald Trump on Friday made a major intervention into Honduran politics days before the country's presidential election, pardoning a convicted ex-leader and threatening to cut US support if his preferred candidate loses.
  • Trump's stunning announcement came in a social media post proclaiming support for Nasry Asfura, the candidate of Hernandez's right-wing party in Honduras's presidential election on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump on Friday made a major intervention into Honduran politics days before the country's presidential election, pardoning a convicted ex-leader and threatening to cut US support if his preferred candidate loses.
Trump said he will pardon ex-president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted last year in a US court of drug trafficking charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Hernandez, who led the Central American nation from 2014 to 2022, was accused by US prosecutors of facilitating the import of some 400 tons of cocaine into the United States.
He was extradited to the United States just weeks after leaving office, when the current president, leftist Xiomara Castro, came to power.
Trump's stunning announcement came in a social media post proclaiming support for Nasry Asfura, the candidate of Hernandez's right-wing party in Honduras's presidential election on Sunday.
The US president had earlier endorsed Asfura, but his latest comments went further, apparently conditioning future aid to Honduras on his victory.
"If he doesn't win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad, because a wrong Leader can only bring catastrophic results to a country, no matter which country it is," Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
Trump had made a similar threat before Argentina's election last month.
Asfura, when reached by AFP on the phone, denied any links to Hernandez but celebrated Trump's re-upped endorsement.
Hernandez "was president of the Republic, the party is not responsible for his personal actions," Asfura said.

Three-way race

Asfura, a 67-year-old construction magnate and former mayor of the Honduran capital, is running in a tight three-way race against leftist lawyer Rixi Moncada and fellow right-wing TV host Salvador Nasralla.
Trump on Friday accused Nasralla, 72, of running as a spoiler candidate to draw votes away from Asfura.
Noting that Nasralla served as Castro's vice president before resigning, Trump said he "is now pretending to be an anti-Communist only for the purposes of splitting Asfura's vote."
Trump also bashed Moncada, the political heir to Castro, as a "communist" and said her victory would be a win for Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro "and his Narcoterrorists."
The pardoning of Hernandez comes despite a major US operation in Latin America, which Washington says aims to halt drug trafficking, in which over 80 people have been killed in strikes in international waters.
A jury in New York convicted Hernandez in March 2024 of having facilitated the smuggling of hundreds of tons of cocaine -- mainly from Colombia and Venezuela -- to the United States via Honduras since 2004, starting long before he became president.
Former US president Joe Biden's attorney general, Merrick Garland, said after Hernandez's sentencing last year that he had "abused his power to support one of the largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies in the world."
Trump said in his social media post on Friday that Hernandez "has been, according to many people that I greatly respect, treated very harshly and unfairly," without elaborating.
des/dw

vote

G. Bissau junta consolidates power as condemnation of coup spreads

BY SOULE DIA AND ALLEN YERO EMBALO

  • On Friday, the country's new military leader, General Horta N'Tam, named as his prime minister Ilidio Vieira Te, the finance minister in Embalo's government.
  • The new military leader of Guinea-Bissau appointed an ally of the ousted president as prime minister on Friday, as international criticism grew of this week's coup.
  • On Friday, the country's new military leader, General Horta N'Tam, named as his prime minister Ilidio Vieira Te, the finance minister in Embalo's government.
The new military leader of Guinea-Bissau appointed an ally of the ousted president as prime minister on Friday, as international criticism grew of this week's coup.
The military took "total control" of the west African country on Wednesday -- a day before the provisional results of national elections were due to be announced -- and President Umaro Sissoco Embalo took refuge in neighbouring Senegal.
The true motives for the coup, the fifth Guinea-Bissau has suffered in 45 years, remain unclear.
On Friday, the country's new military leader, General Horta N'Tam, named as his prime minister Ilidio Vieira Te, the finance minister in Embalo's government.
N'Tam, who has been appointed to run the small, volatile country for a one-year transitional period, is also seen as an ally of Embalo's.
The people of Guinea-Bissau "expect a lot" of their new leaders, he told Te during a brief swearing-in ceremony, saying he hoped the junta and the new prime minister would "continue to work hand-in-hand".
Outside the country, international condemnation of the coup continued to mount.
The African Union announced on Friday it was suspending Guinea-Bissau "with immediate effect", shortly after the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) froze Guinea-Bissau out of "all decision-making bodies". 
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the military's "unacceptable violation of democratic principles", while the European Union urged "a swift return to the constitutional order and the resumption of the electoral process".

'Who is fooling who?'

In Dakar, Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko said on Friday he thought the coup was a stitch-up, echoing suspicions voiced by political analysts consulted by AFP.
"Everyone knows that what happened in Guinea-Bissau was a scam," Sonko told the Senegalese parliament in Dakar, without elaborating.
"We should continue with the electoral process and let the (electoral) commission announce who won."
Opposition candidate Fernando Dias da Costa told AFP on Thursday he believed he had beaten Embalo in Sunday's presidential election.
He alleged that Embalo, who also claimed victory, had "organised" the power grab to prevent him from taking office.
Nigeria's former president Goodluck Jonathan, who was part of a delegation observing the elections, also voiced doubt about the veracity of the coup.
"For want of a better word I would say maybe it was a ceremonial coup," told Nigerian media.
Jonathan said it was "strange" that "Embalo, while the coup took place was using his phone and addressing media organisations across the world that he has been arrested".
"How does this happen, who is fooling who?"
A west African analyst told AFP on Thursday the coup was "the ideal scenario for Mr Embalo".
It could allow the ousted president to "potentially reposition himself for the next elections", the analyst said on condition of anonymity.
Other political researchers say a high-level turf war to control illegal drug smuggling networks may have also played a part in Guinea-Bissau's instability.
General Denis N'Canha, head of the presidential military office, alluded to the trafficking on Thursday when he said a plan involving "drug lords" had been uncovered, including "the introduction of weapons into the country to alter the constitutional order".

Illicit drugs trade

Crippling poverty, chaotic administration and political tumult have made Guinea-Bissau a fertile ground for corruption and drug smuggling.
It is a key transit point for Latin American cocaine destined for Europe to the point that some analysts have dubbed it a "narco-state".
Senior politicians and military brass are suspected of implication in the illicit hard drugs trade.
Meanwhile, life in the capital Bissau began to return to a semblance of normality.
Vehicles returned to the streets, borders were ordered to reopen and markets started functioning again.
"I resumed my work because if I stay home, I will have nothing to eat," Boubacar Embalo, a 25-year-old street vendor, told AFP.
Sandwiched between Senegal and Guinea, Guinea-Bissau had already undergone four coups and a host of attempted takeovers since its independence from Portugal in 1974. 
Among the world's poorest countries, it has now joined the list of states suspended from the AU following coups, alongside Burkina Faso, Mali, Madagascar, Niger and Sudan.
aye-sjd-lp/cc/phz

nuns

Rebel nuns win reprieve in Austrian convent dispute

  • But on Friday church officials said the nuns could stay at Goldenstein "until further notice", adding that Grasl had put forward a proposal to resolve the dispute.
  • Three nuns in their 80s who made headlines after fleeing their care home to take back their convent in Austria are being allowed to stay there "until further notice", church officials said Friday.
  • But on Friday church officials said the nuns could stay at Goldenstein "until further notice", adding that Grasl had put forward a proposal to resolve the dispute.
Three nuns in their 80s who made headlines after fleeing their care home to take back their convent in Austria are being allowed to stay there "until further notice", church officials said Friday.
The story of runaway sisters Rita, 82, Regina, 86, and Bernadette, 88, defying the church hierarchy made headlines across the globe.
The trio ran away from the care home the Catholic Church sent them to "against their will" and broke back into their abandoned convent at Goldenstein Castle in Elsbethen near the city of Salzburg in September, with the help of supporters.
The nuns' superior, Provost Markus Grasl of Reichersberg Abbey, repeatedly insisted the nuns be placed in a Catholic care home due to their ailing health and accused them of breaking their vows of obedience.
But on Friday church officials said the nuns could stay at Goldenstein "until further notice", adding that Grasl had put forward a proposal to resolve the dispute.
The proposal, seen by AFP, listed several conditions for the nuns to stay at the convent.
It called for the "immediate cessation... of all social media activities" and contact with the media. Furthermore, the nuns must "dismiss lawyers and legal experts working for them with immediate effect".
Officials said they would provide medical care and nursing help for the nuns as well as spiritual support from a priest.
But if their health deteriorates and they "can no longer be looked after" appropriately in the convent, they will have to move to a nearby care home, they added.
"This is a unilateral proposal that... has not been discussed with the sisters... or with their helpers," their supporters said in a press release late on Friday, branding it another attempt by church hierarchy to "bamboozle" the nuns.
"All three sisters have unanimously decided not to sign this agreement for legal reasons," said the nuns' spokeswoman Christina Wirtenberger, according to Austrian press agency APA.
Grasl recently paid back around 64,000 euros ($74,000) in social welfare benefits he had received for the trio, according to local media.
The nuns have welcomed numerous supporters to the convent since their return. Videos of their daily lives have also attracted tens of thousands of followers on Instagram. 
kym/rlp

US

Colombia spy chief says working 'hand in hand' with CIA despite row

BY VALENTíN DÌAZ

  • With all of the US intelligence agencies, it remains completely fluid," he said.  
  • Colombia's spymaster on Friday told AFP that intelligence-sharing with the CIA and other US agencies is "completely fluid" despite an angry public spat between the country's two leaders.  
  • With all of the US intelligence agencies, it remains completely fluid," he said.  
Colombia's spymaster on Friday told AFP that intelligence-sharing with the CIA and other US agencies is "completely fluid" despite an angry public spat between the country's two leaders.  
"They are collaborating a lot, and so are we," Jorge Lemus, head of the National Intelligence Directorate, said in a rare interview, seeking to scotch talk of a rupture with the US spy agency.
Decades of close security cooperation between Colombia and the United States were upended last month when Washington slapped sanctions on Gustavo Petro, accusing the guerrilla-turned leftist president of aiding drug traffickers.
Petro responded by lambasting Donald Trump's "murder" of alleged traffickers in the Caribbean Sea and declaring that Colombia would no longer share intelligence with the United States.  
That threat was later rowed back by Petro's aides. But Lemus's comments are the first high-level confirmation that intelligence cooperation continues unabated despite the diplomatic rancor. 
Lemus said Colombia had destroyed 10,000 cocaine labs this year and operations are still being carried out "many times together with them, hand in hand with them."
Experts had warned that a break in intelligence cooperation could spark a surge in cocaine exports to the United States and strengthen the hand of cartels.  
Several Colombian ex-military and intelligence bosses had told AFP Petro's threat to cut intelligence sharing was "absurd" and "makes no sense."
One former US intelligence official said information gleaned from human sources by Colombian officers was often vital in supporting American eavesdropping and satellite intelligence.
Lemus insisted that cooperation continues "not only with the CIA, but with all agencies, they have various. With all of the US intelligence agencies, it remains completely fluid," he said.  
"We continue exactly as before," he added.  "At the end of the day, we are both fighting against drug trafficking".  

No CIA leak

Lemus, himself a former guerrilla, was appointed by Petro earlier this year.
In recent weeks, his powerful agency has been rocked by accusations that a senior spy colluded with guerrilla groups, helping them to buy arms and evade detection.  
Lemus told AFP that the operative in question, Wilmar Mejia, had been suspended from duty pending investigation.  
At the same time, he argued that Mejia had been an excellent spy who had rose quickly through the ranks and that the evidence against him may have been "staged."
Local media have published alleged chats between Mejia, an army general, and a guerrilla commander of a FARC splinter group that opposed the 2016 peace process.  
The Caracol TV report alleged that Mejia worked with the rebels to set up a security company that allowed them to travel undetected in armored vehicles and carry weapons.  
Petro has claimed the information is false, accusing the CIA of being behind the leak.
Lemus denied the CIA was involved and said the president had "perhaps received incorrect information."  
"No, we don't support it [this accusation], and the president also knows that the issue comes from other sources."  
vd-arb/bgs

economy

Canada PM under fire for alleged climate U-turn

BY GENEVIèVE NORMAND

  • Guilbeault said he entered politics "to champion the fight against climate change," but that key green policies he implemented with Trudeau were being "dismantled" under Carney.
  • Critics accuse Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney of betraying the fight against climate change. 
  • Guilbeault said he entered politics "to champion the fight against climate change," but that key green policies he implemented with Trudeau were being "dismantled" under Carney.
Critics accuse Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney of betraying the fight against climate change. 
Others say he is facing reality and has no choice but boost polluting sectors that are vital to an economy being punished by US President Donald Trump's trade war. 
But there is no dispute that since replacing former prime minister Justin Trudeau in March Carney has repositioned his Liberal Party on the environment.
Immediately after taking office, Carney scrapped Trudeau's unpopular carbon tax on individuals.
He then launched a Major Projects Office to fast-track initiatives he said would strengthen Canada's economic sovereignty, creating a bulwark against the impacts of Trump's tariffs.
Mining and natural gas projects -- criticized by some environmental advocates -- were among the early picks.
But the most dramatic development came on Thursday, when Carney struck a deal with the conservative-led energy-producing Alberta province to advance a new oil pipeline, while increasing overall oil and gas production.
"Canada and Alberta are striking a new partnership to build a stronger, more sustainable, and more independent Albertan and Canadian economy," Carney said.
"We will make Canada an energy superpower, drive down our emissions and diversify our export markets.”
The deal marked a clear pivot for Carney's Liberal Party and a departure from the policies that defined Trudeau's decade in power.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who loathed Trudeau's policies, said this month that "the tone of federal government has done a 180 in the last year."
Steven Guilbeault, a member of Carney's cabinet, who was also Trudeau's environment minister, agreed.
He resigned Thursday, hours after the pipeline deal was signed.
Guilbeault said he entered politics "to champion the fight against climate change," but that key green policies he implemented with Trudeau were being "dismantled" under Carney.

Climate policy 'erosion'?

Carney, a former central banker, worked on climate issues before joining politics in January, but has emphasized market-driven solutions to environmental challenges.
In 2019, he became a UN envoy focused on mobilizing public and private finance to help achieve the goals of the Paris Accords.
He then joined the massive Canadian multinational firm Brookfield, steering private capital to aid climate action.
The Alberta pipeline plan is in its infancy and may never move forward.
But Carney's memorandum of understanding with Alberta to advance an initiative that involves piping bitumen to Canada's northwest Pacific coast and building a massive port to accommodate oil tankers has drawn outrage.
Carney said the plan could be a win-win.
Increased oil exports to Asia would reduce Canada's economic dependence on an unreliable United States, he said. 
And, he stressed, the deal requires oil companies to pay a steep industrial carbon tax, which could help fund cleaner energy sources, while the impact of rising emissions would be offset through carbon capture -- a controversial technology.
Sierra Club Canada's communications chief, Conor Curtis, told AFP there has been an "erosion of climate policy," under the new Liberal government.
"A new oil pipeline is not necessary. We are in the middle of a global transition to renewable energy," he said in an interview before Thursday's signing.

'Profound disruptions'

Tim McMillan, the former president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said Carney had no choice but to embrace the oil sector.
"After 10 years of cancelled projects and lowering GDP per capita and standards of living in Canada, we're at a point, especially with the US tariff threats, that Canada needs to look at our strengths," McMillan told AFP.
"Oil and gas are at the top of that list."
Even Guilbeault, a prominent environmental activist before entering politics, acknowledged Carney was in a tough spot, conceding that Trump had triggered "profound disruptions" in Canada's key economic relationship.
"Despite this difficult economic context, I remain one of those for whom environmental issues must remain front and center," he said. 
gen/bs/iv

fire

Hong Kong's deadliest blaze in decades kills at least 128, dozens missing

BY HOLMES CHAN, SAMMY HEUNG AND TOMMY WANG

  • - Investigations begin - The blaze was Hong Kong's deadliest since 1948, when an explosion followed by a fire killed at least 135 people.
  • The death toll from Hong Kong's worst fire in decades rose to 128 on Friday, as authorities arrested eight more people and outlined how malfunctioning fire alarms and flammable construction materials led to the tragedy. 
  • - Investigations begin - The blaze was Hong Kong's deadliest since 1948, when an explosion followed by a fire killed at least 135 people.
The death toll from Hong Kong's worst fire in decades rose to 128 on Friday, as authorities arrested eight more people and outlined how malfunctioning fire alarms and flammable construction materials led to the tragedy. 
Families scoured hospitals and victim identification stations hoping to find their loved ones, with around 200 people still listed as missing and 89 bodies as yet unidentified. 
Flames moved quickly through the Wang Fuk Court housing estate in Tai Po district on Wednesday afternoon, spreading through seven of the eight high-rises and transforming the densely packed complex into an inferno. 
A picture began to emerge Friday of the interlocking factors that saw the situation spiral into the world's deadliest residential building fire since 1980. 
Authorities said preliminary investigations suggested the fire had started on protective netting on the lower floors of one of the towers and that "highly flammable" foam boards, as well as bamboo scaffolding, had contributed to its spread.
Fire services chief Andy Yeung said they had discovered that alarm systems in all eight blocks "were malfunctioning", and that they would take action against the contractors. 
"We have been visiting the scene every day," said a man surnamed Fung who was looking for his 80-year-old mother-in-law. 
"She is on antibiotics... so she is always sleeping. There was no fire alarm so she might not have known there was a fire," he said. 
The city's anti-corruption watchdog said it had arrested eight people on Friday in connection with the fire, including "consultants, scaffolding subcontractors and (a) middleman of the project".
On Thursday, the body had launched a probe into the renovation project, hours after police said they had arrested three men on suspicion of negligently leaving foam packaging at the fire site.

'Cannot find them'

The blaze was "largely extinguished" by Friday morning after burning for more than 40 hours, the fire services said, announcing they had finished their search of more than 1,800 flats for survivors.
Workers brought out bodies in black bags, with an AFP reporter counting four in one 15-minute period.  
"We do not rule out the possibility that police will find more charred remains when entering (the building) for detailed investigation and evidence collection," Hong Kong's security chief Chris Tang told a press conference.
Vehicles unloaded corpses at a mortuary in nearby Sha Tin, another reporter saw, with families arriving in the afternoon for identification.
At one hospital in Sha Tin, a woman surnamed Wong was looking for her sister-in-law and her sister-in-law's twin, with no luck. 
"We still cannot find them. So we are going to different hospitals to ask if they have good news," the 38-year-old told AFP in tears.
The last contact anyone had with the twins was on Wednesday afternoon, said Wong, around the time the fire was reported. 
The government said police have activated a specialist disaster victim identification system to help with locating the missing.
On Friday, dozens were still in hospital, with 11 in critical condition, and 21 listed as "serious".  
"One building went up in flames and it spread to two more blocks in less than 15 minutes," a 77-year-old eyewitness surnamed Mui told AFP.  
"It was burning red, I shudder to think about it."

 Investigations begin

The blaze was Hong Kong's deadliest since 1948, when an explosion followed by a fire killed at least 135 people.
Lethal fires were once a regular scourge in densely populated Hong Kong, especially in poorer neighbourhoods, but improved safety measures have made them far less common.
Security chief Tang said the full investigation into the fire's causes could take up to four weeks. 
Hong Kong authorities said they will immediately inspect all housing estates undergoing major work following the disaster, and will look into shifting construction sites to metal scaffolding in the longer term.
They have announced a HK$300 million ($38.5 million) fund to help victims of the fire. 
Authorities had found temporary accommodation for around 800 people, the government said Friday.
Nine emergency shelters were also in operation, accommodating around 720 people overnight.
A spontaneous community effort to help firefighters and those displaced had become a well-oiled machine by Friday. 
Separate supply stations for clothes, food and household goods had been set up at a public square near the towers, as well as booths providing medical and psychological care.
So much was donated that organisers put out a call on social media saying no more was needed. 
twa-hol/reb/aha

diplomacy

German president honours victims in Guernica, razed by Nazis

BY FABIAN ERIK SCHLÜTER

  • - 'Historical responsibility' - The visit comes almost 30 years after former president Roman Herzog became in 1997 the first German leader to officially recognise the country's "involvement" in the massacre and apologised to the Spanish people.
  • President Frank-Walter Steinmeier honoured Nazi war victims in Guernica on Friday, becoming the first German leader to visit the Spanish town where hundreds of civilians were killed in 1937.
  • - 'Historical responsibility' - The visit comes almost 30 years after former president Roman Herzog became in 1997 the first German leader to officially recognise the country's "involvement" in the massacre and apologised to the Spanish people.
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier honoured Nazi war victims in Guernica on Friday, becoming the first German leader to visit the Spanish town where hundreds of civilians were killed in 1937.
The elite Condor Legion razed the northern Basque town on April 26, 1937 in support of General Francisco Franco's rebels during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) alongside Fascist Italy.
Steinmeier and German First Lady Elke Buedenbender joined King Felipe VI at a ceremony held at a Guernica cemetery in memory of the victims, AFP journalists saw.
The heads of state then visited the town's Museum of Peace, which tells the story of the tragedy, viewed by historians as a precursor to the mass terror bombing of civilian targets during World War II.
Some 50 aircraft dropped 30 tonnes of explosives on Guernica in successive waves, including incendiary bombs, before Messerschmitt fighter planes mowed down civilians as they tried to flee.
Guernica, considered the first town to be destroyed by aerial bombardment, became synonymous with the horror of civilian suffering during wartime.
"Guernica is one of those places where the horrors of war and the vulnerability of innocent people have been indelibly etched into our European memory," Steinmeier told reporters after the ceremony.
The president said the "brutal crime" offered a "warning that we must oppose any nationalism, hatred and violence, but also the warning that we must defend peace, freedom and democracy".

'Historical responsibility'

The visit comes almost 30 years after former president Roman Herzog became in 1997 the first German leader to officially recognise the country's "involvement" in the massacre and apologised to the Spanish people.
"To you, survivors of this attack, to you, witnesses of the horror suffered, I send my message of remembrance, solidarity and mourning," Herzog wrote in a speech read out in Guernica by Germany's ambassador.
Asked about whether he had come to ask for forgiveness, Steinmeier repeated that Germany acknowledged its "historical responsibility".
The raid was immortalised by Pablo Picasso's anti-war masterpiece "Guernica", a painting famed for capturing the horror of innocent civilian suffering.
Steinmeier viewed it at Madrid's Reina Sofia art museum on Wednesday at the start of his three-day state visit to Spain.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the painting last week and has compared the massacre in Guernica to the suffering inflicted by Russia's invasion of his country.
Spain remembered its own authoritarian past on November 20, which marked the 50th anniversary of Franco's death and the end of his 36-year dictatorship.
fs-rbj/imm/cc

conflict

Belgian PM digs in against EU push to use Russian assets for Ukraine

  • Clamour to harness the Russian assets has grown in the EU after a US plan to stop the war in Ukraine that emerged last week suggested the assets should be unfrozen.
  • Belgium's Prime Minister Bart De Wever has called an EU plan to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine "fundamentally wrong", throwing further doubt on a push to agree the move next month.
  • Clamour to harness the Russian assets has grown in the EU after a US plan to stop the war in Ukraine that emerged last week suggested the assets should be unfrozen.
Belgium's Prime Minister Bart De Wever has called an EU plan to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine "fundamentally wrong", throwing further doubt on a push to agree the move next month.
In a letter to European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen seen by AFP Friday, De Wever pushed back strongly on the initiative and urged against venturing "into unchartered legal and financial waters".
The EU executive and multiple member states, are pressing for the bloc to tap immobilised Russian central bank assets to provide Kyiv with a 140-billion-euro ($162 billion) loan to plug looming budget black holes.
Belgium is the key voice on the issue as it hosts international deposit organisation Euroclear, where the vast bulk of the assets are held.
De Wever has repeatedly said the plan could leave his country facing crippling legal and financial reprisals from Moscow -- and called for cast-iron guarantees from other EU countries that they will share the risk.
"I will never commit Belgium to sustain on its own the risks and exposures," he wrote in the four-page letter.
He said he would only agree to the scheme at a crunch EU leaders' summit on December 18 if binding guarantees "are delivered and signed by member states at the time of decision".

'Intense work'

De Wever's letter comes as von der Leyen has promised to come up with legal texts soon laying out the exact proposed structure of the scheme.
EU officials have asserted that the risks for Belgium of a successful legal challenge are small -- an argument rebutted by the straight-talking De Wever.
"Let me use the analogy of a plane crash: aircraft are the safest way of transportation and the chances of a crash are low, but in the event of a crash the consequences are disastrous," he said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he was in contact with De Wever and was pressing for an agreement.
"I understand his concerns, he has good arguments but we also have good arguments about reaching our common goal," he said.
"We are looking for a joint solution with the Belgian state and also with Euroclear so that we can decide on this within the EU with the widest consensus possible."
Clamour to harness the Russian assets has grown in the EU after a US plan to stop the war in Ukraine that emerged last week suggested the assets should be unfrozen.
Proponents argue that if the bloc does not act now to use the money, then it risks losing control of it under a potential US-backed peace deal.
The proposed EU "reparations loan" envisages that Ukraine would only pay back the funds once Russia had coughed up for the damages inflicted by its invasion.
In the face of Belgian opposition to the plan, von der Leyen has laid out other options to keep financing Kyiv, including EU countries taking out joint borrowing.
But the commission has warned that those options would prove more costly for member states at a time when many are struggling with stretched national budgets.
An EU spokeswoman said that "intense work" was going on to try to hammer out a solution. 
"What we are trying to do is to really make sure that the concerns that have been expressed, notably by Belgium and the prime minister, are addressed in a satisfactory manner," she said. 
del/ec/jj

conflict

Israeli forces kill 13 in southern Syria operation

BY YOUSSEF KARWASHAN WITH LAYAL ABOU RAHAL IN BEIRUT

  • The premier has previously insisted that southern Syria be demilitarised following Assad's overthrow.
  • Israeli forces killed 13 people on Friday in an operation in southern Syria, saying they targeted an Islamist group, in Israel's deadliest attack on the country since Bashar al-Assad's overthrow last year.
  • The premier has previously insisted that southern Syria be demilitarised following Assad's overthrow.
Israeli forces killed 13 people on Friday in an operation in southern Syria, saying they targeted an Islamist group, in Israel's deadliest attack on the country since Bashar al-Assad's overthrow last year.
Since an Islamist coalition overthrew longtime ruler Assad in December of last year, Israel has conducted hundreds of strikes on Syria's military arsenal as well as incursions into the country.
The Israeli army said an exchange of fire in the operation to detain militants in the Syrian village of Beit Jin left six Israeli soldiers wounded, with three of them in a serious condition.
The official SANA news agency, quoting the Syrian health ministry, reported 13 dead and 24 more wounded in the Israeli operation.
The Syrian foreign ministry condemned the operation as a "war crime" and accused Israel of wanting to "ignite the region".
An AFP journalist saw several wounded people being taken to a hospital in Damascus, around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the village.
"We were asleep when we were woken up at three in the morning by gunfire," wounded resident Iyad Taher told AFP at al-Mouwassat hospital in the Syrian capital.
"We went outside to see what was happening and saw the Israeli army in the village, soldiers and tanks. Then they withdrew, the air force came, and the shells started falling. I was hit by shrapnel in the neck."
The Israeli army said the targets of the operation were fighters from the Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya, which is based in neighbouring Lebanon and allied with Palestinian armed group Hamas.
"The suspects operated in the area of Beit Jin in southern Syria and advanced terror attacks against Israeli civilians," it said in a statement.
A local official told AFP that Israeli forces raided the village to capture three men, sparking clashes.
"Following the clashes, the Israeli occupation forces shelled the area with artillery and drones," village official Abdul Rahman al-Hamrawi said.
At the hospital, Ahmad Kamal told AFP he and others "opened fire on the Israeli patrol to defend ourselves and stop them from taking us. My brother was killed, and I was wounded".

'Territorial integrity'

In Damascus and other major Syrian cities, demonstrators marking one year since the Islamist-led offensive that toppled Assad denounced Israel's attacks.
Banners in Damascus read "Beit Jin makes us proud" and "stop Israeli attacks".
United Nations Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Najat Rochdi condemned Israel's attack, calling it "a grave and unacceptable violation of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity".
Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, said Friday's operation was "the deadliest incursion since Israel began conducting operations outside the buffer zone in southern Syria".
Israel sent troops into and beyond the UN-patrolled buffer zone, which has separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights since 1974, in the immediate aftermath of Assad's fall.
In June, Syria accused Israel of "abducting seven people" from Beit Jin and killing one civilian "as a result of direct gunfire on the residents".
Israel accused the people of being Hamas members.
Israel has occupied Syria's Golan Heights, a strategic mountain plateau, since 1967, annexing it in 1981 in a move not recognised by the international community.
Last week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli troops deployed in the buffer zone, drawing a sharp rebuke from Damascus and others in the region.
The premier has previously insisted that southern Syria be demilitarised following Assad's overthrow.
Israel's key backer the United States has been pushing for a security pact between Syria and Israel, part of President Donald Trump's goal to shore up the fragile Gaza ceasefire with a broader Middle East peace settlement.
While Syrian and Israeli officials have held repeated rounds of talks, President Ahmed al-Sharaa has ruled out Syria joining the Abraham Accords, under which a handful of Arab countries have normalised ties with Israel.
He recently met with Trump and warned in a UN speech that Israel's persistent attacks put the region at risk, but backed diplomacy.
"In the face of this aggression, Syria is committed to dialogue," he said.
burs-nad/dcp

children

Driven by TikTok trends, new beauty brands target children

BY ADAM PLOWRIGHT

  • Its bundle of five child hydrating face masks, including "everyday" varieties named Puppy, Panda, and Unicorn, sells for around 35 dollars (30 euros) on its website.
  • Should children be using beauty face masks?
  • Its bundle of five child hydrating face masks, including "everyday" varieties named Puppy, Panda, and Unicorn, sells for around 35 dollars (30 euros) on its website.
Should children be using beauty face masks? Dermatologists say no, but a growing number of companies are targeting a new generation of kids who have grown up with TikTok skincare and make-up routines. 
The cosmetics industry and parts of the internet have been abuzz since the launch of Rini earlier this month, a beauty company pitched at children as young as three and backed by Canadian actress Shay Mitchell.
Its bundle of five child hydrating face masks, including "everyday" varieties named Puppy, Panda, and Unicorn, sells for around 35 dollars (30 euros) on its website.
Another growing US-based brand, Evereden, sells products for pre-teens such as face-mists, toners and moisturisers and claims annual sales of over 100 million dollars.
Fifteen-year-old American YouTuber Salish Matter unveiled her brand Sincerely Yours in October, drawing tens of thousands of people -- and police reinforcements -- to a launch event at a New Jersey mall.  
"Children's skin does not need cosmetics, apart from daily hygiene products -- toothpaste and shower gel -- and sun cream when there is exposure," said Laurence Coiffard, a researcher at the University of Nantes in France who co-runs the Cosmetics Watch website. 
Child-focused beauty products are part of a broad society-wide trend.
Many girls in Gen Alpha -- a marketing term for youngsters born between 2010 and 2024 -- are adopting skincare, make-up and hair routines more typical of older teenagers or their mothers.
The most precocious have become known as "Sephora Kids" -- a reference to the popular French beauty retailer -- as they seek to copy popular TikTok or YouTube influencers, some of whom are as young as seven.
Coiffard cited research showing child users of adult cosmetics and creams had a higher risk of developing skin allergies in later life, as well as being exposed to endocrine disruptors and phytoestrogens which can disrupt hormone development.
- 'Get Ready with Me' - 
Molly Hales, an American dermatologist at Northwestern University in Chicago, spent several months posing on TikTok as a girl of 13 who was interested in beauty routines.
After creating a profile and liking several videos made by minors, the algorithm of the Chinese-owned site "saturated" her and fellow researcher Sarah Rigali. 
The duo went on to watch 100 videos in total from 82 different profiles.
In one, a child smeared 14 different products on her face before developing a burning rash.
Another showed a girl supposedly rising at 4:30 am to complete her skincare and make-up routine before school.
The most popular videos were titled "Get Ready with Me", with the routines featuring on average six different products, often including adult anti-ageing creams, with an average combined cost of 168 dollars.
"I was shocked by the scope of what I was seeing in these videos, especially the sheer number of products that these girls were using," Hales told AFP.
Her research was published in US journal Pediatrics in June.
Several "disproportionately represented" brands, such as Glow, Drunk Elephant or The Ordinary, market themselves as healthy, supposedly natural alternatives to chemical-laden competitors.
The top 25 most-viewed videos analysed by Hales contained products with an average of 11 and a maximum of 21 potentially irritating active ingredients for pediatric skin.
- 'Not necessary' - 
The pitch from new child brands such as Rini, Evereden or Saint Crewe is that they are orienting tweens and teens to more suitable alternatives.
"Kids are naturally curious and instead of ignoring that, we can embrace it. With safe, gentle products parents can trust," Rini co-founder Mitchell told her 35 million Instagram followers.
Hales said she had "mixed feelings" about the emergence of the trend, saying there was a potential benefit of providing less harmful products to young girls. 
But they are "really not necessary" and "perpetuate a certain standard of beauty, or an expectation around how one needs to care for the health and beauty of the skin by using a very costly and time-intensive daily routine", she said. 
The products risked "steering girls away from better uses of their time, money and effort", she added. 
Pierre Vabres, a member of the French Society of Dermatology, believes there is also a pernicious psychological effect of exposing children to beauty routines -- and then seeking to sell them products.
"There's a risk of giving the child a false image of themelves, even eroticised, in which they are 'an adult in miniature' who needs to think about their appearance in order to feel good," he told journalists in Paris this month.
adp-cra/tgb/jj