Global Edition

Central African Republic president seeks third term in election

Bardot

Bardot: the screen goddess who gave it all up

BY EMILIE BICKERTON

  • In 1986 she set up the Brigitte Bardot Foundation dedicated to animal protection.
  • She was the ultimate sex symbol whose voluptuous figure and libertine lifestyle sent tremors through the straitlaced 1950s, but Brigitte Bardot soon tired of the male gaze and walked away from it all to care for animals.
  • In 1986 she set up the Brigitte Bardot Foundation dedicated to animal protection.
She was the ultimate sex symbol whose voluptuous figure and libertine lifestyle sent tremors through the straitlaced 1950s, but Brigitte Bardot soon tired of the male gaze and walked away from it all to care for animals.
In the early days, when her curves, kohl-rimmed eyes and pout were plastered on French film posters, the actor known widely by her initials BB drew comparisons with Marilyn Monroe.
But from one day to the next in 1973 she turned her back on celebrity to look after abandoned animals, saying she was "sick of being beautiful every day".

And God Created BB

In her brief film career, Bardot enjoyed a string of popular successes, without garnering much critical acclaim.
Most of her 50-odd films were fun but forgettable flops -- with a few exceptions.
In 1956 she set the screen alight as an 18-year-old caught up in a love triangle in "And God Created Woman", directed by her then husband Roger Vadim.
Vadim's promise that the young dancer would become "the unattainable fantasy of all married men" proved prescient.
A scene of unbridled sexual energy, in which Bardot dances a mambo in a flowing skirt slit to the waist, sealed her film goddess status, while incurring the wrath of censors.
Seven years later, her role as the sullen, frustrated wife of a screenwriter in Jean-Luc Godard's "Contempt" also resulted in scenes that became part of cinema folklore.
Playing with the expectations of producers and spectators to have shots of Bardot's naked body in the film, Godard created a montage of her limbs as she lay in bed with her husband, asking him which part of her body he liked best.

Leaving first

"Queen Bardot stands there where morality ends," French author Marguerite Duras wrote in 1958.
"She does as she pleases, and that is what is disturbing," philosopher Simone de Beauvoir declared a year later. 
But far from revelling in her role as libertine, Bardot struggled with objectification. 
On her 26th birthday in 1960 she attempted suicide, and then in 1973, just short of her 40th birthday, she turned her back on it all.
"I knew my career was based entirely on my physique," she explained in 1978, "so I decided to leave cinema just as I have always left men: first." 

Animal love

Born on September 28, 1934 in Paris, Bardot was raised in a well-off traditional Catholic household.
Married four times, she had one child, Nicolas-Jacques with her second husband, actor Jacques Charrier.
Animal activism became the dominant feature of her life after film, as she retreated to the French Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez at the age of just 39.
In a 2011 letter to conservation group WWF, Bardot recounted her life-changing visit to Canada in the 1980s when she witnessed its annual seal cub culls.
"I will never forget these pictures, the screams of pain, they still torture me but they have given me the strength to sacrifice my whole life to defend the animal’s one,” she said.
In 1986 she set up the Brigitte Bardot Foundation dedicated to animal protection. She has crusaded for baby seals and elephants, called for the abolition of ritual animal sacrifice and the closure of horse abattoirs.

Far-right 'Joan of Arc'

In later decades Bardot veered to the far-right, increasingly prone to disparaging remarks about gays, Muslims and immigrants that led to five convictions for inciting racial hatred.
In her 2003 book "A Cry in the Silence", she warned against the "Islamisation of France" and a "subterranean, dangerous, and uncontrolled infiltration".
In the 2012 and 2017 presidential elections she publicly supported far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who called her the "Joan of Arc of the 21st century."

Not #MeToo

Bardot continued to shun the fashion and film worlds long after her retreat from both, frequently outspoken against the wearing of fur and proudly refusing to resort to plastic surgery.
In the whirlwind of the Harvey Weinstein scandal that unravelled in 2017, she again swam against the tide, hitting back at the #MeToo campaign which denounced the abuse of women.
"The vast majority are being hypocritical and ridiculous," she told Paris Match in 2018, referring to the actresses who had come forward with stories of abuse.
"Lots of actresses try to play the tease with producers to get a role. And then, so we will talk about them, they say they were harassed. I found it charming when men told me I was beautiful or I had a nice little backside."
bur-eab/cb/rmb

Global Edition

Central African Republic president seeks third term in election

BY CECILE BRAJEUL

  • The main challenger to Touadera for the presidency Anicet-Georges Dologuele voted at the town hall in Bangui earlier Sunday.
  • Voters in the Central African Republic cast their ballots for a new president Sunday with incumbent Faustin-Archange Touadera widely expected to win a third term after touting his success in steadying a nation long plagued by conflict.
  • The main challenger to Touadera for the presidency Anicet-Georges Dologuele voted at the town hall in Bangui earlier Sunday.
Voters in the Central African Republic cast their ballots for a new president Sunday with incumbent Faustin-Archange Touadera widely expected to win a third term after touting his success in steadying a nation long plagued by conflict.
Around 2.3 million people are eligible to vote, with parliamentary, municipal and regional polls taking place at the same time.
Escorted by members of the presidential guard and Russia's Wagner paramilitary group, Touadera arrived at a high school to cast his own ballot.
He urged people to vote "to allow our country to develop, to allow our country to regain peace and security".
"It's a very important issue," Touadera, 68, told reporters.
Streets in the capital Bangui were quiet, with armoured vehicles of the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSCA deployed at road junctions.
Heavy security was posted outside voting stations, which were due to close at 1700 GMT, and helicopters flew overhead at a school near where Touadera was voting, while a long queue had formed.
Since Touadera was first elected in 2016, in the middle of a civil war, the CAR has seen unrest ease despite feuds between armed groups and the government in some regions. 
"We need a leader elected by the people, not someone who takes power by force," teacher Julie Odjoubi, 44, said, her left thumb stained with purple ink to show she had voted.
- 'Respect the choice ' - 
Touadera is in pole position to win in a seven-strong field, after a new constitution was adopted in 2023 allowing him to seek a third term.
Part of the opposition has called for a boycott of the poll, condemning it as a sham and the lack of political dialogue.
Provisional results from the presidential election are expected on January 5.
The main challenger to Touadera for the presidency Anicet-Georges Dologuele voted at the town hall in Bangui earlier Sunday. He came in second place in the last two elections.
Afterwards, he expressed "confidence and humility", calling on voters "to make the right choice so as not to regret it tomorrow and over the next seven years".
"I will respect the choice of the ballot box, since I’m going to win," he told reporters.
More than 1,700 national and international observers have been accredited for Sunday's polls, the electoral body said.
Touadera was re-elected in 2020, in a vote marred by allegations of fraud and an uprising by six rebel groups.
The rebels were pushed back with the help of the Rwandan army and mercenaries from the Wagner paramilitary group.
The CAR ballot, along with Guinea's presidential vote on Sunday, caps a packed year of elections across Africa.
- Security - 
During the campaign, Dologuele, who came second in the last two elections, and another main opposition figure and former prime minister Henri-Marie Dondra were prevented from flying to the provinces to hold rallies.  
While Touadera held rallies in Bangui stadium, his top two critics had to make do with neighbourhood walkabouts and events in schools or their party offices. 
According to political scientist and civil society figure Paul Crescent Beninga, "orchestrated" rallies were held across the country to plant the idea that Touadera enjoys widespread support. 
Dologuele and Dondra also faced the prospect of being barred from standing over allegations they held another country's citizenship. 
Touadera's constitutional change introduced the requirement that candidates be single nationals. 
Although courts rejected the bans, Dologuele was stripped of his Central African passport in October even after giving up his French citizenship. He has filed a complaint to the UN's human rights office. 
"But despite their candidacies being approved, many... remain sceptical about the point of voting and the transparency of the elections," Beninga said.
Touadera has boasted of improvements in security, paved roads, public lighting on major avenues and renovated rainwater drainage canals in the capital.
But life for many in the CAR -- 71 percent of whom live below the poverty line -- remains precarious, with a lack of basic services, an absence of passable roads, widespread unemployment, poor training and a steadily rising cost of living.
Despite being pushed back, anti-government fighters are still at large on main highways, as well as in the east near the borders with war-battered Sudan and South Sudan. 
Nearly 90 percent of the country is now under government authority, compared to 80 percent being held by armed groups four years ago, analysts have told AFP.
cmd-lnf/kjm/rmb

film

France's screen siren Brigitte Bardot dies at 91

BY ADAM PLOWRIGHT AND ALICE HACKMAN

  • - Far-right leanings - "With her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials (BB), her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, and her face that became Marianne, Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom," Macron wrote on X, referring to the Marianne image used as the female symbol of the French republic.
  • French film sensation Brigitte Bardot, a symbol of sexual liberation in the 1950s and 1960s who reinvented herself as an animal rights defender and embraced far-right views, died on Sunday aged 91, her foundation said.
  • - Far-right leanings - "With her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials (BB), her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, and her face that became Marianne, Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom," Macron wrote on X, referring to the Marianne image used as the female symbol of the French republic.
French film sensation Brigitte Bardot, a symbol of sexual liberation in the 1950s and 1960s who reinvented herself as an animal rights defender and embraced far-right views, died on Sunday aged 91, her foundation said.
She died in her Saint-Tropez home, La Madrague, on the French Riviera.
"The Brigitte Bardot Foundation announces with immense sadness the death of its founder and president, Madame Brigitte Bardot, a world-renowned actor and singer, who chose to abandon her prestigious career to dedicate her life and energy to animal welfare and her foundation," it said in a statement sent to AFP.
The cause of death was not given. But Bardot was briefly hospitalised in October for what her office called a "minor" procedure. Bardot at the time had lambasted "idiot" internet users for speculation that she had died.
Tributes were immediately paid to the star who was known as "BB" in her home country, with President Emmanuel Macron calling her a "legend" of the 20th century.
Born on September 28, 1934 in Paris, Bardot was raised in a well-off traditional Catholic household. Married four times, she had one child, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, with her second husband, actor Jacques Charrier.
Bardot became a global star after appearing in "And God created Woman" in 1956, and went on to appear in about 50 more movies before giving up acting in 1973.
She turned her back on celebrity to look after abandoned animals, saying she was "sick of being beautiful every day".

Far-right leanings

"With her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials (BB), her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, and her face that became Marianne, Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom," Macron wrote on X, referring to the Marianne image used as the female symbol of the French republic.
His tribute, though, made no reference of Bardot's alignment with far-right views in her post-cinema years, which alienated many of her fans.
Bardot was convicted five times for hate speech, mostly about Muslims, but also the inhabitants of the French island of Reunion whom she described as "savages". 
A supporter of far-right politician Marine Le Pen, Bardot declared herself "against the Islamisation of France" in a 2003 book, citing "our ancestors, our grandfathers, our fathers have for centuries given their lives to push out successive invaders".
The head of Le Pen's far-right National Rally party, Jordan Bardella, was among the first to pay homage.
"Today the French people have lost the Marianne they so loved," he wrote on X, calling her an "ardent patriot".
Le Pen, who has been barred from public office pending an appeal trial in January, also paid tribute to Bardot as "incredibly French: free, untamable, whole".
In her final book, Mon BBcedaire ("My BB Alphabet"), published weeks before her death, Bardot fired barbs at what she described as a "dull, sad, submissive" France and at her home town of Saint-Tropez, now packed with the wealthy tourists she helped attract.
The book also contained derogatory remarks about gay and transgender people.

Saint-Tropez retreat

After retiring from cinema, Bardot withdrew to her home in the Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez where she devoted herself to fighting for animals.
Her calling apparently came when she encountered a goat on the set of her final film, "The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot". To save it from being killed, she bought the animal and kept it in her hotel room.
Bardot went on to found the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in 1986, which now has 70,000 donors and around 300 employees, according to its website.
"I'm very proud of the first chapter of my life," she told AFP in a 2024 interview ahead of her 90th birthday.
"It gave me fame, and that fame allows me to protect animals -- the only cause that truly matters to me."
She added that she lived in "silent solitude" in her home "La Madrague", surrounded by nature and content to be "fleeing humanity".
On the subject of death, she warned that she wanted to avoid the presence of "a crowd of idiots" at her funeral and wished for a simple wooden cross above her grave, in her garden -- the same as for her animals.
bur-adp-ah/rmb

Global Edition

Myanmar junta stages election after five years of civil war

  • But when a polling station near her vacant home closed on Sunday, only around 470 of its roughly 1,700 registered voters had cast ballots, an election official said -- a turnout of less than 28 percent.
  • Voters trickled to Myanmar's heavily restricted polls on Sunday, with the ruling junta touting the exercise as a return to democracy five years after it ousted the last elected government and triggered a civil war.
  • But when a polling station near her vacant home closed on Sunday, only around 470 of its roughly 1,700 registered voters had cast ballots, an election official said -- a turnout of less than 28 percent.
Voters trickled to Myanmar's heavily restricted polls on Sunday, with the ruling junta touting the exercise as a return to democracy five years after it ousted the last elected government and triggered a civil war.
Former civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains jailed, while her hugely popular party has been dissolved and was not taking part.
Campaigners, Western diplomats and the United Nations' rights chief have all condemned the phased month-long vote, citing a ballot stacked with military allies and a stark crackdown on dissent.
The pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party is widely expected to emerge as the largest bloc, in what critics say would be a rebranding of martial rule.
"We guarantee it to be a free and fair election," junta chief Min Aung Hlaing told reporters after casting his ballot in the capital Naypyidaw.
"It's organised by the military, we can't let our name be tarnished."
The Southeast Asian nation of around 50 million people is riven by civil war and there will be no voting in areas controlled by rebel factions that have risen up to challenge military rule.
While opposition factions threatened to attack the election, there were no reports of violence against polling day activities by the time voting ended at 4:00 pm (0930 GMT).

Limited turnout

Snaking queues of voters formed for the previous election in 2020, which the military declared void a few months later when it ousted Aung San Suu Kyi and seized power.
But when a polling station near her vacant home closed on Sunday, only around 470 of its roughly 1,700 registered voters had cast ballots, an election official said -- a turnout of less than 28 percent.
Its first voter, Bo Saw, 63, said the election "will bring the best for the country".
"The first priority should be restoring a safe and peaceful situation," he told AFP.
At a downtown Yangon station near the gleaming Sule Pagoda -- the site of huge pro-democracy protests after the 2021 coup -- 45-year-old Swe Maw dismissed international criticism. 
"There are always people who like and dislike," he said at a polling station that later reported a turnout of below 37 percent.
The run-up saw none of the feverish public rallies that Aung San Suu Kyi once commanded, and the junta has waged a withering pre-vote offensive to claw back territory.
"I don't think this election will change or improve the political situation in this country," said 23-year-old Hman Thit, displaced by the post-coup conflict.
"I think the air strikes and atrocities on our hometowns will continue," he said in a rebel-held area of Pekon township in Shan state.
The military ruled Myanmar for most of its post-independence history, before a 10-year interlude saw a civilian government take the reins in a burst of optimism and reform.
However, Min Aung Hlaing snatched power in a coup, alleging widespread voter fraud, after Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party trounced pro-military opponents in the 2020 elections.
The military put down pro-democracy protests and many activists quit the cities to fight as guerrillas alongside ethnic minority armies that have long held sway in Myanmar's fringes.
There is no official death toll for Myanmar's civil war and estimates vary widely, but global conflict monitoring group ACLED tallies media reports of violence and estimates that 90,000 people have been killed on all sides since the coup.
Aung San Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year sentence on charges that rights groups dismiss as politically motivated.
"I don't think she would consider these elections to be meaningful in any way," her son Kim Aris said from his home in Britain.

Vote 'disruption' banned

Most parties from the 2020 vote, including Aung San Suu Kyi's, have since been dissolved.
The Asian Network for Free Elections says 90 percent of the seats in the previous election went to organisations that did not appear on Sunday's ballots.
New electronic voting machines did not allow write-in candidates or spoiled ballots.
The junta is pursuing prosecutions against more than 200 people for violating draconian legislation forbidding "disruption" of the poll, including protest or criticism.
The United Nations in Myanmar said it was "critical that the future of Myanmar is determined through a free, fair, inclusive and credible process that reflects the will of its people".
The second round of polling will take place in two weeks before the third and final round on January 25, but the junta has acknowledged that elections cannot happen in almost one in five lower house constituencies.
bur-jts/slb/pbt

film

French legend Brigitte Bardot dead at 91: foundation

  • "The Brigitte Bardot Foundation announces with immense sadness the death of its founder and president, Madame Brigitte Bardot, a world-renowned actress and singer, who chose to abandon her prestigious career to dedicate her life and energy to animal welfare and her foundation," it said in a statement sent to AFP. Bardot became a global star after appearing in "And God created Woman" in 1956, and went on to appear in about 50 more movies before giving up acting.
  • French film legend Brigitte Bardot, a cinema icon of the 1950s and sixties who walked away from global stardom to become an animal rights protector, has died aged 91, her foundation said Sunday.
  • "The Brigitte Bardot Foundation announces with immense sadness the death of its founder and president, Madame Brigitte Bardot, a world-renowned actress and singer, who chose to abandon her prestigious career to dedicate her life and energy to animal welfare and her foundation," it said in a statement sent to AFP. Bardot became a global star after appearing in "And God created Woman" in 1956, and went on to appear in about 50 more movies before giving up acting.
French film legend Brigitte Bardot, a cinema icon of the 1950s and sixties who walked away from global stardom to become an animal rights protector, has died aged 91, her foundation said Sunday.
Bardot had rarely been seen in public in recent months but was hospitalised in October and in November released a statement denying rumours that she had died. The foundation did not say when or where she died.
"The Brigitte Bardot Foundation announces with immense sadness the death of its founder and president, Madame Brigitte Bardot, a world-renowned actress and singer, who chose to abandon her prestigious career to dedicate her life and energy to animal welfare and her foundation," it said in a statement sent to AFP.
Bardot became a global star after appearing in "And God created Woman" in 1956, and went on to appear in about 50 more movies before giving up acting.
She retired from film to settle permanently near the Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez where she devoted herself to fighting for animals.
Her calling apparently came when she encountered a goat on the set of her final film, "The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot". 
To save it from being killed, she bought the animal and kept it in her hotel room.
jfg-mdv/ah/tw

conflict

Zelensky looks to close out Ukraine plan in meeting with Trump

BY JIM WATSON WITH AURELIA END IN WASHINGTON

  • Trump has been non-committal on the new peace proposal so far, telling Politico on Friday that Zelensky "doesn't have anything until I approve it."
  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will sit down with Donald Trump on Sunday and seek to secure the US president's stamp of approval for a new proposal to end the nearly four-year conflict with Russia.
  • Trump has been non-committal on the new peace proposal so far, telling Politico on Friday that Zelensky "doesn't have anything until I approve it."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will sit down with Donald Trump on Sunday and seek to secure the US president's stamp of approval for a new proposal to end the nearly four-year conflict with Russia.
The 20-point plan, which emerged from weeks of intense US-Ukraine negotiations, lacks Moscow's approval, and the face-to-face in Florida follows a massive Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv.
The meeting, to be hosted by Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence at 1:00 pm (1800 GMT) according to the White House, will be their first in-person encounter since October, when the US president refused to grant Zelensky's request for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
Zelensky said during a stopover in Canada on Saturday he hoped the talks would be "very constructive", and said Russian leader Vladimir Putin had shown his hand with the latest assault on the Ukrainian capital.
"This attack is again Russia's answer on our peace efforts. And this really showed that Putin doesn't want peace," he said.

Europeans vow support

Zelensky held a conference call while in Canada with European leaders who, according to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, pledged their full support for his peace efforts.
Russia has accused Ukraine and its European backers of trying to "torpedo" a previous US-brokered plan to stop the fighting.
Adding to pressure on the battlefield, Russia announced on Saturday it had captured two more towns in eastern Ukraine, Myrnograd and Guliaipole.
"If the authorities in Kyiv don't want to settle this business peacefully, we'll resolve all the problems before us by military means," Putin said on Saturday.
He was also quoted by state news agency TASS as saying that "the leaders of the Kyiv regime are in no hurry to resolve this conflict peacefully."
EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa, who joined Zelensky's conference call, said the European Union's backing for Ukraine would never falter and vowed to maintain pressure on the Kremlin to come to terms.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told TASS that Moscow would continue its "engagement with American negotiators" and "address the root causes of the conflict", but criticized the Europeans.
"After the change of administration in the US, Europe and the European Union have become the main obstacle to peace," Lavrov said.
"They are making no secret of their plans to prepare for war with Russia," Lavrov said, adding that the ambitions of European politicians are "literally blinding them."
"Not only do they not care about Ukrainians, but they also don't seem to care about their own population," he said.
Trump has been non-committal on the new peace proposal so far, telling Politico on Friday that Zelensky "doesn't have anything until I approve it."
The talks will address a plan that would stop the war along its current front lines and could require Ukraine to pull troops back from the east, allowing the creation of demilitarized buffer zones.
As such, it contains Kyiv's most explicit acknowledgement yet of possible territorial concessions.
However, it does not envisage Ukraine withdrawing from the 20 percent of the eastern Donetsk region that it still controls -- Russia's main territorial demand.
Trump has made ending the Ukraine and Gaza wars the centerpiece of his second term as a self-proclaimed "president of peace." 
But the Ukraine war has, by his own admission, proved far harder than he expected.

Security guarantees

Zelensky told reporters in Canada that security guarantees would be a focus of the Florida talks.
"Security guarantees must be simultaneous with the end of the war, because we must be confident that Russia will not start aggression again," he said.
"We need strong security guarantees. We will discuss this and we will discuss the terms."
Ukraine insists it needs more European and US funding and weapons -- especially drones.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who met with Zelensky on Saturday, announced CAN$2.5 billion (US$1.82 billion) in fresh economic assistance to help Ukraine rebuild once the war ends.
The latest Russian attack, in which 500 drones and 40 missiles pummelled Kyiv, knocked out power and heating to hundreds of thousands of residents during freezing temperatures.
Power has since been restored "to all homes in the capital", DTEK, the largest private investor in the energy industry in Ukraine, said on Sunday.
The military administration in Kherson city, just south of Kyiv, said Russia launched an attack overnight that left part of the city without electricity as well.
aue/jgc/gh/ane/pbt

bitcoin

How company bets on bitcoin can backfire

BY LUCIE LEQUIER

  • -  Many companies borrowed money to buy bitcoin, betting that its price would keep rising.
  • The year-end plunge in cryptocurrencies has rattled companies that had bet heavily on bitcoin, sending share prices tumbling and reviving fears of a bubble.
  • -  Many companies borrowed money to buy bitcoin, betting that its price would keep rising.
The year-end plunge in cryptocurrencies has rattled companies that had bet heavily on bitcoin, sending share prices tumbling and reviving fears of a bubble.
Below AFP explains what happens to these bitcoin-buying firms when prices drop.
- Why accumulate bitcoin? - 
Bitcoin surged this year, reaching a record above $126,000 in October.
Companies began buying and holding bitcoin to diversify their cash reserves, protect against inflation or attract investors chasing high returns.
Some were already linked to the cryptocurrency, such as exchanges or "mining" firms that use powerful computers to earn bitcoins as rewards.
Others from unrelated industries also started buying in, boosting demand and driving its price even higher.
- Why is buying risky? - 
Many companies borrowed money to buy bitcoin, betting that its price would keep rising.
Some relied on convertible bonds, which offer lower interest rates while giving lenders the option to be repaid in shares instead of cash.
But problems can emerge if a company's share price falls -- for example, if a drop in the bitcoin price makes its business model less appealing.
Investors may then demand cash repayment, leaving the company scrambling for liquidity. 
- What happens when bitcoin drops? - 
Trouble surfaced after the summer when bitcoin began falling, eventually dropping below $90,000 in November, undermining confidence in companies heavily exposed to it.
"The market quickly started to ask: 'Are these companies going to run into trouble? Could they go bankrupt?'" said Eric Benoist, a tech and data expert at Natixis bank. 
Carol Alexander, a finance professor at the University of Sussex, told AFP that regulatory uncertainty, cyberattacks and fraud risks are also deepening investor mistrust. 

What happened to Strategy ?

Software company Strategy is the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, owning more than 671,000 coins, or about three percent of all the bitcoin that will ever exist. 
Over six months, however, its share price more than halved, and its market value briefly dropped below the total value of its bitcoin holdings.
Pressure stemmed largely from its heavy use of convertible bonds, exposing it to the risk of repaying large amounts of debt in cash.
To reassure investors, Strategy issued new shares to create a $1.44 billion reserve to fund dividend and interest rate payments. 
Semiconductor firm Sequans took a different route, selling 970 bitcoins to pay down part of its convertible debt.
Strategy and Sequans did not respond to AFP requests for comment.
- Could problems spread? - 
If struggling companies sell large amounts of bitcoin, prices could fall further, worsening losses. 
"The contagion risk in crypto markets is pretty considerable," Alexander said.
She added, however, that the impact would likely be confined to the crypto sector, with no major risk to traditional markets.
"Bitcoin is inherently volatile in both directions, and we view that volatility as the cost of long-term upside," Dylan LeClair, head of bitcoin strategy at Japan's Metaplanet, told AFP. 
Originally a hotel company, Metaplanet now holds around $2.7 billion worth of bitcoin.

What's the sector's future?

According to Benoist, companies will need to generate income from their bitcoin holdings -- such as through financial products -- rather than relying solely on rising prices. 
"Not all of them will survive," but "the model will continue to exist," he said.
New initiatives are emerging such as French entrepreneur Eric Larcheveque's crypto treasury firm, The Bitcoin Society. 
He told AFP that falling prices are "a good opportunity because it allows you to buy more bitcoin cheaply."
lul/ajb/jkb/gv/ceg

climate

Iraqis cover soil with clay to curb sandstorms

BY AMMAR KARIM

  • In a relatively small area between the cities of Nasiriyah and Samawah, not far from ancient Sumerian ruins, labourers are working hard to stabilise the soil by applying a layer of moist clay 20–25 centimetres thick.
  • Deep in Iraq's southern desert, bulldozers and earthmovers spread layers of moist clay over sand dunes as part of a broader effort to fight increasingly frequent sandstorms.
  • In a relatively small area between the cities of Nasiriyah and Samawah, not far from ancient Sumerian ruins, labourers are working hard to stabilise the soil by applying a layer of moist clay 20–25 centimetres thick.
Deep in Iraq's southern desert, bulldozers and earthmovers spread layers of moist clay over sand dunes as part of a broader effort to fight increasingly frequent sandstorms.
Iraq has long suffered from sand and dust storms, but in recent years they have become more frequent and intense as the country falls prey to the effects of climate change.
Sand and dust storms -- driven by severe drought, rising temperatures and deforestation -- have cloaked cities and villages in an endless ochre haze, grounded flights and filled hospitals with patients suffering from breathing difficulties.
Iraqi authorities have warned that these suffocating storms will intensify further, adding urgency to address the root of the problem.
In a relatively small area between the cities of Nasiriyah and Samawah, not far from ancient Sumerian ruins, labourers are working hard to stabilise the soil by applying a layer of moist clay 20–25 centimetres thick.
The project also includes planting heat-tolerant seedlings like Prosopis and Conocarpus to further stabilise the soil.
"The main goal is to reduce the impact of transboundary dust storms, which may reach Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar," said Udai Taha Lafta from UN-Habitat, which is leading the project to combat sandstorms with Iraqi expertise.
"It is a vital area despite its small size, and will hopefully help reduce dust storms next summer," Lafta said.
A short-term objective is to shield a southern highway where many traffic accidents have occurred due to poor visibility during dust storms.

 'Slow but steady'

The Ministry of Environment estimates that Iraq now faces about 243 storms per year, and the frequency is expected to increase to 300 "dust days" by 2050 unless drastic mitigation measures are adopted.
In 2023, Iraqi authorities teamed up with the UN-Habitat and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development in areas that have been identified as major sources of sandstorms.
The project has been implementing several methods in three southern areas, including digging water canals and supplying electricity to pump water from the Euphrates river, preparing barren lands for vegetation. 
One of the project's ultimate goals is to increase green spaces and for farmers to eventually sustain the lands after droughts and chronic water shortages have drastically reduced agricultural areas.
Qahtan al-Mhana, from the agriculture ministry, said that stabilising the soil gives agricultural efforts in sandy areas a chance to endure.
He added that Iraq has extensive "successful" experience in combating desertification and dust storms by stabilising sand dunes.
Since the 1970s, the country has implemented such projects, but after decades of turmoil, environmental challenges have largely fallen by the wayside.
With the severe recent impact of climate change, "work has resumed," said Najm Abed Taresh from Dhi Qar University.
"We are making slow but steady progress," Taresh said.
ak/rh/dc/ceg

conflict

Thailand and Cambodia declare truce after weeks of clashes

  • - Broken ceasefire - Five days of fighting in July killed dozens of people before a truce was brokered by the United States, China and ASEAN chair Malaysia.
  • Thailand and Cambodia agreed to an "immediate" ceasefire on Saturday, the two countries said in a joint statement, pledging to end border clashes that killed dozens of people.
  • - Broken ceasefire - Five days of fighting in July killed dozens of people before a truce was brokered by the United States, China and ASEAN chair Malaysia.
Thailand and Cambodia agreed to an "immediate" ceasefire on Saturday, the two countries said in a joint statement, pledging to end border clashes that killed dozens of people.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the announcement "as a positive step towards alleviating the suffering of civilians... and creating an environment conducive to achieving lasting peace", spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
At least 47 people were killed and more than a million displaced in three weeks of fighting with artillery, tanks, drones and jets, according to official tallies.
The conflict spread to nearly every border province on both sides, shattering an earlier truce for which US President Donald Trump took credit.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday welcomed the ceasefire, calling on both sides to "immediately honor this commitment".
The ceasefire took effect at 12:00 pm local time (0500 GMT), said the declaration signed by the Southeast Asian neighbours' defence ministers at a border checkpoint on the Thai side.
The truce applies to "all types of weapons, including attacks on civilians, civilian objects and infrastructures, and military objectives of either side, in all cases and all areas".
Both sides agreed to freeze all troop movements and allow civilians living in border areas to return home as soon as possible, the statement said.
They also agreed to cooperate on demining efforts and combatting cybercrime, while Thailand was to return 18 captured Cambodian soldiers within 72 hours.
Thai Defence Minister Nattaphon Narkphanit said the initial three-day window would be an "observation period to confirm that the ceasefire is real".
He called the truce "a door to a peaceful resolution" in a speech earlier on Saturday.
Displaced Cambodian Oeum Raksmey told AFP she was "very happy that people can return home" if the fighting stops.
"But I dare not return home yet. I am still scared," said the 22-year-old, who has sheltered with her family in Cambodia's Siem Reap province.

'Real peace'

On the other side of the border, 55-year-old Thai village head Khampong Lueklarp was similarly cautious.
"I personally think the ceasefire won't really happen," said the head of Ban Ta Sawang Samakkee village in Sisaket province, adding he hoped for "a real peace".
The ceasefire followed three days of border talks convened following a crisis meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
EU foreign affairs spokesman Anouar El Anouni, in a post on X, thanked "ASEAN for playing a positive part" and called on Cambodia and Thailand to implement the agreement "in good faith".
The European bloc was ready to provide any needed support, he added.
The United States and China also pushed for an end to the fighting.
Beijing's foreign ministry said the ceasefire "demonstrates that dialogue and consultations are a realistic and effective way of resolving complex disputes", offering support moving forward.
China's top diplomat Wang Yi will host the Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers for talks in Yunnan province on December 28-29, the countries said.
The conflict stems from a territorial dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of the 800-kilometre (500-mile) Thai-Cambodian border, where both sides claim ancient temples.

Broken ceasefire

Five days of fighting in July killed dozens of people before a truce was brokered by the United States, China and ASEAN chair Malaysia.
Trump witnessed the signing of an expanded agreement between Thailand and Cambodia in October, but it was broken within months, with each side blaming the other for instigating the fresh fighting.
At least 25 Thai soldiers and one Thai civilian were killed in the latest round of clashes, officials said.
Cambodia, outgunned and outspent by Bangkok's military, said 21 civilians were killed.
Phnom Penh has reported no military deaths, even though an official Facebook post showed first lady Pich Chanmony, the wife of Cambodia's leader Hun Manet, at a funeral for troops killed in the fighting.
The violence was still raging while this week's border talks were underway.
On Friday, Cambodia accused Thailand of intensifying its bombardment of disputed border areas, and Thai media reported Cambodian attacks overnight.
While both sides agreed to halt the fighting, they will still need to resolve the demarcation of their border following the ceasefire.
The contested temples are claimed by both nations because of a vague demarcation made by Cambodia's French colonial administrators in 1907.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said he hoped the ceasefire "will pave the way for confidence building & peace".
bur-tym/sco/tc

conflict

Zelensky talks with allies en route to US as Russia pummels Ukraine

BY VICTORIA LUKOVENKO

  • Zelensky said some 500 drones and 40 missiles had pounded the capital and its surrounding region.
  • Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky consulted with allies on Saturday and won renewed expressions of support ahead of a meeting with US President Donald Trump, hours after Russia pummelled Kyiv with drones and missiles in its latest attack on the capital.
  • Zelensky said some 500 drones and 40 missiles had pounded the capital and its surrounding region.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky consulted with allies on Saturday and won renewed expressions of support ahead of a meeting with US President Donald Trump, hours after Russia pummelled Kyiv with drones and missiles in its latest attack on the capital.
During a stopover in Canada en route to Florida for the Trump meeting, the Ukrainian president spoke first with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Then, in a conference call, he briefed EU, NATO and European leaders, who gave him their "full support" according to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a social media post they welcomed "a just and lasting peace that preserves Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity".
Zelensky said the Russian onslaught showed Moscow had no intention of ending the invasion it launched in February 2022 and which has killed tens of thousands of people.
"This attack is again, Russia's answer on our peace efforts. And this really showed that Putin doesn't want peace, and we want peace," Zelensky said before meeting the Canadian premier.
Carney said the latest Russian attack underscored the need to stand by Ukraine.
"We have the conditions... of a just and lasting peace, but that requires a willing Russia, and the barbarism that we saw overnight... shows just how important it is that we stand with Ukraine," said Carney.
Russia has accused Ukraine and its European backers of trying to "torpedo" a previous US-brokered plan to stop the fighting.
Adding to pressure on the battlefield, Russia announced on Saturday it had captured two more towns in eastern Ukraine, Myrnograd and Guliaipole.
"If the authorities in Kyiv don't want to settle this business peacefully, we'll resolve all the problems before us by military means," Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday.

'They do not want to end the war'

The overnight barrage of drones and missiles, which targeted Kyiv for about 10 hours, killed two people, wounded dozens and cut power and heating to more than a million of the region's residents during freezing temperatures, Ukraine authorities said.
Zelensky said some 500 drones and 40 missiles had pounded the capital and its surrounding region.
"Russian representatives engage in lengthy talks, but in reality, Kinzhals (missiles) and Shaheds (drones) speak for them," he said.
"They do not want to end the war and seek to use every opportunity to cause Ukraine even greater suffering," he added. 
Neighbouring Poland, a NATO member, scrambled jets and put air defences on alert during the attack, its military said on social media.

'Security guarantees should be strong'

Sunday's meeting in Florida is to focus on a new, 20-point plan that would freeze the war on its current front line. It could require Ukraine to pull back troops from the east, allowing the creation of demilitarised buffer zones, according to details revealed by Zelensky this week.
The new plan, formulated with Ukraine's input, is Kyiv's most explicit acknowledgement yet of possible territorial concessions.
It is a marked departure from an initial 28-point proposal by Washington last month that adhered to many of Russia's core demands.
Trump, speaking to news outlet Politico on Friday, said of Zelensky's plan that "he doesn't have anything until I approve it". He added: "So we'll see what he's got." 
Part of the plan includes separate US-Ukraine bilateral agreements on security guarantees, reconstruction and the economy.
Zelensky said those were changing daily. "As for sensitive issues, we will discuss (the eastern region of) Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant," he added.
Zelensky said his meeting with the US leader was aimed at reducing unresolved issues to a minimum.
"Of course, today there are red lines for Ukraine and Ukrainian people. There are compromise proposals. All of these issues are very sensitive," he said on X.
Meanwhile, Ukraine needed European and US support to acquire weapons and funds, both of which were insufficient, Zelensky said -- "in particular for the production of weapons and, most importantly, drones".
In negotiations, Ukraine's "most important consideration -- if we take certain steps -- is that security guarantees should be strong and we should be protected", he said.
Ukraine is working with the US on a roadmap for the country's reconstruction, said Zelensky, which will require between $700 billion and $800 billion. 
bur-jh/dw/jj

Global Edition

How Myanmar's junta-run vote works, and why it might not

  • - Myanmar's civil war has seen the military lose swathes of the country to rebel forces -- a mix of pro-democracy guerillas and ethnic minority armies which have long resisted central rule -- and the vote will not take place in the areas they control.
  • Myanmar's junta presides over elections starting on Sunday, advertising the vote as a return to democratic normality five years after it mounted a coup that triggered civil war.
  • - Myanmar's civil war has seen the military lose swathes of the country to rebel forces -- a mix of pro-democracy guerillas and ethnic minority armies which have long resisted central rule -- and the vote will not take place in the areas they control.
Myanmar's junta presides over elections starting on Sunday, advertising the vote as a return to democratic normality five years after it mounted a coup that triggered civil war.
The vote has been widely slated as a charade to rebrand the rule of the military, which voided the results of the last elections in 2020, alleging massive voter fraud.
Here are some key questions surrounding the heavily restricted polls:
- Who is running? - 
The pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party is by far the biggest participant, providing more than a fifth of all candidates, according to the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL).
Former democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her massively popular National League for Democracy party, which won a landslide in the last vote, are not taking part.
After the 2021 coup, Suu Kyi was jailed on charges rights groups say were politically motivated.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group, some 22,000 political prisoners are languishing in junta jails.
The National League for Democracy and most of the parties that took part in the 2020 vote have been dissolved. ANFREL says organisations that won 90 percent of seats then will not be on Sunday's ballot.
Polling is taking place in three phases spread over a month, using new electronic voting machines which do not allow write-in candidates or spoiled ballots.

Who can and cannot vote?

Myanmar's civil war has seen the military lose swathes of the country to rebel forces -- a mix of pro-democracy guerillas and ethnic minority armies which have long resisted central rule -- and the vote will not take place in the areas they control.
A military-run census last year admitted it could not collect data from an estimated 19 million of the country's 50 million-odd inhabitants, citing "security constraints".
Amid the conflict, authorities have cancelled voting in 65 of the 330 elected seats of the lower house -- nearly one in five of the total.
More than one million stateless Rohingya refugees, who fled a military crackdown beginning in 2017 and now live in exile in Bangladesh, will also have no say.

How is a winner decided?

Seats in parliament will be allocated under a combined first-past-the-post and proportional representation system which ANFREL says heavily favours larger parties.
The criteria to register as a nationwide party able to contest seats in multiple areas have been tightened, according to the Asian election watchdog, and only six of the 57 parties standing have qualified.
Results are expected in late January.
Regardless of the outcome of the vote, a military-drafted constitution dictates a quarter of parliamentary seats be reserved for the armed forces.
The lower house, upper house, and military members each elect a vice president from among their ranks, and the combined parliament votes on which of the three will be elevated to president.

What happened in the run-up?

ANFREL says the Union Election Commission overseeing the vote is an organ of the Myanmar military, rather than an independent body.
The head of the commission, Than Soe, was installed after Suu Kyi's government was toppled and is subject to an EU travel ban and sanctions for "undermining democracy" in Myanmar.
Social media sites including Facebook, Instagram and X have all been blocked since the coup, curtailing the spread of information.
The junta has introduced stark legislation punishing public protest or criticism of the poll with up to a decade behind bars, pursuing more than 200 people for prosecution under the new law.
Cases have been brought over private Facebook messages, flash mob protests scattering anti-election leaflets, and vandalism of candidate placards.
Myanmar has invited international monitors to witness the poll, but few countries have answered.
On Friday, state media reported a monitoring delegation had arrived from Belarus -- a country that has been ruled since 1994 by strongman President Alexander Lukashenko, who put down pro-democracy protests six years ago.
bur-sjc/jts/slb/ami/aha

conflict

Netanyahu to meet Trump in US on Monday

BY ALICE CHANCELLOR

  • Trump told reporters in mid-December that Netanyahu would probably visit him in Florida during the Christmas holidays.
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to meet US President Donald Trump in Florida on Monday, an Israeli official told AFP, in what is seen as a crucial visit for the next steps of the fragile Gaza truce plan.
  • Trump told reporters in mid-December that Netanyahu would probably visit him in Florida during the Christmas holidays.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to meet US President Donald Trump in Florida on Monday, an Israeli official told AFP, in what is seen as a crucial visit for the next steps of the fragile Gaza truce plan.
It will be Netanyahu's fifth visit to see key ally Trump in the United States this year.
His trip comes as the Trump administration and regional mediators push to proceed to the second stage of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli official on Saturday said Netanyahu would leave for the US on December 28 and meet with Trump a day later in Florida, without providing a specific location.
Trump told reporters in mid-December that Netanyahu would probably visit him in Florida during the Christmas holidays.
"He would like to see me. We haven't set it up formally, but he'd like to see me," Trump said before leaving for his Mar-a-Lago resort. 
Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Wednesday that a wide range of regional issues was expected to be discussed, including Iran, talks on an Israel-Syria security agreement, the ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon and the next stages of the Gaza deal.

'Going nowhere'

Concerning Gaza, the timing of the meeting is "very significant", said Gershon Baskin, the co-head of peacebuilding commission the Alliance for Two States, who has taken part in back-channel negotiations with Hamas.
"Phase one is basically over, there's one remaining Israeli deceased hostage which they (Hamas) are having difficulty finding," he told AFP.
"Phase two has to begin, it's even late and I think the Americans realise that it's late because Hamas has had too much time to re-establish its presence and this is certainly not a situation that the Americans want to leave in place," he added.
Progress in moving to the second phase of October's Gaza ceasefire agreement, which was brokered by Washington and its regional allies, has so far been slow.
Both sides allege frequent ceasefire violations and mediators fear that Israel and Hamas alike are stalling.
Under the next stages, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, an interim authority is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas, and an international stabilisation force (ISF) is to be deployed.
It also includes a provision for Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas to lay down its weapons -- a major sticking point.
On Friday, US news outlet Axios reported that the meeting between Trump and Netanyahu was key to advancing to the next steps of the deal.
Citing White House officials, Axios said that the Trump administration wanted to announce the Palestinian technocratic government for Gaza and the ISF as soon as possible.
It reported that senior Trump officials were growing exasperated "as Netanyahu has taken steps to undermine the fragile ceasefire and stall the peace process".
"There are more and more signs that the American administration is getting frustrated with Netanyahu," said Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East expert at London-based think-tank Chatham House.
"The question is what it's going to do about it," he added, "because phase two is right now going nowhere."

Iran tops agenda

While the Trump administration is keen for progress on Gaza, analysts said the prospect of Iran rebuilding its nuclear programme and ballistic missile capabilities was likely to top the agenda for Netanyahu.
"All the news that we've heard in the Israeli media over the last two weeks about Iran building up its missiles and being a threat to Israel is all part of a planned strategy of deflecting attention from Gaza to the issue that Netanyahu loves to talk about which is Iran," said Baskin.
In June, Israel launched strikes on Iranian military and nuclear sites as well as residential areas.
Iran responded with drone and missile strikes on Israel, and later on in the 12-day war, the United States joined Israel in targeting Iranian nuclear facilities.
Mekelberg shared the view that Netanyahu could be attempting to shift attention from Gaza onto Iran.
With Israel entering an election year, Mekelberg said with regards to the Trump meeting, Netanyahu would be "taking a defensive approach, to minimise what can be difficult for him coming back home".
"Everything is connected to staying in power," he said of the long-time Israeli premier.
acc-glp/jfx

US

US strikes targeted IS militants, Lakurawa jihadists, Nigeria says

BY NICHOLAS ROLL

  • "ISIS, Lakurawa and bandits were targeted," Daniel Bwala, a spokesman for President Bola Tinubu, told AFP on Saturday. 
  • US strikes in Nigeria this week targeted Islamic State militants from the Sahel who were in the country to work with the Lakurawa jihadist group and "bandit" gangs, a spokesman for the Nigerian president told AFP Saturday.
  • "ISIS, Lakurawa and bandits were targeted," Daniel Bwala, a spokesman for President Bola Tinubu, told AFP on Saturday. 
US strikes in Nigeria this week targeted Islamic State militants from the Sahel who were in the country to work with the Lakurawa jihadist group and "bandit" gangs, a spokesman for the Nigerian president told AFP Saturday.
The exact targets of the strikes, launched overnight Thursday into Friday, had been unclear.
Washington and Abuja previously said they targeted IS-linked militants, without providing details on which of Nigeria's myriad armed groups were attacked.
"ISIS, Lakurawa and bandits were targeted," Daniel Bwala, a spokesman for President Bola Tinubu, told AFP on Saturday. 
"ISIS found their way through the Sahel to go and assist the Lakurawa and the bandits with supplies and with training," he said.
The Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP) group is active in neighbouring Niger, as well as Burkina Faso and Mali, where it is fighting a bloody insurgency against the governments of those countries.
While Nigeria has long battled its own, separate jihadist conflict, analysts have been worried about the spread of armed groups from the Sahel into the west African country.
"The strike was conducted at a location where, historically, you have the bandits and the Lakurawa parading around that axis," Bwala said.
"The intelligence the US government gathered, also, is that there is a mass movement of ISIS from the Sahel to that part."
There were casualties, but it was unclear who among those targeted were killed, Bwala added.
The site of the strikes -- in Nigeria's northwest state of Sokoto -- has puzzled analysts, since Nigeria's jihadist insurgency is mostly concentrated in the northeast.
Researchers have recently linked some members of the armed group known as Lakurawa -- the main jihadist group located in Sokoto State -- to the ISSP. 
Other analysts have disputed those links, however, and research on Lakurawa is complicated as the term has been used to describe various armed fighters in the northwest.

Diplomatic spat

In the northwest, the biggest security concern is that from criminal gangs known as bandits.
They loot villages, conduct kidnappings for ransom and extort farmers and artisanal miners across swathes of rural countryside outside of government control.
On Friday, Information Minister Mohammed Idris said the strikes hit "two major Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist enclaves" in Sokoto state's Tangaza district. 
Other villages were hit by what the information minister said was debris from the strikes.
Images from an AFP photographer in Offa, in neighbouring Kwara state, showed crumbled buildings with roofs caved in and belongings scattered among the wreckage.
The strikes -- which US President Donald Trump said he pushed back to happen on Christmas Day in order to "give a Christmas present" to the militants -- come after a diplomatic spat between Washington and Abuja.
Trump accused Nigeria in October and November of allowing "persecution" and "genocide" against Christians.
The Nigerian government and independent analysts reject that framing of the country's violence, which has long been used by the US religious right that backs Trump.
The country faces multiple conflicts -- from jihadists and bandits to farmer-herder violence and southeastern separatists -- that kill both Christians and Muslims. 
On Christmas Eve, a suspected suicide bomber killed at least five people in an attack on a mosque in northeastern Borno state.
After the strikes, Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar said: "It is a joint operation, and it is not targeting any religion nor simply in the name of one religion or the other."
nro/rmb

diplomacy

Somalia, African nations denounce Israeli recognition of Somaliland

  • Israel announced Friday that it viewed Somaliland as an "independent and sovereign state", prompting Somalia to call the decision a "deliberate attack" on its sovereignty that would undermine regional peace.
  • Somalia and the African Union reacted angrily Friday after Israel became the first country to formally recognise the northern region of Somaliland as an independent state.
  • Israel announced Friday that it viewed Somaliland as an "independent and sovereign state", prompting Somalia to call the decision a "deliberate attack" on its sovereignty that would undermine regional peace.
Somalia and the African Union reacted angrily Friday after Israel became the first country to formally recognise the northern region of Somaliland as an independent state.
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 and has pushed for international recognition for decades, with president Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi making it a top priority since taking office last year.
Israel announced Friday that it viewed Somaliland as an "independent and sovereign state", prompting Somalia to call the decision a "deliberate attack" on its sovereignty that would undermine regional peace.
Several other countries condemned Israel's decision. The African Union (AU) rejected the move and warned that it risked "setting a dangerous precedent with far-reaching implications for peace and stability across the continent".
Somaliland "remains an integral part" of Somalia, an AU member, said the pan-African body's head Mahamoud Ali Youssouf.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the decision was "in the spirit of the Abraham Accords", referring to a series of agreements brokered by US President Donald Trump in his first term that normalised ties between Israel and several Arab nations.
Netanyahu had invited Abdullahi to visit, the Israeli leader's office said.
Asked by the New York Post newspaper whether the United States planned to also recognise Somaliland, Trump said "no".
"Does anyone know what Somaliland is, really?" he added.
Hailing Israel's decision as a "historic moment", Abdullahi said in a post on X that it marked the beginning of a "strategic partnership".
The Palestinian Authority rejected Israel's recognition of Somaliland.
It said on X that Israel had previously named Somaliland "as a destination for the forced displacement of our Palestinian people, particularly from the Gaza Strip", and warned against "complicity" with such a move.
In Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, crowds of people took to the streets to celebrate, many carrying the flag of the breakaway state, said sources.

'Overt interference'

Turkey, a close ally of Somalia, also condemned the move.
"This initiative by Israel, which aligns with its expansionist policy... constitutes overt interference in Somalia's domestic affairs", a foreign ministry statement said.
Egypt said its top diplomat had spoken with counterparts from Turkey, Somalia and Djibouti, who together condemned the move and emphasised "full support for the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia".
In a video showing Netanyahu speaking to Abdullahi by telephone, the Israeli leader said that he believed the new relationship would offer economic opportunities.
"I am very, very happy and I am very proud of this day and I want to wish you and the people of Somaliland the very, very best," Netanyahu said.
A self-proclaimed republic, Somaliland enjoys a strategic position on the Gulf of Aden and has its own money, passports and army.
But it has been diplomatically isolated since unilaterally declaring independence.

Strategic move

Israel's regional security interests may lie behind the move.
"Israel requires allies in the Red Sea region for many strategic reasons, among them the possibility of a future campaign against the Houthis," said the Institute for National Security Studies in a paper last month, referring to Yemen's Iran-backed rebels.
Israel repeatedly hit targets in Yemen after the Gaza war broke out in October 2023, in response to Houthi attacks on Israel that the rebels said were in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The Houthis have halted their attacks since a fragile truce began in Gaza in October.
Somaliland's lack of international recognition has hampered access to foreign loans, aid and investment, and the territory remains deeply impoverished.
A deal between landlocked Ethiopia and Somaliland last year to lease a stretch of coastline for a port and military base enraged Somalia.
Israel has been trying to bolster relations with countries in the Middle East and Africa.
Historic agreements struck late in Trump's first term in 2020 saw several countries including the Muslim-majority United Arab Emirates and Morocco normalise relations with Israel.
But wars that have stoked Arab anger, particularly in Gaza, have hampered recent efforts to expand ties further.
burs-jj/jgc/ceg/mjw

conflict

Russia lashes out at Zelensky ahead of new Trump talks on Ukraine plan

BY BARBARA WOJAZER

  • Zelensky's office said earlier that a meeting with Trump is planned for Sunday in Florida, where the US leader has a home.
  • Volodymyr Zelensky is due to meet President Donald Trump in Florida this weekend, but Russia accused the Ukrainian president and his EU backers Friday of seeking to "torpedo" a US-brokered plan to stop the fighting.
  • Zelensky's office said earlier that a meeting with Trump is planned for Sunday in Florida, where the US leader has a home.
Volodymyr Zelensky is due to meet President Donald Trump in Florida this weekend, but Russia accused the Ukrainian president and his EU backers Friday of seeking to "torpedo" a US-brokered plan to stop the fighting.
Sunday's meeting to discuss new peace proposals comes as Trump intensifies efforts to end Europe's worst conflict since World War II, one that has killed tens of thousands since February 2022.
The 20-point plan would freeze the war on its current front line but open the door for Ukraine to pull back troops from the east, where demilitarised buffer zones could be created, according to details revealed by Zelensky this week.
Ahead of the talks, AFP journalists reported several powerful explosions in Kyiv on Saturday, and authorities warned of a possible missile attack.
"Explosions in the capital. Air defence forces are operating. Stay in shelters!" Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.
Ukraine's air force announced a countrywide air alert and said drones and missiles were moving over several regions including Kyiv. 
Zelensky's office said earlier that a meeting with Trump is planned for Sunday in Florida, where the US leader has a home.
Trump, speaking to news outlet Politico, said about Zelensky's plan that "he doesn't have anything until I approve it", adding: "So we'll see what he's got."
Zelensky meanwhile said he held telephone talks on Friday with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz and a host of other European leaders.
A spokesperson for Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the leaders "reiterated their unshakeable commitment for a just and lasting peace for Ukraine and the importance that talks continue to progress towards this in the coming days".

Security guarantees

The new plan formulated with Ukraine's input is Kyiv's most explicit acknowledgement yet of possible territorial concessions and is very different from an initial 28-point proposal tabled by Washington last month that adhered to many of Russia's core demands.
Part of the plan includes separate US-Ukraine bilateral agreements on security guarantees, reconstruction and the economy. Zelensky said those were changing on a daily basis.
"We will discuss these documents, security guarantees," he said of Sunday's meeting.
"As for sensitive issues, we will discuss (the eastern region of) Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and we will certainly discuss other issues," he added.
Russia signalled its opposition to the plan ahead of the Florida talks.
The Kremlin said Friday that foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov had held telephone talks with US officials, and deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov criticised Zelensky's stance.

Russia accuses EU

"Our ability to make the final push and reach an agreement will depend on our own work and the political will of the other party," Ryabkov said on Russian television.
"Especially in a context where Kyiv and its sponsors -- notably within the European Union, who are not in favour of an agreement -- have stepped up efforts to torpedo it."
He said the proposal drawn up with Zelensky input "differs radically" from points initially drawn up by US and Russian officials in contacts this month.
He said any deal had to "remain within the limits" fixed by Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin when they met in Alaska in August, or else "no accord can be reached".
Zelensky said this week there were still disagreements between Kyiv and Washington over the two core issues of territory and and the status of the Zaporizhzhia plant.
Washington has pushed Ukraine to withdraw from the 20 percent of the eastern Donetsk region that it still controls -- Russia's main territorial demand.
It has also proposed joint US-Ukrainian-Russian control of Zaporizhzhia, Europe's largest nuclear plant, which Russia seized during the invasion.
Zelensky said he could only give up more land if the Ukrainian people agree to it in a referendum, and he does not want Russian participation in the nuclear plant.
Ukraine appears to have won some concessions in the new plan, which, according to Zelensky, removed a requirement for Kyiv to legally renounce its bid to join NATO as well as previous clauses on territory seized by Russia since 2014 being recognised as belonging to Moscow.
But Moscow has shown little inclination to abandon its hardline territorial demands that Ukraine fully withdraw from Donbas and end efforts to join NATO.
Zelensky said Ukrainian negotiators were not directly in touch with Moscow, but that the United States acted as intermediary and was awaiting Russia's response to the latest proposal.
"I think we will know their official response in the coming days," Zelensky said.
"Russia is always looking for reasons not to agree," he added.
bur/jh/rmb/ceg/mjw

Paris

Police arrest suspect after man stabs 3 women in Paris metro

  • Paris police said two of the women attacked were treated by the emergency services and taken to hospital, but they were not in critical condition.
  • French police on Friday arrested a man suspected of stabbing three women in the Paris metro as the capital's end-of-year festivities were in full swing, prosecutors told AFP. The three victims were attacked at three different locations along the Line 3 metro track that runs across central Paris, the RATP authority that runs the transit service told AFP. An AFP journalist at the Republique station saw a security team treating a woman who had been wounded in the leg and appeared to be in a state of shock.
  • Paris police said two of the women attacked were treated by the emergency services and taken to hospital, but they were not in critical condition.
French police on Friday arrested a man suspected of stabbing three women in the Paris metro as the capital's end-of-year festivities were in full swing, prosecutors told AFP.
The three victims were attacked at three different locations along the Line 3 metro track that runs across central Paris, the RATP authority that runs the transit service told AFP.
An AFP journalist at the Republique station saw a security team treating a woman who had been wounded in the leg and appeared to be in a state of shock.
The attacks happened between 4:15 pm (1515 GMT) and 4:45 pm at the stations Republique and Arts et Metiers -- both next to the Marais district -- and the Opera station, the RATP said.
"The victims were quickly taken care of by the emergency services," it said.
Paris police said two of the women attacked were treated by the emergency services and taken to hospital, but they were not in critical condition. A third woman turned up at hospital seeking treatment, they added.
Police used surveillance-camera footage and mobile-tracking tools to locate the 25-year-old suspected attacker in the Val d'Oise region north of Paris, said prosecutors.
"Activating the geolocation of his mobile phone led to his arrest late afternoon in Val d'Oise," they said.
"The police are on site. Back-up security teams have been deployed to reinforce safety on the line," it added.
Transport police have opened an investigation into attempted homicide and assault with a weapon.
The Ministry of Interior said in a statement that man was a Malian citizen who had been imprisoned in January 2024 for aggravated theft and sexual assault convictions and had been required to leave France after being released in July. 
The man had been placed in an administrative detention centre but failure to obtain a consular travel document required for his deportation had meant he was released after 90 days, as required by law, the statement said. 
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez "regrets that the deportation of the suspect could not be carried out" and assured that "efforts are continuing to prioritise the deportation of undocumented foreigners who have committed public order offences", according to the ministry statement. 

'Maximum vigilance'

Paris police chief Patrice Faure paid tribute to "the reactivity and the mobilisation" of the investigators that led to the arrest of the suspect. Police arrested him at 6:55 pm, less than three hours after the first attack, he said.
Nunez congratulated the different police services involved in tracking down the suspect.
European capitals are especially vigilant during the end-of-year period for any violent incidents, given recent attacks and plots targeting festive or religious gatherings.
Last week, Nunez called for "maximum vigilance" in a message to senior officials.
Due to the "very high level of the terrorist threat" and "the risk of public disorder", Nunez asked local officials to strengthen security measures across the country with a visible and deterrent presence.
Nunez specifically asked for particular attention to be paid to security on public transport.
neo/jj/rmb/tc

US

Nigeria signals more strikes likely in 'joint' US operations

BY SUSAN NJANJI AND TONYE BAKARE, WITH NICHOLAS ROLL IN ABUJA AND AMINU ABUBAKAR IN KANO

  • Both countries said the strikes targeted militants linked to the Islamic State group, without providing details.
  • Nigeria on Friday signalled that more strikes against jihadist groups were expected after a Christmas Day attack by US forces that President Donald Trump said "decimated" Islamic State-linked camps they targeted in the northwest of the country.
  • Both countries said the strikes targeted militants linked to the Islamic State group, without providing details.
Nigeria on Friday signalled that more strikes against jihadist groups were expected after a Christmas Day attack by US forces that President Donald Trump said "decimated" Islamic State-linked camps they targeted in the northwest of the country.
Nigeria insisted it was a joint operation, saying that it provided intelligence for Thursday's attack. The US military said the strikes killed multiple IS fighters. 
A Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the strikes "were approved by the government of Nigeria," without saying whether Nigeria's military had been involved. 
Trump said in an interview published Friday that the strikes had been scheduled earlier than Thursday, "And I said, 'nope, let's give a Christmas present.'
"They didn't think that was coming, but we hit them hard. Every camp got decimated," he told Politico.
Nigeria, located in west Africa, faces interlinked security crises, with jihadists waging an insurgency in the northeast since 2009 and armed gangs raiding villages and staging kidnappings in the northwest.
The strikes came after Abuja and Washington have been locked in a diplomatic dispute over what Trump has characterised as the mass killing of Christians amid Nigeria's myriad armed conflicts.
Questions remain over which armed group was targeted, and details over the strikes have varied between Nigerian and US accounts.
Washington's framing of the violence as amounting to Christian "persecution" is rejected by the Nigerian government and independent analysts, but has nonetheless resulted in increased security coordination.
US defence officials posted a video of what appeared to be a nighttime missile launch from the deck of a battleship flying the US flag.
"It's Nigeria that provided the intelligence," the country's foreign minister, Yusuf Tuggar, told broadcaster Channels TV, saying he had been on the phone with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ahead of the strikes.
Asked if there would be more strikes, Tuggar said: "It is an ongoing thing" adding "it must be made clear that it is a joint operation, and it is not targeting any religion."

Targets unclear

Nigerian information minister Mohammed Idris said in a statement that the US strikes used 16 guided munitions launched from medium-altitude MQ-9 Reaper drones "successfully neutralising" IS elements attempting to penetrate Nigeria through the Sahel.
Both countries said the strikes targeted militants linked to the Islamic State group, without providing details.
The Department of Defense's US Africa Command said "multiple ISIS terrorists" were killed in an attack in the northwestern state of Sokoto.
Residents in Sokoto told AFP they were shocked by the blasts, saying some strikes hit a town that was not a militant stronghold.
Nigeria's armed groups are mostly concentrated in the northeast, but have made inroads into the northwest.
Researchers have recently linked some members of an armed group known as Lakurawa -- the main jihadist group located in Sokoto State -- to Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP), which is mostly active in neighbouring Niger and Mali.
Other analysts have disputed those links.
"We initially thought it was (an) attack by Lakurawa," said Haruna Kallah, a resident of Jabo town.
That the explosions were in fact the result of a US strike "surprised us because this area has never been a Lakurawa enclave."
Tukur Shehu, a resident of Tangaza, a neighbouring district, said two strikes targeted villages known to house Lakurawa camps from where they launch attacks and keep hostages.

Public opinion divided

While public opinion on the strikes appeared split, the Nigerian government publicly welcomed them.
"I think Trump would not have accepted a 'No,'" said Malik Samuel, an Abuja-based researcher for Good Governance Africa, an NGO.
Nigerian authorities are keen to be seen as cooperating with the US, Samuel told AFP, even though "both the perpetrators and the victims in the northwest are overwhelmingly Muslim."
Security analyst Brant Philip said the results of the strikes were "not significant, but much is expected soon."
tba-sn-nro-str-abu/jh/msp/bgs

government

Trump's Christmas gospel: bombs, blessings and blame

BY AURéLIA END

  • Across the administration, Christmas messaging leaned hard into Christianity. 
  • Christmas under Donald Trump brought air strikes abroad and political threats at home, as the US president used the holiday to project a vision of power rooted less in peace than grievance, even as aides leaned into their Christian faith.
  • Across the administration, Christmas messaging leaned hard into Christianity. 
Christmas under Donald Trump brought air strikes abroad and political threats at home, as the US president used the holiday to project a vision of power rooted less in peace than grievance, even as aides leaned into their Christian faith.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the president flooded his Truth Social feed with posts that ditched the usual holiday cheer. Instead of goodwill to all, Trump announced military action against jihadists in Nigeria and hurled insults at his enemies.
Trump said Friday that the strikes, conducted the day before, had "decimated" jihadist camps in northern Nigeria, describing the operation as a surprise blow delivered as a "Christmas present."
In an interview with Politico, the president said he had personally delayed the action until Thursday to catch militants off guard -- hitting "every camp" involved.
The strikes, he said, were retaliation for a "slaughter of Christians" in the west African nation. 
Then came a caustic Christmas greeting aimed at his political rivals, branding them "radical leftist scum."
On Thursday, Trump dropped an even darker line: "Enjoy what may be your last Merry Christmas." The cryptic warning appeared to hint at Democrats he believes will be exposed when files tied to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are all released.
The White House, by contrast, issued a traditional message later that day -- heavy on scripture -- signed by the president and First Lady Melania Trump.
The statement invoked God seven times, celebrating "the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ" and praying for "God's abiding love, divine mercy, and everlasting peace."
Trump has long claimed credit for restoring "Merry Christmas" to public life, accusing his first-term predecessor Barack Obama of pushing "Happy Holidays" -- a greeting seen as more inclusive of multiple faiths. In reality, Obama regularly said "Merry Christmas." 
This year, though, Trump skipped formal worship entirely. The official schedule shows the 79-year-old billionaire spent the holiday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida without attending church.
Across the administration, Christmas messaging leaned hard into Christianity. 
The Homeland Security Department urged Americans to "remember the miracle of Christ's birth," while Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted a nativity scene and spoke of "the hope of Eternal Life through Christ." 

'Always... a Christian nation'

The Pentagon even hosted its first-ever Christmas Mass on December 17.
Religious language is nothing new in the politics of the United States -- a country that calls itself "one nation under God." But the First Amendment bars any official creed. 
That hasn't stopped Vice President JD Vance from pushing Christian doctrine into every corner of policy, from diplomacy to immigration.
"A true Christian politics, it cannot just be about the protection of the unborn... It must be at the heart of our full understanding of government," he told a recent rally organized by the conservative group Turning Point USA.
"We have been, and by the grace of God, we always will be, a Christian nation," Vance added. The crowd roared.
Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, offers a disciplined Christian nationalist vision. But Trump's version is more personal -- and messianic.
In his January inauguration speech, he claimed God saved him from assassination so he could fulfill America's destiny. 
Since then, he has sold $60 "God Bless The USA" Bibles, launched a White House Office of Faith under televangelist Paula White, and posted photos of himself praying at his desk, pastors hovering around him.
Trump, never known as a committed churchgoer, now speaks often of his own salvation. 
"I want to try and get to heaven if possible," he told Fox News in August, suggesting brokering peace in Ukraine might help. 
At other moments, however, he has sounded far less confident.
"I hear I'm not doing well -- I hear I'm really at the bottom of the totem pole!" he has said, again linking any improvement in his prospects to a potential peace deal in Ukraine.
His bleakest assessment came on October 15, when he remarked: "I don't think there's anything that's going to get me into heaven."
aue/ft/mlm

minorities

Deadly blast hits mosque in Alawite area of Syria's Homs

BY OMAR HAJ KADOUR WITH LAYAL ABOU RAHAL IN BEIRUT

  • The group formed after the ouster last year of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, himself a member of the Alawite community, and had claimed responsibility for the June church bombing, though authorities blamed the Islamic State group.
  • An explosion killed at least eight worshippers at a mosque in a predominantly Alawite area of Syria's Homs on Friday, state media said, with an Islamist militant group claiming responsibility.
  • The group formed after the ouster last year of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, himself a member of the Alawite community, and had claimed responsibility for the June church bombing, though authorities blamed the Islamic State group.
An explosion killed at least eight worshippers at a mosque in a predominantly Alawite area of Syria's Homs on Friday, state media said, with an Islamist militant group claiming responsibility.
The attack during Friday prayers is the latest on the Alawite community, and the second blast in a place of worship since Islamist authorities took power a year ago, after a suicide bombing in a Damascus church killed 25 people in June.
In a statement on Telegram, extremist group Saraya Ansar al-Sunna said its fighters "detonated a number of explosive devices" in the Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque in the central Syrian city.
The group formed after the ouster last year of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, himself a member of the Alawite community, and had claimed responsibility for the June church bombing, though authorities blamed the Islamic State group.
State news agency SANA reported an explosion in the mosque in Homs's Wadi al-Dahab neighbourhood and gave a preliminary toll of at least eight dead and 18 wounded, citing a health ministry official.
An AFP photographer saw security forces cordoning off the area around the mosque while inside, personnel stood guard as red tape encircled the blackened, debris-strewn corner where the blast went off.
Usama Ibrahim, 47, who was being treated in hospital for shrapnel wounds to his head and back, said he was at Friday prayers when he heard was a loud explosion.
"The world turned red... and I fell to the ground. Then I saw blood flowing from my head," he told AFP.

'Shrapnel all around'

Syria's interior ministry said in a statement that "a terrorist explosion" targeted the mosque and that authorities had "begun investigating and collecting evidence to pursue the perpetrators of this criminal act".
SANA quoted a security source as saying that initial investigations indicated that "explosive devices planted inside the mosque" caused the blast.
As victims' families gathered at the hospital, wounded bookseller Ghadi Maarouf, 38, told AFP that the explosion occurred "just before the imam was to ascend the minbar to deliver the sermon", referring to the imam's raised platform.
"It was a huge explosion, and I saw shrapnel flying all around me," said Maarouf, whose leg was wounded in the blast.
Syria's foreign ministry condemned a "cowardly criminal act", saying it came "in the context of repeated desperate attempts to undermine security and stability and spread chaos among the Syrian people", vowing to hold the attackers accountable.
Several countries including Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan condemned the attack.
France said the blast was an "act of terrorism" designed to destabilise the country, while United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned the "unacceptable" attack and said the perpetrators should be brought to justice.
Most Syrians are Sunni Muslim, and Homs city is home to a Sunni majority but also has several predominantly Alawite areas, a community whose faith stems from Shiite Islam.
Since Assad's fall, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor and Homs province residents have reported kidnappings and killings targeting members of the minority community, while the country has seen several bloody sectarian episodes.

Detainees released

Syria's coastal areas saw the massacre of Alawite civilians in March, with authorities accusing armed Assad supporters of sparking the violence by attacking security forces.
A national commission of inquiry said at least 1,426 members of the minority were killed, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor put the toll at more than 1,700.
Late last month, thousands of people demonstrated on the coast in protest at fresh attacks targeting Alawites in Homs and other regions.
Before and after the March bloodshed, authorities carried out a massive arrest campaign in predominantly Alawite areas, which are also former Assad strongholds.
On Friday, Syrian state television reported the release of 70 detainees in the coastal city of Latakia "after it was proven that they were not involved in war crimes", saying more releases would follow.
Despite assurances from Damascus that all Syria's communities will be protected, the country's minorities remain largely wary of their future under the new Islamist authorities.
The Supreme Alawite Islamic Council, which says it represents the community in Syria and abroad, said Friday's attack was part of an "organised" campaign "against the Alawite community in particular, and against the rest of the Syrian communities in an escalating manner", demanding international protection.
In July, sectarian clashes in southern Syria's Druze-majority Sweida province saw more than 2,000 people killed.
In a speech this month marking a year since the fall of Assad, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa emphasised the importance of all Syrians unifying efforts to "to build a strong Syria".
bur-str-lar/nad/jfx/lg

Paris

Police arrest suspect after man stabs 3 women in Paris metro

  • Paris police said two of the women attacked were treated by the emergency services and taken to hospital, but they were not in critical condition.
  • French police on Friday arrested a man suspected of stabbing three women in the Paris metro as the capital's end-of-year festivities were in full swing, prosecutors told AFP. The three victims were attacked at three different locations along the Line 3 metro track that runs across central Paris, the RATP authority that runs the transit service told AFP. An AFP journalist at the Republique station saw a security team treating a woman who had been wounded in the leg and appeared to be in a state of shock.
  • Paris police said two of the women attacked were treated by the emergency services and taken to hospital, but they were not in critical condition.
French police on Friday arrested a man suspected of stabbing three women in the Paris metro as the capital's end-of-year festivities were in full swing, prosecutors told AFP.
The three victims were attacked at three different locations along the Line 3 metro track that runs across central Paris, the RATP authority that runs the transit service told AFP.
An AFP journalist at the Republique station saw a security team treating a woman who had been wounded in the leg and appeared to be in a state of shock.
The attacks happened between 4:15 pm (1515 GMT) and 4:45 pm at the stations Republique and Arts et Metiers -- both next to the Marais district -- and the Opera station, the RATP said.
"The victims were quickly taken care of by the emergency services," it said.
Paris police said two of the women attacked were treated by the emergency services and taken to hospital, but they were not in critical condition. A third woman turned up at hospital seeking treatment, they added.
Police used surveillance-camera footage and mobile-tracking tools to locate the 25-year-old suspected attacker in the Val d'Oise region north of Paris, said prosecutors.
"Activating the gelocation of his mobile phone led to his arrest late afternoon in Val d'Oise," they said.
"The police are on site. Back-up security teams have been deployed to reinforce safety on the line," it added.

'Maximum vigilance'

Paris police chief Patrice Faure paid tribute to "the reactivity and the mobilisation" of the investigators that led to the arrest of the suspect. Police arrested him at 6:55 pm, less than three hours after the first attack, he said.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez congratulated the different police services involved in tracking down the suspect.
Transport police have opened an investigation into attempted homicide and assault with a weapon.
European capitals are especially vigilant during the end-of-year period for any violent incidents, given recent attacks and plots targeting festive or religious gatherings.
Last week, Nunez called for "maximum vigilance" in a message to senior officials.
Due to the "very high level of the terrorist threat" and "the risk of public disorder", Nunez asked local officials to strengthen security measures across the country with a visible and deterrent presence.
Nunez specifically asked for particular attention to be paid to security on public transport.
neo/jj/rmb