Bondi

Australia falls silent, lights candles for Bondi Beach shooting victims

Bondi

Australia falls silent, lights candles for Bondi Beach shooting victims

BY STEVEN TRASK AND JOSHUA KHOURY

  • A candle was lit before thousands of people held their silent vigil at Bondi Beach.
  • Australians fell silent in flickering candlelight on Sunday in memory of the Bondi Beach shooting victims, one week after gunmen fired into crowds celebrating a Jewish festival. 
  • A candle was lit before thousands of people held their silent vigil at Bondi Beach.
Australians fell silent in flickering candlelight on Sunday in memory of the Bondi Beach shooting victims, one week after gunmen fired into crowds celebrating a Jewish festival. 
A father and son are accused of targeting the beachside Hanukkah event, killing 15 people in the nation's deadliest mass shooting in almost three decades.
From raucous city pubs to sleepy country towns, Australia observed a minute's silence at 6:47 pm (0747 GMT) -- exactly a week since the first reports of gunfire. 
Countless homes lined their windowsills with candles in a gesture of "light over darkness", a key theme of the Hanukkah festival.
"Last week took our innocence and, like the grass here at Bondi was stained with blood, so too has our nation been stained," said David Ossip, president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies. 
Summer winds buffeted flags lowered to half-mast across the country, including over the famed Sydney Harbour Bridge.
A candle was lit before thousands of people held their silent vigil at Bondi Beach.
Anger spilled over at the government's perceived failure to act swiftly and forcefully enough to halt a rise in antisemitic incidents since the outbreak of hostilities in Gaza.
Television images showed police surrounding one man who shouted: "Blood on your hands," as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrived at the ocean-side event.
Some in the crowd booed when Albanese's presence was announced at the service.
The prime minister, wearing a traditional Jewish kippah, did not speak at the commemoration.

'Unspeakable' loss

As dusk fell over the Bondi foreshore, event organisers estimated some 20,000 had attended.
"Bondi is with us, Sydney is with us, Australia is with us and the world is with us," rabbi Yehoram Ulman said, before reading out the names of those killed.
They include 10-year-old Matilda, the youngest victim, and Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman, 87, who was killed shielding his wife from bullets.
Paramedics, police and parents of the wounded were invited on stage to light the arms of a Jewish candelabrum known as a menorah. 
A generation of Australians has grown up with the notion that mass shootings simply do not happen in the country.
That illusion was shattered when alleged gunmen Sajid Akram, 50, and his 24-year-old son Naveed trained their long-barrelled weapons on the nation's most famous beach.
The attack was so unthinkable that many shrugged off the first cracks of gunfire as harmless festive fireworks.
"The loss is unspeakable," said rabbi Levi Wolff.

'Guns off our streets'

The alleged attackers drew inspiration from the jihadist Islamic State group, authorities said as they branded the shooting an antisemitic act of terrorism.
Already, it threatens to fray the bonds of social cohesion in a multicultural nation.
Pig heads have been dumped on Muslim graves, and right-wing groups have organised a fresh wave of anti-immigration rallies.
Jewish community leaders have accused the government of ignoring a rising tide of antisemitism.
Ossip, from the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, said the shooting would have been a tragedy if unexpected.
"How much more tragic is it that the loss of life occurred despite all the warning signs being there?"
Grieving families are demanding to know how the gunmen slipped through the cracks.
Unemployed bricklayer Naveed was flagged by Australia's intelligence agency in 2019 but he fell off the radar after authorities deemed he posed no imminent threat.
The government has announced a suite of national measures on gun ownership and hate speech, promising stricter laws and harsher penalties.
Albanese has announced a sweeping buyback scheme to "get guns off our streets".
It is the largest gun buyback since 1996, when Australia cracked down on firearms in the wake of a mass shooting that killed 35 people at Port Arthur. 
Albanese has also ordered a review of police and intelligence services.

Bravery

Alongside the killings, stories of immense bravery have emerged. 
Beachgoers grappled with the heavily armed assailants, while others shielded strangers or dashed through gunfire to treat the wounded.
Shopkeeper Ahmed al Ahmed, a father of two who moved to Australia from Syria almost a decade ago, has been lauded after ducking between cars and then wresting a gun from one of the attackers.
Sajid Akram, an Indian national who entered Australia on a visa in 1998, was shot and killed by police.
Naveed, an Australian-born citizen, remains in hospital under police guard and faces multiple charges, including terrorism and 15 murders.
sft/djw/rsc

conflict

Kremlin denies three-way US-Ukraine-Russia talks in preparation

  • The top Kremlin aide also told Russian journalists Sunday that he had "not seen" the revised US proposal to end the conflict.
  • The Kremlin on Sunday denied that three-way talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States were on the cards, as diplomats gathered in Miami for talks on ending the conflict.
  • The top Kremlin aide also told Russian journalists Sunday that he had "not seen" the revised US proposal to end the conflict.
The Kremlin on Sunday denied that three-way talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States were on the cards, as diplomats gathered in Miami for talks on ending the conflict.
A day earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had said that Washington had mooted the trilateral format, which would mark Moscow and Kyiv's first face-to-face negotiations in half a year, but expressed scepticism that they would lead to progress. 
"At present, no one has seriously discussed this initiative, and to my knowledge, it is not in preparation," Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters, according to Russian news agencies.
After revealing the US three-way proposal, Zelensky told journalists on Saturday that he was "not sure that anything new could come of it", and urged the United States to step up pressure on Russia to end the war. 
But the Ukrainian leader struck a more upbeat note on Sunday, adding that "constructive" talks between US, European and Ukrainian negotiators were "moving at a fairly rapid pace", while cautioning that "much depends on whether Russia feels the need to end the war for real".
"Unfortunately, the real signals coming from Russia remain only negative: assaults along the frontline, Russian war crimes in border areas, and continued strikes against our infrastructure," Zelensky posted on X.

Russian envoy in town

Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev arrived on Saturday in Miami, where Ukrainian and European teams have also been gathering since Friday for the negotiations, mediated by US special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. 
Dmitriev "will return to Moscow, make his report, and we will discuss what to do next", Uskakov said. 
The top Kremlin aide also told Russian journalists Sunday that he had "not seen" the revised US proposal to end the conflict.
Washington last month stunned Ukraine and its European allies by presenting a 28-point plan to end the war widely seen as caving in to the Kremlin's key demands, which has since been redrafted following Kyiv and Europe's involvement.
While little is known of the latest version, Kyiv is likely to be expected to surrender some territory -- a prospect resented by many Ukrainians -- in exchange for US security guarantees.
Moscow's troops have been steadily advancing at the eastern front in recent months, with Putin on Friday hailing the Russian army's territorial gains -- and threatening more in the coming weeks.

Putin-Macron call?

The last time Ukrainian and Russian envoys held official direct talks was in July in Istanbul, which led to prisoner swaps but little else in the way of concrete progress to stop the fighting.
Russian and European involvement in Miami marks a step forward from before, when the Americans held separate negotiations with each side in different locations. 
But the extremely strained relations between the two sides after nearly four years of Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II have cast doubt over the prospect of direct Ukraine-Russia talks. 
Moscow, which sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, also argues that European involvement in the talks only hinders the process.
According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in an interview published Sunday, Putin however expressed his willingness to talk with France's Emmanuel Macron on the conflict. 
Macron held several calls with Putin in the run-up to and during the early months of the conflict, in an attempt to press the veteran Kremlin leader on the war.
Putin has "expressed readiness to engage in dialogue with Macron", Peskov told state news agency RIA Novosti.
"Therefore, if there is mutual political will, then this can only be assessed positively."
In response, Macron's office said Putin's stated willingness to talk was "welcome", but stressed that any discussion with Moscow would be conducted "in full transparency" with Zelensky and European allies.
Meanwhile, Zelensky said on X that "over the past week, Russia has launched approximately 1,300 attack drones, nearly 1,200 guided aerial bombs, and 9 missiles of various types against Ukraine" with the Odesa region and the south of the country "hit particularly hard".
Moscow on Saturday claimed the capture of two villages in the northern Sumy and eastern Donetsk regions, while Ukraine said it had destroyed two Russian fighter jets in the occupied Crimean peninsula. 
bur/sbk/gv

conflict

Cambodia says Thai border clashes displace over half a million

BY SUY SE WITH THANAPORN PROMYAMYAI IN BANGKOK

  • The fighting has displaced around 400,000 people in Thailand, Bangkok has said.
  • More than half a million people in Cambodia have been displaced by two weeks of deadly border clashes with neighbouring Thailand, Phnom Penh said Sunday, ahead of regional talks aimed at easing tensions.
  • The fighting has displaced around 400,000 people in Thailand, Bangkok has said.
More than half a million people in Cambodia have been displaced by two weeks of deadly border clashes with neighbouring Thailand, Phnom Penh said Sunday, ahead of regional talks aimed at easing tensions.
The renewed fighting between the Southeast Asian neighbours this month, including with tanks, drones and artillery, has killed at least 22 people in Thailand and 19 in Cambodia, officials said.
The conflict stems from a territorial dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of their 800-kilometre (500-mile) border and a smattering of ancient temple ruins situated on the frontier.
Cambodia and Thailand both said Sunday that a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers hosted by Malaysia on Monday was expected to de-escalate tensions, with Bangkok calling it "an important opportunity for both sides".
Thai foreign ministry spokeswoman Maratee Nalita Andamo reiterated earlier conditions for negotiations, including Bangkok's demand that Phnom Penh be first to announce a truce, and cooperate in de-mining efforts at the border.
Those conditions, Maratee told reporters, "will guide our interaction in the discussions tomorrow in Kuala Lumpur".
Cambodia's foreign ministry said the meeting aimed to restore "peace, stability and good neighbourly relations".
Phnom Penh would "reaffirm its firm position of resolving differences and disputes through all peaceful means, dialogue and diplomacy," it added.
Cambodia's interior ministry said more than 518,000 people were "suffering severe hardship due to forced displacement from their homes and schools" to escape Thai artillery and air strikes.
The fighting has displaced around 400,000 people in Thailand, Bangkok has said.
Thailand's defence ministry spokesman Surasant Kongsiri told reporters on Sunday that more than 200,000 remained in shelters.
"There are some villagers that can return home," he said, warning however that there may still "be some dangerous mines or bombs left".

Temple clashes

Each side has blamed the other for instigating the fresh fighting and traded accusations of attacks on civilians, after five days of clashes in July killed dozens.
The United States, China and Malaysia brokered a truce to end that round of fighting, but the ceasefire was short-lived.
In October, US President Donald Trump backed a follow-on joint declaration between Thailand and Cambodia, touting new trade deals after they agreed in Kuala Lumpur to prolong their truce.
But Thailand suspended the agreement the following month, after Thai soldiers were wounded by landmines while on patrol at the border.
Bangkok has accused Cambodia of laying fresh mines, an allegation denied by Phnom Penh.
Trump, who has placed the conflict between Cambodia and Thailand on a list of wars he said he solved, this month claimed the two countries had agreed to a new ceasefire.
But Bangkok denied any truce had been agreed, and fighting has continued daily since a border skirmish on December 7 sparked the latest clashes.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that Washington was hoping Cambodia and Thailand would reach a new ceasefire by Tuesday.
The Thai government gave no guarantee that Monday's meeting would produce a truce, saying in a statement that a "ceasefire can only be achieved when it is based primarily on the Thai military's assessment of the situation on the ground".
Cambodia, which is outgunned and outspent by Bangkok's military, said Sunday that Thai forces had continued to attack since dawn, with fighting occurring on the border near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple.
A patch of contested land next to the UNESCO-listed heritage site was the site of military clashes in 2008, and sporadic violence for several years after led to the deaths of two dozen people.
A UN court ruling in Phnom Penh's favour in 2013 settled the matter for more than a decade, but this year's crisis erupted in May when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a new clash.
suy-tp/sco/ami

police

Taiwan police rule out 'terrorism' in metro stabbing

  • The senior police official said investigators also found searches for "random killings" on Chang's iPad, including material related to a Taipei metro stabbing in 2014 when a man killed four people.
  • Taiwan police on Sunday ruled out "terrorism" in a metro stabbing in the capital Taipei, where an attacker killed three and wounded 11. 
  • The senior police official said investigators also found searches for "random killings" on Chang's iPad, including material related to a Taipei metro stabbing in 2014 when a man killed four people.
Taiwan police on Sunday ruled out "terrorism" in a metro stabbing in the capital Taipei, where an attacker killed three and wounded 11. 
A 27-year-old man, identified by police by his family name Chang, set off smoke bombs at Taipei Main Station metro on Friday afternoon before launching into a three hour stabbing spree. 
The attacker then moved to a shopping district near Zhongshan station, authorities said. 
"Based on what we have established so far in the investigation, the suspect Chang did not make or display any statements or views related to politics, religion, or any specific ideology, and we have preliminarily ruled out terrorism," a senior Taipei City Police Department official told AFP, under the condition of anonymity. 
"Terrorist attacks have a specific definition and the suspect does not meet that definition," he added.
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an said the suspect was found dead the same day, after jumping off a nearby building.
The senior police official said investigators also found searches for "random killings" on Chang's iPad, including material related to a Taipei metro stabbing in 2014 when a man killed four people.
Chang had served in the military but was discharged over driving under the influence of alcohol, according to police, who said he was wanted after he failed to report for reserve military training.
Taiwan requires former soldiers to undergo seven to 14 days of reserve training within eight years of discharge. Failure to report is treated as evasion of military service.
In the immediate aftermath of the Friday stabbing, officials called the attack "deliberate" but said the motive was not clear. 
Police said they believe Chang had acted alone and planned to "randomly kill people". He rented an apartment in the district in January and scouted the area in advance.
The city doubled its police deployment for the Taipei Marathon on Sunday and is expected to conduct a "high-intensity" drill at metro stations ahead of New Year's Eve, the mayor said.
Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te said on Saturday that authorities should be "more cautious and proactive" and improve emergency protocols.
Lai said the police must be "trained and equipped for counter-terrorism operations" to protect citizens.
Metro Taipei announced that it had shut down a Christmas market near Zhongshan station on Saturday, which will remain closed for three days in honour of the victims.
joy/ane/rsc

Bondi

Australia probes security services after Bondi Beach attack

  • Alleged gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the Bondi attack. 
  • Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday he has ordered a review into the police and intelligence services after two gunmen shot and killed 15 people at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach.
  • Alleged gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the Bondi attack. 
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday he has ordered a review into the police and intelligence services after two gunmen shot and killed 15 people at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach.
A father and his son are accused of spraying bullets into the family-thronged Hanukkah celebration at Sydney's most famous beach on December 14, allegedly inspired by "Islamic State ideology".
Albanese said his government will examine whether police and spy services have the powers, structures, and sharing arrangements "to keep Australians safe".
"The ISIS-inspired atrocity last Sunday reinforces the rapidly changing security environment in our nation," he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.
"Our security agencies must be in the best position to respond."
Alleged gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the Bondi attack. An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998.
His 24-year-old son Naveed, an Australian-born citizen, remains in hospital under police guard and faces multiple charges, including terrorism and 15 murders.

'Shocking event'

The son was investigated by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation in 2019 for possible radicalisation but was found at the time not to pose a threat, according to Australian authorities.
His father was also questioned by the intelligence service as part of that review, but he managed to obtain a gun licence that allowed him to own six firearms.
A few weeks before the Bondi Beach attack, the pair returned to Sydney from a four-week trip to the southern Philippines that is now under investigation by detectives there and in Australia.
Albanese said there were "real issues" with Australia's intelligence service in light of the attack.
"We need to examine exactly the way that systems work. We need to look back at what happened in 2019 when this person was looked at, the assessment that was made," he told national broadcaster ABC.
Asked in a separate interview about the alleged gunmen's stay at a hotel in the southern Philippines island of Mindanao, Albanese said their radicalisation was under investigation.
"But it is also the case that they were not seen to be persons of interest, and that is why this is such a shocking event," he said.

'Very, very unusual'

There is a long history of Islamist insurgencies in the Mindanao region but authorities there say there is no evidence to suggest the Philippines is being used to coach extremists.
The staff of Davao City's GV Hotel have told AFP that the two men stayed holed up in their small room for most of their 28-day stay.
They would usually leave their rooms only for two or three hours, with the longest excursion lasting eight hours, the Philippine national security service said.
Regional police, who have trawled through CCTV images to retrace the pair's steps and discover who they met, said the father had visited a gun shop.
Clarke Jones, an Australian National University criminologist, said it was "very, very unusual" to have a father and son as suspected perpetrators.
Once in the Philippines, the pair could have easily travelled to Mindanao without raising any flags, he told AFP.
Jones, who has worked with violent offenders in the Philippines, said the alleged gunmen's radicalisation had apparently gone "under the radar" for years after the Australian intelligence probe.
"I think we would really need to look at what happened, and whether that kid, when he was first detected, should have been put through some sort of support programme to prevent this potential thing happening," he said.
djw-lec-burs/sft/ane/pbt

justice

Victims, lawmakers criticize partial release of Epstein files

BY BEN SHEPPARD

  • But his right-wing base has long fixated on the Epstein saga and conspiracy theories alleging the financier ran a sex-trafficking ring for the global elite.
  • Victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Saturday expressed anger after a long-awaited cache of records from cases against him were released with many pages blacked out and photos censored.
  • But his right-wing base has long fixated on the Epstein saga and conspiracy theories alleging the financier ran a sex-trafficking ring for the global elite.
Victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Saturday expressed anger after a long-awaited cache of records from cases against him were released with many pages blacked out and photos censored.
The trove of material released by the US Justice Department included photographs of former president Bill Clinton and other famous names in Epstein's social circle including Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson.
But blackouts of many of the documents -- combined with control over the release by officials in President Donald Trump's administration -- fueled allegations of a high-level cover-up.
Democrats on Saturday demanded answers after one image that included a photo of Trump was no longer visible in the Justice Department's online release.
"If they're taking this down, just imagine how much more they're trying to hide," said senior Democrat Chuck Schumer. "This could be one of the biggest cover ups in American history."
US media reported over a dozen other images being removed from the trove of files.
The US Department of Justice issued a statement late Saturday defending its decision to retract files after their release.
"Photos and other materials will continue being reviewed and redacted consistent with the law in an abundance of caution as we receive additional information," read the statement posted to X.
Among scores of blacked-out sections, one 119-page document labeled "Grand Jury-NY" was entirely redacted.
One Epstein survivor, Jess Michaels, said she spent hours combing the documents to find her victim's statement and communication from when she had called an FBI tip line.
"I can't find any of those," she told CNN. "Is this the best that the government can do? Even an act of Congress isn't getting us justice."
Even so, the files shed some light on the disgraced financier's intimate ties to the rich, famous and powerful -- Trump, once a close friend, among them.
At least one file contains dozens of censored images of naked or scantily clad figures. Previously unseen photographs of disgraced former prince Andrew show him lying across the legs of five women.
Other pictures show Clinton lounging in a hot tub, part of the image blacked out, and swimming alongside a dark-haired woman who appears to be Epstein's accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Victim privacy

When Trump's aides goaded Clinton over the photos, his spokesman responded that the White House "hasn't been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton. This is about shielding themselves."
Among the paperwork were handwritten notes using phrases such as "I have a female for him" and "[redacted] has girl for tonight."
Republican congressman Thomas Massie, who has long pushed for complete release of the files, said the release "grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law."
That law required the government's case file to be posted publicly by Friday, constrained only by legal and victim privacy concerns.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told ABC that there was no attempt "to hold anything back" to protect Trump.
Trump spent months trying to block the disclosure of the files linked to Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
The Republican president ultimately bowed to mounting pressure from Congress -- including members of his own party -- and last month signed the law compelling publication of the materials.
Trump once moved in the same Palm Beach and New York party scene as Epstein, appearing with him at events throughout the 1990s. He severed ties years before Epstein's 2019 arrest and faces no accusations of wrongdoing in the case.
But his right-wing base has long fixated on the Epstein saga and conspiracy theories alleging the financier ran a sex-trafficking ring for the global elite.
Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend, remains the only person convicted in connection with his crimes, and is serving a 20-year sentence for recruiting underage girls for the former banker, whose death was ruled a suicide.
bur-bgs/jgc/mjw

conflict

US again seizes oil tanker off coast of Venezuela

BY MATTHEW PENNINGTON

  • Caracas views the operation as a campaign to push out leftist strongman Nicolas Maduro -- whom Washington and many nations view as an illegitimate president -- and to "steal" Venezuelan oil.
  • The United States "apprehended" an oil tanker off Venezuela on Saturday, a move Caracas deemed a "theft and kidnapping," in the latest salvo of a pressure campaign by Washington, the US government said.
  • Caracas views the operation as a campaign to push out leftist strongman Nicolas Maduro -- whom Washington and many nations view as an illegitimate president -- and to "steal" Venezuelan oil.
The United States "apprehended" an oil tanker off Venezuela on Saturday, a move Caracas deemed a "theft and kidnapping," in the latest salvo of a pressure campaign by Washington, the US government said.
It was the second time in two weeks that US forces have interdicted a tanker in the region, and comes days after President Donald Trump announced a blockade of "sanctioned oil vessels" heading to and leaving Venezuela.
"In a pre-dawn action early this morning on Dec. 20, the US Coast Guard with the support of the Department of War apprehended an oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela," US Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem said in a post on X.
The post was accompanied by a nearly eight-minute video of aerial footage that showed a helicopter hovering just above the deck of a large tanker at sea.
Caracas slammed the seizure as theft and kidnapping, saying "those responsible for these serious events will answer to justice and to history for their criminal conduct."
A post from Homeland Security identified the vessel as the Centuries and said it was "suspected of carrying oil subject to US sanctions." 
Centuries is a Chinese-owned, Panama-flagged oil tanker, according to TankerTrackers, an online service monitoring oil shipments and storage.
It said that Centuries loaded 1.8 million barrels of crude oil at a Venezuelan port earlier this month before being escorted out of Venezuela's exclusive economic zone on December 18. The VesselFinder database also listed the ship's last recorded location as off the Venezuelan coast.
An AFP review found that Centuries does not appear on the US Treasury Department's list of sanctioned companies and individuals.
White House deputy spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a post on X the tanker "contained sanctioned PDVSA oil," in reference to Venezuela's state oil company, and charged the ship as being "a falsely flagged vessel operating as part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet."

'Waging a battle against lies'

On December 10, US forces seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, which the attorney general said was involved in carrying sanctioned oil from Venezuela to Iran.
The United States has for months been building a major military deployment in the Caribbean with the stated goal of combatting Latin American drug trafficking, but taking particular aim at Venezuela.
Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez voiced defiance in comments at a public event in Caracas broadcast Saturday on state TV -- although he made no mention of the interdicted ship.
"We are waging a battle against lies, manipulation, interference, military threats, and psychological warfare," the defense minister said, adding "that will not intimidate us."
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil also said Iran, one of Caracas's largest international allies, was offering support "in all areas" to combat "piracy and international terrorism" by the United States.
There are currently 11 US warships in the Caribbean: the world's largest aircraft carrier, an amphibious assault ship, two amphibious transport dock ships, two cruisers and five destroyers.
Caracas views the operation as a campaign to push out leftist strongman Nicolas Maduro -- whom Washington and many nations view as an illegitimate president -- and to "steal" Venezuelan oil.
The US military has also conducted a series of air strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September. Critics have questioned the legality of the attacks, which have killed more than 100 people.
The ship interception occurred as South American leaders gathered for a summit of the Mercosur bloc, where tensions over suspended member Venezuela overshadowed discussions of a future trade deal with the European Union.
At the gathering, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva clashed with his Argentinian counterpart Javier Milei, arguing that an outbreak armed conflict over Venezuela could cause a "humanitarian catastrophe."
Milei, a Trump ally, countered by saying Argentina "welcomes the pressure from the United States and Donald Trump to free the Venezuelan people."
msp/jgc/mjw

Bondi

Australian PM orders police, intelligence review after Bondi attack

  • Gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the Bondi attack. 
  • Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Sunday he has ordered a review into the police and intelligence services after two gunmen shot and killed 15 people at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach.
  • Gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the Bondi attack. 
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Sunday he has ordered a review into the police and intelligence services after two gunmen shot and killed 15 people at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach.
A father and his son are accused of spraying bullets into the family-thronged Hanukkah celebration on December 14, allegedly inspired by "Islamic State ideology".
Albanese said his government will examine whether police and spy services have the powers, structures, and sharing arrangements "to keep Australians safe".
"The ISIS-inspired atrocity last Sunday reinforces the rapidly changing security environment in our nation," he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.
"Our security agencies must be in the best position to respond."
Gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the Bondi attack. An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998.
His 24-year-old son Naveed, an Australian-born citizen who survived and remains in hospital under police guard, is facing multiple charges including terrorism and 15 murders.
The son was investigated by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation in 2019 for possible radicalisation but was found at the time not to pose a threat, according to Australian authorities.
His father was also questioned by the intelligence service as part of that review, but he managed to obtain a gun licence that allowed him to own six rifles.
A few weeks before the Bondi Beach attack, the pair returned to Sydney from a four-week trip to the southern Philippines that is now under investigation by detectives there and in Australia.
In the aftermath of the mass shooting, Albanese said there were "real issues" with the country's intelligence service.
"We need to examine exactly the way that systems work. We need to look back at what happened in 2019 when this person was looked at, the assessment that was made," he told national broadcaster ABC.
Asked in a separate interview about the alleged gunmen's trip to the Philippines, Albanese said their radicalization was under investigation.
"But it is also the case that they were not seen to be persons of interest, and that is why this is such a shocking event," he said.
djw/sft/mtp

vote

Myanmar mystics divine future after ill-augured election

  • Five years ago, Myanmar's future seemed more certain.
  • What lies ahead after Myanmar's forthcoming elections?
  • Five years ago, Myanmar's future seemed more certain.
What lies ahead after Myanmar's forthcoming elections?
The answer is hidden in the alignment of the stars, the occult flame of black magic candles and sacred geometry visible only to the third eye -- if you believe the country's spiritual soothsayers.
"The question most people ask is clear. When will Myanmar prosper?" said astrologer Linn Nhyo Taryar.
Five years ago, Myanmar's future seemed more certain. The country had enjoyed a decade-long democratic experiment after a history of hermetic military rule.
But a 2021 military coup toppled the government, triggering civil war and precarity -- from regular internet outages to life-or-death combat zone crises.
December 28 presents fresh uncertainty, as voting is set to start in a phased election being rejected by rebels and criticised abroad as a ploy to rebrand military rule.
Myanmar has a rich culture of fortune-telling, and many believe the future can be discerned by mystics.
The poll's outcome, some reckon, could even be swayed with "Yadaya" -- magic rituals thought to steer fate.
"People struggling with trouble turn to fortune-telling and Yadaya, seeking the power and belief derived from it," said Linn Nhyo Taryar.
"What people really want is a safe and secure life and future," the 30-year-old told AFP.
- Dissident divination - 
Linn Nhyo Taryar's past has been anything but safe and secure, thanks to his prophesying profession.
As protests erupted after the coup -- which he claims to have seen coming -- he put a "Nine Swords, Nine Needles" hexon military chief Min Aung Hlaing, calling on social media for other mystics to do the same.
The ritual of candles arranged atop knives set out in a star pattern earned him two years in Yangon's Insein Prison -- notorious for alleged brutal rights abuses -- for "causing fear or alarm" and inducing others to attack the state.
Post-release he lives in self-exile in Bangkok, communing online with clients back in Myanmar.
Myanmar's culture is profoundly influenced by Buddhism-inflected supernaturalism.
Astrologers consult a national zodiac, palm readers ring pagodas, would-be alchemists attempt to transmute mercury into gold and SIM card companies advertise dial-a-diviners.
"They treat a whole host of maladies," said Thomas Patton, a professor at New York state's Union College who has studied Myanmar's mystics.
"In Myanmar, I think it's tied with its lack of development," he added. "There's not much else to fall back upon."
"You have an entire landscape of uncertainty and vulnerability and you have this 1,000-year-old tapestry of spells and medicines and occult knowledge that just has seeped into the Burmese consciousness."
- 'Nightmares of the past' - 
But mysticism also holds sway behind the closed door of politics.
Previous military ruler Ne Win changed the rules of the road, requiring vehicles to swap driving lanes -- supposedly the result of misconstrued astrological advice to shift his left-wing regime to the political right.
An avid numerologist, in 1987, he issued new currency in denominations of nine -- a digit considered auspicious, but bewildering shoppers with mental arithmetic.
Demonstrations forced Ne Win's resignation, but Myanmar's military chain of command continued to Min Aung Hlaing, also rumoured to be motivated by superstition.
With ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi jailed incommunicado and her party dissolved, analysts suggest the month-long poll will prolong Min Aung Hlaing's rule under a civilian banner.
But the country's most popular horoscope forecasting the Buddhist new year starting in early 2026, touted by street vendors nationwide in recent days, contains clashing portents.
Myanmar Calendar Advisory Board members predict those born on Tuesday under a lionzodiac -- like both Min Aung Hlaingand Suu Kyi -- "will find that the more opposition they face, the more successful they become".
"They are likely to be well and gain special privileges wherever they are," it says, advising Yadaya practitioners to leave buttered rice at a home Buddha shrine.

Mystic vigilance

In Yangon, Min Thein Kyaw has read the cards.
"Myanmar holds good potential for the coming year," proclaims the 73-year-old. "However, for any prediction to fully succeed, three factors must align: time, place and the individual."
But in tumultuous Myanmar, even clairvoyants urge caution.
"There are also many things that need to be watched out for. Vigilance is key," says Min Thein Kyaw.
"Just as every individual needs to possess mindfulness, morality and wisdom -- people in power must also possess these."
burs-jts/sco/fox

conflict

Zelensky says US must pile pressure on Russia to end war

  • Zelensky said that only the United States was capable of persuading Russia to end the war, and he called on Washington to increase pressure on Moscow to make that happen.
  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday called on the United States to put more pressure on Russia to end the war, as diplomats converged on Miami for fresh talks.
  • Zelensky said that only the United States was capable of persuading Russia to end the war, and he called on Washington to increase pressure on Moscow to make that happen.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday called on the United States to put more pressure on Russia to end the war, as diplomats converged on Miami for fresh talks.
Zelensky also said that Washington had proposed the first face-to-face negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in half a year, but later expressed skepticism that would help.
Zelensky said that only the United States was capable of persuading Russia to end the war, and he called on Washington to increase pressure on Moscow to make that happen.
"America must clearly say: if not diplomacy, then there will be full pressure...Putin does not yet feel the kind of pressure that should exist," he said, stressing the need for more arms supplies to Ukraine and sanctions on the entire Russian economy.
The Ukrainian leader's comments in Kyiv came as Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev arrived in Miami where Ukrainian and European teams have also gathered for the negotiations, mediated by US special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. 
"Discussions are being held constructively," Dmitriev told reporters, according to Russian state media, adding that "they started and continue today, and will also continue tomorrow."
Trump's envoys have pushed a peace plan in which the United States would offer security guarantees to Ukraine, but Kyiv would likely be expected to surrender some territory, a prospect resented by many Ukrainians.
However, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday promised not to force Ukraine into any agreement, saying "there's no peace deal unless Ukraine agrees to it." He added that he may join Saturday's talks in Miami, his hometown. 
Earlier Saturday, Zelensky had revealed Washington had proposed negotiations that would include Ukraine, the United States and Russia. He added that Europeans could be present and it would be "logical to hold such a joint meeting."
But he subsequently told journalists, "I am not sure that anything new could come of it."
The last time Ukrainian and Russian envoys held official direct talks was in July in Istanbul, which led to prisoner swaps but little else.
Russian and European involvement in Miami marks a step forward from before, when the Americans held separate negotiations with each side in different locations. 
However, it is unlikely Dmitriev would hold direct talks with European negotiators as relations between the two sides remain strained. 
Moscow, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, argues that Europe's involvement in the talks only hinders any peace process.

Russia presses on

The Florida talks come after President Vladimir Putin vowed to press ahead with his military offensive in Ukraine, hailing Moscow's battlefield gains in an annual news conference on Friday.
Russia announced on Saturday it had captured two villages in Ukraine's Sumy and Donetsk regions, further grinding through the country's east in costly battles.
Putin however suggested that Russia could pause its devastating strikes on the country to allow Ukraine to hold a presidential ballot -- a prospect which Zelensky rejected. 
Meanwhile, the death toll in Ukraine's Black Sea Odesa region from an overnight Russian ballistic missile strike on port infrastructure rose to eight, with almost three dozen people wounded.  
A civilian bus was struck in the attack, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said. 
Intensified Russian strikes have wrought havoc on the coastline region in recent weeks, hitting bridges and cutting electricity and heating for hundreds of thousands in freezing temperatures. 
Moscow earlier said it would expand strikes on Ukrainian ports as retaliation for targeting its sanctions-busting oil tankers. 
On Saturday, Ukraine claimed to have destroyed two Russian fighter jets at an airfield in occupied Crimea, according to the security service SBU. Kyiv's army said it struck a Russian oil rig in the Caspian Sea as well as a patrol ship nearby. 
Putin described Russia's initial invasion as a "special military operation" to demilitarize the country and prevent the expansion of NATO.
Kyiv and its European allies say the war, the largest and deadliest on European soil since World War II, is an unprovoked and illegal land grab that has resulted in a tidal wave of violence and destruction.
bur-sbk/jgc/bgs

conflict

US intercepts oil tanker off coast of Venezuela: US media

  • The United States has for months been building a major military deployment in the Caribbean with the stated goal of combatting Latin American drug trafficking, but taking particular aim at Venezuela.
  • The United States has stopped and boarded an oil tanker off Venezuela, the latest salvo in a pressure campaign against Caracas, US media reported Saturday.
  • The United States has for months been building a major military deployment in the Caribbean with the stated goal of combatting Latin American drug trafficking, but taking particular aim at Venezuela.
The United States has stopped and boarded an oil tanker off Venezuela, the latest salvo in a pressure campaign against Caracas, US media reported Saturday.
It was the second time in two weeks that US forces have interdicted such a vessel, and comes days after President Donald Trump announced a blockade of "sanctioned oil vessels" heading to and leaving Venezuela.
The New York Times, citing an unnamed US official and two people inside Venezuela's oil industry, reported that the vessel was a Panamanian-flagged tanker carrying Venezuelan oil that had recently left Venezuela and was in Caribbean waters.
CNN reported that the operation was supported by the US military and occurred in international waters.
It was not immediately clear if the vessel seized was under US sanctions.
The Pentagon referred questions to the White House, which did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment Saturday.
On December 10, US forces seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, which the attorney general said was involved in carrying sanctioned oil from Venezuela to Iran.
The United States has for months been building a major military deployment in the Caribbean with the stated goal of combatting Latin American drug trafficking, but taking particular aim at Venezuela.
There are currently 11 US warships in the Caribbean: the world's largest aircraft carrier, an amphibious assault ship, two amphibious transport dock ships, two cruisers and five destroyers.
There are US Coast Guard vessels deployed in the region as well, but the service declined to provide figures on those assets "for operational security reasons."
Caracas views the operation as a campaign to push out leftist strongman Nicolas Maduro -- whom Washington and many nations view as an illegitimate president -- and to "steal" Venezuelan oil.
The US military has also conducted a series of air strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September. Critics have questioned the legality of the attacks, which have killed more than 100 people.
msp/jgc

US

Syria monitor says US strikes killed at least five IS members

  • Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP that "at least five members of the Islamic State group were killed" in eastern Syria's Deir Ezzor province.
  • A Syria monitor said Saturday that five Islamic State jihadist group members had been killed in US strikes overnight as Jordan confirmed it participated in the raids, after a deadly attack on American troops last weekend.
  • Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP that "at least five members of the Islamic State group were killed" in eastern Syria's Deir Ezzor province.
A Syria monitor said Saturday that five Islamic State jihadist group members had been killed in US strikes overnight as Jordan confirmed it participated in the raids, after a deadly attack on American troops last weekend.
US forces said they had struck more than 70 IS targets in what President Donald Trump described as "very serious retaliation" for the December 13 attack that killed two US soldiers and a US civilian.
Washington has said a lone IS gunman carried out the attack in central Syria's Palmyra, home to UNESCO-listed ancient ruins and once controlled by jihadist fighters.
It was the first such incident since the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December last year, and Syrian authorities said the perpetrator was a security forces member who had been due to be fired for his "extremist Islamist ideas".
IS has not claimed the attack.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP that "at least five members of the Islamic State group were killed" in eastern Syria's Deir Ezzor province. They included the leader of a cell responsible for drones in the area.
Jordan's military said its air force had joined the operation "to prevent extremist organisations from exploiting these areas as launching pads to threaten the security of Syria's neighbours and the region, particularly after terrorist organisation IS reconstituted itself and rebuilt its capacities in southern Syria".

'Intense bombardment'

A Syrian security source told AFP that the US strikes targeted IS cells in Syria's vast Badia desert including in Homs, Deir Ezzor and Raqa provinces. The operation did not include ground operations.
Most of the targets were in a mountainous area running north of Palmyra including towards Deir Ezzor, the source said, requesting anonymity.
A US Central Command (CENTCOM) statement said the United States "struck more than 70 targets at multiple locations across central Syria with fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery.
"The operation employed more than 100 precision munitions targeting known ISIS infrastructure and weapons sites," CENTCOM said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.
A Syrian security official, also requesting anonymity, told AFP "the bombardment was intense" and had lasted around five hours. 
"The targets were far from population centres," the official said, adding that no displacement of residents had been reported and government forces had not been ordered to deploy to the targeted areas.
Syria's foreign ministry, while not directly commenting on the strikes, said on X that the country was committed to fighting IS and "ensuring that it has no safe havens on Syrian territory, and will continue to intensify military operations against it wherever it poses a threat".
Separately on Saturday, the Israeli military announced it had earlier this week detained a suspected IS member in southern Syria.
In a statement, it said that on Wednesday "soldiers completed an operation in the area of Rafid in southern Syria to apprehend a suspected terrorist affiliated with ISIS". 
"The suspect was transferred for further processing in Israeli territory," the statement said.
On Wednesday, Syrian state news agency SANA had reported an Israeli incursion in Quneitra province in far southern Syria. 
Since the fall of Assad, Israel has moved its troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Syrian and Israeli forces on the Golan Heights and has carried out repeated incursions.

'Very serious retaliation'

Trump said in a post on his Truth Social network that the United States was "inflicting very serious retaliation, just as I promised, on the murderous terrorists responsible" for the Palmyra attack.
CENTCOM said that since the attack, US and allied forces have "conducted 10 operations in Syria and Iraq resulting in the deaths or detention of 23 terrorist operatives", without specifying which groups the militants belonged to.
The US personnel who were targeted were supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, the international effort to combat IS, which seized swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in 2014.
IS was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 but still maintains a presence particularly in the country's vast desert.
US forces are currently deployed in Syria's Kurdish-controlled northeast as well as at Al-Tanf near the border with Jordan.
Jordan played a key role in the US-led coalition against the IS, carrying out strikes and making military bases available, while the country has also been the target of IS attacks.
bur-str-lg/dcp/jj

summit

Brazil's Lula, Argentina's Milei clash over Venezuela at Mercosur summit

BY JUAN SEBASTIAN SERRANO

  • But Milei -- a Trump ally -- followed with his own take on the situation, saying, "Argentina welcomes the pressure from the United States and Donald Trump to free the Venezuelan people.
  • Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Argentina's Javier Milei on Saturday openly clashed at a regional summit about the fate of Venezuela, as US President Donald Trump ratchets up the pressure on Caracas.
  • But Milei -- a Trump ally -- followed with his own take on the situation, saying, "Argentina welcomes the pressure from the United States and Donald Trump to free the Venezuelan people.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Argentina's Javier Milei on Saturday openly clashed at a regional summit about the fate of Venezuela, as US President Donald Trump ratchets up the pressure on Caracas.
The comments from Lula and Milei came at a meeting of the South American Mercosur bloc, at which a future trade deal with the European Union was on the agenda.
But the tensions over Venezuela -- once a member of Mercosur but suspended in 2016 -- exploded in the open, with Lula warning that armed conflict could spark a "humanitarian catastrophe," and Milei praising Trump's saber-rattling.
The US military has beefed up its presence in the Caribbean in recent months and carried out air strikes against alleged drug boats in the region and in the Pacific, claiming that it is combatting narcotics trafficking.
But Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro says the campaign is part of a wider effort to carry out regime change in Caracas, and Trump said this week he could not rule out the possibility of war. 
"An armed intervention in Venezuela would be a humanitarian catastrophe for the hemisphere and a dangerous precedent for the world," Lula said to open the Mercosur summit in the southern city of Foz do Iguacu.
But Milei -- a Trump ally -- followed with his own take on the situation, saying, "Argentina welcomes the pressure from the United States and Donald Trump to free the Venezuelan people. The time for a timid approach on this matter has run out."
The US government has accused Maduro of leading the "Cartel of the Suns" -- a charge he denies. Trump has also announced a blockade on oil tankers under sanctions that are leaving or arriving in Venezuela.

Lula asks EU for 'courage' on trade

Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay had hoped they would on Saturday finally seal a deal with the EU to create the world's largest free trade zone, as did EU Chief Ursula von der Leyen and most of the European bloc's member states.
However, the deal met with fierce opposition from farmers, notably in France and Italy, and has now been postponed to January.
"Without political will and courage on the part of leaders, it will not be possible to conclude negotiations that have dragged on for 26 years," Lula said in his opening speech.
"We have in our hands the opportunity to send the world an important message in defense of multilateralism, and to reinforce our strategic position in a global environment that is more and more competitive," Lula told attendees.
"But, unfortunately, Europe has not yet made its decision."
The leftist Brazilian president said he had received a letter from EU leaders expressing confidence that the deal would be approved in January.
One source in the European Commission and two diplomats who asked not to be named said the new expected signing date was set for January 12 in Paraguay. Negotiations first began in 1999.
But Paraguayan Foreign Minister Ruben Ramirez said neither he nor his Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira was aware of any "official communication" on the matter.
The agreement would help the European Union export more vehicles, machinery, wines and spirits to Latin America. In return, it would facilitate the entry into Europe of South American meat, sugar, rice, honey and soybeans.
Some EU nations, such as Germany and Spain, are excited about a pact that could help boost exports at a time of global trade tensions.
But the proposed deal has provoked anxiety among farmers who fear they will be undercut by a flow of cheaper goods from agricultural giant Brazil and its neighbors.
Aside from Lula and Milei, Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi and Paraguay's Santiago Pena were attending the summit in Foz do Iguacu, home to one of the world's largest waterfall systems on the border with Argentina.
Bolivia is the newest full member of Mercosur, but is not part of the trade deal. 
jss-lg/sst/msp

justice

Newly released Epstein files: what we know

BY MATTHEW PENNINGTON

  • Trump was a friend of Epstein, although he severed ties years before the financier's 2019 arrest.
  • The release of documents related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein follows months of pressure on the Trump administration for transparency about the politically explosive case.
  • Trump was a friend of Epstein, although he severed ties years before the financier's 2019 arrest.
The release of documents related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein follows months of pressure on the Trump administration for transparency about the politically explosive case.
Friday's release, to meet a deadline set by Congress, was just the first tranche of what the administration is saying will be a massive volume of information. But it is already drawing criticism as the documents are heavily redacted.
They include photos of high-profile figures, including former president Bill Clinton, and quickly provoked strong reactions from across the political divide.

What has been released?

Mid-afternoon on Friday the US Department of Justice provided a link to what it calls the "Epstein Library." It includes four groups of documents: court records, disclosures from the DOJ -– the bulk of the new documents -- freedom of information requests and disclosures from a US House oversight committee.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday there would be several hundred thousand documents released and several hundred thousand more in coming weeks.
But it appeared many of the documents had been revealed previously. DOJ posted new documents on Friday totaling about 3,900 files.
The release features numerous photographs not previously made public, and politicians and celebrities among those pictured. 
There are also video clips from inside the correctional center in New York from the day Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

What do the files show?

In many cases, the files show little because of heavy redactions. For example, a list of 254 masseuses is entirely blacked out.
In other cases there is little context provided, making it hard to interpret the significance of the information.
One file contains dozens of censored images showing naked or scantily clad figures. Others show Epstein and companions, their faces obscured, with firearms.
The expectation is that the files will shed light on Epstein's network of associates -- business executives, academics, celebrities and politicians, including President Donald Trump.
However, it's unclear how much the Justice Department, which controls the release, will allow to be made public and how it is selecting documents.
Trump was a friend of Epstein, although he severed ties years before the financier's 2019 arrest.

Celebrity sightings

The documents include several of Bill Clinton, taken some years ago. In one, he is pictured reclining in a hot tub with another person whose face is blacked out.
Among celebrities featured are pop stars Michael Jackson, Diana Ross and Mick Jagger -- all pictured with Clinton.
Others featured include the former prince Andrew, his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, actor Kevin Spacey and British tycoon Richard Branson.

Reactions

In deeply polarized Washington, the reaction was partisan in large part.
The White House jumped on the Clinton appearances.
"Slick Willy! @BillClinton just chillin, without a care in the world. Little did he know..." Communications Director Steven Cheung posted on X.
The White House also touted the release as a show of transparency.
But the top senator from the opposition Democrats, Chuck Schumer, complained that the heavily redacted documents release on Friday was just a fraction of the whole body of evidence.
"Simply releasing a mountain of blacked out pages violates the spirit of transparency and the letter of the law," Schumer said, adding that 119 pages of one document were completely blacked out.
On the Republican side, some dissent emerged. 
Lawmaker Thomas Massie, who co-sponsored the law forcing the release of the files with Democrat Ro Khanna, accused Attorney General Pam Bondi of "withholding specific documents."
And Marjorie Taylor Greene, a onetime Trump ally who has shifted sides and resigned from Congress, said: "The whole point was NOT to protect the 'politically exposed individuals and government officials'."
bur-sst/msp

conflict

Armed conflict in Venezuela would be 'humanitarian catastrophe': Lula

  • "An armed intervention in Venezuela would be a humanitarian catastrophe for the hemisphere and a dangerous precedent for the world," he said.
  • Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Saturday that US military action in Venezuela would spark a "humanitarian catastrophe," as he opened a summit of the South American Mercosur bloc.
  • "An armed intervention in Venezuela would be a humanitarian catastrophe for the hemisphere and a dangerous precedent for the world," he said.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Saturday that US military action in Venezuela would spark a "humanitarian catastrophe," as he opened a summit of the South American Mercosur bloc.
Lula's comments come amid spiraling tensions between Washington and Caracas -- and after US President Donald Trump left open the possibility of war against the government of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro.
The US military has beefed up its presence in the Caribbean in recent months and carried out air strikes against alleged drug boats in the region and in the Pacific, claiming that it is combatting narcotics trafficking.
But Maduro says the campaign is part of a wider effort to carry out regime change in Caracas.
"Four decades after the Falklands war, the South American continent is once again haunted by the military presence" of a foreign power, Lula said in the southern city of Foz do Iguacu, referring to the 1982 UK-Argentina conflict over disputed islands in the South Atlantic.
"An armed intervention in Venezuela would be a humanitarian catastrophe for the hemisphere and a dangerous precedent for the world," he said.
In an interview with NBC News conducted Thursday, when asked about the potential for war, Trump replied: "I don't rule it out, no."
On Thursday, Lula said he was "very worried" about the mounting crisis on Brazil's doorstep and was prepared to serve as a mediator to avert armed conflict.
The 80-year-old leftist said he had told Trump that "things wouldn't be resolved by shooting, that it was better to sit down around a table to find a solution."
At least 104 people have been killed in the US strikes on alleged drug boats, though the Trump administration has not yet provided any concrete evidence that the boats it has targeted were ferrying drugs.
The US government has accused Maduro of leading the "Cartel of the Suns" -- a charge he denies.
Trump has also announced a blockade on oil tankers under sanctions that are leaving or arriving in Venezuela.
jss-lg/sst/msp

politics

Tens of thousands attend funeral of killed Bangladesh student leader

  • Hadi's body, which was brought to the capital on Friday, was buried at the central mosque of Dhaka University.
  • Tens of thousands of mourners gathered in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Saturday for the funeral of a student leader, after two days of violent protests over his killing.
  • Hadi's body, which was brought to the capital on Friday, was buried at the central mosque of Dhaka University.
Tens of thousands of mourners gathered in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Saturday for the funeral of a student leader, after two days of violent protests over his killing.
Huge crowds accompanied the funeral procession of Sharif Osman Hadi, a key figure in last year's pro-democracy uprising who died in a hospital in Singapore on Thursday after being shot by masked gunmen while leaving a Dhaka mosque.
Police wearing body cameras were deployed in front of the parliament building where the funeral prayers were held.
Hadi's body, which was brought to the capital on Friday, was buried at the central mosque of Dhaka University.
"We have not come here to say goodbye," interim leader Muhammad Yunus said in an emotional speech. 
"You are in our hearts and you will remain in the heart of all Bangladeshis as long as the country exists."
Hadi, 32, was an outspoken critic of India and was set to contest the general elections in February.
Iqbal Hossain Saikot, a government employee who travelled from afar to attend the prayers, said Hadi was killed because he staunchly opposed India.
He will continue to live "among the millions of Bangladeshi people who love the land and its sovereign territory", Saikot, 34, told AFP.
Hadi's death has triggered widespread unrest, with protesters across the South Asian nation demanding the arrest of those responsible.
Late Thursday, people set fire to several buildings in Dhaka including the offices of leading newspapers Prothom Alo and the Daily Star.
Critics accuse the publications of favouring neighbouring India, where Bangladesh's ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina has taken refuge since fleeing Dhaka in the wake of the 2024 uprising.
Rights group Amnesty International on Saturday urged Bangladesh's interim government to carry out "prompt, thorough, independent and impartial" investigations into Hadi's killing and the violence that followed.
It also expressed alarm over the lynching of Hindu garment worker Dipu Chandra Das following allegations of blasphemy.
Yunus said seven suspects had been arrested in connection with Das's killing in the central district of Mymensingh on Thursday. 
sa-es-sai/abh/rsc

Argentina

Mercosur meets in Brazil, EU eyes January 12 trade deal

BY JUAN SEBASTIAN SERRANO

  • Several diplomats in Brussels told AFP the EU was working towards a signature on January 12 in Paraguay, which is set to take over leadership of Mercosur from Brazil in 2026.
  • Representatives of the South American Mercosur bloc met in Brazil Friday, as EU diplomatic sources said a long-delayed trade deal may now be signed on January 12.
  • Several diplomats in Brussels told AFP the EU was working towards a signature on January 12 in Paraguay, which is set to take over leadership of Mercosur from Brazil in 2026.
Representatives of the South American Mercosur bloc met in Brazil Friday, as EU diplomatic sources said a long-delayed trade deal may now be signed on January 12.
Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay had hoped they would on Saturday finally seal a deal with the EU to create the world's largest free trade zone.
However, the deal, which has been under negotiation for more than 25 years, met with fierce opposition from farmers, notably in France and Italy, and has now been postponed to January.
Several diplomats in Brussels told AFP the EU was working towards a signature on January 12 in Paraguay, which is set to take over leadership of Mercosur from Brazil in 2026.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said she was confident there would be a "sufficient majority" among the EU's 27 countries to approve the deal next month.
Paraguay's Foreign Minister Ruben Ramirez, following a meeting with his counterparts from Mercosur bloc countries on Friday, said they wanted to move forward on the deal "understanding that Europe has its own deadlines to address internal institutional matters."
"But at the same time, these deadlines are not infinite," he added.
The trade deal would help the European Union export more vehicles, machinery, wines and spirits to Latin America.
In return, it would facilitate the entry into Europe of South American meat, sugar, rice, honey and soybeans.
Some EU nations, such as Germany and Spain, are excited about a pact that could help boost exports at a time of global trade tensions.

Angry farmers delay pact

The proposed deal has provoked anxiety among farmers who fear they will be undercut by a flow of cheaper goods from agricultural giant Brazil and its neighbors.
Thousands of farmers protested the deal outside a Brussels meeting of EU leaders on Thursday, rolling around 1,000 honking tractors into the city.
Protesters lit fires and hurled potatoes and other objects at the police, who responded with tear gas and water cannon. 
The demands for more robust protections forced the European Commission to announce a postponement of Saturday's planned signing ceremony.
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday warned the EU to sign the deal now, or forget it while he was in power.
However, he said Thursday that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had asked him for "patience" and indicated Rome would eventually be ready to sign.
After the Brussels summit, French President Emmanuel Macron said it was "too soon" to say if Paris would back the deal next month, saying fundamental changes to the text were needed.
A Brazilian government source said the trade pact already contained safeguards for EU farmers, but "we see that the internal political situation in France is delicate," the source added.
On Friday, dozens of French farmers protested in front of Macron's seaside residence, spreading manure nearby to demonstrate the Mercosur trade deal and other grievances.
Despite the delay, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is "very happy, because the question is no longer if (the deal will be signed) but when," government spokesman Sebastian Hille told reporters in Berlin.
He said the German government expected the process to be completed "in the next two to three weeks."
The Mercosur meeting started Friday with the ministerial talks in southern Brazil's Foz de Iguacu, home to one of the world's largest waterfall systems on the border with Argentina.
On Saturday, Brazil's president will meet his Uruguayan counterpart Yamandu Orsi, Paraguay's Santiago Pena, and Argentina's President Javier Milei.
jss/fb/ceg/rsc

Bondi

Australian lifeguards fall silent for Bondi Beach victims

  • Gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police. 
  • Australian surf lifesavers lined the shore of Sydney's Bondi Beach and fell silent Saturday to honour the 15 people shot and killed when gunmen fired into crowds at a Jewish festival by the sea.
  • Gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police. 
Australian surf lifesavers lined the shore of Sydney's Bondi Beach and fell silent Saturday to honour the 15 people shot and killed when gunmen fired into crowds at a Jewish festival by the sea.
Scores of rescuers stood by the water's edge along the entire length of the beach, six days after two assailants allegedly carried out one of the deadliest mass shootings in Australia's history.
Gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police. His 24-year-old son Naveed survived and remains in hospital under police guard facing charges including terrorism and 15 murders.
Facing the ocean while wearing their red-and-yellow uniforms, the lifeguards observed three minutes of silence.
Some cried or hugged each other at the morning ceremony, with a surf lifesaving helicopter hovering overhead, television images showed.
Volunteer surf lifesavers across the country, who number more than 200,000, were being asked to join the homage in solidarity with those affected by the Bondi attack before starting their morning patrols.
Ocean rescuers wanted to recognise the "tragedy that has unfolded at Bondi while also reflecting on our respect and compassion for the Jewish community targeted by this attack", Bondi's two lifesaving clubs said in a message.
"We pay respects to those who lost their lives, those who risked their lives, those who worked so hard to save lives, and all of us who will never forget."

Hate speech crackdown '

Lifeguards at Bondi have been widely praised for their courage on the day of the December 14 attack, dragging people to safety, bandaging and resuscitating victims, and pulling panicked swimmers from the waves.
A photo shared widely online showed lifeguard Jackson Doolan running barefoot down the road from a neighbouring beach towards the Bondi shooting, carrying a defibrillator to help victims.
The local mayor described his actions as "remarkable".
On Sunday, Australia will hold a national day of reflection with the theme "light over darkness" marking a week after the attack started with a minute's silence at 6:47 pm (0747 GMT).
Flags will fly at half-mast, and Australians are being asked to light a candle in their windows to honour the victims and stand by the Jewish community, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
"Sixty seconds carved out from the noise of daily life, dedicated to 15 Australians who should be with us today," he told reporters Saturday.
"It will be a moment of pause to reflect and affirm that hatred and violence will never define us as Australians."
Federal and state authorities are talking with Jewish community leaders about establishing a permanent memorial at Bondi Beach, as well as holding a national day of mourning in the new year, Albanese said.
The prime minister has announced a suite of national measures to crack down on gun ownership and hate speech, promising stricter federal laws and harsher penalties.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns outlined plans Saturday for his state to ban "hateful" slogans such as "Globalise the Intifada" and symbols such as Islamic State group flags, while giving police greater powers to order people to remove face coverings.

'No stone unturned'

"We can't be in a position where we see a repeat of Sunday. We need to do everything within our power to make that change," Minns told reporters.
A joint counter-terrorism team including police and intelligence services is pursuing a broad investigation into the alleged gunmen's contacts and movements before the shooting.
Authorities believe the pair drew inspiration from the Islamic State group.
Australian police are investigating whether they met with Islamist extremists during a visit to the Philippines weeks before the shooting.
Detectives carried out raids with search warrants in Australia as recently as Friday, police said, without revealing the locations.
"We are leaving no stone unturned in Australia and overseas," Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett told a news conference Saturday.
"We will identify the methods, capability and connections of these alleged offenders to determine who the alleged offenders communicated with leading up to the attack," she said.
djw/mtp

culture

Burning effigy, bamboo crafts at once-a-decade Hong Kong festival

BY TOMMY WANG

  • Dazzlingly illuminated boards around the village proclaim hopes for good weather and abundant harvests.
  • Chanting villagers parade a giant effigy through the alleys of rural Hong Kong before setting it ablaze in a once-in-a-decade ceremony to ward off bad luck and appease their ancestors.
  • Dazzlingly illuminated boards around the village proclaim hopes for good weather and abundant harvests.
Chanting villagers parade a giant effigy through the alleys of rural Hong Kong before setting it ablaze in a once-in-a-decade ceremony to ward off bad luck and appease their ancestors.
Residents of Kam Tin decked out their northern corner of the city with towering flower boards and a vast bamboo stage for the Taoist Jiao festival which dates back over 300 years.
The five-storey-tall, 42,000-square-foot stage won a Guinness World Record this month for being the biggest temporary bamboo structure and carries deeper resonance after a deadly fire devastated the city in November.
"I found it truly awe-inspiring," an onlooker surnamed Lee, 30, told AFP. "It's remarkably well-built and rich in traditional elements."
The burning of the five-metre (16-foot) paper "ghost master" on Friday marked the climax of the festival, and was attended by thousands.
The ritual was allegedly begun by the Tang clan in 1685 to honour local officials who helped them reclaim their coastal homes after government evictions.
The multi-day festival is one of Hong Kong's longest-running traditional events and features lion and dragon dances, Cantonese opera and puppet shows.
Dazzlingly illuminated boards around the village proclaim hopes for good weather and abundant harvests.
The event took over a year to plan and cost nearly HK$20 million ($2.6 million), organiser Derek Tang said.
Locals come every 10 years to make offerings at the altar and enjoy historical crafts like bamboo construction, he told AFP.

Threatened tradition

Hong Kong's usage of bamboo construction materials has been in the spotlight since a huge fire killed at least 161 people in Tai Po District last month.
Authorities said the blaze at the under-repair housing estate was likely made worse by protective netting that failed fire-resistance standards. The netting was hung from bamboo scaffolding encasing several tower blocks.
Officials initially indicated they would consider replacing bamboo with metal scaffolding but later said a complete phase-out may not be necessary.
Scaffolder Lai Chi-ming, 52, told AFP the disappearance of the centuries-old craft would be a "great loss" for the city.
With over a dozen master craftsmen, he spent two months building the altar in Kam Tin, which used about 30,000 bamboo and fir poles.
Rapid urbanisation has made villagers more anxious to maintain their local identity, said cultural anthropologist Liu Tik-sang.
"They really want to preserve their traditions in their way. The purpose (of the festival's scale) is to tell everyone that this means a lot to them," he said.
Organiser Tang said such events also face challenges from declining numbers of young people and waning interest in traditional culture.
"We must not abandon our traditional Chinese culture because of (urban) development," he said.
twa/mjw/lb

shooting

US university killer's mystery motive sought after suicide

BY GREGORY WALTON, WITH THOMAS CABRAL IN LISBON AND BING GUAN IN SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS

  • Authorities say Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national, shot dead Brown students Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, and wounded several others, on December 13 before heading to the home of renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno Loureiro and killing him two days later.
  • Claudio Neves Valente came to the United States as an ambitious physics student at Brown University, but ended his life while hiding from police after killing two students at the Ivy League institution as well as an MIT professor.
  • Authorities say Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national, shot dead Brown students Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, and wounded several others, on December 13 before heading to the home of renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno Loureiro and killing him two days later.
Claudio Neves Valente came to the United States as an ambitious physics student at Brown University, but ended his life while hiding from police after killing two students at the Ivy League institution as well as an MIT professor.
Authorities say Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national, shot dead Brown students Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, and wounded several others, on December 13 before heading to the home of renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno Loureiro and killing him two days later.
The Chief Medical Examiner's office released autopsy results Friday, saying Neves Valente "died as a result of a gunshot would to the head, and that his manner of death was a suicide." 
He is "estimated to have died December 16," the medical examiner said.
Federal officials also released results of early ballistic and DNA testing Friday.
"Two 9mm pistols were recovered in New Hampshire with the body," according to a joint statement from the FBI and federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm (ATF) agency officials. 
One of the two firearms recovered "is positively correlated with the firearm used in the Brown University mass shooting. The other of the two firearms is positively correlated with the murder of" Loureiro, the statement said.
The FBI-ATF statement also said a rapid DNA test "has preliminarily matched Neves Valente with DNA recovered from evidence at Brown University," without mentioning any testing at the MIT professor's home.  
The FBI-ATF statement did not say whether either of the recovered guns were used in the shooter's suicide, one of many questions that still loom about the incidents.
No motive has been made public for any of the killings, which cast a long shadow on two of New England's normally genteel elite universities. It has been suggested he did not know the students.
Portuguese media outlet Expresso reported that Valente, from Torres Novas in central Portugal, attended Lisbon's IST institution at the same time as Loureiro.
They were classmates, and Valente was the top student that year. 
"Most classmates have no memory of the student Claudio Valente, other than the fact that he was the best in the class that year," IST president Rogerio Colaco told the outlet.
By contrast, Loureiro -- who taught nuclear science and engineering as well as physics -- maintained links with IST professors, he added.
Investigators struggled to produce viable leads in the days after the incidents, with President Donald Trump criticizing Brown University for failing to link its security cameras to police systems.
During the protracted manhunt, dozens of names surfaced on social media and elsewhere in connection with the shooting -- almost all false and unlinked to the bloodshed.
Rhode Island officials denounced the misinformation, saying it complicated their investigation.

Reddit tip-off

As media reported the name of a military veteran initially detained and released, social media filled with his image -- and a torrent of erroneous posts sharing photos of another man with the same name.
Colonel Darnell Weaver, superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, said "the endless barrage of misinformation, disinformation, rumors, leaks and clickbait were not helpful in this investigation."
But it was a tip from an often murky, irreverent corner of the internet  -- Reddit -- that was the breakthrough for detectives.
Officers were directed to a post on the social media forum site that told investigators to probe a grey Nissan SUV. 
A tipster called "John" by investigators then came forward and described to officers an encounter with a suspicious man at Brown prior to the slayings.
The information was crucial for the investigation and allowed officers to link the Brown campus shootings and the MIT professor's murder.
In their briefing announcing the conclusion of the case, officials revealed that Valente had taken elaborate steps to conceal his identity including using false license plates and a cell phone investigators struggled to trace.
The hunt for the Brown gunman dragged into a sixth day until officers found Valente's body in a self-storage facility in Salem, Massachusetts. 
Questions continued to swirl around the episode.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha told the Thursday briefing "in terms of why Brown? I think that's a mystery."
gw/bgs/sla/ceg