conflict

US says to dictate Venezuela decisions, oil sales

protest

Farmers enter Paris on tractors to rage against trade deal

  • One of the tractors bore the message "No To Mercosur", referring to the deal with four South American nations.
  • French farmers rolled into Paris on tractors Thursday in a show of anger against an EU trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur they fear will create unfair competition, as the government warned against "illegal" protest actions. 
  • One of the tractors bore the message "No To Mercosur", referring to the deal with four South American nations.
French farmers rolled into Paris on tractors Thursday in a show of anger against an EU trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur they fear will create unfair competition, as the government warned against "illegal" protest actions. 
Dozens of tractors arrived before dawn and drove through Paris, with some pausing at the Eiffel Tower and others at the Arc de Triomphe, in a protest organised by the Rural Confederation union.
"We said we'd come up to Paris -- here we are," said Ludovic Ducloux, co-head of one of the union's chapters.
One of the tractors bore the message "No To Mercosur", referring to the deal with four South American nations.
The deal would create one of the world's biggest free-trade areas and help the 27-nation EU to export more vehicles, machinery, wines and spirits to Latin America.
EU member states are expected to vote to give the text the final go-ahead on Friday, paving the way for a formal signature next week. 
But farmers fear being undercut by a flow of cheaper goods from agricultural giant Brazil and its neighbours.
"We're not here to cause trouble," Damien Cornier, a 49-year-old farmer from the northwest Eure region, told AFP.
"We just want to work and make a living from our profession." 
Surrounded by a heavy police presence, farmers demonstrated in front of French parliament's lower house, heckling the National Assembly President Yael Braun-Pivet when she came out to meet with them.
She said she would meet all trade unions in the afternoon, before security ushered her out of the tense crowd.
French policymakers have contributed to the "death of French agriculture over the past 30 years", Rural Confederation president Bertrand Venteau told Europe 1 radio.
Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard said farmers had "legitimate" demands but called for "calm" and "dialogue".

'Gates of the capital'

In the early hours of Thursday, a small number of tractors briefly parked near the Eiffel Tower and more reached the Arc de Triomphe.
There were 100 tractors in the Paris region, the interior ministry told AFP earlier on Thursday, but "most are blocked at the gates of the capital".
In another protest near the southwestern city of Bordeaux, about 40 farm vehicles blocked access to a fuel depot, according to the local authorities.
As well as the trade deal, the farmers are also upset over a government decision to cull cows in response to the spread of nodular dermatitis, a bovine sickness widely known as lumpy skin disease.
At the end of last month, President Emmanuel Macron met farmers to discuss the trade pact and the cull.
During earlier protests, farmers blocked roads, sprayed manure and dumped garbage in front of government offices.

Italy support

Belgian farmers have also staged mass protests against the trade deal, rolling some 1,000 tractors into Brussels in December.
More than 25 years in the making, the Mercosur accord would boost trade between the EU and the bloc including Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay.
Plans to seal the deal at a gathering in Brazil on December 20 ran into a late roadblock as heavyweights Italy and France demanded a postponement over concerns for the farming sector.
Germany and Spain are strongly in favour of the agreement, believing it will provide a welcome boost to their industries, hampered by Chinese competition and tariffs in the United States.
Ireland however said Thursday that it would vote against the trade deal.
Rome and Paris have called for tougher safeguard clauses, tighter import controls and more stringent standards on Mercosur producers to protect their farmers.
But Italy hailed the benefits of the agreement on Wednesday and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the country had "always supported the conclusion of the deal".
burs-ekf/ah/jxb

rights

New clashes hit Iran as opposition urges protests, strikes

BY STUART WILLIAMS

  • The Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said security forces on Wednesday "opened fire on protesters, used tear gas and violently assaulted civilians" during a protest in the key southeastern hub of Kerman.
  • Security forces used tear gas and live fire to disperse protesters in Iran, rights groups said Thursday, as people angered by economic crisis kept up their challenge to the authorities and exiled opposition groups urged new protests as well as strikes.
  • The Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said security forces on Wednesday "opened fire on protesters, used tear gas and violently assaulted civilians" during a protest in the key southeastern hub of Kerman.
Security forces used tear gas and live fire to disperse protesters in Iran, rights groups said Thursday, as people angered by economic crisis kept up their challenge to the authorities and exiled opposition groups urged new protests as well as strikes.
Twelve days of protests have shaken the clerical authorities under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei already battling economic crisis after years of sanctions and recovering from the June war against Israel.
The movement, which originated with a shutdown on the Tehran bazaar on December 28 after the rial plunged to record lows, has spread nationwide and is now being marked by larger scale demonstrations.
Authorities have blamed unrest on "rioters" and the judiciary chief has vowed there would be "no leniency" in bringing them to justice. 
On Wednesday, an Iranian police officer was stabbed to death west of Tehran "during efforts to control unrest", the Iranian Fars news agency said.
Reza Pahlavi, the son of the shah ousted by the 1979 Islamic revolution and a key exiled opposition figure, said the turnout on Wednesday had been "unprecedented" in this wave of demonstrations and called for major new protests Thursday evening.
He said in a message on social media he had received reports the "regime is deeply frightened and is attempting, once again, to cut off the internet" to thwart the protests.
Iraq-based Iranian Kurdish opposition parties, including the Komala party which is outlawed by Tehran, called for a general strike on Thursday in Kurdish-populated areas in western Iran which have seen intense protest activity.

Soleimani statues attacked

The HRANA monitor published a video of protesters in Kuhchenar in the southern Fars province cheering overnight as they pulled down a statue of the former foreign operations commander of the Revolutionary Guards Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US strike in January 2020 and is hailed as a national hero by the Islamic republic.
Persian-language TV channels based outside Iran also posted images of a statue of Soleimani in the central city of Kashan being set on fire. It was not immediately possible to verify the images.
HRANA said according to its count protests had taken place in 348 locations over the last 11 days in all of Iran's 31 provinces.
It also published a video of people massing late at night in the Tehran satellite city of Karaj and lighting fires in the streets and also images of security forces using tear gas to disperse a protest in the Caspian Sea town of Tonekabon.
Images it said were taken Wednesday in the western city of Abadan showing security forces firing on protesters.
The Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said security forces on Wednesday "opened fire on protesters, used tear gas and violently assaulted civilians" during a protest in the key southeastern hub of Kerman.
The Hengaw rights group, which focuses on Kurds and other ethnic minorities in western Iran, said the call for a strike had been widely followed in some 30 towns and cities, posting footage of shuttered shops in the western provinces of Ilam, Kermanshah and Lorestan.

Unlawful force

The protests are being characterised by larger-scale demonstrations, with hundreds marching through a main avenue in the northeastern city of Bojnord on Wednesday in a video verified by AFP.
Demonstrators are repeating slogans against the clerical leadership including "this is the final battle, Pahlavi will return" and "Seyyed Ali will be toppled", in reference to Khamenei.
IHR said on Tuesday at least 27 protesters including five teenagers under the age of 18, have been confirmed to have been killed in a crackdown on the protests, warning the death toll will climb as more killings are verified.
The protests are the biggest in Iran for three years after the last major protest wave in 2022-2023 which was sparked by the custody death of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly violating the strict dress code for women.
Rights groups have also accused authorities of resorting to tactics including raiding hospitals to detain wounded protesters.
"More than 10 days of protests have been met with unlawful force," said Amnesty International. "Iran's security forces have injured and killed both protesters and bystanders," it added.
sjw/sw/cw

banking

China confirms extradition of accused scam boss from Cambodia

BY SUY SE

  • - Former adviser - US prosecutors accused Chen of presiding over compounds in Cambodia where trafficked workers carried out cryptocurrency fraud schemes that netted billions.
  • Accused scam boss Chen Zhi has been extradited to China from Cambodia, Beijing confirmed on Thursday, after he was indicted by the United States over alleged multibillion-dollar fraud.
  • - Former adviser - US prosecutors accused Chen of presiding over compounds in Cambodia where trafficked workers carried out cryptocurrency fraud schemes that netted billions.
Accused scam boss Chen Zhi has been extradited to China from Cambodia, Beijing confirmed on Thursday, after he was indicted by the United States over alleged multibillion-dollar fraud.
Video released by China's Ministry of Public Security on Thursday showed Chen in handcuffs as security forces lifted a black bag off his head, after he was escorted off a China Southern plane with black-clad armed guards waiting on a runway.
Cambodia said earlier on Thursday that the bank founded by Chen, Prince Bank, had been put into liquidation.
The bank is a subsidiary of Chen's Prince Holding Group, one of Cambodia's biggest conglomerates, which Washington alleges has served as a front for "one of Asia's largest transnational criminal organizations".
China's public security ministry said Chen had been brought back to China from Phnom Penh and lauded the "major achievement in China–Cambodia law enforcement cooperation".
Chinese authorities will soon issue arrest warrants for "the first batch of key members of Chen Zhi's criminal group, and will resolutely apprehend the fugitives", it said in a statement.
The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), the Southeast Asian country's central bank, said Prince Bank had been placed into liquidation and "suspended from providing new banking services, including accepting deposits and providing credit".
It said in a statement auditor Morisonkak MKA has been appointed as liquidator. Prince Bank has about a billion dollars in assets under management, according to its website.
Customers "can withdraw money normally" and borrowers "must continue to fulfill their obligations", the NBC said.

'Building pressure'

Chinese-born Chen was sanctioned by Washington and London in October for directing alleged cyberfraud run by hundreds of scammers trafficked into compounds in Cambodia.
Cambodian authorities said they arrested Chen and two other Chinese nationals this week and extradited them at China's request.
Chinese courts have sentenced people to death over involvement in scams, including more than a dozen people last year for their participation in criminal groups with fraud operations in Myanmar's Kokang region, which borders China.
The US Justice Department declined to comment on Wednesday.
Jacob Sims, a transnational crime expert and visiting fellow at Harvard University's Asia Center, said the "vast majority" of the dozens of scam compounds in Cambodia operated with "strong support" from the government
"This arrest comes after months of building pressure against the Cambodian government for continuing to harbor and abet a now famous criminal actor," Sims told AFP.
A change in status quo could only happen if international pressure on Cambodia's "scam-invested oligarchs" was sustained, he said.
Cambodian officials deny allegations of government involvement and say authorities are cracking down.
However, Amnesty International said last year that rights abuses in scam hubs were happening on a "mass scale", and the government's poor response suggested its complicity.
Chen was charged by US authorities of wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges involving approximately 127,271 seized bitcoin, worth more than $11 billion at current prices.
Prince Group has denied the allegations.
Prince Bank and a law firm that issued a statement on the group's behalf in November did not respond immediately to AFP requests for comment.

Former adviser

US prosecutors accused Chen of presiding over compounds in Cambodia where trafficked workers carried out cryptocurrency fraud schemes that netted billions.
Victims were targeted through "pig butchering" scams -- investment schemes that build trust over time before stealing funds. 
The operations have caused billions in global losses.
Scam centres across Cambodia, Myanmar and the region lure foreign nationals -- many Chinese -- with fake job ads, then force them under threat of violence to commit online fraud.
Amnesty International has identified at least 53 scam compounds in Cambodia alone, where rights groups say criminal networks perpetrate human trafficking, forced labour, torture and slavery.
Experts estimate tens of thousands of people work in the multibillion-dollar industry, some willingly and others trafficked.
Prince Group has operated across more than 30 countries since 2015 under the guise of legitimate real estate, financial services and consumer businesses, US prosecutors have said.
Prince Bank opened in 2015 as a microfinance institution and became a commercial bank in 2018.
In Cambodia, Chen served as an adviser to Prime Minister Hun Manet and his father, former leader Hun Sen, but his Cambodian nationality was revoked in December.
suy/sco-dhw/

conflict

US says to dictate Venezuela decisions, oil sales

BY DANNY KEMP WITH JAVIER TOVAR IN CARACAS

  • "We're continuing to be in close coordination with the interim authorities, and their decisions are going to continue to be dictated by the United States of America."
  • US President Donald Trump's administration said Wednesday it will dictate decisions to Venezuela's interim leaders and control the country's oil sales "indefinitely" after toppling Nicolas Maduro.
  • "We're continuing to be in close coordination with the interim authorities, and their decisions are going to continue to be dictated by the United States of America."
US President Donald Trump's administration said Wednesday it will dictate decisions to Venezuela's interim leaders and control the country's oil sales "indefinitely" after toppling Nicolas Maduro.
The United States could effectively run Venezuela and tap into its oil reserves for years, Trump later told the New York Times.
The American leader's assertion of US dominance over the oil-rich South American country comes despite its interim leader Delcy Rodriguez saying there is no foreign power governing Caracas.
"There is a stain on our relations such as had never occurred in our history," Rodriguez said about the US attack to depose her predecessor.
US special forces snatched president Maduro and his wife on Saturday in a lightning raid and whisked them to New York to face trial on drug and weapons charges, underscoring what Trump has called the "Donroe Doctine" of US dominance over its backyard.
"We obviously have maximum leverage over the interim authorities in Venezuela right now" following the capture operation, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a briefing.
"We're continuing to be in close coordination with the interim authorities, and their decisions are going to continue to be dictated by the United States of America."
Trump has said the United States will "run" Venezuela, which has the world's largest proven oil reserves.
"They're giving us everything that we feel is necessary," Trump told the Times. "Don't forget, they took the oil from us years ago.
When asked if US control of the country would last three months, six months or a year, Trump told the paper: "I would say much longer."
But Washington has no boots on the ground, and appears to be relying on a naval blockade and the threat of further force to ensure the cooperation of the interim president.
Meanwhile Caracas announced Wednesday that at least 100 people were killed in the US attack and a similar number injured.
Among those hurt were Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said. 
The couple were seen walking on their own power during a New York court arraignment earlier this week.
According to Havana, the death toll includes 32 members of the Cuban military. Maduro, like his firebrand predecessor Hugo Chavez, employed specialized Cuban soldiers as bodyguards.

'Not just winging it'

Trump's administration -- which has so far indicated it intends to stick with Rodriguez and sideline opposition figures, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado -- has given few details about its plans.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted on Wednesday, after meeting lawmakers on Capitol Hill who have been critical about the post-Maduro planning, that the United States was "not just winging it."
But so far, the US plan relies heavily on what Trump said on Tuesday was an agreement for Venezuela to hand over between 30 million and 50 million barrels of oil to the United States for it to then sell.
Trump said Wednesday that under the deal Venezuela "is going to be purchasing ONLY American Made Products, with the money they receive" from the oil profits they receive.
That would include agricultural products, machinery, medical devices and energy equipment, he added.
Rubio said that in a second "recovery" phase, US and Western companies would have access to the Venezuelan market and "at the same time, begin to create the process of reconciliation nationally within Venezuela."
Venezuela's state oil firm said it was discussing oil sales with the United States for the "sale of volumes of oil" under existing commercial frameworks.
But Washington is looking at longer term control, according to Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
"We're going to market the crude coming out of Venezuela, first this backed-up stored oil, and then indefinitely, going forward, we will sell the production that comes out of Venezuela," Wright said Wednesday.

'Immense opportunity'

Trump will on Friday meet executives from US oil companies, whom he has said will invest in Venezuela's crumbling facilities, despite no firm having yet made such pledges amid the turmoil in the country.
"It's just a meeting to discuss, obviously, the immense opportunity that is before these oil companies right now," Leavitt told reporters.
Trump also invited leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro to meet at the White House "in the near future," after the two leaders had their first phone call Wednesday since Trump took office last year.
Washington moved further to stamp its authority on Venezuela when it seized two oil tankers, including a Russian-linked vessel that it pursued from Venezuela to the North Atlantic.
Moscow condemned the operation but Leavitt insisted the oil tanker had been "deemed stateless after flying a false flag."
dk/mlm/jgc/lga

crime

US immigration officer fatally shoots woman in Minneapolis, sparking protests

BY KEREM YUCEL

  • President Donald Trump's administration moved quickly to claim Good had been trying to kill the agents, an assertion Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called "bullshit" and urged ICE to get out of his city.
  • Fresh demonstrations were expected in Minneapolis Thursday after a US immigration officer shot dead an American woman in the city, sparking outrage from local leaders who rejected Trump administration claims her actions amounted to "domestic terrorism."
  • President Donald Trump's administration moved quickly to claim Good had been trying to kill the agents, an assertion Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called "bullshit" and urged ICE to get out of his city.
Fresh demonstrations were expected in Minneapolis Thursday after a US immigration officer shot dead an American woman in the city, sparking outrage from local leaders who rejected Trump administration claims her actions amounted to "domestic terrorism."
The woman, identified in local media as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, was hit at point-blank range as she apparently tried to drive away from agents who were crowding around her car, which they said was blocking their way.
Footage of the incident shows a masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent attempt to open the woman's car door before another masked agent fires three times into the Honda SUV.
The vehicle then hurtles out of control and smashes into stationary vehicles, as horrified onlookers hurl abuse at the federal officers.
Her bloodied body is then seen slumped in the crashed vehicle. 
President Donald Trump's administration moved quickly to claim Good had been trying to kill the agents, an assertion Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called "bullshit" and urged ICE to get out of his city.
Thousands of protesters took to the frigid streets of Minneapolis after the shooting, holding signs reading "ICE out of MPLS," a common abbreviation for the city.
Similar protests demanding ICE leave were set to take place in front of a federal building and elsewhere in the Minneapolis area on Thursday, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune newspaper.
ICE's federal agents have been at the forefront of the Trump administration's immigrant deportation drive, despite the objections of local officials.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched an aggressive recruitment campaign last summer to add 10,000 additional ICE agents to the existing 6,000-strong contingent.
That sparked criticism that new officers in the field were insufficiently trained.
DHS chief Kristi Noem said "any loss of life is a tragedy" but called the incident "domestic terrorism" and said Good "had been stalking and impeding (ICE's) work all throughout the day."
"She then proceeded to weaponize her vehicle," she said.
Wednesday's incident came during protest action against immigration enforcement in the southern part of Minneapolis, located in the midwestern state of Minnesota.
The Department of Homeland Security, which runs ICE, said on X the victim had tried to run over its officer who fired "defensive shots."

Grisly scene

Minnesota's Governor Tim Walz called the federal government's response to the incident "propaganda" and vowed his state would "ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation."
Witness Brandon Hewitt heard "three shots."
"I got a bunch of video of them carrying the body to the ambulance," he told MS NOW. 
Another witness interviewed by local station FOX9 described a grisly scene. 
"The surviving passenger got out of the car covered in blood," the witness said.
He recounted seeing a man who identified himself as a doctor attempting to reach Good but being refused access by officers.

Anti-ICE protests

There have been passionate protests against immigration operations of the Trump administration, which has vowed to arrest and deport what it says are "millions" of undocumented migrants.
The DHS called the violence a "direct consequence of constant attacks and demonization of our officers."
The officer who opened fire, who was released from the hospital following the incident, was rammed and dragged along a road by an anti-ICE protester in June, Noem said. 
The victim's mother, Donna Ganger, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that her daughter "was probably terrified."
Good was "not part of anything like" challenging ICE officers, Ganger added.
The 37-year-old was a mother and a poet who loved movies, according to US media. She studied creative writing at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
Trump has made preventing unlawful immigration and expelling undocumented migrants priorities during his second term, and has tightened conditions for entering the United States and obtaining visas.
ICE -- which critics accuse of transforming into a paramilitary force under Trump -- has been tasked with deporting an unprecedented number of undocumented migrants.
US authorities said up to 2,000 officers were in Minneapolis for immigration sweeps.
A US immigration enforcement officer shot dead an undocumented immigrant in Chicago in September after federal authorities alleged the man tried to resist detention by driving his car into the official.
gw-pho/jgc/sla/lga/fox

Kurds

Syria tells civilians to leave Aleppo's Kurdish areas

  • In Qamishli, the main city of Syria's Kurdish areas in the northeast, hundreds of people demonstrated on Thursday against the Aleppo violence, according to AFP correspondents. 
  • Syria's military warned civilians in two besieged Kurdish neighbourhoods in the city of Aleppo to leave on Thursday, as it prepared to conduct a fresh wave of strikes targeting Kurdish positions.
  • In Qamishli, the main city of Syria's Kurdish areas in the northeast, hundreds of people demonstrated on Thursday against the Aleppo violence, according to AFP correspondents. 
Syria's military warned civilians in two besieged Kurdish neighbourhoods in the city of Aleppo to leave on Thursday, as it prepared to conduct a fresh wave of strikes targeting Kurdish positions.
Thousands have already fled the area following clashes between the army and Kurdish-led forces that have killed more than a dozen people.
The violence comes as the two sides struggle to implement a March deal to merge a semi-autonomous administration and military run by the Kurds in Syria's north into the country's new Islamist government.
Shops, universities and schools were closed for a second consecutive day in Aleppo on Thursday, according to AFP correspondents on the ground.
The violence erupted on Tuesday and have left 17 people dead. 
On Wednesday, thousands of civilians fled the two Kurdish neighbourhoods of Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh via two corridors set up by the army, which then went on to shell the areas after an evacuation deadline.
On Thursday, the authorities again announced that civilians would be able to leave before 1:00 pm (1000 GMT), with the army warning that it would resume bombardment half an hour after that deadline expired.

'No to war'

A military official on the ground told AFP on Wednesday that the army's operation was "limited" and aimed at "pressuring the Kurdish fighters to leave the area so that the authorities could extend their control over the entire city". 
In Qamishli, the main city of Syria's Kurdish areas in the northeast, hundreds of people demonstrated on Thursday against the Aleppo violence, according to AFP correspondents. 
"We call on the international community to intervene," said one protester, 61-year-old Salaheddine Cheikhmous. Others held banners that read "no to war" and "no to ethnic cleansing".
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday urged both sides to show restraint and swiftly resume negotiations to implement the March agreement, according to spokesman Stephane Dujarric. 
In Israel, the foreign minister Gideon Saar condemned what he called "serious and dangerous" attacks against the Kurdish minority. 
In July, Israel bombed Damascus during violence between the Islamist authorities and the Druze minority in southern Syria, saying it wanted to protect the community, many of whose members live in Israel.
Turkey, a close ally of the new Syrian government, said it was ready to support the Syrian government in its battle with the Kurdish fighters if Damascus asks for help.
str-lar/axn/ser

climate

Trump withdraws US from key climate treaty, deepening global pullback

BY ISSAM AHMED

  • The White House on Wednesday flagged the US exit from 66 global organizations and treaties -- roughly half affiliated with the United Nations -- it identified as "contrary to the interests of the United States."
  • President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from a bedrock climate treaty was slammed Thursday by the EU, which vowed to keep tackling the crisis with other nations.
  • The White House on Wednesday flagged the US exit from 66 global organizations and treaties -- roughly half affiliated with the United Nations -- it identified as "contrary to the interests of the United States."
President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from a bedrock climate treaty was slammed Thursday by the EU, which vowed to keep tackling the crisis with other nations.
The White House on Wednesday flagged the US exit from 66 global organizations and treaties -- roughly half affiliated with the United Nations -- it identified as "contrary to the interests of the United States."
Most notable among them is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the parent treaty underpinning all major international climate agreements.
The treaty adopted in 1992 is a global pact by nations to cooperate to drive down planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
European Union climate chief Wopke Hoekstra said the UNFCCC "underpins global climate action" and brings nations together in the collective fight against the crisis.
"The decision by the world's largest economy and second-largest emitter to retreat from it is regrettable and unfortunate," Hoekstra said in a post on LinkedIn.
"We will unequivocally continue to support international climate research, as the foundation of our understanding and work. We will also continue to work on international climate cooperation."
Trump, who has thrown the full weight of his domestic policy behind fossil fuels, has openly scorned the scientific consensus that human activity is warming the planet, deriding climate science as a "hoax."
His administration sent no representative to the most recent UN climate summit in Brazil in November, which is held every year under the auspices of the UNFCCC.
Teresa Ribera, the EU's vice-president for the clean transition, said the Trump administration "doesn't care" about the environment, health or the suffering of people.

Fight looms

The UNFCCC was adopted at the Rio Earth Summit in June 1992 and approved later that year by the US Senate during George H.W. Bush's presidency.
"The US withdrawal from the UN climate framework is a heavy blow to global climate action, fracturing hard-won consensus," Li Shuo, a climate expert at the Asia Society Policy Institute, told AFP.
The US Constitution allows presidents to enter treaties "provided two thirds of Senators present concur," but it is silent on the process for withdrawing from them -- a legal ambiguity that could invite court challenges.
Trump has already withdrawn from the landmark Paris climate accord since returning to office, just as he did during his first term from 2017–2021 in a move later reversed by his successor, Democratic president Joe Biden.
Exiting the underlying treaty could introduce additional legal uncertainty around any future US effort to rejoin.
Jean Su, a senior attorney for the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, told AFP: "Pulling out of the UNFCCC is a whole order of magnitude different from pulling out of the Paris Agreement."
"It's our contention that it's illegal for the President to unilaterally pull out of a treaty that required two thirds of the Senate vote," she continued. "We are looking at legal options to pursue that line of argument."

'Progressive ideology'

California Governor Gavin Newsom, an outspoken critic of Trump who is widely seen as a presidential contender, said in a statement "our brainless president is surrendering America's leadership on the world stage and weakening our ability to compete in the economy of the future -- creating a leadership vacuum that China is already exploiting."
The memo also directs the United States to withdraw from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN body responsible for assessing climate science, alongside other climate-related organizations including the International Renewable Energy Agency, UN Oceans and UN Water.
As in his first term, Trump has also withdrawn the United States from UNESCO -- the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization -- which Washington had rejoined under Biden.
Trump has likewise pulled the US out of the World Health Organization and sharply reduced foreign aid.
Other prominent bodies named in the memo include the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), UN Women, and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement the organizations were driven by "progressive ideology" and were actively seeking to "constrain American sovereignty."
"From DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) mandates to 'gender equity' campaigns to climate orthodoxy, many international organizations now serve a globalist project," he said.
ia-abd-np/lth/giv

protest

Farmers enter Paris on tractors in protest at trade deal

  • A government spokeswoman on Thursday however warned against such "illegal" actions, saying French authorities would "not stand by".
  • French farmers rolled into Paris on tractors Thursday in a show of dissent against an EU trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur they fear will create unfair competition, as the government warned against "illegal" protest actions.
  • A government spokeswoman on Thursday however warned against such "illegal" actions, saying French authorities would "not stand by".
French farmers rolled into Paris on tractors Thursday in a show of dissent against an EU trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur they fear will create unfair competition, as the government warned against "illegal" protest actions.
Dozens of tractors arrived before dawn and cruised through Paris, with some reaching the Eiffel Tower and others at the Arc de Triomphe, in a protest organised by the Rural Confederation union.
"We said we'd come up to Paris -- here we are," said Ludovic Ducloux, co-head of one of the union's chapters.
One of them bore the message "No To Mercosur", referring to the deal with four South American nations.
The deal would create the world's biggest free-trade area and help the 27-nation EU to export more vehicles, machinery, wines and spirits to Latin America.
But farmers fear being undercut by a flow of cheaper goods from agricultural giant Brazil and its neighbours.
Rural Confederation president Bertrand Venteau told AFP that the farmers intended to peacefully demonstrate at symbolic Parisian sites, even if it meant they ended up in police custody.
A government spokeswoman on Thursday however warned against such "illegal" actions, saying French authorities would "not stand by".
Blocking a motorway or "attempting to gather in front of the National Assembly with all the symbolism that this entails is once again illegal", Maud Bregeon told France Info Radio.
In another protest near the southwestern city of Bordeaux, about 40 farm vehicles blocked access to a fuel depot, according to the local authorities.
As well as the trade deal, the farmers are also upset over a government decision to cull cows in response to the spread of nodular dermatitis, a bovine sickness widely known as lumpy skin disease.
At the end of last month, President Emmanuel Macron met farmers to discuss the trade pact and the cull.
During earlier protests, farmer blocked roads, sprayed manure and dumped garbage in front of government offices to force the authorities to review their policy.
Belgian farmers have also staged mass protests against the trade deal, rolling some 1,000 tractors into Brussels in December.
bur-lb/jxb/ekf/st

social

Viral 'Chinese Trump' wins laughs on both sides of Pacific

BY LUDOVIC EHRET

  • Another imperative is to "stay tuned" to news on Trump, who is "a goldmine of funny material", according to Chen, who said he also draws inspiration from American impressionists of the president.
  • Outstretching his hands in a signature Donald Trump pose, impersonator Ryan Chen mimics the US president's voice and gestures with such accuracy that he has become a social media phenomenon with his funny videos.
  • Another imperative is to "stay tuned" to news on Trump, who is "a goldmine of funny material", according to Chen, who said he also draws inspiration from American impressionists of the president.
Outstretching his hands in a signature Donald Trump pose, impersonator Ryan Chen mimics the US president's voice and gestures with such accuracy that he has become a social media phenomenon with his funny videos.
The 42-year-old from southwest China does not engage in political satire -- a minefield in the country that can lead to account suspension -- but has amassed millions of followers across Instagram, TikTok and Chinese platforms.
"Trump is an endless well that never runs dry, because he draws more online traffic than anyone else on the planet," Chen told AFP in his hometown of Chongqing that itself has gone viral over its labyrinthine cityscape and spicy food.
During his videos, which are in English with Chinese subtitles, Chen lightheartedly presents Chinese cuisine, customs, cultural differences, jokes with foreigners and dances to Village People's "YMCA", one of Trump's trademark stage songs.
And all his clips are peppered with Trump's unmistakable mannerisms and buzzwords like "tremendous" and "amazing".
"I'm not into politics, but I think he is a very good entertainer," said Chen of the American president, whom he followed when Trump hosted the reality TV show "The Apprentice".
"If I imitate him, it's not to make fun of him. It's to get attention," he told AFP in a white cowboy hat.
"With that attention, I can boost my career, as well as promote China and my hometown."

'Like a neighbour'

Chen stumbled across his online fame by chance, only taking off in 2025 with Trump's return to the White House.
The fan of "Friends" and "The Big Bang Theory" -- who had never visited the United States before this year -- started making online videos to teach English as a "back-up plan" from his job in architecture, a sector hit hard by the property crisis in China.
He had moderate success, but his videos only went viral after a friend challenged him to imitate Trump.
His appearance in April on a livestream by IShowSpeed, an American YouTuber with over 47 million subscribers who was visiting China at the time, further boosted his visibility.
Chen said Trump has become such a big part of his life he now feels a certain familiarity with him, "like a next-door neighbour". 
He sees himself as a "bridge" between international internet users eager to discover urban China, its "lively" atmosphere, and Chinese people keen to understand foreign humour and cultures.
The impersonator now has more than a million followers on Instagram, almost as many on TikTok, and more than 2.5 million on Chinese platforms, and is recognised on the streets.
Chen, who learned English by watching his favourite American series, said his secret is to sound like a "native speaker".
Another imperative is to "stay tuned" to news on Trump, who is "a goldmine of funny material", according to Chen, who said he also draws inspiration from American impressionists of the president.

'Try our hotpot'

The impersonator, whose real name is Chen Rui, said he is now able to make a living from his work through promotion, events and corporate parties.
"My main source of income is advertising," he said, with brands for cars, digital products, games or milk hiring him for their campaigns. 
In a sign his work has not upset the Trump administration, Chen announced in a video he had obtained a visa for the United States, which he is currently visiting for the first time.
And with Trump set to visit China this year, Chen called on the president to travel to Chongqing and "try our hotpot", which is famously spicy.
While a meeting between the real Trump and his Chinese impersonator would "probably be cool", Chen said he has no "burning desire" to do so because it would quickly become a diplomatic affair.
"I'm just a comedian," he said. "I have no political aspirations."
ehl/je/dhw/abs

Bondi

Australia to hold royal commission inquiry into Bondi Beach shooting

  • Royal commissions hold public hearings and can sometimes run for years.
  • Australia will hold a royal commission inquiry into the mass shooting that killed 15 people at Bondi Beach, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday, as he faced public demands for answers.
  • Royal commissions hold public hearings and can sometimes run for years.
Australia will hold a royal commission inquiry into the mass shooting that killed 15 people at Bondi Beach, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday, as he faced public demands for answers.
"I've repeatedly said that our government's priority is to promote unity and social cohesion. And this is what Australia needs to heal," he told reporters.
Sajid Akram and his son Naveed allegedly targeted Jews attending a Hannukah celebration near the beach in an ISIS-inspired attack on December 14, the nation's worst mass shooting for 30 years.
The federal royal commission -- the highest level of government inquiry -- will probe everything from intelligence failures to the prevalence of antisemitism in Australia.
Victims' families, business leaders, sports stars and eminent scientists have put their names to open letters urging a sweeping investigation into the attack.
Albanese repeatedly brushed off these demands, saying he was focused on "urgent action", but mounting public pressure led him to relent.
"What we've done is listen, and we've concluded that where we have landed today is an appropriate way forward for national unity," Albanese said.
Royal commissions hold public hearings and can sometimes run for years.
The Bondi Beach shooting inquiry will be led by Virginia Bell, a widely respected former High Court judge.
Alleged gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the assault.
An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998.
His 24-year-old son Naveed, an Australian-born citizen who remains in prison, has been charged with terrorism and 15 murders.
The mass shooting has sparked national soul-searching about antisemitism, anger over the failure to shield Jewish Australians from harm, and promises to stiffen gun laws.
Police and intelligence agencies are facing difficult questions about whether they could have acted earlier.
Naveed Akram was flagged by Australia's intelligence agency in 2019 but he slipped off the radar after it decided that he posed no imminent threat.
The prime minister said a review into the security services' response, which is due to report in April, will now be incorporated into the work of the royal commission.
Victims' families penned an open letter in December urging Albanese to "immediately establish a Commonwealth Royal Commission into the rapid rise of antisemitism in Australia".
"We demand answers and solutions," they wrote. 

Rising antisemitism

"We need to know why clear warning signs were ignored, how antisemitic hatred and Islamic extremism were allowed to dangerously grow unchecked, and what changes must be made to protect all Australians going forward."
The government's special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal, said anti-Jewish prejudice had been seeping through Australia for years.
"I think it's important the government has listened to all who have advocated for such a commission," she said.
"It does reflect the seriousness of the growth in antisemitism and its impact on our country and on our democracy."
The Akram duo travelled to the southern Philippines in the weeks before the shooting, fueling suspicions they may be linked to Islamist extremists in the region.
Evidence so far suggested they had acted alone, police said.
"There is no evidence to suggest these alleged offenders were part of a broader terrorist cell, or were directed by others to carry out the attack," Australian Federal Police commissioner Krissy Barrett said in December.
Australia is cracking down on gun ownership and hate speech in the wake of the attack.
The government in December announced a sweeping buyback scheme to "get guns off our streets".
It is the largest gun buyback since 1996, when Australia tightened firearms laws in the wake of a mass shooting that killed 35 people at Port Arthur.
sft/djw/fox

humans

Fossils discovered in Morocco shed light on our African roots

BY BéNéDICTE SALVETAT REY

  • This sparked a contentious debate about whether our species originally emerged outside of Africa, before returning there.
  • Where did our species first emerge?
  • This sparked a contentious debate about whether our species originally emerged outside of Africa, before returning there.
Where did our species first emerge? Fossils discovered in Morocco dating back more than 773,000 years bolster the theory that Homo sapiens originally appeared in Africa, scientists said in a study Wednesday.
The oldest Homo sapien fossils, dating from over 300,000 years ago, were found at the Jebel Irhoud northwest of Marrakesh.
Our cousins the Neanderthals mostly lived in Europe, while more recent additions to the family, the Denisovans, roamed Asia.
This has prompted an enduring mystery: who was the last common ancestor of Homo sapiens and our cousins, before the family tree split off into different branches?
This divergence is thought to have occurred between 550,000 and 750,000 years ago.
Until now, the main hominin fossils from around that time period were found in Atapuerca, Spain.
They belonged to a species dubbed "Homo antecessor", dated back around 800,000 years ago, and had features that were a mix of the older Homo erectus and those more similar to Homo sapiens and our cousins.
This sparked a contentious debate about whether our species originally emerged outside of Africa, before returning there.
There was "a gap in the fossil record of Africa", French paleoanthropologist and lead study author Jean-Jacques Hublin told AFP.
The research published in the journal Nature fills that gap by finally establishing a firm date for fossils discovered in 1969 inside a cave in the Moroccan city of Casablanca.
Over three decades, a French-Moroccan team unearthed hominin vertebrae, teeth and fragments of jaws that have puzzled researchers.
A slender lower jawbone discovered in 2008 proved particularly perplexing.
"Hominins who lived half a million or a million years generally didn't have small jawbones," Hublin said.
"We could clearly see that it was something unusual -- and we wondered how old it could be."
However numerous efforts to determine its age fell short. 

When Earth's magnetic field flipped

Then the researchers tried a different approach.
Every once in a while, Earth's magnetic field flips. Until the last reversal -- 773,000 years ago -- our planet's magnetic north pole was near the geographic south pole.
Evidence of this change is still preserved in rocks around the world.
The Casablanca fossils were discovered in layers corresponding to the time of this reversal, allowing scientists to establish a "very, very precise" date, Hublin said.
This discovery eliminates the "absence of plausible ancestors" for Homo sapiens in Africa, he added.
Antonio Rosas, a researcher at Spain's National Museum of Natural Sciences, said it adds "weight to the increasingly prevalent idea" that the origins of both our species and the last common ancestor of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals/Denisovans lie in Africa.
"This work also suggests that the evolutionary divergence of the H. sapiens lineage might have started earlier than is conventionally assumed," Rosas, who was not involved in the research, commented in Nature.
Like Homo antecessor, the Casablanca fossils have a mix of characteristics from Homo erectus, ourselves and our cousins.
But while clearly closely related, the Moroccan and Spanish fossils are not the same, which Hublin said is a sign of "populations that are in the process of separating and differentiating".
The Middle East is considered to have been the main migration route for hominins out of Africa, however sinking sea levels at certain times could have allowed crossings between Tunisia and Sicily -- or across the Strait of Gibraltar.
So the Casablanca fossils are "another piece of evidence to support the hypothesis of possible exchanges" between North Africa and southwestern Europe, Hublin said.
ber-dl/fg

Greenland

Trump has options in Greenland, but provocation may be the point

BY SHAUN TANDON

  • Trump has ramped up threats to Greenland after sending US forces to remove Venezuela's leftist president Nicolas Maduro.
  • If President Donald Trump is serious about bolstering the US presence in Greenland, he has options -- but he may still want the most provocative one.
  • Trump has ramped up threats to Greenland after sending US forces to remove Venezuela's leftist president Nicolas Maduro.
If President Donald Trump is serious about bolstering the US presence in Greenland, he has options -- but he may still want the most provocative one.
Trump has insisted that the United States needs the strategically located island, with Russia and China increasing military activities nearby and Arctic ice melting due to climate change.
He has repeatedly refused to rule out force to seize Greenland, infuriating Denmark, a steadfast US ally and founding NATO member that controls the autonomous island.
Washington already has a military presence in Greenland -- the Pituffik base, which dates from World War II when the United States sent forces to defend Greenland after Denmark fell to Nazi Germany.
Some 150 personnel are permanently stationed at the frigid base, but the United States stationed up to 6,000 troops across Greenland during the Cold War, largely out of concerns that any Soviet missile would cross the island on its way to North America.
Under a 1951 treaty, the United States could simply notify Denmark it is again sending more troops.
"The United States could significantly increase its military presence in Greenland without anything really needing to be done," said Kristine Berzina, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
Under different circumstances, Denmark and other NATO allies might be delighted at Trump demonstrating interest in European security, as Russia pursues its grinding invasion of Ukraine.

For MAGA, size matters

But for Trump's Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, the security presence may not be the point.
Trump has ramped up threats to Greenland after sending US forces to remove Venezuela's leftist president Nicolas Maduro.
The Republican president has spoken of a new "Manifest Destiny" -- the 19th-century belief the United States was destined to expand -- and of a "Don-roe" Doctrine, his own aggressive take on the 1823 Monroe Doctrine that declared the Western Hemisphere out of bounds to other powers.
Trump's motivation may lie more in "this notion of maps and legacy," Berzina said.
"Perhaps the size of the country harkens back to this idea of American greatness, and certainly for the MAGA movement, American greatness matters a lot," she said.
Greenland, which lies in the Western Hemisphere, is the size of the biggest US state of Alaska and has only 57,000 people.
Its integration would catapult the United States past China to having the third largest land mass after Russia and Canada.

Art of the deal

The White House, while not ruling out an invasion, has said that Trump, a real estate tycoon, is studying an offer to buy Greenland.
Both Greenland and Denmark have made clear the island is not for sale. But there is precedent, if not recent, for a purchase.
The United States bought what are now the US Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917 for $25 million in gold.
Denmark had initially resisted the deal, in part due to concerns about how segregated America would treat the island's largely Black population, but agreed after the United States threatened force, with Washington fearing Germany would seize the archipelago and gain a Caribbean foothold in World War I.
After World War II, president Harry Truman made his own offer to buy Greenland, but did so quietly and was rebuffed by Denmark.
The issue had appeared moot with the creation of NATO, the alliance that Trump has belittled as unfair to the United States.
Diplomats say that another option mulled by the Trump administration has been to offer a compact association like the United States has with Pacific island nations, which are independent but rely for their defense on the United States.
Greenland's leaders have made clear they do not want to be part of the United States.
Even if Trump could persuade Greenlanders with cash payouts, he would face formidable hurdles of seeking consent from the US Congress, let alone Denmark.
"There are a lot of options that might exist in principle but they seem fairly far-fetched," said Brian Finucane, a former legal expert at the State Department now at the International Crisis Group.
"There are a lot of hurdles to incorporating Greenland into the United States and it's hard to know how much of this is bluster from Trump and trolling," he said.
sct/jgc

Global Edition

Australia heatwave stokes risk of catastrophic bushfires

BY STEVEN TRASK

  • Firefighters are already trying to contain blazes dotted across the states of Victoria and New South Wales.
  • Firefighters warned millions of Australians of "catastrophic" bushfire dangers on Thursday as they battled multiple blazes stoked by a heatwave blanketing the country.
  • Firefighters are already trying to contain blazes dotted across the states of Victoria and New South Wales.
Firefighters warned millions of Australians of "catastrophic" bushfire dangers on Thursday as they battled multiple blazes stoked by a heatwave blanketing the country.
Temperatures are forecast to soar past 40C in parts of southeast Australia, fuelling some of the most dangerous bushfire conditions since the "Black Summer" blazes of 2019-2020.
Country Fire Authority chief officer Jason Heffernan said the fire danger rating in some parts of Victoria state would reach "catastrophic".
"Catastrophic is as bad as it gets," he told reporters.
"It is the most dangerous fire conditions you can expect -- when a fire starts, takes hold and spreads.
"The decisions you make will affect your life and the lives of your family."
Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebush said hot and dry winds would fan bushfires that were "unpredictable, uncontrollable, and fast moving".
Acting Victoria state premier Ben Carroll urged people to prepare evacuation plans.
"You do not know until you are surrounded by fire how loud it is, how smoky, how stressful," he told reporters.
"It is a scary environment that no one should have to go through."
Firefighters are already trying to contain blazes dotted across the states of Victoria and New South Wales.

Baby bats

Millions of people across Australia's two most populous states have been warned to remain on high alert, including in major cities Sydney and Melbourne.
Authorities fear a small number of properties have been destroyed near the rural town of Longwood, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) north of Victoria's capital Melbourne.
Government forecaster Sarah Scully said a band of "extreme" heat had settled across the country.
"There's also dry thunderstorms forecast across Victoria and southern New South Wales," she said.
"Those dry thunderstorms have very little rainfall in them, but they can ignite new fires." 
Hundreds of baby bats died earlier this week as stifling temperatures hit the state of South Australia, a local wildlife group said.
The "Black Summer" bushfires raged across Australia's eastern seaboard from late 2019 to early 2020, razing millions of hectares, destroying thousands of homes and blanketing cities in noxious smoke.
Australia's climate has warmed by an average of 1.51C since 1910, researchers have found, fuelling increasingly frequent extreme weather patterns over both land and sea. 
Australia remains one of the world's largest producers and exporters of gas and coal, two key fossil fuels that are blamed for global heating.
sft/djw/abs

weightloss

Study shows how fast kilos return after ending weight-loss drugs

BY DANIEL LAWLER

  • This meant that people taking the drugs regained their weight four times faster.
  • When people stop taking the new generation of weight-loss drugs they pile back on the kilos four times faster than they would after ending diet and exercise regimes, new research found Thursday.
  • This meant that people taking the drugs regained their weight four times faster.
When people stop taking the new generation of weight-loss drugs they pile back on the kilos four times faster than they would after ending diet and exercise regimes, new research found Thursday.
But this was mostly because they lost so much weight in the first place, according to the British researchers who conducted the largest and most up-to-date review of the subject.
A new generation of appetite-suppressing, injectable drugs called GLP-1 agonists have become immensely popular in the last few years, transforming the treatment for obesity and diabetes in many countries.
They have been found to help people lose between 15-20 percent of their body weight.
"This all appears to be a good news story," said Susan Jebb, a public health nutrition scientist at Oxford university and co-author of a new BMJ study.
However, recent data has suggested that "around half of people discontinue these medications within a year," she told a press conference. 
This might be because of common side effects such as nausea or the price -- these drugs can cost over $1,000 a month in the US.
So the researchers reviewed 37 studies looking at ceasing different weight-loss drugs, finding that participants regained around 0.4 kilograms a month. 
Six of the clinical trials involved semaglutide -- the ingredient used in Novo Nordisk's brands Ozempic and Wegovy -- and tirzepatide used for Eli Lilly's Mounjaro and Zepbound.
While taking these two drugs, the trial participants lost an average of nearly 15 kilograms. 
However after stopping the medication, they regained 10 kilograms within a year, which was the longest follow-up period available for these relatively new drugs.
The researchers projected that the participants would return to their original weight in 18 months.
Measurements of heart health, including blood pressure and cholesterol levels, also returned to their original levels after 1.4 years.
People who were instead put on programmes that included diet and exercise -- but not drugs -- lost significantly less weight. However it took an average of four years for them to regain their lost kilos.
This meant that people taking the drugs regained their weight four times faster.

'Starting point, not a cure'

"Greater weight loss tends to result in faster weight regain," lead study author Sam West of Oxford University explained.
But separate analysis showed that weight gain was "consistently faster after medication, regardless of the amount of weight lost in the first place," he added.
This could be because people who have learned to eat more healthily and exercise more often continue to do so even as they regain weight. 
Jebb emphasised that GLP-1 drugs "are a really valuable tool in obesity treatment -- but obesity is a chronic relapsing condition."
"One would expect that these treatments need to be continued for life, just in the same way as blood pressure medication," Jebb said.
If this was the case, it would impact how national health systems judge whether these drugs are cost-effective, the researchers emphasised.
"This new data makes it clear they are a starting point, not a cure," said Garron Dodd, a metabolic neuroscience researcher at the University of Melbourne not involved in the study.
"Sustainable treatment will likely require combination approaches, longer-term strategies, and therapies that reshape how the brain interprets energy balance, not just how much people eat," he said.
dl/jh

Global Edition

US stocks retreat from records as oil falls further

  • Venezuela's state petroleum firm said only that it was negotiating the sale of crude oil to the United States. 
  • Wall Street stock indices pulled back from records on Wednesday ahead of key US labor data, while oil prices fell further after US President Donald Trump said Venezuela would turn over millions of barrels to the United States.
  • Venezuela's state petroleum firm said only that it was negotiating the sale of crude oil to the United States. 
Wall Street stock indices pulled back from records on Wednesday ahead of key US labor data, while oil prices fell further after US President Donald Trump said Venezuela would turn over millions of barrels to the United States.
Both the Dow and S&P 500 retreated from Tuesday's all-time records as markets digested reports showing a fall in US job openings in November and a lower-than-expected rise in private-sector hiring in December.
More upbeat was a services sector survey by the Institute for Supply Management that showed healthier growth in December compared with November.
The jobs data was not great, but did not "trigger changes to perceptions about future Fed rate cuts," said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers.
"We attempted to follow through from the rallies of the last couple of days, and so far we haven't been able to," Sosnick said.
The Dow finished down 0.9 percent, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.3 percent after both indices surged to new peaks amid bullish investor sentiment to start the 2026 trading year. The tech-focused Nasdaq edged up 0.2 percent. 
Futures markets expect the Fed to hold interest rates steady later this month, but concerns of a sharp slowdown in hiring could prompt a rethink. 
Analysts say Friday's Labor Department report for December will be a critical input to the US central bank.
In Europe, Frankfurt hit a record high above 25,000 points.
Paris traded flat and London slid from a record high set on Tuesday as lower oil prices dragged on British heavyweights BP and Shell, which both fell more than three percent. 
Both main oil contracts dropped on Wednesday, having already lost ground a day earlier, after Trump's latest statement on Venezuela.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Wednesday that Washington will control sales of Venezuelan oil "indefinitely". Venezuela's state petroleum firm said only that it was negotiating the sale of crude oil to the United States. 
Analysts said the shipments lowered the risk that Caracas would have to cut output owing to its limited storage capacity, easing supply concerns.
But they added that the outlook for the commodity pointed to lower prices, as the market remains well stocked after OPEC+ agreed to boost output.
Elsewhere, US defense stocks tumbled after Trump threatened to cap executive pay at major US defense contractors and ban shareholder dividends and stock buybacks. 
Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and RTX all lost 2.5 percent or more.
Shares in Warner Bros. Discovery edged higher after its board urged shareholders to reject an improved hostile takeover bid by rival Paramount, saying it was still inferior to Netflix's offer.
Shares in Netflix rose a scant 0.1 percent while Paramount fell 0.9 percent.
- Key figures at around 2130 GMT - 
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 2.0 percent at $55.99 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.2 percent at $59.96 per barrel
New York - Dow: DOWN 0.9 percent at 48,996.08 (close)
New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.3 percent at 6,920.93 (close)
New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 23,584.28 (close)
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.7 percent at 10,048.21 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: FLAT at 8,233.92 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.9 percent at 25,122.26 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.1 percent at 51,961.98 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.9 percent at 26,458.95 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 4,085.77 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1682 from $1.1689 on Tuesday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3463 from $1.3501
Dollar/yen: UP at 156.77 yen from 156.65 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 86.76 pence from 86.57 pence
burs-jmb/aha

crime

Accused scam boss Chen Zhi arrested in Cambodia, extradited to China: Phnom Penh

  • Cambodian authorities "have arrested three Chinese nationals namely Chen Zhi, Xu Ji Liang, and Shao Ji Hui and extradited (them) to the People's Republic of China," Cambodia's interior ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
  • Chinese-born tycoon Chen Zhi, who was indicted by the United States on fraud and money-laundering charges for running a multibillion-dollar cyberscam network from Cambodia, has been arrested there and extradited to China, Phnom Penh said Wednesday.
  • Cambodian authorities "have arrested three Chinese nationals namely Chen Zhi, Xu Ji Liang, and Shao Ji Hui and extradited (them) to the People's Republic of China," Cambodia's interior ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
Chinese-born tycoon Chen Zhi, who was indicted by the United States on fraud and money-laundering charges for running a multibillion-dollar cyberscam network from Cambodia, has been arrested there and extradited to China, Phnom Penh said Wednesday.
Chen allegedly directed operations of forced labour compounds across Cambodia, where trafficked workers were held in prison-like facilities surrounded by high walls and barbed wire, according to US prosecutors.
Since the US indictment and sanctions by Washington and London in October, authorities in Europe, the United States and Asia have targeted Chen's firm, Prince Holding Group, with a frenzy of asset confiscations.
Chen founded Prince Group, a multinational conglomerate that authorities say served as a front for "one of Asia's largest transnational criminal organizations," according to the US Justice Department.
Cambodian authorities "have arrested three Chinese nationals namely Chen Zhi, Xu Ji Liang, and Shao Ji Hui and extradited (them) to the People's Republic of China," Cambodia's interior ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
The operation was carried out on Tuesday "within the scope of cooperation in combating transnational crime" and according to a request from Chinese authorities "following several months of joint investigative cooperation," it said.
Chen's Cambodian nationality was "revoked by a Royal Decree" in December, the interior ministry added.
Chinese authorities did not immediately comment late Wednesday on Chen's arrest and extradition.
The US Justice Department also declined to comment Wednesday.
US authorities in October unsealed an indictment against Chen, a businessman accused of presiding over compounds in Cambodia where trafficked workers carried out cryptocurrency fraud schemes that have netted billions of dollars.
He faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted in the United States on wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges involving approximately 127,271 bitcoin seized by Washington, worth more than $11 billion at current prices.
Prince Group has denied the allegations.
According to the US charges, scam workers were forced -- under threat of violence -- to execute so-called "pig butchering" scams, cryptocurrency investment schemes that build trust with victims over time before stealing their funds.
The schemes target victims worldwide, causing billions in losses.
Scam centers across Cambodia, Myanmar and the region use fake job ads to attract foreign nationals -- many of them Chinese -- to purpose-built compounds, where they are forced to carry out online fraud.
Since around 2015, Prince Group has operated across more than 30 countries under the guise of legitimate real estate, financial services and consumer businesses, US prosecutors said.
Chen and top executives allegedly used political influence and bribed officials in multiple countries to protect their illicit operations. 
In Cambodia, Chen has served as an adviser to Prime Minister Hun Manet and his father, former leader Hun Sen.
The Southeast Asian nation hosts dozens of scam centres with tens of thousands of people perpetrating online scams -- some willingly and others trafficked -- in the multibillion-dollar industry, experts say.
bur-suy-sco/msp

Greenland

Trump plots offer to buy Greenland as NATO ally Denmark seethes

BY SHAUN TANDON AND DANNY KEMP

  • "When Denmark and Greenland make it clear that Greenland is not for sale, the United States must honor its treaty obligations and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark," they said in a joint statement.
  • US President Donald Trump is considering making an offer to buy Greenland, the White House said Wednesday, despite the island's people and controlling power Denmark making clear the territory is not for sale.
  • "When Denmark and Greenland make it clear that Greenland is not for sale, the United States must honor its treaty obligations and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark," they said in a joint statement.
US President Donald Trump is considering making an offer to buy Greenland, the White House said Wednesday, despite the island's people and controlling power Denmark making clear the territory is not for sale.
Trump has repeatedly refused to rule out using force to seize the strategic Arctic island, prompting shock and anger from Denmark and other longstanding European allies of the United States.
After a request from Copenhagen to clear up misunderstandings, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would soon hold discussions with Danish representatives.
"I'll be meeting with them next week. We'll have those conversations with them then," Rubio told reporters.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump and his national security team have "actively discussed" the option of buying Greenland.
She reiterated that Trump believed it was in the US interest to acquire sparsely populated Greenland, whose size is around that of the largest US state, Alaska.
"He views it in the best interest of the United States to deter Russian and Chinese aggression in the Arctic region. And so that's why his team is currently talking about what a potential purchase would look like," Leavitt told reporters.
Neither Leavitt nor Rubio ruled out the use of force. But Leavitt said, "The president's first option, always, has been diplomacy."
House Speaker Mike Johnson, speaking as Rubio and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth briefed lawmakers, also said that the administration was "looking at diplomatic channels."
"I don't think anybody's talking about using military force in Greenland," Johnson said.
Johnson, however, has acknowledged he had no prior notice when Trump on Saturday ordered a deadly attack on Venezuela, in which US forces removed the president, Nicolas Maduro.
The at least tactical success of the operation has appeared to embolden Trump, who has since mused publicly about US intervention in Greenland, Cuba, Iran, Mexico and Colombia.

'Stay focused on real threats'

Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican who is retiring, criticized Trump's threats in a joint statement with Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"When Denmark and Greenland make it clear that Greenland is not for sale, the United States must honor its treaty obligations and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark," they said in a joint statement.
"We must stay focused on the real threats before us and work with our allies, not against them, to advance our shared security."
Greenland's leaders have insisted that the island, a semi-autonomous territory under Denmark, is not for sale and that only its 57,000 people should decide its future.
Greenland's foreign minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, said the government would join the meeting with Rubio that she hoped would "lead to a normalization of our relations" with the United States.
"Greenland needs the United States and the United States needs Greenland when it comes to security in the Arctic," she told Danish public broadcaster DR.

Threat of sanctions

Taking a different tone, Austrian Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler urged European leaders to draw up a sanctions package as a "deterrent" against a US invasion of Greenland.
The measures could include "harsh sanctions" against US technology companies and punitive tariffs on US agricultural products, said Babler, who heads Austria's left-of-center Social Democrats.
"Given the close ties between American tech companies and the Trump administration, tough sanctions... would be an effective lever," Babler said.
Sanctions within the Western bloc once seemed extraordinary, but the Trump administration has already stunned Europeans with US action against judges and senior EU policymakers.
Denmark is a founding member of NATO and has been a steadfast US ally, including controversially sending troops to support the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an invasion of Greenland would end "everything" -- NATO and the post-World War II security structure.
Trump, in sharp contrast to previous US presidents, has criticized NATO, seeing it not as an instrument of US power but as smaller countries freeloading off US military spending.
"We will always be there for NATO, even if they won't be there for us," Trump wrote Wednesday on his Truth Social platform.
bur-sct/dw

conflict

What are the US charges against Venezuela's Maduro?

BY CHRIS LEFKOW

  • The charge of narco-terrorism conspiracy stems from accusations that Maduro partnered with Colombian rebel groups FARC and ELN, Mexican cartels Sinaloa and Los Zetas and the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to move vast quantities of cocaine.
  • The US indictment of Nicolas Maduro accuses the deposed Venezuelan leader, his wife, son and senior aides of conspiring with Mexican drug cartels and Colombian rebel groups to import tons of cocaine into the United States.
  • The charge of narco-terrorism conspiracy stems from accusations that Maduro partnered with Colombian rebel groups FARC and ELN, Mexican cartels Sinaloa and Los Zetas and the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to move vast quantities of cocaine.
The US indictment of Nicolas Maduro accuses the deposed Venezuelan leader, his wife, son and senior aides of conspiring with Mexican drug cartels and Colombian rebel groups to import tons of cocaine into the United States.
Maduro and his five co-defendants are facing four felony charges and could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted by the federal jury in New York that will eventually hear the case.
The 63-year-old Maduro is expected to fight the allegations on the grounds that he has presidential immunity and his lawyer, at Monday's arraignment, questioned the "legality of his abduction" by US forces.
The specific charges in the indictment are narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
The charge of narco-terrorism conspiracy stems from accusations that Maduro partnered with Colombian rebel groups FARC and ELN, Mexican cartels Sinaloa and Los Zetas and the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to move vast quantities of cocaine.
The US State Department has designated the Sinaloa Cartel, Los Zetas and Tren de Aragua as "foreign terrorist organizations."
The now defunct Marxist rebel group FARC was removed from the list in 2021. ELN, the National Liberation Army, which controls key drug-producing regions of Colombia, remains on the list.
"Maduro and his co-conspirators have, for decades, partnered with some of the most violent and prolific drug traffickers and narco-terrorists in the world, and relied on corrupt officials throughout the region, to distribute tons of cocaine to the United States," according to the indictment.
A previous US indictment of Maduro, from 2020, repeatedly described him as the leader of a drug trafficking group known as Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns.
The superseding indictment unsealed on Saturday after Maduro's capture, however, barely mentions Cartel de los Soles, which was designated a "foreign terrorist organization" by the State Department in November.
According to a number of Venezuela experts, Cartel de los Soles has never existed as a formal organization. The latest indictment refers to it as a "patronage system" to channel illegal drug profits to "corrupt rank-and-file civilian, military, and intelligence officials."
According to the InSight Crime think tank, the name was ironically coined by Venezuelan media in 1993 after two generals were nabbed for drug trafficking. The sun is an insignia on the military uniforms of Venezuelan generals.

'Kidnappings, beatings, and murders'

Indicted along with Maduro are his wife, Cilia Flores, his son Nicolas Ernesto Maduro Guerra, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello Rondon, former interior minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin and the alleged leader of Tren de Aragua, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores.
The United States has declined to recognize the results of recent Venezuelan presidential elections, and the indictment describes Maduro as the "de facto but illegitimate ruler" of Venezuela.
The 25-page complaint traces his alleged involvement in drug trafficking back to at least 1999.
Maduro and the other defendants "partnered with narcotics traffickers and narco-terrorist groups, who dispatched processed cocaine from Venezuela to the United States via transshipment points in the Caribbean and Central America, such as Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico," it says.
Maduro and "other corrupt officials" provided "law enforcement cover and logistical support" for the transport of cocaine produced in Colombia to the United States, the indictment alleges.
While he was foreign minister between 2006 and 2008, Maduro allegedly provided Venezuelan diplomatic passports to known drug traffickers allowing them to move illicit drug proceeds from Mexico to Venezuela under diplomatic cover, it says.
The indictment alleges that between 2004 and 2015, Maduro and Flores, his wife, "worked together to traffic cocaine, much of which had been previously seized by Venezuelan law enforcement."
They ordered "kidnappings, beatings, and murders against those who owed them drug money or otherwise undermined their drug trafficking operation," it says.
Maduro and Flores pleaded not guilty at Monday's arraignment. The next hearing has been set for March 17.
cl/iv

Kurds

Syria govt demands Kurdish fighters leave Aleppo neighbourhoods

BY BAKR ALKASEM

  • The army said it had established two "humanitarian crossings" and AFP correspondents saw thousands of civilians use them to flee with their belongings, some of them in tears.
  • Syria's government on Wednesday demanded that Kurdish fighters leave the neighbourhoods they control in Aleppo following clashes between the two sides which saw thousands of civilians flee.
  • The army said it had established two "humanitarian crossings" and AFP correspondents saw thousands of civilians use them to flee with their belongings, some of them in tears.
Syria's government on Wednesday demanded that Kurdish fighters leave the neighbourhoods they control in Aleppo following clashes between the two sides which saw thousands of civilians flee.
The Syrian government and Kurdish-led forces traded blame over who started the deadly clashes on Tuesday, which killed 16 civilians and one defence ministry member.
The violence comes as the two sides have so far failed to implement a March deal to merge the Kurds' semi-autonomous administration and military into Syria's new Islamist government.
In a statement, the government expressed its "demand for the withdrawal of armed groups from the Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh neighbourhoods".
The Syrian military shelled the neighbourhoods after declaring them "closed military zones" from 1200 GMT.
An AFP correspondent reported that the intensity of the bombardment had decreased by Wednesday evening but tanks and soldiers remained deployed around the areas.
A military source at the scene told AFP the ongoing operation was "limited" and aimed at "pressuring Kurdish fighters in the two neighbourhoods to leave the area so the authorities can extend their control to the entire city".
The army said it had established two "humanitarian crossings" and AFP correspondents saw thousands of civilians use them to flee with their belongings, some of them in tears.
Later, the Syrian civil defence agency said they had evacuated "more than 3,000 civilians", mostly from the two neighbourhoods.
"We fled the clashes and we don't know where to go... Fourteen years of war, I think that's enough," Ahmed, a 38-year-old man who only gave his first name, told AFP while carrying his son on his back.
Ammar Raji, 41, said he and his family were "forced to leave because of the difficult circumstances".
"I have six children, including two young ones... I am worried we will not return," Raji, who had previously escaped fighting in his northern hometown of Manbij six years ago, added.

'Path of reason'

Earlier on Wednesday, the Syrian army said that "all Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) military positions within the Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh neighbourhoods of Aleppo are legitimate military targets", referring to the Kurdish-led force.
Senior Kurdish official Ilham Ahmed accused Damascus of launching a "genocidal war" against the Kurds, calling on the Syrian government to "pursue a path of reason to resolve problems through dialogue".
The March agreement on the Kurdish authority's integration into the state was supposed to be implemented by the end of 2025.
The Kurds are pushing for decentralised rule, an idea which Syria's new authorities have rejected.
Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh have remained under the control of Kurdish units linked to the SDF, despite Kurdish fighters agreeing to withdraw from the areas in April.
In a statement, the SDF insisted that they had no presence in the neighbourhoods, and that the areas "do not pose a military threat in any way".
The Kurdish-led force called on Damascus to "immediately halt the siege, bombardment and military offensive targeting innocent civilians".
"The continuation of this aggression... could turn all of Syria into an open battlefield again."
Syrian authorities on their end accused the SDF of bombarding government-controlled areas.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, on Wednesday said: "We call on all actors to immediately deescalate, exercise maximum restraint and take all measures to prevent further harm to civilians."
He called for "flexibility and goodwill" and the prompt resumption of negotiations to implement the March deal.

'Nowhere else to go'

Schools, universities and government offices in the city were shut down on Wednesday, and authorities announced the suspension of flights to and from Aleppo airport until Thursday evening.
Joud Serjian, a 53-year-old housewife and resident of the government-controlled Syriac Quarter, said the violence "reminded us of the war".
"We have nowhere else to go, so we'll stay in our home," she added.
The SDF controls swathes of Syria's north and northeast, with the backing of a US-led international coalition, and was key to the territorial defeat of the Islamic State group in Syria in 2019.
During the Syrian civil war, Aleppo was the scene of fierce fighting between rebels and forces of ousted president Bashar al-Assad before he regained control of the city in 2016.
Assad was ousted in a lightning Islamist-led offensive in 2024.
Despite assurances from Damascus that all of Syria's communities will be protected, minorities remain wary of their future under the new authorities.
Last year, flare-ups of sectarian violence in the Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast and in Druze-majority Sweida province killed hundreds of members of the minority communities.
str-mam-nad/amj/dcp

Saudi

Saudi strikes Yemen after separatist leader skips talks

  • But he failed to board the flight carrying his delegation, and the coalition struck his home province of al-Dhale after accusing him of mobilising "large forces" there.
  • A Saudi-led coalition struck the home province of Yemen's UAE-backed separatist leader on Wednesday, after he failed to show up for talks in Riyadh and was kicked out of the country's presidential body.
  • But he failed to board the flight carrying his delegation, and the coalition struck his home province of al-Dhale after accusing him of mobilising "large forces" there.
A Saudi-led coalition struck the home province of Yemen's UAE-backed separatist leader on Wednesday, after he failed to show up for talks in Riyadh and was kicked out of the country's presidential body.
The coalition said it had given Aidaros Alzubidi a 48-hour ultimatum to come to Riyadh for discussions, after his Southern Transitional Council (STC) grabbed swathes of territory last month. 
But he failed to board the flight carrying his delegation, and the coalition struck his home province of al-Dhale after accusing him of mobilising "large forces" there.
The separatists later said that the delegation they sent to Riyadh had been detained by the Saudi authorities.
Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, which holds executive power and includes rival UAE- and Saudi-backed figures, announced Alzubidi's removal, accusing him of high treason.
The showdown between Yemen's rival factions has raised fears that its second city, Aden, where the STC insisted its leader was still located, could be drawn into the violence.
The STC's advance and the Saudi response have also sent relations with the United Arab Emirates, a fellow oil power and rival powerbroker in Yemen, plummeting.
The Saudi-led coalition and allied Yemeni forces have in recent days rolled back the STC's territorial advances.
On Wednesday, the separatists announced a nighttime curfew in Aden, the capital of government-controlled areas and an STC stronghold, amid fears of clashes with Saudi-backed forces.

'Arbitrarily detained'

"More than 50 STC officials have been arbitrarily detained and taken to an unknown location by the Saudis. We call on their immediate release and put the onus on Saudi Arabia for their safety," the group said in a statement.
An STC official told AFP that Alzubidi decided not to join the delegation flying to Saudi Arabia for talks after hearing he would be asked to dissolve his group, which forms part of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) governing government-held Yemen.
Alzubidi "continues his duties" in Aden, the group said, calling on the Saudi-led coalition to halt the air strikes.
Coalition spokesperson Major General Turki al-Maliki, meanwhile, said Alzubidi "fled to an unknown location... after he had distributed weapons and ammunition to dozens of elements inside Aden".
The coalition carried out strikes to prevent Alzubidi from "escalating the conflict" and extending it into Dhale governorate, he said.
More than 15 air strikes hit Dhale, a local official told AFP, killing four people, according to two hospital sources.

'Grave crimes'

The PLC announced Alzubidi's removal, accusing him of committing several crimes, including "high treason" and "engaging in armed insurgency".
"It has been established that (Alzubidi) has abused the just cause of the South and exploited it to commit grave crimes against civilians in the southern governorates," it said.
More than 100 people have been killed in the Saudi-led coalition's strikes on the separatists' positions and in clashes on the ground.
The Saudis and Emiratis have long supported rival factions in Yemen's fractious government, after they had initially joined forces in the Saudi-led military coalition against the Houthis.
The coalition and another Saudi-backed group said it has asked STC deputy Abdulrahman al-Mahrami, who is in Riyadh and approved Alzubidi's dismissal from the presidency, to "enforce security and prevent hostilities in Aden".
A security official in Aden told AFP that the forces loyal to Mahrami have been deployed in the streets and government buildings, including the presidential palace.
Mahrami later announced there would be a 9:00 pm to 6:00 am (1800 GMT to 0300 GMT) curfew in the city.
A military source in Shabwa province told AFP that units of the Saudi-backed National Shield forces had arrived in Ataq city and were heading towards Aden. 
Aden is an STC stronghold and home to the group's headquarters.
After the Iran-backed Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014, it became the government's self-proclaimed temporary capital.
As the civil war progressed, the STC's political and military influence expanded across south Yemen and they became a dominant force in Aden.
Another security official told AFP that two days ago, the STC evacuated its headquarters in Aden and moved the operations of its TV channel to an unknown location for fear of Saudi bombing. 
Last week, Alzubidi had announced a two-year transition towards creating a new country, "South Arabia", in Yemen's south.
bur/aya-th/dcp/amj