Beckham

'I do not want to reconcile with my family' says Brooklyn Peltz Beckham

  • Brooklyn is the eldest son of the former England football captain, David and his fashion designer and former pop star wife, Victoria.
  • Brooklyn Peltz Beckham, son of the British celebrity couple David and Victoria Beckham, said he did not want to reconcile with his parents after a family rift he described in a lengthy post on social media on Monday.
  • Brooklyn is the eldest son of the former England football captain, David and his fashion designer and former pop star wife, Victoria.
Brooklyn Peltz Beckham, son of the British celebrity couple David and Victoria Beckham, said he did not want to reconcile with his parents after a family rift he described in a lengthy post on social media on Monday.
The 26-year-old said that his parents have been controlling narratives in the press about his family and tried to "ruin" his relationship with his wife Nicola Peltz Beckham.
"I do not want to reconcile with my family," he wrote in a post to his 16.2 million Instagram followers. 
"I’m not being controlled, I’m standing up for myself for the first time in my life."
Brooklyn is the eldest son of the former England football captain, David and his fashion designer and former pop star wife, Victoria.
Brooklyn married Nicola, an American actress and the daughter of billionaire businessman Nelson Peltz and former model Claudia Heffner Peltz, in 2022.
Spokespeople for David and Victoria Beckham did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment on their son's statements. 
"My parents have been trying endlessly to ruin my relationship since before my wedding, and it hasn't stopped," Brooklyn Peltz Beckham said.
"My mum cancelled making Nicola’s dress in the eleventh hour despite how excited she was to wear her design, forcing her to urgently find a new dress."
Brooklyn went on to allege that his mother "hijacked" his first dance with Nicola on their wedding day and danced "inappropriately on me" in front of hundreds of guests, adding that he had never felt more "uncomfortable or humiliated" in his life.
He also alleged that his wife had been "disrespected" by his family and that she was not invited to his father's 50th birthday party.
"My family values public promotion and endorsements above all else. Brand Beckham comes first," he added. 
He concluded by saying that he grew up with "overwhelming anxiety", but now he has found "peace". 
mp/ceg

Global Edition

EU leaders take stage in Davos as Trump rocks global order

BY LAURENT THOMET

  • At a news conference in Davos, Finland's President Alexander Stubb said "tariff threats at the allied level are unacceptable.
  • European leaders take the stage on Tuesday ahead of Donald Trump at the gathering of global elites in Davos, as the US president dangles tariff threats in a bid to pressure the EU over Greenland.
  • At a news conference in Davos, Finland's President Alexander Stubb said "tariff threats at the allied level are unacceptable.
European leaders take the stage on Tuesday ahead of Donald Trump at the gathering of global elites in Davos, as the US president dangles tariff threats in a bid to pressure the EU over Greenland.
Trump is set to dominate the week at the Swiss ski resort, with a US delegation already on the ground to promote an American agenda that has unsettled the global order cherished by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron will address the forum on Tuesday, along with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose countries have their own disputes with Trump.
Trump will deliver a speech on Wednesday and participate in other events on Thursday.
Europe is weighing countermeasures after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on eight European countries over the Greenland standoff.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is leading the US contingent in Davos, warned that EU retaliation "would be very unwise".
Von der Leyen met with a bipartisan US congressional delegation in Davos on Monday and said on social media that she had "addressed the need to unequivocally respect the sovereignty of Greenland and of the Kingdom of Denmark".
While Macron will leave on Tuesday without seeing Trump in Davos, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he would seek to meet the US president at the forum on Wednesday.
Merz said Germany and other European countries agreed "that we want to avoid any escalation in this dispute if at all possible".
Leaders from the 27-nation bloc will hold an emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday to discuss their response to one of the gravest crises in years to hit transatlantic ties.
At a news conference in Davos, Finland's President Alexander Stubb said "tariff threats at the allied level are unacceptable. They weaken our transatlantic relationship and, in the worst case, can lead to a vicious cycle". 
When asked if the United States might use force, Stubb said: "I don't believe that the United States will take control of Greenland militarily."
Denmark has proposed that NATO start surveillance operations in Greenland to confront security concerns.

'USA House'

Other prominent foreign leaders addressing the WEF on Tuesday include Carney, who has sought to reduce his country's reliance on the United States as Trump has raised tariffs on Canadian products.
As US ties fray, Carney turned the page on years of diplomatic tensions with China during a visit to Beijing last week, securing a preliminary trade agreement to reduce tariffs.
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, whose country has had long-running trade spats with Trump, will also address the WEF.
Other flashpoints on the WEF agenda include the crises in Venezuela, Gaza, Ukraine and Iran.
The United States has sent an unusually large delegation to Davos, in a sign that it wants to make its presence felt at the gathering for global economic and political leaders.
Bessent and other US officials will attend panels at the forum's congress centre but also at the "USA House", a venue inside an old church on the glitzy promenade of the mountain retreat.
lt/ceg

Kabul

Blast at Chinese restaurant in Kabul kills 7

  • "A Chinese Muslim, Ayub, and six Afghans were killed, and several others were wounded.
  • A blast at a Chinese restaurant in central Kabul on Monday killed at least seven people and wounded more than a dozen others, emergency services said. 
  • "A Chinese Muslim, Ayub, and six Afghans were killed, and several others were wounded.
A blast at a Chinese restaurant in central Kabul on Monday killed at least seven people and wounded more than a dozen others, emergency services said. 
An AFP journalist saw police vehicles and an ambulance at the scene following the explosion on a street known for its flower sellers in the Shahr-e-Naw area.
Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said the explosion occurred at the Chinese Noodle restaurant, which he said mainly served Chinese Muslims. 
"A Chinese Muslim, Ayub, and six Afghans were killed, and several others were wounded. The blast occurred near the kitchen," Zadran said in a statement.
The police spokesman, who said the cause was under investigation, had earlier said the blast hit a hotel.
The Islamic State armed group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, the SITE Intelligence Group reported, saying it was a suicide attack targeting Chinese nationals.
"The Islamic State in Afghanistan has placed Chinese nationals on its list of targets, especially in light of the escalating crimes committed by the Chinese government against the oppressed Uyghur Muslims," the IS statement said.
Italian NGO EMERGENCY said its hospital near the targeted restaurant had received "seven people dead on arrival", with 13 others admitted to the surgical department.
"Among the wounded are four women and a child," Dejan Panic, the NGO's country director, said in a statement.
The owner of a flower shop, requesting anonymity for security reasons, said the blast happened at around 3:30 pm (1100 GMT) at the other end of the street from his business.
He told AFP he heard the "strong sound" of a blast in the crowded area.
"It was an emergency situation. Everybody feared for his own life," he said.
"I could see at least five wounded."
Within hours of the blast the street was reopened to traffic, with cars streaming past the restaurant's covered entrance. 
Windows in the building opposite were smashed, according to an AFP photographer.
Taliban officials have vowed to restore security to the country and are courting foreign investors to secure crucial revenue streams as foreign aid funding dries up.
Chinese business visitors have flocked to Afghanistan since the Taliban government took power in 2021 for the second time. 
The following year, the Islamic State group claimed a deadly attack on a Kabul hotel popular with Chinese guests.
China, which shares a rugged 76-kilometre (47-mile) border with Afghanistan, has close ties with the Taliban government. 
qb-rsc/aha/jgc

Global Edition

Guatemalans call for iron fist over surge in gang violence

BY JOHAN ORDÓÑEZ

  • Arevalo said the declared state of emergency would allow the police and army to act against organized crime but soldiers remained in their barracks on Monday, awaiting orders.
  • Guatemalans on Monday called for an iron fist to stamp out gang violence after the murder of nine police officers and riots in several prisons, which led to the declaration of a state of emergency.
  • Arevalo said the declared state of emergency would allow the police and army to act against organized crime but soldiers remained in their barracks on Monday, awaiting orders.
Guatemalans on Monday called for an iron fist to stamp out gang violence after the murder of nine police officers and riots in several prisons, which led to the declaration of a state of emergency.
On Sunday, suspected members of the notorious Barrio 18 gang carried out a wave of attacks on the police after security forces put down a prison mutiny.
Eight officers were killed on Sunday and a ninth died of his injuries on Monday.
President Bernardo Arevalo declared a 30-day emergency on Sunday over the violence, which caused deep shock among Guatemalans.
On Monday, he presided over a memorial ceremony for the slain police officers at the interior ministry.
The streets of the capital Guatemala City were semi-deserted and private schools, courts and universities remained shuttered.
Sitting on a bench in the historic center of Guatemala City, an octogenarian told AFP that he believed the only way to stamp out criminal gangs was by "burning them." 
"A criminal caught, a criminal killed, because there's no other way...It's like a tree; if you don't pull out the roots, it will sprout again," the man, who gave only his last name, Espana, said.
He called for Guatemala's government to emulate the iron-fisted policies of President Nayib Bukele of neighboring El Salvador.
Bukele has imprisoned tens of thousands of men without charge, as part of a war on gangs which has led to a sharp drop in El Salvador's murder rate but caused an outcry over human rights abuses.
Alejandra Donis, a 30-year-old shopkeeper, also held Bukele up as an example of leadership.
"There was a point in El Salvador where it was scary to just go out, right? And now it's a place that's quite touristy; you can go there, and it feels peaceful," she said.

'The Wolf'

The unrest in Guatemala began when inmates at three prisons took 45 guards and a psychiatrist hostage on Saturday to demand gang leaders be transferred from a maximum-security prison to more lenient facilities. 
On Sunday, the police and army stormed all three penitentiaries and restored control.
After the first prison raid, the interior ministry published a video on X showing officers handcuffing and leading away Barrio 18's alleged leader in Guatemala, whom authorities identified as Aldo Dupie, alias "El Lobo" (The Wolf). 
In response to the crackdown, gang members attacked police stations and patrols.
The coffins of the slain police officers were draped in Guatemalan blue-and-white flags at the interior ministry and flanked by colleagues in uniform, standing to attention.
Arevalo, dressed in a black suit, greeted the grieving relatives, hugging some.

FBI help sought

Barrio 18 and the rival gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) are blamed for much of the drug trafficking and criminal violence that plague Central America.
Washington has declared both to be terrorist organizations.
Arevalo said the declared state of emergency would allow the police and army to act against organized crime but soldiers remained in their barracks on Monday, awaiting orders.
Since mid-2025, gang members have staged several uprisings in Guatemalan prisons to demand their leaders be held in less restrictive conditions. 
In October, 20 leaders of Barrio 18 escaped from prison. 
Only six have been recaptured, while another was shot and killed.
The government at the time asked for the help of the FBI to track down the remaining escapees.
Across Latin America, gang members continue to run criminal enterprises, from drug trafficking rings to extortion rackets, from behind bars -- often with the collusion of corrupt prison officials.
ec/axm/cb/sla

US

Trump says not thinking 'purely of peace' in Greenland push

BY WITH JOHANNES LEDEL IN STOCKHOLM

  • "Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace," Trump wrote to Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.
  • Donald Trump warned he no longer feels obliged to think "purely of peace" after being snubbed for a Nobel prize, in a text message published Monday as the US president ramps up his campaign to take over Greenland.
  • "Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace," Trump wrote to Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.
Donald Trump warned he no longer feels obliged to think "purely of peace" after being snubbed for a Nobel prize, in a text message published Monday as the US president ramps up his campaign to take over Greenland.
In an extraordinary exchange with Norway's prime minister, Trump questioned Denmark's right to the vast Arctic island, over which he said he wanted "complete and total control".
"Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace," Trump wrote to Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.
"Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway? There are no written documents.
"The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland."
The message came days after Trump threatened hefty new tariffs on European allies who oppose his plan to buy Greenland, raising alarm in allied capitals and sending stock markets plummeting when they opened on Monday.
German and French leaders denounced those tariff threats as "blackmail," while Paris said Europe needed to prepare to hit back.
That prompted pre-emptive rebuke from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
"I think it would be very unwise," he told AFP as he arrived at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Trump's latest broadside has yet again left allies scrambling to chart a course between pushing back firmly enough, and not angering the mercurial US leader.
The European Union said it would hold an emergency summit on Thursday to weigh its response, and that while its priority was to "engage not escalate" it was ready to act.
Greenland, where thousands took to the streets over the weekend carrying banners with anti-US slogans like "Make America Go Away," said Trump's tariff threats made no difference to the island. 
"We will not be pressured," Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a Facebook post, adding that the autonomous territory "is a democratic society with the right to make its own decisions".

Nobel Prize claim 

Norway PM Store said Trump's text came in response to a message from him and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, where they had "conveyed our opposition" to the tariff threats.
"I have clearly explained, including to President Trump, what is well known -- the prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee," not the Norwegian government, he said in a statement.
Despite the direct link that Trump himself was drawing, Bessent told AFP in Davos there was no connection between the award and the billionaire's quest for Greenland.
"I think it's a complete canard that the president will be doing this because of the Nobel Prize," he said.

'Blackmail'

Trump has repeatedly said his country needs vast, mineral-rich Greenland for "national security", despite the United States already having a base on the island and security agreements with NATO ally Denmark.
Denmark's Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen Monday met with the organisation's chief Mark Rutte to present a proposal for surveillance operations based in Greenland.
Rutte wrote on X that he had discussed "how important the Arctic -- including Greenland -- is to our collective security" with the Danish minister and Greenland's top diplomat. "We'll continue to work together as Allies on these important issues," he wrote.
Meanwhile aircraft from North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a joint US-Canada military organization, were announced to arrive "soon" at the US Pituffik Space Base in Greenland for "long planned" activities, the organization said Monday.
Trump's tariff threats, which he said would see Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland hit with a 10-percent duty on all goods sent to the United States from February 1, sent investors scurrying for safety.
Precious metals surged, with silver up four percent to a new high as market players sought shelter from falling stocks.
Frankfurt was down 1.3 percent at the close, while Paris was off 1.8 percent.
US markets were shut for the Martin Luther King Day public holiday, but futures trading looked dismal, with both the broad-based S&P 500 and the tech-focused Nasdaq off around one percent.
burs-hg/sla

climate

Chile wildfires rage for third day, entire towns wiped out

BY AXL HERNANDEZ

  • Elsewhere in southern South America, wildfires have burnt more than 15,000 hectares in recent days in Argentine Patagonia.  axl-pa/mlr-cb/ksb
  • Wildfires that have killed 19 people in southern Chile and wiped out entire towns raged for a third day Monday, fanned by warm temperatures and strong winds at the height of the southern hemisphere summer.
  • Elsewhere in southern South America, wildfires have burnt more than 15,000 hectares in recent days in Argentine Patagonia.  axl-pa/mlr-cb/ksb
Wildfires that have killed 19 people in southern Chile and wiped out entire towns raged for a third day Monday, fanned by warm temperatures and strong winds at the height of the southern hemisphere summer.
The blazes started Saturday in the Nuble and Biobio regions -- about 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of the capital Santiago -- and have since ripped through an area the size of the US city of Detroit.
Around 1,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged, officials said.
President Gabriel Boric said Monday that firefighters had managed to contain some of the blazes but that others remained "very active" and that new fires had broken out in the Araucania region bordering Biobio.
Both Nuble and Biobio were declared disaster areas, allowing for the deployment of soldiers who patrolled a desolate landscape of melted cars, twisted metal and houses reduced to rubble.
"It was horrible. I tried to wet the house as much as possible, but I saw the flames coming toward my neighborhood. I grabbed my son, my brother got my dog out, and we fled," Yagora Vasquez, a resident of the small port town of Lirquen, which was particularly hard hit, told AFP. 
Residents returned to what remained of their homes on Monday, digging through the rubble and ash to salvage what they could.
Vasquez told AFP she had chosen to live in Lirquen -- on a hill far from the sea -- after seeing the devastation wrought by the tsunami of 2010 that killed more than 500 people in the same region of Chile.
This time the threat came from the forest.

'A wave of fire'

Mareli Torres similarly moved away from the coast after the tsunami, only for her home to be destroyed this weekend in "a wave of fire, not water."
"This is much worse, much more devastating. In the earthquake the sea surged, there was destruction, but compared to this it’s nothing," said Torres, 53.
Of the two-story house she lived in with her family for nearly two decades, only blackened walls and a haze of smoke remained.
More than 3,500 firefighters were fighting the fires in Nuble and Biobio on Monday.
Temperatures in the area hit around 25C (77F) on Monday, slightly lower than at the weekend.
Wildfires have severely impacted south-central Chile in recent years, especially in its warmest and driest months of January and February.
A 2024 study led by researchers at the Santiago-based Center for Climate and Resilience Research, found climate change had "conditioned the occurrence of extreme fire seasons in south-central Chile" by contributing to a long-term drying and warming trend.
In February 2024, several fires broke out simultaneously near the city of Vina del Mar, northwest of Santiago, resulting in 138 deaths, according to the public prosecutor's office.
Unprecedently large areas of the country burnt during the 2016-17 and 2022-23 fire seasons.
Elsewhere in southern South America, wildfires have burnt more than 15,000 hectares in recent days in Argentine Patagonia. 
axl-pa/mlr-cb/ksb

Kurds

Syria says Sharaa, Trump discuss Kurdish rights as forces deploy in country's north, east

BY BAKR ALKASEM WITH OMAR HAJ KADOUR IN DEIR EZZOR

  • In the phone call, Sharaa and Trump, "emphasised the need to guarantee the Kurdish people's rights and protection within the framework of the Syrian state", the Syrian presidency said.
  • Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and US President Donald Trump discussed guaranteeing Kurdish rights in a phone call on Monday, Syria's presidency said, a day after Damascus reached a deal with Kurdish forces including a truce.
  • In the phone call, Sharaa and Trump, "emphasised the need to guarantee the Kurdish people's rights and protection within the framework of the Syrian state", the Syrian presidency said.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and US President Donald Trump discussed guaranteeing Kurdish rights in a phone call on Monday, Syria's presidency said, a day after Damascus reached a deal with Kurdish forces including a truce.
Sharaa met Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, to discuss the agreement, which includes integrating the Kurds' administration into the state, but a Kurdish source with knowledge of the talks told AFP they were not positive.
Analysts said the deal -- following rapid government gains in Kurdish-controlled territory after driving Kurdish fighters out of Aleppo city earlier this month -- marked a blow for the minority's long-held ambitions of preserving the de facto autonomy they had exercised in swathes of north and northeast Syria for over a decade.
In the phone call, Sharaa and Trump, "emphasised the need to guarantee the Kurdish people's rights and protection within the framework of the Syrian state", the Syrian presidency said.
They "affirmed the importance of preserving the unity and independence of Syrian territory" and discussed "cooperation on combating" the Islamic State jihadist group, it added.
Requesting anonymity, the Kurdish source with knowledge of Monday's talks between Sharaa and Abdi said differences concerned "the mechanism for implementing the terms of the agreement".
Despite the ceasefire, brief clashes erupted on Monday evening in Raqa city, with an AFP correspondent hearing heavy bombardment.
Using another name for the Islamic State group, the SDF said government forces shelled the Al-Aqtan prison "which holds ISIS members and leaders, in an attempt to storm it".
Raqa was once the jihadist group's de facto capital in Syria.
A defence ministry source later told AFP that the clashes had halted, without elaborating.

'Stability'

Sunday's agreement included the Kurdish administration's immediate handover of Arab-majority Deir Ezzor and Raqa provinces to the government, which will also take responsibility for IS prisoners and their families held in Kurdish-run jails and camps.
A defence ministry map published on Monday showed the government controlled all of Deir Ezzor and Raqa provinces, while the eastern parts of Hasakeh province were still under Kurdish control.
In Deir Ezzor province, an AFP correspondent saw military vehicles heading east of the Euphrates, while cars and pedestrians waited at a bridge leading to the eastern bank.
Driver Mohammed Khalil, 50, told AFP that "we hope things will be better than before. There was... no freedom" under the SDF.
Teacher Safia Keddo, 49, said that "we're not asking for a miracle, we just want stability and a normal life".
Authorities announced a curfew in Hasakeh province's Shadadi after the army said the SDF released IS detainees from the town's prison, while the Kurds said they lost control of the facility after an attack by Damascus.
The sides had earlier traded blame for attacks that the military said killed three soldiers.
The SDF had seized swathes of Deir Ezzor and Raqa provinces as they expelled IS during Syria's civil war, supported by an international coalition led by Washington.

'Protecting civilian lives'

The AFP correspondent in Raqa said residents toppled a statue of a woman erected by Kurdish forces.
Raqa resident Khaled al-Afnan, 34, said "we support Kurdish civil rights... but we don't support them having a military role".
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a close ally of Damascus who is hostile to the SDF, hailed Syria's army for its "careful" offensive despite what he called "provocations". 
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas instead said "all military activities must cease immediately".
The SDF on Sunday withdrew from areas under its control including the Al-Omar oil field, the country's largest, and the Tanak field.
Local fighters from tribes in the Arab-majority Deir Ezzor province sided with Damascus and seized the areas before the arrival of government forces.
Some Arab tribes were previously allied with the SDF, which included a significant Arab component.
The SDF's Abdi said Sunday he agreed to the deal to avoid civil war and end a conflict "imposed" on the Kurds.
Mutlu Civiroglu, a Washington-based analyst and expert on the Kurds, said the government's advance had raised "serious doubts about the durability" of the ceasefire and a March agreement between the government and the Kurds.
Sharaa had on Friday issued a decree granting the Kurds official recognition, but the Kurds said it fell short of their expectations.
In Qamishli, the main Kurdish city in the country's northeast, activist Hevi Ahmed, 40, said Sunday's deal was "a disappointment after years of hope that the Syrian constitution might contain a better future for the Kurds". 
str-mam-lk/lg/amj

Kurds

Syria offensive leaves Turkey's Kurds on edge

BY ANNE CHAON WITH MAHMUT BOZARSLAN IN DIYARBAKIR

  • Turkey has long been hostile to the US-backed SDF, seeing it as an extension of the PKK and a major threat along the 900-kilometre (550-mile) border it shares with Syria. 
  • Turkey's Kurds are hoping that Ankara's bid to end the decades-long PKK conflict won't be hurt by Damascus' lightning offensive against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria that was backed by Turkey. 
  • Turkey has long been hostile to the US-backed SDF, seeing it as an extension of the PKK and a major threat along the 900-kilometre (550-mile) border it shares with Syria. 
Turkey's Kurds are hoping that Ankara's bid to end the decades-long PKK conflict won't be hurt by Damascus' lightning offensive against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria that was backed by Turkey. 
A close ally of the new post Bashar al-Assad Syrian leadership, Ankara has been engaged in dialogue with the jailed founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan whose fighters fought a four-decade insurgency that cost some 50,000 lives. 
But that process has been largely stalled amid a stand-off between the Kurdish-led SDF that controls swathes of northeastern Syria and Damascus which wants the force integrated into the central state. 
That standoff, which triggered weeks of clashes, came to a head over the weekend when Syrian troops made rapid advances in Kurdish-controlled areas, with President Ahmed al-Sharaa announcing a ceasefire deal to enforce his integration plans late Sunday. 
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed the ceasefire and the integration agreement as "a very important achievement", commending the Syrian army for its "careful" offensive which Ankara has billed as a justified "fight against terrorism." 
But the violence, which began earlier this month, has unsettled Turkey's Kurds, who account for a fifth of its 86 million population, prompting a string of protests. 
In Diyarbakir, the main city in the Kurdish-majority southeast, clashes broke out on Monday afternoon as police tried to break up a demonstration of at least 500 people who gathered despite heavy snowfall, an AFP correspondent said. 
They used tear gas and rubber bullets to break up the protest and made at least 20 arrests, he said.
And during the evening, Istanbul police broke up protests outside the headquarters of the pro-Kurdish DEM, Turkey's third largest party, arresting 10 people including a French journalist, the party said. 
Raphael Boukandoura, who works for various publications including Courrier International and Ouest France, was arrested while covering the demo, with Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calling for for his "immediate release". 
Turkey has long been hostile to the US-backed SDF, seeing it as an extension of the PKK and a major threat along the 900-kilometre (550-mile) border it shares with Syria. 

'Sabotage'

For the Kurds, the offensive was a tough blow to their hopes of preserving their autonomous administration. 
Several days of fierce fighting earlier this month pushed SDF forces out of Aleppo, and over the weekend, government troops also took Raqa, a city SDF had held since recapturing it from Islamic State militants nearly a decade ago.
Turkey's support sparked an angry response, with Ocalan warning the violence was "an attempt to sabotage" the ongoing peace process, in a message sent via DEM. 
DEM leaders -- which have spent over a year shuttling between Ankara and Ocalan -- also accused the government of "pure hypocrisy". 
"You cannot treat those you call 'citizens' on this side of the border as 'enemies' on the other," the party said in a statement. 
"You cannot be constructive in Ankara and destructive in Syria."
Speaking to AFP, one of DEM's Diyarbakir leaders Abbas Sahin said the operation was a threat to the peace process which had been "severely tested" but "must continue". 
Bayram Bozyel, head of Diyarbakir-based Kurdistan Socialist Party (PSK) said Turkey's support for actions against Kurds in Syria was "causing unease among Kurds in Turkey" 
“We don't know how the PKK will react, (Ankara's) policy has sparked a deep sense of distrust among Kurds," he said. 
Despite everything, Bozyel believes Turkey "will continue the (peace) process and the PKK disarmament" because it had no other choice. 
"Otherwise the PKK will pose an even greater threat to Turkey."
Last year, in response to a call by Ocalan, the PKK publicly ended its armed struggle against Turkey, saying it wanted to embrace democratic means to defend Kurdish rights. 
But six weeks ago, a senior PKK leaders told AFP the group would take no further steps without Turkey taking steps to reciprocate. 
ach-mb/hmw/gv

conflict

Allies tepid on Trump 'Board of Peace' with $1bn permanent member fee

BY MATTHEW PENNINGTON

  • Paul Williams, professor of international affairs at George Washington University, told AFP that the offer of permanent membership for $1 billion showed Trump is "trying to turn it into a pay-to-play alternative to the UN Security Council but where Trump alone exercises veto power."
  • Key allies reacted coolly Monday to US President Donald Trump's invite to pay $1 billion for a permanent spot on his "Board of Peace" for resolving international conflicts, with analysts likening it to a pay-to-play version of the UN Security Council.
  • Paul Williams, professor of international affairs at George Washington University, told AFP that the offer of permanent membership for $1 billion showed Trump is "trying to turn it into a pay-to-play alternative to the UN Security Council but where Trump alone exercises veto power."
Key allies reacted coolly Monday to US President Donald Trump's invite to pay $1 billion for a permanent spot on his "Board of Peace" for resolving international conflicts, with analysts likening it to a pay-to-play version of the UN Security Council.
The White House has asked various world leaders to sit on the board, chaired by Trump himself, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian premier Viktor Orban and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
The board's charter, seen by AFP, says that member countries will serve no longer than three years, subject to renewal by the chairman. That is unless they "contribute more than USD $1,000,000,000 in cash funds to the Board of Peace within the first year of the Charter’s entry into force."
The initial reaction from two key allies, France and Canada, was lukewarm.
"At this stage, France cannot accept," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Monday during a debate with French lawmakers, noting that the board's charter goes beyond the scope of rebuilding and running post-war Gaza endorsed by the United Nations. 
He added that it is "incompatible with France's international commitments and in particular its membership in the United Nations, which obviously cannot be called into question under any circumstances."
France is one of the five veto-wielding, permanent members of the UN Security Council, along with the United States, China, Russia and Britain.
A Canadian government source said Ottawa will not pay to be on the board, and hasn't gotten a request to pay, after Prime Minister Mark Carney indicated he would accept an invitation to join. 
Paul Williams, professor of international affairs at George Washington University, told AFP that the offer of permanent membership for $1 billion showed Trump is "trying to turn it into a pay-to-play alternative to the UN Security Council but where Trump alone exercises veto power."
The charter, which in fact does not mention Gaza, describes the board as "an international organization that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict."

'Failed institutions'

The charter appears to take a swipe at the United Nations, saying that the new board should have "the courage to depart from approaches and institutions that have too often failed."
Trump has regularly criticized the United Nations and announced this month that his country will withdraw from 66 global organizations and treaties -- roughly half affiliated with the UN.
The world body -- which suffers chronic funding shortfalls and political deadlock in the Security Council -- pushed back Monday.
La Neice Collins, spokesperson for the president of the UN General Assembly, told reporters "there is one universal, multilateral organization to deal with peace and security issues, and that is the United Nations."
Daniel Forti at the International Crisis Group, a think tank, said at least 60 countries have reportedly been invited to the Board of Peace. He said some may view it as a way to curry favor with Trump, but many member states would see it as power grab.
"Actively buying permanent seats in an exclusive club sends a very worrying signal about what transactional and deals-based international diplomacy may mean in the future," he told AFP.
Trump would have the power to remove member states from the board, subject to a veto by two-third of members, and to choose his replacement should he leave his role as chairman.
Ian Lesser at the German Marshall Fund think tank told AFP he would be surprised if many countries are willing to sign up "at a time when most are focused on preserving the existing multilateral institutions."  
The White House said there would be a main board, a Palestinian committee of technocrats meant to govern devastated Gaza, and a second "executive board" that appears designed to have a more advisory role.
Trump has named as board members Secretary of State Marco Rubio, former British prime minister Tony Blair, senior negotiator Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Israel has objected to the line-up of a "Gaza executive board" to operate under the body, which includes Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Qatari diplomat Ali Al-Thawadi.
bur-aje/msp/ksb

Global Edition

Iran warns protesters who joined 'riots' to surrender

  • National police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan on Monday urged young people "deceived" into joining the "riots" to turn themselves in and receive lighter punishment.
  • Iran's top police officer issued an ultimatum on Monday to protesters who joined what authorities have deemed "riots", saying they must hand themselves in within three days or face the full force of the law.
  • National police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan on Monday urged young people "deceived" into joining the "riots" to turn themselves in and receive lighter punishment.
Iran's top police officer issued an ultimatum on Monday to protesters who joined what authorities have deemed "riots", saying they must hand themselves in within three days or face the full force of the law.
But the government also pledged to tackle economic hardships that sparked the demonstrations, which were met with a crackdown that rights groups say has left thousands dead.
The protests constituted the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership in years, with the full scale of the violence yet to emerge amid an internet blackout.
National police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan on Monday urged young people "deceived" into joining the "riots" to turn themselves in and receive lighter punishment.
Those "who became unwittingly involved in the riots are considered to be deceived individuals, not enemy soldiers" and "will be treated with leniency", he told state television.
Officials have said the demonstrations were peaceful before descending into chaos fuelled by Iran's arch-foes the United States and Israel in an effort to destabilise the nation. 
The heads of the country's executive, legislative and judicial branches on Monday all pledged to work "around the clock" in "resolving livelihood and economic problems", according to a joint statement published by state television. 
But they would also "decisively punish" the instigators of "terrorist incidents", said the statement from President Masoud Pezeshkian, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei. 
The scale of the crackdown has emerged piecemeal as Iran remains under an unprecedented internet shutdown that is now in its 11th day.
Despite difficulty accessing information, the Iran Human Rights NGO says it has verified that 3,428 protesters were killed by security forces.
The NGO's director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam on Monday warned the death toll could be higher by many thousands.
"Information received from eyewitnesses, families and other citizens, together with other available evidence, indicates that the number of protesters killed may exceed even the highest media estimates," he said in a statement.
"There is no doubt that the Islamic republic has committed one of the largest mass killings of protesters in our time."

'New test'

Alarm has grown over the possibility that authorities will use capital punishment against protesters.
The United Nations on Monday warned the country was using executions as "a tool of state intimidation".
Iran -- the world's most prolific executioner after China, according to rights groups -- reportedly executed 1,500 people last year, UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.
Security officials cited by Iran's Tasnim news agency said late last week that around 3,000 people have been arrested in connection with the demonstrations, but rights groups say the number could be as high as 20,000. 
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that authorities "must break the back of the seditionists".
Internet access would "gradually" return to normal this week, Hossein Afshin, Iran's vice president for science, technology and the knowledge economy, said Monday on state television, after limited access briefly returned the day before.
Pezeshkian criticised the internet restrictions, urging "better governance" of cyberspace. 
Images from the capital Tehran showed buildings and billboards destroyed during the rallies. 
In Iran's second-largest city of Mashhad, damage to public infrastructure exceeded $15 million, Mayor Mohammadreza Qalandar Sharif told state television. 
Outside Iran, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of neighbouring Turkey, in his first comments on the protests, described the unrest as a "new test" for Tehran, pledging Turkey would "stand against any initiative" that would drag the region into chaos.
"We believe that, with a... policy prioritising dialogue and diplomacy, our Iranian brothers will, God willing, get through this trap-filled period," he said in a televised speech.
sw/axn/jfx/amj

accident

Spain seeks answers as high-speed train crash toll rises to 40

BY IMRAN MARASHLI WITH MARIE GIFFARD IN MADRID

  • There are currently 40 confirmed deaths from the accident, the head of the regional government of Andalucia, Juan Manuel Moreno, told a news conference, raising the toll from 39.
  • The death toll from a high-speed train collision in southern Spain rose to 40 on Monday as the government vowed a full investigation into its causes.
  • There are currently 40 confirmed deaths from the accident, the head of the regional government of Andalucia, Juan Manuel Moreno, told a news conference, raising the toll from 39.
The death toll from a high-speed train collision in southern Spain rose to 40 on Monday as the government vowed a full investigation into its causes.
The crash late on Sunday is Spain's deadliest train accident since 2013, when 80 people died after a train veered off a curved section of track outside the northwestern city of Santiago de Compostela.
The latest happened when a train operated by rail company Iryo travelling from Malaga to Madrid derailed near Adamuz in Andalusia.
It crossed onto the other track, where it crashed into an oncoming train, which also derailed.
There are currently 40 confirmed deaths from the accident, the head of the regional government of Andalucia, Juan Manuel Moreno, told a news conference, raising the toll from 39.
It will take 24-48 hours "to know with certainty how many deaths have resulted from this terrible accident," he added.
Heavy machinery was deployed earlier on Monday to lift the most severely damaged train carriages and give rescuers better access to the site of the disaster.
Over 120 people were injured, with 41 still in hospitals in the nearby city of Cordoba. Moreno said.
Relatives and friends of missing passengers have turned to social media, posting photos in an effort to find them.
"This is a day of sorrow for all of Spain, for our entire country," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told reporters during a visit to Adamuz as he declared three days of mourning.
"We will uncover the answer, and once the cause of this tragedy is determined, we will present it with absolute transparency."

'Extremely strange'

Aerial footage of the crash site from Spain’s Guardia Civil police force showed the two trains far apart, as rescuers in high-visibility neon vests worked nearby.
Unlike the 2013 accident, the derailment occurred on a straight section of track, and the trains were travelling within the speed limit, officials said.
Transport Minister Oscar Puente said the first train to derail was "practically new" and the section of the track where the disaster happened had been recently renovated, making the accident "extremely strange".
Train operator Iryo said the locomotive was built in 2022 and last inspected just three days before the accident. It said it "veered onto the adjacent track for still unknown reasons".
The company said around 300 people were on board its service from the Andalusian city of Malaga to the capital, Madrid.
Renfe, the operator of the second train travelling to the southern city of Huelva, said it was carrying 184 passengers.
Human error has "been practically ruled out", Renfe president Alvaro Fernandez Heredia told Spanish public radio RNE. 
Heredia also ruled out speeding as a cause of the accident. He said both trains were traveling just over 200 kilometres per hour, below the 250 kilometres per hour limit for that section of track.
"It must be related to Iryo's rolling stock or an infrastructure issue," he added.

'Strong hit'

Spain has Europe's largest high-speed rail network, with more than 3,000 kilometres of dedicated tracks connecting major cities including Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and Malaga.
Survivor Lucas Meriako, who was travelling on the first train that derailed, told La Sexta television that it looked "like a horror movie".
"We felt a very strong hit from behind and the feeling that the whole train was about to collapse, break... there were many injured due to the glass," he said.
In Adamuz, where white buildings gleam among orange-lined streets, residents rushed to the town hall with supplies as news of the disaster spread.
"We started bringing water, blankets, everything we could," Manuel Munoz, a 60-year-old olive oil factory worker,told AFP.
Among those offering condolences were Pope Leo XIV and French President Emmanuel Macron.
bur-mig/ds/yad

Greenland

Stop 'appeasing' bully Trump, Amnesty chief tells Europe

BY ELODIE LE MAOU

  • She lamented that global and regional "superpowers" seemed "intent on destroying what has been established after World War II, dedicated to finding common rules to our common problems".
  • The leader of global rights group Amnesty International urged European countries Monday to stop "appeasing" US President Donald Trump and resist him and other "bullies" who she said were intent on destroying the rules-based order in place since World War II. "We need much more resistance," Amnesty secretary general Agnes Callamard told AFP in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
  • She lamented that global and regional "superpowers" seemed "intent on destroying what has been established after World War II, dedicated to finding common rules to our common problems".
The leader of global rights group Amnesty International urged European countries Monday to stop "appeasing" US President Donald Trump and resist him and other "bullies" who she said were intent on destroying the rules-based order in place since World War II.
"We need much more resistance," Amnesty secretary general Agnes Callamard told AFP in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
"Europe's credibility is at stake."
Her comments came as Trump doubled down on his threats to take over Greenland "one way or the other", insisting such a move is necessary for world security, prompting European countries to close ranks against his designs on the vast Danish territory.
German and French leaders denounced as "blackmail" Trump's weekend threats to wield new tariffs against countries which oppose his plans for the Arctic island, suggesting Europe was preparing trade countermeasures.
But German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who was due to meet Trump in Davos on Wednesday, also stressed that Europe was eager to "avoid any escalation" in the dispute.

'Say no'

Callamard urged governments to show more "courage" and to "say no".
"Stop thinking you can make deals with bullies, stop thinking you can agree to the rules of the predators and not become yourself a victim of them."
The Amnesty chief highlighted that the US bid to seize Greenland was only the latest indication that the world is facing the "destruction of the rules-based order".
She lamented that global and regional "superpowers" seemed "intent on destroying what has been established after World War II, dedicated to finding common rules to our common problems".
Since Trump's return to the White House a year ago, he has taken "a range of decisions that have led to the demise of many rules around the world", while Russia was destroying the system "through its aggression in Ukraine", she said.
European powers have been treading a thin line over Ukraine in recent months, relying on Washington to try to help settle the conflict but resisting terms too favourable to Moscow.
The post-WWII order "is also being destroyed by Israel that has completely ignored international law in its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza," she added.
Amnesty and other rights groups have repeatedly accused Israel of carrying out a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, a term vehemently rejected by the Israeli government. 
Callamard stressed that the rules-based order was established in response to "a global war that had killed millions of people, as a response to extermination camps that had killed six million Jews, as a response to authoritarianism that had led to the most daunting global repression the world over".

'Abyss'

"The fact that it is now being destroyed without any plan B, just for the sake of destroying the rules, should send shivers to all of us," she said, warning that the only alternative to the rules-based system was "falling down into an abyss".
"That's what we need to prevent."
The Davos gathering this year is taking place under the tagline "A Spirit of Dialogue", but Callamard warned "there is no evidence of dialogue" currently among the world's decision-makers.
"There is evidence of bullying. There is evidence of destruction. There is evidence of countries using their military power, their economic power, to force others into agreeing to their one-sided deals."
Such tactics had for the past 12 months been met with European "appeasement".
"We have sought to appease the bully, the predator living in Washington," she said.
"Where has this led us? To more and more attacks, to more and more threats."
Callamard, who is French, recalled that the European project was not just about economics, but also about values, humanity and the rule of law.
"I'm hoping that our leaders will recall that... history and see in the current challenges a way of re-insisting on the European project and demanding human rights protection for the sake of humanity," she said.
"That demands stopping the appeasement politics, (which) simply is not working". 
"Please stop it. Resist. Resist."
elr-nl/rjm/rlp

Global Edition

Central African Republic top court says Touadera won 78% of vote

  • He went into the election in pole position after a new constitution was adopted in 2023, allowing him to seek a third term.
  • Faustin Archange Touadera, who has led the Central African Republic since 2016, was re-elected for a third term as president in last month's election with 78 percent of the vote, the constitutional court said Monday, announcing final results.
  • He went into the election in pole position after a new constitution was adopted in 2023, allowing him to seek a third term.
Faustin Archange Touadera, who has led the Central African Republic since 2016, was re-elected for a third term as president in last month's election with 78 percent of the vote, the constitutional court said Monday, announcing final results.
In an address immediately afterwards before a group of supporters from his United Hearts Movement, Touadera thanked Central Africans and called for unity to "build the country together for its development".  
His main opponent, Anicet-George Dologuele, who had appealed the provisional results complaining of fraud, won 13.5 percent, the top court added, saying the appeal had been rejected. 
Touadera, 68, had presented himself as the stability candidate in an impoverished country that has endured a succession of civil wars, coups and authoritarian governments since gaining independence from France in 1960.
He went into the election in pole position after a new constitution was adopted in 2023, allowing him to seek a third term.
Dologuele also finished second to Touadera in the 2016 and 2020 elections, both of which were marred by suspicions of fraud.
Since Touadera was first elected in the middle of a civil war, unrest has eased, though feuds between armed groups and the government persist in some regions.
The national election authority said turnout was just over 52 percent in the December 28 vote, which also included legislative, regional and municipal ballots.
Dologuele, a former prime minister, remains on course to win a seat in parliament during a second round of voting in the legislative election. A date has not yet been announced.
Another opposition figure, Henri-Marie Dondra, came in third place with just under three percent of the vote.
He had called for the cancellation of the votes and complained of the "incapacity" of the national election agency to organise the ballot.
After a civil war that dragged on from 2013 to 2018, some stability has returned to the country of around 5.5 million, which is much reliant on international aid despite natural resources such as uranium, lithium, diamonds, gold and lumber.

'Fragility'

Asked by reporters on Monday about his priorities for his third term, Touadera acknowledged "the country's fragility" despite progress made in recent years.
"We will mobilise to combat this fragility in terms of peace, security, social cohesion and the population’s basic needs," the president said.
Ahead of the elections, Touadera had pointed to his record on improving security and the paved roads, public lighting installed on major avenues and renovated rainwater drainage canals in the capital.
But life for many people in the CAR -- 71 percent of whom live below the poverty line -- remains precarious, with a lack of basic services, an absence of passable roads, widespread unemployment, poor training and a steadily rising cost of living.
Critics have branded Touadera "President Wagner" for his perceived dependence on Moscow and Russian paramilitaries that prop up the nation's security.
Deployed since 2018 at Touadera's request to underpin an army lacking funding and organisation, Russia's Wagner paramilitary group has established itself as one of the government's main security partners in exchange for lucrative contracts to mine gold and diamonds.
Touadera struck a controversial 2019 peace accord with 14 armed groups involved in the civil war, essentially bringing warlords into the government in return for the disarmament of their militias.
However, instability remains in the east on the borders with Sudan and South Sudan and in the northwest.
fan-lnf/kjm/st

Kurds

Syria's Kurds feel disappointed, abandoned by US after Damascus deal

BY JIHAD DARWISH

  • Ever since clashes erupted between Kurdish-led forces and Syrian government troops in Aleppo city earlier this month, Kurds living in autonomous areas have been growing increasingly anxious about the future of their long-marginalised community.
  • Residents of the Kurdish Syrian city of Qamishli voiced disillusionment on Monday after a deal with Damascus struck a fatal blow to their long-held aspirations of autonomy, with some accusing the United States of abandoning them.
  • Ever since clashes erupted between Kurdish-led forces and Syrian government troops in Aleppo city earlier this month, Kurds living in autonomous areas have been growing increasingly anxious about the future of their long-marginalised community.
Residents of the Kurdish Syrian city of Qamishli voiced disillusionment on Monday after a deal with Damascus struck a fatal blow to their long-held aspirations of autonomy, with some accusing the United States of abandoning them.
Under pressure from a government advance through Kurdish-controlled areas, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) leader Mazloum Abdi said Sunday that he had agreed to a ceasefire deal formalising plans for Kurdish integration into the state in order to avoid "civil war".
The deal stipulates that the Kurds' de facto autonomous administration immediately hand over two predominantly Arab provinces it controlled, and outlines the integration of the body's civil institutions in its stronghold of Hasakeh.
On Sunday, US envoy Tom Barrack embraced the new deal as an "inflection point, where former adversaries embrace partnership", but some in Qamishli saw it as a betrayal after the Kurds' contributions in the war against the Islamic State (IS) group.
"I never felt like the Americans' support was genuine," said 40-year-old Kurdish activist Hevi Ahmed, who likened Washington's "dealings with people to mere real estate brokerage".
"The agreement is a disappointment after years of hope that the Syrian constitution might contain a better future for the Kurds," she added.
Spread across Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, the Kurds say that their attempts to establish an independent state have been systematically repressed by regional and international powers throughout their history.
Washington has long allied itself with the SDF, which helped lead the fight against IS. 
But since the fall of Assad in 2024, the US position has been more complex, with President Donald Trump broadly supporting the new government's efforts to unify the country while sending signals he is ready to move on from the SDF partnership.

Sharaa's 'vision'

Aras Mohammed, a 34-year-old employee in the Kurdish administration, also expressed a "great sense of disappointment". 
With the new deal, he said, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa "imposes his vision of the state and constitution, based on the legitimacy he obtained by overthrowing al-Assad".
That vision involves a centralised government, which Sharaa argues is necessary for stability after years of war, but which flies in the face of calls from minority groups in Syria for a more federalised system that safeguards their goal of self-determination.
Mohammed said he also had major concerns after past "agreements have been violated, bypassed or diluted".
Ever since clashes erupted between Kurdish-led forces and Syrian government troops in Aleppo city earlier this month, Kurds living in autonomous areas have been growing increasingly anxious about the future of their long-marginalised community.
As the clashes extended to areas of Kurdish control in Raqa and Deir Ezzor provinces, thousands of people came to seek refuge in Kurdish-majority Qamishli, many in overcrowded shelters, according to AFP correspondents.
The Kurdish administration had already agreed in principle to be integrated into the government, though its leaders continued to call for decentralised rule -- a non-starter for the new authorities.
A decree announced by Sharaa on Friday made Kurdish a national language, designated the Kurdish new year of Nowruz an official holiday and granted citizenship to Kurds previously deprived of it, though it did little to reassure the community.

Like 'Sweida and the coast'

Ahmed said she "fears reprisals from government-affiliated factions... similar to what happened in Sweida and the coast", where outbreaks of sectarian violence against the Alawite and Druze communities killed hundreds of people last year.
She also expressed concern about the potential desecration of "images and graves of martyrs" killed in battles against IS.
After the SDF withdrew from parts of Raqa on Sunday, an AFP correspondent saw people destroy a statue honouring a woman who fought with Kurdish forces and was killed by IS during the battle for Raqa city.
Despite their partnership in the fight against jihadists, the US sparked an outcry when it pulled its troops out of northeastern Syria in 2019, leaving Kurdish-run territory open to a Turkish offensive that killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands.
"This is not the first time America abandons its allies, allies who fought hard and gave thousands of martyrs against barbarians and terrorists," said jewellery shop owner Rafeh Ismail, 43.
Pharmacist Mohammed Issa, 25, asked that "the international coalition and the US do not abandon the Kurds".
"Unfortunately, international decisions are determining our fate today," he said.
str-lar/nad/smw/amj

Palestinians

What is Trump's 'Board of Peace'?

  • It is "an international organization that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict", reads the preamble of the charter sent to countries invited to participate. 
  • US President Donald Trump's government has asked countries to pay $1 billion for a permanent spot on his "Board of Peace" aimed at resolving conflicts, according to its charter seen by AFP. The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of war-torn Gaza, but the charter does not appear to limit its role to the occupied Palestinian territory.
  • It is "an international organization that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict", reads the preamble of the charter sent to countries invited to participate. 
US President Donald Trump's government has asked countries to pay $1 billion for a permanent spot on his "Board of Peace" aimed at resolving conflicts, according to its charter seen by AFP.
The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of war-torn Gaza, but the charter does not appear to limit its role to the occupied Palestinian territory.
What exactly will it do? And who has been invited?

To what end?

The Board of Peace will be chaired by Trump, according to its founding charter.
It is "an international organization that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict", reads the preamble of the charter sent to countries invited to participate. 
It will "undertake such peace-building functions in accordance with international law", it adds.

Who's boss?

Trump will be chairman but also "separately serve as inaugural representative of the United States of America".
"The Chairman shall have exclusive authority to create, modify, or dissolve subsidiary entities as necessary or appropriate to fulfill the Board of Peace's mission," the document states.
He will pick members of an Executive Board to be "leaders of global stature" to "serve two-year terms, subject to removal by the Chairman".
He may also, "acting on behalf of the Board of Peace", "adopt resolutions or other directives".
The chairman can be replaced only in case of "voluntary resignation or as a result of incapacity".

Who can be a member?

Member states have to be invited by the US president, and will be represented by their head of state or government.
Each member "shall serve a term of no more than three years", the charter says.
But "the three-year membership term shall not apply to Member States that contribute more than USD $1,000,000,000 in cash funds to the Board of Peace within the first year of the Charter's entry into force", it adds.
The board will "convene voting meetings at least annually", and "each member State shall have one vote".
But while all decisions require "a majority of Member States present and voting", they will also be "subject to the approval of the Chairman, who may also cast a vote in his capacity as Chairman in the event of a tie".

Who's already in?

The White House has said its members will include:
US President Donald Trump, chair
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio
Steve Witkoff, Trump's special negotiator
Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law
Tony Blair, former UK prime minister
Marc Rowan, billionaire US financier
Ajay Banga, World Bank president 
Robert Gabriel, loyal Trump aide on the National Security Council 

Who's been invited?

The list of countries and leaders who say they have been invited include, but are not limited to:
Russia's President Vladimir Putin
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
Argentina's President Javier Milei
Jordan
Brazil
Paraguay
India
Pakistan
Germany
France
Italy
Hungary
Romania
Uzbekistan
Belarus

When does it start?

The charter says it enters into force "upon expression of consent to be bound by three States".
bur/ah/giv/rmb

US

Europe wants to 'avoid escalation' on Trump tariff threat: Merz

  • Merz said the threatened tariffs would harm both the United States and Europe.
  • German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday said Europe wants to "avoid escalation" over US President Donald Trump's threatened tariffs on countries that oppose his designs on Greenland.
  • Merz said the threatened tariffs would harm both the United States and Europe.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday said Europe wants to "avoid escalation" over US President Donald Trump's threatened tariffs on countries that oppose his designs on Greenland.
Trump shook Europe on Saturday when he vowed to slap EU members Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden -- and non-members Britain and Norway -- with extra levies unless Greenland is ceded to the United States.
Germany and other European countries agreed "that we want to avoid any escalation in this dispute if at all possible", Merz said, adding that he would seek to meet Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.
"We simply want to try to resolve this problem together, and the American government knows that we could also retaliate. I don't want to, but if necessary, we will of course protect our European interests as well as our German national interests."
Leaders from the 27-nation bloc will hold an emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday to discuss their response to one of the gravest crises in years to hit transatlantic ties.
Merz said the threatened tariffs would harm both the United States and Europe.
"Customs duties are usually paid by those in the country where the imports are received –- in this case, American consumers," Merz said. 
"But (the tariffs) would also, of course, damage our economy, the European economy and, in particular, the German economy."
German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil had earlier struck a harder tone, saying Europe "will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed".
"Europe will respond with a united, clear response, and we are now preparing countermeasures together with our European partners," Klingbeil said at a Berlin press conference alongside the French economy and finance minister, Roland Lescure.

'United, clear response'

Klingbeil, who is also Germany's finance minister, said Europe's response could have three main strands. 
First, the current tariff deal with the United States would be put on hold. 
Second, European tariffs on imports from the United States, currently suspended until early February, could come into force.
And third, the EU should consider its powerful so-called anti-coercion instrument against Washington, he said.
Lescure agreed that Trump's threat amounted to "blackmail".
"Blackmail between allies of 250 years, blackmail between friends, is obviously unacceptable," said the French minister.
"We Europeans must remain united and coordinated in our response and, above all, be prepared to make full use of the instruments" of the European Union, he said. 
"We are determined to defend our sovereignty."
Klingbeil stressed that the "limit has been reached" when it came to the US leader making threats. 
"We are constantly experiencing a new confrontation that President Trump is seeking," he said.
sr-fec/fz/rl

cybercrime

Over 400 Indonesians 'released' by Cambodian scam networks: ambassador

BY SUY SE WITH DESSY SAGITA IN JAKARTA AND MATT SURRUSCO IN BANGKOK

  • About 100 people were also queueing outside the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh on Monday, but those approached by AFP declined to speak.
  • Cyberscam networks in Cambodia have freed more than 400 Indonesians this month, Jakarta said on Monday, after Phnom Penh announced a fresh crackdown on the illicit industry.
  • About 100 people were also queueing outside the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh on Monday, but those approached by AFP declined to speak.
Cyberscam networks in Cambodia have freed more than 400 Indonesians this month, Jakarta said on Monday, after Phnom Penh announced a fresh crackdown on the illicit industry.
Scammers working from hubs across Southeast Asia, some willingly and others trafficked, lure internet users globally into fake romances and cryptocurrency investments, netting tens of billions of dollars each year.
Some foreign nationals have left suspected scam compounds across Cambodia this month as the government pledged to "eliminate" problems related to the online fraud trade, which the United Nations says employs at least 100,000 people in Cambodia alone.
Recent Cambodian law enforcement measures resulted in "many online scam syndicates... letting their workers go", Indonesia's ambassador to Cambodia, Santo Darmosumarto, said in a video posted to social media.
Between January 1 and 18, 440 Indonesians came to the embassy in Phnom Penh after they had been "released by online scam syndicates", many seeking to return home, according to a post on Instagram.
"Because Cambodia's crackdown will continue, the embassy predicts many more will flow in from the provinces," Santo said.
He said the Indonesians who went to the embassy had been "involved in online scams" for anywhere between a few months and several years, and some had their passports taken from them.
Santo said the embassy would expedite repatriations but all Indonesians were "being directed to return home independently".

'Police were coming'

Dozens of people, some with suitcases, lined up outside the Indonesian embassy on Monday.
An 18-year-old from Indonesia's Sumatra said he fled a compound in Bavet city, near Cambodia's border with Vietnam, where he was forced to scam people online for eight months without pay despite being promised $600 per month.
He told AFP he arrived in Phnom Penh on Sunday and came to the embassy to ask for a new passport because his was "with a Chinese boss".
"They heard police were coming inside the compound, so they let everyone go," he said.
Transnational crime groups, mostly based in Cambodia and Myanmar, initially largely targeted Chinese speakers, but have expanded their vast scam operations into multiple languages.
About 100 people were also queueing outside the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh on Monday, but those approached by AFP declined to speak.
China's foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said Beijing "attaches great importance to the safety of Chinese citizens overseas" when asked at a regular news briefing about the lines outside the embassy in Cambodia.
Cambodia arrested and deported Chinese-born tycoon Chen Zhi, accused of running internet scam operations from Cambodia, to China this month.
Chen, a former Cambodian government adviser, was indicted by US authorities in October.

Not the end

Mark Taylor, an anti-trafficking expert in Cambodia, said Chen's extradition seemed to have sent shockwaves through the scam industry, with some operators likely fearing legal consequences and opting to release people or evacuate their compounds.
Many scam operators likely fear "that they're going to face punishment, eventually", Taylor told AFP.
But he noted alleged links between politicians and scam networks, and previous crackdowns that amounted to "showcase, preformative acts".
The latest measures were likely just "another transaction" -- a tactical move to shift equipment, managers and workers, and stay in business, said Taylor.
"There's no evidence that this is really an end of the industry."
Cambodian officials have denied allegations of government involvement, with authorities saying around 5,000 people were arrested in scam raids in the last six months.
After rights monitors and media reports linked Cambodian tycoons to the scam industry for years, the first prominent local businessman to be prosecuted, Ly Kuong, was charged last week with human trafficking, money laundering and running several scam compounds.
burs-suy-sco/ami

media

UK, France mull social media bans for youth as debate rages

BY JULIEN DURY AND DANIEL LAWLER

  • France is currently debating bills for a similar ban for under-15s, including one championed by President Emmanuel Macron.
  • Countries including France and Britain are considering following Australia's lead by banning children and some teenagers from using social media, but experts are still locked in a debate over the effectiveness of the move.
  • France is currently debating bills for a similar ban for under-15s, including one championed by President Emmanuel Macron.
Countries including France and Britain are considering following Australia's lead by banning children and some teenagers from using social media, but experts are still locked in a debate over the effectiveness of the move.
Supporters of a ban warn that action needs to be taken to tackle deteriorating mental health among young people, but others say the evidence is inconclusive and want a more nuanced approach.
Australia last month became the first nation to prohibit people under the age of 16 from using immensely popular and profitable social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok and YouTube.
France is currently debating bills for a similar ban for under-15s, including one championed by President Emmanuel Macron.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that "we need to do more to protect children" on social media, after some 60 MPs in his party called for a ban.
Jonathan Haidt, an American psychologist and supporter of the Australian ban, has also reportedly been asked to speak to UK government officials.
Haidt argued in his bestselling 2024 book "The Anxious Generation" that too much time looking at screens -- particularly social media -- was rewiring children's brains and "causing an epidemic of mental illness".
While influential among politicians, the book has proven controversial in academic circles.
Canadian psychologist Candice Odgers wrote in a review of the book that the "scary story" Haidt was telling was "not supported by science". 
One of the main areas of disagreement has been determining exactly how much effect using social media has on young people's mental health.
Michael Noetel, a researcher at the University of Queensland in Australia, told AFP that "small effects across billions of users add up".
There is "plenty of evidence" that social media does harm to teens, he said, adding that some were demanding an unrealistic level of proof. 
"My read is that Haidt is more right than his harshest critics admit, and less right than his book implies," Noetel said.
Given the potential benefit of a ban, he considered it "a bet worth making".
After reviewing the evidence, France's public health watchdog ANSES ruled last week that social media had numerous detrimental effects for adolescents -- particularly girls -- while not being the sole reason for their declining mental health.

Everything in moderation?

Noetel led research published in Psychological Bulletin last year that reviewed more than 100 studies worldwide on the links between screens and the psychological and emotional problems suffered by children and adolescents.
The findings suggested a vicious cycle. 
Excessive screen time -- particularly using social media and playing video games -- was associated with problems. This distress then drove youngsters to look at their screens even more. 
However, other researchers are wary of a blanket ban.
Ben Singh from the University of Adelaide tracked more than 100,000 young Australians over three years for a study published in JAMA Pediatrics.
The study found that the young people with the worst wellbeing were those who used social media heavily -- more than two hours a day -- or not at all. It was teens who used social networks moderately that fared the best.
"The findings suggest that both excessive restriction and excessive use can be problematic," Singh told AFP.
Again, girls suffered the most from excessive use. Being entirely deprived of social media was found to be most detrimental for boys in their later teens.

'Appallingly toxic'

French psychiatrist Serge Tisseron is among those who have long warned about the huge threat that screens pose to health.
"Social media is appallingly toxic," he told AFP.
But he feared a ban would easily be overcome by tech-savvy teens, at the same time absolving parents of responsibility. 
"In recent years, the debate has become extremely polarised between an outright ban or nothing at all," he said, calling for regulation that walks a finer line.
Another option could be to wait and see how the Australian experiment pans out.
"Within a year, we should know much more about how effective the Australian social media ban has been and whether it led to any unintended consequences," Cambridge University researcher Amy Orben said.
Last week, Australia's online safety watchdog said that tech companies have already blocked 4.7 million accounts for under 16s.
jdy-dl/cw

election

Japan PM calls snap election on Feb 8 to seek stronger mandate

BY HIROSHI HIYAMA AND KYOKO HASEGAWA

  • "Is Sanae Takaichi fit to be prime minister?
  • Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Monday she would dissolve parliament this week ahead of a snap election on February 8, hoping for a stronger mandate to push through her ambitious policy agenda.
  • "Is Sanae Takaichi fit to be prime minister?
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Monday she would dissolve parliament this week ahead of a snap election on February 8, hoping for a stronger mandate to push through her ambitious policy agenda.
The country's first woman leader is banking on her high poll numbers to lead the unpopular ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to victory.
"Is Sanae Takaichi fit to be prime minister? I wanted to ask the sovereign people to decide," she told a news conference.
"Following the dissolution of the lower house on January 23, the schedule will be set for campaigning to start on January 27 and voting and counting held on February 8."
If elected, Takaichi pledged Monday to cut a tax on food for a two-year period to "alleviate the burden" on people struggling with inflation.
Takaichi's cabinet approved a record 122.3-trillion-yen ($768 billion) budget for the fiscal year from April 2026, and she has vowed to get parliamentary approval as soon as possible to address rising prices and shore up the world's fourth-largest economy.
"We have a responsibility to overcome the shackles of excessive austerity and take immediate action against the crisis at hand," she told reporters.
The LDP has governed Japan almost uninterrupted for decades, albeit with frequent leader changes.
Takaichi was appointed premier in October, and her cabinet is riding high in the polls despite her party's flagging popularity.
The ruling bloc -- which includes coalition partner Japan Innovation Party (JIP) -- has only a slim majority in the powerful lower house of parliament.
This could hamper the passage of her policy agenda, including "proactive" fiscal spending and boosting the defence budget.
"If the LDP can get a majority by itself in the lower house, that'll help her pursue policies" without concessions to other parties, said Sadafumi Kawato, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo.
But opposition parties say Takaichi's plan to dissolve the lower house risks delaying its passage, with Jun Azumi of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) saying it would "sacrifice livelihoods".
Masaaki Tokuno, a 64-year-old bicycle lot manager, told AFP that "carrying out policies to tackle inflation should be first, before holding the election".

China spat

A snap election may also help Takaichi break the deadlock in a spat with China, increasing her leverage by showing she has strong support at home, analysts said.
Ties between Tokyo and Beijing have deteriorated since Takaichi suggested in November that Japan could intervene militarily if China ever launched an attack on Taiwan, the self-ruled island it claims.
China recently announced a broad ban on exports to Japan of "dual-use" goods with potential military applications and has reportedly been choking off exports of rare-earth products crucial for making everything from electric cars to missiles.
Takaichi denounced Monday "economic pressure tactics" impacting Japan, without explicitly referring to China.
These are "aimed at forcing other nations to submit to demands, by controlling upstream materials in supply chains that the world relies on", she said.
Mikitaka Masuyama, dean of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, warned that if she wins, China could further intensify pressure on Takaichi.
Beijing may want to send voters "the message that supporting a hawkish leader could lead to pain" through more trade controls or other means.
According to a poll by the Asahi newspaper, 60 percent of people surveyed said they were worried about the impact of a worsening Japan-China relationship on the economy.
Under Takaichi's predecessor, Shigeru Ishiba, the LDP and its former long-term coalition partner Komeito lost its majority in both chambers in the past two national elections -- most recently in the July upper house election.
The July election led Ishiba to step down, while smaller parties gained support -- including the populist Sanseito, which called immigration a "silent invasion" despite foreign-born residents making up just three percent of the population.
Komeito and the leading CDP have agreed to join forces to fight Takaichi, hoping their alliance can draw swing voters.
kh-hih-aph/ami

election

Japan PM to call snap election seeking stronger mandate

BY KYOKO HASEGAWA

  • After signalling her intentions to party officials last week, Takaichi will lay out her plans for a vote expected as early as February 8 during a press conference Monday, the Yomiuri and other media outlets reported.
  • Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will officially announce Monday her plans to dissolve parliament for a snap election, media reports said, hoping for a stronger mandate to push through her ambitious policy agenda.
  • After signalling her intentions to party officials last week, Takaichi will lay out her plans for a vote expected as early as February 8 during a press conference Monday, the Yomiuri and other media outlets reported.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will officially announce Monday her plans to dissolve parliament for a snap election, media reports said, hoping for a stronger mandate to push through her ambitious policy agenda.
The country's first woman leader, Takaichi is banking on her high poll numbers to lead the unpopular ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to victory.
After signalling her intentions to party officials last week, Takaichi will lay out her plans for a vote expected as early as February 8 during a press conference Monday, the Yomiuri and other media outlets reported.
The LDP has governed Japan almost uninterrupted for decades, albeit with frequent leader changes.
Takaichi was appointed prime minister in October and her cabinet is riding high in the polls, despite her party's flagging popularity.
But her ruling bloc -- which includes coalition partner Japan Innovation Party (JIP), only has a slim majority in the powerful lower house of parliament.
This could hamper the passage of her policy agenda including "proactive" fiscal spending and boosting the defence budget.
"If the LDP can get a majority by itself in the lower house, that'll help her pursue policies" without concessions to other parties, said Sadafumi Kawato, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo.
Takaichi's cabinet approved a record 122.3-trillion-yen ($768 billion) budget for the fiscal year from April 2026, and she has vowed to get parliamentary approval as soon as possible to address inflation and shore up the world's fourth largest economy.
But opposition parties say Takaichi's plan to dissolve the lower house risks delaying its passage, with Jun Azumi of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) saying it would "sacrifice livelihoods".
Masaaki Tokuno, a 64-year-old bicycle lot manager, told AFP that "carrying out policies to tackle inflation should be first, before holding the election".
The LDP is weighing campaigning on a possible cut to the tax on food purchases, media reports said, to ease the pain of soaring costs at the grocery store.

China spat

A snap election may also help Takaichi break the deadlock in a spat with China, increasing her leverage by showing she has strong support at home, analysts said.
Ties between Tokyo and Beijing have deteriorated since Takaichi suggested in November that Japan could intervene militarily if China ever launched an attack on Taiwan, the self-ruled island it claims.
However, Mikitaka Masuyama, dean of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, warned that if she wins, China could further intensify pressure on Takaichi.
Beijing may want to send voters "the message that supporting a hawkish leader could lead to pain" through more trade controls or other means.
China recently announced a broad ban on the export to Japan of "dual-use" goods with potential military applications, and has reportedly been choking off exports of rare-earth products crucial for making everything from electric cars to missiles.
According to a poll by the Asahi newspaper, 60 percent of people surveyed said they were worried about the impact of a worsening Japan-China relationship on the economy.
Under Takaichi's predecessor Shigeru Ishiba, the LDP and its former long-term coalition partner Komeito lost its majority in both chambers in the past two national elections -- most recently in the July upper house election.
The July election led Ishiba to step down, while smaller parties gaining support included the populist Sanseito, which called immigration a "silent invasion", despite foreign-born residents making up just three percent of the population.
Komeito and the leading CDP have agreed to join forces to fight Takaichi, hoping their alliance can draw swing voters.
kh-aph/ane