Global Edition

Uganda election hit by delays after internet blackout

justice

Forced confession fears as Iran chief justice interrogates protesters

BY STUART WILLIAMS

  • "State media began airing the forced confessions of protesters within days of the outbreak of protests," said Norway-based Iran Human Rights.
  • Iran's hardline judiciary chief has personally interrogated protesters arrested in a crackdown that has sparked an international outcry, amplifying fears among rights groups about the use of "forced confessions" to instil fear in society.
  • "State media began airing the forced confessions of protesters within days of the outbreak of protests," said Norway-based Iran Human Rights.
Iran's hardline judiciary chief has personally interrogated protesters arrested in a crackdown that has sparked an international outcry, amplifying fears among rights groups about the use of "forced confessions" to instil fear in society.
On Thursday, state television showed Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, who has spent his career at the heart of the Islamic republic's legal apparatus and has been sanctioned by both the European Union and United States, quizzing several people the authorities accuse of being "rioters".
It aired footage of the former intelligence minister and top Tehran prosecutor interrogating two detained women, their faces blurred, both of whom broke down in tears while questioned.
The day earlier, he had spent five hours inside one of the prisons of Tehran to examine the cases of prisoners arrested in the protests, state television said, showing him interrogating some detainees.
According to rights groups, state television has broadcast dozens such "confessions" of individuals accused of attacks on security forces and other acts of violence in the demonstrations.
"State media began airing the forced confessions of protesters within days of the outbreak of protests," said Norway-based Iran Human Rights.
"Confessions that were obtained under coercion and torture being aired prior to legal proceedings violate the right of defendants to be presumed innocent until proven guilty," it added.
In another example, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said two teenage girls arrested in the central city of Isfahan were shown in "forced confessions" saying they received money from an individual to participate in street protests.
The use of such alleged admissions comes against the backdrop of a crackdown that rights group say has left thousands dead in rallies that have openly challenged the authority of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

'Work quickly'

In the latest footage, Ejei was shown seated in a room flanked by other officials, beneath a double picture of Khamenei and revolutionary founder Ruhollah Khomeini. The detainee sat in a chair opposite.
One woman, accused of sending a message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said: "I've done something that even I can’t forgive myself for."
"For what... to who," pressed Ejei, speaking softly while clasping his hands.
Another woman is accused of dropping concrete blocks on security forces in Tehran from a balcony. 
"I don't know what happened, why I did something so foolish," she said, after Ejei pressed her by asking, "What was the day?" and "How did you know they were officers?"
No further evidence of their alleged involvement was shown.
US-based group United Against Nuclear Iran in 2024 described Ejei, who has vowed fast-track trials for those arrested, as a "ruthless enforcer of the Islamic republic with no regard for human rights".
Opposition groups also accuse him of involvement in the 1988 mass execution of political prisoners in the Islamic republic.
Media freedom NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said he has "journalists' blood on his hands", recalling that Ejei in 2004 even bit a journalist on the shoulder during a debate. 
"If a person burned someone, beheaded someone and set them on fire then we must do our work quickly," Ejei said on Wednesday.
With any delays, "it wouldn't have the same effect," he said.
sjw/ah/ser

Global Edition

Oil prices tumble after Trump eases concerns over Iran

  • "Oil prices are trading sharply lower after Trump signalled he is not taking military action against Iran," noted Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor.
  • Oil prices slumped Thursday after US President Donald Trump appeared to dial down threats of imminent military action on crude producer Iran.
  • "Oil prices are trading sharply lower after Trump signalled he is not taking military action against Iran," noted Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor.
Oil prices slumped Thursday after US President Donald Trump appeared to dial down threats of imminent military action on crude producer Iran.
International oil benchmarks Brent North Sea crude and West Texas Intermediate slumped around five percent after Trump on Wednesday said he would "watch it and see" on possible intervention in the Islamic republic.
Trump added that he was told that the killings of protesters there had stopped.
Crude prices had surged over recent days as Trump talked about coming to the aid of the Iranian people over the crackdown on demonstrations, sparking concerns over possible disruption to global supplies.
"Oil prices are trading sharply lower after Trump signalled he is not taking military action against Iran," noted Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor.
Volatility extended across commodity markets, with silver plunging more than seven percent in Asian deals after hitting a record high above $93.75 an ounce.
This was after Trump also held off slapping tariffs on critical minerals. 
The price of gold, which has hit multiple record highs in recent months thanks to its status as a safe haven investment, dipped on Thursday.
In stock market trading, a forecast-busting fourth quarter net profit by Taiwanese chipmaking titan TSMC helped turn around investor sentiment.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped nearly one percent as trading got underway in New York.
"A strong set of results from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company quickly shifted the mood, reminding markets that enthusiasm around artificial intelligence and long-term growth themes remains very much alive," said Forex.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada.
He noted that technology stocks had looked vulnerable in recent weeks as investors shifted funds into other sectors.
Meanwhile Labor Department data showed that first-time unemployment claims dipped back under 200,000 last week in the United States.
"The key takeaway from the report is that it corroborates a low firing-low hiring environment that will keep the Fed on watch but also on hold in terms of a rate cut this month and possibly until June," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.
With US inflation continuing to run higher than its target rate of two percent and both the labour market and overall economy holding up, Federal Reserve policymakers have indicated they will likely hold off cutting rates at this month's meeting. 
In European trading, London's top-tier FTSE 100 index hit a fresh record high after official data showed Britain's economy rebounded in November.
Frankfurt edged higher in afternoon deals as traders reacted to news that Germany's economy eked out meagre growth in 2025, dodging a third straight year of recession.
The Paris stock market fell slightly, dragged down in part by a drop in the share price of TotalEnergies in the wake of oil's retreat.
In Asia, Tokyo closed down 0.4 percent, cooling off after gains fuelled by speculation that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi would call an election to capitalise on strong public approval ratings.
Takaichi's ruling party and a coalition partner said Wednesday she intends to dissolve parliament next week for a snap election, seen as a chance to push through her ambitious policy agenda.

Key figures at around 1430 GMT

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 4.7 percent at $63.42 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 4.9 percent at $58.83 per barrel
New York - Dow: UP 0.3 percent at 49,288.48 points
New York - S&P 500: UP 0.6 percent at 6,967.85
New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 23,680.04 
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 10,233.10
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.1 percent at 8,319.48
Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.1 at 25,312.39
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.4 percent at 54,110.50 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.3 percent at 26,923.62 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 4,112.60 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1609 from $1.1647 on Wednesday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3383 from $1.3433
Dollar/yen: UP at 158.71 yen from 158.56 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 86.74 pence from 86.68 pence
burs-rl/jh

Global Edition

Trump convinced 'to give Iran a chance' after threats over protest crackdown

BY STUART WILLIAMS WITH HAITHAM EL-TABEI IN RYIADH

  • The Gulf trio "led a long, frantic, diplomatic last-minute effort to convince President Trump to give Iran a chance to show good intention", the official said on condition of anonymity.
  • Gulf allies have convinced Donald Trump to "give Iran a chance", a Saudi official said on Thursday, after the US leader repeatedly threatened strikes on the Islamic republic over a crackdown on protests that activists say has left thousands dead.
  • The Gulf trio "led a long, frantic, diplomatic last-minute effort to convince President Trump to give Iran a chance to show good intention", the official said on condition of anonymity.
Gulf allies have convinced Donald Trump to "give Iran a chance", a Saudi official said on Thursday, after the US leader repeatedly threatened strikes on the Islamic republic over a crackdown on protests that activists say has left thousands dead.
Iran was shaken over the last week by some of the biggest anti-government protests in the history of the Islamic republic, although the demonstrations appear to have diminished over the last few days in the face of repression and an almost week-long internet blackout.
The Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) NGO said on Wednesday that Iranian security forces had killed at least 3,428 protesters, warning that the final toll would be far higher.
Iranian authorities have lashed out at "rioters" who they claimed were backed by Israel and the US, vowing fast-track justice that activists fear will translate into a spree of executions.
Trump has not ruled out new military action against the Islamic republic under supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after Washington backed Israel in its June 12-day war against Iran.
But with the belligerent rhetoric on all sides appearing to tone down for now, a senior Saudi official told AFP on Thursday that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman led efforts to talk Trump out of an attack on Iran, fearing "grave blowbacks in the region".
The Gulf trio "led a long, frantic, diplomatic last-minute effort to convince President Trump to give Iran a chance to show good intention", the official said on condition of anonymity.
Some personnel were moved out of a major US military base in Qatar on Wednesday, and staff at US missions in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were warned to exercise caution as fears mounted of a US attack.
In telephone talks on Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Saudi Arabian counterpart Faisal bin Farhan of the importance of "global condemnation of foreign interference in the internal affairs of regional countries" and vowed Iran would defend itself "against any foreign threat", according to a statement on his Telegram account.
On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia informed Iran it would not allow its airspace or territory to be used to attack the country, two sources close to the kingdom's government told AFP.
The developments came hours ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on Iran later on Thursday, which was requested by the US.

'Good news'

Up until Wednesday, the United States was threatening military action against Iran should it carry out the death penalty against people arrested over the protests.
In an announcement at the White House, Trump said he had now received assurances from "very important sources on the other side" that executions would not go ahead.
"They've said the killing has stopped and the executions won't take place -- there were supposed to be a lot of executions today and that the executions won't take place -- and we're going to find out," Trump said.
Attention had focused on protester Erfan Soltani, 26, in prison in Karaj outside Tehran since his arrest, and rights groups said was due to be executed on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the Iranian judiciary said Soltani has "not been sentenced to death" and was facing charges of propaganda against Iran's Islamic system and acting against national security.
If he is convicted, "the punishment, according to the law, will be imprisonment, as the death penalty does not exist for such charges".
In an interview with US network Fox News, Araghchi said there would be "no hanging today or tomorrow".
Commenting on Truth Social, Trump said: "This is good news. Hopefully, it will continue!"

'Significant cost'

Araghchi said the Iranian government was "in full control" and reported an atmosphere of calm after what he called three days of "terrorist operation".
The US-based Institute for the Study of War, which has monitored protest activity amid the shutdown, said it had recorded no protests on Wednesday.
But it added: "The regime is sustaining repressive measures that impose a significant cost on the regime. This suggests that the regime does not perceive that the threat from protests has subsided."
Despite the shutdown, new videos from the height of the protests, with locations verified by AFP, showed bodies lined up in the Kahrizak morgue south of Tehran, wrapped in black bags as distraught relatives searched for loved ones.
One Red Crescent member of staff was killed and five other colleagues were wounded while on duty in northwestern Iran, the aid group's parent organisation said Thursday without giving the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
bur-sjw/dcp

conflict

Trump to host Venezuelan opposition leader sidelined by US

BY DANIEL STUBLEN

  • - Machado, 58, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her activism in pursuit of democracy in Venezuela, despite threats of imprisonment by Maduro's government.
  • US President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Thursday with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, whose pro-democracy movement he has sidelined since toppling her country's leader, and whose Nobel Peace Prize he openly envies.
  • - Machado, 58, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her activism in pursuit of democracy in Venezuela, despite threats of imprisonment by Maduro's government.
US President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Thursday with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, whose pro-democracy movement he has sidelined since toppling her country's leader, and whose Nobel Peace Prize he openly envies.
Machado's White House visit comes a day after Trump used glowing terms to describe his first known call with Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodriguez, confirming his satisfaction with the allies of Nicolas Maduro remaining in power, for now at least.
Trump called Rodriguez a "terrific person" and hailed "terrific progress" made since US special forces seized Maduro and his wife in a deadly raid.
Rodriguez said the call was "productive and courteous," and characterized by "mutual respect."
"Many topics were discussed," Trump said on social media, "including Oil, Minerals, Trade and, of course, National Security."
Notably absent was any mention of a political transition, an issue that Washington has recently downplayed compared to economic concerns, especially access to Venezuelan oil.
Machado, who campaigned for years to end Maduro's rule, will seek Thursday to bring the issue back into the foreground.

Nobel sharing?

Machado, 58, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her activism in pursuit of democracy in Venezuela, despite threats of imprisonment by Maduro's government.
Venezuela's opposition has argued and presented evidence that Maduro stole the 2024 election from Machado's party, namely candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia -- claims supported by Washington.
Venezuela's electoral authorities, seen as allied with Maduro, never released data from the vote.
Hundreds of people were arrested in post-election protests, and while Gonzalez Urrutia fled to Europe for asylum, Machado remained in the country in a hidden location, appearing only intermittently at rallies.
She appeared in Oslo, Norway last month to collect her Nobel prize after a daring escape by boat, and has not yet returned to her home country.
Trump has openly fumed about not being awarded the prize, calling it a "major embarrassment" for Norway.
Machado has offered to share her award with Trump, and the president indicated she might give it to him when they meet.
"I understand she wants to do that. That would be a great honor," Trump said in a recent Fox News interview.
The Nobel Institute has stressed that the prize cannot be transferred from one person to another.

Prisoner releases

Under pressure from Washington, Venezuela has released dozens of political prisoners in the past week, though hundreds remain behind bars.
Rodriguez claimed a total of 406 political prisoners had been released since December in a process that "has not yet concluded."
The Foro Penal legal rights NGO, which defends many of the detainees, gave a much smaller tally of around 180 freed.
AFP's count, based on data from NGOs and opposition parties, showed 70 people released since the fall of Maduro, who has been taken to the United States to face trial for alleged drug trafficking.
To avoid scenes of jubilant opposition activists punching the air as they walk free from prison, the authorities have been releasing them quietly at other locations, far from the TV cameras and relatives waiting outside detention centers.
The United States on Wednesday seized another tanker in the Caribbean in its campaign to control oil leaving Venezuela.
Marines and sailors apprehended the Tanker Veronica without incident in a pre-dawn raid, the US military command said on social media, with a video showing soldiers rappelling onto a vessel's deck.
"The only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully," it said. The tanker is the sixth seized in recent weeks.
aue-des-bgs/ksb

Greenland

European military mission in Greenland as US aim 'remains intact'

BY PIERRE-HENRY DESHAYES

  • Germany's defence ministry said the aim was to "explore the framework conditions for possible military contributions to support Denmark in ensuring security in the region".
  • A European military mission was taking shape in Greenland on Thursday, drawing a sharp rebuke from Russia, as Denmark said Washington still aimed to take control of the mineral-rich Arctic island.
  • Germany's defence ministry said the aim was to "explore the framework conditions for possible military contributions to support Denmark in ensuring security in the region".
A European military mission was taking shape in Greenland on Thursday, drawing a sharp rebuke from Russia, as Denmark said Washington still aimed to take control of the mineral-rich Arctic island.
Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen insisted meanwhile that "dialogue and diplomacy are the right way forward", hailing in a Facebook post the fact that a dialogue was now "underway".
The developments came a day after a White House meeting failed to resolve "fundamental disagreement" over Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory that President Donald Trump insists the United States needs to ensure its security.
Two Danish troop transport planes landed in Greenland on Wednesday.
Britain, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have also announced the deployment of military personnel as part of a reconnaissance mission to Greenland's capital Nuuk, under Denmark's "Arctic Endurance" exercise organised with NATO allies.
The modest military reinforcements -- 13 soldiers from Germany, for example -- are meant to prepare armed forces for future exercises in the Arctic, according to European defence sources.
"A first team of French service members is already on site and will be reinforced in the coming days with land, air, and maritime assets," French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday.
Germany's defence ministry said the aim was to "explore the framework conditions for possible military contributions to support Denmark in ensuring security in the region".

'NATO consensus'

The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Wednesday.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement Thursday that "a working group" was being set up to discuss how Arctic security could be improved.
"However, this does not change the fact that there is a fundamental disagreement, because the American ambition to take over Greenland remains intact," Frederiksen said, hailing the arrival of European military personnel in Greenland.
"There is consensus within the NATO alliance that a strengthened presence in the Arctic is crucial for European and North American security," she said.
Trump has argued that if the United States does not take Greenland, "China or Russia will", deriding Danish efforts to increase security for Greenland as amounting to "two dogsleds".
Denmark says it has invested almost $14 billion in Arctic security.
The Russian embassy in Belgium, where NATO is headquartered, said the arrival of NATO forces to Greenland was concerning.
"The situation unfolding in the high latitudes is of serious concern to us," the embassy said in a statement late Wednesday.
NATO is "building up its military presence there under the false pretext of a growing threat from Moscow and Beijing", it added. 

'Frightening'

On the streets of Nuuk, where red and white Greenlandic flags fly in shop windows, on apartment balconies and on cars and buses in a show of national unity, some residents have described anxiety over the geopolitical tensions.
"It's very frightening because it's such a big thing," said Vera Stidsen, a 51-year-old teacher.
"I hope that in the future we can continue to live as we have until now: in peace and without being disturbed," she told AFP.
After attending the White House talks, Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen posted Thursday on Facebook that "We agree on the objective: enhancing long term security in the Arctic. But we disagree on the method."
"This is 2026 -- you can trade with people, but you don't trade people."
After the meeting, Trump for the first time sounded conciliatory on Greenland, acknowledging Denmark's interests even if he again said he was not ruling out any options.
"I think something will work out," Trump said.
Trump has insisted Greenland is "vital" for his planned "Golden Dome" air and missile defence system, as it lies on the shortest route for missiles between Russia and the United States.
bur-ef/po/js

art

UK's Hockney warns moving Bayeux Tapestry would be 'madness'

  • "We send and receive thousands of loans each year -- including ancient frescoes and textiles which are older than the Bayeux tapestry -- and their condition and safety is always of paramount importance," he added in a statement to AFP. The 68-metre-long (224-foot-long) tapestry, which depicts the Norman conquest of England in 1066, is now in a secret storage location, having been moved from its museum in the French town of Bayeux in Normandy for the first time in 40 years.
  • The British Museum Thursday vowed to protect the Bayeux Tapestry, after renowned UK artist David Hockney warned that sending it across the Channel from France for an exhibition this year was "madness".
  • "We send and receive thousands of loans each year -- including ancient frescoes and textiles which are older than the Bayeux tapestry -- and their condition and safety is always of paramount importance," he added in a statement to AFP. The 68-metre-long (224-foot-long) tapestry, which depicts the Norman conquest of England in 1066, is now in a secret storage location, having been moved from its museum in the French town of Bayeux in Normandy for the first time in 40 years.
The British Museum Thursday vowed to protect the Bayeux Tapestry, after renowned UK artist David Hockney warned that sending it across the Channel from France for an exhibition this year was "madness".
"Some things are too precious to take a risk with," the artist wrote in an opinion piece for the daily Independent about plans for the 11th-century artefact. "Moving the Bayeux Tapestry is one of them.
"It is fragile, which makes it madness to think of moving it. It is too big a risk," he wrote in Wednesday's article.
Museum director Nicholas Cullinan said that while his team understood these concerns, the London museum "has a world-leading conservation and collections team who are experts at handling and caring for this type of material.
"We send and receive thousands of loans each year -- including ancient frescoes and textiles which are older than the Bayeux tapestry -- and their condition and safety is always of paramount importance," he added in a statement to AFP.
The 68-metre-long (224-foot-long) tapestry, which depicts the Norman conquest of England in 1066, is now in a secret storage location, having been moved from its museum in the French town of Bayeux in Normandy for the first time in 40 years.
French President Emmanuel Macron last year agreed to loan the medieval tapestry to Britain for 10 months from September 2026 to celebrate Franco-British relations.
French museums will in exchange be loaned ancient treasures mainly from the Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo site, one of England's most important archaeological locations.
But the plan has sparked an outcry from heritage experts concerned over the ancient embroidery's already fragile state.

'Vulnerable'

Since 2020, experts have meticulously documented 24,204 stains, 9,646 holes and 30 tears in the artwork.
A feasibility study for the transport of the Bayeux Tapestry to London, completed by three experts in March 2022, remains "confidential" at the request of the Normandy cultural authorities who commissioned it. 
Hockney, who first saw the tapestry in 1967, says he has visited it 20 times in the past three years, adding it was "fundamental to our island story".
But he warned: "The linen backing is weakened by age, and the wool embroidery threads are vulnerable to stress."
"Rolling, unrolling, or hanging it in a new way can cause tearing, stitch loss and distortion of the fabric."
The tapestry was added to UNESCO's "Memory of the World" register in 2007.
A two-year renovation project had been due to begin in 2025 but was postponed indefinitely and the relic was instead off display while the museum currently housing it undergoes renovations of its own.
Hockney suggested it should stay where it is, and that "an identical copy" should be made.
"It is not difficult. It would look fantastic."
jkb/har/jj

Kurds

Syrians flee Kurdish-controlled area near Aleppo

BY OMAR HAJJ KADDOUR

  • Damascus, which has deployed forces to the region, also accused Kurdish forces of barring the civilians from leaving.
  • Syrians began fleeing an area east of Aleppo city on Thursday after the army gave civilians a deadline to leave amid fears of an escalation in clashes with Kurdish forces.
  • Damascus, which has deployed forces to the region, also accused Kurdish forces of barring the civilians from leaving.
Syrians began fleeing an area east of Aleppo city on Thursday after the army gave civilians a deadline to leave amid fears of an escalation in clashes with Kurdish forces.
The government is seeking to extend its authority across the country following the ouster of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad a year ago.
On Sunday, government troops took full control of Aleppo city over the weekend after capturing two Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods.
It reached a deal in March to fold a Kurdish de facto autonomous administration in the north into the state, but progress on its implementation has stalled.
An AFP correspondent near Deir Hafer, one of the Kurdish-controlled towns being eyed by Damascus, saw many cars, trucks and civilians on foot leaving through a corridor set up by the army on Thursday, but the road was due to close at 5:00 pm (1400 GMT).
Mahmud al-Mussa, 30, said "thousands of people have not left", accusing the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces of not letting them leave.
"They want to use civilians as human shields," he said.
The area targeted extends from near Deir Hafer, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Aleppo, to the Euphrates River about 30 kilometres further east, as well as towards the south.
Damascus, which has deployed forces to the region, also accused Kurdish forces of barring the civilians from leaving.
Farhad Shami, spokesperson for the SDF, told AFP the accusations were "unfounded".
Nadima al-Wayss, 54, said she, her brother and her niece had to cross a damaged bridge to leave Deir Hafer through a different road.
"Good people helped me cross the bridge... I was afraid I would fall."

'Join hands'

The SDF controls swathes of Syria's oil-rich north and northeast, much of which it captured during the country's civil war and the fight against the Islamic State group over the past decade.
In a statement on Thursday, the Kurdish-led autonomous administration said they remained open to dialogue with Damascus and called on the international community to prevent a new civil war in Syria.
The SDF warned that the escalation "could lead to general instability, posing a real threat to the security of prisons holding ISIS members", referring to the Islamic State (IS) group.
Camps and prisons in Syria's Kurdish-administered northeast hold tens of thousands of people, many with alleged or perceived links to IS, more than six years after the group's territorial defeat in the country.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said "the ball is in (the SDF's) court", calling on the group to "join hands with us... and begin the reconstruction process in Syria". 
He made his remarks in an interview with Iraqi Kurdish channel Al Shams, which then decided not to air it.
Syrian state television and other regional channels have since aired excerpts.
"The agreement signed by Mazlum Abdi does not include federalism, self-administration... it includes a unified Syria," Sharaa said, referring to the SDF leader.
The Kurds have called for a decentralised federal system as part of their integration process into the Syrian state, but Sharaa has rejected their demands.
Syria's Kurds faced decades of oppression under former president Assad and his father, Hafez, who preached a Baathist brand of Arab nationalism.
They fear Syria's new Islamist rulers may take away from them the autonomy they carved out during the civil war that erupted with Assad's 2011 crackdown on nationwide democracy protests.
str-nad/ser

internet

Pressure piles on Musk's X to curb sexualised deepfakes

BY BENJAMIN LEGENDRE WITH ANUJ CHOPRA IN WASHINGTON

  • "We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing," X's safety team said, adding that the restriction applied to "all users" without exceptions.
  • More governments vowed crackdowns Thursday to prevent Grok, the AI chatbot on Elon Musk's X platform, from undressing or sexualizing images of real people in their jurisdictions, in a face of a growing backlash against the deepfakes. 
  • "We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing," X's safety team said, adding that the restriction applied to "all users" without exceptions.
More governments vowed crackdowns Thursday to prevent Grok, the AI chatbot on Elon Musk's X platform, from undressing or sexualizing images of real people in their jurisdictions, in a face of a growing backlash against the deepfakes. 
The Philippines became the third country to ban Grok altogether, following Southeast Asian neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia, while Britain and France said they would keep up the pressure.
Several countries have demanded that Musk's xAI, the developer of Grok, rein in the chatbot after it was used to generate a flood of lewd photos of women and children.
X said Wednesday that it would "geoblock the ability" of all Grok and X users to create images of people in "bikinis, underwear, and similar attire" in jurisdictions where such actions are illegal.
The announcement came after California's attorney general launched an investigation into xAI over the sexually explicit material, and several countries either blocked access to Grok or opened their own probes.
"We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing," X's safety team said, adding that the restriction applied to "all users" without exceptions.
In an "extra layer of protection," image creation and the ability to edit photos via X's Grok account is now available only to paid subscribers, it said.
"I welcome that X is now acting to ensure full compliance with UK law -- it must happen immediately", British Prime Minister Keir Starmer -- a favourite target of Musk's political posts -- wrote Thursday on X.
"If we need to strengthen existing laws further, we are prepare to do that," Starmer warned.
Meanwhile, Philippines cybercrime chief Renato Paraiso said the country's block could be effective by the end of the day.
He said X's pledge to limit access would have no effect on the plans, adding that the government would watch to see if the platform follows through on its promises.
"We need to clean the internet now because much toxic content is appearing, especially with the advent of AI," Philippine telecommunications secretary Henry Rhoel Aguda said.

'Shocking'

Grok's so-called "Spicy Mode" allowed users to create deepfakes using simple text prompts such as "put her in a bikini" or "remove her clothes."
An analysis of more than 20,000 Grok-generated images by AI Forensics, a Paris-based nonprofit, found that more than half depicted "individuals in minimal attire" -- most of them women, and two percent appearing to be minors.
The European Commission, which acts as the EU's digital watchdog, had said it will "carefully assess" additional measures taken by X to ensure "they effectively protect citizens."
"France and Europe taking action... is producing results," Paris's digital minister Anne Le Henanff told AFP on Thursday, warning that "no platform is above the law".
Her British counterpart Liz Kendall said in a statement that she welcomed X's move -- while backing an investigation by media watchdog Ofcom into whether the images breached British law.
California Governor Gavin Newsom had said that xAI's "vile" decision to allow sexually explicit deepfakes to proliferate prompted him to urge the state's attorney general, Rob Bonta, to hold the company accountable.
"We have zero tolerance for the AI-based creation and dissemination of nonconsensual intimate images or of child sexual abuse material," Bonta said Wednesday.
He added that the California investigation would determine whether xAI violated state law after the explicit imagery was "used to harass people across the internet."

Posts removed

Adding further pressure onto Musk's company Wednesday, a coalition of 28 civil society groups submitted open letters to the CEOs of Apple and Google, urging them to ban Grok and X from their app stores amid the surge in sexualized images.
Indonesia on Saturday became the first country to block access to Grok entirely, with Malaysia following the next day.
On Thursday, Malaysia's communications minister said national regulators had found that X's steps to prevent Grok generating indecent images were "not done in totality."
If X can successfully deactivate and prevent the generation of such online content considered harmful, Malaysia will lift the temporary restriction on Grok, Fahmi Fadzil said.
ac/jgc/burs-kaf-tgb/js

Global Edition

Uganda election hit by delays after internet blackout

BY ROSE TROUP BUCHANAN

  • Wine accused the government of "massive ballot-stuffing" and arresting officials in his party under cover of an internet blackout imposed by the government this week despite repeated promises not to do so. 
  • Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni admitted even he had problems voting as technical issues disrupted Thursday's election, in which he hopes to extend his 40-year rule, amid an internet blackout and a police crackdown.
  • Wine accused the government of "massive ballot-stuffing" and arresting officials in his party under cover of an internet blackout imposed by the government this week despite repeated promises not to do so. 
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni admitted even he had problems voting as technical issues disrupted Thursday's election, in which he hopes to extend his 40-year rule, amid an internet blackout and a police crackdown.
Museveni, 81, is widely expected to win a seventh term in office thanks to his total control of the state and security apparatus. 
The former bush fighter faces a concerted challenge from singer-turned-politician Bobi Wine, 43, who styles himself the "ghetto president" after his stronghold in the slums of the capital, Kampala.
Wine accused the government of "massive ballot-stuffing" and arresting officials in his party under cover of an internet blackout imposed by the government this week despite repeated promises not to do so. 
In many polling stations around the country, voting was delayed by several hours as ballot boxes were slow to arrive and biometric machines -- used to verify voters' identity -- were malfunctioning, which some blamed on the internet blockage. 
"Everything they are doing is a sham and it is deliberate," David Lewis Rubongoya, secretary general of the opposition National Unity Platform, told AFP, adding that "no voting" took place in the morning across much of Kampala.
Museveni acknowledged even he had trouble and promised to investigate. 
"I put my right... thumbprint. The machine did not accept it. I put my left, it did not accept it," he told journalists, adding that the machine finally accepted a scan of his face, allowing him to vote.
At a polling station on the outskirts of Kampala, voting began four hours late after officials had to switch to manual verification. 
"They are trying to steal the poll," said Respy, a woman in her 20s. "They are trying to make us get tired and go home."

Repression

There was a heavy security presence in many areas and police have warned the vote is "not a justification for criminal acts", determined to prevent the anti-government protests seen in neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania in recent months. 
Journalists have been harassed and Human Rights Watch has denounced the suspension this week of 10 NGOs, including election monitors.
As with his 2021 campaign, hundreds of Wine's supporters have been arrested in the run-up to the vote. He wore a flak jacket at rallies, describing the election as a "war" and Museveni as a "military dictator".
"We are holding elections in the dark," Wine said after casting his vote.
"This is done in order to facilitate the intended rigging of the regime," he said. "We would encourage the people of Uganda to resist."
The government said the internet shutdown was needed to prevent the spread of "misinformation" and "incitement to violence", but the United Nations called it "deeply worrying".
The other major opposition figure, Kizza Besigye, who ran four times against Museveni, was abducted in Kenya in 2024 and brought back to a military court in Uganda for a treason trial that is ongoing.
Many Ugandans still praise Museveni as the man who ended the country's post-independence chaos and oversaw rapid economic growth, even if much was lost to a relentless string of massive corruption scandals.
"Peace and security in the country is very good. The party is well-organised," said Angee Abraham Lincoln, 42, a Museveni supporter waiting to cast his vote in Kampala. 
Western countries have often given Museveni leeway after he swallowed their demands for neoliberal reforms in the 1980s and made himself a useful partner in the US-led "war on terror" in the 2000s, especially through troop contributions to Somalia.
The president said his vote, when it was finally cast, was for anyone "who believes in Uganda... who believes in Africa."
bur-er/kjm/rh

spy

Russia expels UK diplomat accused of being spy

  • "This is not the first time the Kremlin has made malicious and baseless accusations against our staff," the Foreign Office said in a statement.
  • Russia said Thursday it was expelling a British diplomat, calling him an undercover spy in an accusation blasted by London as "malicious" and "baseless."
  • "This is not the first time the Kremlin has made malicious and baseless accusations against our staff," the Foreign Office said in a statement.
Russia said Thursday it was expelling a British diplomat, calling him an undercover spy in an accusation blasted by London as "malicious" and "baseless."
The Kremlin has long singled out Britain as one of the most hostile Western states -- with relations virtually frozen even before Moscow's full-scale offensive on Ukraine. 
The two countries have expelled each others' embassy staff several times in recent years. 
Moscow-London ties have been plagued by spy allegations for decades and were already at their lowest point before Russia's 2022 Ukraine attack. 
Since then, Britain became one of Kyiv's strongest backers. 
Russia's FSB security service named the man it was expelling as Gareth Samuel Davies -- listed on Moscow's official database of accredited diplomats as the embassy's second secretary. 
Russia's foreign ministry summoned the UK's charge d'affaires, saying it issued a "strong protest" and that it had received information that "one of the embassy's diplomatic staff belongs to the UK's intelligence service." 
"The individual's accreditation is being revoked. He is required to leave the Russian Federation within two weeks," the ministry said.
Expulsions by one side have typically been followed up by a tit-for-tat response from the other.
Russia warned Britain not to "escalate the situation", pledging to deliver a "firm symmetrical response" should London retaliate.
Britain said it was mulling next steps.
"This is not the first time the Kremlin has made malicious and baseless accusations against our staff," the Foreign Office said in a statement.
"We are carefully considering our options in response."

Frozen ties

Outside the foreign ministry in Moscow on Thursday, UK charge d'affaires Danae Dholakia was mobbed by reporters from state media outlets. 
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has hosted Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky for talks on how to end the war with Russia several times, and is one of the Kremlin's most vocal critics. 
This month, Britain and France signed a declaration of intent that sets out deploying troops on Ukrainian territory after a ceasefire. 
Russia rejected the post-war plan, saying such troops would be considered "legitimate military targets." 
Moscow also recently blasted London for being involved in the planning of a US operation to seize a Russian-flagged tanker in the North Atlantic. 
Espionage accusations between the two countries date back far further than the Ukraine offensive.
In 2006, Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko was killed in London, poisoned by polonium in what British investigators said was a hit by the Russian secret service. 
And in 2018, the UK said Russian double agent Sergei Skripal was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent in the British cathedral city of Salisbury. 
One member of the public was killed after handling the delivery device, a discarded perfume bottle, triggering the largest Western expulsion of Russian diplomats, alleged to be spies, in decades.
The communication line between Downing Street and the Kremlin has been closed since Russia's offensive. 
The last UK leader known to have spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin was Boris Johnson in February 2022, days before Moscow launched its offensive, when he told the Kremlin chief that sending troops to Ukraine "would be a tragic miscalculation." 
burs/st

Global Edition

Fatal back-to-back Thailand crane failures tied to same firm

BY MONTIRA RUNGJIRAJITTRANON, PASIKA KHERNAMNUOY AND THANAPORN PROMYAMYAI WITH WATSAMON TRI-YASAKDA IN NAKHON RATCHASIMA PROVINCE

  • The crane that fell Thursday at the under-construction Rama II Expressway in Samut Sakhon province, outside Bangkok, left two people dead, a police official told AFP from the scene.
  • The collapse of a highway construction crane killed two people near Bangkok on Thursday, with Thailand's leader vowing to blacklist the building firm which was also involved in a crane failure the day before that left 32 dead.
  • The crane that fell Thursday at the under-construction Rama II Expressway in Samut Sakhon province, outside Bangkok, left two people dead, a police official told AFP from the scene.
The collapse of a highway construction crane killed two people near Bangkok on Thursday, with Thailand's leader vowing to blacklist the building firm which was also involved in a crane failure the day before that left 32 dead.
Car dashcam footage verified by AFP showed the moment the massive crane fell on Thursday, unleashing clouds of dust as well as rubble across the area, as several vehicles pulled over or reversed to avoid falling debris.
Motorcycle-taxi driver Booncherd La-orium said he no longer felt safe driving in the area.
"I had goosebumps just thinking about how risky it is to be here. It could have happened to me," the 69-year-old told AFP.
Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn linked firm Italian-Thai Development to the country's second deadly crane collapse in two days, according to local media.
"We have to find out the facts," Phiphat told a local outlet.
Italian-Thai Development was also contracted to build a section of a China-backed high-speed rail project where a huge crane fell on Wednesday, in Nakhon Ratchasima province, derailing a passenger train below and killing 32 of nearly 200 people on board.
In a note to Thailand's stock exchange, Italian-Thai expressed condolences to the victims' of the crane accident on Thursday, saying it would provide compensation.
The firm also pledged to "review and improve safety measures to be more thorough and stringent moving forward", the note said.
Italian-Thai earlier promised compensation to victims of Wednesday's crane collapse and train derailment.
The company -- one of Thailand's biggest construction firms -- has seen several deadly accidents at its sites in recent years.
The crane that fell Thursday at the under-construction Rama II Expressway in Samut Sakhon province, outside Bangkok, left two people dead, a police official told AFP from the scene.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters his government would terminate the contracts with the contractor of the two projects where the accidents occurred, without specifying a firm by name.
Anutin said legal action would be taken and the contractor would be blacklisted.
"It has happened three or four times by one contractor. The government is not comfortable letting this kind of company work for the government," he said.

'Death Road'

In other verified footage from the same vehicle as the dashcam, someone is heard saying: "I almost died... Please pull over first".
Another person replies: "That's okay now. It's not falling further."
"That was close," the first person says.
Rescue worker Sutthiwat Thanomsat told AFP he arrived at the scene shortly after the crane crashed down, and witnessed the aftermath of a pickup truck driver killed by the impact.
The Rama II Expressway, a main artery linking the capital to Thailand's south, hosts several major infrastructure projects, including tollway construction.
Construction work has been underway for years to expand the road's capacity and reduce congestion but the project has been beset by delays and fatalities, earning it the nickname "Death Road".
Surachai Wongho, a 61-year-old retiree who drives on Rama II regularly, said he is haunted by the thought that one day he could be hurt in an accident.
"It's the same incident happening over and over again in Thailand. It's time for the government to do something," he told AFP.
In March, a concrete beam forming part of an under-construction elevated roadway collapsed on Rama II, killing several people.
A crane collapse in November 2024 killed at least three workers.

Silent prayers

The incident on Thursday followed the crane collapse in Nakhon Ratchasima a day earlier, one of Thailand's deadliest rail accidents in years.
A massive launching gantry crane, used by Italian-Thai in the construction of a high-speed rail project, collapsed onto a passenger train below.
At the site of the deadly accident on Thursday, construction workers milled around the scene, snapping photos of the wreckage, as relatives of victims visited to mourn and pray in silence.
The crane was left hanging off giant concrete pillars, built to hold up the future elevated high-speed rail line -- a joint Thailand-China endeavour.
The nation's rail operator said it ordered Italian-Thai to halt construction until an investigation was completed.
The crane operator was Thai and had fallen and died in Wednesday's accident, an Italian-Thai worker who declined to give her name told AFP.
bur-tak/sco/ami

Russia

ISS astronauts splash down on Earth after first-ever medical evacuation

BY CHARLOTTE CAUSIT

  • The ISS is set to be decommissioned after 2030, with its orbit gradually lowered until it breaks up in the atmosphere over a remote part of the Pacific Ocean called Point Nemo, a spacecraft graveyard. bur-lga/ami
  • Four International Space Station crewmembers splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Thursday, NASA footage showed, after the first ever medical evacuation in the orbital lab's history.
  • The ISS is set to be decommissioned after 2030, with its orbit gradually lowered until it breaks up in the atmosphere over a remote part of the Pacific Ocean called Point Nemo, a spacecraft graveyard. bur-lga/ami
Four International Space Station crewmembers splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Thursday, NASA footage showed, after the first ever medical evacuation in the orbital lab's history.
A video feed from NASA showed the capsule carrying American astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui land off the coast of San Diego at 12:41 am (0841 GMT).
"On behalf of SpaceX and NASA, welcome home," mission control told the crew moments after landing.
"It's so good to be home, with deep gratitude to the teams that got us there and back," Cardman replied.
A health issue prompted their mission to be cut short, after spending five months in space.
The US space agency has declined to disclose any details about the health issue but stressed the return was not an emergency situation.
The affected crewmember "is doing fine," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told reporters after the splashdown.
Isaacman said only that the crewmember experienced "a serious medical condition" that "could have happened on Earth completely outside of the microgravity environment."
He said all crewmembers are safe, in good spirits and were undergoing standard post-arrival medical checks.
"They just executed... a near-perfect mission on orbit," Isaacman said.
Fincke, the SpaceX Crew-11 pilot, shared a similar message in a social media post earlier this week: "First and foremost, we are all OK. Everyone on board is stable, safe, and well cared for."
"This was a deliberate decision to allow the right medical evaluations to happen on the ground, where the full range of diagnostic capability exists. It's the right call, even if it's a bit bittersweet."
The Crew-11 quartet arrived at the ISS in early August and had been scheduled to stay onboard the space station until they were rotated out in mid-February with the arrival of the next crew.
James Polk, NASA's chief health and medical officer, previously said "lingering risk" and a "lingering question as to what that diagnosis is" led to the decision to bring back the crew earlier than originally scheduled.
- Ready for the unexpected - 
The crew conducted a little under 900 hours of experiments during its 167 days in orbit, said Joel Montalbano, deputy associate administrator of NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate.
American astronaut Chris Williams and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, who arrived at the station in November aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, remained on the ISS.
The Russian Roscosmos space agency operates alongside NASA on the outpost, and the two agencies take turns transporting a citizen of the other country to and from the orbiter -- one of the few areas of bilateral cooperation that still endure between the United States and Russia.
Continuously inhabited since 2000, the International Space Station seeks to showcase multinational cooperation, bringing together Europe, Japan, the United States and Russia.
Located some 400 kilometers (248.5 miles) above Earth, the ISS functions as a testbed for research that supports deeper space exploration -- including eventual missions to return humans to the Moon and onward to Mars.
The four astronauts who were evacuated had been trained to handle unexpected medical situations, said Amit Kshatriya, a senior NASA official, praising how they have dealt with the situation.
The ISS is set to be decommissioned after 2030, with its orbit gradually lowered until it breaks up in the atmosphere over a remote part of the Pacific Ocean called Point Nemo, a spacecraft graveyard.
bur-lga/ami

diplomacy

China's top diplomat calls Carney visit 'turning point' in ties

  • The first visit by a Canadian leader to Beijing in eight years was a "turning point and symbol for the relationship between two countries", Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a statement, according to a readout.
  • China's top diplomat said Thursday that a visit by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to Beijing marked a "turning point" in the two countries' long acrimonious relationship.
  • The first visit by a Canadian leader to Beijing in eight years was a "turning point and symbol for the relationship between two countries", Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a statement, according to a readout.
China's top diplomat said Thursday that a visit by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to Beijing marked a "turning point" in the two countries' long acrimonious relationship.
The first visit by a Canadian leader to Beijing in eight years was a "turning point and symbol for the relationship between two countries", Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a statement, according to a readout.
"The leaders of the two countries will hold meetings and talks, which I believe will open up new prospects for bilateral relations," he added.
Carney, who has also said ties between the two sides are shifting, is meeting with top Chinese leaders in Beijing on Thursday, as he pulls away from traditional ally the United States.
Following President Donald Trump's aggressive tariffs on Canadian products, Carney has sought to reduce his country's economic reliance on its main market, the United States.
Video from Chinese state media showed Carney arriving in Beijing for his four-day state visit late Wednesday evening to a red carpet welcome.
He is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, among other government and business leaders for trade talks.
Ties between the two nations withered in 2018, when Canada arrested the daughter of Huawei's founder on a US warrant, and China's retaliatory detention of two Canadians on espionage charges.

'Right track'

The two countries imposed tit-for-tat tariffs on each other's exports in the years that ensued, with China also being accused of interfering in Canada's elections.
Caught in the tariffs crossfire were Chinese electric vehicles along with Canadian canola oil and other agricultural goods.
The last time Chinese and Canadian leaders formally met was when then prime minister Justin Trudeau visited Beijing in 2017.
But there have been signs of warming ties under Carney, who met Xi on the sidelines of an APEC summit in October.
China has shown a willingness to rekindle the relationship, with Xi telling Carney after their meeting that it has "shown a recovery" towards "the right track".
Officials from the two countries have been in talks to lower tariffs, but an agreement has yet to be reached.
Beijing, meanwhile, said this week it "attaches high importance" to Carney's visit.

Pivot from US

Ottawa has traditionally been hawkish towards Beijing, positioning itself in alliance with the United States.
But Canada has been hit especially hard by Trump's steep tariffs on steel, aluminium, vehicles and lumber, prompting a change of heart.
In October, Carney said Canada should double its non-US exports by 2035 to reduce reliance on the United States.
But the United States remains far and away its largest market, buying around 75 percent of Canadian exports in 2024, according to Canadian government statistics.
While Ottawa has stressed that China is Canada's second-largest market, it lags far behind, buying less than four percent of Canadian exports in 2024.
Carney will be looking to raise that figure, with his office saying the visit aims to "elevate engagement on trade, energy, agriculture, and international security".
bur-dhw/je/abs

Global Edition

Trump says Iran killings stopped, Tehran says 'no plan for hanging'

BY DANNY KEMP AND FRANKIE TAGGART WITH STUART WILLIAMS IN PARIS

  • Asked by an AFP reporter in the Oval Office if US military action was now off the table, Trump replied: "We're going to watch it and see what the process is."
  • US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he had been told the killings of protesters in Iran had been halted, but added that he would "watch it and see" about threatened military action.
  • Asked by an AFP reporter in the Oval Office if US military action was now off the table, Trump replied: "We're going to watch it and see what the process is."
US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he had been told the killings of protesters in Iran had been halted, but added that he would "watch it and see" about threatened military action.
Trump had repeatedly talked in recent days about coming to the aid of the Iranian people over the crackdown on protests that rights groups say has left at least 3,428 people dead.
But in a surprise announcement at the White House, Trump said he had now received assurances from "very important sources on the other side" that Tehran had now stopped, and that executions would not go ahead.
"They've said the killing has stopped and the executions won't take place -- there were supposed to be a lot of executions today and that the executions won't take place -- and we're going to find out," Trump said.
He offered no details and noted that the United States had yet to verify the claims.
Asked by an AFP reporter in the Oval Office if US military action was now off the table, Trump replied: "We're going to watch it and see what the process is."
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi later said there would be "no hanging today or tomorrow," in an interview with US network Fox News, while accusing Israel of orchestrating violence, without providing evidence.
Araghchi contends the peaceful protests about economic hardship that began December 28 devolved into widespread violence between January 7 and 10 because the protests were infiltrated by external "elements who had a plan to create a big number of killings in order to provoke President Trump to enter into this conflict and start a new war against Iran."
Iran's Minister of Justice Amin Hossein Rahimi echoed that allegation, telling state news agencies that after January 7, "those weren't protests any longer" and anyone who was arrested on the streets then "was definitely a criminal."
A rights group said separately that the execution of an Iranian man arrested during the wave of protests, 26-year-old Erfan Soltani, would not take place as scheduled on Wednesday, citing relatives.
Late Wednesday, UN leadership announced a meeting of the Security Council Thursday for "a briefing on the situation in Iran," as requested by the United States.
Trump's comments sent oil prices plunging on Thursday morning, as concerns eased of a looming supply shock in energy markets. Iran makes up around three percent of global oil production. 

 'Full control'

Araghchi said the Iranian government was "in full control" and reported an atmosphere of "calm" after what he called three days of "terrorist operation."
Iran also struck a defiant tone about responding to any US attack, as Washington appeared to draw down staff at a base in Qatar that Tehran targeted in a strike last year.
Iran targeted the Al Udeid base in June in retaliation for US strikes on its nuclear facilities. Ali Shamkhani, a senior advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Trump the strike showed "Iran's will and capability to respond to any attack."
Fears of possible US military action continued to rile the region.
The British government said its embassy in Tehran had been "temporarily closed," while the US embassy in Saudi Arabia urged staff to exercise caution and avoid military installations and India's government urged its citizens to leave the country.
Germany's Lufthansa on Wednesday said its flights would avoid Iranian and Iraqi airspace "until further notice" after the US threats against Iran.
Trump has threatened to intervene militarily in Iran several times since the protest movement that has shaken the country began in late December. The protests are the largest since the Islamic Republic was proclaimed in 1979.
Rights monitors say that under cover of a five-day internet blackout, Iranian authorities are carrying out their harshest repression in years against demonstrations openly challenging the theocratic system.
Iran's judiciary chief vowed fast-track trials for those arrested, stoking fears authorities will use capital punishment as a tool of repression.
In Tehran, authorities held a funeral for more than 100 security personnel and other "martyrs" killed in the unrest, which officials have branded "acts of terror."

'Unprecedented level of brutality'

G7 nations said Wednesday they were "deeply alarmed at the high level of reported deaths and injuries" and warned of further sanctions if the crackdown continued.
Monitor NetBlocks said Iran's internet blackout had lasted 144 hours. Despite the shutdown, new videos, with locations verified by AFP, showed bodies lined up in the Kahrizak morgue south of Tehran, wrapped in black bags as distraught relatives searched for loved ones.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War said authorities were using "an unprecedented level of brutality to suppress protests," noting reports of protest activity had sharply declined.
A senior Iranian official told journalists there had been no new "riots" since Monday, distinguishing them from earlier cost-of-living protests. "Every society can expect protests, but we will not tolerate violence," he said.
Prosecutors have said some detainees will face capital charges of "waging war against God." State media reported hundreds of arrests and the detention of a foreign national for espionage, without giving details.
Iran Human Rights, based in Norway, said security forces had killed at least 3,428 protesters and arrested more than 10,000.
burs-dk/aha/sla/jgc/ceg/hmn

diplomacy

New Zealand warned Pacific neighbour over oil smuggling 'shadow fleet'

BY STEVEN TRASK

  • "New Zealand has raised serious concerns directly with the Cook Islands government about the management of its shipping registry, including the flagging of shadow fleet vessels," New Zealand's foreign affairs department said.
  • A "shadow fleet" of 19 tankers suspected of smuggling oil for Russia and Iran was flagged by New Zealand with Cook Islands authorities in 2024, according to a confidential list obtained by AFP. The small Pacific island is home to a flourishing international shipping registry, allowing foreign vessels to sail under its flag for a modest fee of a few thousand dollars.
  • "New Zealand has raised serious concerns directly with the Cook Islands government about the management of its shipping registry, including the flagging of shadow fleet vessels," New Zealand's foreign affairs department said.
A "shadow fleet" of 19 tankers suspected of smuggling oil for Russia and Iran was flagged by New Zealand with Cook Islands authorities in 2024, according to a confidential list obtained by AFP.
The small Pacific island is home to a flourishing international shipping registry, allowing foreign vessels to sail under its flag for a modest fee of a few thousand dollars.
There is mounting evidence the archipelago has become a haven for foreign smugglers, who sail under the Cook Islands flag to escape scrutiny as they flout Western sanctions.
New Zealand officials in 2024 compiled a list of 19 tankers -- or "vessels of concern" -- that had been registered to the Cook Islands in recent years.
The list included the Arabesca, a crude oil tanker that frequently calls at Russian ports in the Baltic Sea.
The Arabesca was in 2025 blacklisted by the UK, Canada, Switzerland and the European Union for smuggling Russian oil.
Also named in New Zealand's list was a ship called the Maruti, a chemical tanker often seen sailing through the Persian Gulf.
The Maruti transported "hundreds of thousands of barrels" of Iranian naptha fuel while sailing under the Cook Islands' flag in 2025, according to a US sanctions notice published in December.
Both the Arabesca and the Maruti have since been deleted from the Cook Islands' shipping registry.
The Cook Islands has apparently brushed off New Zealand's concerns about some other vessels.
Of the 19 ships singled out by New Zealand in 2024, seven remained registered to the Cook Islands as of mid-January this year.
This included tankers the Bonetta and the Ocean Wave, which are suspected by the United States of hauling crude oil from Iran.
AFP could not reach the owners of the Arabesca, Maruti, Bonetta and Ocean Wave for comment.
New Zealand's list, released to AFP under freedom of information laws, was raised with Cook Islands through diplomatic channels in 2024. 

Shadow fleet

Western sanctions aim to curb Iran and Russia cashing in on oil sales, limiting funding for Tehran's nuclear programme or Moscow's war machine.
New Zealand alleges the Cook Islands has been exploited by transnational maritime smuggling networks known as the "shadow fleet".
By registering in places such as the Cook Islands -- where they are subject to less stringent checks -- shadow fleet ships can disguise themselves as legitimate vessels.
Often the shipping registries are unaware of the ship's true purpose.
Cook Islands' links to sanctions evasion are a source of potential embarrasment to New Zealand, which once governed the Pacific nation of some 15,000 people.
New Zealand remains the Cook Islands' closest diplomatic partner and still has a constitutional responsibility to help with foreign affairs and defence.
"New Zealand has raised serious concerns directly with the Cook Islands government about the management of its shipping registry, including the flagging of shadow fleet vessels," New Zealand's foreign affairs department said.
Former Royal New Zealand Navy officer Mark Douglas said some 150 foreign tankers were registered in the Cook Islands at its busiest point in 2024.
"It certainly seemed at its peak that it was 'pay to play'," said Douglas, now an analyst for Starboard Maritime Intelligence.
"If you turned up with some good paperwork and the cheque cleared, you were able to get the Cook Islands' flag."
Cook Islands had since de-registered many of the most dubious vessels, Douglas said, but there were "some left that have question marks over them".
The UN-backed International Maritime Organisation currently lists 40 tankers registered to the Cook Islands.
The Cook Islands offers what is known as a "flag of convenience".
This means foreign ship owners can pay to sail under the flag without ever setting foot on the archipelago, halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii.
"Many shadow fleet vessels use flags of convenience from countries that are either less inclined or unable to enforce Western sanctions," notes a European Parliament briefing from 2024.
The Cook Islands was one of the "top countries whose flags are used by shadow tankers transporting Russian crude oil", according to the report.

Growing fast

Shipping journal Lloyd's List in 2024 crowned Maritime Cook Islands the "fastest growing registry" in the world.
While Cook Islands' fees are opaque, the revenue generated by shipping licenses is modest.
Cook Islands budget documents estimate shipping registrations will bring in around US$50,000 this year.
Maritime Cook Islands did not reply to a request for comment.
The shipping registry has previously denied that it failed to conduct appropriate checks.
"The Cook Islands register has never harboured sanctioned vessels," Maritime Cook Islands told AFP in November last year.
"Any sanctioned vessels are deleted."
sft/djw/abs

technology

AI-created Iran protest videos gain traction

BY ANUJ CHOPRA

  • In this case, AI creators were filling an information void caused by the internet blackout imposed by the Iranian regime as it sought to suppress demonstrations, experts said.
  • AI-generated videos purportedly depicting protests in Iran have flooded the web, researchers said Wednesday, as social media users push hyper-realistic deepfakes to fill an information void amid the country's internet restrictions.
  • In this case, AI creators were filling an information void caused by the internet blackout imposed by the Iranian regime as it sought to suppress demonstrations, experts said.
AI-generated videos purportedly depicting protests in Iran have flooded the web, researchers said Wednesday, as social media users push hyper-realistic deepfakes to fill an information void amid the country's internet restrictions.
US disinformation watchdog NewsGuard said it identified seven AI-generated videos depicting the Iranian protests -- created by both pro- and anti-government actors -- that have collectively amassed some 3.5 million views across online platforms.
Among them was a video shared on the Elon Musk-owned platform X showing women protesters smashing a vehicle belonging to the Basij, the Iranian paramilitary force deployed to suppress the protests.
One X post featuring the AI clip, shared by what NewsGuard described as anti-regime users, garnered nearly 720,000 views.
Anti-regime X and TikTok users in the United States also posted AI videos depicting Iranian protesters symbolically renaming local streets after President Donald Trump.
One such clip shows a protester changing a street sign to "Trump St" while other demonstrators cheer, with an overlaid caption reading: "Iranian protestors are renaming the streets after Trump."
Trump had repeatedly talked in recent days about coming to the aid of the Iranian people over the crackdown on protests that rights groups say has left at least 3,428 people dead.
Trump said Wednesday he had been told the killings of protesters in Iran had been halted, but added that he would "watch it and see" about threatened military action.
Pro-regime social media users also shared AI videos purportedly showing large-scale pro-government counterprotests throughout the Islamic republic.
The AI creations highlight the growing prevalence of what experts call "hallucinated" visual content on social media during major news events, often overshadowing authentic images and videos.
In this case, AI creators were filling an information void caused by the internet blackout imposed by the Iranian regime as it sought to suppress demonstrations, experts said.
"There's a lot of news -- but no way to get it because of the internet blackout," said NewsGuard analyst Ines Chomnalez.
"Foreign social media users are turning to AI video generators to advance their own narratives about the unfolding chaos."
The fabricated videos were the latest example of AI tools being deployed to distort fast-developing breaking news.
AI fabrications, often amplified by partisan actors, have fueled alternate realities around recent news events, including the US capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and a deadly shooting by immigration agents in Minneapolis.
AFP fact-checkers also uncovered misrepresented images that created misleading narratives about the Iranian protests, the largest since the Islamic Republic was proclaimed in 1979.
One months-old video purportedly showing demonstrations in Iran was actually filmed in Greece in November 2025, while another claiming to depict a protester tearing down an Iranian flag was filmed in Nepal during last year's protests that toppled the Himalayan nation's government.
bur-ac/sla

Greenland

Greenlanders torn between anxiety and relief after White House talks

BY PIERRE-HENRY DESHAYES

  • The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland, an autonomous territory under Copenhagen's sovereignty, met on Wednesday with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an attempt to clear up "misunderstandings" after Trump spoke repeatedly of the possibility of seizing the island.
  • Greenland's residents expressed a mix of anxiety and relief after a meeting was held Wednesday in the White House between officials from the United States, Denmark and the island at the centre of President Donald Trump's focus.
  • The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland, an autonomous territory under Copenhagen's sovereignty, met on Wednesday with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an attempt to clear up "misunderstandings" after Trump spoke repeatedly of the possibility of seizing the island.
Greenland's residents expressed a mix of anxiety and relief after a meeting was held Wednesday in the White House between officials from the United States, Denmark and the island at the centre of President Donald Trump's focus.
The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland, an autonomous territory under Copenhagen's sovereignty, met on Wednesday with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an attempt to clear up "misunderstandings" after Trump spoke repeatedly of the possibility of seizing the island.
"It's very frightening because it's such a big thing," said Vera Stidsen, 51, a teacher in Nuuk, Greenland's capital.
"I hope that in the future we can continue to live as we have until now: in peace and without being disturbed," Stidsen told AFP.
Following the meeting, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen expressed "fundamental disagreement" with Washington over the fate of the Arctic territory while Trump said he thought "something will work out".
Red and white Greenlandic flags flew in shop windows, on apartment balconies, and on cars and buses, in a show of national unity during the talks.
In one shop in Nuuk, a t-shirt with the slogan "Greenland is not for sale" was almost sold out, according to an AFP reporter.
'Living in peace'
Faced with comments by Donald Trump that the US would "have" Greenland "one way or the other", authorities there were working to keep a sense of calm for the island's 57,000 residents. 
Ivaana Egede Larsen, 43, watched a broadcast of the press conference given by Lokke and Greenland's foreign affairs minister Vivian Motzfeldt, in a cafe on Wednesday, tears welling up as she felt a flood of relief that the meeting appeared to have been cordial.
"I am more calm now, and I feel more safe," she said.
"Our hearts have felt very unsafe lately because of Trump's very direct, very aggressive way of talking about Greenland," she added.
Frederik Henningsen, 64, a janitor, also felt some optimism.
"They didn't manage to make an agreement but I have my hopes because I want to live in peace," he said. 
bur-phy/ms/ceg/abs

Trump

One year in, Trump shattering global order

BY SHAUN TANDON

  • "I don't think there's going to be a reconstruction of the post-World War II international order as we might recognize it," she said.
  • One year into his second term, US President Donald Trump is shattering the post-World War II order as never before, leaving a world that may be unrecognizable once he is through.
  • "I don't think there's going to be a reconstruction of the post-World War II international order as we might recognize it," she said.
One year into his second term, US President Donald Trump is shattering the post-World War II order as never before, leaving a world that may be unrecognizable once he is through.
Far from slowing down, Trump -- who turns 80 in June -- has rung in the new year with a slew of aggressive actions that brazenly defy the decades-old structure that was championed by the United States.
Trump on January 3 ordered an attack on oil-rich Venezuela that left more than 100 people dead in which commandos snatched leftist president Nicolas Maduro, a longtime US nemesis.
Since then, Trump has threatened force against both friend and foe.
The Republican leader has ramped up calls to seize Greenland from NATO ally Denmark and warned of striking Iran as the clerical regime violently represses protests.
He has also mused of military action in both Colombia and Mexico, although has appeared to back down after speaking to their presidents -- a mercurial style his supporters say shows that Trump prefers diplomacy when he can achieve outcomes he likes.
But Trump has also jettisoned traditional ways of statecraft as he vows to go it alone in his "America First" vision, most recently pulling the United States out of dozens more UN bodies and other international groups. 
"Many international organizations now serve a globalist project rooted in the discredited fantasy of the 'End of History,'" Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, referring to the post-Cold War hope of a stable world with a consensus for democracy.
Trump's unrepentant embrace of force has also played out at home. Led by Vice President JD Vance, his administration offered not even pro forma sympathy when a masked anti-immigration agent fatally shot a motorist in Minneapolis, instead surging in forces.
Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump's racially charged anti-immigrant campaign who has played a growing role in foreign policy as White House deputy chief of staff, said it was time to move beyond "international niceties."
"We live in a world, in the real world... that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power," Miller said in a CNN interview.

No higher purpose

The United States led the creation of post-World War II international institutions from the United Nations to NATO, which Trump has also denounced as unfair to the United States.
US leaders have frequently been accused of hypocrisy, such as in 2003 when George W. Bush invaded Iraq after bypassing the United Nations.
The difference, some observers say, is that Trump rarely even makes the pretense of pursuing higher "universal" principles such as promoting democracy.
In Venezuela, where Rubio and others had long branded Maduro illegitimate after reports of wide election irregularities, Trump has dismissed the opposition and said he wants to work with Maduro's vice president, the new interim leader.
Trump said the priority was to control Venezuela's oil and that he would wield the threat of force to keep the country in line.
French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the current American approach could spell an era of "new colonialism and new imperialism," four years after Russia invaded Ukraine.
"The United States is an established power, but one that is gradually turning away from some of its allies and breaking free from international rules that it was still promoting recently," Macron said.

Permanent changes

Melanie Sisson, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the United States had long succeeded "without having to attack, conquer and invade." 
"We were generally able to get our way, more often than not, using other tools of influence, exercised through international organizations and alliances," she said.
Even if Europe pines for the liberal order, Sisson said other powers are sure to follow Trump's lead in pursuing raw self-interest.
"I don't think there's going to be a reconstruction of the post-World War II international order as we might recognize it," she said.
"That doesn't mean some of the core principles of that order couldn't be reconstituted, but Trump is reshaping international politics in a way that will be durable."
One diplomat from a US ally, who spoke on condition of anonymity to be frank, said even if Trump's methods can be shocking, the time was ripe for change.
Russia and Israel both pursued military campaigns unimpeded by wide international condemnation, he said.
"It was clear that the global order wasn't working, even if we pretended it was."
sct/mlm

vote

Five things to know about Uganda

  • The government has high hopes for its oil sector after discovering major reserves in the Lake Albert region in 2006. 
  • Uganda, where President Yoweri Museveni is seeking to extend his 40-year rule with a seventh term on Thursday, has one of the world's youngest populations and is pinning its hopes on oil reserves to overcome poverty.
  • The government has high hopes for its oil sector after discovering major reserves in the Lake Albert region in 2006. 
Uganda, where President Yoweri Museveni is seeking to extend his 40-year rule with a seventh term on Thursday, has one of the world's youngest populations and is pinning its hopes on oil reserves to overcome poverty.
Here are five things to know about the east African nation: 

Regional military involvement

Still haunted by the tyrannical reign of Idi Amin from 1971 to 1979, which Museveni helped to end as a former guerrilla, Uganda has been involved in several civil wars and regional conflicts since achieving independence from Britain in 1962.
Museveni, who took power at the head of a rebel army in 1986, has tried to position himself as a useful ally to the United States to offset criticism of his domestic regime.
Uganda's troops have, for instance, been the largest contingent of African soldiers in Somalia fighting al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab militants since 2007.
Its troops have fought in two brutal wars in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo (1996-1997 and 1998-2003) and maintain a military presence there.
In March, Uganda again sent troops to South Sudan to support President Salva Kiir, which observers deemed a breach of a United Nations arms embargo.
 - Strict anti-homosexuality law -
Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act, signed by Museveni into law in May 2023, is one of the most severe in the world, with harsh sentences for same-sex relations or "promoting" homosexuality. 
This includes the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality", though capital punishment has not been applied for many years.
Human Rights Watch said the law "institutionalised" homophobia and made it "legitimate".
The World Bank suspended new loans to the country over the law, but announced in June 2025 that it was resuming lending, while claiming that measures were put in place to limit the risk of discrimination in its projects.

Black gold hopes

Agriculture is central to the Ugandan economy, with coffee as its leading export, along with refined gold, and a burgeoning tourism sector.
Museveni has overseen sustained economic growth -- which continued at more than six percent in 2024-2025, according to the World Bank. 
Some 60 percent of Ugandans still live on $3 or less, however, with critics accusing the government of multiple, massive corruption scandals that have sapped growth. 
The government has high hopes for its oil sector after discovering major reserves in the Lake Albert region in 2006. 
Landlocked, Uganda hopes to export its first oil through a $10 billion project with France's TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) that has been strongly opposed by environmental groups.
The 1,443-kilometre (900-mile) pipeline -- the world's longest heated pipeline -- is due to start transporting crude from Uganda to the Tanzanian port of Tanga on the Indian Ocean in June.

Young population

Half of the population of 51.4 million in 2025 was under 18, according to the World Bank, with only two percent over 65.
Britain's former protectorate was named the "Pearl of Africa" in the early 20th century by the future British prime minister Winston Churchill. 
Its natural diversity includes misty rainforests, great lakes and snow-capped mountains. It has a long shoreline on Lake Victoria -- which straddles Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania -- and is crossed by the Nile river.
Bwindi National Park is home to half the world's mountain gorillas while Mount Stanley is Africa's third-highest peak at 5,109 metres (16,762 feet).

Open doors

Uganda hosts more refugees than any other African country, according to the United Nations. It put their number at two million in 2025, due to influxes from Sudan, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Aid groups say Uganda struggles to assist the ever-expanding population, but the government has also faced scandals over inflating its refugee numbers to boost the aid it receives.
np-rfo-paj/jmy/er/rh/ceg

Rohingya

Dreams on hold for Rohingya children in Bangladesh camps

BY SHEIKH SABIHA ALAM

  • Around half a million children live in the camps housing the waves of Rohingya who have escaped Myanmar in recent years, many during a brutal military crackdown in 2017.
  • Books tucked under their arms, children file into a small classroom in Bangladesh's vast refugee camps, home to more than a million Rohingya who have fled neighbouring Myanmar.
  • Around half a million children live in the camps housing the waves of Rohingya who have escaped Myanmar in recent years, many during a brutal military crackdown in 2017.
Books tucked under their arms, children file into a small classroom in Bangladesh's vast refugee camps, home to more than a million Rohingya who have fled neighbouring Myanmar.
"They still dream of becoming pilots, doctors or engineers," said their teacher Mohammad Amin, standing in front of a crowded schoolroom in Cox's Bazar.
"But we don't know if they will ever reach their goals with the limited opportunities available."
Around half a million children live in the camps housing the waves of Rohingya who have escaped Myanmar in recent years, many during a brutal military crackdown in 2017.
The campaign, which saw Rohingya villages burned and civilians killed, is the subject of a genocide case at the United Nations' top court in The Hague, where hearings opened on Monday.

'Severe shortage'

In the aftermath of the 2017 exodus, international aid groups and UNICEF, the UN's children's agency, rushed to open schools.
Determined to avoid permanently settling refugees it said it lacked the resources to absorb, the Bangladeshi government consistently opposed enrolling Rohingya children in national schools and barred them from studying in Bangla, the national language.
By 2024, UNICEF and its partners were running more than 6,500 learning centres across the Cox's Bazar camps, educating up to 300,000 children.
But the system is severely overstretched -- a situation worsened by cuts to US aid under President Donald Trump, which slashed funding and forced sweeping closures or scale-backs.
"The current system provides three hours of instruction per day for children," said Faria Selim of UNICEF. "The daily contact hours are not enough."
Khin Maung, a member of the United Council of Rohingya which represents refugees in the camps, said the education on offer leaves students ill-prepared to re-enter Myanmar's school system should they return.
"There is a severe shortage of teachers in the camps," he said.
Hashim Ullah, 30, is the only teacher at a primary school run by an aid agency.
"I teach Burmese language, mathematics, science and life skills to 65 students in two shifts. I am not an expert in all subjects," he told AFP.
Such shortcomings are not lost on parents.
For them, education represents their children's only escape from the risks that stalk camp life -- malnutrition, early marriage, child labour, trafficking, abduction or forced recruitment into one of the armed groups in Myanmar's civil war.
As a result, some families supplement the aid-run schools with extra classes organised by members of their own community.
"At dawn and dusk, older children go to community-based high schools," said father-of-seven Jamil Ahmad.
"They have good teachers," and the only requirement is a modest tuition fee, which Jamil said he covered by selling part of his monthly food rations.
"Bangladesh is a small country with limited opportunities," he said. "I'm glad that they have been hosting us."

'Justice and peace'

Fifteen-year-old Hamima Begum has followed the same path, attending both an aid-run school and a community high school.
"I want to go to college," she said. "I am aiming to study human rights, justice, and peace -- and someday I will help my community in their repatriation."
But such schoolsare far too few to meet demand, especially for older children.
A 2024 assessment by a consortium of aid agencies and UN bodies concluded that school attendance falls from about 70 percent among children aged five to 14, to less than 20 percent among those aged 15 to 18.
Girls are particularly badly affected, according to the study.
Even for those who stay enrolled, academic standards remain low.
"We organised a mid-year exam this year, and 75 percent of high school students failed," Khin Maung said.
Jaitun Ara, 19, is therefore an exception.
Having arrived in Cox's Bazar at the age of 12, she has now secured a place at the Asian University for Women in Chittagong on a support programme to prepare for degree studies.
But she doubts many others will be able to follow her path.
"Families can barely manage food," she said. "How would they spend money on their children's education?"
sa/pjm/mjw/abs