agriculture

Fuming French farmers camp out in Paris despite government pledges

Lebanon

US takes aim at Muslim Brotherhood in Arab world

BY SHAUN TANDON

  • Egypt as well as US-allied monarchies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have long sought to suppress the Muslim Brotherhood, whose vision calls for the creation of a transnational Islamic caliphate. 
  • The United States on Tuesday designated the Muslim Brotherhood branches in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan as terrorist organizations, fulfilling a long demand of Arab allies and US conservatives.
  • Egypt as well as US-allied monarchies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have long sought to suppress the Muslim Brotherhood, whose vision calls for the creation of a transnational Islamic caliphate. 
The United States on Tuesday designated the Muslim Brotherhood branches in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan as terrorist organizations, fulfilling a long demand of Arab allies and US conservatives.
Founded in 1928 in Egypt, the pan-Islamist movement once spread across the Muslim world, but it has been in retreat as it comes under concerted pressure from major Arab powers.
"These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters' violence and destabilization wherever it occurs," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Muslim Brotherhood "has a longstanding record of perpetuating acts of terror, and we are working aggressively to cut them off from the financial system."
The designations mean that the United States will block any assets owned by the Muslim Brotherhood in the world's largest economy, criminalize transactions with its members and severely impede their ability to travel to the country.
The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in a statement posted to social media vowed to seek legal channels to challenge the decision, saying it opposed violence and has never threatened the United States.
"This designation is both detached from reality and unsupported by evidence. It is a result of foreign pressure on the United States, particularly from the UAE and Israel, to adopt policies that serve external agendas rather than the interests of the American people," it said.
Egypt as well as US-allied monarchies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have long sought to suppress the Muslim Brotherhood, whose vision calls for the creation of a transnational Islamic caliphate. 
The movement briefly rose to power democratically in its native Egypt through the 2012 election of Mohamed Morsi following the overthrow of longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak, under whom the Muslim Brotherhood was banned, although some of its activities had been tolerated, including its network of social services.
Morsi was deposed a year later in a coup by then military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has since pursued a sweeping crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood.
Egypt's foreign ministry hailed the US decision, which was set in motion by Trump in November, as reflecting "the danger of this group and its extremist ideology and the direct threat it poses to regional and international security and stability."

Turkey is key

Crushed at home, Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood members have focused on building a network overseas of businesses, media outlets and declared charities.
A key base has been Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has deep and longstanding ideological affinity with the Muslim Brotherhood.
The US decision will "put a lot of pressure on countries friendly with the United States -- do they want to host entities that are designated terrorist organizations by the US?" said Lorenzo Vidino, an expert on the Muslim Brotherhood who directs The George Washington University's Program on Extremism.
"I don't think that will destroy them, but there's no question that it puts them under a lot of pressure," he said.
The Trump administration designated the groups in part on the basis of their support for Hamas, the Palestinian armed group long classified as terrorist by the United States.
The Treasury Department said that the Egyptian and Jordanian branches of the brotherhood have coordinated with Hamas, whose massive October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered an overwhelming Israeli offensive on Gaza.
The State Department said that in Lebanon, the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Muslim movement, had allied itself with Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite militants, in firing rockets into Israel.
The Muslim Brotherhood had gained strength in Jordan, where its political wing is the main opposition party in parliament. 
In April last year, Jordan banned the Muslim Brotherhood, ordering confiscation of its assets, after accusing the movement of stockpiling weapons and planning to destabilize the kingdom, which has a peace agreement with Israel.
In recent years, US conservatives have also seized upon the Muslim Brotherhood, with some spreading the unfounded conspiracy theory that the organization is infiltrating the US government with a goal of imposing Islamic sharia law.
sct/jgc

Global Edition

Trump warns of 'very strong action' if Iran hangs protesters

BY STUART WILLIAMS

  • "We will take very strong action if they do such a thing," said the American leader, who has repeatedly threatened Iran with military intervention.
  • US President Donald Trump warned Tuesday of unspecified "very strong action" against Iran if its authorities go ahead with the threatened hanging of some protesters, as international outrage grew over a crackdown that one rights group said has likely killed thousands.
  • "We will take very strong action if they do such a thing," said the American leader, who has repeatedly threatened Iran with military intervention.
US President Donald Trump warned Tuesday of unspecified "very strong action" against Iran if its authorities go ahead with the threatened hanging of some protesters, as international outrage grew over a crackdown that one rights group said has likely killed thousands.
Iranian authorities insisted they had regained control of the country after successive nights of mass protests nationwide since Thursday, which have posed one of the biggest challenges to the clerical leadership since it came to power in the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Rights groups accuse the government of fatally shooting protesters and masking the scale of the crackdown with an internet blackout that has now surpassed the five-day mark.
Trump -- who earlier told the protesters in Iran that "help is on its way" -- told CBS News that the United States would act if Iran began hanging protesters, after Tehran prosecutors said Iranian authorities would press capital charges of "moharebeh", or "waging war against God", against some suspects arrested over recent demonstrations.
"We will take very strong action if they do such a thing," said the American leader, who has repeatedly threatened Iran with military intervention.
"When they start killing thousands of people -- and now you're telling me about hanging. We'll see how that's going to work out for them," Trump said.
New videos on social media, whose location AFP verified, showed bodies lined up in the Kahrizak morgue just south of the Iranian capital, with the corpses wrapped in black bags and distraught relatives searching for loved ones.
International phone links were restored on Tuesday, but only for outgoing calls, according to an AFP journalist, and the quality remained spotty, with frequent interruptions.
Earlier Tuesday, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform urge Iranians to "KEEP PROTESTING", adding: "I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY."
It was not immediately clear what meetings he was referring to or what the nature of the help would be.

'In the thousands'

Europan nations also signalled their anger over the crackdown, with France, Germany and the United Kingdom among the countries that summoned their Iranian ambassadors, as did the European Union. 
"The rising number of casualties in Iran is horrifying," said EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, vowing further sanctions against those responsible.
The Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) said it had confirmed 734 people killed during the protests, including nine minors, but warned the death toll was likely far higher.
"The figures we publish are based on information received from fewer than half of the country's provinces and fewer than 10 percent of Iran's hospitals. The real number of those killed is likely in the thousands," IHR's director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said.
IHR highlighted the case of Erfan Soltani, 26, who was arrested last week in the Tehran satellite city of Karaj and who, according to a family source, has already been sentenced to death and is due to be executed as early as Wednesday.
Iranian state media has said dozens of members of the security forces have been killed, with their funerals turning into large pro-government rallies. Authorities have declared three days of national mourning for those killed.
Authorities in Tehran have announced a mass funeral ceremony in the capital on Wednesday for the "martyrs" of recent days.
Amir, an Iraqi computer scientist, returned to Baghdad on Monday and described dramatic scenes in Tehran.
"On Thursday night, my friends and I saw protesters in Tehran's Sarsabz neighbourhood amid a heavy military presence. The police were firing rubber bullets," he told AFP in Iraq.

'Last days'

The government on Monday sought to regain control of the streets with mass nationwide rallies that supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hailed as proof that the protest movement was defeated, calling them a "warning" to the United States. 
In power since 1989 and now aged 86, Khamenei has faced significant challenges, most recently the 12-day war in June against Israel, which resulted in the killing of top security officials and forced him to go into hiding.
"When a regime can only hold on to power through violence, then it is effectively finished," said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz during a trip to India. "I believe that we are now witnessing the last days and weeks of this regime."
Analysts, however, have cautioned that it is premature to predict the immediate demise of the theocratic system, pointing to the repressive levers the leadership controls, including the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is charged with safeguarding the Islamic revolution.
"These protests arguably represent the most serious challenge to the Islamic republic in years, both in scale and in their increasingly explicit political demands," Nicole Grajewski, professor at the Sciences Po Centre for International Studies in Paris, told AFP.
She said it was unclear if the protests would unseat the leadership, pointing to "the sheer depth and resilience of Iran's repressive apparatus".
sjw/sbk/rmb

prisoners

Fear vies with sorrow at funeral for Venezuelan political prisoner

BY PAULA RAMON

  • Torres, 52, who was jailed for daring to criticize Maduro, died a week after the Venezuelan leader was toppled in a deadly US military raid.
  • Fear mixed with sorrow at the funeral of Edilson Torres, a policeman and government critic who died in custody just before Venezuela began releasing political prisoners following the toppling of strongman Nicolas Maduro.
  • Torres, 52, who was jailed for daring to criticize Maduro, died a week after the Venezuelan leader was toppled in a deadly US military raid.
Fear mixed with sorrow at the funeral of Edilson Torres, a policeman and government critic who died in custody just before Venezuela began releasing political prisoners following the toppling of strongman Nicolas Maduro.
Torres, 52, who was jailed for daring to criticize Maduro, died a week after the Venezuelan leader was toppled in a deadly US military raid. What remains of the regime in Caracas is now under pressure to free political detainees. 
"I had a lot of faith that I was going to get my brother back alive," Torres's sister Emelyn Torres told AFP through tears at his wake.
But it was not to be. 
Dozens of friends, relatives and police colleagues gathered on Monday at Torres's home in Guanare, in the northwest of the Latin American country, to bid him an emotional farewell. 
Despite Maduro's ouster, there was a palpable sense of dread among the mourners. Most of them whispered among themselves, not daring to speak out as the strongman's cronies remain in power.
One exception was Cirilo Fernandez, the dead man's uncle, who told AFP he believed his nephew had died a "violent" death and feared he was in danger too.
"I am devastated," he said.
"My nephew worked for 20 years as a police officer and that meant nothing in the end. I feel powerless about what is happening here in Venezuela."

'There are others'

On Monday, the government in Caracas announced it had freed 116 more people jailed under Maduro -- many for taking part in protests after his disputed 2024 election.
UN experts and the opposition said only about 50 prisoners have been freed so far out of the 800-1,200 that human rights groups estimate are being held.
Relatives have been camped out at prisons for days, becoming increasingly restless as loved ones have failed to appear.
His family said Torres was detained last December for sending messages critical of the Maduro government, and charged with treason.
On December 4, his birthday, officers "showed up and asked us where he was," recalled Torres's daughter Edilmar, 17.
He wasn't home, so they waited for his return, then told him they needed help fixing an air conditioner -- a trade he engaged in on the side.
That night, Edilmar tried calling her father, but he had left his phone at home.
Two officers came back for the phone and told Edilmar that her father was under arrest "because they had found some messages in those (WhatsApp) groups of the police, where they spoke badly of the government."
After that "I didn’t hear anything more from my dad," the teen told AFP, her voice trembling.
Authorities later told the family Torres died in hospital of a heart attack.
Edilmar fought to keep her composure while she and her brother, 15, put out food for the mourners.
But when the casket arrived, led by a procession of motorcyclists, she broke down.
The coffin was set up in the living room, draped with the Venezuelan flag, and mourners filed past to look on Torres's face one last time.
"It's not just him, there are others," said Cirilo, the uncle.
Torres was laid to rest on Tuesday.
pr/jt/atm/mlr/iv

Somalis

US ends protection for Somalis amid escalating migrant crackdown

BY OCTAVIO JONES

  • The Department of Homeland Security said on X it was "ENDING Temporary Protected Status for Somalians in the United States." 
  • The United States said Tuesday it would end a special protected status for Somalis, telling them they must leave the country by mid-March under an escalating crackdown on the community. 
  • The Department of Homeland Security said on X it was "ENDING Temporary Protected Status for Somalians in the United States." 
The United States said Tuesday it would end a special protected status for Somalis, telling them they must leave the country by mid-March under an escalating crackdown on the community. 
There is a large Somali community in Minnesota, the Midwestern state at the forefront of raids and searches by immigration officers, one of whom shot and killed a local woman last week, sparking protests.
Minnesota has sought a temporary restraining order for the ICE operation in the state which, if granted by a federal judge, would pause the enforcement sweeps that have so far reportedly led to 2,000 arrests.
In recent weeks Washington has lashed out at Somali immigrants, alleging large-scale public benefit fraud in Minnesota's Somali community, the largest in the country with around 80,000 members.
The Department of Homeland Security said on X it was "ENDING Temporary Protected Status for Somalians in the United States." 
"Our message is clear. Go back to your own country, or we'll send you back ourselves," it said.
DHS followed up by re-tweeting its initial post with a photograph of President Donald Trump and the caption "I am the captain now," a reference to the film "Captain Phillips" in which a tanker is seized by Somali pirates.
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) shields certain foreigners from deportation to disaster zones and allows them the right to work.
Tuesday's announcement set a March 17 departure deadline for Somalis losing their legal status.
Ilhan Omar, the first Somali-American elected to Congress, said Saturday Trump is "trying to scare them and terrorize them every single day... And what we know is that Somalis are not intimidated."
On Tuesday, the Republican president took to his Truth Social platform to attack Democrats who lead Minneapolis, its twin city St. Paul, and Minnesota. 

Alleged major benefit fraud

"Minnesota Democrats love the unrest that anarchists and professional agitators are causing because it gets the spotlight off of the 19 Billion Dollars that was stolen by really bad and deranged people," Trump wrote. 
"FEAR NOT, GREAT PEOPLE OF MINNESOTA, THE DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING!"
Local community organizer Mowlid Mohamed told AFP "it looks like the state of Minnesota is under a persecution by the federal government."
"They (are) weaponizing the federal agencies to the state of Minnesota to make it that they show their power -- and this is one of the tools that they're using specifically targeting the Somali people."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) meanwhile has kept up its migrant sweeps across Minnesota.
On Tuesday masked officers dragged a woman from her car as ICE agents conducted checks. Another individual was carried away by their limbs.
Renee Nicole Good, 37, was shot dead in her car by an ICE officer Wednesday in Minneapolis.
Three federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned after coming under pressure to focus the probe into Good's death on her widow's actions, US media reported Tuesday.
The Trump administration in recent months has latched onto news of a large-scale public benefit fraud scandal to carry out immigration raids and harsher policies targeting Minnesota's Somali community.
Federal charges have been filed against 98 people accused of embezzlement of public funds and -- as US Attorney General Pam Bondi stressed -- 85 of the defendants were "of Somali descent." 
Fifty-seven people have already been convicted in the scheme to divert $300 million in public grants, prosecutors said.
Republican elected officials and federal prosecutors accuse local Democratic authorities of turning a blind eye to numerous warnings because the fraud involved Minnesota's Somali community.
gw-pho/bgs

Global Edition

Davos braces for Trump's 'America First' onslaught

BY JOSEPH SCHMID

  • - 'Broad rejection' - Addressing Davos by video last year, days after his second inauguration, Trump warned nations to shift manufacturing to the US or face punishing tariffs -- a direct repudiation of decades of ever-opening trade.
  • All eyes will be on Donald Trump next week as politicians and business leaders head to the World Economic Forum, wondering how to square the mercurial US leader with the Davos creed of open markets and multilateralism.
  • - 'Broad rejection' - Addressing Davos by video last year, days after his second inauguration, Trump warned nations to shift manufacturing to the US or face punishing tariffs -- a direct repudiation of decades of ever-opening trade.
All eyes will be on Donald Trump next week as politicians and business leaders head to the World Economic Forum, wondering how to square the mercurial US leader with the Davos creed of open markets and multilateralism.
After a year of roiling the liberal international order since his return to office, Trump will descend on the Swiss ski resort for an address Wednesday, at a meeting whose theme is "A Spirit of Dialogue".
"We're pleased to welcome back President Trump," Borge Brende, the forum's chief executive, told an online press conference ahead of the Davos summit, six years after Trump's previous in-person appearance during his first term.
He will bring along the largest US delegation ever, Brende added, setting the stage for private meetings on geopolitical flashpoints from Ukraine and Venezuela to Gaza, Greenland and Iran.
Trump told an event in Detroit, Michigan on Tuesday that he plans next week to "provide much more detail about our housing policies so that every American who wants to own a home will be able to afford one".
His message to American voters, delivered before business and political elites, comes with US households feeling the squeeze from high costs of living as November's midterm elections approach.
Brende noted that "the interest is to come together at the beginning of the year to try to connect the dots, decipher, and also see areas where we can collaborate".
But with a protectionist tariff blitz and marked disdain for traditional US allies defining Trump's second term, the chances of forging common strategies for the world's biggest challenges appear slim.
Brende acknowledged that "our annual meeting is taking place against the most complex geopolitical backdrop since 1945".
Economist Karen Harris at consulting firm Bain & Co. said "2025 will ultimately be seen as the year in which neoliberal globalisation ended and... the post-globalisation era began."
It's a shift in which "the US prioritises national security, its own security, and uses the economy as a tool to achieve some of those goals", she said, adding that this is a "very Chinese view of the economy as well."
China is sending Vice Premier He Lifeng to Davos, while EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky will also attend.
Six of the Group of Seven leaders will also make appearances -- only Japan will be absent. 
Trump is bringing at least five key deputies including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Brende said, alongside Steve Witkoff, his special envoy for the Middle East and Ukraine.

'Broad rejection'

Addressing Davos by video last year, days after his second inauguration, Trump warned nations to shift manufacturing to the US or face punishing tariffs -- a direct repudiation of decades of ever-opening trade.
In his latest upending of the global order in place since World War II, Trump this month pulled the United States out of 66 international organisations including around half linked to the United Nations.
This rejection of cooperative partnerships "is precisely a broad rejection of multilateral institutions," said Philippe Dauba-Pantanacce, head of geopolitical analysis at the British bank Standard Chartered.
As a result, even if global trade manages to adapt to Trump's tariff frictions, "we may end up with a world that continues its globalisation, maybe with some adaptation and changes but... increasingly without the US", Dauba-Pantanacce added.
A case in point is the European Union's agreement this week to the Mercosur trade deal with South American countries, or China's shift of exports from the United States to other parts of the globe.
With his tariffs, trade "is a subject where Trump has made a lot of noise", Pascal Lamy, former head of the World Trade Organization, told AFP. 
"But unlike what has been the case with geopolitics, whether it's Ukraine, China, Iran or Venezuela, the impact on the global economy has been limited so far," he said. 
Among the 850 CEOs or board chairs set to attend are Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Microsoft's Satya Nadella. 
mpa-bys/mlm

agriculture

Fuming French farmers camp out in Paris despite government pledges

BY MARYAM EL HAMOUCHI AND SOFIA BOUDERBALA

  • Lecornu said on Tuesday he had tasked his Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard to prepare "an emergency agriculture bill" to address their concerns after hundreds of farmers drove their tractors into Paris in protest.
  • French farmers said Tuesday they and their tractors would be spending the night in Paris, even after Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu promised an "emergency bill" to help alleviate their woes including the EU-Mercosur trade deal. 
  • Lecornu said on Tuesday he had tasked his Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard to prepare "an emergency agriculture bill" to address their concerns after hundreds of farmers drove their tractors into Paris in protest.
French farmers said Tuesday they and their tractors would be spending the night in Paris, even after Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu promised an "emergency bill" to help alleviate their woes including the EU-Mercosur trade deal. 
Hundreds of tractors rolled into Paris earlier in the day, reflecting a deep sense of malaise afflicting France's agricultural sector, with the planned signing of an accord between the European Union and the Mercosur bloc seen as the last straw. 
Farmers have complained about economic uncertainties and environmental rules, and have since December staged protests and set up roadblocks over the government's handling of a lumpy skin disease outbreak in cattle.
Lecornu said on Tuesday he had tasked his Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard to prepare "an emergency agriculture bill" to address their concerns after hundreds of farmers drove their tractors into Paris in protest.
This bill would be "focused on several priorities: water, predation, and production resources" and be presented by the start of an agricultural show next month, he added on X.
The FNSEA, France's leading agricultural union, however said it was not enough.
"We decided ... to stay here for the night," said Damien Greffin, one of the union's vice presidents, outside the lower house of parliament.

No cows at agriculture show

Arriving from towns around Paris and beyond, the protesters earlier in the day had parked their tractors not far from the parliament.
"We're at the end of our tether," said one of the activists, Guillaume Moret, 56.
"We haven't made any money from our farms for three years," said Moret, head of the FNSEA branch for the Paris region.
The FNSEA and another union, Jeunes Agriculteurs, are demanding "immediate action" from the government. 
The government last week already announced a planned 300-million-euro ($350-million) package to support the farmers, as well as other measures including an increase in the number of wolves that can be killed.
In a move highlighting the atmosphere, France's biggest agricultural show will this year feature no cows -- a first since the event's creation in 1964.
Farmers, driven by health concerns and a sense of solidarity with breeders affected by the lumpy skin disease outbreak in their cows, have refused to present their cattle at the fair in February.
The event's chairman, Jerome Despey, called the move a "blow to the show".

Wolves, fertilisers

Several days before the scheduled signing of the EU-Mercosur agreement in Paraguay on Saturday, the FNSEA reiterated its opposition to the deal. 
Police said earlier some 400 protesters had gathered near the parliament building. The FNSEA put turnout at over 500 tractors and 800 farmers.
Most of the European Union's 27 nations back the Mercosur trade deal, which supporters argue is crucial to boost exports, help the continent's ailing economy and foster diplomatic ties at a time of global uncertainty.
The deal, more than 25 years in the making, would create one of the world's largest free-trade areas, boosting commerce between the EU and the Mercosur bloc comprising Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay.
It would see the European Union export machinery, chemicals and pharmaceuticals with lowered tariffs applied.
But farmers in France and several other countries fear being undercut by an influx of cheap beef and other agricultural products from South America.
bur-sb-meh/ah/rmb

conflict

Russia strikes power plant, kills four in Ukraine barrage

BY SERGEY BOBOK

  • Meanwhile, two Greek-owned oil tankers were hit in the Black Sea on Tuesday, one of which was scheduled to load Kazakh oil on Russia's coast, officials said. 
  • Russia pummelled a power plant early Tuesday as it kept up pressure on Ukraine's battered energy system, while unidentified drones hit two oil tankers in the Black Sea.
  • Meanwhile, two Greek-owned oil tankers were hit in the Black Sea on Tuesday, one of which was scheduled to load Kazakh oil on Russia's coast, officials said. 
Russia pummelled a power plant early Tuesday as it kept up pressure on Ukraine's battered energy system, while unidentified drones hit two oil tankers in the Black Sea.
Four people were killed in Ukraine as Russia fired more than two dozen missiles and hundreds of drones overnight.   Moscow has hit Ukraine with daily drone and missile barrages in recent months, targeting energy infrastructure and cutting power and heating in the frigid depths of winter.
Meanwhile, two Greek-owned oil tankers were hit in the Black Sea on Tuesday, one of which was scheduled to load Kazakh oil on Russia's coast, officials said. 
Ukraine, which has repeatedly struck Russia's energy sector in retaliation for its neighbour's invasion, did not immediately comment.
The two tankers, the Maltese-flagged "Matilda" and Liberian-flagged "Delta Harmony", did not sustain major damage, an official from Greece's maritime ministry told AFP.
The Matilda was headed to load Kazakh oil at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal near Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiysk when it was attacked, Kazakh state energy firm Kazmunaygas said.
"There were no injuries among the crew. According to preliminary assessments, the vessel remains seaworthy, and there are no signs of serious structural damage," it added. The Delta Harmony's oil tanks were empty at the time of the attack, the Kazakh energy ministry said.

Air defence call

The Russian attacks earlier Tuesday that killed four people targeted the eastern Kharkiv region, where an AFP reporter saw firefighters battling a fire at a postal hub and rescue workers helping survivors by lamp light in freezing temperatures.
Andriy Pidnebesny, a manager at the postal facility, said he was knocked down by the blast wave and tried -- but failed -- to free several colleagues still alive under the rubble. 
President Volodymyr Zelensky said "several hundred thousand" households near Kyiv were without power after the strikes, and again called on allies to bolster his country's air defence systems.
"The world can respond to this Russian terror with new assistance packages for Ukraine," Zelensky wrote on social media.
"Russia must come to learn that cold will not help it win the war," he added.
Authorities in Kyiv and the surrounding region rolled out emergency power cuts in the hours after the attack, saying freezing temperatures were complicating their work.
AFP journalists in Kyiv saw a darkened grocery store that was running with just one or two cash registers from a rumbling generator.
DTEK, Ukraine's largest energy provider, said Russian forces had struck one of its power plants, saying it was the eighth such attack since October.
The operator did not reveal which of its plants was struck, but said Russia had attacked its power plants more than 220 times since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Daily attacks

The Ukrainian air force said that Tuesday's bombardment included 25 missiles and 293 drones.
The Kharkiv governor gave the death toll and added that six people were wounded in the overnight hit outside the region's main city, also called Kharkiv.
Within Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said a Russian long-range drone struck a medical facility for children, causing a fire. No casualties were reported.
The overnight strikes hit other regions as well, including the southern city of Odesa.
Residential buildings, a hospital and a kindergarten were damaged, with at least five people wounded in two waves of attacks, regional governor Sergiy Lysak said.
Ukraine has stepped up long-range drone strikes on Russian military and energy sites in response.
Kyiv said Tuesday its forces had struck a drone manufacturing plant in the western Rostov region and the governor reported a local state of emergency there after two "enterprises" were hit.
While Ukraine did not take responsibility for the attacks on the two tankers in the Black Sea, it has targeted the CPC terminal multiple times throughout the nearly four-year war, including a naval drone strike last November that damaged one of its three mooring points.
The Ukrainian military says the strikes help drain the energy revenues Moscow uses to fund the war and are a justified response to Russia's missile and drone attacks.
But the attacks have drawn frustration from Kazakhstan, which transports around 80 percent of its oil through the CPC terminal.
bur-lb-jbr/cad/rh/gv/sbk

fraud

France's Le Pen says had 'no sense' of any offence as appeal trial opens

BY PAUL AUBRIAT AND ALEXANDRE MARCHAND

  • I had "no sense of having committed the slightest offence when, in 2004, 2009, and 2014, we hired our assistants," the 57-year-old former European lawmaker said as her appeal trial opened in Paris.
  • French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said Tuesday she had "no sense" of having committed any offence at the opening of an appeals trial which she hopes will save her 2027 run for president.
  • I had "no sense of having committed the slightest offence when, in 2004, 2009, and 2014, we hired our assistants," the 57-year-old former European lawmaker said as her appeal trial opened in Paris.
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said Tuesday she had "no sense" of having committed any offence at the opening of an appeals trial which she hopes will save her 2027 run for president.
The appeal comes after a French court last year barred Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally (RN), from running for office for five years over a European Parliament fake jobs scam.
It found her, along with 24 former European Parliament lawmakers, assistants and accountants as well as the party itself, guilty of operating a "system" from 2004 to 2016 using European Parliament funds to employ RN staff in France.
I had "no sense of having committed the slightest offence when, in 2004, 2009, and 2014, we hired our assistants," the 57-year-old former European lawmaker said as her appeal trial opened in Paris.
The three-time presidential candidate, who has always maintained her innocence, instead sought to shift any blame.
"If indeed any wrongdoing was committed, the European Parliament did not play the warning role it should have," she said.
It "was aware of the overall elements making up these contracts. We concealed nothing".
The appeal hearings are to last a month, with a decision expected this summer.
If the court upholds the first ruling, Le Pen will be prevented from running in the 2027 election, widely seen as her best -- and possibly last -- chance to win the country's top job.
Le Pen was also handed a four-year prison sentence, with two years suspended, and fined 100,000 euros ($116,000) in the initial trial.
She now again risks the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a one-million-euro ($1.16 million) fine if the appeal fails.
She could, however, still be a candidate if she is sentenced to a shorter ban and has no time to serve under house arrest.

Risk of reoffending

Twelve of the accused, including Le Pen, as well as the far-right party itself, have appealed against the verdict.
Another 12 people, including one of Le Pen's sisters, have decided to accept their convictions without appealing. Another person sentenced has since died.
The initial verdict dealt a heavy blow to Le Pen and the RN, which has surged in French politics in recent years.
Le Pen walked out of the courtroom during the sentencing, later slamming the verdict as a "political decision".
The judges defended the decision to bar her from running, saying elected officials should not benefit from "preferential treatment" and citing the risk of reoffending.
The news sparked shock among Le Pen supporters in France, while US President Donald Trump and the Kremlin expressed concern. 
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon said last week he hoped that Le Pen could run for president despite her legal troubles so her election could help "break" the European Union.

Bardella in the wings

Le Pen took over the former National Front (FN) from her father Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2011 and has since sought to clean up the party's image. 
Her father, who died last year, was often accused of making racist and antisemitic comments. 
After coming third in the 2012 presidential polls, Marine Le Pen made the run-off in 2017 and 2022 but was beaten by Emmanuel Macron on both occasions.
Yet 2027 could see a different outcome for the far right, with Macron barred from standing again under France's constitution.
Some 42 percent of French people said they agreed with "ideas defended by the RN", up from 29 percent before the 2022 vote, according to a poll by consultancy firm Verian for Le Monde published on Sunday.
If she cannot be a candidate, Le Pen has said her top lieutenant Jordan Bardella, the RN party's president who is not a defendant in the trial, can run in her place.
"Bardella can win instead of me," Le Pen said in December.
A poll in November predicted that Bardella would win the second round of the 2027 elections, no matter who stands against him. 
But Bardella said on Monday that a ruling preventing Le Pen from running "would be deeply worrying for democracy" and insisted he was not so far a candidate for president but prime minister. 
pab-amd/ah/sbk

Azerbaijan

US pushes forward trade enclave over Armenia

  • "It's going to be great for Armenia, great for the United States, great for everyone involved," Rubio said.
  • Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that the United States would move forward on building a corridor linking Azerbaijan through Armenia, saying it would benefit all sides.
  • "It's going to be great for Armenia, great for the United States, great for everyone involved," Rubio said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that the United States would move forward on building a corridor linking Azerbaijan through Armenia, saying it would benefit all sides.
Rubio met in Washington with the top diplomat of Armenia, whose government agreed to the plan after a major Azerbaijani military victory in 2023.
The United States has proposed developing a corridor that would connect the larger part of Azerbaijan with its exclave of Nakhchivan, which is not connected otherwise with the rest of Azerbaijan but borders the country's key ally Turkey.
In the typical fashion of President Donald Trump's administration, the corridor is named after him -- the "Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity" (TRIPP) -- and he has listed Armenia and Azerbaijan as one of a series of wars he claims to have solved.
"The TRIPP arrangement really is going to turn out to be a model for the world of how you can open yourself up to economic activity and prosperity without in any way questioning or undermining your sovereignty and your territorial integrity," Rubio said as he met Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan.
"It's going to be great for Armenia, great for the United States, great for everyone involved," Rubio said.
Rubio said that the Trump administration would now "work on the implementation" of the agreement.
The TRIPP project, and the prospect of a major US presence, has raised concern in Iran, which also borders Nakhchivan and historically has had warm relations with Armenia.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan last year assured Iran's clerical government that the corridor would remain under Armenian sovereignty.
Armenian separatists for nearly three decades held the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh inside Azerbaijan, which swept the area in a lightning offensive in 2023.
sct/md

rights

Iran threatens death penalty for 'rioters' as concern grows for protester

BY STUART WILLIAMS

  • "Concerns are mounting that authorities will once again resort to swift trials and arbitrary executions to crush and deter dissent," Amnesty International said.
  • Iranian authorities will press charges punishable by death against some individuals arrested during recent demonstrations, prosecutors said on Tuesday, as concern grew that one man arrested during the protests already risks imminent execution. 
  • "Concerns are mounting that authorities will once again resort to swift trials and arbitrary executions to crush and deter dissent," Amnesty International said.
Iranian authorities will press charges punishable by death against some individuals arrested during recent demonstrations, prosecutors said on Tuesday, as concern grew that one man arrested during the protests already risks imminent execution. 
The office of the Tehran prosecutor said in a statement quoted by state television that an unspecified number would be charged with "moharebeh", or "waging war against God", a sharia law term which is a capital offence in Iran and used widely in the past in death penalty cases.
"A number of rioters whose charges are consistent with moharebeh will soon be sent to court," it said.
Rights groups have said hundreds, and potentially even higher numbers, have been killed in the protests.
Iranian state media has reported that dozens of members of the security forces were killed at the hands of "rioters".
Iran is the world's most prolific executioner after China, according to rights groups. Last year, it hanged at least 1,500 people, Norway-based Iran Human Rights group (IHR) said.
Twelve people were executed over the last major protest wave from 2022 to 2023, according to IHR. Another 12 people have been executed on charges of spying for Israel since a war in June between the two foes.
"Concerns are mounting that authorities will once again resort to swift trials and arbitrary executions to crush and deter dissent," Amnesty International said.
It is "extremely worrying to see public statements by some judicial officials indicating the possibility of the death penalty being used against protesters through expedited judicial proceedings", added UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.
IHR said it feared the Islamic republic "is seeking to conduct rapid trials without observing fair trial standards for detained protesters".
It highlighted the case of Erfan Soltani, 26, who was arrested last week in the Tehran satellite city of Karaj and who, according to a family source, has already been sentenced to death and is due to be executed as early as Wednesday.
It is not clear what the charges against him are and the case has not been reported by state media.
Amnesty said it was also aware of reports he could be executed as early as Wednesday.
"The international community must urgently call on Iran's authorities to immediately halt all executions, including Erfan Soltani," said Amnesty, adding it had learnt that his family had been told on Monday he had been sentenced to death.
sjw/ah/dcp

rights

Fashion student, bodybuilder, footballer: the victims of Iran's crackdown

BY STUART WILLIAMS

  • - A budding fashion designer - Rubina Aminian, 23, was a student in textile and fashion design at the Shariati College in Tehran, a prestigious institution reserved for women.
  • Rubina was a budding fashion designer inspired by Iran's multi-ethnic population.
  • - A budding fashion designer - Rubina Aminian, 23, was a student in textile and fashion design at the Shariati College in Tehran, a prestigious institution reserved for women.
Rubina was a budding fashion designer inspired by Iran's multi-ethnic population. Rebin was an up-and-coming teen footballer. Mehdi was a champion bodybuilder who also won weightlifting titles. Erfan had just turned 18.
All four, from various regions and backgrounds, were according to rights groups victims of the Iranian government's crackdown on protests, gunned down by security forces in their prime.
With the scale of the clampdown only now starting to emerge, rights groups say they have verified the killing of hundreds of protesters but fear the final toll could extend into the thousands.
Iran Human Rights (IHR) director Mamood Amiry Moghaddam told AFP that protesters killed were "mostly young men", although six women had also been identified.
Nine of the 648 people it has identified and confirmed to have been killed by security forces were minors, he added.
"The killings are intense all over the country where there have been protests," he added.
Dozens of members of the security forces have also been killed, according to Iranian officials, who have blamed "rioters" and Iran's enemies abroad for turning protests initially motivated by economic grievances into days of unrest.

A budding fashion designer

Rubina Aminian, 23, was a student in textile and fashion design at the Shariati College in Tehran, a prestigious institution reserved for women.
Her Instagram feed shows her proudly displaying clothes inspired by her Kurdish origins in the west of the country, but also the region of Sistan-Baluchistan in its southeast.
On the evening of January 8, the first night of mass protests in which thousands of Iranians flooded into the streets, she left her college and joined the demonstrations, according to the Norway-based IHR, which analysed and verified her case.
She was shot at close range from behind, with a bullet striking her head, it quoted a family source as saying, adding that relatives travelled from Kermanshah in western Iran to identify her body and were "confronted with the bodies of hundreds of young people killed in the protests".
They were able to retrieve her body after overcoming objections from officials but, on returning to Kermanshah, were not allowed to hold any mourning ceremony and were forced to bury her by the side of the road.

A teenager

The Hengaw rights group, also based in Norway, has verified both the deaths and also the backgrounds of several protesters it said were killed by security forces.
Erfan Faraji, a resident of Rey, outside Tehran, was shot dead by Iranian government forces during the protests on January 7, it said. He had turned 18 just a week earlier.
A source close to Faraji's family told Hengaw his body was identified among those transferred on Saturday to the Kahrizak morgue, from where images of dozens of body bags sparked international alarm.
His family collected his body on Saturday and he was buried without any public announcement.

A promising footballer

Rebin Moradi, a 17-year-old Kurdish student, originally from Salas-e Babajani in Kermanshah province but a resident of Tehran, was a member of the capital's youth premier football league and a youth player with Saipa Club at the time of his death.
He was seen as "as one of the promising young talents in Tehran's youth football scene," Hengaw said.
Moradi was killed by Iranian government forces who shot him on Thursday, Hengaw said.
A source familiar with the case told Hengaw that Moradi's family received confirmation of his death but that they had not yet been allowed to take possession of his body.

A champion bodybuilder

Mehdi Zatparvar, 39, from Rasht in the Caspian Sea province of Gilan was a former bodybuilding champion who became a coach and held a master's degree in sports physiology, Hengaw said.
"Zatparvar began weightlifting at the age of 13 and earned national and international titles in powerlifting and weightlifting between 2011 and 2014," it added.
He was shot and killed on Friday, Hengaw said.
sjw/ah/dcp

Greenland

'We choose Denmark,' says Greenland ahead of W. House talks

BY CAMILLE BAS-WOHLERT

  • Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt are to meet US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday to discuss Greenland's future.
  • Greenland would choose to remain Danish over a US takeover, its leader said Tuesday, ahead of crunch White House talks on the future of the Arctic island which President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened.
  • Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt are to meet US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday to discuss Greenland's future.
Greenland would choose to remain Danish over a US takeover, its leader said Tuesday, ahead of crunch White House talks on the future of the Arctic island which President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened.
Trump has been talking up the idea of buying or annexing the autonomous territory for years, and further stoked tensions this week by saying the United States would take it "one way or the other".
"We are now facing a geopolitical crisis, and if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark," Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said at a press conference.
"One thing must be clear to everyone: Greenland does not want to be owned by the United States. Greenland does not want to be governed by the United States. Greenland does not want to be part of the United States."
He was speaking alongside Danish leader Mette Frederiksen, who said it had not been easy to stand up to what she slammed as "completely unacceptable pressure from our closest ally".
"However, there are many indications that the most challenging part is ahead of us," Frederiksen said.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt are to meet US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday to discuss Greenland's future.
Lokke said they had requested a meeting with Rubio, and Vance had asked to take part and host it at the White House.
Vance made an uninvited visit to the island in March where he criticised Denmark for what he said was a lack of commitment to Greenland and security in the Arctic, and called it a "bad ally".
The comments enraged Copenhagen, which has been an ardent trans-Atlantic supporter and which has sent troops to fight US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

'Misunderstandings'

For Nuuk and Copenhagen, Wednesday's meeting at the White House is aimed at ironing out "misunderstandings". 
These relate to Greenland's defence, Chinese and Russian military presence in the Arctic, and the relationship between Greenland and Copenhagen, which together with the Faroe Islands make up the Kingdom of Denmark. 
"To the uninformed American listener, the ongoing (independence) talks between Denmark and Greenland might have been construed as if Greenland's secession from Denmark was imminent," said Greenland specialist Mikaela Engell.
For these listeners, "I can understand that, in this situation, it would be better for the Americans to take hold of that strategic place", the former Danish representative on the island told AFP.
But this "discussion has been going on for years and years and it has never meant that Greenland was on its way out the door", she stressed.
Denmark's foreign minister said the reason Copenhagen and Nuuk had requested Wednesday's meeting was "to move the entire discussion... into a meeting room, where you can look each other in the eye and talk through these issues". 
Greenland's location is highly strategic, lying on the shortest route for missiles between Russia and the United States. It is therefore a crucial part of the US anti-missile shield.
Washington has accused Copenhagen of doing little to protect Greenland from what it perceives as a growing Arctic threat from Russia and China, though analysts suggest Beijing is a small player in the region.
Denmark's government has rejected US claims, recalling that it has invested almost 90 billion kroner ($14 billion) to beef up its military presence in the Arctic.
The Danish prime minister on Tuesday called for stronger cooperation with the US and NATO to improve the region's security.
She also called for NATO to defend Greenland, and said that security guarantees would be "the best defence against Chinese or Russian threats in the Arctic".
Diplomats at NATO say some Alliance members have floated the idea of launching a new mission in the region, although no concrete proposals are yet on the table.
Rutte said on Monday that NATO was working on "the next steps" to bolster Arctic security.
Greenland's foreign minister and Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen are to meet NATO's Secretary General Mark Rutte on January 19 to discuss the issue. 
"We are now moving forward with the whole issue of a more permanent, larger presence in Greenland from the Danish defence forces but also with the participation of other countries," Lund Poulsen told reporters.
cbw/po/rh

technology

How AI 'deepfakes' became Elon Musk's latest scandal

  • - 'Put her in a bikini' - Grok -- Musk's version of the chatbots also offered by OpenAI and other generative AI companies -- has its own account on the X social network allowing users to interact with it.
  • Elon Musk's company xAI has faced global backlash in recent days over sexualised "deepfake" images of women and children created by its Grok chatbot.
  • - 'Put her in a bikini' - Grok -- Musk's version of the chatbots also offered by OpenAI and other generative AI companies -- has its own account on the X social network allowing users to interact with it.
Elon Musk's company xAI has faced global backlash in recent days over sexualised "deepfake" images of women and children created by its Grok chatbot.
Here are the essential facts about the scandal, how governments have responded and the company's attempts to cool the controversy.

'Put her in a bikini'

Grok -- Musk's version of the chatbots also offered by OpenAI and other generative AI companies -- has its own account on the X social network allowing users to interact with it.
Until last week, users could tag the bot in posts to request image generation and editing, receiving the image in a reply from Grok.
Many took advantage of the service by sending Grok photos of women or tagging the bot in replies to women's photo posts.
They would ask it to "put her in a bikini" or "take her clothes off" -- receiving photorealistic altered images in response.
Such AI-powered nonconsensual "nudifying" services had previously been available on niche websites, but Grok became the first to take it mainstream with social media integration and offer it for free.
Outrage grew as some users were discovered generating sexualised images of children and minors.
Still others used the tool to generate bikini images of women killed in the deadly New Year fire at Swiss ski resort Crans-Montana, as well as the woman shot and killed by an immigration officer in Minneapolis.
Last week, an analysis of more than 20,000 Grok-generated images by Paris non-profit AI Forensics found that more than half depicted "individuals in minimal attire" -- most of them women, and two percent appearing to be under-18s.
- How have countries reacted?
Indonesia on Saturday became the first country to block access to Grok entirely, with neighbouring Malaysia following on Sunday.
India said Sunday that X had removed thousands of posts and hundreds of user accounts in response to its complaints.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a government source told AFP 3,500 posts and 600 accounts had been removed.
Britain's Ofcom media regulator -- which can fine companies up to 10 percent of global revenue -- said Monday it was opening a probe into whether X failed to comply with UK law over the sexual images.
"If X cannot control Grok, we will -- and we'll do it fast," British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told MPs from his Labour Party.
France's commissioner for children Sarah El Hairy said Tuesday she had referred Grok's generated images to French prosecutors, the Arcom media regulator and the European Union.
Digital affairs minister Anne Le Henanff had earlier called the restriction of image creation to paying users "insufficient and hypocritical".
And the European Commission, which acts as the EU's digital watchdog, has ordered X to retain all internal documents and data related to Grok until the end of 2026 in response to the uproar.
The bloc has already been investigating X over potential breaches of its digital content rules since 2023.
"We will not be outsourcing child protection and consent to Silicon Valley," Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Monday. 
"If they don't act, we will."
- How did the company respond?
"We take action against illegal content... including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement," X's safety team posted on January 4.
Musk himself said last week that anyone using Grok to "make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content".
But he made light of the controversy in a separate post, adding laughing emojis as he reshared to his 232 million followers on X a post featuring a toaster wrapped in a bikini. 
By January 9, Grok began responding to all requests for image generation or editing by saying the service was restricted to paying subscribers.
Musk has also fired back at politicians demanding action.
Critics of X and Grok "just want to suppress free speech" Musk posted on January 10.
tgb/jxb

wildlife

India hunts rampaging elephant that killed 20 people

  • "We are trying to trace and rescue this violent wild elephant that killed so many people," government forest officer Aditya Narayan told AFP, confirming the toll of 20 dead.
  • Indian wildlife officers are hunting a rampaging wild elephant blamed for killing at least 20 people and injuring 15 others in the forests of Jharkhand, villagers and officials said Tuesday.
  • "We are trying to trace and rescue this violent wild elephant that killed so many people," government forest officer Aditya Narayan told AFP, confirming the toll of 20 dead.
Indian wildlife officers are hunting a rampaging wild elephant blamed for killing at least 20 people and injuring 15 others in the forests of Jharkhand, villagers and officials said Tuesday.
The elephant, a lone bull, is reported to have gone on the rampage for nine days beginning in early January, creating panic in the rural West Singhbhum district.
"We are trying to trace and rescue this violent wild elephant that killed so many people," government forest officer Aditya Narayan told AFP, confirming the toll of 20 dead.
Children and the elderly are among the dead, as well as a professional elephant handler, known as a mahout.
But after wreaking a trail of destruction, it had not been spotted since Friday, despite multiple patrols in the area.
Officials said search teams, aided by drones, are combing dense forest tracts, including a national reserve in neighbouring Odisha state.
Fear has driven residents of more than 20 villages to abandon their farms or barricade themselves indoors at night, elected village head Pratap Chachar told AFP.
"A police team, or forest official vehicle, visits in the night to provide essential help to villagers," Chachar said.
Hundreds of thousands of Indians are affected each year by crop-raiding elephants.
Asian elephants are now restricted to just 15 percent of their original habitat.
The usually shy animals are coming into increasing contact with humans because of rapidly expanding settlements and growing forest disturbance, including mining operations.
As elephant habitats shrink, conflict between humans and wild elephants has grown -- 629 people were killed by elephants across India in 2023-2024, according to parliamentary figures.
The elephants that pose the most danger to humans are often rogue bulls, solitary male animals enraged during "musth", a period of heightened sexual activity when testosterone levels soar.
A former forest official said the elephant was likely in musth, and may now have calmed down and rejoined its herd.
India is home to the majority of the world's remaining wild Asian elephants, a species listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and increasingly threatened by shrinking habitat.
The Wildlife Institute of India last year issued a new estimate, that put the country's wild elephant population at 22,446, a report that also warned of the deepening pressures on one of India's most iconic animals.
str-pzb/pjm/abs

US

Nuuk, Copenhagen mull Greenland independence in Trump's shadow

BY WITH JONATHAN KLEIN IN NUUK

  • Article 21 of the act stipulates that if the Greenlandic people decide to seek independence, negotiations must begin between the governments in Nuuk and Copenhagen.
  • Greenland hopes to cut all ties with Copenhagen, but leaders are proceeding cautiously with independence plans for the Danish self-governing territory despite US President Donald Trump's threats to take over the Arctic island.
  • Article 21 of the act stipulates that if the Greenlandic people decide to seek independence, negotiations must begin between the governments in Nuuk and Copenhagen.
Greenland hopes to cut all ties with Copenhagen, but leaders are proceeding cautiously with independence plans for the Danish self-governing territory despite US President Donald Trump's threats to take over the Arctic island.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the United States needs Greenland for its national security, while Denmark and Greenland have stressed the island is not for sale and that Greenlanders themselves must decide their own future.
"We have an agreement with our Greenland fellow citizens that they decide their future in freedom, based on their own assessments and their own will," Danish historian and former diplomat Bo Lidegaard told AFP.
"For us, it's a violation of everything we stand for, and everything we have agreed with the Greenlanders, if that decision is not taken in freedom and without coercion."
It is therefore out of the question to succumb to US pressure and sell a territory that has repeatedly said it does not want to be bought.
But for Denmark, it is also out of the question to hold onto the vast Arctic island at any cost.
Greenland was a Danish colony until 1953, gaining home rule 26 years later.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has called Greenland's independence drive "both legitimate and understandable", but stressed that she herself wants to develop the Danish kingdom, which in addition to Greenland also includes the Faroe Islands.
"This is not the time for internal debates. This is the time for unity and for continuing to build the community we know," echoed Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen on Tuesday. 
Ole Waever, a political science professor at the University of Copenhagen, told AFP that "in modern times in the Nordic countries, if a territory wants to secede and become independent, it must be authorised to do so". 
"Whether it was Norway in 1905 (which broke free of a union with Sweden) or Iceland in 1944 (which declared independence from Denmark), there has never been a civil war."

'Very difficult'

In the streets of Copenhagen, Danes are fine with Greenland separating from Denmark as soon as it feels ready.
"It's okay for them to be independent," said Charlotte Moltke, a 68-year-old pensioner.
"But I think it will be very difficult for such a small country for the time being ... on their own, when they know a big country like the US wants them," she added.
On the eve of high-stakes Greenland talks at the White House, the territory's prime minister said that if Greenland had to make a choice right now between remaining part of Denmark or becoming part of the United States, "we choose Denmark".
A roadmap for Greenland's independence was laid out in a 2009 Self-Government Act adopted by the Danish parliament.
"We are smarter than the Brits. We don't do a Brexit and then afterwards try to find out what it means. The arrangement is clear," smiled Waever, referring to the UK's acrimonious pull-out from the European Union. 
Article 21 of the act stipulates that if the Greenlandic people decide to seek independence, negotiations must begin between the governments in Nuuk and Copenhagen.
At the heart of the thorny talks would be the question of the subsidies that Denmark gives Greenland each year -- currently some 4.5 billion kroner ($703 million), equivalent to around a fifth of Greenland's GDP.
Any independence agreement reached between Copenhagen and Nuuk has to be approved by both parliaments and endorsed by a referendum in Greenland, according to the act.

Fragile economy

A sovereign Greenland would have to solve the major question of its economy.
The island is almost entirely dependent on fisheries and will have to contend with the consequences of an ageing population, according to a recent report from Denmark's central bank.
"I don't think they're in a place where they can be economically independent. But if they want to try, sure, go for it. It's not up to us to decide," said Joachim Ziegler, a 24-year-old student.
While a large majority of Greenlanders are in favour of independence, most do not support the idea of a swift secession.
This is even though the sole opposition party, Naleraq, campaigned on such a platform in the 2025 legislative elections and won 24.5 percent of the vote.
Naleraq has lunged at the opportunity to push for a speedy breakaway.
"I find it distasteful. What is happening is awful right now and they're using the situation to get independence," Inger Olsvig Brandt, an entrepreneur in Nuuk, told AFP.
"I know that of all of us Greenlanders wish to become independent but... they need to make a plan," she said.
At the political level, the current coalition government, backed by 75 percent of votes in the 2025 election, has been working on a more gradual plan for independence, based on a draft constitution from 2024.
"No self-respecting Greenlandic politicians up until a year ago would state that he would rather stay within the Kingdom of Denmark and it's very difficult to go back," said Mikaela Engell, a Greenland specialist and former Danish representative on the island.
"But it's first an internal discussion in Greenland," she said.
cbw/ef/po/sbk

justice

Iranian goes on trial in France ahead of possible prisoner swap

  • Mahdieh Esfandiari, a 39-year-old Iranian, was arrested in France in February on charges of promoting and inciting "terrorism" on social media over comments she is said to have made, including on Palestinian militant group Hamas attacking Israel on October 7, 2023, according to French authorities. 
  • An Iranian went on trial in France Tuesday accused of promoting "terrorism" on social media in a case linked to a possible prisoner swap with two French citizens held by the Islamic republic for over three-and-a-half years.
  • Mahdieh Esfandiari, a 39-year-old Iranian, was arrested in France in February on charges of promoting and inciting "terrorism" on social media over comments she is said to have made, including on Palestinian militant group Hamas attacking Israel on October 7, 2023, according to French authorities. 
An Iranian went on trial in France Tuesday accused of promoting "terrorism" on social media in a case linked to a possible prisoner swap with two French citizens held by the Islamic republic for over three-and-a-half years.
Mahdieh Esfandiari, a 39-year-old Iranian, was arrested in France in February on charges of promoting and inciting "terrorism" on social media over comments she is said to have made, including on Palestinian militant group Hamas attacking Israel on October 7, 2023, according to French authorities. 
Esfandiari was released in October pending her trial, whose date was scheduled long before the current protests erupted in Iran against the Iranian authorities.
"I'm here today to finally speak about the facts, as there have been a lot of wrong stories about me in the media, and a lot of lies," she said as she entered the courtroom for the four-day trial, in which several groups battling antisemitism are plaintiffs.
French citizens Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris were arrested in Iran in May 2022, but they were freed in November after more than three years in prison on espionage charges their families vehemently denied.
They were immediately taken by French diplomats to France's mission in Tehran, but are still waiting to leave Iran.
Tehran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in November that Iran would allow Kohler and Paris to return home in "exchange" for France freeing Esfandiari.
France has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of such an exchange deal.
But it has downsized its staff at its embassy in Tehran after mass protests erupted nationwide last week, in one of the biggest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the shah.
Relatives of Paris and Kohler told AFP that they were in good health and being well looked after by the remaining embassy staff.
The demonstrations have triggered a crackdown that activists say has killed at least 648 people during an internet blackout.
France has described Kohler and Paris as "state hostages" taken by Tehran in a bid to extract concessions. They were convicted on espionage charges their families have always condemned as fabricated.
Dozens of Europeans, North Americans and other Western citizens have been arrested in the last few years in similar circumstances.
Iran has previously carried out exchanges of Westerners for Iranians held by the West, but insists foreigners are convicted fully in line with the law.
dt-edy/ah/sjw/fg

obituary

Hong Kong activist investor David Webb dies at 60

BY TOMMY WANG

  • "It is with great sadness that we share that David M. Webb MBE passed away peacefully in Hong Kong on Tuesday January 13th, 2026 from metastatic prostate cancer," the statement read.
  • David Webb, a Hong Kong activist investor who campaigned for market transparency and democratic accountability, died on Tuesday aged 60, according to a statement posted on his social media.
  • "It is with great sadness that we share that David M. Webb MBE passed away peacefully in Hong Kong on Tuesday January 13th, 2026 from metastatic prostate cancer," the statement read.
David Webb, a Hong Kong activist investor who campaigned for market transparency and democratic accountability, died on Tuesday aged 60, according to a statement posted on his social media.
"It is with great sadness that we share that David M. Webb MBE passed away peacefully in Hong Kong on Tuesday January 13th, 2026 from metastatic prostate cancer," the statement read.
"David will be missed by family, many friends, and supporters. The family request privacy at this difficult time."
Webb was championed by retail investors, who saw him as a rare outlier in a corporate world known for vested interests and opacity -- and a headache for regulators whose failings he laid bare.
His online database, Webb-site, was an invaluable resource for regulators, investors, journalists and lawyers for decades until its shutdown late last year.
Webb told AFP in 2024 that his ethos could be summed up in one word: "fairness".
"Fair treatment, which comes with giving people all the information that is relevant and giving them the power to make decisions," he said.
"And choice, whether it's in economics or in finance or in politics."
Webb revealed his cancer diagnosis in 2020.
He was awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) last year for his decades-long contributions to Hong Kong.

'Did my best'

Born in Britain, Webb moved to Hong Kong from London in 1991 and retired from investment banking seven years later.
"Having already made enough money to be financially secure, I was more interested in leaving some mark on the system than just dying rich," Webb told AFP.
His wide-ranging causes included corporate transparency and tax reform.
He founded his non-profit website in 1998, which tracked the ins and outs of the financial sector and gave him a platform.
His greatest triumph was his 2017 expose of the "Enigma Network", involving cross-shareholdings in 50 listed companies, which had eluded regulators.
The ensuing crash wiped out $6 billion in market value.
Webb was a longtime member of Hong Kong's Takeovers and Mergers Panel and at one time served as an independent director of the city's stock exchange operator.
He told AFP he often ran up against vested interests but "I don't think I'm at war with anybody".
Webb, who became a Hong Kong permanent resident, believed that the former British colony's success was its "differentiation" from mainland China.
He addressed pro-democracy demonstrators during the city's 2014 Umbrella Movement, speaking in favour of a "free market in leadership".
The activist investor also criticised Hong Kong authorities during the city's huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019.
In one of his last public appearances, Webb warned in May 2025 that the rise of authoritarianism in Hong Kong had threatened its core economic model.
Looking back at his career, he told reporters he was "certain" he would stay in Hong Kong.
"I wanted to make a contribution... I will die confident that I did my best."
twa-hol/dhw/abs

politics

Iran ex-empress urges security forces to join protesters

  • Addressing the Iranian security forces, the former empress, or "shahbanu", added: "Remember that the survival of no government and the preservation of no benefit justify the shedding of the blood of your compatriots. 
  • The former empress of Iran, widow of the shah deposed by the Islamic revolution, on Tuesday urged the Iranian security forces to support protests shaking the clerical leadership that ousted her husband.
  • Addressing the Iranian security forces, the former empress, or "shahbanu", added: "Remember that the survival of no government and the preservation of no benefit justify the shedding of the blood of your compatriots. 
The former empress of Iran, widow of the shah deposed by the Islamic revolution, on Tuesday urged the Iranian security forces to support protests shaking the clerical leadership that ousted her husband.
Farah Pahlavi, 87, echoing calls made by her son the former crown prince Reza Pahlavi, said she believed "light will triumph over darkness" despite a crackdown by authorities that activists fear has left hundreds dead.
She left Iran on January 16, 1979 alongside her husband Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, just two weeks before the return to the country of Islamic revolution leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Her husband died in 1980.
Farah Pahlavi had on January 2 welcomed the protests as "filling my heart with pride", but this is her first statement since they grew into large-scale demonstrations last week calling for an end to the Islamic republic.
"I know that the dark-minded have cut off your lines of communication with the outside world out of fear of hearing your voice, but know that your message is too loud to be silenced," she said, referring to an internet blackout that has lasted over four days.
Addressing the Iranian security forces, the former empress, or "shahbanu", added: "Remember that the survival of no government and the preservation of no benefit justify the shedding of the blood of your compatriots. 
"Hear the cries of anger and rage of the protesters. Join your other brothers and sisters before it is too late and do not tie your fate to the fate of the murderers," she said.
Describing the people of Iran as "my children", she added: "Be strong and believe that soon you will celebrate freedom together in Iran, and light will triumph over darkness."
Farah Pahlavi was the third wife of the shah, who she met while a student in Paris. Their romance was an international sensation in the 1960s and 70s and she became an icon, with her image captured by the likes of artist Andy Warhol.
Her son Reza has emerged as one of the key diaspora figures in the protests, calling for nightly rallies and urging support from US President Donald Trump. Commentators have noted that pro-Pahlavi slogans urging a restoration of the monarchy have been frequent chants.
sjw/ah/axn

Global Edition

Sudan 'lost all sources of revenue' in the war: finance minister to AFP

BY SOPHIE PONS

  • He retained his position through a military coup later that year.
  • Widespread destruction, massive military spending and plummeting oil and gold revenues have left Sudan's economy in "very difficult times", army-aligned finance minister Gibril Ibrahim said, nearly three years into the army's war with rival paramilitary forces.
  • He retained his position through a military coup later that year.
Widespread destruction, massive military spending and plummeting oil and gold revenues have left Sudan's economy in "very difficult times", army-aligned finance minister Gibril Ibrahim said, nearly three years into the army's war with rival paramilitary forces.
In an interview with AFP from his office in Port Sudan, Ibrahim said the government is eyeing deals for Red Sea ports and private investment to help rebuild infrastructure.
This week, Sudan's prime minister announced the government's official return to Khartoum, recaptured last year, but Ibrahim's ministry is among those yet to fully return.
Dressed in combat uniform, the former rebel leader said Sudan, already one of the world's poorest countries before the war, "lost all sources of state revenue in the beginning of the war", when the Rapid Support Forces overtook the capital Khartoum and its surroundings.
"Most of the industry, most of the big companies and all of the economic activity was concentrated in the centre," he said, saying the heartland had accounted for some 80 percent of state revenue.
Ibrahim's ex-rebel group the Justice and Equality Movement once battled Khartoum's government but it has fought on the army's side as part of the Joint Forces coalition of armed groups.

Smuggling

Sudan, rich in oil, gold deposits and arable land, is currently suffering the world's largest humanitarian crisis, with over half of its population in need of aid to survive.
Gold production is rising year-on-year, but "unfortunately, much of it has been smuggled... across borders, through different countries, and going to the Gulf, mainly to the United Arab Emirates", he said.
Of the 70 tonnes produced in 2025, only "20 tonnes have been exported through official channels".
In 2024, Sudan produced 64 tonnes of gold, bringing in only $1.57 billion to the state's depleted coffers, with much of the revenue spilling out via smuggling networks.
Agricultural exports have fallen 43 percent, with much of the country's productive gum arabic, sesame and peanut-growing regions in paramilitary hands, in the western Darfur and southern Kordofan regions.
Sudan's livestock industry, also based predominantly in Darfur, has lost 55 percent of its exports, he said.
Since the RSF captured the army's last holdout position in Darfur in October, the war's worst fighting has shifted east to the oil-rich Kordofan region.
While both sides scramble for control of the territory, the country's oil revenues have dropped by more than 50 percent -- its most productive refinery, Al-Jaili near Khartoum, severely damaged.

'Reconstruction'

Determined to defeat the RSF, authorities allocated 40 percent of last year's budget to the war effort, up from 36 percent in 2024, according to Ibrahim, who did not specify amounts.
Yet the cost of reconstruction in areas regained by the army is immense: in December 2024, the government estimated it would need $200 billion to rebuild.
Authorities are currently eyeing public-private partnership, with firms that "are ready to spend money" including on infrastructure, Ibrahim said.
Sudan's long Red Sea coast has over the years drawn the interest of foreign actors eager for a base on the vital waterway, through which around 12 percent of global trade passes.
"We will see which partner is the best to build a port," the minister said, listing both Saudi Arabia and Qatar as "the main applicants".
An early-stage project for an Emirati economic zone had been agreed in principle, he said "and then the war erupted, and the UAE has been part of it".
"So I don't think that project is going anywhere," Ibrahim said, referring to widespread accusations of Abu Dhabi backing the RSF, which the UAE denies.
The Russians, for their part, had also wanted "a small port where they can have supplies", he said, adding that "they didn't go ahead with that yet".
As the war rages on, Sudan shoulders a massive public debt bill, which in 2023 reached 253 percent of GDP, before falling slightly to 221 percent in 2025, according to figures reported by the International Monetary Fund.
Sudan has known only triple-digit annual inflation for years. Figures for 2025 stood at 151 percent -- down from a 2021 peak of 358. 
The currency has also collapsed, going from trading before the war at 570 Sudanese pounds against the dollar, to 3500 in 2026, according to the black market rate.
Ibrahim, 71, first joined the government in 2021 as part of a short-lived transitional administration. He retained his position through a military coup later that year.
He is among several Sudanese officials sanctioned by Washington in its attempt to "limit Islamist influence within Sudan and curtail Iran's regional activities".
sof/anb/bha/amj

politics

Central bank chiefs voice 'full solidarity' with US Fed, Powell

  • "We stand in full solidarity with the Federal Reserve System and its Chair Jerome H. Powell," said the statement signed by chiefs of the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and others.
  • The heads of major central banks have thrown their support behind the US Federal Reserve and its chairman Jerome Powell, saying in a joint statement Tuesday that it was "critical to preserve" their independence. 
  • "We stand in full solidarity with the Federal Reserve System and its Chair Jerome H. Powell," said the statement signed by chiefs of the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and others.
The heads of major central banks have thrown their support behind the US Federal Reserve and its chairman Jerome Powell, saying in a joint statement Tuesday that it was "critical to preserve" their independence. 
US prosecutors have issued subpoenas against Powell threatening a criminal indictment, an unprecedented move widely seen as an escalation of President Donald Trump's campaign against the central bank.
The inquiry prompted a rare public rebuke by Powell on Sunday, who vowed to continue setting monetary policy "without political fear or favor".
"We stand in full solidarity with the Federal Reserve System and its Chair Jerome H. Powell," said the statement signed by chiefs of the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and others.
"The independence of central banks is a cornerstone of price, financial and economic stability in the interest of the citizens that we serve," it added. 
"Chair Powell has served with integrity, focused on his mandate and an unwavering commitment to the public interest."
The statement was also signed by the central bank chiefs of Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, South Korea, Sweden and Switzerland, as well as the chairman of the Bank for International Settlements. 
The US inquiry concerns a $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed headquarters in Washington, which Trump has repeatedly attacked Powell of mismanaging. 
Last year, Trump floated the possibility of firing Powell over cost overruns for the historic buildings' facelift.
He has also slammed Powell as a "numbskull" and "moron" for the Fed's policy decisions and not cutting borrowing costs more sharply.
In his video statement Sunday, Powell dismissed the renovation and testimony as "pretexts".
"The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president," he said.
bcp/ajb/js