politics

Belarus frees protest leader Kolesnikova, Nobel winner Bialiatski

pollution

Islamabad puts drivers on notice as smog crisis worsens

BY SAMEER MANDHRO AND JOSEPH SCHMID

  • - 'Her basic right' - Announcing the crackdown on December 7, EPA chief Nazia Zaib Ali said over 300 fines were issued at checkpoints in the first week, with 80 vehicles impounded.
  • Truck driver Muhammad Afzal was not expecting to be stopped by police, let alone fined, as he drove into Islamabad this week because of the thick diesel fumes emanating from his exhaust pipe.
  • - 'Her basic right' - Announcing the crackdown on December 7, EPA chief Nazia Zaib Ali said over 300 fines were issued at checkpoints in the first week, with 80 vehicles impounded.
Truck driver Muhammad Afzal was not expecting to be stopped by police, let alone fined, as he drove into Islamabad this week because of the thick diesel fumes emanating from his exhaust pipe.
"This is unfair," he said after being told to pay 1,000 rupees ($3.60), with the threat of having his truck impounded if he did not "fix" the problem.
"I was coming from Lahore after getting my vehicle repaired. They pressed the accelerator to make it release smoke. It's an injustice," he told AFP.
Checkpoints set up this month are part of a crackdown by authorities to combat the city's soaring smog levels, with winter months the worst due to atmospheric inversions that trap pollutants at ground level.
"We have already warned the owners of stern action, and we will stop their entry into the city if they don't comply with the orders," said Dr Zaigham Abbas of Pakistan's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as he surveyed the checkpoint at the southeast edge of the capital.
For Waleed Ahmed, a technician inspecting the vehicles at the site, "just like a human being, a vehicle has a life cycle. Those that cross it release smoke that is dangerous to human health".

'Self-inflicted crisis'

While not yet at the extreme winter levels of Lahore or the megacity Karachi, where heavy industry and brick kilns spew tons of pollutants each year, Islamabad is steadily closing the gap.
So far in December it has already registered seven "very unhealthy" days for PM2.5 particulates of more than 150 microgrammes per cubic meter, according to the Swiss-based monitoring firm IQAir.
Intraday PM2.5 levels in Islamabad often exceed those in Karachi and Lahore, and in 2024 the city's average PM2.5 reading for the year was 52.3 microgrammes -- surpassing the 46.2 for Lahore.
Those annual readings are far beyond the safe level of five microgrammes recommended by the World Health Organization.
Built from scratch as Pakistan's capital in the 1960s, the city was envisioned as an urban model for the rapidly growing nation, with wide avenues and ample green spaces abutting the Himalayan foothills.
But the expansive layout discourages walking and public transport remains limited, meaning cars -- mostly older models -- are essential for residents to get around.
"The capital region is choked overwhelmingly by its transport sector," which produces 53 percent of its toxic PM2.5 particles, the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative, a research group, said in a recent report.
"The haze over Islamabad... is not the smoke of industry, but the exhaust of a million private journeys -- a self-inflicted crisis," it said.

'Her basic right'

Announcing the crackdown on December 7, EPA chief Nazia Zaib Ali said over 300 fines were issued at checkpoints in the first week, with 80 vehicles impounded.
"We cannot allow non-compliant vehicles at any cost to poison the city's air and endanger public health," she said in a statement.
The city has also begun setting up stations where drivers can have their emissions inspected, with those passing receiving a green sticker on their windshield.
"We were worried for Lahore, but now it's Islamabad. And that's all because of vehicles emitting pollution," said Iftikhar Sarwar, 51, as he had his car checked on a busy road near an Islamabad park.
"I never needed medicine before but now I get allergies if I don't take a tablet in the morning. The same is happening with my family," he added.
Other residents say they worry the government's measures will not be enough to counter the worsening winter smog. 
"This is not the Islamabad I came to 20 years ago," said Sulaman Ijaz, an anthropologist.
"I feel uneasy when I think about what I will say if my daughter asks for clean air -- that is her basic right."
sma/js/fox/abs

literature

Vietnam's 'Sorrow of War' sells out after viral controversy

BY TRAN THI MINH HA, LAM NGUYEN, TY MCCORMICK

  • The novel's inclusion in the 50-best list in late November touched off another round of recrimination even as it flew off shelves.
  • When "The Sorrow of War" was honoured by Vietnam's government as one of the 50 greatest works of literature and art since reunification, some conservative figures reacted with fury -- suggesting the novel's unvarnished depictions of the war diminished the victors' heroism.
  • The novel's inclusion in the 50-best list in late November touched off another round of recrimination even as it flew off shelves.
When "The Sorrow of War" was honoured by Vietnam's government as one of the 50 greatest works of literature and art since reunification, some conservative figures reacted with fury -- suggesting the novel's unvarnished depictions of the war diminished the victors' heroism.
But the controversy that exploded across social media has only sparked renewed interest in Bao Ninh's haunting classic and forced bookstores to scramble to keep pace with surging demand.
"I only knew about this novel because of these online discussions," said Le Hien, 25, who tried to buy the book at several bookstores in the capital Hanoi this week but found they were all out of stock. 
"I was very surprised the book was sold out that quickly. I couldn't believe its sales went crazy," he told AFP.
First published in 1987 as "The Destiny of Love", the novel is narrated by a young North Vietnamese soldier who, like Ninh himself, served in a battalion that was almost entirely wiped out.
He is stalked by memories of the "jungle of screaming souls" and tortured by thoughts of his girlfriend's rape by fellow North Vietnamese men. 
The book was met with instant acclaim abroad and controversy at home, where most war literature emphasised valour and sacrifice over cruelty and suffering.
The novel's inclusion in the 50-best list in late November touched off another round of recrimination even as it flew off shelves.
"This book has been debated for ages," said Nguyen, a bookseller on Hanoi's Nguyen Xi book street, who gave only his first name for fear of inviting backlash against his store.
"It has always sold steadily. It has never sold out like it did this time, though."

Deeper truth

Nguyen Thanh Tuan, a former head of the military's propaganda department, wrote on Facebook earlier this month that the novel "aimed to diminish the heroism of our army... fabricating and distorting the truth of the heroic struggle and immense sacrifices of millions of people".
Tuan's post calling for the honour to be revoked received thousands of likes and ricocheted across social media, garnering support especially from war veterans.
But many others defended the decision to honour the book.
"If we demand that a novel function like a battle report, we are forcing literature to perform the work of another profession," said literary critic Ha Thanh Van.
"The Sorrow of War" continues to move readers nearly 40 years after its publication because it "delves into the dark corners of memory, where war continues to exist as haunting memories, traumas, lingering regrets", she said.
Ngoc Tran, a 12th grade student in Hanoi, said she didn't think the work "tarnishes the image of Vietnamese soldiers from the past".
"It just reveals more truth about human nature," she told AFP.
But while the debate has opened up old societal rifts, it has also propelled the book to new heights of visibility, especially among young readers like Tran, born after its initial publication. 
"After the controversy about the award went viral online, more people became interested and started looking to buy (the book)," said bookseller Nguyen.
Another bookseller on the same street who declined to give his name said sales had been slow before the furore "but suddenly we're sold out".
AFP journalists found five copies of the book at Ngan Nga bookstore in the capital, but many other vendors had been cleared out.  
Nguyen Hai Dang, an editor at Tre Publishing House which has a lifetime agreement with Ninh, was quoted in state media as saying the controversy had prompted a flurry of orders, causing the central warehouse to fall behind.  
Dang said a planned reprinting was already underway, however, and that the publisher had run off 15,000 copies so far this year.
It has printed about 80,000 copies since its agreement began in 2011.
The novel is also an international bestseller and has been translated into more than 15 languages.
tmh-tym/fox/abs

manufacturing

China's smaller manufacturers look to catch the automation wave

BY JING XUAN TENG

  • In a closed-off room, workers assembled vehicles' "brains", testing their cameras and computer chips.
  • In a light-filled workshop in eastern China, a robotic arm moved a partially assembled autonomous vehicle as workers calibrated its cameras, typical of the incremental automation being adopted even across smaller factories in the world's manufacturing powerhouse.
  • In a closed-off room, workers assembled vehicles' "brains", testing their cameras and computer chips.
In a light-filled workshop in eastern China, a robotic arm moved a partially assembled autonomous vehicle as workers calibrated its cameras, typical of the incremental automation being adopted even across smaller factories in the world's manufacturing powerhouse.
China is already the world's largest market for industrial robots, and the government is pouring billions of dollars into robotics and artificial intelligence to boost its presence in the sector. 
The first essentially humanlessfactoriesare already in operation, even as widespread automation raises questions about job losses as well as the cost and difficulty of transition for smaller and medium-sized companies. 
The answer for many is a hybrid approach, experts and factory owners told AFP. 
At the autonomous vehicle workshop, manager Liu Jingyao told AFP that humans are still a crucial part of even technologically advanced manufacturing. 
"Many decisions require human judgement," said Liu, whose company Neolix produces small van-like vehicles that transport parcels across Chinese cities. 
"These decisions involve certain skill-based elements that still need to be handled by people."
At the Neolix factory, 300 kilometres (186 miles) north of Shanghai, newly built driverless vehicles zoomed around a testing track simulating obstacles including puddles and bridges.
In a closed-off room, workers assembled vehicles' "brains", testing their cameras and computer chips.
"Automation... primarily serve(s) to assist humans, reducing labour intensity rather than replacing them," Liu said.
But Ni Jun, a mechanical engineering expert at Shanghai's Jiaotong University, said China's strategy of focusing on industrial applications for AI means full automation is already feasible in many sectors.
Among others, tech giant Xiaomi operates a "dark factory" -- where the absence of people means no need for lights -- with robotic arms and sensors able to make smartphones without humans.

Digital divide

Ni described a "digital divide" between larger companies with the funds to invest heavily in modernisation, and smaller businesses struggling to keep up.
For Zhu Yefeng's Far East Precision Printing Company, part of China's vast network of small independent factories employing up to a few dozen people each, full automation is a distant dream.
At the company just outside Shanghai, workers in small rooms fed sheets of instruction manuals into folding machines and operated equipment that printed labels for electronic devices.
The company used pen and paper to track its workflow until two years ago, with managers having to run around the factory to communicate order information.
"Things were, to put it bluntly, a complete mess," Zhu told AFP.
The company has since adopted software that allows employees to scan QR codes that send updates to a factory-wide tracker.
On a screen in his office, Zhu can see detailed charts breaking down each order's completion level and individual employees' productivity statistics.
"This is a start," Zhu told AFP. "We will move toward more advanced technology like automation, in order to receive even bigger orders from clients."
Financial constraints are a major barrier though.  
"As a small company, we can't afford certain expenses," said Zhu. 
His team is trying to develop its own robotic quality testing machine, but for now humans continue to check final products.

Employment pressures 

The potential unemployment caused by widespread automation will be a challenge, said Jacob Gunter from the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies. 
"Companies will be quite happy to decrease their headcount... but the government will not like that and will be under a lot of pressure to navigate this," Gunter told AFP.
Beijing's push to develop industrial robots will "intersect with the need for maintaining high employment at a time when employment pressure is considerable", he added. 
Going forward, manufacturers must strike a balance "between the technical feasibility, social responsibility, and business necessity", Jiaotong University's Ni told AFP.
Zhou Yuxiang, the CEO of Black Lake Technologies -- the start-up that provided the software for Zhu's factory -- told AFP he thought factories would "always be hybrid". 
"If you ask every owner of a factory, is a dark factory the goal? No, that's just a superficial description," Zhou said. 
"The goal for factories is to optimise production, deliver things that their end customers want, and also make money."
tjx/reb/dan

Guatemala

For children of deported parents, lonely journeys to a new home

BY GERARD MARTINEZ

  • Andy was making the trip with six other children aged 3 to 15 -- three of them US citizens, the others Guatemalans who grew up in Florida.
  • One recent day at Miami's international airport, Andy, age 6, was getting ready to fly to Guatemala. 
  • Andy was making the trip with six other children aged 3 to 15 -- three of them US citizens, the others Guatemalans who grew up in Florida.
One recent day at Miami's international airport, Andy, age 6, was getting ready to fly to Guatemala. 
He was anxious, this was no year-end vacation to visit his relatives.
Andy was moving to his ancestral country to reunite with his father, recently deported as part of President Donald Trump's aggressive policy to expel undocumented migrants.
"They took my brother and I've had to take care of the little one," said Osvaldo, Andy's uncle who brought him to the airport but was not getting on the plane with him.
Andy was making the trip with six other children aged 3 to 15 -- three of them US citizens, the others Guatemalans who grew up in Florida. They were all moving to a country where they either had never been, or one which they barely remembered.
The sprawling city of Miami on Florida's east coast is about 70 percent Hispanic, and often called the Gateway to Latin America.
Across the United States, cities with large immigrant communities are primary targets of Trump's virulent anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric.
Trump's administration has deployed heavily armed and masked enforcement agents and onlookers have filmed them in various cities tackling people in the street or dragging them from cars.

'I worry about the child'

Born in the United States, Andy is a US citizen. Until November, he lived with his father Adiner, who had been in Florida for a decade. His mother hasn't been in his life since the parents separated.
One day, when Andy's father came to pick him up from school, a police officer stopped him. He had neither a visa nor a residency permit.
Andy -- who wore a backpack and a little cross necklace for the flight to Guatemala City -- was happy about being reunited with his father but also "a little nervous" about the trip, said Osvaldo, who did not want his full name published for fear of arrest.
"I keep thinking about my brother, about why they nabbed him. And I also worry about the child," he said.
The trip was organized by the Guatemalan-Maya Center, a nonprofit group serving "uprooted children and families" in the Miami area. 
Mariana Blanco, its director of operations, circulated among the children, checking they had everything needed for the trip.
She pointed out Franklin, 3, and his 6-year-old brother Garibaldi, both US citizens. The younger boy wore a Spider Man hoodie, a dinosaur backpack, and an anxious expression.
Like Andy, they were travelling to reunite with their deported father, because their mother works long hours in Miami and fears she too will be arrested. 

'Trampling on children's rights'

Two volunteers with the Guatemalan-Maya Center were accompanying the children on the trip.
One of them, Diego Serrato, accused the Trump administration of racism and "trampling on children's rights." 
"It's sad to see worry and fear on their little faces instead of the smiles they should have," Serrato said.
The group also included Mariela, 11, traveling to live with her mother because her father fears arrest; Alexis, 11, who had to stay for a few days with an aunt he'd never met after his father was arrested; and Enrique, 13, about to see his mother for the first time in eight years after his father ended up in an ICE lockup.
"No one should go through that, especially not a child," said Blanco.
The children, all of them Mayan, would have to adapt to life in Guatemala, where their families primarily live in impoverished rural areas, Blanco said. 
Most of the older ones would have to start working because middle school and high school in Guatemala come with expenses that their parents cannot cover, she added. 
As the group headed towards customs, Andy suddenly turned, hugged his uncle Osvaldo tightly, before rejoining the other children.
gma/eml-aem/ksb/md

Global Edition

Chile picks new president with far right candidate the front-runner

BY AXL HERNANDEZ AND ANDREW BEATTY

  • - Incumbent blues - Jara led the first round of voting in November, but right-wing candidates garnered 70 percent of the vote. 
  • Chileans elect a new president on Sunday, facing a stark choice between the most right-wing candidate in 35 years of democracy and the head of a broad leftist coalition.
  • - Incumbent blues - Jara led the first round of voting in November, but right-wing candidates garnered 70 percent of the vote. 
Chileans elect a new president on Sunday, facing a stark choice between the most right-wing candidate in 35 years of democracy and the head of a broad leftist coalition.
Almost 16 million citizens can cast their ballot in the runoff vote between father-of-nine Jose Antonio Kast and his rival Jeannette Jara, a longstanding member of the Communist Party.
Polls show Kast as the strong front-runner, with his tough-on-crime and anti-migrant message seemingly registering with Chileans.   
"The country is falling apart" 59-year-old Kast has claimed on the campaign trail, often speaking from behind bulletproof glass to underscore his point. 
Once one of the safest and most prosperous countries in the Americas, Chile has been hit hard in recent years by the COVID-19 pandemic, violent social protests, and an influx of foreign organized crime. 
Kast is far to the right of most Chileans on many issues. 
But voters fed up with high crime and slow growth during four years of leftist rule say they will vote for change, despite misgivings. 
Kast has vowed to deport hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants, opposed abortion without exceptions, and voiced support for the bloody dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
Security is the priority for 44-year-old Santiago housewife Ursula Villalobos, who plans to vote for Kast and is willing to accept some radical changes if they bring safety. 
"What's important," she told AFP, "is that people can leave their homes without fear and return at night without worrying that something will happen to them on street corners." 
"Given the extreme situation we're in right now, if we have to take somewhat extreme measures at the beginning to achieve a peaceful country later on, then yes, I would be willing to do that."
Polls show more than 60 percent of Chileans think security is the top issue facing the country -- far eclipsing the economy, healthcare, or education. 
And while statistics show that violent crime — fueled by Venezuelan, Peruvian, Colombian and Ecuadoran gangs — has risen in the last ten years, fears about crime have risen even faster.

'Pinochet out of uniform'

But Kast's hardline positions have also brought fears that he will edge Chile back toward the bad old days of a dictatorship that killed or disappeared more than 3,000 of its own citizens and tortured many thousands more. 
"I'm fearful because I think we are going to have a lot of repression," said 71-year-old retiree Cecilia Mora, who said that "under no circumstances" would she vote for Kast.
"The candidate of the right reminds me a lot of the dictatorship. I lived through the dictatorship. I was young, but I lived through it, suffered through it." 
"I see him as a Pinochet out of uniform," she said, comparing Kast to a man who for decades was the medal-festooned caricature of a Latin American military dictator. 
Pinochet left power in 1990, after Chileans rejected a bid to extend his 17-year rule via referendum. 
As a university student, Kast campaigned for the pro-Pinochet vote. 
His family background has also raised questions. Media investigations have revealed that Kast's German-born father was a member of Adolf Hitler's Nazi party and a soldier during World War II.
Kast insists his father was a forced conscript and did not support the Nazis. 

 Incumbent blues

Jara led the first round of voting in November, but right-wing candidates garnered 70 percent of the vote. 
In a head-to-head race between Kast and Jara, polls show him winning by more than ten percentage points. 
Jara's time as labor minister in the government of President Gabriel Boric has proven to be an Achilles' Heel. 
The 39-year-old president's four-year term has been crippled by repeated failed attempts to reform the Pinochet-era constitution. 
Being tied to the ruling party is almost a kiss of death in Chilean politics. 
Since 2010, Chileans have alternated between left and right governments at every presidential election. 
At this election, voting is compulsory for the first time in more than a decade. 
Polls will open at 8:00 am Santiago time (1100 GMT). 
bur-arb/ksb

unrest

Campaigning starts in Central African Republic quadruple election

  • Since independence from France in 1960, the Central African Republic has seen a succession of conflicts, civil wars and military coups.
  • Campaigning kicked off Saturday in the Central African Republic, with the unstable former French colony's voters set to cast their ballots in a quadruple whammy of elections on December 28. 
  • Since independence from France in 1960, the Central African Republic has seen a succession of conflicts, civil wars and military coups.
Campaigning kicked off Saturday in the Central African Republic, with the unstable former French colony's voters set to cast their ballots in a quadruple whammy of elections on December 28. 
Besides national, regional and municipal lawmakers, Centrafricans are set to pick their president, with incumbent Faustin-Archange Touadera in pole position out of a seven-strong field after modifying the constitution to allow him to seek a third term. 
Thousands of supporters packed into a 20,000-seater stadium in the capital Bangui on Saturday to listen to Touadera, accused by the opposition of wishing to cling on as president-for-life in one of the world's poorest countries.
In his speech, Touadera, who was first elected in 2016 in the middle of a bloody civil war, styled himself as a defender of the country's young people and insisted there was work to do to curb ongoing unrest.
"The fight for peace and security is not over," the president warned the packed stands.
"We must continue to strengthen our army in order to guarantee security throughout the national territory and preserve the unity of our country."
Both of Touadera's top critics on the ballot paper, ex-prime minister Henri-Marie Dondra and the main opposition leader Anicet-Georges Dologuele, had feared they would be barred from the election over nationality requirements.
Touring the capital's districts alongside a travelling convoy, Dologuele warned that the upcoming vote represents "a choice for national survival; a choice between resignation and hope".
"Our people have experienced 10 years of this regime. Ten years of waiting, promises and suffering," he added.

Security woes

Dologuele, who previously made a tilt for the top job in 2020, said in September that he had given up his French nationality to conform with the requirement -- also imposed by the 2023 constitutional tinkering -- for candidates to hold only one citizenship.
But the courts then stripped him of his Centrafrican passport in mid-October, prompting Dologuele to file a complaint to the United Nations' human rights office.
A leading opposition coalition, the Republican Bloc for the Defence of the Constitution of March 2016, announced in early October that it would boycott the election, accusing Touadera's government of rigging the vote.
By the electoral authority's count, some 2.3 million voters are expected at the ballot box, of whom 749,000 will have been enrolled for the first time.
The end-of-year polls had been delayed multiple times over issues with the electoral roll and funding, as well as concerns over the country's long-running security woes.
Since independence from France in 1960, the Central African Republic has seen a succession of conflicts, civil wars and military coups.
In recent years, the intervention of a United Nations peacekeeping mission, Rwandan troops and Russian mercenaries from the Wagner paramilitary group has helped to improve the security situation.
Yet anti-government fighters are still at large on the country's main highways, as well as in the east near the borders with war-ravaged Sudan and South Sudan. 
cmb-fan-lnf/sbk/mjw

US

Trump vows revenge after troops in Syria killed in alleged IS ambush

BY MAHER AL MOUNES WITH DANIEL STUBLEN IN WASHINGTON

  • - 'Infiltration' - A Syrian military official who requested anonymity said the shots were fired "during a meeting between Syrian and American officers" at a Syrian base in Palmyra.
  • Two American troops and a civilian interpreter were killed in central Syria on Saturday after an alleged member of the Islamic State (IS) group opened fire on a joint US-Syrian patrol, officials said.
  • - 'Infiltration' - A Syrian military official who requested anonymity said the shots were fired "during a meeting between Syrian and American officers" at a Syrian base in Palmyra.
Two American troops and a civilian interpreter were killed in central Syria on Saturday after an alleged member of the Islamic State (IS) group opened fire on a joint US-Syrian patrol, officials said.
"We mourn the loss of three Great American Patriots in Syria," US President Donald Trump said on his Truth Social platform, vowing "very serious retaliation."
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the attack took place in Palmyra, home to UNESCO-listed ancient ruins and once controlled by the IS group -- also known as ISIS -- during the height of its territorial expansion in Syria.
The deadly attack had been "an ambush by a lone ISIS gunman," who was "engaged and killed," US Central Command said on X.
Trump called it "an ISIS attack against the US, and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them."
Three other wounded US troops were "doing well," Trump said.
The soldiers "were conducting a key leader engagement" in support of counterterrorism operations when the attack occurred, Parnell said, while US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said the ambush targeted "a joint US–Syrian government patrol".
The incident is the first of its kind reported since Islamist-led forces overthrew longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December last year, and rekindled the country's ties with the United States.
Trump said Syria's new President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who visited the White House last month, was "extremely angry and disturbed by this attack."
Syria's foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani said in a post on X that Damascus "strongly condemns the terrorist attack that targeted a joint Syria-US counterterrorism patrol near Palmyra".
"We extend our condolences to the families of the victims, as well as to the American government and people, and wish the wounded a speedy recovery."

'Infiltration'

A Syrian military official who requested anonymity said the shots were fired "during a meeting between Syrian and American officers" at a Syrian base in Palmyra.
A witness, who asked to remain anonymous, said he heard the shots coming from inside the base.
However, a Pentagon official speaking on the condition of anonymity told AFP the attack "took place in an area where the Syrian President does not have control."
In an interview on state television, Syrian Interior Ministry spokesman Anwar al-Baba said there had been "prior warnings from the internal security command to allied forces in the desert region" of a potential IS "infiltration".
"The international coalition forces did not take the Syrian warnings of a possible IS infiltration into consideration," he said.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria, the meeting came as part of an "American strategy to strengthen its presence and foothold in the Syrian desert".
The official SANA news agency reported that helicopters evacuated the wounded to the Al-Tanf base in southern Syria, where American troops are deployed as part of the Washington-led global coalition against the IS group.
Last month, during al-Sharaa's historic visit to Washington, Damascus formally joined the coalition.
IS seized swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in 2014 during Syria's civil war, before being territorially defeated in the country five years later.
Its fighters still maintain a presence, however, particularly in Syria's vast desert.
US forces are deployed in Syria's Kurdish-controlled northeast as well as at Al-Tanf near the border with Jordan.
dur-des/sbk/acb

Global Edition

Drone strike in southern Sudan kills 6 UN peacekeepers

  • The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) said "six troops were killed and six injured", including four seriously, when a drone hit their camp in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan state.
  • Six United Nations peacekeepers from Bangladesh were killed on Saturday in a drone strike on Sudan's southern Kordofan region, the UN mission said, with Dhaka sharply condemning the attack.
  • The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) said "six troops were killed and six injured", including four seriously, when a drone hit their camp in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan state.
Six United Nations peacekeepers from Bangladesh were killed on Saturday in a drone strike on Sudan's southern Kordofan region, the UN mission said, with Dhaka sharply condemning the attack.
The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) said "six troops were killed and six injured", including four seriously, when a drone hit their camp in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan state.
All of the victims are from Bangladesh, it said.
UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned the "horrific" attack, saying it "may constitute war crimes under international law".
"Attacks as the one today in South Kordofan against peacekeepers are unjustifiable. There will need to be accountability," he said in a statement.
Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus in a statement said he was "deeply saddened" by the attack, and put the toll at six dead and eight wounded.
He asked the UN to ensure that his country's personnel were offered "any necessary emergency support".
"The government of Bangladesh will stand by the families in this difficult moment," Yunus added.
Dhaka's foreign ministry said it "strongly condemned" the attack.
UN peacekeepers are deployed to Abyei, a disputed region between Sudan and South Sudan.

Fires blazing

A medical source had earlier told AFP that the strike on a United Nations facility in Kadugli killed at least six people, with witnesses saying they were UN employees.
"Six people were killed in a bombing of the UN headquarters while they were inside the building," the medical source at the city's hospital said.
Eyewitnesses said a drone had hit the UN facility.
The Sudanese army published a video on its Facebook page showing fires blazing and two columns of smoke rising from the UNISFA base.
The army-aligned government based in Port Sudan issued a statement condemning the attack and accusing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of being behind it.
In a statement, the Sovereignty Council headed by army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan called the attack a "dangerous escalation".
The RSF in a statement on Telegram said it rejected "the claims and allegations... regarding an air attack that targeted the United Nations headquarters in Kadugli, and the accompanying false accusations against our forces of being behind it through the use of a drone".
Meanwhile, Sudanese Prime Minister Kamil Idris said that "the terrorist rebel militia has met all the conditions to be classified as a terrorist group", and urged the UN to "bring the perpetrators to justice".
Kadugli, where famine was declared in early November, has been besieged for a year and a half by the RSF.

Strategic position

Following their late-October capture of El-Fasher -- the army's last stronghold in Sudan's western Darfur region -- the RSF have pushed eastward into the oil-rich Kordofan region, divided into three states.
Kordofan is a vast agricultural region that lies between RSF-controlled Darfur in the west and army-held areas in the north, east and centre.
Its position is important for maintaining supply lines and moving troops.
The RSF has been at war with the military since April 2023 and has deployed fighters, drones and allied militias to the fertile region.
Analysts say the RSF seek to punch through the army's defences around central Sudan, paving the way for recapturing Khartoum.
Last week, strikes on a kindergarten and hospital in Kalogi in South Kordofan killed 114 people, including 63 children, according to the UN's World Health Organization.
Sudan's war has so far killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and resulted in one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
Efforts to end the war have so far failed. 
Last month, US President Donald Trump said he would move to end the conflict following discussions in Washington with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but the initiative has yet to materialise.
ab-nda-sa-ash/jsa/srm

crime

Crime wave propels hard-right candidate toward Chilean presidency

BY ANDREW BEATTY

  • - State of emergency - "The country is falling to pieces," according to Kast, a three-time presidential hopeful and father of nine.
  • Anxiety over immigration and violent crime has carried Jose Antonio Kast to the steps of Chile's presidential palace. 
  • - State of emergency - "The country is falling to pieces," according to Kast, a three-time presidential hopeful and father of nine.
Anxiety over immigration and violent crime has carried Jose Antonio Kast to the steps of Chile's presidential palace. 
On Sunday, he is tipped to be elected the country's first hard-right leader since dictator Augusto Pinochet three decades ago. 
From behind bulletproof glass, Kast has promised to deport hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants, seal the northern border, and declare a state of emergency.   
That resonates with Chileans who blame foreign gangs for a surge in organized crime -- a challenge that police tried to tackle in a series of synchronized raids across central Santiago on Thursday. 
Shortly after 6:00 pm (2300 GMT), dozens of masked and armed police burst from a 15-strong convoy of unmarked vehicles. 
Bang! Bang! Bang! They begin pulverizing the doors of nine suspected drug houses.
This is "Operation Colombia," the result of a six-month probe into a foreign drug-dealing ring by Chile's equivalent of the FBI -- the Investigative Police.
Tasked with policing what was once the safest country in Latin America, the force now finds itself on the frontline of a fierce battle against organized crime. 
"I'm about to complete 35 years of service," Erick Menay, the head of the force's organised crime unit, told AFP. 
Over that time, he said, the job has been transformed by an influx of sophisticated and ultra-violent gangs from Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and most notably Venezuela, in the form of Tren de Aragua. 
Their turf battles "have brought a lot of violence, they have brought a lot of gunshots, a lot of victims and a lot of insecurity," he said. 
In the past 25 years, violence linked to organized crime has increased by about 40 percent, according to official statistics. 
The murder rate has increased about 50 percent, according to UN data. 
Polls show a majority of Chileans now say crime is the country's most serious issue.

State of emergency

"The country is falling to pieces," according to Kast, a three-time presidential hopeful and father of nine.
Enough Chileans agree with him that he is well ahead of leftist Jeannette Jara in the polls for Sunday's presidential election runoff. 
Yet data and testimony from the frontlines complicate Kast's notion that the country is in deep crisis. 
Those involved in the police and other security services say that while crime increased and became more violent, it has grown from a very low base. 
Although a recent government survey showed 88 percent of Chileans think crime has increased in the last year, the percentage of the population who were victims of violent crime was just under six percent.
Police statistics show the rate of violent crimes has stabilized and is actually falling in some cases. 
Hassel Barrientos Hermosilla, the head of the Investigative Police's anti-kidnapping and extortion unit, told AFP that it is rare for Chileans to be the target of those specific high-profile crimes, despite public perception. 
He explained that Peruvian gangs tend to target Peruvians and Venezuelan gangs target Venezuelans, using pressure on the victims' families back home to get ransoms or protection payments. 
Fear has grown much faster than the crime rate, according to ex-army general Christian Bolivar, who runs municipal security for Las Condes, a rich suburb of Santiago. 
"It is evident that perception, what people feel with respect to security, is very distant from reality," he told AFP. 
With 450 people at his command and a modern command  center to monitor security camera footage from across a swath of eastern Santiago, he explained one of his biggest tasks is to bring this fear under control. 
As people are overly afraid of being in the street, streets become emptier and therefore less secure -- a vicious cycle of anxiety. 
"Perceptions are the hardest to address," he said. "We can have mechanisms for control, oversight, and fighting crime.
"But it's much more difficult to reach people's minds, trying to influence them so they understand that the security situation isn't as critical as it's being portrayed or perceived." 
There is some evidence that the media, many of which carry live coverage of even minor drug busts, may be stoking people's fears. 
A recent UDP-Feedback poll showed that Chilean television viewers were 25 percent more likely to say that violent crime was a problem than newspaper readers.
During a raid in a Santiago neighbourhood known as "Little Caracas," police detained two young women and a teenage boy, seizing a few kilograms of suspected cocaine and other drugs.
In most countries, it would be a relatively small bust -- but several camera crews arrived on the scene, ready to broadcast the arrests live.
arb/jgc/mlm

conflict

US envoy to meet Zelensky, Europe leaders in Berlin this weekend

  • A White House official confirmed to AFP on Friday that Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff would meet with Zelensky and European leaders over the weekend to discuss the status of peace negotiations.
  • US President Donald Trump's special envoy will meet with Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders in Berlin this weekend, the White House said, as Washington presses for a plan to end Russia's war with Ukraine.
  • A White House official confirmed to AFP on Friday that Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff would meet with Zelensky and European leaders over the weekend to discuss the status of peace negotiations.
US President Donald Trump's special envoy will meet with Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders in Berlin this weekend, the White House said, as Washington presses for a plan to end Russia's war with Ukraine.
Ahead of the meetings, Zelensky warned on Saturday that Russia "still aims to destroy" Ukraine, as Kyiv said "massive" Russian strikes on energy facilities overnight had left thousands without power across the country.
Russia said it had hit Ukrainian facilities with hypersonic ballistic missiles, in what it called retaliation for Ukrainian attacks.
"It is important that everyone now sees what Russia is doing -- every step they take in terror against our people... for this is clearly not about ending the war," the Ukrainian president said on X.
"They still aim to destroy our state and inflict maximum pain on our people."
An 80-year-old woman was killed when a Russian shell hit a residential building in Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region, said the regional governor.
Strikes in the Black Sea port city of Odesa left some neighbourhoods without power.

US pressure

Trump has been stepping up pressure on Kyiv to reach an agreement since revealing a plan to end the war last month that was criticised as echoing Moscow's demands, including Ukraine ceding crucial territory.
The 28-point proposal has triggered a flurry of diplomacy between the United States and Ukraine's European allies, with Kyiv officials recently saying they had sent Washington a revised version.
Full details on the updated plan have not been released.
A White House official confirmed to AFP on Friday that Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff would meet with Zelensky and European leaders over the weekend to discuss the status of peace negotiations.
In his evening address late on Saturday, the Ukrainian leader confirmed that his team "are currently preparing for meetings with the American side and our European friends in the coming days".
"Most importantly, I will have meetings with representatives of President Trump, as well as meetings with our European partners and many leaders on the foundation of peace -- a political agreement to end the war," Zelensky added.

EU membership

Germany's government has said Berlin will host the leaders, including the heads of the European Union and NATO, next Monday in the hours after Zelensky attends a German-Ukrainian business forum with Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The idea of a speedy accession by Ukraine into the European Union -- a move opposed by Moscow -- is included in the latest version of the US-led plan.
Europeans and Ukrainians are also asking the United States to provide them with "security guarantees" before Ukraine negotiates any territorial concessions, France said Friday.
Under the latest US plan, Ukraine would join the EU as early as January 2027, a senior official familiar with the matter told AFP on Friday on condition of anonymity.
The complicated EU accession process usually takes years and requires a unanimous vote from all 27 members of the bloc.
Some countries, notably Hungary, have consistently voiced opposition to Ukraine joining.
Kyiv has long striven for EU membership, but has struggled to eradicate endemic corruption -- a core prerequisite for joining the bloc.

'Long process'

Moscow indicated Friday it was suspicious of efforts to amend the US plan, for which it has signalled support.
"We have an impression that this version... will be worsened," Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told the Kommersant business daily.
"It'll be a long process," he added.
Zelensky said Thursday Washington wanted only Ukraine, not Russia, to withdraw its troops from parts of the eastern Donetsk region, where a demilitarised "free economic zone" would be installed as a buffer between the two armies.
Russia, which has more manpower and weapons, has been grinding forward on the battlefield for months.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a key regional power-broker, said Saturday that "peace is not far away" -- but called for a halt to strikes in the Black Sea, which have rattled the key shipping route in recent weeks.
"The Black Sea should not be seen as an area of confrontation," Erdogan said, according to Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu.
"This would not benefit Russia or Ukraine. Everyone needs safe navigation in the Black Sea," he added.
Ukraine on Saturday accused Russia of striking a Turkish vessel transporting sunflower oil in the Black Sea, a day after a Russian attack triggered a fire on a Turkish-owned ship at a Ukrainian port.
Friday's attack came hours after Erdogan met Putin on the sidelines of a summit in Turkmenistan, where the Turkish leader called for a "limited ceasefire" covering attacks on ports and energy facilities, according to his office.
burs-sbk/jj

politics

Belarus frees protest leader Kolesnikova, Nobel winner Bialiatski

BY TATIANA KALINOVSKAYA AND OLA CICHOWLAS

  • Bialiatski -- a 63-year-old veteran rights defender and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner -- is considered by Lukashenko to be a personal enemy.
  • Belarusian street protest leader Maria Kolesnikova and Nobel Prize winner Ales Bialiatski walked free on Saturday with 121 other political prisoners released in an unprecedented US-brokered deal.
  • Bialiatski -- a 63-year-old veteran rights defender and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner -- is considered by Lukashenko to be a personal enemy.
Belarusian street protest leader Maria Kolesnikova and Nobel Prize winner Ales Bialiatski walked free on Saturday with 121 other political prisoners released in an unprecedented US-brokered deal.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has locked up thousands of his opponents, critics and protesters since the 2020 election, which rights groups said was rigged and which triggered weeks of protests that almost toppled him.
The charismatic Kolesnikova was the star of the 2020 movement that presented the most serious challenge to Lukashenko in his 30-year rule.
She famously ripped up her passport as the KGB tried to deport her from the country.
Bialiatski -- a 63-year-old veteran rights defender and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner -- is considered by Lukashenko to be a personal enemy. He has documented rights abuses in the country, a close ally of Moscow, for decades.
Bialiatski stressed he would carry on fighting for civil rights and freedom for political prisoners after his surprise release, which he called a "huge emotional shock".
"Our fight continues, and the Nobel Prize was, I think, a certain acknowledgement of our activity, our aspirations that have not yet come to fruition," he told media in an interview from Vilnius.
"Therefore the fight continues," he added.
He was awarded the prize in 2022 while already in jail.
After being taken out of prison, he said he was put on a bus and blindfolded until they reached the border with Lithuania.
His wife, Natalia Pinchuk, told AFP that her first words to him on his release were: "I love you."

'All be free'

Most of those freed, including Kolesnikova, were unexpectedly taken to Ukraine, surprising their allies who had been waiting for all of them in Lithuania.
She called for all political prisoners to be released.
"I'm thinking of those who are not yet free, and I'm very much looking forward to the moment when we can all embrace, when we can all see one another, and when we will all be free," she said in a video interview with a Ukrainian government agency.
Hailing Bialiatski's release, the Nobel Committee told AFP there were still more than 1,200 political prisoners inside the country.
"Their continued detention starkly illustrates the ongoing, systemic repression in the country," said chairman Jorgen Watne Frydnes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that five Ukrainians were among those released.
"I spoke with Maria today -- I am glad that these people are finally free," he said in his evening address.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said their release should "strengthen our resolve... to keep fighting for all remaining prisoners behind bars in Belarus because they had the courage to speak truth to power".
Jailed opponents of Lukashenko are often held incommunicado in a prison system notorious for its secrecy and harsh treatment.
There had been fears for the health of both Bialiatski and Kolesnikova while they were behind bars, though in interviews Saturday they both said they felt okay.
The deal was brokered by the United States, which has pushed for prisoners to be freed and offered some sanctions relief in return.

Potash relief

An envoy of US President Donald Trump, John Coale, was in Minsk this week for talks with Lukashenko.
He told reporters from state media that Washington would remove sanctions on the country's potash industry, without providing specific details.
A US official separately told AFP that one American citizen was among the 123 released.
Minsk also freed Viktor Babariko, an ex-banker who tried to run against Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential election but was jailed instead.
Kolesnikova was part of a trio of women, including Svetlana Tikhanovskaya who stood against Lukashenko and now leads the opposition in exile, who headed the 2020 street protests.
She was serving an 11-year sentence in a prison colony.
In 2020, security services had put a sack over her head and drove her to the Ukrainian border. But she ripped up her passport, foiling the deportation plan, and was placed under arrest. 
Former prisoners from the Gomel prison where she was held have told AFP she was barred from talking to other political prisoners and regularly thrown into harsh punishment cells.
An image of Kolesnikova making a heart shape with her hands became a symbol of anti-Lukashenko protests.
bur-oc-jc/sbk/jj

conflict

M23 marches on in east DR Congo as US vows action against Rwanda

  • "Rwanda's actions in eastern DRC are a clear violation of the Washington Accords signed by President Trump, and the United States will take action to ensure promises made to the President are kept," Secretary of State Rubio wrote on X, without elaborating. 
  • The M23 pressed onwards in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday, even as Washington vowed action over its Rwandan backers' violation of a US-brokered peace deal.
  • "Rwanda's actions in eastern DRC are a clear violation of the Washington Accords signed by President Trump, and the United States will take action to ensure promises made to the President are kept," Secretary of State Rubio wrote on X, without elaborating. 
The M23 pressed onwards in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday, even as Washington vowed action over its Rwandan backers' violation of a US-brokered peace deal.
Top US diplomat Marco Rubio said Saturday that Rwanda had clearly breached the agreement it signed with the DRC in Washington last week, the latest attempt to end the grinding three-decade-long conflict upending the mineral-rich Congolese east.
The deal -- hailed by US President Donald Trump as a "miracle" -- was inked on December 4. Just says later, the Rwandan-backed M23 seized the key frontier city of Uvira along the border with Burundi, raising fears of the conflict breaking out into a regional war.
The M23's capture of Uvira -- a city of several hundred thousand people -- allows it to control the land border with Burundi and cut the DRC off from military support from its neighbour.
"Rwanda's actions in eastern DRC are a clear violation of the Washington Accords signed by President Trump, and the United States will take action to ensure promises made to the President are kept," Secretary of State Rubio wrote on X, without elaborating. 
Trump has frequently touted the DRC conflict as one of several wars he helped end since returning to the White House.
But after seizing Uvira on Wednesday, the M23 has continued marching westwards, taking the Itombwe sector's administrative centre of Kipupu without resistance on Saturday after the withdrawal of Burundian troops.
With Uvira lying across Lake Tanganyika from its economic capital Bujumbura, Burundi had long feared the Congolese city's fall to the M23, deploying thousands of troops to help the DRC government fight the armed group.
Their takeover of Uvira was part of an offensive launched at the beginning of December in South Kivu province.
It follows its capture earlier this year of Goma and Bukavu, other major cities in the DRC's resource-rich east.

'Incalculable consequences'

South of Kipupu, the M23 was also locked in clashes on Saturday with local militia loyal to the Congolese government on the plateaus overlooking Fizi and Baraka, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Uvira. 
Both towns now face the prospect of the M23 joining forces with its allies in the Twirwaneho militia as the armed group continues its advance through South Kivu province. 
Several thousand Burundian soldiers were trapped on the plateaus after the M23 took Uvira and were ordered on Wednesday to fall back towards the city of Baraka, according to Burundian military sources. Twirwaneho fighters are harassing the Burundian soldiers as they retreat along the region's poor mountain roads, with no access to ammunition restocks.
The latest armed group's advances came in the wake of stinging criticism on Friday from the US ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz.
He accused Rwanda of "leading the region toward more instability and toward war.
"The Rwandan defence forces have provided materiel, logistics and training support to M23 as well as fighting alongside M23 in DRC with roughly 5,000 to 7,000 troops," not including possible reinforcements during the latest offensive, Waltz told the UN Security Council.
The Rwandan firepower has included surface-to-air missiles, drones and artillery, he added.

'Incalculable consequences'

UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix also warned that the M23's advance "has revived the spectre of a regional conflagration with incalculable consequences", and raised the possibility of the Balkanisation of the vast DRC. 
"Recent developments pose a serious risk of the progressive fragmentation of the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly its eastern part," he said.
Since taking up arms again in 2021, the M23 has seized swathes of territory, leading to a spiralling humanitarian crisis.
More than 200,000 people, most of them civilians, have been displaced by the fighting, according to the United Nations.
Earlier this month, UN experts said Rwanda's army and the M23 had carried out summary executions and forced mass displacements of people in the region.
While denying giving the M23 military support, Rwanda argues it faces an existential threat from the presence across the Congolese border of ethnic Hutu militants with links to the 1994 Rwandan genocide of the Tutsis.
des/sbk/jj

US

US drops bid to preserve FIFA bribery convictions

  • The case was one of several to emerge from a sweeping 2015 corruption probe by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), which ultimately led to the downfall of then-FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
  • The US government has moved to drop its case against a former Fox broadcasting executive involved in the FIFA corruption scandal that plunged the world's footballing body into crisis.
  • The case was one of several to emerge from a sweeping 2015 corruption probe by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), which ultimately led to the downfall of then-FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
The US government has moved to drop its case against a former Fox broadcasting executive involved in the FIFA corruption scandal that plunged the world's footballing body into crisis.
Prosecutors told the Supreme Court on Tuesday they wanted to end their fight to preserve the convictions of Hernan Lopez and Argentine sports marketing firm Full Play. 
Both were found guilty in March 2023 of wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies related to bribes to secure lucrative television rights to international football officials. The convictions were overturned on appeal months later, before being reinstated this July.
The case was one of several to emerge from a sweeping 2015 corruption probe by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), which ultimately led to the downfall of then-FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
In a filing to the Supreme Court, which Lopez had asked to review his conviction, prosecutors said that dismissal of the case is "in the interests of justice," without giving further details. 
They asked the case be returned to a lower court for its formal dismissal.
"I'm grateful the truth prevailed, and I'm also confident more of that truth will come out," Lopez, a US and Argentine citizen, wrote on X late Tuesday.
While there was no indication of Donald Trump's involvement, the US president has issued a string of pardons including for corruption related offenses.
In February, he ordered the DOJ to pause enforcement of a long-established law that prohibits American companies from bribing officials of foreign governments to gain business.
Lopez was facing up to 40 years in prison and millions of dollars in penalties after his conviction for money laundering conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy.
During the trial, a US court heard that the main beneficiaries of the kickback scheme were six of the most powerful men in South American football.
They included former CONMEBOL president Nicolas Leoz, who died in 2019, former Argentine football executive Julio Grondona, who died in 2014, and former Brazilian football chief Ricardo Teixeira.
The United States will host the World Cup alongside Canada and Mexico next year.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has cozied up with Trump ahead of the sporting event, this month awarding him the governing body's inaugural "peace prize."
bjt/iv/des

politics

Hungarian protesters demand Orban quits over abuse cases

  • On Friday, Magyar released a previously unpublished official report from 2021 which found that over a fifth of children in state-run care institutions have been abused.
  • A demonstration in the Hungarian capital Budapest Saturday drew tens of thousands of protesters demanding that Prime Minister Viktor Orban resign due to perceived inaction over allegations of child abuse in state-run institutions. 
  • On Friday, Magyar released a previously unpublished official report from 2021 which found that over a fifth of children in state-run care institutions have been abused.
A demonstration in the Hungarian capital Budapest Saturday drew tens of thousands of protesters demanding that Prime Minister Viktor Orban resign due to perceived inaction over allegations of child abuse in state-run institutions. 
Since returning to power in 2010, the nationalist premier has vowed to prioritise protection of children but multiple high-profile child abuse scandals have rocked his government in recent times. 
Saturday's protest was called by opposition leader Peter Magyar, whose TISZA party is leading opinion polls ahead of parliamentary elections in spring, after fresh allegations surfaced at a juvenile detention centre in the capital. 
"Normally a government would be toppled after a case like this," 16-year-old David Kozak told AFP. 
"For them the problem is not that the abuses happened, but that they were revealed."
At least 50,000 demonstrators hit the streets, some of them brandishing cuddly children's toys, according to AFP journalists. 
Magyar led the crowd, holding a banner that read "Let's protect children".
The latest scandal erupted when CCTV footage emerged showing the then director of the Szolo Street juvenile detention centre kicking a boy in the head. 
Four staff members were taken into custody earlier this week, and the government has placed all such facilities under police supervision.
Three other employees had been arrested earlier, including another former director who is accused of running a prostitution ring.
"We should be outraged at what is being done with the most vulnerable children," said Zsuzsa Szalay, a 73-year-old pensioner taking part in the protest.
On Friday, Magyar released a previously unpublished official report from 2021 which found that over a fifth of children in state-run care institutions have been abused.
The government has insisted that action was being taken against suspected child abuse.
The 2021 report was passed on to the relevant authorities in 2022 "to assist their work," the interior ministry said in a statement.
Orban has condemned the latest abuse case, saying even "young criminals should not be treated this way".
Last year, Katalin Novak was forced to resign as president after it emerged she pardoned a convicted child abuser's accomplice.
That scandal has shaken his tight group on power and helped fuel the rise of Magyar, a former government insider.
ros/sr/gv

climate

Indonesia flood death toll passes 1,000 as authorities ramp up aid

BY SATYA ADHI

  • - Frustration grows - Frustration has been growing among flood victims, who have complained about the pace of relief efforts.
  • Devastating floods and landslides have killed 1,006 people in Indonesia, rescuers said Saturday as the Southeast Asian nation grapples with the huge scale of relief efforts.
  • - Frustration grows - Frustration has been growing among flood victims, who have complained about the pace of relief efforts.
Devastating floods and landslides have killed 1,006 people in Indonesia, rescuers said Saturday as the Southeast Asian nation grapples with the huge scale of relief efforts.
The disaster, which has hit the northwestern island of Sumatra over the past fortnight, has also injured more than 5,400, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said.
The deadly torrential rains are one of the worst recent disasters to strike Sumatra, where a tsunami wreaked havoc in 2004 in the northern tip of the island.
The final toll is expected to rise, with the disaster agency's spokesman Abdul Muhari saying 217 people are still missing and that authorities were ramping up aid to the worst-affected areas. 
With vast tracts of territory destroyed by rain, mud and felled trees, 1.2 million residents have been forced to take refuge in temporary shelters. 
"Most of the houses here are gone, destroyed to the ground," said 50-year-old Sri Lestari, who is living in a tent with her three children in Aceh Tamiang district.
Their home was on the brink of collapse, after being pummelled by tree trunks carried by floodwater.
"Look at our house... how can we fix it?" her 55-year-old husband Tarmiji said.

Frustration grows

Frustration has been growing among flood victims, who have complained about the pace of relief efforts.
President Prabowo Subianto said Saturday the situation has improved, with several areas which had been cut off now accessible.
"Here and there, due to natural and physical conditions, there have been slight delays, but I checked all the evacuation sites: their conditions are good, services for them are adequate, and food supplies are sufficient," Prabowo said after visiting Langkat in North Sumatra province. 
On the main road that passes through Aceh Tamiang, AFP journalists saw a long line of trucks and private cars distributing food, water and other supplies. 
Many of the residents in nearby towns were camping outside in temporary structures, their homes filled with mud.
The disaster management agency's spokesman said more than 11.7 tonnes of aid had been delivered to Sumatra by sea, land and air on Saturday and that authorities were starting construction on temporary shelters for displaced residents. 
Costs to rebuild after the disaster could reach 51.82 trillion rupiah ($3.1 billion) and the Indonesian government has so far shrugged off suggestions that it call for international assistance.
Indonesia's meteorological agency warned that severe weather is expected to continue, particularly heavy rainfall on Sumatra.
bur-ebe/ceg/rsc 

guerrilla

Colombia's ELN guerrillas place communities in lockdown citing Trump 'intervention' threats

  • The ELN, the oldest surviving guerrilla group in the Americas, controls key drug-producing regions of Colombia and vowed Friday to fight for the country's "defense" in the face of Trump's "threats of imperialist intervention."
  • Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group ordered civilians in areas under its control on Friday to stay home for three days as it carries out military exercises in response to "intervention" threats from US President Donald Trump.
  • The ELN, the oldest surviving guerrilla group in the Americas, controls key drug-producing regions of Colombia and vowed Friday to fight for the country's "defense" in the face of Trump's "threats of imperialist intervention."
Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group ordered civilians in areas under its control on Friday to stay home for three days as it carries out military exercises in response to "intervention" threats from US President Donald Trump.
The ELN, the oldest surviving guerrilla group in the Americas, controls key drug-producing regions of Colombia and vowed Friday to fight for the country's "defense" in the face of Trump's "threats of imperialist intervention."
Amid a major US pressure campaign against Venezuela, which many view as an attempt to push out strongman Nicolas Maduro, Trump on Wednesday warned that Colombia's leftist President Gustavo Petro could "be next" over his country's mass cocaine production.
"He's going to have himself some big problems if he doesn't wise up. Colombia is producing a lot of drugs," Trump told reporters, when asked if he expected to speak with frequent foe Petro.
"He better wise up, or he'll be next...I hope he's listening."
The ELN urged civilians in areas it controls to stay indoors for 72 hours starting at 6:00 am on Sunday, avoiding main roads and rivers.
"It is necessary for civilians not to mix with fighters to avoid accidents," the group said in a statement.
Petro criticized the move on social media, saying one "doesn't protest against anyone by killing peasants and taking away their freedom."
"You, gentlemen of the ELN, are declaring an armed strike not against Trump, but in favor of the drug traffickers who control you," he wrote on X.
Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez dismissed the ELN move as "nothing more than criminal coercion" and vowed the military "will be everywhere -- in every mountain, every jungle, every river" to counter its threat.
With a force of about 5,800 combatants, the ELN is present in over a fifth of Colombia's 1,100-plus municipalities, according to the Insight Crime research center.
The ELN has also taken part in failed peace negotiations with Colombia's last five governments.
While claiming to be driven by leftist, nationalist ideology, the ELN is deeply rooted in the drug trade and has become one of the region's most powerful organized crime groups.
It vies for territory and control of lucrative coca plantations and trafficking routes with dissident fighters that refused to lay down arms when the FARC guerrilla army disarmed under a 2016 peace deal.
One ELN stronghold is the Catatumbo region near the Venezuelan border -- one of the areas with the most coca crops in the world.
Colombia is the world's top cocaine producer, according to the UN.

Souring ties

Historically strong relations between Bogota and Washington have deeply soured since Trump's return to office.
Petro, who came to power in 2022 as Colombia's first-ever leftist president, has openly clashed with Trump calling him "rude and ignorant" and comparing him to Adolf Hitler.
The Colombian leader denounced the Trump administration's treatment of migrants and what he has termed the "extrajudicial executions" of nearly 90 people in strikes on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific the US claims, without providing evidence, were ferrying drugs.
Petro has also criticized Washington's military deployment within striking distance of Venezuela, where Maduro fears he is the target of a regime-change plot under the guise of an anti-drug operation.
Washington, in turn, has accused Petro of drug trafficking and imposed sanctions.
Trump removed Bogota from a list of allies in the fight against narco trafficking, but the country has so far escaped harsher punishment.
bur-jgc/ane/des

conflict

Cambodia shuts Thailand border crossings over deadly fighting

  • In October, Trump backed a follow-on joint declaration between Thailand and Cambodia, touting new trade deals after they agreed to prolong their truce.
  • Cambodia shut its border crossings with Thailand on Saturday, after Bangkok denied US President Donald Trump's claim that a truce had been agreed to end days of deadly fighting.
  • In October, Trump backed a follow-on joint declaration between Thailand and Cambodia, touting new trade deals after they agreed to prolong their truce.
Cambodia shut its border crossings with Thailand on Saturday, after Bangkok denied US President Donald Trump's claim that a truce had been agreed to end days of deadly fighting.
Violence between the Southeast Asian neighbours, which stems from a long-running dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of their 800-kilometre (500-mile) border, has displaced around half a million people on both sides.
At least 25 people have died this week, including four Thai soldiers the defence ministry said were killed in the border area on Saturday.
The latest fatalities were followed by Phnom Penh announcing it would immediately "suspend all entry and exit movements at all Cambodia-Thailand border crossings", the interior ministry said. 
Each side blamed the other for reigniting the conflict, before Trump said a truce had been agreed.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said Trump "didn't mention whether we should make a ceasefire" during their Friday phone call.
The two leaders "didn't discuss" the issue, Anutin told journalists on Saturday.
Trump had hailed his "very good conversation" with Anutin and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Friday.
"They have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord" agreed in July, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The United States, China and Malaysia, as chair of the regional bloc ASEAN, brokered a ceasefire in July after an initial five-day spate of violence.
In October, Trump backed a follow-on joint declaration between Thailand and Cambodia, touting new trade deals after they agreed to prolong their truce.
But Thailand suspended the agreement the following month after Thai soldiers were wounded by landmines at the border.
In Thailand, evacuee Kanyapat Saopria said she doesn't "trust Cambodia anymore".
"The last round of peace efforts didn't work out... I don't know if this one will either," the 39-year-old told AFP.
Across the border, a Cambodian evacuee said she was "sad" the fighting hadn't stopped despite Trump's intervention.
"I am not happy with brutal acts," said Vy Rina, 43.

Trading blame over civilians

Bangkok and Phnom Penh have traded accusations of attacks against civilians, with the Thai army reporting six wounded on Saturday by Cambodian rockets.
Cambodia's information minister, Neth Pheaktra, meanwhile said Thai forces had "expanded their attacks to include civilian infrastructure and Cambodian civilians".
A Thai navy spokesman said the air force "successfully destroyed" two Cambodian bridges used to transport weapons to the conflict zone.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Saturday urged both sides to "cease all forms of hostilities and refrain from any further military actions".
Thailand has reported 14 soldiers killed and seven civilian deaths, while Cambodia said four civilians were killed earlier this week.
At a camp in Thailand's Buriram, AFP journalists saw displaced residents calling relatives near the border who reported that fighting was ongoing.
Thailand's prime minister has vowed to "continue to perform military actions until we feel no more harm and threats to our land and people". 
After the call with Trump, Anutin said "the one who violated the agreement needs to fix (the situation)". 
Cambodia's Hun Manet, meanwhile, said his country "has always been adhering to peaceful means for dispute resolutions". 
burs-sjc/rsc

India

Fans vandalise India stadium after Messi's abrupt exit

BY SAILENDRA SIL

  • Messi walked around the pitch waving to fans and left the stadium earlier than expected.
  • Angry spectators broke down barricades and stormed the pitch at a stadium in India after football star Lionel Messi, who is on a three-day tour of the country, abruptly left the arena.
  • Messi walked around the pitch waving to fans and left the stadium earlier than expected.
Angry spectators broke down barricades and stormed the pitch at a stadium in India after football star Lionel Messi, who is on a three-day tour of the country, abruptly left the arena.
As a part of a so-called GOAT Tour, the 38-year-old Argentina and Inter Miami superstar touched down in the eastern state of West Bengal early Saturday, greeted by a chorus of exuberant fans chanting his name. 
Hours later, thousands of fans wearing Messi jerseys and waving the Argentine flag packed into Salt Lake stadium in the state capital Kolkata, but heavy security around the footballer left fans struggling to catch a glimpse of him.
Messi walked around the pitch waving to fans and left the stadium earlier than expected.
Frustrated fans, many having paid more than $100 for tickets, ripped out stadium seats and hurled water bottles onto the track.  
Many others stormed the pitch and vandalised banners and tents.
"For me, to watch Messi is a pleasure, a dream. But I have missed the chance to have a glimpse because of the mismanagement in the stadium," businessman Nabin Chatterjee, 37, told AFP. 
Before the chaos erupted, Messi unveiled a 21-metre (70-foot) statue which shows him holding aloft the World Cup. 
He was also expected to play a short exhibition game at the stadium. 
Another angry fan told the Press Trust of India (PTI) that people had spent "a month's salary" to see Messi.
"I paid Rs 5,000 ($55) for the ticket and came with my son to watch Messi, not politicians. The police and military personnel were taking selfies, and the management is to blame," Ajay Shah, told PTI.  
Javed Shamim, a senior police official in the state, told reporters that the event's "chief organiser" had been arrested, without giving any further details. 
"There is total normalcy," he said, adding that authorities would look into how organisers could refund money to those who bought tickets. 
State chief minister Mamata Banerjee said she was "disturbed" and "shocked" at the mismanagement. 
"I sincerely apologise to Lionel Messi, as well as to all sports lovers and his fans, for the unfortunate incident," she said in a post on X, adding that she had ordered a probe into the incident. 
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) said it was not involved in the "organisation, planning, or execution" of the "private event". 
"Furthermore, the details of the event were neither communicated to the AIFF, nor was any clearance sought from the Federation," a statement said.  
Messi will now head to Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi as part of the four-city tour. 
His time in India also includes a possible meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 
Messi won his second consecutive Major League Soccer Most Valuable Player award this week after propelling Inter Miami to the MLS title and leading the league in goals.
The former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain attacker will spearhead Argentina's defence of the World Cup in June-July in North America.
str-fk-ash/fox/ceg

Global Edition

Myanmar junta denies killing civilians in hospital strike

  • The separatist force said in a statement that 33 people were killed and 76 wounded in the strike.
  • Myanmar's military junta denied on Saturday killing civilians in a hospital air strike that left more than 30 people dead.
  • The separatist force said in a statement that 33 people were killed and 76 wounded in the strike.
Myanmar's military junta denied on Saturday killing civilians in a hospital air strike that left more than 30 people dead.
A military jet bombed late Wednesday the general hospital of Mrauk-U in western Rakhine state, bordering Bangladesh, two aid workers said.
"Those killed or injured were not civilians, but terrorists and their supporters," said an article in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar (GNLM).
The ruling junta has increased air strikes year-on-year since the start of the country's civil war, conflict monitors say, after seizing power in a 2021 coup ending a decade-long experiment with democracy.
The United Nations on Thursday demanded an investigation, saying the attack could constitute a war crime.
Health workers and patients were killed, and "hospital infrastructure was severely damaged, with operating rooms and the main inpatient ward completely destroyed," said World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on X.
Rakhine state is controlled almost in its entirety by the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic minority separatist force active long before the military toppled the civilian government of democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The separatist force said in a statement that 33 people were killed and 76 wounded in the strike.
People's Defence Forces (PDF) have also risen up to oppose the military coup four years ago.
The junta "carried out necessary security measures and launched a Counter-Terrorism Operation on 10 December against the buildings being used as a base by AA and PDF terrorists," GNLM said.
bur-sjc/fox

markets

Why SpaceX IPO plan is generating so much buzz

BY CHARLOTTE CAUSIT

  • - SpaceX is owned by Elon Musk alongside several investment funds.
  • More than 20 years after founding SpaceX, the record-breaking company that transformed the global space industry, Elon Musk is planning to take the enterprise public.
  • - SpaceX is owned by Elon Musk alongside several investment funds.
More than 20 years after founding SpaceX, the record-breaking company that transformed the global space industry, Elon Musk is planning to take the enterprise public.
Here is a look at what is expected to be the largest IPO in history.

What's at stake?

SpaceX is owned by Elon Musk alongside several investment funds. Tech giant Alphabet, Google's parent company, is also among the space company's shareholders.
A public listing would open SpaceX to a broader and more diverse pool of investors, including individual buyers, while giving existing shareholders an easier path to cash out and realize substantial capital gains.
"This is a capital intensive business," Matthew Kennedy of Renaissance Capital investment management firm told AFP. 
"SpaceX has never had any difficulty raising funds in the private market, but public markets are undoubtedly larger. Liquidity is important as well, it can help with making acquisitions."
According to Bloomberg and the financial data platform PitchBook, the IPO could raise more than $30 billion, an unprecedented sum for a deal of this kind and far more than the $10 billion the company has raised since its inception.
This would bring its total valuation to $1.5 trillion.

Why so much money?

The IPO comes amid a boom in the space industry.
Worth $630 billion in 2023, the sector is expected to triple in size by 2035, according to the consulting firm McKinsey and the World Economic Forum.
And SpaceX, which dominates the space launch market with its reusable rockets and owns the largest satellite constellation through Starlink, has a unique appeal.
It's "kind of a black swan event and unique so that we can't draw too many parallels across the whole space economy," Clayton Swope of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) told AFP.
Its unique status is also tied to its CEO Musk, the world's richest person, who is also the CEO of Tesla and xAI. 
Musk has already pushed Tesla's valuation far beyond that of Toyota and Volkswagen despite selling five to six times fewer vehicles.

Why now?

This is the question on everyone's mind, as the billionaire had long dismissed such a possibility. Since its founding in 2002, SpaceX has held a special place for the billionaire, given his ambition to colonize Mars.
This goal reflects the company's priorities, which include developing Starship, the largest rocket ever built for missions to the Moon and Mars, as well as plans to build space-based data centers for artificial intelligence (AI).
A stock market listing could provide new liquidity that would support all of these projects.
"The answer is pretty straightforward," said Swope. "He wants to accelerate the flywheel for his vision of humanity on Mars."

What next?

The influx of capital from an IPO will come at a price: going public will require SpaceX and Elon Musk to maintain greater transparency, particularly about its revenues, and could increase pressure to deliver profits.
"I speculate that would ground SpaceX somewhat in the near term," said Mason Peck, an astronautical engineering professor at Cornell University.
The company's risk-taking approach of experimenting with unproven technologies and frequent prototype launches to learn from mistakes could be constrained by the expectations of new shareholders.
"Will they become the same as any other aerospace company and ultimately mired in conservatism and legacy solutions?" Peck said. "That's entirely possible. I hope it doesn't happen."
Swope, however, sees such a scenario as unlikely.
"I think they are willing to take that risk and willing to let Elon Musk and SpaceX have this vision, because that is integral to what makes SpaceX also a successful business," he said.
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