politics

Hillary Clinton quizzed on Epstein, calls for Trump to testify

conflict

Zelensky says next Russia meeting soon as Geneva talks end

BY NICO GARCIA WITH DARIA ANDRIIEVSKA IN KYIV

  • "As a result of today's meetings, there is already more readiness for the next trilateral format," said Zelensky, adding that the meeting would "most likely" take place in Abu Dhabi in early March. 
  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that he expected the next round of talks to end the war with Russia in early March in Abu Dhabi, after his officials concluded a meeting with US envoys in Geneva.
  • "As a result of today's meetings, there is already more readiness for the next trilateral format," said Zelensky, adding that the meeting would "most likely" take place in Abu Dhabi in early March. 
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that he expected the next round of talks to end the war with Russia in early March in Abu Dhabi, after his officials concluded a meeting with US envoys in Geneva.
Previous rounds of US-led negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Geneva and Abu Dhabi have failed to yield a compromise, including on the key sticking point of territory.
"As a result of today's meetings, there is already more readiness for the next trilateral format," said Zelensky, adding that the meeting would "most likely" take place in Abu Dhabi in early March. 
"We need to finalise everything that has been achieved in terms of real security guarantees and prepare for a meeting at the leadership level," he said in a regular evening address after the Geneva talks ended. 
"This format can solve a lot," Zelensky added, referring to a potential meeting with his arch-foe, Russian President Vladimir Putin. 
Kyiv has long said that the only way to break the deadlock is a meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian leaders, who last faced each other in 2019.
Ukrainian top negotiator Rustem Umerov, who sat with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in the luxurious Hotel des Bergues for about six hours, said that the talks had paid special attention to Ukraine's postwar reconstruction. 
"We worked out a document on the restoration of Ukraine in detail" with the Americans, said Umerov after the meeting.
The sides "agreed positions that will form the basis for further agreements", he added.  
Russian economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev was present at the heavily guarded talks venue in Geneva on Thursday, though there was no indication he met with the Ukrainian side, according to Russian state media. 
Vice Chairman of US investment fund BlackRock Philipp Hildebrand was also seen at the premises of the Hotel des Bergues, according to an AFP photographer.
Russia, which has signalled it will not budge on its demands for full control of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, said Thursday it was too early to forecast when a deal would take place.
"Have you heard anything from us about deadlines? We have no deadlines, we have tasks. We are getting them done," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told state media.

Drone, missile attacks

Hours before the meeting, Russian forces launched some 420 drones and 39 missiles at Ukraine, wounding more than two dozen people in at least six different regions, according to authorities.
AFP journalists heard several explosions in central Kyiv shortly after authorities warned Russia had launched its attack.
The strikes hit an electricity substation in the southern Odesa region, as well as a school building in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, according to officials.
"Destruction has been recorded in eight regions, with many private homes and apartment buildings damaged," Zelensky said.
Also ahead of the meeting, Russia announced that it had returned the bodies of 1,000 killed Ukrainian soldiers to Ukraine, while Moscow received 35 Russian bodies in exchange.
The two sides regularly exchange the remains of killed servicemen, one of the few areas of cooperation between the warring countries.
Zelensky spoke with Trump on Wednesday ahead of the talks, with US envoys Witkoff and Kushner part of the 30-minute call.
Talks between Moscow and Kyiv remain deadlocked over the fate of the Donbas -- the industrial region in eastern Ukraine that has been the epicentre of the fighting.
Russia is pushing for full control of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, and has threatened to take it by force if Kyiv does not cave at the negotiating table.
But Ukraine has rejected the demand and signalled it would not sign a deal without security guarantees that deter Russia from invading again.
bur-cad-asy/cc

politics

Hillary Clinton quizzed on Epstein, calls for Trump to testify

BY RAPHAëLLE PELTIER WITH GREGORY WALTON IN NEW YORK

  • The Republican-led House Oversight Committee is probing those who were linked to Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial.
  • Hillary Clinton used her forced appearance Thursday before a Republican-led panel probing Jeffrey Epstein to go on the offensive and demand President Donald Trump testify about his own links to the sex offender.
  • The Republican-led House Oversight Committee is probing those who were linked to Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial.
Hillary Clinton used her forced appearance Thursday before a Republican-led panel probing Jeffrey Epstein to go on the offensive and demand President Donald Trump testify about his own links to the sex offender.
Clinton told the congressional committee she had no information about Epstein's crimes, never recalled encountering him, and had never visited his island or flown on his plane, accusing the panel of trying to "protect one public official" -- Trump.
James Comer, who chairs the committee that will also grill former president Bill Clinton on Friday, said "the purpose of the whole investigation is to try to understand many things about Epstein" -- the deceased convicted sex offender.
Clinton challenged the panel saying "if this committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein's trafficking crimes...it would ask (Trump) directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files."
The top Democrat on the committee, Robert Garcia, also called on Trump to testify "to answer the questions that are being asked across this country from survivors."
"That should happen immediately," he said later.
Democratic committee member Suhas Subramanyam said that "missing FBI files" omitted from the Epstein documents disclosures contain "serious accusations around sexual abuse" against Trump.
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee is probing those who were linked to Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial.
The Clintons had initially rejected subpoenas ordering them to testify in the panel's probe, but the Democratic power couple agreed to do so after House Republicans threatened to hold them in contempt of Congress.
Hillary Clinton said in her opening statement to the panel that it "justified its subpoena to me based on its assumption that I have information regarding the investigations into the criminal activities of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell." 
"Let me be as clear as I can. I do not."

Epstein's network

The hearing was dramatically paused for a brief time after a photo of Clinton in the deposition was posted online -- an apparent breach of the closed-door arrangement.
"What is not acceptable is oversight Republicans breaking their own committee rules... by releasing photos," Subramanyam said.
Democrats say the investigation is being weaponized to attack political opponents of Trump rather than to conduct legitimate oversight.
Trump and Bill Clinton, both 79, feature prominently in the recently released trove of government documents related to Epstein, but said they broke any ties with the financier before his 2008 conviction in Florida as a sex offender.
Mere mention in the files is not proof of having committed a crime.
The Clintons called for their depositions to be public but the committee insisted on questioning them behind closed doors, a move Bill Clinton denounced as akin to a "kangaroo court."
The depositions are being held in Chappaqua, New York, where the Clintons reside.
Dozens of journalists have converged on the wealthy hamlet and the Secret Service erected metal barricades around the arts center where the deposition is happening.
One elderly couple picketed with a sign demanding Comer depose Trump.
Local shopper Bernie Hunt, 74, said "Congress is investigating, they have the right to do so."
Jim Levine, 34, who lives nearby to Chappaqua said "what a privilege" that the Clintons were deposed near their home. "Lock her up, that's what I say."
Bill Clinton has acknowledged flying on Epstein's plane several times in the early 2000s for Clinton Foundation-related humanitarian work, but said he never visited Epstein's private Caribbean island.
Epstein's accomplice Maxwell, 64, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking.
She appeared via video-link before the House Oversight Committee earlier this month but refused to answer questions, invoking her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself.
Epstein cultivated a network of powerful business executives, politicians, celebrities and academics. 
The release of the Epstein case files has had repercussions around the globe, including the arrests in Britain of former prince Andrew and Peter Mandelson, the ex-ambassador to the United States.
pel-cl-gw/bgs

politics

Man shot by Cuban coast guard wanted to spark uprising: ally

BY GERARD MARTINEZ

  • "I had warned him that it was not the time to take such action for the freedom of Cuba, that he had to wait," the head of the Florida-based opposition political organization told AFP by telephone. 
  • A US-based man identified by Cuba as one of those killed by its coast guard in a shootout had often spoken of wanting to liberate the communist island, a political ally told AFP on Thursday.
  • "I had warned him that it was not the time to take such action for the freedom of Cuba, that he had to wait," the head of the Florida-based opposition political organization told AFP by telephone. 
A US-based man identified by Cuba as one of those killed by its coast guard in a shootout had often spoken of wanting to liberate the communist island, a political ally told AFP on Thursday.
Cuba has vowed to defend itself against "terrorist and mercenary" attacks after reporting it had killed four gunmen in a Florida-registered boat near its shores -- an incident that added to deepening tensions between Havana and Washington.
Michel Ortega Casanova was identified by Cuba as one of four people killed on Wednesday, with Havana saying all on board were Cubans living in the United States.
"His goal was to go and fight against a criminal and murderous narco-tyrannical (government), to see if that would spark the people to rise up," said Wilfredo Beyra, head of the Cuban Republican Party in Tampa.
"I had warned him that it was not the time to take such action for the freedom of Cuba, that he had to wait," the head of the Florida-based opposition political organization told AFP by telephone. 
Beyra, who had known Ortega Casanova for four or five years, said he last spoke to him about 10 days ago.
Ortega Casanova, reported to be a 54-year-old truck driver, had told him several times about his intentions.
"In Florida, several groups openly declare that they are willing, through military training, to fight for the freedom of their homeland. And Michel was part of one of those groups," he said. 
Ortega Casanova had spoken of taking action "at any moment," Beyra said.

Trump pressures Cuba

Beyra said he also knew one of the men identified by Havana as being wounded, Leordan Enrique Cruz Gomez, whom he met at a political event in Miami last year.
They had stayed in touch via calls and text messages, Beyra said, with the last of those exchanged less than two weeks ago.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel denounced Wednesday's incident as an attempted "infiltration," while his government said assault rifles, handguns, Molotov cocktails and other military-style gear were seized.
President Donald Trump has branded Cuba a "failed nation" and an "extraordinary threat" to US national security, though he has so far dismissed mounting a regime change operation.
He cut off key supplies of Venezuelan oil to Cuba after ousting Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro in January.
Cuba, under a US trade embargo since 1962, has for years battled shortages of fuel, medicine and food, even before the Caribbean country of 9.6 million people lost its main oil supplier.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States had nothing to do with Wednesday's incident just off Cuba's north coast and would "respond accordingly" after investigating it.
gma-bgs/aha

crime

Will the fight to succeed 'El Mencho' spark a new wave of Mexico violence?

BY LETICIA PINEDA

  • Elite Mexican soldiers supported by US intelligence agencies killed Oseguera on Sunday in Tapalpa, in the western state of Jalisco, where he was wounded while trying to flee.
  • The killing of the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) by Mexican authorities on Sunday sparked widespread violence, with gang members opening fire on soldiers and setting up burning roadblocks in various parts of the country.
  • Elite Mexican soldiers supported by US intelligence agencies killed Oseguera on Sunday in Tapalpa, in the western state of Jalisco, where he was wounded while trying to flee.
The killing of the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) by Mexican authorities on Sunday sparked widespread violence, with gang members opening fire on soldiers and setting up burning roadblocks in various parts of the country.
The killing of Nemesio Oseguera, also known as "El Mencho," constituted a victory for the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Experts now warn that the true challenge is whether she can contain the inevitable fighting as the CJNG enters into a war over control of one of Mexico's largest criminal groups. 
Elite Mexican soldiers supported by US intelligence agencies killed Oseguera on Sunday in Tapalpa, in the western state of Jalisco, where he was wounded while trying to flee. He died while en route to the hospital.
Experts say the cartel's response -- gunbattles, highway blockades, and the burning of cars, businesses, and banks in 20 out of Mexico's 32 states -- was not just revenge for the death of their leader. 
It was a show of force.

What can the cartel do?

The cartel will have to fill the void left by "El Mencho," who managed the organization of more than 30,000 members with a vertical command structure and an iron fist, according to academic experts. 
For Raul Benitez Manaut, a national security expert, the question is whether there will be an agreed-upon transition of power between the second-tier hierarchy of the cartel, or whether Sunday's violence will unleash a far larger internal war. 
If the criminal organization carries out more choreographed acts like they did on Sunday, they will put the Mexican government and security forces in "far more awkward situations."

Who will succeed 'El Mencho'?

Oseguera's power within the CJNG was so established that many believe he could have named his successor to ensure the cohesion of the cartel. 
In 2025, the US Treasury Department said that Julio Alberto Castillo Rodriguez, the son-in-law of "El Mencho," was "considered a possible successor to Oseguera."
Working through the industrial Pacific coast port of Manzanillo, Castillo has facilitated the entrance of precursor chemicals the cartel uses to produce fentanyl and other illicit drugs that are trafficked to the United States, the Treasury Department said at the time in a communique. 

Can the government contain the violence?

The organization's violent response to the killing of its leader provoked widespread terror among the Mexican population. 
"It was about sending a message to the Mexican government and rival cartels, saying 'we're still powerful, we're still strong,'" Mike Vigil, a former DEA agent, said.
They are warning that the killing of "El Mencho" will not weaken them, threatening their enemies to keep them from taking over their drug trafficking routes and territories, he added. 
The government has been "taking precautions" by deploying thousands of soldiers to Jalisco and other states, according to the ex-DEA agent, who believes the Mexican military has the situation under control. 
Manaut, the national security expert, suggested that the military should uproot the gangs from the Pacific coast, much of which is controlled by the CJNG, as well as the country's "central plateau," where they use two strategic highways that are key for both legal and illegal trade in western and northern Mexico. 
The operation that ended the life of "El Mencho" was "a triumph for the military and the president, in the short term. But if they don't control the consequences, it can all backfire on them," Manaut warned.
lp/acc/jpo/aha

trade

Argentina, Uruguay ratify EU-South America trade deal

  • Uruguayan Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin hailed his country's ratification on Thursday as "a signal" to Europe, which the South Americans have accused of foot-dragging.
  • Argentina on Thursday became the second South American country to ratify a massive trade deal with the European Union that has generated enthusiasm from Brasilia to Buenos Aires but sparked protests and legal challenges in Europe.
  • Uruguayan Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin hailed his country's ratification on Thursday as "a signal" to Europe, which the South Americans have accused of foot-dragging.
Argentina on Thursday became the second South American country to ratify a massive trade deal with the European Union that has generated enthusiasm from Brasilia to Buenos Aires but sparked protests and legal challenges in Europe.
Argentine senators voted 69-3 in favor of the agreement to create one of the world's biggest free trade zones, sealing its adoption days after it passed the lower house.
Hours earlier, neighboring Uruguay was first out of the blocks to ratify the deal, which has been fiercely opposed by farmers in some EU countries.
It still requires approval from lawmakers in the European Parliament, which referred it to the EU's top court within days of being inked in January.
The deal between the EU and the four founding members of the Mercosur bloc -- Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay -- was a quarter century in the making.
It eliminates tariffs on more than 90 percent of trade between the two blocs, which together account for 30 percent of global GDP and more than 700 million consumers.
The South Americans have moved to quickly enshrine it in their legislation, in an apparent bid to pressure Brussels to follow suit.
In Brazil, the lower house of parliament backed it by a large majority on Wednesday. 
Paraguay has also moved to ratify it.
The accord, which was energetically promoted by EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as well as the leaders of Germany and Spain, aims to boost EU exports of vehicles, machinery and wines and spirits.
In return, South American producers of meat, sugar, rice, honey and soybeans gain easier access to one of the world's largest economies.
Brussels can decide to implement it provisionally while waiting for an EU court ruling on its legality, but has not yet taken a decision on doing so.
South American countries in the meantime are ploughing ahead.
Uruguayan Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin hailed his country's ratification on Thursday as "a signal" to Europe, which the South Americans have accused of foot-dragging.
Argentine Senator Francisco Paoltroni hailed the accord as representing "the path to the definitive development of our republic."
Some EU nations hope the pact that could help boost exports at a time of global trade tensions.
France, however, unsuccessfully tried to block the deal over concerns for its farmers, who fear being undercut by cheaper goods from Brazil and its neighbors.
The European Commission reacted to those concerns by adopting a series of safeguards for its producers.
gfe/mar/cb/bgs

Global Edition

Danish PM calls March 24 election amid US, Russia tensions

BY CAMILLE BAS-WOHLERT

  • "Whether I will continue to be your prime minister depends on how strong a mandate you give the Social Democrats in the parliamentary election to be held on March 24, 2026," she added.
  • Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Thursday called a general election for March 24, against a backdrop of tensions with the United States and Russia.
  • "Whether I will continue to be your prime minister depends on how strong a mandate you give the Social Democrats in the parliamentary election to be held on March 24, 2026," she added.
Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Thursday called a general election for March 24, against a backdrop of tensions with the United States and Russia.
The vote comes as Denmark's relationship with the United States -- which Copenhagen considers its closest ally -- has been strained over US President Donald Trump's desire to acquire Greenland.
"Dear Danes, today I have asked His Majesty the King to call an election for the Folketing," Denmark's parliament, Frederiksen told the house.
"Whether I will continue to be your prime minister depends on how strong a mandate you give the Social Democrats in the parliamentary election to be held on March 24, 2026," she added.
Under the Danish system, Frederiksen had to call an election within four years of the last vote on November 1, 2022.
Frederiksen presented the outlines of her election platform, which included a reform of the retirement age, the introduction of a wealth tax and maintaining a strict migration policy.
Championing an extremely tough line, the far-right Danish People's Party wants to focus on deportations and the fight against inflation.
Morten Messerschmidt, the Danish People's Party leader, said that "the prime minister, obviously, is not interested in which policies she's going to conduct."
"She's only interested in becoming prime minister again," he told AFP.
Frederiksen stressed that Denmark must continue to rearm and help protect Europe against Russia, as the continent grapples with new geopolitical realities since Trump's return to the White House. 

Unrest

"Security policy is and will remain the very foundation of Danish politics for many, many years to come," Frederiksen said.
Copenhagen is among Ukraine's strongest military and civilian backers.
The Nordic country would need to face "threats from the west and the risk of terror from the south", Frederiksen said.
"We must stand united in Europe," she insisted. Over the next four years, Denmark will also have to "stand on our own feet", she declared, adding that relations with Washington would have to be redefined.
Denmark and Greenland are holding talks with the United States about the future of Greenland, an autonomous Arctic territory which Trump has argued is crucial for US "national security".
Earlier threats he made to seize the island, by force if necessary, have ebbed since he struck a "framework" deal with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to ensure greater US influence.
Copenhagen has nevertheless insisted that only Greenland and Denmark can make decisions on the island's fate. 
NATO has since launched a mission, dubbed Arctic Sentry, to strengthen its presence in the Arctic.
"Even though there is now an election campaign in Denmark, the world out there is not waiting for us. Its unrest continues unabated and, as everyone knows, for example the dispute over Greenland is not over yet," Frederiksen said.

Greenland boost

Frederiksen, who hails from a long-standing Social Democratic family, became Denmark's youngest-ever head of government when she elected in 2019 at the age of 41. 
The daughter of a typesetter and a childcare assistant, she won re-election in 2022 by forming a coalition government with centre-right parties.
The diplomatic tensions over Greenland, have boosted Frederiksen's popularity.
"I think it's typical of her to make it that quick when the surveys, which have been out for some time now, are going in her direction," IT consultant Jacob Sorensen told AFP as he had not been suprised by the announcement.
But the 33-year-old said the prime minister's party would not get his vote, noting that "she's no good for Denmark".
The Social Democrats suffered setbacks in European and local elections last year.
The party lost nearly half of the municipalities under its control, including the capital, Copenhagen, ending more than a century of Social Democrat rule.
Retiree Glenn Lulloff told AFP he was done with the Social Democrats.
"Before, I was a red guy. But today, I'm sure I will go to the blue bloc," he told AFP, referring to the country's right-wing parties. 
According to a poll published last week by broadcaster TV2, 21 percent of voters intended to vote for the Social Democrats.
While the party would remain Denmark's largest, that would represent a 6.5-percent drop on its 2022 election haul.
bur-jll/tw

diplomacy

Carney on route to Asia to promote Canada trade as US ties falter

BY BEN SIMON

  • The prime minister has said he wants to more than double two-way trade with India by 2030, eyeing a target of Can$70 billion ($51 billion) by 2030.
  • Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was flying to Asia on Thursday for a three-country tour with a first stop in India, where he hopes to double trade to offset the damage of his country's fracturing relations with the United States.
  • The prime minister has said he wants to more than double two-way trade with India by 2030, eyeing a target of Can$70 billion ($51 billion) by 2030.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was flying to Asia on Thursday for a three-country tour with a first stop in India, where he hopes to double trade to offset the damage of his country's fracturing relations with the United States.
Carney's India visit marks the latest effort to reset bilateral ties that effectively collapsed after Ottawa accused New Delhi of orchestrating a deadly campaign against Sikh activists on Canadian territory.
For Carney, the trip that includes stops in Australia and Japan is part of a broad effort to pivot the Canadian economy away from excessive reliance on its southern neighbor.
In 2024, before US President Donald Trump returned to office and upended global trade through a flurry of tariffs, more than 75 percent of Canadian exports went to the United States. Two-way trade that year exceeded $900 billion.
So far Trump broadly adhered to the North American free trade agreement he signed during his first term and about 85 percent of US-Canada trade remains tariff-free. 
But at the same time, he also imposed painful industry-specific tariffs and there are fears that if he scraps the broader trade deal, the Canadian economy will be hit hard.
Carney has made boosting commerce with Europe and Asia cornerstones of his strategy to backstop Canada's economy, should free trade with Washington collapse.
University of Toronto public policy expert Drew Fagan said Carney was wise to pursue other markets, calling for a strategy that seeks to do "more elsewhere, when there's an opportunity."
The prime minister has said he wants to more than double two-way trade with India by 2030, eyeing a target of Can$70 billion ($51 billion) by 2030.
Fagan cautioned that progress with countries like India cannot mitigate the damage of a US rupture.
"It's not a solution. It's not a replacement and it never will be," Fagan told AFP.

Transnational repression

Carney left Ottawa on Thursday morning en route to Mumbai. 
He is expected to meet with business groups in the Indian city over the weekend before heading to New Delhi for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a meeting that will be closely watched. 
Before Carney took office last year, Ottawa accused Modi's government of direct involvement in the 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a naturalized Canadian citizen who advocated for an independent Sikh state called Khalistan.
Former prime minister Justin Trudeau's government further charged India with directing a campaign of intimidation against Sikh activists across Canada.
India has denied those allegations.
Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand was asked Monday if Canadian concerns about transnational repression would feature at the New Delhi talks.
"Yes, that is always at the forefront of our minds," Anand told reporters in Ottawa.
Carney's hopes for trade growth with Australia and Japan are more modest, but his office said cooperation over critical mineral supply chains will be a priority.
Advanced economies have made a push to deepen critical mineral cooperation, especially in the processing of rare earth elements essential to power many high-tech products.
China currently has dominant control of rare earth supply chains, a concern that Canada highlighted throughout its just-concluded G7 presidency.
bs/aha/md

justice

Iranian in possible France prisoner swap jailed for a year

BY CELIA LEBUR

  • Iran has suggested Esfandiari could be exchanged for French nationals Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who are still waiting to leave Iran.
  • A French court on Thursday sentenced Iranian national Mahdieh Esfandiari to one year in prison for justifying terrorism in a case linked to a possible prisoner swap with two French citizens held in Iran.
  • Iran has suggested Esfandiari could be exchanged for French nationals Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who are still waiting to leave Iran.
A French court on Thursday sentenced Iranian national Mahdieh Esfandiari to one year in prison for justifying terrorism in a case linked to a possible prisoner swap with two French citizens held in Iran.
The court also handed Esfandiari, 39, was also handed a permanent ban from French territory.
Her lawyer said she would be appealing her conviction. In the meantime she walked free from court.
Iran has suggested Esfandiari could be exchanged for French nationals Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who are still waiting to leave Iran.
She was arrested in France last year over comments she made on social media, including on Palestinian militant group Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Esfandiari was sentenced to four years, of which three are suspended, the judge said, citing "the nature of the acts and their seriousness".
"The court also issues a permanent ban from the national territory," the judge added. 
The court ordered Esfandiari be placed on the list of individuals convicted of terrorism. Four men were also convicted in the case.
"There has been talk from the outset of this so-called 'exchange' which must take place between our compatriots and Mme Esfandiari," said her lawyer Nabil Boudi.
"If the court has handed down such a severe sentence on the basis of diplomatic considerations, the court has committed an error," he added. "We will appeal." 
- 'We take note' - 
The outcome of the legal process is eagerly awaited by relatives of Kohler and Paris as tensions rage over Iran's nuclear programme, with the United States threatening military action.
"We take note of this court decision and the appeal, but I have no comment to make on the consequences of the judgment," French foreign ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux told reporters.
Arrested in Iran in May 2022, Kohler and Paris were freed in November after more than three years in prison on espionage charges their families vehemently deny.
They were taken by French diplomats to France's mission in Tehran, where they live now.
"They are well. They are safe," Confavreux told AFP on Wednesday.
When asked whether Esfandiari intended to remain in France for the duration of the appeal proceedings, which could have consequences for the exchange, her lawyer said: "We'll see, I don't have an answer."
Esfandiari was released after some eight months in pre-trial detention in October, and her trial began in January. 
The prosecutor had requested a four-year jail term, including three years suspended, for Esfandiari, but said it would not be necessary for her to be reincarcerated.
The Iranian authorities have expressed their wish to exchange Esfandiari for the two French citizens once the legal proceedings in France have finished.
The French government has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of a potential exchange deal.
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.
Esfandiari has condoned Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
"It's not an act of terrorism, it's an act of resistance," she has said.
In November, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a potential exchange between Tehran and Paris "had been negotiated".
"Everything is ready," he added.
cl-Dt-as/jj

prisoners

Chaos as jihadist relatives left Syrian camp, witnesses say

BY BAKR ALKASEM

  • As soon as the Kurdish forces left, "it was utter chaos," Salah Mahmud al-Hafez, who lives in the nearby Al-Hol village, told AFP.  "The SDF withdrew, and the locals and tribesmen came," he said.
  • There were scenes of "utter chaos" when thousands of women and children related to suspected Islamic State jihadists escaped a camp in Syria last month following the sudden withdrawal of Kurdish forces, witnesses have told AFP. An AFP journalist who entered the huge Al-Hol camp on Wednesday found it virtually deserted after the Syrian government decided to evacuate the site.
  • As soon as the Kurdish forces left, "it was utter chaos," Salah Mahmud al-Hafez, who lives in the nearby Al-Hol village, told AFP.  "The SDF withdrew, and the locals and tribesmen came," he said.
There were scenes of "utter chaos" when thousands of women and children related to suspected Islamic State jihadists escaped a camp in Syria last month following the sudden withdrawal of Kurdish forces, witnesses have told AFP.
An AFP journalist who entered the huge Al-Hol camp on Wednesday found it virtually deserted after the Syrian government decided to evacuate the site.
Until recently, it housed 23,500 people and was the largest camp for relatives of suspected IS jihadists in northeastern Syria.
Since the territorial defeat of IS, it had been under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
However the SDF swiftly left the camp on January 20, under pressure from Syrian troops which were seizing swathes of the country's north months after their ouster of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.
Syrian security forces say they took over control six hours later.
Thousands of family members of suspected jihadists left for parts unknown.
As soon as the Kurdish forces left, "it was utter chaos," Salah Mahmud al-Hafez, who lives in the nearby Al-Hol village, told AFP. 
"The SDF withdrew, and the locals and tribesmen came," he said.
"Cars loaded people and drove off," Hafez said, adding that the camp "remained without security control for three hours."

Toys, food left behind

The camp held mostly women and children, the majority of them Syrian or Iraqi. 
However a high-security annex housed more than 6,000 foreigners of around 40 nationalities.
Access to the camp remains prohibited and checkpoints have been set up on the road leading to it, according to the AFP journalist at the scene.
The paths of the empty camp are now strewn with rubbish bags, and white tents stretch as far as the eye can see.
Children's toys and tricycles have been abandoned in the foreigners' annex.
Clothes, notebooks and even food were left behind, signs of a hasty departure.
Last week, Syrian authorities evacuated the remaining families at the camp after determining that the conditions at Al-Hol -- particularly security -- were inadequate.
Syria's interior ministry confirmed on Wednesday there were mass escapes from the camp, accusing the Kurdish SDF of withdrawing "suddenly, without coordination and without informing" them.
The SDF responded by saying their withdrawal was "a direct result of the military attack... targeting the camp and its surroundings by forces affiliated with Damascus".
The SDF also said the families escaped after Syrian troops took control of the camp.
Local resident Hafez said that "when the state took over, it gave the people the choice to stay or leave."
Morhaf Al-Olayan, a 43-year-old farmer who lives next to the camp, said that after the Kurdish forces departed, "cars came, loaded the families, and left".
The father of five said he saw men "wearing camouflage military uniforms" among those transporting the families.
Farhan Abbas, an 86-year-old who lives near the camp, said that "people fled... in all directions".
The detained family members had not been charged with any crime, but many had embraced the idea of living in the Islamic State's self-declared caliphate.

Women and children at risk

The foreigners' annex held a large number of people from around the world, including Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
While the whereabouts of those who left the camp remain unknown, teachers in the former rebel stronghold of Idlib in northwestern Syria told AFP that several children from Uzbekistan have enrolled in their schools since late January.
In a report earlier this week, Human Rights Watch said that most of Al-Hol's residents "left in a largely unplanned and chaotic manner".
"The way these departures have unfolded has exposed women and children to serious risks, including trafficking, exploitation, and recruitment by armed groups," the report warned.
Kurdish forces still control the smaller Roj camp in Syria's northeast, where more relatives of suspected foreign jihadists including Westerners are detained.
The Kurds had repeatedly urged countries to take back their citizens but few did, fearing security threats and a domestic political backlash.
"For years, many governments claimed that difficulties negotiating with a non-state actor in charge of the camps was why they couldn't repatriate their citizens, but now that excuse won't hold," Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in the report.
For the jihadists themselves, the United States military has transferred more than 5,700 IS suspects from Syrian prisons to Iraq.
str-lk/nad/dl/ser

court

No proven link between Duterte speeches and drug deaths, defence tells ICC

BY RICHARD CARTER

  • A lawyer representing the victims told the ICC on Tuesday that the court was the "last refuge" for loved ones in their search for justice.
  • There is no proven link between the "uniquely colourful and crusty" speeches of former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte and the murders he is accused of, his defence lawyer told the International Criminal Court on Thursday.
  • A lawyer representing the victims told the ICC on Tuesday that the court was the "last refuge" for loved ones in their search for justice.
There is no proven link between the "uniquely colourful and crusty" speeches of former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte and the murders he is accused of, his defence lawyer told the International Criminal Court on Thursday.
On the third day of a hearing to decide whether Duterte should face trial on crimes against humanity charges over his "war on drugs", lawyer Nicholas Kaufman said the prosecution had failed to show his client had directly ordered any murders.
"There is no smoking gun in this case," Kaufman told the three-judge panel at the ICC.
"Not one witness relevant to any of the 49 incidents with which Mr. Rodrigo Duterte is charged will testify that he received a direct order from the former president to go out and kill someone."
Duterte has not attended proceedings, waiving his right to appear. Kaufman says the 80-year-old is not mentally fit to follow the hearing.
The lack of evidence of a "causal nexus" between Duterte's words and alleged crimes "should be sufficient to convince any reasonable bystander... that Rodrigo Duterte is innocent of these charges levelled at him", said Kaufman.
Earlier in the week, the prosecution laid out their case: that Duterte played a "pivotal" role in a campaign of extrajudicial killings that saw thousands murdered.
Duterte personally drew up death lists, incited murders and then boasted about them afterwards, prosecutors alleged.
They showed multiple videos of the former president threatening to murder alleged drug users and joking about his skills in extrajudicial killing.
But Kaufman said the prosecution had "cherry picked" speeches, ignoring what he said were dozens of examples of Duterte stressing the need to act within the law.
"Do not kill if you are not in danger of losing your life," Kaufman cited Duterte as saying in one speech.

'Hearsay'

Kaufman also attacked the credibility of the witnesses the prosecution relied upon for its charges against Duterte -- sometimes the direct killers themselves.
The prosecution witnesses are "inherently unreliable because (they are) self-confessed vicious murderers testifying in return for virtual immunity from proceedings at the ICC", said Kaufman.
He said there was "something morally repugnant or even questionable from a public policy standpoint to shield not only one but a number of murderers from prosecution at the ICC just in an attempt to nail Rodrigo Duterte".
The defence lawyer also alleged that the statements of the witnesses contradicted each other in many key aspects.
He dismissed statements from prosecution witnesses as "assumption layered upon hearsay" and urged the judging panel to give them "negligible evidentiary weight".
Following the week-long "confirmation of charges" hearing, the three-judge panel has 60 days to decide whether to proceed to a full trial.
A lawyer representing the victims told the ICC on Tuesday that the court was the "last refuge" for loved ones in their search for justice.
Kaufman stressed: "The defence does not disrespect the soul of any deceased person, nor does it make light of the loss of life."
ric/jxb

trial

Athens court convicts four over Greece spyware saga

BY MARINA RAFENBERG

  • Mitsotakis later weathered a motion of no confidence in parliament over the case. 
  • A Greek court convicted four people Thursday over a long-running wiretapping scandal that rocked the government in 2022, prompting resignations and a vote of no confidence in parliament.
  • Mitsotakis later weathered a motion of no confidence in parliament over the case. 
A Greek court convicted four people Thursday over a long-running wiretapping scandal that rocked the government in 2022, prompting resignations and a vote of no confidence in parliament.
The Athens court convicted the four, who include two Israelis, to eight years in prison. They remain free pending an appeal trial.
In an affair local media dubbed the "Greek Watergate", the men used Predator software to tap the phones of more 90 politicians, journalists, business leaders and senior military officials between 2020 and 2022.
The defendants include Tal Dilian, a former Israeli soldier and founder of Intellexa, a company specialising in the supply of spyware, which marketed the Predator software in Greece. 
His partner as well as two former Greek executives of the company, were also convicted. 
The defendants, who were not present in court, were convicted of "breaching the confidentiality of telephone communications", said the judge.
They were also found guilty of "tampering with a personal-data filing system ... on a repeated basis," as well as of "illegal access to an information system or data," he added.
Predator is sophisticated software that makes it possible to infiltrate mobile phones, access messages and photos, and even remotely activate the microphone and camera.

"A good day for democracy"

The affair broke in early 2022 when a Greek investigative journalist, Thanassis Koukakis, discovered he had been wiretapped by the intelligence services (EYP) and that his phone had also been infected with the Predator spyware. 
Koukakis on Thursday said he was "extremely satisfied" with the ruling, which he termed "fair."
"It was a good day for democracy and the rule of law in Greece," he told AFP outside the courthouse, adding that the verdict "opened the way" for additional prosecutions of suspects in the same case.
"Half of the cabinet and high ranking generals were under surveillance by the national security agency and Predator spyware," said Koukakis.
He insisted there was a "link" between the Greek intelligence agency and the Predator operation, which the government has always denied.
According to the Greek Authority for Communication Security and Privacy watchdog (ADAE), it was used against more than 90 people.
The scandal forced the resignation of senior officials in Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis's administration.
The affair snowballed into a political scandal in July 2022, when the soon-to-be leader of the socialist Pasok-Kinal party, Nikos Androulakis, revealed that his mobile phone had also been tapped.
At the time, Androulakis was a member of the European Parliament.
The socialist leader on Thursday said the wiretaps "not only blatantly violated human rights and the rule of law, but also jeopardised the country’s security (as) the leadership of the armed forces was shamelessly placed under surveillance, allowing unknown third parties to possess this material."

A 'cover-up'

The ruling now enables prosecutors to examine possible espionage charges, Androulakis said in a statement. 
He criticised government ministers who had been spied upon, yet chose to stay silent.
"Even though they had a political and institutional duty to be plaintiffs, witnesses... they preferred to remain silent and became complicit in the cover-up," Androulakis said.
The scandal led to the resignation of one of the prime minister's closest aides, his nephew Grigoris Dimitriadis. 
The head of the EYP intelligence service also stepped down. 
Mitsotakis later weathered a motion of no confidence in parliament over the case. 
In July 2024, the Supreme Court cleared the intelligence services and political officials of wrongdoing, angering victims and human rights groups.
Paris-based media rights campaigners Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has described this case as "a fresh blow to media freedom" in Greece.
The Supreme Court questioned only two proven victims of Predator, and the prosecutor did not request access to the bank accounts of the company that marketed the software. 
The Greek employees who, in December 2021, hurriedly moved the servers out of their office were not questioned either.
"One may wonder whether the case was really investigated or whether everything was done to bury it," Androulakis's lawyer, Christos Kaklamanis, told the court.
The socialist leader has filed an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
mr-yap/jph/jj

film

Filmmakers defend Berlin festival chief in Gaza row

  • German tabloid Bild had reported that Tricia Tuttle was due to be dismissed at an emergency meeting on Thursday, citing sources close to state-owned KBB, the company that runs the festival.
  • Actors and filmmakers rushed to defend the head of the Berlin film festival Thursday following a media report that her job was on the line over a director's anti-Israel speech at the event.
  • German tabloid Bild had reported that Tricia Tuttle was due to be dismissed at an emergency meeting on Thursday, citing sources close to state-owned KBB, the company that runs the festival.
Actors and filmmakers rushed to defend the head of the Berlin film festival Thursday following a media report that her job was on the line over a director's anti-Israel speech at the event.
Syrian-Palestinian filmmaker Abdallah Al-Khatib kicked off a controversy during Saturday's closing ceremony by accusing Germany of being complicit in genocide in Gaza through its support for Israel.
German tabloid Bild had reported that Tricia Tuttle was due to be dismissed at an emergency meeting on Thursday, citing sources close to state-owned KBB, the company that runs the festival.
Culture minister Wolfram Weimer's office confirmed the meeting had taken place but made no mention of Tuttle being sacked, stating that discussions had been "constructive and open" and would "continue in the coming days".
A group of cinema luminaries including Tilda Swinton, Todd Haynes, Sean Baker and Tom Tykwer signed an open letter defending the Berlinale as a forum for free expression.
"As filmmakers in Germany and beyond, we are following the debates surrounding the Berlinale and the discussion about the dismissal of Tricia Tuttle with great concern," they wrote. "We defend the Berlinale for what it is: a place of exchange."
Angry rows over the Israel-Palestinian conflict have repeatedly rocked the Berlinale, held every February as Europe's first major film festival of the year.
Environment Minister Carsten Schneider walked out of Saturday's closing ceremony, labelling Khatib's remarks "unacceptable".
Germany, as it has sought to atone for the horrors of the Holocaust, has been a steadfast supporter of Israel, and criticism of Israel's conduct in Gaza has been more muted than in many other countries.
Conservative lawmaker Ellen Demuth was among those who condemned the "antisemitic incident" at the awards ceremony and urged "a fresh start at the top of the film festival".
The Berlinale Team in an Instagram post meanwhile defended Tuttle, praising her "clarity, integrity and artistic vision".
The writers' association PEN Berlin said Khatib's comments were protected by freedom of expression and that if Tuttle were to be sacked over them, it would cause "immense damage" to the festival.
"Such wanton destruction of the German cultural scene, such self-inflicted insularity, must not be allowed to happen," it said.
The backdrop of the Middle East conflict led to a tense 76th edition of the festival from the start. 
More than 80 film professionals criticised the Berlinale's "silence" on the Gaza war in an open letter, accusing the festival of censoring artists "who reject the genocide" they believe Israel has committed in Gaza.
Award-winning Indian writer Arundhati Roy withdrew from the festival after the jury president, German director Wim Wenders, said cinema should "stay out of politics" when asked about Gaza.
fec/fz/jxb

politics

Hong Kong mogul Jimmy Lai wins appeal in fraud case

BY HOLMES CHAN

  • Lai's two-decade penalty was by far the harshest under Hong Kong's national security law, which Beijing imposed in 2020 after huge pro-democracy protests in the former British colony.
  • Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai won an appeal on Thursday over a 2022 fraud conviction, days after a court jailed him on separate national security charges.
  • Lai's two-decade penalty was by far the harshest under Hong Kong's national security law, which Beijing imposed in 2020 after huge pro-democracy protests in the former British colony.
Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai won an appeal on Thursday over a 2022 fraud conviction, days after a court jailed him on separate national security charges.
The ruling was a surprise win for Lai, the 78-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, who was sentenced to 20 years behind bars this month on collusion charges under a Beijing-imposed national security law.
The fraud case grew out of a contractual dispute and was unrelated to the charges he faced under the security law.
Lai did not appear in court and remains behind bars.
"(We) allow the appeals, quash the convictions and set aside the sentences," High Court Chief Judge Jeremy Poon said, adding that he granted Lai's application not to show up in court.
The Department of Justice will study the ruling "thoroughly in order to consider lodging an appeal", a government spokesperson said.
In 2022, Lai received a jail sentence of five years and nine months over what the trial judge called a "planned, organised and years-long" scheme.
It remains unclear how Thursday's outcome affects Lai's overall prison stint.
The tycoon received 20 years in his national security case, with two of those years designed to overlap with his fraud case sentence -- which has now been quashed.
Lai's two-decade penalty was by far the harshest under Hong Kong's national security law, which Beijing imposed in 2020 after huge pro-democracy protests in the former British colony.
Critics, including the United States, Britain, the European Union and advocacy groups, said that the lengthy jail term would be "effectively a death sentence" for Lai.
The mogul has been behind bars since 2020 and spent much of that time in solitary confinement, which authorities said was arranged at his own request to avoid harassment.
His supporters, children, lawyers and rights groups have all raised concerns about his deteriorating health in prison, although authorities maintain he receives "adequate" care.

'Unsupportable'

In the fraud case, prosecutors said at trial that a consultancy firm Lai operated for his personal use had taken up office space that Apple Daily had rented for the purposes of publication and printing.
This was in breach of the terms of the lease Apple Daily signed with a government company and amounted to fraud, prosecutors said.
In addition to his jail term, Lai was fined HK$2 million ($256,000) and banned from managing companies for eight years.
But the appeal judges ruled on Thursday that "the prosecution has failed to prove that the applicants had made the false representation as alleged", adding that the trial judge's reasoning was "unsupportable".
The Hong Kong government spokesperson on Thursday insisted that "the objective fact remains that (Lai) has exploited public resources for private use" even if that fell short of fraud.
Former Apple Daily executive Wong Wai-keung was also convicted in the same case and has already finished serving a 21-month prison term.
Wong's conviction and sentence were also quashed on Thursday.
hol/fox

diplomacy

Merz says Germany, China must overcome trade gaps 'together'

BY MARTIN TRAUTH WITH MARY YANG IN BEIJING

  • However, there are also some challenges that we must overcome together," Merz said Thursday, singling out "issues relating to competition" and "high capacity in China".
  • German Chancellor Friedrich Merz ended his two-day visit to China on Thursday in the tech hub of Hangzhou, identifying "challenges that we must overcome together" after meeting President Xi Jinping and announcing an Airbus deal.
  • However, there are also some challenges that we must overcome together," Merz said Thursday, singling out "issues relating to competition" and "high capacity in China".
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz ended his two-day visit to China on Thursday in the tech hub of Hangzhou, identifying "challenges that we must overcome together" after meeting President Xi Jinping and announcing an Airbus deal.
Merz's first official visit to China came as Berlin and Beijing seek to build on decades-old economic ties to weather global uncertainty sparked by US President Donald Trump's tariff blitz and erratic foreign policies.
China, the world's number two economy, overtook the United States last year to become Germany's biggest trade partner. At the same time, Berlin regards the Communist Party-run state as a systemic rival to the West.
The German leader was accompanied in China by a large delegation of business leaders, including executives of auto giants Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes.
Merz visited a Mercedes plant in Beijing on Thursday morning, where he was shown a demonstration of self-driving vehicles.
He then travelled to Hangzhou, where he visited the sites of Germany's Siemens Energy and Chinese humanoid robot-maker Unitree.
The eastern city is home to several other major Chinese tech companies like AI unicorn DeepSeek and e-commerce giant Alibaba.
European business leaders, who broadly complain China is flooding the EU market with cheap goods, have urged Merz to keep a cavernous trade imbalance at the top of his agenda.
Germany's trade deficit with China hit a record 89 billion euros ($105 billion) last year.
"We have good cooperation in China. However, there are also some challenges that we must overcome together," Merz said Thursday, singling out "issues relating to competition" and "high capacity in China".
Merz said consultations between his government and Beijing -- interrupted by political developments in Berlin and the pandemic -- would take place "at the beginning of next year at the latest, possibly even this year", with China as host.

'New levels'

Following talks with Xi and top Chinese leaders in the capital on Wednesday, Merz said that China had agreed to purchase up to 120 Airbus aircraft, adding that it "demonstrates how worthwhile such trips can be".
Other contracts were in the pipeline, Merz added.
The two leaders stressed their commitment to developing closer strategic relations, with Xi telling Merz he was willing to take relations to "new levels".
Merz said he had also touched on the sensitive topic of Taiwan, the self-ruled island China claims as its territory and which it has not ruled out the use of force to annex.
Any "reunification" must be done peacefully, Merz said.
He also discussed the Ukraine war with Xi, who, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, said diplomacy was "key to the issue".
Merz said he urged Beijing to use its influence over Moscow, such as choking off the supply of items with potential military uses.
"I hope that in my talks I was able to foster a little understanding for the fact that the leadership of this country should also contribute to ending the war in Ukraine," Merz told reporters on Thursday before departing for Berlin.
Merz was the latest in a string of Western leaders to court Beijing recently.
He follows Britain's Keir Starmer, France's Emmanuel Macron and Canada's Mark Carney, as they recoil from the mercurial policies of Trump, who is also expected to visit from March 31.
bur-mya/lga

film

S.Korea's Park Chan-wook to head Cannes festival jury

  • The appointment, which organisers called "a first for Korean cinema", came as South Korean culture enjoys global recognition, with Park's films hailed alongside Bong Joon-ho's 2019 Palme d'Or and Oscar best picture winning film "Parasite", the hugely popular television series "Squid Game" and "KPop Demon Hunters" as well as K-pop groups BTS and Blackpink.
  • South Korean filmmaker Park Chan‑wook, the first from his country to head the Cannes film festival jury, will preside over the 79th edition in May, organisers announced Thursday.
  • The appointment, which organisers called "a first for Korean cinema", came as South Korean culture enjoys global recognition, with Park's films hailed alongside Bong Joon-ho's 2019 Palme d'Or and Oscar best picture winning film "Parasite", the hugely popular television series "Squid Game" and "KPop Demon Hunters" as well as K-pop groups BTS and Blackpink.
South Korean filmmaker Park Chan‑wook, the first from his country to head the Cannes film festival jury, will preside over the 79th edition in May, organisers announced Thursday.
A statement named the director behind "Oldboy" (2003) as president of the body that will award the 2026 Palme d'Or.
Last year the award went to Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi's "It Was Just an Accident."
The appointment, which organisers called "a first for Korean cinema", came as South Korean culture enjoys global recognition, with Park's films hailed alongside Bong Joon-ho's 2019 Palme d'Or and Oscar best picture winning film "Parasite", the hugely popular television series "Squid Game" and "KPop Demon Hunters" as well as K-pop groups BTS and Blackpink.
"In this age of hatred and division, I believe that the simple act of coming together in a movie theatre to watch a film at the same time... makes it possible to create a moving, universal sense of solidarity," the statement quoted Park, 62, as saying.
The festival praised his genre-blending cinema as "narrative, stylistic (and) moral".
Park has long been credited for inspiring a generation of filmmakers behind the "Korean noir" genre -- movies about bloody crimes, brutal revenge or the criminal underworld, presented with sumptuous cinematography, including Bong.
The director with a strong appetite for vengeance and redemption -- whose violent or erotic films are not afraid to shock -- won a best director award at Cannes four years ago for "Decision to Leave", a romantic thriller.

Lover of literature

Park achieved international stature with "Oldboy", which won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2004.
Based on a cult manga, the second instalment of a dark trilogy about revenge tackled social inequalities -- a hallmark of Korean cinema.
His latest work, "No Other Choice" (2025), is adapted from Donald Westlake's 1997 novel "The Ax" and follows an unemployed man who decides to kill his potential competitors to land a job.
It starred South Korea's top actors -- "Squid Game" star Lee Byung-hun and "Crash Landing on You" actress Son Ye-jin -- in the lead.
The film touched on contemporary anxieties over artificial intelligence, Park has said, reflecting its broader theme of the job market, including the cinema industry.
"Films can be seen as something that do not necessarily provide any great practical help in life -— they might be just two hours of entertainment," Park said at the Busan International Film Festival last year.
"And yet... I pour everything I have into this work, staking my entire life on it."
Having studied philosophy at Sogang University in Seoul, the soft-spoken filmmaker is also known as a great lover of literature, especially Emile Zola and Philip Roth. 
His 2009 vampire film "Thirst" was an adaptation of Zola's "Therese Raquin," and his lesbian romance "The Handmaiden" (2016) is based on the novel "Fingersmith" by the British author Sarah Waters. 
Park has also worked extensively in television, notably the English-language mini-series "The Little Drummer Girl", adapted from John Le Carre's novel, and last year's HBO series "The Sympathizer" about a North Vietnamese spy.
bur-cdl/sft/abs

law

'Public lynching': Senegal cracks down on LGBTQ+ community

BY ELéONORE SENS

  • The LGBTQ+ community has been "traumatised", the human rights defender said. 
  • From a rise in arrests to online attacks, Senegal has been under an intensified crackdown on same-sex relations in recent weeks, prompting outcry from human rights groups and driving some in the LGBTQ+ community to consider exile. 
  • The LGBTQ+ community has been "traumatised", the human rights defender said. 
From a rise in arrests to online attacks, Senegal has been under an intensified crackdown on same-sex relations in recent weeks, prompting outcry from human rights groups and driving some in the LGBTQ+ community to consider exile. 
Amplifying the repression, Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko on Tuesday unveiled legislation that would double the maximum penalty for same-sex relations, making them punishable by up to 10 years in prison. 
Homosexuality has long been a hot-button issue in the Muslim majority and deeply religious West African nation. 
But in early February, a dozen men were arrested, including two local celebrities, accused of "acts against nature" -- a term used to describe same-sex relations. 
That spurred a wave of arrests, at least 30 people according to local press, based on accusations and phone searches reported almost daily -- and the names of those detained have been made public. 
"Even in Senegal, this is unprecedented. What they are doing is public lynching," a human rights defender told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Some of those detained have faced accusations of deliberately transmitting HIV, fuelling further fierce debate about same-sex relations. 
The highly publicised arrests -- spawning headlines like "Big homo clean-up" and "Bisexuals, walking dangers" -- prompted Senegal's media ethics regulator CORED to call for respect for human dignity and individuals' privacy. 
On social media, it has also stirred up already charged language and videos -- which AFP could not verify -- showing people being assaulted over suspicion of their sexual orientation are circulating. 
The LGBTQ+ community has been "traumatised", the human rights defender said. 
"People are hiding -- they are going into seclusion much more than before."

'Dramatic situation'

It is within this context that Sonko's draft bill was developed. 
In addition to doubling prison terms for those found guilty of same-sex relations, it would also punish those who advocate for LGBTQ+ people with prison sentences of three to seven years. 
Making good on a longstanding promise by the ruling party, the repression of same-sex relations is politically advantageous in a country where it is widely regarded as deviant. 
For years, influential religious groups have called for its "criminalisation". 
The climate of regular discrimination has become unbearable for the LGBTQ+ community in the country, activists contacted by AFP said. 
"We are still helping people get to Gambia", the neighbouring country, the rights activist said, denouncing the "dramatic situation". 
The scale of departures is difficult to quantify given their secretive nature, but the association STOP Homophobia said it received 18 requests for help to leave Senegal in recent days. 
The Paris-based group regularly supports Senegalese victims of discrimination and has noted an increase in requests for assistance. 
"Some mention violence, threats and expulsion from their families. All are afraid of being arrested and many fear for privacy violations," said Terrence Khatchadourian, STOP's secretary general. 
"Using details related to HIV status as evidence has serious consequences for public health by discouraging testing and access to care," he added. 

Defending 'norms'

Few groups have denounced the situation in Senegal, where defending the rights of same-sex relations is viewed as a Western value incompatible with local ones.
The new president of Senegal's human rights league, Denis Ndour, said he supports harsher penalties and describes individuals practicing same-sex relations as "sick", in a recent interview with the Senegalese newspaper L'Observateur. 
"Externalising homosexuality cannot be accepted" out of respect to local "norms", he said. 
"Whatever a country's cultural or religious stance, protection from violence and humiliation is a universal principle," said Marame Kane, a French-Senegalese expert in advocacy on LGBTQ+ and feminist issues.
Since 2021, Senegal has no longer been considered a safe country by France's Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons due to risks linked to sexual orientation. 
Boubacar, using a pseudonym for his protection, said he was forced to flee Senegal five months ago when his family discovered his sexual orientation and threw him out of their home. 
Some of his friends are now also trying to leave the country, he told AFP. 
As for those who do not have the means, "the only thing they can do is see death coming and wait".
els/mrb/lp/giv/rh

politics

Hong Kong sentences father of wanted activist to 8 months in jail

  • Kwok Yin-sang attempted in 2025 to withdraw a balance of around US$11,000 by terminating an insurance policy he bought for his daughter when she was an infant.
  • A Hong Kong court sentenced the father of a wanted activist to eight months in prison Thursday under a national security law, after he attempted to terminate his daughter's insurance policy and withdraw funds.
  • Kwok Yin-sang attempted in 2025 to withdraw a balance of around US$11,000 by terminating an insurance policy he bought for his daughter when she was an infant.
A Hong Kong court sentenced the father of a wanted activist to eight months in prison Thursday under a national security law, after he attempted to terminate his daughter's insurance policy and withdraw funds.
Kwok Yin-sang, 69, is the father of Anna Kwok, an overseas pro-democracy advocate with a HK$1 million ($128,000) bounty on her by the city's authorities since 2023.
Hong Kong later made it a crime under its homegrown national security law, passed in 2024, for anyone to deal with the funds or other financial assets of fugitives.
The elder Kwok became the first person to be convicted of this type of offence earlier this month in a case rights groups called an "alarming act of collective punishment".
Acting Principal Magistrate Cheng Lim-chi said on Thursday Kwok Yin-sang did not directly engage in acts endangering national security, but the nature of his actions was still serious. 
Cheng denied his conviction amounted to the collective punishment of wanted activists' families, or that Kwok Yin-sang had been targeted because he was a relative.
Kwok Yin-sang attempted in 2025 to withdraw a balance of around US$11,000 by terminating an insurance policy he bought for his daughter when she was an infant.
Anna Kwok wrote in a social media post on Thursday that she had never exercised any control over the insurance, adding the case was "guilt by blood" and "transnational repression".
"To sentence my 69-year-old father under the pretext that his actions lowered the 'likelihood' of my return to stand trial is not justice; it is a judicial farce," she said.
Hong Kong's once-vibrant political opposition and civil society have been all but quashed since Beijing imposed a national security law on the city in 2020, a year after huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests.
The city later imposed its own additional law in 2024. 
Hong Kong authorities have vowed to pursue overseas activists accused of endangering national security and have issued bounties on 34 people so far, an action decried by critics as transnational repression.
A total of 386 people had been arrested for various national security crimes as of the start of this month, with 176 of them convicted.
twa/reb/fox

courts

Thai runner-up party seeks criminal case against election officials

BY THANAPORN PROMYAMYAI

  • Bhumjaithai won 170 constituencies, the most of any party, while People's Party -- which had been polling first ahead of the election -- came in second, with 88 constituencies, the commission said.
  • A Thai political party that came second in this month's vote filed a criminal complaint Thursday against the nation's election commissioners, accusing them of violating election laws, the party's deputy told AFP. The reformist People's Party "submitted a case" to a criminal court against seven election commissioners, the Election Commission's secretary-general and another election official, deputy party leader Wayo Assawarungruang said.
  • Bhumjaithai won 170 constituencies, the most of any party, while People's Party -- which had been polling first ahead of the election -- came in second, with 88 constituencies, the commission said.
A Thai political party that came second in this month's vote filed a criminal complaint Thursday against the nation's election commissioners, accusing them of violating election laws, the party's deputy told AFP.
The reformist People's Party "submitted a case" to a criminal court against seven election commissioners, the Election Commission's secretary-general and another election official, deputy party leader Wayo Assawarungruang said.
"Two charges involve wrongful exercise of duties, and the last charge we claimed was about marking ballots with QR codes and barcodes which allow the votes to be traced and not kept secret as it should be," Wayo said.
The Election Commission confirmed the victory of caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul's conservative Bhumjaithai party on Wednesday, ratifying most of the vote results.
Bhumjaithai won 170 constituencies, the most of any party, while People's Party -- which had been polling first ahead of the election -- came in second, with 88 constituencies, the commission said.
Some citizens and experts raised concerns after election day that QR codes and barcodes found on ballots could be used to identify individual voters.
But the commission said the markings were to ensure electoral security and prevent the use of fake ballots.
The Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases said it will decide whether to hear the case by March 24, according to Wayo.
If the court takes up the case, the nine face a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and the loss of their political rights for a decade.

Old partners

With no party winning an outright majority in the election, Bhumjaithai and third-place Pheu Thai, the populist party of jailed former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, have agreed to form a coalition.
The progressive People's Party has said it will be in the opposition.
The pro-military and pro-monarchy Bhumjaithai had its best electoral performance ever, riding a wave of nationalism following two rounds of deadly border clashes with Cambodia last year.
Pheu Thai, Thailand's most successful party of the 21st century, meanwhile, had its worst election result ever.
The two parties were previously coalition partners until Anutin pulled out in June following a leaked phone conversation of his predecessor, Pheu Thai's Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
In addition to the long-standing border conflict with its neighbour, Thailand's next administration will need to tackle anaemic economic growth, with its vital tourism industry yet to rebound to pre-Covid highs.
The new government will also need to manage fallout over multibillion-dollar cyberscam networks operating from the region.
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US

North Korea's Kim shuns South but could 'get along' with US

BY CLAIRE LEE

  • If Washington "respects our country's current (nuclear) status... and withdraws its hostile policy... there is no reason why we cannot get along well with the United States," Kim said, according to the Korean Central News Agency. 
  • Kim Jong Un said North Korea could "get along" with Washington if it accepted Pyongyang's nuclear status, state media said Thursday, but has dashed any hopes of mended ties with "deceptive" neighbour Seoul. 
  • If Washington "respects our country's current (nuclear) status... and withdraws its hostile policy... there is no reason why we cannot get along well with the United States," Kim said, according to the Korean Central News Agency. 
Kim Jong Un said North Korea could "get along" with Washington if it accepted Pyongyang's nuclear status, state media said Thursday, but has dashed any hopes of mended ties with "deceptive" neighbour Seoul. 
Washington and Seoul have mounted a renewed push for high-level talks with reclusive North Korea, eyeing a potential summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in China later this year.
Having largely ignored these overtures for months, Kim finally staked his position as thousands gathered in Pyongyang for a rare congress of the ruling Workers' Party. 
If Washington "respects our country's current (nuclear) status... and withdraws its hostile policy... there is no reason why we cannot get along well with the United States," Kim said, according to the Korean Central News Agency. 
The United States has for decades led efforts to dismantle North Korea's nuclear programme -- but summits, sanctions and diplomatic pressure have had little impact.
The last summit between Kim and Trump in 2019 unravelled as the leaders argued over sanctions relief and what nuclear concessions North Korea might make in return. 
Trump is slated to travel to China -- North Korea's longtime ally -- in late March through early April. 
Speculation is mounting he may seek to meet with Kim on the sidelines of this trip.
A Trump-Kim meeting would be a major breakthrough after years of deadlocked diplomacy. 
Trump stepped up his courtship of Kim during a tour of Asia last year, saying he was "100 percent" open to a meeting. 
He even bucked long-held US policy by conceding that North Korea was already "sort of a nuclear power". 
North Korea's economy has for years languished under heavy Western sanctions that aim to choke off funding for its nuclear weapons programme.

'Leave us alone'

Held just once every five years, the Workers' Party congress offers a rare glimpse into the workings of a nation where even mundane details are shrouded in secrecy. 
Speaking as the days-long political spectacle drew to a close, Kim took a far more combative tone on South Korea. 
Seoul's recent efforts to lower the temperature with North Korea were a "clumsy deceptive farce and a poor work", Kim said. 
North Korea has "absolutely no business dealing with South Korea, its most hostile entity, and will permanently exclude South Korea from the category of compatriots", Kim said.  
"As long as South Korea cannot escape the geopolitical conditions of having a border with us, the only way to live safely is to give up everything related to us and leave us alone." 
In response, Seoul vowed to keep working for peaceful coexistence. 
"To achieve this, the two Koreas must refrain from hostile and confrontational words and actions and build a foundation of mutual respect and trust," the government said in a statement. 
North Korea's latest announcements reflect the view that "South Korea's continued insistence on North Korea's denuclearisation -- directed at the US and the international community -- fundamentally infringes on Pyongyang's national interests," said Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
Kim's remarks "signal an intention to pursue relations with the US independently, without going through South Korea," Yang Moo-jin, former president of the University of North Korean Studies, told AFP.  
He was also making clear that he will "reject any negotiations premised on denuclearisation", Yang added.  
The congress ended as thousands of soldiers marched through Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square in a grand military parade. 
Kim and his daughter Ju Ae donned matching leather jackets as they watched the procession, fuelling speculation the teenager is being groomed for power. 
"What we're seeing looks like deliberate image politics -- projecting her as a potential inheritor of her father’s authority," said Kyungnam University professor Lim Eul-chul. 
Pyongyang said a range of military units took part in the event, including troops who aided Russia's war effort in Ukraine and those stationed near the inter-Korean border.
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women

Australian PM sorry after saying sexual assault survivor 'difficult'

BY DAVID WILLIAMS

  • "I was asked to describe people in one word and Grace Tame, you certainly can't describe in one word," the prime minister told reporters Thursday.
  • Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese apologised for any "misinterpretation" Thursday after describing a sexual assault survivor who became an advocate for women as "difficult".
  • "I was asked to describe people in one word and Grace Tame, you certainly can't describe in one word," the prime minister told reporters Thursday.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese apologised for any "misinterpretation" Thursday after describing a sexual assault survivor who became an advocate for women as "difficult".
The Australian leader's comments were condemned, however, by the outspoken activist Grace Tame who labelled them a "patronising cop out from a total coward".
The prime minister was asked at a forum the previous day to give one-word reactions to various personalities.
He replied "grub" when asked about Britain's disgraced former prince Andrew, and "winner" at the mention of Melbourne-born Formula One driver Oscar Piastri.
When the host named Tame, who was the 2021 Australian of the Year, Albanese said: "difficult".
"I was asked to describe people in one word and Grace Tame, you certainly can't describe in one word," the prime minister told reporters Thursday.
"She has had a difficult life and that was what I was referring to."
The Australian leader said he had a good relationship with Tame.
"If there was any misinterpretation then I certainly apologise. I think that Grace Tame has taken what is personal trauma and that awful experience that she had and channelled that into helping, in particular, other young women."

'Patronising'

Albanese said he disagreed with language Tame used in a Sydney protest against a visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog this month, when she was filmed chanting "globalise the intifada".
"So, that's why it's impossible to describe people in one word," he said.
Tame took to Instagram to criticise Albanese, comparing him to conservative former prime minister Scott Morrison who apologised in 2022 for the sexual harassment faced by political staff in the corridors of power.
"'She's had a difficult life'... Spare me the condescension, old man. We all know what you meant," she wrote on Instagram.
"What a patronising cop out from a total coward. Straight from the Scott playbook."
Tame was abused and raped by a school teacher in the Tasmanian state capital Hobart as a teenager and became a fearless campaigner for sexual assault survivors.
At first, she was unable to tell her story because of a Tasmanian state law barring child sexual abuse survivors from being identified even after becoming adults.
Her case led journalist Nina Funnell to launch a Let Her Speak campaign that resulted in Tame being given a Supreme Court exemption, and eventually in the law being changed.
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