conflict

Ukraine, Russia vow escalation after Moscow attack kills 21 in Kyiv

conflict

Trump wants 'senseless killing' in Ukraine to end: US official

  • "President Trump has a humanitarian heart and wants this war settled so the senseless killing ends," the US official told AFP in response to a query on the Russian attack.
  • President Donald Trump wants a peace deal to end the "senseless killing" in Ukraine, a US official said Thursday after a massive Russian barrage on Kyiv killed at least 21 people.
  • "President Trump has a humanitarian heart and wants this war settled so the senseless killing ends," the US official told AFP in response to a query on the Russian attack.
President Donald Trump wants a peace deal to end the "senseless killing" in Ukraine, a US official said Thursday after a massive Russian barrage on Kyiv killed at least 21 people.
"President Trump has a humanitarian heart and wants this war settled so the senseless killing ends," the US official told AFP in response to a query on the Russian attack.
"The President and his team have worked very hard to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, and he remains optimistic that we’ll ultimately get a peace deal done."
Kyiv and Moscow both vowed fresh assaults in the four-year war after the huge overnight barrage, which tore open apartment buildings in the Ukrainian capital and sent tens of thousands to shelters.
Trump said before his return to office last year that he could solve the Ukraine war within 24 hours, but US efforts to broker a ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv have so far failed.
The US leader has railed against the cost of military aid for Kyiv and famously berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office in February 2025.
In contrast Trump has taken a largely friendly tone towards Russian President Vladimir Putin, although he has shown growing frustration with Putin's refusal to end the war. 
Zelensky on Thursday called on allies to discuss speeding up air-defense aid for his war-torn country at the NATO summit in Ankara next week, which Trump will attend.
dk/msp

rescue

Venezuelan rescue brings hope to nation in mourning

BY PAULA RAMON

  • Rescuers from seven countries -- Venezuela, Chile, the United States, Portugal, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Mexico -- were involved in the painstaking operation.
  • Hernan Gil survived nearly eight days trapped beneath the ruins of a partially collapsed building in Venezuela before being extricated Thursday in a dramatic operation involving rescuers from seven countries.
  • Rescuers from seven countries -- Venezuela, Chile, the United States, Portugal, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Mexico -- were involved in the painstaking operation.
Hernan Gil survived nearly eight days trapped beneath the ruins of a partially collapsed building in Venezuela before being extricated Thursday in a dramatic operation involving rescuers from seven countries.
The 43-year-old security guard has become a symbol of hope for a nation in mourning after one of the worst earthquakes in Latin American history. 
Now only remote chances exist for finding more survivors from the two earthquakes that killed nearly 2,300, destroyed entire residential buildings and left tens of thousands missing.
After a dramatic operation launched on Monday, Gil emerged in Catia La Mar, in the state of La Guaira, the area hardest hit by the June 24 earthquakes.
"I am completely surprised. It's the first time I've seen so many countries come together like this for a single cause, to save one person," his wife Gusbimar Gonzalez said. "This is truly a miracle."
Gonzalez nervously watched the rescue operation throughout.
"He wasn't hurt, he has no trauma, he managed to hide under a table and a chair," she said shortly before he emerged to the applause and cheers of his rescuers.
Gil was taken out on a stretcher and transferred to an ambulance that transported him to Caracas, 40 kilometers (25 miles) away.
Gil was brought out through a tunnel about three meters (10 feet) long. In the final phase of the operation, about 30 people worked in the building's parking lot removing debris, while two rescuers dug the tunnel.
Rescuers from seven countries -- Venezuela, Chile, the United States, Portugal, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Mexico -- were involved in the painstaking operation.
Gil was trapped in the security booth of the seven-story building where he worked as a guard in Catia La Mar.
"The movement caused the booth to shift; it became trapped between the walls," his wife, with whom he has a 10-year-old son, told AFP.
Rescuers learned on Sunday there was a man alive in the rubble of the partially destroyed building.
Gil is among the few people who have been miraculously rescued days after the earthquakes.
But chances of finding anyone alive beneath deep rubble dwindles rapidly after a critical 72-hour window for rescuing trapped people.

'Complicated'

The rescue crews had set up bases at the site to work day and night to pull out Gil.
They shored up the building's foundations with wood and steel to prevent the partially destroyed structure from collapsing further.
Venezuela has been hit by a string of aftershocks since the initial earthquakes.
An initial plan to build a 60-by-60-centimeter (24-by-24-inch) tunnel was discarded on Tuesday when the building shifted slightly.
"This is a rather complicated structure to access," Chilean rescuer Cristian Vera told AFP.
"With very large pillars...It wasn't easy to reach the exact spot." 
On Wednesday, rescuers advanced along two routes simultaneously to reach Gil.
Their efforts were rewarded Thursday when Gil emerged from the rubble, as rescuers cheered, hugged and crowded around the man they worked so hard to save.
pr-pb-mar/pma/acb

conflict

Ukraine, Russia vow escalation after Moscow attack kills 21 in Kyiv

BY GENYA SAVILOV AND FLORENT VERGNES

  • Some 52,000 people, including 4,500 children packed into underground stations to shelter from the barrage -- the highest number in recent years, according to the Kyiv metro.
  • Ukraine and Russia on Thursday vowed fresh assaults in their four-year war after Moscow launched a massive barrage on Kyiv, killing at least 21 people, tearing open apartment buildings and sending tens of thousands to shelters.
  • Some 52,000 people, including 4,500 children packed into underground stations to shelter from the barrage -- the highest number in recent years, according to the Kyiv metro.
Ukraine and Russia on Thursday vowed fresh assaults in their four-year war after Moscow launched a massive barrage on Kyiv, killing at least 21 people, tearing open apartment buildings and sending tens of thousands to shelters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his forces would "definitely" retaliate for the overnight pummelling of the capital as he inspected the site of an apartment block partially destroyed in the attack.
In Moscow, the Kremlin vowed to further ramp up the "pressure" on Kyiv, sticking to its no-compromise rhetoric as rescuers in Kyiv scoured the rubble for survivors.
The European Union's top diplomat proposed new sanctions on Moscow, while Zelensky asked the United States for licences to manufacture Patriot air defence missiles.
Russia has routinely launched waves of missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities during its invasion, which has become Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.
AFP journalists in central and eastern Kyiv heard more than a dozen explosions and saw residents -- some with children and pets -- rushing to shelter in metro stations.
In the morning, locals stood on the rubble of destroyed apartment blocks ripped apart by the barrage, as smoke poured over the Kyiv skyline.
At one spot, a mother cried as she embraced her son in front of the smouldering debris.
Blasts started echoing out late on Wednesday, lasting into the early hours of Thursday as Russian missiles and drones rained down on residential areas in the city centre.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko described it as the "enemy's most massive attack on the capital", without elaborating.
The state emergency services said at least 21 people were killed and 85 were wounded, including two children.
The Ukrainian branch of the Red Cross said that its key warehouse was "destroyed" in the attack with around $2 million worth of humanitarian aid lost.
Debris from the pummelling also damaged a building that was "hosting a number of diplomats", EU spokesperson Anitta Hipper told AFP, adding that "EU diplomats were affected" but "safe".
Kyiv urged its allies to send more air defence.
"Air defence supplies for Ukraine are an absolute and critical priority," Zelensky said in a post on Facebook.
"We also very much count on a decision by the United States regarding licences for Patriots."
Ukraine is seeking to manufacture munitions for the US-made missile interceptor system, one of its only ways of defending against Russian ballistic missiles, although defence experts say it will take time to set up production domestically.

Struggling to sleep

Russia fired 496 drones and 74 missiles, including hard-to-intercept ballistic projectiles, Ukraine's air force said.
It said it shot down 48 of the missiles and 476 drones.
AFP reporters met several Kyiv residents outside an apartment building largely destroyed in the attack.
"Half the building has been destroyed. The roof is gone," said 32-year-old factory worker Sabina Mambetova, standing outside the rubble of her home in the eastern Darnytskyi district.
"I've been left without an apartment, alone with my child. I don't know what to do now."
An AFP journalist at the site saw rescuers extracting the body of another victim of the attack, which ripped a multi-storey building open.
Some 52,000 people, including 4,500 children packed into underground stations to shelter from the barrage -- the highest number in recent years, according to the Kyiv metro.
Others hunkered down in basements or corridors through the night as blasts shook buildings across the city.
"It's hard. My child is used to sleeping in complete silence and darkness," 32-year-old doctor Kateryna Kucheryava told AFP from the metro as the attack was unfolding. 
"I picked her up and carried her down. She woke up and now she's not sleeping anymore."
Along station platforms, locals set up tents and lay on air mattresses and camping chairs, while mothers tried to sleep clutching babies to their chests.

Zelensky cuts short visit

The EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas said she would propose new sanctions on Moscow over the attack.
But the Kremlin showed no signs it would back down, more than four years into an invasion that has killed hundreds of thousands.
The attack came hours after Zelensky cut short a visit to Dublin on Wednesday, citing intelligence reports of an impending Russian strike.
Zelensky said Russian President Vladimir Putin "has been preparing this massive strike against Ukraine for some time now".
Ukraine has stepped up long-range drone attacks inside Russia in recent weeks, targeting energy infrastructure and military targets.
Russian officials have reported repeated strikes in border regions, while Moscow has said its air defences have intercepted hundreds of drones from Ukraine in recent days.
US efforts to broker an end to the conflict have so far failed.
bur-mmp/rlp

resort

Albanian clashes as protest over Trump-linked resort boils over

  • Protests began in late May against the planned construction of a luxury hotel linked to Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner in a nature reserve in Zvernec, on Albania's southwestern coast.
  • Violent clashes erupted between police and demonstrators outside Albania's parliament on Thursday, as protests sparked by a resort development linked to US President Donald Trump's family threatened to escalate.
  • Protests began in late May against the planned construction of a luxury hotel linked to Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner in a nature reserve in Zvernec, on Albania's southwestern coast.
Violent clashes erupted between police and demonstrators outside Albania's parliament on Thursday, as protests sparked by a resort development linked to US President Donald Trump's family threatened to escalate.
Protests began in late May against the planned construction of a luxury hotel linked to Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner in a nature reserve in Zvernec, on Albania's southwestern coast.
For the second time this week, crowds gathered outside parliament to confront lawmakers and block entry to the building.
Lines of riot police pushed them back, leading to clashes and arrests, according to AFP journalists at the scene.
Police used tear gas, pepper spray and water cannon to break up the crowd, and some protesters tried to push through lines of officers.
According to the police 15 officers were injured in the clashes and received hospital treatment, while four remained hospitalised.
Twenty five demonstrators were detained, the police said.
Two demonstrators suffered injuries and received treatment in hospital, said the health ministry.
People were also seen smashing the windows of an empty police car in a nearby street as the crowd was pushed away from the area.
On Tuesday, six people were arrested when demonstrators threw eggs at lawmakers' cars.
The violence is a marked contrast to the overwhelmingly peaceful daily gatherings that have drawn thousands on to the streets since the movement began.
The planned resort was first unveiled in 2024, but the latest wave of protests began after barbed-wire fencing and bulldozers appeared on beaches in late May.
Opposition to the project has become a flashpoint for anger over perceived corruption, with protesters calling for Prime Minister Edi Rama to step down over what they describe as a lack of transparency.
bme-al/dd/jj

weather

Hot spell roasts eastern US ahead of holiday weekend

BY MAGGY DONALDSON

  • Toronto, where temperatures Thursday are expected to hit 93F (34C), cancelled a public watch party of the match between Portugal and Croatia, citing extreme heat and humidity. mdo-ia/sms
  • Millions of Americans sweltered in stifling heat and humidity Thursday with dangerous temperatures expected to hit major cities through the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
  • Toronto, where temperatures Thursday are expected to hit 93F (34C), cancelled a public watch party of the match between Portugal and Croatia, citing extreme heat and humidity. mdo-ia/sms
Millions of Americans sweltered in stifling heat and humidity Thursday with dangerous temperatures expected to hit major cities through the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
The heat wave that has been broiling the Midwest began intensifying in the Northeast, with temperatures expected to approach or climb past 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) in cities including New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington.
The heat index -- which measures how hot it feels based on temperature and humidity combined -- was even more merciless. The National Weather Service warned the index could peak as high as 115F (46C) in the mid-Atlantic region.
The intense heat was of particular concern given the Fourth of July celebrations that include many outdoor activities like barbeques and fireworks displays. The heat wave also coincides with a string of weekend World Cup matches.
"This level of rare and long-duration heat, with little or no overnight relief, affects anyone without effective cooling and/or adequate hydration," warned the National Weather Service. 
Nighttime temperatures across the Northeast are not anticipated to fall much below 80F (27C).
Authorities across the country urged people to stay indoors especially in the hottest parts of the afternoon, to check on their neighbors, drink more water than usual, and to find air conditioning if they don't have access at home.
New York has designated hundreds of public buildings as cooling centers, extended public swimming pool hours, dispatched volunteers to check on vulnerable residents, and opened cooling stations with misting fans and wet towels.
On Thursday many dog-walking New Yorkers were out early before temperatures grew unbearable and hot asphalt posed risks to their pets.
Student Kaneesha Kumar, 22, was walking her thick-coated dog Chance along Manhattan's Third Avenue where the mercury reached 93 Fahrenheit.
"I just take him on really short walks, and then go back home and put him in the AC, and like, make sure he has water," she told AFP.
Along with detailing public resources to keep cool, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani stressed on social media that the "power grid is working overtime to keep us cool."
He asked that air conditioning be set to 78F (26C) -- which left him, like many of his predecessors who've made similar requests, facing some backlash on social media, with some people urging the city to turn off the bright lights of Times Square first.

Power grid concerns

The Midwestern city of Chicago was likewise bracing for possible grid overload.
"Raise your thermostat as high as is comfortably safe," the power utility ComEd there urged, while calling on residents to delay using laundry, dishwashers and electric vehicle chargers until after dusk.
More frequent, longer-lasting and more intense heat waves are one of the clearest signs of climate change, with Europe also recently hard hit.
Global average surface temperatures have risen roughly 2.5F above pre-industrial averages as a result of human-caused climate change, mainly driven by the burning of fossil fuels.
This week's "heat dome" conditions in the US occur when high-pressure systems trap warm air like the lid on a pot.
The heat wave falls at a particularly busy time in the United States, with amped-up Fourth of July parties as the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary.
The World Cup, which is being co-hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada, is for the first time featuring mandatory three-minute hydration breaks for players.
Toronto, where temperatures Thursday are expected to hit 93F (34C), cancelled a public watch party of the match between Portugal and Croatia, citing extreme heat and humidity.
mdo-ia/sms

Global Edition

Rescuers dig out Venezuelan man eight days after quakes

BY PAULA RAMON WITH LETICIA PINEDA IN CARACAS

  • "This is truly a miracle," Gil's wife Gusbimar Gonzalez told AFP as rescuers worked to rescue him.
  • Hundreds of rescuers in Venezuela cheered and embraced Thursday after pulling a 43-year-old man alive from the ruins of a collapsed building eight days after deadly twin earthquakes, AFP journalists witnessed.
  • "This is truly a miracle," Gil's wife Gusbimar Gonzalez told AFP as rescuers worked to rescue him.
Hundreds of rescuers in Venezuela cheered and embraced Thursday after pulling a 43-year-old man alive from the ruins of a collapsed building eight days after deadly twin earthquakes, AFP journalists witnessed.
With the official death toll nearing 2,300 and huge numbers of people still missing, the rescue of security guard Hernan Gil after so long under the rubble was greeted as a miracle.
Gil was brought out on a stretcher after a painstaking operation to extract him from the collapsed seven-story building where he worked in Catia La Mar, a coastal area almost entirely razed to the ground in the June 24 catastrophe.
"This is truly a miracle," Gil's wife Gusbimar Gonzalez told AFP as rescuers worked to rescue him.
Teams from seven countries -- Venezuela, Chile, the United States, Portugal, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Mexico -- worked around the clock over three days to reach Gil.
They provided him with more than ten litres of water to keep him hydrated via a hose and installed a tube to provide him with oxygen.
During the final phase of the operation, about thirty people worked in the building's parking area to clear away debris, while two rescuers dug a three-meter tunnel.
"It wasn't easy to reach the exact spot where the victim was located," Cristian Vera, the leader of the Chilean rescue team told AFP. 
However, while there have been a few astounding rescues -- a three-year-old boy was found Tuesday six days after the quake -- hope has faded of finding many more survivors.
The focus is now shifting to survival for those who escaped the quakes. 
Many are homeless, food and water are becoming scarce and hospitals are stretched to the limit, with experts warning of the risk of disease outbreaks.

'It would take a miracle'

The two powerful quakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5, shattered entire neighborhoods in oil-rich Venezuela, which has suffered decades of economic crisis that devastated infrastructure and health services.
NASA data shows almost 60,000 buildings were likely damaged or destroyed.
Venezuela's National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said Wednesday that the number of deaths had risen to 2,295, and more than 11,000 people were injured.
He said almost 13,000 people had been left homeless -- many of them sleeping in tents on the streets, parks and vacant lots.
Tens of thousands of people remain unaccounted for.
The majority of collapsed buildings in the hardest-hit city of La Guaira, just north of Caracas, have been marked with the letter 'D' for 'deceased' -- a sign they had been searched with no signs of life found.
Relatives, volunteers, and rescue workers were largely focused on retrieving the dead. 
In Catia La Mar, about a dozen people struggled to dig through a six-meter-high mound of rubble -- the remains of an eight-story building that collapsed "like a slab sandwich," explained crane operator Manuel Alejos.
"We break through slab by slab to retrieve the bodies...The families need the bodies to say their goodbyes," said the crane operator, adding that he had already pulled seven dead from the structure.
Cesar Gonzalez, 54, a Mexican firefighter and handler of search-and-rescue dogs, gave water to his two dogs, Zeus and Bom.
"One is for detecting the living, the other for cadavers. Just two days ago, there was much more hope. Now, it would take a miracle," to find anyone alive, he said.

'We lost everything'

The World Food Programme on Tuesday appealed for $50 million to feed some 500,000 people for three months in Venezuela.
Police and military personnel were on patrol to prevent looting, which has been widespread.
Queues for aid are growing longer by the day, with many surviving on the goodwill of volunteers and donations from fellow citizens.
On a soccer field, Maria Arteaga, 33, a mother of four, prepared to sleep Wednesday night in an improvised shelter made of tarps and a Venezuelan flag. 
"We lost everything, except our lives. We're even barefoot," she told AFP.
burs-fb/sms

diaspora

Venezuela's diaspora searches for quake victims on social media

BY PAULA BUSTAMANTE

  • A day later, Pessina confirmed it was her mother through her clothing.
  • From Ecuador, Switzerland and Germany, Maria Pessina and her siblings scoured chat groups and social media for news of their mother, after twin earthquakes struck Venezuela eight days ago.
  • A day later, Pessina confirmed it was her mother through her clothing.
From Ecuador, Switzerland and Germany, Maria Pessina and her siblings scoured chat groups and social media for news of their mother, after twin earthquakes struck Venezuela eight days ago.
After a four-day search, a photo confirmed the worst -- Magnolia had died in the collapse of her building in Caracas. 
"The agony is over," Pessina said after she was finally able to confirm that the clothes on one of the bodies found under the rubble belonged to her 79-year-old mother.
A Venezuelan researcher who works in Quito, Pessina could have been there herself.
She had been visiting her mother for three weeks and boarded a plane to go home just a few hours before the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes struck on June 24.
"The earthquake happened while I was flying," she told AFP.
After landing, "my phone blew up with messages because so many people thought I was still in Caracas," she said. 
Before she could even get home, "I had already received a video of the building on the ground...That's when the desperation moved to another level."
Pessina and her siblings began an agonizing search. 
They asked family and neighborhood chat groups for information about Magnolia, and hired someone to check lists of survivors, wounded and missing in hospitals across Caracas. 
Thanks to a WhatsApp group, neighbors from the 14-story Petunia building where Magnolia lived were able to connect with those looking for their relatives -- from the US, Spain,  Dominican Republic, Panama and Ecuador. 
A message in that chat on Friday said a body matching Magnolia's description had been recovered.
A day later, Pessina confirmed it was her mother through her clothing.
"I spent three weeks cleaning and folding her clothes, that's how I was able to recognize what she was wearing in that photo," she explained.

'I haven't slept'

The Pessina family is not alone.
Many Venezuelans abroad are searching from afar for family members among the nearly 2,300 dead and tens of thousands missing.
Venezuela experienced the largest exodus in recent Latin American history, with 7.9 million people leaving the country in the last decade, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
From all over the world, the diaspora has worked to send medicine, diapers and infant formula to Venezuela, while posting rescue pleas on social media.
Andre, who did not give his last name, told AFP from the US city of Miami that his brother-in-law was in the Vallarta building in Playa Grande.
"We still don't know anything about him," he said.
In that part of La Guaira, one of the areas worst-hit by the quakes, neighbors helped each other until Salvadoran rescuers arrived over the weekend.
"I haven't slept since this tragedy happened. I post pleas for help, for donations, I reconnect people. Everything is needed and I get thousands of messages," he said.
Andre said rescue work at his brother-in-law's building was suspended Tuesday after neighbors found police officers stealing money from the rubble.
"They didn't arrive in time to save lives. Maybe my brother-in-law was alive in those first hours. But they certainly arrived in time to steal," he said angrily.

'Minds over there'

In Spain, Broli Rumbos found out that one of his friends had spent hours searching for his family in the rubble of a building in La Guaira.
"It's weird to be so far away, to go on with your routine," he wrote in a chat with school friends.
"We're living here, with our minds over there."
For the Pessina family, they must now decide how to say goodbye to their mother. A funeral will likely take place over livestream once Magnolia's sisters receive her ashes. 
"We don't know when, all of that is total chaos right now," Pessina said.
But she added that the ceremony will definitely feature music, because her mother loved to sing.
pb/dbh/mar/an/lkd/acb

children

UK PM says 'deeply sorry' for decades of forced adoptions

BY HELEN ROWE

  • "It is a stain on our history.
  • British Prime Minister Keir Starmer formally apologised on Thursday for the forced adoption of an estimated 185,000 babies born to unmarried mothers in England and Wales between 1949 and 1976, calling it "a stain on our history".
  • "It is a stain on our history.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer formally apologised on Thursday for the forced adoption of an estimated 185,000 babies born to unmarried mothers in England and Wales between 1949 and 1976, calling it "a stain on our history".
The scandal saw the mothers, including many who were teenagers, coerced into giving up their children, with social, institutional and family pressures used to persuade them that adoption was their only option.
"We are deeply and profoundly sorry to the mothers who were told they were unfit, who were prevented from caring for the children they desperately wanted ... and who have carried this loss for decades," Starmer told parliament.
"The shame is not yours. The shame was never yours. The shame is ours," he insisted.
The premier paid tribute to survivors who had campaigned for the apology and the "extraordinary courage with which they have shared their harrowing testimonies and fought for the truth time and time again".
The expression of regret comes four years after a parliamentary committee recommended an official apology.
Australia's government issued a landmark apology in 2013 for forced adoptions and Ireland's did so in 2021.
"What happened to them -- and to tens of thousands of mothers, children and families -- should never have happened," Starmer told UK lawmakers after meeting a group of survivors at his Downing Street office.
"It is a stain on our history. Mothers, many young, vulnerable and without support were coerced, bullied or misled into feeling that they had no choice but to have their children taken away from them."
He said the removal of the children had been systemic.
The practice, he said, was "embedded within systems across local authorities, across voluntary and faith-based institutions, and in health and social care services".

'Punishment'

"The state bears responsibility for the systems it funded and legitimised, which enabled these practices to occur... For this systemic failure, I am truly sorry," he added.
Ann Keen, a former Labour health minister, said her newborn son was abruptly taken away after she gave birth in Wales in 1966 when she was 17.
"I went to see my baby on the eighth day because I was told I could have him for 10 (days) and they said: 'Oh no, he's gone now. You were getting far too close'," she told BBC Radio.
Speaking before Starmer's announcement she said she looked forward to being "released from my shame" because "we have always been accused of giving up our babies and we didn't give them up".
The parliamentary committee that investigated the scandal found mothers were abused in multiple ways.
Painkillers would be deliberately denied as "punishment" in hospital during childbirth and afterwards, its report found.
Babies were sometimes pulled from their sobbing mother's arms to be taken away for adoption.
"Have you learnt your lesson now?" one woman recalled a doctor telling her while she was in labour. 
Another told parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights: "A doctor told me that I should be sterilised as I must be a nymphomaniac".
Last month, the Church of England last month said sorry for its role in the forced adoptions.
Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally apologised for the "pain, trauma and stigma" caused to those affected, saying there was deep shame it had happened to people "in the care of Christian communities".
Abortion was legalised in England, Scotland and Wales in 1967. 
But even after then, women faced practical barriers, such as objections by their doctors.
Apologies were also made in 2023 by the devolved administrations in Cardiff and Edinburgh to people affected in Wales and Scotland.
An apology is also expected in Northern Ireland but not until after a public inquiry has been carried out, following a recommendation from a 2021 report on mother and baby institutions, Magdalene laundries and workhouses.
har/jkb/gil

society

Almost 1.2 mn apply for Spain's migrant regularisation

  • Sanchez has touted the benefits of immigration and the vast regularisation scheme for sectors such as construction that need to boost their workforce.
  • Almost 1.2 million undocumented migrants have sought legal status in Spain under a scheme that has defied a growing European crackdown on irregular immigration, according to final figures released on Thursday.
  • Sanchez has touted the benefits of immigration and the vast regularisation scheme for sectors such as construction that need to boost their workforce.
Almost 1.2 million undocumented migrants have sought legal status in Spain under a scheme that has defied a growing European crackdown on irregular immigration, according to final figures released on Thursday.
The government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, a standard bearer of more open immigration policies, launched the vast plan in April while European neighbours toughen measures in response to pressure from ascendant far-right parties.
A total of 1,174,978 applications were submitted between mid-April and June 30 when the window closed, with more than 600,000 already being processed, secretary of state for migration Pilar Cancela told a press conference in Madrid.
Latin America accounted for 67 percent of the submissions, with Colombia alone representing 25.9 percent of the total. African nationalities followed with 22.9 percent.
After Colombia, the most represented countries were Morocco at 13.3 percent, Venezuela with 11.8 percent and Peru at 8.8 percent.
An overwhelming majority of applicants were young, with eight out of 10 younger than 45 years old, while 57 percent of the total were males against 43 percent for females. 
The application total does not necessarily indicate how many people will normalise their situation, with initial predictions forecasting the regularisation of 500,000.
Applicants must prove they have a clean criminal record and spent at least five consecutive months in Spain before January 1.
The authorities have three months to process their paperwork and decide whether to issue a work and residence permit only valid in Spain.
Sanchez has touted the benefits of immigration and the vast regularisation scheme for sectors such as construction that need to boost their workforce.
Spanish business leaders have welcomed the move, but the conservative and far-right opposition are furious about a policy they say will encourage more irregular immigration.
rbj/imm/rlp

heatwave

French scramble to find air conditioners before next heatwave

BY FIACHRA GIBBONS

  • The rush for cooling units comes despite longstanding scepticism towards air conditioning in France, with eight in 10 people viewing it as environmentally unfriendly, according to one survey.
  • Hundreds of people besieged supermarkets in and around Paris Thursday, with scuffles and shouting matches breaking out as residents scrambled to get their hands on bargain air-cooling units before the next heatwave hits the French capital. 
  • The rush for cooling units comes despite longstanding scepticism towards air conditioning in France, with eight in 10 people viewing it as environmentally unfriendly, according to one survey.
Hundreds of people besieged supermarkets in and around Paris Thursday, with scuffles and shouting matches breaking out as residents scrambled to get their hands on bargain air-cooling units before the next heatwave hits the French capital. 
With few air conditioners on sale elsewhere for less than 1,200 euros ($1,400), police were called to at least two stores as huge crowds descended on Lidl supermarkets trying to get their hands on basic models on sale for as low as 179 euros.
Mousa Traore, who had been waiting for more than an hour along with some 200 other customers at a small Lidl store, said he had been told there were only two units on sale.
"But then the police came and we were told there were none. The police officers took them I think," he said laughing.
Lasana, a man who did not give his second name, told AFP he had secured one of the two air conditioners after queueing for seven hours from 04:00 in a northern Paris neighbourhood where badly insulated high-rise buildings bake in the summer heat.
Weather services are forecasting another round of hot weather this weekend, after record high temperatures in late June that led to excess deaths, overwhelmed hospitals and closed schools.

'Misleading advertising'

Fatou, a 69-year-old grandmother, was less fortunate.
She waited six hours in line where she performed her morning prayers, before leaving with only a fan, despite being third in line.
Few homes and schools in France have air conditioning.
A recent study estimated that one in two homes is "inadequately equipped" to cope with high temperatures, turning into a "thermal cauldron" during increasingly frequent heatwaves that scientists say are linked to human-induced climate change.
Many outside the store in the capital's 19th district were furious at the way they were treated.
Fatou and several others accused Lidl of "misleading advertising" knowing so many people desperately need the units.
The crowd at the store was mostly good-humoured, but some disputes broke out as people tried to jump the queue.
"I am not opening the store unless you leave," a manager shouted, as customers harangued her, with another member of staff telling AFP only two air conditioners had been delivered.
He refused to say if they had already been sold.
- 'It's madness' - 
Hundreds more descended on a supermarket in Sevran, with cars queueing for the store blocking the centre of the poor northern suburb.
It was much the same story in the nearby suburb of Livry-Gargan.
"I give up, it's madness," one local called Lolo told AFP.
"I abandoned my car several streets away to get there on foot but there is already a huge queue of people in the car park. It's impossible."
The rush for cooling units comes despite longstanding scepticism towards air conditioning in France, with eight in 10 people viewing it as environmentally unfriendly, according to one survey.
But attitudes appear to be shifting as temperatures climb, with cooling units flying off shelves.
In the midst of the heatwave on June 22, hypermarket operator Carrefour had sold 30,000 units by 6:30 pm -- "a thousand times more than on a normal day", CEO Alexandre Bompard said. 
The share of French households equipped with air conditioning rose from 18 percent in 2023 to 24 percent in 2025, according to the state environment agency Ademe.
fg-ekf/ah/cw

technology

Germany's Infineon opens major chip plant as EU seeks tech autonomy

BY CéLINE LE PRIOUX WITH BRYN STOLE IN BERLIN

  • "We all want to further strengthen Europe's position as a semiconductor hub," Infineon CEO Jochen Hanebeck said at the opening ceremony.
  • German semiconductor giant Infineon opened a five-billion-euro ($5.7 billion) microchip plant Thursday, as Europe seeks to bolster its high-tech autonomy.
  • "We all want to further strengthen Europe's position as a semiconductor hub," Infineon CEO Jochen Hanebeck said at the opening ceremony.
German semiconductor giant Infineon opened a five-billion-euro ($5.7 billion) microchip plant Thursday, as Europe seeks to bolster its high-tech autonomy.
The "Smart Power Fab" in the eastern city of Dresden, completed three months ahead of schedule, has been hailed as a symbol of an EU push to reduce dependency for crucial parts on Asia and the United States.
"We all want to further strengthen Europe's position as a semiconductor hub," Infineon CEO Jochen Hanebeck said at the opening ceremony. "And technological sovereignty does not begin with words, but with factories like this one."
The plant will produce chips for intelligent power management that are used in everything from electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar plants to data centres crucial for artificial intelligence.
The plant will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week with employees working in three shifts.
In the highly automated "clean rooms" where chips are manufactured, the air is continuously filtered to eliminate virtually all dust, and employees wear a polyester-carbon fibre blend suit, a hood, mask, latex gloves and boots to prevent any contamination.
The facility was backed by the EU's Chips Act with one billion euros in subsidies, part of a broader policy aimed at doubling the EU's share of global semiconductor production from 10 to 20 percent by 2030.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who addressed the event via live video link from Berlin, said the plant opening "has direct strategic significance for our digital sovereignty, our economic resilience and our independence".
"Investment in data centres is breaking new records year on year," Merz said, referring to the AI-driven boom in demand. "Because the foundations for the industries of the future are being laid today."

'Silicon Saxony'

Work on the new plant began in May 2023, and represents both the largest single investment in Infineon's history and a major strategic pivot for the technology firm based outside of Munich.
The company has moved away from being primarily a supplier to the automotive industry and instead sought to capitalise on the massive AI investment boom.
However, the plant opening comes amid significant volatility affecting AI-related stocks, driven by growing concerns over the difficulty of making these massive investments profitable.
The plant is located in the heart of Germany's "Silicon Saxony", which has boasted one of Europe's most dynamic clusters for the microchip industry with a regional specialisation in the sector that dates to investments by communist East Germany.
Dresden, home to nine universities, has a large number of trained engineers who are sought after by the roughly 2,500 companies in the sector operating in the area.
"One in three chips produced in Europe is made in Saxony," Germany's digital minister, Karsten Wildberger, noted at the event.
While constructing the "Smart Power Fab" came at a high cost, the subsequent unit production cost of the microchips will be minimal, say experts. 
"The chip industry is a business driven by extreme economies of scale," Wolfgang Weber, head of the German electronics association ZVEI, told AFP. 
"The first chip is incredibly expensive because you have to build a factory first -— an investment that can run into the billions of euros. Once production is up and running, unit costs drop sharply."
cpl-bst/fz/pdw

music

Ceuzany, Cape Verde's golden voice with volcanic emotion

BY LUCIE PEYTERMANN

  • She says her fourth album is very special to her "because it deals with domestic violence". 
  • Barefoot, arms raised and teeming with emotion, Ceuzany belts out the signature track from her latest album, a song dedicated to the fight against domestic violence, in a powerful voice that sends shivers through the Cape Verde bar.
  • She says her fourth album is very special to her "because it deals with domestic violence". 
Barefoot, arms raised and teeming with emotion, Ceuzany belts out the signature track from her latest album, a song dedicated to the fight against domestic violence, in a powerful voice that sends shivers through the Cape Verde bar.
From the very first notes the deep yet soaring timbre of the song, part of a new generation of Cape Verdean music, sparks applause.
"Enough! We're calling it quits, go your own way, I am happy without you," several women sing from the audience, joining the musician who is moved to tears.
On this late-May evening in Mindelo, a city on the archipelago nation's Sao Vicente island, passersby who recognise the singer stop in the street to join the concert.
Ceuzany's voice ranges from crystalline highs to deep lows, as she performs everything from jazz to slam, commanding the stage with wavy blonde hair and earrings framing her radiant face.
The day before she radiated infectious energy under the bright lights of a music video shoot, dancing with abandon in a silver rhinestone suit and Panama hat to the galvanising percussion of her latest and fourth album.
The record blends saxophone, percussion and the cavaquinho, a popular four-stringed instrument, although some songs are more stripped down, featuring Ceuzany's voice and an acoustic piano, or a swaying zouk rhythm set against the warm sound of the ukulele.
"I started singing at age 12 in a competition in Cape Verde, and I haven't stopped since," Ceuzany Pires, 35, told AFP with a beaming smile.
"My grandmother had dreamed of becoming a renowned artist in Cape Verde, but her parents didn't want her to sing," said the mother of two.
"She was always singing serenades at home and I was always listening. It is thanks to her that I have this taste for music and that I deeply love singing," she added.

'Soul coming through'

Ceuzany is often compared to the legendary Cesaria Evora, the "barefoot diva" who introduced the world to two traditional genres of Cap Verdean music: morna, which is characterized by soft, nostalgic melodies and coladeira, which features a faster rhythm.
"Ceuzany is one of Cesaria Evora's heirs, as she is a great morna singer," said her producer, Jose Da Silva, who has served as producer for both women.
"Ceuzany is capable of injecting a bit of rap into coladeira. She is just as comfortable with urban music artists as she is with traditional ones," he said.
Warm and funny, Ceuzany is also "a true daughter of Mindelo, she possesses that same spontaneity that Cesaria had".
The singer herself says that she is "immensely honoured" to be part of the Cesaria Evora Orchestra, which performs around the world to keep alive the music of the "barefoot diva" who died in 2011.
For musician Hernani Almeida, who arranged Ceuzany's latest album and composed several of its songs, she is unique among the new generation.
"When Ceuzany sings, you feel soul coming through," said the guitarist, adding that "it really touches people".

'Queens'

Ceuzany's songs evoke Mindelo, the ups and downs of love, and difficult topics like the ravages of crack cocaine ("pedra") on the impoverished archipelago located off west Africa.
She says her fourth album is very special to her "because it deals with domestic violence". 
"I've been through it," Ceuzany said, explaining that "I gathered the strength to leave a toxic relationship" that lasted nearly five years.
The title track and single "No tchal te li" ("We stop here") tells the story of a romance that sours into a cycle of physical and emotional abuse.
Ceuzany, who has since received numerous messages and has engaged with women who are victims of domestic violence, has turned the song into an anthem of liberation and self-empowerment.
"I believe women deserve to be treated like queens. That's the message I want to share with all women, in Cape Verde and across the world, because if I managed to leave a toxic relationship, you can do it too," she said, unable to hold back tears.
The artist is at a pivotal moment in her career, seeing the first signs of international recognition.
Spotted in 2022 by French singer Christophe Mae, she recorded a single with him in Cape Verde titled "Le Pays des merveilles" ("Wonderland"), an uplifting tribute to her home country.
In 2024, she joined him for a 40-date tour across France.
In early June, Ceuzany also won the "Traditional Music of the Year" category at the Cape Verde Music Awards.
Following her concert in Mindelo, Ceuzany greeted fans and friends with hugs before people dispersed into the windy night.
"I want to record more music, release more albums, take Cap Verde further, bringing myself along. And continue singing for my people", she said.
lp/bfm/giv/abs

US

Next indirect US-Iran talks after Khamenei funeral: mediators

BY AFP TEAMS IN DUBAI, TEHRAN AND WASHINGTON

  • Islamabad added the sides agreed to keep talking, "with the next meeting to be set at the earliest possible time following the funeral processions of the former Iranian Supreme Leader."
  • The next indirect US-Iran talks will come after the late Iranian supreme leader's funeral, mediators said Thursday, as diplomacy inches ahead on ending the Middle East war.
  • Islamabad added the sides agreed to keep talking, "with the next meeting to be set at the earliest possible time following the funeral processions of the former Iranian Supreme Leader."
The next indirect US-Iran talks will come after the late Iranian supreme leader's funeral, mediators said Thursday, as diplomacy inches ahead on ending the Middle East war.
Following the foes' indirect discussions in Doha on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump as well as mediators Qatar and Pakistan offered signs that diplomacy was holding, despite exchanges of fire this week.
An interim deal was agreed to reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz and end hostilities, but major questions still need to be tackled in talks, including Iran's nuclear programme.
"Qatari and Pakistani mediators concluded separate meetings with the US and Iranian negotiators in Doha (Wednesday), with positive progress made," Pakistan said Thursday.
Islamabad added the sides agreed to keep talking, "with the next meeting to be set at the earliest possible time following the funeral processions of the former Iranian Supreme Leader."
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed aged 86 at his compound in the centre of the Iranian capital on February 28, the first day of the war. Power was swiftly passed to his son Mojtaba. 
Ali Khamenei's public funeral will begin on Saturday, with his body lying in state at the colossal complex in central Tehran that hosts major Friday prayers, official ceremonies and religious gatherings.
His burial will take place on July 9 at the shrine of Imam Reza in the northeastern city of Mashhad, his birthplace.
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, who led Tehran's delegation, said Wednesday' talks had concluded with an agreement to establish a communications channel by Thursday to report and record alleged violations of the memorandum.
Iran had insisted there would be no direct negotiations with the United States in Doha. 
Trump told reporters Wednesday before boarding Air Force One: "As far as things are going, the denuclearization of Iran is moving along well."
"We hit them very hard... but we're getting along very well," he added.

Lines of contact

The Qatar discussions, held at a lower level and focused on implementing the memorandum, were meant to "build on the progress made at the Lake Lucerne Summit", a diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Tehran rejected Trump's earlier suggestion that the talks would be direct, with foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei saying Iran had "no plans for negotiations with the American side at any level over the coming days".
Gharibabadi said discussions also covered frozen Iranian assets, whose release Tehran has demanded as part of any settlement.
He said officials reviewed the use of part of an initial $6 billion and agreed that goods needed by Iran would be purchased and made available.
US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were not taking part in the technical talks, the diplomat said, after meeting Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the office of Qatar's emir said Kushner and Witkoff had also met ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Hormuz 'under Iran'

Since the US-Iran deal was signed last month, the sides have exchanged fire in the Gulf.
Tehran targeted a commercial ship it said had strayed from its approved route through the Strait of Hormuz, and US Central Command (CENTCOM) responded by saying it had struck 10 Iranian military targets.
Iran then hit US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, drawing condemnation from both Gulf states.
CENTCOM said Wednesday it led a regional security dialogue hosted by Bahrain, held with defence leaders from 12 nations, mostly from the Gulf.
"Leaders underscored their shared commitment to the free flow of commerce through the Strait of Hormuz," CENTCOM said on X.
Gharibabadi responded on Thursday, saying the strait "is defined under Iran's command, not CENTCOM".
"A military summit in Bahrain cannot establish legal order and security for the Persian Gulf," is said. 
"The region's security will be ensured through the end of interventions and the U.S. withdrawal from the area, respect for countries' sovereignty, and acceptance of new geopolitical realities -- not under the military umbrella of America."
Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tuesday that "when a war of this magnitude comes to an end... it is inevitable that there will be implementation challenges, incidents and differences of opinion, especially where parties such as the Israeli regime are concerned".
On the Lebanon front, fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has also been relatively quiet.
Iran-backed Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the wider Middle East war in March with rocket fire at Israel, triggering Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion.
Tehran has insisted any final deal should include an end to the Lebanon conflict and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the south, part of which they occupy.
bur-abs/jm

church

Papal envoy presides over first Vietnam beatification rite

  • Vietnam has had 117 people beatified and later canonised as saints, but the Church said this was the first time a beatification ceremony had been held in the country rather than at the Vatican.
  • Tens of thousands of Catholics flocked to a small parish in the Mekong Delta on Thursday for the first beatification ceremony held on Vietnamese soil.
  • Vietnam has had 117 people beatified and later canonised as saints, but the Church said this was the first time a beatification ceremony had been held in the country rather than at the Vatican.
Tens of thousands of Catholics flocked to a small parish in the Mekong Delta on Thursday for the first beatification ceremony held on Vietnamese soil.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle presided as papal envoy over a special mass in a church in Ca Mau for Father Francis Xavier Truong Buu Diep, a  priest killed while protecting parishioners in 1946.
Diep became "blessed", the second of three steps towards sainthood.
Around 70,000 people were expected to attend, according to the Catholic Church in Vietnam, many arriving days early to watch the ceremony on big screens outside the church.
"We were sleeping on a mat outside the church last night," said Tran Le Tap, a 65-year-old saleswoman who travelled from the southern province of An Giang.
"It was a great honour for us to be here on this special occasion. We cannot miss it… It was honour for our Catholic followers and also for the Vietnamese. I feel so blessed."
The presence of Tagle, an envoy of Pope Leo XIV, highlights the warming ties between Communist Vietnam and the Vatican, which have not had official diplomatic relations since the end of the civil war in 1975.
The two sides made a breakthrough in 2023 by agreeing to a "Resident Papal Representative" for Vietnam.
Tagle called Thursday's ceremony a "moment of great joy for Vietnamese Catholics" and a "truly historic day in the life of the Church". 
Le Mai, 33, came all the way from Hanoi with her mother for the event -- a day-long journey by plane and car. 
"It was a long way to go, all the way from the north here, but it's a privilege for me and my mother to be able to attend this ceremony," she said.
Vietnam has more than 7.5 million Catholics, accounting for about 7.4 percent of the population, according to the Vatican's official news outlet.
Vietnam's constitution enshrines a right to religious freedom, but the government tightly regulates religious organisations.
Rights groups often criticise restrictions on religious practice such as registration requirements and surveillance.
Vietnam has had 117 people beatified and later canonised as saints, but the Church said this was the first time a beatification ceremony had been held in the country rather than at the Vatican.
Appointed priest of Vietnam's Tac Say parish in 1930, Diep was known for his devotion to the poor, sick, and those suffering because of war, according to the local Can Tho diocese.
He was murdered by two Japanese defectors, a diocesan investigation concluded in 2017.
bur-tym/ar/djw

Mexico

US refuses to extend North America trade pact in current form

BY BEIYI SEOW

  • "The United States did not agree to renew the USMCA in its current form.
  • The United States has declined to renew a North American trade pact with Canada and Mexico in its current state, the US trade envoy said Wednesday, meaning the deal will now be reviewed annually.
  • "The United States did not agree to renew the USMCA in its current form.
The United States has declined to renew a North American trade pact with Canada and Mexico in its current state, the US trade envoy said Wednesday, meaning the deal will now be reviewed annually.
The move is likely to fuel uncertainty for businesses, given the deep integration across North American supply chains in sectors like automobiles.
But the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) remains in force for another 10 years even if not extended by Wednesday's deadline.
The free trade pact will instead be subject to annual reviews, unless a country decides to withdraw entirely.
"The United States did not agree to renew the USMCA in its current form. As a result, the USMCA is not renewed," US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement.
"The United States will continue to engage with Mexico and Canada to address the agreement's shortcomings and our trade deficits with these countries," he added.
A senior US official told reporters that US trade gaps were a key concern, alongside market access opportunities. The official flagged tensions in areas like dairy and corn.
Mexico's economy secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, confirmed the impasse but said there were no insurmountable differences to resolve.
He noted that Washington's pending complaints over the agreement have dropped from 54 in 2025 to 14.
On Wednesday, the USTR held a virtual meeting with Ebrard and Ottawa's minister in charge of Canada-US trade, Dominic LeBlanc.
The Trump administration's decision not to extend the pact was widely expected.
President Donald Trump said in June that he was not "looking to renew" the agreement despite signing and praising it in his first term.
Canada and Mexico had both called for a 16-year renewal of the USMCA.
With the deal subject to rolling negotiations instead of a longer term extension, talks could last for months or years over everything from tariffs to trade rules governing specific sectors.
- Ticking clock - 
Despite a 10-year countdown to the deal's expiration, the senior US official said countries need not wait a decade to conclude their agreement.
"I think we need to come to a conclusion quickly, if possible," the official added.
Analysts say the development does not change day-to-day trade between the countries for now.
But KPMG senior economist Benjamin Shoesmith told AFP: "This definitely will have a large impact on investor sentiment, not just in the US but investing into Mexico in particular."
Mexico has benefited from businesses seeking to benefit from North American supply chains.
Shoesmith expects the auto sector to be top-of-mind in negotiations, alongside energy.
Still, analysts expect the USMCA to survive, with goods and services trade within North America amounting to nearly $2 trillion in 2024.
Even as Trump unleashed tariffs on trading partners last year, he made critical exemptions for USMCA products.
American Automotive Policy Council President Matt Blunt stressed that "North American economic integration enables enormous competitive benefits for the region."
But Brian Bryant of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union urged for tougher labor standards, alongside "measures that discourage corporations from moving jobs out of the United States and Canada in pursuit of cheaper labor."
Underscoring other concerns, the Alliance for American Manufacturing called for "robust rules of origin" as a roadblock to Beijing's access to the US auto market.
The United States and Mexico have held two rounds of bilateral trade talks, with a third due in the week of July 20.
Mexico has sought to reduce US tariffs on steel, aluminum and autos after Trump slapped sharp duties on steel, aluminum and copper imports.
While Greer did not unveil a schedule for formal talks with Canada, he has met with LeBlanc.
The USMCA was implemented in 2020, replacing NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. It helped lower or remove tariffs and other trade barriers on many products traded between the three countries.
bur-bys/mjf

weather

Oppressive heat broils US during World Cup, July Fourth

BY ISSAM AHMED

  • The heat comes as the nation prepares to celebrate on Saturday the 250th anniversary of its independence from Britain, with fireworks set to light up the skies over major cities, including New York and Washington.
  • Blistering temperatures and humidity gripped swaths of the United States on Wednesday, with the worst yet to come for the densely populated East Coast as the nation co-hosts the World Cup and prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday.
  • The heat comes as the nation prepares to celebrate on Saturday the 250th anniversary of its independence from Britain, with fireworks set to light up the skies over major cities, including New York and Washington.
Blistering temperatures and humidity gripped swaths of the United States on Wednesday, with the worst yet to come for the densely populated East Coast as the nation co-hosts the World Cup and prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday.
"Heat dome" conditions -- in which high-pressure systems trap warm air like the lid on a pot -- persisted over the Midwest and South and were moving east, with some 46 million people under heat alerts.
"We are entering what could be the most extreme heat wave this city has seen in over a decade," New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a video, adding he wanted people to stay safe while watching the World Cup, celebrating the Fourth of July or -- he joked -- "renting out MSG to get married, hypothetically."
Pop superstar Taylor Swift is rumored to have rented Manhattan's famed Madison Square Garden venue for her wedding to American football star Travis Kelce.
New York has designated hundreds of public buildings as cooling centers, extended public swimming pool hours, dispatched volunteers to check on vulnerable residents, and opened "pop up" cooling stations with misting fans and wet towels.
In the Midwestern city of Chicago, the energy grid was under "critical strain," utility ComEd said as air conditioning usage surged.
"Raise your thermostat as high as is comfortably safe," the company urged, while calling on residents to delay using laundry, dishwashers and electric vehicle chargers until after 8:00 pm.
More frequent, longer-lasting and more intense heat waves are one of the clearest signs of climate change, with Europe also recently hard hit.
Global average surface temperatures have risen roughly 2.5F above pre-industrial averages as a result of human-caused climate change, mainly driven by the burning of fossil fuels.

Records set to fall

From Thursday, the US capital Washington is forecast to have three consecutive days above 100F (38 C) -- the highest on Friday, when the mercury could touch 104F.
If the forecast bears out, the city's daily heat records would be broken each day, while Washington's all-time high temperature of 106F could also be in danger.
The heat comes as the nation prepares to celebrate on Saturday the 250th anniversary of its independence from Britain, with fireworks set to light up the skies over major cities, including New York and Washington.
Fireworks trigger spikes in harmful fine particulate matter that cause respiratory issues, with the combined effects of heat and smoke amplifying health impacts.
Jaden Martin, a 22-year-old who works in marketing and hails from the southwestern state of Arizona, told AFP he was visiting the capital to accompany his girlfriend who was attending a mathematics conference.
"We're good with the heat, but the humidity is a different beast," he said as he wheeled his rental bicycle along a section of the National Mall crowded with tourists. 

Seeking out AC

Teachers Cecile Hansen and Peter Helmkamp, who had traveled from Miami, Florida to attend the "Great American State Fair" recommended fans, sunblock, visors, and dipping into air conditioned cafes every 20 minutes.
"Drink lots of water and try to freeze a bottle of water before you come out," added Hansen, 50, who was carrying a handheld electric fan.
Meanwhile, football's World Cup is taking place under punishing conditions. 
A high of 102F is forecast for Saturday's clash between Paraguay and France in Philadelphia, where the game will be played in an open-air stadium, unlike some World Cup venues which are air-conditioned.
This edition of the World Cup requires players to take a three-minute "hydration break" every half.
ia/bgs

offbeat

Pair climb to top of Empire State Building for apparent proposal

  • The Empire State Building has an observation deck open to the public that offers stunning views of New York, but access to higher points is forbidden.
  • Two people were arrested Wednesday after they climbed up an antenna on the top of the Empire State Building in New York -- and possibly got engaged at the same time.
  • The Empire State Building has an observation deck open to the public that offers stunning views of New York, but access to higher points is forbidden.
Two people were arrested Wednesday after they climbed up an antenna on the top of the Empire State Building in New York -- and possibly got engaged at the same time.
The pair, wearing black with their faces covered, unfurled a banner on top of the 1,454-foot (443-meter) landmark that read "When the power of love beats the love of power, the world knows peace."
"Two individuals were taken into custody without incident. There are no injuries reported. Charges are pending, and the investigation is still ongoing," a New York police spokesman told AFP.
The man went down on one knee and appeared to propose to the woman, before they kissed and embraced.
The Empire State Building has an observation deck open to the public that offers stunning views of New York, but access to higher points is forbidden.
Still, some people have tried to scale the building in the past. It was not immediately clear how the pair reached the antenna. 
rh/eml/bjt/bgs

rescue

Spray-painted letters spell tragedy for Venezuela quake victims

BY MARGIONI BERMÚDEZ

  • Other spray-painted letters flag risks and indicate the condition of the marked buildings, which may either be restored or declared uninhabitable.
  • Dozens of crumbling buildings in Venezuela's decimated earthquake zone bear a spray-painted letter 'D' -- a sign that buries any hope of finding life beneath the rubble.
  • Other spray-painted letters flag risks and indicate the condition of the marked buildings, which may either be restored or declared uninhabitable.
Dozens of crumbling buildings in Venezuela's decimated earthquake zone bear a spray-painted letter 'D' -- a sign that buries any hope of finding life beneath the rubble.
The letter 'D', which stands for "deceased," is one of the UN-approved symbols being used by search-and-rescue missions in Venezuela, one week after deadly twin tremors struck the country.
Not everyone heeds the finality of the message, however, as frantic family and friends refuse to give up on loved ones trapped under the debris.
The marking appears on "the vast majority" of buildings destroyed in La Guaira, north of Caracas and the worst-hit region, Spanish rescue group coordinator Javier Rodes told AFP.
The letter ensures that "time isn't wasted in a place where there is no expectation of recovering people alive," he told AFP.
The quakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 killed almost 2,000 people, official figures showed, while the United Nations estimated 50,000 more are missing.
The disasters also damaged or destroyed more than 58,000 buildings, according to a preliminary assessment of satellite data published by US space agency NASA.

'Dignified burial'

Helen Guedez and her brother have chosen to disregard the ominous letter coloring the wall of the building that previously housed their dad, sister and grandmother.
As a backhoe cleared broken pieces of heavy walls, the siblings picked tirelessly through the mountain of tangled rubble.
"The building split starting at the sixth floor and the lower floors ended up underground," Guedez said, with only two survivors pulled from the collapsed nine-story structure so far.
"We are going to keep searching because we would like to recover our relatives' bodies and give them a dignified burial," she said.
Other spray-painted letters flag risks and indicate the condition of the marked buildings, which may either be restored or declared uninhabitable.
Venezuelan police use the letter 'X' to signal that a building is damaged beyond repair and should be demolished. 
Like Guedez, many residents pushed on with their desperate search despite the signposting.
"We're trying to at least recover the bodies," was the common refrain.
The critical 72-hour window during which survivors were still likely to be found closed on Saturday evening.
mbj/pgf/cc/acb

Wimbledon

Rufus the hawk patrolling Wimbledon tennis club

BY CAROLINE TAIX

  • Pigeons "have an extremely sophisticated olfactory system, so that they can smell grass seed when it's being sown," said Davis.
  • As day breaks over Wimbledon tennis club, Rufus the hawk is poised, ready to protect the world-famous immaculate grass courts from flocks of greedy pigeons foraging for seeds.
  • Pigeons "have an extremely sophisticated olfactory system, so that they can smell grass seed when it's being sown," said Davis.
As day breaks over Wimbledon tennis club, Rufus the hawk is poised, ready to protect the world-famous immaculate grass courts from flocks of greedy pigeons foraging for seeds.
Forget Serena and Venus, Jannik or Novak, Rufus is the real star of the prestigious London club which hosts the annual championships -- the only one of the tennis majors played on grass.
And he has been patrolling the skies and the lawns since 2008, ruling the roost at the centuries old site.
Every day he can be seen flying above Centre Court -- but only by the eagle-eyed who arrive between 4:00 am and 9:00 am before the public is admitted to the hallowed grounds.
"We start just as the sun's rising and all the birds are becoming active and that's when the best time to have a look around the grounds to see if there's any pigeons around that may cause a little bit of problem," his handler Donna Davis, 59, told AFP.
His job is to scare away the pigeons searching for a tasty snack, and to stop them nesting in the roofs of the club buildings.
The pesky pigeons aren't otherwise easily put off. Even ongoing matches fail to stop them gathering on a nearby terrace to eye up what treats await below.
Pigeons "have an extremely sophisticated olfactory system, so that they can smell grass seed when it's being sown," said Davis.
"So this is like the caviar of the seed for the birds."
The idea of bringing in a hawk came to Davis when she was watching a 1999 semi-final between American Pete Sampras and Britain's Tim Henman and saw the birds fly onto the court.
Numerous attempts to shoo them away, including Sampras batting his racquet at them, failed, and the match had to be suspended.
"I was like ... I can't believe this. Every point is critical and it stops the flow of the game," she said.
She called the club, and told them: "I think I can help you out. I have hawks and falcons that I fly." 
And so the first hawk, Hamish, was corralled into service. 

Stolen

A test followed with the flustered pigeons flying off, convincing the club owners, and Hamish, a Harris hawk, became a fixture at the two-week championships.
When the time came, Rufus took over as chief claw patrol when he was 18 weeks old. 
Now the dark brown bird with piercing eyes, measures one metre (three-feet) from wing tip to wing tip, and weighs about 700 grams.
On Centre Court he perches on the public seats on the lookout for any movement.
Even though Davis is repeatedly asked who will take over from Rufus, she rebuffs the question. These hawks can live to 30.
"I mean, people have asked here if when he pops his clogs ... can he be stuffed for the museum?" Davis joked.
When he's not at Wimbledon, Rufus chases away the birds at Lord's cricket ground and Westminster Abbey. And when he's not working he's at home in central Northamptonshire.
Over the years, he's become a media star. And he has his own Instagram account with more than 9,000 followers.
But his fame nearly cost him dearly. In 2012, he was stolen from Wimbledon when Davis had left him overnight in her van in his travelling cage.
A desperate search ensued. "We actually thought this was it, we were never going to be reunited."
In the end journalists from the Daily Mail tabloid found him in a rescue centre in south London.
"We still don't know what happened, but we were just more relieved that we got Rufus back," said Davis.
The next day he made the front page of The Times newspaper with the headline "Rufus is back". 
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finance

'Everybody's profiting': Trump defends $1bn crypto earnings

BY SAUL LOEB WITH DANNY KEMP IN WASHINGTON

  • "You know why I'm profiting, because the stock market's going up, everybody's profiting," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews near Washington.
  • US President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended earning $1.2 billion from his family's cryptocurrency activities last year, saying "everybody's profiting" from his time in power.
  • "You know why I'm profiting, because the stock market's going up, everybody's profiting," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews near Washington.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended earning $1.2 billion from his family's cryptocurrency activities last year, saying "everybody's profiting" from his time in power.
Taking his maiden flight aboard a new Air Force One plane gifted by Qatar, Trump rejected criticisms that he was using his presidency to enrich himself.
"You know why I'm profiting, because the stock market's going up, everybody's profiting," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews near Washington.
The 80-year-old Republican said his earnings were placed in blind trusts to ensure that he could not influence government policy to boost his fortune.
"I don't get involved in my personal (finances), we have funds that run my money," Trump said. "I've made a lot of money before I became president, and they invest my money, and I don't talk to them."
Trump also insisted that his wealth was due to his prior career, despite the fact that the earnings were related to crypto ventures launched during his first year back in the White House.
"I don't know if I've had a better career in politics or business, but I had a great career in business, and you know, you saw the cash, and you report the different things," he said.
"So we're all profiting. I'm profiting because I have a lot of money and a lot of cash."
According to financial disclosures released by the US Office of Government Ethics on Tuesday, Trump received nearly $550 million from his ties to the startup World Liberty Financial (WLF) in 2025.
WLF was co-founded in September 2024 by Trump's sons and the son of Trump's Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff. 
Trump's sons Donald Jr. and Eric were flying with their father on Wednesday aboard the new Air Force One jet, whose donation by Qatar has also raised ethical questions.
The 927-page filings also mention $635 million in royalties received under a licensing agreement related to the $TRUMP cryptocurrency, launched just hours before the president's inauguration in January 2025.
Trump also made millions from a host of branded merchandising sales, including of bumper stickers and bibles, the financial disclosure showed.
The president's crypto activities are the main reason for the near tripling of his personal fortune, which rose from $2.3 billion to $6.5 billion between 2024 and 2026, according to Forbes.
While in power, Trump has enacted measures to deregulate the sector, causing asset prices to soar.
The White House said in a statement on Tuesday that Trump had "proudly made the United States the crypto capital of the world."
"Neither the President nor his family has ever engaged -- or will ever engage -- in conflicts of interest," Principal Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to AFP.
The White House has aggressively pushed back against claims of conflicts of interest ever since Trump returned to power.
"This is a president who has actually lost money for being president of the United States," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in May 2025.
"I think it’s frankly ridiculous that anyone in this room would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit."
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