investigation

Swiss bar owners face wrath of bereaved families

climate

Trump dismantles legal basis for US climate rules

BY ISSAM AHMED

  • The president dismissed concerns that the repeal could cost lives by worsening climate change, reiterating his belief that human-caused global warming is a hoax. 
  • President Donald Trump on Thursday revoked a landmark scientific finding underpinning US regulations to curb planet-warming pollution, marking his biggest rollback of climate policy to date.
  • The president dismissed concerns that the repeal could cost lives by worsening climate change, reiterating his belief that human-caused global warming is a hoax. 
President Donald Trump on Thursday revoked a landmark scientific finding underpinning US regulations to curb planet-warming pollution, marking his biggest rollback of climate policy to date.
The repeal of the Environmental Protection Agency's 2009 "endangerment finding" was paired with the immediate elimination of greenhouse gas standards on automobiles.
But it also places a host of other climate rules in jeopardy, including carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and methane leaks for oil and gas producers. 
Legal challenges are expected to follow swiftly.

Climate change 'a scam'

"This determination had no basis in fact, had none whatsoever, and no basis in law," Trump said at a White House event.
The president dismissed concerns that the repeal could cost lives by worsening climate change, reiterating his belief that human-caused global warming is a hoax. 
"I tell them, don't worry about it, because it has nothing to do with public health," Trump said. "This was all a scam, a giant scam."
The administration also framed the measure as a cost-saving move, claiming it would generate more than $1 trillion in regulatory savings and bring down new car costs by thousands of dollars.
The announcement immediately drew condemnation from Democrats and green groups.
"We'll be less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change -- all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money," warned former president Barack Obama, under whose government the finding was created. 
Manish Bapna, president of the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council, told AFP it was the "single biggest attack in history on the United States federal government's efforts to tackle the climate crisis."

Key finding

The 2009 "endangerment finding" was a determination based on overwhelming scientific consensus that six greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare by fueling climate change.
It came about as a result of a prolonged legal battle ending in a 2007 Supreme Court decision, Massachusetts v. EPA, which ruled that greenhouse gases qualify as pollutants under the Clean Air Act and directed the EPA to determine whether they pose a danger to public health and welfare.
While it initially applied only to vehicle emissions, it later became the legal foundation for a broader suite of climate regulations, which are now vulnerable.  

Legal case

The final text of the repeal will be closely scrutinized.
Procedurally, the draft proposal argued that greenhouse gases should not be treated as pollutants in the traditional sense because their effects on human health are indirect and global rather than local.  
Regulating them within US borders, it contends, cannot meaningfully resolve a worldwide problem.
But the Supreme Court has re-affirmed the endangerment finding multiple times -- including as recently as 2022, when the court's composition was much the same as today.

Shaky science

The scientific arguments are just as shaky, critics say. The draft repeal sought to downplay the impact of human-caused climate change, citing a study commissioned by an Energy Department working group of skeptics to produce a report challenging the scientific consensus. 
That report was widely panned by researchers, who said it was riddled with errors and misrepresented the studies it cited. The working group itself was disbanded following a lawsuit by nonprofits that argued it was improperly convened. 
The administration has also leaned heavily on putative cost savings, without detailing how its figures have been calculated.
Environmental advocates say the administration is ignoring the other side of the ledger, including lives saved from reduced pollution and fuel savings from more efficient vehicles.
They also warn the rollback would further skew the market toward more gas-guzzling cars and trucks, undermining the American auto industry's ability to compete in the global race toward electric vehicles.
ia/mlm

US

Europe's most powerful rocket carries 32 satellites for Amazon Leo network into space

  • Rival Starlink, meanwhile, has nearly 9,400 satellites.
  • The most powerful version of Europe's Ariane 6 rocket Thursday carried 32 satellites into space for the Amazon Leo network, which aims to rival Elon Musk's Starlink.
  • Rival Starlink, meanwhile, has nearly 9,400 satellites.
The most powerful version of Europe's Ariane 6 rocket Thursday carried 32 satellites into space for the Amazon Leo network, which aims to rival Elon Musk's Starlink.
The launch from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on the northeastern coast of South America, is a first for Amazon Leo.
The largest number of satellites ever carried by an Ariane rocket successfully separated and set off toward their final orbit to applause from those following the event live at the control centre.
"What a day, what a launch!" exclaimed Arianespace CEO David Cavailloles, who said the operation proved the launcher's ability to "carry out the most complex missions".
"Amazon, your package has been delivered," French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X, speaking of a "European success".
US firm Amazon, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, is the main commercial partner for the Ariane 6 despite the latter being touted as a symbol of European sovereignty in the sector.
To take on the 32 satellites, the Ariane 6 was upgraded with four strap-on boosters, instead of the two used on the first five flights.
The increased number marks "our largest payload that we have launched to date," Martijn Van Delden, head of commercial development for Europe at Amazon Leo, told AFP. 
With 175 satellites already in orbit, Amazon Leo aims to expand its constellation to 3,200. 
Rival Starlink, meanwhile, has nearly 9,400 satellites.
"We're looking to then increase the payload every time we have a new mission, especially as more powerful boosters come online on Ariane 6," Van Delden said. 
"Ariane 6 is a perfect launcher for constellations" of satellites, said Arianespace CEO Cavailloles during a press briefing. 
He said the Amazon launches would help in training for a flagship multi-orbital constellation project of the European Union aimed at ensuring secure and sovereign connectivity, with deployment slated to begin in 2029.

'Build market confidence'

Ludwig Moeller, director of the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), warned that "over time a sovereign European launcher cannot be primarily dependent on foreign markets".
Foreign partners "may negotiate priority handling backed by economic power or which may become unpredictable or inaccessible without notice, given the current geopolitical environment and trade wars," he told AFP.
But in the absence of European commercial customers -- many of whom work with Musk's SpaceX -- the Amazon partnership is crucial.
Four out of five anticipated launches took place in 2025 following Ariane's inaugural 2024 flight, unprecedented for a new launcher, according to ArianeGroup president Marc Sion.
Although Ariane 6 is eventually expected to carry out 10 launches per year, Pierre Lionnet, Eurospace research director, noted that at this stage this would not be possible without commercial customers like Amazon.
Long-term investment is expected to amount to billions of euros to the European space sector. 
"If things go well here, it will help build market confidence," said Philippe Clar, ArianeGroup's head of launchers.
neo/cc/ach 

Global Edition

Neighbor of Canada mass shooter grieves after 'heartbreaking' attack

BY BEN SIMON

  • "How much do you know a (teenager)," said Laroque, who lived in Saudi Arabia with her oil worker husband, and in Edmonton, before settling in Tumbler Ridge 12 years ago.
  • Linda Laroque, a soft-spoken grandmother in the tiny town of Tumbler Ridge, lives two doors down from the person who carried out one of the worst mass shootings in Canadian history.
  • "How much do you know a (teenager)," said Laroque, who lived in Saudi Arabia with her oil worker husband, and in Edmonton, before settling in Tumbler Ridge 12 years ago.
Linda Laroque, a soft-spoken grandmother in the tiny town of Tumbler Ridge, lives two doors down from the person who carried out one of the worst mass shootings in Canadian history.
Before heading into a support group at a local church on Thursday, Laroque told AFP she was full of compassion for everyone in the shattered community of 2,400 people, including the shooter's family.
"My heart goes out to them," she said. "It's heartbreaking for everyone here."
Laroque said she met Jesse Van Rootselaar -- the transgender woman who killed her mother, stepbrother and six people at the local school before shooting herself -- "a few times," but they were not close.
"How much do you know a (teenager)," said Laroque, who lived in Saudi Arabia with her oil worker husband, and in Edmonton, before settling in Tumbler Ridge 12 years ago.
Laroque's 13-year-old granddaughter was at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School during Tuesday's attack.
"She was locked in a closet with 16 other kids. She said it smelled like wet dog."
Laroque said her granddaughter listened to the gunshots in the packed closet "including the last one when the shooter killed (herself)."
"She doesn't want to go back to school," Laroque said of her granddaughter.
"She doesn't think she can walk into that room again."

'Softer, kinder'

The picturesque town in a Rocky Mountain valley has been shaken by Tuesday's violence, which saw a 39-year-old female teacher, three 12-year-old girls and two boys, aged 13 and 12, shot dead at the school.
Residents have shown frustration at the surge of media attention, and some have expressed regret the mining town with stunning views will forever be synonymous with tragedy.
For Pastor George Rowe of the Tumbler Ridge Fellowship Baptist Church, the community's response since Tuesday may ultimately serve to highlight its strength.
If people see a tiny community rallying together after an unimaginable nightmare, they'll think, "there must be something there," he said.
"This will not break us," Rowe told AFP in his sparsely furnished church office.
"I think we're going to be OK."
While he remains optimistic about the future, Rowe was rattled by the hours following the attack.
He said he went to the community center once the lockdown was lifted, and sought to comfort families waiting to learn whether their children had survived.
"The silence was such that it was almost explosive," he said.
Police said the shooter was known to have mental health challenges, and there has been significant focus in the days following the attack on difficulty accessing mental healthcare in remote northern communities like Tumbler Ridge.
This was also a concern for Laroque, who said she was worried about people suffering with no access to support.
Since Tuesday's shooting, she's noticed a change in people's attitudes.
"People's voices are softer, kinder and gentler."
She told AFP she's been asked in recent days if she has any plans to leave.
"Why would I want to leave?... This is an amazing place with amazing people in it."
bs/des

politics

Trump ends immigration crackdown in Minnesota

  • "The Twin Cities, Minnesota in general, are and will continue to be, much safer for the communities here because of what we have accomplished under President Trump's leadership," Homan said at the briefing on the outskirts of Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul.
  • President Donald Trump's pointman on Thursday announced the end of an aggressive immigration operation in Minnesota that triggered large protests and nationwide outrage following the killing of two US citizens.
  • "The Twin Cities, Minnesota in general, are and will continue to be, much safer for the communities here because of what we have accomplished under President Trump's leadership," Homan said at the briefing on the outskirts of Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul.
President Donald Trump's pointman on Thursday announced the end of an aggressive immigration operation in Minnesota that triggered large protests and nationwide outrage following the killing of two US citizens.
Thousands of federal agents including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers conducted weeks of sweeping raids and arrests in what the administration claims were targeted missions against criminals.
"I have proposed and President Trump has concurred that this surge operation conclude," Trump official Tom Homan told a briefing outside Minneapolis. "A significant drawdown has already been underway this week and will continue through the next week."
The operation sparked tense demonstrations in the Minneapolis area, and the fatal separate shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti last month led to a wave of criticism.
Homan raised the prospect that the officers would move to another location but gave no details, and speculation is rife about which city might be targeted next.
"In the next week, we're going to deploy the officers here on detail, back to their home stations or other areas of the country where they are needed. But we're going to continue to enforce immigration law," he said.
Campaigning against illegal immigration helped Trump get elected in 2024, but daily videos from Minnesota of violent masked agents, and multiple reports of people being targeted on flimsy evidence, helped send the president's approval ratings plummeting.
The case of Liam Conejo Ramos, five, who was detained on January 20, also stoked anger.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the ICE operation in his city "had been catastrophic for our neighbors and businesses, and now it's time for a great comeback. 
"We will show the same commitment to our immigrant residents," he added.

'Unprecedented federal invasion'

After killings of Good and Pretti, the Republican president withdrew combative Customs and Border Protection commander Gregory Bovino and replaced him with Homan who sought to engage local Democratic leaders.
Minneapolis is a Democratic-run "sanctuary" city where local police do not cooperate with federal immigration officials.
Resident and banking product manager Molly, 42, told AFP "I don't buy it."
"They pulled the same public relations (stunt) in Los Angeles," she said referring to an immigration crackdown to the Californian city last summer.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called the ICE deployment in his state an "unprecedented federal invasion in all aspects of life."
"This is something I don't think any state has ever experienced," he said Thursday, adding that he was "cautiously optimistic" about the withdrawal.
Democrats have called for major reforms to ICE, including ending mobile patrols, prohibiting agents from concealing their faces and requiring warrants.
If political negotiations over ICE fail in Washington, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could face a funding shortfall starting Saturday.
On Thursday Democrats in the Senate blocked a push to fund DHS following an acrimonious four-hour hearing on the immigration crackdown.
Customs and Border Protection and ICE operations could continue using funds approved by Congress last year, but other sub-agencies such as federal disaster organization FEMA could be affected.
Homan said that some officers would stay behind in Minnesota but did not give a figure.
"The Twin Cities, Minnesota in general, are and will continue to be, much safer for the communities here because of what we have accomplished under President Trump's leadership," Homan said at the briefing on the outskirts of Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul.
He said more than 200 people had been arrested during the operation for interfering with federal officers, but gave no estimate for the number of immigration-linked arrests and deportations.
"The lasting impact of these traumas will reverberate for years, but our communities have shown how connected and resilient we are," Liz Digitale Anderson, a community organizer, told AFP.
gw/bgs

exoplanets

Strange 'inside-out' planetary system baffles astronomers

BY BéNéDICTE SALVETAT REY

  • "Yet here is a small, rocky world, defying expectations," he added.
  • Surprised astronomers said Thursday they have discovered a star with planets in a bizarre order that defies scientific expectations -- and suggests these faraway worlds formed in a manner never seen before.
  • "Yet here is a small, rocky world, defying expectations," he added.
Surprised astronomers said Thursday they have discovered a star with planets in a bizarre order that defies scientific expectations -- and suggests these faraway worlds formed in a manner never seen before.
In our Solar System, the four planets closest to the Sun are small and rocky, while the four farther out are gas giants.
Scientists had thought this planetary order -- rocky first, then gaseous -- was consistent across the universe.
However, a star called LHS 1903 discovered in the Milky Way's thick disc suggests otherwise.
An international team of astronomers analysing data from several different telescopes had already spotted three planets orbiting the red dwarf star, which is cooler and less bright than our Sun.
The closest planet to the star was rocky, followed by two gas giants. That is the order scientists expect.
But digging into observations made by Europe's exoplanet-probing Cheops space telescope revealed a fourth planet farther out in the system -- and it is rocky.
"That makes this an inside-out system, with a planet order of rocky-gaseous-gaseous-and then rocky again," explained Thomas Wilson, the lead author of a new study describing the discovery in the journal Science.
"Rocky planets don't usually form so far away from their home star," the planetary astrophysicist from University of Warwick in the UK said in a statement.

One planet after another

Inner planets are expected to be small and rocky because intense radiation from the nearby star blasts most of the gas away from their rocky core.
But farther out in the cold reaches of the system, a thick atmosphere can form around cores, creating gas giants.
Puzzled by the weird LHS 1903 planetary system, the team of astronomers tried to figure out what could have happened.
After ruling out several possibilities, they came up with a scenario: what if the planets formed one at a time?
According to the most widely accepted theory, planets form simultaneously in a massive ring of gas and dust called a protoplanetary disc. This involves tiny dust grains clumping together then snowballing into cores that eventually evolve into mighty planets.
However, by the time the fourth planet orbiting LHS 1903 formed, "the system may have already run out of gas," Wilson said.
"Yet here is a small, rocky world, defying expectations," he added.
"It seems that we have found first evidence for a planet which formed in what we call a gas-depleted environment."
Since the 1990s, astronomers have discovered more than 6,000 planets outside our Solar System -- called exoplanets -- mostly by spotting slight changes in brightness as they cross in front of their star.
"Historically, our planet formation theories are based on what we see and know about our Solar System," said Isabel Rebollido, a planetary disc researcher at the European Space Agency.
"As we are seeing more and more different exoplanet systems, we are starting to revisit these theories."
ber-dl/jhb

investigation

Swiss bar owners face wrath of bereaved families

BY CHARLENE PERSONNAZ

  • Gulcin Kaya, the mother of an 18-year-old who died in the fire, approached the Morettis in the scrum as they arrived, shouting at them: "Where is my son?
  • Bereaved relatives on Thursday angrily confronted the owners of a Swiss bar that caught fire during New Year celebrations, heckling them as they arrived to face questions over the fatal tragedy.
  • Gulcin Kaya, the mother of an 18-year-old who died in the fire, approached the Morettis in the scrum as they arrived, shouting at them: "Where is my son?
Bereaved relatives on Thursday angrily confronted the owners of a Swiss bar that caught fire during New Year celebrations, heckling them as they arrived to face questions over the fatal tragedy.
Ten or so relatives were outside the hearing venue in Sion, waiting for French couple Jacques and Jessica Moretti, who own Le Constellation in the ski resort of Crans-Montana.
The bar caught fire in the early hours of January 1, with 41 people, mostly teenagers, losing their lives, and another 115 injured in the blaze, most of whom remain in hospitals and rehabilitation clinics.
Prosecutors believe the fire started when champagne bottles with sparklers attached were raised too close to the ceiling in the bar's basement level, igniting the sound insulation foam.
Gulcin Kaya, the mother of an 18-year-old who died in the fire, approached the Morettis in the scrum as they arrived, shouting at them: "Where is my son? Where is he?"
Jacques Moretti replied: "We will take responsibility, we will face up to it, we promise you, we are here for justice," while his wife, in tears, struggled to make her way inside.

Families 'destroyed'

"You killed my big brother, you bitch, do you understand! Look me in the eyes: you killed my brother," shouted 14-year-old Tobyas, the brother of Trystan Pidoux, 17, who died in the fire.
He told reporters: "I'd like her to see how she destroyed families. Not only did she kill people, but she destroyed the families behind them."
He said of his brother: "I can't believe I'll never see him again."
The boys' father Christian Pidoux wore a t-shirt bearing a picture of his deceased son.
"We're doing this so that it never happens again. That's our goal: never again," he told reporters.
"It's only so that they see the eyes of the fathers, brothers, sisters," he said.
"Some children melted -- they no longer have a face, a nose, a mouth, an ear."
Samhare Saleh, a friend of the Pidoux family, said: "We demand justice, we demand the truth for all those children who have died and those who are still in the hospital, who are between life and death."
Switzerland's Federal Office for Civil Protection told AFP that as of Monday, 39 patients were being treated in burns centres abroad, while Swiss news agency ATS said 25 remained in Swiss hospitals, with further patients in rehabilitation clinics.

Call for calm

The Morettis are under criminal investigation, facing charges of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence.
Two others are also under criminal investigation -- Crans-Montana's current head of public safety and a former fire safety officer in the town.
Lawyer Romain Jordan, who represents several families, called for "dignity, serenity and respect" all round.
He said the deputy public prosecutor had "appealed for calm", adding: "I believe that call was heard."

'No forgiveness'

Trystan Pidoux's mother Vinciane Stucky went inside and witnessed Thursday's interview.
During the hearing, "Jacques Moretti tried to ask me for forgiveness, but I told him to look away and stare at the floor, because you don't ask for forgiveness for things like that," she said.
During a break on Wednesday, the Morettis met with Leila Micheloud, the mother of two daughters injured in the blaze. They spoke for around 20 minutes.
"There was no forgiveness... I do not forgive them, I listened to them and that's where it stops," Micheloud said Thursday on Facebook, adding that the meeting was "impromptu".
Alain Viscolo, a lawyer representing two victims, said it was time for the investigation to start considering the role of the authorities, "namely those who had the power to oversee fire safety".
He told AFP that a complaint had been filed against the president of Crans-Montana commune.
str-apo/rjm/rlp

US

Rubio heads to Munich to heap pressure on Europeans

BY LéON BRUNEAU

  • In Munich on Friday and Saturday, Rubio is expected to keep pushing Europe to share the burden, especially on matters of common defense.
  • US Secretary of State Marco Rubio heads to the Munich Security Conference, which opens Friday, with the aim of keeping the pressure on Europe, though the tone is expected to be less confrontational than last year.
  • In Munich on Friday and Saturday, Rubio is expected to keep pushing Europe to share the burden, especially on matters of common defense.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio heads to the Munich Security Conference, which opens Friday, with the aim of keeping the pressure on Europe, though the tone is expected to be less confrontational than last year.
In 2025, President Donald Trump's newly minted Vice President JD Vance launched a stark attack on European policies on immigration, populist parties and free speech, saying that freedom of expression was "in retreat" across the continent.
Vance also seemed to embrace the views of far-right parties such as Germany's AfD.
But this year, the vice president -- who just finished a visit to Armenia and Azerbaijan -- is staying home.
Rubio, who is seen as less of an ideologue, will lead the US delegation to the annual security and defense talks, which run through Sunday in the Bavarian capital. 
But even if the secretary of state is more... diplomatic than Vance, the United States nevertheless intends to push its European allies, who are still reeling from the political crisis over Trump's demands to acquire Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory.

Crisis of confidence

Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump -- who has said the European Union was created to "screw" the United States -- has had the continent in his sights.
In his new National Security Strategy, published in December, Trump slammed Europe as an over-regulated continent lacking in "self-confidence" and facing "civilizational erasure" due to immigration.
In Munich on Friday and Saturday, Rubio is expected to keep pushing Europe to share the burden, especially on matters of common defense.
But his trip comes amid a major breakdown in trust between Washington and European capitals in the wake of the Greenland drama, which rattled transatlantic relations.
What was once seen as inconceivable -- a NATO country threatening to seize territory from an ally -- became reality, forcing European nations to stand firm in protest.
The unpredictable Republican US president backed off his threats of seizure and tariffs at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, instead touting a framework deal with NATO for security in the Arctic.
But the incident left a trail of collateral damage, several European diplomats said on condition of anonymity.
For Philip Gordon, an expert at the Brookings Institution think tank and veteran of former Democratic administrations, Trump "doesn't see a unified Europe as a partner of the United States, but a threat to the United States."
"The more unified it is, the more he doesn't like it," Gordon told journalists last week including AFP.
A poll conducted by Politico showed that more than 50 percent of German respondents do not see the United States as a "reliable" ally.

Free speech

Besides Greenland, the agenda will also include the durability of transatlantic unity, the US security umbrella and the war in Ukraine -- as well as ties with Moscow.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who is making the trip to Germany, has said he hopes for a resumption of talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin. 
For now, such talks are only being held between Washington and Moscow.
The Munich meetings will take place just a few days before Trump convenes the inaugural session of his so-called "Board of Peace" on February 19 in Washington.
Trump initially set up the board to manage postwar Gaza, but it appears now that its purview may extend beyond the Palestinian territory. Some have criticized it as an apparent rival to the United Nations.
Even without Vance in town, the sensitive issue of free speech in Europe will be on the agenda in Munich, as Rubio will be accompanied by Sarah Rogers, his undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and a sharp critic of EU policies.
The United States has fought Europe on its moves to regulate Big Tech and fight disinformation, calling both a means of crippling free speech.
Rubio will head from Munich to Slovakia and then Hungary. Both are run by nationalist leaders who have earned Trump's support.
lb/sst/des

film

Less glamour, more content, says Wim Wenders of Berlin Film Fest

BY JASTINDER KHERA

  • Later on the red carpet Wenders told AFP that this year's films reflected a trend towards "less glamour, but more content".
  • Berlin Film Festival jury president Wim Wenders said Thursday that this year's 76th edition of the festival would have "less glamour" but "more content" in its eclectic selection.
  • Later on the red carpet Wenders told AFP that this year's films reflected a trend towards "less glamour, but more content".
Berlin Film Festival jury president Wim Wenders said Thursday that this year's 76th edition of the festival would have "less glamour" but "more content" in its eclectic selection.
At a news conference to mark the beginning of the festival on Thursday morning, Wenders hailed the power of cinema to "change the world" while cautioning that "no movie has really changed any politician's idea".
"We can change the idea that people have of how they should live," said 80-year-old Wenders, who himself won an honorary Golden Bear award at the festival in 2015 in recognition of an illustrious career stretching back to the 1970s.
The Berlinale is the first major international festival on the annual film calendar, and has a reputation for topical and progressive programming.
This year's edition takes place against the backdrop of international tensions, the bloody crackdown on protests in Iran and global threats to human rights.
Later on the red carpet Wenders told AFP that this year's films reflected a trend towards "less glamour, but more content".
"I love glamour but I love it even more if movies are about who we are and what we are doing," he said.
Asked about his relationship with American filmmakers working in the tense current climate under President Donald Trump, Wenders said: "I have a lot of allies in America and they make some movies that are extremely necessary right now.
"You followed the Superbowl, so America is waking up in many ways," said Wenders, alluding to Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny's groundbreaking Spanish-language set.

'Opportunity' for Afghan cinema

The festival's opening film, "No Good Men", by Iran-born Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat, tells the story of Naru, a reporter at a Kabul TV station going through an acrimonious separation from her husband and who is increasingly questioning her beliefs about men.
The film is set in the run-up to the Taliban authorities' seizure of power in 2021, which led Sadat herself to leave the country. She now lives in Hamburg.
Sadat, who also plays the lead role of Naru, told AFP she was delighted and "surprised" to be chosen to open the festival.
"It took time until I could put myself together and realise what a big honour it is for me," Sadat told AFP.
Afghan filmmakers are "trying to figure out... what does it mean to be the storyteller of our own stories", Sadat said.
"So I think for the young Afghan cinema it's really a great opportunity," she said.
Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, who won the Best Actress Oscar in 2023 for "Everything Everywhere All at Once", received an Honorary Golden Bear at this year's festival.
Speaking at the opening ceremony Yeoh said: "In a world that so easily divides us, gathering in the dark to share a story feels quietly radical."
More than 200 films will be shown over the 10 days of the festival, of which 22 will be in competition for the top prize, the Golden Bear.
As was the case last year, around 40 percent of films being shown at the festival are from women directors, including nine of the 22 films in official competition.

'Biting satire'

In comparison with Cannes or Venice, Berlin attracts fewer big productions with A-list-heavy casts.
But Russell Crowe and Ethan Hawke star in "The Weight", a tale of a man forced to smuggle gold through the lethal wilderness of Depression-era rural Oregon.
Southern Germany stands in for the US Northwest in the film, one of an increasing number of US productions choosing to shoot abroad to save on costs.
In official competition, one of the most eagerly awaited films is "Rosebush Pruning", from Berlinale favourite Karim Ainouz, billed as "a biting satire about the absurdity of the traditional patriarchal family".
The cast boasts Elle Fanning, Callum Turner, Jamie Bell and Pamela Anderson, who are sure to be some of Saturday's red-carpet highlights.
German actress Sandra Hueller, who attracted international acclaim for her roles in "Anatomy of a Fall" and "The Zone of Interest", stars in Markus Schleinzer's "Rose". She plays a woman passing herself off as a male soldier returning to a German village in the early 17th century.
Also in competition, Amy Adams stars as a woman leaving rehab and confronting buried trauma in Kornel Mundruczo's "At the Sea".
And in Beth de Araujo's "Josephine", Channing Tatum plays the father of a child traumatised by witnessing a violent crime.
agu-pyv-jsk/jj

diplomacy

What is going on with Iran-US talks?

BY STUART WILLIAMS AND SUSANNAH WALDEN

  • - Trump has never ruled out military action on Iran after its crackdown on protests, although he is now focusing on a deal over the nuclear drive.
  • Iran and the United States have yet to set a date for a new round of talks after an initial encounter last week on the contested Iranian nuclear programme but, for now, US President Donald Trump is not rushing to launch military action against the Islamic republic.
  • - Trump has never ruled out military action on Iran after its crackdown on protests, although he is now focusing on a deal over the nuclear drive.
Iran and the United States have yet to set a date for a new round of talks after an initial encounter last week on the contested Iranian nuclear programme but, for now, US President Donald Trump is not rushing to launch military action against the Islamic republic.
AFP looks at a critical juncture in the modern history of Iran in the wake of the crackdown on the biggest protests in years in January that according to rights groups has left thousands dead.

Where is diplomacy?

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on February 6 held talks in Oman with US envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's influential son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The talks were indirect, with the Omanis acting as mediator, although Tehran did later confirm that there was a handshake.
Iran's supreme national security council head Ali Larijani, a mainstay of the establishment for the last decades, this week followed this up with visits to Oman and then US ally Qatar.
There was speculation about the contents of a piece of paper he brandished during the visit to Oman, but so far no new date for talks has been set.
"We didn't have a letter for the Americans, but our Omani friends had some communications," Larijani told Iranian state television.
"There were some remarks the Omani side told us on behalf of the Americans," he added, without offering further clues.
Trump had hailed the Oman talks as "very good" and said there would be another meeting "early" this week, something that has not materialised.

Is there room for compromise?

In an upbeat interview with the Financial Times, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan indicated that compromise was possible on the key sticking point of uranium enrichment.
The West believes Iran is seeking a nuclear bomb, a charge Tehran denies, and wants a halt to uranium enrichment, a key step in weaponising an atomic programme.
"It is positive that the Americans appear willing to tolerate Iranian enrichment within clearly set boundaries," said Fidan, who has held talks with Iranian and American counterparts.
In a statement after meeting Trump on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the American president thinks he is creating conditions that could achieve "a good deal".
But Netanyahu expressed "general scepticism" and demanded that any deal also consider Iran's ballistic missiles and support for regional proxies and not just the nuclear programme.
However, Iran's number one, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who for years has pushed a line of confrontation with Washington, has yet to give any public blessing to the diplomacy.
"The enemies who sought to subjugate the Iranian nation through their statements and plans have been thwarted," he said in a message broadcast by state television hailing the turnout Wednesday at rallies commemorating the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Is Trump still threatening Iran?

Trump has never ruled out military action on Iran after its crackdown on protests, although he is now focusing on a deal over the nuclear drive.
More than 7,000 people were killed, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency NGO, the vast majority of them -- 6,506 -- protesters.
An American naval group led by aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and dubbed an "armada" by Trump remains in Middle Eastern waters in a clear warning to Iran.
But the talks in Washington on Wednesday between Trump and Netanyahu, who has long urged a tougher US line on Iran, ended with Trump saying he had insisted "negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated".
Trump added on Thursday: "We have to make a deal, otherwise it's going to be very traumatic, very traumatic. I don't want that to happen, but we have to make a deal."
The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington was readying the deployment of a second aircraft carrier strike group to the region, even if no final decision had been taken and plans could change.
The deployment could take place within a timescale of two weeks and the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush could be ready to "expedite" exercises it was currently involved in, it said.
Israel in June waged a 12-day war with Iran backed by the US that was widely seen as degrading -- but not destroying -- Iranian nuclear and ballistic capabilities.

What happens next?

Ross Harrison, senior fellow with the US-based Middle East Institute and author of "Decoding Iran's Foreign Policy", argued that the talks represented more of a US "ultimatum" towards Iran rather than "true negotiations".
By participating, Iran was trying to "buy some time, so they can rebuild their missile programme and so forth -- not necessarily the nuclear programme -- but the missile programme", he said, adding that the target audience of Tehran's diplomatic efforts was not necessarily Washington.
"Israel is pushing Trump towards more aggression, but Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Qatar and the UAE (United Arab Emirates) are trying to push Trump towards an authentic diplomatic track," he said.
"What the Iranians are doing is showing some good faith by attending these talks, but the real target is not the United States. I think it's our Gulf Arab allies that can possibly forestall a military attack," he added.
sjw/sw/amj

elephants

The secret to an elephant's grace? Whiskers

BY MAGGY DONALDSON

  • New research published Thursday in the journal Science details how the whiskers that cover an elephant's trunk have unique properties that lend the largest land mammals remarkable dexterity.
  • An elephant's trunk can surpass a human's height and lift trees -- a marvel of strength that's conversely so gentle it can grasp a tortilla chip without breaking it.
  • New research published Thursday in the journal Science details how the whiskers that cover an elephant's trunk have unique properties that lend the largest land mammals remarkable dexterity.
An elephant's trunk can surpass a human's height and lift trees -- a marvel of strength that's conversely so gentle it can grasp a tortilla chip without breaking it.
So how do the thick-skinned animals with poor eyesight pull off such delicate tasks? In a word, whiskers.
New research published Thursday in the journal Science details how the whiskers that cover an elephant's trunk have unique properties that lend the largest land mammals remarkable dexterity.
Elephants are born with about 1,000 of these bristles, lead author Andrew Schulz told AFP, many of them anchored in the trunk's wrinkles to act like feelers and help the animals assess their surroundings.
A team of engineers, materials scientists and neuroscientists analyzed the geometry, porosity and material properties of these whiskers, and expected them to mimic the whiskers found on mice or rats -- circular at a cross-section, solid and uniformly stiff.
In fact, elephant whiskers are almost blade-like, with a porous architecture similar to sheep horns, which helps with shock absorption while eating.
And a gradiated shape and structure from base to tip allows for an amplified sense of touch, Schulz said.
"The craziest finding that we had, I think, was that these whiskers have this transition from a really, really rigid base to a very, very soft tip," said the researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany.
Part of elephants' whisker evolution is to prevent breakage, said Schulz. Unlike most mammals with whiskers, those of elephants don't grow back.

Elephant-inspired advances

Many animals have sensory hairs that can act as a radar, but few quite so precise as the elephant's.
Schulz said a rat's whiskers, for example, also picks up vibrations -- but it's akin to smashing down a handful of keys on a piano.
To an elephant's whiskers, it's more like hitting specific notes.
Researchers voiced excitement that cat whiskers have a similar kind of material intelligence and stiffness gradient.
The elephant's gradiated structure can help with things like object differentiation while foraging and eating -- which they spend the vast majority of their time doing.
Elephants are also well-documented using their trunks for social touch -- "they're using the outside of their trunk," Schulz said, "so they're using those portions that are covered in the whiskers."
Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell -- a behavioral ecologist and elephant expert who has focused on how the giant mammals communicate and detect signals through their feet -- called the findings "fascinating."
"This is really exciting for me to see just more affirmation of how sensitive their trunks really are," she told AFP.
"There's some really interesting, intriguing thoughts for the next steps, for what one could ask in terms of the behavioral application of this," O'Connell-Rodwell said.
"Not only would this allow them to say, reach up into a tree and feel around for fruit or a seed pod with better agility, but it also has implications for communication."
There's also a wealth of technological possibilities elephant whiskers could inspire, not least when it comes to robotics, Schulz said.
And "part of the novelty of this work is functional gradients exist everywhere in biology," the researcher said. 
The stiff base-to-soft tip structure also appears in rotator cuffs or ACL ligaments, he said for example -- and better understanding those structures and how they might impact sensing could perhaps allow for improved repair techniques.
mdo/sms

science

Chance glimpse of star collapse offers new insight into black hole formation

BY MAGGY DONALDSON

  • The astronomer also said the star identified was slightly smaller than one scientists would "nominally expect to turn into a black hole."
  • A watched pot never boils and love happens when you least expect it -- turns out, the same logic applies to capturing a star as it collapses into a black hole.
  • The astronomer also said the star identified was slightly smaller than one scientists would "nominally expect to turn into a black hole."
A watched pot never boils and love happens when you least expect it -- turns out, the same logic applies to capturing a star as it collapses into a black hole.
At least that proved true for one group of researchers whose work took a turn when they accidentally witnessed what appears to be an example of the astronomical unicorn, a "surprise" discovery they detailed in findings published Thursday in the journal Science.
It's the strongest observational record yet of the long-theorized phenomenon that some stars simply fade into black holes, the authors say.
Lead author and astrophysicist Kishalay De told AFP the project began as something quite different, a study of stars under infrared light in the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy.
But the team encountered an unusual stellar object that brightened... and then dimmed until it disappeared.
"That's where the mystery really started," said De, a professor at New York's Columbia University and researcher at the Flatiron Institute. 
Researchers were using long-term observations from NASA's NEOWISE mission, which used a space telescope that surveyed the sky in infrared to detect and characterize near-Earth objects.
They were able to piece together a large data set, going back through those archives and others more than a decade to study what they'd seen.
It's not the first time scientists have spotted a convincing example of a "failed supernova" -- when a star's core collapses directly into a black hole and starts shedding its turbulent outer layers without a dazzling explosion.
Another prime candidate was identified in research published about a decade ago. 
De said this new observation offers another clue -- and one that comes from the closest galaxy to ours, about 2.5 million light-years from Earth, meaning it was much brighter and easier to examine.
Daniel Holz -- a University of Chicago astrophysicist focused on black holes, who was not involved in the study -- told AFP the "serendipitous" nature of the latest example makes it particularly exciting.
Because it popped up within a larger-scale data collection, there was a backlog of images to analyze -- what Holz likened to "baby pictures," or earlier documentation that could tie together the research.

'Dying gasp'

Scientists have long carried out efforts trying to find individual stars in nearby galaxies that abruptly disappear, "but to catch them in the act is hard," Holz said, explaining that the death of a star often comes after billions of years of living.
"You have to be really lucky," he said. "You can't just look at one star and say, 'I'm just going to sit here and wait.'"
De said that's precisely why this new research could be door-opening.
When stars die they're thought to shed their outer layers and thus appear brighter for a time -- in this case, that shift "was flagged to us in infrared light, and that's what led to the discovery," De said.
"It really points us to a completely new method of identifying the disappearance of stars, by not just looking for the individual stars disappearing, but to look for the infrared brightening that's associated with the process," De said, what he called the star's "dying gasp."
The astronomer also said the star identified was slightly smaller than one scientists would "nominally expect to turn into a black hole."
At the end of its life, De said it would have been approximately five times the mass of the Sun -- giant, but about half the size they might have anticipated.
"What this really tells us is that what we've assumed about the landscape of stars that turn into black holes might be much wider than what we've anticipated in the past," he said.
Holz said this latest research is an "exciting step" in "teasing out the role of black holes in the universe."
"This is another example of, you know, they're really out there," he said. "And that's just really, unbelievably cool."
mdo/sms

UN

UN climate chief says 'new world disorder' threatens cooperation

BY HAZEL WARD WITH LAURENT THOMET IN PARIS

  • Stiell warned that international climate cooperation was "under unprecedented threat: from those determined to use their power to defy economic and scientific logic, and increase dependence on polluting coal, oil and gas".
  • The UN's climate chief on Thursday urged countries to unite against an "unprecedented threat" to international cooperation from pro-fossil fuel forces -- issuing the appeal as US President Donald Trump rattles the global order.
  • Stiell warned that international climate cooperation was "under unprecedented threat: from those determined to use their power to defy economic and scientific logic, and increase dependence on polluting coal, oil and gas".
The UN's climate chief on Thursday urged countries to unite against an "unprecedented threat" to international cooperation from pro-fossil fuel forces -- issuing the appeal as US President Donald Trump rattles the global order.
Simon Stiell, the head of the United Nations climate body, spoke in Istanbul as Turkey prepares to host the COP31 climate summit on its Mediterranean coast later this year, with Australia leading the negotiations.
"COP31 in Antalya will take place in extraordinary times. We find ourselves in a new world disorder," Stiell said in an address alongside the president-designate of COP31, Turkish environment minister Murat Kurum.
"This is a period of instability and insecurity. Of strong arms and trade wars. The very concept of international cooperation is under attack," he said.
He did not name any countries but his plea comes as climate action is competing with concerns over security and economic growth around the world.
Trump has championed oil, gas and coal while moving to withdraw the United States from the UN's bedrock climate treaty after pulling out of the Paris Agreement, the landmark deal reached in 2015 on curbing global warming.
Stiell said in a news conference that the "door remains open" to welcoming the United States back to the fold.
The American leader, who has called global warming a "hoax", revoked on Thursday a landmark scientific finding that underpins US regulations aimed at curbing planet-warming pollution.
Trump has also rattled European allies with his desire to acquire Greenland, as shrinking Arctic sea ice is turning the region into a strategic battleground.

'Antidote to the chaos'

Other nations have resisted moving away from oil, gas and coal.
The COP30 summit in Brazil late last year ended with a modest deal that lacked any explicit mention of fossil fuels amid opposition from oil giants such as Saudi Arabia, coal producer India and others.
The United States, the world's top economy and second-biggest polluter after China, shunned COP30.
The last three years have been the hottest globally on record, driven by rising greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change.
Stiell warned that international climate cooperation was "under unprecedented threat: from those determined to use their power to defy economic and scientific logic, and increase dependence on polluting coal, oil and gas".
"Those forces are undeniably strong. But they need not prevail. There is a clear alternative to this chaos and regression," he said.
"And that is countries standing together, building on all we have achieved to date, to make it (international global cooperation) go further and faster."
He noted that investment in clean energy was more than double that of fossil fuels last year, while renewables overtook coal as the top electricity source.
"Security is the word on most leaders' lips, yet many cling to a definition that is dangerously narrow," Stiell said, warning that rising greenhouse gases mean "escalating climate extremes fuelling famine, displacement, and war".
Stiell urged nations to deliver on their 2023 agreement at COP28 in Dubai to triple clean energy capacity by 2030 and transition away from fossil fuels, and for the most ambitious to form "coalitions of the willing".
"Climate cooperation is an antidote to the chaos and coercion of this moment, and clean energy is the obvious solution to spiralling fossil fuel costs, both human and economic," he said.
Turkey will host COP31 while Australia will chair the negotiations under a compromise that was agreed late last year to end a dispute over where the event would take place.
Kurum said Turkey and Australia would work together to present a "robust" COP31 action agenda in March.
"Regression in global climate action is unacceptable," Kurum said.
bur-lt/phz/cc

Carney

Canada PM to visit town in mourning after mass shooting

BY BEN SIMON

  • The streets of the town, population 2,400, were largely deserted Thursday, with most stores closed as residents observed a day of mourning.
  • Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will soon visit a remote mining town that was in deep shock on Thursday as it mourned eight people killed in a school mass shooting.
  • The streets of the town, population 2,400, were largely deserted Thursday, with most stores closed as residents observed a day of mourning.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will soon visit a remote mining town that was in deep shock on Thursday as it mourned eight people killed in a school mass shooting.
Such violence is rare in Canada, which has strict gun control laws unlike in the neighboring United States. Police say they do not know the motive of the 18-year-old shooter who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Carney will visit Tumbler Ridge after arrangements are made with local authorities grappling with Tuesday's attack, the premier's office said.
The streets of the town, population 2,400, were largely deserted Thursday, with most stores closed as residents observed a day of mourning.
Near the school, a bouquet of flowers and stuffed animals were placed at the foot of a tree. Yellow police tape surrounded the school buildings and a snow-covered volleyball court.
Known for its proximity to the Canadian Rockies, the town shunned journalists reporting on the tragedy.
The British Columbia provincial government canceled all official business and observed a minute of silence.
Police said Jesse Van Rootselaar, a transgender woman, killed her mother and stepbrother before shooting dead six people at the town's high school -- a 39-year-old female teacher, three 12-year-old girls and two boys, aged 13 and 12.

Candlelight vigil

Van Rootselaar, who dropped out of the school four years ago, was known to have mental health issues.
Nearly everyone in the town has a connection to one of the victims. Hundreds gathered for a candlelight vigil Wednesday night.
"I couldn't wrap my head around it," said Emphraim Almazan, a miner who moved to the tight-knit community three years ago. "I was like, there's no way it happened in Tumbler Ridge."
The tragedy ranks among Canada's deadliest, following the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting which claimed 22 lives and led to a ban on many assault weapons.
Authorities are investigating Van Rootselaar's previous interactions with police and health care providers.
Van Rootselaar held a firearms license which had lapsed, and weapons had previously been confiscated -- but were subsequently returned.
"I have a lot of questions," British Columbia Premier David Eby told a news conference outside town hall Wednesday evening. "I know the people of Tumbler Ridge have a lot of questions."
Carney made an emotional address to parliament, saying "these children and their teachers bore witness to unheard of cruelty." 
He described Tumbler Ridge as a town of miners, teachers and construction workers who represent "the very best of Canada: resilient, compassionate and strong."
tib/dw/bgs

Oly

Ukraine says Russia behind fake posts targeting Winter Olympics team

BY ANNA MALPAS WITH EDUARD STARKBAUER IN BRATISLAVA

  • "Russians have rolled out an information campaign to discredit Ukraine," Kyiv's centre for countering disinformation said Thursday.
  • Ukraine blamed a Russian disinformation campaign Thursday after fake news posted online about its Winter Olympics team, including a story criticising an athlete disqualified for trying to highlight war deaths.
  • "Russians have rolled out an information campaign to discredit Ukraine," Kyiv's centre for countering disinformation said Thursday.
Ukraine blamed a Russian disinformation campaign Thursday after fake news posted online about its Winter Olympics team, including a story criticising an athlete disqualified for trying to highlight war deaths.
The fake posts, which racked up over a million views across multiple platforms, included a claim about Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych, banned from competing Thursday for wearing a helmet with images of athletes killed in the war.
"Russians have rolled out an information campaign to discredit Ukraine," Kyiv's centre for countering disinformation said Thursday.
"With such fakes, Russia is trying to discredit Ukrainians and undermine international support for Ukraine," Ukraine's sports minister Matviy Bidny told AFP.
One post digitally manipulated a text story by Reuters news agency about Heraskevych. It added false claims that his brother recruited soldiers for the war and a Hungarian athlete wore a sticker saying "we're all fed up with U(kraine)".
AFP saw Russian-language accounts on X make similar claims.
Other false stories online included claims that Ukrainian team members had been housed separately due to "toxic" behaviour; that doping controls had been eased for them to take "psychoactive substances"; and that 52 of their translators had absconded.
A fake video with a logo similar to US E! News entertainment television claimed rapper Snoop Dogg -- who is covering the games for US network NBC -- had refused a photo with the Ukraine team because of the country's army's "Nazism".
The posts are part of a Russian-aligned campaign called Operation Overload that was also active during the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, said Pablo Maristany de las Casas, an analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue think tank.
Some posts impersonate media such as Euronews while others imitate the Israeli espionage agency Mossad and even the Italian health ministry, he said.
The campaign aims to discredit not just Ukrainian athletes but also refugees, he said, with a message that "Ukrainians are sowing chaos".

'Propaganda network'

Other false claims included that the Ukrainian feminist collective Femen had vandalised the Colosseum, and that Ukraine had taken away the passports of athletes' family members to stop them defecting.
Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation said it had identified a "coordinated" campaign of "completely falsified" stories that had first appeared on Russian-language Telegram channels.
These were then "amplified by a network of propaganda accounts", it added.
Canadian broadcaster CBC released its own fact check of a fake news video about Ukrainian athletes. The fake report had used the first 15 seconds of a genuine video from its social media, featuring CBC chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault, it said.
Then an "AI-generated version of Adrienne's voice takes over", said CBC fact-check producer Avneet Dhillon.
The reporter appears to say the Ukrainian team has been accommodated "as far away as possible" from others because the athletes were "extremely toxic" at the Paris Olympics.
The real video did not mention Ukraine or Ukrainian athletes, CBC said.
The International Olympic Committee's press team told AFP the Ukrainians were in the same facilities as other teams. It called the video "absolutely false and an attempt at deliberate misrepresentation".
This video began circulating on a Russian-language Telegram channel called "Odessa for Victory" on February 5, said Provereno Media, a fact-checking organisation based in Estonia.
The posts, amplified by bots, have been viewed over one million times, it added -- and the story has been picked up by pro-Kremlin media citing it as coming from CBC.
An AFP fact-checker saw also this claim circulating on Slovak-language accounts on Facebook.
burs-es-am/nla/jj

politics

Thousands of Venezuelans stage march for end to repression

  • Referring to the slow release of prisoners over the past five weeks, the demonstrators chanted: "Not one or two, but all."
  • Thousands of Venezuelans demonstrated on Thursday to demand the release of all remaining political prisoners and full freedoms a month after the overthrow of autocratic leader Nicolas Maduro.
  • Referring to the slow release of prisoners over the past five weeks, the demonstrators chanted: "Not one or two, but all."
Thousands of Venezuelans demonstrated on Thursday to demand the release of all remaining political prisoners and full freedoms a month after the overthrow of autocratic leader Nicolas Maduro.
"We are not afraid," the demonstrators chanted at the first major opposition rally since Maduro's capture by US forces, creating scenes that would have been unthinkable during his repressive rule.
Elsewhere in Caracas, thousands of people attended a counter-demonstration in support of the post-Maduro government allowed to remain in place by President Donald Trump, who asserts that he in effect controls Venezuela and its oil wealth.
The opposition demonstration called by student organizations came as lawmakers prepared to debate a bill granting amnesty to all political prisoners for alleged offenses over 27 years of socialist rule.
Referring to the slow release of prisoners over the past five weeks, the demonstrators chanted: "Not one or two, but all."
"Amnesty now!" read a banner hanging at the entrance to the Central University of Venezuela, where the demonstrators gathered.
"We spend a lot of time underground, silent in the face of all the repression Venezuela experienced...but today we are rising up and uniting to put forward demands for the country," Dannalice Anza, a 26-year-old geography student, told AFP.
"VENEZUELA WILL BE FREE! Long live our students!," exiled opposition leader Maria Corina Machado wrote on X, alongside a video of a Caracas street thronged with demonstrators, some of whom waved Venezuelan flags.
The administration of Maduro's successor, Delcy Rodriguez, organized a counter-demonstration, which attracted thousands of pro-Maduro demonstrators on Venezuela Youth Day.
bc-atm-pgf/cb/dw

women

Iranian state TV's broadcast of women without hijab angers critics

BY STUART WILLIAMS

  • At the annual nationwide rallies on Wednesday marking the anniversary of the revolution, state television for the first time showed women taking part who proclaimed their support for the authorities but were bareheaded.
  • The broadcast by Iranian state-controlled television of interviews with several women not wearing the Muslim headscarf during a rally commemorating the Islamic revolution has angered critics of the clerical system who accused authorities of hypocrisy.
  • At the annual nationwide rallies on Wednesday marking the anniversary of the revolution, state television for the first time showed women taking part who proclaimed their support for the authorities but were bareheaded.
The broadcast by Iranian state-controlled television of interviews with several women not wearing the Muslim headscarf during a rally commemorating the Islamic revolution has angered critics of the clerical system who accused authorities of hypocrisy.
Since shortly after the 1979 revolution, it has been obligatory for women to cover their heads in public, although in recent months there has been growing evidence of women openly flouting the rule, especially in the capital Tehran.
At the annual nationwide rallies on Wednesday marking the anniversary of the revolution, state television for the first time showed women taking part who proclaimed their support for the authorities but were bareheaded.
Critics accused authorities of a cynical move after the Islamic republic was shaken by protests last month that were suppressed by a crackdown that according to rights groups left thousands of people dead.
Some social media users also raised the memory of Mahsa Amini, the Iranian-Kurdish woman whose death in custody in 2022 after being arrested for allegedly flouting the dress code for women led to months of protests.
In one interview widely shared on social media, a woman without a hijab head covering, her hair slicked back into a bun, was asked why she had decided to attend the annual rally for the first time.
"Given the recent events that took place in the country, I wanted to say that resistance is alive in the name of Iran and in our hearts," said the woman, who was not named.
Asked if she had a message for Iran's enemies, she replied: "Either death or the homeland."
Several similar interviews were broadcast from the Tehran rally, which was marked as usual by slogans of hostility against Iran's arch-foe the United States.
Jason Brodsky, policy director at US-based group United Against Nuclear Iran, said the move to feature women without hijab served as "a pressure valve" at home and abroad amid the protest crackdown.

'Only a fool'

The Israeli government's Persian-language account on X, run by the foreign ministry, posted images of the footage and asked: "Why did the Islamic republic of Iran murder Mahsa Amini?"
German journalist and author of Iranian origin Golineh Atai said that despite appearances, "mandatory hijab enforcement continues, in increasingly insidious ways".
"This regime is all about appearances, the show, the facade in order to hide its ugly face," she said.
In another widely shared intervention that attracted vehement criticism, British Muslim commentator and influencer of Pakistani origin Bushra Shaikh filmed herself in Tehran walking amid the crowds without a headscarf.
"What's amazing guys is that I have walked this entire rally in the middle of Iran without a hijab on!" she told social media followers in a video.
"That for you, my friends, is the reality of news when it's brought to you live from the country!"
US-based Iranian dissident and women's rights campaigner Masih Alinejad responded to her on X, saying: "Only a fool would look at a staged rally in a brutal regime and call it legitimacy."
Shaikh, who in the UK has been accused by Jewish groups of antisemitism, later commented on the rallies on state-run Iranian English-language channel Press TV, wearing a hijab and denouncing "propagandised" media coverage of Iran by the West.
sjw/amj

film

'Naive optimist' opens Berlin Film Festival with Afghan romantic comedy

BY JASTINDER KHERA

  • "I do believe there are good men, but I also believe that we need more good men in the world, but also in Afghanistan," she told reporters at a press conference. jsk/rsc/rmb
  • Are there any good men in Afghanistan?
  • "I do believe there are good men, but I also believe that we need more good men in the world, but also in Afghanistan," she told reporters at a press conference. jsk/rsc/rmb
Are there any good men in Afghanistan? The opening film at this year's Berlin Film Festival poses the question against the backdrop of the Taliban authorities returning to power.  
Naru, the protagonist of "No Good Men" -- played by director Shahrbanoo Sadat -- rethinks her jaded views on the opposite sex as a result of a burgeoning friendship with a male co-worker.
For Sadat, being chosen to open this year's festival was an exciting chance to spotlight a story about Afghanistan told by Afghans themselves.
"For a very, very long time Afghan stories have been told by international filmmakers and therefore (there has) been always a kind of misrepresentation," she told AFP.
"We are trying to figure out... what does it mean to make an Afghan protagonist?" 
The film vividly depicts Naru navigating the chaos of the withdrawal of US-led forces in 2021 and the crush at Kabul airport swarmed by desperate Afghans trying to flee their country.
Those scenes drew directly on Sadat's own experience of having to flee when Taliban fighters reached the capital.
"I was at the airport with my family for 72 hours when things started," said Sadat, who now lives in Hamburg.
"When we wanted to do this airport scene, because I was there, it was one of the most difficult scenes," she recalled. 

Phallic cactus

The film doesn't only dwell on the violence and upheaval that Afghans have gone through in recent decades. 
The effervescent Sadat, who was born in Iran and spent her childhood in Tehran before moving to Afghanistan with her parents, describes herself as a "naive optimist" in many ways and her lightness of touch is visible throughout "No Good Men".
A suspiciously phallic cactus at the end of the closing credits is typical of the spiky humour that Sadat uses to skewer patriarchal attitudes, not to mention the sex toy Naru gets from a colleague to celebrate her separation from her philandering husband.
The film portrays the space that Afghan women were carving out for themselves before 2021, both personally and professionally.
It has an element of idealism in its portrayal of Afghan journalists and is dedicated to seven members of staff from the popular Tolo TV station killed in a 2016 attack orchestrated by Taliban fighters.
However, Sadat said she also felt the need to push back against a tendency to "romanticise the era of democracy". 
"I do not deny that the Taliban are the biggest problem of Afghanistan today, but on the other hand... nothing was flowers and roses in the era of democracy," she said, citing the widespread corruption that plagued the country in that era.

Expecting Afghans to watch

Given the difficulty of filming in Afghanistan, the film was shot in several locations in northern Germany, interspersed with archive footage from Kabul.
In her acknowledgements Sadat thanks Germany's Afghan community and says that in some senses it was her "good luck" to work in a country with "one of the biggest Afghan communities" in the diaspora.
Sadat was hands-on in the casting process, trawling through lists of the mosques, cafes and restaurants frequented by the more than 460,000 Afghans in Germany.
She got "thousands of requests" from Afghans across the country to participate in the film, with those who did take part eventually forming a "little film community", some of whom will be coming to Thursday's premiere.
The return of a Taliban government in 2021 brought with it tight restrictions on films, music and other entertainment under their strict interpretation of Islamic law.
So is there any hope for the film reaching an audience inside Afghanistan?
"Probably... they're going to watch the film before the film comes in cinemas" elsewhere, Sadat said, explaining that she expects internet pirates to get their hands on it.
"It always happened to my previous films that they... either end up on YouTube or it's going to be chopped and will be on TikTok." 
Sadat says that try as the Taliban authorities might, they can't keep out the modern age where "everyone has... a phone and everyone is connected to internet".
"Even if they (Afghans) don't experience the film in a cinematic way, on a big screen... they're going to watch the film."
And as for whether Sadat thinks there are any good men?
"I do believe there are good men, but I also believe that we need more good men in the world, but also in Afghanistan," she told reporters at a press conference.
jsk/rsc/rmb

US

As Greenland storm passes, US allies focus on stepping up in NATO

BY OLIVIER BAUBE

  • But while Europe breathed a sigh of relief about the apparent passing of that storm, the Greenland crisis has only reinforced for many the urgent need for Europe to take a greater role in NATO and its own defence in the face of the threat from Russia.
  • US allies in NATO said Thursday they believed the crisis over Greenland had passed after the launch of a mission in the Arctic -- and looked to press on with bolstering Europe's role in the alliance.
  • But while Europe breathed a sigh of relief about the apparent passing of that storm, the Greenland crisis has only reinforced for many the urgent need for Europe to take a greater role in NATO and its own defence in the face of the threat from Russia.
US allies in NATO said Thursday they believed the crisis over Greenland had passed after the launch of a mission in the Arctic -- and looked to press on with bolstering Europe's role in the alliance.
President Donald Trump's threats against Denmark's autonomous Arctic territory last month plunged the 76-year-old transatlantic alliance into its deepest crisis in years, before he abruptly backed off.
As part of a package to assuage Trump -- who said the US needed to secure the region against a threat from Russia and China -- NATO announced Wednesday the start of an Arctic Sentry mission to increase security in the region.
Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans said he was "fully confident that this will also meet the concerns of the United States" at a meeting with counterparts from the 32-nation alliance in Brussels. 
But while Europe breathed a sigh of relief about the apparent passing of that storm, the Greenland crisis has only reinforced for many the urgent need for Europe to take a greater role in NATO and its own defence in the face of the threat from Russia.
"What I see today is this mindset shift, where people understand that, yes, it is about spending more, but also it is about a duty of vision that we have to do this together with the United States," said NATO boss Mark Rutte.
That is the message being sent by the Trump administration as well: that Europe needs to step up as Washington pivots to focus on other challenges such as China.
US defence under secretary Elbridge Colby said allies were making strides towards a situation where it is "Europe that leads the conventional defence of NATO" rather than traditionally relying on US military might. 
And he said Washington would "continue to press, respectfully but firmly and insistently, for a rebalancing of roles and burdens within the Alliance".
"If Europe rises to this moment," he said, "the alliance will emerge stronger, more resilient, and better prepared for the challenges ahead," Colby told allies at NATO's Brussels headquarters.

'Expect more'

To make good on plans for Europe to play a bigger role, NATO needs to make strides on fulfilling the pledge made at its summit last year for countries to massively ramp up defence spending.
Military budgets have already increased since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine and Trump has spurred on that trend. 
"The good news is that the billions are coming in," Rutte said.
He insisted however that he believed the United States would continue to play a central role in defending Europe. 
"I predict that longer term, you will see, of course, the nuclear umbrella as the ultimate guarantor of our security here in Europe and Canada, but also a strong conventional presence of the US here in Europe," he said. 
In a concrete sign of Europe taking more responsibility within NATO, the alliance this week announced the United States was handing two senior regional command positions to Britain and Italy.
The move was heralded by diplomats as a sign of increased "burden-sharing" within the alliance in action.
French Defence Minister Catherine Vautrin referred to a demand several months back from Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth that Europeans must be able to ensure their own security.
"Well, we are going to do it, we have started to do it," she said. 
The next crucial staging post will be the NATO summit in Ankara in July when allies will have to convince Trump that they are already doing enough.
"We'll receive our first full report on allied defence spending," the NATO US ambassador Matthew Whitaker said this week. 
"We still have some allies that need to step up, particularly those geographically further from NATO's eastern flank. They're not moving as fast as they should, and we really expect them to do more."
ob-del/ec/raz/rlp

children

UK nursery worker jailed for 18 years for 'wicked' serial child sex abuse

BY PETER HUTCHISON AND HELEN ROWE

  • Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday said the government was consulting on whether to make security cameras mandatory in nurseries, with multiple cases of abuse in UK child care centres coming to light in recent years.
  • A UK child-care worker who filmed himself sexually abusing youngsters at a nursery where he worked and downloaded over 26,000 indecent images of children was on Thursday jailed for 18 years.
  • Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday said the government was consulting on whether to make security cameras mandatory in nurseries, with multiple cases of abuse in UK child care centres coming to light in recent years.
A UK child-care worker who filmed himself sexually abusing youngsters at a nursery where he worked and downloaded over 26,000 indecent images of children was on Thursday jailed for 18 years.
Vincent Chan, 45, who admitted a raft of 56 charges including sexual assault, was described in court as "every parent's worst nightmare".
Passing sentence, Judge John Dodd told him he was guilty of an "utterly wicked, perverse and depraved" campaign of sexual abuse.
"You became a sexual predator and someone who had clearly lost all sense of moral compass," he said, adding Chan's victims had been "too young to alert anyone as to what you were doing, they were defenceless".
Chan's victims included four girls aged three and four whom he molested between 2022 and 2024 during naptime at the north London nursery.
Chan, dressed in a prison-issue grey tracksuit and flanked by three guards, showed no emotion as he was sentenced at a court in north London.
Some of the victims and families of the children involved watched in tears from a packed public gallery.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday said the government was consulting on whether to make security cameras mandatory in nurseries, with multiple cases of abuse in UK child care centres coming to light in recent years.
Chan, whose offences date back to 2011, worked at the London nursery for seven years until being suspended in 2024 when his crimes came to light.
Before being employed at the nursery, he worked at a school in north London from 2007-2017 where he was guilty of filming up young girls' skirts in a classroom and also filming solo sexual acts in the location.
Prosecutor Philip Stott told the court Chan's offending had undermined trust in nurseries.
He said it had not only harmed the children he admitted abusing "but also every family who entrusted their children to his care".
"It is every parent's worst nightmare. Families can't put into words the distress caused by receiving such a letter out of the blue" informing them their children might have been involved, he said.

'Dangerous, predatory'

Police also discovered films and videos he had secretly taken of girls and women changing or using the toilet.
He also admitted to taking indecent pictures of children in 2024 and 2025, when he was no longer with the nursery or the school.
One woman said that learning he had filmed himself sexually assaulting her as she slept in 2011 had left her feeling "violated".
"You committed a continuous, daily betrayal that has now reached back through time to poison every memory I once held dear," she said in a victim impact statement read to the court.
The Metropolitan Police officer who led the investigation, Lewis Basford, said Chan was a "dangerous and predatory individual".
"The scale of his abhorrent offending is shocking. Chan's history demonstrates to us that he has sought out positions of trust involving contact with young girls, which allowed him to commit his crimes unchecked for so long."
In a statement after the sentence, families of children who attended the now-closed Bright Horizons nursery in north London said Chan's crimes had "created a permanent ache in our hearts".
"The fear we feel about the cruel violation of our children will never dissipate. Ordinary memories from early childhood are now tainted with doubt, anxiety and guilt," they said.
According to law firm Leigh Day, 50 families concerned about safeguarding failures at Bright Horizons have joined legal action against the nursery provider, which they accuse of "brushing concerns aside".
Bright Horizons said in a statement that Chan's "actions were depraved and devious and go against the kindness and care our dedicated professionals provide to children each day".
"We are committed to understanding what happened so that we can learn from this terrible episode," it said, adding that the nursery chain was working with an expert to review their practices "to make sure we meet the most robust standards of safeguarding".  
The sentencing comes days after another nursery worker, Nathan Bennett, was found guilty of multiple sexual offences against five boys aged two and three -- including rape and sexual assault -- by a court in Bristol, southwest England.
pdh-har/jkb/phz

port

HK firm CK Hutchison threatens legal action if Maersk takes over Panama ports

  • The Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) then said port operator APM Terminals, part of the Danish Maersk Group, would temporarily take over operation of the Balbao and Cristobal ports on either side of the canal from the Panama Ports Company (PPC) -- a subsidiary of CK Hutchison.
  • Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison warned Thursday of possible legal action against Danish firm Maersk and others over the annulment of its contract to operate two ports on the Panama Canal.
  • The Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) then said port operator APM Terminals, part of the Danish Maersk Group, would temporarily take over operation of the Balbao and Cristobal ports on either side of the canal from the Panama Ports Company (PPC) -- a subsidiary of CK Hutchison.
Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison warned Thursday of possible legal action against Danish firm Maersk and others over the annulment of its contract to operate two ports on the Panama Canal.
Panama's Supreme Court last month invalidated Hutchison's contract following repeated threats from President Donald Trump that the United States would seek to reclaim the waterway, which he said was in effect controlled by China.
The Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) then said port operator APM Terminals, part of the Danish Maersk Group, would temporarily take over operation of the Balbao and Cristobal ports on either side of the canal from the Panama Ports Company (PPC) -- a subsidiary of CK Hutchison.
The canal, which handles about 40 percent of US container traffic and five percent of world trade, was built by the United States, which operated it for a century before ceding control to Panama in 1999.
The PPC has initiated arbitration proceedings, and in a statement Thursday, CK Hutchison warned that handing control the ports to Maersk "will cause damages... and will result in recourse against APMT."
Since 1997, Hutchison had managed the ports of Cristobal on the interoceanic canal's Atlantic side and Balboa on the Pacific side. 
The concession was extended for 25 years in 2021.
Last month the Supreme Court ended the contract on grounds that laws which allowed CK Hutchison Holdings to operate two of the five ports of the canal were "unconstitutional."
Panama has always denied Chinese control over the 50-mile waterway, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and is used mainly by the United States and China.
Hutchison considers the January court ruling to be unlawful.
In its statement Thursday, the company said it would "continue to consult with its legal counsel regarding all available recourse including additional national and international legal proceedings against the Republic of Panama and its agents and third parties colluding with them in this matter."
burs-mlr/dw