accident

Grieving Spain demands answers for latest rail disaster

growth

French economy 'headed for a wall' as GDP shrinks

  • The French economy had already stagnated in the second quarter after contracting by 0.2 percent in the first. 
  • The French economy contracted in the third quarter, data showed Friday, and could be "headed for a wall" if the government is unable to get a  deficit-reducing budget passed soon, the finance minister warned.
  • The French economy had already stagnated in the second quarter after contracting by 0.2 percent in the first. 
The French economy contracted in the third quarter, data showed Friday, and could be "headed for a wall" if the government is unable to get a  deficit-reducing budget passed soon, the finance minister warned.
Gross domestic product shrank by 0.1 percent in the three months to September, the national statistics office Insee said, amid deepening concerns about the state of public finances and growing political tensions ahead of presidential elections next spring.
The decline came as inflation accelerated to 3.4 percent on an annualised basis in October from 3.1 percent in September, the fastest rate since January 2024, Insee said.
The French economy had already stagnated in the second quarter after contracting by 0.2 percent in the first. 
"For three quarters now, there has been no growth," Finance Minister Roland Lescure told France Info radio. 
"The conclusion to be drawn from all this is that, as of 2026, the French economy is at a standstill," he said.
"France is not heading toward a crisis. But if we fail to achieve the turnaround outlined in the budget, we are headed straight for a wall."
Insee calculated that production of goods and services fell by 0.1 percent from July to September, while household consumption expanded by 0.4 percent. 
Investment contracted by 0.6 percent, and foreign trade also made a negative contribution to growth, shaving 0.6 percentage points off GDP growth.
Analysts said the GDP data would indeed make it difficult for the government to reach its overall growth forecast of 0.5 percent for the current year or even the 0.4 percent anticipated by Insee and the Bank of France. 
Worries about France's high debt and deficits have sent its government bond yields soaring in recent weeks.
An underwhelming 2027 budget plan last month fanned concerns that government spending would remain high ahead of next year's presidential elections in which the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, seen as a fiscal populist, stands a chance of winning, according to opinion polls.
France has been rocked by widespread anger over the rising cost of living and inequality, with nationwide demonstrations on October 17 degenerating into some of the country's worst rioting in years. 
The Yellow Vest movement and student unions have called for a new day of protests on Saturday.
bur-spm/js

climate

Fire pollution killed 3,560 people in Indonesia in September: report

BY MARIëTTE LE ROUX

  • "Worsening air quality due to forest and land fires in Indonesia pushed the estimated death toll to 3,560 cases in September 2026, a twofold increase from the August estimate," said a CREA statement on Thursday.
  • Pollution from smoke emitted by months of wildfires across Indonesia caused an estimated 3,560 deaths in the vast Southeast Asian archipelago in September, according to a new study. 
  • "Worsening air quality due to forest and land fires in Indonesia pushed the estimated death toll to 3,560 cases in September 2026, a twofold increase from the August estimate," said a CREA statement on Thursday.
Pollution from smoke emitted by months of wildfires across Indonesia caused an estimated 3,560 deaths in the vast Southeast Asian archipelago in September, according to a new study. 
The same month, about 57.8 million people in Indonesia were inhaling unhealthy to hazardous air, said the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a Helsinki-based think tank.
"Worsening air quality due to forest and land fires in Indonesia pushed the estimated death toll to 3,560 cases in September 2026, a twofold increase from the August estimate," said a CREA statement on Thursday.
The CREA study estimated the number of deaths brought about by PM2.5 pollution in the short-term, meaning a matter of days.
PM2.5 particles are small enough to penetrate the lungs or bloodstream and the World Health Organization has linked exposure to a higher risk for illness and premature death.
Most estimated deaths occurred on Indonesia's part of Borneo island as well as on Java and Sumatra islands and in the country's east, said the report.
The researchers also looked at non-fire pollution from urban power generation, industry, and transportation, and found it had caused a further 1,750 deaths in September for a total of 5,310 in the country of about 290 million people.
"In September alone, exposure levels breached the WHO annual PM2.5 threshold... by over seven times nationally, 10 times in Sumatra, and an alarming 24 times in Kalimantan" in Borneo, said the report.
More than 330,000 cases of acute respiratory infection have been recorded countrywide.

'Predictable and avoidable'

Gripped by drought worsened by the El Nino weather phenomenon, Indonesia has for months battled wildfires that deforestation monitor Nusantara Atlas says have consumed more than 1.9 million hectares in the nine months to September.
The government has not confirmed or rejected the number.
The resulting haze has sent pollution levels soaring as far afield as Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and East Timor, clouding Indonesia's ties with its neighbours.
Experts say the wildfires can be blamed in large part on slash-and-burn land-clearing practices, often by timber, palm oil or mining companies.
For the island of Java, the most populated and home to the capital Jakarta, the CREA report said between 73 and 80 percent of air pollution deaths -- a total of 1,530 in September -- were attributed to non-fire sources such as industry, vehicle emissions, and waste burning.
"These figures underscore the stark reality that non-fire air pollution sources are as dangerous as smoke from burning forests and peatlands," it said.
In the report, the CEO of Landscape Indonesia consultancy, Agus Sari, pointed to the government's "weak preparedness" for what he described as a "predictable and avoidable" disaster.  
Agus pointed to budget cuts hampering the efforts of the BNPB national disaster management agency.
"Indonesia should be able to prepare for what is going to happen. The fact that we are not prepared at all is purely a matter of lacking the will," said Agus.
The CREA report argued the government needs to shift from wildfire response to the restoration of peatlands left fire prone by extensive draining.
"This step must be accompanied by firm law enforcement against illegal land clearing through burning, as well as strengthened legal accountability for concession holders to prevent damage," it said.
For regions battling non-fire pollution, such as Java, it said the government must enforce stricter emissions standards.
The government on Wednesday defended its approach to the fires, saying in a statement more than 72,000 people had been deployed in cloud-seeding and firefighting operations, more than 2,100 doctors and health workers activated in hard-hit areas, and 5.3 million masks distributed.
mlr/tc

economy

Surging costs of living top US voter concerns

BY YUSSEL GONZALEZ

  • A whopping 84 percent of voters who have cast their ballots early listed the economy as their biggest concern this election cycle, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.
  • Soaring prices for gas, medicine and other cost of living essentials are preoccupying Americans as they start to cast their ballots ahead of next week's midterm elections.
  • A whopping 84 percent of voters who have cast their ballots early listed the economy as their biggest concern this election cycle, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.
Soaring prices for gas, medicine and other cost of living essentials are preoccupying Americans as they start to cast their ballots ahead of next week's midterm elections.
A whopping 84 percent of voters who have cast their ballots early listed the economy as their biggest concern this election cycle, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.
Kyler Daugherty, a 43-year-old health care worker, summed up the sentiment as he filled up his gas tank in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
"It's ridiculous. I mean, everything's gone up, from food to transportation to gas prices," he told AFP.
Fuel costs have skyrocketed around the world since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran in February.
US gas prices rose 9.1 percent in September alone, according to official figures, a headache for residents in a state like Florida, where most people rely on cars to get around.
"It affects transportation, it affects goods, it affects everything," Matthew Moore, a 63-year-old attorney, said after he cast his ballot early.
"We transport a lot by truck. Air prices have gone up. My tickets home for Christmas have doubled since last year," he said.

Broken promises

US President Donald Trump won reelection in 2024 in part because of his campaign promise to lower prices, which had also increased during the term of his predecessor Joe Biden.
"I didn't believe that promise then and I probably won't continue to believe (it)," said Melissa Reer, a 49-year-old social worker worried by her car and home insurance costs. 
"But I think there's a lot more changes have to happen before prices can go down," she said.
William Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank, said two of Trump's decisions this term have directly contributed to cost pressures: launching the war on Iran and slapping tariffs on trade partners.
"It's within the president's power to remove most of the tariffs that he's imposed. It's within the president's power to end the war that he began," Galston told AFP.
For some voters, however, it's too late. 
"My vote was cast based upon my feelings about how they've handled the stewardship that the voters have given them," said Michael Childs, 62.
The White House for its part insists that Trump's policies are revitalizing the US economy and making life more affordable for Americans.
- Basic expenses - 
But millions of households across the United States find it harder than ever to make ends meet.
"The financial hardship is creeping up in America, particularly the middle class," said Symeria Hudson, the CEO of United Way Miami, a nonprofit fundraising organization. 
United Way's ALICE metric -- which stands for an Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed person -- measures working people whose income does not cover basic expenses, such as food, housing and health care. 
Nearly 41 percent of the 132 million households in the United States fall below the threshold. 
"We continue to encourage those policy makers to really understand the data," Hudson told AFP. 
Many US voters are running out of ways to cut spending.
"I'm literally cutting back on certain meds because I'm like, 'I can't afford them.' I don't know what to do next," Daugherty said.
yug/jgc/yad/cms

AI

Shock, vindication, regret: Scientists react to AI roiling life's work

BY BENJAMIN LEGENDRE

  • I have no idea what research will be like next year.
  • For decades, three computer scientists built their careers around an idea about the limits of what computers can do.
  • I have no idea what research will be like next year.
For decades, three computer scientists built their careers around an idea about the limits of what computers can do.
Artificial intelligence may now have shown it to be wrong: OpenAI and Anthropic each said on Monday one of their AI models had disproved the "exponential time hypothesis" (ETH).
The hypothesis holds that some problems are so hard that computers can solve them only by trying nearly every possible answer. Hundreds of studies in computer science and biology rely on it.
The claim is the latest in a string of AI results that have shaken academia, setting off soul-searching, most notably among mathematicians, over the value of human expertise and the future of their profession.
Russell Impagliazzo and Ramamohan Paturi of the University of California San Diego first proposed the hypothesis around 25 years ago.
Ryan Williams of MIT, a leading researcher in the field, had long publicly doubted it.
The three are now helping organize an independent review of the claims from the AI companies.
They shared their initial reactions with AFP. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
- 'Surprise' - 
Q: How did you feel when you learned that a machine may have overturned this hypothesis?
Ramamohan Paturi: My first reaction was surprise. ETH has shaped a great deal of research over the past three decades. But the research built around it would not simply disappear.
Ryan Williams: I did not fully believe the hypothesis, and I'm on the record as a prominent skeptic. So I felt vindicated.
Russell Impagliazzo: I'm afraid I am less cheerful about this than the others. I would have much preferred it to be discovered by a human who could explain their thought process. And I'd like to have shaken the (actual) hand of the person who disproved ETH.
- 'Major revolution' - 
Q: What is left for human researchers facing the machine? What would you tell a student?
Paturi: These breakthroughs extend the frontier of research, but I believe shaping that frontier and moving it forward remain within human capacity and creativity. I would encourage young students to join. They should learn to use these tools while developing their own judgment.
Williams: I think we're starting to experience a major revolution in the field, and it is absolutely worth going into. Some people may not want to work in the field anymore; others may now feel motivated to.
Impagliazzo: I'm less confident. The rate of change is amazing. Until now, the same researchers mostly did both the glamorous part of research, solving, and the less glamorous part, verifying and explaining. Now it looks like much or most of the first will be done by AI, leaving humans the second -- until next year, when AI progresses further. I have no idea what research will be like next year.
- 'Worrisome' - 
Q: These results come from models owned by companies, which decide what to publish and when. Does that worry you?
Paturi: Concentrated access to powerful research tools raises serious questions about who can participate, who gets early access and who shapes the research agenda. Publicly releasing a proof is important, but it does not provide equal access to the tools that produced it. A company's announcement cannot substitute for the community's assessment.
Williams: Yes, it is worrisome. It's on the AI companies to be responsible about their power, and I think they’re aware of that.
Impagliazzo: When a human solves a problem, they share not just the solution but the thought process that led to it, which is often more valuable than the solution itself. Access to the AI model itself is the closest we can get to that.
- Possibilities - 
Q: If confirmed, what would this result change for ordinary people?
Williams: It's still a theoretical result, but it opens up the possibility of much more efficient ways of computing in an enormous variety of scenarios.
Impagliazzo: There will be no immediate consequences for almost all people (as opposed to me and my friends!). But a first breakthrough is usually followed by improvements and generalizations, so this might eventually lead to better data analysis tools in many branches of science. The current result does not represent a security threat, but future extensions might require stronger encryption.
bl/arp/yad

Bitcoin

Crypto platform Binance confirms $6.3 bn hack

BY THOMAS URBAIN

  • That would be four times the amount impacted in what had been the biggest-ever cyberattack of its kind to date: $1.5 billion taken in February 2025 from the Bybit platform.
  • Cryptocurrency platform Binance said Thursday it had fallen victim to a major hack that hit around $6.3 billion in funds, with about half that amount frozen to prevent a massive theft.
  • That would be four times the amount impacted in what had been the biggest-ever cyberattack of its kind to date: $1.5 billion taken in February 2025 from the Bybit platform.
Cryptocurrency platform Binance said Thursday it had fallen victim to a major hack that hit around $6.3 billion in funds, with about half that amount frozen to prevent a massive theft.
The company -- the world's largest crypto exchange by daily trading volumes -- posted a series of sometimes contradictory messages on X, insisting that "user funds are completely safe" but also saying it would "cover all losses."
The company said later on its X account for Latin America that "the total estimated impact is around $6.3 billion."
"We have worked with blockchain partners to freeze the affected assets, with ~$3 billion frozen on-chain so far," it added.
That would be four times the amount impacted in what had been the biggest-ever cyberattack of its kind to date: $1.5 billion taken in February 2025 from the Bybit platform.
The Bybit heist was attributed at the time to a group of hackers affiliated with North Korea called TraderTraitor.
Blockchain investigation firm TRM Labs said Thursday it had "high confidence" that the Binance hack was also orchestrated by TraderTraitor, citing "robust on and off-chain intelligence."
"Several features of this attack match earlier North Korea-linked heists," TRM said.
TraderTraitor is believed to be part of Lazarus Group -- which gained notoriety in 2014 when it was accused of hacking into Sony Pictures as revenge for "The Interview," a film that mocked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
 

Fund freeze

 
At about 0030 GMT Friday, Binance said all deposits and withdrawals had been "temporarily suspended while our team conducts security checks, freezes funds and works with law enforcement."
"This figure may continue to increase as our teams work closely with law enforcement, issuers, blockchain intelligence firms and industry partners to trace and freeze additional assets," the company said.
The company's statement on X said an initial investigation suggested the hack involved a compromised laptop belonging to a "DevOps engineer," allowing the unauthorized party to access a "service container" and execute unauthorized withdrawal transactions.
"We have found no evidence of any private key leaks from wallets," Binance said, promising to share a detailed technical analysis once investigations were complete.
Paolo Ardoino, the boss of Tether -- a company that issues a cryptocurrency known as USDT -- said his firm froze about $1.6 billion "related to a potential Binance exchange hack."
Jeremy Allaire, who runs cryptocurrency platform Circle, said his company had frozen more than $800 million in USDC.
USDT and USDC are both "stablecoins," or digital currencies whose value is linked to a traditional currency, the US dollar.
The US Department of Justice and the FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
 

Crypto prices tumble

 
For several hours before Binance confirmed the attack, industry observers said hackers had managed to reach the platform.
The prices of most major cryptocurrencies fell on news of the cyberattack, except for the stablecoins, which by definition can only fluctuate within tight margins.
At about 0400 GMT, bitcoin and Ethereum were down 0.8 percent, recovering after plunges of nearly five-percent and nearly six-percent respectively. BNB, native to Binance, was up 2.7 percent after it tumbled nearly 10 percent.
The attack on Binance comes as many observers express worries that the ever-expanding capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) models could compromise cryptography and IT security protocols.
tu/sst/jgc/kaf-hs/cms

politics

Rubio hosts G20 ministers as Iran, Ukraine wars divide members

BY BEIYI SEOW AND LEON BRUNEAU

  • Few breakthroughs are expected this week from the Group of 20 economies -- which include China, India, Russia, Japan, Germany and France -- as officials face divisions over Moscow's war on Ukraine and fallout from conflict with Iran.
  • US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will host his G20 counterparts, including Russia's Sergei Lavrov, for talks on Friday that are expected to be fractious, with wars in Ukraine and Iran and surging energy prices fanning discord.
  • Few breakthroughs are expected this week from the Group of 20 economies -- which include China, India, Russia, Japan, Germany and France -- as officials face divisions over Moscow's war on Ukraine and fallout from conflict with Iran.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will host his G20 counterparts, including Russia's Sergei Lavrov, for talks on
Friday
that are expected to be fractious, with wars in Ukraine and Iran and surging energy prices fanning discord.
The foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, taking place just days before crucial US midterm elections, will set the stage for a December G20 leaders' summit in Miami at President Donald Trump's Doral resort.
Few breakthroughs are expected this week from the Group of 20 economies -- which include China, India, Russia, Japan, Germany and France -- as officials face divisions over Moscow's war on Ukraine and fallout from conflict with Iran.
Russia has been shunned by most of the West after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and Lavrov himself remains under international sanctions.
Rubio's encounter with Lavrov -- whose presence adds an additional layer of tension -- will be closely watched as Washington pursues diplomacy on Ukraine while seeking Moscow's cooperation on reining in fuel prices, a key campaign issue in the midterms.
"The G20 is no longer really a forum where foreign ministers can reach agreement on a statement," a diplomatic source said.
The source added that the US G20 presidency intends for Miami's summit to serve "more as a demonstration of American power -- and of US commitments to growth, deregulation, trade and business -- rather than as a summit with grand ambitions on substantive issues."
Instead of a final declaration, the source expects a chair summary drafted by the United States to be published from this week's meeting.
The Trump administration, which is set to hand the rotating G20 leadership to Britain, sees the platform as having strayed from its core mission.
Washington has pledged to return the grouping to its goal of driving economic growth, arguing that security and economic prosperity are "inextricably linked."
"Conversations in Atlanta will provide an opportunity to discuss energy and supply chain challenges as well as identify ways to collectively address the impact of geopolitical tensions on economic security," a US State Department official said.
They stressed the importance of energy access -- necessary for tech like artificial intelligence -- and flagged a "shared resolve to confront urgent crises and keep critical sea lanes open to commerce without threats or tolls."

'Test case'

Global energy prices have rocketed since US-Israel strikes on Iran from late February triggered Tehran's blockage of the Strait of Hormuz.
"This is the last test case the G20 has, at least under the US G20 presidency, until Miami," Alisha Chhangani of the Atlantic Council told AFP. Its outcomes will affect how the December summit shapes up.
She expects Washington will seek to argue that security shocks are also economic shocks.
It will likely push for agreement on what "freedom of navigation" means within and beyond Hormuz, a crucial waterway for oil and gas transit, she said.
But this could face objections from China, which dissented against wording on free navigation in Hormuz and worldwide at an earlier gathering of finance ministers.
China's top diplomat Wang Yi will not be in Atlanta, and is instead sending his deputy, the US State Department said.
Meanwhile, the possibility of further escalation in the Middle East is mounting, with Israel threatening to strike Iran and Trump signalling he could attack after Tuesday's midterm elections.

Lavrov attendance

In Atlanta, Rubio is also due to cross paths with Lavrov, who has already reached Atlanta according to Russian state media.
It comes ahead of fresh negotiations between Moscow, Kyiv and Washington in November.
The appearance of Lavrov, who plans to argue against international sanctions at the gathering, will likely frustrate European ministers, Chhangani said.
It is not surprising, however, as Washington has welcomed Russian officials to this year's G20 events -- while excluding member South Africa -- and Trump has invited his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to Miami in December.
Trump has eased some sanctions on Moscow recently while touting a deal for Russia to sell diesel as prices soared, squeezing Americans.
The diplomatic source stressed that Russia's G20 presence "in no way legitimizes its actions."
All eyes will also be on US engagement with Brazil, whose foreign minister will be in attendance, after Washington granted entry to Flavio Bolsonaro following his defeat in Sunday's presidential election.
lb-dt-bys/jgc/abs/ceg

diplomacy

From minerals to AI, EU and Canada to forge new alliance

BY UMBERTO BACCHI

  • An agreement allowing the European Investment Bank to back Canadian critical mineral projects is expected to be unveiled at the summit.
  • Squeezed by the United States and China, the European Union and Canada are set to unveil Friday a series of deals -- from critical minerals to artificial intelligence -- designed to boost their ties to an unprecedented level.
  • An agreement allowing the European Investment Bank to back Canadian critical mineral projects is expected to be unveiled at the summit.
Squeezed by the United States and China, the European Union and Canada are set to unveil Friday a series of deals -- from critical minerals to artificial intelligence -- designed to boost their ties to an unprecedented level.
EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa will meet with Canada's Mark Carney in Montreal on the second day of a summit that also features talks between Canadian ministers and senior EU officials. 
"The recognition of our values and the ability to work together has never been more important," Carney said, noting Brussels and Ottawa faced "a rupture in the global system."
Already sharing a free trade agreement, the two partners have sought to move closer together since Donald Trump's return to the White House upended relations with Washington's traditional allies. 
Both Canada and the EU have been hit with tariffs and territorial threats.
"We both want to bring our relationship to the highest level possible," von der Leyen told an event organized by a research institute in Montreal on Thursday.
This involves strengthening cooperation across all strategic sectors, Carney said. 
Critical minerals, which are a key focus of the summit, are needed for green technologies such as batteries and wind turbines that Europe sources mostly from China but are also in plentiful stock in Canada.
But Canada needs massive infrastructure investment to jump-start its mining industry.
An agreement allowing the European Investment Bank to back Canadian critical mineral projects is expected to be unveiled at the summit.
 

AI cooperation

 
Brussels and Ottawa also want to collaborate on AI, a field where they are playing catch up with the United States and China.
"Our industries increasingly depend on access to these technologies. And when that access rests on a few big companies, decisions taken elsewhere can put our businesses and essential services at risk. This is why we are teaming up," von der Leyen said. 
Europe would open its supercomputing infrastructure to Canadian researchers, industry and start-ups, she added. 
On Thursday, Ottawa announced a CAN$1.6 billion ($1.1 billion) investment in the Canadian AI firm Cohere. The company has recently partnered with Germany's Aleph Alpha in a move that Carney said was an example of what Europe and Canada could do together.
"We are not waiting for the future of AI to be decided somewhere else by those we don't know or by those we don't trust," Carney said.
A digital trade deal allowing faster and cheaper online transactions is also expected to be unveiled in Montreal.
The summit will additionally lay the groundwork for Canada's participation in EU initiatives like the Erasmus youth scheme, which allows university students to spend a semester abroad, and the Galileo satellite program -- an alternative to the American Global Positioning System (GPS).
The nascent EU-Canada union has not gone down too well in Washington, with Trump calling the idea both "laughable" and "a hostile act."
But Carney sought to reassure his southern neighbor Thursday by saying the United States also stood to benefit from Canada diversifying its ties.
mg-ub/jgc/cms

court

Judge throws out Australian mushroom killer's appeal, imposes harsher sentence

BY MARTIN KEEP

  • "This offending was extraordinarily cold and calculated," judge Stephen McLeish said as he dismissed Patterson's appeal. 
  • Australian mushroom killer Erin Patterson failed to overturn a slew of convictions on Friday, and a judge instead imposed a heavier prison sentence for three "cold and calculated" poisoning murders.
  • "This offending was extraordinarily cold and calculated," judge Stephen McLeish said as he dismissed Patterson's appeal. 
Australian mushroom killer Erin Patterson failed to overturn a slew of convictions on Friday, and a judge instead imposed a heavier prison sentence for three "cold and calculated" poisoning murders.
Patterson was last year found guilty of murdering her husband's parents and aunt in 2023, deliberately lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. 
The strange nature of the "mushroom murders" fuelled intense global interest, with Patterson's 11-week trial drawing more publicity than almost any other Australian case in recent memory.
Patterson maintained her triple murder convictions were a "miscarriage of justice", urging the Court of Appeal in Victoria state to either set her free or have the case heard again. 
But the court not only threw out her bid to have the convictions quashed, it found her "carefully planned and deliberate" killings deserved an even harsher sentence.
"This offending was extraordinarily cold and calculated," judge Stephen McLeish said as he dismissed Patterson's appeal. 
"It stands to be denounced in the strongest terms." 
The 52-year-old was originally sentenced to life in prison but was eligible to apply for parole after 33 years.
Highlighting Patterson's "shocking criminality", McLeish said she should spend life in prison with no prospect of parole. 
Patterson did not front the trial in person, watching proceedings via video link from a maximum security prison on the outskirts of Melbourne.

'Betrayal'

Patterson hosted four people for lunch at her home in rural Victoria in July 2023, serving up a hearty meal of beef wrapped in pastry and smothered in mushrooms. 
Her lunch guests that afternoon were Don and Gail Patterson, the parents of her long-estranged husband, Simon.
She also welcomed Simon's maternal aunt, Heather Wilkinson, and her husband, Ian, a well-known pastor at the local Baptist church.
Don, Gail and Heather died of organ failure within a week, while Ian fell gravely ill but survived. 
Patterson was convicted of three murders and a further count of attempted murder, a jury concluding she deliberately laced the meal with toxic death cap mushrooms.
Death cap mushrooms are easily mistaken for other edible varieties and reportedly possess a sweet taste that belies their potent toxicity.
Patterson maintained the dish was accidentally contaminated with the world's most lethal fungus.
At an appeal hearing earlier this year, her lawyers argued the trial was marred by a litany of irregularities.
This included the fact that members of the jury had stayed in the same hotel as a witness for the police -- as well as members of the prosecution.
Patterson's lawyers said this represented a fundamental failure of the legal process "in perhaps one of the most high-profile criminal trials this state has ever had".
They also criticised an "oppressive" cross-examination and unfair decisions on the admission of evidence. 
Prosecutors, meanwhile, argued that the non-parole period of 33 years imposed by the judge was "manifestly inadequate". 
Patterson's crimes involved "betrayal" and represented "worst-case offending", they told an appeal hearing earlier this year.
"Indeed, our submission is that for this offending the respondent should be sentenced to life without parole," Director of Public Prosecutions Brendan Kissane said at the time. 
Patterson's trial drew podcasters, film crews and true crime fans to a courthouse in the rural town of Morwell, a sedate hamlet better known for its prize-winning roses. 
Audiences around the globe followed every twist of what many now simply call the "mushroom murders". 
Although the case highlighted various tensions within Patterson's family, the motive of the killings remains a mystery. 
bur-sft/oho/fox

Guyana

Britain's King Charles lands in ex-colony Guyana

  • The tour comes as Britain faces pressure to confront uglier parts of its history, namely its central role in chattel slavery.
  • British King Charles landed in Guyana on Thursday as part of a Caribbean tour, looking to underscore the climate crisis while facing pressure to apologize for Britain's hand in slavery.
  • The tour comes as Britain faces pressure to confront uglier parts of its history, namely its central role in chattel slavery.
British King Charles landed in Guyana on Thursday as part of a Caribbean tour, looking to underscore the climate crisis while facing pressure to apologize for Britain's hand in slavery.
The former colony is the second of three countries Charles is visiting on a nine-day trip, with several heads of state asking him to make amends for colonization and the transatlantic slave trade that profited his ancestors for centuries.
Guyana's President Irfaan Ali greeted Charles as he stepped off the plane at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.
The monarch inspected a guard of honor before travelling to Georgetown, where he attended a state reception at the presidential palace.
He met reggae star Eddy Grant at the event, while Ali gifted him a table, to which the king jokingly asked, "How am I going to get it home?"
The visit to Guyana marks 60 years of bilateral relations between the countries after the former colony gained independence.
Over two days in the small, oil-rich nation, Charles will focus on the regional impact of climate change, notably visiting a rainforest conservation site.
The tour comes as Britain faces pressure to confront uglier parts of its history, namely its central role in chattel slavery.
The king has acknowledged this reality but has stopped short of apologizing.
"It is only right that we should acknowledge the great suffering and injustices of the past in these islands and beyond, even as we rejoice in the successes of the present and build new opportunities for the future," he said at a youth rally in the Bahamas, his first destination.
He said leaders of "affected" Commonwealth nations would be discussing the issue in Antigua and Barbuda next week, where the subject of reparations for slavery will be on the table, according to Commonwealth Secretary-General Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey.
"Pay what you owe us," read placards waved by protesters in the Bahamas.
Last week, Guyana's Ali told ITV News an apology was "the next step."
He demanded accountability from the former empire which he said "exploited the region," "destroyed lives" and "created underdevelopment."
The monarch and the president have "a very warm relationship," a royal spokesperson said.
The 77-year-old king, who is receiving treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer, will be joined by his wife, Queen Camilla, in Antigua and Barbuda, where he will address a Commonwealth heads of government (CHOGM) summit.
str-cc/jgc

politics

India's animal megacentre vows reset after criticism

BY PETER MARTELL

  • "I want to make sure we put all the infrastructure in place so that the concerns that have been raised are never raised again," Scanlon told AFP. This month, the CITES Secretariat said India had suspended imports of the most endangered species pending new due-diligence procedures, but that questions remained over animals including elephants, chimpanzees and the Tapanuli orangutan.
  • Behind guarded gates resembling an Indian maharajah's palace are hundreds of elephants and big cats, giraffes grazing in a mock savannah, and chimpanzees and orangutans swinging from ropes.
  • "I want to make sure we put all the infrastructure in place so that the concerns that have been raised are never raised again," Scanlon told AFP. This month, the CITES Secretariat said India had suspended imports of the most endangered species pending new due-diligence procedures, but that questions remained over animals including elephants, chimpanzees and the Tapanuli orangutan.
Behind guarded gates resembling an Indian maharajah's palace are hundreds of elephants and big cats, giraffes grazing in a mock savannah, and chimpanzees and orangutans swinging from ropes.
This is Vantara: billed as the world's biggest animal rescue centre, but also the target of persistent criticism over how it amassed an unprecedented collection, including critically endangered animals.
After years of scrutiny, including a Supreme Court-ordered probe in its favour, the Indian centre has pledged a reset, saying it has halted imports, hired global experts, and shifted towards helping wildlife in its natural habitat.
"Vantara has pivoted," CEO Vivaan Karani told AFP. "Wherever animals can be effectively supported in their own countries, we increasingly believe our resources should travel, rather than the animals."
The centre in Jamnagar, in India's western Gujarat state, is closed to the public.
AFP was granted rare access for a two-day tour, passing expansive glass-fronted enclosures housing some of the 200 lions, 200 cheetahs and 150 tigers.
Meaning "Star of the Forest", Vantara in August pledged to "respond to criticism through dialogue, transparency and evidence -- not litigation".
The centre is the vision of 31-year-old Anant Ambani, youngest son of one of Asia's richest men Mukesh Ambani, chairman of retail-to-refining giant Reliance Industries.
It spans 3,500 acres (1,416 hectares) across multiple sites -- around 2,000 football pitches -- alongside a Reliance oil refinery, the world's biggest.
Over 260 former working elephants wander through teak plantations, trumpeting as they bathe in lakes.
Hippos swim in giant glass-fronted tanks, while other vast sections house reptiles and birds -- including penguins.
"I see God in my animals, and Vantara is my temple," Anant, a devout Hindu, has said, adding: "Every being, no matter how big or how small, deserves dignity."
A giant statue of Anant's late dog, Happy the Golden Retriever, stands at its headquarters.

'Transparency'

Vantara says it houses more than 150,000 animals from over 2,000 species, brought from at least 30 countries. But annual reports record far lower totals, among the opaque details activists wanted clarified.
Its acquisitions have drawn the attention of the secretariat overseeing CITES, the international treaty regulating wildlife trade.
Last year, CITES said it "considers that a number of specimens traded as 'captive-bred'... may not be."
It urged reforms to ensure Vantara did "not inadvertently become a driver of illegal harvest of wild animals".
Dozens of critically endangered tortoises were sent by a German commercial breeder to a defunct zoo in Togo, then to Belgium before arriving in India.
Spix's macaws, a Brazilian blue parrot extinct in the wild -- as featured in the 2011 Disney film "Rio" -- were transferred from Germany without Brazil's required consent.
Critics call it a "private megazoo".
Last month, 27 international conservation organisations welcomed Vantara's promised shift but demanded measurable reforms, including "full public transparency" over the origins of every animal.
Karani pointed to a 2025 Supreme Court-ordered probe that found no evidence of any "breach or offence" and called Vantara a "modern-day Noah's Ark".
"Vantara has never broken the law," Karani said. "There is nothing other than welfare at the core of this."
One animal raising questions is a Tapanuli orangutan, seen by AFP, alone in an enclosure clutching a coconut.
Listed as "captive-bred", it belongs to the world's rarest great ape species, with around 800 individuals remaining.
Experts say they know of no captive-breeding programme for the Indonesian species, while Vantara believes the orangutan was wrongly identified as a Tapanuli.

'Concerns'

Vantara's animal care is undeniably impressive.
Veterinarian Kushal Konwar Sarma showed AFP an elephant hospital with hydraulic operating tables and hydrotherapy pools, where retired working elephants recover from injuries.
"The facilities are unmatched not only in India, but I would say, the world," said Sarma.
Sarma is among over 4,000 staff, including teams running vast kitchens preparing animal feed.
Vantara's first animal, in 2009, was Gauri, an Asian elephant used for begging in Rajasthan whose condition was "very bad", keeper Kailash Nayak said. He joined Vantara when it took her in.
"Life here is much better -- for both of us," he said.
Vantara's intake accelerated in 2019, and during the Covid-19 pandemic, when tourism stalled and zoos struggled.
It drew the spotlight in 2024, when Anant's lavish pre-wedding celebrations there brought Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Ivanka Trump as guests, with Rihanna performing.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Vantara in March 2025.
In August, Vantara appointed former CITES chief John Scanlon to chair its new governing council, overseeing animal acquisitions.
"I want to make sure we put all the infrastructure in place so that the concerns that have been raised are never raised again," Scanlon told AFP.
This month, the CITES Secretariat said India had suspended imports of the most endangered species pending new due-diligence procedures, but that questions remained over animals including elephants, chimpanzees and the Tapanuli orangutan.
CITES officials, who meet on November 2, urged India to continue investigations and take action against "instances of illegal trade".
Scanlon said India's Supreme Court had settled the legal questions over imports.
"It's the end of the road there," he said.

'Potential'

In October, Vantara returned an orangutan it said it had rescued from traffickers in 2024 to Indonesia and offered to open 10 mobile veterinary centres nationwide.
"I think the energy is best spent going forward," Scanlon said, calling resources to support conservation "enormous".
Vantara collects genetic data to help prevent inbreeding among Asiatic lions, is building a university, and pledges to fund overseas conservation projects.
Activists said they were "watching closely" to ensure promises are kept.
"Vantara has imported tens of thousands of animals in a very short time, including some of the rarest species," said Daniela Freyer of Pro Wildlife, who helped draft the conservation groups' letter demanding a permanent end to imports.
"Where rules were broken, there must be consequences."
Karani invited her, and other critics, to visit.
"We're not enemies," he said. "We're trying to be one of you. We all have the same mission."
pjm/hmn/fox

UN

Deal still eludes nations on final day of UN nature talks

  •   - Nature pummelled -   The summit has been reviewing progress since nearly 200 nations pledged in 2022 to halt and reverse biodiversity loss in a historic moment dubbed the 'Paris agreement for nature'.
  • The UN biodiversity summit enters a final day Friday with nations still far from reaching a deal to revive a faltering pledge to stop destroying nature.
  •   - Nature pummelled -   The summit has been reviewing progress since nearly 200 nations pledged in 2022 to halt and reverse biodiversity loss in a historic moment dubbed the 'Paris agreement for nature'.
The UN biodiversity summit enters a final day Friday with nations still far from reaching a deal to revive a faltering pledge to stop destroying nature.
Representatives from most of the world's nations are participating in the COP17 summit but major disagreements remain despite nearly two weeks of hard-fought negotiations in Armenia.
Countries have still not agreed on how to tackle harmful subsidies, better finance the protection of Earth's land and oceans, and boost corporate contributions to a near-empty UN conservation fund.
A much-anticipated stocktake of global progress toward the world's nature pledges also remains unresolved despite initial optimism it would be adopted before Friday.
Governments have been pushed to bridge differences but progress has been slow and major breakthroughs scarce since the negotiations began on October 19.
"We need to see concrete priorities coming out of the negotiations. But unfortunately, this is not the case yet," Irene Wabiwa from Greenpeace International told reporters on Thursday.
On the eve of the summit's close in Yerevan, UN biodiversity chief Astrid Schomaker said countries "must be bold and innovative to find common ground". 
"We must now find the stamina to push through to conclude our discussions on all the critical topics before us," said Schomaker, the executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
 

Nature pummelled

 
The summit has been reviewing progress since nearly 200 nations pledged in 2022 to halt and reverse biodiversity loss in a historic moment dubbed the 'Paris agreement for nature'.
Under this accord, nations set 23 global targets for 2030 including protecting 30 percent of land and oceans, tackling pollution and invasive species, and restoring degraded ecosystems.
But ahead of the biennial nature talks, a UN assessment warned the pace of action was insufficient to meet almost all these targets.
One of the summit's major outcomes is the "global review": a set of concrete recommendations for turning lagging pledges into action and speeding up progress to the 2030 deadline.
But this remains in limbo after days of exhaustive deliberations.
"We cannot let this opportunity come and go when our planet's precious biodiversity is still being pummelled from all angles," said Catherine Weller from Fauna & Flora.
The other big sticking point is finding new sources of cash to fund conservation efforts around the globe -- a hot-button issue with public budgets under strain.
The European Union has been leading a charge for wealthy emerging economies like China to join in funding biodiversity protection but these talks have drifted into stalemate.
Efforts to refine the lacklustre Cali Fund -- a UN mechanism for sharing profits from corporations that use genetic data from plants and other organisms -- have also proved difficult.
The fund set out to raise one billion dollars a year for conservation in developing countries when it launched in early 2025. So far, it has attracted around $10,000.
At the last biodiversity summit in Colombia in 2024, talks ran overtime as nations haggled over conservation finance and ended without a deal. Negotiations resumed in Rome in early 2025 where an agreement was reached.
The COP17 summit is also expected to decide on Friday whether Panama or Ecuador will host the next biodiversity summit in 2028.
np/ach/abs

protest

Teen rallies take to the streets across Italy

  •   - 'Malaise' -   On Friday, the radical left USB union has called for a general strike.
  • School and university students are to rally in several Italian cities on Friday to call for more funding for schools and support for housing, with security forces preparing for possible clashes.
  •   - 'Malaise' -   On Friday, the radical left USB union has called for a general strike.
School and university students are to rally in several Italian cities on Friday to call for more funding for schools and support for housing, with security forces preparing for possible clashes.
Students have been protesting for weeks, setting up tent camps and occupying schools to make their demands heard, matching similar movements across the border in France.
The Italian protests have taken place alongside those of truck drivers and farmers over the spike in fuel prices and the cost of living, as well as rising defence spending.
"On Friday, we expect a massive mobilisation of students, who will block and empty schools," Laura Teresi, 18, from Rome's Cavour high school, a spokesperson for the OSA student movement, told AFP.
"We will take to the streets to denounce the rearmament policies of (Prime Minister Giorgia) Meloni's government and the rising cost of living, which is weighing ever more heavily on families, workers and students," she added.
The students will also protest against the "endless budget cuts to teaching," Teresi said.
Officials are worried about a repeat of the violence on October 17 and 18 in Milan, the country's economic capital, where groups of young people set cars on fire and looted shops.
 

'Malaise'

 
On Friday, the radical left USB union has called for a general strike.
"The broader Italian and European context is marked by a crisis and a social, economic and cultural malaise affecting different segments of society and different regions," said Rosario Forlenza, professor of contemporary history and political anthropology at Rome's Luiss University.
"The younger generation (is)... a generation that is underrepresented politically, that sees political leaders' attention focused elsewhere and therefore lives in a situation of precarity, social distress and even a lack of a future," Forlenza said.
In response to the youth protests, Meloni's hard-right government has eased rules on detaining minors and toughened laws on public gatherings.
The government also last week agreed on a 175.2-million-euro ($195 million) aid package for truck drivers, farmers and fishermen hit by soaring fuel prices linked to the war in the Middle East.
Measures in favour of young people and families are also planned in the draft 2027 budget currently being discussed among the various governing parties, such as an annual bonus of 2,500 euros for workers under 30.
"I hope this can provide answers for young people in general... who feel that the state doesn't care about them," Meloni said at a press conference on Wednesday, stressing that these measures were "not for those who smash windows".
Psychologist and psychotherapist Matteo Lancini said part of the problem was schools themselves because they were "totally disconnected" from young people's needs.
"What we need are schools that change radically, schools that are not designed around adults' pension systems," Lancini said at a meeting with the foreign press in Rome.
Instead, "everyone eases their conscience by saying it's social media's fault," he said.
ljm/jra/dt/gv/abs

Global Edition

Netanyahu bloc finishes ahead in Israel vote, but well short of majority

  • The fragmented outcome sets the stage for difficult negotiations to form a government that could last weeks, with no single bloc able to reach the 61-seat threshold needed and the prospect of another election remaining if talks fail.
  • Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's camp finished ahead of the opposition but remained well short of a majority, final results from Israel's general election showed Friday, setting the stage for tough coalition talks or potentially another vote.
  • The fragmented outcome sets the stage for difficult negotiations to form a government that could last weeks, with no single bloc able to reach the 61-seat threshold needed and the prospect of another election remaining if talks fail.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's camp finished ahead of the opposition but remained well short of a majority, final results from Israel's general election showed Friday, setting the stage for tough coalition talks or potentially another vote.
Netanyahu's coalition of right-wing and far-right parties won 53 of the Knesset's 120 seats, with his Likud party remaining the largest faction with 27 seats. 
The opposition bloc, led by centrist Gadi Eisenkot, secured 48 seats.
The results from the Central Elections Committee also cemented the emergence as potential kingmakers of the Arab party groupings Raam and the Joint List, with the two winning a combined 19 seats.
The fragmented outcome sets the stage for difficult negotiations to form a government that could last weeks, with no single bloc able to reach the 61-seat threshold needed and the prospect of another election remaining if talks fail.
The final tally came after Netanyahu's camp spent Thursday amplifying unproven allegations that Arab-Israeli groups received foreign funding to influence the vote, accusations rejected by both Arab-majority lists and Qatar.
Israel's Shin Bet domestic security service said it was investigating suspected irregularities, but stressed the probe was not intended to "cast aspersions or place blame on an entire sector that went out to vote in a democratic and lawful manner".
The electoral commission also sought to calm tensions, with its acting director general Dean Livne saying any suggestion of widespread issues was "entirely groundless".

Political earthquake

The controversy centred on allegations that Raam received money from Qatar, the energy-rich Gulf powerbroker that has channels to Hamas, to finance vote-buying operations.
"The Raamgate scandal is a political earthquake. Israel's elections have been stolen!" Netanyahu's Likud party said on Thursday.
Raam leader Mansour Abbas denied any wrongdoing and welcomed an investigation, while the Joint List accused Netanyahu and his allies of conducting a "campaign of incitement" out of fear of Arab voters' growing political influence.
Government officials have so far provided no evidence to back the allegations.
Opposition figures accused Netanyahu of attempting to undermine confidence in the results after failing to secure a governing majority.
"He is trying to challenge the election results," left-wing candidate Yair Golan said.
Eisenkot said he was briefed by the Shin Bet and the election committee, adding it was "too early to understand what happened, and whether anything happened at all".
But he continued: "It's already clear that Likud and Netanyahu have embarked on a coordinated, organised campaign seeking to delegitimise the results of the election."
Netanyahu himself has long been under the cloud of allegations related to Qatar after the arrests last year of two of his aides for allegedly receiving payments from the Gulf state.
Qatar called the latest accusations "ridiculous and dangerous".
Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, for years tacitly supported Qatar funding Hamas in Gaza, hoping to preserve stability, but that approach collapsed on October 7, 2023.

Kingmakers under pressure

Yousef Jabareen, head of the Joint List, told AFP that he is willing to cooperate with the opposition to bring down Netanyahu but without joining it in a government.
Netanyahu had tried during the voting to raise allegations of fraud, saying that Arab parties were caught with envelopes of cash, and Likud peddled the accusations throughout Thursday.
Police said they arrested three suspects but the election commission called it an isolated local case.
mib-gkg/abs/tc

politics

Brazil's Flavio Bolsonaro isolated, ridiculed after self-exile

BY LOUIS GENOT

  • Hours after his arrival in Florida, he posted a statement on social media declaring himself the "true president" of Brazil, before revising the wording a few minutes later to describe himself as the "leader" of the country.
  • In a viral wave of mockery, Brazilian popstar Anitta declared herself free of cellulite, one influencer declared himself the "true president" of Twitter, and another social media user proclaimed himself the winner of the next lottery.
  • Hours after his arrival in Florida, he posted a statement on social media declaring himself the "true president" of Brazil, before revising the wording a few minutes later to describe himself as the "leader" of the country.
In a viral wave of mockery, Brazilian popstar Anitta declared herself free of cellulite, one influencer declared himself the "true president" of Twitter, and another social media user proclaimed himself the winner of the next lottery.
The target of the taunts was Flavio Bolsonaro, who -- after fleeing to the United States following his election defeat -- proclaimed himself the leader of Brazil on Wednesday in a confusing series of revised statements.
The moves by the 45-year-old senator have been met in Brazil with a mixture of derision, disbelief, and disapproval, even from within his own camp.
The eldest son of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro was blindsided by his election defeat to leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday, after leading a first-round vote earlier this month.
In a cloak-and-dagger operation he sneaked out of Brazil via Argentina and Ecuador, after being ordered to surrender his passports due to several ongoing investigations against him.
Hours after his arrival in Florida, he posted a statement on social media declaring himself the "true president" of Brazil, before revising the wording a few minutes later to describe himself as the "leader" of the country.
A Bolsonaro ally who published an earlier version of the statement bearing Brazil's old coat of arms, abandoned in the sixties, said it had been a ChatGPT error.

'Lunatic asylum Napoleon'

The letter was met with outrage in Brazilian media, which described its tone as "coup-mongering," while politicians from across the spectrum called for the election results to be respected.
A column in the O Globo daily likened Flavio Bolsonaro to a "lunatic asylum Napoleon," while the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper slammed the statement as "pathetic."
On the right, the powerful governor of Sao Paulo, Tarcisio de Freitas, quickly distanced himself.
De Freitas was a former minister under Jair Bolsonaro who had been tipped as the main candidate for the right before the former president chose his son
"We are democrats. The election result is sovereign. What we have seen is the will of the majority of the population, which must be respected," De Freitas said in an interview with the Estadao daily.
As speculation switched almost immediately to who would lead the right with Flavio out of the country, the governor -- a favorite in business circles -- said a 2030 run was "a possibility."
Rogerio Marinho, who co-ordinated Flavio Bolsonaro's campaign, said there was "no evidence" of electoral fraud, as claimed by the defeated candidate.
Electoral court chief Kassio Nunes Marques, who was appointed to the Supreme Court by Jair Bolsonaro, issued a statement to highlight the "secure electoral process."

'No one approves'

Flavio Bolsonaro also said he would lead the opposition from abroad.
His self-proclamation as Brazil's leader in exile "is not a misstep, it is a calculated move" intended to maintain his influence over the conservative camp in Brazil, said Geraldo Monteiro, a political scientist at the State University of Rio de Janeiro.
The stakes are high: despite their election defeat, the right scored a strong majority in Congress.
Bolsonaro's Liberal Party (PL) will hold the largest number of seats from February.
"I do not believe he has the means to lead the opposition from afar, as the newly elected officials have already secured their seats and no longer need him," Monteiro told AFP.
He said Flavio Bolsonaro's letter has "drawn a red line" between those who choose "extreme loyalty" and those who "prefer not to embark on another putschist adventure." 
Monteiro said Flavio was following in the footsteps of his father, who was sentenced to 27 years for plotting a coup after his 2022 election loss to Lula.
On Thursday, PL leader Valdemar Costa Neto visited Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving his sentence under house arrest.
"No one approves" of the letter, Neto said as he left the meeting, adding that the party needed to "move forward."
lg/tmo/fb/des

tradition

'Diabolical' Halloween festivities banned in Honduran towns

  • While the October 31 holiday does not have deep roots in Honduras -- which is predominantly Christian, like other Central American nations -- it has gained popularity in recent years among young people.
  • At least six municipalities in Honduras have banned Halloween celebrations this year on the grounds that they promote wickedness.
  • While the October 31 holiday does not have deep roots in Honduras -- which is predominantly Christian, like other Central American nations -- it has gained popularity in recent years among young people.
At least six municipalities in Honduras have banned Halloween celebrations this year on the grounds that they promote wickedness.
"Permits for events whose activities, themes, or content promote or incite terror or diabolical practices" will not be issued, authorities in the town of San Juan said in a statement.
Similarly, the northwestern municipality of La Libertad justified its ban as a "rejection of symbols such as witches, ghosts and monsters linked to the occult."
Shopping centers must also "refrain from promoting and selling items" related to Halloween. Violators will be fined, it said.
While the October 31 holiday does not have deep roots in Honduras -- which is predominantly Christian, like other Central American nations -- it has gained popularity in recent years among young people.
Controversy over the holiday even reached Congress, where opposition lawmaker Dunia Jimenez has proposed banning such celebrations at schools nationwide.
The proposed ban would restrict "costume contests, decorations and recreational activities" related to Halloween.
Jimenez told AFP that some members of the public have expressed concern about such celebrations "as they consider that they do not contribute to the spiritual, ethical and moral values that they hope to promote in their children's upbringing."
Others, however, have criticized such measures as an attack on freedom of expression.
"Halloween is not a native celebration," Naydeli Alvarado, a historian and cultural manager, told AFP.
"However, people who celebrate it privately should not be punished because it undermines the secular state and restricts the freedom of citizens." 
str/axm/cjc/jgc/des

nature

Charity crowdfunds millions to buy historic English estate

  • The UK government is far from its objective to conserve and manage 30 percent of its land and seas for nature by 2030.
  • A leading UK conservation charity announced Friday it had raised some £30 million ($40 million) via crowdfunding to buy a huge swathe of rolling moorlands and forests to transform into a sanctuary for biodiversity.
  • The UK government is far from its objective to conserve and manage 30 percent of its land and seas for nature by 2030.
A leading UK conservation charity announced Friday it had raised some £30 million ($40 million) via crowdfunding to buy a huge swathe of rolling moorlands and forests to transform into a sanctuary for biodiversity.
After an intense two-year campaign, the Wildlife Trusts has purchased the whole 3,800-hectares (9,500-acres) of the Rothbury Estate in northern Northumberland, England's largest land acquisition in three decades.
The purchase of the sprawling site, as large as central London, will be the opportunity "to create something very special for generations to come", said renowned environmentalist David Attenborough, who backed the campaign.
The trusts' director general Craig Bennett thanked the thousands of people who had donated to the campaign. 
"Working alongside local communities, farmers and fellow land managers who know and care for this landscape so deeply, we can help this special place continue to thrive," he added in a statement.
Some £17 million towards the cost of the land was donated by 25,000 individuals.
The estate was sold by the Percy family -- the Dukes of Northumberland -- who had owned it for almost eight centuries, using the land until 2022 for grouse shooting.
The current duke's son, Max Percy, said it was too difficult to manage from his home in southern England, and after putting it up for sale in 2023 agreed to give the Wildlife Trusts two years to raise the funds.
The association also received £5 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which finances projects to protect UK heritage, as well as a pledge of £1.94 million from the Department of Environment.
Bordered by several nature reserves and restoration project areas, the Wildlife Trusts and owners of those sites dream of one day creating a 65-kilometre-long biodiversity corridor stretching inland from the estate by the North Sea.
It would provide a much-needed sanctuary for wildlife, such as cuckoos, butterflies, pine martens and golden eagles as well as red squirrels, in the densely-populated, nature-ravaged UK.
The Wildlife Trusts also want to encourage the dozen farmers, mainly keeping sheep, to adopt more environmentally friendly practices, using fewer pesticides and chemical fertilisers. 
The UK government is far from its objective to conserve and manage 30 percent of its land and seas for nature by 2030. According to the Wildlife Trusts, the acquisition of the Rothbury Estate could help it meet its goal.
cla/jkb/jj

Global Edition

Machado says Trump opened 'floodgate to freedom' for Venezuela

  • "Thanks to their vision, their courage, and their action on January 3, the floodgate to freedom has been opened," Machado told a press conference, naming Trump, his administration and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
  • Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on Thursday thanked the government of US President Donald Trump for opening the "floodgate to freedom" by capturing president Nicolas Maduro in January.
  • "Thanks to their vision, their courage, and their action on January 3, the floodgate to freedom has been opened," Machado told a press conference, naming Trump, his administration and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on Thursday thanked the government of US President Donald Trump for opening the "floodgate to freedom" by capturing president Nicolas Maduro in January.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate made her comments after returning to Venezuela from 10 months in exile.
"Thanks to their vision, their courage, and their action on January 3, the floodgate to freedom has been opened," Machado told a press conference, naming Trump, his administration and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The opposition leader has repeatedly lavished praise on the US leader for launching the risky operation to detain Maduro, and even gave him her Nobel medal -- a prize he has long coveted for himself.
But for now, Trump appears to prefer interim leader Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro's former deputy who took over from her deposed boss.
Machado, who slipped out of hiding in Venezuela last December to receive her Nobel, said she had returned home to "mobilize society."
Rubio "has set out a sequence of events aimed at moving toward a democratic transition that makes clear the holding of presidential elections in 2027," she said.
"The date of the election is the date of liberation," she added.

'World as witness'

Machado however was more critical of a massive oil deal struck between Washington and Caracas earlier this year, which will see Venezuela hand over 20 percent of its vast oil reserves to the United States.
"This agreement does not reflect the levels of transparency that Venezuelan society wants," she said.
The opposition leader's return home poses a threat to the US-backed interim government, which has repeatedly promised to hold elections without setting a date.
Rodriguez reiterated the promise, again without laying out a timeline, on Thursday.
"There will be elections... with the world as witness," Rodriguez said shortly before Machado's press conference.
Machado's party wants elections in 2027 and for her to be allowed to run, unlike the last presidential vote, when she was barred from being a candidate.
Jubilant crowds greeted her motorcade, which traveled through Venezuela upon her return.
Rodriguez voiced distaste for the fanfare.
"The show could have been avoided -- the airports are right here," she said on state television.
Also on Thursday, Rodriguez named Olivier Blanco as her new foreign minister, replacing Felix Plasencia, who will become a top aide in Rodriguez's office on international affairs.
mbj/bc/cc/md/sst

conflict

DR Congo says Rwanda flouting pact, US sanctions justified

  • "Rwanda has fallen short of its main commitment under Washington agreement to withdraw troops that are illegally in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the consequences are being felt," she told AFP in an interview.
  • The Democratic Republic of Congo's foreign minister told AFP Thursday that US sanctions on Rwanda were justified as Kigali had failed to withdraw its troops from Kinshasa's territory as pledged.
  • "Rwanda has fallen short of its main commitment under Washington agreement to withdraw troops that are illegally in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the consequences are being felt," she told AFP in an interview.
The Democratic Republic of Congo's foreign minister told AFP Thursday that US sanctions on Rwanda were justified as Kigali had failed to withdraw its troops from Kinshasa's territory as pledged.
Therese Kayikwamba Wagner said DR Congo had made progress in its promise, made under the same US-brokered deal with Rwanda, to neutralise a militia that Kigali says is a cross-border threat.
"We think it's very important to have sanctions. First of all, the sanctions establish the truth! Rwanda signed the Washington agreement and has been consistently violating them," she said.
"Rwanda has fallen short of its main commitment under Washington agreement to withdraw troops that are illegally in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the consequences are being felt," she told AFP in an interview.
"The fact that there are sanctions establishes the fact that there have been violations."
In December, DR Congo and Rwanda endorsed a Washington-brokered peace agreement but it did not end the fighting. 
Kinshasa is seeking the withdrawal of Rwandan forces from its territory.
Kigali makes this conditional on the neutralisation of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group founded by former Rwandan Hutu officials responsible for the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi, and active in eastern DRC.
The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on the Rwandan defence ministry and a financial institution in the central African country over their alleged ties to the M23 armed group fighting in DR Congo.
The M23 movement has seized swathes of the eastern DRC -- home to valuable minerals coveted by world powers -- since it took up arms again in 2021.
 

'Aiding a criminal'

 
An offensive by the M23 and the Rwandan army in eastern DRC in early 2025 resulted in the capture of Goma and Bukavu, the capitals of North and South Kivu provinces.
Since then, the front line has stabilised, though South Kivu in particular has seen fierce clashes.
Wagner said Kinshasa had "committed" to neutralise the FDLR and "eliminate the pretext that Kigali has been using and recycling for over 30 years in order to violate our territorial integrity and in order to occupy parts of our country".
Former president Joseph Kabila this month joined forces with the Rwanda-backed M23 movement to take a direct role in an insurgency ravaging the DRC's mineral-rich east, returning to the fray at a febrile time for Congolese politics.
Taking aim at the government in Kinshasa, the new Kabila-helmed Front for the Refoundation of the Nation (FRN) vowed to put "an end to tyranny by any means, including force".
Referring to Kabila and the supposed backing of foreign countries, Wagner said: "Aiding and abetting a criminal has consequences. 
"These leaders will have with time to own the role that they played or didn't play to stop violence, suffering in the eastern part of the DRC," she said.
"They will also have to answer to their very own people, because we believe that no African people think that the suffering of the Congolese people is justified."
cld/ach/jj

conflict

'Horrific' Russian drone strike kills 14 at Ukraine train station: Kyiv

BY STANISLAV DOSHCHITSYN

  • Zelensky slammed the attack as "horrific" and insisted that "sanctions against Moscow and its war machine must not be eased for as long as this Russian war continues".
  • A Russian drone slammed into a busy railway platform in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro Thursday, killing at least 14 people in what President Volodymyr Zelensky called a "horrific" attack that demands action by Kyiv's allies.
  • Zelensky slammed the attack as "horrific" and insisted that "sanctions against Moscow and its war machine must not be eased for as long as this Russian war continues".
A Russian drone slammed into a busy railway platform in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro Thursday, killing at least 14 people in what President Volodymyr Zelensky called a "horrific" attack that demands action by Kyiv's allies.
The strike came as Ukraine and Russia kept to a fragile local ceasefire in the ravaged city of Oleshky -- under Russian occupation since 2022 and where residents have faced months of food, water and medicine shortages.
While the truce held into a third day, at least 20 people were killed and more than 70 people injured, according to local officials, in strikes across the country.
The strike on Dnipro station hit a platform "where a regular commuter train and a regular passenger train were standing", Zelensky said.
By Thursday afternoon, Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Oleksandr Ganzha said the death toll had risen to 14 with another 14 people wounded, six of them in severe condition with "multiple shrapnel wounds".
One injured was an 11-year-old boy, while one man had "both legs amputated", according to the governor.
Zelensky slammed the attack as "horrific" and insisted that "sanctions against Moscow and its war machine must not be eased for as long as this Russian war continues".
Images released by Ukrainian emergency services showed bodies on the platform, rescuers helping victims and two burnt-out passenger trains with their windows shattered.
French President Emmanuel Macron reacted with outrage to the attack, stressing the need for "far more than a localised ceasefire" like the one in Oleshky.
 

Zelensky slams sanctions relief

 
European Union council president Antonio Costa called for greater pressure on Russia after the latest "cruel and devastating series of Russian strikes against civilians.
"The EU will continue to increase the pressure on Russia and to support Ukraine until a just and lasting peace is achieved," he added.
"We call on all our international partners to do the same."
Russia has fired drones on trains across Ukraine since the first days of its 2022 invasion -- destroying hundreds of locomotives and killing several railway workers.
Ukraine's air force said it intercepted three jet-powered drones in one daytime attack, but that a fourth evaded its defences and hit the station.
After the attack, Zelensky renewed his criticism of a deal struck between US President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin to ease some US sanctions on Russia allowing Moscow to release diesel onto global markets.
"How many such terrorist strikes has Russia carried out against our people since sanctions were lifted on some Russian oligarchs and the energy sector, instead of de-escalating," he asked.
"It is important that America does not remain silent about the killings -- this is very important," he added in a separate statement.
At least six other people were killed across Ukraine in separate Russian attacks, according to local officials.
 

Two teenagers killed

 
An attack on the city centre of Chernigiv, north of Kyiv, killed two 15-year-old girls and wounded nearly two dozen other people, including four children, the head of the city's military administration, Dmytro Bryzhynsky, said.
A drone slammed into a multi-storey residential building in the central city of Kremenchuk, killing three people and wounding several -- including a six-year-old -- the local governor said.
Russia has intensified drone and missile attacks in recent weeks, hitting energy sites in what Kyiv says is a bid to plunge the country into cold and darkness throughout the winter.
The Kremlin this week vowed not to let up the overall pace of the war even as the sides prepare to restart stalled talks under US mediation.
Zelensky said on Wednesday it would be a "huge success" if the local ceasefire in Oleshky -- brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump -- allowed for the evacuation of stranded citizens.
Trapped locals have resorted to hunting and eating pigeons in recent months, former residents in touch with those in the city told AFP.
Russia and Ukraine are to meet next month with US envoys to discuss ways to end Europe's worst conflict since World War II, with no firm dates set for the talks yet.
Several previous rounds have failed to move the sides closer to a deal. 
Russia demands more territory in eastern Ukraine and sweeping military and political restrictions on Kyiv.
Ukraine and its allies say ceding ground to Moscow would be tantamount to a capitulation and leave Kyiv vulnerable to future Russian attacks.
bur-mmp-nl/jj

accident

Grieving Spain demands answers for latest rail disaster

BY DIEGO URDANETA

  • Wednesday's accident happened on a key line linking Madrid to the southern city of Seville, which was also the scene of a collision in January that killed 46 people.
  • Spain began demanding answers on Thursday after its second high-speed train collision this year killed 69 people and injured scores, with distraught relatives desperately seeking news about their loved ones.
  • Wednesday's accident happened on a key line linking Madrid to the southern city of Seville, which was also the scene of a collision in January that killed 46 people.
Spain began demanding answers on Thursday after its second high-speed train collision this year killed 69 people and injured scores, with distraught relatives desperately seeking news about their loved ones.
One of Europe's deadliest rail disasters this century struck south of Madrid on Wednesday morning when a service by state operator Renfe ploughed into the back of a stationary train belonging to private Spanish company Iryo.
Manuel San Emeterio, whose 54-year-old brother Pepe is missing, came to the central city of Toledo to provide DNA samples to the Civil Guard. 
"The uncertainty is the worst thing that you deal with, everyone is dealing with it," he said. "But I think there's something that counters it, which is hope... we must never lose it."
Toledo has received 52 of the corpses, overwhelming its morgue's capacity of 30 and forcing the army to set up an improvised facility.
Forensics experts in green jackets, a black funeral car and army vehicles moved in and out of the site, equipped with red marquees and refrigerated containers, an AFP reporter saw.
Sniffer dogs and thermal drones were searching for bodies at the crash site outside the central village of Urda, around 130 kilometres (80 miles) south of Madrid.
The toll rose from 68 to 69 on Thursday, according to regional authorities. Among the victims was Fatima Banez, a former labour minister for the main conservative Popular Party (PP).
 

'Nervous and desperate' relatives

 
Jose Miguel Fernandez, a parish priest in Urda, joined the emergency services in offering support to families still waiting to learn the fate of their loved ones.
"Many of them were calm, others were nervous and desperate. They wanted to know straight away and get news" of their loved ones, he told AFP.
Flags flew at half-mast on public buildings with official ceremonies and public events cancelled or scaled back on the first of three days of national mourning.
A minute of silence was observed up and down the country, including at Spain's busiest train station Atocha in Madrid, where some mourners shed tears.
Wednesday's accident happened on a key line linking Madrid to the southern city of Seville, which was also the scene of a collision in January that killed 46 people.
It has raised fresh questions about safety on Spain's high-speed rail network, the second-largest in the world after China's.
Toledo resident Marcos Ibanez, who works in tourism, told AFP he had avoided high-speed trains "for a long time because of this".
"I've gone through the place where the accident happened several times... and you never know when it might be your turn," the 28-year-old said. "Most people are pretty fed up."
During a visit to the disaster site, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who faces a general election on November 29, pledged "to establish every last detail of this tragedy and strengthen safety measures to ensure it never happens again".
King Felipe VI also intervened in the debate after visiting the injured in Toledo, calling for measures "to ensure this does not happen again".
 

'Searching for culprits'

 
Transport Minister Oscar Puente said on Wednesday that an automatic control system went down on 69 kilometres of track, causing all trains there to be stopped.
But the control centre decided to "resume traffic in circumstances that, from our point of view, are inexplicable", Puente said, with the Renfe train travelling 25 kilometres before striking the Iryo.
The control centre "had more than enough time to verify the error, and they did not fix it", he added.
Sanchez's main rival, PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo, accused Puente of "frivolity" by trying to pin the blame on one control centre operator.
"Political responsibilities cannot wait for an investigation," Feijoo said.
The head of train driver union Semaf, Diego Martin, said "attention is wrongly being focused on searching for culprits" when workers were using "degraded systems".
Renfe train drivers on Thursday maintained a strike that Semaf had called before the accident "to defend rail safety", saying previous commitments on the issue had been broken.
Renfe reported "a major impact" on its minimum service requirements as 26.6 percent of the staff concerned joined the industrial action.
The Madrid region's sprawling commuter network suffered the most disruption, with 81 percent of its planned services cancelled.
bur-imm-ds/jj