climate

Singapore to toughen haze law with arrest powers, bigger fines

BY TARYN NG

  • - Fight fires with fines - The proposed changes would make offences under the law arrestable, and allow courts to try defendants in their absence if they are overseas or unreachable.
  • Singapore's parliament moved on Wednesday to toughen its anti-haze law with arrest powers, bigger fines and potential restrictions on companies linked to transboundary air pollution from wildfires.
  • - Fight fires with fines - The proposed changes would make offences under the law arrestable, and allow courts to try defendants in their absence if they are overseas or unreachable.
Singapore's parliament moved on Wednesday to toughen its anti-haze law with arrest powers, bigger fines and potential restrictions on companies linked to transboundary air pollution from wildfires.
The proposed changes, which are expected to pass easily, come after weeks of air pollution from fires in neighbouring Indonesia angered Singaporeans and sparked calls for action.
"We need better ways to obtain and verify information, trace complex corporate relationships, and impose meaningful consequences on errant entities," Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said.
"We also need to be able to intervene earlier before haze pollution reaches Singapore. We therefore have to strengthen our laws, and we must act quickly."
Singapore enacted a Transboundary Haze Pollution Act in 2014, but enforcement has been stymied by jurisdictional barriers and challenges obtaining evidence from overseas.
Of six cases filed in 2015 under that law, two were closed in 2017 after the companies provided information in response to the legal notices, while investigations into four remain open.
The government has come under pressure to toughen up existing measures after thick haze from fires burning in Indonesia's Sumatra and Borneo in recent weeks drifted across the region.

Fight fires with fines

The proposed changes would make offences under the law arrestable, and allow courts to try defendants in their absence if they are overseas or unreachable.
Fines would increase tenfold to nearly US$800,000 a day for companies deemed non-compliant, with the ceiling on fines rising to over US$15.6 million.
The government would also have powers to force companies to appoint independent assessors at their expense to investigate fires, business operations and corporate relationships.
Assessors would be approved by the government and submit findings to officials for potential further action. Appointing an assessor would not imply wrongdoing, but would be a way to determine possible links to fires.
The changes would also allow authorities to impose restrictions on designated companies, including limiting services provided by Singapore's outsized financial industry.
Companies blaming third parties for fires affecting their land would also have to demonstrate they took reasonable steps to prevent and fight the blazes.
The changes are certified as urgent, allowing them to be debated and voted on quickly, and they are expected to easily pass later on Wednesday by the legislature dominated by the ruling People's Action Party.

'No magic bullet'

Simon Tay, chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, a think-tank, told AFP the law would strengthen Singapore's hand but limitations would remain.
Restricting commercial activities and financing of a firm involved in the fires will make that company "a corporate pariah", he said.
The law "is loaded and now has more bullets. But there is no magic bullet solution", Tay said.
"This alone does not guarantee that the haze will never recur. Cooperation within the ASEAN framework and with Indonesia and neighboring countries will also be essential," he added, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Greenpeace Malaysia interim country representative Heng Kiah Chun said other Southeast Asian countries could learn from Singapore.
But he said that "stronger national laws must be supported by greater ASEAN cooperation, especially in sharing evidence, improving corporate transparency and preventing peatland fires at their source".
Under existing legislation, Singapore has already issued warnings to 10 foreign-based companies telling them to deploy firefighters, stop burning and submit action plans. It also ordered 10 Singapore-registered firms to appoint assessors to examine their operations.
Fires in Indonesia burned through over 1.9 million hectares between January and the end of September, most of it in recent months, according to the Nusantara Atlas monitor. 
The fires have been driven in part by drought linked to a strong El Nino phenomenon, but are also caused by longstanding deforestation and drying of peatland, experts say.
str-mba/mjw

Global Edition

Democrats win US Congress in midterm rout of Trump

BY FRANKIE TAGGART WITH GREG WALTON IN DETROIT AND ELODIE SOINARD IN ATLANTA

  • The night was "a big wipeout and a strong repudiation of Donald Trump and his policies," George Washington University professor Todd Belt told AFP. - Trump on defensive - Democratic control of Congress will allow the party to pursue investigations into the Iran war, immigration enforcement and allegations of corruption, while blocking Trump's agenda and senior appointments.
  • Democrats seized control of the US Congress on Tuesday, capturing the Senate and House of Representatives in a stunning, nationwide rejection of Donald Trump set to put the brakes on the final two years of his presidency.
  • The night was "a big wipeout and a strong repudiation of Donald Trump and his policies," George Washington University professor Todd Belt told AFP. - Trump on defensive - Democratic control of Congress will allow the party to pursue investigations into the Iran war, immigration enforcement and allegations of corruption, while blocking Trump's agenda and senior appointments.
Democrats seized control of the US Congress on Tuesday, capturing the Senate and House of Representatives in a stunning, nationwide rejection of Donald Trump set to put the brakes on the final two years of his presidency.
The Democratic landslide will give the opposition power to block legislation, launch broad investigations into Trump's administration and thwart his judicial and senior government appointments.
The results reflected deep anger over living costs, tariffs and Trump's war against Iran, which has sent fuel prices soaring and compounded dissatisfaction with an already deeply unpopular president.
"I'm just so happy. I'm so eager," 22-year-old paralegal Michael Diaz said in Georgia, celebrating a big win by rising Democratic star Jon Ossoff in the Senate.
Trump struck a conciliatory note despite his history of questioning elections, telling The New York Times he was "absolutely willing" to accept the results.
"I think the Democrats did a good job, I really do," the 80-year-old told Fox News, in rare praise for his political opponents. "They fought hard."
But he sought to distance himself from his own party's poor showing, adding that "I don't view it as a hit on me."
He acknowledged that the Iran conflict had contributed to the defeat, while defending the military campaign, and he suggested the rival parties could find common ground on immigration, long one of the most divisive issues of his presidency.

Republican heartland

Democrats flipped seats that had long been held by Republicans, scoring breakthroughs in South Carolina, North Carolina, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Texas and Maine.
In Maine, former logger Troy Jackson defeated longtime Republican Senator Susan Collins, the party's seventh Senate seat captured from Republicans.
In Kansas, Methodist minister Adam Hamilton became the first Democrat elected to the Senate from the reliably conservative state since 1932. Iowa had not elected a Democratic senator since 2008.
Texas Democrat James Talarico declared he had defeated "Goliath" in winning a Senate seat, while Gina Hinojosa unseated the state's Republican governor, Greg Abbott, ending decades of Republican rule.
Democrats also protected key Senate seats of their own, including Ossoff in Georgia and an open seat in New Hampshire.
The scale of the victory grew further when Abdul El-Sayed defeated former Republican lawmaker Mike Rogers in Michigan, making him the first Muslim elected to the upper chamber of Congress.
"Michigan, we did it!" El-Sayed said in a speech at his election headquarters in Detroit.
El-Sayed won despite a last-minute curveball in his campaign when congresswoman Haley Stevens, who lost the Democratic primary to El-Sayed, came out in support of Rogers at the 11th hour.
The party's House victory saw gains across Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Arizona, North Carolina, Wisconsin and New Jersey, including districts Trump had carried comfortably in 2024.
In one closely watched bellwether, Democrat J.D. Ford ousted Republican congresswoman Victoria Spartz in Indiana, capturing a district Trump won by 17 points two years earlier.
Democrats also won Georgia's governorship, electing former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms as the first Black woman governor in US history.
Republicans had some consolation in Florida, where Trump-backed Byron Donalds became the state's first Black governor and Ashley Moody retained a Senate seat -- but only after seeing off surprisingly strong Democratic challenges.
The night was "a big wipeout and a strong repudiation of Donald Trump and his policies," George Washington University professor Todd Belt told AFP.

Trump on defensive

Democratic control of Congress will allow the party to pursue investigations into the Iran war, immigration enforcement and allegations of corruption, while blocking Trump's agenda and senior appointments.
Democratic Representative Robert Garcia, now expected to lead the powerful House Oversight Committee, warned Republicans on social media: "LAWYER UP."
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries declared Trump's MAGA movement "on the run from sea to shining sea."
Jeffries could become the first Black speaker of the House when the new Congress convenes in January.
Despite his conciliatory remarks, Trump also insisted on social media that Republicans would have won "IN A LANDSLIDE" if he had been running, though he had repeatedly urged supporters throughout the campaign to "pretend I'm on the ballot."
He also repeated his threat to use the presidential veto on Democrat-passed laws, posting a picture on social media of a red baseball cap reading just: "VETO."
bur-ft/sms/lkd/lga

Global Edition

Israel election commission rejects Netanyahu charges of fraud

BY SHAUN TANDON

  • Netanyahu has repeatedly alleged fraud by Arab-majority parties, pointing to the arrests of several people with envelopes of cash on election day and later saying lawmakers received money from Qatar -- allegations that have been levelled at his own aides in the past.
  • Israeli electoral authorities on Wednesday rejected allegations promoted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of fraud by Arab parties, who could hold the key to removing him from power after a divisive vote.
  • Netanyahu has repeatedly alleged fraud by Arab-majority parties, pointing to the arrests of several people with envelopes of cash on election day and later saying lawmakers received money from Qatar -- allegations that have been levelled at his own aides in the past.
Israeli electoral authorities on Wednesday rejected allegations promoted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of fraud by Arab parties, who could hold the key to removing him from power after a divisive vote.
President Isaac Herzog will at noon (1000 GMT) officially receive the results of the October 27 election as he decides whether to give Netanyahu or his rival Gadi Eisenkot the first chance to form a government, with neither commanding enough votes alone.
The Central Elections Committee said it had conducted an audit of 9,069 polling stations following complaints and was confident that the announced results "accurately reflect the will of the voters".
"All complaints submitted by political factions have been reviewed and there were no findings indicating harm to the integrity of the election," it said in a statement.
Netanyahu has repeatedly alleged fraud by Arab-majority parties, pointing to the arrests of several people with envelopes of cash on election day and later saying lawmakers received money from Qatar -- allegations that have been levelled at his own aides in the past.
Late on Tuesday, Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said she would not question anyone without evidence after reports that the head of the domestic security service Shin Bet, a Netanyahu ally, had asked to interrogate Arab parties.
Netanyahu's Likud party lashed out at her, saying that she was trying to "obstruct the investigation and to cover up this serious case of manipulation of the electoral process by foreign actors".
Eisenkot, a former military chief trying to unite centrists and the centre-right and turn the page on Netanyahu's long, polarising reign, accused Likud of attempting a "pogrom against democracy".
He had earlier warned Netanyahu against launching a new war with his close ally US President Donald Trump against Iran, which could help the Israeli prime minister push for a unity government or to run out the clock until new elections.

No unity government

Yair Lapid, a former prime minister and key force in the opposition bloc, pointed to the midterm elections in the United States in which Democrats resoundingly trounced Trump's Republicans.
The Shin Bet "outbursts" paired with the US election results "eliminate any possibility of a unity government led by Netanyahu".
Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister who has been in power on and off for nearly two decades, has called for a "broad national government" -- with himself at the top.
Herzog's statements have raised speculation that he could sound out leaders on a possible unity government, hoping to bring stability in a country sharply split after three years of war and over Netanyahu's hard-right politics.
Herzog holds a largely ceremonial role as head of state, but carries the decisive vote on who will have the first chance to try to be prime minister -- a process that could last weeks or even months and may end in failure and new elections.
After officially receiving the results, Herzog begins two days of consultations with parties, starting with the smaller ones.
Neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot holds the 61 seats needed to secure a majority in the 120-member parliament.
Netanyahu's bloc has an edge, with 53 seats as opposed to Eisenkot's 48.
Eisenkot could reach the threshold if he were to ally with parties from the Arab minority, whose seat count surged to 19 on outrage against the actions and rhetoric of Netanyahu's government.
But some in the opposition have baulked at relying on non-Jewish lawmakers' votes.

'Fresh thinking'

Herzog, a mild-mannered lawyer whose political career was in the defunct left-wing Labour Party but is now officially nonpartisan, has said he wants to encourage "fresh thinking" and avoid a new election.
Once Herzog tasks someone, they will have 28 days to form a government, with a potential 14-day extension.
If no one succeeds, Herzog will give the mandate to someone else. If that too fails, a majority of lawmakers could come together to nominate someone within 21 days -- or else Israel heads to new elections.
It took Netanyahu, who at the time had a better showing by Likud, 58 days to form a government after the last election in November 2022.
Israel held five elections between 2019 and 2022 after repeated deadlocks.
Netanyahu faces corruption charges and the risk of jail if he loses power and, with it, immunity.
Yousef Jabareen, the head of the largest Arab-majority party in the next parliament, told AFP this week that the opposition needed to accept "political reality" and team up to remove Netanyahu.
Netanyahu has persistently warned Jewish Israelis that the opposition will work with Arab parties, which he accuses of backing Hamas.
Leaders of Arab-Israeli parties have unanimously condemned the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas without describing the Palestinian Islamist movement as a terror group. 
bur-sct/dcp

history

Hungary to open Communist-era informer files

BY ANDRAS ROSTOVANYI

  • - 'Some hysteria' - Hungary was under one-party communist rule between 1949 and 1989 that repressed dissent.
  • Hungary is scheduled to release communist-era secret police files Wednesday, identifying tens of thousands of former informants in a long-delayed reckoning with the central European country's repressive past.
  • - 'Some hysteria' - Hungary was under one-party communist rule between 1949 and 1989 that repressed dissent.
Hungary is scheduled to release communist-era secret police files Wednesday, identifying tens of thousands of former informants in a long-delayed reckoning with the central European country's repressive past.
Since Hungary's democratic transition in 1990, efforts to fully open the communist-era archives had repeatedly stalled, with critics blaming successive governments' reluctance to potentially implicate public figures across the political spectrum.
Prime Minister Peter Magyar, a political newcomer who ousted nationalist long-time premier Viktor Orban in the April election on the promise of "regime change", spearheaded the adoption of a bill in September that grants the public unrestricted access to the records for the first time.
Ahead of the vote, Orban denied resurfaced claims that he was an informant, sharing documents on Facebook showing a failed attempt to recruit him during his military service in the 1980s.
A digitalised, searchable database containing names and records related to an estimated 50,000-60,000 former informants is set to become available on a dedicated website on Wednesday morning.
"Better late than never. We are getting access to much more information than before about who the authorities have recruited and how the security apparatus worked back then," historian Laszlo Eorsi from the 1956 Institute Foundation told AFP.
A second batch of files, giving more details on about 9,000 of the informants, would be made available in February.
Some personal information, including details on individuals' sexual orientation, will be redacted.

'Some hysteria'

Hungary was under one-party communist rule between 1949 and 1989 that repressed dissent.
Much like in East Germany and other parts of the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc during the Cold War, authorities employed an extensive network of informants to monitor public sentiment.
Individuals were often recruited through coercion and were tasked with reporting on colleagues, friends and even relatives for signs of disloyalty towards the regime.
Secret police employed a total of 150,000 informants during these four decades, according to estimates from the state security archives, but records survive for only around a third of them.
Many files are believed to have been destroyed during the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, or hidden during the months-long peaceful transition to democracy.
Debates over opening the archives have dogged Hungarian politics since the fall of communism.
In 2002, weeks after his inauguration as prime minister, socialist politician Peter Medgyessy was embroiled in a scandal after it was revealed that he had worked as a secret agent during the communist era.
The case prompted fresh calls for transparency, with parliament adopting a law in 2003, which allowed individuals who had been monitored to learn who had reported on them.
However, broader access remained restricted to researchers, who had to gain permission from the state security archives until the latest reform.
Historians have cautioned against judging anyone just because their names are on the list of informants.
"I know of quite a few examples when someone was recruited, but they did not make a report, but in fact took a huge risk by turning against the authorities. Some even could be considered proper heroes," Eorsi stressed.
He predicted the release would trigger both public and private revelations.
"This could cause some hysteria in the coming months," he said, adding the release of the second batch of files should help to clear up some misunderstandings.
ros/jza/eab

crime

Indonesia govt says ex-police chief may have committed 'treason' by wiretapping president

BY MARCHIO GORBIANO

  • Listyo had until then served as national police chief during the period of the alleged wiretapping that investigators say started in 2025.
  • Indonesia's former police chief may have committed "treason" through his alleged involvement in wiretapping President Prabowo Subianto's telephone, the government said on Wednesday.
  • Listyo had until then served as national police chief during the period of the alleged wiretapping that investigators say started in 2025.
Indonesia's former police chief may have committed "treason" through his alleged involvement in wiretapping President Prabowo Subianto's telephone, the government said on Wednesday.
Listyo Sigit Prabowo has been fired from his latest post as presidential chief of staff, and was arrested on Tuesday with two other senior police officials for allegedly spying on his boss and other high-profile individuals.
"What was done may have fallen into the category of being considered as leading to treason," presidential spokesman Prasetyo Hadi told reporters in Jakarta on Wednesday.
"This also constitutes actions that endanger the security of the interests of the state, including jeopardising the safety of the country's leader," he said.
Under Indonesia's criminal code, the maximum penalty for treason against the president is death by firing squad.
Government officials and politicians, journalists, NGO representatives and businesspeople were also targeted in the alleged wiretap.
The national police's top detective, Asep Safrudin, said Tuesday the surveillance operation had been conducted "without any legal basis or without any investigative or inquiry process in accordance with applicable laws".
Listyo has not commented publicly on the allegations.
Prasetyo said Wednesday said the motive was not yet known.
"When we talk about the head of state... there is a great deal of information there that is naturally very sensitive, which could endanger... the interests and the strength of the nation and the state," he said.
Prasetyo added that President Prabowo had expressed his "profound concern" about the revelations.

Pressure on president

Prabowo, who took office in 2024, has come under increasing pressure over his government's handling of the economy and response to destructive wildfires.
Students and others have mounted large protests against him in recent weeks, also denouncing what they perceive as growing authoritarianism and rampant corruption.
The president's approval ratings have fallen to a record low, and he reshuffled his cabinet for a seventh time last month, appointing Listyo, 57, as his chief of staff. The men are not related.
Listyo had until then served as national police chief during the period of the alleged wiretapping that investigators say started in 2025.
The scandal has come with pressure also growing on Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the son of Prabowo's predecessor and political rival Joko Widodo.
Widodo's party is a member of the ruling coalition, and his popularity is widely seen to have helped Prabowo to the top job, with Gibran by his side.
This year, opponents went to the Constitutional Court seeking to unseat Gibran, claiming there was no proof he graduated high school -- a requirement for the vice presidency.
The court ruled it could not find convincing evidence that Gibran had the required qualification, but said it did not have the power to disqualify him.
Last month, however, Indonesia's Supreme Court ruled to annul Gibran's high school certificate, renewing calls for his ouster.
mrc/mlr/mjw

society

Death is big business in I.Coast, where funerals cost fortunes

BY SOULé DIA

  • - Tears and dancing - When Bli Lou's father died in July, she did not have the money to organise a funeral in line with tradition.
  • Valerie Bli Lou is a shopkeeper from a modest family, but she is determined to give her late father the sumptuous funeral that Ivorian tradition demands -- whether she can afford it or not.
  • - Tears and dancing - When Bli Lou's father died in July, she did not have the money to organise a funeral in line with tradition.
Valerie Bli Lou is a shopkeeper from a modest family, but she is determined to give her late father the sumptuous funeral that Ivorian tradition demands -- whether she can afford it or not.
Dancing through the night in a flowing burgundy-and-black tunic at her father's wake in Yopougon, a working-class neighbourhood in Ivory Coast's economic capital, Abidjan, the 60-year-old recounted the hardships of organising and paying for this lavish tribute to his life.
Death is big business in Ivory Coast, where families are expected to say goodbye to their loved ones with massive, music-fuelled feasts tinged with moments of both joy and sadness.
Bli Lou said that including the three cows she bought, she had already paid more than 2.5 million CFA francs ($4,275) for her father's funeral rites -- more than 15 times the average monthly salary in the west African country, according to the World Bank.
There would be more expenses to come, she said: transporting the coffin to a cemetery 500 kilometres (310 miles) away, building a tomb and hosting and feeding hundreds of guests at the burial.
Bli Lou, who is Christian, told AFP she was "proud" to be covering the expense, despite the difficulty.
"My father is like my second God. I must honour him," she said.

Tears and dancing

When Bli Lou's father died in July, she did not have the money to organise a funeral in line with tradition.
So, she did what many families do: paid to preserve his body in a morgue, at the rate of about 7,000 francs a day, while she got together the funds she needed with the help of family and friends.
She finally managed to put together the wake at a vast centre in Yopougon known for hosting funeral events, where crowds of mourners converge every Saturday.
Families often have to reserve weeks in advance.
The centre was holding four wakes in all on the October night Bli Lou celebrated her father.
Families had hired bands, set up sprawling arrays of tents and decorated chapels with portraits of their late loved ones inside.
The feasts were a mix of tears and music, embraces and dancing.

'Pressure'

At another wake, a DJ read out the names of those who had contributed cash or otherwise helped with the ceremony.
The family said they had paid more than five million francs in all, imposing a mandatory contribution on every relative.
Some went into debt to come up with the money.
"There's a lot of pressure," said one family member, Mathias Zouh.
"Our parents and grandparents did it, so we do it, too. Otherwise, it would reflect badly on you in the village."
Funerals are so important in some Ivorian communities they unleash competition and rivalries between families, said anthropologist Leo Montaz, who has studied the subject.
"Everyone wants to show how important he is and reaffirm his social status," he said.
For Muslims, Ivory Coast's other major faith, funerals must be organised more quickly -- but the multiple ceremonies involved are still often expensive.
The importance of funeral rites has given rise to a booming industry in the country.
In Yopougon, stores offer coffins, funeral clothing, artificial flowers, headstones, jewellery and scents for perfuming the dead.
Gertrude Brou has worked in the industry for 15 years, selling funeral articles and dressing the dead.
"There's a need for funerals, and it's a job that earns you a good living," she said.
Her colleague Georges agreed, saying he had built his house and sent his children to study abroad thanks to his funeral parlour.
"It's a thriving profession," he said.
sjd/pid/bam/jhb/kjm

ICJ

Top UN court to rule Nov 19 on Myanmar's Rohingya genocide case

BY RICHARD CARTER

  • Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have for seven years been weighing accusations by The Gambia that Myanmar's brutal repression of the Rohingya breached the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.
  • The top United Nations court will on November 19 deliver a landmark ruling on whether Myanmar's crackdown against its mostly Muslim Rohingya minority constituted a genocide, officials said on Tuesday.
  • Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have for seven years been weighing accusations by The Gambia that Myanmar's brutal repression of the Rohingya breached the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.
The top United Nations court will on November 19 deliver a landmark ruling on whether Myanmar's crackdown against its mostly Muslim Rohingya minority constituted a genocide, officials said on Tuesday.
Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have for seven years been weighing accusations by The Gambia that Myanmar's brutal repression of the Rohingya breached the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.
While the ICJ has no means of enforcing its decisions, a ruling that Myanmar committed genocide would heap more international pressure on its leader Min Aung Hlaing.
He commanded the military during the Rohingya crackdown before ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in a 2021 coup.
This year he was installed as civilian president following deeply restricted elections and is waging a diplomatic campaign for legitimacy which may be complicated by the ruling.
The judgement may also be seen as justice for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya.
Legal experts are closely watching the decision by the ICJ, which rules in disputes between countries, for clues as to how the court might sway in the seminal genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel over its campaign in Gaza.
Myanmar has always denied carrying out a genocide against the Rohingya, arguing its actions targeted a military uprising from insurgents after a series of attacks left a dozen security personnel dead.
The crackdown by the Myanmar army and Buddhist militias forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh, bringing with them harrowing accounts of gang rape and mass executions.
More than one million Rohingya still live across the border in Bangladesh, in the world's largest refugee settlement.

'Collective conscience'

During hearings on the case in January, Gambian Justice Minister Dawda Jallow told the court the Rohingya had suffered "the most horrific violence and destruction one could imagine".
"It is not about esoteric issues of international law. It is about real people, real stories and a real group of human beings," said Jallow.
"The Rohingya of Myanmar. They have been targeted for destruction," added the minister.
The Gambia has brought the case to the ICJ under the terms of the UN Genocide Convention, which allows any state to sound the alarm if it suspects genocide is being committed.
The alleged violations of the convention "are a stain on our collective conscience and it would be irresponsible to pretend that it is not our business", Jallow said.
Myanmar retorted at the hearing that the allegations were "unsubstantiated".
"Emotional language and blurry factual pictures are not a substitute for a rigorous presentation of facts," said Ko Ko Hlaing, a minister in the president's office.
In a previous hearing in 2019, de facto civilian leader Suu Kyi herself addressed the court, housed in the iconic Peace Palace in The Hague.
The Nobel peace laureate said the case risked reigniting the crisis that led to the Rohingya's expulsion and said there was no "genocidal intent" behind the crackdown.
Suu Kyi, 81, will not be attending the verdict, however. She is under house arrest in the capital, Naypyidaw, authorities say, after being unseated in the 2021 military coup.
The ICJ has already made one ruling in this case, ordering Myanmar in 2020 to "take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts" described by the Genocide Convention.
These acts included "killing members of the group" and "deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part".
ICJ judges also threw out a challenge to its jurisdiction by Myanmar, ruling that it did have the power to decide on the genocide question.
The ICJ is not the only court looking into possible crimes against the Rohingya.
In 2024, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, also based in The Hague, asked judges for an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing over alleged crimes against humanity.
A case is also underway in Argentina, under the principle of universal jurisdiction, the idea that some crimes are so heinous they can be heard in any court.
ric/jhb/jts/sco/fox

smartphones

Apple AI tools come to China after two-year delay

BY LUNA LIN

  • The long-anticipated Chinese rollout of Apple Intelligence "fills a long-standing gap in Apple's AI offering", said Ivan Lam, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.
  • Apple began on Wednesday a long-delayed trial rollout of in-house artificial intelligence tools for Chinese users, playing catch-up to homegrown smartphone makers in a major market for the US giant.
  • The long-anticipated Chinese rollout of Apple Intelligence "fills a long-standing gap in Apple's AI offering", said Ivan Lam, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.
Apple began on Wednesday a long-delayed trial rollout of in-house artificial intelligence tools for Chinese users, playing catch-up to homegrown smartphone makers in a major market for the US giant.
The on-device features dubbed "Apple Intelligence" were first released in the United States and other countries in autumn 2024, marking the firm's first major push into generative AI.
But strict Chinese regulatory requirements for the fast-evolving technology have held back its launch there -- as well as the fact that models from Google and OpenAI, which Apple has used elsewhere to boost its own AI capabilities, are not available in the country.
Apple, which has largely stayed out of the global AI investment frenzy, announced it will work with a Chinese partner -- Alibaba's Qwen -- to integrate more powerful AI features into devices alongside its own basic AI offerings.
Wednesday's trial rollout is restricted to developers, but public access to Apple Intelligence services in China will come in December, the company said in a statement at the weekend.
The long-anticipated Chinese rollout of Apple Intelligence "fills a long-standing gap in Apple's AI offering", said Ivan Lam, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.
However, it does not necessarily give the Californian company "a significant advantage" in a crowded market, Lam said.
The initial release includes 18 AI features, from live translation of phone calls to tools for summarising and proofreading messages, but not the latest upgrade of iPhone assistant Siri.

'Concession'

Chinese regulations require AI service providers to register with the country's internet watchdog, and there are requirements to use local data centres and process data domestically.
Apple only secured regulatory approval in July, after reportedly holding talks with Chinese tech firms including Alibaba, Baidu, ByteDance and Tencent about partnerships on Apple Intelligence.
Major US AI firms, including Google, OpenAI and Anthropic, have either banned Chinese users or restricted access to their services, and are unlikely to secure regulatory clearance.
Working with local partners on Apple Intelligence "signifies a structural concession by Apple regarding its pricing and defining power over the AI experience in the Chinese market", Zhang Yi, founder of research firm iiMedia, told AFP.
Apple's delay in introducing AI tools in China was not due to lags in research and development, but rather "compliance costs", he said.
Despite reporting a 21 per cent increase in revenue in the Greater China region, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, for the past quarter, Apple's new CEO John Ternus still faces significant challenges in an evolving market.
According to research firm Omdia, more than 110 million iPhones in China can support Apple Intelligence, providing a foundation for quick adoption -- but competition is fierce.
"Chinese mobile phone manufacturers and internet companies are actively developing AI features and agent ecosystems," Zhong Xiaolei, a senior analyst at Omdia, told AFP.
ll/kaf/abs

Global Edition

South Africa votes under shadow of service failures

BY HILLARY ORINDE

  • With outright majorities far from assured in several major cities, the vote could usher in another round of complex coalition negotiations, as parties bargain over the alliances needed to govern.
  • South Africans vote Wednesday in a closely watched local government election, with parties battling for control of major cities in a contest expected to offer a measure of the national mood before the next national polls.
  • With outright majorities far from assured in several major cities, the vote could usher in another round of complex coalition negotiations, as parties bargain over the alliances needed to govern.
South Africans vote Wednesday in a closely watched local government election, with parties battling for control of major cities in a contest expected to offer a measure of the national mood before the next national polls.
The vote comes as a weary electorate contends with crumbling infrastructure, dry taps, persistent inequality and unemployment above 30 percent, deepening public disillusionment with the political establishment.
Polling stations opened at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) and will close at 9:00 pm (1900 GMT).
"I want things to change... people must get work. People mustn't suffer," said Thembinkosi Somana, 50, who was first in line to cast his ballot at a polling station in Langa, Cape Town's oldest township.
In Johannesburg, Andrea Smith, 41, who works in human resources, arrived at a polling station with her husband and child, hoping the election would bring change to the country as a whole.
"We shouldn't be having to worrying about electricity and water. It's been going on for years," she told AFP.
More than 29 million voters are registered but the last municipal elections, in 2021, drew fewer than half of them to the polls, with turnout at just 46 percent.
Of the 2.6 million people approved to cast special votes over two days, only 1.4 million did so, the electoral commission said Tuesday.
The African National Congress (ANC), which led the country's liberation struggle, remains projected to emerge as the largest party nationally, but polls point to a further erosion of its support.
Once the dominant force in South African politics, the party of anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela fell below 50 percent of the vote for the first time in the 2021 municipal elections. 
It suffered further losses at the 2024 national vote, securing just over 40 percent and forcing it to share power in a government of national unity with nine other parties.
The liberal Democratic Alliance (DA), the country's second-largest party, has set its sights on Johannesburg, campaigning hard to capitalise on service delivery failures in the ANC bastion.
Meanwhile, the breakaway opposition uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, led by former president Jacob Zuma, is mounting a strong challenge for the east coast port city of Durban. 
MK made a dramatic electoral breakthrough in 2024, drawing support away from the ANC to finish third nationally, with 14.5 percent of the vote.
"We are going to start by taking back our country here," Zuma said on Sunday in Durban, a city at the centre of growing anti-migrant sentiment that has become a prominent theme of the election campaign.

Hung municipalities

South Africans elect municipal councillors, who then choose mayors and form the administrations that will run their cities.
With outright majorities far from assured in several major cities, the vote could usher in another round of complex coalition negotiations, as parties bargain over the alliances needed to govern.
Coalition rule is already a feature of local government, with 74 of the country's 257 municipalities governed by coalitions or minority administrations by February 2026, according to the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection.
The final results, expected on Sunday, will offer a clearer picture of the political landscape before the next general election in 2029. 
They will also carry implications for the ANC's own future, with the party due to elect a new leader at its December 2027 conference -- a contest that will help determine who leads it into the next national race.
The election is likely to turn on what voters experience in their daily lives, rather than political loyalties, political analyst Kingsley Makhubela said, pointing to what he called "bread and butter issues" such as water, electricity, roads and sewage.
"People are not going to vote on sentiments," the former diplomat told AFP.
He also argued that coalition government could foster a new culture of political tolerance in South Africa's increasingly fragmented political landscape, where, for years, "the language... has been political enemies".
ho-bur/cms

pollution

Toxic air pollution surges in Indian capital

  • The deterioration came three days after authorities tightened measures, including restrictions on traffic and construction, to curb smog in one of the world's most polluted capitals, with the wider metropolis home to more than 30 million people.
  • Toxic air pollution in India's capital New Delhi surged on Wednesday to more than 30 times the World Health Organization's recommended daily limit, data from air monitors showed.
  • The deterioration came three days after authorities tightened measures, including restrictions on traffic and construction, to curb smog in one of the world's most polluted capitals, with the wider metropolis home to more than 30 million people.
Toxic air pollution in India's capital New Delhi surged on Wednesday to more than 30 times the World Health Organization's recommended daily limit, data from air monitors showed.
The deterioration came three days after authorities tightened measures, including restrictions on traffic and construction, to curb smog in one of the world's most polluted capitals, with the wider metropolis home to more than 30 million people.
Pollution is expected to worsen ahead of Sunday's Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, when firework displays add to the already poisonous air.
The Supreme Court this month allowed limited use of so-called "green" firecrackers, designed to reduce emissions, during Diwali.
But restrictions are routinely flouted, with the city reverberating with explosions.
On Wednesday, levels of PM2.5 -- cancer-causing microparticles small enough to enter the bloodstream -- hit over 461 micrograms per cubic metre in parts of the city, according to monitoring firm IQAir.
Vehicles account for 23 percent of Delhi's winter pollution, while biomass burning, including farm stubble fires, contributes 20 percent, according to India's environment ministry.
Industry, including coal-fired power plants, contributes about nine percent.
The largest share, 27 percent, comes from secondary particles, formed when gases released by vehicles, industry, power plants and biomass burning react in the atmosphere.
The formation of these particles is also fuelled by the vast quantities of fertiliser spread on fields around the capital, argues Jacob Koshy, author of a new book on pollution.
Ammonia released by fertilisers reacts with other pollutants to form secondary particulate matter.
"The sheer quantity of ammonia that is going into the atmosphere creates a base layer for other pollutants to react with," said Koshy, science editor of The Hindu newspaper and author of "The Nitrogen Bomb".
A 2024 study published in The Lancet Planetary Health, a peer-reviewed research journal, estimated that 3.8 million deaths in India between 2009 and 2019 were linked to air pollution.
ash/pjm/mjw

Global Edition

Democratic gains mount in US midterms as Trump faces bruising verdict

BY FRANKIE TAGGART WITH GREG WALTON IN DETROIT AND ELODIE SOINARD IN ATLANTA

  • Democrats captured a Republican-held House seat in North Carolina, in a district Trump won comfortably in 2024, while several contests in Florida suggested that redrawn electoral boundaries might not deliver the gains Republicans had hoped for.
  • Democrats notched a string of early victories in US midterm elections Tuesday, flipping a Republican-held Senate seat and making inroads in conservative House districts as President Donald Trump faced the prospect of a bruising election setback.
  • Democrats captured a Republican-held House seat in North Carolina, in a district Trump won comfortably in 2024, while several contests in Florida suggested that redrawn electoral boundaries might not deliver the gains Republicans had hoped for.
Democrats notched a string of early victories in US midterm elections Tuesday, flipping a Republican-held Senate seat and making inroads in conservative House districts as President Donald Trump faced the prospect of a bruising election setback.
The opposition party also retained key Senate seats, while victory in Georgia's governor race added to mounting signs that Republicans face a difficult night.
The vote was a nationwide judgment on Trump's turbulent second term, with discontent over living costs, tariffs and the US war against Iran -- which has driven fuel prices sharply higher -- weighing on the president and his party.
Alarm bells went off early for Republicans as counting started.
Democrats captured a Republican-held House seat in North Carolina, in a district Trump won comfortably in 2024, while several contests in Florida suggested that redrawn electoral boundaries might not deliver the gains Republicans had hoped for.
Although control of Congress remained undecided, those results raised the possibility of a wider Democratic advance into territory normally considered safe for Trump's party.
In a further blow to Republicans, former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was projected to win Georgia's governorship, becoming the nation's first Black woman governor and ending 24 years of Republican rule.
There were important Republican victories, however.
In Florida, Trump-backed Byron Donalds won the governor's race, becoming the state's first Black governor, while Republican Ashley Moody retained a US Senate seat.
 

Senate breakthrough

 
Democrat Roy Cooper, a popular former North Carolina governor, delivered one of the night's most consequential results by defeating Michael Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chairman handpicked by Trump.
North Carolina has voted for Trump three times, but Cooper campaigned on a pledge to lower living costs and will replace retiring Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who had clashed with the president.
In Georgia, Senator Jon Ossoff, a rising Democratic figure seen as a potential 2028 presidential contender, defeated his Republican challenger and preserved a seat the party needed to defend.
Democrats also held an open Senate seat in New Hampshire, where Chris Pappas won election to become the first openly gay man to serve in the chamber.
Republicans began the night with 53 of the Senate's 100 seats, leaving Democrats needing a net gain of four for control. All 435 House seats were contested, with Democrats needing to flip just three.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters the country was "on the brink of a dramatic change of direction."
 

Trump faces constraints

 
If Democrats capture the House, they could block Trump's legislative plans and use congressional committees to investigate his administration over the Iran war, deportations and alleged corruption.
A Senate takeover would go further, allowing them to block judicial nominees and senior administration appointments, fundamentally changing Trump's ability to govern during the final two years of his presidency.
For voters, the fight was often about the cost of everyday life.
"Rent, groceries, utility bills, and property taxes keep climbing, and I want people in Congress who will actually do something about costs," 24-year-old Los Angeles voter Taylor Cook told AFP.
Trump defended his record in a final television appearance Tuesday, praising his tariffs, immigration crackdown and military campaign against Iran.
"We have to keep America great. We're great now. We were terrible two years ago," the 80-year-old told Fox News.
Reflecting Trump's rhetoric, Republican voter Maru Restrepo, 70, told AFP in Miami that Democrats had become "very socialist," reflecting the fierce ideological divisions of the campaign.
Uncertainty remained over whether Trump would accept an unfavorable result. He has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims of election fraud and tried to overturn his 2020 presidential defeat.
"I veto everything," Trump said in a podcast released Monday, contemplating the possibility of a Democratic Congress before adding that he might eventually negotiate deals.
ft/sms
 

politics

New Zealand votes with economy, cost of living in focus

BY BEN STRANG

  • The economy and rising unemployment rounded out the top five issues, according to the poll.
  • New Zealanders are voting this week in an election focused on rising costs of living and the economy, as pollsters forecast a tight contest and neither main party close to winning a majority.
  • The economy and rising unemployment rounded out the top five issues, according to the poll.
New Zealanders are voting this week in an election focused on rising costs of living and the economy, as pollsters forecast a tight contest and neither main party close to winning a majority.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is hoping his right-wing coalition can cling to power with a message of "no new taxes" and by painting his opponents as an unpredictable alliance of left-wingers.
But the opposition Labour Party is banking that voter worries about costs of living will see it returned to office.
Here's what you need to know about the poll: 
 

What are the key issues? 

 
The cost of living is the biggest issue for voters, according to the RNZ-Reid Research Poll run by New Zealand's public broadcaster.
Sixty-four percent of respondents said inflation and rising costs were their biggest concerns, followed by the state of New Zealand's healthcare system and then petrol prices.
The economy and rising unemployment rounded out the top five issues, according to the poll.
 

Who's running?

 
Luxon, a millionaire businessman-turned-politician, has led his National Party to worrying lows in polls and had to fend off two leadership challenges this year.
Luxon has told AFP he sees himself as a "super salesman" for the country and would push for more free-trade deals if re-elected.
His main opponent is Labour former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, who succeeded Jacinda Ardern in 2023 and has seized on National's inability to curb the cost of living to revive his party's fortunes.
But with polls suggesting neither will win an outright majority in parliament, both will need help from minor parties to govern.
On the left, the Green Party has surged to record support by focusing on living costs, with plans to take on New Zealand's supermarket duopoly and impose a wealth tax on the country's richest residents.
On the right, populist Winston Peters and his NZ First -- known for colourful and controversial language at home and abroad -- have pledged swingeing cuts to immigration and to pull the country out of the Paris Climate Accord.
And the libertarian ACT party -- led by former "Dancing With The Stars" contestant David Seymour -- forms the third pillar of the right-wing alliance that has ruled New Zealand since 2023.
In the centre, Qiulae Wong of the Opportunity Party stands as a potential kingmaker, promising greater action on climate change and a kinder, more empathetic style of politics.
 

When does the voting start and end?

 
It's already begun.
New Zealanders have been able to cast their votes since October 26.
Saturday is the final day of voting, with polls set to close at 7:00 pm (0600 GMT).
An exit poll is expected to be released immediately.
 

How are the votes tallied?

 
New Zealand's mixed-member proportional (MMP) system requires two votes -- one for a party and one for a local electorate candidate.
Electorate winners earn a seat in the typically 120-seat parliament, as do the highest-ranked members of the party based on their national party vote.
All votes are counted by hand, not by machine.
An initial count happens on election night, before official counting begins, to be concluded by November 27.
The official count includes special votes cast by New Zealanders who are overseas or away from home during the voting period.
 

What's at stake?

 
Polls have the election on a knife edge, with many different scenarios swaying the vote one way or another.
If the right-wing coalition retains power, it may come from an effort to create an "overhang" in the MMP system.
That happens when a party wins more electorate seats than its share of the party vote entitles it to.
For instance, if one party wins 10 percent of the party vote, it should get 12 seats. But if it also wins 13 electorate races, then parliament creates an extra, overhang seat for it, pushing up its total to 121.
If the National Party wins enough seats to govern, Luxon's second term will focus on growing international trade while continuing to cut back on what the coalition deem unnecessary costs in government.
ACT and NZ First have also campaigned on limiting the powers of the Waitangi Tribunal, a permanent commission of inquiry investigating the crown's treatment of indigenous Maori.
Should the Labour Party claim victory with a left-wing coalition, it will almost certainly require the support of upstarts Opportunity, if the latter can get over the five-percent threshold for entry into parliament.
Labour has vowed to quickly introduce a capital gains tax as a means to pay for a suite of cost-of-living relief packages, such as free doctors' visits and price-capped public transport.
bes-oho/mjw

US

Trump confirms strikes on Iran as Tehran warns against return to war

  • - 'Iran wants a settlement' - The war, triggered in February when the United States and Israel pummelled Iran in a massive wave of strikes, has been at a stalemate for months.
  • President Donald Trump confirmed on Tuesday that the United States launched strikes on Iran, as Tehran warned no one would benefit from a return to war.
  • - 'Iran wants a settlement' - The war, triggered in February when the United States and Israel pummelled Iran in a massive wave of strikes, has been at a stalemate for months.
President Donald Trump confirmed on Tuesday that the United States launched strikes on Iran, as Tehran warned no one would benefit from a return to war.
It came as US voters prepared to cast their ballots in midterm elections that threaten Trump's grip on power.
But Trump played down speculation he was preparing to resume bombing Iran once the polls were out of the way.
"We seem to be getting everything we want," Trump told Britain's Financial Times newspaper on Tuesday.
"I'm ready, we're ready. We're locked and loaded if we need to go, but there may be no reason for it."
Iran's chief negotiator in talks with the United States, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said the Islamic republic was "ready for battle with its finger on the trigger", while Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Tehran retained the right to "legitimate self-defence" after the strikes.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said his government was still trying to resolve the crisis "through dialogue" though, adding that "no one will benefit from this war" if it reignited.
Pezeshkian emphasised that the country's supreme leader had recently granted the government new powers to negotiate issues that were previously "off-limits".
Trump confirmed the strikes on Iran in an interview with Fox News, after US media reported strikes on Tehran's Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.
"They built an anti-aircraft facility... As soon as it was completed, we hit it last night very nicely," Trump said on the "Fox & Friends" show, adding that it was a "minor attack".

'Iran wants a settlement'

The war, triggered in February when the United States and Israel pummelled Iran in a massive wave of strikes, has been at a stalemate for months.
An Israeli military spokesperson told AFP that Israel was not involved in the latest reported strikes.
The Qeshm attack came just hours after Trump signalled that a deal with Tehran "could happen", shortly before polls opened in the midterms dominated by public dissatisfaction with the war and the inflation it has stoked.
"Iran wants a settlement, as soon as possible," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
Ghalibaf said Iran had made its position clear and that "the ball is now in America's court to prevent war".
Qatar, a mediator in protracted indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran, said it remained hopeful of an interim deal in the war.
Both sides "are currently reviewing the ideas and proposals we have presented," foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari told reporters.
"We remain hopeful that there is still a chance for a deal to take place," he said, adding Doha was working "towards an interim deal".
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed on Monday that indirect negotiations were taking place.

Reopen the strait

US Vice President JD Vance said both he and Trump were optimistic about securing an agreement.
"We've certainly made some progress. We'll see if we can make some more," Vance told reporters on Monday.
A senior Iranian official said that Tehran was ready to reopen Hormuz, a key energy corridor, within two days but only if Washington agreed to its long-standing list of demands.
In September, Iran proposed a seven-day plan to reopen the strait, with demands including ending the war on all fronts, unfreezing Iranian assets, lifting oil sanctions and ending its counter-blockade of Iranian ports.
"The possibility of implementing this plan in two days is another indication of Iran's good-faith approach," Tehran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told reporters at a briefing.
In the lead-up to Tuesday's vote, Trump kept up his threats against Tehran, saying on Sunday that the United States may have to give Iran "the hammer" at some unspecified time.
The threat came after the US leader said he still had to "take care" of one or two targets, including so-called Pickaxe Mountain in central Iran, a suspected nuclear site which Tehran denies is such a facility.
Iranian officials have repeatedly warned of wide-ranging retaliation if Washington resumes the war.
bur/ser/ris/jsa/rh/cms/fox

diplomacy

North Korea signals little appetite for renewed US dialogue

  • "It is our clear stand that we have no need to sit face to face with such unreliable and hostile persons who refuse to abandon their policy of confrontation while talking about dialogue," she said, according to state news agency KCNA. "The choice for peace includes dialogue of course, but this is not surely equated with national interests for us."
  • The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signalled little appetite for renewed dialogue with Washington, saying Pyongyang had "no need to sit face to face with such unreliable and hostile persons".
  • "It is our clear stand that we have no need to sit face to face with such unreliable and hostile persons who refuse to abandon their policy of confrontation while talking about dialogue," she said, according to state news agency KCNA. "The choice for peace includes dialogue of course, but this is not surely equated with national interests for us."
The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signalled little appetite for renewed dialogue with Washington, saying Pyongyang had "no need to sit face to face with such unreliable and hostile persons".
Kim Yo Jong's comments appeared to dampen hopes of a meeting this month with US President Donald Trump, who has made several overtures towards her brother, Kim Jong Un.
The remarks came after the FBI attributed North Korea to the theft of more than $6 billion from cryptocurrency exchange Binance, allegations Kim Yo Jong had previously slammed as "a grave political provocation".
"It is our clear stand that we have no need to sit face to face with such unreliable and hostile persons who refuse to abandon their policy of confrontation while talking about dialogue," she said, according to state news agency KCNA.
"The choice for peace includes dialogue of course, but this is not surely equated with national interests for us."
Kim Yo Jong accused Washington of pursuing an "invariable hostile policy" towards Pyongyang, citing the Binance allegations, US-South Korean military drills and American demands for North Korea's denuclearisation.
"In the present reality when new records are being set in the implementation of the US hostile policy toward the DPRK, it is natural that new records should be created in our reflective counteraction," Kim Yo Jong said, using the acronym for North Korea's official name.
She did not specify what countermeasures Pyongyang might take.
 

'Putting pressure'

 
Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said Kim Yo Jong's comments lowered the "priority of dialogue while putting pressure on the United States".
"The latest statement uses the issue as an opportunity to condemn the entire US policy of pressure against North Korea, marking a shift from defence to offence," he told AFP. 
It "reduces the possibility of resolving issues through dialogue and warns that North Korea will respond with 'a new level of countermeasures' as the United States increases its pressure," he added.
The FBI said Saturday that a North Korea-affiliated hacking group called TraderTraitor had been behind the Binance hack.
"We do not regard the 'Binance' hacking incident as any accidental and sudden case or isolated private scheme, but as an extension of Washington's invariable hostile policy toward the DPRK," Kim Yo Jong said Wednesday.
"Clearly, the US malicious attempt to get a political and strategic profit by abusing the case is producing a political side effect."
Experts believe the October 29 hack is the biggest ever cryptocurrency heist.
But Trump struck a more cautious note when asked about the Binance hack.
"Well, we're learning about it. I'm not concerned. We're learning about it. We don't know if it's North Korea but if it is we'll talk to North Korea about it," he said.
Binance released on Tuesday a detailed investigation into the $6 billion hack of its cryptocurrency platform, showing how attackers used fake job interviews and malicious code to steal the funds.
The attack took place over about four hours on October 29, with the crypto exchange saying around $2.85 billion of the $6.34 billion stolen had been frozen, preventing the hackers from using the funds or converting them into other currencies.
hs/abs

politics

Chile protest demands minister resign over reduced sex abuse sentences

  • The abusers "have to go back (to prison), they have to be separated from society as a whole," said cook Carmen Soto, 42, as she held a placard calling on Justice Minister Fernando Rabat to step down.
  • A protest calling on Chile's justice minister to resign over reduced sentences for at least 56 child sex offenders drew hundreds of people outside the presidential palace on Tuesday.
  • The abusers "have to go back (to prison), they have to be separated from society as a whole," said cook Carmen Soto, 42, as she held a placard calling on Justice Minister Fernando Rabat to step down.
A protest calling on Chile's justice minister to resign over reduced sentences for at least 56 child sex offenders drew hundreds of people outside the presidential palace on Tuesday.
Purple scarves hung around the necks of some 500 women as they sang feminist chants and danced in front of hard-right President Jose Antonio Kast's residence.
The abusers "have to go back (to prison), they have to be separated from society as a whole," said cook Carmen Soto, 42, as she held a placard calling on Justice Minister Fernando Rabat to step down.
"I'm really angry because all of us at some point have gone through some form of abuse," she told AFP.
Two weeks ago, local outlet Interferencia revealed that the sentences of a group of convicted rapists and other sexual offenders would be reduced.
The news pushed Kast's approval rating further down to 26 percent -- a new low of his eight-month-old presidency -- according to pollster Cadem.
The president himself has said that the state "failed" the victims.
"They're cutting funds for health care, they're cutting funds everywhere, which is already serious, but this is like the cherry on top," said Aurora Gonzalez, a 47-year-old administrator.
Rabat has said that he was following a Supreme Court guideline and could not refuse to apply the sentence reductions.
The opposition announced it will request an impeachment trial against Rabat in Congress, the first against a Kast-appointed minister.
Rabat has already garnered criticism over his past career as a lawyer, during which he defended former dictator Augusto Pinochet in a case of alleged embezzlement of public funds.
The case was closed following Pinochet's death.
axl/gta/cc/des

pope

Pope Leo's Argentina visit: consolation for Francis no-show

BY LEILA MACOR

  • The last pope to visit Argentina was John Paul II in 1987.
  • Pope Leo XIV's upcoming trip to Argentina, the first papal visit in 39 years, is a sort of consolation prize for the homeland of predecessor Francis, who disappointed his compatriots by never returning as pontiff.
  • The last pope to visit Argentina was John Paul II in 1987.
Pope Leo XIV's upcoming trip to Argentina, the first papal visit in 39 years, is a sort of consolation prize for the homeland of predecessor Francis, who disappointed his compatriots by never returning as pontiff.
At the entrance to Buenos Aires Cathedral, where the late Pope Francis served as archbishop for 15 years, a TV screen shows images of him kissing the feet of the faithful. 
Next to it, a poster advertises the open-air mass that US-born Leo will celebrate next Monday in Buenos Aires, on the second-leg of his South American tour.
The memory of Francis, Latin America's first pope, looms large over the visit of his successor.
For 23-year-old Sol Burgos, his arrival is a source of solace.
"Argentina was deeply hurt to lose its pope," she told AFP at the door of the cathedral.
But Pope Leo's close ties to the world's most Catholic continent, cultivated over long years as a missionary and then archbishop in Peru, helped smooth the transition, she said.
"Thank God the new pope has also had a connection with Latin America!"
 

Avoiding 'political earthquake'

 
Francis visited several countries in Latin America, including neighboring Brazil, during his 12 years as leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.
But he studiously avoided his own, an absence that disappointed many and fueled ongoing speculation about why.
The most widely held view is that he feared a visit would be seen as endorsing the divisive center-left Peronist movement in power for much of his papacy, until Libertarian President Javier Milei's win in 2023.
"He couldn't or didn't want to come," Ruben Lozano, a 73-year-old from the northern province of Santa Fe, said on a recent visit to the capital.
"In order to avoid creating divisions he (Francis) said to himself: 'OK, I won't go to Argentina for the moment and everything will remain peaceful.'"
Milei, who before becoming president copiously attacked Francis over his criticisms of capitalism and perceived leftist political stances, took the same view.
"I have no doubt that Pope Francis wanted to come, and I think he didn't come because he knew that if he did, it would cause a political earthquake," Milei told Argentina's Radio Mitre last month. 
In a 2023 book-length interview, Francis argued being pope was a political role but that he drew the line at party politics.
The current archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Garcia Cuerva, has downplayed comparisons between the current and former Vatican leaders.
"The successor of Peter (regarded as the first pope) is coming, not the successor of Francis," he said in August.
 

Mending divisions

 
Leo will be greeted by Milei at the foot of his plane when he arrives on Sunday from Uruguay.
After a giant open-air mass in the capital he will travel to the central city of Cordoba and to a basilica near Buenos Aires that attracts millions of pilgrims each year.
The last pope to visit Argentina was John Paul II in 1987.
Garcia Cuerva has billed the new papal visit as a chance to mend divisions in Argentine society, between the rich and poor, left and right.
Leo will land in a country reeling after three years of biting austerity -- Milei's cure for years of overspending and rampant inflation.
The Catholic Church has fiercely criticized the price paid by the poor for Milei's swingeing budget cuts and deregulation.
Taking a leaf from Francis's book, Leo has put the poor and marginalized at the center of his papacy. 
"I see Leo as a sort of continuation...of the imprint that Francis left on the Vatican and the church," said Lozano.
lm-pbl/cb/des

security

Bomb threats disrupt Europe flights

  • - Jets scrambled - Italian air force jets were earlier scrambled to escort Ryanair flight FR9611 from Dublin as it landed at Rome-Fiumicino at 10:45 am (0945 GMT), Rome Airport said in a statement.
  • About 10 European flights were targeted by bomb threats on Tuesday, forcing the brief closure of a Warsaw airport and the scrambling of air force planes in Rome, authorities said.
  • - Jets scrambled - Italian air force jets were earlier scrambled to escort Ryanair flight FR9611 from Dublin as it landed at Rome-Fiumicino at 10:45 am (0945 GMT), Rome Airport said in a statement.
About 10 European flights were targeted by bomb threats on Tuesday, forcing the brief closure of a Warsaw airport and the scrambling of air force planes in Rome, authorities said.
No explosives were found, despite extensive searches on the ground after the planes all took off and landed safely in different European cities just several hours apart. 
Irish budget carrier Ryanair appeared to be the worst hit, with four of its flights to different destinations being targeted.
London's Metropolitan police confirmed it "was made aware of threats... against four aircraft due to depart from or arrive at Heathrow Airport" Tuesday, one of Europe's busiest air hubs.
It gave no further details, but also said there was a further warning about a flight at Manchester Airport.
Following checks "no security issues were identified", the Met police added.
Two bomb warnings targeted planes heading to the Polish capital Warsaw, including an SAS Scandinavian Airlines flight from Copenhagen and one from Heathrow operated by Polish airline LOT, Polish airport authorities said.
Aena, the Spanish airport operator, confirmed an emergency protocol was activated "due to a bomb alert" on a Ryanair flight which landed at 10:30 am (0930 GMT) from Manchester at Murcia in southeastern Spain. The plane arrived without problems.
Other Ryanair flights from Lisbon to Rome, Dublin to Rome, and Dublin to the Bulgarian capital of Sofia also received warnings.
A Panama-flagged cruiseship, meanwhile, was evacuated late Tuesday in the island of Syros following a bomb threat, the Greek coastguard said.
The Crown Iris was anchored there and bound for Haifa in Israel with around 1,500 passengers and crew on board. No explosive device was found and the ship was due to resume its journey, they said.

Jets scrambled

Italian air force jets were earlier scrambled to escort Ryanair flight FR9611 from Dublin as it landed at Rome-Fiumicino at 10:45 am (0945 GMT), Rome Airport said in a statement.
Anti-bomb procedures were also put in place when an earlier Ryanair flight arrived at 9:40 am (0840 GMT) at the airport. "Checks on passengers, luggage and the plane were all negative and the alert was lifted," the statement added. 
A Wizz Air flight from Bergamo, Italy, was inspected after landing at 0910 GMT in the Bulgarian capital Sofia following an alert, a Bulgarian interior ministry spokesperson told AFP.
The incidents all come after fighter jets were scrambled on Monday when a Wizz Air flight from London's Luton airport to Sofia was diverted following a bomb threat and forced to make an emergency stop in Budapest.
Scandinavian Airlines said it could "confirm that a threat has been made against flight SK751 between Copenhagen and Warsaw" but the plane landed Tuesday without any problem.
It arrived at Warsaw's Chopin airport, which closed one runway as the plane underwent a security inspection, but no explosives were found.
The LOT flight, which had also been scheduled to arrive at Chopin, was diverted to the Polish capital's other airport, Warsaw Modlin.
Authorities closed that airport following the alert, but the Boeing 737 MAX also landed safely. "Nothing was found," Modlin airport spokesman Adam Szablowski told AFP.
Hungarian Defence Minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said on Facebook that on Monday NATO's air defence alert service had issued an alert for a Wizz Air flight from London's Luton.
"The Hungarian Defence Forces' Gripen fighter jets took to the air within minutes and ensured the safe landing of the passenger aircraft in Budapest," he said. 
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crypto

Binance reveals hackers used fake job interviews, malicious code in $6-bn heist

  • In September, the attackers approached another Binance engineer through a legitimate job-search platform, offering him an interview for a position in a fictitious company.
  • Binance released on Tuesday a detailed investigation into the $6 billion hack of its cryptocurrency platform, showing how attackers used fake job interviews and malicious code to steal the funds.
  • In September, the attackers approached another Binance engineer through a legitimate job-search platform, offering him an interview for a position in a fictitious company.
Binance released on Tuesday a detailed investigation into the $6 billion hack of its cryptocurrency platform, showing how attackers used fake job interviews and malicious code to steal the funds.
The crypto exchange said it had replenished 98 percent of the affected assets by drawing on its own funds, with the remaining amount involving little-traded currencies that are harder to acquire. 
The attack, carried out over about four hours on October 29, was attributed by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to North Korea-affiliated hackers.
Pyongyang has denied the allegations, with the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un calling the claim "absurd rhetoric."
Around $2.85 billion of the stolen $6.34 billion has been frozen, Binance said, meaning that the attackers could not use it or convert it to another currency.
Binance is the world's largest crypto exchange by daily trading volumes. News of the hacking attack, which is thought to be the biggest ever crypto heist, caused the prices of most major cryptocurrencies to fall sharply.
According to Binance, attackers took their first steps towards the breach as early as June.
First, they targeted a platform engineer by getting them to download a virus-laden version of the widely-known programming software Homebrew. 
Binance's cybersecurity teams identified the malware and removed it, but the hackers had already had time to harvest information about the engineer and his colleagues. 
In September, the attackers approached another Binance engineer through a legitimate job-search platform, offering him an interview for a position in a fictitious company.
After building trust with the subject through the sharing of social media photos and videos, they asked the engineer to download a test exercise as part of the interview process. 
The exercise contained malware that deployed "sophisticated obfuscation and evasion techniques," Binance said, including replacing a legitimate development tool component with a malicious version.
That malware was critical to the success of the attack, as it allowed the hackers to establish a connection with Binance's internal systems.
On October 20, the attackers used the access they had gained and an internal AI tool to gain control over software used by two other engineers.  
Nine days later, they triggered malicious code that initiated the attack.
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conflict

Zelensky says dozens dead, missing in Russian attack days before US talks

  • Five people were rescued and more than 50 may still be trapped under the rubble," Zelensky said, describing it as "one of the largest Russian killings of this war".
  • More than 50 people could be trapped under rubble in a Ukrainian village where a Russian attack killed 33 people, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday, in what he called one of Moscow's worst attacks of the war. 
  • Five people were rescued and more than 50 may still be trapped under the rubble," Zelensky said, describing it as "one of the largest Russian killings of this war".
More than 50 people could be trapped under rubble in a Ukrainian village where a Russian attack killed 33 people, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday, in what he called one of Moscow's worst attacks of the war. 
Russia pummelled Ukraine on Monday and Tuesday after a rare truce between the enemies ended at the weekend, with the strikes dampening hopes for a breakthrough at US-led negotiations set for next week in Abu Dhabi.  
Rescue operations were ongoing in the frontline southeastern village of Komyshuvakha, where Russian forces had struck a former school building that Ukraine said was being used to distribute aid every Monday.
"Just one strike killed 33 people. Five people were rescued and more than 50 may still be trapped under the rubble," Zelensky said, describing it as "one of the largest Russian killings of this war".
The United Nations' right mission in Ukraine slammed the attack.
"Either the Russian armed forces knew that there was a humanitarian distribution taking place, or they failed to take the most basic steps to find out what was happening in this village," said Danielle Bell, the head of the rights mission.  
The attack hit hours after a ceasefire held for several days in the Kherson region, allowing for a rare humanitarian mission.
A Russian strike on a hospital in Kharkiv also wounded dozens Tuesday, Zelensky said, with Ukrainian authorities reporting another four dead across the country.
Zelensky, the Kremlin and Washington confirmed their negotiators will meet in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11 for the first talks between all three sides since February.
Visiting Berlin on Tuesday, Zelensky said he hoped that the gathering will pave the way for his meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin.
"We are counting on the fact that work in this format and our other diplomatic steps will open the way to a trilateral format at the level of leaders," he told reporters.
Zelensky has consistently pushed for a meeting with Putin -- who sent Russian troops over the border in 2022, unleashing Europe's worst war since World War II.
Putin, however, has repeatedly refused face-to-face talks with Zelensky.
Speaking alongside Zelensky, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he saw no sign that Russia was willing to engage seriously in ending its invasion.  
"It is important that Russia finally and seriously engages in negotiations about a ceasefire and a subsequent peace agreement," he said.
"I do not see that happening so far."
 

'Ukraine must be at the table'

 
Kyiv and its European allies have feared US President Donald Trump -- who signed a diesel deal with Putin recently and who has criticised Zelensky -- is siding with the Kremlin.
Merz said that if Trump invites Putin to the G20 summit in Miami then Zelensky should be invited, too.
"If Ukraine is to be discussed, then the president of Ukraine must be at the table."
Last week's ceasefire in Kherson -- brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump -- had provided a glimmer of hope that a negotiated end to the conflict could be on the horizon.  
Zelensky said Kyiv had offered Russia an extension of the ceasefire, but shortly afterwards Moscow unleashed deadly strikes. 
"We proposed to Russia to prolong and expand the ceasefire," Zelensky said. 
"But in response, we got this, this kind of attack. New shelling, new strikes, new killings."
Merz said that while the Kherson ceasefire could have served as "a model" for other truces, "Russia has so far stubbornly refused this." 
 

Talks in Brussels

 
"Our message to Russia is therefore clear: it is time to bring this war to an end," Merz, who leads one of Ukraine's main military and financial backers, said.
Putin has repeatedly said Russia does not want a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine and that Moscow intends to seize the rest of east Ukraine by force.
Repeated Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure in recent weeks have raised fears of another difficult winter ahead, and on Tuesday Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said supplies in the capital were "extremely difficult".
Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said US negotiators would also meet European and NATO officials on Wednesday in Brussels.
Representatives from Ukraine, the United States, France, Germany, Britain, NATO and the World Bank will take part, the European Commission said.
In Russia, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said nearly 500 drones heading towards the capital region were destroyed.
The strikes came as Britain and France announced that around 2,800 troops from 10 European countries will stage military drills in Poland this month in support of Ukraine.
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politics

Seen and heard at the US midterm elections

  •   - Leadership referendum -   Midterm elections are typically seen as a referendum on the sitting president, and few leaders have polarized public opinion as strongly as Trump.
  • AFP has deployed reporters, photographers and video journalists across the United States as voters cast ballots in pivotal midterm elections.
  •   - Leadership referendum -   Midterm elections are typically seen as a referendum on the sitting president, and few leaders have polarized public opinion as strongly as Trump.
AFP has deployed reporters, photographers and video journalists across the United States as voters cast ballots in pivotal midterm elections.
Here is a round-up of interviews on Tuesday at polling stations from Alaska to Florida.
 
- Hopeful Democrats  - 
 
With polling data suggesting Democrats on track to capture a majority in the House of Representatives and perhaps even in the Senate, many left-leaning voters expressed hope about the results.
"I've been really looking forward to this day where we get to have a say again in the future of our country," Emma Mondadori, a 39-year-old who works in philanthropy, told AFP in New York, referring to President Donald Trump's election victory.
"What's the most important issue? Getting control away from the crazy man," Roberta Brune, a 66-year-old retiree said after voting in Los Angeles, California.
 
- Cost of living  -  
 
With prices of gasoline, food and other necessities soaring, everyday spending was on many people's minds.
"It's about the cost of living, gas prices, those kind of things. It needs to change for the everyday person, and I'm an everyday person," said Donta Comer, a 38-year-old project manager in Atlanta, Georgia.
"Affordability is the main issue driving my vote," said Taylor Cook, 24, in Los Angeles. "Rent, groceries, utility bills, and property taxes keep climbing, and I want people in Congress who will actually do something about costs."
 

Leadership referendum

 
Midterm elections are typically seen as a referendum on the sitting president, and few leaders have polarized public opinion as strongly as Trump.
"I'm independent but I voted Democrat, I just wanted to go back into the culture of decency, integrity, honesty, and the rest follows," Yan Cardineau, 59, said in Austin, Texas. 
Gabriel Layman, a 24-year-old writer in Anchorage, Alaska, described himself as independent but voted for Democrats because of his opposition to Trump and "everything going on: ICE, the war in Iran, prices, tariffs, all of those are things that I care about."
In Texas, Trump-endorsed and scandal-plagued Senate candidate Ken Paxton is in the fight of his life against Democratic rival James Talarico.
"I wish that we had had another choice for senator," said Mary Wolf, a Republican voter in Dallas, who said she would vote for him anyway but was "not optimistic at all."
 
- Immigration - 
 
In late pitches to voters, Trump has stressed his success in reducing illegal immigration and ramping up deportations.
While his tough stance plays well with supporters, others have been put off by the brutal tactics used by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
"I am very concerned about climate change, school violence and the situation with people who still don't have immigration status in this country," Diana Alvarez, a 38-year-old Cuban-born attorney, said in Doral, Florida.
"It's tough for any presidency, but this one in particular has been a little violent and aggressive (with migrants) and I don't think that was necessary."
 
- Iran - 
 
Trump's most consequential foreign policy decision of his second term -- the February 28 attack on Iran with Israel -- was referenced by several voters. 
Andrea Nelson, an insurance worker in Anchorage whose father served in the military, said she backs the war and Trump's effort to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. 
"I am very afraid of nuclear war, I've seen and experienced how war has affected military soldiers and their families," the 50-year-old said.
 
- Socialism - 
 
Many Republican candidates and Trump have sought to portray their Democratic rivals as dangerous tax-and-spend socialists intent on destroying American capitalism. 
"A lot of today's younger people think socialism is the way to go," said Daryl Ruley, an 84-year-old in Austin. "They don't understand history if they believe that's the case."
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