UN

COP28 head presses nations to reach climate 'compromise'

UN

OPEC push on fossil fuels draws ire at climate talks

BY LAURENT THOMET

  • - Iraq supports OPEC - A third draft deal released Friday offers various ways to phase out of fossil fuels, but it also includes the option to not mention them at all in the final text.
  • Negotiations over the future of fossil fuels heated up at UN climate talks on Saturday, with OPEC catching flak over the oil cartel's push to block any phase-out in the final deal.
  • - Iraq supports OPEC - A third draft deal released Friday offers various ways to phase out of fossil fuels, but it also includes the option to not mention them at all in the final text.
Negotiations over the future of fossil fuels heated up at UN climate talks on Saturday, with OPEC catching flak over the oil cartel's push to block any phase-out in the final deal.
The tone has veered between optimism and concern about the pace of talks as negotiators have held marathon sessions aimed at finding a compromise on the fate of oil, gas and coal.
OPEC added fuel to the fire after it emerged that its Kuwaiti secretary general, Haitham Al Ghais, sent a letter to the group's 13 members and 10 allies this week urging them to "proactively reject" any language that "targets" fossil fuels instead of emissions.
"I think that it is quite, quite a disgusting thing that OPEC countries are pushing against getting the bar where it has to be," Spanish ecology transition minister Teresa Ribera, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, told reporters.
Dramatically scaling up the deployment of renewable energy while winding down the production and consumption of fossil fuels is crucial to achieve the global goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The High Ambition Coalition, a broad group of nations ranging from Barbados to France, Kenya and Pacific island states, also criticised the OPEC move.
"Nothing puts the prosperity and future of all people on Earth, including all of the citizens of OPEC countries, at greater risk than fossil fuels," said Tina Stege, climate envoy for the Marshall Islands, which chairs the coalition.
"1.5 is not negotiable, and that means an end to fossil fuels," Stege added.

Iraq supports OPEC

A third draft deal released Friday offers various ways to phase out of fossil fuels, but it also includes the option to not mention them at all in the final text.
Saudi Arabia had until now been the most vocal country against a phase-out or phase-down of fossil fuels.
In the OPEC letter sent Wednesday, Ghais said it "seems that the undue and disproportionate pressure against fossil fuels may reach a tipping point with irreversible consequences".
Assem Jihad, spokesman for Iraq's oil ministry, told AFP his country supports the OPEC letter.
Iraqi oil minister Hayan Abdel Ghani "has rejected attempts to target fossil fuels", Jihad said.
He added that Ghani has tasked Iraq's COP28 delegation to "ensure that the wording of the final statement puts the emphasis on world cooperation on a reduction of emissions in order to preserve the environment and climate".
But another OPEC member, COP28 host the United Arab Emirates, has taken a conciliatory tone throughout the negotiations and acknowledged that a phase-down was "inevitable".

'Critical stage'

Canadian climate minister Steven Guilbeault told AFP he was "confident" that the final text would contain language on fossil fuels.
Guilbeault is among a group of ministers who have been tasked by COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber to shepherd the negotiations and find an agreement by Tuesday, when the summit is due to end.
"It's a conversation that will last a few more days," Guilbeault said.
"Different groups are talking and trying to understand on what we could agree, but it's still quite an embryonic conversation," he added.
German climate envoy Jennifer Morgan said countries were "now moving into the critical stage of negotiations" but she was "concerned that not all are constructively engaging".
Fresh calls for a phase-out were made by ministers addressing a plenary session on Saturday.
"We are extremely concerned about the pace of the negotiations, given the limited time we have left here in Dubai," said Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster, chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).
AOSIS has pushed hard for a phase-out, warning that their nations were on the frontlines of climate change, with rising seas threatening their existence.
"I implore you, let this COP28 be the summit where we leaders are remembered for turning the tide," Schuster said, adding that stepping up renewable energy "cannot be a substitute for a stronger commitment to fossil fuel phase-out."
lth/th/bp

film

Time of the sign: Hollywood landmark hits 100

BY HUW GRIFFITH

  • But, said Zarrinnam, it might start shining again.
  • The landmark word has loomed over Tinseltown since before movies started talking, becoming a symbol of the entire film industry.
  • But, said Zarrinnam, it might start shining again.
The landmark word has loomed over Tinseltown since before movies started talking, becoming a symbol of the entire film industry.
For the first time in decades, the Hollywood sign -- at least a little bit of it -- was illuminated on Friday to celebrate its 100th birthday.
The nine-letter sign is officially a centenarian but, as with many an aging grande dame in Hollywood, looks as fresh as ever.
Like the actors and actresses it looks down on, the sign has been in its fair share of films.
Directors who want to let their audience know a movie is set in Los Angeles have an easy establishing shot, while a filmmaker who wants to signify the destruction of America can set their special effects team loose on the sign.
It has also seen real life tragedy: British-born actress Peg Entwistle took her own life by plunging from the top of the letter H in 1932.

Hooray for... realtors?

The sign, a must-see for any film buff or tourist visiting Los Angeles, initially read "HOLLYWOODLAND", having been constructed in 1923 as an advertisement for an upscale real estate development.
During its first decade, it was routinely lit by thousands of bulbs, with "HOLLY", "WOOD" and "LAND" illuminated in turn as a beacon of the desireable homes on offer below.
By the 1940s, the letters were looking a little ragged.
The Los Angeles Times reported vandals or windstorms had damaged the H, before locals decided they had had enough and asked the city to tear it down.
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, recognising that they had a blockbuster trademark on their hands, stepped in and offered to fix it up.
But the last four letters had to go -- the sign was to represent the whole town, not just a fashionable property patch, and by 1949, the newly restored sign simply read "HOLLYWOOD".

Mr Nice Guy

Three decades of baking sun and occasional storms took their toll on the 50-foot (15-meter)-high wooden letters.
Eventually, the first O reduced to a lower case "u" and the final O toppled down completely.
Enter one Alice Cooper -- the chicken-bothering father of shock rock -- who led a campaign to restore the sign to its former glory, donating $28,000.
Eight others, including actor Gene Autry, Playboy founder Hugh Heffner and singer Andy Williams, kicked in the same, each sponsoring a letter.
(Cooper is the first O, Autry has the second L, Heffner got the Y and Williams snagged the W).
The replacement letters are a tad more compact, just 44 feet high, but made of steel, although they remain characteristically off-kilter.
The Hollywood Sign Trust said last year the repainting it carried out in time for the 100th anniversary used almost 400 gallons (1,500 liters) of paint and primer.
Friday night's lighting was purely symbolic, Hollywood Sign Trust chairman Jeff Zarrinnam said, with just a little stretch of the second L cutting through the gloom.
Unlike most global landmarks, the Hollywood sign is not usually lit up at night, partially because of objections from people who live nearby.
But, said Zarrinnam, it might start shining again.
"What we are working on is a plan to hopefully light the sign on very special occasions," he said.
"We have some very important sporting events that are coming to Los Angeles like the FIFA World Cup, we have the Olympics coming (in 2028) so those are the types of events that we would probably want to light the Hollywood sign in the future."
hg/dhw

ultra-processed

How unhealthy are ultra-processed foods?

BY DANIEL LAWLER

  • According to the NOVA scale, nearly 60 percent of the calories eaten in the United States and UK are from UPFs. - 'Confused' - In recent years, dozens of studies have found that people who eat lots of UPFs have a higher risk of heart disease, cancer, asthma, depression and other illnesses.
  • Ultra-processed foods are commonly portrayed as a modern health scourge: a threat lurking on the shelves of every supermarket linked to obesity, heart disease, cancer and early death.
  • According to the NOVA scale, nearly 60 percent of the calories eaten in the United States and UK are from UPFs. - 'Confused' - In recent years, dozens of studies have found that people who eat lots of UPFs have a higher risk of heart disease, cancer, asthma, depression and other illnesses.
Ultra-processed foods are commonly portrayed as a modern health scourge: a threat lurking on the shelves of every supermarket linked to obesity, heart disease, cancer and early death.
Researchers warning of their dangers have called for taxation and even bans of products which make up a huge proportion of the food eaten worldwide.
However some nutrition experts have started to push back against such all-encompassing claims, saying the definition can be vague. They say more research is needed and that some ultra-processed foods, or UPFs,  can actually be healthy.
The concept was first introduced in 2009 by Carlos Monteiro, a nutrition and health researcher at Brazil's University of Sao Paulo.
His NOVA classification system for UPFs was unusual in nutrition because it ignored the level of nutrients such as fat, salt, sugar and carbohydrates in food.
Instead, it splits food into four groups, ranked by the level of processing involved in their creation. Everything in the fourth group is considered ultra-processed.
Monteiro said that UPFs "aren't exactly foods".
"They're formulations of substances derived from foods," he told AFP.
"They contain little or no whole foods and are typically enhanced with colourings, flavourings, emulsifiers, and other cosmetic additives to make them palatable."
Examples include crisps, ice cream, soft drinks and frozen pizza. But items not traditionally considered junk food are also included, such as non-dairy milks, baby formula and supermarket bread.
According to the NOVA scale, nearly 60 percent of the calories eaten in the United States and UK are from UPFs.

'Confused'

In recent years, dozens of studies have found that people who eat lots of UPFs have a higher risk of heart disease, cancer, asthma, depression and other illnesses.
But these studies have almost entirely been observational, which means they cannot show that UPFs directly cause these health problems.
Monteiro pointed to a US-based randomised-controlled trial, which is considered the gold standard of research.
For the 2019 trial, 20 people were fed either ultra-processed or unprocessed food for two weeks, then the opposite for the following two weeks.
The diets were matched for things like fat, sugar and overall calories. Those eating UPFs gained an average of nearly a kilo (2.2 pounds), while those on the unprocessed diet lost the same amount.
However, there was no limit on how much the trial participants ate, including snacks. Those on the UPF diet ate much more food, and their weight gain roughly matched how many more calories they consumed, the researchers said.
Monteiro said the study showed how big companies make food "hyperpalatable" in a way that "leads to overconsumption and even poses risks of addiction".
But one of the study's co-authors, Ciaran Forde of Wageningen University in the Netherlands, rejected the idea that there is something unique about UPFs that makes them irresistible.
Forde, a critic of NOVA who has disclosed he worked for food giant Nestle nearly a decade ago, said it was not just the public who was "confused".
In a French study published last year nearly 160 nutrition experts were asked to put 231 different foods into the four NOVA categories -- they only unanimously agreed about four.

A healthy UPF diet?

This potential for confusion was why US researchers brought in NOVA experts to help them develop a healthy diet in which 91 percent of calories were from UPFs.
Their week-long menu scored 86/100 on the US Healthy Eating Index -- far higher than the average American diet of 59/100.
Julie Hess, a nutritionist at the US Department of Agriculture who led the study, told AFP they sought out fruits and vegetables such as dried blueberries or canned beans deemed ultra-processed because of additives like preservatives.
"There may really be something here, but right now the scale puts gummy candies and sodas in the same category as oranges and raisins," she said.
Both Hess and Forde pointed out that many people do not have the time or money to cook every meal from fresh ingredients. 
"Taxing processed foods in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis will be regressive and is likely to affect the most vulnerable groups," Forde said.
Robin May, the chief scientific adviser at the UK's Food Standards Agency, earlier this year warned against a "knee-jerk reaction" that treats all UPFs the same, "when we clearly know that everything is not the same".
Monteiro dismissed criticism of the NOVA scale.
"Those who profit from the sale of ultra-processed foods naturally dislike the NOVA classification and often sow doubts about its functioning," he said.
He called for ultra-processed foods to be treated like tobacco, praising a recent ban on UPFs in schools in Rio de Janeiro.
So where does this debate leave people who simply want to have a healthy diet?
Hess felt that most people already know what food is good for them: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, some lean protein and low-fat dairy.
Even "some delicious, full-fat cheeses" are allowed sometimes, she added.
dl/fg/leg

conflict

Israel strikes Gaza after failed UN ceasefire bid

BY ADEL ZAANOUN WITH AMELIE BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS IN NEW YORK

  • A UN Security Council resolution that would have called for an immediate ceasefire was vetoed by the United States on Friday.
  • Israel pressed its offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza on Saturday after the United States blocked an extraordinary UN bid to call for a ceasefire in the two-month war.
  • A UN Security Council resolution that would have called for an immediate ceasefire was vetoed by the United States on Friday.
Israel pressed its offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza on Saturday after the United States blocked an extraordinary UN bid to call for a ceasefire in the two-month war.
Hamas and the Palestinian Authority swiftly condemned the US veto as the Hamas-run health ministry put the latest death toll in Gaza at 17,487 people, mostly women and children.
An Israeli strike on the southern city of Khan Yunis killed six people, while five others died in a separate attack in Rafah, the ministry said Saturday.
Israel has vowed to eradicate Hamas over its unprecedented attack on October 7 when militants broke through Gaza's militarised border to kill around 1,200 people and seize hostages, 138 of whom remain captive, according to Israeli figures.
Vast areas of Gaza have been reduced to rubble and the UN says about 80 percent of the population has been displaced, with dire shortages of food, fuel, water and medicine reported.
"It's so cold, and the tent is so small. All I have are the clothes I wear, I still don't know what the next step will be," said Mahmud Abu Rayan, displaced from Beit Lahia in the north.
A UN Security Council resolution that would have called for an immediate ceasefire was vetoed by the United States on Friday.
US envoy Robert Wood said the resolution was "divorced from reality" and "would have not moved the needle forward on the ground".
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said the ceasefire "would prevent the collapse of the Hamas terrorist organization, which is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and would enable it to continue ruling the Gaza Strip".
Hamas slammed on Saturday the US rejection of the ceasefire bid as "a direct participation of the occupation in killing our people and committing more massacres and ethnic cleansing".
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said it was "a disgrace and another blank cheque given to the occupying state to massacre, destroy and displace".
The veto was swiftly condemned by humanitarian groups, with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) saying the Security Council was "complicit in the ongoing slaughter".
Israel's military said Friday it had struck 450 targets in Gaza over 24 hours, showing footage of strikes from naval vessels in the Mediterranean.
The Hamas health ministry reported 40 dead near Gaza City in the north, and dozens more in Jabalia and the main southern city of Khan Yunis.

'Spiralling nightmare'

Following two months of conflict and bombardment, UN chief Antonio Guterres said Friday "the people of Gaza are looking into the abyss".
"People are desperate, fearful and angry," he said.
"All this takes place amid a spiralling humanitarian nightmare."
Many of the 1.9 million Gazans who have been displaced by the war have headed south, turning Rafah near the Egyptian border into a vast camp.
With the death toll of medical workers in the conflict mounting, more than a dozen World Health Organization member states submitted a draft resolution on Friday that urged Israel to respect its obligations under international law to protect humanitarians in Gaza.
They called for Israel to "respect and protect" medical and humanitarian workers exclusively involved in carrying out medical duties, as well as hospitals and other medical facilities.
Only 14 of the 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip were functioning in any capacity, according to United Nations' humanitarian agency OCHA.
With the civilian toll mounting, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Friday that Washington believes Israel needs to do more to protect civilians in the conflict.
"We certainly all recognize more can be done to... reduce civilian casualties. And we're going to keep working with our Israeli counterparts to that end," he said.
The death toll also rose in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces shot dead six Palestinians on Friday, the territory's health ministry said.
Israel said Friday it has lost 91 soldiers in Gaza.
It said two others were wounded in a failed bid to rescue hostages overnight, and that "numerous terrorists" were killed in the operation.
Hamas claimed a hostage was killed in the operation, and released a video purporting to show the body, which could not be independently verified.
Hamas rocket parts, launchers and other weapons as well as a one-kilometre tunnel were found at Al-Azhar University in Gaza City, the army said, as it warned residents to move west.

US embassy attack

An attack on the US embassy in Iraq on Friday deepened fears of wider regional conflict. 
Salvoes of rockets were launched against the mission in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, adding to dozens of recent rocket and drone strikes by pro-Iran groups against American or coalition forces in Iraq and Syria.
Separately, three Hezbollah fighters and a Syrian were killed on Friday in an Israeli drone strike on their car in the south of Syria, a war monitor said.
"A Syrian and three Lebanese Hezbollah fighters from the surveillance and missile-launching unit were killed in the Israeli drone strike on their rented car" in Madinat al-Baath town in the province of Quneitra, close to the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
The previous day the Observatory, which has a network of sources in Syria, reported that Israel hit sites close to Damascus with eight missiles, as well as a "regime military post in the province of Quneitra", without causing any casualties.
The strikes were a response to the bombardment of the Golan Heights, the monitor said.
bur-mca/leg

conflict

Nearly two years into war, is Russia's economy out of the woods?

BY ANNA SMOLCHENKO

  • "We have overcome all problems that arose after the sanctions were imposed on us and we have started the next stage of development," Putin announced in October.
  • As he prepares to run for re-election in 2024, is President Vladimir Putin right to claim the worst is over for the Russian economy?
  • "We have overcome all problems that arose after the sanctions were imposed on us and we have started the next stage of development," Putin announced in October.
As he prepares to run for re-election in 2024, is President Vladimir Putin right to claim the worst is over for the Russian economy?
Nearly two years after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, the Russian economy has demonstrated surprising resilience in the face of an unprecedented avalanche of Western sanctions.
But economists say Russia's wartime economy may be showing signs of overheating, while Western leaders are hoping the sanctions will finally bite.
A French diplomatic source expressed hope that the economic penalties would start to be felt in late 2024 or early 2025.
Sanctions "are like a small puncture in a tire. It's not immediate, but it works," another European diplomatic source told AFP.
"It's a marathon, not a sprint," said Agathe Demarais, an analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
She said the goal of the penalties was not to trigger the collapse of the world's ninth-largest economy, which could have provoked a global crisis, nor to bring about regime change.
"Their aim is to limit the capabilities of the Russian war machine," said Demarais.
The EU has imposed 11 rounds of sanctions on Russia since its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, including hitting its key oil and gas exports. The 12th package of measures, including a ban on the import of Russian diamonds, is currently in the works.
According to official figures, 49 percent of European exports to Russia and 58 percent of Russian imports are under sanctions.
Even if Russia has become the most sanctioned country in the world, its economy has been dented but not devastated.
Observers say past economic crises and the first set of Western sanctions over the annexation of Crimea in 2014 have taught Putin's economic team how to better manage risks.
- 'Symptoms of overheating' - 
The Kremlin now plans to increase spending on defence by nearly 70 percent in 2024, a sign Moscow might be hunkering down for a long war in Ukraine.
"We have overcome all problems that arose after the sanctions were imposed on us and we have started the next stage of development," Putin announced in October.
According to official Russian statistics, the country's gross domestic product grew 5.5 percent in the third quarter of this year, and economic growth is seen at 2 percent next year.
Alexandra Prokopenko, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said the Russian economy performed well but its performance indicators are misleading.
"They are all symptoms of overheating. One-third of growth is driven by military spending so the economy got addicted to the military needle," said Prokopenko, who worked at the Russian central bank between 2019 and early 2022.
"Dependence on oil has also increased, and it is stronger now than it was before the war," she told AFP.
To help bypass sanctions on oil sales, Russia has created a vast shadow fleet and parallel financial infrastructure.
"Russia's main export income still comes from the sale of hydrocarbons," said Prokopenko, pointing to major buyers like China and India.
According to Global Witness, an environmental watchdog, EU imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) went up by 40 percent in the first seven months of the year, amounting to nearly 5.3 billion euros ($5.7 billion). 
Companies in countries including Turkey, the UAE, China and post-Soviet countries like Kazakhstan are involved in schemes to help Moscow circumvent sanctions. Research shows that Russia has had access to Western weapons technology via third countries such as China.
Prokopenko said that even European companies are ready to continue trading with Russia, including in dual-use goods, if these deals can be routed through third countries.
- 'Bursting with money' - 
Demarais acknowledged that there are "inconsistencies" in European policymaking over Russia but added it was difficult to estimate Moscow's long-term resilience.
"At the moment they are on a war footing, but how long can that last? It's hard to say," she said.
"Social peace is costly, too." 
While sanctions have complicated the lives of ordinary Russians, some moneyed Muscovites are living their best life, directly benefitting from the war, observers say.
"Moscow is bursting with money," long-time political observer Sergei Medvedev wrote on Facebook, pointing to defence deals and surging oil sales.
Witnesses say more high-end cars are seen on the streets of Moscow, while luxury shopping and dining show no sign of abating.
Writing for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Denis Volkov and Andrei Kolesnikov said last month that Russians adapted to the new economic conditions "in the space of just one year".
"Most Russians understand that the war in Ukraine will not end anytime soon, and they try not to focus too much on military topics or developments at the front," they wrote.
Russian society, they said, has "learned to stop worrying about the war".
cf-ob-burs-as/jh/gv/leg

justice

Guatemala electoral court stands firm on bid to annul election

  • On Friday, Judge Alfaro said the prosecutor's office had no authority to make the TSE annul an election. 
  • Guatemala's electoral court insisted Friday the results of elections won by anti-graft candidate Bernardo Arevalo were "unchangeable", after the prosecutor's office sought to annul them amid accusations of an "attempted coup."
  • On Friday, Judge Alfaro said the prosecutor's office had no authority to make the TSE annul an election. 
Guatemala's electoral court insisted Friday the results of elections won by anti-graft candidate Bernardo Arevalo were "unchangeable", after the prosecutor's office sought to annul them amid accusations of an "attempted coup."
Political outsider Arevalo, who is slated to assume office on January 14, has faced an onslaught of legal challenges since his surprise second-round election victory in August, including attempts to suspend his political party and stop him from taking power.
The 65-year-old's triumph and his pledge to fight graft are widely seen in Guatemala as alarming to the establishment political elite.
On Friday, prosecutor Leonor Morales said investigations have concluded that the election of Arevalo, his vice-president and parliamentarians was "null and void" due to counting "anomalies" in the first round in June.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) responded by saying "the results are validated, formalized and unchangeable."
TSE president Blanca Alfaro told reporters the elected officials must assume office in January as planned or else there would be "a breach of the constitutional order."
In Washington, the Organization of American States secretariat in a statement said it "condemns the attempted coup d'etat by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Guatemala."
"The attempt to annul this year's general elections constitutes the worst form of democratic breakdown and the consolidation of a political fraud against the will of the people," the statement added.
The OAS urged outgoing president Alejandro Giammattei, the constitutional and supreme courts and Congress "to defend the institutions and constitutional order of the country by taking action against the perpetrators of this attack in order to preserve democracy in Guatemala."

'Ongoing coup'

Arevalo, speaking at a news conference, called the actions of the prosecutor's office an "absurd, ridiculous and perverse coup d'etat."
He called on Guatemalans to "energetically defend" the country from efforts by Attorney General Consuelo Porras and senior prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche to impede his taking power.
"The coup perpetrators are trying to destroy the democratic regime and put an end to the basic right of Guatemalans to live in freedom," he said.
Porras, Curruchiche and Judge Fredy Orellana -- who had ordered the suspension of Arevalo's Semilla (Seed) party -- are all on a US list of "corrupt actors."
Curruchiche was present at Friday's press conference, saying "the information that was recorded in the closing and counting act at all polling stations should be annulled."
This "criminal information" would be submitted to the TSE, he said, for a final decision.
The tribunal has already certified Arevalo's election, but last month it suspended his party for a second time over alleged irregularities with its registration. That investigation is led by Curruchiche.
On Friday, Judge Alfaro said the prosecutor's office had no authority to make the TSE annul an election. 
This could only be done through an order from the Constitutional Court.
"Our president is... Bernardo Arevalo and our vice president Karin Herrera," said Alfaro.
The moves against Arevalo and his party have ignited mass protests by Guatemalans demanding the resignation of the three officials.
Arevalo pulled off a major upset by advancing to the runoff after a first round marked by apathy among voters. 
Poverty, violence and corruption push thousands of Guatemalans abroad every year in search of a better life, many to the United States.
The United States, European Union, UN and Organization of American States have all expressed concern over the events in Guatemala.
The top US diplomat for Latin America, Brian Nichols, said on social media that Friday's actions by prosecutors were "another blatant, unacceptable attempt to defy the will of Guatemalans."
"Such actions jeopardize Guatemala's market-friendly reputation & will be met with a strong US response."
Rights groups have increasingly expressed concern over what they say are efforts to crack down on prosecutors and journalists in an apparent bid by the government to protect a corrupt system benefiting those in power.
burs-mlr/tjj/aha

Copacabana

Brazil's idyllic Copacabana rocked by crime, vigilantes

BY JOSHUA HOWAT BERGER

  • "It's clear who's a 'criminal' to these vigilantes: poor black men," musician and black-rights activist Tas MC wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
  • Famed for its turquoise waters, lush beaches and breathtaking views, iconic Brazilian tourism destination Copacabana is reeling from violent crime, leading residents to launch vigilante groups -- worrying authorities and rights activists.
  • "It's clear who's a 'criminal' to these vigilantes: poor black men," musician and black-rights activist Tas MC wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Famed for its turquoise waters, lush beaches and breathtaking views, iconic Brazilian tourism destination Copacabana is reeling from violent crime, leading residents to launch vigilante groups -- worrying authorities and rights activists.
The upscale Rio de Janeiro neighborhood has been making headlines for the wrong reasons in recent weeks: a tourist in town for a Taylor Swift concert stabbed to death on the beach; a man punched unconscious in a brutal mugging; a young woman raped by a homeless man.
The social media-fueled reaction has generated yet more headlines, as locals have organized vigilante groups and taken to the streets with bats, brass knuckles and other weapons to stalk alleged criminals.
Viral videos show large groups of young men dressed in black, their faces covered, patrolling the neighborhood and violently beating those they accuse of committing crimes.
In deeply unequal Brazil, the vigilantes face accusations of racism in pursuing their "suspects."
"It's clear who's a 'criminal' to these vigilantes: poor black men," musician and black-rights activist Tas MC wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Fault lines

The situation has exposed the fault lines of a Brazil still divided by last year's elections between far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the leftist who narrowly defeated him -- and who faces accusations from conservatives of being soft on crime.
Rio is no stranger to violent crime, or violent reactions to it.
Five years ago, then-president Michel Temer deployed the army to take over security in the city for 10 months, saying organized crime had become a "cancer" in Rio.
The 2016 Olympics host city is a frequent scene of bloody battles between heavily armed drug gangs and police, typically in poor "favela" neighborhoods.
And it has struggled for decades with militias that initially formed as neighborhood anti-crime committees, then evolved into organized criminal groups themselves.
But Copacabana's latest spike in violence is affecting the identity of a neighborhood known for its laid-back, carefree vibe, where residents are used to strolling the streets in swimsuits and flip-flops.
"Copacabana is sad," said 42-year-old businessman Thiago Nogueira, sporting a tank top stamped "Rio de Janeiro."
"The violence is really bad -- and it's getting worse," he told AFP.
Local businesses are also worried over the impact on tourism.
The president of hotel association HoteisRio urged tougher punishments for criminals to stop repeat offenders.

'The system has collapsed' 

Robberies in Copacabana are up 25 percent this year from the same period last year, and theft from pedestrians up 56 percent, according to news site G1, citing figures from Brazil's Public Security Institute.
Authorities have announced the deployment of 1,000 police and a "security cordon" on nights and weekends.
After holding a crisis meeting Thursday, Rio security officials announced they would increase the visibility of patrols and the number of police stops to counter the violence.
They also urged residents to leave policing to the police.
"Vigilantes commit crimes saying they're preventing other crimes. In reality, they're criminals, too," said Victor Santos, the Rio state security secretary -- a post recreated last month by right-wing Governor Claudio Castro to tackle rising crime.
Residents' exasperation is fueled by a sense the justice system is broken.
According to Brazilian media reports, two of the suspected robbers accused of killing the 25-year-old Taylor Swift fan on November 19 had been arrested the day before for stealing chocolate from a department store.
They were granted conditional release at their custody hearing. In all, the three suspects arrested in the case had previously been stopped by police 108 times.
The mugger who knocked a man unconscious on the sidewalk on December 2 was meanwhile "well-known to the authorities, with nine entries on his criminal record," the lead investigator on the case told a news conference Thursday.
"The system has collapsed," journalist Octavio Guedes wrote in a column for G1.
"When the message that 'the police arrest them, the courts free them' gets lodged in people's heads, it gives rise to another kind of barbarity: vigilante groups."
str-jhb/tjj

regulation

EU strikes deal on landmark AI law

BY RAZIYE AKKOC

  • - Penalties for violations - One of the main stumbling blocks during negotiations was how to regulate general-purpose AI systems such as ChatGPT.  Some member states feared too much regulation would hurt the growth of European champions like Germany's Aleph Alpha or France's Mistral AI. French digital minister Jean-Noel Barrot said France would "carefully analyse the compromise" agreed and ensure that it "preserves Europe's capacity to develop its own artificial intelligence technologies".
  • EU member states and lawmakers clinched a deal on Friday on how to draft "historic" rules regulating artificial intelligence models such as ChatGPT -- after 36 hours of negotiations.
  • - Penalties for violations - One of the main stumbling blocks during negotiations was how to regulate general-purpose AI systems such as ChatGPT.  Some member states feared too much regulation would hurt the growth of European champions like Germany's Aleph Alpha or France's Mistral AI. French digital minister Jean-Noel Barrot said France would "carefully analyse the compromise" agreed and ensure that it "preserves Europe's capacity to develop its own artificial intelligence technologies".
EU member states and lawmakers clinched a deal on Friday on how to draft "historic" rules regulating artificial intelligence models such as ChatGPT -- after 36 hours of negotiations.
Meeting in Brussels, negotiators nailed down curbs on how AI can be used in Europe, which they said would not hurt innovation in the sector nor the prospects for future European AI champions.
"Historic! With the political deal on the AI Act sealed today, the EU becomes the first continent to set clear rules for the use of AI," declared the EU's internal market commissioner, Thierry Breton.
"The AI Act is much more than a rulebook -- it's a launchpad for EU startups and researchers to lead the global race for trustworthy AI," he added.
The "AI Act" has been rushed through the European Union's legislative process this year after the chatbot ChatGPT, a mass-market gateway to generative AI, exploded onto the scene late 2022.
Although ChatGPT's ability to create articulate essays and poems was a dizzying display of AI's rapid advances, critics worry about how the technology can be misused.
Generative AI software, which also includes Google's chatbot Bard, can quickly produce text, images and audio from simple commands in everyday language.
Other examples of generative AI include Dall-E, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, which can create images in nearly any style on demand.
Negotiators initially failed to agree after marathon talks that began on Wednesday lasted 22 hours and ended with only a deal to resume talks the next day.
Exhausted negotiators then restarted talks at 0800 GMT on Friday.
There had been no real deadline but senior EU figures were desperate to secure a deal before the end of the year.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, first proposed the law in 2021 to regulate AI systems based on risk assessments of the software models.
The higher the risk to individuals' rights or health, for example, the greater the systems' obligations. 
The law will still need to be formally approved by member states and the parliament, but Friday's political agreement was seen as the last serious hurdle.
"The AI Act is a global first. A unique legal framework for the development of AI you can trust," EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a social media post, welcoming the deal.
"And for the safety and fundamental rights of people and businesses. A commitment we took in our political guidelines - and we delivered. I welcome today's political agreement."
The EU is not alone in its worries over AI. 
US President Joe Biden issued an executive order on AI safety standards in October and, while Europe is on track for the first broad law covering the sector, Chinese legislation specifically regulating generative AI came into force in August this year.

Penalties for violations

One of the main stumbling blocks during negotiations was how to regulate general-purpose AI systems such as ChatGPT. 
Some member states feared too much regulation would hurt the growth of European champions like Germany's Aleph Alpha or France's Mistral AI.
French digital minister Jean-Noel Barrot said France would "carefully analyse the compromise" agreed and ensure that it "preserves Europe's capacity to develop its own artificial intelligence technologies".
The agreement includes a two-tier approach, with transparency requirements for all general-purpose AI models and tougher requirements for the more powerful models.
Another sticking point had been over remote biometric surveillance -- basically, facial identification through camera data in public places. Governments wanted exceptions for law enforcement and national security purposes.
While the agreement has a ban on real-time facial recognition, there will be a limited number of exemptions.
But not everyone was happy with the agreement.
"Regrettably speed seems to have prevailed over quality, with potentially disastrous consequences for the European economy," said Daniel Friedlaender, Europe chief at CCIA, one of the main tech lobbying groups.
"It might even end up chasing away the European champions that the EU so desperately wants to empower," said CCIA Europe's policy manager, Boniface de Champris.
The EU will be able to monitor and sanction those who violate the law through a new body called the EU AI office that will be attached to the commission.
The office will have the power to slap a fine worth seven percent of a company's turnover or 35 million euros, whichever is larger.
aro-raz/dc/leg

conflict

US vetoes Security Council resolution calling for Gaza ceasefire

  • Guterres had convened an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council after weeks of fighting left more than 17,487 people dead in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the latest toll from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
  • The United States on Friday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have called for an immediate ceasefire in the intense fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
  • Guterres had convened an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council after weeks of fighting left more than 17,487 people dead in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the latest toll from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
The United States on Friday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have called for an immediate ceasefire in the intense fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Washington dashed a growing clamor for an immediate ceasefire that had been led by UN chief Antonio Guterres and Arab nations.
American envoy Robert Wood said the resolution was "divorced from reality" and "would have not moved the needle forward on the ground."
He attacked the resolution's sponsors, criticizing them for rushing it through and leaving the call for an unconditional ceasefire unchanged.
"This resolution still contains a call for an unconditional ceasefire... it would leave Hamas in place able to repeat what it did on October 7," Wood said.
Guterres had convened an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council after weeks of fighting left more than 17,487 people dead in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the latest toll from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
"The United Arab Emirates is deeply disappointed," said the representative of the UAE which had sponsored the resolution.
"Regrettably... this council is unable to demand a humanitarian ceasefire."
As a permanent Security Council member, Washington can veto any resolution, while Britain, also a member, abstained on the vote, and the 13 other members voted in favor.
"If you support it (this war) you are supporting crimes against humanity," said the Palestinian representative to the UN Riyad Mansour. "This is a terrible day for the Security Council."
Israel praised Washington's veto, with the country's UN envoy Gilad Erdan thanking "the United States and President Biden for standing firmly by our side."
Ahead of the vote, Guterres had said that "the brutality perpetrated by Hamas can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people."

'Complicit' in slaughter

Vowing to destroy the Islamist movement, Israel has relentlessly bombarded Gaza and sent in tanks and ground troops since the war began on October 7 with unprecedented attacks by Hamas on southern Israel.
Those attacks left 1,200 people dead, Israel says.
Earlier this week, Israel called on the UN to investigate one aspect of the attack -- alleged sexual violence by Hamas fighters against Israeli women.
"I unreservedly condemn those attacks. I am appalled by the reports of sexual violence," Guterres said ahead of the vote. 
"There is no possible justification for deliberately killing some 1,200 people, including 33 children, injuring thousands more and taking hundreds of hostages."
Guterres deployed rarely-used Article 99 of the UN Charter to bring to the council's attention "any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security."
No one in his job had done this in decades.
Guterres had sought a "humanitarian ceasefire" to prevent "a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians" and the entire Middle East.
Russia's deputy envoy to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, said "our colleagues from the USA have literally before our eyes issued a death sentence to thousands, if not tens of thousands, more civilians in Palestine."
Medecins Sans Frontiers said Security Council inaction made the body "complicit in the ongoing slaughter" while Human Rights Watch said "by continuing to provide Israel with weapons and diplomatic cover... the US risks complicity in war crimes."
Several previous attempts to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire were vetoed.
Vast areas of Gaza have been reduced to a wasteland. The United Nations says about 80 percent of the population has been displaced, facing shortages of food, fuel, water and medicine, along with the threat of disease.
"International humanitarian law includes the duty to protect civilians," Guterres said.
His spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Guterres "remains determined to push for a humanitarian ceasefire."
Four draft resolutions had already been rejected in the weeks following October 7, for lack of sufficient backing, or because of Russian, Chinese or US vetoes.
abd-gw/acb

conflict

US vetoes UN ceasefire bid as battles rage across Gaza

BY ADEL ZAANOUN WITH LAURIE CHURCHMAN IN JERUSALEM

  • The death toll also rose in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces shot dead six Palestinians on Friday, the territory's health ministry said.
  • An extraordinary UN bid to call for a ceasefire in Gaza was blocked by the United States on Friday while Israeli forces continued a relentless offensive to destroy Hamas after its deadly attack two months ago.
  • The death toll also rose in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces shot dead six Palestinians on Friday, the territory's health ministry said.
An extraordinary UN bid to call for a ceasefire in Gaza was blocked by the United States on Friday while Israeli forces continued a relentless offensive to destroy Hamas after its deadly attack two months ago.
The fighting has left 17,487 people dead in the Palestinian territory, mostly women and children, according to the latest toll from the Hamas-run health ministry.
Israel has vowed to eradicate Hamas over its unprecedented attack on October 7 when militants broke through Gaza's militarised border to kill around 1,200 people and seize hostages, 138 of whom remain captive, according to Israeli figures.
Vast areas of Gaza have been reduced to a wasteland. The UN says about 80 percent of the population has been displaced, facing dire shortages of food, fuel, water and medicine, and the growing threat of disease.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked the rarely-used Article 99 of the UN Charter to convene an emergency Security Council meeting calling for an immediate ceasefire.
He urged the release of hostages, but said "the brutality perpetrated by Hamas can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people".
But the US, which supplies billions of dollars in military assistance to Israel, vetoed the resolution. 
Its deputy representative at the UN, Robert Wood, said it was "divorced from reality" and "would have not moved the needle forward on the ground". 
That was in spite of warnings from the World Health Organization that civilisation was collapsing in Gaza. 
"People are starting to cut down telephone poles to have a little bit of firewood to keep warm or maybe cook, if they have anything available," WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said. 
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said the Security Council was "complicit in the ongoing slaughter".

Battles on multiple fronts

Israel's military said it had struck 450 targets in Gaza over 24 hours, showing footage of strikes from naval vessels in the Mediterranean.
The Hamas health ministry reported 40 dead near Gaza City in the north, and dozens more in Jabalia and the main southern city of Khan Yunis.
"May God punish those who can see our suffering and remain calm," said one Gazan, Rimah Mansi, who told AFP they had lost "all those we love".
Israel has lost 91 soldiers in Gaza.
It said two others were wounded in a failed bid to rescue hostages overnight, and that "numerous terrorists" were killed in the operation. 
Hamas claimed a hostage was killed in the operation, and released a video purporting to show the body, which could not be independently verified. 
Hamas rocket parts, launchers and other weapons as well as a one-kilometre tunnel were found at Al-Azhar University in Gaza City, the army said, as it warned residents to move west. 
Many of the 1.9 million displaced Gazans have headed south, turning Rafah near the Egyptian border into a vast camp.
"It's so cold, and the tent is so small. All I have are the clothes I wear, I still don't know what the next step will be," said Mahmud Abu Rayan, displaced from Beit Lahia in the north.
The death toll also rose in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces shot dead six Palestinians on Friday, the territory's health ministry said.
The armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said it had fired more rockets towards Israeli territory.

'Protect civilians'

An attack on the US embassy in Iraq deepened fears of wider regional conflict. 
Salvoes of rockets were launched against the mission in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, adding to dozens of recent rocket and drone strikes by pro-Iran groups against American or coalition forces in Iraq and Syria.
Thousands of Jordanians demonstrated near the US embassy in Amman to denounce Washington's support for Israel.
French President Emmanuel Macron was the latest world leader to push for more aid to Gaza, urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call to reopen the Kerem Shalom checkpoint that handled more than half of goods into the besieged territory before October 7. 
The UN said 69 trucks carrying supplies and fuel had entered from Egypt on Thursday -- well below the average 500 daily truckloads before the war.
US President Joe Biden earlier urged Netanyahu to open "corridors" to allow civilians to move safely. 

Hanukkah

Israelis remained deeply traumatised by the Hamas attack and fearful for the fate of hostages as they marked the Jewish festival of lights, Hanukkah, which began Thursday.
A 138-branched menorah candelabrum was lit in Tel Aviv for the remaining captives. 
The war has also led to deadly cross-border exchanges on the Lebanese frontier.
An AFP investigation into October 13 strikes in southern Lebanon that killed a Reuters journalist and injured six others, including two from AFP, found it involved a tank shell only used by the Israeli army in this region.
The nature of the strikes and lack of military activity in the immediate vicinity of the journalists indicate the attack was deliberate and targeted, the investigation found.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said the strikes merit a "war crime" investigation.
Israel's army said the strikes occurred in an "active combat zone" and were under review.
burs-er/jsa

IOC

IOC clears Russians to compete in Paris as neutrals

  • Also missing out will be "athletes who actively support the war" as well as "athletes who are contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies".
  • Olympic chiefs on Friday gave the green light to the  participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes at next year's Paris Games as neutrals, outside of team events and as long as they did not actively support the war on Ukraine.
  • Also missing out will be "athletes who actively support the war" as well as "athletes who are contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies".
Olympic chiefs on Friday gave the green light to the  participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes at next year's Paris Games as neutrals, outside of team events and as long as they did not actively support the war on Ukraine.
The International Olympic Committee added that there were currently only eight athletes from Russia and three from Belarus who had qualified as neutral athletes.
In comparison, more than 60 Ukrainian athletes have qualified for next year's Paris Olympics.
The IOC's executive board "decided that Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs) who have qualified through the existing qualification systems of the International Federations (IFs) on the field of play will be declared eligible to compete at the Olympic Games Paris 2024".
But only, it added, if they meet strict eligibility conditions.
That includes the exclusion of "teams of athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport".
Also missing out will be "athletes who actively support the war" as well as "athletes who are contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies".
Additionally, "no flag, anthem, colours or any other identifications whatsoever of Russia or Belarus will be displayed at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 in any official venue or any official function".
"No Russian or Belarusian government or state officials will be invited to or accredited for the Olympic Games Paris 2024."
Russia denounced the conditions placed on its athletes as "discriminatory", but said athletes who meet the criteria would go to Paris.
"The conditions are discriminatory, they are going against the principles of sport," said Russian sports minister Oleg Matytsin. 
"They are damaging the Olympic Games themselves, and not Russian sport. The approach is unacceptable."
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe, though, insisted that there would be no neutral athletes taking part in track and field at the Games.
Athletes from Russia and Belarus have faced sanctions from a multitude of sports since Moscow launched its assault on Ukraine in February 2022.
Over the past year a number of Olympic sports have eased restrictions, allowing athletes from both countries to return to competition under certain conditions.
However, Russians and Belarusians have remained banned from athletics.
"You may well see some neutral athletes from Russia and Belarus in Paris, it just won't be in athletics," Coe told a press conference.
"The position that our sport took and has consistently taken is unchanged."

Federation pressure

In March, the IOC lifted an outright ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes, allowing them to compete as neutral athletes provided they did not support the Ukraine conflict and had no ties to the military.
The issue was raised again on Tuesday when representatives of international sports federations and national Olympic committees called for Russian and Belarusian athletes to be admitted under a neutral flag for the July 26 to August 11 2024 Games in Paris "as soon as possible".
During the Olympic summit in Lausanne, athlete representatives also asked for "clarity" on the issue.
In an interview with AFP on Thursday, Ukraine's acting sports minister said his government was "very concerned" by that call from those IFs and NOCs.
Matviy Bidnyi said Kyiv was concerned that the move gave the impression that the IOC "does not want to demonstrate the necessary leadership in the matter of Olympic fairness and justice".
"As aptly stated by President Volodymyr Zelensky: 'Obviously, any neutral flag of Russian athletes is stained with blood'," Bidnyi told AFP.
"We count on a responsible decision and leadership of the IOC, which will not allow Russia to use sport for military propaganda.
"Even if it's sport under a neutral flag."
The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) remains suspended, the IOC having instigated a ban in October for its violation of the territorial integrity of the membership of Ukraine by recognising illegally annexed territories.
ROC has recognised organisations from four Ukrainian territories annexed since Russia's invasion began in 2022.
Russia's Olympic body last month launched an appeal against its suspension by the IOC at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
cfe/lp/bsp/jc

Canada

US, UK, Canada sanction dozens on human rights anniversary

  • US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that "with today's actions, the United States is addressing some of the most challenging and harmful forms of human rights abuses in the world, including those involving conflict-related sexual violence, forced labor, and transnational repression."
  • Dozens of alleged human rights abusers around the world face new sanctions Friday under a coordinated action by the United States, Britain and Canada to mark the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
  • US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that "with today's actions, the United States is addressing some of the most challenging and harmful forms of human rights abuses in the world, including those involving conflict-related sexual violence, forced labor, and transnational repression."
Dozens of alleged human rights abusers around the world face new sanctions Friday under a coordinated action by the United States, Britain and Canada to mark the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The long list of targets ranges from human traffickers in Southeast Asia involved with "scam farm" operations, Taliban officials responsible for rights abuses in Afghanistan and leaders of gangs ravaging Haiti's population.
London said it was hitting 46 individuals and entities with asset freezes and travel bans ahead of the December 10 landmark, recognized annually as International Human Rights Day.
The United States for its part targeted 37 people in 13 countries, while Canada imposed sanctions on seven people as part of the joint action.
"We will not tolerate criminals and repressive regimes trampling on the fundamental rights and freedoms of ordinary people around the world," said UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron.
"I am clear that 75 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UK and our allies will continue to relentlessly pursue those who would deny people their freedom."
The landmark 30-article document, which outlines fundamental rights and freedoms for all of humanity, was adopted on December 10, 1948 during the early days of the United Nations.
The UK's list of targets include 17 members of the Belarusian judiciary, including prosecutors in charge of politically motivated cases against activists, journalists and rights defenders.
Five individuals in Iran face curbs for imposing and enforcing the country's mandatory hijab law, while nine people were targeted for trafficking people in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar to work for online "scam farms."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that "with today's actions, the United States is addressing some of the most challenging and harmful forms of human rights abuses in the world, including those involving conflict-related sexual violence, forced labor, and transnational repression."
Among those facing US sanctions are a senior Taliban official who participated in the decision-making to ban women and girls from school after the group's 2021 takeover of Afghanistan.
Blinken said that in addition to the US sanctions imposed Friday, Washington would recommend UN Security Council designations for four Haitian gang leaders and five armed group chiefs in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Canada for its part included in its list four Russians responsible for LGBTQ rights violations in Chechnya as well as the leader of the junta in Myanmar.
"Our actions to promote respect for human rights are stronger and more durable when done in concert with allies committed to the international rules-based order," Blinken said of the coordinated action with Ottawa and London.
srg/phz/rox/des/md

vote

Putin says he will run for re-election in 2024

  • "I will run for the office of president of the Russian Federation."
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Friday that he would run for re-election in 2024, allowing the Kremlin leader to extend his decades-long grip on power into the 2030s.
  • "I will run for the office of president of the Russian Federation."
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Friday that he would run for re-election in 2024, allowing the Kremlin leader to extend his decades-long grip on power into the 2030s.
The 71-year-old has led Russia since the turn of the century, winning four presidential ballots and briefly serving as prime minister in a system where opposition has become virtually non-existent.
The announcement came at a set-piece Kremlin event for army personnel, including those who have fought in the military offensive in Ukraine that Putin ordered in February last year.
"I won't hide it: I've had different thoughts at different times. But this is a time when a decision has to be made," Putin said at the ceremony.
"I will run for the office of president of the Russian Federation."
He was speaking to Lieutenant Colonel Artyom Zhoga, a Russian military officer, who had moments before urged him to run.
"Thanks to your actions, your decisions, we have gained freedom," Zhoga said, adding: "We need you. Russia needs you."
Putin's seemingly off-the-cuff announcement at a ceremony for veterans was unusual but laden with symbolism, political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya said.
"The (military) heroes -- 'fathers of the Donbas' -- want to see Putin as president again," she said.
Putin will not face any major challengers in his bid for a fifth term and is likely to seek as large a mandate as possible in order to conceal domestic discord over the Ukraine conflict, analysts say.

A 'parody' vote

Following a controversial constitutional reform in 2020, he could stay in power until at least 2036.
Rights groups say that previous elections have been marred by irregularities and that independent observers are likely to be barred from monitoring the vote.
In November, Putin tightened media rules on covering the 2024 election, banning some independent media outlets from accessing polling stations. 
The election will be held over a three-day period from March 15 to 17, a move that Kremlin critics have argued makes guaranteeing transparency more difficult. 
Putin's decision to run came as no surprise to Russians. 
Asked by AFP, most people on the snowy streets of Moscow declined to give their view, and those who spoke were cautious and backed him. 
Zoya Fedina, 68, took a deep breath before saying: "Well, it's probably not the worst option." 
A retired mathematician, she said she remembered the tough post-Soviet 1990s and said: "That's why I think, let it be Putin." 
Vyacheslav Borisov, a 49-year-old customs officer, said he would vote for Putin.  
"Even though many citizens of my country are against the special military operation (in Ukraine), I think it was done correctly," he said. 
"If you look at history, you can see the West has for many years acted against us."  

'Parody'

Five major parties have been allowed to submit a candidate for the 2024 vote without collecting signatures. They all support the Kremlin and the offensive in Ukraine. 
Putin's most high-profile rival, Alexei Navalny, is currently serving a 19-year prison sentence on charges his supporters say are false.
In a statement issued through his team on Thursday, Navalny encouraged Russians to vote for "any other candidate" but Putin and called the ballot a "parody" of electoral procedure.
Since launching its assault on Ukraine last February, the Kremlin has made a sweeping crackdown on dissent.
Thousands of people have been detained and imprisoned for protests, and many thousands more have fled the country in fear of being called up to fight.

'Love for country'

The Ukraine offensive has made Putin a pariah among Western leaders and Moscow has been hit by unprecedented sanctions.
But while sanctions initially prompted an exodus of Western companies from Russia and turbulence in industry, the economy has proven resilient.
Moscow has re-oriented much of its energy exports to Asian clients including China, allowing it to continue pouring money into the offensive, now in its 22nd month. 
Analysts say Putin has sensed a revival in his fortunes as Western support for Kyiv frays and Ukraine's counter-offensive fails to pierce heavily entrenched Russian lines. 
His re-election bid was immediately hailed by officials.
"His decision today speaks of his love for his country," said Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the lower house of Russian parliament.
At the last presidential election in 2018, which saw Putin win by a landslide in every region, officials portrayed the vote as a pivotal battle against Western values in a bid to boost turnout.
The Kremlin appears to be employing the same strategy this time round. 
In November it banned the "international LGBT movement", claiming it was an "extremist" group, as part of a broader culture war with the West.
bur/js

UN

UN talks look for deal on winding down fossil fuels

BY SHAUN TANDON AND LAURENT THOMET

  • While China has sided with the camp opposed to a phase-out so far, the country is seen as a constructive partner in the talks, negotiators said.
  • Negotiators strived for a compromise on phasing out fossil fuels at UN climate talks Friday as momentum gathered to strike a historic deal in Dubai.
  • While China has sided with the camp opposed to a phase-out so far, the country is seen as a constructive partner in the talks, negotiators said.
Negotiators strived for a compromise on phasing out fossil fuels at UN climate talks Friday as momentum gathered to strike a historic deal in Dubai.
After the arrival of ministers for the summit's final stretch, a new draft was released with more options on the most difficult part of an emerging deal -- cutting fossil fuels to tame the planet's soaring temperatures.
The third version of the draft, which represents views of various countries, offers five options. One that remains from previous versions calls for not mentioning fossil fuels at all.
Other options include phasing out "unabated" fossil fuels -- those whose emissions cannot be captured -- with a goal of peaking consumption this decade and aiming for the world's energy sector to be "predominantly free of fossil fuels well ahead of 2050".
A new line calls for ramping up renewable energy to displace fossil fuels -- oil, gas and coal -- with a goal of "significantly reducing global reliance on non-renewable and high-emission energy sources".
That language is in line with an agreement between the United States and China, the world's top emitters of greenhouse gases, at talks in California last month.
COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber wants to wrap up the talks on schedule at 11 am (0700 GMT) on Tuesday, which means that all the nearly 200 nations will have to come to a consensus.
"Let us please get this job done," he said.

'Never closer'

Romain Ioualalen, global policy manager of the advocacy group Oil Change International, said that the latest text "shows we have never been closer to an agreement on a fossil fuel phaseout."
But he voiced alarm over "large loopholes" under consideration for the fossil fuel industry.
The most vocal holdout to calls to end fossil fuels is Saudi Arabia, which like summit host United Arab Emirates has grown wealthy on oil.
While China has sided with the camp opposed to a phase-out so far, the country is seen as a constructive partner in the talks, negotiators said.
"We won't reach a deal without China," said a French delegation official.
In a sign that oil-rich countries are growing worried, OPEC chief Haitham Al Ghais sent a letter to members of the cartel and their allies on Wednesday, urging them to "proactively reject" any COP28 deal that "targets" fossil fuels instead of emissions.
"It seems that the undue and disproportionate pressure against fossil fuels may reach a tipping point with irreversible consequences," Ghais wrote in the letter seen by AFP.
Climate campaigners have viewed Jaber with deep suspicion as he is head of the UAE national oil firm ADNOC.
But he has sought to reassure doubters by stating that a phase-down of fossil fuels is "inevitable".
Wopke Hoekstra, the European Union's climate commissioner, acknowledged that the fossil fuel question was the most difficult at COP28.
He voiced doubt about technologies promoted by energy producers -- including the US -- to rely on new technologies when extracting fossil fuels, so-called carbon capture and storage or CCS.
It is "crystal clear that CCS is part of the solution. But make no mistake -- we cannot CCS ourselves out of this problem," Hoekstra said.
The level of technology "simply doesn't exist. We need to drive down emissions."

'Credibility' on line

Scientists warn that greenhouse gas emissions -- the bulk of which come from burning fossil fuels -- must fall by 43 percent by 2030 for the world to reach the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
"I think many countries at the end might be able to agree to phase-out if the word unabated is included because unabated will weaken the phase-out and make it more of a phase-down," John Verdieck, director of international climate policy at The Nature Conservancy, told AFP.
This would still "create a good signal because the word phase-out could be in there", said Verdieck, a former climate negotiator at the US State Department.
Ugandan climate justice activist and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Vanessa Nakate said there were a record 2,400 fossil fuel lobbyists at the talks and the whole process was at stake.
"If after all of this, leaders still don't have the courage to agree upon a fossil fuel phase out, then it will put in question the credibility not only of COP28 but of the entire COP process," she said.
lth-sct/pvh

vote

Zimbabwe ruling party eyes supermajority in votes without opponents

  • But authorities said that one of the by-elections would not even be held as there was only a ruling party candidate.
  • Zimbabwe will hold a series of by-elections on Saturday without any main opposition candidates as President Emmerson Mnangagwa cements control over the mineral-rich nation.
  • But authorities said that one of the by-elections would not even be held as there was only a ruling party candidate.
Zimbabwe will hold a series of by-elections on Saturday without any main opposition candidates as President Emmerson Mnangagwa cements control over the mineral-rich nation.
A political crisis has been growing since a group of opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) MPs had their seats declared vacant.
Courts ruled on Thursday and Friday that all of the CCC contenders would be barred from standing in the new votes. 
Barring a Supreme Court reversal, the ruling ZANU-PF will now pick up some easy seats as it moves closer to changing the constitution.
But authorities said that one of the by-elections would not even be held as there was only a ruling party candidate.
"The overall effect of this in terms of undermining any hope for Zimbabwe of democracy right now, is very clear," said Nic Cheeseman, a professor of African politics at the University of Birmingham in Britain.
The crisis was sparked by a letter sent in October by Songezo Tshabangu, a little-known politician claiming to be the CCC's interim secretary-general.

Speaker silences opponents

Addressed to the ZANU-PF parliamentary speaker, it stated that 15 CCC lawmakers elected in a bitterly contested legislative election in August had ceased to be party members and should lose their seats.
CCC leader Nelson Chamisa, 45, protested that Tshabangu was not a CCC member, the party had no secretary-general and had not expelled any MP.
The speaker ignored him and declared the seats vacant.
This resulted in by-elections for nine seats that were adjudicated under a first-past-the-post system. 
The rest were awarded using a proportional representation system.
ZANU-PF has denied causing the turmoil.
"We have an irresponsible opposition that is selfish and is self-imploding," party spokesman Farai Marapira told AFP.
The CCC said it expected its candidates to remain on the ballot pending a court appeal.

Uncontested win

But in Mabvuku, a Harare suburb where a vote was supposed to be held on Saturday, electoral authorities said no by-election would take place. 
The electoral commission declared the ZANU-PF candidate the winner uncontested after his CCC opponent was struck off the ballot.
ZANU-PF is 10 seats short of the two-thirds majority in the 280-member parliament needed to amend the constitution. The CCC won 104 seats in August.
Analysts believe ZANU-PF wants to scrap a two-term presidential limit. This would allow Mnangagwa, 81, to counter any challenge to his leadership.
The term limit was introduced in 2013 after long-time ruler Robert Mugabe was forced to accept a power-sharing government with the opposition.
Critics say Mnangagwa, who came to power on the back of a 2017 coup that toppled Mugabe, is even more autocratic than his predecessor.
Hopes that he could lead Zimbabwe on a more democratic path, foster foreign investment and turn around the dire economy have fallen by the wayside, said Christopher Vandome, of the Chatham House think tank in Britain.
Parliament has passed laws to silence dissent. The courts have been stripped of their independence, rights groups say.
International observers said the August election fell short of democratic standards. 
The CCC has complained about intimidation against its members before and after the vote. 
Meanwhile, Tshabangu, who denies being a ZANU-PF stooge, has penned more letters, seeking control of party funds and recalling another 13 lawmakers -- something the CCC is battling in the courts with little success.  
"Their infighting is our harvest," Patrick Chinamasa, ZANU-PF treasurer told a mass rally in Mabvuku on Thursday. 
str-ub/kjm

Putin

From Obiang to Putin: the world's longest-serving leaders

  • - Cameroon's Biya: 41 years - The world's oldest elected leader, 90-year-old Cameroonian President Paul Biya, has ruled his west African country with an iron fist since November 1982.
  • Vladimir Putin, who on Friday announced that he will seek a fifth term as Russian president in elections next year, is one of the world's ten longest-serving elected leaders.
  • - Cameroon's Biya: 41 years - The world's oldest elected leader, 90-year-old Cameroonian President Paul Biya, has ruled his west African country with an iron fist since November 1982.
Vladimir Putin, who on Friday announced that he will seek a fifth term as Russian president in elections next year, is one of the world's ten longest-serving elected leaders.
Here are the top 10, ranked by total number of years in power.
- Equatorial Guinea's Obiang: 44 years - 
The Soviet Union was still a decade from collapse when Teodoro Obiang Nguema, 81, came to power in a coup in the west African state of Equatorial Guinea in 1979.
Under his repressive 44-year rule, Equatorial Guinea has become known as the "North Korea of Africa".

Cameroon's Biya: 41 years

The world's oldest elected leader, 90-year-old Cameroonian President Paul Biya, has ruled his west African country with an iron fist since November 1982.
Nicknamed "the Sphinx" for his inscrutable nature, he won a seventh consecutive term in 2018 after elections marred by allegations of fraud.
- Congo-Brazzaville's Sassou Nguesso: 39 years -  
Republic of Congo (also known as Congo-Brazzaville): Denis Sassou Nguesso, 80, has spent 39 years at the helm of the country in central Africa. He was president from 1979 to 1992, then returned in 1997 after a civil war and has remained in power ever since.

Uganda's Museveni: 37 years

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, 79, has led the central African country for 37 years. He was re-elected to a contested sixth term in 2021 elections.

Tajikistan's Rahmon: 31 years

Tajikistan: Emomali Rahmon, a 71-year-old former collective farm boss who came to power shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, has had a firm grip on his poor, mountainous country for 31 years.

Eritrea's Afwerki: 30 years

Former rebel leader Isaias Afwerki, 77, has been president of the reclusive Horn of Africa nation of Eritrea since it won independence from Ethiopia in 1993. 
- Belarus's Lukashenko: 29 years - 
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, 69, a close ally of Putin, has used Soviet-style repression to remain in power in Ukraine's neighbour for 29 years.

Djibouti's Guelleh: 24 years

Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh, 76, who was re-elected to a fifth term in 2021, has been leader of the country that styles itself the "Dubai of Africa", for 24 years.

Russia's Putin: 24 years

In Russia, 71-year-old Putin has been leader since December 1999.
He became acting president in December 1999, then served two terms from 2000 to 2008 before swapping jobs with his prime minister Dmitry Medvedev to circumvent rules limiting consecutive presidential mandates to two, only to reclaim the role of Kremlin leader in 2012. 
Term limits would have disqualified Putin from standing in the next election but a controversial constitutional reform in 2020 paved the way for him to stay in power until at least 2036.

Rwanda's Kagame: 23 years

Rwandan President Paul Kagame, a former Tutsi rebel leader who put an end to a genocide of Tutsis in 1994, has been president of the small central African republic since April 2000.
cb/eab/bc

Vestager

Once the bane of big tech, Vestager's star wanes

  • Vestager will now return to the commission but with only a few months left before European elections that are likely to change the make-up of the EU's executive arm. bur-aro/raz/dc/gil
  • Margrethe Vestager is preparing to return to her day job as the European Union's competition chief after a hard-fought and ultimately unsuccessful bid to lead the bloc's lender.
  • Vestager will now return to the commission but with only a few months left before European elections that are likely to change the make-up of the EU's executive arm. bur-aro/raz/dc/gil
Margrethe Vestager is preparing to return to her day job as the European Union's competition chief after a hard-fought and ultimately unsuccessful bid to lead the bloc's lender.
She stepped down temporarily in September after entering the race to become the next head of the European Investment Bank but lost out on Friday to Spanish economy minister Nadia Calvino.
After the EU selected Calvino, Vestager, 55, said she would "resume" her duties at the European Commission, the Eu's executive arm.
Vestager's star has waned in recent years following a series of setbacks in EU courts against some of the world's biggest companies, including Apple.
It wasn't always thus. 
The former Danish minister was once one of the best-known EU officials. 
Her name and face were recognisable beyond the Brussels bubble, and she was known for hitting tech companies with hefty fines.
She was even once in the running to become president of the European Commission.
Her tough stance towards US firms earned her the ire of former president Donald Trump, who reportedly told Vestager's boss in 2018: "Your tax lady... she really hates the US."
True to form, she later quipped: "I've done my own fact-checking on the first part of that sentence. I do work with tax and I am a woman so this is 100-percent correct." 
But, she insisted: "I very much like the US."

Everyman approach

Vestager brought a huge change to the grey and insular world of anti-trust law when she arrived in Brussels in 2014 to take over the portfolio.
The daughter of Lutheran pastors and now married to a mathematics professor, Vestager says she is guided by the principles of "neutrality, impartiality, rigour".
Avoiding legal jargon and weighty opinions, Vestager insisted on an everyman approach to anti-trust issues, focusing on consumers.
She was best known for delivering mega fines against Silicon Valley giant Google and ordering back taxes to be paid by Apple and Amazon.
Such was her success, she became commission executive vice-president in 2019 with a portfolio that included the digital transition, one of the EU's priorities.
But soon all that was left were the dying embers of the trail she blazed, as the legal losses began stacking up, as well as what some member states, especially France, viewed as missteps that harmed Europe.
She infuriated officials in Paris and Berlin after slapping a veto on the merger of the rail businesses of Siemens and Alstom in 2019, and further aggravated France this summer when she tried to hire a US competition expert to advise the commission.

'Margrethe III'

A major setback came in 2020, when the EU's lower General Court annulled the commission's order for Apple to repay the money. 
There were also losses in the courts against Starbucks and Amazon in 2019 and 2021 respectively.
Vestager may yet win a reprieve in the Apple case after the European Court of Justice's top legal advisor called for a new ruling. The ECJ will issue its decision next year. 
Vestager was at one time famous for inspiring her country's hit television political drama "Borgen", about an ambitious female politician who becomes prime minister.
She developed a taste for Europe's potential when she was the Danish economy minister, chairing meetings with her colleagues during the grim depths of the eurozone debt crisis.
Sometimes nicknamed back home as "Margrethe III," an allusion to Denmark's Queen Margrethe II, she became minister in 1998, was named at 29 to the education and ecclesiastical affairs portfolio, and over the years rose smoothly through the ranks.
Vestager will now return to the commission but with only a few months left before European elections that are likely to change the make-up of the EU's executive arm.
bur-aro/raz/dc/gil

culture

Krispy Kreme doughnuts, the latest US chain to try its luck in France

BY MONA GUICHARD

  • Krispy Kreme can count on some devoted followers such as David Mitrani, a 33-year-old accountant who discovered the brand abroad and was at the Paris store opening.
  • US doughnut chain Krispy Kreme has opened its first shop in Paris, hoping to follow in the footsteps of other American fast-food franchises have won over the French in recent years. 
  • Krispy Kreme can count on some devoted followers such as David Mitrani, a 33-year-old accountant who discovered the brand abroad and was at the Paris store opening.
US doughnut chain Krispy Kreme has opened its first shop in Paris, hoping to follow in the footsteps of other American fast-food franchises have won over the French in recent years. 
While doughnuts are not unknown in France, they are generally an item among others at bakeries and other outlets, not the main billing.
The Californian chain Randy's Donuts opened in the French capital in October 2022 but closed a few months later. 
So to succeed in its 39th foreign market, Krispy Kreme's director general for France, Alexandre Maizoue, has pulled out all the stops: home delivery starting early next year, opening a production site in the eastern suburb of Creteil in 2024, and reaching 500 stores within five years.  
"I think we have some great years ahead of us," he said. The company has already invested more than two million euros ($2.2 million) in its first store and production facility. 
To ensure buzz, Krispy Kreme launched a huge publicity campaign -- with the Paris City Hall even accusing it of illegal postering -- and handed out some 100,000 doughnuts at various places around Paris. 
A deejay and a red carpet welcomed clients to the Wednesday opening of the new store in the Halles shopping centre in central Paris. 
According to Maizoue, around 400 people were in line at 8 am for the opening, with a total of 3,000 coming the first day. 
The chain's first French store is offering 13 varies of doughnuts, or "donut" as it known in France, with clients able to observe the production behind a glass wall -- a hallmark of the brand.
- 'American way of life' - 
"When we opened the first doughnut boutique in Paris in 2015, everyone told me it would not work here," Amanda Bankert, an American baker who runs Boneshaker Donuts, told AFP. "I did not know that doughnuts were associated with what is worst in American food." 
"It is very sugary, very chemical," Karima Prince, a 51-year-old beautician, said as she tried an "Original Glazed", the classic product of Krispy Kreme, founded in 1937.  
Krispy Kreme can count on some devoted followers such as David Mitrani, a 33-year-old accountant who discovered the brand abroad and was at the Paris store opening.
"What surprised me is not that they have come to France, but that it took so long," he said.  
For Francois Blouin, founder of research firm Food Service Vision, the French are hardly reticent to try American foods. "France may be a country of gastronomy but it is also one of the places where American-influenced chains do well," he said.  
Bankert, the Boneshaker founder, said she was optimistic for the American chain's prospects.
"In 2015, it might have been different, but I think today it will work for Krispy Kreme," she said.
law-mng/gv/js

Putin

Key moments in Vladimir Putin's rule

BY KARINNE DELORME AND CLARE BYRNE

  • - Ukraine invasion - On February 24, 2022, Russia invades Ukraine in what Putin presents as a "special military operation" to "demilitarise" and "de-nazify" the former Soviet state.
  • From the rise of the former KGB officer to the Kremlin to his invasion of Ukraine, AFP looks at key moments in the rule of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is bidding to remain in power until 2030.
  • - Ukraine invasion - On February 24, 2022, Russia invades Ukraine in what Putin presents as a "special military operation" to "demilitarise" and "de-nazify" the former Soviet state.
From the rise of the former KGB officer to the Kremlin to his invasion of Ukraine, AFP looks at key moments in the rule of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is bidding to remain in power until 2030.

Yeltsin's heir

In August 1999, Russia's first president after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Boris Yeltsin, makes a little-known former head of the FSB security service (ex-KGB) his prime minister.
Less than five months later, Yeltsin resigns after succumbing to alcoholism and illness. Putin succeeds him, first as acting president and then as elected leader after a March 2000 vote.

Trio of disasters

Disaster strikes early in his presidency, when the nuclear-powered submarine Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea in August 2000 with 118 crew members aboard. Putin's muted response to the catastrophe is heavily criticised.
He also takes heat over his handling of two attacks by Chechen rebels -- a hostage-taking at a Moscow theatre in 2002, where 130 people are killed, and a siege of a school in Beslan in 2004, where 330 people are killed, including 186 children.
The security forces are accused of botching both rescue operations.

War in Chechnya

The theatre and school attacks came during the second of two wars launched by Putin against separatists in the predominantly Muslim North Caucasus region.
Between 1999 and 2009, the war leaves tens of thousands dead and the Chechen capital Grozny completely flattened.

Putin tightens grip

After re-election in 2004, Putin strengthens his grip on power.
He sidelines oligarchs such as Russia's richest man Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who is removed as CEO of the oil giant Yukos and jailed in 2005 on charges including tax fraud.
In 2006, the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya and the fatal poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London spark global outrage. 

Medvedev interlude

With Russia's constitution forbidding a third straight presidential term, Putin trades places with Dmitry Medvedev to become prime minister, and Medvedev is elected president in 2008.
Putin continues to wield significant influence as premier.

Georgia intervention

In August 2008, the Russian army intervenes in the former Soviet republic of Georgia to bolster the breakaway, pro-Russian territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The five-day war leave hundreds dead on both sides, including scores of civilians.

Back in the Kremlin

Putin returns to the presidency in 2012, and is re-elected again in 2018.
In 2020, authorities pass a constitutional reform package allowing him theoretically to remain in office until 2036, when he will turn 84. 
- Critics poisoned - 
His second stint as president brings a wider crackdown on dissent.
In 2015, a prominent Putin critic, former deputy premier Boris Nemtsov, is gunned down outside the Kremlin. 
In 2018, the former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal is poisoned in England, and in 2020 the anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny falls seriously ill after being poisoned. He is jailed in 2021.
Abroad, the Kremlin is accused of interfering in elections, particularly the 2016 election that brought Donald Trump to power in the United States, which it denies.

Crimea and Sochi

Early 2014 offers stark contrasts -- in February, the $50 billion Winter Olympics jamboree in the Russian city of Sochi offers a picture-postcard image of a modern superpower.
But a month later, Putin annexes the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in response to the overthrow of a Russian-backed leader in Kyiv's Maidan revolution.

Tipping the scales in Syria

Putin also seeks to cement Russian influence beyond the former Soviet bloc.
In 2015, he enters the Syrian war on the side of President Bashar al-Assad, with Russian airstrikes on rebel-held areas helping tip the scales for the regime.

Ukraine invasion

On February 24, 2022, Russia invades Ukraine in what Putin presents as a "special military operation" to "demilitarise" and "de-nazify" the former Soviet state.
The West imposes crushing sanctions in response to the biggest invasion of a European country since World War II, marked by multiple allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity. 
Russian forces, who rely heavily on mercenaries from the Wagner group, fail to take Kyiv but occupy a swathe of territory in Ukraine's east and south.

Surviving rebellion

In June 2023, Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin leads a short-lived mutiny against Moscow's military leadership that Putin describes as a "stab in the back".
Two months later, Prigozhin dies in a plane crash over Russia.
By the end of 2023, with Ukraine's much-touted counteroffensive stalling and Russia's oil revenues soaring, Putin is in ebullient form. 
Despite being wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, he visits the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
burs-cb/js

Britain

Dublin crowds bid farewell to Irish songwriter Shane MacGowan

  • Nobody told the Irish story like Shane.
  • Crowds lined the streets of Dublin on Friday to their pay respects to Irish songwriter Shane MacGowan, who died last month at the age of 65. 
  • Nobody told the Irish story like Shane.
Crowds lined the streets of Dublin on Friday to their pay respects to Irish songwriter Shane MacGowan, who died last month at the age of 65. 
MacGowan, lead singer of Celtic folk-punk band The Pogues, died on November 30, prompting a flood of tributes.
The thousands who gathered applauded as his coffin was carried the through the city in a horse-drawn carriage, led by the marching Artane Band, which played some of MacGowan's hits including "Fairytale of New York" and "A Rainy Night in Soho".
MacGowan, who had been in and out of hospital in Dublin since July, penned the Christmas classic "Fairytale of New York", which he sang in a duet with Kirsty MacColl in 1987. 
When the song, about a couple who have fallen on hard times, was played during the procession, the crowd could be heard applauding and singing along to the chorus.
Co-formed by MacGowan, The Pogues fused punk and Irish folk music. He was born in England but spent much of his childhood in Ireland with his mother's family.
The band became an international symbol of Irishness, both at home and for the country's sprawling diaspora, with MacGowan's contribution recognised in a slew of tributes from political leaders.
Prime Minister Leo Varadkar called MacGowan "an amazing musician and artist" whose songs "beautifully captured the Irish experience, especially the experience of being Irish abroad".
Micheal Martin, Varadkar's deputy, said he was "devastated" by MacGowan's death.
"His passing is particularly poignant at this time of year as we listen to 'Fairytale of New York' -- a song that resonates with all of us," he wrote.
There were tributes too from Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the Irish Republican Army paramilitary group that fought for decades against British rule in Northern Ireland.
The Pogues' 1988 song "Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six", which recounted the plight of six Irishmen wrongly imprisoned for deadly pub bombings in Birmingham, was banned from British airwaves.
Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald called MacGowan "a poet, dreamer and social justice champion".
"He was a republican and a proud Irish man. Nobody told the Irish story like Shane. He sang to us of dreams and captured stories of emigration," she said.
The funeral will take place in St Mary of the Rosary Church in the town of Nenagh, west of Dublin, at 15:30 GMT, after which another procession will take place through the County Tipperary.
MacGowan will then be cremated in a private ceremony.
pmu/srg/jwp/js