Europe

Italy on red alert as Portugal beats record for hottest May day

attack

'Terrorist' knife attack wounds 3 at Swiss train station: official

BY NATHALIE OLOF-ORS

  •   - 'Goosebumps' -   Images broadcast by several Swiss media outlets and on social media showed a man with long dark hair and a full beard running in front of the station shouting "Allahu akbar!"
  • A man reportedly shouting "Allahu akbar!"
  •   - 'Goosebumps' -   Images broadcast by several Swiss media outlets and on social media showed a man with long dark hair and a full beard running in front of the station shouting "Allahu akbar!"
A man reportedly shouting "Allahu akbar!" injured three people in a knife attack at a train station in Switzerland on Thursday before being arrested, in what officials said was "a terrorist act". 
Witnesses described scenes of panic and confusion when the man -- who authorities said was a 31-year-old Swiss-Turkish national with a history of psychological problems -- suddenly began stabbing people at the main train station in Winterthur, Switzerland's sixth largest city, during the morning rush hour.
"I am exceptionally calling this a terrorist attack," Mario Fehr, in charge of security in the Swiss canton of Zurich, told a press conference.
Regional police commander Marius Weyermann agreed, telling reporters it was "clear from the scene that the motive for this act must be sought in the realm of radicalisation and extremism".
He said police had received the first emergency call at 8:28 am (0628 GMT) and that the suspected perpetrator was arrested by 8:33 am.
The man, identified as Nesip Dedeler, had been wielding a knife and had injured three men, aged 28, 43 and 52. 
The eldest man had been seriously injured by stab wounds to his thigh and had undergone emergency surgery, while the two youngest victims had suffered stab wounds to the leg and neck respectively, Weyermann said.
They had both since been released from hospital, he said.
 

'Goosebumps'

 
Images broadcast by several Swiss media outlets and on social media showed a man with long dark hair and a full beard running in front of the station shouting "Allahu akbar!" (God is the greatest), while raising his right hand.
A 65-year-old taxi driver named Turhan Muslu told the Blick newspaper that he witnessed the attack.
"I saw him rush off the ramp and try to stab a man," he told the daily, adding that the man had "fought back fiercely", before station guards arrived and subdued the attacker.
"It all happened so fast. If those security guards hadn't (arrived) so quickly, I don't know what would have happened."
In the published footage, filmed from a distance on a mobile phone, the man, wearing a black T-shirt and shorts, is seen running past a group of young children apparently on a school trip, without stopping.
"I heard a man scream 'Allahu akbar' five or six times, in a very agitated manner," a young man who witnessed the chaos that ensued told Blick, which did not provide his name.
The witness described how the young children and other bystanders had "run across the road" in panic.
"I still have goosebumps," he said.
 

Psychiatric hospital

 
Weyermann said the attacker had grown up in Winterthur, and had faced a complaint more than a decade ago for allegedly violating a ban on spreading propaganda for the Islamic State jihadist group.
He had himself shown up at a Winterthur police station on Monday this week, speaking incoherently, and he had been taken to a psychiatric hospital, the authorities said.
But he had checked himself out from there on Wednesday and the institution had determined he did not pose a danger to himself or others, and let him go, Fehr said.
"Why that decision was made is beyond our knowledge, but the assessment was obviously wrong," he said
Attacks targeting random passers-by are rare in Switzerland, and people in the city, located 25 kilometres (15 miles) northeast of Zurich, voiced shock at what had unfolded.
"This is not OK. We want peace," Basharat Iqbal, a taxi driver who arrived at the station after the attack, told AFP.
"I was shocked."
bur-nl/rjm/sbk

Ukraine

Latvia gets new centre-right govt after row over stray Ukraine drones

  • "The duty of the government is to ensure Latvia's security in the broadest sense.
  • Latvia's parliament voted in a new centre-right government on Thursday, weeks after the previous coalition collapsed in a row over stray Ukrainian drones.
  • "The duty of the government is to ensure Latvia's security in the broadest sense.
Latvia's parliament voted in a new centre-right government on Thursday, weeks after the previous coalition collapsed in a row over stray Ukrainian drones.
By a margin of 66 deputies in the 100-seat assembly, lawmakers confirmed 47-year-old centrist Andris Kulbergs as prime minister, who will lead the Baltic nation until parliamentary elections on October 3.
Evika Silina resigned as prime minister on May 14 after she fired her defence minister and lost the support of his party, which had been a key coalition ally.
Silina accused the minister of not deploying anti-drone defences fast enough to parry two wayward Ukraine attack drones, which are thought to have been knocked off course by Russian jamming.
The drones caused minimal damage but sparked widespread concern in the former Soviet republic, which is now a member of NATO and the European Union.
"The duty of the government is to ensure Latvia's security in the broadest sense. That means guaranteeing the external security of the state, economic security, energy security, but also people's sense of security in their own country," Kulbergs said in a speech ahead of the parliamentary vote.
He also confirmed outgoing foreign minister Baiba Braze would remain in her post and appointed a military officer, Colonel Raivis Melnis, as defence minister. 
Several Russian and Ukrainian drones have crashed in Latvia -- and neighbouring Lithuania and Estonia -- since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has offered to send experts to Latvia to help it boost its air defences.
The new Latvian four-party coalition should enjoy a healthy majority in parliament and pursue a broadly pro-EU, pro-NATO direction. The coalition parties have stressed the need to reinforce the military and the borders of the country of 1.8 million people.
"There is a broad consensus on foreign policy priorities," political scientist Nils Muiznieks told AFP, adding that the new government was also likely to keep strong solidarity with Ukraine.
str-sw/jxb-sbk-giv/sbk

labour

UK risks a 'lost generation' of jobless young people

BY ALEXANDRA BACON

  • "We are at risk of a lost generation," said Alan Milburn, a former Labour cabinet minister who led the review and is due to propose solutions later this year.
  • Britain risks creating a "lost generation" as the number of young people out of work and education surges, a government-commissioned review warned Thursday.
  • "We are at risk of a lost generation," said Alan Milburn, a former Labour cabinet minister who led the review and is due to propose solutions later this year.
Britain risks creating a "lost generation" as the number of young people out of work and education surges, a government-commissioned review warned Thursday.
The number of 16- to 24-year-olds not in employment, education or training -- so-called "NEETs" -- topped one million in the first quarter of the year for the first time since 2013, separate official data showed. 
Without action, that figure could rise to 1.25 million, or one in six young people, within five years, the report said. 
"We are at risk of a lost generation," said Alan Milburn, a former Labour cabinet minister who led the review and is due to propose solutions later this year.
"It's a warning that far too many young people are reaching adulthood only to find the door to opportunity closed," he told a press conference.
Calling the report "sobering" but vowing he would not allow a generation to be lost, Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to work with Milburn "on what more needs to be done".
For Shana Fatahali, 23, who has spent the past two years searching for work in England's West Midlands, "young people do want to get out there and have a job".
"A lot of the older generation are stuck in the mindset that you fill your CV out, hand it in and you've got a job just like that. But times have moved on since then," she told AFP. 

'Very anxious'

Fatahali, who has a four-year-old child and holds a health and social care diploma, noted there were few jobs "that fit around my responsibilities as a parent". 
She described feeling trapped, like many young people, in a cycle of being rejected for lacking experience while unable to gain it without an opportunity.
Starmer commissioned the review last year to understand the causes of rising youth unemployment.
While 84 percent of NEETs want to be employed or in training, the report found that many young people are struggling to reach "the first rung of the career ladder". 
It blamed a "sharp decline" in entry-level roles such as hospitality jobs, weekend jobs and apprenticeships.
"There is no shortage of effort on the part of young people. The shortage is of opportunity and of support," Milburn said.
Faith, a 22-year-old in southwest England, told AFP that she struggled to find even part-time work as she neared the end of her master's degree in criminology.
"I was applying everywhere in town, coffee shops, pubs, but they just ignore you," she said, adding that the process made her feel "very anxious" about the future. 
"A lot of people go to university because it's meant to help you get a job, but I haven't seen that personally."

'Multiple barriers'

About a decade ago, Britain had a similar NEET rate to the European Union average. By last year, only Romania recorded a higher rate. 
The report found rising mental health problems played a key role in the increase in NEETs in Britain. 
"For the first time in perhaps two centuries, changes in health, especially in mental health, are impeding economic growth and causing a contraction in the supply of labour," Milburn said.
The economic cost of the youth unemployment crisis was estimated at around £125 billion ($168 billion) per year, taking into account lost tax revenue and higher health and welfare spending. 
"Behind the statistics are real young people facing real and often multiple barriers," said Sarah Yong, deputy chief executive at Youth Futures Foundation. 
The British Chambers of Commerce said the issues identified have "long been reported by businesses".
The "report must be a wake-up call for policymakers about the crisis of young people not in employment, education and training", said Shevaun Haviland, BCC director general.
bur-ajb-jj/cw

GDP

US revises first quarter growth down while inflation climbs

BY BEIYI SEOW AND ASAD HASHIM

  • Adding to the gloomy data was another government report showing that sales of new US homes pulled back in April, as higher costs weighed on consumers.
  • The US economy expanded less than initially estimated in the first quarter, government data showed Thursday, while a key inflation gauge separately hit a three-year high on fallout from the Middle East war.
  • Adding to the gloomy data was another government report showing that sales of new US homes pulled back in April, as higher costs weighed on consumers.
The US economy expanded less than initially estimated in the first quarter, government data showed Thursday, while a key inflation gauge separately hit a three-year high on fallout from the Middle East war.
The figures sound a warning on pressures that American households are facing ahead of midterm elections, as steeper gasoline prices squeeze budgets and a boost from tax refunds fades.
Gross domestic product in the world's biggest economy rose at an annual rate of 1.6 percent in the first three months this year, the Commerce Department said.
This was down from an earlier estimate of 2.0 percent, with the pullback "primarily reflecting downward revisions to investment and consumer spending," the department added.
"New data showed services spending, particularly on medical services, slowed and business inventories fell by more than previously estimated," said economist Michael Pearce of Oxford Economics.
Downward revisions to consumer spending in the first quarter, alongside a slowdown in April, "point to a consumer coming under stress," he added.
Pearce was referring to another report that showed the US Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure rising to its highest year-on-year rate since 2023.
The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index increased 3.8 percent from a year ago, the Commerce Department said, up from 3.5 percent in March.
US personal consumption expenditures rose by 0.5 percent in April, but disposable personal income fell by 0.1 percent. 
"You can see how Americans are getting squeezed financially right now," said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. 
Pearce expects that higher energy prices are likely to keep GDP growth "moderate this year."
Energy costs have surged following US-Israeli strikes targeting Iran on February 28, engulfing the Middle East in conflict and triggering Tehran's retaliation that has virtually blocked the Strait of Hormuz.
The key waterway normally sees about a fifth of the world's oil and gas supplies pass through it, and is also essential for the global fertilizer trade.
Global costs have soared, with prices at American gasoline stations also spiking -- piling pressure on consumers ahead of elections at the end of the year.
Rising fuel prices saw US consumers spend $28.8 billion more on gasoline and related products in April over the same month a year ago, the data showed. 

Spending power eroded

"Remember that 70 percent of the US economy is consumer spending," said ING chief international economist James Knightley in a note.
Higher gasoline prices are not just an inflation problem but will weigh on economic activity too, he warned.
EY-Parthenon chief economist Gregory Daco added: "Household budgets are coming under mounting pressure from rising inflation and a softer income backdrop, while slower wage and job growth continue to weigh on purchasing power."
"As a result, we expect spending momentum to cool," he said.
More broadly, analysts have warned of the country's reliance on an AI investment boom to fuel growth, alongside consumer fatigue as the energy shock from the war on Iran lingers.
Still, growth accelerated from a 0.5 percent rate in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The step up between the final months of 2025 and early 2026 was attributed to "upturns in government spending and exports and an acceleration in investment," while consumer spending decelerated.
Adding to the gloomy data was another government report showing that sales of new US homes pulled back in April, as higher costs weighed on consumers.
Sales came in at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 622,000, the Commerce Department said, 6.2 percent below March's rate of 663,000.
This was 11.3 percent lower than the pace seen a year ago, as the median sales price of new houses rose 8.0 percent from March and mortgage rates continue to climb.
As of the week of May 21, the popular 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.5 percent, up from levels seen in the prior month.
aha-bys/bgs

Europe

Italy on red alert as Portugal beats record for hottest May day

  • Italy has so far been spared the highest temperatures but on Thursday officials warned people in Rome and four northern cities to stay out of the sun.
  • Italy issued a red alert warning for the capital Rome on Thursday and Portugal recorded its hottest day in May as Europe struggled with a heatwave that has smashed records across the continent.
  • Italy has so far been spared the highest temperatures but on Thursday officials warned people in Rome and four northern cities to stay out of the sun.
Italy issued a red alert warning for the capital Rome on Thursday and Portugal recorded its hottest day in May as Europe struggled with a heatwave that has smashed records across the continent.
Britain and France have already reported their hottest ever May days this week as a "heat dome" brought sweltering temperatures to western Europe.
Several people have died in both Britain and France, mostly in drowning accidents that authorities have linked with the sweltering temperatures.
The mercury peaked at 40.3C in Portugal's central town of Mora on Wednesday, topping the previous record of 40C from May 2001, the meteorological agency announced on Thursday, warning that the heatwave had a "high likelihood" of lasting into the beginning of June.
Italy has so far been spared the highest temperatures but on Thursday officials warned people in Rome and four northern cities to stay out of the sun.
"We're sweating a lot," said Spanish tourist Nana Martinez Garcia, trying to stay cool outside Rome's Colosseum on Thursday with temperatures hitting 32C. 
"We're drinking a lot of water so we can cool down," she said, with her friend Maria Angeles Mellinas Tello chiming in that they were "staying in the shade" whenever they could.
The first red alert of the year in Italy -- which also covered Florence, Bologna, Brescia and Turin -- warned of "possible negative effects on the health of healthy, active people".
Scientists say human-driven climate change is amplifying such extremes, with weather events like heatwaves, droughts and floods becoming more intense and frequent.
 

Tennis woes

 
The worst of the heat seemed to have passed in Britain, but much of France continued to bake on Thursday.
A school in the southwest was forced to shut its doors on Thursday and Friday afternoon after temperatures in the corridors reached 53C on Tuesday, causing pupils to get sick, a local official said.
"There was even someone who fainted and vomited," said Florian Deygas, an official in the Landes region.
Paris was expecting temperatures to hit 34C and remained on orange heatwave alert, national weather service Meteo France said, following record-breaking days in France on Monday and Tuesday.
Players at the French Open tennis tournament on the outskirts of Paris have been suffering from the heat, with one collapsing after winning a gruelling hours-long match.
Italy's Jannik Sinner, the red-hot favourite at the Roland Garros tournament, complained of dehydration, dizziness and nausea as he succumbed to the heat on his way to a shock second-round loss to opponent Juan Manuel Cerundolo.
Staff at the venue have been spraying the red earth courts with water after every set and once the day's matches are over, "we flood the courts, we soak them, so as to replenish with water the different layers that make up the clay", said head maintenance worker Philippe Vaillant.
In Spain, the national weather office Aemet issued heat alerts for Friday for parts of the northeast and north, where temperatures were forecast to soar to up to 37C.
The office said in a social media post that temperatures were "extraordinarily high" for this time of year across Spain, at levels typically seen in summer. It predicted that temperatures would drop noticeably next week.
Back in Rome, US tourist Josh Ren said he had a game plan for the heat: "Get up early, do things more early, take a lot of breaks. 
"Go sit down in some air-conditioned restaurant, go to the museum, stay inside a little bit more during the hottest time of the day."
burs/jxb/db/sbk

weather

Temperatures likely to remain at record levels in 2026-2030: UN

BY ROBIN MILLARD

  • "Global average temperatures are likely to continue at or near record levels in the next five years," the agency said.
  • Global average temperatures are likely to continue at or near record levels this year and for the next four years afterwards, the United Nations warned Thursday.
  • "Global average temperatures are likely to continue at or near record levels in the next five years," the agency said.
Global average temperatures are likely to continue at or near record levels this year and for the next four years afterwards, the United Nations warned Thursday.
The 11 hottest individual years ever recorded all happened from 2015 onwards and the UN's weather and climate agency said the trend was set to continue, with a new hottest-ever year "likely" before 2031.
There is a 75 percent chance that the 2026-2030 five-year mean temperature will surpass the key threshold of 1.5C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average, the World Meteorological Organization said.
The WMO outlook comes as western Europe swelters under a "heat dome" of warm air, breaking temperature records for May in Britain and France, with Italy issuing heatwave alerts in major cities.
"Global average temperatures are likely to continue at or near record levels in the next five years," the agency said.
"It is likely (86 percent chance) that one year between 2026 and 2030 will surpass 2024 as the warmest year on record."

El Nino effect on 2027

"There is an El Nino predicted for the end of 2026, which increases the chances of the following year, 2027, being the next record-breaking year," said Leon Hermanson, lead author of the WMO's Global Annual-to-Decadal Update.
The last El Nino contributed to making 2023 the second-hottest year on record and 2024 the all-time high at around 1.55C above the pre-industrial average.
El Nino is a natural climate phenomenon that warms surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, bringing worldwide changes in winds, pressure and rainfall patterns.
It typically takes place every two to seven years and lasts around nine to 12 months.

1.3C to 1.9C range

The 2015 Paris climate accords aimed to limit global warming to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels -- and preferably below 1.5C.
The targets are calculated relative to the 1850-1900 average, before humanity widely began industrially burning coal, oil and gas, which emit carbon dioxide -- the greenhouse gas largely responsible for climate change.
"Annual global mean near-surface temperatures during 2026-2030 are predicted to range between 1.3C and 1.9C above the 1850-1900 average," the WMO update said.
The WMO said there was a 91-percent chance that global average temperatures will temporarily exceed 1.5C above the pre-industrial baseline for at least one year between 2026 and 2030.
Furthermore, there is a 75-percent chance that the entire 2026-2030 five-year mean will exceed 1.5C above the 1850-1900 average.
However, it is considered exceptionally unlikely -- less than one percent -- that any single year will exceed 2C above the pre-industrial baseline in the next five years.

Arctic heat warning

The 1.5C barrier is expected to be broken with increasing frequency.
The 1.5C and 2C limits in the Paris accords refer to sustained long-term warming -- typically over 20 years -- so temporary breaches do not necessarily mean the long-term goal is out of reach.
Last year was one of the three warmest years on record, with the globally averaged near-surface temperature estimated at more than 1.43C above the 1850-1900 baseline.
Bill Hare, chief-executive of the Berlin-based think-tank Climate Analytics, said the WMO's prediction of hotter years to come was the result of countries' failures to cut greenhouse gas emissions at sufficient scale.
"Our research shows that if governments act now to reduce their emissions as quickly as possible, global warming can be halted by mid-century and then returned well below the Paris Agreement limit of 1.5C," he said.
The report was produced by Britain's Met Office national weather service and the WMO's lead centre for annual to decadal climate prediction. It compiles forecasts from 13 different institutes.
The report said Arctic temperatures over the next five northern hemisphere winters (November to March) were predicted to be 2.8C above average temperatures for 1991-2020 -- more than triple the global temperature anomaly for the same period.
Predicted precipitation patterns for May to September from 2026 to 2030 forecast wet anomalies in the Sahel, northern Europe, Alaska and Siberia, as well as dry anomalies over the Amazon.
rjm/nl/giv

Sonja

Norway's Queen leaves hospital amidst mounting fears over princess

  • Her husband, Crown Prince Haakon, announced Tuesday that Mette Marit's health had worsened recently.
  • Norway's Queen Sonja, 88, left hospital on Thursday after a night of treatment for heart troubles, her husband King Harald said while adding his fears for Crown Princess Mette-Marit.
  • Her husband, Crown Prince Haakon, announced Tuesday that Mette Marit's health had worsened recently.
Norway's Queen Sonja, 88, left hospital on Thursday after a night of treatment for heart troubles, her husband King Harald said while adding his fears for Crown Princess Mette-Marit.
"As far as I know she is feeling much better," the 89-year-old king told reporters when asked about his wife while on a visit outside Oslo.
Sonja, who was fitted with a pacemaker in January 2025 after experiencing an irregular heartbeat while on a ski trip, was taken ill on Sunday and admitted to hospital in Oslo on Wednesday.
She was unable to go on the trip with her husband and the royal palace had said she could remain in hospital under observation for several days. 
But the king, who is also in fragile health and walks crutches, said that Sonja was "on the way home".
Harald added to concerns however about his 52-year-old daughter-in-law who has an incurable lung disease, but has also been in controversy over her links to US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as well as the legal troubles of her son. 
"She is seriously ill, there is no doubt about that," the king said in his comments to reporters. "I think it is very sad."
Her husband, Crown Prince Haakon, announced Tuesday that Mette Marit's health had worsened recently.
Mette-Marit was diagnosed in 2018 with a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis that causes breathing difficulties, which has repeatedly forced her to take sick leave or scale back her official duties.
The princess has recently appeared in public with a nasal cannula, consisting of tube connected to an oxygen device carried by a palace employee.
The palace announced in December that the princess might need a lung transplant.
"The crown princess is gravely ill, and I find that her condition has deteriorated significantly recently," Haakon told reporters on Tuesday.
"So, I'm worried about her health. She uses oxygen daily, and that helps a bit, but it's obviously not an entirely satisfactory solution," the 52-year-old said.
Mette-Marit, who married Haakon in 2001, has had a difficult few months in the spotlight.
Documents released by US authorities in January revealed her friendship and frequent contact with Epstein between 2011 and 2014.
In addition, her son from a previous relationship, Marius Borg Hoiby, has been on trial for rape, accusations he denies. A verdict is due on June 15.
phy/tw/giv

fire

Fire in Kenya girls' school dorm kills 16

  • Children have been accused of deliberately starting school fires in Kenya in the past.
  • A fire in a girls' dormitory in Kenya on Thursday killed 16 children and hospitalised 79 in the latest deadly blaze to hit a school in the east African country.
  • Children have been accused of deliberately starting school fires in Kenya in the past.
A fire in a girls' dormitory in Kenya on Thursday killed 16 children and hospitalised 79 in the latest deadly blaze to hit a school in the east African country.
The fire broke out shortly before 1:00 am local time at Utumishi Girls Academy in Nakuru County, around 120 kilometres (75 miles) north of the capital Nairobi, officials said.
There have been many devastating school fires in Kenya, where boarding schools are common as a colonial legacy of missionaries and the British.
"We have 16 fatalities. It's an unfortunate incident," education minister Julius Migos Ogamba told reporters at the scene, without giving ages for the victims.
The affected dormitory had shattered windows, blackened walls and a crumpled corrugated iron roof, an AFP journalist saw. 
Parents of the victims were in the process of being informed by health workers at the site mid-afternoon as bodies were identified. 
A distraught mother, Leila Matura, 52, said her 18-year-old daughter was still missing. 
"We went to the hospital to see if she is there, she is not there. So they are telling us, she is not around, she is among the missing," she told AFP.
"Whether she is dead or alive, we do not know. I'm hopeless," she added.
Another mother, who did not wish to be named, said her 17-year-old daughter was in hospital. 
"She broke both her legs jumping from the window. Thank God she is strong. It is every mother's nightmare," she said.
The school is linked to the National Police Service and most pupils are the children of officers.
"When we arrived, the fire was still blazing. It was so big... It took about 45 minutes to extinguish the flames because of the mattresses inside," a firefighter, who identified himself only as Fred because he was not authorised to speak to the press, told AFP.

'Unimaginable tragedy'

Authorities say they are still investigating the cause of the fire. 
"Our hearts and prayers are with the families who have lost their beloved daughters," President William Ruto said on X, describing it as an "unimaginable tragedy".
Children have been accused of deliberately starting school fires in Kenya in the past. One report found there were 63 arson cases at schools in 2018 alone.
Pupils were accused after a 2001 dormitory fire in the southern county of Machakos killed 67.
A 2024 dormitory fire at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri county killed 21 boys, prompting government promises of nationwide school safety audits and prosecutions, though it remains unclear whether the measures were implemented.
On Thursday the education minister said the ministry had closed around 350 schools since 2024 for failing to comply with safety standards. 
“We will continue inspections to ensure that our schools meet the safety standards” in force, he pledged.
rbu-mnk/er/yad

US

US, Iran accuse each other of violating truce after attacks

BY AFP TEAMS IN TEHRAN, WASHINGTON, DUBAI AND BEIRUT

  • Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, for his part, said the Islamic republic would "take all necessary measures to defend its national sovereignty", likewise describing the US strikes as "violations" of the truce.
  • The United States and Iran accused each other of violating an ongoing truce on Thursday following an exchange of fire, three months after the Middle East war began with a wave of US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic.
  • Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, for his part, said the Islamic republic would "take all necessary measures to defend its national sovereignty", likewise describing the US strikes as "violations" of the truce.
The United States and Iran accused each other of violating an ongoing truce on Thursday following an exchange of fire, three months after the Middle East war began with a wave of US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic.
The latest exchange was the most serious since the ceasefire started in April, rattling ongoing efforts to negotiate an end to the war and drawing in US ally Kuwait, which accused Iran of a "dangerous escalation".
It came as violence on the war's Lebanese front escalated sharply after Israel declared much of the country's south a combat zone and stepped up strikes, including near Beirut.
Iranian forces had fired at four ships attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz without authorisation, state broadcaster IRIB reported on Thursday. Iran has blockaded the waterway since the start of the war on February 28.
US forces said they had intercepted five attack drones in and around the strait, and prevented the launch of a sixth from a ground control station in the southern port area of Bandar Abbas.
The strike in Bandar Abbas prompted Iran to target "the American airbase that served as the source of the attack", according to IRIB, citing the country's Revolutionary Guards.
The Guards did not specify the location of the base, but Kuwait, which hosts US troops, said its air defences had responded to incoming fire.
Its foreign ministry later condemned "the criminal Iranian attacks that targeted the territory of the State of Kuwait with missiles and drones, in a dangerous escalation".
The US Central Command called the attack an "egregious ceasefire violation".
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, for his part, said the Islamic republic would "take all necessary measures to defend its national sovereignty", likewise describing the US strikes as "violations" of the truce.
A US official told AFP the actions had been "measured" and "intended to preserve the ceasefire".
Iran's Guards threatened a "firm response" on Thursday in the event of renewed attacks.
The clash underscored the uncertainty surrounding the stuttering negotiations aimed at formally ending the conflict, though neither side has appeared eager to return to all-out war.
Before Thursday's strikes, Amir, a 27-year-old software developer in the Iranian capital, said fears of renewed fighting were ever present in spite of the ceasefire and talk of a deal.
"I feel like nothing is certain yet," he said. "The daily question is: Will there be missile strikes tonight?"

Hormuz impasse

A key focus of the proposed deal has been restoring full traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, whose closure has global energy markets grappling with curbed supplies of the huge amounts of oil and gas that normally pass through it.
Oil prices bounced higher on Thursday after reports of the strikes, reversing much of the previous day's fall spurred by hopes of a deal.
President Donald Trump threatened US ally Oman when asked about a possible short-term arrangement allowing it and Iran to control the Hormuz.
"No, the strait is going to be open to everybody," Trump said. "It's international waters and Oman will behave just like everybody else or we'll have to blow them up."
Oman has played a mediation role in the war and has itself come under attack from Tehran.
Baqaei condemned the threat towards Oman, calling it "a worrying sign of the normalisation of anarchy and intimidation in international relations".

Lebanon strikes

In Lebanon, a separate ceasefire has done little to stop the fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has only escalated in recent days.
The Israeli army said on Thursday it had conducted a precise strike in the area of Beirut, with the Lebanese military saying the attack hit an apartment south of the capital.
AFPTV footage showed smoke rising from the area on the edge of Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.
Israel also announced new strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure around Tyre after issuing an evacuation warning to residents of the southern city.
The previous day it had declared all areas south of Lebanon's Zahrani River -- which runs roughly 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the border -- as "combat zones" and told residents to leave.
Lebanese authorities said on Thursday that Israeli attacks in the south had killed at least 14 people, including three children and a soldier.
Lebanon's health ministry on Wednesday reported the overall death toll stood at 3,269 since the start of the war, which was triggered by Hezbollah missile launches towards Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran's supreme leader.
The Israeli military, meanwhile, said on Thursday that a soldier was killed the day before by a Hezbollah drone near the Lebanon border. Twenty-three Israeli troops and one civilian contractor have been killed in the war so far.
Iran has insisted any agreement to end the war must apply to Lebanon.
bur/smw/amj

slavery

France inches towards symbolic repealing of slavery legislation

BY CAMILLE MALPLAT AND ALICE HACKMAN

  • Speaking to parliament on Thursday, Greens lawmaker Steevy Gustave -- whose father was born in the French former colony turned overseas territory of Martinique -- said the vote was personal.
  • Lawmakers were moved to tears in parliament Thursday as France inched towards repealing outdated legislation that defines people enslaved in its colonies as "moveable goods", in a symbolic move as the country grapples with its colonial legacy.
  • Speaking to parliament on Thursday, Greens lawmaker Steevy Gustave -- whose father was born in the French former colony turned overseas territory of Martinique -- said the vote was personal.
Lawmakers were moved to tears in parliament Thursday as France inched towards repealing outdated legislation that defines people enslaved in its colonies as "moveable goods", in a symbolic move as the country grapples with its colonial legacy.
The French were the third largest slave traders in Europe, after the British and the Portuguese.
Ships departing from French ports between the 17th and 19th centuries forcibly transported more than one million men, women and children from Africa into slavery, many in plantations in its overseas colonies in the Caribbean, according to expert estimates.
France abolished enslaving humans more than 170 years ago, and in 2001 recognised slavery and the slave trade as "crimes against humanity".
But a series of royal decrees from the 17th and 18th centuries that established the legal status of enslaved people in its colonies, called the "Code noir" or "Black Code", were never explicitly overturned.
President Emmanuel Macron, who is stepping down next year after his maximum two terms in office, last week threw his support behind repealing these laws.
Lawmakers in the lower house on Thursday voted unanimously to annul the royal edicts, but the Senate still has to hold a poll at an undetermined date before the law can pass.

'Thinking of my great-grandmother'

The decrees, the first of which were written under Louis XIV, ruled over the lives of enslaved people in the colonies.
They declared all enslaved people should be Catholics, and banned owners from making them work on Sundays, according to a copy on the French parliament's website.
But they also referred to them as "moveable goods" who could be inherited, outlined brutal punishment including mutilation of the ear for trying to escape, and condemned the children of enslaved people to the same fate as their parents.
Speaking to parliament on Thursday, Greens lawmaker Steevy Gustave -- whose father was born in the French former colony turned overseas territory of Martinique -- said the vote was personal.
"I'm thinking of my great-grandmother, Mama Bebelle," he said, barely holding back tears.
"She was the grand-daughter of Ambroise Zerambe, born in Africa, then reduced to slavery under the number 336."
His voice breaking, he concluded: "We are not descendants of slaves. We are descendants of human beings who were born free, then reduced to slavery."
Max Mathiasin, a lawmaker from the overseas territory of Guadeloupe who is championing the bill, was also moved to tears after a unanimous show of hands to support him.
"Allow me to thank my mother," he said.
France ended slavery in 1794 under the French Revolution, but Napoleon Bonaparte ordered troops to be sent to Guadeloupe in 1802 to restore the practice.
France then abolished it again in 1848.
But activists say the legacy of slavery endures through inequalities between mainland France and former colonies that are now overseas territories, as well as racism.
Macron last week said the issue of reparations should be addressed, but announced no specific measures.
Dieudonne Boutrin, an activist from Martinique who is descended from enslaved people, said annulling the Black Code should have been done ages ago.
"It changes nothing. Black people are still looked at the same way," he said.
"Now we need to go beyond the symbolic," he said, urging a "real reparations programme", including for example more funds for educational projects to transmit history and help battle systemic racism.

'Lasting harm'

Serge Letchimy, an official from Martinique, in an open letter to Macron earlier this month also demanded reparations.
He urged "a law that clearly establishes the principle that the crimes of trafficking and slavery have caused lasting historical, cultural, social, economic and psychological harm".
He referred to a 10-point plan that Caribbean nations have suggested, including international debt cancellation, as well as support for healthcare and illiteracy eradication.
Among France's former colonies, Haiti -- the poorest country in the Caribbean -- stands out as having particularly suffered.
Haiti became the first independent black nation in the Americas in 1804, after enslaved people rebelled against their French masters in what was then the colony of Saint-Domingue.
In 1825, it accepted to pay France a huge sum in "reparations" in exchange for recognising its independence, but it was forced to take out loans with high interest rates from French bankers in order to pay it.
It only managed to pay off this "double debt" in 1952.
Macron last year said that a joint commission of French and Haitian historians would issue recommendations.
cma-ah/ekf/giv

mafia

Italian police seize $232 mn in late mafia boss's assets

BY ALEXANDRIA SAGE

  • The investigation by the Guardia di Finanza uncovered "vast sums of money derived from drug trafficking reinvested in numerous European and non-European countries," police said.  
  • Italy said Thursday it was seizing more than 200 million euros ($232 million) in assets belonging to late Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro derived from drug trafficking and reinvested in Europe and beyond.
  • The investigation by the Guardia di Finanza uncovered "vast sums of money derived from drug trafficking reinvested in numerous European and non-European countries," police said.  
Italy said Thursday it was seizing more than 200 million euros ($232 million) in assets belonging to late Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro derived from drug trafficking and reinvested in Europe and beyond.
The "vast fortune" of the ruthless Cosa Nostra boss -- a legendary figure finally captured in 2023 in Palermo after three decades on the run -- had been amassed since the 1980s, Italy's financial police said in a statement.
Messina Denaro, head of Sicily's Castelvetrano clan who had six life sentences to his name, died in prison a few months after his arrest at age 61.
The investigation by the Guardia di Finanza uncovered "vast sums of money derived from drug trafficking reinvested in numerous European and non-European countries," police said.  
Assets were being seized in Andorra, the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Monaco, Spain and Switzerland, as well as Italy, police said.
Drug money was "reintroduced into the legal economy" through a wide range of assets, including luxury vacation resorts on Spain's Costa del Sol, bank accounts, securities portfolios and corporate holding companies, they said.
Three people have been arrested in the probe.
Italy's top anti-mafia prosecutor, Giovanni Melillo, hailed the operation as of "great strategic importance."
"It is not simply a matter of identifying and seizing a significant portion of the illicit wealth accumulated over decades of related trafficking and parasitic exploitation of the territory –- Sicily in particular -– from an organisation as powerful as the Cosa Nostra," Melillo said during a press conference in Palermo Thursday. 
But the operation also managed to "delay and hinder" Cosa Nostra's attempt to rebuild its structure after the death of the powerful Messina Denaro, he said. 
Police used planes, drones and thermal scanners in the investigation, the latter used "to detect concealed spaces and hidden cavities," they said. 
The eight foreign companies identified during the probe were primarily used for real estate investments and assets management. 
Many of the 22 real estate properties found to be linked to Messina Denaro were "genuine luxury resorts located between Marbella, Benahavis and Puerto Banus, in some of the most exclusive areas of the Costa del Sol," police said.

Living on the lam

One of the most notorious bosses of Cosa Nostra, the real-life Sicilian crime syndicate depicted in "The Godfather" movies, Messina Denaro had a long string of crimes to his name.
He was convicted of involvement in the 1992 high-profile murders of anti-Mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino and for deadly bombings in Rome, Florence and Milan in 1993.
One of his life sentences was for ordering the kidnapping and subsequent strangulation of the 12-year-old son of a witness in the Falcone case, whose body was then dissolved in acid.
After disappearing in 1993, Messina Denaro managed to elude authorities for the next 30 years as the Italian state cracked down on the Sicilian mob.
But he remained the top name on Italy's most-wanted list and increasingly became a figure of legend.
It was his decision to seek treatment for cancer under a false name that led to his capture. He was arrested on January 16, 2023, when he visited a clinic in Palermo.
He was found to have been staying near his hometown of Castelvetrano in western Sicily, his fugitive lifestyle facilitated by his sister and close confidantes.
With their help, Messina Denaro also was able to continue to communicate with, and direct, his Mafia operatives.  
Messina Denaro continued to receive cancer treatment while incarcerated at L'Aquila, but he was later moved to hospital in August that year, under heavy security.
He died on September 25, 2023.
dt-ams/giv

US

Israel strikes Tyre after declaring 'combat zones' in south Lebanon

  • In a fresh evacuation order to residents of parts of Tyre early on Thursday, the Israeli military said it was "compelled to take forceful action" against Hezbollah and announced in a later statement on Telegram that it had begun strikes it said targeted the group's infrastructure. 
  • The Israeli military said on Thursday it had begun new strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure around the southern Lebanese city of Tyre after issuing an evacuation warning to its residents.
  • In a fresh evacuation order to residents of parts of Tyre early on Thursday, the Israeli military said it was "compelled to take forceful action" against Hezbollah and announced in a later statement on Telegram that it had begun strikes it said targeted the group's infrastructure. 
The Israeli military said on Thursday it had begun new strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure around the southern Lebanese city of Tyre after issuing an evacuation warning to its residents.
Israel the previous day had declared all areas south of Lebanon's Zahrani River - an area roughly 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the border and including Tyre - as "combat zones" and told residents to evacuate ahead of attacks against Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The sweeping warning -- the first of its kind since an April 17 ceasefire -- came as many Lebanese tried to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
In a fresh evacuation order to residents of parts of Tyre early on Thursday, the Israeli military said it was "compelled to take forceful action" against Hezbollah and announced in a later statement on Telegram that it had begun strikes it said targeted the group's infrastructure. 
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported two sets of Israeli strikes had taken place on the city and an area to its east on Thursday morning, hitting a building and sparking a fire in Tyre.
Israel this week vowed to ramp up operations in Lebanon and said it was expanding ground operations there, while Hezbollah said its fighters had clashed with Israel's forces beyond an Israeli-declared "yellow line" in the south.
Israel's army chief Lieutenant Colonel Eyal Zamir said "we are intensifying our operations in order to strike ever more severe blows to the Hezbollah organisation".
Talks are expected on Friday between Lebanese and Israeli military delegations at the Pentagon, with a new round of direct negotiations aimed at ending the hostilities set for next week.
A delegation comprising six Lebanese officers, headed by the army's director of operations Georges Rizkallah, will participate in the talks on Friday.
A military source told AFP the delegation will "emphasise the need for a ceasefire, and will present the army's plan for a state weapons monopoly and the extension of state authority across the country".

'Yellow line'

The Israeli military had earlier issued evacuation warnings for the southern city of Nabatieh, swathes of Tyre and surrounding areas.
An AFP correspondent said that residents from threatened Tyre areas had converged on parts of the city not covered by the warning. Authorities, however, warned that shelters were full and urged people to head to Beirut instead.
The NNA also reported a series of strikes on Nabatieh city, resulting in "huge destruction" in residential areas on Wednesday.
Lebanon's health ministry on Wednesday reported the overall death toll since the war erupted on March 2 was 3,269, an increase of 56 from a day earlier following heavy Israeli strikes.
Lebanon's army also said Wednesday that one of its soldiers was killed in an Israeli strike in south Lebanon.
The NNA reported Israeli strikes elsewhere in the country's south and in the eastern Bekaa valley in recent days.
Hezbollah said its fighters "clashed with the enemy forces at point-blank range" in the town of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, just beyond the Israeli-declared "yellow line" in south Lebanon where its troops have been operating.
An Israeli military official said Tuesday that soldiers had begun operating outside the "yellow line", which runs around 10 kilometres deep inside Lebanese territory.
Hezbollah also claimed three drone attacks on Israeli positions near the two countries' shared border in northern Israel.
Israel's military said several explosive drones fell in its territory but no injuries were reported.
At the site of a strike in south Lebanon's Burj al-Shemali, an AFP correspondent saw rescuers carrying a body bag from the rubble, which was littered with household items including rugs and cushions.

West Bekaa

After Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war with rocket fire at Israel in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader, Israel has repeatedly struck Lebanon's eastern Bekaa valley and warned residents to evacuate.
Strikes have intensified in recent days, particularly in the West Bekaa town of Mashghara.
The area links south Lebanon with Hezbollah strongholds in the northern Bekaa and is a key supply route for the group.
Lebanese military expert Hassan Jouni told AFP that the West Bekaa "is a necessary corridor for Hezbollah members if they want to move between the Bekaa and the south" and could become the focus of further Israeli strikes.
He said Israeli operations might soon expand to "target the north Bekaa intensively or even Beirut's southern suburbs", both areas that have been relatively spared since the ceasefire.
lar/hol/ceg

US

US strikes Iran, drawing retaliatory attack on American base

BY BY AFP TEAMS IN TEHRAN, WASHINGTON AND BEIRUT

  • Iran has also insisted any peace accord must apply to Lebanon, where an April 17 ceasefire has done little to halt fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which drew the country into the war by attacking Israel in early March in retaliation for the death of Iran's supreme leader.
  • The United States struck southern Iran on Thursday, drawing retaliation from Tehran against a US military base, in the most serious clashes since an April ceasefire began. 
  • Iran has also insisted any peace accord must apply to Lebanon, where an April 17 ceasefire has done little to halt fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which drew the country into the war by attacking Israel in early March in retaliation for the death of Iran's supreme leader.
The United States struck southern Iran on Thursday, drawing retaliation from Tehran against a US military base, in the most serious clashes since an April ceasefire began. 
The fighting, which drew in US ally Kuwait, threatened to jettison a fragile diplomatic push to forge a peace agreement and open the Strait of Hormuz, which has become a key point of contention in efforts to formally end the war.
The fresh fighting appeared to begin when Iranian forces fired at four ships attempting to cross the Strait, state broadcaster IRIB reported on Thursday.
US forces launched strikes that hit a ground control station in the southern port area of Bandar Abbas, a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP, prompting swift response by Iran.
"Following this morning's aggression by the invading U.S. military against a location on the outskirts of Bandar Abbas Airport using aerial projectiles, the American air base that served as the source of the attack was targeted at 4:50 am (0120 GMT)," the Guards said, according to Iranian state broadcaster IRIB.
The Guards did not provide details on the location of the base, though Kuwait's military said its air defences were responding to an "enemy" attack on Thursday.
The clashes threw into question talks aimed at formally ending the war that began on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
A key focus of the proposed deal has also been restoring full traffic to the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has effectively closed, leaving global energy markets grappling with curbed supplies of the huge amounts of oil and gas that normally pass through it.
Oil prices bounced higher on Thursday after reports of the strikes, reversing much of Wednesday's fall on the hopes of a possible imminent deal. 
Fresh strikes were also reported in Lebanon, another front of the war.
Israel said it hit the southern city of Tyre, after warning it would take action against Iran-backed Hezbollah and declaring all areas south of the Zahrani River, which lies roughly 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the border, as "combat zones".
Trump separately also appeared to direct a warning to Oman, a US ally and mediator in the conflict, when asked about a possible short-term arrangement allowing Iran and Oman to control the Strait of Hormuz.
"No, the strait is going to be open to everybody," Trump said. "It's international waters and Oman will behave just like everybody else or we'll have to blow them up. They understand that, they'll be fine."
The White House did not immediately clarify whether Trump had misspoken. Oman has played a mediation role in the war and has itself come under attack from Tehran.
The United States Treasury also announced sanctions on Wednesday against Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority, Tehran's new agency that collects fees for travelling through the Strait of Hormuz.

Lebanon operations intensify

Iran and the United States have traded threats for weeks while negotiating through Pakistani mediation.
Neither side appeared ready to compromise on the main sticking points: Hormuz and Iran's nuclear programme.
On Wednesday, the Guards' navy said only ships "willing to abide by Iranian order" could pass through Hormuz.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that a deal remained within reach, but that the Hormuz would be reopened "one way or the other".
Iran has also insisted any peace accord must apply to Lebanon, where an April 17 ceasefire has done little to halt fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which drew the country into the war by attacking Israel in early March in retaliation for the death of Iran's supreme leader.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Monday to "crush" Hezbollah, while army chief Lieutenant Colonel Eyal Zamir said Wednesday that Israel was "intensifying our operations" against the group.
After the warning to evacuate large areas in southern Lebanon, many residents fled to Tyre, according to AFP journalists -- the city subject to new Israeli evacuation orders and where the military said it had begun strikes against Hezbollah infrastructure on Thursday morning.

'Nothing is certain'

In signs of a possible return to normality despite conflict around the region, Iranian authorities partially restored access to the global internet this week after a three-month shutdown.
"I do feel better now because I finally can use my favourite applications," said Hana, a 20-year-old student in Tehran who gave only her first name.
"At the same time, I have this concern that war might resume any minute and just cut me off again from my friends."
Amir, a 27-year-old software developer in the Iranian capital, also feared renewed fighting despite talk of a deal.
"I feel like nothing is certain yet," he said. 
"The daily question is: Will there be missile strikes tonight?"
ft-des/dw/ceg/jm

IS

Australia charges woman with terrorism over IS links

BY OLIVER HOTHAM

  • A third woman was also arrested on arrival in Sydney and charged with entering a restricted area and joining a terrorist organisation.
  • Australian police charged on Thursday a woman linked to the Islamic State group with membership of a terrorist organisation and entering a known conflict zone.
  • A third woman was also arrested on arrival in Sydney and charged with entering a restricted area and joining a terrorist organisation.
Australian police charged on Thursday a woman linked to the Islamic State group with membership of a terrorist organisation and entering a known conflict zone.
Hundreds of women from Western nations were lured to the Middle East as IS gained prominence in the early 2010s, in many cases following husbands who had signed up as jihadist fighters.
A joint counter-terror police team said they will allege that the woman, 34, travelled to Syria between 2013 and 2014 with a man to join Islamic State.
The man is now believed to be imprisoned in the Middle East, they added.
The woman was then detained by Kurdish forces in 2019 and held in the al-Hawl Internally Displaced Persons camp until returning to Australia in September last year, they said.
She will face court on Thursday, police said.
Both charges carry a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
Her arrest follows the return to Australia this month of a number of women and children linked to suspected Islamic State fighters.
Two women, a mother and a daughter, were arrested on arrival in Melbourne.
Police accused them of having kept a woman as a slave after travelling to Syria in 2014 to support the Islamic State group.
A third woman was also arrested on arrival in Sydney and charged with entering a restricted area and joining a terrorist organisation.
This week, 13 more IS-linked Australians -- four women and their nine children -- flew home from Syria.
In a statement following their landing, Australia's federal police said none of the cohort had been charged with an offence.
"It is important to note that a period of time without charges being laid is not an indicator that investigations have ceased," Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner National Security Investigations Hilda Sirec said on Thursday.
"Investigations are continuing into all the recent adult female returnees from Syrian camps," she added.

'ISIS brides'

Widely known as the "ISIS brides", the case has stirred strong debate in Australia.
Australia's Human Rights Commission urged the government in March to help repatriate those still there.
But others have accused the women of turning their back on Australia and believe they should be left to face the consequences.
Once in control of swathes of Syria and Iraq, IS was territorially defeated in 2019 in a battle spearheaded by Kurdish-led forces with support from a US-led international coalition.
oho/abs

Global Edition

Bolivia at 'breaking point,' president warns protesters

  • Paz has estimated the losses caused by the protests at $600 million.
  • President Rodrigo Paz warned Wednesday that Bolivia was at a "breaking point" after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and life-saving medicine.
  • Paz has estimated the losses caused by the protests at $600 million.
President Rodrigo Paz warned Wednesday that Bolivia was at a "breaking point" after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and life-saving medicine.
The US-backed Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis here in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his center-right policies.
The political capital La Paz has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the majority Indigenous majority calling for his resignation.
"The country needs order, and is reaching breaking point," the 58-year-old leader said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue.
On Tuesday, Congress lifted restrictions on him announcing a state of emergency, paving the way for Paz to possibly deploy troops to restore order.
Paz has so far emphasized the need for dialogue but has not ruled out using "constitutional instruments" to end the blockade of La Paz -- an allusion to declaring a state of emergency.
"Anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the Constitution," he said on Wednesday, assuring the police and military that they had the public's support.

'Not afraid to die'

His warnings came as thousands of Indigenous women in traditional layered skirts marched through La Paz on Mother's Day in Bolivia, in support of striking transport workers.
"We are not afraid to die. We have already told him to pack his bags and leave," protestor Marta Poma Luque told AFP, referring to Paz.
The demonstrations began in early May with demands for salary increases to help workers weather a severe economic crisis, stable fuel supplies and the rescinding of an unpopular agrarian reform.
Despite some concessions by Paz, including on the land reform, the protests ballooned into a full-blown revolt.
Over the past two weeks, La Paz has been turned into a battleground, with riot police repeatedly clashing with protesters.
His government accuses ex-president Evo Morales -- in hiding from charges of trafficking a teenage girl with whom he allegedly fathered a child -- of orchestrating the upheaval.
But Morales told AFP in an interview Wednesday that Bolivians are furious because Paz oversees "a government that is utterly submissive" to Washington.
"I am totally convinced this rebellion is against the neo-liberal model and the neo-colonial state," said Morales, who led Bolivia from 2006 to 2019 and fled to Mexico amid a popular uprising against him after a disputed election. He returned from exile in 2020.
Bolivia's first Indigenous president spoke in a virtual interview from his political stronghold in the coca-growing Chapare region. He is holed up there to elude arrest on the charges of sexually abusing a minor.

Oxygen shortage

In recent days, La Paz residents have staged small counterdemonstrations against the blockades that are preventing essential supplies from getting through to the city.
"Medicine is getting more expensive, and some are running out," said Zulm Hinojosa, whose 13-year-old son suffers from asthma and heart problems.
At the Clinicas de La Paz public hospital, one of the oldest and largest in the country, doctors told AFP on Tuesday they only had a few days' oxygen left.
Paz has estimated the losses caused by the protests at $600 million.
Paz has attempted to quell the protesters' fury by saying he will cut his own salary in half in solidarity with the poor -- a purely symbolic gesture since his monthly earnings come to around 24,000 bolivianos ($3,500).
He has also vowed to give Indigenous groups and labor unions more of a say in policy-making and fired his unpopular labor minister -- all to no avail.
gta/bur/dw/sla

finance

Fund for climate-exposed Pacific nation invests in fossil fuels

BY STEVEN TRASK

  • And Mercer put Tuvalu's money into funds invested in mining behemoth Rio Tinto and Australian oil-and-gas giant Woodside Energy, which government data says are among Australia's 10 largest greenhouse gas emitters. 
  • A trust fund set up to help a South Pacific nation gravely threatened by climate change has invested in coal mining, gas exploration and the world's largest crude oil refinery, an AFP investigation has revealed.
  • And Mercer put Tuvalu's money into funds invested in mining behemoth Rio Tinto and Australian oil-and-gas giant Woodside Energy, which government data says are among Australia's 10 largest greenhouse gas emitters. 
A trust fund set up to help a South Pacific nation gravely threatened by climate change has invested in coal mining, gas exploration and the world's largest crude oil refinery, an AFP investigation has revealed.
Low-lying Pacific island nation Tuvalu said it was reviewing the "fossil fuel exposure" of the $200 million fund after it was presented with AFP's findings.
Few countries are more exposed to climate change than Tuvalu, a chain of coral atolls reckoning with acidifying oceans, tropical disease and rising seas.
Land is already so scarce across the archipelago halfway between Australia and Hawaii that the international airport runway doubles as a makeshift sports field.
With a fragile economy and few natural resources, Tuvalu relies on a government trust fund to help foot the spiralling costs of the climate crisis.
Tuvalu has entrusted management of its single-largest financial asset to advisory firm Mercer, which has invested in funds holding stakes in major fossil fuel companies, according to financial records and government reports reviewed by AFP.
Tuvalu climate activist Richard Gokrun said it was "really shocking" to see the nation tied up with fossil fuel companies.
"We stand strong for the phase-out of fossil fuels, because we see the impacts to our country," the former weather forecaster told AFP from the capital of Funafuti.
"The major changes that we are seeing are sea-level rise. We are starting to see new places are getting flooded or inundated."
The Tuvalu Trust Fund was established in 1987 with help from Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, providing crucial revenue to a nation reliant on foreign aid.
Mercer took over management in 2022. 

'Adverse impacts'

Tuvalu's expectations are laid out in the fund's "investment objectives".  
"Tuvalu is particularly susceptible to the adverse impacts of climate change and it is appropriate to reflect this in the investment strategy," the document states. 
The fund must minimise its exposure to "fossil fuel reserves and carbon emissions" where possible, the document adds.
Mercer invested Tuvalu's money in funds specialising in sectors like "Australian shares", "international shares" and "emerging markets", according to a quarterly report dated September 2025.
Mercer is not required to list each of the dozens of companies in these funds, but does publish the 10 biggest holdings. 
AFP analysed this data for 14 Mercer funds held by Tuvalu. 
Mercer's "emerging markets" fund invested in Indian multinational Reliance Industries, according to holdings data from December 2025. 
Reliance Industries owns the Jamnagar petrochemical complex in western India, a sprawling industrial facility described as the largest single-site crude oil refinery in the world. 
It pumped out nearly 20 million tonnes of planet-heating carbon dioxide in 2022, making it the world's highest-emitting oil refinery, according to non-profit Climate Trace.

Funds for fossil fuels

Tuvalu is also invested in a Mercer fund that that holds American utilities The Southern Company and Duke Energy, the second and third-largest greenhouse gas emitters in the United States, according to the Political Economy Research Institute.
The Southern Company paid $60 million to "groups and firms involved in climate disinformation campaigns between 1993 and 2004", the US-based Energy and Policy Institute found in a 2024 report.
And Mercer put Tuvalu's money into funds invested in mining behemoth Rio Tinto and Australian oil-and-gas giant Woodside Energy, which government data says are among Australia's 10 largest greenhouse gas emitters. 
Investments in Woodside are particularly awkward for Tuvalu, which was scathing when Australia approved a 40-year extension for Woodside's North West Shelf gas project in 2025.
Climate Minister Maina Talia warned then that the project's emissions threatened Tuvalu's very "survival", urging Australia to reject the extension.
About 12 percent of the Tuvalu Trust Fund -- or $25 million -- is invested in Mercer's "Australian shares fund", which has its largest holding in mining and metals firm BHP, one of Australia's most valuable companies and the world's biggest miner.
BHP has significantly divested from thermal coal in recent years, but still has a stake in Australian mines digging up the fossil fuel for steelmaking.

'Death sentence'

Tuvalu will receive a rare burst of international attention later this year when it hosts leaders for a special summit ahead of the UN's COP31 climate conference, billed as a chance to show how climate change is battering the region. 
Tuvalu is targeting the COP process to find "new contributors" to its trust fund, according to a September government report.
Its Prime Minister Feleti Teo has made clear that he believes "opening, subsidising and exporting fossil fuels is immoral and unacceptable".
"To put it plainly -- it is a death sentence for us if larger nations continue to open new fossil fuel projects," he said in 2024. 
But Mercer's investments appear to show "virtually no formal consideration for climate change", said University of Otago climate finance expert Sebastian Gehricke.
AFP's reporting "clearly warrants further investigation," added Ivan Diaz-Rainey, a finance professor at Australia's Griffith University.
He urged "full disclosure of holdings and a clear account of what actions have been taken to give effect to the fund's commitments to climate action".
A spokeswoman said Tuvalu Trust Fund (TTF) was reviewing its exposure to fossil fuels in light of AFP's reporting.
"Since Tuvalu is particularly susceptible to the adverse impacts of climate change, the TTF continues to seek to minimise the fund's exposure to fossil fuel reserves and carbon emissions," she added.
Mercer said: "We do not provide commentary or analysis on our clients or their investment portfolios."
sft/oho/sah

economy

'Shoebox' flat reform leaves low-income Hong Kong residents in limbo

BY CATHERINE LAI

  • The Hong Kong government has given owners who register under the new system until 2030 to renovate their subdivided flats, but some landlords have already issued eviction notices to their tenants.
  • Hong Kong resident Lisa Lau put on a costume drama as she settled on the bed that occupies much of her tiny apartment, trying to take her mind off of a looming eviction.
  • The Hong Kong government has given owners who register under the new system until 2030 to renovate their subdivided flats, but some landlords have already issued eviction notices to their tenants.
Hong Kong resident Lisa Lau put on a costume drama as she settled on the bed that occupies much of her tiny apartment, trying to take her mind off of a looming eviction.
Subdivided flats like Lau's three-square-metre (32-square-feet) home -- made by splitting up an apartment into smaller units -- are being phased out after a law to regulate them came into effect in March.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered the wealthy finance hub to resolve housing woes that are the result of decades of pervasive inequality, an acute housing shortage and eye-watering rents.
The Hong Kong government has given owners who register under the new system until 2030 to renovate their subdivided flats, but some landlords have already issued eviction notices to their tenants.
"I'll stay here day by day," Lau, a 48-year-old welfare recipient who had received an eviction notice months ago, told AFP.
"I don't know (where to go)," said Lau, who lives on the equivalent of about $930 a month, of which $330 go for rent.
"I'm scratching my head."
The new rules ban flats smaller than eight square metres (86 square feet) and mandate safety and hygiene standards, such as having at least one openable window, a sink and a toilet in an enclosed space.
Authorities estimate that more than 220,000 people in the city of 7.5 million live in so-called "shoebox" flats, around one-third of which need major renovation.
Lau's cubicle is one of nine in a single unit, separated by thin wooden dividers, in a 60-year-old building in one of Hong Kong's poorest neighbourhoods, Sham Shui Po.
With no kitchen, she makes soup or noodles in a rice cooker placed on the bed.
She uses a shared toilet and shower, and has taped a foam board across the bottom of her doorway to keep out rats and cockroaches.

Unaffordable housing

Despite the cramped conditions, Lau is reluctant to leave a familiar area where she has built a social network, and hopes her application for transitional housing nearby would be approved.
"As long as the landlord doesn't come (to evict residents), we are so at peace, we are so comfortable," she said.
The Housing Bureau said over 100 households had already moved out of Lau's building, and that it was helping the 40 that are left to find suitable accommodation.
The Society for Community Organisation, an NGO that works with underprivileged groups, said the reform could help alleviate some of the worst living environments in Hong Kong.
But more government housing is needed, especially in the central areas, said Sze Lai-shan, the group's deputy director.
"Don't expect these people who live in very small flats to move into the new basic housing units. They won't be able to afford it," she said.
"A lot of the poorest people will be very dependent on the government to resettle them."
The charity knows of around 300 households threatened with forcible eviction from subdivided flats, with more expected to follow, according to Sze -- far more than the 35 notices the government said it had received.
Some residents have moved into public or transitional housing, while others have moved into other substandard flats as a temporary measure, Sze added.
- 'Coffin homes' - 
Liu Xiaoli, who faces eviction from her subdivided flat, works two part-time jobs as a cook and cleaner to make ends meet after her divorce, and supports her daughter and granddaughter in mainland China.
"If the rent here or in other places goes up, I really can't afford it," the 63 year-old told AFP, adding that she was unable to find alternate accommodation nearby.
"I couldn't find any (apartments) that meet the government's requirements," she said.
"Right now, I'm just delaying as much as I can."
In response to AFP's inquiry, the government said it had "significantly increased public housing supply" with an aim to produce around 196,000 units in the next five years, and sped up the process for residents on the waiting list for public housing.
These measures would contribute to "reduced demand" for subdivided units, keeping rents at bay, a Housing Bureau spokesperson said in a statement.
The new rules do not apply to notorious "coffin homes", cubicles stacked on top of each other like bunk beds in shabby dormitories.
Wan Hon-cheung, 64, has been living in a plywood box about the size of a single bed for the last 10 years, and hopes the government will improve conditions for residents like him as well.
He often gets bitten by bedbugs and walks with a cane, making climbing up and down from his bed difficult.
"For us lower classes... this is reality, there's nothing to complain about."
cla/dhw/ami/abs

animal

'Trump' buffalo spared sacrifice, sent to Bangladesh zoo

BY SHEIKH SABIHA ALAM

  • Muslim-majority Bangladesh, a South Asian nation of 170 million people, celebrates Eid al-Adha, the "feast of the sacrifice", on Thursday.
  • A buffalo in Bangladesh nicknamed "Donald Trump" for its flowing blond hair has been spared from sacrifice after shooting to fame, and will instead be cared for at the national zoo.
  • Muslim-majority Bangladesh, a South Asian nation of 170 million people, celebrates Eid al-Adha, the "feast of the sacrifice", on Thursday.
A buffalo in Bangladesh nicknamed "Donald Trump" for its flowing blond hair has been spared from sacrifice after shooting to fame, and will instead be cared for at the national zoo.
Muslim-majority Bangladesh, a South Asian nation of 170 million people, celebrates Eid al-Adha, the "feast of the sacrifice", on Thursday.
The 700-kilogramme (1,500-pound) bull, a rare albino buffalo with a flowing helmet of light hair resembling the signature look of the US president, was due to be slaughtered to mark the day.
But hours before it faced the knife, the government stepped in to save the animal, which has become an online sensation.
Curator of the National Zoo, Atiqur Rahman, said the animal would be well looked after.
"We have designated a shed for the albino buffalo and assigned a caregiver," Rahman told AFP on Wednesday. "He will be quarantined for two weeks."
Crowds in Bangladesh had flocked to snap photographs with the unlikely social media star.
Zia Uddin Mridha, 38, the buffalo's former owner, said his brother had named it "Trump" because of its "extraordinary hair".
Mridha said a constant stream of curious visitors -- social media fans, onlookers and children -- came eager to see the animal.
However, he sold the bull ahead of Eid al-Adha.
But police has swooped after the government ordered that the buffalo be spared.
"The livestock department requested us to take the buffalo from the owner as it is a rare animal," Mohammad Ruhul Quddus, officer-in-charge of Dhaka's Keraniganj Police Station, where the buffalo was taken, told AFP.
"They said that the albino buffalo is still very young, and can be raised for a few years."
More than 12 million livestock including goats, sheep, cows and buffaloes are expected to be sacrificed during the holiday, when many poorer families get a rare chance to feast on meat.
sa/pjm/ami

conflict

Israel kills chief of Hamas armed wing in Gaza strike

BY LOUIS BAUDOIN-LAARMAN

  • It also killed Mohammed Deif, the longtime commander of Hamas's armed wing, as well as Mohammed Sinwar, who succeeded his brother Yahya Sinwar as Gaza chief.
  • Israel said on Wednesday it had killed the new head of Hamas's armed wing in Gaza, Mohammed Odeh, after killing his predecessor earlier this month despite an ongoing ceasefire.
  • It also killed Mohammed Deif, the longtime commander of Hamas's armed wing, as well as Mohammed Sinwar, who succeeded his brother Yahya Sinwar as Gaza chief.
Israel said on Wednesday it had killed the new head of Hamas's armed wing in Gaza, Mohammed Odeh, after killing his predecessor earlier this month despite an ongoing ceasefire.
Since Hamas's October 2023 attack, Israel has systematically targeted the group's leaders, both in Gaza and across the region.
Odeh is the fourth head of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades that Israel says it has killed since the start of the Gaza war.
In a joint statement, the Israeli military and the Shin Bet domestic security agency said Odeh died on Tuesday, saying he had been appointed head of the brigades after the May 15 killing of Ezzedine al-Haddad.
In a statement confirming Odeh as its chief of staff, Hamas's armed wing said he was killed in an Israeli strike on Tuesday evening.
"With great pride, honour, dignity, and defiance, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades announce the martyrdom of one of the foremost leaders of the Palestinian resistance," it said, adding that he was killed "in a cowardly assassination operation that resulted in the martyrdom of him, his wife, and his children".
A Hamas official told AFP that three of Odeh's children were killed, including two adult men and a girl under 18.
Odeh and his family's funeral took place Wednesday in Gaza City, with hundreds of mourners in attendance, an AFP journalist reported.
An AK-47 rifle was laid on Odeh's corpse as the crowd carried him to the mosque for funerary prayers.
Noting that Odeh was killed during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, Bassem Abu Odeh, a cousin, told AFP that the deceased and his family "were ready to welcome Eid, but instead the criminal Zionists welcomed and targeted them with missiles".
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Odeh was "sent to meet his associates in the depths of hell".
Odeh had long been the head of Hamas's intelligence service and was one of the group's most senior surviving figures in the Gaza Strip.
On Wednesday evening, the Israeli army said it "struck two central Hamas terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip," with Israeli media reporting it targeted a Hamas brigade commander and a deputy commander.
Gaza's civil defence agency, which operates as a rescue service under Hamas, said 10 people were killed and several more were wounded in the strike in central Gaza City. A medical source confirmed five children were among the dead.

'Marked for death'

Israel has previously killed Hamas's former political chief Ismail Haniyeh, as well as Yahya Sinwar, who was widely regarded as the mastermind of Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack which triggered the devastating Gaza war.
It also killed Mohammed Deif, the longtime commander of Hamas's armed wing, as well as Mohammed Sinwar, who succeeded his brother Yahya Sinwar as Gaza chief.
"We committed ourselves to eliminating everyone who led the October 7 massacre, and that is what we will do: they are all marked for death, wherever they may be," Katz said in his post on X.
The Israeli military's Arabic-language spokeswoman, Lieutenant Colonel Ella Waweya, said "the position of commander of Hamas's military wing has become the shortest-lived job in Gaza".
"The question is no longer who's next -- but how long they have left," she wrote on X.
Defence minister Katz repeated Israel's goal of ending Hamas's rule over the Palestinian territory and alluded to a plan for the forced displacement of its residents.
"The plan for voluntary migration from Gaza will also be implemented -- everything will be done at the right time and in the right way," he said.
The displacement of Gazans is a project backed by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
US President Donald Trump previously expressed support for the idea before ditching it.
In February, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, denounced plans "aimed at making a permanent demographic change in Gaza".

Daily violence

Hamas's Lebanese ally Hezbollah issued a statement of condolences for Odeh's killing, saying that all Israeli attempts "to undermine this resistance by targeting its leadership and fighters will end in failure".
Gaza remains gripped by daily violence, with both the Israeli military and Hamas accusing one another of violating the truce in effect since October 10.
More than 900 people have been killed by Israel since the ceasefire, according to Gaza's health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.
Israel still retains control over 60 percent of the Gaza Strip, including all entry and exit points, while the population is concentrated on the coast.
yif-mj-lba-acc-glp/jfx/phz/ach/ceg/mjw

Italy

US reimposes sanctions on UN expert on Palestinians

  • The US Treasury's move came after a Friday order from an appeals court issued an administrative stay on an earlier ruling while the court considers the merits of the case.
  • The United States on Wednesday reimposed sanctions on Francesca Albanese, a UN expert on the Palestinian territories who has harshly criticized Israel, after an appeals court overruled an earlier order prohibiting the action.
  • The US Treasury's move came after a Friday order from an appeals court issued an administrative stay on an earlier ruling while the court considers the merits of the case.
The United States on Wednesday reimposed sanctions on Francesca Albanese, a UN expert on the Palestinian territories who has harshly criticized Israel, after an appeals court overruled an earlier order prohibiting the action.
A notice on the Treasury Department's website showed that it had reimposed a sanctions designation on Albanese that blacklists her globally, making it impossible for her to use major credit cards or carry out bank transactions.
Albanese, who is Italian, has been a relentless critic of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians in her role as the UN Human Rights Council special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories.
The US Treasury's move came after a Friday order from an appeals court issued an administrative stay on an earlier ruling while the court considers the merits of the case.
The case was brought by Albanese's husband, Massimiliano Cali on behalf of their child, a US citizen who is still a minor.
Albanese has been at the forefront of accusing Israel of carrying out genocide in Gaza in its devastating military campaign after the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, announcing sanctions against her in July last year, said she has "spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism and open contempt for the United States, Israel and the West."
Albanese denies allegations of antisemitism, which have also been made by Israel.
bur-aha/md