conflict

Zelensky warns war likely to continue into winter after US talks

conflict

Zelensky warns war likely to continue into winter after US talks

BY MYKOLA ZAVGORODNIY

  • Zelensky said: "We very much hope that we will be able to reach agreements with our American partners, and we are counting on the support of our European partners if the war continues in winter -- and this is how it appears at the moment."  
  • War with Russia "at the moment" looked likely to continue into winter, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, after talks with US envoys visiting Kyiv.
  • Zelensky said: "We very much hope that we will be able to reach agreements with our American partners, and we are counting on the support of our European partners if the war continues in winter -- and this is how it appears at the moment."  
War with Russia "at the moment" looked likely to continue into winter, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, after talks with US envoys visiting Kyiv.
US envoy Steve Witkoff and Zelensky both gave upbeat assessments of the talks, but neither announced any breakthroughs on ending the war with Russia.
Witkoff, who is President Donald Trump's business ally, and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, travelled to Kyiv a day after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow -- the latest of several visits to the city.
Sunday's trip to Kyiv was their first visit to the Ukrainian capital, which has been hit by deadly Russian strikes for more than four years.
Zelensky said: "We very much hope that we will be able to reach agreements with our American partners, and we are counting on the support of our European partners if the war continues in winter -- and this is how it appears at the moment."  
Zelensky also said that Ukraine would hold talks with the US, France and Germany, but did not elaborate.
The Ukrainian leader, who has called for a meeting with Putin before, repeated his call that only a meeting between leaders could solve territorial issues.
Moscow occupies large swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine and the Kremlin told the Americans Saturday it was feeling "confident" it would advance more.   
Moscow has said it wants not just the territories it occupies but the land it claims as Russian to be recognised as its own -- terms unacceptable to Kyiv.

'On same side'

Witkoff said both sides would need to compromise.
"We think we have the ingredients to get to that place," he said.
"We've had a very meaningful discussion, substantive, important, and we are very encouraged and we look forward to continuing this as long as it takes."
Kushner added: "Hopefully this trip has come out with some new ways to advance forward. I think we've learned a lot from the trip."
Witkoff and Kushner travelled to the region hoping to revive the Trump administration's push for peace in Europe's worst conflict since World War II, after a summer of escalation.
Another round of talks in the presence of British, French and German representatives was still ongoing.
Zelensky said he was grateful the Europeans were there, adding: "Here we are all on the same side."
Like all visiting officials, the American delegation had arrived by train, with "Peace Express" written on the platform at Kyiv Central Station.
Zelensky said Kyiv had "prepared everything to make our airports operational", but Russian strikes had made arriving by plane impossible.
Ukrainian airspace has been closed since Russia launched its invasion in 2022.
Russia and Ukraine vowed not to strike each other's capitals during the US envoys' trip.

'Substantive plans'

Moscow's invasion has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions.
A White House official said in a statement to AFP that in Moscow the envoys had "discussed substantive plans which will be announced in the coming weeks".
Without elaborating, the Kremlin said the Americans had "put forward a number of ideas on possible routes to a settlement".
Putin has repeatedly said Moscow intends to seize the rest of eastern Ukraine, and Russia increased deadly strikes this summer.
Since Putin launched the invasion in February 2022, the war has dragged on with no end in sight.
In Kyiv, few people appeared to believe in a breakthrough.
Nataliia Lipekh, 67, said it was "absolutely necessary (for them) to be here" and to see that "our land is already soaked with this blood and that we need some help".
"At the moment, I have no grounds for hope," said 29-year-old Yaroslav, saying he had seen "far too many of these negotiation processes".
Putin on Saturday told the US envoys that Moscow would ensure their safety in Kyiv.
Trump had said his envoys were bringing a "proposal" to end the fighting.
"We have an idea for peace," he said, without elaborating.
Despite the ceasefire pledges for the capital cities, fighting continued elsewhere.
Ukraine's air force said Russia had attacked overnight with 108 drones and missiles, while Moscow said it had shot down 258 drones.
Ukraine said Saturday that 10 people were killed by Russian strikes, including an 11-year-old boy.
bur-oc/jj

vote

German far-right AfD landslide winner in eastern state vote

BY CELINE LE PRIOUX WITH FRANK ZELLER IN BERLIN

  • All major parties have agreed on a "firewall" of non-cooperation with the AfD, whose state branch is categorised as "right-wing extremist" by Germany's domestic intelligence agency.
  • Germany's far-right AfD won a landslide victory in a key regional election Sunday in the ex-communist east, according to exit polls, but it remain unclear whether it can win an absolute majority to govern.
  • All major parties have agreed on a "firewall" of non-cooperation with the AfD, whose state branch is categorised as "right-wing extremist" by Germany's domestic intelligence agency.
Germany's far-right AfD won a landslide victory in a key regional election Sunday in the ex-communist east, according to exit polls, but it remain unclear whether it can win an absolute majority to govern.
"We have made history today," said a jubilant Ulrich Siegmund, the 35-year-old lead candidate of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party in Saxony-Anhalt state, as the vote count continued.
The AfD won at least 44 percent, more than doubling its support, and far ahead of the 18.5 percent for the centre-right CDU of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, according to projections by public broadcasters ARD and ZDF.
The CDU's state premier Sven Schulze called the outcome "a severe blow" but -- depending on the final count and the fate of smaller parties -- may still try to cobble together a multi-party coalition to cling to power.
All major parties have agreed on a "firewall" of non-cooperation with the AfD, whose state branch is categorised as "right-wing extremist" by Germany's domestic intelligence agency.
The AfD's national co-leader Alice Weidel -- who has long condemned the "firewall" concept as undemocratic -- praised her party's result as "sensational" and said that "we have received a very clear mandate to govern here". 
"We will see what the rest of the evening brings and how things develop," she added as more ballots were being counted in the small state of 2.1 million people following a record voter turnout of at least 75 percent.

'Appalled'

In a white-knuckle evening, the CDU's only hope would be to potentially forge an unwieldy coalition with a razor-thin margin together with the centre-left SPD and the Greens, and with the support of the far-left Die Linke party.
A wild card is whether the small BSW party -- economically leftist but veers hard right on immigration -- will cross the five-percent hurdle for re-entry into parliament, and whether it would then lend its support to the AfD.
A first-ever AfD state government would be a shock for many in Germany, which has been at pains to atone for its dark history of World War II and the Holocaust and so far kept extremist parties at bay.
"I am personally appalled by this election result," said Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews.
The spectre of a far-right state government drew thousands of the AfD's opponents to a rally on Saturday in the regional capital Magdeburg, with banners saying "life is better without Nazis".
"I'm very worried," demonstrator Laura Saalfeld told AFP. "Whatever the results, the atmosphere will change. Far-right sympathisers will show themselves more openly on the streets."

Radical agenda

Siegmund has ambitions to become state premier and lead a political revolution from Saxony-Anhalt that would propel the party to national victory in 2029.
On the campaign trail, Siegmund -- a former entrepreneur with a sharp undercut hairstyle and a huge social media following -- has been mobbed by adoring fans, many wearing T-shirts bearing his likeness.
The party has tapped into a sense of nostalgia for communist East Germany as well as lingering resentment about an enduring wealth gap with the west decades after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.
In line with the sometimes defiant sense of local "Ossie pride", Siegmund has often ridden the iconic local Simson bike, including to the polling booth Sunday in his hometown of Tangermuende.
While Siegmund has been dubbed the friendly face of the AfD, his campaign promises have been radical. He wants to target irregular migrants with a "remigration and deportation offensive" from day one.
The party's anti-"woke" agenda also includes vows to replace LGBTQ pride rainbow flags at public schools with the German standard, and to lessen the emphasis on the Third Reich in history teaching.
The German Economic Institute has warned the AfD's immigration policy would be "ruinous" for Saxony-Anhalt, which is highly reliant on foreign-born workers, especially in the health sector.
The strong AfD win heaps pressure on Merz, who has vowed to reboot a stagnant economy and restrict irregular immigration, but has seen his party beaten by the AfD in national surveys too.
"The result is even worse than what opinion polls had suggested beforehand," wrote Holger Schmieding of Berenberg bank.
"This will most likely trigger a period of serious and potentially noisy soul-searching within the CDU.
"A major reason for the AfD success seems to be that the federal government under Merz has become deeply unpopular."
bur-clp-fz/sr/jj

film

Venice festival turns gaze on war reporters, media industry

BY ALEXANDRIA SAGE

  • "Citizen Osama" covers the killing of Al-Jazeera journalist Ismail al-Ghoul in an Israeli airstrike in July 2024, an incident that was internationally condemned.
  • An apartment building has just collapsed in an Israeli airstrike, hundreds are likely dead, and a cameraman runs towards the smoke and rubble in the opening scene of the Gaza documentary "Citizen Osama".
  • "Citizen Osama" covers the killing of Al-Jazeera journalist Ismail al-Ghoul in an Israeli airstrike in July 2024, an incident that was internationally condemned.
An apartment building has just collapsed in an Israeli airstrike, hundreds are likely dead, and a cameraman runs towards the smoke and rubble in the opening scene of the Gaza documentary "Citizen Osama".
Palestinian director Ahmed Hassouna's film is one of several at the Venice Film Festival this year about journalism, whether the high stakes faced by war correspondents, or the morally ambiguous methods used by certain media to gain viewers.
"Citizen Osama", chosen as the Palestinian entry to compete for best foreign film in the 2027 Academy Awards, lays bare the life of a Palestinian journalist "who suffers just like anyone else" in Gaza, said its director Hassouna.
"A journalist is not a soulless camera; he is a man struggling to find water, fighting to obtain food and constantly worrying about how to find milk for his newborn baby or how to feed his wife so she can breastfeed their child," Hassouna wrote in the film's liner notes.
The documentary powerfully captures the apocalyptic landscape of Gaza City, its streets reduced to rubble and mangled rebar, and the weighty sense of responsibility shouldered by the few remaining journalists on the ground.
"I wanted to show that the journalist who captures suffering for the world is himself living through that same tragedy behind the lens," wrote Hassouna, who remains in Gaza.
UN experts, rights groups and activists have accused Israel of deliberately targeting Palestinian journalists, with the Committee to Protect Journalists counting more than 200 killed in Gaza since October 2023.
"Citizen Osama" covers the killing of Al-Jazeera journalist Ismail al-Ghoul in an Israeli airstrike in July 2024, an incident that was internationally condemned.
In 2025, days after a film about Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassouna was selected to play at the Cannes Film Festival, she was killed in an airstrike.
Foreign reporters are still blocked from entering Gaza by Israeli authorities -- unless they are in tightly controlled tours organised by the military.
 

Freedom of the press

 
In a politically charged season at the Venice festival, conflicts feature prominently -- with films featuring variously the Vietnam War, Chile before Pinochet's military coup, Gaza and the West Bank.
Eagerly awaited next week is the premiere of "NAZA", a documentary from Oscar winners Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor about the Israeli military's killing of civilians in Gaza.
Another Venice film with the protagonist a war correspondent is "La Ragazza con la Leica" (Girl with the Leica), which reimagines real-life Spanish Civil War photographer Gerda Taro.
Long overlooked, Taro was the photographer partner and companion of legendary lensman Robert Capa and the first woman photojournalist to die on the battlefield.
The film's director, Alina Marazzi, said their work was part of the "golden age of photojournalism."
"If we think that at the time, probably the majority of the population was illiterate and couldn't read what was written in the newspapers, through photographs you could show what was happening in places of conflict, the effects of war on the civilian population, for example in the Spanish Civil War," she told a press conference earlier this week.
Today, in the age of artificial intelligence and with millions of people wielding cameras on their phones, the accuracy and transparency of published images are not necessarily guaranteed, Marazzi said.
"We must defend freedom of the press," she said.
The ongoing battle to protect independent journalism plays out in Russian-American director Julia Loktev's "My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile", the gripping continuation of her documentary that sees the journalists forced to flee Moscow after Russia's invasion of Ukraine now struggling to rebuild their lives.
And in the Fleet Street juggernaut "Ink", director Danny Boyle covers the meteoric rise of Rupert Murdoch's tabloid The Sun through an irresistible cocktail of sensationalism and sex, forever changing the face of British journalism.
A morally questionable reporter-turned TV host is the protagonist of Lance Oppenheim's "Primetime", based on the real-life NBC television show "To Catch a Predator" that unmasked paedophiles after luring them to staged meetings with minors.
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AfD

Smiling face of Germany's far-right AfD: Ulrich Siegmund

  • But behind the buzz and the likes, his critics warn, is a man with radical positions.
  • When a news magazine recently branded him "Germany's most dangerous man", the far-right AfD's Ulrich Siegmund mocked the weekly by handing out signed copies of the publication to his fans.
  • But behind the buzz and the likes, his critics warn, is a man with radical positions.
When a news magazine recently branded him "Germany's most dangerous man", the far-right AfD's Ulrich Siegmund mocked the weekly by handing out signed copies of the publication to his fans.
It was a signature move for the 35-year-old with a neat undercut hairstyle and winning smile who has blitzed social media and rallied real-world crowds at campaign events and motorcycle outings.
On Sunday, Siegmund converted his crowd appeal into a historic election win, as his Alternative for Germany won at least 44 percent in Saxony-Anhalt state in Germany's ex-communist east, according to exit polls.
"We have made history today," said a jubilant Siegmund, even as it remained unclear whether his party can win an absolute majority to end up governing.
For the AfD, Siegmund has been a stroke of luck -- the smiling, youthful and beer glass-clinking face of a party better known for channelling anti-establishment anger.
In recent months, Siegmund has been mobbed by adoring supporters at AfD "family picnics" and campaign events across the small state. 
"He's like a good buddy," a 19-year-old fan told AFP as Siegmund was posing for selfies while stalls offered T-shirts and coffee mugs bearing his likeness.
Hundreds of thousands follow him on TikTok, Instagram and other platforms.
But behind the buzz and the likes, his critics warn, is a man with radical positions. His vow to deport irregular migrants "from minute one" has terrified many foreign-born residents.
Germany's domestic intelligence agency considers the AfD chapter he represents as "right-wing extremist" with links to ethno-nationalist groups and think-tanks.
Siegmund was present at a 2023 secret meeting near Berlin where extreme right-wing activists discussed a radical "remigration" plan to expel millions of people with a migration background.
At the time, the revelation cost Siegmund a committee chairmanship in the state parliament -- but he has since dismissed the meeting as a "Kaffee Klatsch" or casual social gathering.

Anti-'woke' and patriotic

Several of Siegmund's staffers and party colleagues are former members of the since-banned neo-Nazi group "Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend" (Patriotic German Youth).
Commenting to Welt daily, Siegmund defended his team: "They are excellent people. They have a completely clean record. I'm not interested in what happened 20 or 25 years ago." 
Siegmund, whose followers often feel fondly about life in the former communist East Germany, was born in Saxony-Anhalt on October 25, 1990 -- about three weeks after Germany's reunification.
He grew up in the picturesque town of Tangermuende, where he still lives with his wife and daughter.
He studied business psychology and administration before founding a small company that markets air fresheners. 
Politically, Siegmund's path first led him to the centre-right CDU, but in 2014 he joined the newly founded AfD. At the time, the party mainly railed against eurozone bailouts but it soon refocused on railing against Islam and immigration.
The AfD has since become the strongest party across the east, giving voice to those who feel like second-class citizens in a region that still lags the west in prosperity and jobs. 
Symbols of nostalgia for the past are common at AfD events, where some sport the compass and sickle symbol of what was the Moscow-backed German Democratic Republic.
In March 2016, Siegmund entered state parliament for the AfD. In 2021 he became co-leader of its parliamentary group and recently he was elected as top candidate with 97 percent support. 
If the AfD does come to power, Siegmund plans sweeping measures that would aim to make the state less multicultural, less "woke" and more pro-family and proudly patriotic.
Speaking to AFP last week, Siegmund said this would help lure back expatriate Germans who could help rebuild the stagnant economy and a country he sees as headed down the wrong path.
"Here in this country, the current government is relying solely on immigration," he argued. "We can see where that has got us. We no longer want things to continue this way."
bur-clp-fz/sr/jj

US

Lebanon president calls for US help as Israeli strikes kill 7

  • He called on the international community -- particularly the United States, which has sponsored direct Israel-Lebanon talks and a framework agreement between the sides in June -- "to urgently act to stop these violations".
  • Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged Washington and the international community to help stop Israeli attacks, which killed at least seven people on Sunday despite a truce and a framework deal aimed at halting the violence.
  • He called on the international community -- particularly the United States, which has sponsored direct Israel-Lebanon talks and a framework agreement between the sides in June -- "to urgently act to stop these violations".
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged Washington and the international community to help stop Israeli attacks, which killed at least seven people on Sunday despite a truce and a framework deal aimed at halting the violence.
Israel said it had targeted Hezbollah operatives and sites in response to a drone attack a day earlier by the Iran-backed group on its troops in the vicinity of a strategic south Lebanon ridge.
It reported no casualties but accused Hezbollah of a "blatant violation".
Israel this week said it had captured the Nabatieh-area Ali al-Taher ridge, which it considers part of its self-declared "security zone" in south Lebanon.
Hezbollah, which has not claimed any attacks for weeks, has not commented on Israel's declaration of control over the site.
Aoun said Sunday's strikes, which damaged government premises and destroyed an out-of-service hospital, were "a dangerous escalation... reaching Lebanese state institutions" and health facilities.
He called on the international community -- particularly the United States, which has sponsored direct Israel-Lebanon talks and a framework agreement between the sides in June -- "to urgently act to stop these violations".
Lebanon's health ministry said two people were killed in strikes on south Lebanon's Nabatieh al-Fawqa, with two women also killed in nearby Arab Salim.
It said 20 other people including several women and three children were wounded there, as well as in the city of Nabatieh and town of Kfar Rumman.
The ministry later reported that a strike on a parking lot near Nabatieh killed three more people.

Hospital hit

The ministry said one of the strikes in Nabatieh al-Fawqa "totally destroyed" the out-of-service Ghandour hospital, decrying "another grave violation of international humanitarian law".
Israel's army said it targeted Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure, including "weapons storage facilities and terrorist structures", as well as "a Hezbollah command centre that had been established inside a building previously used as a hospital".
It had earlier issued its first evacuation notice in Lebanon in a month, warning residents near a building it called a Hezbollah facility in Arab Salim to leave ahead of an attack on the site.
It did not issue warnings for other areas where strikes were reported.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) said that after the Israeli warning for Arab Salim, "enemy warplanes launched a strike on another house, destroying it" and killing the two women.
It said the Israeli military subsequently carried out a strike on the building threatened in the evacuation warning.
At the scene of the second strike, an AFP correspondent saw the ruins of a devastated villa, with large decorative columns laying on their side next to stairs littered with rubble.
Haidar Haidar, the brother of the building's owner, told AFP that nobody had been living inside.
At the other site in Arab Salim where the two women were killed, a mattress, furniture and other items including a Hezbollah flag were strewn among the rubble, while neighbouring buildings were also damaged.

'Take action'

The NNA also reported a strike on a motorcycle in the Nabatieh area, and said that another in the city itself targeted a historical building and damaged offices belonging to finance and agriculture authorities.
An AFP correspondent there saw rubble and extensive damage to adjacent buildings, shops and vehicles, as heavy machinery cleared the road. Dust and debris covered chairs and desks in the regional ministry offices.
Nabatieh Mayor Abbas Fakhreddine said "the Lebanese government must take action... and at the least defend its institutions", adding that it was the second time the official buildings had been damaged by strikes.
Lebanon was drawn into the wider Middle East war in March after Hezbollah attacked Israel in support of its backer Iran.
Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion of Lebanon that Beirut says have killed more than 4,300 people.
Violence has decreased since a US-Iran memorandum of understanding on the broader regional conflict in June and the Israel-Lebanon framework agreement later that month.
Israeli forces are operating inside a self-declared "security zone" around 10 kilometres (six miles) deep inside Lebanon along the border.
strs-lg/smw/jfx

US

More than 140 killed in latest Yemen clashes: military sources

  • Two military officials with the Saudi-backed government forces told AFP that 84 of their troops were killed, mostly in missile attacks, while four Houthi military sources said 57 rebel fighters were killed in the same period.
  • Fighting between Yemeni government forces and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in southwest Yemen killed more than 140 combatants between midday Saturday and early Sunday morning, military sources said.
  • Two military officials with the Saudi-backed government forces told AFP that 84 of their troops were killed, mostly in missile attacks, while four Houthi military sources said 57 rebel fighters were killed in the same period.
Fighting between Yemeni government forces and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in southwest Yemen killed more than 140 combatants between midday Saturday and early Sunday morning, military sources said.
Two military officials with the Saudi-backed government forces told AFP that 84 of their troops were killed, mostly in missile attacks, while four Houthi military sources said 57 rebel fighters were killed in the same period.
Days-long clashes have erupted in Yemen over control of a gateway to the Red Sea in the deadliest fighting in the Arabian Peninsula country since a 2022 ceasefire between the two sides collapsed in July.
Beginning on Thursday, the Houthis launched an offensive aiming to cut off the government-held port city of Mokha, under fire for weeks, and advance towards areas bordering the Bab al-Mandab strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.
A military official within the government told AFP that the Houthis had succeeded on Saturday evening in "cutting off the road linking Taiz to Mokha."
According to an AFP tally compiled using various military and medical sources from both sides of the conflict, more than 300 combatants and some civilians have been killed since the start of the Houthi assault on Thursday.
Families fleeing fighting in Maqbanah and Jabal Habashi in Taiz governorate in Yemen's southwest took refuge at Al-Bareen camp for the internally displaced on Saturday.
AFP journalists saw families arriving in pickup trucks piled with blankets and other belongings, setting up shelters in scrubland exposed to the sun and heat.

'We fled'

"The shooting came at us from above and from below... they surrounded us from every direction, we fled with our children without even putting on our shoes," said Rawdhah Hasan, a woman displaced from Maqbanah. 
Nimah Saif, another woman displaced from the Jabal Habashi district, said that "some people were injured and others were killed, we saw them lying on the ground, but we could not help anyone".
"Now we are stranded here, hungry, with nothing to eat," she added.
The UN agency for humanitarian coordination OCHA said on Friday that an estimated 1,790 households had been displaced following "intense shelling and clashes" in Maqbanah and Jabal Habashi districts. 
The fighting prompted nearby sites for the internally displaced to empty, OCHA said, "generating large-scale secondary displacement".
One military official with the internationally recognised government based in Aden said fighting had subsided in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The military official said government "forces were able to establish positions for themselves north of Hays after advancing in the area", referring to a frontline district less than 30 kilometres (18.6 miles) inland from the Red Sea coast. 
But the official added the Houthis had advanced west of Taiz, south of Hays, in their push towards the Bab al-Mandab. 

Ceasefire shattered

Farea Al-Muslimi, a Middle East expert at the UK-based think tank Chatham House, said the Houthis were looking to exploit a weak frontline at Mokha and "cut a lot of ties between Taiz and Bab al-Mandab and Mokha".
"If they have a chance to fully take over Bab al-Mandab, they won't hesitate for a second," he added. 
Adam Baron, a fellow at US-based think tank New America, said the Houthi offensive since Thursday had "shattered much of what was left of Yemen's tenuous ceasefire".
"Things increasingly appear to be on a path to escalation with few potential off-ramps," he added. 
With Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz to commercial ships, the Bab al-Mandab chokepoint has gained importance as a transit route which connects Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal.
In July, a fragile truce between the Houthis and Yemen's government fell apart after the rebels welcomed an Iranian plane to the capital Sanaa, setting off a spate of attacks.
The fighting between the Iran-backed Houthis and government troops supported by US ally Saudi Arabia signals the emergence of a new front in the wider Middle East war, which broke out in late February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
The Houthis have also announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and have begun targeting its ships and territory.
str-csp/jfx

film

Susan Sarandon says still losing roles over Gaza stance

  • The veteran star of "Dead Man Walking" has been one of Hollywood's most outspoken pro-Palestinian campaigners and critics of the Gaza war alongside others such as Marc Ruffalo, Richard Gere and Joaquin Phoenix.
  • US actress Susan Sarandon said Sunday she was still having roles "taken away" from her in Hollywood because of her outspoken criticism of Israel's war in Gaza.
  • The veteran star of "Dead Man Walking" has been one of Hollywood's most outspoken pro-Palestinian campaigners and critics of the Gaza war alongside others such as Marc Ruffalo, Richard Gere and Joaquin Phoenix.
US actress Susan Sarandon said Sunday she was still having roles "taken away" from her in Hollywood because of her outspoken criticism of Israel's war in Gaza.
The "Thelma & Louise" star was dropped by her agency UTA in November 2023 over controversial remarks at a pro-Palestinian rally which she later said she regretted.
Speaking at the Venice Film Festival, where she has a role in Italian film "The Echo Chamber", she claimed the "narrative" around the Gaza war and the United States' support for Israel had "completely changed".
"There's a lot of things that people are aware of now," the Oscar winner told a press conference, referring to the extent of US financial and military aid for Israel.
"I've still had movies taken away recently because there are agencies that are telling people not to hire me still. But that's the power structure," she added.
"I think there has been a change in terms of the understanding of the situation and the general public, but there are still very strongly held positions within my industry that are held by Zionists and who have not relaxed their feelings towards me. 
"But I found my family, I found my people, and I'm okay," she added to a round of applause. 
The veteran star of "Dead Man Walking" has been one of Hollywood's most outspoken pro-Palestinian campaigners and critics of the Gaza war alongside others such as Marc Ruffalo, Richard Gere and Joaquin Phoenix.
Many others have signed open letters criticising Israel's conduct of the war, which has left around 73,500 Palestinians dead and 174,500 injured since October 2023, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.
The premiere of "NAZA" -- about the killing of civilians in Gaza -- by two Israeli directors looks set to be one of the most emotionally charged moments of the Venice festival when it premieres on Thursday.
Directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor won an Oscar for 2024's "No Other Land", which documented the displacement of a Palestinian community in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers.
Sarandon was dropped by United Talent Agency for telling a rally that Jewish Americans were "getting a taste of what it is like to be Muslim in this country" because of rising anti-Semitic violence. 
She issued a public apology, saying her choice of words had been a "terrible mistake" because they implied "that until recently Jews have been strangers to persecution, when the opposite is true".
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US

Iran threatens greater force if US launches more attacks

BY AFP TEAMS IN TEHRAN, WASHINGTON AND DUBAI

  • The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological arm of Iran's military, said the warships had been "forced to retreat" after "suffering damage", but CENTCOM said they successfully evaded the attacks.
  • Iran's top negotiator on Sunday threatened a more forceful response to any further US attacks after Tehran targeted American warships in their latest round of clashes.
  • The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological arm of Iran's military, said the warships had been "forced to retreat" after "suffering damage", but CENTCOM said they successfully evaded the attacks.
Iran's top negotiator on Sunday threatened a more forceful response to any further US attacks after Tehran targeted American warships in their latest round of clashes.
The exchanges of fire, which began with US raids last week, come amid a deadlock in the six-month war between the two foes.
Iran has maintained its stranglehold on the strategic Strait of Hormuz while Washington continues a counter-blockade of Iranian ports.
Washington is also seeking to choke Iran's economy, rolling out sanctions on entities with financial links to the Islamic republic in a bid to force it into submission.
"The Americans must have understood that the era of proportionate responses has come to an end," said Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has acted as chief negotiator in talks to end the war.
"Any aggression against Iran's interests and security will receive a faster, more intense and more painful response," he added, in a speech carried by state media.
On Saturday, US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees American military operations in the region, said Iran had unsuccessfully fired at two American warships -- an aircraft carrier and a destroyer.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological arm of Iran's military, said the warships had been "forced to retreat" after "suffering damage", but CENTCOM said they successfully evaded the attacks.
In response, the US military said it struck three oil tankers linked to the Iranian Guards.
CENTCOM said it had "permanently disabled" one ship off the coast of the oil hub of Kharg Island and another near Jask, and "completely destroyed" a third vessel in the Gulf of Oman.
Video posted by the military showed large fireballs and billowing flames after projectiles slammed into the ships.
The three vessels were "part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies", CENTCOM said.
Iran quickly retaliated, with the Guards saying their naval forces "targeted three oil tankers on the unauthorised route of the Strait of Hormuz and three vessels affiliated with the child-killing America in other areas".
It warned ships not to attempt to transit the key trade waterway via routes unapproved by Tehran.
Early on Sunday Iran's Guards also said they attacked a US naval drone trying to enter the strait, according to a statement carried by state television.
CENTCOM spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins, however, called the claim "a complete lie". 
"No US vessels have been attacked today," he said.

'Clinging on to power'

CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper had said after the exchange of strikes: "If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost -- taking out three of yours."
The Iranian foreign ministry condemned the attacks on its oil tankers as "illegal and aggressive actions".
The administration of US President Donald Trump has tried to downplay the significance of the six-month conflict, which has proven increasingly unpopular at home as midterm elections near.
US Vice President JD Vance has gone so far as to say that he "wouldn't call it a war".
Trump reiterated that view on Friday, calling the war "small potatoes" for Washington.
Iranian officials have so far maintained their defiant tone, but US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told ABC's "This Week" programme on Sunday that Iran was "doing everything they can to cling on to something".
"They know their nuclear programme's coming to an end. Their navy has come to an end. Their air force has come to an end. They're clinging on to power," he said.
A fragile ceasefire between the two sides collapsed in July after attacks on commercial ships in the Hormuz strait, through which one-fifth of world oil supplies previously flowed.
Trump has in recent weeks repeatedly threatened to claim sovereignty over the strait, even posting a map showing it as "new US territory".
Vance has insisted the US will not reopen talks with Iran until it ends attacks on commercial shipping in the strait.
bur/hol/axn/jfx/smw

landslide

Nepali rescuers buoyed by miracle finds but tough conditions persist

BY PAAVAN MATHEMA

  • The United Nations chief in Nepal issued an emotional plea for aid, saying survivors of the catastrophic flooding had seen their lives transformed in just "one to two minutes".
  • Nepali rescuers faced challenging conditions on Sunday as search operations after catastrophic floods entered a 12th day, buoyed by the extraordinary rescues of four survivors.
  • The United Nations chief in Nepal issued an emotional plea for aid, saying survivors of the catastrophic flooding had seen their lives transformed in just "one to two minutes".
Nepali rescuers faced challenging conditions on Sunday as search operations after catastrophic floods entered a 12th day, buoyed by the extraordinary rescues of four survivors.
The glacial and mountain collapse on the China-Nepal border killed at least 1,385 peopleand left more than 5,500 missing across the two countries.
Rescuers found two more people alive on Saturday, joining two saved the day before in what have been described as miraculous tales of survival.
Three of those have been found in hydropower tunnels where the government initially said it believed more than 100 workers could be alive.
"Search and rescue is going on at the tunnels despite geography, adverse weather and lack of connectivity," Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha told AFP.
Rescue workers were experiencing "multiple challenges", he said.
The wall of icy water and debris tore through mountain districts on August 26, destroying roads, bridges and other infrastructure.
The United Nations chief in Nepal issued an emotional plea for aid, saying survivors of the catastrophic flooding had seen their lives transformed in just "one to two minutes".
"You lose your home, you lose your livelihood, you lose your loved one and you lose the breadwinner of your family," UN Resident Coordinator Lila Pieters Yahia told AFP in Kathmandu on Sunday.
On Saturday, rescuers pulled a Chinese man alive from deep inside a hydropower tunnel, and a 64-year-old Nepali woman, Chandrika Shrestha, from her mud-covered home.
Prime Minister Balendra Shah said Shrestha's rescue had "given hope to the entire nation".
A day earlier, two Nepali hydropower workers were rescued at the Trishuli 3A tunnel, where searches continue alongside multiple other sites, with at least 12 hydropower projects affected.
Other examples of remarkable fortitude have emerged from Nepal, including Rajendra Dawadi, a school principal who quickly ordered an evacuation as the torrent approached, saving hundreds of students' lives.
"If the information was wrong, we would lose a day of schooling," he told AFP.
"But if it was true, we were going to lose our lives."

Death tolls rise

Biraj Bhakta Shrestha, the energy minister, said work was continuing to restore electricity in several areas.
"Places that have been unreachable, we've tried to restore power with solar," he told AFP.
Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal has called the disaster a "Himalayan tsunami" and warned reconstruction costs could run into the billions of dollars.
The UN has said the magnitude of the destruction makes delivering aid an immense challenge. It launched a $50 million appeal to help more than 84,000 people.
With mortuaries overflowing, Nepal has buried hundreds of bodies in mass graves, after taking DNA samples for future identification, according to the police.
Only around 100 bodies have been identified and handed over to families.
Nepal will hold a national day of mourning on Monday, the 13th day since the disaster, in line with a traditional period of mourning in Hindu rituals.
While the exact cause of the glacial collapse is unclear, climate change is accelerating glacial melting worldwide, increasing the risk of such disasters.
In Nepal, rescuers have retrieved 1,342 bodies, while around 4,996 people remain missing, according to the disaster agency.
The death toll from the disaster in Tibet has risen from 31 to 43, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday.
A further 519 people are missing, it said.
Foreign journalists cannot travel freely in China's Tibet Autonomous Region and may only visit as part of strictly controlled trips organised by the authorities.
Chinese media have primarily focused their reporting on the scale of search and rescue operations, and have not broadcast footage showing the reactions of families.
The combined toll is 1,385 dead and more than 5,500 missing, including around 800 foreigners, among them tourists and pilgrims.
bur-pjm/abh/lga

conflict

With joy and grief, Palestinian football marks return

BY IMAD FREIJ

  • Palestinian professional sports were brought to a halt after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, in which 1,014 Palestinian athletes were killed, according to the Palestinian Football Association's tally.
  • Palestinian sports commentator Khalil Jadallah has spent the past three years mourning the athletes killed in the Gaza war.
  • Palestinian professional sports were brought to a halt after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, in which 1,014 Palestinian athletes were killed, according to the Palestinian Football Association's tally.
Palestinian sports commentator Khalil Jadallah has spent the past three years mourning the athletes killed in the Gaza war. As Palestinian football officially resumed this week, his return to the stadium proved bittersweet.
Palestinian professional sports were brought to a halt after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, in which 1,014 Palestinian athletes were killed, according to the Palestinian Football Association's tally.
On Friday, Jadallah was back at Faisal Al-Husseini Stadium in Al-Ram in the West Bank to call the opening match of the first tournament organised by the association in three years.
Though long awaited, the event was marked by contradicting emotions for Jadallah: "a feeling of joy at returning after such an absence, but also a feeling of loss."
"We lost players... fans, administrators and referees," Jadallah told AFP.

'1,000 Martyrs Cup'

The football association named the comeback tournament -- which includes over 200 teams from the occupied West Bank, Gaza, and refugee camps in Lebanon -- the "1,000 Martyrs Cup".
Throughout the war, Palestinian football authorities have accused Israel of killing football players and damaging Gaza's sporting infrastructure.
Israel has said 12 Palestinian football figures that it killed in Gaza, including a FIFA-registered referee, were members of militant groups, an allegation the football association has rejected.
Large numbers of Palestinian security forces were deployed for the event, an unusual sight in the town more accustomed to Israeli military raids.
Before the game, pitting Jabal Al-Mukaber Club against Shabab Al-Khaleel SC, children carried a Palestinian flag wrapped to resemble a dead body, before unfurling it across the centre circle as a band played the Palestinian national anthem.
The sport authority also unveiled a memorial bearing the names of the killed Palestinian athletes outside the stadium, which stands in Al-Ram, not far from the West Bank separation barrier.
Samir Issa,a prominent former player and veteran manager who had coached both teams, watched from the stands as the game kicked off.
"Football has become more important than politics today," he said. "The proof of that is the following the World Cup has had."
"Sport in general is the culture of the people," he added, saying that Palestinians had "the right to practice sport normally and in all its forms, not just football".
At the 10-minute, 14-second mark, the referee ordered the game to stop for a minute of silence for the dead before the crowd grew loud again.
"Football returns to Palestine," read electronic screens around the stadium.
Thousands of mainly young people attended the game, with families, women and children seated in a separate section.
Maysan Suleiman, a 35-year-old from Al-Ram, said she came to commemorate "the martyrs".

'Football returns to Palestine'

"I don't support either team," she said. "I came to support the idea (of the tournament) itself. After all, they're all sons of Palestine."
The tournament opened simultaneously in Gaza, where Israeli strikes have left much of the territory in ruins and some football fields have been turned into makeshift camps for those displaced by the war.
The opening match there was held in Deir al-Balah between Khadamat Rafah and Shabab Rafah as fans sat on plastic chairs around the small field lined with palm trees.
"Football represented life for us before the war, and after the war the lives of players stopped altogether," said Khalil Matar, a Khadamat Rafah player.
Matar said holding the cup simultaneously in the West Bank, Gaza and refugee camps in Lebanon reflected "national unity" for Palestinians.
But the West Bank teams are set to face major logistical hurdles as they travel between cities and Israeli military checkpoints in the occupied territory.
"Still, we're determined to continue sporting activities and developing our young people," said Abdullah Abu Ghassan of the Shabab Jaba team competing in the tournament.
if-vid/bou/ris

fire

'Truly scared': Blazes outpace firefighters in Indonesian Borneo

BY MARIëTTE LE ROUX

  • Smoke from the fires has also affected communities in the neighbouring Malaysian part of Borneo and beyond.
  • Toiling around the clock, haggard Indonesian firefighters on Borneo island cannot keep up with the blazes devouring landscapes and shrouding communities in a cloying haze.
  • Smoke from the fires has also affected communities in the neighbouring Malaysian part of Borneo and beyond.
Toiling around the clock, haggard Indonesian firefighters on Borneo island cannot keep up with the blazes devouring landscapes and shrouding communities in a cloying haze.
They are fighting a perilous battle with limited weapons against fires blamed in part on a stronger-than-usual episode of the El Nino climate phenomenon parching Southeast Asia.
Experts also blame climate change, decades of forest degradation and slash-and-burn land clearing practices that have changed the naturally fire-resistant landscape.
"We are exhausted. Sometimes we carry out firefighting until dawn. Sometimes we don't sleep," said Sampe Ritonga, fire chief for Sintang regency.
"Our facilities and infrastructure for firefighting are very limited," he told AFP, standing on the smouldering embers of a peatland fire separated from a residential settlement by a narrow dirt road.
Behind him, veiled by the haze, the sun appeared as an eerie, rust-coloured ball in the brown-grey sky.
Sampe's team only has two 6,000-litre fire engines, and deploys one at a time while the other refills. They also face a shortage of hoses.
The team has fought dozens of fires this month.
With river levels low, "we look for available water in ditches... (and) small rivers", some far from active burn sites, Sampe said.
"So there are difficulties because they have to first carry out firefighting with high intensity, and second look for water," he added.
"With the limitations we have, we try as hard as we can to extinguish the fires and also to reduce the smoke."
Nearby, locals gathered to observe the team's efforts, offering drinking water to first responders. 
"There are many houses here, and that is what we have to protect," said Sampe.

'Crackling sound'

Resident Sutrismi, 47, said she was at home on Saturday when she heard a "crackling sound", looked out of the window and saw smoke rising from the peatland across the road.
Peatland fires, common in the area, generally smoulder and spread under the soil for weeks or months, emitting huge quantities of smoke and only rarely causing surface blazes.
"First thing, I looked for help. I contacted the village head, asked for assistance," Sutrismi told AFP.
"I am scared. Truly scared."
Some 400 kilometres (250 miles) away in Pontianak -- the capital of West Kalimantan province -- people have been breathing foul air for weeks.
The haze can be smelled even indoors in the city of about 700,000 people.
At one point on Sunday, the level of PM2.5 pollution exceeded 500 micrograms per cubic metre, according to IQAir, a Switzerland-based monitor.
That is more than 100 times the World Health Organization's recommended safe limit for airborne particles so small they can enter deep into the lungs and even the bloodstream, with potentially dire consequences for health.
Hundreds of schools have been closed indefinitely in West Kalimantan due to air pollution, with about 200,000 pupils learning from home, according to the education ministry.
The province has also recorded a surge in respiratory ailments.
"We really hope there will be some assistance or grants for us, so we can be faster, more alert and more responsive," said Sampe.
West Kalimantan governor Ria Norsan said the province was doing its best.
"We do not want officers in the field to work with limitations," he said in a statement to AFP.
"Every report regarding shortages of personnel, equipment, water, or other needs must be conveyed immediately so that solutions can be found."
The provincial government has said it has nearly 14,500 fire-fighting personnel out in the field, with nine aircraft available for water-bombing, three for patrols and one for cloud-seeding operations trying to make rain.

Climate connection

Environmental campaigners say rapacious forest and peatland destruction is the root cause of the fires.
"The peat is drained by extractive plantations, monoculture plantations, whether oil palm or pulpwood," Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner Belgis Habiba told AFP in Pontianak.
"When the water is drained, the peat dries and becomes flammable."
According to Greenpeace estimates using government data, some 35 million people in Indonesia are exposed to toxic haze.
Smoke from the fires has also affected communities in the neighbouring Malaysian part of Borneo and beyond.
"The haze is massive and everywhere, and it's actually very unfit for people to breathe," Belgis said.
She urged the Indonesian government to declare the fires a national disaster, "so that all resources are mobilised... to build health access for residents, rescue wildlife and so on".
According to the Nusantara Atlas fire tracker, more than 285,000 hectares have burnt in Indonesia so far this year.
Official data show 38,000 hectares have burnt in West Kalimantan.
The current El Nino event, which will last into next year, is likely to be one of the strongest in decades, according to the United Nations.
mlr/mjw/lga

US

US aircraft carrier departs Thailand after port call

  • The Lincoln departed from the port of Laem Chabang, a half-hour drive from Pattaya, at around 11:00 am (0400 GMT), AFP journalists saw. 
  • Thousands of US sailors aboard an aircraft carrier departed from Thailand on Sunday, AFP journalists said, concluding its first port call following reports of deteriorating living conditions on board after nine months at sea.
  • The Lincoln departed from the port of Laem Chabang, a half-hour drive from Pattaya, at around 11:00 am (0400 GMT), AFP journalists saw. 
Thousands of US sailors aboard an aircraft carrier departed from Thailand on Sunday, AFP journalists said, concluding its first port call following reports of deteriorating living conditions on board after nine months at sea.
The 5,000-strong crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln docked just north of the resort town of Pattaya, near Bangkok, on Wednesday for five days of rest and recreation after a lengthy Middle East deployment.
Amid Thailand's tourism low season, their arrival raised hopes for businesses in Pattaya, a city known for its beaches and nightlife -- as well as its seedy reputation as a hub for sex tourism.
The Lincoln departed from the port of Laem Chabang, a half-hour drive from Pattaya, at around 11:00 am (0400 GMT), AFP journalists saw. 
Security was stepped up in Pattaya during the visit, with authorities cracking down on sex workers ahead of the sailors' arrival -- although the mayor denied it was linked.

'Everything went fine'

Despite concerns about possible trouble, local police said Sunday that the port call ended largely without incident.
"Everything went fine," Pattaya police chief Anek Srathongyoo told AFP.
"There were no arrests or arguments except on the first day when Americans had an argument among themselves," he said.
The US Navy sent two sailors back to the Lincoln after a drunken altercation in the early hours of Thursday near Pattaya's nightlife hotspot Walking Street, the police chief said earlier.
He had described the "small scuffle" as "trivial" and said local residents only called police to prevent the dispute from escalating.
Last month, US Democratic lawmakers called for an investigation into conditions on the Lincoln following reports of food shortages, broken plumbing and mental health crises.
President Donald Trump dismissed the concerns, which have fuelled criticism of his dragging war on Iran, although the Lincoln was replaced in the Middle East by the USS George Washington.
The enlisted Americans were estimated to have spent up to 100 million baht ($3 million) during their visit, Pattaya Mayor Poramase Ngampiches said on Sunday.
In addition, the city benefitted from "selling other supplies such as tootpaste to the ship worth millions of baht (tens of thousands of dollars)", Poramase told AFP.
Media reports said sailors on the Lincoln had gone without basic toiletries, including toothpaste, deodorant and soap, at points during their deployment.
Many of the sailors and Marines spent their time on Thailand's coast shopping and visiting tourism sites, Poramase said.
"It shows that they are missing their families and want to buy some souvenirs for them," he said.
tp-sco/ane

anniversary

China's memories of Mao fade to nostalgia 50 years after his death

BY SAM DAVIES

  • "I still revere him very much," Xie Kaiyue, a 22-year-old local university student, said of Mao, who died almost three decades before she was born.
  • The crimson flags on Nanjie village's "East is Red" Square hang limp in the sweltering summer heat as a trickle of tourists take photos with a towering statue of Chairman Mao Zedong, still gleaming white almost 50 years after he died.
  • "I still revere him very much," Xie Kaiyue, a 22-year-old local university student, said of Mao, who died almost three decades before she was born.
The crimson flags on Nanjie village's "East is Red" Square hang limp in the sweltering summer heat as a trickle of tourists take photos with a towering statue of Chairman Mao Zedong, still gleaming white almost 50 years after he died.
The Great Helmsman, who died September 9 1976, is still very much a fixture in central Henan province's Nanjie -- often dubbed "China's last Maoist village".
Nostalgia for Mao's egalitarian ideals is growing in China as memories of his turbulent rule fade and the country grapples with a slowing economy and inequality.
Mao, who led the 1949 communist revolution against the ruling nationalists, ushered in an era of collectivised ownership he argued would drive industry and unite the country, but his drastic policies are also blamed by historians for mass starvation and millions of deaths.
While the ruling Chinese Communist Party maintains Mao was a revolutionary hero, it publicly acknowledged after his death that his devastating Cultural Revolution was a "grave mistake" -- a verdict upheld by subsequent leaders.
In Nanjie, countless murals of the former Chinese leader are plastered around the village.
Residents still live under Maoist principles of shared ownership, while the rest of the country moved on from that economic model.
"I still revere him very much," Xie Kaiyue, a 22-year-old local university student, said of Mao, who died almost three decades before she was born.
"I think young people in the village and, actually, myself, aren't as strong-spirited as in the past... People were purer," she said.
Nearby, electric carts whisked visitors past uniform apartment blocks plastered with socialist slogans as guides explained how cooperative ownership in local enterprises funds free housing for residents.

Party line

Around 500 kilometres (310 miles) north, in the mountain village of Dazhai in Shanxi province, once promoted by Mao as a national model after locals terraformed its arid hills into irrigated fields, tourists reminisce about an era when the Great Helmsman dominated political and social life.
"(People) didn't have enough to eat or to wear," Li, a 64-year-old tourist from Xi'an, said of his childhood.
"But... the whole country was full of vigour, and there was a spirit of struggling with heaven, earth, and people to change every aspect of China," the retiree said.
"Of course I miss it."
Now, Dazhai is overflowing with shops selling items that support Mao's personality cult -- posters, playing cards, and crockery emblazoned with his image, and the "Little Red Book" of his quotations.
Still, references to dark chapters of his decades in absolute power are tightly censored in public discourse.
The decade-long episode instigated by Mao in 1966 saw intellectuals brutally targeted as "class enemies" and schools shuttered, setting China back for years in education and development.
Private property and land were collectivised, while economic management pushed the country to the Great Famine, which the government says killed around 15 million people, while historians estimate around 20-43 million.
In one museum, text mentioning the Cultural Revolution had been crudely scraped off signage.
"Everything you see in the public domain... is the party line. No one is allowed to deviate from this," said scholar Xu Chenggang, who was targeted as a child in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution because his father was labelled a "rightist".
Mao's face is printed on banknotes, his portrait overlooks Tiananmen Square, and his body is preserved in a mausoleum.
Every year new movies and TV shows dramatising Mao's life beam the message of his great deeds to public. 
Public discussion has been squeezed further under current leader Xi Jinping, who warns against "historical nihilism", or narratives contradicting the party's own.
"The Communist Party told people there were mistakes, but what's the meaning of 'mistake'? No one knows," Xu said.

'Great figure'

The sanitised history has left space for romanticised interpretations among youths frustrated by long working hours and intense competition in education and the job market.
In December, a viral video series on Bilibili -- a platform popular with those under 30 -- argued that the 2017 movie 'Youth', which follows young performers in a military dance troupe during the 1970s, was a subtle ode to the Cultural Revolution.
The videos, which praised Mao and blamed capitalist elites for crushing the movement, were removed after gaining over 35 million views in less than a week.
"Today, there is more of a sense that the Cultural Revolution was a period of idealism, where society was fired by ideals and not by the relentless pursuit of money and material goods," said to Kerry Brown, head of the Lau China Institute in London and author of a recent book on Mao.
"This is, of course, a total fabrication," he said.
Many also credit Mao with laying the foundation for China to become a modern, technologically advanced nation, said Mobo Gao, professor of Chinese studies at Adelaide University.
"They ask, where did (today's China) come from? It came from the establishment of the PRC," said Gao, who lived through the Mao era in rural Jiangxi province.
"Who was the one who really established the PRC? It must be Mao."
In Shijiazhuang, an industrial city of seven million northeast of Dazhai, 20-year-old Wang Zhihao and his classmates posed with a giant Mao statue opposite the municipal government.
"We admire and revere Chairman Mao very much. He is a great figure," Wang said, as the sound of elderly residents singing songs praising the Communist Party drifted over from the nearby square.
"He led the founding of New China."
sam/reb/dhw/fox/ane

landslide

'The flood is coming': How a Nepal principal saved 900 students

BY LUCIE GODEAU

  • Now, standing above the scarred banks of the river in Nuwakot district more than a week after the disaster, Dawadi described himself simply as "a principal without a school".
  • Rajendra Dawadi was inside his school near Nepal's Trishuli River with around 900 students last week when a colleague delivered an urgent warning.
  • Now, standing above the scarred banks of the river in Nuwakot district more than a week after the disaster, Dawadi described himself simply as "a principal without a school".
Rajendra Dawadi was inside his school near Nepal's Trishuli River with around 900 students last week when a colleague delivered an urgent warning.
"My accountant came to the school and said, 'The flood is coming, the flood is coming'," the school principal told AFP in a recent interview.
Dawadi quickly ordered an evacuation, and teachers hurried hundreds of students from classrooms to higher ground. 
Minutes later, the 47-year-old watched the Trishuli Bazaar Secondary School he had run for years collapse into a raging torrent.
"If the information was wrong, we would lose a day of schooling," he recalled of the morning of August 26. "But if it was true, we were going to lose our lives."
Students were panicked, Dawadi said, and one girl fainted. 
Bus drivers bringing in other students were asked to turn back, including one driver who had just entered school grounds.
But the timely evacuation saved some 900 lives. 
Now, standing above the scarred banks of the river in Nuwakot district more than a week after the disaster, Dawadi described himself simply as "a principal without a school".
The tsunami-like wall of water, ice and debris unleashed by a massive glacial and rock collapse along the Nepal-China border killed at least 1,362 people and has left more than 5,500 missing across the two countries.
Five students died in the flooding outside the school, as well as a teacher and a security staff member, Dawadi said.
The staff member, who left the school after him, "had probably wanted to close the gate", he said.

'Nothing left'

Authorities in Trishuli Bazaar had not provided an evacuation plan, Dawadi said. 
Some residents tried to cross the bridge but were swept away. The others took refuge on higher ground.
"When I looked back, the school was standing there like the finest of buildings, and in five minutes, everything collapsed," Dawadi recalled. 
"It's also the school where I studied. There was nothing left."
Santoshi Dotel, 17, was in accounting class when the evacuation order came. At first, she struggled to comprehend the danger.
"We never would have thought the flood could reach such a scale," she said.
She initially went down to the river with her friend to try to cross and reach her family home.
Then the water surged.
"The bridge was swept away," she said. "I started to cry because I thought I would never get home and that there was nothing we could do."
Her friend pulled her up a hillside as the flood roared below.
Twisting her phone in her hands, Santoshi broke down into tears as she recalled the anguish of not knowing for hours whether her parents had survived.
It was only four days later that a helicopter finally reunited her with her family.
"I found my mother as I stepped out of the helicopter," she said. "She hugged me and started to cry. My mind just stopped working."
Her mother, Durga Dotel, had feared the worst.
"Seeing the river in flood, I had lost all hope that my daughter had survived," she said.
According to figures cited by Save the Children, at least 69 schools were destroyed or damaged, disrupting the education of nearly 19,000 children.
Dawadi said the disaster was "far worse" than the earthquake that hit Nepal in 2015. 
"The school had been completely destroyed (after the earthquake), but we rebuilt it," he said. 
"This time, we've lost the land and the building. We need a school again. But first, we need somewhere safe to build it."
bur-lgo/abh/lga/ane

US

US military strikes oil tankers as Iran vows tougher reprisals

BY AFP'S TEAMS IN WASHINGTON AND TEHRAN

  • US Central Command (CENTCOM) said early Saturday it targeted tankers linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), accusing the most powerful arm of the Iranian military of unsuccessfully firing at American warships.
  • The United States said it destroyed three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday in response to attempted missile attacks on naval vessels, with Iran's Revolutionary Guards saying they targeted US-linked ships in response.
  • US Central Command (CENTCOM) said early Saturday it targeted tankers linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), accusing the most powerful arm of the Iranian military of unsuccessfully firing at American warships.
The United States said it destroyed three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday in response to attempted missile attacks on naval vessels, with Iran's Revolutionary Guards saying they targeted US-linked ships in response.
The latest round of clashes, which began with US raids last week, comes amid a deadlock in the six-month war. Iran has maintained its stranglehold on the strategic Strait of Hormuz as Washington continues pressing its counter-blockade of Iranian ports.
In addition to the renewed military action, Washington is also seeking to choke Iran's economy, announcing sanctions on entities with financial links to the Islamic republic in a bid to force it into submission.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said early Saturday it targeted tankers linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), accusing the most powerful arm of the Iranian military of unsuccessfully firing at American warships.
"Following Iran's failed attacks, CENTCOM permanently disabled the IRGC crude oil carriers M/T Downy off the coast of Kharg Island and M/T Stark 1 near Jask," it said.
"American forces also completely destroyed the unladen crude oil carrier M/T Kylo... in the Gulf of Oman, striking the vessel in multiple critical locations to render it inoperable after the crew was directed to abandon ship."
Video posted by CENTCOM showed large fireballs and billowing flames after projectiles slammed into the ships.
The three vessels were "part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies," it said.
After the strikes, CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper said: "If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost -- taking out three of yours."
In a statement published by state news agency IRNA, the Guards said their air force "attacked an aircraft carrier and a destroyer with several ballistic missiles."
The Guards said those two American warships were "forced to retreat" after "suffering damage." CENTCOM said those ships successfully evaded Iranian attacks.

Lifeboats

Following the US strikes, the IRGC said their naval forces "targeted three oil tankers on the unauthorized route of the Strait of Hormuz and three vessels affiliated with the child-killing America in other areas."
It warned other ships not to attempt to transit by unapproved routes.
CENTCOM did not immediately respond to AFP's questions about the IRGC claims. There were no immediate reports from the UKMTO shipping agency of civilian tankers being targeted in the strait.
The Iranian foreign ministry earlier hit out at Washington over the strikes on the oil tankers, calling them "illegal and aggressive actions."
A correspondent for Iranian state TV in Jask in the southern province of Hormozgan said one of the tankers was empty and the second was carrying oil. The crews were transported to shore on lifeboats, they said.
Another state TV correspondent on Kharg Island said the attack there caused no casualties.
Iran's Khatam-al Anbiya central military command warned that if the US continued its attacks, then Tehran's retaliation against US warships would be "more severe than before, and there is a possibility of their expansion."

'Small potatoes'

The Trump administration has tried to downplay the significance of the six-month conflict, which has proven increasingly unpopular at home as midterm elections near.
US Vice President JD Vance went so far as to say that he "wouldn't call it a war."
US President Donald Trump backed his comments on Friday, calling the Iran war "small potatoes" for Washington.
Iran's Security Chief Mohsen Rezaei warned this week that the Islamic republic had adopted a "new strategy" against Washington in the war that "will shatter your foundations."
The US has been trying to step up pressure on Tehran over its blockade of the Hormuz Strait, through which one-fifth of world oil supplies previously flowed.
A fragile ceasefire collapsed in July after attacks on commercial ships in the strategic waterway.
Trump has in recent weeks repeatedly threatened to claim sovereignty over the strait, even posting a map showing it as a "new US territory."
Vance has also insisted the US would not reopen talks with Iran until it ends attacks on commercial shipping in the Hormuz.
But with fuel prices threatening to cost Trump's Republicans their control of Congress at the ballot box, his administration has begun pushing the message that oil flows through the waterway are returning to prewar levels.
"Their control over the Strait of Hormuz is effectively gone," Vance said of Iran on Thursday.
Before the latest hostilities erupted, the United States had appeared to be pivoting to economic warfare rather than military operations.
On Friday, the US Treasury announced sanctions on a Turkish bank over its alleged ties to the IRGC, after last week taking a step towards cutting off a major Egyptian bank's UAE operations from the US financial system.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has laid out plans for the "economic asphyxiation" of Iran, warning of dire consequences for countries that do not join the American pressure campaign.
bur-pnb/hol/tc

Falklands

Argentina threatens to sanction oil projects around Falklands

  • "There are winds of change in the world that are favorable to our claim," Milei said.
  • Argentina has announced that it will investigate and sanction oil companies working near the Falkland Islands without authorization, after President Javier Milei said the "winds of change" favor his country's claim to the archipelago.
  • "There are winds of change in the world that are favorable to our claim," Milei said.
Argentina has announced that it will investigate and sanction oil companies working near the Falkland Islands without authorization, after President Javier Milei said the "winds of change" favor his country's claim to the archipelago.
Britain and Argentina fought a 10-week war in 1982 over the South Atlantic islands, a British overseas territory that Argentines call Las Malvinas.
Argentina's presidency said in a statement Friday that it had ordered the opening of proceedings to "investigate and penalize" 45 entities "linked to the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons" around the Falklands.
The statement did not name the entities involved. According to Argentine media, they include British, US, Canadian, Israeli, Danish and Dutch companies. 
On Saturday afternoon, oilfield services companies Schlumberger, Halliburton and Baker Hughes issued statements saying they do not and will not work on hydrocarbon projects near the islands.
Later, Milei shared a news item on X reporting the statements, along with an acronym that translates to "everything is going according to plan."
The Falklands are located about 600 km east of Argentina's southernmost tip and administered by Britain. The Falklands war in 1982 ended with the surrender of the Argentine government after 74 days of conflict that killed 649 Argentines and 255 British troops.
In a speech Thursday, Milei renewed claims to the Falklands and announced tougher sanctions on companies linked to oil projects nearby.
"There are winds of change in the world that are favorable to our claim," Milei said.
Milei's speech followed comments from US President Donald Trump on Monday that the United States was reviewing its position on the Falkland Islands. 
According to media reports, Washington has threatened to oppose Britain's sovereignty over the South Atlantic archipelago if it does not increase its NATO defense spending.
British Defense Secretary Wes Streeting responded by asserting Britain's "unshakeable" commitment to the Falklands.
"The Falklands are British because Falkland Islanders choose to be British," he said in a social media post Friday.
tev-pbl/mjf/sla/ksb

conflict

US envoys put forward 'number of ideas' on Ukraine to Putin: Kremlin

  • Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov called the talks "extremely frank", saying the Americans "put forward a number of ideas on possible routes to a settlement", but did not elaborate. 
  • US envoys proposed a "number of ideas" on how to end the Ukraine war in "frank" talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin late Saturday, Moscow said, ahead of their first trip to Kyiv.
  • Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov called the talks "extremely frank", saying the Americans "put forward a number of ideas on possible routes to a settlement", but did not elaborate. 
US envoys proposed a "number of ideas" on how to end the Ukraine war in "frank" talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin late Saturday, Moscow said, ahead of their first trip to Kyiv.
US President Donald Trump's business partner Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner met Putin for more than three hours, the Kremlin said, as Washington tries to revive negotiations to end Europe's worst conflict since WWII.
Their visit to Moscow comes after the war -- which has killed hundreds of thousands and forced millions to flee their homes -- escalated this summer. It also follows a visit last month to Moscow by the director of the CIA director. 
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov called the talks "extremely frank", saying the Americans "put forward a number of ideas on possible routes to a settlement", but did not elaborate. 
The Russian side told the Americans that Moscow was "confident" it could achieve its military goals of seizing the rest of eastern Ukraine, Ushakov added.  
It was Kushner and Witkoff's eighth visit to Moscow during the war -- but it will be their first in the Ukrainian capital, hit by deadly Russian strikes throughout the war. 
Both Russia and Ukraine have vowed not to strike each others' capitals for three days to allow for the negotiations to take place. 

Envoys fly out

In televised comments before the talks, Putin said Russia would ensure the safety of the envoys in Kyiv -- a city Moscow has pounded with deadly strikes throughout the war.
"We will do everything that depends on us to ensure the safety of the negotiation process and mediators such as yourselves," Putin told Witkoff and Kushner. 
A day earlier, Kyiv said Russia had struck the headquarters of its SBU security services in the city's historic centre with a drone. 
Russia's TASS news agency reported the Americans had flown out of Moscow. 
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was expecting the envoys on Sunday and it was unclear how they would get to Kyiv by then. 
Ukrainian airspace has been closed since Moscow launched the war in February 2022 and visiting leaders have been arriving by train. 

Putin thanks Trump

Earlier Saturday, Putin had thanked Trump for persisting in his efforts to end the war -- launched by Russia in 2022 -- despite it being "not simple".
Of the envoys' trip to Kyiv, he said: "No matter what happens next, contacts of this kind are undoubtedly always beneficial."
Trump said on Friday his envoys were bringing a "proposal" on ending fighting.
"We have an idea for peace," he said, without elaborating. 
Moscow occupied large swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine. Putin has insisted Moscow is intent on seizing the rest of east Ukraine. 
Witkoff and Kushner arrived in Moscow after a summer of escalation that saw a drastic rise in civilian deaths on both sides.
Kyiv said Saturday that Russian strikes had killed 10 people across the country Saturday -- including a child and his family members in the Kharkiv region and two people outside Kyiv.  

Limited truce

Both Moscow and Kyiv have said they would halt strikes on each others cities to allow for negotiations.
"The Russian president, the commander-in-chief, has given the order from midnight not to strike Kyiv for three days," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky -- who had offered a truce during the US visits -- later said he had spoken to the US envoys and also promised Kyiv would not strike Moscow.
"From now through the end of Saturday, as well as on Sunday and Monday, Ukraine is ready to refrain from strikes on Moscow," Zelensky said.
On Saturday, Putin said he had "noted that the Ukrainian side significantly reduced" its strikes on Russia and Moscow.  
US efforts have so far not led to a breakthrough in the war -- which has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.
As peace efforts stalled, in part because of Washington's war with Iran, Moscow and Kyiv stepped up their long-range attacks.

Russian strikes

As the US envoys were in the Kremlin, Ukraine said Russian attacks had killed three members of the same family in the city of Chuguiv in the north-eastern Kharkiv region. 
"As a result of this shelling, almost the entire family was killed: a 19-year-old girl, an 11-year-old boy, and a 45-year-old man,"regional leader Oleg Synegubov said.
Earlier Saturday, Russia struck Kyiv's suburbs and in the Dnipro region, where local officials said five people had been killed.
Zelensky accused Moscow of trying to disrupt the visit of the US envoys with overnight attacks on Kyiv's two airports -- as well as on the civilian targets.  
bur/jj

royals

Prince William to represent King Charles III at Norway late King Harald's funeral

  • Charles, 77, who is being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer but maintains a packed schedule of engagements, released a statement mourning the loss of his "dear cousin" King Harald last week.
  • Britain's Prince William will attend the funeral of Norway's late King Harald next week in place of his father King Charles III, Buckingham Palace said on Saturday.
  • Charles, 77, who is being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer but maintains a packed schedule of engagements, released a statement mourning the loss of his "dear cousin" King Harald last week.
Britain's Prince William will attend the funeral of Norway's late King Harald next week in place of his father King Charles III, Buckingham Palace said on Saturday.
The heir to the throne is set to represent his father at the funeral on September 9, having also attended the funeral of Pope Francis last year on behalf of the king.
British monarchs do not attend funerals of other heads of state per protocol, usually sending another member of the royal family to represent them.
Charles, 77, who is being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer but maintains a packed schedule of engagements, released a statement mourning the loss of his "dear cousin" King Harald last week.
The two men were second cousins once removed, both being descendants of Britain's King Edward VII.
Charles's sister Princess Anne will attend in a personal capacity as the godmother of the new king, Haakon VIII.
aks/yad

photography

AFP photographer wins top prize for Madagascar protest coverage

  • The exhibitions featured at the Visa pour L'Image event are on display in venues around Perpignan until September 13. cor-vgr/jj/acb
  • Agence France-Presse photographer Luis Tato on Saturday won the top prize at the prestigious Visa Pour l'Image photojournalism festival in Perpignan, France.
  • The exhibitions featured at the Visa pour L'Image event are on display in venues around Perpignan until September 13. cor-vgr/jj/acb
Agence France-Presse photographer Luis Tato on Saturday won the top prize at the prestigious Visa Pour l'Image photojournalism festival in Perpignan, France.
Spaniard Tato won the Visa d'Or prize for news photography for his coverage of Generation Z protests in Madagascar.
His work on the story had already been recognised at the World Press Photo Awards in April.
Accepting the award, 37-year-old Tato paid tribute to festival founder Jean-Francois Leroy, who died on Monday.
Leroy, he said, had given him an early break in 2018 when he showed his work for the first time.
Tato also acknowledged the young people of Madagascar, who "knew how important it was that their story be told".
In September 2025, student-led protests erupted across Madagascar over failing public services, corruption, and economic hardship. When President Andry Rajoelina dissolved his government but refused to resign, demonstrations intensified.
"I think this global movement of young people who are trying to redefine democracy and transform their societies is a very interesting dynamic, which fascinates me both as a photographer and as someone who seeks to understand the world we live in," said Tato.
Based in Kenya, Tato covers east Africa and the Indian Ocean region for AFP.
His work has already been recognised in several photography competitions, including three times at the World Press Photo awards; at the Pictures of the Year International, Sony World Photography Awards and NPPA Best of Photojournalism.
The exhibitions featured at the Visa pour L'Image event are on display in venues around Perpignan until September 13.
cor-vgr/jj/acb

genocide

Commemoration held for late Bosnian Serb war criminal Ratko Mladic

  • On Saturday, around 300 people gathered at the commemoration ceremony for Mladic at a military facility in Belgrade, organised by an association of retired and active Serbian army generals, according to an AFP reporter.
  • A commemoration was held Saturday in Belgrade for war criminal Ratko Mladic two days ahead of his burial, attended by dozens of former military personnel, family members and officials.
  • On Saturday, around 300 people gathered at the commemoration ceremony for Mladic at a military facility in Belgrade, organised by an association of retired and active Serbian army generals, according to an AFP reporter.
A commemoration was held Saturday in Belgrade for war criminal Ratko Mladic two days ahead of his burial, attended by dozens of former military personnel, family members and officials.
Mladic died last week after suffering several strokes while serving a life sentence in The Hague for war crimes committed during the 1990s war in Bosnia.
His body was returned to Serbia on a government plane on Thursday, with his casket draped in flags and received with military honours.
The 84-year-old will be buried at a Belgrade cemetery on Monday, in a ceremony expected to draw thousands of mourners despite international condemnation.
On Saturday, around 300 people gathered at the commemoration ceremony for Mladic at a military facility in Belgrade, organised by an association of retired and active Serbian army generals, according to an AFP reporter.
His son Darko and other family members also attended, as well as Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujic, and officials from the Bosnian Serb statelet, Republika Srpska, including President Sinisa Karan.
Dozens of other Mladic supporters crowded in front of the Serbian army house, in central Belgrade, but had to stay outside because the venue was full.
Some carried flags or wore T-shirts featuring Mladic in uniform with the caption, "Serbian Hero".
During the ceremony, speakers praised Mladic's role during the 1990s wars in Bosnia and Croatia, describing him as a "towering figure both as a man and a soldier".
Mladic's wartime atrocities during the collapse of the former Yugoslavia earned him the nickname "Butcher of Bosnia" in international media.
The Hague-based United Nations court convicted him of genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, where around 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed in a UN-protected safe zone.
Despite the verdicts, he is still hailed as a hero by some Serbs, particularly in Republika Srpska, where his death was marked with vigils and gatherings.
"Thank you (Ratko Mladic) for the existence of Republika Srpska," Zivomir Ninkovic, a retired Bosnian Serb general, told the ceremony.
"For if we didn't have Ratko Mladic, the way he was with all his characteristics, we would not have the Republika Srpska." 
Republika Srpska along with a Bosniak-Croat federation makes up Bosnia since its 1992-1995 war.
bur-ljv/jhb/jj