royals

Meghan keeps low profile on first trip after father's arrest

crime

Police search Ritz, glitzy French Al-Fayed properties in trafficking probe

BY FRANCOIS BECKER AND CLARA WRIGHT

  • - 'Courage to speak out' - In 2025 Paris prosecutors opened an investigation into claims of aggravated human trafficking, procuring prostitutes and rape in a bid to track down accomplices in an alleged international network supplying victims to Mohamed Al-Fayed and his brother. 
  • French police have advanced an investigation into a vast alleged international network trafficking women for Mohamed Al-Fayed, prosecutors told AFP Tuesday, searching luxury properties linked to the late billionaire, including the Ritz hotel. 
  • - 'Courage to speak out' - In 2025 Paris prosecutors opened an investigation into claims of aggravated human trafficking, procuring prostitutes and rape in a bid to track down accomplices in an alleged international network supplying victims to Mohamed Al-Fayed and his brother. 
French police have advanced an investigation into a vast alleged international network trafficking women for Mohamed Al-Fayed, prosecutors told AFP Tuesday, searching luxury properties linked to the late billionaire, including the Ritz hotel. 
The Paris prosecutor's office said authorities had searched the famed five-star Paris hotel, the former royal residence Villa Windsor and the Castel Sainte-Therese in Saint-Tropez, one of the most exclusive villas on the French Riviera. 
Prosecutors said individuals had been held for questioning and authorities were analysing computers, phones and other digital media in operations that represent a development in a probe launched in 2025 to track down accomplices of Fayed and his late brother, Salah Al-Fayed.
Mohamed Al-Fayed, who died aged 94 in 2023, is at the heart of a vast sexual abuse scandal in the United Kingdom, but died with no charges brought against him despite multiple complaints. 
The Ritz was just one of the Egyptian-born tycoon's high-end ventures where victims have said they faced abuse. Others include London department store Harrods, Fulham Football Club and a fleet of private jets.
Victims have also alleged abuse at the Villa Windsor in western Paris, the one-time residence of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor -- the former British King Edward VIII and his American wife Wallis Simpson. 
The property was reportedly planned as the residence of Mohamed Al-Fayed's son Dodi and his girlfriend Princess Diana, before their deaths in a Paris car crash in 1997. 

'Courage to speak out'

In 2025 Paris prosecutors opened an investigation into claims of aggravated human trafficking, procuring prostitutes and rape in a bid to track down accomplices in an alleged international network supplying victims to Mohamed Al-Fayed and his brother. 
French investigators have already heard from at least five complainants -- the latest in October, sources close to the case told AFP, with some hesitating to come forward due to trauma or fear. 
"Every month, new victims from around the world overcome their fears and find the courage to speak out about what they endured," lawyers Eva Joly, Caroline Joly and Agathe Barril, who represent several complainants, told AFP in a joint statement.
"We are, however, only halfway through the investigations," they added.
"But the testimony already points to an organisation in which their immense personal wealth and business empire were allegedly mobilised in the service of their sexual predation: a mechanism devised with cold calculation and meticulous care." 

'Highly organised'

Complainants have told investigators of a system aimed at recruiting young women hoping for a career at Harrods, or as assistants, coupled with invasive gynaecological examinations, leading to made-up jobs that put them at the disposal of the Al-Fayed brothers. 
Some told AFP they believe they were drugged. 
"Trafficking cannot be carried out without a highly organised group of individuals," said one complainant, a former Ritz employee who was transported between France and Britain, speaking on condition of anonymity. 
She praised the French investigation, but said London's Metropolitan Police were still "beating around the bush", 30 years after the first complaints.
In a letter to survivors on Tuesday, the Met said the investigation was one of the force's "largest and most complex", saying 169 victims have now come forward, and its officers are working closely with French authorities. 
The London force has questioned seven people suspected of enabling Mohamed Al-Fayed, but none has been charged. 
French and British investigators are now sharing information on the case and the prosecutor's office said UK authorities were present during the recent operations in France. 
The management of the Ritz told AFP it "does not tolerate any form of harassment, abuse or inappropriate behaviour", adding it was ready "to cooperate fully with the competent judicial authorities". 
clw-fbe/sw/pdw

Global Edition

Eisenkot quickly targets Netanyahu's legacy in new Israeli parliament

BY YAELLE IFRAH AND SHAUN TANDON

  • But neither Eisenkot nor Netanyahu -- Israel's longest-serving prime minister with nearly two decades in power -- have the 61 votes needed to form a government.
  • Israeli ex-army chief Gadi Eisenkot and his allies launched a legislative onslaught against caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's legacy on Tuesday, as a new parliament convened in a heated first session.
  • But neither Eisenkot nor Netanyahu -- Israel's longest-serving prime minister with nearly two decades in power -- have the 61 votes needed to form a government.
Israeli ex-army chief Gadi Eisenkot and his allies launched a legislative onslaught against caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's legacy on Tuesday, as a new parliament convened in a heated first session.
Though questions still linger over who can form a government, Eisenkot's broad left-to-right bloc wasted no time in setting the Knesset's agenda with a green light from Arab-Israeli lawmakers, whose role has stirred up heated opposition from Netanyahu's base and even right-wing supporters of Eisenkot. 
Eisenkot's Yashar party said it submitted a slew of proposals before the new parliament, including establishing an independent commission to investigate security failures that allowed the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 -- which Netanyahu has long opposed.
The party also moved for a sweeping repeal of a judicial overhaul implemented by Netanyahu's government, which had triggered some of Israel's largest-ever protests before being overshadowed by three years of war.
Setting the stage for legislative action, Eisenkot's bloc announced it had enough votes in the 120-seat parliament to install a new speaker, Matan Kahana, also a former senior military figure.
The current speaker, Netanyahu ally Amir Ohana, said he had granted a request from 67 Knesset members to hold a vote for his successor next Tuesday, "despite my strong opposition to the intention of the emerging coalition".
But neither Eisenkot nor Netanyahu -- Israel's longest-serving prime minister with nearly two decades in power -- have the 61 votes needed to form a government.
Eisenkot, before his swearing-in, vowed "to form a national-emergency government as quickly as possible".
Netanyahu, speaking after the inaugural session, made a new push for a national-unity government, saying Israel needed to confront a threat from Iran's clerical government, which has survived two major Israeli bombing campaigns the premier ordered with support from US President Donald Trump.
With his political survival on the line -- and facing potential jail time if convicted on corruption charges after he is out of power -- Netanyahu appeared to acknowledge a shifting diplomatic reality after US Democrats soundly defeated Trump in midterm elections last week on the back of anger over the war.
"In the very near future, we're going to be confronted by international pressure to accept a nuclear-armed Iran and the preservation of this terror regime that seeks to annihilate us," Netanyahu said. 
Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and both Netanyahu and Trump have previously boasted that its nuclear programme was devastated.
Eisenkot dismissed the remarks as a "shameful" exploitation of the occasion, casting them as evidence that Netanyahu was "unfit to remain in office for even one more minute".
He also cancelled a meeting with Netanyahu's Likud party scheduled for Wednesday, with Yashar saying the premier "does not want unity" and accusing him of prioritising "his own political survival".

Confrontations over Arab-Israelis

President Isaac Herzog, who has tasked Eisenkot with forming a government, opened Tuesday's session by urging lawmakers to "do everything to avoid a repeat election".
"Reach out a hand for compromise, even between rivals," Herzog said.
But the tone in the new parliament was immediately tense, with shouting breaking out between lawmakers.
Eisenkot's choice for speaker is expected to sail through thanks to support from Arab-Israeli lawmakers, whose ranks grew to historic highs due to anger over Netanyahu's far-right government.
But Avigdor Liberman, a right-wing member of Eisenkot's bloc, has refused to serve in a government that relies on Arab-majority parties.
A number of Arab-Israeli lawmakers -- descendants of Palestinians who stayed after Israel's creation in 1948 -- left the opening session Tuesday during the national anthem so as to avoid standing for it.
Liberman posted news of the walkout on social media, writing: "You want to form a government with them?"
Far-right caretaker national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir loudly heckled Yousef Jabareen, leader of the Arab-majority Joint List, during the session.
"Who is he pledging allegiance to, Hamas?" Ben Gvir, a Netanyahu ally, shouted before order was restored.
Mansour Abbas, leader of the Arab-Israeli party Raam, generally seen as more moderate, promised to work to replace the Netanyahu government, saying: "We aspire to be part of the solution."

Plea for ultra-Orthodox

Shunning Arab-Israelis, Liberman has instead proposed an alliance with ultra-Orthodox Jews, despite his years of bitter denunciations of the community for its singular priority on maintaining an exemption from mandatory military service.
Eisenkot's core bloc has 48 seats, but would achieve a majority if the 19 Arab-Israeli lawmakers either enter the government or, more likely, vote for it without joining.
The two ultra-Orthodox parties hold 13 seats. United Torah Judaism, which has seven, has stopped short of recommitting to Netanyahu, leaving him with 46 seats.
Netanyahu publicly pleaded with the ultra-Orthodox to stay with him.
"They're going to promise you the moon and the stars but one minute after, God forbid, they form a government run by the left, all of those promises will vanish," he said.
yif-glp-sct/smw

Iran

After fridge hacks, home appliances could be next, warns EU cyber chief

  • "Today it was fridges, tomorrow it could be routers, the day after tomorrow it could be home appliances and so forth."
  • After recent attacks on supermarket fridges, home appliances could be next, the EU's cyber chief told AFP on Tuesday, as he urged Europe to invest more to counter growing cyber threats.
  • "Today it was fridges, tomorrow it could be routers, the day after tomorrow it could be home appliances and so forth."
After recent attacks on supermarket fridges, home appliances could be next, the EU's cyber chief told AFP on Tuesday, as he urged Europe to invest more to counter growing cyber threats.
Supermarkets in at least 12 European countries were hit by cyberattacks in October and November, with France the worst affected.
"Security should not and cannot be an afterthought," Juhan Lepassaar, executive director of the EU's cybersecurity agency ENISA, said.
"Today it was fridges, tomorrow it could be routers, the day after tomorrow it could be home appliances and so forth."
Lepassaar spoke to AFP in Brussels where he unveiled the Athens-based agency's latest biennial report on the state of the EU's cybersecurity.
"All incidents can be avoided, but the question is, are we ready to invest to make it happen? Cybersecurity is not cheap," he said, calling on manufacturers to make products that are secure "by design".
Cybersecurity is crucial, Lepassaar said, because "every single service that you are depending on as a citizen, as a human being, contains a layer whereby there is a digital element in it, a piece of code which if not protected can be hacked."
A worst-case scenario would mean losing services "you depend upon: the policemen arriving, the fire brigade arriving, the hospital functioning, the transport giving you a ride from point A to B."
"These are the things that we depend on to function well and 24-7," he explained. "And if they don't, we will have an immediate impact."
Hundreds of French supermarkets were hit in cyberattacks on October 11 and 12, which raised the temperatures in their refrigerators and freezers, forcing many to throw away entire inventories of perishable food.
France on Monday said it held Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responsible for the cyberattacks on supermarkets.
Lepassaar would not comment directly on France's accusation, but said Iranian and Russian "state-aligned actors" were known to target Europe.
He pointed to "a lot of collaboration" between them. 
"China, Iran, People's Republic of North Korea, there are a lot of state-aligned threat actors which do target European companies and European interests," Lepassaar said.
He welcomed EU cyber rules that will fully enter into force next year, and the bloc's plans to "double the size of ENISA and also its resources."
It would "never" be enough, he said, "but it is a first good step".
raz/ec/db

pope

Pope says age, ill health cannot 'extinguish' his zeal

BY MARTíN RASCHINSKY

  • At an earlier mass in the city, which drew 650,000 pilgrims, the pope called on the country's citizens to follow the example of a litany of Argentine saints.
  • Pope Leo XIV vowed not to let illness or old age affect his zeal Tuesday, urging Argentines to "go forth and be saints!"
  • At an earlier mass in the city, which drew 650,000 pilgrims, the pope called on the country's citizens to follow the example of a litany of Argentine saints.
Pope Leo XIV vowed not to let illness or old age affect his zeal Tuesday, urging Argentines to "go forth and be saints!" and warning the young not to obsess over looks, money or popularity.
The 71-year-old leader of the Catholic Church is on an ambitious 12-day Latin America tour less than a month after he underwent surgery for lung cancer.
"Neither age nor physical limitations can extinguish our zeal," he said in a rousing speech to Catholic clergy in the northern city of Cordoba.
"Our strength may run out, but God's power never will!" he said.
The US-born pope had refused to reschedule the trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, despite having the lower part of his right lung removed to extract a cancerous tumor. 
With apparently boundless energy, he returned to Buenos Aires Tuesday for a candlelit youth vigil that drew 1.3 million people and featured a show with tango dancers and Argentine singers.
Leo warned against being obsessed with looks or lying on social media to win popularity or approval from others.
"Idols arise and demand our worship: success at any cost, money, an obsession with appearance, popularity or the unrestrained pursuit of pleasure," he said.
They must "stand firm" in the face of pleasures "that ultimately enslave us, such as pornography" and drugs, he said.
The message hit home with a crowd that has largely grown up with social media.
Jose Morando, a 19-year-old architecture student, told AFP that there was a "great deal of obsession" with image, with people "criticized for their bodies."

'Make noise!'

The South America trip is being seen as a double homecoming of sorts -- taking Leo back to Peru, where he spent almost two decades as a missionary, and bringing him to Argentina, birthplace of his predecessor Francis.
Leo has repeatedly evoked Francis, who disappointed many by never returning home as pope.
In a speech to the clergy in Cordoba Tuesday, Leo said Argentine priests could honor their compatriot by continuing to "make noise" and creating vibrant communities of faith, as the number of Catholics wanes in Argentina.
Some 56 percent of Argentine adults identify as Catholic, according to the Pew Research Center, down from 71 percent just over a decade ago.
At an earlier mass in the city, which drew 650,000 pilgrims, the pope called on the country's citizens to follow the example of a litany of Argentine saints.
Throughout his three days in Argentina, the pontiff has frequently challenged the country's rightist leader Javier Milei to make the economy more inclusive and stop funding cuts that hurt the poor, elderly and those with disabilities.
In Argentina's saints, Leo said, there is "a unity between passion for the Gospel and commitment to building a fraternal and caring nation."

'No social justice'

Giant screens had broadcast images of the pope's arrival in Cordoba, sparking cheers from the crowd as his plane touched down.
The gathering reflected the broad appeal Leo has enjoyed in Argentina, extending beyond regular churchgoers.
Like many young Argentines, Joaquin Assad, 24, said he was drawn by the pope's recent comments about artificial intelligence.
"I've brought personal problems to ChatGPT," Assad said with a sheepish smile.
Others said they were encouraged by the pope's criticism of an economic model they believe has left many Argentines behind.
Laura Sosa, 49, who works on maintenance of Hercules aircraft at the state-owned aviation company Fadea, said workers there had endured delayed wage payments and periods of reduced activity.
"There are a lot of people on the streets and people eating out of the garbage because their subsidies were taken away," she said, describing what she sees as rising poverty in Cordoba.
Pensioner Carlos Rubio said he hoped Leo would continue speaking out on social issues.
"There is no social justice," Rubio said.
"I hope the pope's message on that is clear for our president."
On Wednesday, Leo will visit a prison in Buenos Aires and hold a final mass before heading to Peru for the final leg of his South America trip.
cb-sa-ide/pnb

military

US Republicans derail bid to impeach Pentagon chief

BY W.G. DUNLOP AND FRANKIE TAGGART

  • Hegseth earlier Tuesday dismissed the impeachment effort as a "farce" and defended his record leading the Iran war and other military operations under Trump.
  • Republicans in the US House of Representatives on Tuesday blocked an effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the Iran war, handing President Donald Trump a victory days after his party's crushing midterm election defeat.
  • Hegseth earlier Tuesday dismissed the impeachment effort as a "farce" and defended his record leading the Iran war and other military operations under Trump.
Republicans in the US House of Representatives on Tuesday blocked an effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the Iran war, handing President Donald Trump a victory days after his party's crushing midterm election defeat.
The House voted 211 to 204 to send the impeachment resolution to the Judiciary Committee, effectively derailing a planned vote Wednesday on whether to bring formal charges against the embattled Pentagon chief.
The resolution was introduced by Republican Thomas Massie, a Trump critic who was the only member of his party to oppose the procedural maneuver, according to US media.
The impeachment drive had threatened to deepen Trump's troubles after Democrats swept last week's midterms, with anger at the sputtering Iran war and soaring fuel prices helping drive voters to a historic rejection of Republicans.
Republicans still hold a narrow House majority until January, when Democrats take control of both chambers of Congress. And 11 Democrats missed the vote.
Trump hailed the procedural defeat as an "EXONERATION of a Great American Patriot," in a post on Truth Social, while Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, in a post on X, called the vote as a "TOTAL VICTORY!"
"We look forward to ending this sham impeachment in the committee room, where facts will continue to prevail and this distraction can be put to rest," Parnell added.
Hegseth earlier Tuesday dismissed the impeachment effort as a "farce" and defended his record leading the Iran war and other military operations under Trump.
"It's a farce, and it's a stunt, and everybody knows it," he said at a Pentagon press conference, branding the accusations "slander" and "sabotage."
Moments after Hegseth's televised appearance, Trump signaled his support.
"Pete Hegseth gets an 'A' PLUS, PLUS, PLUS," the 80-year-old president wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Vice President JD Vance also backed the defense secretary, saying he had "obviously not" committed impeachable offenses.

'Would do it again'

Massie's eight articles of impeachment accused Hegseth of illegally waging war without congressional authorization and abusing his powers as Pentagon chief.
Several related to the eight-month Iran war, accusing him of violating the War Powers Resolution, which places limits on US military interventions without congressional authorization.
Other allegations involved the 2025 conflict with Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis and strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, which Massie branded "extrajudicial killings."
He also accused Hegseth of suppressing free speech by trying to punish Democratic Senator Mark Kelly over a video urging military and intelligence personnel to refuse illegal orders.
Hegseth defended the operations in Yemen, Iran, Venezuela and against alleged drug smugglers, while seeking to equate the impeachment effort with an attack on US troops.
"I stand behind every one of these operations. I was proud to execute them, and I would do it again tomorrow," he said.
The decision to send the resolution to committee halts the immediate impeachment drive but does not prevent Democrats from reviving the effort after taking control of Congress in January.
Massie, who lost his Republican primary to a Trump-backed challenger, will leave Congress at the end of his term.
ft/pnb/des

army

Haiti PM hails Bukele after Salvadoran troops destroy gang HQ

  • "We destroyed the house of (gang leader) Lanmo San Jou and the 400 Mawozo gang's headquarters," Bukele wrote Tuesday on X, in Haitian Creole.
  • Haiti's prime minister praised Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Tuesday after his country's troops helped destroy the alleged home of a powerful Haitian gang leader.
  • "We destroyed the house of (gang leader) Lanmo San Jou and the 400 Mawozo gang's headquarters," Bukele wrote Tuesday on X, in Haitian Creole.
Haiti's prime minister praised Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Tuesday after his country's troops helped destroy the alleged home of a powerful Haitian gang leader.
The note of support from Alix Didier Fils-Aime, in a post on X, comes amid a deployment by Bukele of more than 2,000 soldiers into Haiti.
The move, which followed the disappearance of four Salvadoran soldiers, has raised concerns about the contingent's rules of engagement and coordination with other security forces, including the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF).
"We destroyed the house of (gang leader) Lanmo San Jou and the 400 Mawozo gang's headquarters," Bukele wrote Tuesday on X, in Haitian Creole.
The right-wing leader posted video of at least three helicopters circling overhead and firing on the two-story house in Croix-des-Bouquets, near the capital Port-au-Prince. People are seen fleeing the area.
The Miami Herald newspaper reported that the attack took place on Sunday and was conducted by a Haitian police task force backed by Salvadoran troops.
Twenty people died, it wrote on Monday, citing anonymous sources.
"I salute the commitment of the Salvadoran forces in the fight against gangs," File-Aime wrote in a post, accompanied by a screenshot from Bukele's video.
"Hats off to President Nayib Bukele...for your support and commitment to the national fight against gangs."
"Haiti, El Salvador, GSF: same fight, same determination!" he added.
The gang leader, whose real name is Wilson Joseph, was not in the house at the time of the attack, pro-government media in El Salvador reported.
The 400 Mawozo gang is known for kidnappings and extortion. In 2021, it abducted 16 US missionaries and a Canadian.

Promise 'fulfilled'

Sunday's attack came after a user on X, just days earlier, posted a photograph and  claimed it was the gang headquarters, urging Bukele to destroy it.
Bukele answered at the time: "where is this house? Give us the exact address and we will destroy it."
"We fulfilled our promise," Bukele wrote Tuesday. He is known for iron-fisted rule and little tolerance of dissent in El Salvador and likes to call himself the world's "coolest dictator."
Gang warfare and political chaos have long plagued Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas.
Bukele initially stated the deployment aimed at bringing home four Salvadoran GSF soldiers who went missing during an ambush attack on October 18.
But more recently, he has hinted at a broader goal of eliminating Haiti's powerful gangs, as he did in his own country with a campaign that has raised allegations of rights abuses.
Amnesty International on Monday urged both countries to ensure that all operations conducted by Salvadoran forces in Haiti comply with international human rights law.
Dominican President Luis Abinader, whose country neighbors Haiti, urged El Salvador and the GSF on Tuesday to "reach an agreement and coordinate" their actions.
He nonetheless offered strong backing to Bukele, telling reporters: "We support him in all matters of logistics and intelligence, and we will continue to support him for the work they are doing."
The thousands of Salvadoran troops flown into Haiti since last month have effectively doubled the contingent of foreign soldiers operating there.
The Caribbean island nation is set to hold elections in July and October next year, marking its first polls in more than a decade.
bur-des/sla

conflict

US calls for new Europe security at Russia-Ukraine talks

BY WITH OLA CICHOWLAS IN WARSAW

  • Zelensky said negotiators in Abu Dhabi were working on a "large-scale exchange of prisoners," adding that US officials would travel to Russia to discuss it further.
  • Washington called for a "new" security framework on the first day of US-led talks between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was "happy" with the changes in approach by US mediators.
  • Zelensky said negotiators in Abu Dhabi were working on a "large-scale exchange of prisoners," adding that US officials would travel to Russia to discuss it further.
Washington called for a "new" security framework on the first day of US-led talks between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was "happy" with the changes in approach by US mediators.
US leader Donald Trump's envoys -- his son-in-law Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff -- brought together the warring sides for several hours of negotiations that are set to continue Wednesday.
Kushner told delegates the United States had "narrowed the gaps" between the sides -- without providing details -- and hoped to move towards a "solution" to Europe's worst conflict since World War II.
In Paris, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hailed the talks as "very productive" and called for Europeans to be eventually included at the negotiating table "because they are part of solving this problem".
Ukraine's Zelensky later said the talks were "constructive and quite substantive", saying his team reported to him that humanitarian issues and security guarantees were among the topics discussed.
Speaking in Copenhagen, the Ukrainian president also said it was "time" for Europe to choose a representative for the talks.
Zelensky said negotiators in Abu Dhabi were working on a "large-scale exchange of prisoners," adding that US officials would travel to Russia to discuss it further.

'I see changes'

Asked about changes in the approach to peace talks by Kushner and Witkoff, Zelensky said: "I see changes. I'm very happy with what I hear."
Europe has been rattled as Trump has floated a deal with Russia on rewriting Europe's post-war security, also worrying that Washington will force Kyiv to accept a de facto defeat.
Kushner said the United States hoped to "create a new framework" of security between Ukraine, Russia and Europe that will secure "decades, if not centuries, of peace".
Moscow, which several weeks before invading Ukraine issued an ultimatum to Western countries to roll back troops from eastern Europe, had also said this was a priority.
Ukraine has warned against a "Yalta 2.0", referring to Western leaders dividing Europe with the Soviet Union after World War II, and the EU has said security arrangements can only be discussed after a ceasefire. 
"Putin wants the USSR back," Zelensky told Danish media.
Russia, which occupies swathes of its smaller neighbour, pummelled Ukraine with more attacks overnight, cutting power to thousands as temperatures plummet.  
Putin has repeatedly turned down broader ceasefire offers and vowed his troops will press on in Ukraine.

Moscow pushes security review

  
In a sign it is serious about reviving its demand to review Europe's decades-old security arrangement, Russia included a diplomat -- Sergei Ryabkov -- who logged Moscow's pre-invasion demand for NATO to pull back from eastern Europe.  
A Russian delegation source had said that settling the war was "merely one item on the agenda," and that Moscow's main objective was reviewing security "for the entire continent".  
Kyiv's chief negotiator Rustem Umerov met the US envoys and European, EU and NATO officials before the negotiations. 
The top US and NATO general in Europe, Alexus Grynkewich, is also taking part.
In a joint statement, the Europeans, Ukraine, United States and NATO reaffirmed their "shared commitment to a strong post-war European security architecture".  

Ukraine pushes for truces

Umerov said Kyiv's priorities remained securing a ceasefire and security guarantees. "Our people are waiting to end this war," he said. 
As talks continued, Ukrainian and French foreign ministers in Paris commended US efforts to push for "partial truces", which could serve as a "first step toward a complete and unconditional ceasefire".
Last month, a local truce in Ukraine's Kherson region brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump became the longest pause in fighting during the war. 
Kyiv is also pushing post-war support for its army. 
A senior Ukrainian source told AFP Ukraine wanted at least 10 years of financial support to sustain an 800,000-strong army able to defend any future Russian attack.

Land issue

There is huge distrust in Ukraine towards Trump's aims. 
The US leader hinted before the talks that Kyiv might have to give up land, saying: "They're going to end up with a little bit different shape."
Russia's troops have ground westwards but have not been able to seize the whole of the coveted Donetsk region, and Moscow demands Kyiv surrender the parts of the embattled area it controls. 
"Allowing Russia to decide the borders of Europe will be a huge mistake," Denmark's Mette Frederiksen said, as she hosted Zelensky Tuesday. 
Russia continues to pound Ukraine and its energy network, raising fears of another winter without heating, running water or electricity for millions of Ukrainians. 
On Tuesday, Russian strikes killed four people in Ukraine, according to local authorities.
burs-ach/des

Iran

US charges three 'Iranian operatives' over UK airbase plot

  • The latest indictment adds his apparent role in the RAF Fairford incident, as well as the alleged involvement of Al-Hassani and Mohajeri.
  • The US Justice Department on Tuesday announced charges against three men it described as "Iranian operatives," including one already in jail, over their role in an alleged terrorist plot at Britain's RAF Fairford airbase.
  • The latest indictment adds his apparent role in the RAF Fairford incident, as well as the alleged involvement of Al-Hassani and Mohajeri.
The US Justice Department on Tuesday announced charges against three men it described as "Iranian operatives," including one already in jail, over their role in an alleged terrorist plot at Britain's RAF Fairford airbase.
Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, Mohsen Mohajeri and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani allegedly helped plan and direct the September incident at the base, which has been used by the US military in its operations against Iran.
Police were called to the Fairford site in southwest England after a local farmer reported seeing a group of men with several white vans engaged in "suspicious" activity.
A US charging document states that Al-Hassani, a 35-year-old Iraqi national, directed unnamed individuals to drive to the base in the vans, some of which contained barrels of fuel.
It claims that he earlier paid the group to buy metallic objects that could be used as shrapnel, and to disguise the vehicles as being engaged in fuel delivery services. 
Al-Saadi, 32, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national already jailed in New York on terrorism charges, allegedly passed coded messages to Al-Hassani and Mohajeri, 48, an Iranian national, to coordinate ahead of the plot.
Days after the incident, the United States withdrew all its B-1 bombers from the base.
"Anyone who plans a terrorist plot on a military base housing American servicemembers will be prosecuted by the United States government," Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement Tuesday.
The trio were charged in an eight-count indictment that alleges their involvement in several other plots in support of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and pro-Iranian group Kataeb Hezbollah.

Terrorist attacks

US authorities first detailed charges in May against Al-Saadi, accusing him of directing and urging others to attack US and Israeli interests, and to kill Americans and Jews, in retaliation for the US-Israeli war against Iran.
He and associates were said to have planned, coordinated and claimed responsibility for at least 18 terrorist attacks in Europe, and two in Canada.
Examples included the non-fatal stabbing of two Jewish men in London in April, as well as several arson attacks on synagogues, Israeli businesses and Jewish schools in Amsterdam, Munich and elsewhere.
Al-Saadi has been in US custody since May.
The latest indictment adds his apparent role in the RAF Fairford incident, as well as the alleged involvement of Al-Hassani and Mohajeri. Prosecutors did not disclose their whereabouts.
The three men are charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorist groups Kataeb Hezbollah and the IRGC, conspiring and providing material support for acts of terrorism, and conspiring to bomb a place of public use.
Al-Saadi is additionally charged with attempted acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, and attempted destruction of property by means of fire or explosive.
UK police last month charged two British men with national security offenses related to the RAF Fairford incident. 
One was charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service, believed to be in Iran, and another with entering a prohibited place for a purpose "prejudicial" to the UK.
Flight-tracking data showed on Tuesday that the US military had removed at least a dozen aircraft from a second British airbase, RAF Mildenhall, following what the Wall Street Journal said was a threat from Iran. 
bjt-rh/des

army

Bukele says Salvadoran troops destroyed gang HQ in Haiti

  • Bukele has deployed more than 2,000 soldiers to Haiti since late October, after four Salvadoran troops went missing in the country.
  • President Nayib Bukele said Tuesday that Salvadoran troops deployed to Haiti had destroyed the headquarters of one of the Caribbean nation's most powerful gangs.
  • Bukele has deployed more than 2,000 soldiers to Haiti since late October, after four Salvadoran troops went missing in the country.
President Nayib Bukele said Tuesday that Salvadoran troops deployed to Haiti had destroyed the headquarters of one of the Caribbean nation's most powerful gangs.
Bukele has deployed more than 2,000 soldiers to Haiti since late October, after four Salvadoran troops went missing in the country.
"We destroyed the house of (gang leader) Lanmo San Jou and the 400 Mawozo gang's headquarters," he wrote on X in the Haitian Creole language.
The right-wing leader posted video of at least three helicopters circling overhead and firing on the two-story house in Croix-des-Bouquets, near the capital Port-au-Prince. People are seen fleeing the area.
The Miami Herald newspaper reported that the attack took place on Sunday and was conducted by a Haitian police task force backed by Salvadoran troops.
Twenty people died, it wrote on Monday, citing anonymous sources.
The gang leader, whose real name is Wilson Joseph, was not in the house at the time of the attack, pro-government media in El Salvador reported.
The attack came after a user on X posted a photograph on November 5 of what the user said was the gang headquarters and asked Bukele to destroy it.
Bukele answered at the time: "where is this house? Give us the exact address and we will destroy it."
"We fulfilled our promise," Bukele wrote Tuesday. He is known for iron-fisted rule and little tolerance of dissent in El Salvador and likes to call himself the world's "coolest dictator."
Gang warfare and political chaos have long plagued Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas.
The gang run by Joseph is known for kidnappings and extortion. In 2021, it abducted 16 US missionaries and a Canadian.
The vast majority of recently deployed Salvadoran soldiers are not participating in a UN-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF) deployed to Haiti, raising concerns about their rules of engagement.
Bukele initially stated the deployment aimed at bringing home four Salvadoran GSF soldiers who went missing during an ambush attack on October 18.
But more recently, he has hinted at a broader goal of eliminating Haiti's powerful gangs, as he did in his own country with a campaign that has raised allegations of rights abuses.
Amnesty International on Monday urged both countries to ensure that all operations conducted by Salvadoran forces in Haiti comply with international human rights law.
The thousands of Salvadoran troops flown into Haiti since last month have effectively doubled the contingent of foreign soldiers operating there.
The Caribbean island nation is set to hold elections in July and October next year, marking its first polls in more than a decade.
mp/hma/cc/pnb/dw/des

US

Rubio says 'no need' to attack Iran as diplomacy gathers pace

  • "We must see an all-out diplomatic effort to end this conflict, prevent a nuclear Iran and the threats it poses around the world, and get the Strait of Hormuz properly reopened." 
  • Top US diplomat Marco Rubio said Tuesday that he saw no need to attack Iran again, as diplomatic efforts to end the war gathered steam and Tehran urged Washington to accept its demands for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
  • "We must see an all-out diplomatic effort to end this conflict, prevent a nuclear Iran and the threats it poses around the world, and get the Strait of Hormuz properly reopened." 
Top US diplomat Marco Rubio said Tuesday that he saw no need to attack Iran again, as diplomatic efforts to end the war gathered steam and Tehran urged Washington to accept its demands for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Hours after President Donald Trump said he saw "positive momentum" towards resolving the eight-month war, Rubio said the United States' squeezing of Iran's economy made further attacks unnecessary.
"The economic campaign (against Iran) is so devastating that right now there is no need for major combat operations," the secretary of state said after a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Paris. "That's what I told our allies here today."
Iran's efforts to blockade Hormuz, the major exit route for Gulf energy shipments, have sent oil prices soaring -- a major factor in the humbling of Trump's Republicans in last week's midterm elections.
Washington has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports and in August announced what it called an "economic asphyxiation" campaign aimed at financially strangling Iran, already battered by years of sanctions.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband called for greater efforts to end the conflict, while warning of the economic damage of an ongoing impasse.
"We need to move beyond the 'no war, no peace' stalemate, which is causing deep economic pain for our countries," he said in Paris.
"We must see an all-out diplomatic effort to end this conflict, prevent a nuclear Iran and the threats it poses around the world, and get the Strait of Hormuz properly reopened." 
Washington has appeared to taper down its threats of renewed strikes after the Republicans' defeat, and even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- who launched the war alongside Trump and recently lobbied to "forever eliminate the existential threat of Iran" -- appeared to recognise the shifting diplomatic reality.
"In the very near future, we're going to be confronted by international pressure to accept a nuclear-armed Iran and the preservation of this terror regime that seeks to annihilate us," he said on Tuesday.
 

'Address Iran's demands'

 
Tehran said its offer to reopen Hormuz within two days -- if Washington agreed to a raft of conditions -- remained on the table.
Iran's demands have included ending the war on all fronts, unfreezing its assets, lifting oil sanctions and ending the US blockade of its ports.
"The conflict with Iran will not be resolved through military means, nor by intensifying sanctions," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the IRNA news agency. 
"The only solution is to adopt a language of respect, engage in diplomacy, and address Iran's demands and conditions -- which were outlined in the two-day proposal and remain on the table."
Meanwhile, vessels continue to come under attack in and around the strait.
The Emirati state oil company ADNOC said on Tuesday that one of its vessels had "sustained damage following an attack in the UAE's territorial waters", while the British maritime agency UKMTO reported a tanker was "struck by an unknown projectile" off the Omani coast.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that three oil tankers were on fire in the Strait of Hormuz, though it was unclear whether they were referring to the same ships.
 

US 'more flexible' after midterms

 
On Monday, after meeting Qatar's prime minister at the White House, Trump said that the US was "locked and loaded", but further strikes were "quite unlikely" given that key US allies in the Gulf "would prefer the status quo".
"We are seeing positive momentum toward an end to this Conflict, and will ensure that America's interests are at all times protected," he wrote on social media.
Qatar and Pakistan are leading diplomatic efforts to resolve the war, which began with US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in late February.
Qatari foreign ministry official Ibrahim al-Hashmi confirmed there had been progress in the negotiations.
"The mediator is making a persistent and earnest effort to bridge the gaps between the parties' positions," he told a regular briefing, adding: "We remain hopeful."
Iranian political analyst Ali Bigdeli said the outcome of the US elections appeared to have "somewhat reduced Iran's flexibility, whereas the Americans have become more flexible".
He noted that the Iranian terms were "demanding and heavy for the United States to accept" but added that "engaging in direct talks" could bear results.
Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezaei urged Washington to "surrender" to the Iranian demands.
"The war on Iran has already wrecked the US government. But Washington flails like a desperate gambler. FOLD YOUR HAND," he posted on X.
pdm-mz/smw/dcp

justice

US lawmakers urge new Epstein investigations in damning report

  • Epstein received an 18-month jail sentence but served only 13 months, enjoying extensive work-release privileges during which he continued abusing women, according to the report.
  • US lawmakers called Tuesday for further criminal investigations into associates of notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in a scathing report blaming prosecutors, financial institutions and powerful connections for allowing his abuse to continue for years.
  • Epstein received an 18-month jail sentence but served only 13 months, enjoying extensive work-release privileges during which he continued abusing women, according to the report.
US lawmakers called Tuesday for further criminal investigations into associates of notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in a scathing report blaming prosecutors, financial institutions and powerful connections for allowing his abuse to continue for years.
The Epstein saga has dogged President Donald Trump, who was friends with the financier for years but has denied any knowledge of his crimes. Accusations that Trump covered up much of the investigation triggered the first major rift with the president's support base after he returned to the White House.
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee urged the Justice Department to interview or reinterview key witnesses and pursue allegations against two prominent men who associated with the disgraced financier.
Former Miami Beach mayor Philip Levine and French celebrity hairstylist Frederic Fekkai both deny allegations of sexual assault -- referred to federal prosecutors by the committee in June -- from Epstein's longtime assistant Sarah Kellen.
The report also called for further questioning of another longtime Epstein assistant, Lesley Groff, over her possible knowledge of his crimes.
Groff maintained she had never suspected Epstein of sexually abusing women and girls -- testimony the Republican investigators described as not credible.
The recommendations emerged from a 15-month congressional investigation involving testimony from prominent figures in Epstein's financial and social circle and an extensive examination of government and banking records.
"Epstein operated with impunity, shielded and enabled by powerful connections and a justice system that repeatedly failed his victims," committee chairman James Comer said.
The report concluded that Epstein's crimes after 2005 could have been prevented had federal investigators and prosecutors pursued the original allegations against him more aggressively.
Instead, prosecutors in Florida reached a controversial agreement in 2007 allowing him to escape federal charges in exchange for pleading guilty to lesser state offenses.
Epstein received an 18-month jail sentence but served only 13 months, enjoying extensive work-release privileges during which he continued abusing women, according to the report.
The investigation also accused financial institutions of overlooking suspicious transactions and warning signs of human trafficking, singling out American Express.
Lawmakers urged the Treasury Department to examine whether banks were properly reporting suspicious activity linked to trafficking and money laundering.
The report also criticized the Justice Department for exposing survivors' private information during releases of Epstein files.
The Republican investigators said they had uncovered no evidence implicating Trump in Epstein's crimes and accused Democrats of politicizing the inquiry.
But the committee's top Democrat, Robert Garcia, dismissed the findings as the product of an incomplete investigation that included no public hearings, accusing the Justice Department of illegally withholding "over 2.5 million pages of documents."
Democrats, who seized control of Congress in last week's midterm elections, have vowed to continue investigating Epstein's network when they assume their new powers in January.
Epstein died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. His accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
ft/pnb

religion

Controversial French writer Houellebecq probed over comments on Muslims

  • "Freedom of expression is fundamental, but it cannot justify everything," Najwa El Haite, a lawyer for the Union of Mosques of France, told AFP. "When it is established, incitement to hatred does not fall within the realm of intellectual debate.
  • Controversial French writer Michel Houellebecq was placed under formal investigation on Tuesday on suspicion of complicity in incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence, a source close to the case told AFP. Houellebecq, 70, is arguably France's most famous writer internationally, but has grown increasingly controversial as his pessimistic views on the decline of Western civilisation are seen as aligning with the ascendant far-right. 
  • "Freedom of expression is fundamental, but it cannot justify everything," Najwa El Haite, a lawyer for the Union of Mosques of France, told AFP. "When it is established, incitement to hatred does not fall within the realm of intellectual debate.
Controversial French writer Michel Houellebecq was placed under formal investigation on Tuesday on suspicion of complicity in incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence, a source close to the case told AFP.
Houellebecq, 70, is arguably France's most famous writer internationally, but has grown increasingly controversial as his pessimistic views on the decline of Western civilisation are seen as aligning with the ascendant far-right. 
The investigation concerns comments about Muslims published in 2022 in Front Populaire magazine.
In the interview with philosopher Michel Onfray, the author of "Submission" described Muslims as a threat to the security of French people.
"What the native French population, as they say, wants is not for Muslims to assimilate but for them to stop stealing from and attacking them," Houellebecq said. "Or, alternatively, that they leave."
He also warned of future "Bataclans in reverse" targeting Muslims, a reference to the jihadist attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015.
In 2023, the Union of Mosques of France (UMF) filed a complaint against Houellebecq, Onfray and Front Populaire director Stephane Simon.
In a statement to AFP, the writer's lawyers said Houellebecq's statements contained no element of incitement.
"A prophet of doom does not wish for misfortune to occur, quite the contrary. His place is not in a courtroom," Thibault de Montbrial and Louis Cailliez said.
“Michel Houellebecq can only regret the growing tendency to litigate intellectual debate."
In his memoir "A Few Months in My Life: October 2022-March 2023", Houellebecq described his remarks as clumsy, saying he had been the victim of his own stupidity or naivety, as well as of the greed of those who sought to exploit his notoriety.
"Freedom of expression is fundamental, but it cannot justify everything," Najwa El Haite, a lawyer for the Union of Mosques of France, told AFP.
"When it is established, incitement to hatred does not fall within the realm of intellectual debate. It is now for the courts to assess the matter, while respecting the presumption of innocence."
The Grand Mosque of Paris had also considered legal action against Houellebecq, but later decided not to pursue it after meeting him. 
Houellebecq made his name dissecting touchy subjects -- including sex, race and religion -- with dark irony and clinical detachment. 
dho-as/pdw

road

Bulgaria motorway pileup kills 11, injures dozens

BY DOROTEYA DACHKOVA

  • The motorway section should have been closed early Tuesday, Bogdan Milchev, chairman of the Road Safety Institute NGO, told public radio station BNR, blaming the government.
  • Eleven people died and dozens were injured on Tuesday in a mass pileup in thick fog on a motorway in southeastern Bulgaria, whose roads rank as the most dangerous in the EU. Crashes snared around 50 cars and trucks heading in both directions of the highway linking the capital Sofia to the Black Sea city of Burgas, regional governor Georgi Chalakov told the BTA state news agency.
  • The motorway section should have been closed early Tuesday, Bogdan Milchev, chairman of the Road Safety Institute NGO, told public radio station BNR, blaming the government.
Eleven people died and dozens were injured on Tuesday in a mass pileup in thick fog on a motorway in southeastern Bulgaria, whose roads rank as the most dangerous in the EU.
Crashes snared around 50 cars and trucks heading in both directions of the highway linking the capital Sofia to the Black Sea city of Burgas, regional governor Georgi Chalakov told the BTA state news agency.
Images showed overturned and smashed cars and trucks mangled together, as well as burnt-out vehicles, at the scene of the accident near the city of Yambol.
Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said in a statement that a sudden change in weather conditions was the main reason for the pileup.
Visibility was around 70-80 metres (230-260 feet) immediately before the incident, but dropped to approximately 10 metres within a short period, according to information available to the ministry.
"We are actively working on equipping the toll system gantries with display screens to warn drivers," he said.
The motorway section should have been closed early Tuesday, Bogdan Milchev, chairman of the Road Safety Institute NGO, told public radio station BNR, blaming the government.
Ten people died at the scene, while another person died after being admitted to hospital, the health ministry said in a statement, revising an earlier statement that had said 11 people died at the scene.
In total, 51 people were admitted to hospitals in nearby cities, with 13 of them critically injured, it added.
 

National mourning

 
The government dispatched two aircraft equipped with stretchers and medical teams, as government officials rushed to the scene, while Prime Minister Rumen Radev cancelled his appointments for later Tuesday.
The government wants Wednesday to be a day of national mourning, while President Iliana Iotova, rushing back from abroad, also expressed her condolences.
Bulgaria saw 71 road fatalities per million inhabitants in 2025, the highest rate in the European Union, according to European Commission figures.
Victims blame the Balkan nation's high number of traffic deaths on reckless driving, poorly maintained roads and an inefficient justice system.
Romanian Foreign Minister Dan Neculaescu said one Romanian was among the injured and expressed "deepest condolences" to the victims and their families in a post on X.
European Council chief Antonio Costa also said on X he was "deeply saddened to learn of the tragic traffic accident in Bulgaria this morning".
 

Stricter penalties

 
A total of 456 people were killed in road traffic accidents in Bulgaria in 2025 -- down five percent from the previous year and 27 percent lower than in 2019.
In 2019, the EU introduced a target to reduce road deaths and serious injuries by 50 percent by 2030.
A European Commission report in October said that although the EU remains "one of the world's safest regions for road travel", the majority of member states were not yet on track to meet the safety target.
The report said that just five of the EU's 27 countries -- including Bulgaria -- were on track to meet the target.
In 2023, Bulgaria's parliament adopted stricter penalties for anyone found to be driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
The cars of accused drivers are now impounded until the trial, even when the suspects have no previous criminal record.
Bulgaria's busy road traffic due to its position as a gateway to the EU is one of the main factors behind the high accident rate, according to experts.
But Bulgaria's status as the EU's poorest member state also plays a role, with around half of the cars registered being more than 20 years old. 
bur-jza/pdw

conflict

Zelensky holds air defence, energy security talks with Nordic leaders

  • The Ukrainian president met the Danish government, which has announced a 4.8-billion-kroner ($720-million) donation in military aid to Ukraine.
  • Denmark on Tuesday hosted security talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Nordic leaders, as Copenhagen announced it was donating $720 million in military aid.
  • The Ukrainian president met the Danish government, which has announced a 4.8-billion-kroner ($720-million) donation in military aid to Ukraine.
Denmark on Tuesday hosted security talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Nordic leaders, as Copenhagen announced it was donating $720 million in military aid.
The meeting with Nordic leaders takes place as Ukrainian and Russian representatives met for US-mediated peace talks in the UAE.
"This is a very special moment. We have negotiations going on right now in Abu Dhabi," Zelensky said during a talk with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen at the University of Copenhagen.
Zelensky said that he had been briefed by his team and that the parties had discussed humanitarian issues and security guarantees during the first day of US-mediated direct negotiations with Russia.
"One priority is humanitarian, how to get back our people," Zelensky said, explaining this concerned both civilians, including children, taken to Russia as well as prisoners of war.
The Ukrainian president met the Danish government, which has announced a 4.8-billion-kroner ($720-million) donation in military aid to Ukraine.
Another 150 million kroner would be donated to Ukraine's energy sector.
After a lecture for students at the University of Copenhagen, he and Frederiksen were due to meet Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and their Finnish counterpart Petteri Orpo.
The Nordic countries are key supporters of Ukraine and Zelensky travelled to Oslo at the end of October to meet American envoys.
After that meeting, Store and Finnish President Alexander Stubb had a 90-minute phone call with Russia's President Vladimir Putin, which Frederiksen slammed and said had not been coordinated with Nordic neighbours.
Stubb said the talk with Putin had been "frank and substantive".
"Almost five years after the full-scale invasion, the rain of bombs targeting civilians, relief centres, and water and heating plants continues. That is why we must stand firm," Frederiksen said in a statement Tuesday.
There was a large police presence outside the Danish prime minister's office in Copenhagen and helicopters circled overhead, according to an AFP correspondent.
Police in the city also announced that they would increase security for coming days, including a ban on the use of drones over the capital until November 12.
cbw/jll/phz

AI

Anthropic targets valuation of up to $1.4 trillion

  • Even at the top of its price range, the offering would fall short of the record set by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which raised $86 billion in its June IPO at a valuation of $1.77 trillion.
  • Anthropic plans to raise up to $64 billion in its upcoming initial public offering, the artificial intelligence giant said in a filing Tuesday, in a listing that could value the company at up to $1.4 trillion.
  • Even at the top of its price range, the offering would fall short of the record set by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which raised $86 billion in its June IPO at a valuation of $1.77 trillion.
Anthropic plans to raise up to $64 billion in its upcoming initial public offering, the artificial intelligence giant said in a filing Tuesday, in a listing that could value the company at up to $1.4 trillion.
The stock market debut will be the first by one of the leading AI model developers and is being seen as a gauge of how long the AI spending boom lifting the US economy can last.
The maker of the Claude AI models said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it aims to sell 825 million shares at between $70 and $78 each. The shares will trade under the ticker "ANT."
Seven tech companies including Google, Nvidia, AMD and Microsoft have also agreed to buy $26 billion of non-voting shares at the IPO price in a separate private placement, the filing showed. 
The companies are investors in Anthropic or major suppliers of its computing power.
Anthropic had been expected to raise up to $100 billion, which would have made it the largest IPO on record.
Even at the top of its price range, the offering would fall short of the record set by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which raised $86 billion in its June IPO at a valuation of $1.77 trillion.
Anthropic has been aiming to go public the week of November 16, and reports said its shares would begin trading on November 19.
Anthropic's listing is "just another chapter" in investors' worries over the cost of the AI buildout and how it gets financed, Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth Management, told AFP.
"But at the end of the day, I think there are three massive companies that investors have wanted to be part of for the last three years and that’s SpaceX for sure, Anthropic is next, and perhaps next year OpenAI," he said.
The listing comes as Wall Street digests the results of the US midterm elections, in which Democrats, who are more wary of AI, won control of both chambers of Congress and have vowed to put the brakes on President Donald Trump's agenda.
The slide has brought volatility to shares of companies linked to the AI boom, with AI chip-maker Nvidia particularly in focus after chief executive Jensen Huang was caught up in a spy scandal.

'Catastrophic risks'

The company’s revenue reached $17 billion in the third quarter, up from $1.4 billion a year earlier, according to the filing.
Its annualized run-rate revenue was about $81 billion as of October 31, up $10 billion from the end of September, the company said. This figure describes how much the company expects in a year based on current revenue.
Estimates in recent months had put Anthropic’s valuation as high as $2 trillion, but they have slipped along with a slide in AI stocks on Wall Street. 
Anthropic's IPO filing devotes extensive space to the technology’s risks, including concerns that advanced AI systems "could pose catastrophic or existential risks to society if not developed and deployed responsibly."
The company also warns that its public positions on AI regulation and safety could expose it to “political backlash, or disproportionate regulatory action.”
This referred to feuds with the Trump White House. The Pentagon has labeled Anthropic a national security risk after the company refused to lift restrictions on military use of its technology.
Its stratospheric costs have also been underlined, with Anthropic committing hundreds of billions of dollars to computing capacity. It warned that it must make many of those payments even if demand falls short.
Under the governance structure laid out in the filings, the seven co-founders, led by chief executive Dario Amodei and his sister, president Daniela Amodei, will keep just over half of shareholder votes after the listing, so outside investors cannot outvote them.
mlm-arp/sms

Europe

France vows tough response to freezer cyberattack blamed on Iran

  • Iran's foreign ministry rejected the accusations as "baseless", adding that it "strongly condemns this hackneyed policy of levelling accusations against the Islamic republic".
  • France's foreign minister said Tuesday that Paris ruled out "nothing" to respond to a major cyberattack on hundreds of supermarket fridges in October that it has blamed on Iran, accusations Tehran rejected as "baseless". 
  • Iran's foreign ministry rejected the accusations as "baseless", adding that it "strongly condemns this hackneyed policy of levelling accusations against the Islamic republic".
France's foreign minister said Tuesday that Paris ruled out "nothing" to respond to a major cyberattack on hundreds of supermarket fridges in October that it has blamed on Iran, accusations Tehran rejected as "baseless". 
Hundreds of French supermarkets were hit in the October 11 and 12 cyberattacks, which raised the temperatures in their refrigerators and freezers, forcing many to throw away entire inventories of perishable food.
Similar incidents were then reported in at least 11 other European countries in early November.
Along with summoning Iran's ambassador and seeking European-level sanctions, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said France would "rule nothing out and will take all measures -- including those we may not disclose publicly -- that we deem proportionate and necessary to deter any further attacks". 
The goal, Barrot told Franceinfo TV, is "to deter anyone who might be tempted, in Iran or elsewhere, to do it again".
Barrot announced on Monday that France held Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responsible for the cyberattacks on supermarkets, the first such large-scale cyber sabotage on French territory. 
"This attack is unprecedented in both its scale and its level of aggression," Barrot said on the sidelines of a G7 foreign ministers' meeting in Paris. 
Iran's foreign ministry rejected the accusations as "baseless", adding that it "strongly condemns this hackneyed policy of levelling accusations against the Islamic republic".
Iran's ambassador was received on Tuesday by the French foreign ministry's secretary-general, the ministry said.
The European Union said Tuesday it would look to provide a "swift and united response" pending discussion with member states after France's announcement. 
"As the EU, we have consistently called on all states to refrain from malicious behaviour in the cyber space, and we will continue to address such malicious behaviour, making use of all the tools that we have, also under the EU cyber diplomacy toolbox, including sanctions," said spokesman Anouar El Anouni. 
 

'Offensive cyber unit'

 
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said Monday she had opened an investigation into Shahid Kaveh, a shadowy cyber unit of the IRGC, the Islamic republic's ideological army, over the attacks. 
The prosecutor's office has requested international arrest warrants for two Shahid Kaveh officials. 
Beccuau described the entity as "an offensive cyber unit affiliated with the Electronic and Cyber Centre of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC-CEC)".
France's Centre for Coordination of Cyber Crises, which groups security agencies including the intelligence services, said the unit "conducts large-scale campaigns targeting industrial equipment for the purpose of sabotage, directed primarily against Israel and the United States, but also against France and other European countries".
The United States and Israel launched a war with Iran that began with the killing of supreme leader Ali Khamenei on February 28.
European countries did not get involved in that conflict, but French officials have accused Iran of spreading misinformation related to the protests that have rocked France over the past month. 
In the cyberattacks in France, which targeted 700 sites, the attackers took over cooling systems using web interfaces to "initiate abnormal, indefinite defrost cycles" and disable alerts from sensors designed to go off when temperatures exceeded a certain threshold, Beccuau said. 
Sweden's Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin on Tuesday warned that more cyberattacks could be expected in the coming months, as AI tools have made it easier to detect vulnerabilities. 
Bohlin also told reporters that while Swedish grocery stores had also seen their refrigeration systems targeted last week it was not yet possible to say if there was a connection to the attacks in France, noting the sabotage would have "been easy to copy".
burs-sw/ah/pdw

royals

Meghan keeps low profile on first trip after father's arrest

BY RAZIYE AKKOC

  • Meghan's father Thomas Markle was arrested in Florida Friday and charged with one count of possession of child sexual abuse material -- and she did not reply to a shouted question seeking a comment.
  • Meghan Markle appeared in public for the first time Tuesday since her estranged father was charged for alleged possession of child sexual abuse images -- keeping a low profile as she visited Brussels with her husband Prince Harry.
  • Meghan's father Thomas Markle was arrested in Florida Friday and charged with one count of possession of child sexual abuse material -- and she did not reply to a shouted question seeking a comment.
Meghan Markle appeared in public for the first time Tuesday since her estranged father was charged for alleged possession of child sexual abuse images -- keeping a low profile as she visited Brussels with her husband Prince Harry.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were greeted by a cluster of photographers on arrival at the EU parliament for an event about the dangers children face online.
Meghan's father Thomas Markle was arrested in Florida Friday and charged with one count of possession of child sexual abuse material -- and she did not reply to a shouted question seeking a comment.
The couple had been due to give a joint speech, but only Harry spoke at the opening of an installation honouring 50 children who died because of online abuse and exploitation, dubbed the "Lost Screen Memorial".
Meghan was photographed in conversation with one mother whose teenage son committed suicide in 2017 after a nude image of him was posted online.
But she was not in the room when Harry then took part in an event with activists, during which he lambasted Big Tech for refusing to make changes to protect children.
An unnamed source told the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper that Meghan is "just not strong enough emotionally to be doing any public speaking" following her father's arrest.
The couple projected calm when they arrived on Tuesday morning.
Dressed in all black with a small poppy pin -- the symbol of remembrance for soldiers who died in battle -- Meghan held tightly on to Harry's hand. The duke was dressed in a sombre dark blue suit, also with a poppy and dark-coloured tie.
Meghan appeared smiling next to Harry as she met European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and Spanish EU lawmaker Antonio Lopez-Isturiz.
The visit also marked the couple's first appearance together at a public event abroad, since returning to live in Britain following six years in the United States.
 

'Disturbing' allegations

 
Meghan's 82-year-old father was taken into custody by FBI agents Friday at the retirement home where he lives in Lakeland, Florida and has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric examination.
The US Justice Department said Markle allegedly "kept child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including sexually explicit photographs of himself with prepubescent girls, in two Los Angeles-area storage units he rented for nearly two decades".
Markle could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
British tabloids reported last month that pictures of child sex abuse had been found at Thomas Markle's former home in the Philippines, allegations later confirmed by police but denied by the duchess's father.
Meghan released a statement saying she was "deeply distressed" by the accusations, adding that she had blocked contact between him and her children Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, over previous "troubling and disturbing" allegations.
 

Harry praises EU

 
Taking part in a panel discussion with senior EU official Dubravka Suica and Lopez-Isturiz about the need to protect children online, Harry repeated the couple's commitment to the cause since 2020, to big applause.
"It became very clear that this problem wasn't going away, that more children were taking their lives or being harmed forever, more parents were suffering, and the companies at the heart of it refused to make any changes," he said.
Harry slammed "a handful of very powerful people who would like to see the world as a social media world: lawless".
And he praised the European Union's efforts to take on Big Tech including a plan to ban children under 13 from social media, and permit only limited, supervised access until age 15 under rules known as the EU Kids Act.
The law, expected to be formally agreed next year, will also force social media companies to make platforms safe before children use them.
"The unified approach, starting with turning the burden of proof on them rather than on parents, is the best place to begin," Harry said.
Meghan and Harry quit royal duties in early 2020, but still carry out similar activities in a private capacity.
pdh-raz/ec/sbk

internet

China touts tech, AI cred at world Web Summit

  • Its boss Jensen Huang has acknowledged an affair, reportedly with a woman whom US intelligence officials suspect of spying for China -- a claim Beijing denied.
  • China is flexing its technological muscles at the global Web Summit in Lisbon from Tuesday, showcasing dancing robots and low-cost artificial intelligence models as Beijing weathers claims that it spied on the AI chip powerhouse Nvidia.
  • Its boss Jensen Huang has acknowledged an affair, reportedly with a woman whom US intelligence officials suspect of spying for China -- a claim Beijing denied.
China is flexing its technological muscles at the global Web Summit in Lisbon from Tuesday, showcasing dancing robots and low-cost artificial intelligence models as Beijing weathers claims that it spied on the AI chip powerhouse Nvidia.
"Increasingly, the superstars of the future are not coming from California. They're coming from China," Web Summit founder Paddy Cosgrave told the opening ceremony on Monday.
At least 70,000 participants from 164 countries, including 10,000 startups and 1,500 investors, are expected to attend the technology conference, which runs until Thursday.
The speakers include "more than 50 superstars from China's leading AI labs, robotics startups, car manufacturers, quantum computing startups, energy startups and more," Cosgrave said.
But the start of the gathering was overshadowed by the scandal that has engulfed Nvidia, the US company that dominates the market for chips used in leading AI systems.
Its boss Jensen Huang has acknowledged an affair, reportedly with a woman whom US intelligence officials suspect of spying for China -- a claim Beijing denied.
Among speakers at the Lisbon gathering is Tao Zhang, co-founder of Manus AI, a fast-growing Chinese artificial intelligence company that Meta reportedly attempted unsuccessfully to acquire.
Zhang is due to demonstrate Manus 2.0, an agent capable of autonomously completing a sequence of tasks.
The event will also feature Li Chen, co-founder of robotics company Unitree, and William Shi, European president of its rival Agibot.
Agibot's robots took to the stage on Monday, dancing and performing tai chi moves.
The Chinese firms Galbot and Ubtech Robotics are also expected to stage demonstrations of their humanoid robots.
Also attending is Leo Haojun Wang, co-founder of Pony.ai, which provides AI systems for thousands of robotaxis operating in China and, more recently, Europe.
There will also be Deli Zhao, co-founder of the electric vehicle maker Xpeng, which aims to mass-produce flying cars. A prototype was displayed during Monday's opening events.
China is seeking new markets amid weak domestic demand and restrictions on much of the US market on national security grounds.
Chinese open-weight AI models, which can be downloaded free and partially modified, are also drawing the attention of European companies including Orange, Renault, Revolut and Siemens.
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espionage

Nvidia and Huang face class-action lawsuit over affair

  • US-based Rosen Law Firm said it had filed a class-action lawsuit accusing Huang and AI behemoth Nvidia of failing to disclose information to shareholders about his links to the woman who is accused of funneling information to Beijing.
  • Tech titan Jensen Huang faced fresh turmoil on Tuesday as shareholders sued him and his firm for allegedly misleading them over his affair with an accused Chinese spy.
  • US-based Rosen Law Firm said it had filed a class-action lawsuit accusing Huang and AI behemoth Nvidia of failing to disclose information to shareholders about his links to the woman who is accused of funneling information to Beijing.
Tech titan Jensen Huang faced fresh turmoil on Tuesday as shareholders sued him and his firm for allegedly misleading them over his affair with an accused Chinese spy.
US-based Rosen Law Firm said it had filed a class-action lawsuit accusing Huang and AI behemoth Nvidia of failing to disclose information to shareholders about his links to the woman who is accused of funneling information to Beijing.
The New York Times reported last month that Taiwanese-born Huang developed a close relationship with Alice Huang, a Chinese executive linked to Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed.
The woman is no relation to the 63-year-old Nvidia CEO.
Shares of the chipmaker tumbled after Nvidia's board opened an inquiry into reports that its CEO had been "the target of a foreign intelligence effort," which Beijing denies.
China is in a race for tech dominance against the United States, which restricts the export to China of the most cutting-edge silicon chips.
Nvidia, a global leader in producing chips used to train and run AI models, is one of the world's most valuable companies.
The lawsuit filed in a California federal court on Monday said Huang and Nvidia misled shareholders about the national security concerns raised by the affair, and that their misleading statements "artificially inflated" Nvidia's share price.
"As a result of Defendants' wrongful acts and omissions, and the precipitous decline in the market value of the Company's securities, Plaintiff and other Class members have suffered significant losses and damages," the lawsuit alleges.
Huang admitted in a message to Nvidia employees released on Sunday that he had been "unfaithful" to his wife.
"My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry," he said.
Huang is a central figure in the artificial intelligence boom and a close informal advisor to US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly opposed regulating the industry so that China does not gain the upper hand.
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US

Qatar PM joins G7 talks on Iran after Trump meeting: Paris

  • European top diplomats attending the meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Paris have been pressing US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to avoid any new escalation against Iran and ensure shipping traffic can flow freely again through the Strait of Hormuz energy transit hub.
  • Qatar's premier on Tuesday joined talks on the G7 sidelines in the French capital with four European top diplomats and the Saudi foreign minister hours after meeting US President Donald Trump to discuss ending Washington's war with Iran, Paris said.
  • European top diplomats attending the meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Paris have been pressing US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to avoid any new escalation against Iran and ensure shipping traffic can flow freely again through the Strait of Hormuz energy transit hub.
Qatar's premier on Tuesday joined talks on the G7 sidelines in the French capital with four European top diplomats and the Saudi foreign minister hours after meeting US President Donald Trump to discuss ending Washington's war with Iran, Paris said.
"The ministers will discuss the situation in the Middle East -- with a particular focus on the Iran crisis and its security and economic repercussions -- both for the region and for the international community as a whole," the French foreign ministry said ahead of the talks.
Trump had said after meeting Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani -- a key mediator who is also Qatar's foreign minister -- that there was momentum toward ending the war with Iran, which erupted on February 28 with the killing of supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
The US leader declared that Iran "militarily, is effectively over", but kept open the possibility of new strikes.
European top diplomats attending the meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Paris have been pressing US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to avoid any new escalation against Iran and ensure shipping traffic can flow freely again through the Strait of Hormuz energy transit hub.
As well as Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, the foreign ministers of European G7 members Britain, Germany, Italy and France were also taking part, the French foreign ministry said.
The talks were convened by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, Paris said.
This meeting is taking place at a time when Saudi Arabia and its oil infrastructure and airports in particular have been targeted almost daily since October by the Iran-backed Houthis who are fighting the Yemeni government.
The talks between Trump and the Qatari premier sparked hope that the chances of full-scale war resuming between Iran and the United States have receded since the defeat of Trump's Republicans in the midterm elections, with the price of Brent oil dropping below $90 a barrel.
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