children

French mother of boys abandoned in Portugal remanded in custody

demonstration

Tens of thousands rally in Serbian capital demanding elections

BY CAMILLE BOUISSOU

  • The students leading the movement hope Saturday's demonstration will relaunch their campaign to push nationalist President Aleksandar Vucic to call early elections. 
  • Tens of thousands of demonstrators massed in central Belgrade Saturday to renew calls for early elections that grew out of the anti-corruption movement sparked by a deadly rail station disaster.
  • The students leading the movement hope Saturday's demonstration will relaunch their campaign to push nationalist President Aleksandar Vucic to call early elections. 
Tens of thousands of demonstrators massed in central Belgrade Saturday to renew calls for early elections that grew out of the anti-corruption movement sparked by a deadly rail station disaster.
Since the station canopy collapse in November 2024 in Novi Sad, which killed 16 people, calls for a transparent investigation into what happened have snowballed into a push for early polls.
Yelling the movement's signature slogan, "The students are winning," to the din of drums and whistles, crowds streamed through the city to Slavija Square in the centre. Large banners hanging from trees, T-shirts, badges and stickers also bore the slogan.
The organisers had called for a rally between 6:00 pm (1600 GMT) and 8:00 pm.
"The goal of today's protest is for all of us to gather again and to make it clear to people that we are still here, that we are fighting and working, that we have not and will not stop," 24-year-old architecture student Andjela told AFP.
Some marchers carried Serbian flags or ones representing their university faculty, while others who had travelled from around the country held banners with the names of their towns.
Students in high-vis tops served as stewards while war veterans and bikers were also present to protect the crowd.
Police chief Dragan Vasiljevic told a news conference the force estimated the turnout at 34,000. No independent estimate was available.
"Today, a clear message is being sent," said another marcher, pensioner Zoran Savic.
"Change must come, Serbia must become a democratic state, the rule of law must be present for everyone, meaning the rule of law equally for everyone," he said.
"And Serbia must be part of the democratic, European community."

Election demand 

The protests have not stopped since the Novi Sad disaster, with one demonstration in March 2025 bringing as many as 300,000 together.
The students leading the movement hope Saturday's demonstration will relaunch their campaign to push nationalist President Aleksandar Vucic to call early elections. Vucic, who regularly raises the issue, suggested on Thursday that they could take place in autumn.
While the protests have passed off peacefully for the most part, some have been marred by clashes in recent months, with several protesters saying they were attacked by masked government supporters.
"So far, we have had no significant or serious incidents," police chief Vasiljevic said early on Saturday evening.
"We hope that the remainder of this public gathering will proceed peacefully and safely, and that the dispersal at the end of the gathering will pass just as peacefully as the arrival."
On Friday, the Council of Europe's human rights commissioner warned that Serbia's rights situation had worsened, citing attacks on activists and journalists, shrinking civic space and alleged police abuses at protests.
"After a year and a half of protests, people have not given up and have not lost their strength," said Ivan Milosavljevic, a demonstrator who came from eastern Serbia.
"The strength of the protests can be seen in the number of people here today. We will continue until this anti-people regime is removed."
mp-cbo/rlp/jj

US

Iran and US say could be close to talks breakthrough

BY BY AFP TEAMS IN NEW DELHI, TEHRAN, WASHINGTON, JERUSALEM, BEIRUT AND DUBAI

  • In a sign of the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the talks, Trump also told another US outlet, Axios, on Saturday that the chances of a deal were a "solid 50/50".
  • Senior US and Iranian officials said on Saturday they could be close to a breakthrough in talks to strike a draft deal, while remaining cautious about the chances of ending the war in the Middle East.
  • In a sign of the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the talks, Trump also told another US outlet, Axios, on Saturday that the chances of a deal were a "solid 50/50".
Senior US and Iranian officials said on Saturday they could be close to a breakthrough in talks to strike a draft deal, while remaining cautious about the chances of ending the war in the Middle East.
US President Donald Trump told CBS in a phone interview on Saturday that the two sides were "getting a lot closer" to a deal, but also warned that if they do not reach an agreement "we're going to have a situation where no country will ever be hit as hard as they're about to be hit".
Iran said gaps remain between the parties, and the dispute over its nuclear programme would not be part of the initial talks, but that it was finalising a 14-point framework for a deal.
In a sign of the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the talks, Trump also told another US outlet, Axios, on Saturday that the chances of a deal were a "solid 50/50".
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei noted what he called "a trend towards rapprochement" but said "it does not necessarily mean that we and the United States will reach an agreement on the important issues".
"Our intention was first to draft a memorandum of understanding, a kind of framework agreement composed of 14 clauses," he said on state television.
Baqaei added that he hoped the details of a final agreement could be worked out "within a reasonable timeframe between 30 to 60 days" after the framework is finalised. 

'There is a chance'

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also expressed optimism, as Pakistan's army chief, a key go-between between the United States and Iran, left Tehran after two days of talks with senior Iranian leaders.
"There is a chance that, whether it's later today, tomorrow, in a couple days, we may have something to say," Rubio told reporters on Saturday during a visit to New Delhi, adding that he hoped that he would soon be able to announce "good news".
Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf had warned earlier that Washington would face a tough response if it resumes hostilities, after US media reports raised the prospect of new strikes and Iranian officials accused the US side of making "excessive demands".
"Our armed forces have rebuilt themselves during the ceasefire period in such a way that if Trump commits another act of folly and restarts the war, it will certainly be more crushing and bitter for the United States than on the first day of the war," Ghalibaf posted on social media.
He issued the warning after meeting in Tehran with Pakistan's army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, a leading figure in international efforts to negotiate an end to the war, which broke out after the United States and Israel attacked the Islamic republic on February 28.
Weeks of negotiations, including historic face-to-face talks hosted by Islamabad, have still not produced a permanent resolution or restored full access to the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil supply transited before the war.

'Neither war nor peace'

The impasse has left ordinary Iranians in limbo.
"The state of 'neither war nor peace' is far filthier than war itself," 39-year-old Tehran resident Shahrzad told AFP.
"I'm about to start a new job, and I'm scared war might break out again -- that I'll end up leaving the job like before, running off to another city out of fear," she said.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a call with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Tehran was engaged despite "repeated betrayals of diplomacy and military aggression against Iran, along with contradictory positions and repeated excessive demands" by Washington.
Araghchi held a bevy of diplomatic calls, speaking with his counterparts from Turkey, Iraq, Qatar, and Oman, Iran's official IRNA news agency said.
On another front in the war, Lebanese state media said Israel struck the country's south on Saturday, as fighting has not stopped despite an April 17 ceasefire.
Lebanon's military said one strike targeted a Lebanese army barracks in the south and wounded a soldier.
Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the war on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel after US-Israeli strikes killed Iran's supreme leader.
Hezbollah said Saturday its chief Naim Qassem had received a message from Araghchi indicating that Iran "will not give up its support" for the Lebanese group.
burs-dc-ris/amj

demonstration

Thousands gather in Serbian capital to call for elections

  • The students leading the movement hope Saturday's demonstration will relaunch their campaign to push President Aleksandar Vucic to call early elections. 
  • Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in central Belgrade Saturday to renew calls for early elections that grew out of the anti-corruption movement sparked by the 2024 Nov Sad rail station disaster.
  • The students leading the movement hope Saturday's demonstration will relaunch their campaign to push President Aleksandar Vucic to call early elections. 
Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in central Belgrade Saturday to renew calls for early elections that grew out of the anti-corruption movement sparked by the 2024 Nov Sad rail station disaster.
Since the railway station canopy collapse in November 2024, which killed 16 people, calls for a transparent investigation into what happened have snowballed into a push for early polls.
Organisers called for demonstrators to gather between 6:00 pm (1600 GMT) and 8:00 pm at Slavija Square in the city centre, the site of the largest demonstrations over the last 18 months.
An hour before the protest was due to start, lines of people streamed from other parts of the city, many wearing t-shirts bearing the demonstration's slogan: "The students are winning." Others carried Serbian flags or ones representing their university faculty.
"The goal of today's protest is for all of us to gather again and to make it clear to people that we are still here, that we are fighting and working, that we have not stopped and will not stop," 24-year-old architecture student Andjela told AFP.
"Today, a clear message is being sent," said another marcher, pensioner Zoran Savic.
"Change must come, Serbia must become a democratic state, the rule of law must be present for everyone, meaning the rule of law equally for everyone," he said.
"And Serbia must be part of the democratic, European community," he added.
The protests have not stopped since the Novi Sad disaster, with one demonstration in March 2025 bringing as many as 300,000 together.
The students leading the movement hope Saturday's demonstration will relaunch their campaign to push President Aleksandar Vucic to call early elections. Vucic, who regularly raises the issue, suggested on Thursday that they could take place in autumn.
While the protests have passed off peacefully for the most part, some have been marred by clashes in recent months, with several protesters saying they were attacked by masked government supporters.
On Friday, the Council of Europe's human rights commissioner warned that Serbia's rights situation had worsened, citing attacks on activists and journalists, shrinking civic space and alleged police abuses at protests.
mp-cbo/jj/rlp

accident

China authorities report 82 dead in coal mine blast, serious violations

BY ISABEL KUA

  • Chinese authorities said late Saturday that preliminary findings showed the coal mine's company had committed "serious illegal violations", state media reported.
  • A gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China has killed at least 82 people, authorities reported Saturday, revising an earlier death toll as they said preliminary findings showed the company involved had committed "serious" violations.
  • Chinese authorities said late Saturday that preliminary findings showed the coal mine's company had committed "serious illegal violations", state media reported.
A gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China has killed at least 82 people, authorities reported Saturday, revising an earlier death toll as they said preliminary findings showed the company involved had committed "serious" violations.
The blast marked the country's biggest mining disaster in 17 years, with search efforts underway to find two people still missing late Saturday evening, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
A total of 247 workers were underground at the time of the blast, which occurred at 7:29 pm (1129 GMT) on Friday at the Liushenyu coal mine in Shanxi, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Of those, 128 people were sent to hospital for treatment, CCTV said.
Chinese authorities said late Saturday that preliminary findings showed the coal mine's company had committed "serious illegal violations", state media reported.
"Preliminary judgment indicates that the coal mine enterprise involved committed serious illegal violations," authorities said in a press conference broadcast on CCTV.
A total of 755 emergency and medical personnel were dispatched to the site, with rescue efforts still ongoing Saturday afternoon, CCTV said.
Friday's explosion was the deadliest mining disaster in China since 2009, when 108 people were killed in a mine blast in northeast Heilongjiang province.

Sulphur smell

One survivor and injured miner Wang Yong told CCTV he heard no sound but smelled sulphur when the explosion happened.
"I didn't hear any sound at all, but then a cloud of smoke appeared," Wang said.
"When I smelled it, it was the smell of sulfur like when people set off firecrackers. When the smoke came down, I shouted for people to run," he said.
He recalled seeing people choked by the smoke before he fainted.
"After more than an hour, I came to on my own, and then I woke up the person next to me" and got out, he told CCTV.
Helmeted rescuers were carrying stretchers at the site, with ambulances visible in the background, video by CCTV showed.
Hospitalised people lay in beds with bandages around their heads, the images showed. Others were on oxygen support.
Doctors provided oxygen, dehydration to reduce intracranial pressure and psychological treatment to patients, a nurse told CCTV.
President Xi Jinping urged "all-out efforts" to treat the injured and called for thorough investigations into the incident, according to Xinhua.
China's government launched an "uncompromising" investigation into the explosion, vowing to severely punish those responsible, and ordered a nationwide crackdown on illegal mining activities, Xinhua said earlier Saturday evening.
"The State Council's accident investigation team will conduct a rigorous and uncompromising investigation," Xinhua said.
"Those found responsible will be severely punished in accordance with laws and regulations".
"All regions and relevant authorities are required to... launch tough crackdowns on illegal and unlawful activities", including the falsification of safety data, unclear headcounts of underground workers and illegal contracting, it added.
A person "responsible for" the company involved in the explosion has been "placed under control in accordance with the law", Xinhua said.

Lax safety protocols

Shanxi, one of China's poorer provinces, is the centre of the country's coal-mining.
Mine safety in China has improved in recent decades, but accidents still occur in an industry where safety protocols are often lax and regulations vague.
In 2023, a collapse at an open-pit coal mine in the northern Inner Mongolia region killed 53 people.
China is the world's top consumer of coal and the largest greenhouse gas emitter, despite installing renewable energy capacity at record speed.
isk-dhw/lga

children

French mother of boys abandoned in Portugal remanded in custody

BY LEVI FERNANDES

  • Authorities accuse a French man, Cedric Prizzon, of killing his current and former partners in northern Portugal before fleeing with children he had with the two women.
  • A court in Portugal on Saturday remanded in custody a French woman and her partner accused of abandoning her two young boys -- aged four and five -- on a roadside in the south of the country.
  • Authorities accuse a French man, Cedric Prizzon, of killing his current and former partners in northern Portugal before fleeing with children he had with the two women.
A court in Portugal on Saturday remanded in custody a French woman and her partner accused of abandoning her two young boys -- aged four and five -- on a roadside in the south of the country.
The court in the southern port city of Setubal ordered the 41-year-old woman and the 55-year-old man to be placed in pretrial detention for the crimes of child endangerment and abandonment after a two-day hearing.
The man was also charged with aggravated assault against one of the children, the court said after questioning the couple.
The pair were taken away in a police van that drove directly out of the courthouse garage.
The case has drawn widespread attention in Portugal and France since the two small boys were found Tuesday evening crying beside a road near Alcacer do Sal, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Lisbon.
They had been left with backpacks containing food and water but no identity documents, according to Portuguese media.
The couple was arrested Thursday by Portuguese authorities at a cafe central town of Fatima and brought before an investigating judge Friday at the court in Setubal.
"After something like this, abandoning two young children were abandoned, finding this couple relaxed at an outdoor cafe for hours was quite shocking,"  a spokesman for Portugal's GNR police force, Carlos Canatario, told Portuguese television station SIC.
"Their behaviour suggested a certain detachment from the situation, because they did not respond much. They appeared very withdrawn and therefore did not react."
The couple were questioned for several hours at the court in a first session on Friday.
Upon their arrival at the court, the man, identified by authorities as Marc B., had twice shouted "I love you" in French, while the boy’s mother, identified as Marine R., hummed a melody.
Shortly after midnight Friday, as Marc B. was leaving the courthouse in a police van, he shouted "Portugal Armageddon" toward journalists gathered outside.
On Saturday morning, police officers ensured the pair remained inside the vehicle transporting them until it had fully entered the courthouse garage and the doors had closed.
The children have been placed with a French foster family in Lisbon pending their return to France.

Boys blindfolded

Portuguese authorities said the brothers had been living with their mother in Colmar, in eastern France, while their father had limited and supervised visitation rights.
French authorities had been searching for the mother and the children since May 11, when the father reported them missing.
France subsequently issued a European arrest warrant.
The mother of the motorist who found the children, Eugenia Quintas, told AFP that one of the boys said they had been blindfolded and told to look for a hidden toy.
When they took their blindfolds off, their mother and her car were gone.
"On them they had an orange, a pear and a bottle of water each. We didn't see any signs of mistreatment," she said.
Authorities said the couple appeared to have no known connection to Portugal.

Sexologist and former officer

The profiles of the two suspects have fuelled public interest in the case.
The woman described herself on social media as a sexologist specialising in body practices, developmental dynamics and trauma care.
Her partner is a former French gendarmerie officer who left the force in 2010 and has shared conspiracy-related and antisemitic content online, according to French media reports.
The case comes only months after another high-profile case involving a French national in Portugal.
Authorities accuse a French man, Cedric Prizzon, of killing his current and former partners in northern Portugal before fleeing with children he had with the two women.
Portuguese authorities have refused France’s request to extradite him, saying the alleged crimes were committed on Portuguese territory.
lf-mdm-tsc/ds/rmb

virus

Ebola claims more lives, other African countries seen at risk

BY DYLAN GAMBA

  • - First known victims - The Red Cross said on Saturday that three Congolese volunteers had died in Ituri after apparently contracting Ebola there. 
  • Uganda confirmed three new Ebola cases on Saturday and the Red Cross said three volunteers died in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, amid warnings the deadly virus could spread to several more African countries.
  • - First known victims - The Red Cross said on Saturday that three Congolese volunteers had died in Ituri after apparently contracting Ebola there. 
Uganda confirmed three new Ebola cases on Saturday and the Red Cross said three volunteers died in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, amid warnings the deadly virus could spread to several more African countries.
The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak of the highly contagious haemorrhagic fever an international emergency.
On Saturday, the African Union's health agency warned that more countries on the continent were at risk of being affected by the Ebola virus, in addition to the DRC and Uganda.
"We have 10 countries at risk," said Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), listing Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.
Kaseya said "high mobility and insecurity" in the region were helping spread the disease.
The new cases confirmed in Uganda on Saturday bring to five the total confirmed in the east African country since it was detected there and in the DRC on May 15. One person has died. 
The health ministry named the new patients as a Ugandan driver, a Ugandan health worker and a woman from the DRC. All are alive.  
Ebola is a deadly viral disease that spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids. It can cause severe bleeding and organ failure
The current epidemic centres on the conflict-wracked eastern DRC, where it was detected in Ituri province before spreading to South Kivu.
There are 82 confirmed cases and seven confirmed deaths in the vast, unstable DRC, alongside almost 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths, the WHO said on Friday.

First known victims

The Red Cross said on Saturday that three Congolese volunteers had died in Ituri after apparently contracting Ebola there. 
The three "were carrying out dead body management activities on March 27 as part of a humanitarian mission unrelated to Ebola", said the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
"At the time of the intervention, the community was not aware of the Ebola virus disease outbreak... They are among the first known victims."
Ebola has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa in the past half-century.
On Friday  the WHO raised the risk from Ebola in the DRC to its highest level -- "very high".
It said the risk in central Africa was "high" but the global risk remained "low".
The outbreak, which experts suspect was circulating under the radar for some time, is caused by the less common Bundibugyo strain, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments.
On Thursday, Uganda suspended public transport to the DRC after confirming its first two cases -- one infection and one death -- involving Congolese nationals who crossed the border.
It said the driver confirmed infected on Saturday had been at the wheel of the vehicle in which one of the ill Congolese nationals had travelled to Uganda.
The health worker was exposed to the virus when treating that Congolese patient.
The third case was a Congolese woman who had visited Uganda and tested positive for Ebola after returning to the DRC.

'Everyone's problem'

The eastern DRC has been plagued for three decades by conflict involving a litany of armed groups.
State services in rural areas of Ituri have been largely absent for decades.
South Kivu is controlled by the Rwandan-backed armed group M23, which has never had to manage an epidemic like Ebola.
"This is everyone's problem," Congolese Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba told a news conference in Addis Ababa alongside Kaseya.
He said the Kinshasa government needed to have "total control" of the DRC territory to be stop the virus spreading.  
bur-dyg/gil/rmb

film

Russian war drama among favourites for top Cannes film prize

BY ADAM PLOWRIGHT

  • "Minotaur", by exiled Russian auteur Andrey Zvyagintsev, depicting a callous businessman caught up in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, is one of several strong contenders for the prestigious Palme d'Or. "Those who agree that it's time to put an end to this hell, and that it's a nightmare and a disaster for Russia, those people will understand this film clearly," Zvyagintsev told AFP, referring to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
  • A tense family drama set against the backdrop of Russia's invasion of Ukraine is among the favourites for top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, which will be awarded at a star-packed ceremony later Saturday.
  • "Minotaur", by exiled Russian auteur Andrey Zvyagintsev, depicting a callous businessman caught up in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, is one of several strong contenders for the prestigious Palme d'Or. "Those who agree that it's time to put an end to this hell, and that it's a nightmare and a disaster for Russia, those people will understand this film clearly," Zvyagintsev told AFP, referring to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
A tense family drama set against the backdrop of Russia's invasion of Ukraine is among the favourites for top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, which will be awarded at a star-packed ceremony later Saturday.
"Minotaur", by exiled Russian auteur Andrey Zvyagintsev, depicting a callous businessman caught up in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, is one of several strong contenders for the prestigious Palme d'Or.
"Those who agree that it's time to put an end to this hell, and that it's a nightmare and a disaster for Russia, those people will understand this film clearly," Zvyagintsev told AFP, referring to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Other critics' favourites include arty black-and-white historical drama "Fatherland", thought-provoking "Fjord" starring Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve, and the poignant "All of a Sudden" by Japan's Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
"La Bola Negra", a big-budget Spanish drama about multiple gay lives, and "A Man of His Time", about an ambitious local official working in France's collaborationist government during World War II, have also charmed audiences during the two-week festival.
The nine-person jury, headed by South Korean auteur Park Chan-wook and including Hollywood star Demi Moore and Oscar-winning "Nomadland" director Chloe Zhao, will reveal the winner late Saturday at a televised black tie event.
Last year's prize went to "It Was Just an Accident", a political drama by dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi about torture and revenge in the Islamic republic.

Nepal makes history

Cannes Festival is one of the cinema world's biggest annual events, providing a crucial platform for independent cinema, as well as a showcase for fashion and celebrities to rival the Academy Awards or the Met Gala. 
The 79th edition of the festival was packed with its usual stable of A-listers, from John Travolta to Cate Blanchett and Vin Diesel, but Hollywood was under-represented.
No major US studio agreed to launch a blockbuster at Cannes this year, or at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, raising questions about why giants such as Universal, Disney or Warner are dodging European events.
Other big talking points included the use of artificial intelligence in filmmaking, as well as the continued under-representation of women in the industry.
Only five of the 22 films in the main competition this year were directed by women.

Other prizes

Some prizes have already been handed out. Iranian documentary "Rehearsals for a Revolution", about political repression in the war-wracked country by exiled actress and director Pegah Ahangarani, took the top documentary prize.
The transgender cast of "Elephants in the Fog" -- Nepal's first-ever film in competition at Cannes -- won the jury prize of the official Certain Regard section Friday. Its star Pushpa Thing Lama draped the Nepalese flag around director Abinash Bikram Shah's neck as she hugged him.
Its top prize went to Austrian director Sandra Wollner for "Everytime", a "gripping tale on grief".
And the best actor prize in the Certain Regard section went to 18-year-old Bradley Fiomona Dembeasset, who was discovered in a street audition in the Central African capital Bangui for the crowd-pleasing "Congo Boy", a refugee rap drama.
He is the first ever actor from the war-torn country to win a competition award in Cannes. 
One of Britain's only feature films showing in Cannes, Clio Barnard's "I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning", about a group of five friends, picked up top prize in the parallel Directors' Fortnight section.
adp-fg/jj

diplomacy

Rubio renews ties with India after Trump's China lovefest

BY SHAUN TANDON WITH SAILENDRA SIL IN KOLKATA

  • Before leaving on Tuesday, Rubio will also take part in a meeting of foreign ministers of the so-called Quad -- Australia, India, Japan and the United States.
  • Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday called India a natural partner and invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington, turning the page at least rhetorically on friction despite newfound US warmth towards China. 
  • Before leaving on Tuesday, Rubio will also take part in a meeting of foreign ministers of the so-called Quad -- Australia, India, Japan and the United States.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday called India a natural partner and invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington, turning the page at least rhetorically on friction despite newfound US warmth towards China. 
One week after joining President Donald Trump on a state visit to Beijing, Rubio -- visiting both Asian powers for the first time -- flew to New Delhi and met Modi for more than an hour, inviting the premier to visit the White House soon.
"The world's oldest democracy in the United States and the world's largest democracy here in India are natural partners now and in the future," said Rubio, sporting a tuxedo in the searing heat as he entered a gala dinner for business and political leaders at the US ambassador's residence.
Modi said he discussed with Rubio issues related to regional and global peace and security. 
"India and the United States will continue to work closely for the global good," he said in a social media post.
Cutting a ribbon earlier at a new US embassy building, Rubio said the US-India relationship lay "at the cornerstone of our approach to the Indo-Pacific".
Such glowing statements were for decades routine between the United States and India.
But Trump has shattered assumptions about US foreign policy and last year took his distance from India, whose leaders avoid the lavish, personal praise that the US president has come to expect from allies.
Trump last year imposed punishing tariffs on India, which were eventually eased, and India was barely mentioned in his administration's national security strategy.
Trump, despite limited concrete announcements in Beijing, spoke of the United States and China as a "G2" -- a formulation resented by US allies who fear being shut out of Washington's dealings with a rising China.

Unease on visas

India has also been alarmed by Trump's strident anti-immigrant rhetoric and his crackdown on visas used by tech professionals.
In its latest move, the Trump administration on Friday said applicants for US residency, even when in the United States legally, need to leave to apply, likely tearing apart many immigrant families.
In an interview with India's NDTV news network in New Delhi, Rubio said the move was aimed at addressing a global "migratory crisis" and was "not about India" specifically.
But he acknowledged, "there's going to be some inconvenience".

Starting with nuns

Rubio, a devout Catholic, began his four-day, four-city tour by touring the headquarters of Mother Teresa's charity in the eastern city of Kolkata and praying over her tomb.
Wearing a yellow garland over his suit, Rubio, joined by his wife Jeanette, smiled before an assembly of nuns, all clad in the late humanitarian's signature white and blue saris.
"Rubio spoke about aiding the homeless, terminally ill and those afflicted by leprosy," Sister Marie Juan of Missionaries of Charity told reporters after his hour-and-a-half-long visit.
"He was happy to pray, and we were also happy to have him," she said.
While Trump rarely raises human rights, some elements of his base have expressed concerns over the treatment of Christians under the Hindu nationalist Modi, making Rubio's choice of first stop highly symbolic.
Rights groups say there has been a rise in attacks on minority Christians across India, including vandalism of churches, since Modi came to power in 2014.
The government rejects the claims as exaggerated and politically motivated.
Before leaving on Tuesday, Rubio will also take part in a meeting of foreign ministers of the so-called Quad -- Australia, India, Japan and the United States.
China has long been suspicious of the Quad, calling it an attempt to encircle it.
The Iran war has also seen the diplomatic re-emergence of India's traditional adversary Pakistan, which has positioned itself as the key mediator for Washington, with its powerful army chief visiting Tehran.
The United States was a Cold War partner of Pakistan but gradually prioritised relations with India, annoyed by Islamabad's role in Afghanistan.
Trump was ecstatic after Pakistan said he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize over his diplomacy in its short war with India last year.
Modi irritated Trump by not crediting him with ending the war, in which India struck Pakistan following the massacre of mostly Hindu civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir.
str-sct/abh/lga

conflict

Ukrainian strike on college in Russian-occupied town kills 18: officials

  • The Russian army said it has repelled 407 Ukrainian drones launched through Friday night to Saturday afternoon. 
  • The death toll from a Ukrainian strike on a college and its dormitory in a Russian-occupied town in eastern Ukraine has risen to 18, Russian officials said on Saturday.
  • The Russian army said it has repelled 407 Ukrainian drones launched through Friday night to Saturday afternoon. 
The death toll from a Ukrainian strike on a college and its dormitory in a Russian-occupied town in eastern Ukraine has risen to 18, Russian officials said on Saturday.
Launched overnight on Thursday to Friday, one of the deadliest Ukrainian drone barrages in months also wounded 42 in Starobilsk, the occupied Lugansk region, with some still remaining under the debris.
The strike has drawn a strong reaction from top Russian officials, with President Vladimir Putin ordering the army to prepare a response. 
Ukraine denied targeting civilians and said it had hit a Russian drone unit stationed in the Starobilsk area.
Russia's emergency ministry said that "two more bodies have been recovered from under the rubble. In total: 60 victims, of whom 18 have died."
Video shared by the ministry showed dozens of rescuers sifting through what remained of a section of the five-storey dormitory building, now reduced to rubble.
Most of those killed and missing were young women born between 2003 and 2008, according to a list of casualties published by the Moscow-backed governor of the Lugansk region, Leonid Pasechnik.
"The region and the entire country share the fate of these people and the pain of their families," he said on Telegram. 
In Russia and on the occupied territories of Ukraine, a college is an equivalent of a vocational school, typically for students aged from 15 to 22 years. 
Starobilsk is located about 65 kilometres (40 miles) from the front line in eastern Ukraine. It was captured by Russian forces in the early months of the offensive in 2022.
The Lugansk region is almost entirely occupied by Russia, which claims it as its own.

'Severe punishment'

Russia's foreign ministry said on Friday that those responsible would face "inevitable and severe punishment".
The UN said on Friday it "strongly condemns any attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, wherever they occur," adding it couldn't verify details due to restricted access to the area.  
Ukraine regularly targets Russian-controlled areas of the country with drones, saying the strikes are retaliation for Russian attacks.
Kyiv has recently expanded its drone capabilities and stepped up strikes on conventional Russian territories as well, including residential areas and oil export infrastructure. 
The Russian army said it has repelled 407 Ukrainian drones launched through Friday night to Saturday afternoon. 
The Ukrainian army said Russia has launched 124 drones overnight, of which 102 were fended off.
Moscow has launched mass barrages of missiles and drones at Ukraine almost daily since the full-scale offensive began in 2022, also hitting infrastructure and causing civilian deaths. 
Both countries deny targeting civilians. 
The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has recorded more than 60,000 civilian casualties since 2022, almost 90 percent of which were in areas controlled by Ukraine.
The conflict, the bloodiest in Europe since World War II, has devastated swathes of land in eastern Ukraine and forced millions to flee. 
US-led shuttle diplomacy aimed at brokering trilateral talks to end the war has stalled amid the Middle East conflict. 
bur/rmb

conflict

France bans Israeli security minister Ben Gvir from country

  • "From today, Itamar Ben Gvir is banned from entering French territory" after "his reprehensible actions towards French and European citizens" who were part of the humanitarian flotilla, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X. He added that, with Italy, he was also calling for European Union-level sanctions against the far-right Israeli minister.
  • France announced on Saturday it has banned Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir from entry for mocking bound activists seized by Israeli soldiers on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
  • "From today, Itamar Ben Gvir is banned from entering French territory" after "his reprehensible actions towards French and European citizens" who were part of the humanitarian flotilla, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X. He added that, with Italy, he was also calling for European Union-level sanctions against the far-right Israeli minister.
France announced on Saturday it has banned Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir from entry for mocking bound activists seized by Israeli soldiers on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
"From today, Itamar Ben Gvir is banned from entering French territory" after "his reprehensible actions towards French and European citizens" who were part of the humanitarian flotilla, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X.
He added that, with Italy, he was also calling for European Union-level sanctions against the far-right Israeli minister.
The ban follows a global outcry after Ben Gvir published a video on Wednesday showing the heavy-handed treatment in Israeli custody of foreign activists from the flotilla.
They were detained by Israel after its soldiers seized them in international waters.
In the video, dozens of activists are seen forced to kneel with their foreheads to the ground and their hands tied. 
The clip, which was captioned "Welcome to Israel", showed Ben Gvir heckling the activists while waving an Israeli flag.
After the outcry, Israel said it was deporting the activists.

'Intimidated, brutalised'

Thirty-six French nationals were on board the flotilla, the latest attempt by activists to breach Israel's blockade of Gaza after Israeli forces intercepted a previous convoy last month.
While Barrot said France disapproved of the flotilla's actions, arguing they served "no useful purpose", he added that "we cannot tolerate French nationals being threatened, intimidated or brutalised in this way, especially by a public official."
Spain has also urged the EU to sanction Ben Gvir while the United Kingdom summoned Israel's most senior diplomat in Britain following "the inflammatory video".
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Ben Gvir's treatment of the activists was "not in line with Israel's values and norms", but he kept the security minister in his post.
Netanyahu had earlier denounced the humanitarian aid mission as a "malicious scheme" intended to support Hamas.
The activists had departed from Turkey last week on around 50 vessels under the Global Sumud Flotilla.
Israel controls all entry points into Gaza, which has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007.
During the Gaza war, the territory suffered severe shortages of food, medicine and other essential supplies, with Israel at times halting aid deliveries entirely.
A previous flotilla attempt was intercepted last month in international waters off Greece, with most activists expelled to Europe.
cl/rmb-ekf/rmb

France

F1 legend Alain Prost's Swiss home robbed: reports

  • A statement issued on Thursday from the Vaud cantonal police force said a family living in Nyon, northeast of Geneva, was the victim of a robbery at their home.
  • French four-time Formula One champion Alain Prost was injured during a violent robbery at his home in Switzerland, Swiss media reported Saturday.
  • A statement issued on Thursday from the Vaud cantonal police force said a family living in Nyon, northeast of Geneva, was the victim of a robbery at their home.
French four-time Formula One champion Alain Prost was injured during a violent robbery at his home in Switzerland, Swiss media reported Saturday.
Switzerland's biggest-selling newspaper Blick said Prost, 71, sustained a minor head injury during the attack, while one of his sons was forced to open the family safe and the assailants fled with the contents.
A statement issued on Thursday from the Vaud cantonal police force said a family living in Nyon, northeast of Geneva, was the victim of a robbery at their home.
The incident took place on Tuesday, at around 8:30am (0630 GMT).
Contacted by AFP on Saturday, the police declined to give the identities of the victims of the crime, and refused to comment on whether the incident concerned the Prost family.
Thursday's statement said the perpetrators "entered the house while the occupants were present, threatened them, and forced one of the family members to open a safe before fleeing with stolen goods".
Despite an extensive search operation, the perpetrators have not yet been apprehended, it said.

'Large-scale search'

"Several masked individuals entered the house. Once inside, they threatened the occupants and slightly injured one family member in the head, under circumstances that are still being investigated.
"The perpetrators then forced another family member to open a safe before fleeing with stolen goods, of which the precise inventory is currently being assessed.
"The Vaud cantonal police immediately deployed a large-scale search operation," the statement said.
The cantonal public prosecutor's office has opened a criminal investigation, which is ongoing to try and apprehend the perpetrators, it said.
Police said the response involved the Vaud cantonal police, the Nyon regional police, the dog unit, security officers, the forensic science unit, the customs and border security office, the French gendarmerie and a psychological support team for the family.
Contacted by AFP on Saturday, a Vaud police spokesman said the investigation was still ongoing but could not reveal whether any arrests had been made.
"Every effort is being made to identify and apprehend the perpetrators of the attack," the spokesman said.
Blick said there had been an alarming trend over the last year of burglaries in the Lake Geneva region of Switzerland targeting wealthy individuals, often perpetrated by cross-border gangs from neighbouring France targeting prestigious watch collections.
Prost competed in Formula One between 1980 and 1993 with the McLaren, Renault, Ferrari and Williams teams. He won the world drivers' championship in 1985, 1986, 1989 and 1993.
Only Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton (seven each) and Juan Manuel Fangio (five) have won the championship more times than Prost, while Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen have also won the title four times.
rjm/rmb

virus

Uganda confirms new Ebola cases, linked to DR Congo

  • On Friday, the WHO raised the risk from Ebola in the DRC to "very high".
  • Three new Ebola cases have been confirmed in Uganda, health authorities said Saturday, after the World Health Organization raised the risk from the deadly outbreak to the highest level for neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
  • On Friday, the WHO raised the risk from Ebola in the DRC to "very high".
Three new Ebola cases have been confirmed in Uganda, health authorities said Saturday, after the World Health Organization raised the risk from the deadly outbreak to the highest level for neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
The new cases bring to five the total confirmed in Uganda since the current outbreak was discovered in the east African country on May 15.
It named the patients as a Ugandan driver, a Ugandan health worker and a woman from the DRC, the epicentre of the outbreak, which the WHO has declared an international emergency.
"Three new cases of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) have been confirmed in the country," the Ugandan health ministry said in a statement on X.
All three are alive.
On Friday, the WHO raised the risk from Ebola in the DRC to "very high".
The United Nations health agency said the regional risk in central Africa was "high", though it maintained the global risk was "low".
Ebola is a deadly viral disease that spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids. It can cause severe bleeding and organ failure.
There have been 82 confirmed cases and seven confirmed deaths in the DRC, alongside almost 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths, the WHO said.
The outbreak, which experts suspect was circulating under the radar for some time, is caused by the less common Bundibugyo strain, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments.
On Thursday, Uganda suspended all public transport to the DRC after confirming its first two cases -- one infection and one death -- involving Congolese nationals who crossed the border.
It said the driver confirmed infected on Saturday had been at the wheel of the vehicle in which one of the ill Congolese nationals had travelled to Uganda.
The health worker was exposed to the virus when she was treating that Congolese patient.

'Especially challenging'

The third new case, the ministry said, was a Congolese woman who had been treated in Kampala for abdominal pains and discharged "in good condition" on May 14.
She tested positive for Ebola after she returned to the DRC.
"All contacts linked to the confirmed cases have since been identified and are being closely monitored," the health ministry said.
WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday the situation in the DRC was "especially challenging".
Health workers were scrambling -- in highly insecure, remote areas -- to catch up with the spread of the virus and track down contacts of everyone thought to be infected, he said.
The epicentre is in the eastern DRC -- neighbouring several African countries, including Uganda -- which has been plagued for three decades by conflict involving a litany of armed groups.
The DRC epidemic was first detected in Ituri province and has now spread to South Kivu, to an area controlled by the Rwanda-backed M23 militia.
State services in rural areas of Ituri have been largely absent for decades and its inhabitants are increasingly blaming the Congolese government for the slow response to the outbreak.
In South Kivu, M23 has never had to manage the response to a serious epidemic of a disease like Ebola, which has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa in the past half-century.
bur-dyg/gil/jhb

environment

Pope condemns environmental harm in Italy's 'Land of Fires'

  • Italy's "Land of Fires", also known as the "Triangle of Death", has served as a dump and illegal incineration site since the late 1980s.
  • Pope Leo XIV made a visit on Saturday to Italy's "Land of Fires", where for decades the mafia has illegally dumped and burned toxic rubbish, poisoning both people and their land.
  • Italy's "Land of Fires", also known as the "Triangle of Death", has served as a dump and illegal incineration site since the late 1980s.
Pope Leo XIV made a visit on Saturday to Italy's "Land of Fires", where for decades the mafia has illegally dumped and burned toxic rubbish, poisoning both people and their land.
Hazardous waste -- often from Italy's wealthy north -- has long been set alight or buried in the area around Acerra, a city near Naples, in the southern region of Campania.
For decades, the soil, groundwater and air have been contaminated by heavy metals, dioxins and asbestos.
Cancer rates among the area's three million or so residents are higher than the national average.
Leo condemned "a deadly mix of obscure interests and indifference toward the common good, which has poisoned the natural and social environment".
The US-born pope drew excited crowds when he arrived in his popemobile at a piazza in Acerra, a city of around 60,000 people.
"The pope is maybe the only person who can awaken the conscience a little bit of all the people who have harmed this territory," local worshipper Giuseppina De Francesco, 60, told AFP.
In 2025, Europe's top rights court ruled that Italy had failed to protect residents and gave the government two years to fix the situation.
The pontiff's visit coincides with the 11th anniversary of a landmark climate manifesto by Leo's predecessor, Pope Francis.
The "Laudato Si" encyclical, which denounced mankind's ruthless exploitation of the environment, was hailed by experts for its scientific grounding.

'Poisoning'

"In life, we understand that the more fragile beauty is, the more it requires care and responsibility," said Leo in an address at the city's cathedral to the clergy and families of the victims of environmental pollution.
"This land has paid a heavy price. It has seen many of its children buried. It has borne witness to the suffering of children and innocents," added the leader of the world's Roman Catholics.
He thanked the "pioneer" activists he said had raised awareness with "their courageous commitment" to fight the "poisoning" of the land.
Italy's "Land of Fires", also known as the "Triangle of Death", has served as a dump and illegal incineration site since the late 1980s.
Instead of paying exorbitant sums to have toxic substances disposed of legally, companies paid the region's Camorra mafia a fraction of the cost to dump waste ranging from broken sheets of asbestos to car tyres and containers of industrial-strength glue.
Since 2013, a host of parliamentary inquiries has found the authorities negligent and in some cases complicit.
They have also highlighted the health fallout, including an increase in cases of cancer and foetal and neonatal malformations.
In 2018, the Senate said mobster criminality and political inaction had caused an ecological disaster in the region.
cmk/ide/dt/phz/jhb/gil

Poland

US jury finds Boeing not guilty in 737 MAX grounding lawsuit

  • The 737 MAX jets were grounded from March 2019 until November 2020, when the US Federal Aviation Administration cleared the aircraft to resume service after Boeing upgraded the MCAS. - Victim family lawsuits - The case from the airline, whose full company name is Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A., is the first MAX-related challenge to Boeing from a carrier to go to trial.
  • A US jury found Friday that aerospace giant Boeing was not liable for lost revenue in a lawsuit involving its 737 MAX jets, which were grounded for 20 months following two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019.
  • The 737 MAX jets were grounded from March 2019 until November 2020, when the US Federal Aviation Administration cleared the aircraft to resume service after Boeing upgraded the MCAS. - Victim family lawsuits - The case from the airline, whose full company name is Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A., is the first MAX-related challenge to Boeing from a carrier to go to trial.
A US jury found Friday that aerospace giant Boeing was not liable for lost revenue in a lawsuit involving its 737 MAX jets, which were grounded for 20 months following two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019.
Polish airline LOT had accused Boeing of fraud and sued for $250 million in lost income after the company's alleged "purposeful and negligent false representations and omissions concerning the 737 MAX aircraft," the initial complaint said.
The jury for the trial in a Seattle federal courthouse decided this was not the case, however, according to court documents reviewed by AFP.
"We are gratified by the jury's verdict in our favor," a Boeing spokesperson said in a statement to AFP.
The case stemmed from claims by LOT that Boeing had to compensate it for lost business due to the lengthy MAX grounding in the aftermath of Lion Air's 2018 crash and Ethiopian Airlines' 2019 crash that claimed a joint total of 346 lives.
After the crashes, Boeing acknowledged that a flawed flight-stabilizing program known as the MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) contributed to the disasters.
The 737 MAX jets were grounded from March 2019 until November 2020, when the US Federal Aviation Administration cleared the aircraft to resume service after Boeing upgraded the MCAS.

Victim family lawsuits

The case from the airline, whose full company name is Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A., is the first MAX-related challenge to Boeing from a carrier to go to trial.
LOT said it "acknowledges" the verdict of the ruling.
"LOT will consider any further legal steps available to the Company under applicable law," it said in a statement to AFP.
Boeing has also faced dozens of claims from family members of MAX crash victims, the vast majority of which have been settled out of court.
In a rare instance, a US jury awarded $49.5 million in damages this month to the family of Samya Stumo, a 24-year-old American who died in the March 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash.
Last November, another jury awarded the widower of one of the MAX victims $28.45 million. Another trial, in January, was halted when an out-of-court settlement was reached after the second day.
The next trial is scheduled for August 3 and focuses on the death of Michael Ryan of Ireland.
A US judge also dropped criminal charges against Boeing in November over the MAX crashes as part of an agreement with US prosecutors.
Under the settlement with the US Department of Justice, Boeing will pay $1.1 billion in return for the dismissal of a charge of "conspiracy to defraud the United States" over its conduct in the certification of the MAX, according to a federal filing.
elm/jgc/lkd/mtp

economy

Full steam ahead for Milei's Andean mining revolution

BY TOMáS VIOLA

  • South America's second-biggest economy has produced almost no copper since 2018 but has massive untapped reserves of the metal, which is critical for the construction, renewable energy and AI sectors. - 840 football fields - The boom has caused alarm among environmentalists who fear the scramble for critical minerals -- and the precious dollars they inject into Argentina's economy -- could endanger water supplies.
  • The future of Argentina's economy lies buried under the ground at over 3,000 meters (9,843 feet) in the Andes, according to President Javier Milei.
  • South America's second-biggest economy has produced almost no copper since 2018 but has massive untapped reserves of the metal, which is critical for the construction, renewable energy and AI sectors. - 840 football fields - The boom has caused alarm among environmentalists who fear the scramble for critical minerals -- and the precious dollars they inject into Argentina's economy -- could endanger water supplies.
The future of Argentina's economy lies buried under the ground at over 3,000 meters (9,843 feet) in the Andes, according to President Javier Milei.
Up here, in a starkly beautiful landscape of snowy peaks and glaciers, excavators are carving huge chunks out of the mountains to mine for copper and other minerals.
Aldana Ramirez tries to warm up beside a brasero, a type of local heater, on a freezing night at Los Azules copper project in San Juan province, the epicenter of Milei's mining "revolution."
Construction of the mammoth open-pit mine, slated to begin production in 2030, has taken the 27-year-old technician away from her seven-year-old son, who lives down the mountain in her hometown of Villa Calingasta.
She misses him but insists "it's worth the sacrifice."
"I love this job, I fell in love with it the first time I came up here," she declares above the din of excavators working round the clock.

Jobs versus water conservation

Since taking office in 2023, Milei, a free-market radical, has sought to boost mining in a country famous for farming but which also has vast reserves of copper, gold, lithium and uranium.
"Mining will take place across the Andes, generating hundreds of thousands of jobs," he told parliament in March.
Shortly afterward, lawmakers amended the country's glacier protection law to relax restrictions on mining in areas of permafrost, despite fears the new law could endanger crucial water supplies.
Canadian company McEwen Copper, automaker Stellantis and mining giant Rio Tinto are investing billions of dollars to develop the sprawling Los Azules mine, which is expected to yield 148,000 tonnes of copper a year over two decades.
Many of Calingasta's 11,000 residents depend directly or indirectly on mining for a livelihood.
Ramirez's father and sister work at Los Azules and two brothers work on other mining projects.
But local farmers worry about contaminated mining runoff.
"People have to choose: either we protect water or we eat," Alejandro, a gas station attendant in the mining town of Jachal, two hours east of Calingasta, explained to AFP.

Massive copper reserves

To encourage mining and energy investments, Milei in 2024 pushed through the Large Investment Incentive Scheme (RIGI), a package of tax, customs and currency breaks.
Los Azules CEO Michael Meding told AFP that RIGI "had sent very important signals to international investors."
So far, nearly 40 projects have been submitted to the scheme, of which 16 have been approved for an estimated $20 billion in investments.
In 2025, mining exports grew 27 percent to $6 billion.
The Central Bank has forecast mining exports to grow threefold by 2030, with copper set to play an expanding role.
South America's second-biggest economy has produced almost no copper since 2018 but has massive untapped reserves of the metal, which is critical for the construction, renewable energy and AI sectors.

840 football fields

The boom has caused alarm among environmentalists who fear the scramble for critical minerals -- and the precious dollars they inject into Argentina's economy -- could endanger water supplies.
In the northwest of the country, where mining activity is concentrated, glacial reserves have shrunk by 17 percent in the last decade, mainly due to climate change, according to glaciologists.
The mining pit at Los Azules, when completed, will measure the equivalent of 840 football fields and be more than 300 meters deep, the height of the Eiffel Tower.
It will occupy an area partly covered in a marshy oasis, or "vega," which acts as a natural sponge.
Los Azules has promised to use an extraction method that minimizes water use.
In Jachal, memories are still fresh of a major 2015 leak of a cyanide-laced solution from a gold mine, which contaminated three rivers.
Alejandro, the gas station attendant, said he felt there were "too few oversights" of mining projects.
But back at the camp in Los Azules, where cumbia music carries on the wind, Andres Carrizo is looking forward to a boom time.
"I hope this will all continue so that we all have work and can get ahead," the 27-year-old drill operator said.
tev/pbl/cb/pnb/hol

US

Iran weighs peace proposal, accuses US of 'excessive demands'

BY AFP TEAMS IN TEHRAN AND ISLAMABAD

  • Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a call with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Tehran was engaged in the diplomatic process despite "repeated betrayals of diplomacy and military aggression against Iran, along with contradictory positions and repeated excessive demands" by the United States, according to the ministry.
  • Tehran accused the United States of "excessive demands", Iranian media said on Saturday, as US media reports raised the prospect that Washington was mulling new strikes and leaders of the Islamic republic considered the latest peace proposal.
  • Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a call with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Tehran was engaged in the diplomatic process despite "repeated betrayals of diplomacy and military aggression against Iran, along with contradictory positions and repeated excessive demands" by the United States, according to the ministry.
Tehran accused the United States of "excessive demands", Iranian media said on Saturday, as US media reports raised the prospect that Washington was mulling new strikes and leaders of the Islamic republic considered the latest peace proposal.
Pakistan's powerful army chief arrived in Tehran on Friday to bolster mediation and US President Donald Trump abruptly changed his plans to skip his son's wedding to stay in Washington due to "circumstances pertaining to government", fuelling speculation that the situation had entered a sensitive stage.
Trump has described the stop-start negotiations this week as teetering on the "borderline" between renewed attacks and a deal to end the war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 and led to competing blockades around the strategic Strait of Hormuz that have roiled the global economy.
Weeks of negotiations since an April 8 ceasefire -- including historic face-to-face talks hosted by Islamabad -- have still not produced a permanent resolution or restored full access to the strait, choking vast quantities of global oil supply.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a call with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Tehran was engaged in the diplomatic process despite "repeated betrayals of diplomacy and military aggression against Iran, along with contradictory positions and repeated excessive demands" by the United States, according to the ministry.
US media outlets Axios and CBS News, citing unnamed sources, reported the White House was considering strikes on Iran, although both added a final decision had not been made yet.
US officials have repeatedly raised the prospect of renewed action against Iran if a deal were not reached, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying on the sidelines of a NATO conference in Sweden that there had been "some progress" towards a peaceful resolution but "things were not there yet".
"We're dealing with a very difficult group of people. And if it doesn't change, then the president's been clear he has other options," he said.
Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir landed in Tehran on Friday where he met with Araghchi late into the night to discuss "the latest diplomatic efforts and initiatives aimed at preventing further escalation", according to the official IRNA news agency.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei cautioned that the visit did not mean "we have reached a turning point or a decisive situation" with "deep and extensive" disagreements remaining, according to Iran's ISNA news agency.
Baqaei said a delegation from Qatar had also held talks with the Iranian foreign minister on Friday.
"In recent days, many countries -- both regional and non-regional -- have been trying to help bring the war to an end ... However, Pakistan remains the official mediator," he said. 
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar -- who have played a crucial role in mediation between the warring sides -- flew to China, Iran's top trading partner, for a four-day visit in which efforts to resolve the Middle East crisis were expected to be discussed. 

Hormuz squeeze

Baqaei said the status of the Strait of Hormuz and a retaliatory US blockade of Iranian ports were also under discussion. 
The future of the strategic maritime chokepoint remains a key sticking point, with fears growing that the global economy will suffer as pre-war oil stockpiles run down.
Markets nevertheless took some comfort from the signs of diplomacy, with Wall Street rising Friday and the Dow closing at a second straight record high as investors bet talks could eventually produce an off-ramp.
Oil prices also rose, however, underscoring fears that disruption in Hormuz will keep feeding inflation. US consumer sentiment fell to its lowest level since records began in 1952, with high prices eroding household finances.
European Union nations on Friday deemed Iran's blockade "contrary to international law" and made a technical change to expand the scope of its existing Iran sanctions regime to target individuals involved in the closure.

Lebanon front

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman also stressed fighting would need to stop in Lebanon where Israel and Tehran-backed Hezbollah have been clashing despite a ceasefire.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said Israel carried out five airstrikes in the east of the country near the Syrian border, targeting the Nabi Sreij area.
Since an April 17 truce, Israel has continued strikes, demolitions and evacuation orders in south Lebanon, saying it is targeting Hezbollah, which has also kept up attacks.
Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the war on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel after Iran's supreme leader was killed by US-Israeli strikes.
"The issue of ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, is very important," Baqaei said. 
Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,111 people in Lebanon since March 2, adding that strikes on the south on Friday killed 10 people, including a child. 
burs-jgc/ceg/mtp

space

China set for latest space launch, with Hong Kong astronaut aboard

  • Beijing says it aims to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030, with the goal of constructing a base on the lunar surface.
  • A Hong Kong astronaut will join a Chinese space mission for the first time as part of a three-person crew launching on Sunday, as Beijing edges closer to its goal of landing people on the Moon.
  • Beijing says it aims to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030, with the goal of constructing a base on the lunar surface.
A Hong Kong astronaut will join a Chinese space mission for the first time as part of a three-person crew launching on Sunday, as Beijing edges closer to its goal of landing people on the Moon.
The Tiangong space station -- crewed by teams of three astronauts that are typically rotated every six months -- is the crown jewel of China's space programme, boosted by billions in state investment in a bid to catch up with the United States and Russia.
The Shenzhou-23 mission will blast off at 11:08 pm (1508 GMT) on Sunday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, carrying three astronauts to the space station, China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) spokesman Zhang Jingbo told reporters on Saturday.
The team comprises Lai Ka-ying, hailed by state media as Hong Kong's first astronaut, Zhu Yangzhu and Zhang Zhiyuan, the spokesman said.
Hong Kong's Chief Executive John Lee congratulated Lai on passing "the rigorous selection and training process".
Flight engineer Zhu, who participated in the Shenzhou-16 mission in 2023, will be the commander.
"This is a ... test of our physical and psychological endurance, emergency response capabilities, coordination and teamwork, as well as our ability to work and live in orbit," Zhu told reporters.
"As mission commander, what I have thought about most is how to make thorough preparations in every aspect and how to lead the team in successfully completing the flight mission with zero mistakes and zero errors."

Space dream

The mission's primary objectives are to "continue carrying out space science and application work, conduct astronauts' extravehicular activities and cargo transfer in and out of the cabin", the CMSA's Zhang told reporters.
One of the astronauts will remain on the station for a year, he added, without specifying who.
"Arranging for an astronaut to carry out a one-year in-orbit residency experiment is by no means a simple matter of adding together two six-month missions in terms of duration," Zhang said.
The one-year space residency, Zhang said, will collect data on astronauts on longer-duration spaceflights and test health support capabilities.
China is "steadily" building operational experience for "sustained occupation" of its Tiangong space station, and year-long missions are an important step towards future lunar and potentially deep-space ambitions, said Macquarie University's Richard de Grijs.
"A year in orbit pushes both hardware and humans into a different operational regime compared with the shorter Shenzhou missions of the programme's earlier phases," the professor of physics and astronomy told AFP.
Beijing's space programme, the third to put humans in orbit, has also landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon.
China has ramped up plans to achieve its "space dream" under President Xi Jinping.
Beijing says it aims to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030, with the goal of constructing a base on the lunar surface.
The CMSA said on Saturday it would "make every possible effort and strive tirelessly" to achieve that goal.
ehl-isk/mtp

Global Edition

Police, protesters clash in new marches against Bolivian leader

  • The Bolivian government said it would deploy a police and military operation beginning Saturday morning to allow the passage of goods in short supply in La Paz through the blockades.
  • Bolivian riot police clashed with anti-government protesters in La Paz on Friday for the second time in a week as unions and Indigenous groups pressed their calls for President Rodrigo Paz to step down.
  • The Bolivian government said it would deploy a police and military operation beginning Saturday morning to allow the passage of goods in short supply in La Paz through the blockades.
Bolivian riot police clashed with anti-government protesters in La Paz on Friday for the second time in a week as unions and Indigenous groups pressed their calls for President Rodrigo Paz to step down.
Demands for the business-friendly conservative to resign have persisted despite his promise to respond to the grievances of labor unions and Indigenous communities.
Many businesses in central La Paz had closed their doors, anticipating a repeat of the clashes that marked a similar demonstration on Monday.
"He should resign, damn it!" shouted the crowd of farmers, laborers, miners, transport workers and teachers who brought traffic to a halt on the streets of the Andean city.
Paz came to power six months ago, in the midst of the country's worst economic crisis since the 1980s, marked by acute shortages of fuel and foreign currency and runaway inflation.
"Six months in office and he hasn't been able to solve the basics... We have to choose between buying meat or buying milk," Melina Apaza, a 50-year-old demonstrator from the southern mining heartland of Oruro, told AFP.
Wearing helmets and ponchos, the protesters, many of whom waved rainbow-colored Indigenous flags, marched toward the city center to the din of firecrackers.
Demonstrators hurled sticks and stones at riot police, who responded with successive tear gas rounds and blocked them from reaching the square in front of government buildings.
As the city calmed later in the day, hundreds of residents marched through the city center in a counterprotest against the blockades strangling the city, an AFP reporter saw. 
The Bolivian government said it would deploy a police and military operation beginning Saturday morning to allow the passage of goods in short supply in La Paz through the blockades.
In El Alto, a predominantly Indigenous suburb of La Paz and a hotbed of dissent, demonstrators briefly blocked access to the city's main international airport.

Labor minister fired

Paz has attempted to take the heat out of the protests by firing his unpopular labor minister and promising to give the miners and other groups in the street more of a say in shaping policy.
But his overtures appear to have fallen short of the mark.
Roads leading to La Paz continue to be blockaded by protesters, causing shortages of food, medicine and fuel.
Trade unions began demonstrating in early May for wage increases, improved fuel supplies and economic stability.
But as the weeks passed, the demonstrations snowballed into a full-blown revolt, marked by calls for the resignation of the US-backed Paz.
His election -- part of a right-wing tide sweeping Latin America -- ended two decades of socialist rule launched by Indigenous coca farmer Evo Morales in the mid-2000s.
Paz's government accuses Morales, who attempted a comeback last year despite being wanted on charges of trafficking a minor, of fomenting the current unrest.
Morales has been hiding out from police in his central coca-growing fiefdom of Chapare since late 2024.
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Iran

US mulls new strikes on Iran: US media reports

  • Returning from a trip to New York state where he gave a speech Friday, Trump did not take questions from reporters who travel with him as he often does.
  • The United States is weighing new military strikes on Iran, US media outlets reported on Friday.
  • Returning from a trip to New York state where he gave a speech Friday, Trump did not take questions from reporters who travel with him as he often does.
The United States is weighing new military strikes on Iran, US media outlets reported on Friday.
The reports, from CBS and Axios, come just hours after US President Donald Trump said he would not travel to attend his son's wedding this weekend due to "circumstances pertaining to government" and his "love for the United States of America."
Trump said that it was "important for me to remain in Washington, D.C., at the White House during this important period of time."
Both Axios and CBS said that a final decision on new strikes hasn't been made.
Negotiations are said to be ongoing, with Pakistan -- which is mediating between the US and Iran -- sending its military chief to Tehran in an attempt to seal a deal.
The White House did not comment on the reports when AFP inquired about them.
CBS said that a White House spokesperson, Anna Kelly, told them that "the President has been clear about the consequences if Iran fails to make a deal." 
The White House earlier on Friday announced a change in Trump's weekend plans, saying he would not travel to his New Jersey golf resort as planned but would stay in the US capital instead.
Returning from a trip to New York state where he gave a speech Friday, Trump did not take questions from reporters who travel with him as he often does.
Axios reported -- citing two unnamed sources -- that Trump has "grown increasingly frustrated about the negotiations with Iran over the past several days."
Axios said that his position through the week had shifted from favoring diplomacy toward ordering a strike.
CBS reported, citing unnamed sources, that members of the US military and intelligence apparatus were cancelling holiday weekend plans in anticipation of possible strikes.
pnb/ksb

US

Mexico, EU lower tariffs in bid to grow non-US trade

BY ARTURO ILIZALITURRI

  • Earlier this week, the European Union moved to end a trade standoff with Trump by agreeing to implement a deal signed last year with the US, which sets tariffs on most European goods at 15 percent. 
  • The European Union and Mexico on Friday signed a deal reducing tariffs on each other's goods as both seek to lessen their dependence on trade with the United States.
  • Earlier this week, the European Union moved to end a trade standoff with Trump by agreeing to implement a deal signed last year with the US, which sets tariffs on most European goods at 15 percent. 
The European Union and Mexico on Friday signed a deal reducing tariffs on each other's goods as both seek to lessen their dependence on trade with the United States.
The expansion of an accord dating to 2000 comes as Mexico fights hard to preserve a three-way free trade agreement with the United States and Canada, which is crucial to all three economies.
The EU is Mexico's third-largest trading partner, lagging far behind the US and China.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has stressed the importance of "opening other horizons" at a time when both Mexico and the EU are grappling with US President Donald Trump's tariff offensive.
The updated agreement, signed by Sheinbaum and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during the eighth EU-Mexico Summit, removes most remaining barriers to trade and investment.
"At a time marked by increasing turbulence and profound transformations, we have chosen to expand, deepen and update the bonds of our Strategic Partnership," a joint statement read.

'The same objectives'

The updated accord facilitates trade in auto parts, a sector particularly affected by Trump's tariffs.
Mexico also agreed to recognize hundreds of food and drink products from specific EU regions, such as Parma ham and Roquefort cheese.
The agreement will lower tariffs on more products, and give duty-free access to pasta, chocolate, potatoes, canned peaches, eggs and certain poultry products.
"Mexico wants to reduce its dependence on its northern neighbor, but also on Asian, or rather, Chinese, supply chains, and in Europe we are pursuing the same objectives," an EU official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
On a visit Thursday to Mexico City, the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the deal would create new opportunities for "both economies to compete globally" and build on the momentum of the past decade, which has seen a 75 percent leap in EU-Mexican trade.
Earlier this week, the European Union moved to end a trade standoff with Trump by agreeing to implement a deal signed last year with the US, which sets tariffs on most European goods at 15 percent. 
Average US tariffs on Mexican goods are a quarter of that -- with many avoiding levies altogether under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
Sheinbaum said Mexico's respective trade agreements with the EU and the US were "not contradictory."
"On the contrary, they strengthen Mexico, strengthen Europe and strengthen the United States," she told a press conference.
Brussels has said the update to the pact would make it easier for "like-minded partners" to export and invest in each other's markets.
The lower tariffs enjoyed by Mexico will benefit the EU, according to Sergio Contreras, president of the Mexican Business Council for Foreign Trade.
Mexico will be "the point of convergence, the platform for the European Union and North America to come together," he said.
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