protest

Tense standoff over flashpoint N.Ireland parade lasts into night

conflict

Tigray TV station hit by drone, rebels advance in north Ethiopia

  • "Neither Shaebia (Eritrea) nor the TPLF can achieve anything alone, even if they are allied, unless they are backed, supported and supplied by Sudan, Egypt and other external powers," he added.
  • Ethiopia's army commander on Sunday accused Eritrea and Sudan of backing armed groups fighting its troops in the north of the country.
  • "Neither Shaebia (Eritrea) nor the TPLF can achieve anything alone, even if they are allied, unless they are backed, supported and supplied by Sudan, Egypt and other external powers," he added.
Ethiopia's army commander on Sunday accused Eritrea and Sudan of backing armed groups fighting its troops in the north of the country.
Heavy clashes have resumed between the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the federal government since Wednesday, raising fears of a return to a 2020-2022 civil war in which an estimated 600,000 people died.
The TPLF has seized airports and launched attacks into the neighbouring states of Afar and Amhara, saying they were engaged in a "defensive war" against the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. 
A humanitarian source said the Afar town of Erebti, near the border with Tigray, fell to the rebels on Sunday after being pounded by heavy artillery.
The TPLF was now advancing towards the town of Afdeera, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) to the east.
The source estimated that at least 150,000 people have been displaced in Afar, but said it was impossible to give precise numbers.
Speaking on the army's YouTube channel, army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula said: "We are fighting forces that are organised and allied to serve the interests of external forces.
"Neither Shaebia (Eritrea) nor the TPLF can achieve anything alone, even if they are allied, unless they are backed, supported and supplied by Sudan, Egypt and other external powers," he added.

TV station attack

The TPLF has allied with seven armed groups around the country, and appears to repeating a strategy from the last war of pushing south through Amhara towards Addis Ababa, 
Its offensive in Afar is aimed at cutting supplies from Djibouti, which provides almost all of Ethiopia's international trade cargo, including fuel.
The headquarters of Tigrai TV, seen as the key outlet for the rebel authorities in the Tigrayan capital, Mekelle, was hit by a drone on Sunday. 
"We heard a loud bang from a drone strike elsewhere and we fled the building," a journalist from the station told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The channel has not commented on the incident.
Photos taken by a local journalist showed Tigrai TV building facade damaged and blackened, with numerous windows blown out by the explosion. 
Another journalist said the station, which has around 400 employees, was off-air after the attack. No reports of casualties were immediately available.
The federal government in Addis Ababa said on September 21 that Tigrai TV had been suspended "indefinitely", and banned other outlets from broadcasting its reports.

Blockade

Communications have been limited since Friday when telecoms providers reported major disruption to phone and internet services in Tigray, making reporting on the conflict difficult.
Many in Tigray fear a repeat of a blockade imposed by the federal government during the 2020-2022 conflict when electricity, banking, and almost all aid were cut off.
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres raised the alarm on Friday, his spokesman saying Guterres was "particularly troubled by reports of the use of drones as well as incidents of harm to civilians".
The government has a significant military advantage, with a large arsenal of drones, some 500,000 troops, and support from abroad, notably the United Arab Emirates.
But the conflict could draw in neighbouring Eritrea on the side of the rebels, as it fears landlocked Ethiopia has been planning to invade and seize a direct point of access to the Red Sea.
The TPLF ruled all of Ethiopia from 1991 to 2018 before being sidelined with Abiy's rise to the prime minister's post.
That triggered a civil war marked by widespread war crimes and sexual violence. 
The Pretoria Peace Agreement of 2022, brokered by African institutions and Washington, maintained an uneasy calm until last year. But it was never fully implemented, leaving around one million people unable to return to their homes.
Sporadic clashes then resumed, with the federal forces launching multiple drone strikes in Tigray in recent months and massing troops at the border.
Rights groups have accused the TPLF of a campaign of forced recruitment this year as it prepared for renewed conflict.
str-jf-er/jj/tw

protest

Tense standoff over flashpoint N.Ireland parade lasts into night

BY PETER MURPHY

  • Northern Ireland was blighted for three decades by conflict between largely Catholic, pro-Irish republicans and Protestant, pro-UK unionists.
  • UK leaders called for calm Sunday as a tense standoff with residents seeking to halt a pro-British Protestant march through a Catholic flashpoint area stretched into the night, in one of the worst crises for Northern Ireland in recent years.
  • Northern Ireland was blighted for three decades by conflict between largely Catholic, pro-Irish republicans and Protestant, pro-UK unionists.
UK leaders called for calm Sunday as a tense standoff with residents seeking to halt a pro-British Protestant march through a Catholic flashpoint area stretched into the night, in one of the worst crises for Northern Ireland in recent years.
The tensions were triggered after a Belfast appeal court overturned a High Court injunction in the early hours of Sunday to clear the march by the Orange Order to go ahead for the first time since 1997.
The Parades Commission, Northern Ireland's independent body regulating contentious processions, had authorised 35 Orangemen to march silently along Garvaghy Road in Portadown, without bands or supporters from 8:00 am (0700 GMT) Sunday.
But as night fell Sunday the Orangemen were still trying to carry out their march, blocked by police and about several hundred residents.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham appealed for "calm on all sides", telling BBC television that "big gains" had been made in Northern Ireland "and we don't want to see things go backwards".
Northern Ireland was blighted for three decades by conflict between largely Catholic, pro-Irish republicans and Protestant, pro-UK unionists.
During the late 1990s, the Garvaghy Road became a major flashpoint.
The Orange Order is a pro-British organisation that takes its name from William of Orange, the Protestant Dutchman who seized the English, Scottish and Ireland throne from Catholic King James II in 1689.

Heavy security

There was a heavy security presence on Sunday in the Portadown area, 25 miles (40 kilometres) southwest of Belfast, with armoured police vehicles and a helicopter whirring overhead.
Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill, of the Irish republican Sinn Fein party, condemned the late-night court ruling.
She said she supported "the right of the Garvaghy Road residents to protest against this unwanted sectarian march".
Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald told reporters as she walked with the counter-protesters that the "residents and community have come out to defend their right to live free from sectarian harassment".
Since the 1998 Good Friday peace accords ending the so-called Troubles in Northern Ireland "there has been lots of progress ... it has been transformational. People's lives have been changed fundamentally," she said.
"We are not going back."

Legal challenges

But Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Gavin Robinson called for "unanimous condemnation" of O'Neill, accusing her of "breaking the law" by ignoring the will of the courts.
"Our party is maintaining the dignity of the Portadown Orangemen -- as they have shown determination and patience so will we," he told reporters.
Around 6:00 pm (1700GMT) a group of Orangemen left the church and walked down the hill, where they were met by a line of police who refused to let them pass.
Northern Ireland minister Chris Bryant flew in from the Labour Party conference in Liverpool to try to ease the situation through talks.
He said he wanted to meet "face to face" with political leaders and community leaders "to see if we can get to a settled position".
A Belfast High Court judge had temporarily blocked the parade on Saturday, warning the long-running dispute could escalate across Northern Ireland.
But just before midnight, a three-judge Court of Appeal panel overturned the injunction.
Carla Lockhart, a local MP from the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, called the ruling "seismic". She insisted residents had nothing to worry about.
"Thirty-five men walking down a road silently with no bands in an orderly fashion; there is nothing to fear," she said.
The Parades Commission was established in 1998, the year the Good Friday Agreement largely ended three decades of conflict over British rule known as the Troubles.
It barred the Orange Order from completing the route that year and has consistently rejected subsequent applications.
pmu-jkb/jj

pope

Pope promises French sex abuse victims to prevent further harm

BY CLEMENT MELKI, CLAIRE GALLEN AND ELOI ROUYER

  • "It was an extraordinary moment," said the man, who described himself as having lost all faith after the abuse.
  • Pope Leo XIV on Sunday told victims of clerical sex abuse he met in France that he was committed to preventing further harm, taking one in his arms in a moment the 80-year-old man described as "extraordinary".
  • "It was an extraordinary moment," said the man, who described himself as having lost all faith after the abuse.
Pope Leo XIV on Sunday told victims of clerical sex abuse he met in France that he was committed to preventing further harm, taking one in his arms in a moment the 80-year-old man described as "extraordinary".
The leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics was on the first official papal visit to France, a secular country with deep Catholic roots, in nearly two decades.
The pontiff on the third of a four-day visit in the pilgrimage town of Lourdes privately met seven abuse victims, now adults, after promising to further efforts to reform the Church in the wake of the global sexual abuse scandal.
Among them was Jean-Marie Delbos, 80, who was abused as a pupil at the nearby boarding school of Notre-Dame de Betharram, where staff have been accused of physical and sexual abuse over several decades.
"When he saw the state I was in, he took me into his arms," Delbos told journalists after.
"It was an extraordinary moment," said the man, who described himself as having lost all faith after the abuse.
A 2021 inquiry found that clergy or lay members of the Church had abused about 330,000 minors in France over 70 years.

'Systemic'

Jerome Guillement, who has written about a priest abusing him as a teenager, said the pontiff understood the "systemic" character of sexual abuse in the Church.
"From his point of view, the perpetrators are individuals, but what allows it to continue is the systemic dimension within the institution," he said.
The first US pontiff thanked the victims "for their painful testimony and reaffirmed his commitment to do everything possible to ensure that the harm they suffered is not repeated for others", the Vatican said.
He also expressed "his hope of being able to work together".
Pope Leo earlier urged bishops in another private meeting to continue fighting sexual and physical violence.
"You have faced with determination the painful scourge of abuse of minors committed by members of the clergy or within an ecclesial context," he said, according to a copy of his speech released to the press.
"It is important to persevere along the path you have begun."

'False compassion'

Catholic tradition says the Virgin Mary appeared to a peasant girl in a grotto in Lourdes in 1858, and the modern-day sanctuary is one of the most important Catholic holy sites in the world.
The southwestern town receives some three million pilgrims each year, and believers credit it with miraculous healings. 
On Sunday morning, hymns rang out in a packed field near the sanctuary after Pope Leo blessed the faithful with holy water.
Among the crowd, 54-year-old Jerome Vion said he approved of the pontiff's attention to victims of clerical abuse.
"It is his role as a spiritual master to guide this Church," he said. 
Domitille Bardoul, 26, said it was "very beautiful" the pope was going to listen to victims.
She said it was "a way of acknowledging that every possible measure is being taken to prevent this kind of abuse".
Leo is the third pope to visit Lourdes after Benedict XVI in 2008 and Jean-Paul II in 1983 and 2004.
Addressing sick pilgrims on Sunday, Leo rejected assisted dying, after the French parliament in June legalised the practice for certain adults suffering from an incurable condition.
"We must reject the temptation to cause death under the guise of false compassion," he said.
"What is legal is not necessarily moral."
On his final day in France on Monday, Leo he heads to the northeastern city of Metz near the German border where he is expected to discuss hopes for peace in Europe.
burs-ah/tw

explosives

UK village on edge over threats to air base in terror alert

BY AKSHATA KAPOOR

  • "I'm sure all the residents of Fairford are quite spooked and jumped about it," said Currie. 
  • Residents in a bucolic corner of southwestern England said they were "spooked" by an air base used by the US military in its war against Iran as bomb experts descended on the area on Sunday.
  • "I'm sure all the residents of Fairford are quite spooked and jumped about it," said Currie. 
Residents in a bucolic corner of southwestern England said they were "spooked" by an air base used by the US military in its war against Iran as bomb experts descended on the area on Sunday.
Stephanie's family was one of 85 households evacuated from the village of Whelford, around a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the Royal Air Force (RAF) Fairford air base, in the early hours of Sunday after authorities were alerted to "suspicious vehicles".
Police have not yet confirmed the nature or source of the threat near the base, but said they arrested five men on suspicion of "preparing a terrorist act". Broadcast aerial footage showed a bomb disposal robot moving around the vans.
A resident told UK media she had alerted emergency services after seeing three vans blocking a road near the village and a group of men wearing hoods and balaclavas.
Villagers were evacuated to a leisure centre in the nearby town of Cirencester, where Stephanie was planning to hunker down for the night with her puppy and two cats as a police cordon remained in place.
"I'm absolutely exhausted," Stephanie, who didn't want to share her last name, told AFP, adding the danger of the situation "didn't quite hit me till now".
"It's quite a lovely, small village. It's a real shame," said Stephanie. 
"You don't expect anything to happen around here. It's just a lovely quaint area of the Cotswolds," said 20-year-old university student George Currie, who lives in the market town of Cirencester, home to a medieval church and neat rows of limestone houses.
"I'm sure all the residents of Fairford are quite spooked and jumped about it," said Currie. 
"With how important Fairford has been with the air base, I'd be quite scared to live there at the moment."
In March, Britain gave the United States permission to use Fairford air base for "specific defensive operations into Iran" to destroy Iranian missiles.
Since then, US bombers and other planes have been seen taking off and landing from the airfield.
Fairford has previously been used by the US military for operations during the Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq War.

'Reality check'

A dog-walker in Cirencester, who did not want to give his name, said his wife had been "worried about threats to Fairford".
So the news "was like her nightmares have come true," said the man.
Residents said the air base is generally quiet apart from a major annual airshow that brings visitors from several countries. 
"It's no trouble at all," said the dog walker about living near the base. "But actually using it as a bomber base is a bit worrying."
"Normally, RAF Fairford is very quiet but at the moment, with Epic Fury, that's changed," local councillor Tristan Wilkinson told AFP, referring to the US military codename for its attacks on Iran.
"The local community and the authorities have had greater vigilance around the base," in recent months, Wilkinson added.
The interior ministry has previously accused Iran and Russia of using proxies to carry out criminal activities on their behalf on UK territory.
"I mean, with everything that's been going on, with the activity around the air base, something like that is bound to happen," said 21-year-old Victor Compton.
"The effects of war reach into the safest parts of the world," added the university student, saying it was a "bit of a reality check".
aks/jkb/tw

Global Edition

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic announces resignation

  • First elected president in 2017 and re-elected in May 2022, Vucic cut short his five-year term to campaign for prime minister, although the law did not require him to resign.
  • Serbia's long-time populist President Aleksandar Vucic resigned Sunday to run for prime minister in October snap elections after nearly two years of student-led protests that had been pressing for just such a poll.
  • First elected president in 2017 and re-elected in May 2022, Vucic cut short his five-year term to campaign for prime minister, although the law did not require him to resign.
Serbia's long-time populist President Aleksandar Vucic resigned Sunday to run for prime minister in October snap elections after nearly two years of student-led protests that had been pressing for just such a poll.
Vucic delivered his resignation speech from the presidential palace in Belgrade, where supporters gathered outside chanting his name.
"I am resigning as president," Vucic said. "Tomorrow morning I will hand over my duties to the parliament speaker."
The snap election was a key demand of a student-led movement sparked by the November 2024 collapse of a canopy at Novi Sad railway station that killed 16 people and was widely blamed on corruption.
The tragedy triggered some of Serbia's largest protests since the fall of Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, at times drawing hundreds of thousands.
Initial calls for a transparent investigation grew into demands for snap elections, which Vucic had repeatedly promised without setting a date.
Earlier this month however, he called an October 25 vote, citing "major turbulence on the domestic political scene".
First elected president in 2017 and re-elected in May 2022, Vucic cut short his five-year term to campaign for prime minister, although the law did not require him to resign.
"I want to compete as an ordinary man, as one of the people," Vucic said.
He now heads the electoral list of his right-wing populist Serbian Progressive Party and is its candidate for prime minister.
Minutes before resigning, Vucic used his constitutional powers to pardon dozens of people, including students and his party loyalists, suspected of offences during the protests.
"I have decided to pardon 49 people, 23 of them in connection with the terrible events we have gone through over the past year and a half," Vucic said, referring to the protests.
Under the law, parliament speaker Ana Brnabic now becomes acting president for up to three months, during which a presidential election must be called.
oz/jj

vote

Aleksandar Vucic: from Milosevic minister to long-serving Serbian statesman

BY ANDREW LEESON

  • Now his Serbian Progressive Party faces the biggest challenge since it came to power in 2012, as a years-long protest movement emerges, forming a new political force ahead of the October 25 snap poll.
  • The dominant force in Serbian politics for over 14 years, Aleksandar Vucic climbed from the wreckage of strongman Slobodan Milosevic's cabinet to the centre of power using his brand of populist nationalism.
  • Now his Serbian Progressive Party faces the biggest challenge since it came to power in 2012, as a years-long protest movement emerges, forming a new political force ahead of the October 25 snap poll.
The dominant force in Serbian politics for over 14 years, Aleksandar Vucic climbed from the wreckage of strongman Slobodan Milosevic's cabinet to the centre of power using his brand of populist nationalism.
To his supporters, Vucic represents stability, development and patriotism in a country long overshadowed by the bloody wars of the 1990s and the international isolation that followed.
But his opponents see him as increasingly authoritarian, twisting between the Kremlin and Brussels, leading a government accused of endemic corruption.
Now his Serbian Progressive Party faces the biggest challenge since it came to power in 2012, as a years-long protest movement emerges, forming a new political force ahead of the October 25 snap poll.
"I served you faithfully. I served all of you, and our homeland Serbia, honourably and honestly throughout my presidential term," Vucic told supporters gathered outside the presidential palace shortly before submitting his resignation.
"The fight is only beginning," he told the crowd, which was chanting his name.

Political turnaround

Vucic rose to prominence in the 1990s as an ultra-nationalist ally of Milosevic, serving as his information minister in 1998.
After the Yugoslav strongman was ousted amid widespread protests in 2000, Vucic became a senior figure of the far-right Serbian Radical Party.
Throughout his time in the party, he was a vocal supporter of Bosnian Serb political and military leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, both later sentenced to life for genocide and other crimes committed during the Bosnian war.
The party's leader Vojislav Seselj was also convicted of crimes against humanity.
But Vucic underwent a dramatic rebrand in 2008.
Ditching the Radicals, he co-founded the conservative, pro-European Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), which won parliamentary elections in 2012 and has dominated Serbian politics ever since.
He served as deputy prime minister, defence minister and prime minister before becoming president in 2017.
Even after polishing his image, Vucic has been reluctant to distance himself from nationalist leanings and far-right associates.
He has repeatedly stopped short of condemning Serbs convicted of atrocities during the 1990s conflicts. He looked the other way as pro-government media and political allies openly praised war criminals.
Despite trying to deny state involvement in a large funeral gathering for Mladic in the Serbian capital last month, several of his ministers attended, drawing sharp criticism from Brussels.

'Land of cranes'

A relentless campaigner, he maintains a near-constant presence on pro-government television channels, embracing locals in tiny rural villages and chastising his critics during lengthy news conferences.
Over the years, Vucic has cultivated the image of a tireless leader criss-crossing Serbia, attracting investment and creating jobs.
At the same time, he has juggled the competing interests of European Union aspirations and Serbia's close ties to Russia.
Supporters also praise him as a brave defender of Serbian sovereignty, spending billions of euros on defence -- as he warns of foreign influence and pressure from NATO-member neighbours.
He most often cites Serbia's infrastructure and improved living standards as proof of his success, once pledging to make the country a "land of cranes".
From the gleaming waterfront district, with its glass tower rising over the city, to the numerous projects unfolding in preparation for Expo 2027, his party's slogan "Serbia is Winning" is plastered on billboards across the capital.

Novi Sad

But when a concrete canopy collapsed at Novi Sad's newly renovated train station in 2024, killing 16 people, accusations of corruption that had dogged many of his signature projects, including the waterfront, caused an outpouring of anger.
Student-led demonstrations calling for transparent investigations drew hundreds of thousands to the streets in the largest protests since the Milosevic era.
As demands grew into calls for snap elections, so did Vucic's and his supporters' pushback.
Students manning university blockades were labelled tools of foreign powers.
At the same time, party loyalists occupied a park outside the presidential palace, amid growing reports of anti-government protesters facing arrest, violence and intimidation.
"Students are winning! I think it is crucial that we unite around that narrative," student Dimitrije Potic told AFP at a May rally in Belgrade that drew more than 180,000 people.
Earlier in September, nearly two years into the protests, Vucic, finally called snap elections for October, citing "major turbulence on the domestic political scene" -- but meeting a key student demand.
oz/al/rlp/jj

conflict

Russian strikes on Ukraine kill 8

  • Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi announced the latest deaths on Sunday, saying Russian strikes hit a children's centre in the northern city of Sumy, killing three people including a 16-year-old girl.
  • Russian strikes killed eight people across Ukraine a day after Moscow vowed to achieve its war aims "no matter the circumstances", authorities said Sunday.
  • Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi announced the latest deaths on Sunday, saying Russian strikes hit a children's centre in the northern city of Sumy, killing three people including a 16-year-old girl.
Russian strikes killed eight people across Ukraine a day after Moscow vowed to achieve its war aims "no matter the circumstances", authorities said Sunday.
Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukraine's capital in the fifth year of its invasion with Ukraine charging that Moscow is deliberately hitting civilian targets as the country braces for another tough winter.
Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi announced the latest deaths on Sunday, saying Russian strikes hit a children's centre in the northern city of Sumy, killing three people including a 16-year-old girl.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said three people were killed in night-time strikes on the southern Zaporizhzhia region and a Russian drone strike had killed one man in Kyiv.
Authorities in the Odesa region said a "massive strike" on the south of the Black Sea region had killed one more person.
Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said a woman and two 16-year-olds had also been wounded and hospitalised in the capital.
"The enemy continues to relentlessly attack the Kyiv region with strike drones," the city's administration said.
"Sixteen sites have been damaged," including 12 private houses in Kyiv's outskirts, as well as a warehouse and production facility, it added.
Russian strikes in the Odesa region damaged housing, a shop, a hotel, a medical building and a warehouse storing grain, said regional head Oleg Kiper.

Targeting 'civilian infrastructure'

"This past week, the Russians launched more than 2,200 attack drones against Ukraine, as well as around 1,650 aerial bombs and 38 missiles of various types, a significant number of them ballistic missiles," Zelensky posted on social media.
The strikes had targeted housing "and other civilian infrastructure" in various parts of the country, he added
In Moscow, Russia's defence ministry said it bombed a Kyivstar data centre in Kyiv and another belonging to the Omega Telecom company, claiming that the firms were providing services to the Ukrainian army.
It also released an image of a drone bearing the ironic message "Digital Detox", confirming that the strikes were aimed at disrupting internet access in Ukraine.
On Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the UN General Assembly his country intended to continue its military campaign "to the end".
Russia denies that it aims at civilian targets.
The defence ministry also said that Russian forces had seized the border village of Khrypuny in Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv region, where Russia controls pockets of land. 
Russia does not claim the Kharkiv region as its own -- unlike the Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson region. Throughout the war however, it has attacked the region and seized land there. 
The Kremlin has repeatedly said it intends to seize the rest of east Ukraine.
US-led talks to end the war have failed to produce a breakthrough and the UN has highlighted the growing civilian toll as the two sides become more entrenched.
bur-jj/db/tw

explosives

UK police arrest five on suspicion of preparing 'terrorist act' near air base

BY JUSTIN TALLIS WITH HELEN ROWE IN LONDON AND AKSHATA KAPOOR IN CIRENCESTER

  • Gloucestershire police said earlier it had declared a "major incident" with several men arrested "on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act".
  • British counter-terrorism police were Sunday probing "a major" incident near a base used by the US air force after arresting five men on suspicion of "preparing a terrorist act", police said.
  • Gloucestershire police said earlier it had declared a "major incident" with several men arrested "on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act".
British counter-terrorism police were Sunday probing "a major" incident near a base used by the US air force after arresting five men on suspicion of "preparing a terrorist act", police said.
Armed officers detained the group in the early hours after a call to emergency services about three "suspicious vehicles which appeared to be travelling towards the air base", London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
US President Donald Trump told reporters they had been "looking to do big damage" at the Royal Air Force (RAF) Fairford air base in Gloucestershire, southwest England.
"We had them under view for a long time, and we got them," he said, adding the US and UK had been working together on the incident.
A local resident who said it was known locally that the base was on lockdown due to a "terror threat" alerted emergency services after seeing three vans blocking the road and a large group of men wearing hoods and balaclavas.
She told the PA news agency she found it "astonishing" it had been effectively down to a "plucky amateur" spotting unusual activity to raise the alarm.
Some 85 households in the nearby village of Whelford were advised to evacuate and army bomb disposal experts called in to examine three large white vans stopped on a rural road.

Incident 'contained'

"Counter Terrorism Policing can now confirm they are leading an investigation into an incident which took place overnight near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire," the Met statement added.
Broadcast aerial footage showed a bomb disposal robot moving around the vans, two of which had their rear doors open.
Police believed the incident had been "contained" and a 400 metre (1,300 feet) cordon had been put in place.
Armed officers could be seen guarding the entrance to the base.
In March, then prime minister Keir Starmer granted permission for "defensive" US action against Iranian missile sites from two UK bases including Fairford.
New Prime Minister Andy Burnham was being kept updated on the incident, a government spokesperson said.
Burnham, who was in the northwestern city of Liverpool along with other senior ministers for his Labour Party's annual conference, thanked the police, armed forces and residents who had been asked to leave their homes "while precautionary checks are carried out".
Defence Minister Wes Streeting said in Liverpool he had been in contact with US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and the UK was "working closely with our American friends".
Asked if there was any Iranian involvement, he said it would be "irresponsible to speculate".
Gloucestershire police said earlier it had declared a "major incident" with several men arrested "on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act".

Villagers evacuated

Residents from Whelford were evacuated to a nearby leisure centre.
"My understanding is that the whole village was evacuated in the early hours of this morning," district councillor Tristan Wilkinson told AFP.
"Most people got in their cars, so when the police knocked on the doors and told them to go, most people were able to kind of drive away."
They were now waiting to see if the cordon would be relaxed later Sunday, as many were worried about pets which had to be left behind. "I'm hoping that the police will actually reduce the cordon quite quickly," Wilkinson said.
Villager Julian Tudsbery said it was his fellow villager who had alerted police first after they "phoned the airbase police who didn't answer the phone. It just rang out so she dialled 999".
Fairford is the UK base of the 501st Combat Support Wing, a US air force administrative support wing, which said in a statement that no US air force personnel had been involved in the incident.
"The 501st Combat Support Wing appreciates the swift response and continued support of our local law enforcement partners," it said.
"We remain in close coordination with our UK partners to help ensure the safety and security of both our military and local communities," it added.
The incident comes amid concerns about the actions of hostile foreign states.
Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood has accused Iran and Russia of using proxies to carry out criminal activities on their behalf on UK territory.
Earlier this month, reports said British military sites had been targeted by drones more than 300 times over the past year.
har/jkb/yad

politics

Swiss reject plan to toughen neutrality

BY AGNèS PEDRERO

  • The proposal was rejected by 70.1 percent of voters, according to the final results.
  • Swiss voters on Sunday roundly rejected a proposal to tighten their country's neutrality, final results showed, dismissing an initiative championed by the hard-right and dubbed "pro-Russian" by opponents.
  • The proposal was rejected by 70.1 percent of voters, according to the final results.
Swiss voters on Sunday roundly rejected a proposal to tighten their country's neutrality, final results showed, dismissing an initiative championed by the hard-right and dubbed "pro-Russian" by opponents.
While the Swiss widely embrace their neutrality, the initiative to enshrine a strict definition into the constitution exposed deep disagreement over what that neutrality entails.
The proposal was rejected by 70.1 percent of voters, according to the final results.
"This result is not a vote against neutrality," Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis told journalists in Bern as the figures were announced.
"Switzerland was neutral yesterday, it will be neutral today and it will remain neutral," he added.
Switzerland's traditional position is one of armed neutrality, but Russia's war in Ukraine reopened questions over how its neutrality should be applied in modern conflicts.
Concerned over Bern's decision to back the European Union's economic pressure on Russia, the pro-sovereignty Pro Switzerland organisation collected enough signatures to trigger a referendum under the country's direct democracy system on better anchoring neutrality in its constitution.
The proposal was opposed by the government, parliament and most major political parties. Opinion polls had also suggested that most voters would also reject it.
Moscow, which has slammed Switzerland for joining EU sanctions and accused Bern of abandoning its neutrality, praised the initiative -- dubbed "pro-Russian" by some critics.
The proposal called for the constitution to guarantee that Swiss neutrality is "armed and perpetual".
It would have prevented Switzerland, whose neutrality dates back to 1516, from pursuing closer ties with NATO ruling out any military alliance except in the event of an attack on the country.
It would have also prohibited the imposition of sanctions unless called for by the United Nations.

'Perpetual armed neutrality'

All sides in the debate argued they wanted to maintain Switzerland's neutrality.
Both the Swiss government and parliament objected that the proposal was too rigid and would limit the country's room for manoeuvre at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions.
"Neutrality has always been applied with a degree of flexibility," Cassis said during a recent televised debate.
While Switzerland had no plans to lift a ban on selling arms to countries in conflict, including to Ukraine, he stressed that "neutrality does not mean indifference".
The country, he said, would "not look away when we see violations of the very international rules that allow us to live in peace".
The only political party backing the initiative was the country's largest, the hard-right Swiss People's Party (SVP).
"Our goal is to foster peace, diplomacy and dialogue," SVP vice president Celine Amaudruz said during a televised debate.
"To achieve that, we must maintain credibility through perpetual armed neutrality."
apo/yad/jj

US

Washington denounces Iran's truce proposal as 'cynical'

  • "This was, I think, a pretty cynical attempt to put something on the table that they knew was unacceptable," US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said on Sunday in an interview with NBC. "To ask for the release of the blockade, the sanctions, international sanctions, and access to billions in assets just to talk."
  • A top US official on Sunday dismissed a proposal for reopening the Strait of Hormuz presented by Iran as "cynical" and indicated it was a non-starter for Washington.
  • "This was, I think, a pretty cynical attempt to put something on the table that they knew was unacceptable," US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said on Sunday in an interview with NBC. "To ask for the release of the blockade, the sanctions, international sanctions, and access to billions in assets just to talk."
A top US official on Sunday dismissed a proposal for reopening the Strait of Hormuz presented by Iran as "cynical" and indicated it was a non-starter for Washington.
Iran's truce plan, announced by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi at the United Nations earlier this week, calls for the release of frozen Iranian assets, the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil and an end to the US naval blockade in order for the key waterway central to the world's energy supplies to be opened.
"This was, I think, a pretty cynical attempt to put something on the table that they knew was unacceptable," US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said on Sunday in an interview with NBC. "To ask for the release of the blockade, the sanctions, international sanctions, and access to billions in assets just to talk."
US President Donald Trump rejected the deal on Saturday, stating that Iranian leaders wanted the deal because "they are losing so badly."
"I think it's kind of common sense that the president doesn't have a lot of confidence this time after we just tried a few months ago, but at the end of the day, of course, the president this has to end in some type of arrangement," Waltz said. "But he's going to leave all options on the table to get there."
Speaking on NBC shortly after, Araghchi denounced what he described as "old, unproved accusations" made by Waltz.
"We are ready to open the strait if certain things are done by the US and these certain things are not new, have not come from the space," he said. "These are our rights that we want to be respected."
Araghchi struck a pessimistic tone regarding the prospect of a deal.
"There is also always hope for diplomacy, but we have no reason, to be honest with you, we have no reason to come back to diplomacy and engage with this administration once again because of their behavior in the past two years," he told NBC.
rle/md/pnb

shooting

Gunmen kill 27 in two shootings in South Africa

BY HILLARY ORINDE

  • In a separate shooting at a barbecue venue in a township outside Cape Town early on Sunday, gunmen killed 10 people and wounded 11 more.
  • Gunmen killed at least 27 people in two mass shootings in South Africa's two main cities, Johannesburg and Cape Town, police said on Sunday, in the latest criminal violence to hit the country.
  • In a separate shooting at a barbecue venue in a township outside Cape Town early on Sunday, gunmen killed 10 people and wounded 11 more.
Gunmen killed at least 27 people in two mass shootings in South Africa's two main cities, Johannesburg and Cape Town, police said on Sunday, in the latest criminal violence to hit the country.
Eight gunmen armed with assault rifles and pistols stormed a bar southwest of Johannesburg at around 1930 GMT on Saturday, killing 17 people and wounding 15 others. 
The dead included 13 males and four females.
The suspects opened fire on customers drinking outside and then moved inside to continue shooting, police said.
The shooting took place in Wedela, a semi-rural township of brick houses and small businesses, surrounded by wide expanses of land used for mining. The suspects torched two vehicles before fleeing. 
The area has been a focus of a government crackdown on illegal mining, with soldiers deployed alongside police to tackle criminal networks operating around abandoned mine shafts.
The motive of the attack was unknown.
"The criminals think it's a fashion. They want to make it something which we need to get used to, but that cannot be allowed and tolerated," deputy provincial police commissioner Major General Fred Kekana said at the scene.
"We managed to get clear pictures of the suspects and we will get them," he said, adding that the attack appeared to have been retaliation for an incident last month.
One of the victims was being sought by police in connection with an incident at the same tavern last month in which one person was killed and another wounded, Kekana said. 
In a separate shooting at a barbecue venue in a township outside Cape Town early on Sunday, gunmen killed 10 people and wounded 11 more.
In video clips shared on social media, revellers can be seen dancing and drinking before a burst of gunfire rings out, sending people scrambling for cover.
Five of the victims were declared dead at the scene while the others died while being transported to hospital. Two of those killed were female, police said.
No suspect has been arrested in either case, police said.

Army deployed

The attacks come as South Africa continues to grapple with high levels of gun violence, often linked to gangs, organised crime and local business rivalries.
The country of about 62 million people records roughly 60 murders a day, among the highest rates globally.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday said security forces "are going to continue pulling out all stops" to put an end to criminality.
"The clear instruction to our security forces is that we must bring the levels of criminality and violence down," he said. 
"We cannot be a country where people just pick up guns and start shooting at people at random."
Last week, gunmen stormed a house party in a township in South Africa's eastern port city of Durban and killed 11 people, including a pregnant woman.
South Africa has repeatedly turned to the military to reinforce police efforts against violent crime.
In March, Ramaphosa deployed soldiers to violence hotspots in Johannesburg, describing rampant crime as one of the biggest threats facing the country.
Troops were also deployed to enforce strict Covid‑19 lockdowns in 2020 and during the deadly riots sparked by the jailing of ex‑president Jacob Zuma in 2021.
They were also sent into the streets in 2023 after a wave of truck burnings raised fears of wider unrest.
In 2019, around 1,300 soldiers were deployed to back up police in the gang-afflicted Cape Flats areas surrounding Cape Town.
Yet shootings and other violent crime remain a persistent threat. 
In Johannesburg, 11 women have been killed in a single municipality in two months. The latest victim was found around midday on Sunday, police said. 
A suspect has been taken into custody in connection with the killing of one of the victims, who was found semi-naked and stoned to death on Saturday. This brings to four the number of people arrested in connection with the series of murders.
The nine other victims were mostly in their 20s and 30s, with some found stripped of their clothes and showing signs of sexual assault.
Police have offered a 400,000 rand ($25,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of the killer or killers, while the Democratic Alliance, South Africa's second-largest political party, has put up a further $31,000.
ho/rmb

Global Edition

Bangkok floods send thousands into shelters after days of rain

  • Some stores' shelves were emptied over the weekend as residents raced to buy essentials, while fresh produce at market stalls were kept dry in polystyrene foam boxes or hanging just above the water level.
  • Deep floodwaters in Bangkok drove thousands of residents into shelters as others scrambled to buy groceries or dry out their homes on Sunday after days of heavy rain inundated markets, roads and residences.
  • Some stores' shelves were emptied over the weekend as residents raced to buy essentials, while fresh produce at market stalls were kept dry in polystyrene foam boxes or hanging just above the water level.
Deep floodwaters in Bangkok drove thousands of residents into shelters as others scrambled to buy groceries or dry out their homes on Sunday after days of heavy rain inundated markets, roads and residences.
Pedestrians in plastic rain ponchos waded through murky, knee-deep water in the Thai capital, some floating their belongings in plastic tubs -- while others used small boats to traverse submerged city streets. 
Evacuees meanwhile rested under pop-up mosquito-net tents in a school gymnasium turned temporary refuge.
"I came with only one shirt. It would be great if I can get another," said 46-year-old Sunaporn Thongphajuti who arrived at the school on Sunday.
"What I am lacking is a blanket to sleep with, but I can survive," added the grocery store employee.
Thailand is used to wet weather and September is the peak of the rainy season, but several Bangkok residents said this year seemed worse than previous ones.
Office worker Bandit Pankan was among those frustrated that official warnings came too late.
"I didn't prepare for it at all," he said. "We got an SMS alert from (the disaster agency) yesterday, but the water flooded in the night before."
 

'It's an emergency'

 
More than 330 millimetres (13 inches) of rain fell in some areas of the city between Thursday and Sunday, the weather agency said.
Nearly 4,900 people have been evacuated to shelters, with around 52,000 households affected by the floods, which prompted a disaster declaration across the capital, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.
In the school turned shelter, teacher Namphet Chanjuingtavorn, 47, said she went to her own workplace after electricity and water were cut off at her flat.
Now she is acting as coordinator of the makeshift evacuee site where around 100 people have sought food, water and safety.
"It's an emergency and the district officials are doing their best," she told AFP, noting blankets and mosquito nets were delivered Saturday night.
Some stores' shelves were emptied over the weekend as residents raced to buy essentials, while fresh produce at market stalls were kept dry in polystyrene foam boxes or hanging just above the water level.
Outside a supermarket where the water reached people's knees, shoppers said they waited for one to two hours in the cashier's queue, because shops closer to home were out of stock.
The prime minister's office asked the public to avoid panic-buying and warned that price gouging was a criminal offence.
 

Chest-level floods

 
Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said on social media that water levels in the city's canals were still high, but authorities were working to speed up drainage.
Kosin Nilset, who lives along the Premprachakorn canal on the outskirts of the capital, said his house was "underwater for about 30 hours".
"This time, the water level is higher than the 2011 flood," the 44-year-old told AFP, using a broom to sweep out water.
Widespread deluges across the Southeast Asian country in 2011 killed more than 500 people and damaged millions of homes.
Scientists warn that the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events will increase as the planet continues to heat up because of fossil fuel emissions.
Flooding was also reported on Sunday across 25 provinces in Thailand, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.
More than 10,000 soldiers were deployed nationwide to aid in flood relief efforts, the defence ministry said.
Nonthaburi and Samut Prakan provinces, which border Bangkok, also declared several districts as disaster zones.
Rain was forecast throughout Sunday for Bangkok and its surrounding provinces and would begin to taper off on Monday, the metropolitan administration said.
Hundreds of schools will be closed on Monday, according to city authorities.
bur-sco/ane

demonstration

Thousands protest ahead of Mexican president's report on missing students

  • The students were traveling from Guerrero state to a protest in Mexico City.
  • Thousands of protesters wore red and carried symbolic coffins during a demonstration in Mexico City on Saturday, demanding answers about the 43 trainee teachers who went missing 12 years ago.
  • The students were traveling from Guerrero state to a protest in Mexico City.
Thousands of protesters wore red and carried symbolic coffins during a demonstration in Mexico City on Saturday, demanding answers about the 43 trainee teachers who went missing 12 years ago.
President Claudia Sheinbaum, who regularly meets with the disappeared's families, is expected to present a report Monday on the latest progress in the case, following an exhaustive review of the evidence by the attorney general's office.
"Because they were taken alive, we want them back alive," one banner slogan read. 
The protest was led by parents of the 43 teacher trainees from Ayotzinapa, who led the procession to the capital's main square, where the government palace is located.
Others counted to 43 several times to honor each of the trainees from the rural teachers' college who disappeared on September 26, 2014. 
"Another year of strain, of exhaustion, of hopelessness," Estanislao Mendoza, one of the parents of the 43, told AFP. 
"We want to know, whether it's good or bad, alive or dead, but to know the truth, to know where they are," he said. "Twelve years of suffering, of lies."
The students were traveling from Guerrero state to a protest in Mexico City. Local police stopped them in the town of Iguala, where six died in an hours-long street clash and 43 later went missing.
Prosecutors initially said the officers delivered the 43 teacher trainees to drug cartel hitmen, who killed them, incinerated their bodies and dumped the remains in a river.
However, independent human rights experts have rejected the government's conclusion, and the unsolved case remains a stain on Mexico's reputation.
A former governor was arrested in August, on accusations of deleting the security videos of the scene of the crime in Iguala. The former state attorney general was also arrested in 2022.
More than 134,000 people are listed as disappeared in Mexico. 
"It's necessary to support a struggle against the indifference of a government that refuses to accept that there is a disappearance crisis," said 69-year-old Atanacio Pina, whose missing son was later found dead.
jt/atm/sla/lkd/tc

Global Edition

Bangkok floods force thousands into shelters

  • Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said several roads were still flooded and warned Bangkok residents in a Facebook Live post to avoid unnecessary travel.
  • Thousands of Bangkok residents awoke in shelters on Sunday after flooding triggered by days of heavy rain in the Thai capital inundated homes and roads, with some starting to dry out their homes and belongings.
  • Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said several roads were still flooded and warned Bangkok residents in a Facebook Live post to avoid unnecessary travel.
Thousands of Bangkok residents awoke in shelters on Sunday after flooding triggered by days of heavy rain in the Thai capital inundated homes and roads, with some starting to dry out their homes and belongings.
Nearly 4,900 people have been evacuated to shelters, with around 52,000 households affected by the floods, which prompted a disaster declaration across the capital, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA).
More than 330 millimetres (13 inches) of rain fell in some areas of the city between Thursday and Sunday, the weather agency said.
Thailand is used to wet weather and September is the peak of the rainy season, but several Bangkok residents said this year seemed worse.
"Our house was underwater for about 30 hours," office worker Kosin Nilset, who lives along the Premprachakorn canal on the outskirts of the capital, told AFP on Sunday morning.
"This time, the water level is higher than the 2011 flood," the 44-year-old said.
Widespread deluges across the Southeast Asian country in 2011 killed more than 500 people and damaged millions of homes.
Kosin and his family lifted their belongings once they saw the water level was higher than the canal retaining wall, but their ground floor was still left soaked.
"At least tap water and electricity are working," Kosin said, as he used a broom to sweep out water.
Pedestrians in plastic rain ponchos trudged through murky floodwaters in Bangkok's east -- knee-deep in some areas of a grocery store parking lot -- floating their belongings in plastic tubs alongside them, AFP journalists saw.

'Sleeping on the table'

Water levels in Bangkok's network of canals remained high on Sunday morning, with authorities working to speed up drainage, the BMA said.
More rain was forecast throughout Sunday for Bangkok and its surrounding provinces, but would begin to taper off on Monday, it said.
Scientists warn that the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events will increase as the planet continues to heat up because of fossil fuel emissions.
Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said several roads were still flooded and warned Bangkok residents in a Facebook Live post to avoid unnecessary travel.
Chadchart visited a temporary shelter on Saturday night in a school in the Kheha Romklao area, where he said about 1,000 people were evacuated.
Some rested on cots and benches with their dogs in hallways, while others lay with blankets on the floors of classrooms where desks and chairs were pushed to the side.
Hundreds of city schools will be closed on Monday, according to the BMA.
Some convenience stores had empty shelves over the weekend as residents raced to buy essentials.
The prime minister's office asked the public to avoid panic-buying and warned that price gouging was a criminal offence.
Thidarat Silsuwan, 56, lives alone in her partially submerged house along the Premprachakorn canal.
"I have been sleeping on the table for two days now," she told AFP.
She did not want to go to a shelter as she worked to clean up and salvage her belongings.
"I tried to lift everything up, but I gave up on large electric appliances like the refrigerator and washing machine. I guess they are broken."
str-sco/pbt

AI

Japanese anime actor fights TikTok over AI voice cloning

BY TOMOHIRO OSAKI

  • Tsuda is demanding TikTok remove a slew of videos narrated by a distinctively "deep" and "lustrous" voice that the 55-year-old says can only be his.
  • A high-profile Japanese anime voice actor has taken TikTok to court over videos he says feature an artificial intelligence clone of his "lustrous" baritone, with a verdict due on Wednesday.
  • Tsuda is demanding TikTok remove a slew of videos narrated by a distinctively "deep" and "lustrous" voice that the 55-year-old says can only be his.
A high-profile Japanese anime voice actor has taken TikTok to court over videos he says feature an artificial intelligence clone of his "lustrous" baritone, with a verdict due on Wednesday.
AI imitation is a growing concern among performers worldwide, and the threat has roiled Japan's storied animation industry, whose voice actors are sometimes worshipped as much as their characters by fans.
The lawsuit filed by Kenjiro Tsuda, known for his starring roles in mega-franchises including "Jujutsu Kaisen" and "Yu-Gi-Oh!", is believed to be the country's first seeking to defend an individual's vocal identity against AI-generated copies.
Tsuda is demanding TikTok remove a slew of videos narrated by a distinctively "deep" and "lustrous" voice that the 55-year-old says can only be his.
The platform however argues it is a "generic male voice" whose perceived similarity to Tsuda's is subjective at best, according to court records accessed by AFP.
An actor's voice "is the result of years of rigorous training and apprenticeship" to hone talent, Yuko Sasaki, executive director of the Japan Actors Union, told AFP.
"It's something we spend lots of time and money perfecting," said Sasaki, a fellow voice actor, adding that "we support Tsuda wholeheartedly".
The court should "acknowledge that ownership of a voice is a fundamental right", she said.
An anonymous account, whose picture resembled a "Jujutsu Kaisen" character dubbed by Tsuda, posted the videos in question.
They combined images and seemingly AI-generated speech about urban legends, occult phenomena and conspiracy theories.
The account at one point boasted more than 200,000 subscribers and would have brought in upwards of 500,000 yen ($3,200) in monthly revenue, the legal complaint argued.

'Sordid content'

The account, whose posts mostly lacked original substance, "only gained popularity because its dubious, sordid content was narrated by the attractive voice of a popular actor," Tsuda's legal team said, according to the court records.
This infringes Tsuda's so-called publicity rights -- the ability to control and profit from the use of aspects of one's identity -- his attorneys said.
Although the account itself is no longer viewable on the platform, the Tokyo District Court will rule on whether TikTok was responsible for deleting the posts.
Parallel to the lawsuit, Sasaki and other Japanese voice actors have launched a campaign, called "No More", against using generative AI to mimic performers without permission.
"Our industry can be crushed" if a court win for TikTok triggers "unbridled" AI voice cloning on social media, actor Bin Shimada told AFP.
That could cause younger actors to "lose hope", said Shimada, who is part of the campaign group.
It is also fast becoming a global issue.
"In many countries copyright and data protection laws are not being adequately adapted" to protect performers from AI clones, the International Federation of Actors said last year.
ChatGPT maker OpenAI was forced to apologise in 2024 to star Scarlett Johansson over a synthetic voice that sounded like her, released after she declined to work with OpenAI on the project.

International interest

While no law explicitly enshrines a person's voice in Japan, the justice ministry published legally non-binding guidelines last month clarifying its protection under existing rights.
As "the symbol of one's personality" voice is subject to "publicity rights" and "rights to prevent unauthorised use of one's portrait and likeness", the ministry said.
But it remains to be seen whether and how the guidelines will influence Wednesday's court decision on Tsuda's case.
TikTok has questioned the actor's "national fame", rejecting his accusations that the account was free-riding on a well-known brand in a violation of Japan's unfair competition prevention laws.
As a platform, all it did was "host a forum where users could post creative and ingenious content within the scope of free speech," it told the court.
It is "very unlikely" that Tsuda's voice will be outright denied publicity rights, Tatsuhiro Ueno, a professor of intellectual property studies at Waseda University, told AFP.
Given the actor's "Jujutsu Kaisen" role as a stoic, elite sorcerer that made his voice "highly recognisable in Europe", Ueno believes the verdict "will garner a lot of international interest".
Veteran voice actor Michihiro Ikemizu, 83, also expressed solidarity with Tsuda -- but said that AI, however sophisticated it gets, will never outperform human actors.
"You need to constantly feel and adapt while performing your role. That's something AI can never do," Ikemizu told AFP.
"That's our only weapon."
tmo/kaf/ane

landslide

Nepal's hydropower ambitions face climate reality check

BY ANUP OJHA AND PAAVAN MATHEMA

  • - 'Existential threat' - Much of Nepal's hydropower infrastructure lies along steep river valleys fed by glaciers -- terrain exposed to floods, landslides and cascading geological hazards.
  • Nepal's hydropower boom has long been touted as a cornerstone of economic growth and renewable energy, but the devastating flood in August exposed its vulnerability.
  • - 'Existential threat' - Much of Nepal's hydropower infrastructure lies along steep river valleys fed by glaciers -- terrain exposed to floods, landslides and cascading geological hazards.
Nepal's hydropower boom has long been touted as a cornerstone of economic growth and renewable energy, but the devastating flood in August exposed its vulnerability.
The disaster triggered by a glacial mountain collapse on the China-Nepal border killed more than 1,400 people and left thousands missing -- while knocking 410 megawatts (MW), or about 10 percent of the generation capacity, out of Nepal's power system.
More than 90 percent of Nepal's electricity comes from hydropower, but extensive damage to its river projects has prompted questions about its energy security as climate and geological risks intensify. 
"Hydropower has been a major driving force in growth of the country... generating jobs and income," Uttam Bhlon Lama, senior vice president of the Independent Power Producers' Association (IPPAN), told AFP.
"It was bringing huge hope and future prospects to the people," he said, adding that the country would now have to rethink its dam-building spree.
"We have to prepare... This is our new normal."
Over the past decade, the Himalayan nation has increased hydropower output more than fourfold to about 4,120 megawatts, according to government figures,helping connect nearly all its 30 million people to the grid. 
The country had previously moved to export surplus electricity to neighbouring India and Bangladesh, seeking to turn its glacier-fed rivers into a source of revenue. Authorities suspended electricity exports after the disaster.
The major destruction of hydropower infrastructure underscored the risks of that strategy in a region where glaciers are retreating, permafrost is thawing and extreme hazards are becoming harder to predict.

'Serious lessons'

Nepal's energy sector accounted for about half of the infrastructure damage from the disaster, according to government assessments.
Seven hydropower projects were directly hit while generation was halted at others, removing 410 MW from the national grid.
Six hydropower projects under construction, with a combined capacity of 508 MW, were also damaged.
Rescuers have continued searching hydropower tunnels for hundreds of missing workers, engineers and other personnel, weeks after the disaster.
The scale of the damage has prompted calls for a rethink of how projects are designed and built.
The disaster has "taught us serious lessons for the future", Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha told parliament on Wednesday.
"We must not only take stock of the damage but also learn from it and develop systems to reduce future risks," he said.
The World Bank warned that Nepal needs to build a hydropower system capable of anticipating, absorbing and recovering from increasingly complex Himalayan hazards. 
Scientists say the August disaster was caused by a complex chain of geological and climatic factors rather than a single extreme weather event.
According to the World Weather Attribution group, the massive rock-and-ice collapse was shaped by long-term warming, glacier retreat and geological instability.

'Existential threat'

Much of Nepal's hydropower infrastructure lies along steep river valleys fed by glaciers -- terrain exposed to floods, landslides and cascading geological hazards.
"Powerhouses need to be moved higher up from the riverbeds to protect them against floods, we need better evacuation plans and stocked safehouses," IPPAN's Lama said.
"We should explore remotely operated systems so people are not stuck inside in case anything happens."
The flooding has also renewed calls for diversifying the power mix in Nepal, which lacks coal or gas-fired generation capacity. 
"Nepal's electricity system, currently strained and heavily dependent on hydropower, could be made more robust through well-planned additions of solar electricity," Germany's development agency GIZ said in a 2024 report.
The challenge extends beyond Nepal. 
Glaciers in the wider Himalayan and Hindu Kush ranges are a crucial water source for around 240 million people in the mountainous regions, as well as for another 1.65 billion people in the South Asian and Southeast Asian river valleys below.
Basanta Raj Adhikari, director at the Centre for Disaster Studies at Tribhuvan University, said the Himalayas must be monitored regionally for hotspots to develop early warning systems. 
"I call it the fate of the Himalayan people," he told AFP.
"It can happen anywhere in the world but the Himalayas are experiencing adverse impacts due to climate change and anthropogenic activity," he said.
"We have to design climate-resilient infrastructures. That is our top priority because we are (facing) existential threat."
aoj-pm/abh/lkd/jm

film

Curtain falls on the romance of India's single-screen cinemas

BY AISHWARYA KUMAR WITH PITCHA DANGPRASITH IN MUMBAI

  • "Only in the single screen theatres can they take the cinema to the next level, it increases the tradition of cinema," Santosh said, as cheers and whistles reverberated through the packed hall before the film began.
  • The demolition has begun at Bengaluru's Urvashi Cinema, once a 1,200-seat movie palace where generations of filmgoers cheered and whistled, another casualty of India's vanishing single-screen era.
  • "Only in the single screen theatres can they take the cinema to the next level, it increases the tradition of cinema," Santosh said, as cheers and whistles reverberated through the packed hall before the film began.
The demolition has begun at Bengaluru's Urvashi Cinema, once a 1,200-seat movie palace where generations of filmgoers cheered and whistled, another casualty of India's vanishing single-screen era.
"The theatre came up in the 1970s... I was so happy when it opened," said Manjunath, watching as seats were ripped out and strewn outside.
Manjunath, who uses one name, recalled its glory days, when the shop he runs opposite was packed with customers buying snacks before and after shows.
"That was the rush... now I have a lot of free time," he said. "But what to do? There is barely any crowd."
The peeling facades, faded signs and cavernous auditoriums of such cinemas are remnants of a time when going to the movies was itself the main event.
"It is a completely different experience," said photographer Hemant Chaturvedi, 58, who has documented what remains during a seven-year odyssey, photographing 1,350 single-screen cinemas across 1,000 towns.
His photographs capture not only the movie houses but their ornate facades and decay -- a record of a cultural landscape disappearing as cinemas are demolished, converted into multiplexes or left to crumble.

'Ecosystem is fading'

"People would be cheering, jumping on the seats, even throwing money at the screen," Chaturvedi said.
The old halls offered a collective, interactive experience, with fans applauding at the hero's entrance, clapping to romantic songs and shouting at dramatic twists.
"Now that old ecosystem is fading, and the charm is being lost," he said.
India's single-screen cinemas have been steadily squeezed by multiplexes, streaming, rising property costs and the expense of maintaining ageing buildings and equipment.
Researchers estimate that India had around 14,000 single-screen halls in the 1980s. Only around 2,000 remain today.
Many of the old halls could accommodate around 1,000 people, creating a communal atmosphere rarely found in today's multiplexes.
The decline has also changed the way Indians experience films. New halls offer air conditioning, reclining seats and food delivered to the seat.
"To me, the new cinemas have lost the charm," said Chaturvedi, a former Bollywood cinematographer who worked on hit movies during a three-decade career.
"The multiplexes are a generic, cold experience."

'Old times'

Some of the old cinemas have been restored and renovated, and the single-screen experience still has its devotees.
In Bengaluru, Mukunda Cinemas still draws crowds -- even for early-morning shows before work.
Hundreds lined up before dawn for a recent 6:00 am screening of the latest release of film star Yash, who is hugely popular in India's Kannada-language cinema.
Santosh, a 47-year-old businessman who uses one name, queued with hundreds of others as crowds set off fireworks outside while waiting for the show.
"Only in the single screen theatres can they take the cinema to the next level, it increases the tradition of cinema," Santosh said, as cheers and whistles reverberated through the packed hall before the film began.
Veerain Reddy, the third generation of his family running the 50-year-old theatre, said maintaining the establishment "was not an easy task".
Inflation, rising costs and "so much competition" have made business tough.
"But people who are really passionate are still trying to maintain these single-screen theatres, where people come to watch and celebrate cinema," he told AFP.
Another survivor in Mumbai -- formerly known as Bombay -- is the Regal Cinema, an Art Deco hall that opened in 1933.
"The rest of them feel very artificial, commercial, very blingy," said 23-year-old fan Vanshika. "But Bombay has little places which remind us of the old times."
ash-pjm/abh/pbt

prisoners

Venezuela releases more political prisoners after opposition talks

  • On Friday, interim president Delcy Rodriguez's government and the opposition conducted a second round of negotiations, talks that are proceeding with Washington's approval after the US military's ouster of president Nicolas Maduro in January.
  • More than three dozen political prisoners were released between Friday and Saturday, a rights group reported, after US-backed talks between Venezuela's interim government and the opposition.
  • On Friday, interim president Delcy Rodriguez's government and the opposition conducted a second round of negotiations, talks that are proceeding with Washington's approval after the US military's ouster of president Nicolas Maduro in January.
More than three dozen political prisoners were released between Friday and Saturday, a rights group reported, after US-backed talks between Venezuela's interim government and the opposition.
Human rights group Justicia, Encuentro y Perdon (JEP) said 39 political dissidents were freed from various prisons, including eight women accused of "narco-terrorism" in 2021.
In their statement on X, JEP vowed to "remain vigilant and continue to demand full freedom for all those who are still waiting."
On Friday, interim president Delcy Rodriguez's government and the opposition conducted a second round of negotiations, talks that are proceeding with Washington's approval after the US military's ouster of president Nicolas Maduro in January.
The most recent tally from NGO Foro Penal, which defends political prisoners, said there were 344 such prisoners in the country as of September 18. 
Family members of political prisoners have staged ongoing protests outside the US embassy in Venezuela and the El Rodeo I prison, which NGOs consider a torture center.
Among the confirmed releases were six people accused of working with the United States in an attempt to overthrow Maduro in 2020.
Under pressure from the US, Rodriguez enacted an amnesty law in February, though  the rate of releases has been slow.
afc/pgf/atm/sla/acb

festival

Filmmaker Mike Leigh wins top prize at Spain festival with 'last film'

  • "Tender Loving Care" also jointly won the best screenplay prize at the Spanish festival, while its actress Kate O'Flynn shared the Silver Shell for best performance.
  • British filmmaker Mike Leigh won the top prize Saturday at the San Sebastian film festival for his latest social drama "Tender Loving Care", expected to be the last by the 83-year-old who is suffering from an illness.
  • "Tender Loving Care" also jointly won the best screenplay prize at the Spanish festival, while its actress Kate O'Flynn shared the Silver Shell for best performance.
British filmmaker Mike Leigh won the top prize Saturday at the San Sebastian film festival for his latest social drama "Tender Loving Care", expected to be the last by the 83-year-old who is suffering from an illness.
The film, about social workers supporting vulnerable people, won the Golden Shell for best film at the festival in the northern Spanish city.
"I'm so sorry I can't be with you. What a great honour it is," Leigh said in a video acceptance speech. "Thank you and love to everybody."
Leigh had previously said he was suffering from a medical condition affecting his muscles and that it would probably be his "last film".
He won top prize at the Cannes film festival in 1996 for "Secrets and Lies" and at Venice in 2004 for "Vera Drake".
"Tender Loving Care" also jointly won the best screenplay prize at the Spanish festival, while its actress Kate O'Flynn shared the Silver Shell for best performance.
Swedish filmmaker Amanda Kernell won the best director award for "Brace Your Heart".
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