US

The Chinese cable that could trip up Chile's new leader

BY PAULINA ABRAMOVICH

  • Kast faces a delicate balancing act in trying to reconcile Chile's trade ties with China with his desire to deepen links with Trump, who hosted the Chilean at his "Shield of the Americas" summit in Florida last week.
  • Chile's new president Jose Antonio Kast faces a tough choice in his first weeks in office.
  • Kast faces a delicate balancing act in trying to reconcile Chile's trade ties with China with his desire to deepen links with Trump, who hosted the Chilean at his "Shield of the Americas" summit in Florida last week.
Chile's new president Jose Antonio Kast faces a tough choice in his first weeks in office.
Will he bow to US pressure to nix a project to link China and Chile across the Pacific via an undersea fiber optic cable?
Or will Kast, who took office Wednesday, revive an initiative cherished by Chile's biggest trading partner, at the risk of incurring Washington's wrath?
The Chile-China Express would carry data nearly 20,000 kilometers (over 12,000 miles) under the sea from Hong Kong to the port of Valparaiso, allowing Beijing to reduce its dependence on internet routes that pass through North America.
But it has become entangled in the intense rivalry between Washington and Beijing for influence in Latin America.
The US State Department has called it a threat to regional security in what it calls "our hemisphere."
Chile's then-transport minister in January approved the project, which was proposed by state-owned China Mobile.
But two days later the government abruptly rescinded its approval, amid pressure from Washington.
The United States sanctioned three Chilean officials, including the transport minister, over the project -- a rare rebuke of one of the United States' closest Latin American allies.
A Chinese cable "basically leaves the United States unable to see what is happening" in regional data traffic, telecommunications expert Jonathan Frez, a professor at Diego Portales University in Santiago, told AFP.
It would allow China to connect directly with Latin America, including fellow BRICS member Brazil, Frez added, referring to a grouping of major emerging economies.
Kast faces a delicate balancing act in trying to reconcile Chile's trade ties with China with his desire to deepen links with Trump, who hosted the Chilean at his "Shield of the Americas" summit in Florida last week.
The cable project created friction between Kast and his left-wing predecessor Gabriel Boric in the final days of Boric's presidency.
Kast accused his predecessor of withholding information about the cable and suspended cooperation with Boric on the handover of power for several days.

'A warning'

Kast is Chile's most right-wing president since the 1973-1990 dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, elected on a promise to crack down on organized crime and irregular migration.
Washington is interested in supporting Kast on those issues, which are central to the Trump presidency, but also in "denying China access to resources and markets," Gilberto Aranda, an international relations expert at the University of Chile, told AFP. 
He saw the sanctioning of Chilean officials as "a warning" to the incoming Kast administration.
To avoid confrontation with either superpower, Chile should develop new markets, Aranda advised.
China is the main destination for Chilean exports.
In 2025, Chile sold more than $38 billion worth of products to China, primarily copper, cherries, and lithium. 

Tech hub

Chile is hooked up to at least three international undersea cables, all connected to North America. 
Successive governments of the right and left have positioned the country, which has the world's sixth-fastest internet speeds, according to Speedtest Global Index, as a tech hub.
The 14,800-kilometer Humboldt cable, currently being built between Valparaiso and Sydney, will be the first between South America and the Asia-Pacific.
It is being developed in partnership with Google.
Experts cited by Chile's Diario Financiero financial daily predicted that if the Chile-China Express cable was jettisoned by Santiago, Beijing would likely take it to Peru, the second-largest recipient of Chinese investment in Latin America.
pa/gta/cb/msp

US

War in the Middle East: latest developments

  • Israel's military said it had begun a new "wide-scale" wave of strikes across Iran, hitting the Taleghan compound, where it says Iran was developing nuclear weapons.
  • Here are the latest events in the Middle East war on Thursday: - Israel strikes Basij force - Israel's military said it had struck checkpoints set up in Tehran by the Basij paramilitary force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards as part of efforts to undermine control by the authorities. 
  • Israel's military said it had begun a new "wide-scale" wave of strikes across Iran, hitting the Taleghan compound, where it says Iran was developing nuclear weapons.
Here are the latest events in the Middle East war on Thursday:

Israel strikes Basij force

Israel's military said it had struck checkpoints set up in Tehran by the Basij paramilitary force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards as part of efforts to undermine control by the authorities. 

Iran to fight until US 'sorry'

Iran's security chief said that his country would not stop fighting until the United States came to regret launching its war against the Islamic republic.
"We will not relent until making you sorry for this grave miscalculation," Ali Larijani said on X.

Two Iran-backed fighters killed in Iraq

A strike on a base occupied by a former paramilitary coalition killed at least two fighters from an Iran-backed group in the suburbs of the Iraqi capital, two faction officials told AFP.

Hormuz mines

Iran is not laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, its deputy foreign minister said after US President Donald Trump said US forces had struck 28 Iranian mine-laying vessels in the waterway. 
He told AFP Iran was allowing ships from some countries to cross the narrow shipping lane which has remained effectively closed during the war. 

Beirut strikes

Israel continued striking Beirut as it threatened to expand operations and seize territory in Lebanon if militant group Hezbollah did not stop its attacks. 
AFPTV footage showed dark smoke rising into the sky above Bashoura, in the heart of Beirut. 

IEA: biggest ever oil shock

The war "is creating the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market", as Iran's chokehold on regional supplies forces Gulf producers to slash production, the International Energy Agency said.
An IEA market report said crude oil production was currently down by at least 8.0 million barrels per day, with an additional 2.0 million of petroleum products shut off.

Iran 'only targeting US bases'

Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, ordered the vital Strait of Hormuz oil shipping lane to remain closed and called on Middle East countries to shut US bases they host.
Earlier Thursday security chief Ali Larijani warned Iran would target power grids in the region if the United States attacked its electricity supplies. 

Trump rebuffs oil price concerns

US President Donald Trump wrote on social media that stopping Iran developing nuclear weapons was "of far greater interest and importance to me" than controlling oil prices.

Emergency talks on Hormuz

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced an "extraordinary session" next week to discuss threats to shipping in the Middle East and particularly in the Strait of Hormuz.
The US military has said it is "not ready" to escort tankers through the critical Strait of Hormuz because all its assets are focused on striking Iran.

Israel moves further into Lebanon

The Israeli military moved further into southern Lebanon, telling residents to "move immediately north of the Zahrani River", 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Israeli border.
It said Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah had launched "approximately 200 rockets" towards it overnight, in what it said was the biggest barrage of the war so far.

Turkey warns Israel on Lebanon

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called for an end to Israel's bombardment of neighbouring Lebanon "before it collapses", a disaster that would "profoundly affect the entire region". 
"The government of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu is at the heart of every crisis in the region," he told journalists.

Toll rises in Lebanon

The government in Beirut said an Israeli strike on the city centre's seafront killed eight people, bringing to at least 687 the number of people killed in attacks from its neighbour since March 2.

Explosions in Tehran, Jerusalem

A series of powerful explosions hit western Tehran, an AFP journalist said.
Israel's military said it had begun a new "wide-scale" wave of strikes across Iran, hitting the Taleghan compound, where it says Iran was developing nuclear weapons.
Blasts were also heard over Jerusalem, AFP journalists said, as the Israeli military reported missiles fired from Iran.

3 million displaced in Iran: UN

Up to 3.2 million people have been displaced inside Iran since the war erupted nearly two weeks ago, the United Nations refugee agency said.
burs/rh/pdw

synagogue

Assailant dead after ramming car into Michigan synagogue

  • The sheriff said the assailant appeared to be alone in the vehicle and police dogs were checking the car for explosives.
  • An unidentified assailant is dead after ramming his car on Thursday into a synagogue on the outskirts of Detroit, Michigan, and causing a blaze, police said.
  • The sheriff said the assailant appeared to be alone in the vehicle and police dogs were checking the car for explosives.
An unidentified assailant is dead after ramming his car on Thursday into a synagogue on the outskirts of Detroit, Michigan, and causing a blaze, police said.
Security guards opened fire on the attacker at the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard told reporters.
"He breached the building, drove down the hall, and he was engaged by security," Bouchard said. "We can't say what killed him at this point, but security did engage the suspect with gunfire."
The sheriff said the assailant appeared to be alone in the vehicle and police dogs were checking the car for explosives.
"It's been complicated because there's some fire, to say the least, with that vehicle."
He said a security member was injured by the car and is being treated in hospital.
Smoke could be seen billowing from the synagogue after the attack and fire engines were on the scene.
Law enforcement officers raced to the area in large numbers soon after the incident, which comes amid heightened tensions nationwide over the US-Israeli war against Iran.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer condemned the attack on the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, a northwest suburb of Detroit.
"This is heartbreaking," she said. "Michigan's Jewish community should be able to live and practice their faith in peace."
"Antisemitism and violence have no place in Michigan," she said.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump had been briefed about the situation.
The sheriff said law enforcement had been on high alert since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran nearly two weeks ago.
"We've been talking for two weeks about the potential, sadly, of this happening," Bouchard said. "So there was no lack of preparation.
"All Jewish facilities in the area are going to have a lot of extra presence around it until we figure this out," the sheriff said.
The Jewish Federation of Detroit said Jewish agencies were in precautionary lockdown. 
"We ask community members to stay away from the area at this time."
cl/sms

US

World in 'new dark age' of abuse: UN rights expert

BY ROBIN MILLARD

  • "We have entered a new dark age of abuses in the name of countering terrorism," he told a press conference in Geneva.
  • The world has entered a "new dark age of abuses", with the United States "raining death" on Iran and Venezuela, a UN special rapporteur said Thursday.
  • "We have entered a new dark age of abuses in the name of countering terrorism," he told a press conference in Geneva.
The world has entered a "new dark age of abuses", with the United States "raining death" on Iran and Venezuela, a UN special rapporteur said Thursday.
Ben Saul, the United Nations' special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, said the war in the Middle East would not improve global security.
"We have entered a new dark age of abuses in the name of countering terrorism," he told a press conference in Geneva.
"Recently, it has excused naked aggression and renewed imperialism against Iran and Venezuela, raining death and violating the right to life and making the world less safe."
On February 28, the US and Israel launched the first wave of attacks in a war that has seen Iran strike targets in multiple countries around the Gulf.
Saul slammed the UN Security Council for passing a resolution on Wednesday "which failed to condemn Israeli and US aggression, contrary to international law, and instead condemned the excessive and unlawful response only of Iran".
Among other justifications, US President Donald Trump has said the Middle East war is about ensuring that "the world's number-one sponsor of terror" can never obtain a nuclear weapon.
"Nobody knows how this is going to end and when we look at the last series of US-led interventions -- Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan -- these were all disasters," said Saul.
"It's a recipe for further destabilisation, possible insurgency, fragmentation politically within Iran, in the region; destabilisation of neighbours through refugee flows."
He added: "It's very disturbing that at the moment you're seeing states kind of all over the map sympathising with these attacks, not calling it as illegal, or calling it as illegal but then saying we support the US anyway."

Silence 'emboldens bullies'

Special rapporteurs are independent experts mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to report their findings. They do not, therefore, speak for the UN itself.
Iran's attacks on its Gulf neighbours since February 28 "are clearly illegal under international law: they're not mounting aggression against Iran; they can't be attacked in response", said Saul.
As for Venezuela and "the declaration of a new phoney war on narco-terrorism", Saul said the US had extra-judicially killed 151 civilians on the high seas, which "is utterly illegal under international law".
He said few countries had spoken out against the attacks because they were afraid of US retribution.
"But the more the international community remains silent... the more it emboldens bullies like the United States and Israel."
Saul wants countries to urgently adopt an international definition of terrorism to protect human rights from terrorism and excessive state responses to it.
He said vague and overbroad definitions had led to countless rights violations, with the abuse of counter-terror laws becoming the tool of choice to suppress critics.
rjm/nl/cc

animal

Scavenging ravens memorize vast tracts of wolf hunting grounds: study

BY MAGGY DONALDSON

  • Ravens weren't just following wolves -- they were clocking kill patterns, creating mental maps to support future food quests.
  • The partnership between ravens and wolves goes back to Norse mythology -- Odin's birds scouted ahead and led prey to the god's canines, a relationship that provided food for all.
  • Ravens weren't just following wolves -- they were clocking kill patterns, creating mental maps to support future food quests.
The partnership between ravens and wolves goes back to Norse mythology -- Odin's birds scouted ahead and led prey to the god's canines, a relationship that provided food for all.
The myth has some roots in reality: when wolves have a successful hunt, ravens are often observed first on the scene -- and new research published Thursday in the journal Science put the legend to the test.
The study's findings suggest the birds are doing more than just tracking the hunters: they're using navigation and spatial memory techniques to scavenge with sophistication.
While "ravens are already well-known for their intelligence," lead author Matthias-Claudio Loretto told AFP, seeing these cognitive abilities "play out at a much larger scale in the wild" produced startling results. 
Ravens weren't just following wolves -- they were clocking kill patterns, creating mental maps to support future food quests.
The international research team attached tiny GPS trackers to 69 ravens -- an impressive number considering the painstaking work in trapping the particularly observant birds.
"Even small changes in their environment can make them suspicious," said Loretto, who is at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, and began the research at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior.
The team had movement data from 20 collared wolves in the famed Yellowstone National Park, a vast protected area in the western United States where wolves were reintroduced in the mid-1990s after 70 years of absence.
The park was uniquely suited to the study.
"This work would not have been possible anywhere other than Yellowstone," said co-author and wildlife scientist John Marzluff of the University of Washington.
Because the environment is open rather than densely wooded, both the birds and wolves are relatively easy to observe at long distances, he told AFP.

'Sophisticated' animal cognition

Over two-and-a-half years of monitoring, researchers were puzzled to find just one instance of a raven following a wolf for more than an hour -- even as the birds were still able to quickly arrive at a kill.
Deeper analysis showed ravens were in fact revisiting spots where wolves commonly took down prey -- animals like deer, elk or bison -- suggesting the birds were creating and memorizing a "resource landscape."
Some birds would fly nearly 100 miles (up to 155 kilometers) in a single day, seeking out places they seemed to expect might feature wolf kills.
It was "a much larger area than I ever imagined," said Marzluff.
Short-range cues still matter: ravens might be following signals like wolf howls to find fresh kills at shorter distances.
But broadly speaking, the researchers said ravens were counting on their memory to lead the search.
Wolf kills aren't distributed at random, Loretto said, occurring more often on flatter terrain or in open valleys where chases are more likely.
Ravens might remember past feeds or notice indirect signs like bones as they establish their mental maps.
"Animal cognition in the wild may sometimes be more sophisticated than we tend to assume," Loretto said.

Raw deal

The wolf-raven relationship is sometimes described in popular culture as harmonious, but Marzluff said it's ultimately pretty lopsided.
Wolves have been observed swatting the birds away, even appearing to designate a pack member to stand guard. 
The birds noisily fight over their stolen feast, a potential tip-off to other scavengers. 
And a single raven can carry off half a pound (220 grams) of meat. When the birds arrive in the dozens, that can make even a downed bison disappear quickly, Marzluff said.
"Ravens get a lot more out of this deal than wolves do," he added.
The scientist said he hopes future research could focus on how young birds develop their knowledge.
"Ravens have fascinated people forever," Marzluff said, noting the birds have been considered everything from "creators and tricksters" to "opportunistic pests."
But "never did we anticipate or expect them, I think, to be able to hold in their brains, which aren't much bigger than your thumb, information over thousands of square miles," he said.
"We've underestimated them."
mdo/acb

US

In Iran, shut shops, joblessness and a dash for cash

BY BY AFP CORRESPONDENTS

  • Here is a selection of their comments, either from people who sent messages to AFP reporters or from those interviewed at the borders as they fled.
  • AFP reporters have been speaking to a range of people living in Iran to build a picture of life under daily US and Israeli bombardment despite an internet blackout and major communication problems.
  • Here is a selection of their comments, either from people who sent messages to AFP reporters or from those interviewed at the borders as they fled.
AFP reporters have been speaking to a range of people living in Iran to build a picture of life under daily US and Israeli bombardment despite an internet blackout and major communication problems.
Here is a selection of their comments, either from people who sent messages to AFP reporters or from those interviewed at the borders as they fled.
AFP is withholding identifying information for their security.

My son 'has no understanding of war'

A 37-year-old man in Bukan, northwest Iran:
"Our landmarks, such as the main square and the central avenue, have been severely damaged by missile strikes. The city's only cinema is in ruins.
Many businesses have also been hit and the market that is usually bustling in the days leading up to Nowruz (Iranian New Year) no longer exists, which is really distressing.
I have a six-year-old boy who has no understanding of war. Since the beginning of the conflict, during the bombings, we made him believe it was a game, a kind of 'Missile Launch World Cup' between Iran, the United States and other countries.
Each time, he tells us that in this competition, he supports Iran."

Employers 'weren't paying'

A 24-year-old Afghan who worked at a factory in Tehran: 
"I saw a bomb drop on a military base. It destroyed the base and broke the windows of the factory. But electricity and gas supplies were ok, banks were active, everything was active. The internet was not working, but the landline phones were active.
The market would be open for an hour or two, people would buy what they needed and leave quickly.
All the Afghans were leaving, those with four or five months of validity left on their passports, because there was no more work anymore. They (Iranian employers) weren't paying, and there was no internet."
Another Afghan, 48, from the capital:
"There were very few Iranians on the streets. I have been travelling around Iran for work for about 32 years. At this time, which is near the New Year and Eid, the streets and markets are usually very busy, but when I went to the market to buy a pair of shoes, I saw no one.
The company I worked for had about 60 Iranian and Afghan employees, but not even 10 of them were coming to work.
The Iranians had not faced much war compared to Afghans. The Afghans were less afraid, but the Iranians would become very nervous as soon as they saw a missile or a fighter jet, but since we had seen war, it wasn't too difficult for us.
The war is not only in Tehran, it is in other cities as well, but the situation in Tehran is very bad."

At 6:00 pm, 'everything comes to halt'

Woman, 30, in Kermanshah, western Iran:
"Banks and public administrations are open and operating only about two days a week. Ninety percent of businesses are closed. After 6:00 pm, everything comes to a halt.
People are desperately trying to withdraw their savings from the banks, as trust in them has vanished. Bread is now rationed. The population is extremely tense and outraged.
One item that might seem trivial but has become impossible to find is wide adhesive tape: we stick it on windows to keep them from shattering from explosions.
At night, the regime's armed forces shout 'Allahu akbar' (God is the greatest) late into the night in residential neighborhoods in an attempt to intimidate people.
Another major problem is the massive influx of Tehran residents into other cities, including ours.
This makes the city overcrowded and makes access to goods and services even more difficult. Almost every family here is hosting at least one family from Tehran. We ourselves have been housing a family from the capital for a week."

We gather in parks 'to protect ourselves'

A migrant worker:
"People try to reassure one another by saying that only military sites are being targeted and that civilians are not being hit, but in reality, ordinary people are also being targeted.
A few days ago, someone we knew had a stroke and died from the fear of an explosion that hit their neighbourhood. There are small parks in every area, and we gather there to protect ourselves. It's safer to be in a park than in a house.
We have everything prepared in case we need to flee. We've piled everything together in one corner of a room. We are ready. People are lining up at gas stations and sometimes have to wait several hours to fill up."
burs-adp/amj

noma

Noma's star chef quits after claims that he hit and bullied staff

BY CAMILLE BAS-WOHLERT

  • "Noma has taken big steps to transform the culture over many years," Redzepi said in the video that showed him apologising to staff, some of whom were holding back tears.
  • Danish superchef Rene Redzepi -- whose Noma restaurant was long regarded as the world's best -- said he was stepping down Thursday after allegations that he abused and bullied staff for years.
  • "Noma has taken big steps to transform the culture over many years," Redzepi said in the video that showed him apologising to staff, some of whom were holding back tears.
Danish superchef Rene Redzepi -- whose Noma restaurant was long regarded as the world's best -- said he was stepping down Thursday after allegations that he abused and bullied staff for years.
Cooks were punched, publicly shamed or humiliated, several former staff who said they suffered or witnessed abuse told the New York Times, which said it talked to 35 former employees.
"I've decided to step away," Redzepi said in an Instagram post that acknowledged past problems. 
"Noma has taken big steps to transform the culture over many years," Redzepi said in the video that showed him apologising to staff, some of whom were holding back tears.
"I recognise these changes do not repair the past," the 48-year-old added.
"An apology is not enough. I take responsibility for my own actions."
His resignation comes as a new pop-up Noma restaurant opened in Los Angeles.
The world of haute cuisine is currently confronting mounting accusations about the treatment of staff at top restaurants.

'Bully' confession

The chef -- who trained at the Spanish restaurant El Bulli, also once considered the world's best, and at French Laundry in California -- has previously admitted to losing his cool. 
In 2015, he said in an essay: "I've been a bully for a large part of my career".
In February, the former head of Noma's fermentation lab, Jason Ignacio White, started posting about abuse he had witnessed while working at the legendary restaurant.
He also relayed stories sent to him by other former employees.
"Noma is not a story of innovation. It is a story of a maniac that would breed a culture of fear, abuse & exploitation," White said on social media. 
He was among a group of former staff members who protested at the Noma pop-up restaurant in Los Angeles where Redzepi had been due to take charge. 
They carried signs reading "Noma broke me" and "No Michelin stars for violence", along with calls for the Redzepi's resignation.
Noma, which specialises in modern Nordic cuisine with fermented ingredients, has three Michelin stars.
The Copenhagen establishment was named the world's best restaurant in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2021 by Restaurant magazine.
An acronym formed from the Danish words "nordisk" (Nordic) and "mad" (food), Noma first opened in a converted warehouse on a quay in central Copenhagen in 2003.
It closed in 2016 and reopened two years later in a more remote neighbourhood of the Danish capital.
Redzepi insisted in his message that Noma would remain open and that its current team was the "strongest" that it had ever been. 
He also said the Los Angeles project would be maintained but without him at the helm.
Outside a Noma shop in Copenhagen, Estonian tourist Kaisa Erm said Redzepi had made "the right decision" to go.
If he had stayed it would have given the impression that "the culture wouldn't change and that we're condoning it", said Annie Nguyen, a 31-year-old American.
But she doesn't think Redzepi's actions "should discredit the works and culinary experimentation they've been doing."
However, Danish food critic Jesper Uhrup Jensen, said Noma cannot be separated from its emblematic chef. 
"Noma is an extremely famous brand so they will try, but everything was built around him," he told AFP.
jll-cbw/fg

Global Edition

Oil tops $100 as Iran vows to keep Hormuz closed

  • Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei called on Thursday for using "the lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz", which the country's Revolutionary Guards vowed to carry out.
  • Oil prices soared above $100 and stock markets extended losses as Iran's new supreme leader ordered the Strait of Hormuz to be kept closed.
  • Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei called on Thursday for using "the lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz", which the country's Revolutionary Guards vowed to carry out.
Oil prices soared above $100 and stock markets extended losses as Iran's new supreme leader ordered the Strait of Hormuz to be kept closed.
Concerns about a long, drawn out conflict were not assuaged by US President Donald Trump saying that stopping the Islamic republic's "evil empire" was more important than crude prices.
Global markets have been roiled since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran. Tehran's retaliatory strikes on shipping and Gulf neighbours have nearly cut off maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, through which pass around a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas.
"Oil prices are up by double-digit percentages again today, as the realisation sinks in that the US is not about to either end the war or institute some kind of convoy system in the region," said analyst Chris Beauchamp at IG trading and investment platform.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright acknowledged the US military was currently "not ready" to escort tankers through the critical Strait of Hormuz.
Brent North Sea crude, the international benchmark contract peaked at $101.59 per barrel on Thursday. 
At $100 per barrel, Brent is up around 38 percent from the eve of the conflict, which began on February 28 when the United States and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran. It is up nearly two-thirds from the start of the year.
Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei called on Thursday for using "the lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz", which the country's Revolutionary Guards vowed to carry out.
The call followed fresh attacks against Gulf energy targets: an attack on two oil tankers off Iraq killed at least one crew member, while a cargo ship caught fire after being hit by shrapnel.
Oil prices pared their gains after Iran's deputy foreign minister said that Tehran had allowed ships from some countries to cross the Strait of Hormuz. 
The International Energy Agency said the Mideast war "is creating the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market", a day after its member countries agreed to unlock 400 million barrels of oil from their reserves -- their largest release ever.
Analyst David Morrison at Trade Nation said that if the announcements of the release of oil from strategic reserves "were supposed to cap prices, then they failed dismally".
The moves may have "suggested some panic as hostilities across the Middle East intensified", he added.
The rise in energy prices could cause prices to rise throughout the economy.
"The longer the oil price remains elevated, the more damaging and long lasting the inflation shock will be for the global economy," noted Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB.
Wall Street's main stock indices were down more than one percent in early afternoon trading.
Europe's leading equity markets closed lower, as did most Asian markets.
eToro US investment analyst Bret Kenwell said that while US equities had held up rather well to date, a long conflict would have a profound impact on businesses.
"If oil doesn't retreat meaningfully, the pressure won't just be felt at the pump — it will bleed into margins, spending, and potentially quarters of softer growth," he said.
The dollar rose further against major rival currencies.
"The dollar has strengthened, driven by safe-haven demand, fears of inflation, and higher-for-longer interest rate expectations," said Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor.

Key figures at around 1630 GMT

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 8.6 percent at $99.88 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 9.3 percent at $95.38 per barrel
New York - Dow: DOWN 1.2 percent at 46,871.01 points
New York - S&P 500: DOWN 1.2 percent at 6,698.16
New York - Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 1.4 percent at 22,389.89
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.5 percent at 10,305.15 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.8 percent at 7,978.98 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.2 percent at 23,589.65 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.0 percent at 54,452.96 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.7 percent at 25,716.76 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 4,129.10 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1525 from $1.1574 on Wednesday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3355 from $1.3419
Dollar/yen: UP at 159.20 yen from 158.92 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 86.31 pence from 86.25 pence
burs-rl/jj

US

Israel strikes Beirut after threatening to expand Lebanon operations

BY LOBNA MONIEB

  • "I warned the President of Lebanon that if the Lebanese government does not know how to control the territory and prevent Hezbollah from threatening northern communities and firing toward Israel -- we will take the territory and do it ourselves," Katz said.
  • Israel renewed its strikes on Beirut on Thursday, as it threatened to expand operations and seize territory in Lebanon if Hezbollah did not stop its attacks.
  • "I warned the President of Lebanon that if the Lebanese government does not know how to control the territory and prevent Hezbollah from threatening northern communities and firing toward Israel -- we will take the territory and do it ourselves," Katz said.
Israel renewed its strikes on Beirut on Thursday, as it threatened to expand operations and seize territory in Lebanon if Hezbollah did not stop its attacks.
The Israeli military issued a call to evacuate ahead of the Beirut attack, after having also widened its evacuation warning for residents in southern Lebanon to include areas below the Zahrani river, around 40 kilometres north of Israel.
After Hezbollah announced a new operation against Israel on Wednesday night, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the following day that he had ordered troops to "prepare for expanding" attacks in Lebanon.
"I warned the President of Lebanon that if the Lebanese government does not know how to control the territory and prevent Hezbollah from threatening northern communities and firing toward Israel -- we will take the territory and do it ourselves," Katz said.
The Israeli military later announced "a wave of strikes targeting Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure across Beirut", with AFPTV footage showing dark smoke rising into the sky above Bashoura, in the heart of the Lebanese capital.
Bashoura is generally a busy part of town, adjacent to Beirut's commercial centre, where many large companies and government institutions are based. 
The strike there was the fourth in central Beirut since the beginning of the latest round of fighting on March 2.
Both Israel and Iran said Hezbollah on Wednesday launched a coordinated attack with the Iranian military. Hezbollah had declared it was staging a new operation.
The Israeli military said the attack saw the Iran-backed group launch around 200 rockets and about 20 drones in its biggest barrage since the start of the war.
An Israeli strike hours later in Ramlet al-Bayda, on Beirut's seaside, killed 12 people and wounded 28, according to Lebanon's health ministry.
An AFP correspondent at the scene saw a damaged motorcycle and two damaged cars, with the area, usually bustling with crowds, now sealed off by security forces.
Blood stains were on the pavement, and there was a small hole in the ground.

'We won't leave'

"We saw dead people on the ground," said Aseel Habbaj, a displaced woman who had been sheltering in a nearby tent after fleeing Israeli bombings in other areas of Lebanon.
"We were all asleep in my tent, when suddenly we heard a noise," Habbaj told AFP. "We jumped up and went to see what was happening," before a second strike wounded her husband.
Her 40-year-old neighbour Dalal al-Sayed said she had opted to pitch her tent at the seaside after fleeing attacks in southern Lebanon "because the last thing we expected was Israel to hit Beirut". 
Her family could not afford to rent apartments, she said.
"We won't leave, we will stay here even if we die," she added.
The seaside attack was the third in the heart of the capital since the Middle East war began.
Displaced people have been sleeping rough or in tents on the streets of Beirut, including in Ramlet al-Bayda, where some shelters were hit by shrapnel from Thursday's strike, according to an AFP correspondent.
Israel has also repeatedly hit the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold.
A strike on a nearby branch of Lebanese University branch, the country's only public institution of higher learning, killed the head of the faculty of sciences and another professor, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA).
Strikes on Aramoun, a residential area south of Beirut, also killed five people and wounded a child, according to the health ministry.
The NNA reported several Israeli strikes on the south of the country, where Hezbollah has long held sway.

Hezbollah operation

Hezbollah said on Thursday that it targeted Israel's air defence systems near the town of Caesarea in the country's centre, home to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's private residence.
It announced earlier in separate statements that it had fired missiles at an Israeli military intelligence base in the suburbs of Tel Aviv and another base south of Haifa, among other attacks.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Hezbollah attacked Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
Israel, which had kept up its strikes in Lebanon even before the war despite a 2024 ceasefire, has since launched air raids and sent ground troops into border areas.
The violence has killed more than 687 people, according to Lebanese authorities, while more than 800,000 people have registered as displaced.
After Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced their joint missile operation with Hezbollah, the Israeli military said it had launched "a wide-scale wave of strikes" targeting Hezbollah infrastructure across Lebanon.
It also said it hit "dozens of launchers" as well as Hezbollah intelligence and command sites in south Beirut.
lg/nad/smw

Ukraine

Poland reels from row over EU loans to fend off Russia

BY BERNARD OSSER

  • With war raging in neighbouring Ukraine, and Russia and Belarus just across the border, frontline Poland has upped its defence budget to 4.8 percent of its GDP, one of the highest in NATO.  The government is counting on nearly 44 billion euros in European loans from the Security Action For Europe (SAFE) scheme, which it says is a big win for Poland, set to get nearly a third of the total 150-billion-euro pot.
  • A spat over huge EU defence loans has erupted into trench warfare between Poland's pro-European government and nationalist president.
  • With war raging in neighbouring Ukraine, and Russia and Belarus just across the border, frontline Poland has upped its defence budget to 4.8 percent of its GDP, one of the highest in NATO.  The government is counting on nearly 44 billion euros in European loans from the Security Action For Europe (SAFE) scheme, which it says is a big win for Poland, set to get nearly a third of the total 150-billion-euro pot.
A spat over huge EU defence loans has erupted into trench warfare between Poland's pro-European government and nationalist president.
The fiery row over multi-billion-euro plans to beef up its military is unprecedented in a country where there is usually consensus on defence. 
With war raging in neighbouring Ukraine, and Russia and Belarus just across the border, frontline Poland has upped its defence budget to 4.8 percent of its GDP, one of the highest in NATO. 
The government is counting on nearly 44 billion euros in European loans from the Security Action For Europe (SAFE) scheme, which it says is a big win for Poland, set to get nearly a third of the total 150-billion-euro pot.

'Generations' of debt

The deal has already passed through parliament, but nationalist President Karol Nawrocki -- who could veto it -- arguing it will allow Brussels to exert undue pressure on Warsaw through monitoring how funds will be allocated. 
He claims SAFE could also saddle Poland with debt "for generations" and has instead floated a counter project, known as "SAFE 0%".
By using central bank funds instead, Poland would not be burdened with loans or interest payments, the president argues. 
But many doubt how this could work, with some questioning Nawrocki's motives.
"Poland is the only country along NATO's Eastern flank where there is a debate on whether to accept the funds offered under the European programme," liberal Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza argued on Wednesday, describing the debate as a "scandalous political controversy" fanned by the former PiS government, to which the president is close.

Under 'German boot'

Political scientist Jaroslaw Kuisz told AFP that Nawrocki wanted to stop Prime Minister Tusk reaping the economic boost the money would bring before the 2027 general election.
"The president wants... to harm the prime minister as much as possible so that he cannot reap the benefits of his immense financial success" in getting Poland such a big slice of the cake.
Companies, particularly in the arms sector, will "within a year have enormous sums of money at their disposal that will be redistributed," he said.
"The president's primary objective is to bring down the Tusk government and prepare for a change of power" in 2027, Wojciech Przybylski of the Visegrad think tank Insight told AFP. 
Poland's eurosceptic nationalist opposition paints itself as a close and indispensable ally of Washington. 
SAFE, its members argue, would discourage US arms companies from forging arms contracts with Poland, because its funds must be spent mostly in Europe. 
PiS chairman Jaroslaw Kaczynski argued the agreement "was intended to bind (Poland) with various dependencies" and would place it "under the German boot". 
But the plan is backed by 52 percent of Poles, with only 35 against it, according to a poll by Poland's Centre for Public Opinion Research. 
President Nawrocki, who is in an uneasy cohabitation with the ruling centrist coalition, has a reputation among his critics as a "veto machine" unwilling to reach across the aisle.  
Rather than outright reject the bill, he thus responded with the "sovereign" alternative, which was jointly proposed with Poland's central bank governor -- another PiS ally. 
Under the president's proposed bill, defence financing would be based on revaluing profits derived from the central bank's gold and foreign currency reserves. 
But the government said this is unrealistic, with the central bank making a loss for several years. 
Nawrocki's proposal "does not provide money, but creates yet another body, a council, bureaucracy, and dozens of unnecessary regulations," Prime Minister Tusk said. 
He also vowed that in the event of a presidential veto, he would implement a "Plan B" to make use of the European funds regardless of the president. 
bo/ks/fg

US

Laundry fire on giant US aircraft carrier injures two: US military

  • The Navy said the fire, originating "in the ship's main laundry," was "not combat-related and is contained."
  • Two crew on the USS Gerald R. Ford -- the world's largest aircraft carrier currently deployed for the war against Iran -- were injured Thursday in a laundry room fire, the US Navy said.
  • The Navy said the fire, originating "in the ship's main laundry," was "not combat-related and is contained."
Two crew on the USS Gerald R. Ford -- the world's largest aircraft carrier currently deployed for the war against Iran -- were injured Thursday in a laundry room fire, the US Navy said.
"Two sailors are currently receiving medical treatment for non-life-threatening injuries and are in stable condition," a statement from US Naval Forces Central Command said.
The Navy said the fire, originating "in the ship's main laundry," was "not combat-related and is contained."
The Navy said the Ford is now in the Red Sea as part of Operation Epic Fury -- the name given to the massive US bombing assault on Iran launched by President Donald Trump on February 28.
"There is no damage to the ship's propulsion plant, and the aircraft carrier remains fully operational," the statement said.
The laundry episode was not the first mishap reported from the nuclear-powered giant, which was ordered to the Middle East right after a months-long mission in the Caribbean that culminated with the January operation by US forces to seize Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro.
The Ford's toilets have been plagued with malfunctions and clogging as a result of misuse by sailors, according to US media reports.
sms/acb

Pritzker

Chile's Smiljan Radic Clarke wins Pritzker architecture prize

  • "His buildings may appear temporary, unstable, or deliberately unfinished -- almost on the point of disappearance -- yet they provide a structured, optimistic and quietly joyful shelter, embracing vulnerability as an intrinsic condition of lived experience."
  • Chile's Smiljan Radic Clarke, whose modern buildings can sometimes appear "deliberately unfinished," is the recipient of this year's Pritzker Prize, considered the Nobel of architecture, organizers announced Thursday.
  • "His buildings may appear temporary, unstable, or deliberately unfinished -- almost on the point of disappearance -- yet they provide a structured, optimistic and quietly joyful shelter, embracing vulnerability as an intrinsic condition of lived experience."
Chile's Smiljan Radic Clarke, whose modern buildings can sometimes appear "deliberately unfinished," is the recipient of this year's Pritzker Prize, considered the Nobel of architecture, organizers announced Thursday.
The 60-year-old Radic, a native of Santiago, creates "optimistic and quietly joyful" structures, the jury said in its citation.
Radic is best known for his Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London -- a translucent donut-shaped fiberglass shell resting on locally sourced rocks -- and the Vik Millahue Winery in his home country, set among the Andes mountains and the vineyards.
The Teatro Regional del Biobio in Concepcion, Chile resembles a paper lantern.
"If architecture gives shape to the ways in which people live, Radic's work produces spatial experiences that feel at once surprising and entirely natural," the Pritzker jury said.
"His buildings may appear temporary, unstable, or deliberately unfinished -- almost on the point of disappearance -- yet they provide a structured, optimistic and quietly joyful shelter, embracing vulnerability as an intrinsic condition of lived experience."
The panel hailed Radic -- who has created buildings and installations across Europe and at home in Chile -- for "reminding us that architecture is an art."
First awarded in 1979 to modernist Philip Johnson, the Pritzker Prize has honored many of the profession's most influential figures including IM Pei, Oscar Niemeyer, Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas and Zaha Hadid.
It honors a living architect for "significant achievement" in the field.
Last year's award went to China's Liu Jiakun, who lives and works in his birth city of Chengdu. His projects -- known for their minimalism and use of designs that fit local context -- include the Museum of Clocks in that city.
rh-sst/acb

Israel

Turkey talking to US, Iran in bid to end war: minister

BY BURCIN GERCEK

  • The war began on February 28, sparked by the US-Israeli strikes on Iran which lashed out across the region in retaliation,  Since then, said Fidan, Turkey had engaged in "intense" diplomatic efforts to end the confrontation.
  • Turkey is talking to both Washington and Tehran in a bid to end the Middle East war, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Thursday as the conflict raged for a 13th day.
  • The war began on February 28, sparked by the US-Israeli strikes on Iran which lashed out across the region in retaliation,  Since then, said Fidan, Turkey had engaged in "intense" diplomatic efforts to end the confrontation.
Turkey is talking to both Washington and Tehran in a bid to end the Middle East war, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Thursday as the conflict raged for a 13th day.
"We have been experiencing the most intense moments of the war in the last few days," he told a news conference in Ankara alongside his German counterpart Johann Wadephul.
"The question is, what chances are there for negotiation, to what extent is it possible?" he added.
"This war should end as soon as possible... We are talking to the Iranian side, and we are talking to the American side," he said.
"But there is an ongoing military operation, there are certain realities: this unprovoked attack on Iran is as unjust and unlawful as Iran's attacks on Gulf countries."
The war began on February 28, sparked by the US-Israeli strikes on Iran which lashed out across the region in retaliation, 
Since then, said Fidan, Turkey had engaged in "intense" diplomatic efforts to end the confrontation.
"The task now is to prevent a further escalation of this war," Wadephul said after the pair held talks in the Turkish capital. 
"Then we will very quickly have to address the following questions: how can this conflict be resolved in a lasting manner, and how can a reliable security architecture be achieved in the region?"

'A common interest'

Fidan also called for an end to Israel's bombardment of Lebanon, saying it had forced the displacement of "nearly a million people" and warning it could bring the country to its knees.
"Israel's attacks must end before the Lebanese state collapses," he said, warning that if that were to happen, it would "profoundly affect the entire region" especially the neighbouring countries. 
"The displacement of nearly a million people from their homes is absolutely unacceptable," he said. 
Lebanon was drawn into the war last week when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
Israel retaliated with ongoing air raids and sent ground troops into border areas, which so far has killed more than 687 people, according to Lebanese authorities, while more than 800,000 people have registered as displaced.
Some of Iran's neighbours have long feared that any prolonged strikes or internal chaos trigger an influx of refugees, such as Turkey experienced during Syria's civil war.
So far, that has not been the case with the Iran war. 
"It is entirely right and prudent for Turkey to also consider the consequences that the current crisis could have on possible refugee movements from Iran to Turkey," Wadephul said. 
"To date, we have not seen anything of the sort, but we have a common interest in preventing this from happening," he added.
burs-bg-hmw/jj

Lebanon

'One war too many': Lebanese angry with Hezbollah for attacking Israel

BY CéLIA LEBUR

  • Aisha Bakkar is one of several Beirut neighbourhoods that are majority Sunni Muslim, while Lebanon is also home to Christians, Druze and others.
  • When an air strike hit their Beirut neighbourhood, people were angry with Israel, but they reserved their deepest rage for Hezbollah, for dragging Lebanon into the Middle East war.
  • Aisha Bakkar is one of several Beirut neighbourhoods that are majority Sunni Muslim, while Lebanon is also home to Christians, Druze and others.
When an air strike hit their Beirut neighbourhood, people were angry with Israel, but they reserved their deepest rage for Hezbollah, for dragging Lebanon into the Middle East war.
Israel and the United States launched huge strikes on Iran on February 28, killing its supreme leader and sparking a massive retaliatory campaign.
Iran-backed Hezbollah, already weakened by war, attacked Israel in support of its sponsors, pulling Lebanon into a new cycle of strikes, death and mass displacement.
"Hezbollah must surrender its weapons to the state, period," Randa Harb, an elderly woman who runs a fruit and vegetable stall in the neighbourhood of Aisha Bakkar, told AFP.
The densely populated area was struck on Wednesday morning, wounding four people according to the health ministry, and sparking shock across the capital.
Another woman, who refused to give her name, told AFP a relative was wounded, and she accused Hezbollah of forcing "one war too many" on the Lebanese.

'Killing each other'

Lebanon was torn apart by a civil war that ended in 1990, with only Hezbollah refusing to hand over its weapons to the state when peace returned.
For decades, it was believed to have an arsenal more powerful than the military's, and it fought multiple wars with Israel that each took a devastating toll.
The most recent hostilities should have ended in a ceasefire in 2024, but that too proved fragile, with Israel keeping up its strikes even as the Lebanese military sought to disarm Hezbollah under the terms of the truce.
Inspecting the damage in her cousin's apartment, 46-year-old Amal Hisham screamed: "I do not care about Hezbollah!" 
The windows were shattered, and the gold-coloured sofas left in tatters.
Hisham was also enraged with Israel, saying she couldn't just blame one side. "They are all just killing each other," she said.
"Do you think they are happy about their areas being destroyed? They're not happy. Their families have been displaced," she said, referring to Hezbollah members and their wider support base.
"Who will compensate these people?"

'Pointless battles'

As soon as the injured had been evacuated, residents began to wonder who the target had been.
A shop owner, also requesting anonymity, believed Hezbollah operatives were hiding there, while others imagined it was Hamas, the group's Palestinian ally.
"No matter," said Mohammed Ahmed, 42. "The presence of Hezbollah or Hamas poses a great danger to us."
"If one wants to be martyred, let him stay where he is... let him be martyred alone, why come to people who are already tired?"
Lebanon is deeply divided along sectarian lines, with Hezbollah rooted in the Shia Muslim community, that was long sidelined by authorities.
Aisha Bakkar is one of several Beirut neighbourhoods that are majority Sunni Muslim, while Lebanon is also home to Christians, Druze and others.

'They shot my son'

Aziza, who sheltered families fleeing the 2024 war, worries about the massive influx of displaced people from Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah holds sway, and which have come under Israeli bombardment.
"We came to welcome them... they shot my son in the leg" after he complained that they had raised Hezbollah's flag, she said.
In majority-Christian Mar Mikhael on the other side of Beirut, a 68-year-old grocery store owner also deplored the group's decision to enter the war.
"Hezbollah makes decisions without concerning itself with the country or even its support base, it is waging pointless battles... what good will it do? You fire a missile, they fire a hundred back at you," he said.
Hezbollah was at the height of its popularity following the 2006 war with Israel, which it claimed to have won. 
That changed.
"We never hated the Sayyed," said Ghada, a municipal worker, referring to late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who was killed by Israel in 2024.
"He is the one who stopped Israel," she said.
Bolstering the belief that Hezbollah was operating solely as an Iranian proxy, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that Hezbollah had "officially entered the war" around three hours before the Lebanese group had issued its own statement.
Some Lebanese Shia have also grown impatient.
"No one wanted this war," Lina Hamdan, a Shia lawyer, told AFP, adding that her community "are the first victims".
A longtime critic, she believes this war may be a "turning point" for Hezbollah, whose military activities were outlawed by the government last week.
While many displaced stranded in the capital refrained from criticising Hezbollah, some voiced frustration.
"What was the point of this war? Nothing about this makes sense," said Hiam, a 53-year-old mother sheltering in a school.
Hezbollah runs schools and hospitals, and long provided Shia Lebanese with assistance.
"This time, we are left to fend for ourselves," Hiam added.
cl/nad/ser

transport

China-North Korea train arrives in Pyongyang after 6-year halt

  • China's state news agency Xinhua said a train that departed from Dandong, a city in the northeast bordering North Korea, arrived in Pyongyang on Thursday evening.
  • A passenger train from China arrived in the North Korean capital on Thursday, state media said, after a six-year hiatus since the service was suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic.
  • China's state news agency Xinhua said a train that departed from Dandong, a city in the northeast bordering North Korea, arrived in Pyongyang on Thursday evening.
A passenger train from China arrived in the North Korean capital on Thursday, state media said, after a six-year hiatus since the service was suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic.
China is North Korea's largest trading partner and a vital source of diplomatic, economic and political support for the isolated nuclear state.
Train journeys between the East Asian neighbours were halted in 2020 under strict border closures to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.
China's state news agency Xinhua said a train that departed from Dandong, a city in the northeast bordering North Korea, arrived in Pyongyang on Thursday evening.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported earlier that a train had been seen crossing the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge over the Yalu River.
China Railways said in a separate statement that regular train services would also resume between Beijing and Pyongyang on Thursday evening.
AFP journalists aboard the K27 train departing from Beijing and bound for Pyongyang on Thursday saw carriages reserved only for passengers travelling to North Korea.
Several people at the station gathered around the departures board to take photos of the "Beijing to Pyongyang" listing.
The overnight train is set to make a few stops, including at the port city of Tianjin, and then head northeast to Dandong on the border.
A railway enthusiast at the station told AFP he was taking the train only one stop and would disembark at Tianjin.
"It's great that this line is reopening, because there are very few international rail connections in China," he said, before being subjected to an ID check by plainclothes police officers.

Change trains

Wagons from Beijing holding Pyongyang-bound passengers are then attached to another train in Dandong, taking them across the border to the nearby North Korean city of Sinuiju, said Rowan Beard from Young Pioneer Tours, a company specialising in North Korea travel.
Those wagons, as well as North Korean domestic carriages, will then be attached to a new train heading to Pyongyang, he added.
Trains will run in both directions between Beijing and Pyongyang every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, China Railway said.
The Dandong-Pyongyang service would operate daily, it said.
Travel agents for an official ticketing booth in Beijing told AFP on Tuesday that anyone with a valid visa can now buy train tickets to the North.
That includes Chinese people working and studying in North Korea, as well as North Koreans working, studying and visiting family abroad.
Entry and exit procedures would be completed at the Dandong border crossing and at Sinuiju in North Korea, China Railway said.
Tickets are currently available for offline purchase in several Chinese cities, it added.

'Re-normalisation'

The resumption of the train link symbolised a return to a stronger bilateral relationship, said Lim Tai Wei, a professor and East Asia expert at Japan's Soka University.
It signalled greater access to "the largest trading nation on Earth" for North Korea, Lim told AFP, while it was also important for China's "periphery diplomacy".
A spokesman for China's foreign ministry said on Thursday that "maintaining regular passenger train services is of great significance for facilitating personnel exchanges" between the two countries.
Beijing has been a crucial lifeline for North Korea's moribund economy.
China has fully reopened its borders since the pandemic, but North Korea has proceeded more slowly. Direct flights and train services with Russia resumed last year.
While the resumption suggests a "re-normalisation" of contact between China and North Korea, it does not necessarily mean increased support from Beijing, said Associate Professor Chong Ja Ian from the National University of Singapore.
"A lot of the previous limit on contact seems to be due to Pyongyang's apprehensions about broader contact, which have diminished," Chong told AFP.
isk-ehl-dhw/pbt/abs

noma

Noma co-founder quits after abuse allegations

  • The world of haute cuisine is currently confronting mounting accusations about the treatment of staff at top restaurants.
  • Danish chef Rene Redzepi, co-founder of the world renowned Noma restaurant, said on Thursday he was quitting following allegations of abuse of staff.
  • The world of haute cuisine is currently confronting mounting accusations about the treatment of staff at top restaurants.
Danish chef Rene Redzepi, co-founder of the world renowned Noma restaurant, said on Thursday he was quitting following allegations of abuse of staff.
"After more than two decades of building and leading this restaurant, I've decided to step away," Redzepi said in an Instagram post that acknowledged past problems.
A protest was held on Wednesday at the opening of a Noma pop-up restaurant in Los Angeles where Redzepi had been due to take charge. 
The world of haute cuisine is currently confronting mounting accusations about the treatment of staff at top restaurants.
The New York Times published a story at the weekend with witness testimony of past abuse at Noma in Copenhagen, including punches thrown and public shaming.
The paper said it had interviewed 35 former employees about the period between 2009 and 2017.
Noma, which specialises in modern Nordic cuisine with fermented ingredients, has three Michelin stars.
The Copenhagen establishment was named the world's best restaurant in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2021 by Restaurant magazine.
Its meals can cost several hundred dollars. 
"I have worked to be a better leader and Noma has taken big steps to transform the culture over many years," Redzepi said in a video that showed him apologising to staff.
"I recognise these changes do not repair the past," the 48-year-old said.
"An apology is not enough. I take responsibility for my own actions."
Redzepi has also stepped down from a charitable foundation he set up.

'Bully' confession

The master chef has previously admitted to losing his cool. 
In 2015, he said in an essay: "I've been a bully for a large part of my career".
In February, the former head of noma's fermentation lab, Jason Ignacio White, started posting about abuse he had witnessed while working at Noma.
He also relayed stories sent to him by other former employees.
"Noma is not a story of innovation. It is a story of a maniac that would breed culture of fear, abuse & exploitation," White said on social media. 
He was among former staff members who protested in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
An acronym formed from the Danish words "nordisk" (Nordic) and "mad" (food), Noma first opened on in a converted warehouse on a quay in central Copenhagen in 2003.
It closed in 2016 and reopened two years later in a more remote neighbourhood of the Danish capital.
After leaving school at 15, Redzepi trained in Copenhagen and later at the Spanish restaurant El Bulli -- also once considered the world's best -- and at French Laundry in California.
Redzepi insisted in his message that Noma would remain open and that its current team was the "strongest" that it had ever been. 
He also said the Los Angeles project would be maintained but without him at the helm.
jll/tw/gil

law

China approves 'ethnic unity' law condemned by rights groups

  • While it calls for "strengthening ties" with overseas Chinese communities, it also warns that people outside China who "engage in activities that undermine ethnic unity" or inciting "ethnic separatism" will be held legally liable. bur-pbt/dhw/fox
  • China approved what it called an "ethnic unity" law on Thursday, which rights advocates warn could further marginalise minority groups such as the Uyghurs.
  • While it calls for "strengthening ties" with overseas Chinese communities, it also warns that people outside China who "engage in activities that undermine ethnic unity" or inciting "ethnic separatism" will be held legally liable. bur-pbt/dhw/fox
China approved what it called an "ethnic unity" law on Thursday, which rights advocates warn could further marginalise minority groups such as the Uyghurs.
The law, passed by the National People's Congress, formalises policies to promote Mandarin as the "national common language" in education, official business and public places.
China's government has been accused for decades of pursuing policies to force assimilation across the vast country into the Han majority.
Social cohesion is a key focus of the new "ethnic unity" law, which criminalises engaging in "violent terrorist activities, ethnic separatist activities, or religious extremist activities".
The law aims to "strengthen cohesion" within China, which the legislation argues is undergoing unprecedented social change.
China officially recognises 55 official ethnic minorities within its borders that speak hundreds of languages and dialects.
Government policies have already directed that Mandarin Chinese be used as the language of instruction in some areas with large minority populations, such as Tibet and Inner Mongolia.
Yalkun Uluyol, a China researcher at Human Rights Watch, described the new legislation as a "significant departure" from a Deng Xiaoping-era policy that guaranteed the right of minorities to use their own languages.
Educational institutions will now need to use Mandarin as the principal teaching language. Teenagers will now be required to have "a basic grasp" of Mandarin upon completing compulsory education.
No minority languages are specifically cited in the new law, although it will likely affect Uyghur, Mongolian and Tibetan speakers.
"It is no coincidence that the law targets spaces where children are most likely to encounter their mother tongue," Erika Nguyen from PEN America told AFP.
"The intent being to sever children's ties with their identity, history, and culture."
A recent report by PEN and the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC) said that more than 80 percent of Mongolian language websites in China have been "censored or banned". 
Requiring fluency in Mandarin in public life could also inhibit the chances of Mongolian-speakers advancing professionally, SMHRIC director Enghebatu Togochog said in a statement.
"Economically, it marginalises Mongolians, as Chinese fluency becomes a gatekeeper for jobs and advancement," Togochog said.
The law also states that its provisions can also be applied outside China's borders.
While it calls for "strengthening ties" with overseas Chinese communities, it also warns that people outside China who "engage in activities that undermine ethnic unity" or inciting "ethnic separatism" will be held legally liable.
bur-pbt/dhw/fox

Global Edition

Bangladesh parliament reconvenes after uprising and polls

BY SHEIKH SABIHA ALAM

  • Both are members of the BNP. The parliament building was looted during the August 2024 uprising against Hasina, but has since been repaired.
  • Bangladesh's parliament convened Thursday for the first time since a deadly 2024 uprising plunged the country into political turmoil and following elections last month.
  • Both are members of the BNP. The parliament building was looted during the August 2024 uprising against Hasina, but has since been repaired.
Bangladesh's parliament convened Thursday for the first time since a deadly 2024 uprising plunged the country into political turmoil and following elections last month.
The government of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), took over after February 12 elections from the interim administration that had led the country of 170 million people since August 2024.
"After more than a decade and a half of fascist and subservient rule, the activities of parliament are beginning today with representatives elected by the people," Rahman told parliament.
"The BNP wants to build a prosperous, safe and democratic country," he added, calling on all lawmakers, whatever their political opinions, to work together.
Rahman blamed the toppled government of Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League party for undermining the previous parliament.
Hasina, 78, who has been sentenced in absentia to death for crimes against humanity, is in self-imposed exile in India.
"The fallen dictatorship made parliament dysfunctional, instead of making it the centre of all national activities," Rahman said, promising it would change under his watch.
"We will make parliament the centre of all debates and arguments aimed at resolving the country’s problems."
They include tackling a sluggish economy, restoring stability and reviving growth after months of turmoil that rattled investor confidence and strained state finances.
The world's second largest garment exporter, heavily dependent on fossil fuel imports, has also been hit hard by an oil price spike caused by the war in the Middle East.
Rahman's appeal for unity is a bid to heal rifts in a country polarised by years of bitter rivalry.
A new speaker, Hafiz Uddin Ahmad, and his deputy, Kayser Kamal, were elected to office. Both are members of the BNP.
The parliament building was looted during the August 2024 uprising against Hasina, but has since been repaired.
The BNP-led alliance secured 212 seats, while the BNP alone won 209 seats.
The leader of the opposition is Shafiqur Rahman, who heads the Jamaat-e-Islami-led alliance with 76 seats, with Jamaat alone holding 68.
sa/pjm/fox

US

Checkpoints, air strikes and hope: a Tehran resident tells her story

  • Here is an edited transcript of the conversation:   - How is daily life in Tehran?
  • Torn between hope and fear, a Tehran resident in her 30s agrees to share her thoughts with AFP about the ongoing war and daily life.
  • Here is an edited transcript of the conversation:   - How is daily life in Tehran?
Torn between hope and fear, a Tehran resident in her 30s agrees to share her thoughts with AFP about the ongoing war and daily life.
We are withholding her identity for her protection. Here is an edited transcript of the conversation:  

How is daily life in Tehran?

People left in waves, especially those who were next to targets. 
The financial situation is very bad. My job has been halted and I am spending out of my savings. Going away has costs too, so this may be one of the reasons why people are leaving Tehran less now, along with Trump saying civilians would be safe. 
You can still do your shopping though. For petrol, they went from 30 litres maximum to 20. I didn't take any petrol because I have enough. But I heard from a friend that at one petrol station, they capped it at five litres.
Thankfully we haven't had to go to a hospital yet but apparently they work fine. 

How is the security situation? 

Even the smallest police stations are closed, so officers don't have anywhere to go. For the rest (the military), it's even worse because they have hit all their bases. 
The only way they can show that they're there and that the situation is under control is to put checkpoints around the place. 
I didn't have to stop at any of the checkpoints I passed through, but I've heard that they take people's phones and they will type 'Leader', 'Khamenei' or even 'moosh Ali' (a pejorative nickname for late leader Ali Khamenei which translates as "Mouse Ali").
Other regime supporters come to the streets with flags and signs chanting "Allahu akbar" ("God is the greatest") around 10:00-10:30PM. They're in around 50 cars and do loops and chant a bit.

Do you know people directly affected by air strikes?

The house of my friend's mother is in front of the Public Security Police station in Gisha (an upmarket area of central Tehran). The windows of part of the building facade were blown off completely. 
They hit Gisha pretty bad. Another friend from Gisha said they were scared to open their eyes after the strikes for fear of finding themselves either dead or without a roof. 
The Niloufar Square police station was a huge one. When they hit it, the strikes were so intense that the square has expanded by a street. The destruction was huge, I went to see myself. 
A person I know owns a shop there, they could only recover a few boxes of merchandise from the back. The store is destroyed. 
- How do you feel about the war? - 
The night they announced Khamenei had died, my neighbours and I went up on the roof and everybody was screaming and celebrating. But then they (security forces) came to the neighbourhood with their motorbikes and started shooting in the air. 
They started firing at windows with bullets randomly, they wouldn't even aim.
I don't know what will happen to us mentally and emotionally if it doesn't work out this time. 
I don't understand people who say "no to war" because we were the ones out in the streets protesting (in January), and we saw that they (the leadership) will not leave no matter what. 
There is no other way to remove them except foreign intervention. 
"No to a ceasefire!", "War, war, until victory!": we keep repeating these phrases among ourselves. If they stay, people will end up killing each other. We'll have a civil war.

How are you sleeping?

I don't hear much where I am. One night they hit an area close to me and it felt like someone was taking off the entrance door to the building. But I have a friend in Tehran-Pars (a suburb northeast of Tehran), she takes sleeping pills because of the noise. 
Another friend who is close to Mehrabad (central Tehran) said that the night they hit the airport, they spent a couple of hours in the bathroom. They felt like the roof was falling down on them. 
But Tehran is big and the experiences are quite different.
bur-adp/ser

conflict

Ukraine's tech evangelist defence chief preaching the 'future of war'

BY BARBARA WOJAZER

  • Appointed in January, the 35-year-old with short salt-and-pepper hair is Ukraine's youngest ever defence minister.
  • Ukraine's newly installed defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov waltzed on stage like a stand-up comedian to take the mic in front of journalists in Kyiv as a sleek slideshow zoomed across a map of the country. 
  • Appointed in January, the 35-year-old with short salt-and-pepper hair is Ukraine's youngest ever defence minister.
Ukraine's newly installed defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov waltzed on stage like a stand-up comedian to take the mic in front of journalists in Kyiv as a sleek slideshow zoomed across a map of the country. 
The Ted-talk style briefing -- a departure from the ministry's previously stiff approach -- encapsulates the energy Fedorov is trying to inject into Ukraine's war machine, four years into the Russian invasion.
Appointed in January, the 35-year-old with short salt-and-pepper hair is Ukraine's youngest ever defence minister.
On a mission to modernise the army, he took over an apparatus facing stretched air defences, financial uncertainty, stalled peace talks, recruitment problems and widespread bureaucracy and war fatigue.
"We will turn the war into a data platform," said Fedorov, wearing his trademark sweatshirt and jeans in a speech punctuated with jokes.
"We will take all the data and see what works. Everything that works well will proceed," he said -- a personal mantra that would not appear out of place in Silicon Valley.

'Moment of truth'

Fedorov has spent much of the war promoting advanced technology, like drones, as a way to offset Ukraine's shortages in manpower, money and ammunition.
He began his career in digital marketing and his first roles in government were spearheading online services for citizens, including the country's now now‑ubiquitous state services app
Diia.
Russia's 2022 invasion -- which saw his home town in the southern Zaporizhzhia region occupied -- has only cemented his faith in technology.
"It was a moment of truth. When someone attacks your country, you do everything asymmetrical that is in your power," said his then-advisor Anton Melnyk, summarising Fedorov's philosophy.
His ministry for digital transformation took to social media to call out Western companies still working in Russia, shaming them into breaking ties.
He also reached out to US tech titan Elon Musk to secure Starlink satellite connectivity for Ukrainian troops.
His early bet on drones seems obvious now in a war that has come to be dominated by them.
But to many he was a rare and vital early advocate.
In 2023, activist Sergiy Sternenko, known for his fundraising efforts for the army,posted an emotional video to his two million followers, pleading with the government to quickly invest in drones.
"Mykhailo was really the first to call me literally an hour or two after that," Sternenko, now an advisor to Fedorov, told AFP.
Within two days he had been invited to Fedorov's office to discuss the issue.
"He was the driver of innovation, including of drones in the Ukrainian army, even when the Ukrainian armed forces leadership itself did not really want it," he said.
One of Fedorov's trademark initiatives was a controversial killing-for-points scheme, a data-driven system designed to reward the most effective army units. 
Soldiers earned points for confirmed kills or destruction of Russian equipment -- verified by uploaded videos -- that can be used to purchase equipment, with league tables ranking the best performing units.

Outsmart the system

At the defence ministry, he is set on developing that approach.
One of his first initiatives is an audit of battlefield losses -- ranking commanders based on casualty levels, in an attempt to address high levels of desertion among rank-and-file troops and the unpopularity of mobilisation.
Ukraine "cannot fight the future of war with an old system", Fedorov said in a statement after his appointment.
He has fans among Ukraine's Western partners, having courted NATO and EU representatives at the Ukraine Defence Contact Group.
"The minister came across as competent, realistic, highly knowledgeable, and forward-looking,"a diplomat at NATO told AFP.
"I strongly believe he can bring something new," said another diplomat at NATO.
"He has the potential to bring faster warfare of the future," they added.
But having never served, it is unclear if he can convince the rest of Ukraine's traditional military leadership, which some say is still stuck in Soviet-style bureaucracy.
"We can try," said Sternenko, his advisor.
"Much depends on the military command but Mykhailo has a vision of how to outsmart the system."
Opposition lawmaker Solomia Bobrovska, who sits on the parliament's defence committee, and has been briefed by Fedorov, told AFP: "It's very ambitious and very promising."
"It's early... The presentation is one thing, the other will be reality. I'm really interested in how society and the army will react."
brw/jc/fg