Russia

US invites Venezuela to G20 energy summit

  • "Venezuela's participation comes as the Trump administration and Caracas deepen their engagement on energy, expand opportunities for US companies and pursue additional energy deals in Venezuela," Burgum's office told AFP. Trump has touted the capacity of Venezuelan oil to boost supply at a time when oil prices have jumped due to the US-Iran war.
  • A Venezuelan delegation will participate in this week's G20 energy meetings in Texas, US officials said Monday, as the world grapples with soaring energy prices driven by the Middle East war.
  • "Venezuela's participation comes as the Trump administration and Caracas deepen their engagement on energy, expand opportunities for US companies and pursue additional energy deals in Venezuela," Burgum's office told AFP. Trump has touted the capacity of Venezuelan oil to boost supply at a time when oil prices have jumped due to the US-Iran war.
A Venezuelan delegation will participate in this week's G20 energy meetings in Texas, US officials said Monday, as the world grapples with soaring energy prices driven by the Middle East war.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the summit in the US oil capital of Houston will include representatives of G20 countries plus Venezuela.
"This is about the geopolitical center of oil moving out of the Middle East -- we have all these questions about Middle East disruptions -- moving that to the western hemisphere," Burgum told Fox Business.
The Houston meetings, which continue through Wednesday, come as Europe struggles to replenish its gas storage facilities ahead of winter amid the disruption to global energy markets.
The meetings gather delegations from the world's largest economies -- including China, India, Japan and Germany -- with major oil producers, such as Canada and Saudi Arabia, set to attend.
Attendees will include Venezuelan oil minister Paula Henao as well as Jovanny Martinez, vice president of Venezuela's state-run PDVSA oil company, according to Bloomberg.
From the US side, Burgum will be joined by Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
On August 28, the Trump administration announced a deal with Venezuela that gives the United States majority control of 65 billion barrels of proven petroleum reserves.
"Venezuela's participation comes as the Trump administration and Caracas deepen their engagement on energy, expand opportunities for US companies and pursue additional energy deals in Venezuela," Burgum's office told AFP.
Trump has touted the capacity of Venezuelan oil to boost supply at a time when oil prices have jumped due to the US-Iran war. However, analysts have cautioned that it will take years before Venezuelan output rises significantly.
Prices at the pump have skyrocketed in the United States, where the cost of a gallon (3.78 liters) of diesel has hit a record high, and now averages $6.20, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).
Regular gasoline is also 44 percent more expensive than it was before the war.
The unpopular war and its consequences have Trump's Republican Party fearing a defeat in the November midterm elections.
The US president has accused Iran of extending the conflict to hurt him politically, claiming recently that the war would end "immediately" after the election.
Trump also accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of causing a diesel shortage with strikes on Russian refineries.
Russian diplomats indicated Saturday that Moscow would also send some officials to the Houston summit.
The unexpected presence of Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov caused a stir at a previous G20 meeting two weeks ago.
Ukraine's European allies expressed disappointment in the US decision to invite Russia, which went against efforts to exclude Moscow over the war on its neighbor.
tmc-jmb/md

television

'Widow's Bay' and 'The Pitt' tipped for success at Emmy Awards

BY MAGGY DONALDSON WITH PAULA RAMON IN TORONTO

  • Star Noah Wyle, who has racked up awards over the past year including an Emmy, is expected to triumph again.
  • The brightest stars in television are set to walk the red carpet Monday at the Emmy Awards, with horror-comedy series "Widow's Bay" and gritty hospital drama "The Pitt" expected to win big.
  • Star Noah Wyle, who has racked up awards over the past year including an Emmy, is expected to triumph again.
The brightest stars in television are set to walk the red carpet Monday at the Emmy Awards, with horror-comedy series "Widow's Bay" and gritty hospital drama "The Pitt" expected to win big.
Apple TV's "Widow's Bay," which stars Matthew Rhys as the leader of an isolated New England island that appears to be haunted, has emerged as one of the most talked-about debut series of the year. 
"People just love that show," Christopher Rosen, deputy editor of Hollywood news outlet The Ankler, told AFP.
It scooped up eight awards in the pre-gala ceremonies, and is in position to become the most awarded comedy series in a single year, surpassing the 13 trophies won last year by Seth Rogen's Hollywood satire "The Studio."
Rosen said he believes that Rhys -- a winner for best drama actor for "The Americans" in 2018 -- could now earn his first comedy Emmy. 
A strong night for "Widow's Bay" does not bode well for "Hacks," the tale of a stand-up comedian trying to revive her career and the dysfunctional millennial assistant who helps her.
Its one solid bet left in the running -- and maybe its only statuette, says Rosen -- is a best actress prize for Jean Smart.
"That's a great way to honor the final season," Rosen told AFP. "She's never lost from playing this part. I don't see why she would lose for the final season."
Smart, who turned 75 on Sunday, has won four Emmys for the show so far.
A win on Monday would give her eight acting Emmys, tying her with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cloris Leachman for the most ever by a performer. Allison Janney is also vying for her eighth Emmy, for "The Diplomat."
-'The Pitt' expected to repeat as best drama - 
"The Pitt," last year's winner for best drama, follows the stressed-out workers in a Pittsburgh emergency room, with each episode unfolding in real time.
Tackling everything from abortion rights to immigration crackdowns to mass shootings, the show is the odds-on favorite to sweep several drama prizes including best series.
"If 'The Pitt' doesn't win, it would be a tremendous shock," Rosen said.
It led all shows with 25 nominations, and already won four awards in the early ceremonies, including best casting for a drama series.
Star Noah Wyle, who has racked up awards over the past year including an Emmy, is expected to triumph again. Seven of his co-stars are hopefuls in the supporting acting categories.
For best drama actress, Rosen says it will be a race between "Pluribus" star Rhea Seehorn and Keri Russell for political soap opera "The Diplomat." 
In the limited series categories, HBO Max's "DTF St Louis" -- the tale of a middle-aged love triangle gone wrong -- is a top contender.
The show has scooped up six prizes so far, including two for actors David Harbour and Linda Cardellini.

Dolly tribute

The 78th Emmy Awards gala will be hosted by "Law and Order: SVU" star Mariska Hargitay, who won two Emmys for her documentary "My Mom Jayne." 
It will feature a tribute to late country music icon Dolly Parton, who was also an Emmy winner. Country singer Reba McEntire is expected to sing one of Parton's songs, industry media reported.
It will also include a performance from Noah Kahan, who will sing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" during the broadcast's In Memoriam segment.
The gala also will deliver some TV nostalgia, with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" stars Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz among the presenters, along with "Charlie's Angels" stars Kate Jackson, Cheryl Ladd, and Jaclyn Smith.
Zendaya, a past winner and current nominee for best drama actress for "Euphoria," is on the list of presenters, guaranteeing at least one bona fide red carpet moment.
The Emmys ceremony begins at 5:00 pm Monday (0000 GMT Tuesday).
pr/sst/bgs

conflict

Russian attacks on Ukraine railways escalating every week: rail CEO to AFP

BY ELIZABETH STRIY WITH ANIA TSOUKANOVA IN KYIV

  • Russia has started hitting parts of the network -- in the west, far from the front line, and the weekend attack on the train near the Polish border -- was a new escalation, he said.
  • Russian strikes on Ukraine's rail network are worsening every week, the CEO of the state operator told AFP on Monday, after one attack hit a train used by diplomats near the Polish border.
  • Russia has started hitting parts of the network -- in the west, far from the front line, and the weekend attack on the train near the Polish border -- was a new escalation, he said.
Russian strikes on Ukraine's rail network are worsening every week, the CEO of the state operator told AFP on Monday, after one attack hit a train used by diplomats near the Polish border.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of trying to "cripple the economy and destroy people's lives" with intensifying strikes on civilian infrastructure, including the railways.
Ukraine's air space has been closed since Russia launched its invasion. And the railway has become a crucial link in moving people -- including visiting foreign leaders, diplomats and aid workers -- as well as cargo and supplies for the war.
"A virtually continuous campaign of strikes against the railway has begun," Ukrainian Railways boss Oleksandr Pertsovsky told AFP.
"It's growing exponentially. Each month, each week is generally worse than the previous one."
NATO-member Poland said on Sunday that Russia had hit a railway locomotive inside Ukraine, about two kilometres (one mile) from their shared border, just days after Kyiv officials said road crossing checkpoints on the border with Moldova had been targeted.
In August alone, some 40 locomotives were attacked across Ukraine, Pertsovsky told AFP in a telephone interview.
Around 400 have been hit throughout the war in total.
Russia has started hitting parts of the network -- in the west, far from the front line, and the weekend attack on the train near the Polish border -- was a new escalation, he said.
The attack, he said, was the closest one yet to the European Union border.
"They're trying to keep testing everyone's nerves ... The signal is that there is no safe zone on Ukrainian territory," Pertsovsky said.
Asked about the strike, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Russia would carry on striking targets across the "whole" of Ukraine.

'Distressing' evacuations

Ukrainian trains are halted and evacuated when there is a heightened threat of attack, with passengers standing in fields and forests alongside the track for hours until the danger passes.
In the weekend attack, the train was evacuated just before the strike and nobody was wounded. 
Passenger Karina Okhrimenko, 21, told AFP she had already been through two evacuations and finds them "very distressing". 
The train is the only means of transport that allows her to see her family in Ukraine. 
As she crossed the border, Anna Klymenko, a dermatologist in Kyiv, saw the locomotive that Russia had destroyed the day before. 
"They’ve been striking trains for a long time already. It’s just that this time, they decided to target in a more demonstrative way a train that was going abroad," she said. 
"I think it was a direct message, aimed mainly at European leaders."
Pertsovsky said the Russian threat was growing. "Their ability to strike precisely at rolling stock and similar targets is clearly expanding," he said.
"Everyone has the feeling that their technical capabilities are growing in terms of autonomy, in terms of overcoming electronic warfare systems, and in terms of the distance at which they can fire."
Sixty-two railway workers have been killed while on duty in Russian strikes since the start of the invasion.
Kyiv says the strikes are just one part of a campaign targeting Ukraine's economy.
The escalating attacks on railways come after months of strikes on Black Sea shipping and alongside attacks on warehouses, agriculture, transport hubs and logistics centres around Kyiv and across the country.
"On the one hand it's about the economy -- this whole complex of strikes against us, our customers, the metallurgical sector, the ports, the infrastructure," said Pertsovsky.
"And on the other hand it's about breaking people's spirit: planting the idea that they've been forgotten, that transport links are being cut off, that they are no longer part of a larger country."
bur-pdw/tw

conflict

Trump says Ukraine, Russia agree not to hit energy targets

BY DANNY KEMP

  • "Ukraine has agreed not to hit Russian Energy targets.
  • US President Donald Trump said Monday that Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to target each other's energy facilities, a day after he chastised Kyiv for hitting Russian oil refineries.
  • "Ukraine has agreed not to hit Russian Energy targets.
US President Donald Trump said Monday that Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to target each other's energy facilities, a day after he chastised Kyiv for hitting Russian oil refineries.
"Ukraine has agreed not to hit Russian Energy targets. Russia has agreed to do, likewise!" Trump said on his Truth Social network.
"The World's Diesel price rise is mostly caused by the Russia/Ukraine War, not Iran." 
The Ukrainian presidency declined to comment and there was no immediate reaction from Moscow.
Trump's claim comes as oil prices continue to soar in the seventh month of the Iran war, raising American fuel costs and inflation just weeks before crunch US midterm elections.
The US leader has insisted that the Iran war will finish immediately after the midterms and gas prices will drop -- but has in the meantime apparently found a new target to blame for the cost at the pump.
Trump had lashed out at Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky during a trip to Ireland on Sunday, saying he had to do "one thing" and "stop knocking out diesel fuel" refineries in Russia due to growing shortages. 
"Let him go after targets, but not diesel fuel, because he's causing a shortage of diesel," Trump said, again insisting the Russia-Ukraine war -- not the US-Israel conflict with Iran -- was to blame.
Trump added he had spoken to Ukraine's leader about the country's stepped-up attacks on such sites over recent months.
"There are plenty of other targets. Don't hit diesel fuel because that's hurting. That's hurting the world. We don't want him to hit diesel fuel... He's hitting diesel refineries."
Ukraine has hit numerous Russian oil refineries far from its border with Russia, while Moscow has also intensified its long-range attacks in recent months, leading to a jump in civilian deaths.
Kyiv has been firing record numbers of drones at Russia, while Moscow has been launching all-time high missile attacks.
Trump said last week he had a "great conversation" with Russian President Vladimir Putin, insisting that Putin wanted to make a deal to end Moscow's war on Ukraine.
Putin "is wanting to make a deal, and if Zelensky is wanting to make a deal, that'd be very nice," Trump told reporters on Wednesday.
Zelensky said last week he would be willing to meet Putin at the G20 summit at Trump's own Doral resort in Miami in December, but the Kremlin immediately ruled it out.
dk/bgs

US

Houthis target Saudi base as Iran denies involvement in Yemen war

  • The Houthis said they fired dozens of drones and missiles at the kingdom, prompting the Saudi Civil Defence to issue brief alerts in the neighbouring cities of Khamis Mushait and Abha.
  • Yemen's Houthis launched a fresh barrage of missile and drone attacks on Saudi military targets on Monday, as Iran denied any involvement in the country's revived civil war.
  • The Houthis said they fired dozens of drones and missiles at the kingdom, prompting the Saudi Civil Defence to issue brief alerts in the neighbouring cities of Khamis Mushait and Abha.
Yemen's Houthis launched a fresh barrage of missile and drone attacks on Saudi military targets on Monday, as Iran denied any involvement in the country's revived civil war.
The group, fighting the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government, last week seized control of Yemen's Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which has become vital as the wider US-Iran war chokes the Strait of Hormuz.
The Houthis said they fired dozens of drones and missiles at the kingdom, prompting the Saudi Civil Defence to issue brief alerts in the neighbouring cities of Khamis Mushait and Abha.
Later Houthi missile attacks in western Yemen killed eight troops from Yemeni government forces, two military sources with the Aden-based administration told AFP. 
A Khamis Mushait resident told AFP he heard "intense blasts" which left fires burning for a "long time".
"Honestly, we couldn't sleep at all."
The renewed fighting in Yemen comes as the wider regional war remains stalemated. But US President Donald Trump on Monday he was open to holding talks with Iran.
"The failing Nation of Iran wants to make a deal, quickly and badly. I will determine whether or not the U.S.A. will choose to engage - The concept of which we are open to," Trump said on his Truth Social network.

Wider regional war

On Monday, a proposed meeting between Gulf states and Iran over the future of Hormuz was postponed, with Tehran accusing Riyadh of using Yemen as a "pretext" to delay the talks.
Tehran has long supported the Houthis, a member of its anti-Israel "axis of resistance", including with weapons and technology, but analysts dispute the extent to which Iran is behind the renewed fighting.
"Iran does not interfere in Yemeni affairs," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told reporters on Monday, saying the Houthis are "entirely independent actors who make their decisions based on their own interests".
Iran has previously threatened to open "new fronts", including Bab al-Mandab, and the Houthi offensive has sent oil prices soaring once again, with the lengthy route through the Suez Canal and around Africa now the only secure route for Saudi oil to reach key Asian markets.
Yemen's prolonged civil war had been dormant for four years before bursting back into life in July over an Iranian flight to the capital Sanaa, as it became the latest conflict drawn into the wider regional war.
The Houthis' military spokesman Yahya Saree said Monday that the group's latest strikes targeted "fighter jet hangars, radars, runways, ammunition depots" at King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait, in retaliation for airstrikes by Riyadh.
Later two government military sources told AFP Houthi missile strikes killed eight Yemeni troops in positions between Marib and Al-Jawf governorates and wounded several others.
The Houthis' Al-Masirah channel reported the group had carried out strikes in the same area on arriving reinforcements.

Forced to flee

Yemeni government forces on Sunday said they had recaptured positions in the southwestern province of Taiz from Houthi fighters and carried out airstrikes, telling the official Saba news agency they killed at least 10 gunmen.
Last week, American media reported US President Donald Trump had rejected a personal request from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler, to intervene in the war.
The Saudi crown prince received US Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper in Jeddah on Monday to discuss "the latest developments in the region", according to Saudi news agency SPA.
The US admiral travelled to Saudi Arabia on Thursday for urgent coordination meetings, according to US news site Axios.
The Houthis, whose heartland is among Yemen's Zaidi Muslims in the country's north, seized the capital Sanaa in 2014 at the outset of the civil war, driving the government to Aden in the south.
The following year, Saudi Arabia led a coalition to intervene on the side of the government, launching wave after wave of airstrikes as the conflict escalated into one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.
In 2025, the United Nations warned that 17 million Yemenis were struggling to eat and a further million faced extreme hunger.
On Monday, the UN's migration agency said the renewed fighting in the Arab world's poorest country had forced 93,864 people to flee their homes.
bur-dcp-csp/jsa

refinery

Nigeria's Dangote refinery launches continent's biggest IPO

  • The Dangote Petroleum Refinery aims to raise funds to double its capacity to 1.4 million barrels a day by 2028, which would make it the world's largest refinery, surpassing Jamnagar in India.
  • Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote on Monday launched what is slated to be Africa's biggest initial public offering (IPO), aiming to raise $1.6 billion to partly expand his mega oil refinery into the world's largest.
  • The Dangote Petroleum Refinery aims to raise funds to double its capacity to 1.4 million barrels a day by 2028, which would make it the world's largest refinery, surpassing Jamnagar in India.
Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote on Monday launched what is slated to be Africa's biggest initial public offering (IPO), aiming to raise $1.6 billion to partly expand his mega oil refinery into the world's largest.
The Lagos-based refinery, which began operations in 2024, has a capacity of 700,000 barrels per day, exceeding domestic demand in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country.
It began exporting its fuel abroad a few months ago and has become the largest supplier of jet fuel to Europe, the company says.
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery aims to raise funds to double its capacity to 1.4 million barrels a day by 2028, which would make it the world's largest refinery, surpassing Jamnagar in India.
Listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange, the IPO is targeting up to 10 million shareholders across Africa. 
Describing it as an "historic day", Dangote said that the IPO was "not simply about listing a company. It is about listing a new possibility for Nigeria, and for Africa".
Investors can buy as few as 10 shares at 525 naira each, potentially raising 2.15 trillion naira ($1.6 billion) in a move Dangote hopes will give ordinary people a chance for a stake in a long-term asset.
He has said the offering, which closes October 13, will be the biggest IPO in African history and has encouraged participation by small investors, including people on lower incomes, such as domestic workers and drivers.
"We believe that an asset of this magnitude should not create value for only very few people, it should create value for millions of people," said Dangote.
Dangote draws parallels with US giant Amazon and Microsoft whose early shareholders saw the value of their investments grow dramatically.
Monday's opening saw a surge in interest with several investment platforms such as Bamboo reporting on X that it was experiencing "a much higher than expected traffic trying to get into the Dangote IPO".
Another investment site, Cowrywise, said it was "seeing more traffic than usual" on its app during the first few hours of the offer going live.
In July, the mega-refinery secured $2.5 billion in investment from private investors.
Located outside Nigeria's economic capital Lagos, the refinery has become a major part of Dangote's business empire, which spans cement and sugar, to fertiliser production.
Dangote also plans to build a 700,000 barrel-per-day east African oil refinery in Lamu, on the Kenyan coast, as the company is also expanding its footprint in other African countries.
Africa currently imports more than 70 percent of its refined fuel, according to an Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) report in April.
fvl-sn/kjm

festival

For Laura Linney, role in Parkinson's-themed movie marked a turning point

BY PAULA RAMON

  • Directed by John Madden ("Shakespeare in Love"), "Onwards and Sideways" focuses on how the paths of Emma (Linney) and Tony (Rhys Ifans) cross when, on the same day, a neurologist diagnoses them both with Parkinson's and predicts they have "five good years" left.
  • Laura Linney usually leaves her roles behind on set, but she couldn't quite do that with "Onwards and Sideways," a drama with a touch of humor that follows two people who are diagnosed with Parkinson's disease on the same day.
  • Directed by John Madden ("Shakespeare in Love"), "Onwards and Sideways" focuses on how the paths of Emma (Linney) and Tony (Rhys Ifans) cross when, on the same day, a neurologist diagnoses them both with Parkinson's and predicts they have "five good years" left.
Laura Linney usually leaves her roles behind on set, but she couldn't quite do that with "Onwards and Sideways," a drama with a touch of humor that follows two people who are diagnosed with Parkinson's disease on the same day.
"I left that movie a very different person than when I went in," the American actress said in an interview with AFP during the Toronto International Film Festival.
"I was very rattled by that...in a good way," she said. "The whole experience is still with me."
Directed by John Madden ("Shakespeare in Love"), "Onwards and Sideways" focuses on how the paths of Emma (Linney) and Tony (Rhys Ifans) cross when, on the same day, a neurologist diagnoses them both with Parkinson's and predicts they have "five good years" left.
The film, which premiered on Sunday at the festival, does not aim to be "a lesson about what that condition might be," its director explained.
"I just wanted to see what would happen with those two people...because then suddenly you are locked into that relationship," the British filmmaker told AFP.
Madden, who received the initial script years ago, stressed that a Parkinson's diagnosis still carries a heavy stigma.
"Always the reaction is, 'Oh no!' because when I grew up, it was something you just didn't want to talk about or hear about, because it was the end of your life, but it isn't that way with Parkinson's," he said.
The director initially decided against working on the project because someone close to him had been diagnosed with the disease. 
However, after getting the script again years later, he could not resist the work of writer Paul Mayhew-Archer, who suffers from the condition himself.
"The script was funny. I mean, not only funny... it was as if he had a kind of defiance about the condition thrust upon him, and that was very striking," Madden said.
Mayhew-Archer, who also appears in the film, said "serious illnesses don't need to be treated seriously all the time."
"There's comedy there, and if we just stay miserable about it, we just make ourselves worse," he told AFP on the red carpet at the premiere in the Canadian city.

'Responsibility'

The story also left its mark on Rhys Ifans, who plays a schoolteacher who, unlike the effervescent Emma, keeps his diagnosis hidden.
"It has changed me," he told AFP. "I don't know whether it's softened me, but it certainly made me more aware of my own innate softness."
For both actors, the script presented physical challenges in portraying the bodily changes their characters undergo over the years.
"We both kind of curiously and foolishly said 'yes, let's give this a go,' and then suddenly it dawns on you...the huge responsibility you have because you're representing people who are diagnosed with Parkinson's and who live with it day by day," Ifans said.
"Wanting to represent a community in a way that was appropriate and respectful," Linney added.
For the team behind "Onwards and Sideways," the film was essentially an ode to life.
Mayhew-Archer is one of the hosts of the award-winning podcast "Movers and Shakers," which covers the day-to-day reality of living with Parkinson's. He said the film sought not only to amplify the community's voice but to offer support to those diagnosed with the disease.
"If you have Parkinson's, don't panic, just keep going out there, keep being strong," he told AFP.
"I hope people with Parkinson's gain confidence and strength from this film, as well as having a good laugh."
pr/mar/msp/bgs

rights

UN calls for 'urgent action' to rein in AI in face of 'unprecedented risks'

  • The rights chief warned of the "unprecedented risks" posed by the emergence of increasingly capable AI agents. 
  • The United Nations rights chief called Monday for countries and "frontier" artificial intelligence companies to act urgently to rein in a technology he warned posed "unprecedented risks".
  • The rights chief warned of the "unprecedented risks" posed by the emergence of increasingly capable AI agents. 
The United Nations rights chief called Monday for countries and "frontier" artificial intelligence companies to act urgently to rein in a technology he warned posed "unprecedented risks".
In a letter sent to countries and AI developers and shared with the media, Volker Turk cautioned that the world was "on the cusp of irreversible change, affecting not just us but generations of humanity to come".
"The current race towards ever more powerful AI is a step change towards greater existential risks to every aspect of our lives." 
"I call on states and companies to mobilise urgently through multilateral fora to chart a path for action to govern advanced, frontier Al models, grounded in international human rights law."
He sent the letter as a fierce debate rages over whether the development of AI should be slowed. US President Donald Trump and key allies have pushed back against calls to slow the development of AI.
A furore erupted this month after a researcher publicly resigned from Anthropic over fears that the technology could escape human control.
Another Anthropic employee, who did not resign, stated publicly that "we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans", and that he thought the chances were greater than "10 percent within the next decade".
Amid the outcry, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called Saturday for AI companies to "pace the frontier" -- or coordinate a slowdown in the technology's development, with his chief competitors, xAI's Elon Musk and OpenAI's Sam Altman, publicly supporting him.
The UN rights office said those companies were among 10 AI developers, also including Meta, Microsoft and Google, who received Turk's letter.

AI 'accelerating' warfare

"In today's world, we are almost entirely reliant on a small number of powerful companies to make the right choices on Al development for all of humanity," the rights chief wrote.
"Industry co-regulation is an urgently needed first step, but on its own, it is nowhere near sufficient," he said.
The rights chief warned of the "unprecedented risks" posed by the emergence of increasingly capable AI agents. 
"Entire populations could be cut off from clean water, heating, and financial services, and agentic AI is already accelerating the pace and reach of warfare and eroding safeguards that stand between us and the launch of weapons of mass destruction," he said.
"The companies that are at the forefront of developing frontier Al, based mainly in the People's Republic of China and in the United States of America, have both the responsibility and the ability to move immediately to reduce risks," Turk said.
He stressed though the need for international cooperation, insisting that "no country can govern this technology alone (and) no company should be able to decide by itself which risks the world must accept".
"No person should be required to surrender their human rights in exchange for claims of technological progress."
nl/apo/tw

rights

Dozens arrested in major anti-LGBTQ raids in Turkey

BY RéMI BANET

  • In Istanbul, police raided several gay bars and a nightclub regarded as a haven for the LGBTQ community, according to video footage from pro-government media.
  • Turkish police on Sunday swooped on gay bars and the homes of LGBTQ activists, arresting at least 60 people in raids authorities said were aimed at boosting traditional family values, officials and activists said.
  • In Istanbul, police raided several gay bars and a nightclub regarded as a haven for the LGBTQ community, according to video footage from pro-government media.
Turkish police on Sunday swooped on gay bars and the homes of LGBTQ activists, arresting at least 60 people in raids authorities said were aimed at boosting traditional family values, officials and activists said.
Turkey's LGBTQ community has frequently been targeted by the government, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashing it as a "deviant movement" of "perverts" responsible for the falling birth rate.
Sunday's raid came a day after the accounts of more than a dozen Turkish LGBTQ organisations were blocked on X at the request of the authorities, according to a watchdog.
"As part of the 'My Family is Safe' operations... carried out in collaboration with our police and gendarmerie forces, legal proceedings have been initiated against 162 suspects, 9 organisations and 13 companies in ... a total of 15 provinces," Justice Minister Akin Gurlek posted on X. Many were around Istanbul and Ankara.
Gurlek said the raids were part of the "Decade of the Family" proclaimed by Erdogan, aimed at "protecting our children, the institution of the family and social order".
According to prosecutors in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir, quoted by the state news agency Anadolu, at least 63 people were detained.
LGBTQ and women's rights activists form one of the main centres of resistance to the Islamic-conservative government in power since 2002.
In Istanbul, police raided several gay bars and a nightclub regarded as a haven for the LGBTQ community, according to video footage from pro-government media.
Also targeted was a men's hammam reputed to be a venue for prostitution.
LGBTQ rights organisation Kaos GL, whose offices were searched and whose leaders were taken into custody, earlier stated that "nearly 50 defenders of the rights of LGBTQ people (...) have been taken into custody or are subject to legal proceedings involving interrogations or detentions" across the country.
According to the group, judicial authorities in Ankara had alleged that Kaos GL made "posts containing obscenity" on its website and social media channels and that the content was accessible to children.
While same-sex relations are not a criminal offence in Turkey, homophobia is widespread.
- Blatant violation - 
The European Union parliament's rapporteur on Turkey condemned the arrests as "a shocking escalation in the repression" in the country Turkey. Turkey's efforts to join the EU have been frozen in recent years, but it remains a key trade and political partner.
"This imposition of a moral agenda is a blatant violation of fundamental rights & Turkey's international commitments taking the country down a dark path," Nacho Sanchez Amor wrote on X.
"Existence cannot be banned or restricted. LGBTI+ rights are human rights!" Ozgul Saki, an MP from the pro-Kurdish left-wing DEM party in Istanbul, said on X.
rba/cw/sbk/yad/tw/rlp

Global Edition

Sweden faces political uncertainty after election thriller

BY PIA OHLIN

  • While the left-wing held a slim lead, the bloc was expected to face thorny negotiations to form a government, with the talks expected to drag on for several weeks.
  • Sweden faced political uncertainty on Monday, after an election thriller that saw the left-wing opposition holding a slim lead with votes still left to count.
  • While the left-wing held a slim lead, the bloc was expected to face thorny negotiations to form a government, with the talks expected to drag on for several weeks.
Sweden faced political uncertainty on Monday, after an election thriller that saw the left-wing opposition holding a slim lead with votes still left to count.
Sunday's election also served up a surprise setback to the far-right Sweden Democrats, who lost ground for the first time since entering parliament 16 years ago.
The leader of the left-wing opposition, Magdalena Andersson of the Social Democrats, and outgoing conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson have each said they want to explore coalition options to secure power, but both would have to make major concessions to obtain a majority.
Both the Social Democrats and Kristersson's Moderates held party meetings on Monday to hammer out their strategy.
While the left-wing held a slim lead, the bloc was expected to face thorny negotiations to form a government, with the talks expected to drag on for several weeks.
Parliament can vote on a new prime minister on September 29 at the earliest.
After the 2022 election, it took 37 days to form a government, much shorter than the 134 days it took to do so in 2018.
Political analyst Mats Knutson told public broadcaster SVT that both blocs were likely to end up in a "stalemate that paves the way for a long and troublesome process of forming a government, which could end in a snap election".
"One or several parties may have to abandon their 'red lines'," he said, a point echoed by Kristersson on Monday.
"If all the 'red lines' remain, then Sweden will not get any government at all," he told reporters.
With 95 percent of votes counted on Monday, the four opposition parties held a three-seat majority in the 349-seat parliament over Kristersson's right-wing alliance, which includes the anti-immigration far right.
But those results could still change, with some votes only due to be counted as of Wednesday.
"The situation is really tight, and it's been more and more polarised in Sweden the last years," 48-year-old construction worker Mikko Duvaldt told AFP on Monday.
"It's going to be a tough situation for each side to form a government."
- Fractured - 
If the left-wing majority is confirmed, Andersson, a staunch defender of Sweden's welfare state, will attempt to form a government with the Greens, the Left and the Centre parties.
But the left-wing bloc is fractured by deep ideological differences.
The Centre has said it would refuse to support any government that includes the Left, while the Left has said it would not support any government of which it is not a member.
Outgoing Prime Minister Kristersson is meanwhile expected to court the Centre Party -- which until 2019 had been part of the right-wing bloc -- to try to build a majority on his side.
"I will therefore, even if tonight's result stands, examine whether there are any possibilities within this non-socialist parliamentary majority to find some workable government constellation," Kristersson told his supporters on election night.
Annika Freden, associate professor in political science at Lund University, said Kristersson could expect to get the cold shoulder from the Centre. 
"Kristersson reaching out to the Centre is expected, but the Centre is fundamentally opposed to entering into an alliance with the far right so nothing will come of it," she said.
She told AFP she thought the parties would do everything in their power to avoid a new vote.
The negotiations on the left will be about "how much they can get through and will determine if and when the red lines are relaxed".
"In Sweden we have a culture of negotiation, and there is a strong reluctance to call a snap election."

Far right slips

The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats party fell to 17.6 percent from more than 20 percent four years ago, relegating it to third place behind the Social Democrats and Kristersson's Moderates.
Observers attributed the drop to the fact that strict policies on migration and crime had now become part of mainstream politics.
"Migration issues were strongest in 2015-2016 and now many parties are in favour of a restrictive policy, and the Sweden Democrats haven't succeeded in being strong on other issues," Freden said.
cbw-po/sbk

diplomacy

Canada's Carney seeks closer Europe ties to counter hostile US

BY MATHIEU GORSE WITH UMBERTO BACCHI IN BRUSSELS

  • Canada became the first non-EU country to join its defence procurement program, and the prime minister was involved in Canada joining the pop culture extravaganza Eurovision.
  • Prime Minister Mark Carney calls Canada "the most European of non-European countries," and while formal EU membership may be tricky, he is pursuing unprecedented closeness with the bloc to reduce dependence on a hostile United States.
  • Canada became the first non-EU country to join its defence procurement program, and the prime minister was involved in Canada joining the pop culture extravaganza Eurovision.
Prime Minister Mark Carney calls Canada "the most European of non-European countries," and while formal EU membership may be tricky, he is pursuing unprecedented closeness with the bloc to reduce dependence on a hostile United States.
Carney heads to Strasbourg, France, this week, where he will become the first head of government to attend the "State of the European Union" address on Wednesday, before delivering his own speech at the European Parliament the following day.
He will also make a stop in Liverpool, where he will hold his first meeting with Britain's new prime minister, Andy Burnham.
His visit is a "tremendous symbol," said Tobias Cremer, a European lawmaker from Germany and the main sponsor of a March resolution calling for stronger EU-Canada cooperation.
"Canada has many of the resources that Europe is very much short of, whether it's in terms of energy, whether it's rare earths (and) raw minerals," Cremer told AFP.
Canada has been hit hard by US President Donald Trump's trade war given its close economic integration with its southern neighbor, and is urgently seeking new economic partners. 
The EU has also been shaken by Trump's return to office and, like Canada, is seeking to "diversify and de-risk" its foreign relations, Cremer said.

Future EU member?

Carney has already brought Canada closer to the bloc.
Canada became the first non-EU country to join its defence procurement program, and the prime minister was involved in Canada joining the pop culture extravaganza Eurovision.
Next month, Carney is hosting an EU-Canada summit in Montreal, where he said discussions will begin on building "a much stronger and deeper economic and security partnership."
Javier Moreno Sanchez, a Spanish EU lawmaker who heads a parliamentary delegation for relations with Canada, noted that Ottawa and Brussels see eye-to-eye on climate and AI, and a digital trade deal is already in the works.
That pact would build on an existing free trade agreement called CETA, which Sanchez said has unrealized potential as small and medium-sized firms are not yet taking advantage of its benefits.
Speculation about full EU membership for Canada has intensified during Trump's second term.
"We're not looking to become a member of the European Union," Carney told reporters on Sunday.
"What we are looking and will begin discussions for (is) a unique alliance with the European Union,"he said. "We share the same values, we have the same priorities and we have very complementary strengths."

Not 'realistic'

An April poll showed 57 percent of Canadians backed EU membership, but it's not clear whether Canada is even eligible.
Article 49 of the EU treaty states that "a European state" committed to "human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law (and) respect for human rights" can join the bloc.
The treaty does not specify the geographical criteria of a European state, but it's hard to imagine Canada qualifies.
"The idea of Canada becoming a member of the European Union, either on economic or political terms -- I don't really see that this is a realistic prospect," said Ignacio Garcia Bercero, an analyst at the Brussels think tank Bruegel.
In 1987, Morocco was denied membership on grounds that it was not a European state.
Sanchez joked that Canada "wasn't that far" geographically overall, given its proximity to the Danish autonomous territory of Greenland.
But close ties with the EU are possible without full membership, as is the case for Iceland and Switzerland, he said.
Unlike with Switzerland, shipping goods between Canada and the EU comes with substantial transport costs and Europe will never replace the American market for Canada.
In July, 70 percent of Canadian exports went to the US, compared with just five percent to the EU.
Still, "the closer we can cooperate, the better," Cremer said.
mg-ub/bs/mjf/des/lkd/mjw

US

Japan's Okinawa ousts anti-US base governor

  • The relocation plan was approved in 2013 by Okinawa's then governor Hirokazu Nakaima, but the next year he lost to an opponent who opposed the move.
  • A candidate backed by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's ruling party won a gubernatorial election in Okinawa, bringing to power a leader who approves of a contentious US military base relocation plan for the first time in 12 years.
  • The relocation plan was approved in 2013 by Okinawa's then governor Hirokazu Nakaima, but the next year he lost to an opponent who opposed the move.
A candidate backed by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's ruling party won a gubernatorial election in Okinawa, bringing to power a leader who approves of a contentious US military base relocation plan for the first time in 12 years.
In a landslide victory following Sunday's vote, Genta Koja beat incumbent Denny Tamaki, who has long pushed for a major US military base to be moved out of Okinawa, Japan's southernmost prefecture.
Koja, 42, accepts a central government plan to keep the US Marine Corps' Futenma air base on Okinawa's main island, but move it to a less populated location.
His campaign focused on economic messages, pledging to double Okinawa's average income, the local government budget for childcare, and spending by tourists on the island, which has long been less prosperous than the rest of the country.
He pledged on Monday to "make progress on livelihood issues, the economy and childcare assistance" by listening to views of all Okinawan residents.
Takaichi told reporters in Tokyo that she would "do my utmost to coordinate efforts with the new governor to strengthen the Okinawan economy".
"As for other subjects, I will address those after hearing from the new governor," she said.
The US military presence will remain a major issue for Koja, a former civil servant who was also a deputy mayor of Naha, the region's capital city.
The United States has around 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, mostly on Okinawa, but a string of incidents over the years, including sexual assault cases, have angered residents.
Other base-related woes, from pollution to noise and helicopter crashes, have led to further complaints.
Japan and the United States agreed to move the base from the town of Ginowan to another location within Okinawa in 1996 after a rape of a 12-year-old schoolgirl by US military servicemen that triggered strong anti-US military protests across the prefecture.
The relocation plan was approved in 2013 by Okinawa's then governor Hirokazu Nakaima, but the next year he lost to an opponent who opposed the move.
Tamaki, 66, was seeking his third term on Sunday.
Koja won 423,124 votes, while Tamaki received 276,060, according to the prefectural government.
kh-hih/mjw

shark

Surfer hospitalised after shark attack in Western Australia

  • Three divers were also fatally mauled in separate incidents between May and June -- two in Western Australia and the third in Queensland.
  • A surfer in his fifties was rushed to hospital on Monday after being bitten by a shark in Western Australia, the state government and local ambulance service said.
  • Three divers were also fatally mauled in separate incidents between May and June -- two in Western Australia and the third in Queensland.
A surfer in his fifties was rushed to hospital on Monday after being bitten by a shark in Western Australia, the state government and local ambulance service said.
Authorities said they received a report of a "shark incident" around 9:45 am (0145 GMT) at Glenfield Beach, just over 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of Perth.
The man is in a "serious but stable condition", national broadcaster ABC said, citing local health authorities.
Locals were advised to take additional caution around the beach.
Australian scientists believe increasingly crowded waters and rising ocean temperatures are shifting sharks' migratory patterns, which may be contributing to a rise in attacks.
A 12-year-old boy died after he was bitten by a shark while swimming in Sydney Harbour in January.
Three divers were also fatally mauled in separate incidents between May and June -- two in Western Australia and the third in Queensland.
Also in June, a woman was mauled by a shark at one of Australia's most popular beaches in Sydney.
The woman -- a school teacher -- last month recalled swinging a "left hook" at the predator before it dragged her underwater.
She was placed in an induced coma and had part of her left arm amputated after the June 13 attack.
There have been around 1,300 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, of which more than 260 resulted in death, according to a database of their encounters with humans.
oho/fox

computers

South Korea aims to save seniors lost in digital age

BY HAWON JUNG

  • "The intergenerational digital divide (in South Korea) appears wider than elsewhere," said Kim Jeung-kun, professor of senior business at Kangnam University in Seoul.
  • A little cheer rose for 79-year-old Hwang Sun-hee after she managed to place an online order at a training session in South Korea, which has one of the world's starkest digital divides for seniors.
  • "The intergenerational digital divide (in South Korea) appears wider than elsewhere," said Kim Jeung-kun, professor of senior business at Kangnam University in Seoul.
A little cheer rose for 79-year-old Hwang Sun-hee after she managed to place an online order at a training session in South Korea, which has one of the world's starkest digital divides for seniors.
Age gaps in digital literacy are a global concern, yet the gulf has widened massively in the hyper-connected and fast-ageing country, prompting national campaigns to bridge it.
"You can't do anything without smartphone apps or a kiosk machine... It's too much for old folks," Hwang said at a senior community centre in Suwon, south of Seoul, during government-organised digital survival training.
The so-called grey digital divide has provided some striking examples in the nation of about 52 million, home to world-leading smartphone and memory chipmakers.
Last year, several baseball clubs began reserving a small number of tickets for on-site sales after reports that older fans, cash in hand, approached younger people at stadiums and pleaded with them to buy tickets from machines.
Nearly 90 percent of taxi drivers use ride-hailing apps, yet more than 80 percent of South Koreans over 60 still hail cabs by hand, a survey showed.
A 71-year-old retired public servant at the same training session as Hwang recalled spending over 30 minutes trying to flag down a taxi on a busy Seoul street.
The cabs kept passing him to pick up younger riders just metres away who were using smartphone apps to hail their rides.
"I felt utterly useless," the man, who gave only his surname, Park, told AFP.

South Korea's wide divide

The digital divide can also pose a real threat, leaving older people vulnerable to high-tech crimes such as online scams or limiting their access to medical services, experts say.
A state survey last year found that 60 percent of South Koreans over 60 struggle to use public and commercial services due to lack of digital skills -- compared with just six percent of those under 40.
"The intergenerational digital divide (in South Korea) appears wider than elsewhere," said Kim Jeung-kun, professor of senior business at Kangnam University in Seoul.
He noted that the nation's "intensely compressed" industrialisation happened in just a few decades, while it took centuries in many Western countries.
South Korea -- which had a GDP per capita below $100 in the wake of its 1950-1953 war -- is now the world's 15th largest economy, according to the IMF.
"Many of our elderly grew up at a time when many had no electricity, landline phones or proper schooling," Kim added.
The nation's older cohort is massive -- South Korea is what the UN calls a "super-aged society", where more than 20 percent of the population is over 65.
In response, South Korea's public tech training for the elderly began in 2020, when businesses and services turned online during the Covid-19 lockdown.

A wish to be 'born young'

Hwang, echoing others in the two-hour class, said she's made it this far by relying on her children for daily tasks she once managed herself -- including enrolling in her favourite dance class at the local community centre.
"Before, I could easily do all of these just by calling or showing up in person," Hwang said.
Officials now provide nationwide training for the "digitally vulnerable" for using mobile devices, apps, and AI. Vans packed with tech devices and mock kiosks drive to community centres and regional festivals popular among the elderly.
In 2025, over 65,000 sessions were held for some 650,000 people over 60.
Hwang gathered along with 30 neighbours for a session in August, practising how to pay hospital bills at mock kiosks, patting a prancing robot dog, or asking their phones: "Gemini, tell me about tomorrow's weather."
She has undergone similar training several times -- and said the lessons helped her confidence -- but noted she was "so envious of young people who can do all this so easily".
"I wish I had been born young in today's world," Hwang added.
jhw/jm/abs

Global Edition

Sweden's election too close to call as far right loses ground

BY PIA OHLIN

  • And if that is confirmed, Sweden will have a new government," 59-year-old Andersson, who was Sweden's first woman prime minister in 2021-2022, told her supporters.
  • Sweden's general election was too close to call early Monday, as the incumbent prime minister and the left-wing opposition leader both said they were ready to govern and the far right was seen losing ground.
  • And if that is confirmed, Sweden will have a new government," 59-year-old Andersson, who was Sweden's first woman prime minister in 2021-2022, told her supporters.
Sweden's general election was too close to call early Monday, as the incumbent prime minister and the left-wing opposition leader both said they were ready to govern and the far right was seen losing ground.
With more than 90 percent of votes counted, four opposition parties led by Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson, held a three-seat majority in the 349-seat parliament over Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's right-wing alliance, which includes the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats.
"For now, we are in the lead. And if that is confirmed, Sweden will have a new government," 59-year-old Andersson, who was Sweden's first woman prime minister in 2021-2022, told her supporters.
But her party -- which ruled the Scandinavian country for most of the 20th century and remains Sweden's largest -- also looked to be heading for its worst score in over a century with 28 percent of the vote.
Outgoing prime minister Kristersson, whose Moderate Party was credited with 19.9 percent of the counted votes, meanwhile said that if the result stood, he would respect Andersson's attempts to try to form a government with the three other parties on the left.
But he noted that the four had irreconcilable differences, primarily between the Left Party and the Centre Party, and were unlikely to agree on a government programme.
"I will therefore, even if tonight's result stands, examine whether there are any possibilities within this non-socialist parliamentary majority to find some workable government constellation," Kristersson told his supporters.
"Which government is going to govern Sweden in the coming years is still an open question," Kristersson declared.
In a big surprise, the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, which entered parliament in 2010, lost support for the first time, garnering 17.6 percent of the vote, down from 20.6 percent in 2022.
"We don't yet have the full election result, but it's obvious that we've lost a few percentage points compared with our result four years ago," party leader Jimmie Akesson told an election night watch party.

Now mainstream

But he said it was a success that supporters were no longer afraid to show their support for the party long seen as a political pariah. 
"There are now so many more people around our country who no longer find it difficult to say that they are Sweden Democrats," Akesson said. 
The final outcome might not be clear for a few days, several party leaders said.
Municipal election authorities will start counting votes on Wednesday that had not reached their destination on election night.
In Sweden, all votes are also automatically recounted by the regional county administrative boards, which establishes the final result. This process usually takes a week.
Kristersson has headed a minority coalition backed by the Sweden Democrats for four years, giving the far-right influence over policy in exchange for support in parliament.
Kristersson had promised the Sweden Democrats key cabinet posts if the right-wing won.
Throughout the campaign, opinion polls gave a comfortable lead to the left-wing opposition, but the gap narrowed to a dead heat in the final days.
Much of the campaign focused on healthcare and helping struggling households cope with rising costs.
Andersson, the first woman to head Sweden's government in 2021-2022, has pledged to raise taxes on banks and high incomes, cut healthcare queues, and improve declining school results.

'Make Sweden Great Again'

Kristersson meanwhile vowed to focus on improving Swedes' everyday lives now that his government's clampdown on organised crime and immigration was starting to show results.
Deadly shootings and bombings by organised crime networks have fallen sharply in recent years, while asylum applications are at a record low.
"We want to use our new and far better preconditions to improve the lives of ordinary people... to make Sweden great again," Kristersson told AFP before the vote, borrowing US President Donald Trump's trademark slogan.
Over the past two decades, far-right leader Jimmie Akesson has steered the party with neo-Nazi roots into the mainstream.
"Sweden is becoming safer, better, and more Swedish," Akesson told a campaign rally on Saturday, surrounded by blue-and-yellow "Make Sweden Sweden Again" posters.
At a polling station on Sunday, store manager Linda Eriksson, 48, told AFP she hoped for a change of government.
"Hopefully a lot of people will realise that we have to change course... so that everyone will feel included in society," she said.
bur-po/jll/ane/abs

conflict

Poland, Ukraine slam Russian strikes near border as 'escalation'

  • Poland and Ukraine said a Kyiv-Warsaw passenger train was struck just two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the Polish border, but reported no casualties.
  • Poland and Ukraine denounced on Sunday Russian strikes close to the Polish border that hit a Warsaw-bound train near a frontier checkpoint just after another train carrying several EU officials and British ex-PM Boris Johnson passed through.
  • Poland and Ukraine said a Kyiv-Warsaw passenger train was struck just two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the Polish border, but reported no casualties.
Poland and Ukraine denounced on Sunday Russian strikes close to the Polish border that hit a Warsaw-bound train near a frontier checkpoint just after another train carrying several EU officials and British ex-PM Boris Johnson passed through.
Ukraine's rail operator said Johnson and former US CIA director David Petraeus, who were in Kyiv for the annual Yalta European Strategy forum, had been travelling on two separate trains around the time the Warsaw-bound locomotive was hit.
Petraeus told the New York Times in a telephone interview on Sunday that he could hear Russian drones above followed by an explosion -- prompting passengers to be quickly evacuated.
"For those who have not been under fire, this was terrifying... This is the act of a truly barbaric leader trying to terrorise Ukrainian civilians," he added.
Johnson, who was travelling with several EU officials in a separate train, condemned the attack in a post on X.
"I don't know what warped logic drove Putin to blow up a stationary Ukrainian locomotive on the Polish border this morning," he said.
"What we can say for sure is that this is the kind of random and senseless attack Ukrainians are enduring every day -- even on civilian railways."
Poland and Ukraine said a Kyiv-Warsaw passenger train was struck just two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the Polish border, but reported no casualties.
Warsaw has been one of Kyiv's main allies and, with Ukrainian airspace closed, trains to Poland have been one of the main routes out of the war-torn country, used by refugees.
The Ukrzaliznytsia rail operator confirmed the attack on Sunday but did not say how far the officials were from the strike site.
"A diplomatic train was at Yagodyn station... among others, security advisers from several EU member states and former European leaders (were) on board, including former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson," the operator said.
"In another train that was at Yagodyn station at the very moment of the attack was former CIA Director David Petraeus."

Escalated attacks

The strikes came as US President Donald Trump called on Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky to halt attacks on Russian refineries, saying it was causing a shortage of diesel fuel and "there are plenty of other targets".
Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian oil refineries in a bid to hurt Russia's war effort.
Russia attacked western Ukraine with drones Sunday, just days after US envoys visited Kyiv and Moscow in a bid to revive talks to end the war.
Zelensky said Moscow "deliberately" struck the locomotive.
"It is precisely to prevent these strikes from spreading further into Europe that Ukrainian men and women fight every day, give their lives, and do not allow the aggression to expand," Zelensky said.
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk chaired an emergency meeting in Warsaw following the strikes, warning he expected Russia to escalate the war "in the coming weeks". 
He added: "We cannot exclude that the escalation will also affect our territory... I hope not."
Russia said it had hit "railway infrastructure used to transport military cargo" from European countries.

Russia 'knocking at Europe's door'

Speaking in Kyiv, Poland's foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said the "escalation" should lead to allies to "double" their support for Ukraine.
"This was just a few hundred meters from the Polish border, this affects the safety of my countrymen," Sikorski said. 
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said President Vladimir Putin considered Russia was "de facto" at war with Europe.  
"Putin's terror is literally knocking at the door of the European Union and NATO," Sybiga said.
Russian attacks killed at least two people on Sunday in the frontline city of Kramatorsk. 
Twenty people, including two children, were also wounded in a second day of attacks on the southern port city of Odesa, Ukrainian officials said. 

Three-way talks

The Kremlin, meanwhile, said negotiations with Ukraine and the United States on the war could take place in October.  
"We do not rule out such a possibility; we are talking about the foreseeable future," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, cited by Russia's Ria and Tass news agencies.
Several rounds of negotiations have failed, while US-led efforts stalled during the Middle East war. 
In an interview released on Saturday, Zelensky said he would be willing to meet Putin at the G20 summit in Miami in December.
But Peskov said that was "impossible", speaking to AFP in New Delhi on Saturday, repeating Moscow's demand that a meeting could only take place in the Russian capital.
bur/tw/ane/abs

unrest

Migrant workers flock to Indian Kashmir despite militant threats

BY PARVAIZ BUKHARI

  • But for workers like Sarwar, the rewards outweigh the risks.
  • Every spring, mason Mohammad Ghulam Sarwar boards a train to Indian Kashmir, seeking higher wages despite the risk of being targeted by militants in the disputed Himalayan region.
  • But for workers like Sarwar, the rewards outweigh the risks.
Every spring, mason Mohammad Ghulam Sarwar boards a train to Indian Kashmir, seeking higher wages despite the risk of being targeted by militants in the disputed Himalayan region.
Sarwar, 25, is one of an estimated half a million migrant workers who stream into the Himalayan region each year, forming the backbone of an economy increasingly reliant on labour from some of India's poorest states.
The dependence has endured despite decades of insurgency and a series of militant attacks that have made migrant workers vulnerable targets.
Since 2019, at least 24 migrant workers have been killed in militant attacks across the territory, according to local media reports.
More than 1500 people were killed in the same period, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, 219 of them civilians. 
The latest attack last month saw gunmen shoot dead two brick kiln workers from the central state of Chhattisgarh.
But for workers like Sarwar, the rewards outweigh the risks.
"Kashmir is real paradise. I will keep coming every year for as long as I have the strength to work," Sarwar, from the eastern state of Bihar, told AFP.
While millions of Indians seek jobs in the Gulf, some workers say Kashmir offers nearly comparable earnings without the costs and complications of overseas migration.
Sarwar earns 1,200 rupees ($12) a day in Kashmir, compared with about 700 rupees in Bihar for the same work, if he could find any at all.
The Muslim-majority region, battling some of India's highest unemployment rates, has become increasingly dependent on outsiders to perform jobs that many locals consider menial, including domestic work, agriculture and construction.
Local businesses say they struggle to find workers willing or able to take up many jobs.
"Outside the handicrafts sector there is not nearly enough local skilled labour available in Kashmir," said Mohammad Ashraf Mir of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
"We see a rising dependence on migrant workers, tending towards absolute dependence."

Waiting to be hired

Each morning, groups of labourers gather at prominent squares in the main city of Srinagar, waiting to be hired. 
Most stay for about eight months before departing ahead of Kashmir's harsh winter, when construction slows and agricultural activity dwindles.
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947, while an insurgency against Indian rule that erupted in 1989 has claimed tens of thousands of lives. 
Although the rebellion has been largely weakened in recent years, sporadic attacks continue.
Sarwar said he saw a barber from his home state shot dead by suspected rebels some years ago.
While he was saddened by the incident, it failed to deter him.
"Life and death are in the hands of God," he said.
"If I remain fearful, I will have nothing. But if I overcome, I will have everything."
Sarwar shares a building in Srinagar with around 200 other labourers. Some 7-10 workers squeeze into tiny rooms, sleeping and cooking in the same cramped space while paying little more than five dollars a month each.
Outside, security is conspicuous.
Paramilitary troops, armoured vehicles and police special operations units patrol streets. CCTV cameras monitor the compound around the clock.
"They have been soft targets for the terrorists in the past," a senior security official said on condition of anonymity.
"But security arrangements for them have become robust over time."

'Feels peaceful'

Police encourage labourers to live in clusters and avoid venturing out after dark.
A labourer from West Bengal said many Hindu workers adopt Muslim-sounding names while in Kashmir, fearing that displaying their religion could make them targets.
Rebel groups say they target migrant workers to avenge police harassment of their families.
Many labourers are reluctant to discuss security concerns publicly. 
"I face no troubles here," said Mohammad Iqbal, a 53-year-old painter from Uttar Pradesh state who has worked in Kashmir since before the insurgency began and is now accompanied by his son. 
"It feels peaceful."
Others are more candid.
"I am afraid of terrorists here," said Shahid Sofi, a 24-year-old mason from Bihar who previously worked in Delhi and Mumbai.
"But overall working conditions here are good, the weather is good, and I like working in the wide, open spaces of Kashmir."
pzb/abh/fox

politics

Polls open in Philippine Muslim enclave after deadly shooting

  • The polls are the culmination of an on-off peace process that began in the late 1990s and established the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in the country's far south. 
  • Voters across the Philippines' autonomous Muslim region began casting ballots for their first elected parliament Monday morning, hours after gun violence left at least three people dead outside a polling station.
  • The polls are the culmination of an on-off peace process that began in the late 1990s and established the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in the country's far south. 
Voters across the Philippines' autonomous Muslim region began casting ballots for their first elected parliament Monday morning, hours after gun violence left at least three people dead outside a polling station.
The polls are the culmination of an on-off peace process that began in the late 1990s and established the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in the country's far south. 
More than two million voters are eligible to vote for 80 parliament seats being contested by 13 parties. 
In Marawi, a city long-identified with a bloody showdown between government forces and jihadists, AFP journalists saw long lines of voters peacefully queued outside polling stations with tanks and security personnel standing watch. 
"We're excited, we came here early in the morning," said Mohammad Actar Macabada, 18, who had just cast his vote.
"I'm nervous because there might be chaos. Before there was chaos. Now it's peaceful," he added. "I'm excited for the results."
Given the region's long history of political violence and blood feuds between powerful families, a peaceful election would be considered a successful one, party leaders told AFP last week. 
But the fragile peace showed cracks in the early hours of Monday.
Three people were killed and 15 others wounded as gunfire erupted hours outside a school-turned-polling station in regional capital Cotabato just hours before polls opened.
Cotabato police chief Jibin Bongcayao said the shooting took place just before midnight as members of rival political factions jostled for the right to cast their votes first.
"It started as a struggle for position in the queue between two groups," Bongcayao said of the shooting outside a school being used as a polling station in the regional capital.
"It led to shoving, escalated into a fistfight, and eventually gunfire broke out in a crowded area." 
Bongcayao added that the men had belonged to rival parties that have emerged from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the group that spent decades fighting for regional autonomy in the predominantly Catholic country.
Security has been stepped up across the BARMM in recent days, with more than 20,000 security personnel fanning out in voting areas and quick response teams assembled to address potential violence. 
Last month, a motorcade carrying the region's interim chief minister -- an appointee of President Ferdinand Marcos -- was ambushed and peppered with bullets.
In a separate incident, a man died in hospital in the early hours of Monday following an explosion near another polling station. Police are still investigating the cause.
burs-cgm/abs

culture

DC's Kennedy Center faces bankruptcy, closure: media

  • A host of artists have canceled concerts at the venue in response to Trump's takeover, and US media reported that Kennedy Center ticket sales had plummeted to their lowest levels since the Covid pandemic.
  • Leaders of the Kennedy Center who have sought to add President Donald Trump's name to the storied institution say it is facing bankruptcy and possible closure in days, the Washington Post reported Sunday.
  • A host of artists have canceled concerts at the venue in response to Trump's takeover, and US media reported that Kennedy Center ticket sales had plummeted to their lowest levels since the Covid pandemic.
Leaders of the Kennedy Center who have sought to add President Donald Trump's name to the storied institution say it is facing bankruptcy and possible closure in days, the Washington Post reported Sunday.
According to documents obtained by the paper, the center's board of trustees is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to close the main building of Washington's performing arts center, due to financial and safety needs.
Officials warn in the documents that the center "could be unable to make payroll or pay routine maintenance contracts" within weeks, the Post reported.
Publicly recognizing Trump at the center, they argue in the 57-page pre-meeting packet, would help ensure fundraising help to keep it afloat.
"Trustees are being asked to choose among 10 texts that could be placed on the building's exterior beneath its name," to publicly credit Trump with the renovation, the Post reported.
Shortly after beginning his second term, Trump installed himself as chairman of the center, which is named in honor of late president John F. Kennedy, who championed civil rights before he was assassinated in 1963.
In December, Trump's hand-picked board voted to rename it the "Trump-Kennedy" center, a move that was later blocked in court.
A host of artists have canceled concerts at the venue in response to Trump's takeover, and US media reported that Kennedy Center ticket sales had plummeted to their lowest levels since the Covid pandemic.
The Post reported the center was slated to collect about $124 million of the projected $220 million in revenue that it had budgeted, "leaving a roughly $23 million deficit even after substantial spending cuts" this past fiscal year.
Additionally, the building itself was damaged in a severe storm earlier this month, when a "roughly four-by-five-foot section of ceiling plaster broke loose in the Grand Foyer and fell about 60 feet," the Post reported, among other needed repairs.
Asked about the Post's reporting, the Kennedy Center declined to comment and referred AFP to a recent statement from spokesperson Roma Daravi blaming "decades of neglect and deferred maintenance by the previous leadership."
"Adding Chairman President Trump's name to the building attracted new donors and was crucial to raising additional funds for the Center's renovation," a spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
sla/des

Congress

Is it possible to slow down the development of AI?

BY THOMAS URBAIN

  • However, the AI race and China's advances in the field create "the toughest dilemma" regarding whether or not to slow down AI development, he noted on CBS on Sunday.
  • Top AI executives say they want to slow the breakneck pace of artificial intelligence development, but competition, US government reluctance and geopolitical factors stand in the way.
  • However, the AI race and China's advances in the field create "the toughest dilemma" regarding whether or not to slow down AI development, he noted on CBS on Sunday.
Top AI executives say they want to slow the breakneck pace of artificial intelligence development, but competition, US government reluctance and geopolitical factors stand in the way.

What are AI leaders proposing?

On Saturday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei advocated for a coordinated slowdown of AI development to better understand the risks arising from the technology's capabilities.
He received public support from his counterpart at OpenAI, Sam Altman, as well as from Elon Musk and Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis.

Why now?

In recent months, OpenAI and Anthropic have reported several incidents in which AI systems spontaneously broke out of their confined environments to access the internet and attack websites and platforms.
These AI systems demonstrated the ability to coordinate, establish hierarchies among themselves, cheat and erase traces of their actions.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Jacob Coxon -- who resigned from Anthropic and previously worked at OpenAI -- publicly accused both startups of lax security standards and "gambling with our lives."

Will they slow down on their own?

Competition among the industry's leading players is so fierce, with hundreds of billions of dollars in investment at stake, that none of them is willing to risk easing off the accelerator alone. 
Amodei has expressed a willingness to coordinate with rivals, excluding China. 
When asked by AFP about potential discussions to this end, Anthropic, OpenAI and Google did not immediately respond. 
For now, the only concrete measure adopted by both Anthropic and OpenAI is the inclusion of independent observers who will internally verify the companies' work regarding AI safety. 

Is this a PR stunt?

While many in the industry welcomed Amodei's message, others questioned his motives. 
For Brian Roemmele, an entrepreneur and figure in the AI sector, it amounts to a sales pitch delivered just weeks before Anthropic is likely to take shares public. 
"That is the IPO story in essay form: we are the responsible firm; we are the cure; buy the safety premium," he posted on X, referring to widely expected initial public offering.
Several figures in tech private equity also accused Anthropic of "regulatory capture" -- seeking to have public authorities cement, through regulation, a hierarchy with the startup at the top.
"Stop pretending the motivation to slow down is purely altruistic," said David Sacks, a former AI advisor to President Donald Trump who remains influential at the White House.
"You face massive product-liability exposure if your products enable a truly damaging cyberattack," he said.

Can AI slow down without the Trump administration's support?

On Sunday, Trump dismissed the warnings from AI industry leaders as "negative forces." 
Several Republicans have expressed reluctance to actively regulate the technology, fearing it could stifle innovation and risk letting China win the AI race, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson.
On Sunday, Amodei reiterated the need for government oversight of AI. Like Altman and Hassabis, he believes that rules set by the industry itself would be insufficient.

Can the brakes be applied without China?

Anthropic's Amodei suggests limiting coordination to democratic countries, excluding China.
However, the AI race and China's advances in the field create "the toughest dilemma" regarding whether or not to slow down AI development, he noted on CBS on Sunday.
The United States plans to discuss AI safety on the sidelines of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's late September visit to Washington. But China is wary of any US attempt to impose its own regulatory framework, according to several media outlets.
This divergence is particularly pronounced given that China encourages the emergence of so-called "open" AI-systems that are freely accessible and modifiable -- in contrast to the "closed" models favored by major US companies.
Open AI models are, by definition, harder to control, as users can alter their parameters -- potentially for malicious purposes.
To allow leading non-Chinese companies to ease off the accelerator, Amodei urges stricter export controls on the most advanced US chips to China and better safeguards against the misappropriation of Western AI technology by Chinese laboratories.
tu/mjf/pnb