conflict

US envoys put forward 'number of ideas' on Ukraine to Putin: Kremlin

landslide

Nepal glacier saw exceptional heat before collapse caused deadly floods: researcher

  • Researchers are now examining the small movements observed in the mountain in the years before the collapse and their interaction with changes in temperature.
  • The mountain section whose collapse triggered fatal floods in Nepal and China on August 26 had experienced unprecedented heat for the time of year, meteorological data analysed by a researcher shows.
  • Researchers are now examining the small movements observed in the mountain in the years before the collapse and their interaction with changes in temperature.
The mountain section whose collapse triggered fatal floods in Nepal and China on August 26 had experienced unprecedented heat for the time of year, meteorological data analysed by a researcher shows.
Average temperatures on the mountain glacier at an altitude of 5,200 metres (17,060 feet) were estimated at around five degrees Celsius between August 21 and 26.
This is exceptionally high.
They had not exceeded 4.0C over the same period in more than 55 years of data recording, although no direct link to the collapse has so far been established.
This series of highly localised temperatures was reconstructed by Robert Rohde, chief scientist at the independent Berkeley Earth organisation in California.
At the site of the collapse, the average temperature recorded over that six-day period has risen by about 1.8C since the mid-20th century.
Without the additional heat brought by climate change, a comparable temperature pattern "would probably occur only once in a few thousand years", Rohde calculated for AFP.
The collapse came during the Langtang region's fourth-hottest summer on record, according to AFP's analysis of data from Europe's Copernicus observatory dating back to 1970.

Tipping point

"These hot conditions can also explain permafrost thaw and combined slope and glacier collapse," said French climatologist Valerie Masson-Delmotte.
Permafrost acts as ice cement, holding rock faces together. Its degradation makes them more unstable.
Satellite images also showed significant snowmelt in the days before the disaster, providing "a substantial source of liquid water that can infiltrate fractures in the mountain and facilitate landslides", said Etienne Berthier, a glaciologist at France's CNRS research agency.
Experts remain cautious, however, about the precise role played by the heatwave.
"It's not as straightforward as 'high temperature equals collapse,'" Kristen Cook, a geomorphologist at the Grenoble Alpes University in France, told AFP.
"If the temperature acted as a trigger, it seems that it needed to wait until the rock was right at the tipping point of collapse," she added.
Researchers are now examining the small movements observed in the mountain in the years before the collapse and their interaction with changes in temperature.
"Proving the rock near the fracture plane was significantly weakened as a result of meltwater and/or permafrost thaw" would be a "smoking gun" of climate change, according to Rhode of Berkeley Earth.
His temperature analysis used data from the Copernicus programme's ERA5 climate model and a network of 14 high-altitude weather stations located between nine and 140 kilometres (six and 87 miles) from the collapsed glacier.
lam/vr/lmc/gr/gil

defense

Ethiopia boosts drone production to fight rebels

BY DYLAN GAMBA

  • A second factory, Aeroabay, was opened in late 2025, producing thousands of small weaponised drones that cost $5,000 to $10,000 each, according to Wim Zwijnenburg, a drone specialist for PAX, a conflict-resolution NGO.  These FPV (First-Person View) quadcopters allow pilots to scan terrain and can carry explosive payloads. 
  • Ethiopia has been manufacturing drones at two factories since last year and is now thought to have a fleet of thousands, analysts say, giving the government an edge against its multiple insurgent enemies. 
  • A second factory, Aeroabay, was opened in late 2025, producing thousands of small weaponised drones that cost $5,000 to $10,000 each, according to Wim Zwijnenburg, a drone specialist for PAX, a conflict-resolution NGO.  These FPV (First-Person View) quadcopters allow pilots to scan terrain and can carry explosive payloads. 
Ethiopia has been manufacturing drones at two factories since last year and is now thought to have a fleet of thousands, analysts say, giving the government an edge against its multiple insurgent enemies. 
Turkish drones were decisive during the country's devastating civil war of 2020 to 2022, when the federal army used them to push back rebels from the northern Tigray region who had come within 200 kilometres (125 miles) of the capital, Addis Ababa. 
Only the federal army has military drones in the country of 130 million people, and they have been deployed repeatedly against insurgents operating in several regions. 
Increasingly, they are made domestically. 
In March 2025, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed inaugurated the SkyWin Aeronautics Industries factory in the capital, manufacturing "unmanned aerial vehicles for both civilian and military use", according to the state's Ethiopian News Agency, which said they were "designed and built by our own young professionals". 
Abiy said the aim was not "not to fuel conflict, but to prevent it" through "deterrence". 
But much of Ethiopia's capability remains a mystery, and the authorities have refused access to the site for foreign media. 
"One hall with some shiny drones tells us little about what the real production capabilities are, and where the technology, key components or possibly complete kits come from," Pieter Wezeman, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, told AFP. 
"My assessment would be that a substantial part of all that is imported," he said.
Ethiopia has bought Turkey's top-end Akinci drones and the more basic Bayraktar TB2 models, as well as the cheaper Wing Loong from China and Mohajer-6 from Iran.  
According to Jeremy Binnie of the defence and intelligence company Janes, the model displayed at the SkyWin inauguration, marked "SW01", closely resembled a commercially available Chinese model. 
"Mass-producing these could potentially significantly increase your military effectiveness if every brigade had two or three to enable it to find the enemy and call in and adjust artillery fire," he said, adding that they could also be modified to carry small bombs.
A second factory, Aeroabay, was opened in late 2025, producing thousands of small weaponised drones that cost $5,000 to $10,000 each, according to Wim Zwijnenburg, a drone specialist for PAX, a conflict-resolution NGO. 
These FPV (First-Person View) quadcopters allow pilots to scan terrain and can carry explosive payloads. Some are controlled by fibre-optic cables to prevent electronic jamming. 

'Create terror'

The conflict tracking group ACLED says federal forces have carried out 102 drone strikes in the northern Amhara region since an insurgency by the Fano militia began in April 2023, and have also deployed them against rebels in Abiy's home state of Oromia. 
Drones have been "blamed for the deaths of civilians on various occasions", said Magnus Taylor of the International Crisis Group (ICG).
There have been at least 14 drone strikes in Tigray this year -- seven in August alone -- as fears mount of a return to full-blown civil war.
ACLED says the attacks sought to "disrupt mobilisation and planning" amid a forced recruitment campaign by the Tigrayan authorities. 
The federal army appears to be deploying "remote-controlled, larger military drones that use glide bombs or missiles", according to Zwijnenburg.
Amanuel Assefa, vice president of the Tigray People's Liberation Front, accuses the army of wanting "to create terror among the people, to target political and military officials, to destroy special targets and basic civilian infrastructure". 
Some analysts, like Edward Bach of risk consulting firm Verisk Maplecroft, fear these strikes on weapons stores and logistics routes could be "in anticipation of a potential offensive" by federal forces. 
But drones could also be a way to prevent the need for ground operations, noted Taylor of the International Crisis Group.
Abiy "does not seem to want to be drawn into a costly ground war in Tigray at this point," he said. 
"Abiy seems to view this as a war of attrition for now, and because he can use drones essentially unopposed, he can keep it going for a lot longer."
dyg/ayv/er/js

conflict

Russia pounds Kyiv, ending three-day halt for US talks

  • In the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula, Russian-installed officials said a Ukrainian attack killed two people.
  • Russian missiles and drones pounded Kyiv overnight, killing two people and sending smoke billowing above the Ukrainian capital, ending Moscow's temporary halt to strikes on the city.
  • In the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula, Russian-installed officials said a Ukrainian attack killed two people.
Russian missiles and drones pounded Kyiv overnight, killing two people and sending smoke billowing above the Ukrainian capital, ending Moscow's temporary halt to strikes on the city.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered the pause in attacks as US President Donald Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited the Russian and Ukrainian capitals at the weekend.
AFP reporters in the city heard fresh explosions ringing out in the early hours of Tuesday, triggering fires and sending locals down into basements and metro stations for shelter.
"The moment the US president's peace envoys left, Putin launched another massive, horrific attack against Kyiv, damaging residential areas and killing at least two people," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said on social media.
"His ballistic missiles speak louder than his words on diplomacy."
Witkoff and Kushner's trips provided no immediate breakthrough in ending the four-and-a-half-year war, but represented Washington's reengagement with trying to broker a deal between the two sides, which had been on hold for months.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said people were trapped in a residential building after the strikes.
Russia's army said it had a carried out a "massive strike" on military-industrial sites, logistics hubs and storage centres in Kyiv and its suburbs.
Civilian deaths in Ukraine are running at their highest rate since the first months of Russia's invasion, according to statistics verified by the United Nations.
In the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula, Russian-installed officials said a Ukrainian attack killed two people.

US proposals

The strikes came hours after Witkoff touted "substantive progress" in the discussions with Ukraine and Russia, raising the prospect of reviving three-way peace talks to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.
"President Trump is working hard to stop the killing and work towards a lasting and durable peace," he said on X.
Witkoff and Kushner met Putin in Moscow on Saturday, before holding separate talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in their first official trip to Kyiv.
The Kremlin announced Monday that it did not rule out three-way talks, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters "it is too early to say anything about the venue or the exact dates at this stage".
Zelensky told US news outlet Axios that the United States was pushing to de-escalate the conflict ahead of the long winter.
Russia has struck Ukraine's energy grid each winter since invading in February 2022, cutting power and heating to millions in temperatures as low as -20C.
Zelensky has said the weekend talks included US proposals around energy facilities, grain shipments and oil and gas exports, but declined to give further details.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday appeared to rule out a Turkish proposal for a truce on strikes in the Black Sea, saying it was "unrealistic" and "impossible to monitor".
The two sides appear no close to agreeing on how the war should end.
Moscow is demanding Ukraine cede territory in its eastern Donetsk region that it still controls and renounce Western military support.
Kyiv has said such terms amount to capitulation and would only allow Russia to prepare a fresh attack in its bid to install a Moscow-friendly puppet government.
bur-jc/jxb

US

Yemen rebels hit Saudi Arabia with wave of strikes, wounding 73

  • It was the worst attack by the Houthis since a four-year truce in Yemen's long-running civil war unravelled in July.
  • Yemen's Houthi rebels struck a series of targets in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, wounding 73, in their heaviest attack since the conflict reignited during the Middle East war.
  • It was the worst attack by the Houthis since a four-year truce in Yemen's long-running civil war unravelled in July.
Yemen's Houthi rebels struck a series of targets in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, wounding 73, in their heaviest attack since the conflict reignited during the Middle East war.
The Iran-backed rebels said they hit Abha International Airport, King Khalid air base and facilities belonging to state-owned oil giant Aramco in Abha and Jizan, near their shared border.
Saudi authorities and official media said the strikes caused fires and temporary shutdowns. It was the worst attack by the Houthis since a four-year truce in Yemen's long-running civil war unravelled in July.
Saudi Arabia will "take all necessary measures to defend its sovereignty", a foreign ministry statement said, demanding a halt to the Houthi strikes and their attacks on Red Sea shipping.
The Houthis triggered a return to hostilities in July when they let an Iranian plane land in Sanaa, in defiance of Saudi control of Yemeni airspace.
They are now pushing to seize Yemeni government-held territory along the Red Sea's southern gateway, with clashes leaving hundreds dead and forcing thousands of residents to flee.
The Houthis have also been attacking Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, a vital export route since Iran blockaded the Strait of Hormuz as part of its war with the United States.

'All necessary measures'

A Saudi-led coalition, which has been fighting the Houthis on the government's behalf since 2015, said it would respond to the latest attacks.
"The Terrorist Houthi Militia's senseless attacks, the latest of which targeted civilian and economic sites", resulted in injuries to 73 civilians, said the coalition's Joint Forces Command.
"The Command will also take all necessary measures and actions to respond to the sources of the threat and neutralise its danger."
According to an energy ministry source quoted by the Saudi Press Agency, "several energy sector facilities and installations in the southern region of the kingdom were targeted this morning".
"The attacks caused fires at several locations, leading to a temporary halt in some operations" as well as several injuries, the source was quoted as saying. 
The Houthi attacks came after they accused Riyadh on Monday of carrying out strikes around Yemen, including the deadly bombardment of a prison.
The attack on the jail in Al-Hazm in Yemen's north killed 11 people and left 20 inmates missing under the rubble, rebel TV channel Almasirah quoted Jawf province's civil defence chief as saying.
The rebels are also pressing their broad offensive along frontlines on the western Red Sea coast in a bid to advance towards the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the mouth of the Red Sea.
About 18,500 people have been displaced in the flashpoint governorates of Taiz and Hodeidah, the United Nations' International Organisation for Migration estimated.
"The number is increasing by the hour," it said in a statement on Monday.
bur-th/axn

transport

N. Korea calls Russia bridge a sign of tighter ties

BY HIEUN SHIN

  • - Beijing-Moscow-Pyongyang bloc - North Korean official Pak Thae Song, according the official KCNA news agency, said "the completion of the bridge is a significant event adding a new dynamic movement to the overall bilateral cooperation".
  • North Korea called the first road bridge across its narrow border with Russia a concrete sign of tightening bonds, state media reported Tuesday, as Pyongyang gains advantages from its powerful neighbours Moscow and Beijing.
  • - Beijing-Moscow-Pyongyang bloc - North Korean official Pak Thae Song, according the official KCNA news agency, said "the completion of the bridge is a significant event adding a new dynamic movement to the overall bilateral cooperation".
North Korea called the first road bridge across its narrow border with Russia a concrete sign of tightening bonds, state media reported Tuesday, as Pyongyang gains advantages from its powerful neighbours Moscow and Beijing.
The bridge over the Tumen river into Russia and an under-construction span to China are part of a shift that offers Western-sanctioned Pyongyang economic and strategic options it has long sought, experts said.
North Korea "will simultaneously secure two major overland routes linking it with Russia and China, allowing it to encourage competition between the two countries and maximise its gains," said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University. 
He noted the bridges also "can be a message to the United States that North Korea has no reason to beg Washington for sanctions relief or make concessions on denuclearisation in order to negotiate".
Russia noted the bridge is designed to accommodate expanded growth in freight with the capacity for up to 300 vehicles daily, which adds to the rail and air links already between the neighbours.
Ukrainian rights group Truth Hounds, however, previously warned that the new bridge could become "a direct artery for moving North Korean troops, construction brigades and military officials into Russia, with Russian technology and resources flowing in the opposite direction".
The ceremony on Monday marking the new bridge's opening came as Russia and North Korea have heavily boosted military and economic ties since Moscow launched its Ukraine offensive in 2022.
North Korea dispatched thousands of troops to Russia in 2024 to help ward off a Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk region, while Kyiv has accused Moscow of using North Korean missiles in its regular barrages.
South Korea's central bank estimated in July that North Korea's economy grew more than three percent for a third straight year in 2025, citing it's expansion of economic cooperation with Russia as a "major drive."
The bank's official said North Korea's gross national income also "received a boost from a sharp rise in foreign currency earnings" linked to the deployment of its troops to Russia.

Beijing-Moscow-Pyongyang bloc

North Korean official Pak Thae Song, according the official KCNA news agency, said "the completion of the bridge is a significant event adding a new dynamic movement to the overall bilateral cooperation".
North Korea and China are already connected by the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, which is regularly used by passenger trains, but its capacity is limited.
After a long halt, the bridge partly reopened and restored daily passenger train services with China early this year, but has not yet resumed issuing tourism visas to Chinese citizens, who once made up the bulk of its overseas visitors.
North Korea has long kept tight control over foreign visitors, and effectively sealed its borders at the start of the pandemic six years ago.
The New Yalu River Bridge, intended as an alternative and eventual replacement of the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, is expected by experts to be completed this year.
The completion of the bridge "sends a political and geopolitical message demonstrating the formation of a "North Korea-China-Russia continental triangular bloc", said Lim.
bur-cdl-hs/jm

unrest

Nepalis mark a year since deadly protests that toppled government

  • The unrest caused the deaths of 76 people and the torching of the parliament building in the capital Kathmandu, as well as the prime minister's office and other government buildings.
  • Dozens of young people congregated at Nepal's burnt-out parliament building on Tuesday to mark the anniversary of deadly anti-corruption protests that toppled the former government.
  • The unrest caused the deaths of 76 people and the torching of the parliament building in the capital Kathmandu, as well as the prime minister's office and other government buildings.
Dozens of young people congregated at Nepal's burnt-out parliament building on Tuesday to mark the anniversary of deadly anti-corruption protests that toppled the former government.
The gathering in memory of those who died in the demonstrations came as the Himalayan nation continues to mourn the vast loss of life from devastating floods two weeks ago.
The rallies on September 8-9, 2025, were initially sparked by anger over a brief government ban on social media but were driven by deeper frustration over economic hardship, corruption and entrenched political practices.
The unrest caused the deaths of 76 people and the torching of the parliament building in the capital Kathmandu, as well as the prime minister's office and other government buildings.
It also led to the downfall of the administration of KP Sharma Oli, setting in motion a series of events that culminated with the election of youthful Prime Minister Balendra Shah in March.
"The loss of life was of course terrible. But the impact on politics was worth it, we have seen changes," said former protester Aastha Shrestha, 23, on the grounds of the ruined building.
"It feels like the (current) government values the sacrifice we made," she told AFP next to a stack of burnt vehicles.
Banners bearing photos of people killed in the protests were hung in the parliament grounds.
Shah said on X that he hoped the anniversary would "inspire us all to move forward towards building a fair, transparent, and opportunity-filled Nepal".
Sushila Karki, who led Nepal as interim prime minister after Oli's government was overthrown, paid tribute to "all the brave individuals who lost their lives".
"Let us all perform our duties honestly, responsibly, and vigilantly... so that a situation never arises again in which people are forced to take to the streets once more for good governance and change," she said in a social media post.
An inquiry commission set up to investigate the violence submitted its report in April and recommended further probes against several officials including Oli.
The majority of the victims -- 51 people -- were shot dead, many in the head or chest, according to the report.
But there has been little genuine accountability, said Anish Acharya, 19, who came with flowers to pay his respects.
"Why did we sacrifice our lives, what did we get? There is no hope that change will come. Oli was arrested the next day but what then? The culprits are out and walking free," he told AFP.
"The government has not valued our sacrifices and demands."
Shah's administration is facing its toughest challenge since taking power as it leads rescue and recovery efforts following cataclysmic glacial floods on the border with China.
The August 26 disaster killed at least 1,399 people in the two countries, including 1,356 in Nepal, according to official tolls.
A total of 5,500 people are still missing in Nepal and China.
pm-abh/mjw

Ecuador

Rubio launches Latin America tour to cement US influence

BY LéON BRUNEAU

  • This Latin American tour comes days after the United States concluded, seven months after the capture of Nicolas Maduro, an agreement that would see Washington take majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela's oil reserves. 
  • United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives in Colombia on Tuesday, the first stop on a Latin American tour designed to bolster pro-US leaders and cement influence over the continent.
  • This Latin American tour comes days after the United States concluded, seven months after the capture of Nicolas Maduro, an agreement that would see Washington take majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela's oil reserves. 
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives in Colombia on Tuesday, the first stop on a Latin American tour designed to bolster pro-US leaders and cement influence over the continent.
The recent election of Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella, a hard-right lawyer, has been a game-changer for Washington, which had combative relations with left-wing former president Gustavo Petro. 
De la Espriella, a flamboyant 48-year-old millionaire, was elected in June on an anti-establishment platform. 
Rubio is to meet the new Colombian president in his stronghold of Barranquilla, a Caribbean port city more famous for being pop star Shakira's hometown than diplomacy.
The Colombian president defeated a left-wing candidate in June's runoff election on the promise of ending peace talks with drug-running armed groups and tackling crime. 
Since then, Colombia has stepped up air assaults and authorized joint military operations with the United States. 
Colombia has also joined the "Shield of the Americas," the coalition of countries led by Trump to combat drug trafficking in the region. 
The stated objective of this trip is "enhanced cooperation in the shared fight against narcoterrorism," according to the State Department.
In Barranquilla, Rubio will also discuss reconstruction after an August 10 earthquake that struck the country's coffee-growing region, killing more than 330 people, according to State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott.
The quake destroyed schools, hospitals and scores of residential buildings across several towns and cities. 
The new president has requested US assistance and, in particular, a suspension of customs duties to support reconstruction.

Hegemonic ambitions

The tour by America's top diplomat in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru from Tuesday to Thursday comes after a string of right-wing electoral victories across Latin America.
Since President Donald Trump's return to the White House in January 2025, several Latin American countries, including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Honduras, have initiated or confirmed a conservative turn. 
Washington is openly asserting its desire for hegemony over the South American continent in the name of the "Donroe Doctrine."
That is a blend of Trump's first name with that of James Monroe, the fifth US president, who more than two centuries ago declared Latin America the United States' exclusive sphere of influence. 
This ambition is spelled out in the new US National Security Strategy, and Rubio, himself of Cuban heritage, is its chief architect. 
This Latin American tour comes days after the United States concluded, seven months after the capture of Nicolas Maduro, an agreement that would see Washington take majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela's oil reserves. 
After Colombia, the US Secretary of State will travel to Ecuador, where he will meet President Daniel Noboa. 
Washington and Quito are carrying out operations against boats they say are linked to the criminal group Los Choneros, which is involved in drug trafficking in Ecuador. 
A year ago, the US government launched a campaign of air strikes against vessels suspected of being used for drug trafficking in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, which left more than 200 dead -- without providing evidence and raising human rights concerns. 
The final stop is Peru, which has been led since late July by right-wing President Keiko Fujimori, who is also aligned with the US president's policies. 
lb/arb/sla/lkd

US

Alleged killers of Australian, US surfers go on trial in Mexico

BY ABDIEL ORTEGA

  • Three men are on trial over their killings.
  • The suspected murderers of two Australians and an American at a Mexican surfing hotspot went on trial Monday, more than two years after their killings in a suspected robbery.
  • Three men are on trial over their killings.
The suspected murderers of two Australians and an American at a Mexican surfing hotspot went on trial Monday, more than two years after their killings in a suspected robbery.
Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson, aged 30 and 33, respectively, and 30-year-old American friend Jack Carter Rhoad were on a surfing trip to Mexico's Pacific coast when they were shot dead in Baja California state.
They had been camping in a remote beachside area when they were attacked in April 2024.
Their bodies were found dumped in a cliff-top shaft several days after they went missing. They bore gunshot wounds to their heads.
Three men are on trial over their killings.
The Robinsons' parents traveled to the port city of Ensenada for the opening day of the trial,which lasted around eight hours.
Bereaved mother Debra Robinson stared at the accused before bursting into tears in the courtroom.
"It's about representing our sons, being here for them. I know they want us to be here," her partner Martin Robinson earlier told reporters.
"We want to find out what happened. We want to find out why," he said.
The couple did not speak to reporters after the first hearing. Martin told AFP they will do so at the end of the proceedings, which are expected to conclude within a month and a half.
Martin is expected to testify on Tuesday.

'Good phones'

Authorities say the men were murdered during an attempt to steal their pickup truck, which was found burned near their bodies.
Three witnesses appeared before the court on Monday, including the stepson of one of the defendants, identified as "Ramon".
Testifying from an adjoining room with his face concealed, he said he accompanied the accused -- known as "El Kekas" -- to the crime scene.
Ramon said he was in the vehicle listening to music when the "commotion" began.
"I heard a lot of noise, got out of the pickup and ran as fast as I could to my uncle's house, where I hid in the bathroom," he said.
He said he rejoined the group following the crime, after they called to warn him that "the same thing that happened to the gringos" would happen to him if he said anything.
Ramon described his stepfather as violent and said that he had previously attacked his mother. She confirmed the violence in her testimony.
The girlfriend of the witness' stepfather was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year after admitting she had instigated the robbery in order to steal the pickup's tires.
Ary Gisell Silva told a court that she had urged her boyfriend and two other men to rob the surfers, noting they had "good phones and good tires."
"El Kekas" previously faced charges for enforced disappearance, but these were eventually dropped.
The other two suspects were initially arrested for possession of methamphetamines. Evidence was later found linking them to the robbery and murder.
The crime sparked outrage and grief in Australia and the United States, where the surfers' friends and families galvanized a major search on social media for their bodies.
Callum Robinson moved to the United States when he was a college student to play lacrosse. His brother Jake was pursuing a career in medicine.
Rhoad played professional soccer in Guatemala and ran a clothing company in San Diego. He was killed a few months before he was set to marry.
Baja California is one of Mexico's most violent states, plagued by organized crime and drug trafficking, although cartel activity does not usually affect tourists.
Other foreign visitors have, however, been targeted in criminal attacks on Mexico's Pacific coast.
Two Australian surfers, Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman, were murdered in 2015 while traveling through the northwestern state of Sinaloa in the northwest.
Their bodies were later burned.
ai/jla/cb/cc/mjf/lkd/mjw

Global Edition

Sweden heads to the polls in close election race

BY PIA OHLIN

  • There is broad consensus between the government and opposition on NATO and defence issues, and no major policy changes are expected if Sweden pivots to a left-wing government, Teorell predicted. 
  • Sweden votes Sunday in a tight general election that could see the left-wing opposition oust the government after a campaign dominated by concerns over healthcare and the welfare state amid fears over Europe's security.
  • There is broad consensus between the government and opposition on NATO and defence issues, and no major policy changes are expected if Sweden pivots to a left-wing government, Teorell predicted. 
Sweden votes Sunday in a tight general election that could see the left-wing opposition oust the government after a campaign dominated by concerns over healthcare and the welfare state amid fears over Europe's security.
Opinion polls have pointed to a victory for the centre-left opposition headed by the Social Democrats.
But Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's centre-right coalition and its parliamentary ally, the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, have narrowed the gap in the final weeks of campaigning and the election could go down to the wire, experts say.
"There's still a bit of suspense. But all the polls have for a long time shown a very large lead and it's usually difficult to make up that much ground," Stockholm University political scientist Jan Teorell told AFP.
Three polls in the past week credited the four parties on the left with around 50 percent, and the four on the right with around 47 percent.
The right-wing bloc has vowed to pursue its crackdown on crime and immigration, after years of shootings and bombings linked to organised crime networks.
But the bloc has failed to muster the momentum that swept it to power four years ago.
"It came to power very much on a programme to bring down crime and energy prices. And crime and petrol prices have come down, so those issues no longer top voters' agendas," Teorell said. 
Filip Lundin, a 35-year-old businessman, told AFP the government had done "a really good job", with "less shootings, better control of where society is going (and) our economy is growing."

Far right in government?

The left has vowed to raise taxes on banks and high incomes to invest in healthcare and schools, and help struggling households face rising costs amid growing economic inequality.
That appeals to 46-year-old Hanna Justine Hallbo who works in fashion.
"Healthcare and the social security system must be improved. That has gone down in the last couple of years."
Opposition leader Magdalena Andersson of the Social Democrats, Sweden's biggest party, told AFP the election was "about what country Sweden should be."
Voters were faced with the choice of "a Sweden that is more like Sweden, where people have a job and where we can improve our welfare", or "a completely different country with a government dominated by Sweden Democrats, a far-right party founded by neo-Nazis."
The far right, the second-biggest party with around 20 percent of votes, is hoping to enter government for the first time.
The populist party has promised Swedes the lowest gas prices and migration in Europe, and dental care reform.
Kristersson became prime minister in 2022 after his minority coalition reached an unprecedented agreement with the Sweden Democrats, giving the former political pariahs significant influence over government policy, especially crime and immigration, in exchange for its support.
Kristersson has promised the far right cabinet posts, including the migration portfolio, if re-elected.
Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson insists his party should hold several key portfolios, but he is not vying for Kristersson's job -- yet.
"There will be more elections to come, so I'd like to aim for the post of prime minister in 2030 or later," he told AFP in August.

Security

Just over a week before the election, extremism watchdog Expo revealed that a Sweden Democrat civil servant in parliament had shared pro-Russian propaganda for years. 
Kristersson, dogged by scandals during his term, reacted sharply.
"We are in the middle of a European war," he told daily Aftonbladet.
"You can't have people who spread pro-Russian narratives working in parliament."
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Sweden has joined NATO and is massively rearming and boosting civil preparedness. 
It has blamed Moscow for cyberattacks, disinformation and intelligence operations, as well as drone and jet incidents over the Baltic.
There is broad consensus between the government and opposition on NATO and defence issues, and no major policy changes are expected if Sweden pivots to a left-wing government, Teorell predicted. 
"But there would be higher taxes and more investment in the welfare system," Teorell said. 
Leading industrialist Jacob Wallenberg told the Financial Times he was "deeply concerned" about what that would mean for the thriving tech sector.
With the right-wing bloc trailing in the polls and the four left-wing parties splintered ideologically, thorny negotiations may be needed to form a government.
po-jpk/ach 

migration

France tries 14 over deadliest Channel migrant crossing disaster

  • Thousands of migrants each year seek to reach Britain from France in search of a better life.
  • Fourteen people are to go on trial in France on Tuesday over the loss of 31 people including a seven-year-old child in 2021, in the deadliest small-boat crossing accident recorded in the Channel.
  • Thousands of migrants each year seek to reach Britain from France in search of a better life.
Fourteen people are to go on trial in France on Tuesday over the loss of 31 people including a seven-year-old child in 2021, in the deadliest small-boat crossing accident recorded in the Channel.
The defendants, believed to be linked to people-smuggling networks, are accused of playing a role in the sinking in which 27 people, mainly Iraqi Kurds, were confirmed dead when their inflatable dinghy sank in the early hours of November 24, 2021. 
Four others are still unaccounted for. Only two men survived the tragedy.
On November 24, 2021, a French fishing vessel reported several lifeless bodies floating in the Channel off Calais, close to British waters.
According to testimony from the two survivors, their flimsy boat began to deflate and take on water after several hours at sea. 
Passengers fell overboard and drowned one after another, despite making around a dozen desperate calls for help to French and British rescue services.
The victims, aged between 7 and 46, were mostly Iraqi Kurds, but also included Afghans, Ethiopians and Egyptians. 
Thousands of migrants each year seek to reach Britain from France in search of a better life.

'Human beings'

The trial carries particular significance because of the high death toll and the sheer number of civil parties involved, 114 in all, including victims' families and around a dozen relatives who travelled from Erbil in Iraq's Kurdistan region.
The 14 individuals, most of them born in Afghanistan, face charges including manslaughter and facilitating illegal immigration as part of an organised criminal group.
Two of them, including an Afghan man, are the subject of arrest warrants and will be tried in absentia.
The case is also high-profile because of another highly sensitive strand of the investigation, which is still ongoing.
Seven French military personnel, five members at a maritime rescue coordination centre and two sailors aboard a patrol vessel have been under investigation since 2023 for failing to help a person in danger.
A UK inquiry released in February found some of the deaths would have been "avoidable" if British and French authorities had acted sooner to rescue those onboard.
Despite several distress calls, it was nearly 12 hours after the first pleas for help before the boat was finally found by a French fishing vessel.
By that time, most of those on board had drowned.
The separate case could eventually lead to another trial.
"Justice must hold accountable everyone who played a role in this tragedy," said lawyer Matthieu Chirez, who represents 113 civil parties.
Another lawyer, Emmanuel Daoud, expressed hope that the three-week trial would be an opportunity to see would-be migrants not as "statistics or commodities, but human beings in search of a better life."

'Substandard boat'

Prosecutors have accused the defendants of helping launch a "substandard small boat, uncertified, unfit for navigation on the open sea, overcrowded and lacking appropriate life jackets."
Liability has also been extended to those accused of transporting, housing or accompanying the victims, actions that formed part of a "chain of successive events" leading to the tragedy, according to investigators.
The defendants have denied being smugglers and disputed their responsibility, or have presented themselves as migrants seeking to make the journey themselves.
However, phone records and location tracking placed several of them near the departure site and linked them to organising crossings to Britain.
The investigation uncovered two migrant-smuggling networks, one Afghan and the other Iraqi.
cf-as/ekf/cw

tariff

Canada's counter-tariffs take effect on various US goods

BY MATHIEU GORSE

  • To help businesses and workers, Canada's government has unveiled an aid package of $7.5 billion (US$5.4 billion). mg-bys/sla/ksb
  • Canada's retaliatory tariffs on billions of dollars in US products took effect Tuesday, as a trade war between the North American neighbors heats up.
  • To help businesses and workers, Canada's government has unveiled an aid package of $7.5 billion (US$5.4 billion). mg-bys/sla/ksb
Canada's retaliatory tariffs on billions of dollars in US products took effect Tuesday, as a trade war between the North American neighbors heats up.
The announced duties of 15 percent, 25 percent and 50 percent apply to $27.6 billion (US$20 billion) in imports from the United States, covering steel and aluminum products as well as dairy goods like cheese. But Canada removed some seafood products from the initial list.
Ottawa's pushback comes weeks after US President Donald Trump imposed 50-percent tariffs on a similar value of Canadian products, over what Washington deemed as "discriminatory treatment" against US alcohol, automobile and dairy industries.
The US tariffs hit items like hockey sticks and cement, impacting about 5.5 percent of Canadian exports to the United States.
On Monday, Trump threatened to block sales of Canada's Bombardier Aviation in the United States, unless the Quebec-based plane maker moves manufacturing to the US.
"No more selling Bombardier in the United States!" Trump posted in all caps on his Truth Social platform, though he did not specify how he would achieve a sales halt.
Thousands of Bombardier aircraft currently operate in US airlines' domestic fleets.
In a statement Monday, the aerospace company touted its creation of "tens of thousands of jobs across the United States," with "direct employment" in more than 20 states, including Kansas, Texas, Arizona and California.
The company also noted that it spends over $2.5 billion annually with suppliers, and said its supply chain is "made up of approximately 2,800 American companies across 47 states."
"Bombardier values its great partnership with American companies and its US employees," the company's statement said.
US tariffs pose a modestly negative risk to Canada's overall economy, but analysts note that they have a sharper impact on Central Canada's manufacturing sector.
Negotiations between both sides broke down August 21 after days of meetings in Washington, with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney saying he decided to suspend the trade talks.
At the time, Carney said the Trump administration's terms were ultimately unacceptable, adding that US negotiators had introduced restrictions on Canadian trade deals with other countries at the eleventh hour.
US officials also made unacceptable "threats" to the French language and "Quebec culture," he added, referencing the French-speaking province in eastern Canada.
But Trump's top trade official Jamieson Greer later noted that the US government is aware that French language protections are sensitive and important.
"This is not something where we push hard, or condition, or red-line," he told Canadian public broadcaster CBC last month.

War of words

Ottawa and Washington have not resumed negotiations since, and have continued trading barbs.
Asked if both sides were in a trade war, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC last week (Aug 31) that he did not think one could be in a tit-for-tat fight with a country that is 13 times larger.
"We're not at war with Canada," Bessent said on the sidelines of a G20 finance leaders' meeting. "How are we going to be at war with Canada? They're going to take their two set submarines from the Edmonton Mall and sic them on us?"
He was referring to a former attraction at a shopping center in the Alberta province.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth separately appeared to mock the physical appearance of a Canadian soldier on social media.
Carney said a day later that the remarks were "beneath their office," adding that this was "not constructive."
He said both sides can have discussions "when the Americans stop doing memes" and start being serious.
Trump also signed an order in August to rename Lake Ontario, on the border with Canada, as "Lake America." 
This has sparked anger in Canada, amid a broader wave of patriotism triggered by Trump's hostility.
At the start of his second presidency, Trump also ordered the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the Gulf of America. He has made claims that Canada should become the 51st US state as well.
Although Carney is backed by Canadian public opinion, his country remains reliant on its neighbor. Nearly 60 percent of Canada's imports come from the United States and about 70 percent of its exports go to the US market.
To help businesses and workers, Canada's government has unveiled an aid package of $7.5 billion (US$5.4 billion).
mg-bys/sla/ksb

transport

N. Korea calls Russia bridge a sign of tighter ties

  • The ceremony on Monday marking its opening came as Russia and North Korea have heavily boosted military and economic ties since Moscow launched its Ukraine offensive in 2022.
  • North Korea called the first road bridge across its narrow border with Russia a concrete sign of tightening bonds, state media reported Tuesday, as the Ukraine war draws the Western-sanctioned nations closer. 
  • The ceremony on Monday marking its opening came as Russia and North Korea have heavily boosted military and economic ties since Moscow launched its Ukraine offensive in 2022.
North Korea called the first road bridge across its narrow border with Russia a concrete sign of tightening bonds, state media reported Tuesday, as the Ukraine war draws the Western-sanctioned nations closer. 
The bridge over the Tumen river, which Russia said is designed to accommodate a projected growth in freight and passenger traffic, adds to the rail and air links between the neighbours.
The ceremony on Monday marking its opening came as Russia and North Korea have heavily boosted military and economic ties since Moscow launched its Ukraine offensive in 2022.
"The completion of the bridge is a significant event adding a new dynamic movement to the overall bilateral cooperation," North Korean official Pak Thae Song said, according the official KCNA news agency.
Video published by the Russian government showed trucks from both sides crossing the bridge, as crowds lining the road applauded.
"The launch of the first automobile route will further strengthen the connection between our friendly countries," Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said in a video link at the ceremony.
KCNA added that the new bridge ensures "safe passage of various forms of transport and the movement of people," and has "strengthened a key infrastructure component for economic cooperation between North Korea and Russia."
North Korea dispatched thousands of troops to Russia in 2024 to help ward off a Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk region, while Kyiv has accused Moscow of using North Korean missiles in its nightly barrages.
The two countries signed a defence treaty in 2024 that provides for mutual support if either country is attacked.
One of the world's most isolated and repressive countries, North Korea bars most its citizens from leaving and heavily monitors incoming travellers.
Russian tourism to North Korea has increased in recent years, although Pyongyang sometimes closes its border at short notice.
South Korea's central bank estimated in July that North Korea's economy grew more than three percent for a third straight year in 2025, citing it's expansion of economic cooperation with Russia as a "major drive."
The bank's official said North Korea's gross national income also "received a boost from a sharp rise in foreign currency earnings" linked to the deployment of its troops to Russia.
Ukrainian rights group Truth Hounds, meanwhile, previously warned that the new bridge could become "a direct artery for moving North Korean troops, construction brigades and military officials into Russia, with Russian technology and resources flowing in the opposite direction".
bur-cdl/jm

US

US sanctions threaten to crush Iranian students' dreams

BY MENNA ZAKI AND RAMIN KHANIZADEH

  • Now, like many Iranian students dreaming of a future elsewhere, she is scrambling to find another way to take it, while absorbing the new exam fee and hefty travel costs.
  • She had planned to study psychology in Italy, but after US sanctions forced the suspension of an English exam required in order to make her dream come true, Iranian student Nikki cried for days.
  • Now, like many Iranian students dreaming of a future elsewhere, she is scrambling to find another way to take it, while absorbing the new exam fee and hefty travel costs.
She had planned to study psychology in Italy, but after US sanctions forced the suspension of an English exam required in order to make her dream come true, Iranian student Nikki cried for days.
Nikki had been due to take the TOEFL English proficiency test, a key qualification required by many foreign universities, in Iran later this month.
Now, like many Iranian students dreaming of a future elsewhere, she is scrambling to find another way to take it, while absorbing the new exam fee and hefty travel costs.
Testing has been frozen in Iran following the latest US sanctions announced in August, part of Washington's "economic asphyxiation" of the country over the Middle East war.
"When I found out that the exam had been cancelled... I did not leave my room for several days because I was crying," said the 32-year-old, who works at a pastry shop in the northern city of Lahijan. 
"My plans were left hanging midway."
The US-based Educational Testing Service (ETS), which administers the TOEFL English proficiency test, said the exams were suspended after the US Treasury stopped issuing licences for them.
On its website, ETS said Iranians could still travel abroad to take the exams.
Alternatives, including the PTE English proficiency test and the increasingly popular Duolingo online exam, have also been suspended, according to Iranian media. 
"We can no longer take any of the exams here," said Nikki. 

Only for the rich

But taking the exams abroad is scarcely affordable for many Iranians. 
Millions have already been struggling for decades under international sanctions, with economic pressures compounded by more than six months of war with the United States.
The rial has plunged to record lows, reaching around 2.2 million to the US dollar in recent days, while year-on-year inflation hit 89 percent for the Iranian month ending August 22, sharply eroding purchasing power.
"I am now trying to get a loan so that I can book the exam and go to a neighbouring country to take it," said Nikki, adding that she was considering Armenia. 
"The money I was supposed to spend on the health of my teeth now must go toward the exam and the trip," she added. 
In Telegram groups sharing updates and advice about the tests, students were scrambling to find the cheapest and quickest alternatives to complete their applications. 
In one group with more than 24,000 members, users weighed travelling to neighbouring Armenia, Iraq or Turkey, while others calculated the mounting costs. 
One contributor ruled out taking the exam in Istanbul, saying "going there is for the rich who can afford flights".

'Sheer despair'

Iranian officials have condemned the suspension, saying the restrictions showed that Washington was targeting "every Iranian citizen in every field".
Science Minister Hossein Simaei Saraf slammed the move as "'Stone Age' behaviour", an apparent reference to language used by US President Donald Trump when he threatened to send Iran back to the Stone Age.
For Leila, a 32-year-old Tehran resident, news of the cancellations was another blow after she secured a place in a graduate arts programme in Berlin this summer. 
She had already deferred her university offer for a year because of uncertainty surrounding the war, which has persisted despite an April ceasefire that halted its most intense phase. 
"I have no plans to take the exam elsewhere; financially, it is not possible for me to take it outside Iran," she told AFP, describing the "sheer despair" among Iranians hoping to study abroad. 
With her plans in disarray, Leila said she would probably pursue further study inside Iran instead.
"I have learned to make several plans to survive tough situations," she said. 
"So I will probably go to university here."
bur-mz/th

fire

Praying for rain as fires, haze plague Indonesian Borneo

BY MARIëTTE LE ROUX AND SATYA ADHI

  • "We hope that this haze will pass quickly.
  • Wildfires ravaging the Indonesian part of Borneo island are choking communities as far away as Malaysia with putrid haze, testing the resources and resolve of those having to endure them.
  • "We hope that this haze will pass quickly.
Wildfires ravaging the Indonesian part of Borneo island are choking communities as far away as Malaysia with putrid haze, testing the resources and resolve of those having to endure them.
Blamed partly on one of the worst episodes of the drought-inducing El Nino weather phenomenon in decades, the disaster threatens millions of people's access to necessities such as clean water and air -- even education.
Here is the situation as seen from the perspective of three community leaders in Indonesia's West Kalimantan province, one of the worst-affected regions:
- The teacher - 
Syarifah Hatifah, the 57-year-old vice principal of a junior high school in provincial capital Pontianak, fears some of her nearly 600 pupils may be falling behind.
They are in the third week of the second school closure this fire season. It's the longest closure Syarifah can remember in her 30-year career.
Hundreds of schools have been closed indefinitely in West Kalimantan due to air pollution, with about 200,000 pupils learning from home, according to the provincial education ministry.
The kids are being kept home for their health, Syarifah told AFP in a classroom empty but for two teachers presenting classes online, both with dozens of pupils scattered across their screens.
"The hope is that at home, in terms of health, they can be protected... because they are inside the house. They don't have to go through roads full of dust and smoke," she said.
But Syarifah said not every child has stable internet or access to a computer, making live sessions difficult for some.
"Sometimes... there is a power outage at their home, or they forget to charge their phones", and some students live in faraway areas with patchy connectivity, she said.
The school's teachers have been showing up every day as usual, giving lessons online in classrooms with no air purifiers. They work maskless so students can understand them clearly.
Syarifah said the school would offer extra lessons for free once in-person learning resumes.
"We hope that this haze will pass quickly. Usually after the rain falls, the haze will disappear," she said.
West Kalimantan's wetter season usually starts around October or November.

The health official

Iwansyah, head of the Kubu Raya regency's health agency, is responsible for the welfare of some 700,000 people spread over 123 villages, served by one general hospital and 21 clinics.
His staff focus on efforts to prevent illness caused by "the unhealthy air people inhale every day".
So far in September, more than 1,400 people in the regency have been treated or hospitalised for acute respiratory infections, said Iwansyah, who like many Indonesians has one name.
In August, the number was 6,396.
"We distribute masks to the public every day, about one thousand masks per day. Of course our stock is starting to run low," the official told AFP.
Iwansyah said the agency had requested additional masks from the provincial government, and was encouraging people to buy their own.
The agency also monitors cases of diarrhoea brought on by reduced access to clean water due to the drought, with 225 cases so far this month.
With Indonesia's BMKG weather agency warning of little respite in the weeks ahead, "we will have to work even harder on mitigation and preparing for a potentially very severe situation", said Iwansyah.
This includes stocking up on medicines and equipment at clinics and intensifying surveys of water and air quality.
"Hopefully there will be rain between now and November," Iwansyah said.
- The hamlet head - 
For Yonas, deputy head of the Lintang Batang hamlet outside Pontianak, the priority is firefighting equipment.
"The residents here even pooled money to buy a (water pump) machine and hoses, and other equipment," he told AFP on Sunday night while battling a peatland fire that had been raging for four days, emitting acrid smoke. 
"We're still short of hoses, which makes it hard for us to extinguish this fire."
Volunteer firefighters were using "whatever we have. Sometimes we use buckets, and even those aren't enough", said Yonas, adding that the teams were also in need of food and protective gear, including masks.
He said the smoke posed a danger especially for children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with asthma.
Scientific observations show the haze contains levels of toxic small particle pollution far exceeding the World Health Organization's recommended safe limit.
"It's very hazardous to the health of us who live in this village," said Yonas.
mlr/lga/hol

religion

Eiffel Tower closed in row over women removed for Hindu group

BY CHARLOTTE DESSOLIN AND SHAHZAD ABDUL

  • - Hindu nationalist ties - The Tower, which receives nearly seven million visitors a year according to its website, was closed all day on Monday, but will open as normal on Tuesday according to a staff representative.
  • The Eiffel Tower was closed on Monday because of a strike by staff over the removal of female colleagues during a visit by a Hindu religious group, workers and management said.
  • - Hindu nationalist ties - The Tower, which receives nearly seven million visitors a year according to its website, was closed all day on Monday, but will open as normal on Tuesday according to a staff representative.
The Eiffel Tower was closed on Monday because of a strike by staff over the removal of female colleagues during a visit by a Hindu religious group, workers and management said.
The visit came on the same day as a cultural boat procession on the Seine organised by the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) spiritual movement.
In a statement, Eiffel Tower staff condemned "professional instructions that led to female employees being sidelined, replaced and made invisible because of their sex" during the visit by the delegation.
"Instructions were given to female employees of the Eiffel Tower and to female employees of contractors to make themselves invisible in order to welcome this delegation," the staff said in their statement, adding they were shocked to have been put in such a situation.
"Some were asked to leave their posts and withdraw to other areas. In some posts they were replaced by men. And all female employees were instructed not to go through or cross certain areas while the delegation was present."
The operating company that runs the Paris landmark, SETE, acknowledged that the Hindu delegation had requested the visit be organised so as to limit "interactions with women" and said that "these conditions should not have been accepted".
The conditions "were not in line with SETE's values, nor with the principles of equality between men and women," the company said, promising to accept the "consequences".
"It is clearly not an acceptable practice," SETE president Ariel Weil, who is also a socialist elected official in Paris, told AFP.
"I restate the Eiffel Tower's commitment to republican values and to the equality of men and women."
The French capital's socialist mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said on X it was "unacceptable" that the Tower management agreed to the delegation's conditions, and said an investigation would be launched.

Hindu nationalist ties

The Tower, which receives nearly seven million visitors a year according to its website, was closed all day on Monday, but will open as normal on Tuesday according to a staff representative.
BAPS, which is close to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling conservative Hindu nationalist party, consecrated its first major temple in France on Sunday, near Paris.
French Equality Minister Aurore Berge reacted angrily on X.
"In France, we do not ask women to erase themselves. No dogma, no religion is above the laws of the Republic," she wrote.
Far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen also criticised the incident, saying France would "never accept that women's presence be 'limited'".
Gabriel Attal, a centrist rival to become president, said that "in France, no culture, no belief, no religion, nothing and no one can come and dictate to women what their place should be".
bur-pdw/rlp/cms

US

Macron, SKorea leader warn at film summit of AI risks to creativity

BY JEREMY TORDJMAN

  • Lee said that artificial intelligence should develop in "a more responsible and human-centred way". 
  • French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday called for cinema to be protected in the age of artificial intelligence and streaming platforms, as he hosted a summit with global entertainment chiefs including major US studio bosses.
  • Lee said that artificial intelligence should develop in "a more responsible and human-centred way". 
French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday called for cinema to be protected in the age of artificial intelligence and streaming platforms, as he hosted a summit with global entertainment chiefs including major US studio bosses.
Hollywood favourite George Clooney brought some of his star power to the event, which brought together more than 200 guests from dozens of countries, including top executives from US studios such as Sony Pictures and Disney.
Called the Lumiere summit, in a nod to Auguste and Louis Lumiere, the French brothers considered the inventors of the motion picture, the event took place in the medieval village of Saint-Paul-de-Vence near Nice and was co-chaired by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung. 
South Korea is home to some of the world's most celebrated filmmakers, including Park Chan-wook, who chaired the Cannes film festival jury this year, and Bong Joon-ho, the Oscar-winning director of "Parasite".
The organisers hope the event at the Maeght Foundation for contemporary art will help spur action to support the film industry, which has been weakened by falling cinema attendance and competition from streaming platforms.
Both Macron and Lee warned about the advance of AI.
"We would be making a tremendous mistake if this technology became a tool that replaces, or claims to replace, creators," Macron said.
Lee said that artificial intelligence should develop in "a more responsible and human-centred way". 
"The film and audiovisual industry must be rooted in human creativity and must resonate with human emotions," he said.

'Elephant in the room'

The leaders of France and South Korea also said their countries would invest one billion euros ($1.15 billion) to support independent filmmaking.
"May this partnership transcend our bilateral relationship and reach across the globe," Lee said.
An informed source said half the money would come from France's state investment bank Bpifrance, and the rest from South Korea.
Macron also announced the creation of an organisation, with a budget of 30 million euros, aimed at supporting independent cinema.
Film stars including Pedro Almodovar and Juliette Binoche joined remotely for the launch.
Executives from streaming giant Netflix and social media platform TikTok attended the event.
But key players such as YouTube and Meta, the parent company of Instagram, declined invitations. 
"The elephant in the room is really YouTube," TF1 chief executive Rodolphe Belmer said.
Leading generative AI companies were also absent.
They have been accused by rights holders of using film and audiovisual works to train their models without permission.
Gaetan Bruel, head of France's National Cinema Centre (CNC), which helped organise the gathering, said it was time for "concrete measures", even if it was impossible "to solve every problem in a single day". 
He called for "a new multilateralism" in the industry, saying "that means tackling these issues using the same approach that was applied to climate change."
The director of the Cannes Film Festival, Thierry Fremaux, praised the event.
"The value of this summit lies in creating that meeting place, where the format itself helps drive the discussion," he said.
Fremaux sounded upbeat, saying cinema has been experiencing one of the strongest years since Covid.
"During the pandemic, people got used to watching films at home and wondered whether cinemas were still necessary," he said. "But audiences have come back, and younger viewers are returning to the cinema."
jt-as/ekf/pdw

US

Lebanon says Israel conducts wave of deadly strikes

BY MAHMOUD ZAYYAT

  • A later strike on Rihan, also in the south but further from the border with Israel, killed one person, while a strike on the city of Nabatieh wounded nine including two children and three women.
  • Israel conducted a wave of airstrikes in south Lebanon, killing 13 people including women and children, the Lebanese health ministry said on Monday, in an intensification of violence after a weeks-long lull.
  • A later strike on Rihan, also in the south but further from the border with Israel, killed one person, while a strike on the city of Nabatieh wounded nine including two children and three women.
Israel conducted a wave of airstrikes in south Lebanon, killing 13 people including women and children, the Lebanese health ministry said on Monday, in an intensification of violence after a weeks-long lull.
Israel's military vowed to continue targeting Hezbollah, accusing the Iran-backed militants of repeated violations of a ceasefire in place since June.
Hezbollah has not commented on the threat, or on the escalation in strikes seen in recent days.
Israel hit swathes of south Lebanon hard during the Middle East war that erupted with joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran, and its forces continue to occupy what it calls a "security zone". 
One of the overnight strikes hit a building in the town of Kfar Rumman, killing 11 people, including two children and four women.
Another attack in the same town killed a rescuer and wounded another, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
A later strike on Rihan, also in the south but further from the border with Israel, killed one person, while a strike on the city of Nabatieh wounded nine including two children and three women.
Israel has been intensifying strikes in the southern Nabatieh area after saying on Thursday that it had seized the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge from Hezbollah, a claim the Iran-backed group has not commented on.
The Israeli military in a statement said it had struck Hezbollah "infrastructure sites" across southern Lebanon after the launch of two explosive drones towards its troops, as well as "several terrorists" it said were transferring weapons.
The army said it "will continue to operate to remove threats while remaining committed to the ceasefire agreement".
In a separate statement, it said it killed a Hezbollah member in the area of the Beaufort fortress who opened fire on its troops from inside a building, and that "during the close-quarters encounter, two IDF soldiers were lightly injured". 

School books in the rubble

Fighting in Lebanon, which erupted in March after Hezbollah targeted Israel in support of Iran, had decreased since a June memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran on the wider Middle East war and an Israel-Lebanon framework agreement later that month.
On Monday, Israel's foreign ministry accused Hezbollah of "repeated drone attacks" and "attempting to rebuild its military capabilities in southern Lebanon".
The ministry said Hezbollah had violated the ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel that includes disarmament of the group.
The rescuer who was killed was just 18 years old, according to his civil defence organisation which is affiliated with the Amal movement, a political ally of Hezbollah.
An AFP photographer saw the building that was hit in Kfar Rumman had been destroyed, with school books and remnants of furniture strewn across the rubble.
Rescue teams were searching the debris on Monday morning for other victims.
Villagers had returned home following the June truce after being displaced by the war.
"Since we returned here, we've lived in fear," Fouad Chakaron told AFP.
He insisted the targeted building was inhabited by "peaceful people with no connection to anyone".
Neighbours fled after the strike, which also damaged nearby buildings, AFP's photographer said. 
The NNA later reported additional strikes on the Nabatieh area, and controlled detonations of unexploded munitions in at least two parts of the south.

'I couldn't believe it'

Israel issued no warning to Kfar Rumman before the strikes but released an evacuation order ahead of a separate attack in nearby Deir Zahrani.
The Israeli military said in an Arabic-language message that it was targeting a "Hezbollah terrorist facility", warning that those who remained in the area were at risk.
"They called me at 2:00 am and told me to get out of the house because it is being targeted," resident Abbas Toufeili told AFP, referring to the Israeli army.
"I said that's impossible, why is my house being targeted? There's nothing in it. I couldn't believe it."
He said he took his wife, children and elderly mother outside in their pyjamas and they stood on the street watching their house be destroyed.
On Sunday, Israeli strikes killed seven people. Attacks on Friday killed four.
The Israeli army has said it is responding to Hezbollah's launch of two drones towards its soldiers inside Lebanon, but did not specify whether any of its troops were wounded.
Hezbollah has not claimed any attack since June 20.
Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion of Lebanon have killed more than 4,300 people since March, Beirut says.
Israeli forces are operating inside a self-declared "security zone" around 10 kilometres (six miles) deep inside Lebanon along the border.
On Sunday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged Washington and the international community to help stop Israeli attacks.
bur-ris/nad/jsa

demonstration

UK PM denounces 'politics of poison' after anti-migrant protests

  • It's a solemn responsibility to prevent the politics of poison seeping into our streets," he was quoted as saying.
  • British Prime Minister Andy Burnham urged his Labour Party lawmakers to stop the "politics of poison seeping into our streets" after demonstrators tried to block the arrival of migrants, a media report said Monday.
  • It's a solemn responsibility to prevent the politics of poison seeping into our streets," he was quoted as saying.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham urged his Labour Party lawmakers to stop the "politics of poison seeping into our streets" after demonstrators tried to block the arrival of migrants, a media report said Monday.
The protest took place in a part of southern England that authorities fear is becoming a new route for small boat crossings.
Speaking to parliamentarians in a closed-door meeting, Burnham said the party's mission must be to counter "fear with positivity and hope", the PA news agency reported.
"We have a responsibility in the times that we're living in. It's a solemn responsibility to prevent the politics of poison seeping into our streets," he was quoted as saying.
Thousands of asylum seekers have crossed the Channel on rudimentary vessels in recent years, usually between Calais and Dover where the distance between the French and English coasts is shortest.
On Sunday, Britain's coastguard rescued a boat carrying 140 people that French authorities said had departed from Baie de Seine in Normandy, a couple of hundred kilometres southwest of Calais.
Later, some 200 demonstrators, many dressed in black and wearing face coverings, disrupted the disembarkation of the migrants in Portsmouth, Hampshire, far west of Dover.
They blocked roads while police officers equipped with riot shields formed a security cordon around buses intended to take the migrants to a processing centre, footage on social media showed.
The crowd dispersed around 4:00 am (0300 GMT) and the migrants were successfully transported, officials said.
"We condemn the intimidating and thuggish behaviour we saw in Portsmouth last night," a spokesperson for the UK interior ministry, known as the Home Office, said in a statement.
"The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to our democracy but it must never cross a line into disorder."
Sunday night's demonstration was the second significant anti-migrant disorder of the weekend after large crowds of masked men blocked access to the Port of Dover for several hours on Saturday.
Both gatherings were organized by a group called Patriot Platform, started by Daniel Thomas, also known as Danny Tommo, an associate of far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
Thomas filmed and livestreamed both events on social media.

'Not equipped'

Arrivals of small boats in the county of Hampshire are rare.
"Extremely concerning to see an illegal migrant crossing this far west," local Conservative lawmaker Joe Robertson wrote in a post on X.
"We need to know exactly what happened and if new routes are being used for mega-dinghies by people smugglers."
Donna Jones, police and crime commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight police, said in a statement that Portsmouth "is not equipped to receive and process people entering the country this way".
"The government needs to ensure the southern coast of Britain is secure to prevent this from happening again," she added, saying that Sunday night's scenes had "put pressure on resources, particularly policing".
A UK government official told reporters there was "no evidence" at this stage to suggest that smugglers running the crossings had changed their strategy.  
Britain has been grappling with how to curb the perilous small boat journeys, which have seen tens of thousands of asylum seekers arriving annually on southeast England's coast since in recent years.
The crossings, often of people fleeing war and famine, have been seized on by the hard-right Reform UK party, which has made gains since breaking through at the 2024 general election.
The Labour government insists it is making progress tackling the issue, in part because of co-operation deals with the French government and a tightening of the asylum system.
According to Home Office data, 16,513 irregular migrants have crossed the Channel since the beginning of the year, down about 40 percent compared to the same period in 2025.
Last week, Burnham announced the deployment of 45 additional officers to French beaches to help combat an increase in the number of passengers per boat.
The vast majority of migrants to Britain arrive via legal routes, government data shows.
mhc-pdh-har/rlp

trade

Panama Canal considering more cuts in transits due to El Nino

BY JUAN JOSé RODRíGUEZ

  • Ilya Espino de Marotta, who took over as head of the Panama Canal Authority on Monday, told AFP that further measures may be implemented if the drought does not subside.
  • The number of ships sailing through the Panama Canal could be cut further due to drought caused by the El Nino weather pattern, the new administrator of the waterway told AFP on Monday.
  • Ilya Espino de Marotta, who took over as head of the Panama Canal Authority on Monday, told AFP that further measures may be implemented if the drought does not subside.
The number of ships sailing through the Panama Canal could be cut further due to drought caused by the El Nino weather pattern, the new administrator of the waterway told AFP on Monday.
Panama has declared a nationwide emergency over El Nino, a phenomenon developing over the Pacific Ocean that is affecting worldwide weather patterns and pushing up global temperatures.
This year's El Nino is expected to be the strongest since record-keeping began four decades ago.
Panama's restrictions come even as use of the canal has risen: shippers are seeking an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has blocked in retaliation for the war launched by the United States and Israel.
The interoceanic Panama Canal -- which handles five percent of global maritime trade -- has already reduced the maximum number of ships allowed through daily, from 36 last month to 32 by mid-September.
It operates using rainwater that collects in two reservoirs, whose levels have dropped due to the onset of El Nino.
Without water, the locks that lift and lower ships at the start and end of their crossing cannot function.
Ilya Espino de Marotta, who took over as head of the Panama Canal Authority on Monday, told AFP that further measures may be implemented if the drought does not subside.
"We do not rule out the possibility that in February or March we may have to lower the limit -- probably not to 24 slots per day, but it could be reduced to 29 or something similar," she said.

200 mn liters per ship

Each ship requires about 200 million liters of water, which is then discharged into the sea.
In 2023, El Nino forced a reduction in daily transits from 38 to 22 due to the dramatic reduction in reservoir levels.
Espino de Marotta, the first woman ever to head the US-built canal authority, stated, however, that she does not expect restrictions to reach the levels seen that year.
Apart from reducing the number of vessels, canal authorities have also reduced their maximum draft, from 15.2 meters to 14.6 meters (50 feet to 48 feet).
The draft is the vertical distance between the waterline and the lowest point of a ship's hull. It is a measure of how much water is needed for a ship to float safely without running aground.
Experts have warned that long-term restrictions on canal crossings could lead to higher shipping costs and longer waiting times for deliveries.
The United States and China are the main users of the canal, which is the fastest maritime route between the east coast of the United States and China.
The canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific handles around 40 percent of US container traffic.
The Iran war has pushed up traffic through the channel.
With shipping at a standstill in the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for a fifth of the world's oil and gas, the Panama Canal has become a fallback route for energy shipments.
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