Global Edition

South Africa votes in local polls set to test ANC grip on power

UN

Climate adaptation aid must rise tenfold: UN

BY DELPHINE PAYSANT AND LAURENT THOMET

  • Not." -- estimates the needs of developing countries for adaptation at $305 billion per year by 2035.
  • Developing countries will need $305 billion a year by 2035 to adapt to a worsening climate crisis, nearly 10 times what they currently receive from wealthy nations, a new UN report said Wednesday.
  • Not." -- estimates the needs of developing countries for adaptation at $305 billion per year by 2035.
Developing countries will need $305 billion a year by 2035 to adapt to a worsening climate crisis, nearly 10 times what they currently receive from wealthy nations, a new UN report said Wednesday.
Climate finance is set to be a hot-button issue again when negotiators from nearly 200 countries gather at the UN's COP31 climate summit in Antalya, Turkey, from November 9 to 20.
Under UN climate agreements, developed countries, which are historically responsible for most greenhouse gas emissions, are expected to financially help developing nations adapt to climate impacts and transition to cleaner sources of energy.
Adaptation finance is aimed at protecting countries from a changing climate, with measures ranging from building sea walls and levees to planting drought-resistant crops or making homes more resilient to natural disasters.
"The latest Adaptation Gap Report exposes a staggering shortfall. For every dollar developing countries need to adapt, they receive just 10 cents," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.
"We know who is most at risk. We know what works. What is missing is the money -- and the political will. The choice is simple: invest in adaptation today –- or pay for catastrophe tomorrow," he said.
 

Tripling pledge

 
The report -- titled "Ready? Not." -- estimates the needs of developing countries for adaptation at $305 billion per year by 2035.
Developed countries provided between $28.2 billion and $31.7 billion in 2024, only a modest increase from the previous year.
The figures fell short of a commitment made at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 to double adaptation finance from 2019 levels by 2025, to reach $40 billion annually.
At COP30 in Brazil last year, countries adopted a final agreement that included a call for efforts to triple adaptation finance by 2035.
But UNEP's report said the tripling "is less ambitious than it first appears" as the funds would increase to somewhere between $85 billion and $120 billion per year, depending on how the COP30 decision is interpreted.
Even if the COP30 aspiration is achieved, it would only cover 20 to 29 percent of what is needed to deal with intensifying climate impacts, UNEP said.
The report also addresses a "loss and damage" fund that was agreed at COP27 in Egypt in 2022 to help vulnerable countries recover from climate-linked natural disasters.
The first funding round generated requests worth $2.8 billion, much higher than an initial envelope of $342 million, but UNEP said the financing gap is unknown so far.
The fund moved last month to provide $20 million in aid sought by flood-stricken Nepal, the first time it has set aside money for any country.
 

'Not ready to adapt'

 
The report said 2026 provided "stark reminders" that climate change affects everyone, from extreme heat and wildfires in Europe to the catastrophic glacial flooding in Nepal.
UNEP has also warned that global efforts have fallen short of preventing temperatures from exceeding 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, the more ambitious limit set by the 2015 Paris Agreement to avert the worst impacts of climate change.
"The world is not ready to adapt to current climatic conditions, never mind what overshoot of 1.5C will bring," UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said in a statement.
Andersen urged countries at COP31 to focus on intensifying efforts to triple adaptation finance by 2035, "while understanding that they will need to go even higher to save lives, avoid losses and damages and protect economies".
Koaile Monaheng, climate finance expert at Greenpeace, said governments must "immediately" boost grant-based funding to meet the tripling goal by 2035.
"Every delay in adaptation funding turns climate impacts into catastrophic losses and damages," Monaheng said.
dep-lt/np/cw
 

EU

After Trump's midterm bashing, Europe watches for shifts

BY MAX DELANY

  • Throw in as well the unpredictable situation in Israel, where Trump ally Benjamin Netanyahu is engaged in his own post-election horse-trading.
  • There may be jubilation in Europe after a stunning rout of the Republicans in the US midterm elections left President Donald Trump weakened.
  • Throw in as well the unpredictable situation in Israel, where Trump ally Benjamin Netanyahu is engaged in his own post-election horse-trading.
There may be jubilation in Europe after a stunning rout of the Republicans in the US midterm elections left President Donald Trump weakened.
But there are no guarantees that the political earthquake will change key US policies.  
Here are the areas Europeans will be watching for a shift:
 

Trump reined in?

 
After a rollercoaster of tariffs, trashing Ukraine, and threats to Greenland, diplomats in Brussels were welcoming the results.  
"There is relief here that this is the beginning of the end of the Trump era and nobody is happier than Europeans," one diplomat told AFP, granted anonymity like others to discuss the issue. 
The first expectation appears that the Democratic victories could help rein in Trump and begin righting the ship -- at least at home.
"Hope is that with checks and balances some confidence will come back in the US system," said a second senior EU diplomat.
But there is also a clear sense that America's inward turn under Trump is unlikely to halt.
"If anything the US will turn even more inwards and focus on the domestic political fight between the White House and the Congress," a third diplomat said.
Meanwhile on the international stage Trump should still have a freer hand -- and get even more aggressive.
"Trump still has executive powers and has been ignoring Congress," the same diplomat said.
 

Ukraine 

 
Despite the caution, Europe dearly wants to see a shift in Washington's approach to the war in Ukraine.
Ahead of the midterms, Trump yet again lashed out at Ukraine and cosied up to Russia as Washington has renewed its push to end the fighting.
The Democrat win will now usher in a more vocal pro-Kyiv majority in Congress that could pressure Trump to change tack. 
But there is little hope that the United States will go back to being a major financial backer for Ukraine. 
Officials in Brussels say they are focused on plugging a 70-billion-euro ($79 billion) hole in Kyiv's finances next year. 
And while they're pushing other countries such as Britain, Canada and Japan to do more, they are certainly not counting on the United States.
 

Iran

 
As the impact of Trump's Iran war continues to send inflation up in Europe, the continent is anxiously eyeing what happens next in the Middle East. 
But with Washington carrying out fresh strikes in recent days, there are fears that the situation could escalate again now the midterms have passed. 
Throw in as well the unpredictable situation in Israel, where Trump ally Benjamin Netanyahu is engaged in his own post-election horse-trading.
 

Troops

 
At NATO, Washington's European allies are nervously waiting for the results of a Pentagon review of US forces on the continent that looks set to be unveiled in December.
Multiple diplomats have previously said they do not expect the midterms to impact the result.
Now with the Democrats threatening to go after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, one of the most aggressive voices on Europe could be under fire at the Pentagon.
Despite that, Europeans remain clear-eyed and insist they are not backing down on efforts to take more responsibility for their own security.
 

Tariffs 

 
One of Europe's major bugbears with Trump are the tariffs he's imposed. 
Getting him to backtrack on one of his centrepiece economic policies seems unlikely. 
Democrats seeking to bring down inflation could try to roll back some of the measures. 
But some look likely to stick around.  
In a recent poll from the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations, only one quarter of Americans backed removing all the tariffs on the EU. 
 

Digital

 
Another area of conflict has been Trump's opposition to the EU efforts to curb big tech.
Now with the Democrats pledging to crack down on the power of Silicon valley -- Europe is hoping it won't face such strong headwinds.
"We will not change our enforcement of our digital rules, and we don't expect changes on such issues with the White House," an EU official told AFP.  
"But we expect more room to discuss, to cooperate with Congress on global shared challenges" such as AI and cyber security.  
del/ec/st

Global Edition

Israel president urges compromise after divisive election

BY SHAUN TANDON

  • More than a week after Israel's first election since the trauma of the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas, President Isaac Herzog was beginning consultations with party leaders as he decides whether to give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or his rival Gadi Eisenkot the first chance to form a government in the deeply polarised country.
  • Israel's president on Wednesday urged political leaders to compromise in forming a government after an election he said had no clear winner and condemned "racist" rhetoric against Arab parties.
  • More than a week after Israel's first election since the trauma of the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas, President Isaac Herzog was beginning consultations with party leaders as he decides whether to give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or his rival Gadi Eisenkot the first chance to form a government in the deeply polarised country.
Israel's president on Wednesday urged political leaders to compromise in forming a government after an election he said had no clear winner and condemned "racist" rhetoric against Arab parties.
More than a week after Israel's first election since the trauma of the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas, President Isaac Herzog was beginning consultations with party leaders as he decides whether to give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or his rival Gadi Eisenkot the first chance to form a government in the deeply polarised country.
With neither bloc holding a majority in the 120-seat parliament after the October 27 vote, Herzog said both sides needed to accept that "not every commitment and promise can be fulfilled" and to avoid new elections.
"In the current reality, in which there is no clear winner after the elections, I ask for originality and creativity, courage and goodwill, so that the State of Israel emerges the winner," Herzog said as he formally received the election results.
The election saw soaring support for lists from the Arab minority, descendants of Palestinians who stayed in Israel after its 1948 creation and who have largely been outraged by the harsh rhetoric and actions of Netanyahu's hard-right government.
Netanyahu has gone on the offensive against Arab-majority lists, who have the power to put Eisenkot in power if they team up.
Netanyahu has pointed to the arrests of several people with envelopes of cash on election day in what authorities called localised incidents and accused leaders of accepting money from Qatar, an allegation also levelled against the prime minister's own aides.
Without naming any leader, Herzog, whose role is usually ceremonial, said he had "great respect" for the Arab minority, which makes up around 20 percent of Israel's population. 
"I condemn the coarseness and racist expressions that we have heard recently. There is no place for them toward any community in Israel," Herzog said.
 

No evidence found

 
The Central Elections Committee said it had conducted an audit of 9,069 polling stations following complaints and found no evidence that would question the results' integrity.
Justice Noam Sohlberg, who heads the committee, said authorities would keep investigating allegations but that they would not fundamentally change the results.
Warning not to erode democracy, Sohlberg said: "There is one thing on which we must agree: election results, as lawfully determined, are binding on us all."
The election committee, which reflects the makeup of the outgoing parliament, formally approved the results with 15 members in favour and two against but 14 others abstaining. 
Itamar Ben Gvir, the ultranationalist national security minister known for his provocative calls for Palestinian suffering, said his party did not accept the results and he urged the arrest of Arab-Israeli party leaders.
Eisenkot, a former military chief trying to unite centrists and the centre-right and turn the page on Netanyahu's long, divisive reign, has accused the prime minister's Likud party of attempting a "pogrom against democracy".
 

 Buoyed by US elections

 
Eisenkot had earlier warned Netanyahu against launching a new war with his close ally US President Donald Trump against Iran, which could help the Israeli prime minister push for a unity government or to run out the clock until new elections.
Opposition lawmakers said Tuesday's midterm elections in the United States, in which Democrats trounced Trump's Republicans, reinforced the need to remove Netanyahu.
Democrats have vowed a tougher line on Israel amid outrage over the devastation wrought by the war in Gaza. Trump said as voting was underway that he had agreed with Netanyahu to end nearly $4 billion in annual US military aid to Israel by the end of the year.
"The continued tenure of Netanyahu and Ben Gvir could lead Israel down a path of international sanctions, international isolation and a clash with the US, our friend and most important ally," said Yair Golan, who heads the most left-wing party within the opposition bloc.
Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister who has been in power on and off for nearly two decades, has called for a "broad national government" -- with himself at the top. He faces corruption charges that could land him in jail if he leaves office.
Herzog's statements have raised speculation that he could sound out leaders on a possible unity government, but Eisenkot and his allies have ruled that out.
Herzog will hold an initial two days of consultations and then give a contender 28 days to form a government, with a potential 14-day extension.
It took Netanyahu, who at the time had a better showing by Likud, 58 days to form a government after the last election in November 2022.
Israel held five elections between 2019 and 2022 after repeated deadlocks.
bur-sct/acc/dcp

history

Hungary opens communist-era informer files

BY ANDRAS ROSTOVANYI

  • In 2002, weeks after becoming prime minister, socialist politician Peter Medgyessy became embroiled in scandal after it was revealed that he had worked as a communist era secret agent.
  • Hungary on Wednesday released communist-era secret police files identifying tens of thousands of former informants in a move spearheaded by Prime Minister Peter Magyar.
  • In 2002, weeks after becoming prime minister, socialist politician Peter Medgyessy became embroiled in scandal after it was revealed that he had worked as a communist era secret agent.
Hungary on Wednesday released communist-era secret police files identifying tens of thousands of former informants in a move spearheaded by Prime Minister Peter Magyar.
Since Hungary's democratic transition in 1990, efforts to open  communist-era archives had repeatedly stalled, with critics blaming successive governments' reluctance to implicate public figures across the political spectrum.
Magyar, who ousted long-time nationalist premier Viktor Orban in April on the promise of "regime change", pressed ahead with a bill in September to grant the public unrestricted access to the records for the first time.
"After 36 years, we are finally fulfilling what was once one of the key promises of the 1990 regime change –- a promise that was later denied and lied about," Magyar told a media briefing at the state security archives.
"For decades, restrictions on public access provided opportunities for political hysteria, blackmail, the exertion of pressure, silencing," he said.
A digitalised, searchable database containing names and records related to an estimated 50,000-60,000 former informants came online at 10:00 am (0900 GMT).
Ahead of the publication, rumours had circulated that Orban was an informant -- but his name did not appear in the archives.
 

Network of informants

 
A second batch of files, giving more details on about 9,000 of the informants, will be  released in February.
Some personal information, including details on individuals' sexual orientation, will be redacted.
Hungary was under one-party communist rule between 1949 and 1989 that repressed dissent.
Much like in East Germany and other parts of the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc during the Cold War, authorities employed an extensive network of informants to monitor public sentiment.
Individuals, often recruited through coercion, were tasked with reporting on colleagues, friends and even relatives for signs of disloyalty towards the regime.
Secret police employed a total of 150,000 informants during the four decades, according to estimates from the state security archives, but records survive for only around a third of them.
Many files are believed to have been destroyed during the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, or hidden during the months-long peaceful transition to democracy.
Some are believed to have been taken to Moscow. 
Debates over opening the archives have dogged Hungarian politics since the fall of communism.
In 2002, weeks after becoming prime minister, socialist politician Peter Medgyessy became embroiled in scandal after it was revealed that he had worked as a communist era secret agent.
 

'Some hysteria'

 
The case prompted fresh calls for transparency, with parliament adopting a law in 2003, which allowed individuals who had been monitored to learn who had reported on them.
However, broader access remained restricted to researchers, who had to gain permission from the state security archives until the latest reform.
Historian Laszlo Eorsi from the 1956 Institute Foundation told AFP the release was "better late than never". 
"We are getting access to much more information than before about who the authorities have recruited and how the security apparatus worked back then," he said.
However, historians have cautioned against judging anyone just because their names are on the list of informants.
"I know of quite a few examples when someone was recruited, but they did not make a report, but in fact took a huge risk by turning against the authorities. Some even could be considered proper heroes," Eorsi stressed.
He predicted the release would trigger public and private revelations.
"This could cause some hysteria in the coming months," he said, adding the release of the second batch of files should clear up some misunderstandings.
ros/fec/tw

immigration

China seeks arrest of five Uyghurs held in Thailand: Bangkok

BY THANAPORN PROMYAMYAI AND NAPAT KONGSAWAD

  • "These five have arrest warrants in China and they have no refugee status," Chaipruak Doungprapat, secretary-general of Thailand's National Security Council, told reporters on Wednesday.
  • Five Uyghurs detained in Thailand since 2014 are subject to Chinese arrest warrants, the kingdom's security chief said Wednesday, adding that a court would decide if they would be returned to China.
  • "These five have arrest warrants in China and they have no refugee status," Chaipruak Doungprapat, secretary-general of Thailand's National Security Council, told reporters on Wednesday.
Five Uyghurs detained in Thailand since 2014 are subject to Chinese arrest warrants, the kingdom's security chief said Wednesday, adding that a court would decide if they would be returned to China.
Human rights groups have raised concerns about the men -- members of the Muslim minority group who activists say are persecuted in China -- after two of them were pardoned by Thailand last month.
They were among more than 300 Uyghurs held in Thailand in 2014, most of whom have since left -- including a group of around 40 sent last year to China, a move that sparked international outrage.
The five were jailed for trying to escape immigration detention in 2020 and under Thai law have to serve their sentences before deportation.
Two of them were pardoned last month and are in immigration detention awaiting their fate.
"These five have arrest warrants in China and they have no refugee status," Chaipruak Doungprapat, secretary-general of Thailand's National Security Council, told reporters on Wednesday.
He said that if China requests their extradition, Thailand's foreign ministry would make an assessment and a court would then decide.
"If the court rules that they are guilty, they will be handed over under the extradition treaty," Chaipruak said.
"If they win, it depends on whether any (other) country is willing to take them."
Asked Wednesday about the fate of the five men, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning did not provide details.
"China and Thailand's cooperation in combating cross-border criminal activities such as illegal immigration is in line with the two countries' laws, international law and international practice," she said.
 

'Grave risks'

 
Thailand is not a party to the UN Refugee Convention, but is bound by the international legal principle of non-refoulement, which bars countries from sending people back to places where their lives or freedom are in danger.
Human Rights Watch warned Wednesday that the Uyghurs faced "grave risks of torture and other serious abuses" in China, and should be allowed to travel to a safe third country.
Beijing has been accused of detaining more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslims since 2017, part of a campaign that the United Nations previously said could constitute crimes against humanity.
China vehemently denies these allegations, saying its policies have boosted economic development and rooted out extremism in the Xinjiang region, where most Uyghurs are from.
In letters written by the two pardoned men and shared with AFP by Peace Rights Foundation, which provides them legal representation, they said they do not want to return to China.
"If we go back to China, we and our parents must receive death sentence(s)," one letter says.
"The Uyghur people have no human rights and are treated lower than animals."
It adds: "China is slandering us. We aren't terrorist(s)."
 

'Rather die'

 
Thailand's foreign ministry did not immediately reply to emailed questions from AFP.
But a ministry official told a parliament committee on September 16 that both China and a Western country had requested five detained Uyghurs be sent to them, according to parliamentary minutes.
Kannavee Suebsang, chairman of Peace Rights Foundation, said defence lawyers have not been given access to the two pardoned men since October 21 when they were moved to immigration custody.
The pair told a Thai human rights commissioner on Wednesday that they want to be resettled in a third country, Kannavee told AFP.
"They refuse to return to China and would rather die first."
tp-npk-sco/ar/ami

accident

Spain PM names temporary transport minister after deadly crash

  • The right-wing opposition, which had demanded Puente's resignation, and unions had criticised Puente for appearing to blame for the disaster on one control centre operator.
  • Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday named a temporary replacement for transport minister Oscar Puente who resigned over a train disaster that killed 69 people.
  • The right-wing opposition, which had demanded Puente's resignation, and unions had criticised Puente for appearing to blame for the disaster on one control centre operator.
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday named a temporary replacement for transport minister Oscar Puente who resigned over a train disaster that killed 69 people.
With the country heading for a national election on November 29, Sanchez put economy minister Carlos Cuerpo in charge of transport.   
Puente quit Tuesday saying he felt he could not continue after the second major train crash in less than a year, following one in January which claimed 46 lives.
"Minister Puente has faced up to the situation, provided explanations and offered solutions to a society that was demanding them –- and also deserved them –- and has since stepped aside," Sanchez said.
He added that Cuerpo would take interim charge of the transport folio through to the election, which polls indicate the ruling Socialist party could lose.
"As head of the government I accept (Puente's) decision with gratitude and respect," said Sanchez, saluting Puente's "political dignity."
He added that "the government will continue to do everything in its power to assist those affected by this terrible accident, and to restore normality to our high-speed rail service."
The right-wing opposition, which had demanded Puente's resignation, and unions had criticised Puente for appearing to blame for the disaster on one control centre operator.
A high-speed express operated by state-owned Renfe ploughed into the back of a stationary train belonging to the private company Iryo last Wednesday outside the village of Urda, around 130 kilometres (80 miles) south of Madrid.
The failure of an automatic safety system halted all trains on a 63 km stretch of track, but a control centre authorised the Renfe train to resume its journey, according to authorities.
bur-rs/cw
 
 
 

technology

Democratic victories cloud outlook for AI data center rollout

BY THéO MARIE-COURTOIS

  • Democrats gained key strongholds such as Texas, where both the Senate and governorship were won by candidates backing greater data center regulation.
  • Strong wins for Democratic candidates threaten the prospects for energy-guzzling data centers in key US states, potentially slowing the AI rollout that has carried Wall Street forward over the past four years.
  • Democrats gained key strongholds such as Texas, where both the Senate and governorship were won by candidates backing greater data center regulation.
Strong wins for Democratic candidates threaten the prospects for energy-guzzling data centers in key US states, potentially slowing the AI rollout that has carried Wall Street forward over the past four years.
The prospect of stricter regulation was weighing on stocks in AI heavyweights such as Elon Musk's SpaceX ahead of the US markets open, after drops for key chipmakers in Asia including Samsung in South Korea.
After a campaign marked by growing concerns about the environmental impacts of data centers popping up across the United States, President Donald Trump -- an enthusiastic backer of hands-off regulation for what he calls "super intelligence" -- endured a stinging rebuke of his Republican party. 
Democrats gained key strongholds such as Texas, where both the Senate and governorship were won by candidates backing greater data center regulation.
"We need an immediate moratorium on data centers to last until the legislature can meet to put in place real protections so Texans can have a seat at the table to decide if and how data centers come into their communities," Gina Hinojosa, a lawyer who defeated outgoing Texas governor Greg Abbott, said during the campaign.
Abbott had wanted to make the Lone Star state the "nerve center" of artificial intelligence and data center development, but he has since noticeably shifted his stance amid a growing public backlash over energy and water provision.
Data centers notably require substantial amounts of fresh water to help cool servers, raising fears of localized shortages.
Hinojosa has urged an end to tax exemptions granted to the sector, as does fellow Democrat James Talarico, who was elected on Tuesday as a Texas senator.
Analysts had described the outcome in deeply conservative Texas as a crucial test for the future of AI infrastructure.
Thanks to its abundant energy supply and favorable regulatory framework, Texas is expected to account for nearly 30 percent of national demand for electricity dedicated to AI operations by 2028 -- a figure projected to rise sharply, according to calculations by Bloom Energy.
 

Safer in space?

 
Alphabet, the parent of Google, has announced plans to build several data centers in Texas, and Musk -- who spent hundreds of millions of dollars supporting the Republican camp -- has moved the headquarters of his flagship companies, Tesla, SpaceX and X, to the state.
"Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now," Musk quipped after the vote, referring to his goal of a satellite computing network.
But investors are increasingly concerned that tougher regulations will make it harder for AI firms to make money off their massive investments. 
"Democratic opposition to rapid data-center expansion could focus on power use, environmental constraints, local infrastructure strain, competition policy and the social consequences of AI deployment," said Patrick Munnelly, market strategist at the brokerage Tickmill Group.
"None of this necessarily breaks the long-term AI theme, but it can raise the hurdle rate for investment," he said.
The regulatory impact will be greatest at state level, highlighting the role of governors in responding to voter concerns.
"Given the size of the Democrats' victory, adding Texas governorship, and a 29 to 1 lead to restrict data centers, politicians that want to remain employed as politicians are going to heed these messages" about data center concerns, veteran financial analyst Jim Bianco posted on X.
In Georgia, another state with a heavy slate of data center projects, the new Democratic governor Keisha Lance Bottoms "has advocated a temporary statewide pause on new data centers, alongside requirements intended to ensure that large customers bear the costs associated with their infrastructure," noted Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.
Amy Acton, elected Democratic governor of Ohio, is also committing to a tougher regulatory framework on the data center buildout.
tmc/myl/cw/js

cybercrime

French regional bank says cyberattack caused 'fraudulent transactions'

  • The bank, an arm of French financial services giant Credit Mutuel in western France, said the attack was "under control" and there would be "no financial consequence" for its clients. 
  • French regional bank Credit Mutuel Arkea said Wednesday it had been the victim of a cyberattack that allowed fraudulent transactions, which reports claim amounted to $133 million (118 million euros).
  • The bank, an arm of French financial services giant Credit Mutuel in western France, said the attack was "under control" and there would be "no financial consequence" for its clients. 
French regional bank Credit Mutuel Arkea said Wednesday it had been the victim of a cyberattack that allowed fraudulent transactions, which reports claim amounted to $133 million (118 million euros).
The bank, an arm of French financial services giant Credit Mutuel in western France, said the attack was "under control" and there would be "no financial consequence" for its clients. 
The institution did not give details on how the attack was carried out or who could be behind it, nor did it confirm the amount lost -- which was first publicised by independent investigator ZachXBT and widely picked up in media reports.
Companies across Europe are on heightened alert after a spate of suspected hacks of supermarket fridges and freezers in recent days caused chaos.
"Our teams mobilised immediately after detecting the attack and, as a precautionary measure, decided to temporarily suspend certain transactions in order to secure operations and prevent any further fraudulent activity," Arkea said. 
"These operations will resume shortly, under optimal security conditions, once the final checks and security measures have been completed." 
ZachXBT, an independent investigator who specialises in tracking funds on the blockchain --the system that underpins cryptocurrency transactions -- revealed the fraud on his social media accounts earlier in the week.
The anonymous online sleuth said the stolen funds had been routed through multiple accounts opened on crypto exchange platforms. 
etr-sjw/ekf/jxb

Global Edition

Democrats win US Congress in midterm rout of Trump

BY FRANKIE TAGGART WITH GREG WALTON IN DETROIT AND ELODIE SOINARD IN ATLANTA

  • The night was "a big wipeout and a strong repudiation of Donald Trump and his policies," George Washington University professor Todd Belt told AFP. - Trump on defensive - Democratic control of Congress will allow the party to pursue investigations into the Iran war, immigration enforcement and allegations of corruption, while blocking Trump's agenda and senior appointments.
  • Democrats seized control of the US Congress on Tuesday, capturing the Senate and House of Representatives in a stunning, nationwide rejection of Donald Trump set to put the brakes on the final two years of his presidency.
  • The night was "a big wipeout and a strong repudiation of Donald Trump and his policies," George Washington University professor Todd Belt told AFP. - Trump on defensive - Democratic control of Congress will allow the party to pursue investigations into the Iran war, immigration enforcement and allegations of corruption, while blocking Trump's agenda and senior appointments.
Democrats seized control of the US Congress on Tuesday, capturing the Senate and House of Representatives in a stunning, nationwide rejection of Donald Trump set to put the brakes on the final two years of his presidency.
The Democratic landslide will give the opposition power to block legislation, launch broad investigations into Trump's administration and thwart his judicial and senior government appointments.
The results reflected deep anger over living costs, tariffs and Trump's war against Iran, which has sent fuel prices soaring and compounded dissatisfaction with an already deeply unpopular president.
"I feel like I could cry right now. This is so incredibly exciting. We can get our country back," Kathy Jackoway said in Texas, celebrating a win by Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico.
Trump struck a conciliatory tone despite his history of questioning elections, telling The New York Times he was "absolutely willing" to accept the results.
"I think the Democrats did a good job, I really do," the 80-year-old told Fox News, in rare praise for his political opponents. "They fought hard."
But he sought to distance himself from his own party's poor showing, adding: "I don't view it as a hit on me."
He acknowledged that the Iran conflict had contributed to the defeat but defended the military campaign, and he suggested the rival parties could find common ground on immigration, long one of the most divisive issues of his presidency.

Republican heartland

Democrats flipped seats that had long been held by Republicans, scoring breakthroughs in South Carolina, North Carolina, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Texas and Maine.
In Maine, former logger Troy Jackson defeated longtime Republican Senator Susan Collins, the party's seventh Senate seat captured from Republicans.
In Kansas, Methodist minister Adam Hamilton became the first Democrat elected to the Senate from the reliably conservative state since 1932. Iowa had not elected a Democratic senator since 2008.
Talarico, the Texas Democrat, declared he had defeated "Goliath" in winning a Senate seat, while Gina Hinojosa unseated the state's Republican governor, Greg Abbott, ending decades of Republican rule.
Democrats also protected key Senate seats of their own, including Jon Ossoff in Georgia and an open seat in New Hampshire.
The scale of the victory grew further when Abdul El-Sayed defeated former Republican lawmaker Mike Rogers in Michigan, making him the first Muslim elected to the upper chamber of Congress.
"Michigan, we did it!" El-Sayed said in a speech at his election headquarters in Detroit.
El-Sayed won despite a last-minute curveball in his campaign when congresswoman Haley Stevens, who lost the Democratic primary to El-Sayed, came out in support of Rogers at the 11th hour.
The party's House victory saw gains across Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Arizona, North Carolina, Wisconsin and New Jersey, including districts Trump had carried comfortably in 2024.
In one closely watched bellwether, Democrat J.D. Ford ousted Republican congresswoman Victoria Spartz in Indiana, capturing a district Trump won by 17 points two years earlier.
Democrats also won Georgia's governorship, electing former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms as the first Black woman governor in US history.
Republicans had some consolation in Florida, where Trump-backed Byron Donalds became the state's first Black governor and Ashley Moody retained a Senate seat -- but only after seeing off surprisingly strong Democratic challenges.
The night was "a big wipeout and a strong repudiation of Donald Trump and his policies," George Washington University professor Todd Belt told AFP.

Trump on defensive

Democratic control of Congress will allow the party to pursue investigations into the Iran war, immigration enforcement and allegations of corruption, while blocking Trump's agenda and senior appointments.
Democratic Representative Robert Garcia, now expected to lead the powerful House Oversight Committee, warned Republicans on social media: "LAWYER UP."
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries declared Trump's MAGA movement "on the run from sea to shining sea."
Jeffries could become the first Black speaker of the House when the new Congress convenes in January.
Despite his conciliatory remarks, Trump also insisted on social media that Republicans would have won "IN A LANDSLIDE" if he had been running, though he had repeatedly urged supporters throughout the campaign to "pretend I'm on the ballot."
He also repeated his threat to use the presidential veto on Democrat-passed bills, posting a picture on social media of a red baseball cap reading just: "VETO."
bur-ft/sms/lkd/lga

Global Edition

South Africa votes in local polls set to test ANC grip on power

BY JEANETTE CHABALALA WITH AFP CORRESPONDENTS IN DURBAN, GQEBERHA AND CAPE TOWN

  •   - Coalitions -   South Africans elect municipal councillors, who choose mayors and form the administrations to run their cities.
  • South Africans voted Wednesday in a closely watched local election, with control of major cities at stake and the results set to gauge the political mood ahead of the next national vote.
  •   - Coalitions -   South Africans elect municipal councillors, who choose mayors and form the administrations to run their cities.
South Africans voted Wednesday in a closely watched local election, with control of major cities at stake and the results set to gauge the political mood ahead of the next national vote.
It comes as a weary electorate contends with crumbling infrastructure, dry taps, persistent inequality and unemployment above 30 percent, deepening public disillusionment with the political establishment.
Voting has been largely incident-free more than four hours after polls opened at 7:00 am (0500 GMT), with stations due to close at 9:00 pm.
Moses Mashaba, a 27-year-old street vendor from Johannesburg's Soweto township, said he was driven to vote by the sense that "things have been horrible".
"Sometimes we don't have water or electricity. There is also a high unemployment rate, which has been frustrating," he told AFP.
The frustrations were echoed hundreds of kilometres away in Cape Town, where Thembinkosi Somana, 50, was first in line to cast his ballot at a polling station in Langa, the city's oldest township.
"I want things to change... people must get work. People mustn't suffer," he said.
More than 29 million voters are registered but the last municipal elections in 2021 drew turnout of just 46 percent.
Some 2.6 million people were allowed to vote early on Monday and Tuesday but only 1.4 million did so, the electoral commission said.
In the port city of Gqeberha, 26-year-old Shane Jacob, who is unemployed, shared a cigarette with two friends as they watched voters go to the polling station in the working-class neighbourhood of Helenvale.
"Voting? Never, not again. I have been voting since 2018, and what did I get? Nothing," he said. "My life has not changed if anything it has gotten worse."
The African National Congress (ANC), which led the country's liberation struggle, remains projected to emerge as the largest party nationally, but polls point to a further erosion of its support.
Once the dominant force in South African politics, the party of anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela fell below 50 percent of the vote for the first time in the 2021 municipal elections. 
It suffered further losses at the 2024 national vote, securing just over 40 percent and forcing it into a power-sharing government of national unity with nine other parties.
The liberal Democratic Alliance (DA), the second-largest party, has set its sights on Johannesburg, campaigning hard to capitalise on mounting complaints about the condition of roads, uncollected rubbish and other service delivery failures in the ANC bastion.
Meanwhile, the breakaway opposition uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, led by former president Jacob Zuma, is mounting a strong challenge for the east coast port city of Durban. 
MK made a dramatic electoral breakthrough in 2024, drawing support away from the ANC to finish third nationally, with 14.5 percent of the vote.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said he was "excited, confident and encouraged" by the turnout, declaring that "our democracy is alive".
"We as government are determined to rebuild our local government structure to ensure that what was promised... become a reality," he said after casting his ballot.
 

Coalitions

 
South Africans elect municipal councillors, who choose mayors and form the administrations to run their cities.
With outright majorities far from assured in several major cities, the vote could usher in another round of complex coalition negotiations, as parties bargain over the alliances needed to govern.
Coalition rule is already a feature of local government, with 74 of the 257 municipalities governed by coalitions or minority administrations as of February 2026, according to the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection.
Final results, expected on Sunday, will offer a clearer picture of the political landscape before the next general election in 2029. 
They will also carry implications for the ANC's own future, with the party due to elect a new leader at its December 2027 conference that will help determine who leads it into the next national race.
Voters are likely to be influenced by "bread and butter issues" such as water, electricity, roads and sewage rather than political loyalties, political analyst Kingsley Makhubela said.
"People are not going to vote on sentiments," the former diplomat told AFP.
He also argued that coalition government could foster a new culture of political tolerance in South Africa's increasingly fragmented political landscape, where, for years, "the language... has been political enemies".
ho-bur/kjm

crime

Indonesia govt says ex-police chief may have committed 'treason' by wiretapping president

BY MARCHIO GORBIANO

  • Listyo had until then served as national police chief during the period of the alleged wiretapping that investigators say started in 2025.
  • Indonesia's former police chief may have committed "treason" through his alleged involvement in wiretapping President Prabowo Subianto's telephone, the government said on Wednesday.
  • Listyo had until then served as national police chief during the period of the alleged wiretapping that investigators say started in 2025.
Indonesia's former police chief may have committed "treason" through his alleged involvement in wiretapping President Prabowo Subianto's telephone, the government said on Wednesday.
Listyo Sigit Prabowo was fired from his latest post as presidential chief of staff, and arrested on Tuesday with two other senior police officials for allegedly spying on his boss and other high-profile individuals.
"What was done may have fallen into the category of being considered as leading to treason," presidential spokesman Prasetyo Hadi told reporters in Jakarta on Wednesday.
"This also constitutes actions that endanger the security of the interests of the state, including jeopardising the safety of the country's leader," he said.
Under Indonesia's criminal code, the maximum penalty for treason against the president is death by firing squad, though the country has not executed anyone in 10 years.
Government officials and politicians, journalists, NGO representatives and businesspeople were also targeted in the alleged wiretap.
The national police's top detective, Asep Safrudin, said Tuesday the surveillance operation had been conducted "without any legal basis or without any investigative or inquiry process in accordance with applicable laws".
Listyo has not commented publicly on the allegations.
Prasetyo said on Wednesday the motive was not yet known.
"When we talk about the head of state... there is a great deal of information there that is naturally very sensitive, which could endanger... the interests and the strength of the nation and the state," he said.
Prasetyo added that President Prabowo had expressed his "profound concern" about the revelations.

Pressure on president

Prabowo, a former general who took office in 2024, has come under increasing pressure over his government's handling of the economy and response to destructive wildfires.
Students and others have mounted large protests against him in recent weeks, also denouncing what they perceive as growing authoritarianism and rampant corruption.
The president's approval ratings have fallen to a record low, and he reshuffled his cabinet for a seventh time last month, appointing Listyo, 57, as his chief of staff.
The men are not related.
Listyo had until then served as national police chief during the period of the alleged wiretapping that investigators say started in 2025.
Social media users in Indonesia have speculated on the seeming volatility at the top echelons of government.
Indonesia's military chief this week ordered the deployment of thousands of troops to the capital Jakarta -- a move that has added to the disquiet.
Indonesia National Armed Forces (TNI) spokesman Muhammad Nas told AFP "the deployment of troops is a routine measure carried out to ensure the operational readiness of the TNI."
Analyst Khairul Fahmi of Indonesia's Institute for Security and Strategic Studies (ISESS) told AFP that "greater transparency about the deployment would certainly help prevent unnecessary speculation".
But for the moment, he said, "I see no sufficient evidence to conclude that the deployment signals an imminent military intervention or confrontation between state institutions".
The wiretapping scandal has come with pressure also growing on Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the son of Prabowo's predecessor and political rival Joko Widodo.
Widodo's party is a member of the ruling coalition, and his popularity is widely seen to have helped Prabowo to the top job, with Gibran by his side.
There have been renewed calls to unseat Gibran after Indonesia's Supreme Court ruled last month to annul his high school certificate -- which opponents say disqualifies him from the vice presidency.
mrc/mlr/hol

climate

Singapore to toughen haze law with arrest powers, bigger fines

BY TARYN NG

  • - Fight fires with fines - The proposed changes would make offences under the law arrestable, and allow courts to try defendants in their absence if they are overseas or unreachable.
  • Singapore's parliament moved on Wednesday to toughen its anti-haze law with arrest powers, bigger fines and potential restrictions on companies linked to transboundary air pollution from wildfires.
  • - Fight fires with fines - The proposed changes would make offences under the law arrestable, and allow courts to try defendants in their absence if they are overseas or unreachable.
Singapore's parliament moved on Wednesday to toughen its anti-haze law with arrest powers, bigger fines and potential restrictions on companies linked to transboundary air pollution from wildfires.
The proposed changes, which are expected to pass easily, come after weeks of air pollution from fires in neighbouring Indonesia angered Singaporeans and sparked calls for action.
"We need better ways to obtain and verify information, trace complex corporate relationships, and impose meaningful consequences on errant entities," Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said.
"We also need to be able to intervene earlier before haze pollution reaches Singapore. We therefore have to strengthen our laws, and we must act quickly."
Singapore enacted a Transboundary Haze Pollution Act in 2014, but enforcement has been stymied by jurisdictional barriers and challenges obtaining evidence from overseas.
Of six cases filed in 2015 under that law, two were closed in 2017 after the companies provided information in response to the legal notices, while investigations into four remain open.
The government has come under pressure to toughen up existing measures after thick haze from fires burning in Indonesia's Sumatra and Borneo in recent weeks drifted across the region.

Fight fires with fines

The proposed changes would make offences under the law arrestable, and allow courts to try defendants in their absence if they are overseas or unreachable.
Fines would increase tenfold to nearly US$800,000 a day for companies deemed non-compliant, with the ceiling on fines rising to over US$15.6 million.
The government would also have powers to force companies to appoint independent assessors at their expense to investigate fires, business operations and corporate relationships.
Assessors would be approved by the government and submit findings to officials for potential further action. Appointing an assessor would not imply wrongdoing, but would be a way to determine possible links to fires.
The changes would also allow authorities to impose restrictions on designated companies, including limiting services provided by Singapore's outsized financial industry.
Companies blaming third parties for fires affecting their land would also have to demonstrate they took reasonable steps to prevent and fight the blazes.
The changes are certified as urgent, allowing them to be debated and voted on quickly, and they are expected to easily pass later on Wednesday by the legislature dominated by the ruling People's Action Party.

'No magic bullet'

Simon Tay, chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, a think-tank, told AFP the law would strengthen Singapore's hand but limitations would remain.
Restricting commercial activities and financing of a firm involved in the fires will make that company "a corporate pariah", he said.
The law "is loaded and now has more bullets. But there is no magic bullet solution", Tay said.
"This alone does not guarantee that the haze will never recur. Cooperation within the ASEAN framework and with Indonesia and neighboring countries will also be essential," he added, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Greenpeace Malaysia interim country representative Heng Kiah Chun said other Southeast Asian countries could learn from Singapore.
But he said that "stronger national laws must be supported by greater ASEAN cooperation, especially in sharing evidence, improving corporate transparency and preventing peatland fires at their source".
Under existing legislation, Singapore has already issued warnings to 10 foreign-based companies telling them to deploy firefighters, stop burning and submit action plans. It also ordered 10 Singapore-registered firms to appoint assessors to examine their operations.
Fires in Indonesia burned through over 1.9 million hectares between January and the end of September, most of it in recent months, according to the Nusantara Atlas monitor. 
The fires have been driven in part by drought linked to a strong El Nino phenomenon, but are also caused by longstanding deforestation and drying of peatland, experts say.
str-mba/mjw

society

Death is big business in I.Coast, where funerals cost fortunes

BY SOULé DIA

  • - Tears and dancing - When Bli Lou's father died in July, she did not have the money to organise a funeral in line with tradition.
  • Valerie Bli Lou is a shopkeeper from a modest family, but she is determined to give her late father the sumptuous funeral that Ivorian tradition demands -- whether she can afford it or not.
  • - Tears and dancing - When Bli Lou's father died in July, she did not have the money to organise a funeral in line with tradition.
Valerie Bli Lou is a shopkeeper from a modest family, but she is determined to give her late father the sumptuous funeral that Ivorian tradition demands -- whether she can afford it or not.
Dancing through the night in a flowing burgundy-and-black tunic at her father's wake in Yopougon, a working-class neighbourhood in Ivory Coast's economic capital, Abidjan, the 60-year-old recounted the hardships of organising and paying for this lavish tribute to his life.
Death is big business in Ivory Coast, where families are expected to say goodbye to their loved ones with massive, music-fuelled feasts tinged with moments of both joy and sadness.
Bli Lou said that including the three cows she bought, she had already paid more than 2.5 million CFA francs ($4,275) for her father's funeral rites -- more than 15 times the average monthly salary in the west African country, according to the World Bank.
There would be more expenses to come, she said: transporting the coffin to a cemetery 500 kilometres (310 miles) away, building a tomb and hosting and feeding hundreds of guests at the burial.
Bli Lou, who is Christian, told AFP she was "proud" to be covering the expense, despite the difficulty.
"My father is like my second God. I must honour him," she said.

Tears and dancing

When Bli Lou's father died in July, she did not have the money to organise a funeral in line with tradition.
So, she did what many families do: paid to preserve his body in a morgue, at the rate of about 7,000 francs a day, while she got together the funds she needed with the help of family and friends.
She finally managed to put together the wake at a vast centre in Yopougon known for hosting funeral events, where crowds of mourners converge every Saturday.
Families often have to reserve weeks in advance.
The centre was holding four wakes in all on the October night Bli Lou celebrated her father.
Families had hired bands, set up sprawling arrays of tents and decorated chapels with portraits of their late loved ones inside.
The feasts were a mix of tears and music, embraces and dancing.

'Pressure'

At another wake, a DJ read out the names of those who had contributed cash or otherwise helped with the ceremony.
The family said they had paid more than five million francs in all, imposing a mandatory contribution on every relative.
Some went into debt to come up with the money.
"There's a lot of pressure," said one family member, Mathias Zouh.
"Our parents and grandparents did it, so we do it, too. Otherwise, it would reflect badly on you in the village."
Funerals are so important in some Ivorian communities they unleash competition and rivalries between families, said anthropologist Leo Montaz, who has studied the subject.
"Everyone wants to show how important he is and reaffirm his social status," he said.
For Muslims, Ivory Coast's other major faith, funerals must be organised more quickly -- but the multiple ceremonies involved are still often expensive.
The importance of funeral rites has given rise to a booming industry in the country.
In Yopougon, stores offer coffins, funeral clothing, artificial flowers, headstones, jewellery and scents for perfuming the dead.
Gertrude Brou has worked in the industry for 15 years, selling funeral articles and dressing the dead.
"There's a need for funerals, and it's a job that earns you a good living," she said.
Her colleague Georges agreed, saying he had built his house and sent his children to study abroad thanks to his funeral parlour.
"It's a thriving profession," he said.
sjd/pid/bam/jhb/kjm

ICJ

Top UN court to rule Nov 19 on Myanmar's Rohingya genocide case

BY RICHARD CARTER

  • Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have for seven years been weighing accusations by The Gambia that Myanmar's brutal repression of the Rohingya breached the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.
  • The top United Nations court will on November 19 deliver a landmark ruling on whether Myanmar's crackdown against its mostly Muslim Rohingya minority constituted a genocide, officials said on Tuesday.
  • Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have for seven years been weighing accusations by The Gambia that Myanmar's brutal repression of the Rohingya breached the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.
The top United Nations court will on November 19 deliver a landmark ruling on whether Myanmar's crackdown against its mostly Muslim Rohingya minority constituted a genocide, officials said on Tuesday.
Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have for seven years been weighing accusations by The Gambia that Myanmar's brutal repression of the Rohingya breached the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.
While the ICJ has no means of enforcing its decisions, a ruling that Myanmar committed genocide would heap more international pressure on its leader Min Aung Hlaing.
He commanded the military during the Rohingya crackdown before ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in a 2021 coup.
This year he was installed as civilian president following deeply restricted elections and is waging a diplomatic campaign for legitimacy which may be complicated by the ruling.
The judgement may also be seen as justice for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya.
Legal experts are closely watching the decision by the ICJ, which rules in disputes between countries, for clues as to how the court might sway in the seminal genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel over its campaign in Gaza.
Myanmar has always denied carrying out a genocide against the Rohingya, arguing its actions targeted a military uprising from insurgents after a series of attacks left a dozen security personnel dead.
The crackdown by the Myanmar army and Buddhist militias forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh, bringing with them harrowing accounts of gang rape and mass executions.
More than one million Rohingya still live across the border in Bangladesh, in the world's largest refugee settlement.

'Collective conscience'

During hearings on the case in January, Gambian Justice Minister Dawda Jallow told the court the Rohingya had suffered "the most horrific violence and destruction one could imagine".
"It is not about esoteric issues of international law. It is about real people, real stories and a real group of human beings," said Jallow.
"The Rohingya of Myanmar. They have been targeted for destruction," added the minister.
The Gambia has brought the case to the ICJ under the terms of the UN Genocide Convention, which allows any state to sound the alarm if it suspects genocide is being committed.
The alleged violations of the convention "are a stain on our collective conscience and it would be irresponsible to pretend that it is not our business", Jallow said.
Myanmar retorted at the hearing that the allegations were "unsubstantiated".
"Emotional language and blurry factual pictures are not a substitute for a rigorous presentation of facts," said Ko Ko Hlaing, a minister in the president's office.
In a previous hearing in 2019, de facto civilian leader Suu Kyi herself addressed the court, housed in the iconic Peace Palace in The Hague.
The Nobel peace laureate said the case risked reigniting the crisis that led to the Rohingya's expulsion and said there was no "genocidal intent" behind the crackdown.
Suu Kyi, 81, will not be attending the verdict, however. She is under house arrest in the capital, Naypyidaw, authorities say, after being unseated in the 2021 military coup.
The ICJ has already made one ruling in this case, ordering Myanmar in 2020 to "take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts" described by the Genocide Convention.
These acts included "killing members of the group" and "deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part".
ICJ judges also threw out a challenge to its jurisdiction by Myanmar, ruling that it did have the power to decide on the genocide question.
The ICJ is not the only court looking into possible crimes against the Rohingya.
In 2024, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, also based in The Hague, asked judges for an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing over alleged crimes against humanity.
A case is also underway in Argentina, under the principle of universal jurisdiction, the idea that some crimes are so heinous they can be heard in any court.
ric/jhb/jts/sco/fox

smartphones

Apple AI tools come to China after two-year delay

BY LUNA LIN

  • The long-anticipated Chinese rollout of Apple Intelligence "fills a long-standing gap in Apple's AI offering", said Ivan Lam, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.
  • Apple began on Wednesday a long-delayed trial rollout of in-house artificial intelligence tools for Chinese users, playing catch-up to homegrown smartphone makers in a major market for the US giant.
  • The long-anticipated Chinese rollout of Apple Intelligence "fills a long-standing gap in Apple's AI offering", said Ivan Lam, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.
Apple began on Wednesday a long-delayed trial rollout of in-house artificial intelligence tools for Chinese users, playing catch-up to homegrown smartphone makers in a major market for the US giant.
The on-device features dubbed "Apple Intelligence" were first released in the United States and other countries in autumn 2024, marking the firm's first major push into generative AI.
But strict Chinese regulatory requirements for the fast-evolving technology have held back its launch there -- as well as the fact that models from Google and OpenAI, which Apple has used elsewhere to boost its own AI capabilities, are not available in the country.
Apple, which has largely stayed out of the global AI investment frenzy, announced it will work with a Chinese partner -- Alibaba's Qwen -- to integrate more powerful AI features into devices alongside its own basic AI offerings.
Wednesday's trial rollout is restricted to developers, but public access to Apple Intelligence services in China will come in December, the company said in a statement at the weekend.
The long-anticipated Chinese rollout of Apple Intelligence "fills a long-standing gap in Apple's AI offering", said Ivan Lam, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.
However, it does not necessarily give the Californian company "a significant advantage" in a crowded market, Lam said.
The initial release includes 18 AI features, from live translation of phone calls to tools for summarising and proofreading messages, but not the latest upgrade of iPhone assistant Siri.

'Concession'

Chinese regulations require AI service providers to register with the country's internet watchdog, and there are requirements to use local data centres and process data domestically.
Apple only secured regulatory approval in July, after reportedly holding talks with Chinese tech firms including Alibaba, Baidu, ByteDance and Tencent about partnerships on Apple Intelligence.
Major US AI firms, including Google, OpenAI and Anthropic, have either banned Chinese users or restricted access to their services, and are unlikely to secure regulatory clearance.
Working with local partners on Apple Intelligence "signifies a structural concession by Apple regarding its pricing and defining power over the AI experience in the Chinese market", Zhang Yi, founder of research firm iiMedia, told AFP.
Apple's delay in introducing AI tools in China was not due to lags in research and development, but rather "compliance costs", he said.
Despite reporting a 21 per cent increase in revenue in the Greater China region, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, for the past quarter, Apple's new CEO John Ternus still faces significant challenges in an evolving market.
According to research firm Omdia, more than 110 million iPhones in China can support Apple Intelligence, providing a foundation for quick adoption -- but competition is fierce.
"Chinese mobile phone manufacturers and internet companies are actively developing AI features and agent ecosystems," Zhong Xiaolei, a senior analyst at Omdia, told AFP.
ll/kaf/abs

pollution

Toxic air pollution surges in Indian capital

  • The deterioration came three days after authorities tightened measures, including restrictions on traffic and construction, to curb smog in one of the world's most polluted capitals, with the wider metropolis home to more than 30 million people.
  • Toxic air pollution in India's capital New Delhi surged on Wednesday to more than 30 times the World Health Organization's recommended daily limit, data from air monitors showed.
  • The deterioration came three days after authorities tightened measures, including restrictions on traffic and construction, to curb smog in one of the world's most polluted capitals, with the wider metropolis home to more than 30 million people.
Toxic air pollution in India's capital New Delhi surged on Wednesday to more than 30 times the World Health Organization's recommended daily limit, data from air monitors showed.
The deterioration came three days after authorities tightened measures, including restrictions on traffic and construction, to curb smog in one of the world's most polluted capitals, with the wider metropolis home to more than 30 million people.
Pollution is expected to worsen ahead of Sunday's Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, when firework displays add to the already poisonous air.
The Supreme Court this month allowed limited use of so-called "green" firecrackers, designed to reduce emissions, during Diwali.
But restrictions are routinely flouted, with the city reverberating with explosions.
On Wednesday, levels of PM2.5 -- cancer-causing microparticles small enough to enter the bloodstream -- hit over 461 micrograms per cubic metre in parts of the city, according to monitoring firm IQAir.
Vehicles account for 23 percent of Delhi's winter pollution, while biomass burning, including farm stubble fires, contributes 20 percent, according to India's environment ministry.
Industry, including coal-fired power plants, contributes about nine percent.
The largest share, 27 percent, comes from secondary particles, formed when gases released by vehicles, industry, power plants and biomass burning react in the atmosphere.
The formation of these particles is also fuelled by the vast quantities of fertiliser spread on fields around the capital, argues Jacob Koshy, author of a new book on pollution.
Ammonia released by fertilisers reacts with other pollutants to form secondary particulate matter.
"The sheer quantity of ammonia that is going into the atmosphere creates a base layer for other pollutants to react with," said Koshy, science editor of The Hindu newspaper and author of "The Nitrogen Bomb".
A 2024 study published in The Lancet Planetary Health, a peer-reviewed research journal, estimated that 3.8 million deaths in India between 2009 and 2019 were linked to air pollution.
ash/pjm/mjw

Global Edition

Democratic gains mount in US midterms as Trump faces bruising verdict

BY FRANKIE TAGGART WITH GREG WALTON IN DETROIT AND ELODIE SOINARD IN ATLANTA

  • Democrats captured a Republican-held House seat in North Carolina, in a district Trump won comfortably in 2024, while several contests in Florida suggested that redrawn electoral boundaries might not deliver the gains Republicans had hoped for.
  • Democrats notched a string of early victories in US midterm elections Tuesday, flipping a Republican-held Senate seat and making inroads in conservative House districts as President Donald Trump faced the prospect of a bruising election setback.
  • Democrats captured a Republican-held House seat in North Carolina, in a district Trump won comfortably in 2024, while several contests in Florida suggested that redrawn electoral boundaries might not deliver the gains Republicans had hoped for.
Democrats notched a string of early victories in US midterm elections Tuesday, flipping a Republican-held Senate seat and making inroads in conservative House districts as President Donald Trump faced the prospect of a bruising election setback.
The opposition party also retained key Senate seats, while victory in Georgia's governor race added to mounting signs that Republicans face a difficult night.
The vote was a nationwide judgment on Trump's turbulent second term, with discontent over living costs, tariffs and the US war against Iran -- which has driven fuel prices sharply higher -- weighing on the president and his party.
Alarm bells went off early for Republicans as counting started.
Democrats captured a Republican-held House seat in North Carolina, in a district Trump won comfortably in 2024, while several contests in Florida suggested that redrawn electoral boundaries might not deliver the gains Republicans had hoped for.
Although control of Congress remained undecided, those results raised the possibility of a wider Democratic advance into territory normally considered safe for Trump's party.
In a further blow to Republicans, former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was projected to win Georgia's governorship, becoming the nation's first Black woman governor and ending 24 years of Republican rule.
There were important Republican victories, however.
In Florida, Trump-backed Byron Donalds won the governor's race, becoming the state's first Black governor, while Republican Ashley Moody retained a US Senate seat.
 

Senate breakthrough

 
Democrat Roy Cooper, a popular former North Carolina governor, delivered one of the night's most consequential results by defeating Michael Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chairman handpicked by Trump.
North Carolina has voted for Trump three times, but Cooper campaigned on a pledge to lower living costs and will replace retiring Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who had clashed with the president.
In Georgia, Senator Jon Ossoff, a rising Democratic figure seen as a potential 2028 presidential contender, defeated his Republican challenger and preserved a seat the party needed to defend.
Democrats also held an open Senate seat in New Hampshire, where Chris Pappas won election to become the first openly gay man to serve in the chamber.
Republicans began the night with 53 of the Senate's 100 seats, leaving Democrats needing a net gain of four for control. All 435 House seats were contested, with Democrats needing to flip just three.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters the country was "on the brink of a dramatic change of direction."
 

Trump faces constraints

 
If Democrats capture the House, they could block Trump's legislative plans and use congressional committees to investigate his administration over the Iran war, deportations and alleged corruption.
A Senate takeover would go further, allowing them to block judicial nominees and senior administration appointments, fundamentally changing Trump's ability to govern during the final two years of his presidency.
For voters, the fight was often about the cost of everyday life.
"Rent, groceries, utility bills, and property taxes keep climbing, and I want people in Congress who will actually do something about costs," 24-year-old Los Angeles voter Taylor Cook told AFP.
Trump defended his record in a final television appearance Tuesday, praising his tariffs, immigration crackdown and military campaign against Iran.
"We have to keep America great. We're great now. We were terrible two years ago," the 80-year-old told Fox News.
Reflecting Trump's rhetoric, Republican voter Maru Restrepo, 70, told AFP in Miami that Democrats had become "very socialist," reflecting the fierce ideological divisions of the campaign.
Uncertainty remained over whether Trump would accept an unfavorable result. He has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims of election fraud and tried to overturn his 2020 presidential defeat.
"I veto everything," Trump said in a podcast released Monday, contemplating the possibility of a Democratic Congress before adding that he might eventually negotiate deals.
ft/sms
 

politics

New Zealand votes with economy, cost of living in focus

BY BEN STRANG

  • The economy and rising unemployment rounded out the top five issues, according to the poll.
  • New Zealanders are voting this week in an election focused on rising costs of living and the economy, as pollsters forecast a tight contest and neither main party close to winning a majority.
  • The economy and rising unemployment rounded out the top five issues, according to the poll.
New Zealanders are voting this week in an election focused on rising costs of living and the economy, as pollsters forecast a tight contest and neither main party close to winning a majority.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is hoping his right-wing coalition can cling to power with a message of "no new taxes" and by painting his opponents as an unpredictable alliance of left-wingers.
But the opposition Labour Party is banking that voter worries about costs of living will see it returned to office.
Here's what you need to know about the poll: 
 

What are the key issues? 

 
The cost of living is the biggest issue for voters, according to the RNZ-Reid Research Poll run by New Zealand's public broadcaster.
Sixty-four percent of respondents said inflation and rising costs were their biggest concerns, followed by the state of New Zealand's healthcare system and then petrol prices.
The economy and rising unemployment rounded out the top five issues, according to the poll.
 

Who's running?

 
Luxon, a millionaire businessman-turned-politician, has led his National Party to worrying lows in polls and had to fend off two leadership challenges this year.
Luxon has told AFP he sees himself as a "super salesman" for the country and would push for more free-trade deals if re-elected.
His main opponent is Labour former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, who succeeded Jacinda Ardern in 2023 and has seized on National's inability to curb the cost of living to revive his party's fortunes.
But with polls suggesting neither will win an outright majority in parliament, both will need help from minor parties to govern.
On the left, the Green Party has surged to record support by focusing on living costs, with plans to take on New Zealand's supermarket duopoly and impose a wealth tax on the country's richest residents.
On the right, populist Winston Peters and his NZ First -- known for colourful and controversial language at home and abroad -- have pledged swingeing cuts to immigration and to pull the country out of the Paris Climate Accord.
And the libertarian ACT party -- led by former "Dancing With The Stars" contestant David Seymour -- forms the third pillar of the right-wing alliance that has ruled New Zealand since 2023.
In the centre, Qiulae Wong of the Opportunity Party stands as a potential kingmaker, promising greater action on climate change and a kinder, more empathetic style of politics.
 

When does the voting start and end?

 
It's already begun.
New Zealanders have been able to cast their votes since October 26.
Saturday is the final day of voting, with polls set to close at 7:00 pm (0600 GMT).
An exit poll is expected to be released immediately.
 

How are the votes tallied?

 
New Zealand's mixed-member proportional (MMP) system requires two votes -- one for a party and one for a local electorate candidate.
Electorate winners earn a seat in the typically 120-seat parliament, as do the highest-ranked members of the party based on their national party vote.
All votes are counted by hand, not by machine.
An initial count happens on election night, before official counting begins, to be concluded by November 27.
The official count includes special votes cast by New Zealanders who are overseas or away from home during the voting period.
 

What's at stake?

 
Polls have the election on a knife edge, with many different scenarios swaying the vote one way or another.
If the right-wing coalition retains power, it may come from an effort to create an "overhang" in the MMP system.
That happens when a party wins more electorate seats than its share of the party vote entitles it to.
For instance, if one party wins 10 percent of the party vote, it should get 12 seats. But if it also wins 13 electorate races, then parliament creates an extra, overhang seat for it, pushing up its total to 121.
If the National Party wins enough seats to govern, Luxon's second term will focus on growing international trade while continuing to cut back on what the coalition deem unnecessary costs in government.
ACT and NZ First have also campaigned on limiting the powers of the Waitangi Tribunal, a permanent commission of inquiry investigating the crown's treatment of indigenous Maori.
Should the Labour Party claim victory with a left-wing coalition, it will almost certainly require the support of upstarts Opportunity, if the latter can get over the five-percent threshold for entry into parliament.
Labour has vowed to quickly introduce a capital gains tax as a means to pay for a suite of cost-of-living relief packages, such as free doctors' visits and price-capped public transport.
bes-oho/mjw

US

Trump confirms strikes on Iran as Tehran warns against return to war

  • - 'Iran wants a settlement' - The war, triggered in February when the United States and Israel pummelled Iran in a massive wave of strikes, has been at a stalemate for months.
  • President Donald Trump confirmed on Tuesday that the United States launched strikes on Iran, as Tehran warned no one would benefit from a return to war.
  • - 'Iran wants a settlement' - The war, triggered in February when the United States and Israel pummelled Iran in a massive wave of strikes, has been at a stalemate for months.
President Donald Trump confirmed on Tuesday that the United States launched strikes on Iran, as Tehran warned no one would benefit from a return to war.
It came as US voters prepared to cast their ballots in midterm elections that threaten Trump's grip on power.
But Trump played down speculation he was preparing to resume bombing Iran once the polls were out of the way.
"We seem to be getting everything we want," Trump told Britain's Financial Times newspaper on Tuesday.
"I'm ready, we're ready. We're locked and loaded if we need to go, but there may be no reason for it."
Iran's chief negotiator in talks with the United States, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said the Islamic republic was "ready for battle with its finger on the trigger", while Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Tehran retained the right to "legitimate self-defence" after the strikes.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said his government was still trying to resolve the crisis "through dialogue" though, adding that "no one will benefit from this war" if it reignited.
Pezeshkian emphasised that the country's supreme leader had recently granted the government new powers to negotiate issues that were previously "off-limits".
Trump confirmed the strikes on Iran in an interview with Fox News, after US media reported strikes on Tehran's Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.
"They built an anti-aircraft facility... As soon as it was completed, we hit it last night very nicely," Trump said on the "Fox & Friends" show, adding that it was a "minor attack".

'Iran wants a settlement'

The war, triggered in February when the United States and Israel pummelled Iran in a massive wave of strikes, has been at a stalemate for months.
An Israeli military spokesperson told AFP that Israel was not involved in the latest reported strikes.
The Qeshm attack came just hours after Trump signalled that a deal with Tehran "could happen", shortly before polls opened in the midterms dominated by public dissatisfaction with the war and the inflation it has stoked.
"Iran wants a settlement, as soon as possible," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
Ghalibaf said Iran had made its position clear and that "the ball is now in America's court to prevent war".
Qatar, a mediator in protracted indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran, said it remained hopeful of an interim deal in the war.
Both sides "are currently reviewing the ideas and proposals we have presented," foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari told reporters.
"We remain hopeful that there is still a chance for a deal to take place," he said, adding Doha was working "towards an interim deal".
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed on Monday that indirect negotiations were taking place.

Reopen the strait

US Vice President JD Vance said both he and Trump were optimistic about securing an agreement.
"We've certainly made some progress. We'll see if we can make some more," Vance told reporters on Monday.
A senior Iranian official said that Tehran was ready to reopen Hormuz, a key energy corridor, within two days but only if Washington agreed to its long-standing list of demands.
In September, Iran proposed a seven-day plan to reopen the strait, with demands including ending the war on all fronts, unfreezing Iranian assets, lifting oil sanctions and ending its counter-blockade of Iranian ports.
"The possibility of implementing this plan in two days is another indication of Iran's good-faith approach," Tehran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told reporters at a briefing.
In the lead-up to Tuesday's vote, Trump kept up his threats against Tehran, saying on Sunday that the United States may have to give Iran "the hammer" at some unspecified time.
The threat came after the US leader said he still had to "take care" of one or two targets, including so-called Pickaxe Mountain in central Iran, a suspected nuclear site which Tehran denies is such a facility.
Iranian officials have repeatedly warned of wide-ranging retaliation if Washington resumes the war.
bur/ser/ris/jsa/rh/cms/fox

diplomacy

North Korea signals little appetite for renewed US dialogue

  • "It is our clear stand that we have no need to sit face to face with such unreliable and hostile persons who refuse to abandon their policy of confrontation while talking about dialogue," she said, according to state news agency KCNA. "The choice for peace includes dialogue of course, but this is not surely equated with national interests for us."
  • The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signalled little appetite for renewed dialogue with Washington, saying Pyongyang had "no need to sit face to face with such unreliable and hostile persons".
  • "It is our clear stand that we have no need to sit face to face with such unreliable and hostile persons who refuse to abandon their policy of confrontation while talking about dialogue," she said, according to state news agency KCNA. "The choice for peace includes dialogue of course, but this is not surely equated with national interests for us."
The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signalled little appetite for renewed dialogue with Washington, saying Pyongyang had "no need to sit face to face with such unreliable and hostile persons".
Kim Yo Jong's comments appeared to dampen hopes of a meeting this month with US President Donald Trump, who has made several overtures towards her brother, Kim Jong Un.
The remarks came after the FBI attributed North Korea to the theft of more than $6 billion from cryptocurrency exchange Binance, allegations Kim Yo Jong had previously slammed as "a grave political provocation".
"It is our clear stand that we have no need to sit face to face with such unreliable and hostile persons who refuse to abandon their policy of confrontation while talking about dialogue," she said, according to state news agency KCNA.
"The choice for peace includes dialogue of course, but this is not surely equated with national interests for us."
Kim Yo Jong accused Washington of pursuing an "invariable hostile policy" towards Pyongyang, citing the Binance allegations, US-South Korean military drills and American demands for North Korea's denuclearisation.
"In the present reality when new records are being set in the implementation of the US hostile policy toward the DPRK, it is natural that new records should be created in our reflective counteraction," Kim Yo Jong said, using the acronym for North Korea's official name.
She did not specify what countermeasures Pyongyang might take.
 

'Putting pressure'

 
Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said Kim Yo Jong's comments lowered the "priority of dialogue while putting pressure on the United States".
"The latest statement uses the issue as an opportunity to condemn the entire US policy of pressure against North Korea, marking a shift from defence to offence," he told AFP. 
It "reduces the possibility of resolving issues through dialogue and warns that North Korea will respond with 'a new level of countermeasures' as the United States increases its pressure," he added.
The FBI said Saturday that a North Korea-affiliated hacking group called TraderTraitor had been behind the Binance hack.
"We do not regard the 'Binance' hacking incident as any accidental and sudden case or isolated private scheme, but as an extension of Washington's invariable hostile policy toward the DPRK," Kim Yo Jong said Wednesday.
"Clearly, the US malicious attempt to get a political and strategic profit by abusing the case is producing a political side effect."
Experts believe the October 29 hack is the biggest ever cryptocurrency heist.
But Trump struck a more cautious note when asked about the Binance hack.
"Well, we're learning about it. I'm not concerned. We're learning about it. We don't know if it's North Korea but if it is we'll talk to North Korea about it," he said.
Binance released on Tuesday a detailed investigation into the $6 billion hack of its cryptocurrency platform, showing how attackers used fake job interviews and malicious code to steal the funds.
The attack took place over about four hours on October 29, with the crypto exchange saying around $2.85 billion of the $6.34 billion stolen had been frozen, preventing the hackers from using the funds or converting them into other currencies.
hs/abs