Global Edition

South African judge Navi Pillay wins Nobel Peace Prize

execution

Outrage over plan to livestream US military firing squad execution

BY W.G. DUNLOP WITH DANNY KEMP IN CINCINNATI

  • The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the move, saying in a message sent to AFP on Friday that "the livestreaming of an execution is tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture."
  • Condemnation of US plans for a public execution by military firing squad escalated Friday, as Vice President JD Vance cast doubt on whether it would be livestreamed as proposed and insisted he would not watch if it is.
  • The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the move, saying in a message sent to AFP on Friday that "the livestreaming of an execution is tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture."
Condemnation of US plans for a public execution by military firing squad escalated Friday, as Vice President JD Vance cast doubt on whether it would be livestreamed as proposed and insisted he would not watch if it is.
Nidal Hasan's execution -- scheduled for December 3 at Fort Hood, Texas, where he gunned down 13 people in 2009 -- is set to be the first by US military firing squad since 1945.
Asked about the planned livestream, Vance told journalists he does not "know that that's actually going to happen."
"This is a guy who committed, in my view, the worst terrorist attack on American soil outside of 9/11," Vance said, but added that if the execution is broadcast live, "I'm not going to be watching it."
Representative Austin Scott of President Donald Trump's Republican Party said he supported executing Hasan but "livestreaming executions is what jihadists do. America is better than that."
Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Hasan should "face justice" but that public executions are "the kind of thing Iran and the Taliban do. Is this who we want to be associated with?"
Trump on Friday backed the execution -- saying Hasan "deserves it" and branding him a "maniac" -- but did not comment on the plan to publicize it.
Tech firms YouTube, Meta and X did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether they would allow the execution to be streamed on their platforms.
TikTok meanwhile directed AFP to its policy banning depictions of "graphic incidents and violence" including "the shooting of an individual."
A Pentagon official told AFP on Thursday that the execution would be streamed live, after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said "we'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public."
Later, Hegseth wrote "Correct" when retweeting a media report about the planned livestream.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the move, saying in a message sent to AFP on Friday that "the livestreaming of an execution is tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture."
Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, said it was a "barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered."

'Compound the cruelty'

Hegseth said it would be the military's first firing squad execution since World War II.
"People need to understand that... there's serious consequence for these types of things," Hegseth said in a video disseminated Thursday on official Pentagon X accounts.
"I kind of like the mentality we had in World War II, which was win, which was understand when the enemy attacks you, you need to stand your ground," he said.
The last US military execution was carried out in 1961, when John Bennett was hanged for rape and attempted murder.
The Death Penalty Information Center says 135 troops have been executed by the US military since 1916.
According to rights group Amnesty International, at least 17 public executions are known to have been carried out in 2025 -- six in Afghanistan and 11 in Iran.
Amnesty's Justin Mazzola said Friday that the death penalty is "a violation of human rights," and that streaming Hasan's execution "would only compound the cruelty."
Twelve of the 13 people Hasan killed and 30 of those he wounded were soldiers. He was shot by a civilian police officer who responded to the attack and is paralyzed from the waist down.
Hasan chose to conduct his own defense during the trial but called no witnesses and gave no testimony, and made no attempt to deny the charges.
He was sentenced to death by a military jury in 2013.
Court-appointed defense attorneys expressed concern that he was seeking execution.
The court that convicted Hasan was told he was opposed to the US military's occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and that he had spoken online with an alleged Al-Qaeda figure, radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen subsequently killed in a US drone strike in Yemen.
While mass shootings in the United States are not unusual, they are relatively rare at military facilities.
The furor over Hasan's impending execution comes just days after convicted murderer Christa Pike survived a botched execution in the US state of Tennessee, fueling debate about the death penalty in the country.
wd/acb

fraud

Turkey jails 2 journalists pending trial for fund crisis 'misinformation'

  • But the court granted conditional release to two other journalists -- Ismail Saymaz and Murat Agirel from Sozcu TV who were named in a suit filed by the trade minister over a report questioning his links to the scandal. 
  • A Turkish court on Friday jailed two journalists pending trial for allegedly spreading misinformation over a sprawling investment fund scandal, while another two were granted conditional release, media reports said. 
  • But the court granted conditional release to two other journalists -- Ismail Saymaz and Murat Agirel from Sozcu TV who were named in a suit filed by the trade minister over a report questioning his links to the scandal. 
A Turkish court on Friday jailed two journalists pending trial for allegedly spreading misinformation over a sprawling investment fund scandal, while another two were granted conditional release, media reports said. 
Turkey has been grappling with the fallout from an investment fund scandal which erupted in mid-September, prompting an investigation into allegations of widespread market manipulation.
The scandal has put pressure on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AKP, with one senior party official resigning after allegations about her investment activities. 
The main opposition Yeni Parti on Thursday questioned whether two ministers had profited from investing in the suspect funds. 
Trade Minister Omer Bolat and Family and Social Services Minister Mahinur Ozdemir Goktas have denied any wrongdoing. 
All four journalists were hauled in on Friday over content that also raised questions about the involvement of senior AKP figures.
The court ordered Mustafa Balci of the pro-opposition Sozcu daily, and Saban Sevinc of the online news channel Bizim TV, to be jailed pending trial for posting an image on X suggesting a link between AKP spokesman Omer Celik and one of the key investment fund suspects.
But the court granted conditional release to two other journalists -- Ismail Saymaz and Murat Agirel from Sozcu TV who were named in a suit filed by the trade minister over a report questioning his links to the scandal. 
Earlier, a top AKP official accused the opposition and the media of targeting the party with a "web of lies". 
"We will absolutely not let our party and government be targeted, whether by Yeni or the journalists they paid to act as their mouthpiece," AKP secretary general Eyyup Kadir Inan told the private NTV. 
"Legally, we will hold them accountable for all attacks on our party."  

'Record profits

The crisis erupted when several funds were unable to satisfy investor redemption demands. 
Regulators quickly placed seven companies that manage 131 investment funds with assets reportedly worth some $17 billion into liquidation.
More than 455,000 individual investors have been affected, regulators say. 
Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said investigators found 214 individuals and legal entities had earned a total of 187.6 billion lira ($3.8 billion) through funds managed by three firms: Tera, Pusula and Hedef. 
Those who had invested in funds managed by Tera had earned record profits over 90 billion lira, he told Sabah newspaper. 
He said investigators were looking into those who sold shares in the days before the crisis hit the headlines, who had "exited the funds with prior knowledge and based on information provided to them".
Prosecutors sent a list of names to the TMSF deposit insurance fund "which has started officially notifying the individuals about the return of the money" to a voluntary restitution account run by the regulator, he said. 
It was not clear whether they would face prosecution. 
Meanwhile, AKP on Friday submitted a bill to parliament about fund liquidation and investor repayments, but there was no immediate word on when lawmakers would vote on it. 
The two ministers whose investments were questioned hit back with legal action, with Bolat suing the two Sozcu journalists and Goktas filing suit against three Yeni lawmakers for slander. 
She also vowed to pursue "media outlets that spread these allegations". 
"Ozgur Ozel and his colleagues will pay the price for these lies and slanders," AKP's Inan warned, referring to the main opposition leader who heads the Yeni Parti. 
bur-hmw/ach 

hurricane

Outer bands of Hurricane Isaias lash US Gulf Coast

BY MOISéS ÁVILA

  • Tropical storm conditions began along the northern gulf coast as of Friday afternoon.
  • Hurricane Isaias's outer bands began lashing the US Gulf Coast on Friday, with the category 3 storm triggering mandatory evacuations and poised to bring life-threatening storm surge when it makes landfall by evening.
  • Tropical storm conditions began along the northern gulf coast as of Friday afternoon.
Hurricane Isaias's outer bands began lashing the US Gulf Coast on Friday, with the category 3 storm triggering mandatory evacuations and poised to bring life-threatening storm surge when it makes landfall by evening.
Isaias is the first hurricane of an Atlantic season held in check by a historic El Nino phenomenon, and is set to become the first hurricane to strike the US mainland since Milton in 2024.
Fueled by record-warm Gulf waters heated by climate change, it strengthened rapidly over the past day.
"Isaias is coming in right over us," Jane Drescoll, a 63-year-old resident of Pensacola, told AFP, holding on to her hat as she spoke on the beach.
She said she had stocked up on propane and water and had been through eight hurricanes since moving to the area a decade ago.
The storm's intensity could fluctuate, but forecasters expect it to slam into the western Florida panhandle at or near major hurricane strength -- meaning category 3 -- before weakening over land. Tropical storm conditions began along the northern gulf coast as of Friday afternoon.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Isaias was packing maximum sustained winds of 120 miles (195 kilometers) per hour, and was located about 145 miles south of Pensacola.
President Donald Trump said he had canceled his visit to Saturday's college football game between the University of Georgia and the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama because of Hurricane Isaias.
"It is important to have our wonderful First Responders, Law Enforcement, and others, focused on that Storm, and in no way be thinking about the safety, or presence, of the President of the United States, ME!" he wrote on Truth Social.
There are "higher and higher probabilities that it's going to make landfall tonight around 11:00 pm" somewhere in Santa Rosa or Okaloosa counties, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told a press briefing.
Mandatory evacuation orders are in effect in several Florida counties, but the impacts are expected to spread over a swathe of the southeastern United States, with hurricane-force winds up to 100 miles inland.
Those staying put are advised to hunker down in safe rooms and prepare for long power outages.
Storm surge combined with the tide is expected to flood normally dry areas, with the NHC warning that water could reach as high as nine feet (2.7 meters) around the Alabama-Florida border. Heavy rainfall could trigger flash flooding and rivers could also break their banks.
At least two airports in northwestern Florida have suspended operations.
- Late arrival - 
Isaias's late arrival is largely due to an El Nino of historic strength.
El Nino, the warm phase of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), creates strong vertical wind shear over the Atlantic that tends to tear storms apart. 
"We have been seeing basically nearly record strong shear throughout the Atlantic Basin this year, and that is consistent with what we'd expect to see with a strong El Nino event," Michael Fischer, of University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, told AFP.
In the Pacific, it has the opposite effect, weakening shear and giving storms room to grow. The Pacific has already produced several hurricanes this year, some of which hit maximum category 5 strength.
Meanwhile, sea surface temperatures across the Gulf are running at nearly 30C, said Fischer, "basically as warm as any year we've seen over the last 40 years or so."
"Sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico are in record territory because of fossil fuel-driven climate change,"  Marc Alessi, a climate scientist with the Union of Concern Scientists, told AFP. "Isaias was able to tap into all of that energy in the ocean to develop into a major hurricane."
Isaias has disrupted oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico, with platforms and rigs evacuated.
As of Friday, about 71 percent of the region's oil production had been temporarily halted, taking nearly 1.5 million barrels a day off the market, according to the Marine Minerals Administration (MMA). About 59 percent of gas production was also suspended.
bur-ia/bgs

Global Edition

Major earthquake rocks Panama, triggers tsunami warning

  • In Panama City, about 200 kilometers from the epicenter, there were scenes of panic as people rushed to evacuate from skyscrapers, AFP witnessed.
  • A magnitude-7.7 earthquake rocked Panama on Friday, unleashing panic in the high-rise capital city and causing buildings to collapse in the center of the country.
  • In Panama City, about 200 kilometers from the epicenter, there were scenes of panic as people rushed to evacuate from skyscrapers, AFP witnessed.
A magnitude-7.7 earthquake rocked Panama on Friday, unleashing panic in the high-rise capital city and causing buildings to collapse in the center of the country.
USGS said the quake was detected at 1756 GMT with an epicenter 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the small town of Pitaloza Arriba in the south-center of Panama.
It triggered a tsunami warning for Panama and warnings of smaller but dangerous waves along the coasts of other countries in Latin America and the south Pacific.
The quake, registered at a shallow depth of 12 kilometers, was felt across the country of around 4.5 million people, according to the National Civil Protection System, and lasted for around a minute.
The US Tsunami Warning System said that tsunami waves up to three meters high could hit the Panama coastline in the coming hours.
In Panama City, about 200 kilometers from the epicenter, there were scenes of panic as people rushed to evacuate from skyscrapers, AFP witnessed.
There were no reports yet of casualties but extensive damage was expected, particularly in the center of the Central American nation.
"I'm in shock right now and haven't been able to contact my family," Luis Poveda, a factory worker in the central city of Santiago de Veraguas told AFP. 

Huge aftershocks

"We all ran out of the building, the power lines were swaying, and everyone was outside," Arnulfo Santos, a worker at a flour mill in the same city said.
Images shared by local media showed that part of a hotel had collapsed in the town of Penonome, 150 kilometers southwest of Panama City.
A church in Penonome was also seriously damaged and other buildings showed cracks, according to local reports.
A road in the province of Veraguas had cracks, according to images released by the local press.
Over a dozen large aftershocks, one a magnitude-6 tremor, were recorded by the local geosciences institute.
Writing on X, Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino called for calm.
"What happened should not be used to generate alarms and disorder," he said, adding that he had called for a report on the damage.
Earthquakes are rare in Panama and when they do occur usually strike in western Chiriqui province, bordering Costa Rica.
The Panamanian quake is at least the fourth quake this year in Latin America surpassing 7.0 in magnitude, after devastating earthquakes in Venezuela's Guaira in June and a powerful earthquake in western Colombia in August.
bur-mis/cb/bgs

US

Saudi Arabia says three killed at airport as Yemen war expands

BY AFP TEAMS IN SAUDI ARABIA, YEMEN AND THE UAE

  • Houthi media reported on Friday that Saudi attacks on Sanaa airport killed two people, while the civil defence agency in the Yemeni capital reported extinguishing fires caused by Saudi strikes, including one that it said destroyed a factory.
  • Saudi Arabia said on Friday that three people including a pilot were killed in attacks on Riyadh international airport the day before when Yemen's Houthis claimed hits on the facility.
  • Houthi media reported on Friday that Saudi attacks on Sanaa airport killed two people, while the civil defence agency in the Yemeni capital reported extinguishing fires caused by Saudi strikes, including one that it said destroyed a factory.
Saudi Arabia said on Friday that three people including a pilot were killed in attacks on Riyadh international airport the day before when Yemen's Houthis claimed hits on the facility.
Houthi media reported on Friday that Saudi attacks on Sanaa airport killed two people, while the civil defence agency in the Yemeni capital reported extinguishing fires caused by Saudi strikes, including one that it said destroyed a factory.
The conflict between the Iran-backed Houthis and Yemen's internationally recognised government -- supported by Saudi Arabia -- surged in July, and has since spilled over into the neighbouring kingdom.
In addition to seizing territory along the Red Sea coast in Yemen, the Houthis have attacked transport hubs, oil facilities and other civilian targets in the world's largest crude exporter with drones and missiles.
The Saudi civil aviation authority said two attacks on Thursday on Riyadh airport and a Saudia airlines plane had "resulted in the martyrdom of three citizens".
The national carrier confirmed the death of the aircraft's captain.
The attacks on the Saudi capital forced diplomats stationed there to shelter in place and international schools to take safety measures, as explosions echoed across the city on Thursday.
Numerous flights at Riyadh airport were delayed or cancelled, and the civil defence agency said missile "interception debris" had damaged a kindergarten and a medical complex in the city.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree on Friday appeared to suggest that planes would need to seek the group's permission to fly in or out of Riyadh.
"Humanitarian flights to and from Riyadh Airport will be permitted for all flights authorised" by a Houthi coordinating body in Sanaa, he wrote on X.
 

'Advances are limited'

 
Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government forces it supports have struggled to reverse the Houthis' advance, despite a counter-offensive aimed at recapturing territory including the area around the Bab al-Mandab strait, which is crucial to global shipping.
While a Saudi diplomat said on Friday that Saudi-backed forces had retaken the area, a military source on the ground gave a conflicting account, saying fighting was ongoing.
The Yemeni military source told AFP that government forces had launched a "major operation" in the strait region, supported by Saudi air power, but added that "fighting is fierce and advances are limited".
Houthi-affiliated media, meanwhile, said an attack by government forces south of the strait had been repelled.
A regional source told AFP on Friday that Saudi Arabia would not bow to the Houthis' "military blackmail" and would not agree to a truce until the Yemeni government regained all the territory it lost in recent weeks.
The Houthis' Al-Massirah TV channel reported fresh Saudi strikes on Sanaa, shortly after a large demonstration in support of the group in the city. 
The raids targeted military positions far from residential neighbourhoods, according to an AFP correspondent. 
The Houthis, whose heartlands are among the Zaidi Shia Muslims in the northwest, had already controlled the capital Sanaa and most of Yemen's major population centres since the start of the war in 2014.
Riyadh's military coalition intervened to support the government the following year.
 

Evacuation warning

 
After declaring the start of their counter-offensive against the Houthis, Yemen's government claimed to have pushed the fighters out of strategic areas on the Red Sea coast and the port city of Mocha.
But the Houthis insist they are holding their territory, and military sources from both sides contacted by AFP have not reported any major changes on the ground.
The Houthis have warned workers to evacuate Saudi Arabia's oil facilities, having days before hit a major refinery south of the capital.
Admissions by Saudi authorities of civilian targets being hit are relatively rare. There have been few statements on Houthi attacks in recent weeks.
Claims by the warring parties have been impossible to independently verify, with the situation moving fast and access for journalists difficult.
In Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries, ordinary civilians are paying the price for the renewed fighting, with more than 200,000 people displaced since July, according to UN data.
bur/smw/tw

US

Indian jailed in France for leading sadist Nazi cult that tortured girls

  • According to investigators, many of the girls were black or Jewish and they were forced to engage in sexual acts or to self-harm with knives, including scoring the names of their tormentors or a Nazi swastika into their skin.
  • A Paris court on Friday jailed a young Indian man to 20 years jail for leading a masculinist group that forced young girls, many of them minors, to perform sexual acts and in some cases tortured them.
  • According to investigators, many of the girls were black or Jewish and they were forced to engage in sexual acts or to self-harm with knives, including scoring the names of their tormentors or a Nazi swastika into their skin.
A Paris court on Friday jailed a young Indian man to 20 years jail for leading a masculinist group that forced young girls, many of them minors, to perform sexual acts and in some cases tortured them.
Prosecutors had sought a 30-year jail term for Rohan Rane, a 29-year-old who they described as a Nazi lover of sadism and macabre ultra-violence.
Most of the dozens of victims of the group led by Rane were American girls, the court was told. Many were aged under 15. Other young male members of the masculinist group were from the United States, India, Germany and New Zealand. 
Six of the girls, now aged between 18 and 21, made official complaints. About 20 victims were identified but others could not be contacted, prosecutors said.
After five days of hearings, mainly behind closed doors, the court found Rane guilty of offences, notably extortion committed as part of an organised gang, with the aggravating circumstances of acts of torture and barbarity perpetrated on the victims.
Prosecutors said all of the girls were lured by the "CVLT" group that was driven by nihilism, racism, antisemitism, Nazi aesthetics and values, and the hatred of feminists and the LGBTQ+ community.
The group became active ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Discord platform with Rane as its leader.
The Indian went to France to study at a commercial school in the southern town of Antibes before becoming a sports coach.
Vulnerable victims were picked out in online forums and persuaded to send nude images. The men threatened to tell their families and school friends if they did not give in to their demands. 
According to investigators, many of the girls were black or Jewish and they were forced to engage in sexual acts or to self-harm with knives, including scoring the names of their tormentors or a Nazi swastika into their skin.
The scenes were accompanied by insults and jeers from the men, who called themselves "war lords". One 26-year-old American group member has been jailed in the United States for the 2021 rape of a 12-year-old.
Rane was first arrested in 2021 in France. US authorities passed on information about his leadership in the "CVLT" group and how he had vaunted his desire to fullfil his "sadism".
A US group, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, first rang alarm bells over "CVLT" in 2020 after discovering disturbing images of a 12-year-old online with the name "Rohan" scored into her skin.
The French hearings remained closed following a US request, despite requests from some of the American victims who came forward that a public example be made of Rane's case.
The court was told that threats had been made to the victims, witnesses and even some US prosecutors.
US authorities have indicated that they will seek Rane's extradition once his sentence in France is served.
ng/tw/ach 

Global Edition

Tsunami alert after major earthquake rocks Panama

  • Tsunami waves up to three meters high could hit the Panama coastline in the coming hours, the US Tsunami Warning System said.
  • A magnitude-7.7 earthquake jolted Panama on Friday, setting off panic in the capital city and warnings of dangerous tsunami waves.
  • Tsunami waves up to three meters high could hit the Panama coastline in the coming hours, the US Tsunami Warning System said.
A magnitude-7.7 earthquake jolted Panama on Friday, setting off panic in the capital city and warnings of dangerous tsunami waves.
USGS said the quake was detected at 1756 GMT with an epicenter 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the small town of Pitaloza Arriba in the south-center of Panama. It initially measured at magnitude 8.
The quake was registered at a shallow depth of 12 kilometers, meaning its impact was likely to be more severe.
It was felt across the country of around 4.5 million people, according to the USGS.
Several large aftershocks, one a magnitude-6 tremor, were recorded.
There were no reports yet of casualties but extensive damage was expected, particularly in the center of the Central American nation.
Many people were evacuated from buildings in Panama City, about 200 kilometers from the epicenter, AFP witnessed.
Tsunami waves up to three meters high could hit the Panama coastline in the coming hours, the US Tsunami Warning System said.
Earthquakes are rare in Panama and when they do occur usually strike in western Chiriqui province.
bur-cb/bgs

Saudi

Flydubai co-pilot planned suicide attack on Tel Aviv airport: UAE prosecutor

BY SAHAR AL ATTAR

  • The return flight captain and his co-pilot then landed the plane at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia.
  • The co-pilot who attacked the captain of a flydubai jet last week had planned to crash the plane into Tel Aviv's international airport, the United Arab Emirates' top prosecutor said on Friday.
  • The return flight captain and his co-pilot then landed the plane at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia.
The co-pilot who attacked the captain of a flydubai jet last week had planned to crash the plane into Tel Aviv's international airport, the United Arab Emirates' top prosecutor said on Friday.
In the aftermath of the incident, people on board -- the majority of whom were Israeli -- described a sudden plunge in altitude and a fight for control of the aircraft, which was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. The passengers were repatriated on a second flydubai flight hours later.
The unnamed Omani co-pilot, now in custody in the UAE, had drawn inspiration from Al-Qaeda's September 11, 2001 suicide attacks on the United States, and carried out his attempt "with the aim of causing the greatest possible loss of life", according to the Emirati prosecutor's findings published by state media.
The prosecutor found that the co-pilot had first begun to be radicalised while studying in Australia "through reading extremist literature and following online content glorifying terrorist organisations and suicide attacks".
He said last week's flight had been the co-pilot's third to Tel Aviv, and that he had used the two earlier trips to plan the attack.
During the flight, the suspect used an emergency axe to attack the plane's Indian captain, Smit Machchhar, who fought back and tried to call for help.
Another pilot assigned to the return flight who was also on board "noticed the cockpit door opening and closing repeatedly in an unusual manner", according to the findings. 
After gaining entry, he "intervened with the assistance of a cabin crew member and several passengers, and together they rescued the injured captain and restrained the suspect". 
The return flight captain and his co-pilot then landed the plane at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia.

No sign of intentions

Israel and the UAE have become close partners since normalising ties under the US-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020, and Israel carries out stringent security checks on those travelling to the country.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously said that the co-pilot -- identified in reports as Hamam al-Hammami -- must have got around restrictions preventing individuals from nations that do not recognise Israel operating flights to the country.
The UAE prosecutor's "findings showed that he had met the professional and security requirements for employment, including holding a pilot's licence, providing a certificate of good conduct and completing the required checks".
"However, none of the procedures revealed any indications of his extremist views or his intention to carry out a terrorist plot."
The co-pilot had previously worked for Oman Air and Royal Air Maroc, but media outlets reported after the incident that he had been barred from flying in Oman over concerns about his extremist views.
After the incident, Netanyahu had hailed the passengers and the plane's captain for their bravery in averting what would have otherwise been a catastrophe.
He later ordered a "thorough review of all security aspects of foreign civil aviation to Israel" in response to the incident.
saa/smw/ser

Global Edition

South African judge Navi Pillay wins Nobel Peace Prize

BY PIERRE-HENRY DESHAYES

  •   - 'Courage to speak the truth' -   The Nobel committee did not mention the allegations against Israel in Gaza in its comments awarding Pillay the prize.
  • The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Navi Pillay of South Africa, a judge and former UN rights chief whose career has seen her tackle allegations of genocide in Gaza, Rwanda and Myanmar, prompting a furious response from Israel.
  •   - 'Courage to speak the truth' -   The Nobel committee did not mention the allegations against Israel in Gaza in its comments awarding Pillay the prize.
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Navi Pillay of South Africa, a judge and former UN rights chief whose career has seen her tackle allegations of genocide in Gaza, Rwanda and Myanmar, prompting a furious response from Israel.
Pillay once sat on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and in acknowledging the award she condemned attacks on institutions such as the tribunal. But hours after the prize was announced, the United States announced new sanctions against the ICC, provoking swift condemnation from member states and the United Nations.
Pillay, speaking from the courtroom in Nuremberg, Germany where the trials of World War II Nazi leaders took place, dedicated her prize to the "survivors of international crimes".
But Israel issued an angry response to the award, saying it legitimised "anti-Israel hatred", and that Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels must be "applauding from hell".
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the prize showed the Nobel committee had "lost its moral compass" by honouring "a bigot".
The Palestinian foreign ministry said giving the prize to Pillay honoured "all those who stand firm in defending international law and justice".
 

'Independence, expertise'

 
Pillay, 85, is currently a judge on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a case in which Myanmar also stands accused of genocide. She has spent her career defending international law.
She has been "instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide are prosecuted," said Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo.
The daughter of a bus driver in a family of Tamil descent, her career has taken her from South African courts, where she defended anti-apartheid activists, to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda after its 1994 genocide, and the ICC.
Pillay was the UN human rights commissioner from 2008 to 2014.
She headed the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), which last year found that genocide was occurring in Gaza. It does not speak on behalf of the UN.
Pillay told AFP at the time that her team had shared "thousands of pieces of information" with ICC prosecutors.
Israel categorically rejected the report findings as "distorted and false".
Pillay's "independence, her expertise and steadfastness have made her one of the most respected international jurists of our time," the Nobel committee said.
 

ICC sanctioned

 
In Nuremberg, Pillay said world leaders have a "legal obligation to protect human rights and refrain from war".
"We are living through an era when international law and human rights are under significant political attack," she said.
That was "particularly visible with the attacks on the International Criminal Court", she added.
US President Donald Trump last month called on ICC member states to quit the body, calling it an anti-American "out-of-control institution". On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would ban transactions with what he called a "rogue court".
"Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC," Rubio said in a statement.
The US sanctions were welcomed by Israel but condemned by the United Nations, the European Union and court member states including Britain, France, Germany, Japan and Canada.
The decision to award the prize to Pillay was "a clear message to those who are putting pressure on these institutions, to those who are sanctioning the judges and are attacking the institutions," Frydnes told AFP. "That needs to stop."
Earlier, Pillay reacted to news of the prize with a quip about Trump's well-documented desire to win the prize himself.
"If you clap a little bit more I may share this prize with Trump," she said during a standing ovation captured on video and posted online.
 

'Courage to speak the truth'

 
The Nobel committee did not mention the allegations against Israel in Gaza in its comments awarding Pillay the prize.
It told AFP it was up to the international court to rule on whether Israel's actions in Gaza constitute genocide.
Pillay noted that many had paid tribute to her courage in that report. 
"You can imagine how surprised I was," she said. "Why would you need courage to speak the truth?"
Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has made no secret of his desire to win the Nobel Peace prize.
But his war against Iran, his territorial expansion ambitions as in Greenland, his hard line on migrants, and his attacks on multilateralism and the media have, according to experts in Oslo, disqualified him.
The prize comes with a gold medal, a diploma and a prize sum of $1.2 million.
The award will be presented at a formal ceremony in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of the prize's creator, Swedish inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel.
burs-jj/tw

conflict

Montenegro expels popular Russian war blogger wanted by US

  • Montenegro's police directorate and the National Security Agency (ANB) "identified five Russian nationals whose stay in the country was cancelled and who were issued expulsion orders on grounds of national and internal security", an interior ministry statement said.
  • Montenegro on Friday ordered the expulsion of a popular Russian pro-Ukraine war blogger Mikhail Zvinchuk on national security grounds, just hours after his arrest, the interior ministry said.
  • Montenegro's police directorate and the National Security Agency (ANB) "identified five Russian nationals whose stay in the country was cancelled and who were issued expulsion orders on grounds of national and internal security", an interior ministry statement said.
Montenegro on Friday ordered the expulsion of a popular Russian pro-Ukraine war blogger Mikhail Zvinchuk on national security grounds, just hours after his arrest, the interior ministry said.
Zvinchuk, who served with the Russian army in Syria and founded the Rybar Telegram channel, is wanted by the United States for alleged election interference and has been sanctioned by the European Union for promoting pro-Russia propaganda.
Montenegro's police directorate and the National Security Agency (ANB) "identified five Russian nationals whose stay in the country was cancelled and who were issued expulsion orders on grounds of national and internal security", an interior ministry statement said.
The operation was carried out with the "support of international partners", it added. Authorities did not say where Zvinchuk and the other four would be sent to.
The five, identified only by their initials, entered Montenegro less than two days ago, and were staying at a hotel in the coastal town of Risan, the statement said.
"M.Z. was identified as leader and member of the Russian political-hybrid network Rybar." 
Rybar, in a statement on its Telegram channel, confirmed the arrests of Zvinchuk, 35, and other Russian citizens. The arrest was also confirmed by Montenegro's Prime Minister Milojko Spajic.
Rybar said the group were in Montenegro "legally and officially" and had planned to film at the Cetinje Monastery, a Serbian Orthodox site.
Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova in a statement for state owned news agency TASS said that the group was "released".
"They are at the airport awaiting departure. Diplomats are providing assistance," Zakharova said.
According to the Vijesti newspaper website, Zvinchuk's wife was among those arrested.
They had been planning to film a documentary criticising Montenegro's steps to move closer to the European Union that would have had "negative consequences for tourism, economic stability and Montenegro's national interests", sources told the newspaper.
The Balkan nation of 620,000 people aspires to complete EU accession talks by the end of the year.

'Pro-Kremlin propaganda'

Police said they had seized "sophisticated digital equipment and devices" from the Russian nationals, including high-resolution equipment, a drone, a camera, a GoPro camera and several mobile phones. 
Prime Minister Spajic hailed the operation. "The message... is clear: institutions are doing their work, Montenegro protects its interests and no one will jeopardise our European future," he said on X.
Meanwhile, according to the investigative journalism site Detektor.ba, Zvinchuk had been in Bosnia prior to entering Montenegro, including for its general election on Sunday.
Washington has offered a $10 million reward for information on Zvinchuk and several other Rybar employees.
The EU sanctioned him over actions that it said "undermine and threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine" and accused him of distributing "disinformation and pro-Kremlin propaganda about the war".
Military bloggers surged to prominence in Russia at the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
With inside information from the army and defence ministry, they were given leeway to discuss and criticise Moscow's military failures -- typically pushing for a more aggressive campaign -- despite heavy censorship.
In 2023, Zvinchuk told AFP that his work was helping to "defend" Russia.
"We rose to defend our motherland in the world of information. We became its shield," he said at the time.
burs-ljv/dd/ach 

court

US sanctions: a 'test of resilience' for ICC

BY RICHARD CARTER

  • - The Trump administration has already issued several rounds of sanctions against top ICC officials but these latest announced actions go further, targeting the entire court.
  • Donald Trump's US administration has announced sweeping sanctions on the International Criminal Court that threaten to cripple its operations and spark fresh transatlantic tension.
  • - The Trump administration has already issued several rounds of sanctions against top ICC officials but these latest announced actions go further, targeting the entire court.
Donald Trump's US administration has announced sweeping sanctions on the International Criminal Court that threaten to cripple its operations and spark fresh transatlantic tension.
AFP breaks down the likely impact of the sanctions, possible responses, and the reasons behind Washington's unprecedented move, which the court said was an "assault on the rule of law".

What is the ICC and what does it do?

Based in the Dutch city of The Hague, the ICC tries individuals suspected of the world's worst offences -- war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
Established in 2002 by the Rome Statute, it currently has 125 members. Major powers such as the United States, Russia, China, India, and Israel are not members of the court.
It is governed by a strict policy of "complementarity", meaning it can only take on cases a suspect's home country is unwilling or unable to try itself.
Since its establishment, the court has convicted 15 people, with four acquitted. Critics say the court has focused too heavily on war crimes committed in Africa and failed to convict major political leaders.
However, its most high-profile current case concerns ex-Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte, the first former Asian head of state to stand in the ICC dock.
The court, housed in a shiny glass building on the outskirts of The Hague, employs around 900 staff from 100 nationalities.
It is often confused with the International Court of Justice, also based in The Hague, which settles disputes between countries.

What impact will sanctions have?

The Trump administration has already issued several rounds of sanctions against top ICC officials but these latest announced actions go further, targeting the entire court.
ICC officials are concerned about access to banking, credit card facilities, insurance, and especially technology, given a heavy reliance on US systems.
"We have been extremely dependent on US technology solutions, Microsoft or systems related to Microsoft," acting chief prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang told AFP in a recent interview.
"We are trying to find alternative means, maybe not as effective as the US technology, but at least to be able to maintain our independence, to be able to continue to work," said Niang.
The prosecutor, himself the target of sanctions, said they crippled daily life -- he was unable to book transport, hotels, or conduct banking operations.
But expanding them to the entire institution raises questions about the ICC's ability to pay staff, conduct investigations abroad, protect witnesses, and even operate its detention facilities.
"This is a test of our resilience," admitted Niang.

What can the Dutch/Europeans do?

As the host city, the Dutch have a special responsibility to the ICC under the terms of a "Headquarters Agreement" signed in 2008.
This obliges the Netherlands to protect ICC facilities and staff, provide "any means of communication" and ensure "freedom of financial assets from restrictions".
In an unusually fiery speech last month at the United Nations General Assembly, Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten vowed to defend the ICC "in my country, in my city".
"How can you possibly be opposed to prosecuting the very worst crimes? I believe there can be only one response: 'hands off the ICC'," said Jetten to warm applause.
Reacting to the announcement from Washington, Jetten said the Dutch would do "whatever we need" to ensure the ICC could continue to function.
One possibility would be for the European Commission to deploy a legal instrument known as the "blocking mechanism".
This prohibits European firms from obeying the US sanctions "actively or by deliberate omission", giving the EU a potential means of cushioning some of the impact.
The EU blocking mechanism is seen as the "nuclear option", said Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen, adding that the Netherlands had nevertheless asked Brussels to prepare it.
Jetten said a six-month pause before sanctions took effect should be used to pursue dialogue with Washington -- "this will give us plenty of time."

Why is the US doing this?

The US is furious the court issued an arrest warrant for close ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over alleged crimes in Gaza.
It is also concerned an ICC investigation into Afghanistan could result in accusations against US personnel.
Trump has upped his rhetoric against what he has called a "rogue institution" and "evil group of people" and the US has vowed to dismantle the court "brick-by-brick".
But even under less pugnacious presidents, Washington has never been a fan of the ICC and never considered joining.
The US has a law dubbed the "Hague Invasion Act", allowing it to take "all means necessary and appropriate" to defend US personnel or allies detained by the ICC.
ric/ach 

Nobel

US announces sanctions on ICC, hours after Nobel award to former judge

BY ALEX PIGMAN

  • The court rejected the US sanctions as an attack on international law and warned in a statement that "history will judge this moment."
  • The United States on Friday announced sanctions on the International Criminal Court, vowing to cripple the tribunal's operations just hours after the Nobel Peace Prize went to a former ICC judge who warned of mounting political attacks on the court.
  • The court rejected the US sanctions as an attack on international law and warned in a statement that "history will judge this moment."
The United States on Friday announced sanctions on the International Criminal Court, vowing to cripple the tribunal's operations just hours after the Nobel Peace Prize went to a former ICC judge who warned of mounting political attacks on the court.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would ban transactions with what he called a "rogue court," escalating a long-running campaign by President Donald Trump's administration against the Hague-based tribunal.
"Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC," Rubio said in a statement.
But the immediate impact of the sanctions was softened by a series of exemptions that offer a de facto six-month grace period. 
The State Department said that was meant to give the court's member states time to show "meaningful progress" toward addressing US concerns.
The grace period could be adjusted depending on the "success or failure" of those efforts, the department added.
The court rejected the US sanctions as an attack on international law and warned in a statement that "history will judge this moment."
Countries including Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom said in a joint statement that they "strongly disagree" with the announcement.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the US decision "a serious blow to our collective pursuit of international criminal justice, of which the ICC is a key pillar."
The European Union called the sanctions "deeply regrettable" and said it was "ready to take any necessary measures to enable the court to carry out its work."
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, said it hoped the six-month delay meant "there is room for dialogue."
Rights group Amnesty International urged countries to "resist" the move, saying the sanctions were "designed to isolate and ultimately destroy" the court.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces an ICC arrest warrant over alleged crimes in Gaza, praised the US action.
"The ICC is not a court. It is a political body that poses a mortal threat to law-abiding democracies worldwide and to the very idea of national sovereignty," his office posted on X.

'Never allow'

The move came on the same day the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the peace prize to South Africa’s Navi Pillay, an 85-year-old jurist who headed the Rwanda genocide tribunal, served on the ICC and later led a UN commission that accused Israel of genocide in Gaza.
Rubio's statement did not mention Pillay or the Nobel award.
He said the sanctions were needed to protect security personnel and elected officials from prosecution by a court the United States has never joined.
"President Trump will never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans," Rubio said, adding that the measures would cut off the court's resources and cripple "its ability to operate."
The top US diplomat said Washington had for more than a year spelled out "basic gestures of good faith" it expected from the court, and had held off on the designation in hopes that the ICC or its member states would change course.
He said no "meaningful steps" had been taken to address US concerns.
Rubio also called on US allies that belong to the court and "rely on American service members for their defense" to rein it in, warning that otherwise Washington would keep working to dismantle the ICC "brick by brick."
The Trump administration had already sanctioned 17 people linked to the court, including its prosecutor and several judges, over the ICC's investigations involving the United States and Israel, which is also not a member.
Trump last month called on all ICC member states to quit the body, denouncing it as "out of control" and a "rogue institution."
arp/md

diplomacy

Rubio calls on all Venezuela opposition figures to join talks with govt

  • So far, Rodriguez's government and Figuera's team have completed two rounds of talks, with the most tangible result being the release of political prisoners. 
  • US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday called on all opposition factions in Venezuela to join talks with the interim government of Delcy Rodriguez on a future political transition.
  • So far, Rodriguez's government and Figuera's team have completed two rounds of talks, with the most tangible result being the release of political prisoners. 
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday called on all opposition factions in Venezuela to join talks with the interim government of Delcy Rodriguez on a future political transition.
Rubio made the comment as he welcomed Dinorah Figuera, who led the opposition bloc that won a majority in Venezuela's last internationally recognized elections in 2015, to the State Department.
The negotiations are proceeding with Washington's approval after the US military's ouster of president Nicolas Maduro in January, which led to Rodriguez assuming power.
The next round of talks are scheduled to begin on October 14, Rubio told reporters, adding that Figuera had Washington's "100 percent support."
"We ask all elements within the opposition, and all elements of society, to participate in and support this process," Rubio said in Spanish.
So far, Rodriguez's government and Figuera's team have completed two rounds of talks, with the most tangible result being the release of political prisoners. 
But cracks in the opposition have appeared, with some factions complaining about the slow pace of progress.
Nobel peace laureate and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado remains in exile, though she has said she will not interfere and hopes to see concrete results.
Figuera and Machado have nevertheless publicly been at odds about the direction and pace of the talks.
"This is the best opportunity Venezuela has had almost in a generation, not just to have elections that are free and fair but, in addition, to leave behind an enduring democracy," Rubio said.
Figuera said it was "not an easy process, but it's a possible one."
"We believe that following this roadmap, with the support of the United States, will undoubtedly lead our country to progress," she stated.
When asked when elections might take place in her country, Figuera said: "We will ensure the path and the roadmap are in place for elections to take place."
Rodriguez has not yet committed to setting an election date.
jz/sst/bgs

unrest

Clashes in Durban as fresh anti-migrant riots erupt in South Africa

  • At least four foreign nationals have been killed in violence this year, according to the South African police, though some African governments said the toll was higher.
  • South African police battled Friday to control rioters and looters in the east coast city of Durban amid a second day of unrest targeted at foreign nationals.
  • At least four foreign nationals have been killed in violence this year, according to the South African police, though some African governments said the toll was higher.
South African police battled Friday to control rioters and looters in the east coast city of Durban amid a second day of unrest targeted at foreign nationals.
Large mobs moved through the city, kicking in shop windows and hurling bricks and bottles in violence that echoed weeks of protests that led thousands of nationals from other African nations to flee earlier this year.
Clashes broke out on Thursday after anti-migrant marches in Durban and Johannesburg against government orders for refugee reception offices to resume processing asylum applications.
Hoping to quell the anger, the government announced Friday that it had withdrawn the instructions, which followed a Constitutional Court ruling.
But crowds of rioters, many armed with long sticks, moved through areas of Durban where students and foreign nationals live and work, an AFP reporter said.
Police fired tear gas and stun grenades to try to disperse the protesters. 
One migrant told journalists he was beaten and injured by South Africans who stole his wallet and phone. He was taken to safety by police. 
Elsewhere, three houses were set alight and shops looted. 
"I decided to come to the march because I'm concerned about what is happening in this country," said Vusi Gumede, a 43-year-old demonstrator.
"I'm concerned about the drugs, I'm concerned about human trafficking," he said, blaming foreign nationals for the issues.
"If government is not watching..., there will be more of this."
Protesters also marched to the offices of the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg, where at least 10 vehicles were set alight late Thursday in the Soweto district.
"We are dealing with the challenges that are now unfolding in Durban and our security cluster is on top of the situation," President Cyril Ramaphosa told journalists. 
"We are just working that there should be no loss of life, and that there should be no danger to any group of people in our country."
The order to process asylum applications resulted in long queues of foreign nationals outside the centres, angering groups behind the push to force undocumented migrants to leave South Africa by a June 30 deadline.
The Home Affairs Department said it had led to its offices being "overwhelmed within a matter of days" and "serious threats to public safety and order".
Africa's wealthiest nation has long been a magnet for migrants from elsewhere on the continent.
It has experienced periodic outbreaks of xenophobic violence for nearly two decades, sometimes based on disputed claims that foreign nationals take scarce jobs and resources from locals.
Populist groups leading demonstrations accuse migrants of taking jobs and services from locals, a key issue for local government elections on November 4.
At least four foreign nationals have been killed in violence this year, according to the South African police, though some African governments said the toll was higher.
The largest numbers of foreign nationals to leave were from Zimbabwe and Malawi. 
Nationals of Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Nigeria and Uganda also fled, some repatriated by their government and raising diplomatic tensions.
str-br/tw

schools

France students plan more protests, UN 'concerned' over violence

  • "We are following with concern incidents related to the student protests and high school blockades in France, some of which have turned violent," said Shabia Mantoo, spokesperson for the UN human rights agency.
  • Students in France were largely back in the classroom Friday following days of protests demanding better education and school conditions, as the UN voiced "concern" over the sometimes violent clashes. 
  • "We are following with concern incidents related to the student protests and high school blockades in France, some of which have turned violent," said Shabia Mantoo, spokesperson for the UN human rights agency.
Students in France were largely back in the classroom Friday following days of protests demanding better education and school conditions, as the UN voiced "concern" over the sometimes violent clashes. 
Tens of thousands have taken to the streets across France since students in late September began blocking entrances to high schools, which led to squads of riot police being deployed.
The students -- most aged 15 to 18 -- have complained of absent teachers, overloaded timetables, dilapidated classrooms and buildings that cannot cope with rising temperatures.
More than 6,800 people have been detained since the start of the demonstrations, of whom 86 percent are minors, the justice ministry said Friday. 
A government source told journalists that the cost for damage caused by the demonstrations was "at least 30 million euros".
The United Nations said Friday it was watching the events "with concern" and urged people on all sides to remain peaceful. 
"We are following with concern incidents related to the student protests and high school blockades in France, some of which have turned violent," said Shabia Mantoo, spokesperson for the UN human rights agency.
While the demonstrations have been largely peaceful, some protesters have started fires and vandalised bus shelters.
In response, police have used tear gas, batons and blast balls, leading to accusations from rights groups and the students themselves of a disproportionate use of force.
Police have opened 18 internal investigations into allegations of misconduct.
After a 15-year-old lost a hand on Monday after police fired a stun grenade, the government has suspended the use of the weapon.
 
- 'Marked slowdown' - 
 
The government source said Friday the authorities were seeing a "marked slowdown" in the movement, and told journalists that most of the injured high school students "were not hurt by police action (but were) students who injured themselves accidentally" during the protests.
But many students told AFP they were not relenting. Organisers have called for large-scale demonstrations next week. 
"We're saving our energy for next week," said one 16-year-old student in the southwestern city of Toulouse.
Alice, a high school student in the southern port city of Marseille, said the education minister's announcements "are a first step but they're not enough".
Student union representative Marius Mesnil said "we're being offered a few crumbs", while calling for another wave of demonstrations Tuesday. 
On Thursday evening in the capital Paris, police said they had used tear gas in Bastille square to disperse some "high-risk profiles".
In a bid to placate the anger, Education Minister Edouard Geffray announced late Thursday that some 3,000 substitute teachers would be deployed in the coming days to replace absent staff at the 114 worst-affected high schools. 
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has also promised a plan to respond to the crisis by the end of October, while Economy Minister Roland Lescure said there was room to address demands for more school resources within the highly constrained 2027 budget.
In the current draft budget, education has the second largest increase in funding -- after defence -- with a boost of 1.4 percent to 90.9 billion euros.
Of the 3,700 high schools across France, called lycees, only 141 were closed on Friday, the education ministry said.
Last Friday, some 800 schools had closed due to the protests.
burs-rox/as/jj

conflict

Eritrea, Ethiopia trade barbs as Tigray rebels retreat

  • Relations initially improved when Abiy came to power in Ethiopia in 2018, and Eritrea even fought alongside Ethiopia during the latter's 2020-2022 civil war against the TPLF. But relations deteriorated after the war, with Eritrea angry over the way it was concluded, and fearing an Ethiopian invasion.  str-dyg-rbu-er/kjm
  • Ethiopia and Eritrea each accused the other of starting a war on Friday as an internal Ethiopian conflict threatened to escalate into a regional war.
  • Relations initially improved when Abiy came to power in Ethiopia in 2018, and Eritrea even fought alongside Ethiopia during the latter's 2020-2022 civil war against the TPLF. But relations deteriorated after the war, with Eritrea angry over the way it was concluded, and fearing an Ethiopian invasion.  str-dyg-rbu-er/kjm
Ethiopia and Eritrea each accused the other of starting a war on Friday as an internal Ethiopian conflict threatened to escalate into a regional war.
Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 and they fought a brutal border war from 1998 to 2000. 
Ethiopia accuses its neighbour of backing rebels in its northern Tigray state, who launched attacks against federal forces last month.
The two countries severed diplomatic relations last week, and since then, Eritrean forces have invaded Ethiopian territory, with a foreign security source estimating it has 5,000 to 8,000 troops in Tigray. 
Eritrea's conduct is "a blatant act of aggression that engages Ethiopia's inherent right to self-defence", Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos wrote in a letter to diplomats.
Eritrea's information minister, Yemane Gebremeskel, responded on X that it was facing "an unprovoked war of aggression" from Ethiopia.
Over the past week, the Ethiopian army has pushed back the rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and seized their capital, Mekelle. 
It has also launched drone strikes against the Eritrean troops in the region, forcing them into an apparent retreat, though a lack of access for media makes verification difficult.
 

Rebels lose cities

 
Witnesses told AFP on Friday that the rebels had lost two other cities in Tigray: Shire and Adigrat.
A Shire resident said pro-government forces had entered the city on Friday afternoon. 
"People are coming out to watch the armed fighters arriving. Shops are closed. To prevent looting, residents have organised themselves in their respective neighbourhoods and are guarding their areas," the resident said. 
An aid worker in Shire said rebel fighters and the local administration abandoned the city on Wednesday, and that four people had been killed in exchanges of fire related to the looting. 
Eritrean forces were seen in Adigrat in recent days before being targeted by Ethiopian drone strikes, according to a conflict monitor and witnesses.
The rebels were retreating to Sheraro, a town near the Eritrean border, according to a Tigrayan official from a TPLF dissident faction.
In a sign of renewed government confidence, Ethiopian Airlines said flights to the Tigrayan capital would resume from Sunday.
Kjetil Tronvoll, regional specialist at Oslo New University College, told AFP the government would likely appoint a new interim administration for the region. 
He said the TPLF was "withering", with low morale and frustration with their leaders.
"Many are defecting and going back to their villages," he said.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed could press his advantage and push into Eritrea, Tronvoll warned.
Landlocked Ethiopia has repeatedly insisted that it has a right to direct sea access, which Eritrea interprets as a threat to invade and seize its port at Assab. 
"The hysterical infatuation with the Red Sea must also be seen with previous intentions to wage a war of invasion against Eritrea," the Eritrean information minister said. 
Authorities in both countries have not responded to AFP requests for comment.
Relations initially improved when Abiy came to power in Ethiopia in 2018, and Eritrea even fought alongside Ethiopia during the latter's 2020-2022 civil war against the TPLF.
But relations deteriorated after the war, with Eritrea angry over the way it was concluded, and fearing an Ethiopian invasion. 
str-dyg-rbu-er/kjm

diplomacy

China agrees to 'moderate' car exports to Europe: EU commerce chief

BY SAM DAVIES

  • "By this step, we're actually preventing several millions of cars exports from China to the European Union," he said.
  • China and the European Union reached an understanding to "moderate" hybrid vehicles exports on Friday, which could prevent millions of Chinese cars from being shipped to Europe, the bloc's commerce chief said following talks that dispelled a much-feared trade war.
  • "By this step, we're actually preventing several millions of cars exports from China to the European Union," he said.
China and the European Union reached an understanding to "moderate" hybrid vehicles exports on Friday, which could prevent millions of Chinese cars from being shipped to Europe, the bloc's commerce chief said following talks that dispelled a much-feared trade war.
The EU's Maros Sefcovic said the understanding would "moderate China's export of hybrids and plug-in hybrids to the EU".
"This opens the prospect of cutting China's export by more than a half" based on projections over a four-year period, he told reporters after the talks.
"By this step, we're actually preventing several millions of cars exports from China to the European Union," he said.
The critical automotive sector was a focal point in the lead-up to talks, as cheaper products coming from China have strangled European industry and Brussels has sought to manage those exports.
Europe's main auto group welcomed the deal as "a positive step in easing trade tensions".
"Today's announcement can help facilitate the transition to a new era of Chinese presence in the European market in an orderly way and this is in the long-term interests of all parties," Sigrid de Vries, director-general of the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, said in a statement.

'Crucial first step'

Sefcovic hailed the talks as a "crucial first step" towards rebalancing trade between the EU and China, which he previously said was marred by an "unsustainable" deficit.
The EU trade deficit with China runs at around one billion euros ($1.1 billion) every day.
"It's a crucial first step, but only a first step in the process of rebalancing," Sefcovic told reporters, adding that "dialogue needs results, and where the dialogue cannot deliver, the EU will use its tools to ensure a rebalancing".
In a move that will bring further relief to Brussels, Beijing also committed to continuing the supply of vital items such as rare earth minerals to the European Union.
China is "willing... to continue facilitating the approval of export licenses for rare earths and permanent magnets destined for the EU", the joint statement said.
While they acknowledged "differences", the two sides said they were committed to maintaining trade and to hold another meeting in March.
The talks follow months of rising tensions between the 27-nation EU and the Asian powerhouse that threatened to escalate into a trade war.
Many in Europe accuse China of unfair trade practices, including supporting firms with huge subsidies, price dumping and currency manipulation.
Europe can ill afford to anger Beijing, but the stakes are also high for China, which is heavily reliant on exports to compensate for its weak domestic economy.
The EU parliament's trade committee chief, Bernd Lange, said ahead of Sefcovic's trip that this "economic crisis in China" gives the bloc "bargaining power".

Need for predictability

European companies with operations in China "recognise the importance and the real issue of the outstanding trade imbalance", Adam Dunnett of the EU Chamber of Commerce in Beijing told AFP.
"They fully support that that needs to be addressed, but they want it to be done in a proportionate, specific and negotiated way so that we can manage the overall relationship," he said.
Beijing's commitment to continue providing rare earths will bring some comfort to European companies in China, who face complicated access to the critical materials under new rules imposed by Beijing last year in retaliation against tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump.
"Having a bit more transparency and predictability around that" is a key deliverable from this week's talks, Dunnett said.
stu-pfc-dhw/ceg

environment

Malaysia closes schools in capital, parts of country due to haze

BY JAN HENNOP

  • Neighbouring Singapore late Friday said it too was "ready to roll out" a haze pollution plan should air quality levels deteriorate.
  • Malaysia closed schools in the capital and parts of the country on Friday as haze from fires in neighbouring Indonesia again reduced its air quality to among the world's worst. 
  • Neighbouring Singapore late Friday said it too was "ready to roll out" a haze pollution plan should air quality levels deteriorate.
Malaysia closed schools in the capital and parts of the country on Friday as haze from fires in neighbouring Indonesia again reduced its air quality to among the world's worst. 
Toxic smoke from peatland and forest fires has shrouded towns and cities in the region for more than a month, sending respiratory complaints skyrocketing.
The school closures come as Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim discussed the choking smoke with his Indonesian counterpart and called for an urgent regional meeting.
Air quality in Kuala Lumpur has been at "unhealthy levels" this week, with a Swiss-based air quality monitor ranking the Malaysian capital among the world's "most polluted global major cities" on most days.
Neighbouring Singapore late Friday said it too was "ready to roll out" a haze pollution plan should air quality levels deteriorate.
Singapore's air quality levels hovered on the edge of "very unhealthy" levels late on Friday, according to the government's Pollutant Standard Index (PSI).

'Take precautions'

Anwar said he asked Malaysia's Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan to contact the 11-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) secretariat for an urgent meeting between environmental ministers to discuss the air pollution.
Malaysia's Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said she had instructed full school closures in four states and two federal territories as well as one partial closure in the central Pahang State.
Schools were also closed in three districts in western Perak State on Friday afternoon.
Malaysia's King Sultan Ibrahim had also weighed in on the matter, saying schools should be closed as air quality readings reached 150 or higher on the Air Pollutant Index (API).
Under Malaysian guidelines, API readings above 100 are classified as unhealthy, above 200 as very unhealthy, above 300 as hazardous, while readings beyond 500 constitute the threshold for declaring a local emergency.
Kuala Lumpur on Friday afternoon showed a reading of around 224 on IQAir's Air Quality Index, putting it in the "very unhealthy" range and briefly overtaking Singapore as the "most polluted global major city".
Singapore's National Environmental Agency (NEA) late Friday said it would distribute haze-rated masks to the public should air quality deteriorate.
Based on the current situation it is possible "that air quality levels "may enter the very unhealthy range," the NEA said in a statement, adding that mask vending machines would be made available at public transport hubs and social service offices. 
"While showers are expected over Singapore and the surrounding region on Saturday and Sunday, the prevailing southeasterly to southwesterly winds may continue to transport smoke haze from southern Sumatra and Kalimantan towards Singapore," the NEA said, referring to the Indonesian regions where the fires are blazing. 
The city-state is hosting its annual edition of the Formula 1 race over the weekend, but race organisers have said the toxic haze "did not represent a threat." 
"Air quality levels are being monitored by the relevant local authorities, and appropriate contingency measures are in place should conditions worsen," organisers told AFP on Wednesday.   

'Shared concerns'

Malaysia's Prime Minister said on Thursday he had discussed the situation with his Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto.
"He also agreed to take the necessary steps," Anwar said, without providing further details.
In Jakarta, the Government Communications Agency said such exchanges allowed the leaders to "discuss shared concerns", without specifying what they were. 
"Both countries look forward to constructive outcomes from these discussions that benefit their people and the wider region," it said.
Anwar said Malaysia has been taking measures to combat the haze, including increasing attempts to trigger rain via cloud seeding.
Experts said the flames are being fanned by a turbo-charged El Nino weather phenomenon, causing the worst pollution conditions in years.
burs-jhe/ceg

vote

Brazil election offers Jair Bolsonaro a shot at revenge

BY JUAN SEBASTIAN SERRANO

  • Banned from social media, he received few visitors during the campaign, according to records reviewed by AFP. On the campaign trail, Flavio Bolsonaro vowed that his father would "walk up the ramp of Planalto (the presidential palace)" at his inauguration.
  • Brazil's right-wing frontrunner Flavio Bolsonaro has vowed that, if elected, he will free his father Jair Bolsonaro from house arrest so that the former leader can place the presidential sash on his son at his inauguration.
  • Banned from social media, he received few visitors during the campaign, according to records reviewed by AFP. On the campaign trail, Flavio Bolsonaro vowed that his father would "walk up the ramp of Planalto (the presidential palace)" at his inauguration.
Brazil's right-wing frontrunner Flavio Bolsonaro has vowed that, if elected, he will free his father Jair Bolsonaro from house arrest so that the former leader can place the presidential sash on his son at his inauguration.
The shock first-place finish by Flavio Bolsonaro in Sunday's opening-round election offered a touch of vindication for his father, who has long claimed he is a victim of political persecution.
The far-right firebrand has been serving a 27-year sentence since late last year over his efforts to cling to power after losing his 2022 re-election bid to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the incumbent who is now battling his son at the polls.
Due to recurring health issues, the 71-year-old Jair Bolsonaro has been serving his sentence under house arrest in Brasilia. Banned from social media, he received few visitors during the campaign, according to records reviewed by AFP.
On the campaign trail, Flavio Bolsonaro vowed that his father would "walk up the ramp of Planalto (the presidential palace)" at his inauguration.
The former president "needs to be free to embrace the people," Alfredo Gaspar, Flavio Bolsonaro's running mate, told AFP. 
However, he insisted that Jair Bolsonaro was "not hungry for power" nor seeking a role in any potential administration led by his son.
Jair Bolsonaro, his family and allies have maintained his innocence.
"The armed forces discussed staging a coup, so what? They discussed it, but they didn't stage the coup," Valdemar Costa Neto, president of Bolsonaro's Liberal Party, said in a podcast on Wednesday.

Amnesty or pardon?

Jair Bolsonaro's lawyers recently filed a new request for release, seeking a review of the trial that led to his conviction.
They allege abuses and inconsistencies in the way the trial was conducted by powerful Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a figure reviled by Bolsonaro supporters.
The review request is currently before another justice, Kassio Nunes Marques, an appointee of Jair Bolsonaro. 
Marques's office told AFP that he intends to submit the matter to the full court after the runoff election on October 25 between Flavio Bolsonaro and Lula.
However, proceedings could drag on beyond the scheduled inauguration date of January 5.
Flavio Bolsonaro has also pledged that the first act of his term would be to grant his father a presidential pardon.
Although a pardon could be signed "minutes after" taking office, various bureaucratic hurdles would prevent it from taking effect that same day, Thiago Bottino, a law professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, told AFP.
Another option would be to seek amnesty for Jair Bolsonaro in the legislature, where the right now holds a wider majority after Sunday's election.
However, newly-elected lawmakers will only take up their seats in January.
Unlike a pardon, an amnesty would allow Jair Bolsonaro to regain his political rights and thus run for office again.
However, Brazil's constitution would prevent him from running for president right after his son in the 2030 elections.

'A different person'

Flavio Bolsonaro describes himself as more moderate than his father, who became known for misogynistic, racist and homophobic remarks and often looked back fondly at the country's military dictatorship (1964-1985).
Flavio Bolsonaro holds some similar views to his dad: He has defended the military regime and questioned the role of human activity in global warming, saying extreme weather events are "cyclical."
But he has attempted to win over women voters and his more relaxed, genial manner has made him palatable to a wider range of Brazilians.
"He defends Jair Bolsonaro's legacy, but he is a different person -- more capable of negotiation," his campaign manager Rogerio Marinho told AFP.
Helio Schwartsman, a columnist for the daily Folha de Sao Paulo, warned of the perils of revenge if the Bolsonaros win a second term in power, describing father and son as "a political collective."
Once in power, the Bolsonaros might lash out at opponents in ways similar to Donald Trump in the United States and Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, who seem to harbor "accumulated resentment," he said.
Jair Bolsonaro is currently on antidepressants and is "stable," according to the latest medical reports, although his wife, Michelle, has said that the elections have made him "a bit anxious."
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social

Cuban ration book, symbol of the revolution, gathers dust

BY RIGOBERTO DIAZ

  • During the island's boom years from the mid-60s to the late-80s, any Cuban, regardless of income, could eat his or her fill of rice, sugar, beans, beef, chicken, fish and sausages for a month thanks to the subsidized food basket guaranteed by the ration book.
  • For 60 years, Cuban life revolved around a small well-thumbed ration book used by families to buy subsidized goods in state-run stores.
  • During the island's boom years from the mid-60s to the late-80s, any Cuban, regardless of income, could eat his or her fill of rice, sugar, beans, beef, chicken, fish and sausages for a month thanks to the subsidized food basket guaranteed by the ration book.
For 60 years, Cuban life revolved around a small well-thumbed ration book used by families to buy subsidized goods in state-run stores.
But as state "bodegas" disappear, the "libreta" ration book that symbolized equal access to affordable food for all is being quietly shelved.
The libreta was already fading into history when US President Donald Trump began imposing a crippling fuel blockade on Cuba in January, intensifying the island's severe economic crisis.
Washington has since piled more sanctions on Cuba, cutting off nearly all its sources of revenue.
With no money left to import goods and resell them at around a tenth of their market value, the bodegas are being replaced with grocery stores that charge close to market prices.
For a pound of black beans, a staple of the Cuban diet, the new privately run "neighborhood markets" charge 950 pesos (over $1), over a tenth of the average state monthly wage.
"It's a complete change in the way we live," said 64-year-old Paula Sonia Santiago outside one of the new stores, housed in what used to be a bodega.
The bodega and ration book system was implemented by late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro in 1963, after the United States placed the island under embargo.
During the island's boom years from the mid-60s to the late-80s, any Cuban, regardless of income, could eat his or her fill of rice, sugar, beans, beef, chicken, fish and sausages for a month thanks to the subsidized food basket guaranteed by the ration book.
The basket included soap, cigarettes and cigars, among other goods considered necessities, which cost the state $1 billion annually in the 2000s, according to official figures. 
During the 1990s crisis that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba's main financier, the ration book continued to guarantee "a minimum" of food, "especially for those of us who have very little," recalled 82-year-old America Guillen.
Now, "the poorest among us are going through a very difficult time," said Guillen who struggles to feed herself on the minimum state pension of 3,000 pesos ($4).

'We get nothing'

The subsidy system first began to show cracks during the so-called Special Period in the early 1990s.
While subsidized rice and beans were still widely available, ground beef was replaced with soy protein.
Rations were further curtailed in 2008, when reformist ex-president Raul Castro eliminated what he called "undue subsidies and freebies" such as cigars, toothpaste and oil.
But it was current leader Migual Diaz-Canel, in power since 2018, who reduced the subsidized food basket to a bare minimum, following the tightening of US sanctions under Trump. 
"The ration book is practically extinct because we get nothing (at the bodega)," Guillen commented. 
In recent months, the stores have only had a few pounds of rice and sugar for sale, leaving shoppers at the mercy of state-run supermarkets that operate in dollars or small private stores.
The government says its aim now is to subsidize only "the vulnerable" rather than all Cubans. 
It has given tax breaks to entrepreneurs to set up 24 neighborhood markets, where around 20 basic food and hygiene products are available for between 10 and 15 percent less than in private-run stores.
Cubans have dismissed the move as a drop in the ocean of their needs.
Rafael Garcia, 75, bought ten eggs at a market in the Havana suburb of El Cerro for 1350 pesos.
"It's not that it's cheaper (than the bodega), it's just less expensive" than private stores or state-run supermarkets, he remarked.
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