UN

Nations commit to get nature goals back on track

politics

Seen and heard at the US midterm elections

  • Here is a round-up of interviews on Tuesday at polling stations where voters agreed to share their thoughts about what was on their minds and motivating their choices.
  • AFP has deployed reporters, photographers and video journalists across the United States as American voters head to the polls for crucial midterm elections.  
  • Here is a round-up of interviews on Tuesday at polling stations where voters agreed to share their thoughts about what was on their minds and motivating their choices.
AFP has deployed reporters, photographers and video journalists across the United States as American voters head to the polls for crucial midterm elections.  
Here is a round-up of interviews on Tuesday at polling stations where voters agreed to share their thoughts about what was on their minds and motivating their choices.
- Hopeful Democrats  - 
With polling data suggesting the Democratic Party is on track to capture a majority in the House of Representatives and perhaps even in the Senate, many left-leaning voters said they were hopeful about the results.
"Two years ago was a really devastating outcome for me," Emma Mondadori, a 39-year-old who works in philanthropy, told AFP in Brooklyn, New York, referring to President Donald Trump's election.
"I've been really looking forward to this day where we get to have a say again in the future of our country... I'm cautiously hopeful, optimistic."
- The cost of living  -  
With gasoline prices up by a third since last year and diesel prices nearly double -- not to mention sharp food price inflation -- everyday prices were on many people's minds.
"It's about the cost of living, gas prices, those kind of things. It needs to change for the everyday person, and I'm an everyday person," Donta Comer, a 38-year-old project manager in Atlanta, Georgia, told AFP.
Tom, a 27-year-old businessman at the same polling station who declined to give his surname, agreed.
"Everyone, at least in my generation, is a little frustrated with the affordability crisis and gas prices and what's going on abroad," added the non-partisan voter.
- Leadership referendum  - 
Mid-term elections are typically seen as a form of referendum on the sitting president.
And few leaders have polarized public opinion as strongly as Donald Trump.
"I'm independent but I voted Democrat, I just wanted to go back into the culture of decency, integrity, honesty, and the rest follows," Yan Cardineau, 59, told AFP in Austin, Texas. "If we lose that, it doesn't matter how much money you make."
- Immigration  - 
In his final pitch to voters, Trump has stressed his success in reducing immigration and stopping crossings along the southern border with Mexico.
While his tough stance plays well with his core supporters, others have been put off by the brutal tactics used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. 
"I am very concerned about climate change, school violence and the situation with people who still don't have immigration status in this country," Diana Alvarez, a 38-year-old Cuban-born attorney said in Doral, Florida.
"It’s tough for any presidency, but this one in particular has been a little violent and aggressive (with migrants) and I don't think that was necessary."
- Iran  - 
Trump's most consequential foreign policy decision of his second term  -- the February 28 attack on Iran along with Israel  --  was referenced by several voters. 
"It’s discouraging. Again, promises made, promises not kept. 'No new wars' was the mantra," Wes Pyron, a 37-year-old who works at an environmental health nonprofit in Washington, said. 
"I don’t understand what we’re doing there, objectives aren’t clear, priorities aren’t clear."
- Fears of socialism - 
Many Republican candidates and Trump have sought to portray their Democratic rivals as dangerous tax-and-spend Socialists intent on destroying American capitalism. 
"A lot of today's younger people think socialism is the way to go," Daryl Ruley, an 84-year-old in Austin, Texas, told AFP. "They don't understand history if they believe that's the case."

- Michigan -  
In one of the most widely watched races for the Senate  -- in Michigan  -- Democrat candidate Abdul El-Sayed has made free universal healthcare and ending US support for Israel key planks of his platform.
The Muslim former medical administrator has been called a jihadist by Trump and has been smeared with accusations of sympathizing with Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood or Hamas.
"We just got to get it done because we all need help. I need help," said Makeyla Borndes, a 51-year-old former teacher who was forced to retire after falling down a staircase. 
She wore several El-Sayed pins on her green apron and neon pink socks.
burs-adp/bgs

interference

How Trump could interfere in US midterm elections

BY FRANKIE TAGGART

  • - Counting the votes - Federal agents could seek warrants or subpoenas for ballots, voting machines or records -- potentially disrupting the count.
  • State officials who run US elections are braced for possible intervention by President Donald Trump's administration in Tuesday's midterms -- fearing federal authorities could disrupt voting, challenge ballot counts or try to block unfavorable results.
  • - Counting the votes - Federal agents could seek warrants or subpoenas for ballots, voting machines or records -- potentially disrupting the count.
State officials who run US elections are braced for possible intervention by President Donald Trump's administration in Tuesday's midterms -- fearing federal authorities could disrupt voting, challenge ballot counts or try to block unfavorable results.
Trump, whose Republicans face an uphill battle to keep control of Congress, has repeatedly questioned the integrity of US elections and urged his party to "nationalize" voting in at least 15 places.
The White House says it is protecting election security, and many of the feared scenarios remain hypothetical.
The US Constitution gives the president no direct role in running elections, and courts have so far rebuffed the administration's main legal challenges.
Here are the key potential flashpoints:

Who gets to vote

The Justice Department has sued 30 states and the District of Columbia to obtain their voter registration lists, saying it needs them to find non-citizens. It has lost more than two dozen of those cases.
It has also demanded that ballots be set aside from about 20,000 people in California and more than 400 in Washington state whom it suspects are non-citizens.
The US Supreme Court rejected the California request, handing the Trump administration a snub a day before election day. Washington state has also refused the demand.
Studies have repeatedly found non-citizen voting to be exceptionally rare.
The Justice Department has warned election officials in every state that they could face prosecution if they knowingly allow non-citizens to vote.
And Trump has offered $1 million for information leading to a voter fraud conviction, without giving details.

At polling stations

The Justice Department plans to send around 1,000 election monitors to all 50 states -- its largest deployment ever.
Monitoring is a decades-old practice, but Democrats and voting rights groups fear monitors could intimidate voters.
The department says they will be unarmed, barred from interfering with voting and drawn from neither the FBI nor Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The administration says it is not planning operations targeting polling places, although Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said ICE agents could serve warrants there.
Trump has declined to rule out declaring a national emergency or invoking the Insurrection Act, which allows the president to deploy troops at home.
A Civil War-era law bars troops and armed federal agents from polling places, and legal experts say an emergency declaration would not give the president power over elections.

Counting the votes

Federal agents could seek warrants or subpoenas for ballots, voting machines or records -- potentially disrupting the count.
In January, the FBI seized ballots and other 2020 election records in Fulton County, Georgia, a focus of Trump's false claims that he won that year.
Election officials warn that similar action during an active count could undermine safeguards tracking how ballots are handled.
Trump could allege fraud involving mail-in ballots, voting machines or votes counted after election night, fueling demands for recounts or attempts to halt counting.
But the US Supreme Court ruled in June that states may count mail ballots postmarked by election day that arrive afterward, and courts can intervene against unlawful disruption. 

After election day

The Justice Department has sued Alaska to delay certification of its Senate race if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan narrowly loses to Democrat Mary Peltola, citing a second candidate named Dan Sullivan who it says is trying to confuse voters, which he denies.
Trump said he ordered the lawsuit.
Experts say federal law does not allow the department to block certification, which courts can compel officials to carry out.
Trump could pressure state officials to dispute results, as he did after losing the 2020 election.
Experts warn unresolved disputes could also delay the seating of newly elected lawmakers in January.
But courts have repeatedly upheld states' authority over elections, and Democrats and voting rights groups have assembled legal teams to fight any interference.
ft-pnb/bgs

pope

Pope 'so excited' about return to Peru: Vatican

  • But the US pope insists he is fit enough for what will be one of the most ambitious papal foreign trips in decades, touring Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, she said.
  • Pope Leo XIV is "so excited" to return to Peru and refused to cut anything from his packed South America schedule despite his recent lung operation, the Vatican said Tuesday.
  • But the US pope insists he is fit enough for what will be one of the most ambitious papal foreign trips in decades, touring Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, she said.
Pope Leo XIV is "so excited" to return to Peru and refused to cut anything from his packed South America schedule despite his recent lung operation, the Vatican said Tuesday.
"He is so excited. He personally confirmed this trip with no changes," Maria Montserrat Alvarado, the Vatican's new head of communications, told journalists.
The 71-year-old head of the Catholic Church, who underwent an operation fewer than three weeks ago to remove a cancerous tumour, was "so grateful" for concern over his health, she said at a briefing ahead of the November 6 to 17 trip.
But the US pope insists he is fit enough for what will be one of the most ambitious papal foreign trips in decades, touring Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, she said.
Before becoming Leo XIV, Robert Francis Prevost served for nearly two decades in the Andean country, including as bishop, and he holds Peruvian citizenship.
"The homecoming piece is very important to him," Alvarado said.
"He feels that very deeply. This is a place that gave him his ministry and inspired who he is as a pastor, and certainly the way that he views encounter, and the diverse needs of the Church.
"So it opened his eyes in a way that is new and different," she said.
Millions of faithful are expected to flock to see Leo, who will lead over 50 events during his trip, delivering speeches to leaders including Argentine President Javier Milei, and meeting indigenous peoples in the Amazon, clerical abuse victims, and the elderly, poor and disabled.
The tour includes 12 flights, two helicopter trips, and a high-altitude prayer in the Andes, which has fuelled concern it may be too much for the pontiff.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the pope's cancerous tumour was "not a permanent condition, we're talking about something that you heal from".
"The pope is a 71-year-old man who has no chronic medical condition. Having undergone a surgical procedure -- from which he has recovered -- he is once again a 71-year-old man in excellent health," he said.
ide/dt/pdw

education

Students blockade dozens of French schools and universities

BY AURELIE MAYEMBO WITH AFP BUREAUS

  • A union representative said the authorities appeared to want to blunt a new day of blockades on Thursday when trade unions have called a nationwide strike.
  • Students blockaded dozens of high schools and universities across France on Tuesday to maintain pressure on the government over education reforms as trade unions prepared for a nationwide strike.
  • A union representative said the authorities appeared to want to blunt a new day of blockades on Thursday when trade unions have called a nationwide strike.
Students blockaded dozens of high schools and universities across France on Tuesday to maintain pressure on the government over education reforms as trade unions prepared for a nationwide strike.
After returning from a two-week autumn break, some students resumed their protest campaign Monday, calling on the authorities to renovate dilapidated schools, reduce class sizes and create more university places.
Authorities said Tuesday that 48 out of France's 3,700 high schools were blocked amid tight security, including in Paris, Rennes and Lyon. The USL student union said 500 schools were blocked.
Fifty-one higher education institutions out of 184 were also disrupted, officials said.
The USL union denounced what it called heavy-handed tactics, with "young people pinned against walls and riot police units deployed" outside schools.
A union representative said the authorities appeared to want to blunt a new day of blockades on Thursday when trade unions have called a nationwide strike.
"We don't even have the right to vote, we can't do anything, so this is our only way of expressing ourselves," a high school student in northwestern Paris said on condition of anonymity.
Thousands of students also marched in Paris and several other cities.
 

'Nothing else worked'

 
Education Minister Edouard Geffray spoke out against the action, saying students needed to study and prepare for exams.
"Preventing them from entering their school deprives them of a fundamental right: the right to an education," he said on X, adding that some staff members had "once again been subjected to violence".
In the northwestern city of Rennes, around 30 students blocked the Brequigny High School, one of the country's largest secondary schools.
Tensions quickly flared between students and the school administration.
"You are not the majority," a staff member protested.
"If we're doing this, it's because everything we've tried before hasn't worked," a student replied.
At a school in the southwestern city of Toulouse, students brandished placards, one saying "Angry, not far right".
"Young people are sticking it to the education system," read another, in a nod to the lyrics of a popular protest song against the far right.
The school protests have fuelled a nationwide movement against soaring prices and inadequate public services, which has drawn hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets over the past three weekends.
On October 17, it also led to some of the worst unrest seen in France in years.
The school movement has inspired students in other European countries, including Italy and Spain, where the French word "blocus" (blockade) has become a hashtag.
Last week, the French government unveiled measures aimed at addressing some of the students' demands, including the replacement of the university admissions platform, which has been criticised for a lack of transparency. 
Students say the proposals do not go far enough, demanding 10 billion euros in investment.
 

Three minors arrested

 
With the European Union's second-largest economy on the brink of recession and under pressure to reduce its debt, authorities have little room to quell student anger with additional spending.
Student union L'Union Etudiante said one university in two was affected Tuesday and that over 50 campuses had been blockaded.
At the University of Lille in the north, around 40 students used bicycles and trash bins to block the campus, leading to the cancellation of classes.
"There's a massive national mobilisation under way," said Gauthier Capiez, a third-year political science student.
"If next year we manage to get rid of Parcoursup, among other things, then it will all have been worth it," he said, referring to the university admissions platform.
Some schools have been damaged since the student movement emerged in September.
On Tuesday, authorities said three minors had been arrested after a school in the western city of Nantes was set on fire in October, on the margins of the protests. 
bur-as/ah/sbk

conflict

UN rights mission condemns Russia attack on Ukraine aid centre

  • "In either case, this attack seems to have violated the most fundamental principles of international humanitarian law."
  • The UN's human rights mission in Ukraine on Tuesday slammed a Russian attack that killed at least 33 people in a former school building where aid had been distributed, saying it likely violated international law.
  • "In either case, this attack seems to have violated the most fundamental principles of international humanitarian law."
The UN's human rights mission in Ukraine on Tuesday slammed a Russian attack that killed at least 33 people in a former school building where aid had been distributed, saying it likely violated international law.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the multiple strikes -- which on Monday hit the village of Komyshuvakha in the southeast -- were one of the deadliest Russian attacks of the war.
"Dozens were killed while civilians gathered to receive humanitarian aid in Komyshuvakha -- the timing and location of the humanitarian distribution was well publicised," said Danielle Bell, the head of the rights mission. 
"Either the Russian armed forces knew that there was a humanitarian distribution taking place, or they failed to take the most basic steps to find out what was happening in this village they were planning to attack," Bell said.
"In either case, this attack seems to have violated the most fundamental principles of international humanitarian law."
UN human rights monitors said Russia had used "powerful aerial glide bombs" in the strike.
"The attack in which multiple glide bombs struck a school building in Komyshuvakha, Zaporizhzhia region, took place in the morning as civilians had gathered to receive humanitarian aid," UN monitors said in a statement. 
"Local authorities had announced the distribution of humanitarian aid the day before on a social media channel with nearly 5,000 subscribers, stating that the distribution would take place at the school between 10 am and noon on 2 November."
Zelensky said 33 people had been killed and that more than 50 could be trapped in rubble. 
Zelensky said on Monday Moscow had targeted the site repeatedly, hitting the shelter where people fled after the first hits in a so-called double-tap strike.
Among those killed were first responders: two rescue workers and four police officers, acting regional governor Mykhailo Semikin said on Telegram.
bur-oc/mmp/pdw

US

Trump confirms strikes on Iran as Pezeshkian urges against return to war

  • - 'Iran wants a settlement' - The US and Israel launched their war with Iran with a massive wave of strikes in late February.
  • US President Donald Trump on Tuesday confirmed launching strikes on Iran as President Masoud Pezeshkian warned no one would benefit from a return to war.
  • - 'Iran wants a settlement' - The US and Israel launched their war with Iran with a massive wave of strikes in late February.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday confirmed launching strikes on Iran as President Masoud Pezeshkian 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.
Iran's chief negotiator in talks with the US, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said the Islamic republic was "ready for battle with its finger on the trigger", while deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Iran retained the right to "legitimate self-defence" after the strikes.
But Pezeshkian said his government was still trying to resolve the crisis "through dialogue", adding that "no one will benefit from this war" if it reignited, and emphasising 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 the Wall Street Journal, CNN, The New York Times and other outlets had reported strikes on 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 US and Israel launched their war with Iran with a massive wave of strikes in late February. The conflict has been stalemated for months.
Asked if Israel was involved in the latest reported strikes, an Israeli military spokesperson told AFP, "No".
The Qeshm attack came just hours after Trump signalled a deal with Iran "could happen", as US voters prepared to cast their ballots in midterms dominated by public dissatisfaction with the war and the inflation it has brought.
"Iran wants a settlement, as soon as possible," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
Iranian state news agency IRNA reported five explosions in rapid succession on Qeshm island, and that some residents reported seeing two aircraft flying in its skies.
Ghalibaf said Tehran had made its position clear.
"The countries of the region should know that, just as the Islamic Republic of Iran stands ready for battle with its finger on the trigger, it has also given the American side a powerful and rational response," he said in a televised speech.
"The ball is now in America's court to prevent war."

'Committed'

Qatar, a mediator in protracted indirect negotiations between the US and Iran, said it remained hopeful of an interim deal in the war.
"Both parties remain committed to the negotiation process; as we mentioned, we are facilitating the real-time exchange of proposals between them," foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari told reporters.
Both sides "are currently reviewing the ideas and proposals we have presented," he added.
"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 on Monday confirmed indirect negotiations were taking place.
"Given the sensitivity and gravity of the current situation, consultations and deliberations are very intensive," Araghchi told state media.

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 route for global oil and gas supplies, 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.

Billboard in Tehran

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.
On Saturday, 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 the US resumes the war.
Authorities in Tehran installed a huge billboard in the heart of the capital, AFP journalists said on Tuesday. 
Over a photo of the US president, it reads: "We will kill Trump".
bur/ser/ris/jsa/rh

security

Hoax bomb threats disrupt four Europe flights

  • Authorities closed that airport following the alert, but the Boeing 737 MAX also landed safely.
  • Four European flights were targeted by bomb threats on Tuesday, forcing the temporary closure of one Warsaw airport, but all planes landed safely and no explosives were found, authorities said.
  • Authorities closed that airport following the alert, but the Boeing 737 MAX also landed safely.
Four European flights were targeted by bomb threats on Tuesday, forcing the temporary closure of one Warsaw airport, but all planes landed safely and no explosives were found, authorities said.
Two bomb warnings targeted flights heading to the Polish capital Warsaw, including an SAS Scandinavian Airlines flight from Copenhagen and one from London's Heathrow airport operated by Polish airline LOT.
In a third incident Aena, the Spanish airport operator, confirmed an emergency protocol was activated "due to a bomb alert" on a Ryanair flight from the northwestern UK city of Manchester to Murcia in southeastern Spain.
A a Wizz Air flight from Bergamo, Italy, was inspected after landing at 0910 GMT in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, a Bulgarian interior ministry spokesperson told AFP.
The incidents come after fighter jets were scrambled on Monday when a Wizz Air flight from London's Luton airport to Sofia was diverted following a bomb threat and forced to make an emergency stop in Budapest.
Tuesday's Ryanair flight landed without incident in Murcia, and the emergency plan was deactivated after checks by Spain's Civil Guard.
Scandinavian Airlines said it could "confirm that a threat has been made against flight SK751 between Copenhagen and Warsaw".
"The aircraft landed normally in Warsaw and the passengers have disembarked."
It arrived at Warsaw's Chopin airport, which closed one runway as the plane underwent a security inspection, but no explosives were found.
The LOT flight, which had also been scheduled to arrive at Chopin, was diverted to the Polish capital's other airport, Warsaw Modlin.
Authorities closed that airport following the alert, but the Boeing 737 MAX also landed safely.
"The passengers were evacuated and the plane underwent security checks. Nothing was found," Modlin airport spokesman Adam Szablowski told AFP.
"The airport has been reopened and is operating normally."
Hungary's defence minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said on Facebook that on Monday NATO's air defence alert service had issued an alert for the Wizz Air flight from Luton.
"The Hungarian Defence Forces' Gripen fighter jets took to the air within minutes and ensured the safe landing of the passenger aircraft in Budapest," he said. 
On October 18, a bomb threat forced an Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna to reroute to Bulgaria. No explosives were found.
bur-bo-jkb/aks/tw/sbk

royals

UK king calls slavery 'monstrous injustice' as PM mulls apology

BY JESSICA HOWARD-JOHNSTON WITH PETER HUTCHISON IN LONDON

  • The comments come as Burnham uses his appearance at the summit to hold discussions with Commonwealth leaders about issuing a formal apology for Britain's role in slavery, which saw about 10-15 million slaves brought from Africa to the Americas over four centuries.
  • King Charles III called the transatlantic slave trade "a monstrous injustice" Tuesday, opening a Commonwealth summit in which UK leader Andy Burnham is holding talks about apologising for Britain's role in slavery.
  • The comments come as Burnham uses his appearance at the summit to hold discussions with Commonwealth leaders about issuing a formal apology for Britain's role in slavery, which saw about 10-15 million slaves brought from Africa to the Americas over four centuries.
King Charles III called the transatlantic slave trade "a monstrous injustice" Tuesday, opening a Commonwealth summit in which UK leader Andy Burnham is holding talks about apologising for Britain's role in slavery.
The monarch told the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda that slavery "still casts a shadow over these islands and other members" of the 56-nation group, many of which are former British colonies.
"As I have said before, that shameful chapter of history is one that fills my heart with horror and my soul with the most profound personal sorrow," said the king.
"And yet history also teaches us that evil need not have the last word; that character and courage can combine to overcome the most monstrous injustice, as they did with the determination to end international trade in enslaved people, in which the Royal Navy played such a leading role," Charles added.
The comments come as Burnham uses his appearance at the summit to hold discussions with Commonwealth leaders about issuing a formal apology for Britain's role in slavery, which saw about 10-15 million slaves brought from Africa to the Americas over four centuries.
 

Reparations

 
The Labour premier, in office since July, said at the weekend that he was open to saying sorry but ruled out paying the financial reparations demanded by some Caribbean countries.
Britain's pivotal part in slavery has long strained relations between the UK and its former colonies, including an awkward previous meeting of Commonwealth leaders in 2024.
The UK royal family benefited from the trade but Charles is politically neutral and is not expected to offer an apology.
A palace spokesperson also said "it would not be appropriate" for the king to announce a change in government policy.
Burnham discussed slavery with Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley during a meeting on Monday, one of several bilateral chats the prime minister is expected to have at the summit.
They discussed how Britain "was offering a structured dialogue for communities impacted by the transatlantic slave trade", including the "next steps", Downing Street said.
Burnham wrote in the Guardian on Saturday that he would have "difficult conversations" to safeguard the Commonwealth's future.
"Listening to calls for a formal apology on behalf of the British state will form an important part of this process and I am open to them," Burnham wrote.
He insisted, however, that reparations were "not the right answer", saying British people today should not be "held liable for historical wrongs, however heinous".
 

'Great suffering'

 
Instead, London is pursuing a "debt reset" plan for the poorest Commonwealth countries, led by former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown and which could alter interest rates on repayments.
The UK will also allocate £40 million ($54 million) over three years for infrastructure improvements in the Caribbean, including renewable energy.
The issue of slavery has loomed large over 77-year-old Charles's ongoing nine-day visit to three Caribbean countries.
When the king arrived in the Bahamas last week, small groups of protesters waved placards reading: "Pay what you owe us."
The monarch acknowledged "the great suffering of the past" during that stop.
Britain has never formally apologised for slavery or agreed to pay reparations.
The BBC reported Tuesday that Britain was likely to apologise during its G20 presidency next year.
The country profited for centuries from colonialism and slavery, but argues it also led the way in the latter's abolition.
In 1833, the UK parliament passed a law to abolish slavery in most of the British Empire.
Opposition Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said Britain should not apologise, arguing it would boost countries' claims for financial compensation.
At the previous Commonwealth meeting in Samoa in 2024, 56 nations signed a communique backing talks over reparatory justice after then-prime minister Keir Starmer tried to avoid the issue of slavery.
Burnham has said his government is pursuing a "new approach".
bur-pdh/aks/eab

conflict

Zelensky says dozens dead, missing in Russian strike days before US talks

  • Five people were rescued and more than 50 may still be trapped under the rubble," Zelensky said, describing it as "one of the largest Russian killings of this war".
  • Thirty-three people were killed and more than 50 could be trapped in rubble a day after multiple Russian strikes on a Ukrainian village, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in Berlin Tuesday, calling it one of Moscow's worst attacks of the war. 
  • Five people were rescued and more than 50 may still be trapped under the rubble," Zelensky said, describing it as "one of the largest Russian killings of this war".
Thirty-three people were killed and more than 50 could be trapped in rubble a day after multiple Russian strikes on a Ukrainian village, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in Berlin Tuesday, calling it one of Moscow's worst attacks of the war. 
Russia pummelled Ukraine Monday and Tuesday after a rare truce between the enemies ended at the weekend, with the strikes dampening hopes for a breakthrough at US-led negotiations set for next week in Abu Dhabi.  
Rescue operations were ongoing in the frontline southeastern village of Komyshuvakha, where Russian forces had struck a former school building that Ukraine said was being used to distribute aid every Monday. 
"Just one strike killed 33 people. Five people were rescued and more than 50 may still be trapped under the rubble," Zelensky said, describing it as "one of the largest Russian killings of this war".
The attack hit hours after a ceasefire held for several days in the Kherson region, allowing for a rare humanitarian mission.  
A Russian strike on a hospital in Kharkiv also wounded dozens Tuesday, Zelensky said, with Ukrainian authorities reporting another four dead across the country.
Zelensky, the Kremlin and Washington confirmed their negotiators will meet in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11 for the first talks between all three sides since February.
Visiting Berlin Tuesday, Zelensky said he hoped that the gathering will pave the way for his meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin.  
"We are counting on the fact that work in this format and our other diplomatic steps will open the way to a trilateral format at the level of leaders," he told reporters. 
Zelensky has consistently pushed for a meeting with Putin -- who sent Russian troops over the border in 2022,  unleashing Europe's worst war since World War II.
Putin, however, has repeatedly refused face-to-face talks with Zelensky.  
Speaking alongside Zelensky, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he saw no sign that Russia was willing to engage seriously in ending its invasion.  
"It is important that Russia finally and seriously engages in negotiations about a ceasefire and a subsequent peace agreement," he said.
"I do not see that happening so far."
 

'Ukraine must be at the table'

 
Kyiv and its European allies have feared US President Donald Trump -- who signed a diesel deal with Putin recently and who has criticised Zelensky -- is siding with the Kremlin. 
Merz said that if Trump invites Putin to the G20 summit in Miami then Zelensky should be invited, too.
"If Ukraine is to be discussed, then the president of Ukraine must be at the table." 
Last week's ceasefire in Kherson -- brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump -- had provided a glimmer of hope that a negotiated end to the conflict could be on the horizon.  
Zelensky said Kyiv had offered Russia an extension of the ceasefire, but shortly afterwards Moscow unleashed deadly strikes. 
"We proposed to Russia to prolong and expand the ceasefire," Zelensky said. 
"But in response, we got this, this kind of attack. New shelling, new strikes, new killings."
Merz said that while the Kherson ceasefire could have served as "a model" for other truces, "Russia has so far stubbornly refused this." 
 

Talks in Brussels

 
"Our message to Russia is therefore clear: it is time to bring this war to an end," Merz, who leads one of Ukraine's main military and financial backers, said. 
Putin has repeatedly said Russia does not want a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine and that Moscow intends to seize the rest of east Ukraine by force.  
Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said US negotiators would also meet European and NATO officials on Wednesday in Brussels. 
Representatives from Ukraine, the United States, France, Germany, Britain, NATO and the World Bank will take part, the European Commission said.
In Russia, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said nearly 500 drones heading towards the capital region were destroyed.
The strikes came as Britain and France announced that around 2,800 troops from 10 European countries will stage military drills this month in support of Ukraine.
The troops will gather in Poland for the first exercise of a new multinational force that could be deployed once a ceasefire is agreed.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Tuesday that his country had thwarted a potential "provocation" on the border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad overnight.
bur-oc/mmp/sbk

Global Edition

Americans vote in midterms set to upend Trump presidency

BY CHRIS LEFKOW AND FRANKIE TAGGART

  • Trump, who will watch the midterms results at the White House on Tuesday night, signaled that if he does lose control of Congress he could simply defy Democrats.
  • Americans voted on Tuesday in pivotal midterm elections with Democrats hoping to seize control of Congress and shatter Donald Trump's grip on Washington for the remainder of his term in the White House.
  • Trump, who will watch the midterms results at the White House on Tuesday night, signaled that if he does lose control of Congress he could simply defy Democrats.
Americans voted on Tuesday in pivotal midterm elections with Democrats hoping to seize control of Congress and shatter Donald Trump's grip on Washington for the remainder of his term in the White House.
Polls predict the Democrats will win a majority in the House of Representatives and possibly seize the Senate on the back of voter resentment at a deeply unpopular president, soaring energy costs and the ongoing conflict with Iran.
Republicans losing the House in an election that amounts to a nationwide judgment on Trump would give Democrats the power to stall the 80-year-old president's legislative agenda and launch sweeping investigations of his administration.
A Senate defeat would threaten his ability to appoint Supreme Court justices and senior officials.
Donta Comer, a 38-year-old project manager in an Atlanta suburb, told AFP he "voted for mostly Democratic candidates."
"It's just about the cost of living, gas prices, those kind of things," Comer said. "It needs to change for the everyday person and I'm an everyday person."
Trump defended his record in a final TV phone-in pitch to voters on Tuesday, saying he had rebuilt the country through his immigration crackdown, war on Iran and tariff policy.
"We have to keep America great. We're great now. We were terrible two years ago," Trump told "Fox & Friends."
All 435 House seats and 35 of the 100 Senate seats are at stake, along with governorships in 36 states. Democrats need only three House gains and a net four seats in the Senate to wrest both chambers from Republican hands.
Trump returned to office last year promising to bring down prices, but inflation, tariffs and fuel costs inflated by the Middle East conflict have squeezed Americans.
The former real estate tycoon's approval rating has hovered near the low 30s.

Economic discontent

Republicans insist that Trump's tax cuts and anti-migrant stance will benefit Americans, and they are portraying Democratic candidates as left-wing radicals.
But in his final public campaign appearance on Monday, Trump barely touched on the election and gave a rambling talk about his problem-plagued renovation of Washington's Reflecting Pool.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer branded it a "pathetic closing message."
Some Republican supporters remain confident.
"We're going to win. As a matter of fact, we've probably already won," Texas military veteran Yvonne Clouser told AFP.
But while Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority, the political battlefield is extending into conservative states like Kansas, Texas, Iowa, Ohio and Alaska.
Democrats must also defend competitive seats, including in Michigan, where a bitter internal dispute saw congresswoman Haley Stevens endorse Republican Mike Rogers rather than the Democratic nominee, Abdul El-Sayed.
Decision Desk HQ's final forecast projected 241 House seats for Democrats against 194 for Republicans, and a narrower 52-48 Democratic Senate majority.

Disputed results?

More than 57 million Americans had already voted early before Tuesday, indicating high engagement.
The campaign has attracted more than $11 billion in political advertising, and mega-rich Trump ally Elon Musk has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Republican efforts.
As soon as polls close, concerns will mount over whether results will be accepted by the Republicans.
Trump, who tried to overturn his 2020 election defeat, has repeatedly alleged widespread voter fraud and accused Democrats -- with no evidence -- of cheating.
The Justice Department, run by a close Trump ally, has already sued to potentially block certification of Alaska's Senate race if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan narrowly loses, although a court ruled against the effort.
And the Supreme Court rejected on Monday an emergency bid to force California to set aside the mail-in ballots of more than 20,000 people on the grounds they may not be American citizens.
Trump, who will watch the midterms results at the White House on Tuesday night, signaled that if he does lose control of Congress he could simply defy Democrats.
"I veto everything," he told a podcast on Monday.
ft-cl/bgs

Judaism

Baghdad's first Jewish museum opens its doors

BY SALAM FARAJ

  • The museum, with its large wooden entrance topped by menorahs and stained-glass geometric patterns, consists of a hall displaying antique documents and photographs of Iraqi Jews, along with old school certificates, and has begun to attract local and foreign visitors.
  • Dozens of visitors have begun flocking to a new museum opened by Iraq's Jewish community, the first of its kind, amid ongoing efforts by the minority to preserve its heritage.
  • The museum, with its large wooden entrance topped by menorahs and stained-glass geometric patterns, consists of a hall displaying antique documents and photographs of Iraqi Jews, along with old school certificates, and has begun to attract local and foreign visitors.
Dozens of visitors have begun flocking to a new museum opened by Iraq's Jewish community, the first of its kind, amid ongoing efforts by the minority to preserve its heritage.
Last month, the Shamash Jewish Museum opened inside a former Jewish school that was founded in 1928 on Baghdad's al-Rashid street, in the heart of the capital.
"It's the only museum in Iraq belonging to the Jewish community," Ammar al-Tamimi, lawyer for the committee of Iraqi Jews that manages the community's properties, told AFP.
The Jewish community in Iraq was once one of the largest in the Middle East, numbering more than 130,000 people in the 1940s, and traces its history back 2,600 years.
But today there are only a few dozen Jewish residents remaining, most of them in the Kurdistan region.
The museum, with its large wooden entrance topped by menorahs and stained-glass geometric patterns, consists of a hall displaying antique documents and photographs of Iraqi Jews, along with old school certificates, and has begun to attract local and foreign visitors.
Its walls are adorned with photos of prominent Jewish figures, including Iraq's first finance minister Sassoon Eskell (1860–1932) and physician Dhafer Fouad Eliyahu (1960–2021), who was well known in Iraq for providing free services.
The Shamash Jewish School, started by Yaqub Shlomo Shamash nearly a century ago, offered an English-language curriculum to students from various communities, and in particular Jews.
The government confiscated the property in the 1970s and converted it into a public school, until a court ruling returned it to the community in 1992, according to Tamimi.
Efforts to revive the school faced successive setbacks: sanctions in the 1990s, the US invasion of 2003, sectarian clashes in 2006 and 2007, and the rise of the Islamic State group between 2014 and 2017.
But as Iraq finally begins to experience relative stability, accompanied by a growing thirst for culture and entertainment, Jewish community leaders led by Khalida Fouad Eliyahu, 63, have started bringing their sites back to life.

Restoration efforts

Visiting the museum, which he described as "important for remembering Jewish history and civilisation", 74-year-old Ramzi al-Saadi recalled his Jewish neighbours as a child on Baghdad's al-Kifah Street.
"They were kind, simple people who never harmed anyone," he told AFP.
Today, fewer than 50 synagogues and Jewish sites remain in Iraq, most of them in Baghdad and Hilla, the capital of Babylon Province, to which large numbers of Jews were forcibly taken in what became known as the Babylonian Captivity in the sixth century BC.
Tens of thousands of Jews left the country following a deadly 1941 massacre known as the Farhud, when mobs killed over 100 Iraqi Jews, and after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.
For years the Iraqi Jewish community has been working to restore its shrines and synagogues, which have suffered from severe neglect, and many of which were turned into warehouses or destroyed during the wars that have plagued Iraq.
sf/cbg/at/ris/rh/ser

conflict

Ukraine-Russia truce spotlights rare thaw between top officials

BY MAGDALENA PACIOREK IN WARSAW

  •   - 'Guided by results' -   Only a few hours earlier, Lantratova told reporters in Russia that she was often asked whether it was "difficult to talk to a representative of a country you're at war with".
  • Russia's human rights ombudsman Yana Lantratova nodded along as her counterpart from Kyiv, Dmytro Lubinets, spoke Ukrainian to brief the media about the longest truce between their warring countries.
  •   - 'Guided by results' -   Only a few hours earlier, Lantratova told reporters in Russia that she was often asked whether it was "difficult to talk to a representative of a country you're at war with".
Russia's human rights ombudsman Yana Lantratova nodded along as her counterpart from Kyiv, Dmytro Lubinets, spoke Ukrainian to brief the media about the longest truce between their warring countries.
Clad in caps and jackets emblazoned with their respective national symbols, Lantratova and Lubinets, often appearing side-by-side, on Friday oversaw the local ceasefire in the Russia-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky.
The mission, brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump, to evacuate the town and deliver humanitarian aid proved to be one of the most substantial instances of Russian-Ukrainian cooperation since Moscow sent its troops into its neighbour in 2022.
It also provided rare wartime images of friendly exchanges -- nods, smiles and joint selfie videos -- between top officials from Moscow and Kyiv. 
The unlikely rapport between 37-year-old Lantratova and Lubinets, 45, prompted a flurry of posts on Ukrainian social media, with some half-jokingly suggesting the pair's cordial relationship could spur a further thaw or even bring about peace.
Lubinets -- a lawyer by training and an ex-MP -- also faced criticism, with one Ukrainian soldier accusing him on Facebook of being "all too eager to smile and ingratiate himself with the killers".
When their mission to Oleshky was over and with delegations back in their capitals, Lubinets said he was still in touch with Lantratova about the ceasefire.
"Currently, we are communicating on a daily basis. I've already communicated with her several times today," he told reporters in Kyiv on Monday, replying to AFP's question about their relations.
Lantratova in turn told AFP in Moscow that the pair -- who earlier worked together on arranging prisoner releases -- had "developed a very constructive and simply good relationship. We get on really well." 
But besides pleasantries, both measured their words carefully about the cooperation between Ukraine and Russia during the Oleshky truce,  and beyond.
 

'Diplomatic etiquette'

 
Ukraine cut diplomatic ties with Russia after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops across the border in February 2022.
Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky have had no direct contact since.
Their representatives have only held a handful of rounds of talks, with the next one slated to be hosted by Abu Dhabi next week.
And in sports arenas worldwide, Ukrainian athletes have frequently refused to shake hands with their Russian opponents to protest the ongoing war that has killed thousands and forced millions to flee.
In this context, Lubinets said he had faced questions and criticism online of his attitude towards Lantratova, formerly a hardline pro-Kremlin lawmaker, who is on the United Kingdom's sanctions list.
"I had a bit of time to read the comments... I was given advice there like: next time you meet Yana Valerivna (Lantratova), you must nearly use physical force, say everything to her face," he told reporters.
But Lubinets -- who was seen in videos doffing his trademark black cap around Lantratova in an act of gallantry -- said he had consciously opted for a different approach. 
"If you demonstrate diplomatic etiquette, you automatically have a better chance of a positive outcome," he said on Monday, adding: "If this offends someone, let me say this: I want to apologise."
"But on the other hand, please, don't forget that this is being done for the citizens of Ukraine."
 

'Guided by results'

 
Only a few hours earlier, Lantratova told reporters in Russia that she was often asked whether it was "difficult to talk to a representative of a country you're at war with".
"To this I very often reply: my mother is a doctor, and she always used to give the example of a doctor who took the Hippocratic Oath and always treats a person, regardless of who is in front of them."
Lubinets said he wanted to see new ceasefires, similar to the one in Oleshky, and that he had discussed the fate of other Ukrainian citizens -- stranded or imprisoned -- with Lantratova.
"When you're on the same bus for 12 hours, you end up raising a lot of issues. I used this opportunity to bring up the question of returning Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians," he told reporters.
His principle? 
"As long as I hold this position, I'm guided not by emotions, but by results," he said.
"Personally, I, just like all of you, feel exactly the same way toward the Russian Federation.
"But if, in this position, I start acting on emotional criteria, then you definitely won't see any results."
bur-mmp/oc/rlp/cw

accident

Spain says to work 'tirelessly' to restore trust in trains after disasters

  • "We pledge to work tirelessly to achieve and regain the public's trust in high-speed rail," Transport Minister Oscar Puente told a press conference as he presented measures to improve safety.
  • Spain will work "tirelessly" to restore confidence in its high-speed trains, the transport minister said Tuesday, after a collision last week killed 69 people in the country's second such disaster this year.
  • "We pledge to work tirelessly to achieve and regain the public's trust in high-speed rail," Transport Minister Oscar Puente told a press conference as he presented measures to improve safety.
Spain will work "tirelessly" to restore confidence in its high-speed trains, the transport minister said Tuesday, after a collision last week killed 69 people in the country's second such disaster this year.
The accidents have undermined trust in the world's second-largest high-speed rail network and overshadowed campaigning for a November 29 general election in which Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is trailing in opinion polls.
"We pledge to work tirelessly to achieve and regain the public's trust in high-speed rail," Transport Minister Oscar Puente told a press conference as he presented measures to improve safety.
A train operated by the state-owned Renfe ploughed into the back of a stationary train belonging to the private Spanish company Iryo on 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-kilometre stretch of track, but a control centre nonetheless authorised the Renfe service to resume its journey.
Among the measures announced by Puente was the creation of software for control centres that would issue automatic alerts and make it easier to spot anomalies in traffic.
Puente said an AI agent would be created to oversee the system and "minimise the possibility of human error", describing the proposal as unprecedented.
In scenarios where a control centre operator took a decision while the automatic safety system was down, a second operator would have to validate it, Puente added.
 

Safety under scrutiny

 
The right-wing opposition, which is demanding Puente's resignation, and unions have criticised him for appearing to pin all the blame on one control centre operator.
The train drivers' union Semaf, which has called strikes at Renfe for November 10 and 12, has denounced a worsening of working conditions and the use of "degraded systems".
Critics say investment in maintenance has not kept up with the increase in passenger numbers since the 2021 liberalisation of Spain's rail network, which allowed private companies to break Renfe's decades-long monopoly.
In an apparent recognition of the unions' demands, Puente, who has refused to resign, said the working conditions of control centre operators would be reformed, including their breaks and monitoring their fatigue levels. 
Puente also announced an aid package of 30 million euros ($33.5 million) for the families of the dead and the scores of people who were injured in last week's accident.
Another collision in the southern region of Andalusia in January killed 46 people on the same key line connecting Madrid with the city of Seville, Spain's first high-speed route when it opened in 1992.
The stricken trains' last carriages have been removed from the tracks and the government has requested a court authorisation to repair and reopen the line, Puente said.
rbj/imm/js
 
 

Global Edition

Israeli opposition leaders vow to remove Netanyahu quickly but path unclear

BY YOTAM RONEN

  • Despite their diverging views on various issues, including the role of Arab lawmakers, all opposition bloc leaders in Eisenkot's bloc have said they would back him to form the next government.
  • The Israeli opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot pledged Tuesday to form a government quickly to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but remained unclear on how, with divisions over whether to ally with Arab lawmakers.
  • Despite their diverging views on various issues, including the role of Arab lawmakers, all opposition bloc leaders in Eisenkot's bloc have said they would back him to form the next government.
The Israeli opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot pledged Tuesday to form a government quickly to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but remained unclear on how, with divisions over whether to ally with Arab lawmakers.
Meeting for the first time since an election a week ago brought an inconclusive result, the five opposition party heads consulted on strategy at a hotel in Herzliya, the tech industry hub north of Tel Aviv where former military chief Eisenkot lives.
In a joint statement, the party leaders said their goal was forming a government "as quickly as possible and preventing Israel from being dragged into another election".
They stood by four benchmarks set out by Eisenkot including that any parties in the government recognise Israel as a Jewish state and denounce Hamas as a terrorist group -- conditions that could exclude some Arab lawmakers.
The leaders "agreed on the need to form a Zionist government at the earliest opportunity, based on the four principles set out by Eisenkot", it said.
Unsourced Israeli media reports said the leaders put more emphasis on forming an alliance with Orthodox Jewish parties, traditional backers of Netanyahu, than with Arab parties.
Arab lawmakers could bring Eisenkot a majority which neither bloc now holds.
Arab-majority parties last week won 19 seats in the 120-member parliament on the back of anger over the hard-right Netanyahu government's rhetoric towards Arab citizens of Israel.
Eisenkot's diverse opposition bloc won 48 seats while Netanyahu's camp secured 53, of which 27 are from his Likud party. 
Despite their diverging views on various issues, including the role of Arab lawmakers, all opposition bloc leaders in Eisenkot's bloc have said they would back him to form the next government.
"We don't have time -- we must act with great urgency," Naftali Bennett, a right-leaning former prime minister whose party came in third, told reporters as he promised to back Eisenkot.
 

'Political reality'

 
Public opinion polls conducted before the election showed that Jewish Israeli opposition supporters are divided over including Arab parties in government while right-wing Israelis are adamantly opposed. 
Yousef Jabareen, the head of the largest Arab-majority party in the next parliament, told AFP that the opposition needed to accept "political reality" and team up to remove Netanyahu.
Arab-Israelis are descendants of Palestinians who remained after Israel's creation in 1948 and account for around 20 percent of the population today.
The only opposition leader to openly back an alliance with Arab parties is Yair Golan, head of the left-wing party the Democrats, who said it was racist to exclude the Arab minority.
Golan met with Israeli-Arab leaders before heading to the opposition talks. He promised his party would work to tackle high crime in Arab areas, a key concern of the community, and work to bring "prosperity and equality" for the minority.
But Avigdor Liberman, a right-wing member of Eisenkot's bloc, has adamantly opposed including Arab parties, although he also said he wants to avoid a new election.
Netanyahu spent the campaign painting Arab parties as untrustworthy and stoking fears of a Palestinian state. 
On Monday, Netanyahu called for a "broad national government" and said he should lead it as his Likud, while losing ground, remained the single largest party.
No opposition leader has voiced openness to a unity government with Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, pointing to his divisiveness, the corruption charges against him and his failure to prevent the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.
Netanyahu ruled out a coalition with Arab-majority lists, alleging that the parties "support terrorism and deny the existence of the Jewish state".
Leaders of Arab-Israeli parties have unanimously condemned the October 7 attack by Hamas without describing the Palestinian Islamist movement as a terror group. 
Although the leader of the Raam party has recognised Israel as a "Jewish state", other leaders have rejected that definition.
Presenting a petition to opposition leaders, Merav Svirsky -- whose parents were killed by Hamas fighters on October 7 and whose brother was kidnapped and then killed -- said Eisenkot must not form a coalition with Netanyahu.
"Any cooperation with members of the government of the massacre would legitimise the abandonment we went through," she told reporters.
acc-sct/dcp

food

Italy holds security talks after European freezer cyberattacks

  • In Italy, government ministers had a meeting with intelligence chiefs and the National Cyber Security Agency, which also issued technical advice for retailers to protect their systems.
  • Italy's government held emergency talks with intelligence chiefs on Tuesday following cyberattacks on supermarket freezer systems in at least 11 European countries.
  • In Italy, government ministers had a meeting with intelligence chiefs and the National Cyber Security Agency, which also issued technical advice for retailers to protect their systems.
Italy's government held emergency talks with intelligence chiefs on Tuesday following cyberattacks on supermarket freezer systems in at least 11 European countries.
The attacks in recent days, for which no one has claimed responsibility, have prompted the EU to warn of a deliberate attempt to disrupt its food supply chain.
EU spokesman Thomas Regnier said EU agencies were also holding meetings on Tuesday with national authorities on "how to best respond to this collectively".
"The investigations are currently being carried out by the national authorities, and we are in close contact with them," he said.
"These are not isolated incidents, and of course, we have to be collectively resilient and prepared for such cyber incidents."
Supermarkets in Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Sweden reported refrigeration problems that forced several retailers to discard food after temperatures rose.
The incident came three weeks after a cyberattack disrupted French grocery stores and led hundreds of outlets to throw away spoiled stock.
The EU food and agriculture commissioner, Christophe Hansen, said on Monday the bloc was taking the incidents "very seriously".
"They are a deliberate attempt to disrupt our food supply chain and undermine consumers' confidence in it -- a warning that we must take seriously," Hansen said.
In Italy, government ministers had a meeting with intelligence chiefs and the National Cyber Security Agency, which also issued technical advice for retailers to protect their systems.
"Initial investigations show that, in Italy, the impact of the attacks is currently highly limited. Only a small number of commercial units have been affected," the government said in a statement.
It said affected outlets had "outdated security systems, with interfaces exposed directly to the internet and weaknesses in authentication mechanisms".
 

'Semi-amateurish'

 
There were reports of around 20 outlets affected nationwide in Italy.
Giuseppe Spadaro, director of a group that manages the Coop supermarkets in Sicily, said four of the company's 300 stores were hit.
"We estimate the damage at several thousands of euros. We had to throw away everything. The shelves are empty. We are waiting for suppliers today to replenish the stock," he was quoted as saying by the Corriere della Sera daily.
"To be honest, we did not think that as supermarkets we would be targeted by a cyberattack. This shows that any connected device can become a target. So we will invest more -- that is essential," he said.
Four supermarket outlets were affected in Germany and six in Romania, officials and company representatives said on Tuesday.
"No other infrastructure was compromised," Dan Cimpean, director of Romania's National Cyber Security Directorate (DNSC), told AFP.
"It seems semi-amateurish. We do not suspect, under any circumstances, that it is a state actor," he said.
Carlos Cancinos, spokesperson for the Coop chain in Sweden, said that the group's seven affected shops had resumed "normal functioning".
Refrigeration equipment and freezers affected overnight from Monday to Tuesday were connected to "old 4G networks", he said. 
"We have launched a major programme to modernise a large part of our store network, equipping connected refrigerators and ensuring that they operate via 5G networks. This helps to solve a large share of problems of this kind," he said.
Belgium was among the hardest-hit countries, with dozens of stores across several grocery chains reporting refrigeration failures. Federal prosecutors there have opened an investigation.
burs-dt/rlp

conflict

Multinational Ukraine force to hold first exercise in Poland: France, UK

  • Turkish troops will not be involved in the land exercise in Poland, it added.
  • Some 2,800 troops from 10 European countries will this month stage in Poland the first exercise of a new multinational force in support of Ukraine, London and Paris said on Tuesday.
  • Turkish troops will not be involved in the land exercise in Poland, it added.
Some 2,800 troops from 10 European countries will this month stage in Poland the first exercise of a new multinational force in support of Ukraine, London and Paris said on Tuesday.
Led by France and the UK, the Multinational Force - Ukraine (MNF-U) has no offensive mission and is only to be deployed once a ceasefire is agreed to end the war sparked by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The force, which was set up in 2025 and already has an operational headquarters in Paris, is not a NATO operation and has little US involvement. But it will be ready to respond in case it is attacked by Russia, officials say.
It aims to support the Ukrainian armed forces, ensure security in Ukrainian skies and allow economic activity to resume in the Black Sea.
But the scale and duration of the exercise, dubbed Koalicja ("Coalition" in Polish), risks antagonising Russia, with Moscow still showing little appetite to settle for peace.
It also remains unclear if and when the force would be deployed as fighting still rages, with Ukraine under daily attack from Russia and prospects for a swift ceasefire dim.
"This isn't a hypothetical plan," UK Defence Minister Wes Streeting was quoted as saying in the UK statement. "It's a real force, ready to help Ukraine once the fighting stops."
 

Air and land operations

 
The exercise is scheduled to last from November 9 to 22, involving troops from Belgium, Estonia, Germany, France, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
The air and land operations will take place around the town of Nowa Deba, some 100 kilometres (62 miles) west of the Ukrainian border, the statements said.
The largest contingent of 1,100 troops will come from France, with the UK deploying 300 soldiers including troops from the British Army's legendary 7 Brigade known as the "Desert Rats", joined by RAF Typhoon war planes. 
Meanwhile, a maritime simulation will be hosted by Turkey to test preparedness for eventual mine-clearing operations in the Black Sea. Turkish troops will not be involved in the land exercise in Poland, it added.
 

Anti-drone exercises

 
The first exercise for the coalition force is "a key milestone, as it will serve as a concrete demonstration of the MNF-U's ability to be deployed as soon as hostilities have ended," said French General Armel Dirou, who will co-lead the exercise alongside Britain's Lieutenant General Tom Bateman.
Bateman emphasised that the force was not a "peacekeeping or ceasefire monitoring mission". 
"It is not designed for offensive operations. Its purpose is to provide reassurance and support the regeneration of Ukraine's armed forces, strengthening their ability to deter and, if necessary, defend against future Russian aggression," he said.
Nevertheless, Moscow will be watching closely as the war -- which has now lasted longer than World War I -- grinds towards its five-year milestone with neither side apparently close to a breakthrough.
Dirou said that the aim of the exercise was to prepare how the mission would be deployed, overcoming the various potential logistical and cultural issues between the different countries' militaries.
"This is not a show of force. We are not going to flex our muscles," he said.
It is expected that only light equipment, such as drones, will be deployed in Poland for anti-drone and self-defence exercises, rather than heavy weaponry, and that no tanks will be deployed.
 

Rules of engagement

 
Western officials emphasised that while the force was defensive in nature it was prepared to defend itself against any aggression.
An "appropriate set" of rules of engagement are being worked on should Russia attack the force, said the officials.
"Russia may choose to operate and to challenge the MNF-U in a variety of different areas," said an official who asked not to be named, pointing to potential Russian disinformation attacks. 
But the official added: "We will be ready to respond as necessary, in order to make sure that we protect our force and we can deliver our mission and our mandate."
dt-sjw/ah/rlp

rights

Iran hangs two young men in latest executions over protests: NGOs

  • Iran has now executed 36 men over the protests, IHR said, in a wave of hangings rights groups see as a bid to spread fear throughout society after the mass protests that they say were put down in a crackdown that left thousands dead.
  • Iran on Tuesday hanged two young men on charges related to nationwide protests in January, as rights groups accused authorities of subjecting them to torture and an unfair trial.
  • Iran has now executed 36 men over the protests, IHR said, in a wave of hangings rights groups see as a bid to spread fear throughout society after the mass protests that they say were put down in a crackdown that left thousands dead.
Iran on Tuesday hanged two young men on charges related to nationwide protests in January, as rights groups accused authorities of subjecting them to torture and an unfair trial.
Amirhossein Maleki, 20, and Amirhossein Ebrahimi, 19, were executed after being convicted over events in a square in the central city of Isfahan during the protests that authorities say caused the deaths of four members of the security forces, Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) said.
Iran has now executed 36 men over the protests, IHR said, in a wave of hangings rights groups see as a bid to spread fear throughout society after the mass protests that they say were put down in a crackdown that left thousands dead.
The Iranian judiciary said that Maleki and Ebrahimi had been hanged over "brutal and atrocious actions (that) led to the martyrdom of four police officers" and that their death sentences had been upheld by the supreme court, according to the Mizan news agency.
The case centres on events in Alikhani Square in Isfahan, which was a hub of protests activity on the nights of January 8 and 9. Seven other men have already been executed in the same case and three more are at risk of execution, according to IHR.
It said the entire case has been marked by "torture, forced confessions and gross violations of due process in this case", with authorities using "the deaths of four security officers to justify these executions, although none of those executed were charged with murder".
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) which also confirmed the executions, said defendants and their lawyers had limited access to case files and noted "allegations that pressure and torture were used during the investigation".
Iran in October also arrested one of the most prominent lawyers defending protesters in the case, Amirsalar Davoudi.
The Hengaw rights group, also based in Norway, said "Ebrahimi was subjected to severe physical and psychological torture during interrogation in an attempt to extract forced confessions".
The two men were sentenced to death on the capital charges of "waging war against God" and "corruption on earth", according to Mizan.
IHR also said Ebrahimi was subjected to mock executions and "his 16-year-old brother was also tortured and had confessed against him".
"The scale of torture and violations of due process in this case is appalling," IHR director Mahmood Amiry Moghaddam told AFP.
sjw/ah/ser

textile

Bangladesh garment workers clash with police, defy call to end protests

BY SHEIKH SABIHA ALAM

  • The paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh force said it had deployed forces in Gazipur and Narayanganj, key industrial suburbs around Dhaka, and were using drones to monitor the unrest.
  • Paramilitary forces were deployed in industrial suburbs around the Bangladesh capital as protests by garment sector workers demanding a wage hike stretched into their fourth day on Tuesday, defying calls to return to factories.
  • The paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh force said it had deployed forces in Gazipur and Narayanganj, key industrial suburbs around Dhaka, and were using drones to monitor the unrest.
Paramilitary forces were deployed in industrial suburbs around the Bangladesh capital as protests by garment sector workers demanding a wage hike stretched into their fourth day on Tuesday, defying calls to return to factories.
Protesters are still on the streets despite the government's announcement of a board to review the minimum wage in the vital garment industry, which employs millions of people and generates the bulk of Bangladesh's export earnings.
The South Asian nation of 170 million people is the world's second-biggest garment exporter behind China, producing clothes for major international brands.
Police have filed cases against thousands of unidentified protesters for torching police vehicles and damaging property, with 58 officers injured since protests began, police spokesperson Kamarum Munira said.
Workers said scores of protesters have also been injured, with demonstrators seen hurling bricks at police who in turn used batons and fired tear gas to disperse the crowds.
"Some factories are closed and workers have taken to the streets," Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said on Tuesday.
"Some miscreants are trying to incite violence and make the situation more complicated."
The paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh force said it had deployed forces in Gazipur and Narayanganj, key industrial suburbs around Dhaka, and were using drones to monitor the unrest.
The garment industry generates around four-fifths of Bangladesh's export earnings, worth up to $38 billion, and employs more than four million people.
Workers say the rising cost of food, housing, transport and healthcare has eroded their purchasing power in a country with eight percent inflation.
They are demanding a minimum monthly wage of 30,000 taka ($245) -- a 140 percent increase from the current 12,500 taka.
Industry representatives said on Monday workers from at least 670 factories had walked out.

'Fair wages'

Protesters in Gazipur blocked the Dhaka-Tangail highway and set fire to roadside debris, but were later cleared by police.
In Mirpur in Dhaka's northeast, a few hundred workers wielding sticks left their workplaces to join the protest, clashing with security forces.
"The law enforcement agencies used force against unarmed workers. What options did the workers have except taking to the streets?" said Begum, a garment worker in Gazipur who gave only one name.
She said she feared that the protest would not subside unless the wage board announced a salary increase.
"We pay the same prices for commodities like milk, fish and chicken as government officials do. The government readily announced a pay rise for them. Why didn't they form the wage board beforehand? Why did they wait until we took to the streets?" she said.
Bangladesh produces clothes for companies that range from Fruit of the Loom to Levi Strauss and VF Corp, whose brands include Vans, Timberland and The North Face.
Ahmed, the home minister, has claimed without providing evidence that supporters of former leader Sheikh Hasina, who was toppled in a 2024 revolution after weeks of street protests, were behind the unrest.
"A quarter linked to the past is trying to exploit the situation for political gain," he said.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police said in a statement on Tuesday they had arrested 33 people linked to Hasina's now-banned Awami League over their alleged involvement in the unrest over the past 24 hours.
Babul Akhter, a workers' representative on the wage board, has urged workers to call off the strikes.
"Please go back to your factories," he said after a meeting with other labour leaders on Monday night. "We will fight for fair wages. We will urge you to join the movement if needed."
sa/pjm/pbt

Egypt

Egyptian mummy portraits show antiquity's piercing gaze in new Rome show

BY ALEXANDRIA SAGE

  • Parisi Presicce said that "countless questions" remain about the compelling portraits. 
  • An elegant woman gazes out from her portrait with expressive eyes, a gilded wreath worn in her hair and a gentle, questioning look on her face.
  • Parisi Presicce said that "countless questions" remain about the compelling portraits. 
An elegant woman gazes out from her portrait with expressive eyes, a gilded wreath worn in her hair and a gentle, questioning look on her face.
She is one of the 2,000-year-old "Faces of Fayum", startlingly realistic funerary -- or mummy -- portraits painted after Egypt became part of the Roman empire.
The fragile portraits dating from the first to third centuries AD -- painted on thin wooden panels and designed to be placed over the face of mummies -- will go on display in Rome in what organisers hail as a "milestone" collaboration between Italy and Egypt.
"Egypt and Rome, the Faces of Fayum", opening Wednesday at Rome's Ara Pacis museum, also includes mummies, masks, shrouds, jewellery, marble busts and statuary.
The majority of the artefacts come from Egypt, with some allowed to leave the country for the first time.
Such is the case of the "Tondo of the Two Brothers" from Cairo's Egyptian Museum, a freshly restored double portrait from the time of Emperor Hadrian that depicts two curly-haired young men, possibly brothers, with soulful eyes.
Rome's top official for cultural heritage, Claudio Parisi Presicce, called the work an "absolute masterpiece, perhaps the most important pictorial work to have survived from antiquity".
"These are simple wooden panels, often just a few millimetres thick, made of wood... and they were used to depict, through extremely naturalistic painting, the faces of the individuals who were being buried," Parisi Presicce told a press conference Monday. 
Rooted in the tradition of Hellenistic painting, the portraits placed over the head of the mummy and secured into its wrappings come from a relatively brief period between the first and third centuries AD, after Egypt became a province of Rome. 
In a fusion of two great civilisations -- Egyptian and Roman -- the men, women and children portrayed often bear Egyptian features, but wear Roman dress.
Their faces are vivid, and haunting, whether bearing signs of greying hair and wrinkles, or the long eyelashes and chubby cheeks of a child. 
"These people are not dead," Italian figurative painter Amedeo Modigliani once said of the Fayum portraits.
"They are more alive than those who gaze upon them."
- Ushering the dead - 
Works from the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Landesmuseum Württemberg and other international museums round out the exhibit.
A fertile area of Egypt on the edge of the desert, Fayum's arid climate helped preserve the delicate painted wood, textiles and papyrus on display in the exhibition.
One work, on loan from the Louvre, is a spectacular, near-pristine linen shroud depicting a man standing between the mummy he will become and Anubis, the jackal-headed god who helped usher the dead into the Afterlife.
Some of the female portraits are adorned in sumptuous jewellery, such as that of the woman "Isidora" from the first century AD, whose three-tiered gold necklace adorned with precious stones, pearl earrings and elaborately curled hairdo project her status.  
Parisi Presicce said that "countless questions" remain about the compelling portraits. 
"Were they made earlier and kept until the moment of death? Were they painted at the time the deceased was buried? Were they panels that were hung in homes, in residences?" he asked. 
A nail found at the top of one of the portraits makes this theory plausible, he said. 
Hisham El-Leithy, secretary-general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the images from so long ago have an uncanny power to move us.  
"They are people like us, we look at them, they look back at you across 2,000 years," he said. 
"That is the power of the portrait." 
The exhibition runs until May 2. 
ams/phz

protests

Living costs, housing, job uncertainty fuel European youth anger

BY DELPHINE TOUITOU WITH AFP EUROPEAN BUREAUS

  • - Inequalities -  The youth protests have struck a nerve with the wider public, at a time when Europe is gearing up for a wave of key elections in Spain, France, Italy and Greece over the coming year. 
  • Countries across Europe have been swept by a wave of protests by young people angry at the spiralling cost of living who have little trust in traditional institutions. 
  • - Inequalities -  The youth protests have struck a nerve with the wider public, at a time when Europe is gearing up for a wave of key elections in Spain, France, Italy and Greece over the coming year. 
Countries across Europe have been swept by a wave of protests by young people angry at the spiralling cost of living who have little trust in traditional institutions. 
While local grievances have fuelled the fire, the movements that brought hundreds of thousands to the streets of France, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Germany at the weekend are all linked by shared continent-wide issues such as sky-high housing costs, poor pay and the climate crisis. 

Schools, universities

School and university students have found themselves at the front line of these protests.
The spark was lit in mid-September, when French high school students took to the streets to demand better and more facilities, and an end to an opaque university admissions system. 
"It's a European movement but France served as the catalyst," said Sylvain Boulouque, a historian of social movements. 
After weeks of rallies, the French protests drew at least 550,000 people on October 17, with the largely peaceful demonstrations swiftly eclipsed by episodes of looting, arson and clashes with the police.
Four days later in Greece, more than 10,000 people rallied across several cities, with some bearing placards with slogans written in both Greek and French.
"The problems are shared between various European countries," insisted one protester, Filippos Armen, a physics student at Thessaloniki's Aristotle University.

'Uncertainty'

Across the continent, many people have found themselves face-to-face with "a model that has run out of steam", said Belgian sociologist Geoffrey Pleyers.
"What they're being offered is, at best, a job, and for many, a precarious one," said the specialist in social movements at the Catholic University of Louvain.
At the same time, their studies no longer guarantee the standard of living their parents enjoyed, as a result of high housing costs and the risks linked to the climate crisis.

Rising rents

In many of the protests, as in Spain, Portugal and Greece, housing is "a central element" because it is directly tied to purchasing power and "an ever-more unequal distribution of wealth", the researcher added.
On the other hand, political scientist Mariam Martinez-Bascunan argued that "discontent is fuelled more by uncertainty than by poverty". 
Speaking to Spain's RTVE television, the professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid pointed to the "contagion effect" of images of protests in France and of tent encampments of housing rights activists in Portugal. 

'Sacrificed' generation

For Boulouque, "young people are acutely conscious of the weight of the debt and environmental problems" left by previous generations and have "the feeling of being sacrificed" as a result.
Boulouque, who also teaches in a high school, pointed to an unexpected side effect of the ban on mobile phones in French classrooms: "Students began to socialise again and lifted their heads to see just how far their working conditions have worsened".
In Germany, the possible reintroduction of military service at a time of tensions with Russia has also led many young people to join the protests.
- Inequalities - 
The youth protests have struck a nerve with the wider public, at a time when Europe is gearing up for a wave of key elections in Spain, France, Italy and Greece over the coming year. 
The French students were joined by the yellow vest movement, which organised a previous round of protests against the cost of living in 2018-19, while in Italy, drivers and farmers opposed to the high price of petrol joined the young demonstrators at Friday's rallies.
Another shared grievance is the widespread feeling of not being listened to, which is leading to an increasing "distance" and "dissociation" between ordinary people and the state, said Pleyers.
On top of that is the sense that society has become unequal and unfair.
"Young people whose parents live comfortably have a more comfortable life and, conversely, those who come from more precarious backgrounds have a much harder life today," Pleyers added.
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