housing

Housing protesters camp in central Madrid after mass demonstration

festival

Filmmaker Mike Leigh wins top prize at Spain festival with 'last film'

  • "Tender Loving Care" also jointly won the best screenplay prize at the Spanish festival, while its actress Kate O'Flynn shared the Silver Shell for best performance.
  • British filmmaker Mike Leigh won the top prize Saturday at the San Sebastian film festival for his latest social drama "Tender Loving Care", expected to be the last by the 83-year-old who is suffering from an illness.
  • "Tender Loving Care" also jointly won the best screenplay prize at the Spanish festival, while its actress Kate O'Flynn shared the Silver Shell for best performance.
British filmmaker Mike Leigh won the top prize Saturday at the San Sebastian film festival for his latest social drama "Tender Loving Care", expected to be the last by the 83-year-old who is suffering from an illness.
The film, about social workers supporting vulnerable people, won the Golden Shell for best film at the festival in the northern Spanish city.
"I'm so sorry I can't be with you. What a great honour it is," Leigh said in a video acceptance speech. "Thank you and love to everybody."
Leigh had previously said he was suffering from a medical condition affecting his muscles and that it would probably be his "last film".
He won top prize at the Cannes film festival in 1996 for "Secrets and Lies" and at Venice in 2004 for "Vera Drake".
"Tender Loving Care" also jointly won the best screenplay prize at the Spanish festival, while its actress Kate O'Flynn shared the Silver Shell for best performance.
Swedish filmmaker Amanda Kernell won the best director award for "Brace Your Heart".
du/rlp/jj

housing

Housing protesters camp in central Madrid after mass demonstration

BY DANIEL SILVA

  • Thousands of people marched through the streets of Madrid rattling keys and blowing whistles to call for measures to curb rising housing costs and make evictions more difficult.
  • Tens of thousands of people marched through Madrid on Saturday to protest the eviction earlier this week of an 87-year-old woman from her lifelong home, calling for greater protection for tenants.
  • Thousands of people marched through the streets of Madrid rattling keys and blowing whistles to call for measures to curb rising housing costs and make evictions more difficult.
Tens of thousands of people marched through Madrid on Saturday to protest the eviction earlier this week of an 87-year-old woman from her lifelong home, calling for greater protection for tenants.
Images of Maricarmen Abascal being carried from her Madrid flat on a stretcher on Wednesday after police broke down her door have thrust Spain's housing crisis back into the spotlight ahead of a general election due in 2027.
Thousands of people marched through the streets of Madrid rattling keys and blowing whistles to call for measures to curb rising housing costs and make evictions more difficult.
"You could be the next Maricarmen," read one banner on display at the rally.
Government authorities put the turnout at around 25,000, while the Madrid Tenants' Union, which organised the protest, said over 300,000 had taken part.
After the rally wrapped up, some activists set up a protest camp in city centre's Plaze de Sol square, the union said in a statement, urging people to gather there.
"We can't take it any more," it added in a post on X. "Either the rental system falls, or the government falls."
Police looked on as about a dozen tents were set up in the square in front of the headquarters of the Madrid regional government, surrounded by thousands of protesters, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.

'Live in fear'

Abascal was forced to leave the apartment where she had lived for 70 years after a real estate firm acquired the property and raised the rent by 275 percent to 2,650 euros ($3,000), according to the union.
Now a symbol of Spain's housing crisis, had urged Spaniards to join the protest in a video message posted online just hours before it got underway.
"I want what has happened to me to serve so that it does not happen to other people," she said from hospital, where she has been treated for exhaustion since her eviction.
"I want it to encourage people to fight and to help change the laws that have allowed me to be evicted," she added in the video, posted by the tenants' union.
Protester Enrique Ortega de Miguel, a 38-year-old graphic designer who lives with his mother, said the housing market in Spain was "impossible".
"It is a struggle to find a place you can afford, then you live in fear of being forced out," he told AFP at the march earlier on Saturday.
Another protester, 33-year-old engineer Irene Lopez, told AFP the situation had become "unsustainable".
"There are people who can't afford to live in cities, rents are out of step with salaries," she said, describing the eviction of Maricarmen as "the last straw".
And Maricarmen Arnedo, a 76-year-old pensioner, said that while older people were being forced out of their homes, "young people can't move out of their parents' homes".
"We want house prices and rents to come down, because I'm fed up with washing the underpants of my 53-year-old son," she added.

'Fed up'

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has faced regular protests across Spain over housing since Abascal's eviction.
The government is expected to approve a package of measures dubbed the "Maricarmen decree" at its next cabinet meeting, which would include the automatic renewal of rental contracts and further restrictions on evictions.
But it is unclear whether the package will be approved by parliament, where Sanchez's government lacks a majority.
While a similar bill was defeated earlier this year, Abascal's case has increased pressure on political parties to act.
The Bank of Spain estimates the country of around 50 million people is short of 700,000 homes, based on the gap between demand and new construction.
Spain has little public housing, while rents have been driven up by increased demand, including from tourism and population growth linked to immigration, analysts say.
bur-ds/jj

pope

Pope prays at Lourdes after huge Paris mass

BY CLEMENT MELKI WITH ALICE HACKMAN IN PARIS

  • The president said in a message on X that France was "proud to welcome Pope Leo XIV and this monumental mass in the heart of Paris".
  • Pope Leo XIV prayed for France on Saturday at its holy shrine in Lourdes, after riding along the Champs Elysees in the popemobile and holding an emotional open-air mass in front of hundreds of thousands of worshippers in Paris.
  • The president said in a message on X that France was "proud to welcome Pope Leo XIV and this monumental mass in the heart of Paris".
Pope Leo XIV prayed for France on Saturday at its holy shrine in Lourdes, after riding along the Champs Elysees in the popemobile and holding an emotional open-air mass in front of hundreds of thousands of worshippers in Paris.
The leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics is on a four-day trip to France, a secular country with deep Catholic roots, on the first official papal visit there in nearly two decades.
In the southwestern pilgrimage town the US pontiff prayed at the Grotto of Massabielle, where Catholic tradition holds that the Virgin Mary appeared in 1858 to a peasant girl, later Saint Bernadette.
Months of ahead of a presidential election with the far-right surging and immigration high on the agenda, he prayed to the Virgin Mary to "obtain for France wise and generous leaders... eager to serve the common good".
"May they make her (France's) voice heard in promoting the defence of fundamental human rights and peace in the world, rejecting the mentality of war once and for all."
AFP reporters saw him perform the rituals observed by the many pilgrims to the cave: touching the rock, lighting a candle and drinking spring water.
On Sunday, Leo will meet privately with seven victims of clerical sex abuse. A 2021 inquiry found that clergy or lay members of the Church had abused about 330,000 people as minors in France, over seven decades. 

Giant Paris mass

In an earlier highlight of the visit's second day, the 71-year-old pope led enthusiastic worshippers in a mass at Paris's Place de la Concorde, where a giant white canopy had been erected to serve as a makeshift altar.
His prayers were accompanied by choral and organ music as the sun broke through the grey skies.
"It is truly good and pleasant when brothers and sisters come together and glorify the greatness of God," said Pope Leo, dressed in white liturgical vestments.
Some 800,000 people had gathered all the way beyond the Arc de Triomphe, the Vatican said. 
"It's one time in history to see the pope," said Aline Riziki, 41, who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has lived in France for 11 years.
"I dropped everything to come here and see him, to pray for peace in the east" of her homeland, wracked by conflict for decades, she said.

'Important moment'

Jeanne de Montagnac, 29, came with her husband and two-year-old girl, who was perched on his shoulders.
"We're happy that, even if she won't remember it, we're sharing this with her," she said, a small golden cross dangling over her jumper.
"It's an important moment for us to be surrounded by other people who also have faith."
The first US pontiff was visiting France seven months before voters choose a successor to centrist President Emmanuel Macron.
A number of presidential hopefuls were present, including far-right leader Marine Le Pen and centrist Edouard Philippe.
Macron did not attend the mass but was represented by his wife Brigitte. The president said in a message on X that France was "proud to welcome Pope Leo XIV and this monumental mass in the heart of Paris".

'Dignity and peace'

Earlier in the day, the pope met migrants at Maison Bakhita, an association supporting refugees. Leo said it was "possible to encounter one another and to live together in dignity and peace".
He also stressed the "fundamental role of women in building a civilisation of love".
The association said the pope's visit sent a "message" ahead of the April-May election.
Leo was the third pope to visit Lourdes after Benedict XVI in 2008 and Jean-Paul II in 1983 and 2004.
Thousands of faithful watched his arrival at the site on giant screens.
The sanctuary, one of the most important Catholic holy sites in the world, receives some three million pilgrims each year. Catholics credit it with miraculous healings.
cmk-cg-elr-ah/rlp/jj

pope

'He said hello': Families pray with pope on Paris avenue

BY ALICE HACKMAN

  • "He said hello to you," said her 43-year-old mother Michelle Gomis, beaming, after the popemobile drove past.
  • Jumping down from her uncle's shoulders, seven-year-old Dona ran grinning to her mother after Pope Leo XIV waved at her on his way past on a famed Paris avenue.
  • "He said hello to you," said her 43-year-old mother Michelle Gomis, beaming, after the popemobile drove past.
Jumping down from her uncle's shoulders, seven-year-old Dona ran grinning to her mother after Pope Leo XIV waved at her on his way past on a famed Paris avenue.
"He said hello to you," said her 43-year-old mother Michelle Gomis, beaming, after the popemobile drove past.
They were among an estimated 800,000 faithful who lined the Champs Elysees and adjoining streets in Paris on Saturday to welcome the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics for a giant open-air mass.
"It's such a joy for us to see the pope," said the French mother-of-three of Senegalese origin, before settling down on a blanket with her family to listen to mass on the high-end shopping avenue's sidewalk.
Just an hour earlier, the excitement had built up ahead of the main Paris event of the first official papal visit to the European nation in 18 years.
Agathe Chateau Frilloux sprinted down a long road parallel to the Champs Elysee, her daughter and son running close behind, only just making it to their designated gate before the set cut-off time.
"The door closed just behind us," said the Catholic from the southeastern city of Lyon, catching her breath elated, before they headed into the crowd.
Helicopters could be heard flying overhead as worshippers waved small yellow-and-white Vatican flags by the side of the avenue.
"Hallelujah, hallelujah," sang a group of volunteers in yellow t-shirts.

'Dear families'

Parents had arrived equipped with sandwiches, books, playing cards and colouring paper to entertain their children during the wait for the pope on his way to a makeshift alter down the road.
Jeanne de Montagnac, 29, stood by her husband and two-year-old daughter, perched on his shoulders with a telephone number scribbled in biro pen on her arm.
"We're happy that, even if she won't remember it, we're sharing this with her," she said, a small golden cross around her neck.
"It's an important moment for us."
As mass got underway, loudspeakers set up just outside a designer clothes shop blasted the hymns a choir sang at Place de la Concorde, almost two kilometres (1.2 miles) away.
People sitting on the pavement hugged their knees, dropping their heads as they listened to the pope's voice echo across the Champs Elysees.
Others perched on the wall surrounding the elevator exit of a closed-off metro station.
"I think of you, dear families, who, despite the many difficulties you face each day, persevere courageously in your vocation and mission," Pope Leo said.
As he spoke, mothers in the back rows swayed from side to side, hugging exhausted toddlers who had missed nap time.
A child wriggled screaming out of her father's arms, just after the pope said "Peace be upon you" and the avenue fell silent.

'Stark contrast'

Tiphaine Plattard, 32, walked out of the crowd behind a boy in tears, patiently settling him down for a rest in a pushchair.
She and her husband had driven two hours to Paris to bring their five children, aged one to six, to see Pope Leo, she said.
"It's a challenge," said the nuclear engineer.
But "it's important for us to pass this on to them."
She said her two-metre (6.5-feet) tall husband had hoisted two of the children towards the sky, while she carried another so they could get a glimpse of Pope Leo.
"It's such a privilege, it's extraordinary," she said of hearing "hallelujah" sung across the famed avenue.
Her husband Antoine, a head hunter who turns 35 on Sunday, said it was his first time seeing the pope as an adult.
The setting made his message even more striking, he said.
"What the pope is telling us is that what matters is spiritual nourishment, and not the materialism that is so prevalent today," he said, outside a luxury jewelry store.
"We were standing in front of a shop selling necklaces costing 15,000 euros. It's quite a stark contrast," he added.
ah/jj

US

Trump rejects Iran proposal for deal to reopen Hormuz

BY AFP TEAMS IN WASHINGTON, TEHRAN AND NEW YORK

  • On the seventh day of the truce, Iran would reopen Hormuz. 
  • US President Donald Trump on Saturday rejected a truce deal proposed by Iran that Tehran said could have reopened the Strait of Hormuz to shipping within a week.  
  • On the seventh day of the truce, Iran would reopen Hormuz. 
US President Donald Trump on Saturday rejected a truce deal proposed by Iran that Tehran said could have reopened the Strait of Hormuz to shipping within a week.  
The waterway is key to the world's energy supply and is now central to the conflict between the US and Iran, which is at a stalemate after nearly seven months.
"I reject their proposal," Trump told reporters outside the White House. "They made a proposal but I've rejected it."
"They want to make a deal where they open the Strait immediately because they're losing so badly. They want to make a deal and I think that's fine. I like making a deal too."
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, who was on his way back to Tehran after attending the UN General Assembly in New York, told CBS News the proposal had been developed "in coordination" with supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, according to an excerpt from the video interview shared by Iranian media.
Iran's plan calls for a cessation of all hostilities in the Middle East, including in Lebanon, according to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who met earlier in the week with Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff.
He said the conditions were the same as those laid out in a memorandum of understanding signed with the US earlier this year, which called for the release of frozen Iranian assets, the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil and an end to the US naval blockade.
On the seventh day of the truce, Iran would reopen Hormuz. Pezeshkian told CBS that the "process will begin from the very day they accept it". 
At the UN, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan complained that the "international community has been absent" and failing to live up to the responsibility to keep the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandab open.
"The kingdom rejects any party's use of these vital passages as a tool for pressure, threat, or harm to the interests of states," he said, stressing the waterways' importance to global energy security.
His Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, told member states that "Russia, together with other responsible states, stands ready to constructively contribute to stabilizing this strategically important region." 
In New York, Pezeshkian met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, according to his office, and said: "Iran has not walked away from the negotiating table but, given past experiences, it no longer trusts the United States."
Araghchi said at the UN: "Iran has conveyed to the United States, through Qatar, a concrete seven-day plan. If the necessary conditions are met, the strait can be reopened, and normal maritime passage restored within seven days."
"The choice now rests with the United States. Iran does not accept coercion, threats or intimidation, and Iran will not surrender its sovereign rights under pressure," he added.
However, within hours of his comments The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump was skeptical that Tehran would meet his demands and expects to renew the US bombing campaign. 
Trump also posted an image to his Truth Social platform of a map showing the Strait of Hormuz circled and labelled "Trump Strait".
Hossein Mohebi, a spokesman for Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was quoted by Tasnim news agency as saying: "We will not cease punishing the US until Iran's seven conditions are met."
 

Hostilities in Yemen

 
Mohebi had told AFP in an exclusive interview on Tuesday that ending hostilities in Yemen was also among Tehran's demands.
Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding in June that aimed to end the war, to reopen the strait and to launch talks on Iran's nuclear programme.
But the deal broke down shortly afterwards when Iran fired on commercial ships in Hormuz that it accused of deviating from its approved route through the waterway.
Iran requires ships to obtain authorisation before passage, citing security and sovereignty reasons. 
Ships that refuse to comply are regularly targeted, while the United States sporadically bombs Iranian coastal areas in retaliation.
bur/dc/dcp

conflict

Russia accuses Europe of blocking Ukraine talks, as strikes drag on

BY GREGORY WALTON

  • Daytime strikes on Kyiv left seven dead on Friday. 
  • Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday accused Europe of blocking efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, after another round of strikes left 16 dead on both sides.
  • Daytime strikes on Kyiv left seven dead on Friday. 
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday accused Europe of blocking efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, after another round of strikes left 16 dead on both sides.
Both Moscow and Kyiv have stepped up attacks after the deadliest summer since 2022 -- the year Russia launched its invasion, starting Europe's worst war since World War Two.
But Lavrov, who met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week in New York, instead took aim at Europe, saying it was actively trying to block talks supported by US President Donald Trump's government.
"Europe is doing everything it can to thwart peace talks in which the Trump administration is interested," Lavrov said in a fiery speech to the UN General Assembly.
"The aims of the special military operation will be achieved, the threat to Russian security will be eliminated and peaceful life will come back. This will happen no matter the circumstances," he added, using Moscow's terminology for the conflict.
Russian and Ukrainian strikes killed at least 16 people over the last 24 hours, both countries said Saturday.
Kyiv said Russian strikes had killed at least six people -- in northeastern Sumy, in Zaporizhzhia and in the Dnipropetrovsk region, where a 17-year-old girl was among the victims.
Russia said Ukrainian strikes had killed four people in its Krasnodar and Belgorod regions. Kremlin-installed officials in southern occupied-Ukraine meanwhile said six others were killed in the past 24 hours.
United Nations officials have warned about the increasing numbers of civilian victims in the war.
Earlier this week at the UN General Assembly, Trump once again said that a deal between Moscow and Kyiv to end the war was "going to happen."
But US-led talks to end fighting have not led to a breakthrough, and the Kremlin has repeatedly said it intends to seize the rest of east Ukraine.
Moscow has intensified strikes on Kyiv as the city prepares for another winter of war, while Ukraine has struck deeper inside Russia this year, hitting as far as the Urals and Siberia.
Daytime strikes on Kyiv left seven dead on Friday. 
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that Russia was "escalating every single day" and has called for more allied sanctions on Moscow.
"They want to simply wipe out our nation," said 43-year-old Kyiv resident Oleksandr Gorlachov.

'Dangerous path of escalation'

Before his speech, Lavrov met with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul -- the first meeting between Moscow and Berlin's foreign ministers since before the war.
The talks took place as tensions between Berlin and Moscow intensified, Germany accusing Russia of orchestrating an attempted drone attack on Leipzig airport and each country ordering the closure of the other's consulate.
European countries, including Germany, have sounded the alarm in recent days over what they say is increased Russian sabotage activities on their soil. 
"Wadephul called on the Russian Federation to abandon its dangerous path of escalation vis-a-vis Germany, Europe, and NATO," a German diplomat said. 
"He made it clear: incidents such as the recent attempted attack in Leipzig or further hybrid assaults would not shake Germany's resolve to support Ukraine," he said.
"This attempt to increase pressure does nothing to change Russia's untenable situation: every month, tens of thousands of Russian soldiers die in a hopeless war of positions, while the Russian economy continues to collapse."
Lavrov last met with a German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, in January 2022, less than a month before Russian forces invaded Ukraine. Germany is one of Kyiv's main allies.
Lavrov -- Russia's longest-serving minister -- recently accused Germany of "wanting war again", and is one of Russia's most vocally anti-western officials. 
In his speech to the UN, Lavrov took a major swipe at Berlin.
"UN Security Council reform cannot involve any additional seats being allocated to Western countries, especially to Germany and Japan, who are now on the path to militarism."
bur/sst/jj

conflict

Russia accuses Europe of seeking to thwart Ukraine talks

BY GREGORY WALTON

  • German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul met earlier Saturday with Lavrov, the first meeting between Moscow and Berlin's foreign ministers since before the war.
  • Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Europe Saturday of "doing everything" to thwart talks to resolve the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, in an outspoken UN speech in which he vowed his country would achieve its Ukraine aims.
  • German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul met earlier Saturday with Lavrov, the first meeting between Moscow and Berlin's foreign ministers since before the war.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Europe Saturday of "doing everything" to thwart talks to resolve the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, in an outspoken UN speech in which he vowed his country would achieve its Ukraine aims.
"Europe is doing everything it can to thwart peace talks in which the Trump administration is interested," he said.
"The aims of the special military operation will be achieved, the threat to Russian security will be eliminated and peaceful life will come back. This will happen no matter the circumstances," he added, using Moscow's terminology for the conflict.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul met earlier Saturday with Lavrov, the first meeting between Moscow and Berlin's foreign ministers since before the war.
The talks took place as tensions between Berlin and Moscow intensified, with Germany accusing Russia of orchestrating an attempted drone attack on Leipzig airport and each country ordering the closure of the other's consulate.
"Wadephul called on the Russian Federation to abandon its dangerous path of escalation vis-a-vis Germany, Europe, and NATO," a German diplomat said. 
"He made it clear: incidents such as the recent attempted attack in Leipzig or further hybrid assaults would not shake Germany's resolve to support Ukraine."
Lavrov last met with a German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, in January 2022, less than a month before Russian forces invaded Ukraine. Germany is one of Kyiv's main allies.
Lavrov -- Russia's longest-serving minister -- recently accused Germany of "wanting war again," and is one of Russia's most vocally anti-western officials. 

Increased Russian sabotage

European countries, including Germany, have sounded the alarm in recent days over what they say is increased Russian sabotage activities on their soil. 
Direct flights between Russia and Germany have been suspended since the invasion. 
The meeting Saturday was closed to media but Ukraine dominated, according to the German diplomat.
"The German foreign minister condemned Russia's ongoing and increasingly targeted aggression against the Ukrainian civilian population. This attempt to increase pressure does nothing to change Russia's untenable situation: every month, tens of thousands of Russian soldiers die in a hopeless war of positions, while the Russian economy continues to collapse," the diplomat said.
Saturday's meeting was initiated by Berlin and lasted about 20 minutes, Moscow's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, according to Russia's TASS news agency.
Lavrov also said at the UN that Moscow is ready to help stabilize the situation in the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Gulf region, as the US-Iran conflict drags on.
"We need trust in the relationships between the Gulf states, the Arab states, and Iran. We need stable regional architecture," Lavrov told leaders at the UN General Assembly. 
"Russia, together with other responsible states, stands ready to constructively contribute to stabilizing this strategically important region."
gw-bur/ksb

homicide

Deadly abbey attack feeds anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Poland

  • "It's clear that this attack will be used by people who are... hostile to good Polish-Ukrainian relations," Adam Leszczynski, an associate professor at the Institute for Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, told AFP.  Poland could now expect to see more attacks on innocent Ukrainians, "an even greater wave of hate on social media", and a surge in popularity for far-right politicians.
  • A deadly knife attack at a Polish abbey by a 31-year-old Ukrainian citizen has reignited online hate following months of strained relations between the otherwise close allies.
  • "It's clear that this attack will be used by people who are... hostile to good Polish-Ukrainian relations," Adam Leszczynski, an associate professor at the Institute for Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, told AFP.  Poland could now expect to see more attacks on innocent Ukrainians, "an even greater wave of hate on social media", and a surge in popularity for far-right politicians.
A deadly knife attack at a Polish abbey by a 31-year-old Ukrainian citizen has reignited online hate following months of strained relations between the otherwise close allies.
On Thursday morning, Ihor M. -- whose last name has been withheld under Polish privacy law -- entered the Benedictine abbey in Jaroslaw, in southeastern Poland. 
Prosecutors say he stabbed five people -- three members of the clergy and two laypersons. One of the priests died from his injuries in hospital and the suspect has now been charged with murder and attempted murder.
Ukrainians are the largest immigrant group in Poland, which hosts some 1.5 million of them. Some are refugees who fled Russia's invasion, while others are economic migrants who have lived in the EU and NATO member country for years.
In the immediate aftermath of Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Poland welcomed Ukrainian refugees, immediately passing a law granting them protected status in the country.
In subsequent years however, support for aiding the refugees -- and even for accepting them -- has dropped sharply, against a background of harsh political rhetoric and unresolved diplomatic tensions between Warsaw and Kyiv.

Tense border region

A July study by Poland's Centre for Public Opinion Research (CBOS) showed that for the first time since Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea, most Poles (52 percent) opposed accepting Ukrainian refugees into the country.
Oleksandr Pestrykov, an advocacy expert from the Ukrainian House foundation in Warsaw, told AFP that Ukrainians in Poland were feeling the effects of the chilling relations personally. 
"People talk about individual unpleasant situations in everyday life much more often," he said.
That included unpleasant exchanges in public transport, conflicts with neighbours, or condescending remarks. And some now fear that Thursday's shocking attack in Jaroslaw has added fuel to the flames, especially online.
"We are on the brink of an online lynching," Marcin Piotrowski, a sociologist and member of the Polish-Ukrainian association "Folkowisko", tells AFP.
What adds to the pressure is that the fact Jaroslaw, where the attack happened, lies only 30 kilometres from Poland's border with Ukraine.
When Russia has launched attacks on the western part of that country, that has also triggered air alerts in this Polish region.
The attacks near the border had put immense psychological strain on local people, Piotrowski explained.
"We are in an area that serves as a rear base for war operations," he added. "That is not easy to live in."

Far-right mobilised

In Jaroslaw Thursday, the day of the attack, several local people told AFP they had noticed an increase in online hate speech and disinformation.
"It's clear that this attack will be used by people who are... hostile to good Polish-Ukrainian relations," Adam Leszczynski, an associate professor at the Institute for Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, told AFP. 
Poland could now expect to see more attacks on innocent Ukrainians, "an even greater wave of hate on social media", and a surge in popularity for far-right politicians.
On the evening of the attack, members of the hard-right Ruch Narodowy (National Movement) party and their supporters gathered in front of a memorial outside the abbey where the attack took place, laying candles and praying for the deceased.
"We must verify who is entering our country," MEP Tomasz Buczek, of the far-right Partiots for Europe group, told AFP.
President Karol Nawrocki, wrote on X that "the principles and values of our community must be respected by all those residing in our country".
A conservative-nationalist, he has in the past echoed anti-Ukrainian sentiments from hard-right parties seeking to build on historical differences to boost their support.

'Most effective weapon'

According to the initial findings of investigators, the suspect entered Poland from Germany overnight Wednesday-Thursday, intending to travel on to Ukraine. 
But he was turned back at the Korczowa border crossing because his car did not have the required insurance. Shortly afterwards, say prosecutors, he launched his attack.
Marcin Nazarewicz, the mayor of Jaroslaw, told AFP that following the attack he had met Poland's crisis management team to "work with and talk to" young Ukrainians there. 
While "the immediate danger" had been neutralised, he said, officials were now "considering what consequences this event may have in the next few days", he added.
For sociologist Piotrowski it was "tragic" that one of the greatest threats to the local community were the isolated criminal acts of individual Ukrainians.
Thursday's shocking crime at Jaroslaw could have "a greater impact than a missile", he added.
ks/jj

Global Edition

Bangkok declares disaster after homes flooded, roads submerged by heavy rain

BY WATSAMON TRI-YASAKDA

  • Flooding was also reported on Saturday across 21 provinces in Thailand, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, with more rain expected on Sunday.
  • Bangkok authorities declared a flood disaster across the Thai capital on Saturday after almost 48 hours of heavy rain left homes, shops and roads waterlogged and residents wading through waist-deep water.
  • Flooding was also reported on Saturday across 21 provinces in Thailand, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, with more rain expected on Sunday.
Bangkok authorities declared a flood disaster across the Thai capital on Saturday after almost 48 hours of heavy rain left homes, shops and roads waterlogged and residents wading through waist-deep water.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul cut short a trip to London to return home after more than 300 millimetres (11.8 inches) of rain fell in some areas between Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning, according to officials.
"The water keeps coming in. It's hard to go out now. It's like at my waist level now," said Somkid Pheuk-ngam, 67, a vendor who lives near a canal just north of central Bangkok.
"I cannot go anywhere. I have been closing my shop for two days now," she told AFP.
Bangkok is no stranger to wet weather, and September is the peak of the rainy season, but several residents said it felt worse than usual.
"I feel like in all the many years I've lived here, I've never encountered anything like this, where it rains continuously for days," said 63-year-old resident Anutin Meechamnan.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) declared a disaster for all the city's 50 districts, a move that gives local organisations special powers to act.
Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said on Saturday afternoon that the situation had "stabilised", adding: "If more rainwater doesn't fall in the area, it will be solved."
"If the rain stops, it is expected that it will take two to three days to drain the floodwater," he said in an update broadcast on social media.

Temporary shelters

Almost continuous rain since Thursday afternoon has swelled Bangkok's network of canals, sending murky water into surrounding homes, restaurants, shops and alleyways.
"Our problem is that the canals are full," Chadchart said.
"We are cooperating with nearby provinces and try to drain water out through other sides, minimising the amount that flows into Bangkok."
Once dubbed the "Venice of the East", Bangkok is built on former marshland and rests about 1.5 metres (five feet) above sea level.
The BMA said earlier the city's pumping stations were operating at full capacity, drawing some 1,200 cubic metres per second combined.
AFP reporters saw residents wading or pushing their motorcycles through high waters in several districts of eastern Bangkok, while parked cars were partially submerged on one major road.
In Bang Bua district, one woman tried to salvage goods from her shop as the floodwaters came up to her thighs.
Khem Amnueilaph, an office worker who lives in Suan Luang district in eastern Bangkok, said the water in his neighbourhood was "higher than knee level".
"My house is new so it was elevated, but some old houses near by the water have already flooded," the 36-year-old told AFP by telephone.
"I have food in my stock for two to three days, but I may have to wade through the floodwater for food later," he said, adding: "I have no idea how to get to work on Monday."

Empty shelves

Some convenience stores had empty shelves by lunchtime as residents raced to buy essentials.
Chadchart said at least 13 major roads were flooded but urged residents not to worry potential food shortages, stressing: "The public don't have to be panicked."
He said around 980 people were staying in temporary shelters, while authorities had transferred 36 bedridden people to hospitals. The city has also prepared one million sandbags.
Despite hopes that the water will recede, Bangkok authorities said schools would close on Monday, while some officials have been asked to work from home.
September has been wetter than usual, according to figures from Bangkok's drainage and sewerage department.
The capital recorded 487 mm of rain between September 1 and 25, compared to an average of almost 269 mm for the same period from 1991 to 2020.
Scientists warn the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events will increase as the planet continues to heat up because of fossil fuel emissions.
Flooding was also reported on Saturday across 21 provinces in Thailand, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, with more rain expected on Sunday.
Widespread deluges across the Southeast Asian country in 2011 killed more than 500 people and damaged millions of homes.
str-ar/pbt

diplomacy

Giant statue of Pope Leo XIV takes shape in Peru workshop

  • He will visit Montevideo, Paysandu and Florida in Uruguay from November 6 to 8 and then head to Argentina, where he will visit Buenos Aires, Cordoba and Lujan, until November 11. cm-sf-gta/vel/lkd/ksb
  • A giant clay sculpture of Pope Leo XIV's head takes shape in a workshop in Peru's capital, as the Andean nation prepares for the pontiff's visit in November.
  • He will visit Montevideo, Paysandu and Florida in Uruguay from November 6 to 8 and then head to Argentina, where he will visit Buenos Aires, Cordoba and Lujan, until November 11. cm-sf-gta/vel/lkd/ksb
A giant clay sculpture of Pope Leo XIV's head takes shape in a workshop in Peru's capital, as the Andean nation prepares for the pontiff's visit in November.
The sculptor and his workmen look like miniature figures as they work on the 14-meter monument in honor of the pope, who is a Peruvian citizen.
The statue will be unveiled before the head of the Catholic Church's arrival in Peru on November 11.
Rafael Gutierrez, a 42-year-old artist, is leading the project from his modest workshop in Lima's Carabayllo district.
"Every morning, together with the staff, we say a short prayer so that we’re given strength and can make it to the end of the job," Gutierrez told AFP.
He smooths the features of the head -- which he says weighs more than a ton -- with a yellow sponge, while another craftsman adds clay to the fingers of the enormous hands.
Other workers erect scaffolding for a four-story structure where they will assemble, piece by piece, the giant replica of the pope. A total of eight people are working on the piece.
Gutierrez said he used artificial intelligence and a 3D model to help design the sculpture.
"We’re grateful that the pope has blessed us so that we can create his image," 48-year-old worker Lener Mendoza said.
The monument will be installed in a park in Callao, a nearby port city, after being coated with polyurethane foam and fiberglass, and finished with a marble dust.
Callao is backing the project as a tribute to the pope's ties with the city, where he served as the apostolic administrator of the diocese from 2020 to 2021.
"As a Catholic, making Pope Robert Prevost for me is something unique because of... what he represents, the Catholic faith," Gutierrez said. 
Standing on a concrete pedestal, the statue will depict the pontiff with open arms, wearing his long papal robe and a crucifix around his neck.
Leo XIV was born in the US city of Chicago but lived in Peru for more than two decades, where he was a missionary and bishop in Chiclayo.
The northern city will be among his stops in Peru, along with Lima, Cusco and Pucallpa.
He will visit Montevideo, Paysandu and Florida in Uruguay from November 6 to 8 and then head to Argentina, where he will visit Buenos Aires, Cordoba and Lujan, until November 11.
cm-sf-gta/vel/lkd/ksb

pope

Huge crowds cheer Pope Leo along Champs-Elysees ahead of Paris mass

  • Clutching small French and Vatican flags, crowds gathered in anticipation ahead of the service, with the city centre sealed off, helicopters circling overhead and snipers positioned on rooftops.
  • Pope Leo XIV rode down the French capital's iconic Champs-Elysees avenue in his popemobile on Saturday to the cheers of huge crowds of faithful, ahead of a giant open-air mass.
  • Clutching small French and Vatican flags, crowds gathered in anticipation ahead of the service, with the city centre sealed off, helicopters circling overhead and snipers positioned on rooftops.
Pope Leo XIV rode down the French capital's iconic Champs-Elysees avenue in his popemobile on Saturday to the cheers of huge crowds of faithful, ahead of a giant open-air mass.
Aboard the popemobile, the smiling pontiff blessed several babies and waved to worshippers, as he made his way from the Arc de Triomphe to Place de la Concorde, where a giant white canopy was installed.
Dozens of giant screens lined the more than two-kilometre stretch.
Clutching small French and Vatican flags, crowds gathered in anticipation ahead of the service, with the city centre sealed off, helicopters circling overhead and snipers positioned on rooftops.
The service, the centrepiece of the second day of the pontiff's four-day visit to France, was due to begin at 3:00 pm (1300 GMT), with around 600,000 worshippers expected to attend.
Parents arrived with pushchairs or children perched on their shoulders as believers hoped to catch a glimpse of the pontiff on the second day of the first official papal visit to France in nearly two decades.
Near the stage at Place de la Concorde a number of politicians took their seats, including far-right leaders Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella.
President Emmanuel Macron was not expected to attend the mass and would be represented by his wife Brigitte.
cmk-cg-maj-ah-as/rmb

pope

Pope to celebrate giant Paris mass after 'peace' appeal

BY CLEMENT MELKI AND CLAIRE GALLEN

  • He said it was "possible to encounter one another and to live together in dignity and peace."
  • Pope Leo XIV was on Saturday to celebrate an open-air mass for hundreds of thousands of believers on the Champs Elysees in Paris, after saying it was possible to "live together in dignity and peace".
  • He said it was "possible to encounter one another and to live together in dignity and peace."
Pope Leo XIV was on Saturday to celebrate an open-air mass for hundreds of thousands of believers on the Champs Elysees in Paris, after saying it was possible to "live together in dignity and peace".
The leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics was on a four-day trip to France, a secular country with deep Catholic roots, with his trip stirring enthusiasm and spiritual fervour among the faithful. 
Parents arrived with pushchairs or children perched on their shoulders as crowds gathered in central Paris to catch a glimpse of the pontiff on the second day of the first official papal visit to France in nearly two decades.
The pope, 71, was due to lead the faithful in prayer from 3:00 pm (1300 GMT) at Place de la Concorde and along the adjoining Champs-Elysees.
On streets surrounding the Champs-Elysees, dozens of coaches dropped worshippers who had travelled from across France, many holding stools or folding chairs as they settled in for a wait of several hours.
Sylvie Leclerc, a 51-year-old teacher, clutched the Normandy flag.
"It's a big event, we've come to share the Christian fervour," she said.
"You don't hear much from us Catholics, but now we're going to make some noise! But to proclaim love, peace, joy," she added.

'Civilisation of love'

Fifteen-year-old Alix was among teenagers looking forward to the mass.
"We're so lucky to be here," she said, wearing electric blue mascara and glittery cross-shaped earrings.
"Seeing the pope is really something. After all, he's God's representative on Earth."
The first US pontiff was visiting France seven months before voters choose a successor to centrist President Emmanuel Macron, with the anti-immigration far right eyeing its best opportunity yet to capture the presidency.
Macron will not attend the mass, but presidential hopefuls including far-right leader Marine Le Pen and centrist Edouard Philippe have confirmed their attendance.
Earlier in the day, the pope met migrants as he visited Maison Bakhita, an association supporting refugees.
He said it was "possible to encounter one another and to live together in dignity and peace."
Dressed in a white cassock, Leo also stressed the "fundamental role of women in building a civilisation of love."
The association said the pope's visit sent a "message" ahead of the election.

'Saints of France'

On Friday, an estimated 300,000 people turned out to see the pontiff as he waved from his popemobile on the way to the Notre Dame Cathedral.
"There is a sense of fervour reminiscent of that experienced over 40 years ago with John Paul II," Francois Mabille, director of the Geopolitical Observatory on Religion, told broadcaster RMC.
On Friday, Pope Leo stressed the need for ethics to avoid an AI-driven "paradise of machines" and, as war rages in Ukraine for a fifth year, urged France to remain a "tireless champion of peace". 
He also told young adults at a stadium outside the French capital on Friday night that they were the "saints of France."
In a deeply secular country, only around five percent of France's 69 million residents go to Catholic church services regularly, a survey found last year.
But while infant baptisms have declined in recent years, increasing numbers of teenagers and adults are being baptised.
After the mass in Paris, Pope Leo will head to Lourdes, a town in southwestern France where, according to Catholic tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared in a grotto in 1858 to a peasant girl.
In Lourdes on Sunday, he will speak with seven victims of clerical sex abuse.
A 2021 inquiry found that clergy or lay members of the Church had abused about 330,000 people as minors in France, over seven decades. 
In recent years, further accusations have emerged against charity icon Abbe Pierre and workers at a Catholic boarding school near Lourdes.
For the last leg of his trip, in Metz on Monday, Leo is expected to deliver a speech about peace in Europe. 
burs-as/ah/rmb

landslide

Nepal tunnel survivor wants to help post-flood rebuild

BY ANUP OJHA

  • Maharjan, who was among hundreds of workers employed at projects hit by the floods, was eventually airlifted from the worst-hit Rasuwa region.
  • Pulled alive 10 days after catastrophic floods trapped him in a tunnel, Nepali hydropower worker Kabir Maharjan is determined to help rebuild his country despite his own harrowing ordeal.
  • Maharjan, who was among hundreds of workers employed at projects hit by the floods, was eventually airlifted from the worst-hit Rasuwa region.
Pulled alive 10 days after catastrophic floods trapped him in a tunnel, Nepali hydropower worker Kabir Maharjan is determined to help rebuild his country despite his own harrowing ordeal.
Traditional music and tearful relatives welcomed the 45-year-old when he returned home on Friday after spending weeks recovering at a hospital in Kathmandu.
"Life is precious. Hundreds of people have died but I survived," the father of two told AFP, his voice choked with emotion.
"Perhaps I still have work to do for my society, for the country, and my home and family."
The August 26 flood, triggered by a glacial mountain collapse near the China-Nepal border, has killed more than 1,400 people, the majority in Nepal.
Over 5,000 remain missing in Nepal since the tsunami-like waves swept away roads, bridges and settlements in the mountainous regions up north, and battered crucial hydropower projects.
Maharjan, who was among hundreds of workers employed at projects hit by the floods, was eventually airlifted from the worst-hit Rasuwa region.
His miraculous rescue on September 4, alongside fellow worker Sanjay Sah, offered a rare moment of hope during the disaster.
Now, as Nepal shifts from emergency response to reconstruction, he said he hopes to return to his profession.
"There is risk in everything, but still we have to win over it," he said.

'Work is our karma'

More than 800 people employed at hydropower projects in Nepal remain unaccounted for, the energy minister told parliament last week.
Forty-seven bodies have been recovered from flood-hit project sites, while rescue teams continue to comb through the ruins.
Maharjan said he survived by reaching an upper floor of the tunnel site and drinking water while waiting for help.
"Whenever I was awake, I would try to find a way out," he said.
Days later, he saw what appeared to be a light and heard voices.
"I thought I imagined it. But I called out, and they answered."
For Maharjan, the country's long road to recovery mirrors his own -- he is still recovering from wounds on his hand and leg.
But he said the rebuilding efforts could also provide spiritual sustenance.
"While we are alive we must be patient and do our work," he said.
"Work is our karma."

Continuing crisis

The flooding dealt a major blow to Nepal's hydropower generation system, which is central to the country's development ambitions and export earnings.
The government estimates overall reconstruction could cost $4.8 billion, with thousands of people displaced and key infrastructure damaged.
The disaster has also renewed scrutiny of how roads, hydropower plants and trade corridors are built in Nepal's challenging mountain terrain.
Prime Minister Balendra Shah told the United Nations on Thursday that the flooding was "a warning to the world" about the growing dangers posed by climate change, urging greater international support to help Nepal adapt and rebuild.
Aid groups have warned that the humanitarian crisis is far from over.
"The floodwaters may have receded, but for thousands of people, the crisis is far from over," David Fisher, head of delegation for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Nepal, said Friday.
"It is urgent to take the next steps in the recovery process to keep people healthy and avoid a spiral into poverty."
aoj-pm/abh/mjw

animal

Indonesia fires threatens critically-endangered orangutan: IUCN

  • Wildfires have also been reported in the habitats of five gibbon species across Sumatra and Borneo, the conservation network said.
  • Wildfires that tore through Indonesian Borneo's vast tropical forests have piled pressure on critically endangered Bornean orangutans, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said Saturday.
  • Wildfires have also been reported in the habitats of five gibbon species across Sumatra and Borneo, the conservation network said.
Wildfires that tore through Indonesian Borneo's vast tropical forests have piled pressure on critically endangered Bornean orangutans, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said Saturday.
Indonesia has been battling fires for weeks in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, sending suffocating haze across the islands and neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore.
Fires are currently burning within habitats containing 52 percent of Borneo's orangutan population, including 13 of the 20 largest remaining populations, it said.
"Fire and smoke exposure impose measurable physiological, behavioural and ecological costs on orangutans in peat forest habitats," the conservation network said.
During haze, orangutans show signs of fat breakdown despite eating more and resting more, suggesting elevated energy demands likely from an immune system forced to work harder, it said.
Wildfires have also been reported in the habitats of five gibbon species across Sumatra and Borneo, the conservation network said.
"Gibbons breathe the same smoke-laden air as the people living alongside them, and there is every reason to expect they suffer similar respiratory harm, on top of habitat loss and disruption to the behaviours that keep wild populations viable."
As of Tuesday, Indonesia had rescued 100 animals, including 53 orangutans, that were threatened by the blazes, a forestry ministry spokesman said.
Conservationists call on the authorities to go beyond first response and implement prevention measures.
"Emergency response must be followed by sustained investment in preventing future fires," Ronna Saab of Forum Konservasi Orangutan Indonesia (FORINA) said in a statement. 
Those measures include "protecting and rewetting peatlands, addressing drainage and deforestation, and ensuring burned forests are protected from subsequent conversion and appropriately restored," Ronna said. 
The Indonesian government said more than 202,000 hectares of land were burnt countrywide between January and July, the latest available data.
The Nusantara Atlas project has put the number at closer to 900,000 hectares between January and August.
mrc/jhe/tc

oil

Venezuela's oil cradle pins hopes on US energy deals

BY MARGIONI BERMÚDEZ

  • Across the surrounding countryside, seepages resemble miniature volcanoes overflowing with crude and leaving hardened black trails. 
  • In the birthplace of Venezuela's oil industry, thick black crude seeps through cracks in the earth, and the air is heavy with the smell of gas, leaving visitors dizzy. 
  • Across the surrounding countryside, seepages resemble miniature volcanoes overflowing with crude and leaving hardened black trails. 
In the birthplace of Venezuela's oil industry, thick black crude seeps through cracks in the earth, and the air is heavy with the smell of gas, leaving visitors dizzy. 
More than a century after sparking an oil boom that transformed Venezuela, the small town of Mene Grande is again in the sights of investors.
The United States has claimed a 20 percent stake in Venezuela's vast oil reserves -- including many local oil fields -- raising hopes of a revival.
Finding oil here is easy.
"Instead of water, oil comes out," said retired military officer Hector Valero Balestrini, gesturing toward a hillside where crude oozes naturally from the ground.
Across the surrounding countryside, seepages resemble miniature volcanoes overflowing with crude and leaving hardened black trails. 
Elsewhere, bubbling gas rises from pools.
Balestrini, 67, hopes a new era of investment will breathe life into the town.
"We are taking a new direction," he said.

Dreams vs reality

That optimism is shared by US President Donald Trump, who described Washington's investment in Venezuela's oil as the "greatest deal ever made".
Venezuelan crude, he claimed, will double US reserves and guarantee American energy dominance for a century. 
But those ambitions contrast sharply with the realities of Venezuela's oil landscape.
Years of economic crisis, underinvestment and political turmoil have hollowed out once thriving communities, with many homes left empty thanks to mass emigration.
"We are rich because of all this, and rich in many minerals too, but we are also poor," Eladio Ramon Devidez, a 67-year-old retiree, said as he stood next to a house abandoned by a family that left Venezuela years ago. 
The 27,000 residents that remain in Mene Grande contend with chronic blackouts and crumbling infrastructure, with some of the wells better fit for a museum than a working oil field.
The nearby Zumaque I well began production in 1914, and it continues to rise and fall in a steady rhythm.
Today it produces just 20 barrels a day -- enough to fill the tanks of only 20-30 cars after refinement.

'Everything is a nightmare'

The town is accessible from a battered highway that cuts through the flat, sweltering landscape.
Its roads are scarred by potholes, sewage leaks and overgrown vegetation.
But Devidez hopes new investment will bring jobs and revive the community.
"I hope those projects being negotiated become work and wealth for all Venezuelans because things are really hard," he said. 
Those hardships are visible after sunset, when electricity fails, disappearing entire neighborhoods into stifling darkness.
Residents rely on portable lamps, rechargeable lights and cellphone flashlights as temperatures remain oppressive deep into the night. 
The light from occasional thunderstorms often provides the only illumination. 
Residents have reported blackouts lasting up to 17 hours.
In neighbouring Bachaquero, retired teacher Jose Gregorio Martinez views the renewed oil activity with mixed emotions.
The 65-year-old son of an oil worker lives in a residential area built by state oil company PDVSA during the industry's heyday.
Such developments, known locally as oil camps, once offered residents stable services and a standard of living unmatched in much of the country. 
Martinez remembers family gatherings that routinely attracted 30 relatives. 
Now many of them live abroad. "I live in a house that used to be full," he said. 
Outside his neighborhood, dozens of freshly painted jacks stand out along the roadside, their bright colors contrasting with the deteriorating streets nearby. 
For Xiosbelis Saavedra, a 41-year-old shop owner, the new oil boom may have come too late.
Her three siblings have already emigrated, and she is considering shutting down her small delicatessen to follow them abroad.
"Everything is a nightmare. The electricity, the water, the gas, everything," she said. "Prices are crazy every day."
mbj/pgf/arb/jgc

food-drink

El Nino rewrites the menu in the world's top restaurants

BY ANNA CUENCA

  • El Nino "is changing everything," warned Dominique Crenn, a French-born chef in San Francisco, where Atelier Crenn uses its menu to stress the gravity of the situation to customers.
  • A record-breaking El Nino will likely force the world's top chefs to rethink their menus ahead of droughts, floods and heatwaves upending global food systems.
  • El Nino "is changing everything," warned Dominique Crenn, a French-born chef in San Francisco, where Atelier Crenn uses its menu to stress the gravity of the situation to customers.
A record-breaking El Nino will likely force the world's top chefs to rethink their menus ahead of droughts, floods and heatwaves upending global food systems.
Ants are disappearing from the table in Brazil, one Danish chef is opting for cocoa-free chocolate and Japan is serving up warm-water fish, culinary stars disclosed at the Apapaxoa gastronomic festival on Mexico's Caribbean coast.
United Nations experts have predicted an exceptionally strong cycle of the El Nino climate phenomenon, which causes global changes in winds and rainfall as well as erratic weather conditions.
The cream of the culinary crop, looking ahead to unpredictable ingredient availability, quality and prices, are rearranging their shelves accordingly.
But for these acclaimed chefs, extreme weather events and their habit of turning the kitchen upside down are nothing new.
"In the last three years, I've been creating an annual menu that I end up adjusting many times, almost weekly, because certain products aren't available," Brazilian chef Alex Atala told AFP.
"Ants, for example, this year are only available for customers who specifically ask to try them," said Atala, whose Sao Paulo restaurant D.O.M. plucks ingredients from the Amazonian wilderness to reinterpret Indigenous traditions.
El Nino can also massively disrupt transportation, said Atala.
Flooded roads or wildfires "delay a product that should be fresh, and by the time it arrives, it's no longer in good condition," he said.

'People just don't come anymore'

The renowned Brazilian chef also emphasized the "cultural loss" provoked by El Nino, referring to the disappearance of tradition along with the unavailable ingredient.
The climate crisis has wreaked havoc on the Mediterranean, says Spain's Quique Dacosta, whose restaurant in the port city of Denia sits near Valencia, which was pummelled by torrential rain in 2024.
Almost 250 people died, while vineyards, orange groves and plots used to grow Albufera rice, an essential paella ingredient, were decimated.
An event of such intensity "directly attacks the raw materials that are the natural foundation on which we build our cuisine," Dacosta told AFP.
Footfall also takes a hit, he said, noting that a stormy season has once again descended and fearful customers are canceling their reservations.
"It's going to rain a lot and people just don't come anymore -- imagine how vulnerable our businesses are," he said.

'First year without hurricanes'

While El Nino ramps up weather conditions in some parts, it produces a vacuum in others.
"This is the first year without hurricanes" in the Mexican Caribbean, said chef Roberto Solis.
While Hurricane Polo hurtles around the Pacific, there isn't a trace of the usual cyclones off Mexico's opposite coast, near Solis's native Yucatan.
"Hurricanes carry moisture and move ocean currents and plankton," he said, noting the consequences for seafood dishes at his restaurant Huniik, where he reimagines Mayan specialties.
Danish chef Rasmus Munk has a reputation for inventiveness and is calling on his peers to think about future food resilience.
His Copenhagen restaurant Alchemist is experimenting with chocolate alternatives because "the chocolate market is also under pressure," he said.
"The non-chocolate we're making now, we make it from BSG, which is the brewer's spent grains," he added.
The fibrous leftover from beer production also serves as a "local alternative," Munk said.

Rationing water

Japanese cooks are working with a brand-new selection of seafood, since El Nino has altered ocean migratory routes.
"In Japan it's not a problem, there's always product available," said Yusuke Takada, who combines Japanese ingredients with French cooking techniques in La Cime, Osaka.
But concern is the prevailing mood among the culinary greats gathered in Mexico.
El Nino "is changing everything," warned Dominique Crenn, a French-born chef in San Francisco, where Atelier Crenn uses its menu to stress the gravity of the situation to customers.
The weather pattern "hits Colombia very hard," echoed Alvaro Clavijo.
At Clavijo's Bogota-based El Chato, ingredients like cacao pulp and Andean tubers are already running low.
But the chef is most worried about water shortages, recalling a severe drought in 2024.
"Two years ago rationing already started to be felt, and that in a restaurant is super complicated," he said.
acc/jt/dga/mel/cc/des

tariff

US, China buy time with trade truce as pressure builds

BY BEIYI SEOW

  • However, "you'd have to see further tangible outcomes for this truce to extend in the long run."
  • Washington and Beijing may have bought themselves breathing space with an extended trade truce, but analysts warn that time is running out for the world's two biggest economies to resolve their strategic rivalry.
  • However, "you'd have to see further tangible outcomes for this truce to extend in the long run."
Washington and Beijing may have bought themselves breathing space with an extended trade truce, but analysts warn that time is running out for the world's two biggest economies to resolve their strategic rivalry.
President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping concluded a pomp-filled summit Friday, with the US leader confirming they would meet twice more this year.
But even as Trump and Xi "are making nice," their countries "remain locked in a bitter competition over trade, tech, Taiwan, defense, rare earths and industrial policy," said Daniel Russel of the Asia Society Policy Institute.
Daniel Kritenbrink, a former US official now with The Asia Group consultancy, said there's "no doubt that both leaders would like to see stability in the relationship, at least through the end of the year."
However, "you'd have to see further tangible outcomes for this truce to extend in the long run."
Some feel Beijing has "largely not lived up to the commitments it made" at earlier meetings, he added, noting many US officials "have articulated their profound frustration with the Chinese."
Xi and Trump agreed to a trade truce last year during a meeting in South Korea, after a bitter tit-for-tat fight that saw tariffs soar over 100 percent at one point.
As part of the agreement, Beijing agreed to buy more US soybeans and other agriculture products, and to suspend rare earths restrictions for a year.
The pact was originally due to expire in November but both sides agreed this week to extend it until January 10, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

'Short leash'

Trump's top trade official Jamieson Greer told CNBC on Friday that Washington views such extensions as "compliance periods."
"I think US officials would say China is doing just barely enough to maintain the agreement and no more," Kritenbrink said.
"That's unsustainable over the long run," he added.
The brief extension "was the preferred position of the Americans," Mary Lovely of the Peterson Institute for International Economics told AFP.
She added that while Beijing would have preferred a longer rollover, the current situation points to Washington's anxiety about the delivery of rare earth magnets and how officials "want to keep this on a short leash."
"It's not clear anymore how much their threats of high tariffs actually move China," she said.

'Bitter competition'

For now, Greer said that both countries have made "progress" on other economic outcomes and expect to release more details Monday.
"We want to have some subset of goods that we can trade with the Chinese on a more preferential basis," he said.
He added that both sides have agreed on products that can be left aside in future trade disputes.
Greer is set to host G20 trade ministers in Wisconsin next week, with US tariff threats and the issue of excess capacity -- a key concern surrounding Chinese industry -- expected to be discussed.
Washington and Beijing have also agreed to set up some kind of notification system for artificial intelligence threats between the two countries, Bessent said.
Peter Richardson of Counterpoint Research said the channel could be as simple as a hotline, but it will be tough to define what triggers it.
"It is often very difficult to tell quickly whether an AI incident was state-directed, a rogue actor or an accident," he said.
"Given the rivalry we don't expect this to lead to any comprehensive international framework for AI regulation, but it would be the first practical guardrail," he added.
Kritenbrink, for his part, said the summit has done "nothing to curb the competitive instincts of both sides on AI."
"I don't think you'll see any slowing down."
bur-bys/des

gambling

Lula bans sports betting days ahead of Brazil's election

  • Thirteen of the country's 20 first division football clubs have an online betting site as their main shirt sponsor.
  • Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday banned sports betting sites, the biggest sponsor of the country's football clubs, just days before a nailbiter election in which he is seeking a fourth term.
  • Thirteen of the country's 20 first division football clubs have an online betting site as their main shirt sponsor.
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday banned sports betting sites, the biggest sponsor of the country's football clubs, just days before a nailbiter election in which he is seeking a fourth term.
Gambling has exploded in Brazil in recent years, dragging many into debt, and opinion polls show strong voter opposition to the industry, which Lula has labeled a "cancer."
"It is no longer possible to deposit money into betting sites in the country," said Finance Minister Dario Durigan, announcing the ban at an event alongside Lula.
The initiative is the latest in a flurry of moves made by Lula before a first round of voting on October 4, as he stands neck-and-neck with right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro in the polls.
Brazil's betting market has boomed since a regulatory framework was established in 2023, accompanied by aggressive advertising both on the streets and online from influencers and sports stars.
Thirteen of the country's 20 first division football clubs have an online betting site as their main shirt sponsor. And soccer stars like Neymar and Vinicius Junior are among the most prominent faces in advertising for the industry.
According to a government statement, 85 licenses have been granted for betting, each valued at 30 million reais ($5.7 million), which will not be refunded.
Durigan said that new advertising contracts for betting companies were also immediately banned, while current contracts would be void after October 6.
As of that date, there will be no "site, no application and no legal sponsorship of bets in the country," he said.
Powerhouse football club Flamengo called the move a "heavy blow to Brazilian sports," warning it could impact not only professional football, but youth academies, women's soccer, Olympic sports and various championships.
"Brazil spent years debating how to regulate sports betting," the club said in a statement. "One cannot establish a rule, induce companies and institutions to make commitments based on it, and then, overnight, overhaul the entire regulatory framework." 

Bolsonaro slams 'desperate' Lula

Durigan said the government had attempted to regulate the industry, but it had become a public health issue, with more than 60 billion reais ($11 billion) flowing from families to legal betting companies.
"I spoke with a young guy who tried to kill himself three times" over his gambling addiction, said Lula after signing a provisional measure enforcing the ban.
"I decided to take a necessary, tough, and drastic measure. It's like cancer," he said. "Either we remove the tumor, or it kills us."
The measure will, however, require approval by Congress to become law. 
Bolsonaro slammed the move in a statement earlier Friday. 
"President Lula is desperate," said Bolsonaro, describing the move as another "populist, hypocritical, and election-driven" measure on the eve of the polls.
Several soccer clubs have expressed opposition to the ban, arguing that betting sponsors are vital to their financial health.
Lula said this argument is "nonsense" and called for an end to the "shamelessness in soccer."
The National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL), which represents licensed betting operators, joined eight other industry groups Thursday in warning that prohibition could drive gamblers toward illegal platforms.
It also highlighted a loss in tax revenue and jobs.
In 2025, the sector paid 9.95 billion reais ($1.73 billion) in taxes to the federal government.
"The challenges are real. The answer lies in oversight and stronger regulation," said the ANJL in a statement. "To regulate is to control. To ban is to lose control.
das-fb/mjf

explosion

Six missing after building collapses in historic Athens district

  • The Plaka district is one of the most touristy areas of Athens. 
  • Six people including four tourists were missing after a building collapsed following an explosion early Friday in Athens' historic Plaka district that was probably due to a huge gas leak.
  • The Plaka district is one of the most touristy areas of Athens. 
Six people including four tourists were missing after a building collapsed following an explosion early Friday in Athens' historic Plaka district that was probably due to a huge gas leak.
The city's mayor Haris Doukas called the blast an "unbelievable disaster" and spoke of the likelihood of an "explosion triggered by... a very significant gas leak" that led to the collapse of the two-storey building at around 7:30 am (0430 GMT) on Friday morning. 
The building is just below the Acropolis.
According to the police, the number of missing rose from five to six in the evening. 
"Operations are continuing, all the machinery is here, the search will go on throughout the night," said Doukas, who went to the scene. 
"These are difficult hours. We stop whenever necessary to keep silent, so we can see if we can hear any sound" made by possible survivors, he added. 
According to the public television channel ERT, the missing are a Briton and a Greek woman who lived on the second floor. On the first floor, four American tourists were staying in short-term rental accommodation.
The blast on a small street shook the area, which is normally busy with hundreds of foreign visitors.
The fire service had earlier said they included two elderly people who lived in the building's top floor, and three tourists believed to have rented the apartment below.
Thirty firefighters were deployed with six vehicles as well as three search and rescue dogs, according to the Greek news agency ANA. 
Excavators are clearing the rubble and thermal cameras have been deployed at the scene by rescuers, according to images released by AFP.
"The damage extends along the entire street as well as the street behind the building," the mayor said.

'Incredible disaster'

"We are talking about an incredible disaster," he said, adding that two adjoining buildings are in very poor condition. 
"Inspections have begun to determine whether they can remain standing or whether they too must be demolished." 
Earlier, two women were rescued from an adjacent building and taken to hospital. Another person was slightly injured by debris.
Neighbouring buildings and vehicles parked nearby were damaged.
The owner of the ground floor apartment, Mathaios Artavanis, told the Kathimerini news outlet he had tried to contact "the elderly couple, around 70 years old" without success.
The Plaka district is one of the most touristy areas of Athens. 
It is near Hadrian's Arch, one of the main monuments from the Roman period in the Greek capital, where the tourist season continues to be in full swing.
mr-jph-ach/jxb