mayor

French elect mayors in key cities including Paris

US

Israel to advance ground operations in Lebanon after striking key bridge

  • Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had earlier warned the bridge attacks "represent a dangerous escalation and flagrant violation of Lebanon's sovereignty, and are considered a prelude to a ground invasion."
  • The Israeli military announced it was expanding its ground campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, warning of a lengthy operation, after Beirut condemned what it called Israel's flagrant violations of Lebanese sovereignty.
  • Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had earlier warned the bridge attacks "represent a dangerous escalation and flagrant violation of Lebanon's sovereignty, and are considered a prelude to a ground invasion."
The Israeli military announced it was expanding its ground campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, warning of a lengthy operation, after Beirut condemned what it called Israel's flagrant violations of Lebanese sovereignty.
Israeli forces were ordered earlier Sunday to destroy bridges they said were used by the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah to cross the Litani River, and Lebanese official media reported Israeli raids in several areas of the south.
An AFP correspondent saw smoke billowing from a bridge that was hit outside the city of Tyre.
"The operation against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation has only begun... This is a prolonged operation," Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said in a statement.
"We are now preparing to advance the targeted ground operations and strikes according to an organised plan," he added. 
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had earlier warned the bridge attacks "represent a dangerous escalation and flagrant violation of Lebanon's sovereignty, and are considered a prelude to a ground invasion."
Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an Israeli-US strike.
Israel has sent troops into Lebanon and carried out extensive airstrikes, while Hezbollah has launched rocket barrages.
Israel's military said Sunday it began "a wide wave of strikes" against Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
According to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA), three strikes on the bridge near Tyre "caused extensive damage, rendering it unusable". It later reported a fourth strike occurred. 
Aoun "condemned Israel's targeting and destruction of infrastructure and vital facilities in southern Lebanon, particularly the Qasmiyeh bridge over the Litani River and other bridges".
"Targeting bridges over the Litani River... is an attempt to sever the geographical link between the area south of the Litani and the rest of Lebanon's territory," he added.
The NNA also reported that Israeli forces were "blowing up a number of houses in the town of Taybeh" near the border with Israel.
Earlier Sunday, Israel said rocket fire from Lebanon killed a civilian, but later announced it was investigating whether "the incident involved fire originating from IDF soldiers".

Bridges

Two Israeli soldiers had previously been killed in southern Lebanon, according to the military.
Lebanon's health ministry said four people were killed on Sunday in two strikes in the south, while authorities have reported 1,029 dead in three weeks of conflict and more than one million displaced.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a series of attacks mainly against Israeli troops in northern Israel and in southern Lebanon, where Israeli soldiers have been carrying out ground incursions.
The group said it targeted troops in Naqura, near the western side of the border with Israel, as the NNA reported "Israeli incursions" and heavy bombing of the area.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed the military "to immediately destroy all the bridges over the Litani River that are used for terrorist activity, in order to prevent Hezbollah terrorists and weapons from moving south".
The Litani River runs around 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of the Israeli border.
Earlier this week, Israel attacked two bridges spanning the Litani, also alleging they were being used by Hezbollah.

'Commander' killed

Katz said the military was also instructed to "accelerate the demolition of Lebanese houses in the contact villages in order to thwart threats to Israeli communities".
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency also reported at least one strike on the Bekaa Valley in the country's east.
Hezbollah said its fighters repeatedly targeted Israeli soldiers and vehicles in or near the border town of Taybeh, as well as in or near the strategic town of Khiam, where the group has repeatedly said it has targeted Israeli forces in recent days.
On Saturday, Hezbollah said its fighters clashed with Israeli forces in Khiam and in the coastal town of Naqura.
The group also claimed attacks on northern Israel on Saturday, including targeting an air defence system in Maalot-Tarshiha, where Israeli public broadcaster Kan 11 reported three people were lightly wounded.
The Israeli military said it killed a fighter on Saturday who was the "commander of the special forces in Hezbollah's Radwan Force", referring to the group's elite unit.
Israel has warned residents of swathes of south Lebanon to evacuate and has said it wants to create a buffer zone in Lebanon to protect residents of northern Israel.
del-str-lg/nad/dc/rh

US

War in the Middle East: latest developments

  • "Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate," he told NBC's "Meet the Press", after President Donald Trump gave seemingly contradictory trajectories for the military campaign.
  • Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war on Sunday: - 'Escalate to de-escalate' - The United States may need to "escalate" its attacks against Iran to be able to wind down the war, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
  • "Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate," he told NBC's "Meet the Press", after President Donald Trump gave seemingly contradictory trajectories for the military campaign.
Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war on Sunday:

'Escalate to de-escalate'

The United States may need to "escalate" its attacks against Iran to be able to wind down the war, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
"Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate," he told NBC's "Meet the Press", after President Donald Trump gave seemingly contradictory trajectories for the military campaign.

Lebanon condemns Israeli strikes

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun slammed Israeli strikes on bridges and other infrastructure in the country's south, calling such attacks a "prelude to a ground invasion".
Israel's defence minister said he ordered bridges in the area to be hit after alleging they were used by Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Iran threatens Hormuz

Iran's military threatened to completely shut the Strait of Hormuz if Trump acts on his threats to target the country's power plants.
"The Strait of Hormuz will be completely closed, and it will not be reopened until our destroyed power plants are rebuilt," the military's operational command Khatam Al-Anbiya said in a statement on state television.

Netanyahu vow

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to pursue senior commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards "personally", during a visit to an Israeli town struck by an Iranian missile the previous day.
"We're going after the regime. We're going after the IRGC, this criminal gang," Netanyahu said as he inspected the damage in the southern town of Arad.

WHO warning

The World Health Organization warned that strikes around nuclear sites in Iran and Israel had pushed the Middle East war to a "perilous stage".
"I urgently call on all parties to exercise maximum military restraint and avoid any actions that could trigger nuclear incidents," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.

Infrastructure threat

Iran's powerful parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf threatened to irreversibly destroy vital infrastructure across the region, which he said would cause oil prices to rise "for a long time", if the United States and Israel attacked Tehran's own infrastructure.
"Immediately after power plants and infrastructure in our country are targeted, vital infrastructure as well as energy and oil infrastructure across the entire region will be considered legitimate targets and will be irreversibly destroyed," Ghalibaf said in a social media post.

Intercepted missiles

Israel's military said Iran had fired more than 400 ballistic missiles at Israel since the start of the Middle East war, with around 92 percent of them intercepted.

Qatar chopper crash

Three Turkish nationals, including a serviceman, and three Qatari military personnel were killed when a helicopter crashed in Qatar's territorial waters, the Gulf country's defence ministry said.
While Qatar has been targeted by several Iranian strikes since the start of the Middle East war, no connection has been made between the chopper and the conflict triggered by US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

Iran facilities damaged

Iran's critical water and energy infrastructure have suffered extensive damage due to US and Israeli strikes, the country's energy minister Abbas Aliabadi said.
"The attacks targeted dozens of water transmission and treatment facilities and destroyed parts of critical water supply networks," he said, adding that repairs were under way.

US facility attacked

At least six overnight attacks targeted a US diplomatic and logistics centre at Baghdad's International Airport, two Iraqi security officials told AFP.
"Eight separate attacks, carried out until dawn with rockets and drones targeted the US centre," a senior security official told AFP, while a second security official said there had been six strikes.

Fatality in north Israel

Israel said rocket fire from Lebanon killed one person as Hezbollah said it attacked soldiers in northern Israel, the first fatality there in fire from Lebanon since the latest war erupted.
Local firefighters said flames engulfed two vehicles after a "direct hit" in the northern Israeli kibbutz community of Misgav Am.

Saudi, UAE targeted

Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said three ballistic missiles were detected around the capital Riyadh, while the UAE said it responded to Iranian missile and drone attacks.

Israel strikes Tehran

The Israeli military said its forces launched a wave of strikes on Tehran, hours after Iranian missile fire hit two cities in southern Israel.
burs/pdw/jhb

mayor

French elect mayors in key cities including Paris

BY ALICE HACKMAN WITH AFP BUREAUS

  • Voters in the neighbourhood were back at polling stations on Sunday to choose an overall leader for the city.
  • Voters cast their ballots for mayors in major French cities on Sunday, with the left battling to keep Paris while the far right eyes gains ahead of next year's presidential election.
  • Voters in the neighbourhood were back at polling stations on Sunday to choose an overall leader for the city.
Voters cast their ballots for mayors in major French cities on Sunday, with the left battling to keep Paris while the far right eyes gains ahead of next year's presidential election.
Most of the country's almost 35,000 villages, towns and boroughs elected their leaders in a first round last weekend, but the races went to run-offs in about 1,500 communes, including bigger urban centres.
The local ballots are being closely watched to gauge the mood on the ground and potential party alliances before the election of a successor to centrist President Emmanuel Macron next year, with the far right scenting its best chance yet at seizing power.
Patrice Laurent, 77, was among those voting Sunday in Paris, a capital of some two million inhabitants that has been under leftist leadership for the past 25 years.
"I don't want the city to go back to the right," he said, outside a school turned polling station in northeastern Paris.
The race is tight between leftist Emmanuel Gregoire -- a former deputy of outgoing Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo -- and his runner-up in the first round, right-wing ex-minister Rachida Dati.
The former justice and culture minister, a mentee of now-convicted ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, hopes to seize Paris for the right and become its second woman mayor in a row.

'Some things neglected'

Dati, who faces trial in September on corruption charges she denies, has boosted her chances after a centre-right candidate and a far-right hopeful dropped out.
Meanwhile, Gregoire has refused to join forces with a hard-left contender who has remained in the race, splitting the leftist vote.
Leftists and centrists have allied in recent elections against the far right, but the left has been fractured since the fatal beating last month of a far-right activist blamed on fringe leftists.
The legacy of the outgoing Paris mayor, Hidalgo, includes bike lanes and making the Seine swimmable for the first time in a century for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
But critics accuse her of merely shifting traffic elsewhere, while allowing security and cleanliness to deteriorate.
Dati has pledged to make security and rubbish collection top priorities, and was last week re-elected mayor of the capital's chic seventh district, which is home to the lower house of parliament and many embassies.
Voters in the neighbourhood were back at polling stations on Sunday to choose an overall leader for the city.
Bernard Collet, 79, said it was time for change in Paris.
"Social issues are important, but so are the rest -- traffic, cleanliness, all that is important too. I feel like some things are being neglected," he said.
But Marion, a 41-year-old legal advisor who had cycled to her polling station in the same district, said Paris had improved under the left, with "bike lanes everywhere".
"As a cyclist with young children, these are changes that really affect quality of life," she said.
In other parts of France, Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) party is hoping for better scores than in previous local polls.
The RN claims that it and its allies were re-elected last Sunday in 10 communes, including the southern city of Perpignan of 120,000 inhabitants -- the largest in France to be run by the far-right party.
They also say they have won in 14 other districts.

New city for the far right?

But the anti-immigration RN is also hoping to be elected in more populated areas.
Its candidate is leading by far in Toulon, a southern city of 180,000 residents. If captured in the run-off, it would be the largest under RN control to date.
In the southern city of Marseille, France's second-largest, RN hopeful Franck Allisio came second last week, a single percentage point behind incumbent left-wing mayor Benoit Payan.
But the left could well stay in charge, after a hard-left candidate stepped down.
In the northern port city of Le Havre, declared presidential candidate Edouard Philippe is well-placed to remain mayor.
Philippe, a centrist who as prime minister helped steer France through the start of the Covid pandemic, is seen as one of the strongest opponents to the RN's potential presidential pick -- whether three-time candidate Le Pen, 57, or her 30-year-old lieutenant Jordan Bardella.
As of 1600 GMT, turnout stood at 48.90 percent, similar to the first round's score at the same time, the interior ministry said.
Overall turnout for last week's vote was 57 percent -- the country's lowest in local polls bar the Covid pandemic-affected last edition in 2020.
Results were expected to start trickling in during Sunday evening.
burs-ah/rmb

US

Iran threatens Mideast infrastructure after Trump ultimatum

BY AFP TEAMS IN TEHRAN, WASHINGTON, JERUSALEM, BEIRUT AND DUBAI

  • "If the United States' threats regarding Iran's power plants are carried out... the Strait of Hormuz will be completely closed, and it will not be reopened until our destroyed power plants are rebuilt," the military's operational command Khatam Al-Anbiya said in a statement carried by state TV. The military said it would also strike Israel's "power plants, energy, and information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure", along with power plants in regional countries hosting US bases and companies with US shareholders.
  • Iran on Sunday vowed to "irreversibly" destroy key infrastructure across the Middle East if US President Donald Trump acted on his threat to knock out the Islamic republic's power plants unless the Strait of Hormuz was swiftly reopened.
  • "If the United States' threats regarding Iran's power plants are carried out... the Strait of Hormuz will be completely closed, and it will not be reopened until our destroyed power plants are rebuilt," the military's operational command Khatam Al-Anbiya said in a statement carried by state TV. The military said it would also strike Israel's "power plants, energy, and information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure", along with power plants in regional countries hosting US bases and companies with US shareholders.
Iran on Sunday vowed to "irreversibly" destroy key infrastructure across the Middle East if US President Donald Trump acted on his threat to knock out the Islamic republic's power plants unless the Strait of Hormuz was swiftly reopened.
Iran also vowed to fully close the strait if Trump followed through on the ultimatum, choking off what little traffic has continued to transit the vital shipping lane for oil and gas.
The tit-for-tat threats came as the war that has reverberated across the Middle East entered its fourth week, with alarm mounting over energy and water facilities, and over strikes around nuclear sites.
Trump, under pressure due to rising fuel prices, said the US would "obliterate" Iranian power plants if Tehran did not end its de facto blockade of the strait within 48 hours, or by 23:44 GMT on Monday, according to the time of his Truth Social post.
"If the United States' threats regarding Iran's power plants are carried out... the Strait of Hormuz will be completely closed, and it will not be reopened until our destroyed power plants are rebuilt," the military's operational command Khatam Al-Anbiya said in a statement carried by state TV.
The military said it would also strike Israel's "power plants, energy, and information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure", along with power plants in regional countries hosting US bases and companies with US shareholders.
Iran's powerful parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said vital infrastructure across the region "will be considered legitimate targets and will be irreversibly destroyed" if its own plants are attacked.
Iran's energy minister said US-Israeli strikes had already inflicted "heavy damage" on the country's water and energy infrastructure since the start of the war on February 28.

Nuclear worries

Iran's defiance came a day after its missiles evaded Israel's much-vaunted air defences and struck two southern towns, including Dimona, which houses a nuclear facility. The projectiles injured dozens of people.
"We thought we were safe," Galit Amir, a 50-year-old care provider, told AFP in Dimona. "We didn't expect this."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to pursue senior commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards "personally" as he inspected the damage in Arad, the other town struck by an Iranian missile.
Iran's attacks on Israel indicated that its arsenal still poses a threat across the region, even after Trump and Netanyahu claimed to have decimated Tehran's forces.
Dimona hosts what is widely believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, although Israel has never admitted to possessing nuclear weapons, insisting the site is for research.
The missile fell about five kilometres (three miles) from the nuclear facility, according to rescuers.
Iran said the strike on Dimona was in response to an earlier attack on its nuclear site at Natanz.
Asked about Natanz, the Israeli military said it was "not aware of a strike".
"The war in the Middle East has reached a perilous stage" with the strikes on Natanz and Dimona, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
"I urgently call on all parties to exercise maximum military restraint and avoid any actions that could trigger nuclear incidents."

 Hormuz blockade

Iran's chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, which typically carries around a fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas, has rattled markets and sent fuel prices soaring.
North Sea Brent crude is now trading above $105 a barrel, feeding fears about higher inflation and weaker global growth.
In recent days, Iran has allowed some vessels from countries it considers friendly to pass, while warning it would block ships from countries it says have joined the "aggression" against it.
Iran's parliament is mulling imposing tolls on shipping through the strait, with parliament speaker Ghalibaf saying maritime traffic would "not return to its pre-war status". 
Patrick Pouyanne, the head of French oil giant TotalEnergies, said the economic outlook would worsen the longer the conflict dragged on.
"If it's more than six months, we will have some real impacts. All the economies of the world will be damaged," he told Chinese broadcaster CGTN.

Attacks across the region

The impact from the war continued to be felt across the region.
Early on Sunday, AFP journalists in Jerusalem heard blasts and air raid sirens as Iran launched a fresh barrage of missiles at Israel, while Israel said it was striking Tehran in response.
Hostilities also intensified in Lebanon, with Israel's military reporting "a wide wave of strikes" against Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon following orders to destroy bridges allegedly used by the Iran-backed militant group across the Litani River.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun slammed the Israeli strikes on bridges and other infrastructure in the south, calling them a "prelude to a ground invasion".
Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli attacks.
Lebanon's health ministry said four people were killed on Sunday in two strikes in the south, and authorities have reported 1,029 dead in three weeks of conflict, as well as more than one million displaced.
Israel said rocket fire from Lebanon killed one person, the first Israeli fatality due to Hezbollah fire since the war began.

Pope's 'dismay'

Iran also kept up retaliatory attacks on Gulf nations it accuses of serving as a launchpad for US strikes.
Saudi Arabia said Sunday it detected three ballistic missiles around the capital Riyadh. One was intercepted, and two fell in uninhabited areas, the defence ministry said.
The United Arab Emirates said it responded to new missile and drone attacks from Iran.
Pope Leo XIV said Sunday he was following the situation in the Middle East "with dismay".
burs-mfp/smw

Us

US may 'escalate to de-escalate' against Iran: Treasury chief

  • Asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" if Trump was winding down or escalating the war, Bessent said: "They're not mutually exclusive.
  • The United States may need to "escalate" its attacks against Iran to be able to wind down the war, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday, after President Donald Trump gave seemingly contradictory trajectories for the US military campaign.
  • Asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" if Trump was winding down or escalating the war, Bessent said: "They're not mutually exclusive.
The United States may need to "escalate" its attacks against Iran to be able to wind down the war, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday, after President Donald Trump gave seemingly contradictory trajectories for the US military campaign.
Trump on Saturday threatened to "obliterate" Iranian energy plants if Tehran did not fully open the pivotal Strait of Hormuz, just a day after saying US objectives were "very close" and that he was considering "winding down" the war.
Asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" if Trump was winding down or escalating the war, Bessent said: "They're not mutually exclusive. Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate."
"This is the only language the Iranians understand," he argued.
Iran's threats against shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global gas and oil supplies flows, have caused energy prices to soar around the world.
Bessent, as part of efforts to abate market turmoil, has temporarily lifted US sanctions on Iranian and Russian oil that had already been loaded onto ships.
But the move has produced some backlash, with critics saying it will provide funding to Iran at the same time that the US-Israeli conflict is ongoing.
Asked on NBC about the contradiction, Bessent defended the move as helping alleviate pressure on US partners and lower the price Iran can receive for its oil.
"That Iranian oil was always going to be sold to the Chinese. It was going to be sold at a discount... So which is better? If oil prices spiked to $150 and they (Iran) were getting 70 percent of that, or oil prices below 100?"
The spike in crude prices has also seen costs at the pump across the United States quickly rise, creating potential political risks for the president just months before the midterm elections.
Bessent on Sunday refused to put a timeline on when Americans should expect prices to moderate, while arguing that the electorate will agree that removing Iran's nuclear threat will be worth the temporary costs.
"I don't know whether it's going to be 30 days. I don't know whether it's going to be 50 days. I don't know whether it's going to be 100 days," he said.
"But to have 50 years of peace in the Middle East and know that the Iranian regime is defanged," will be worth it.
Meanwhile, the exiled son of Iran's last shah Reza Pahlavi called on Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from targeting Iran's civilian infrastructure, because it "belongs to the Iranian people and to the future of a free Iran."
"Iran must be protected. The regime must be dismantled," US-based Pahlavi, who wields influence among the diaspora but holds no official position, said in a post on X Sunday.
des/md

electricity

Cuba scrambles to restore power after new blackout

BY LAURENT THOMET AND LISANDRA COTS

  • The outage comes as Cuba's communist government has faced growing pressure from US President Donald Trump, who imposed the de facto oil blockade in January and mused this week about "taking" the Caribbean island.
  • Cuban authorities scrambled Sunday to restore power to the island after the second nationwide blackout in less than a week, as the grid struggles due to an aging infrastructure and a US oil blockade.
  • The outage comes as Cuba's communist government has faced growing pressure from US President Donald Trump, who imposed the de facto oil blockade in January and mused this week about "taking" the Caribbean island.
Cuban authorities scrambled Sunday to restore power to the island after the second nationwide blackout in less than a week, as the grid struggles due to an aging infrastructure and a US oil blockade.
Some parts of Havana began to have electricity again, a day after the energy ministry reported a "total disconnection" of the national electric system in the country of nearly 10 million people.
The outage comes as Cuba's communist government has faced growing pressure from US President Donald Trump, who imposed the de facto oil blockade in January and mused this week about "taking" the Caribbean island.
A top Cuban diplomat said the country's military was "preparing these days for the possibility of military aggression."
"We truly hope that it doesn't occur," Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio told NBC's "Meet the Press" in an interview taped before the blackout and aired Sunday.
He said Havana was willing to talk with the United States but discussing changes to its political system was off the table.
"Cuba has no quarrel with the United States. We do have the need and the right to protect ourself. But we are willing to sit down," Fernandez de Cossio said.

'Restless night'

There have been seven nationwide blackouts since 2024, making life more difficult for Cubans who fear food will spoil in refrigerators, among other problems in a country in economic crisis.
"The truth is, it gets harder every day to live with this situation," Alina Quinones, a 48-year-old nurse, told AFP as she headed to the Havana hospital where she works after barely sleeping.
She had no power, internet or phone connection, making it impossible to reach relatives in Matanzas, a city east of the capital.
"Imagine, without sleep, my child was restless all night," Quinones said.
Francisco Gonzalez, a 79-year-old retiree, also said he had a sleepless night in the dark, "sitting in an armchair at home, waiting for the power to come back on."
The outages, as well as regular shortages of food, medicine and other basics, are fueling public frustration with people banging pots at night as a form of protest.
In a rare moment of violence, demonstrators vandalized a provincial office of the Cuban Communist Party last weekend.
The breakdowns have intensified since Cuba's main regional ally and oil supplier, Venezuela's socialist leader Nicolas Maduro, was captured in a US military operation in January.
Trump subsequently threatened to impose tariffs on countries that sell oil to Cuba.
No oil has arrived since January 9, hitting the power sector while public transport has dwindled and airlines curtailed flights to the island, a blow to the all-important tourism sector.

'Very severe'

The latest blackout was due to an outage in a generating unit at one of the country's eight thermoelectric plants, triggering a domino effect in the system, according to authorities.
A gas power station near Havana and another in the beach resort of Varadero were generating power again on Sunday, as well as a hydroelectric plant in central Cuba, energy and mining minister Vicente de la O Levy said on X. A unit of a thermoelectric plant was also back online.
Havana's electricity company said on social media that more than 157,000 customers, or 18 percent of the capital, had power on Sunday morning.
The new blackout occurred as an international aid convoy began to arrive in Cuba this week, bringing sorely-needed medical supplies, food, water and solar panels to the Caribbean island.
But getting oil to power its decades-old thermoelectric plant is becoming increasingly urgent.
"It is very severe. And we are acting as proactively as we can to cope with the situation," Fernandez de Cossio told NBC.
"We do hope that fuel will reach Cuba one way or the other and that this boycott that the United States has been imposing does not last and cannot be sustained forever," he said.
lt/md

unrest

Nepali youth demand release of govt report into deadly September uprising

  • His upset victory and rapid rise from Kathmandu mayor to expected prime minister mark one of the most dramatic shifts in recent Nepali politics. aoj/pm/pzb/ane/abs
  • Nepali youth staged a demonstration in Kathmandu Sunday, demanding the release of findings into the deadly 2025 uprising, which forced the previous government to collapse.
  • His upset victory and rapid rise from Kathmandu mayor to expected prime minister mark one of the most dramatic shifts in recent Nepali politics. aoj/pm/pzb/ane/abs
Nepali youth staged a demonstration in Kathmandu Sunday, demanding the release of findings into the deadly 2025 uprising, which forced the previous government to collapse.
At least 77 people were killed in the September 8-9 protests which began over a brief social media ban, but tapped into longstanding fury over corruption and economic hardship. No one has been held accountable for the deaths.
Just days after Nepal went to the polls March 5, interim leader Sushila Karki formed a commission to probe the violence -- in which parliament and scores of government buildings were set ablaze.
More than 200 people were questioned, including ousted former prime minister KP Sharma Oli, and a 900-page report with an additional 8,000 pages of evidence were submitted to the commission for investigation.
"We are here seeking the report of why the incident happened, why so many youths were killed," Sanatan Rijal, a 26-year-old activist told AFP.
Laxmi Ghimire, another activist at Sunday's protest, said "promoting a motto of good governance will not make the country and its people feel it".
Sunday's demonstration is one of many that have erupted in Nepal's capital over the past week calling on the interim government for transparency.
Karki said the interim government would make a summary of findings public but would entrust the newly elected Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), who are expected to be sworn in next week, with how to implement any of the commission's possible recommendations.
The RSP campaigned alongside popular rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah, presenting him as its prime-ministerial candidate.
Shah, 35, defeated veteran four-time premier KP Sharma Oli whose Marxist-led government was ousted during last year's protests.
His upset victory and rapid rise from Kathmandu mayor to expected prime minister mark one of the most dramatic shifts in recent Nepali politics.
aoj/pm/pzb/ane/abs

electricity

Cuba scrambles to restore power after new blackout

  • The latest blackout was due to an outage in a generating unit at one of the country's eight thermoelectric plants, triggering a domino effect in the system, according to authorities.
  • Cuban authorities scrambled Sunday to restore power to the island after the second nationwide blackout in less than a week, as the grid struggles due to an aging infrastructure and a US oil blockade.
  • The latest blackout was due to an outage in a generating unit at one of the country's eight thermoelectric plants, triggering a domino effect in the system, according to authorities.
Cuban authorities scrambled Sunday to restore power to the island after the second nationwide blackout in less than a week, as the grid struggles due to an aging infrastructure and a US oil blockade.
Some parts of Havana began to have power again, but others were still dark early Sunday, a day after the energy ministry reported a "total disconnection" of the national electric system in the country of nearly 10 million people.
A gas power station near Havana and another in the beach resort of Varadero were generating power again, as well as a hydroelectric plant in central Cuba, energy and mining minister Vicente de la O Levy said on X. A unit of a thermoelectric plant was also back online.
There have been seven nationwide blackouts since 2024, making life more difficult for Cubans who fear food will spoil in refrigerators, among other problems in a country in economic crisis.
The breakdowns have intensified since Cuba's main regional ally and oil supplier, Venezuela's socialist leader Nicolas Maduro, was captured in a US military operation in January.
US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on countries that sell oil to Cuba.
No oil has been imported to the island since January 9, hitting the power sector while also forcing airlines to curtail flights to the island, a blow to the all-important tourism sector.
The latest blackout was due to an outage in a generating unit at one of the country's eight thermoelectric plants, triggering a domino effect in the system, according to authorities.
The outages, as well as regular shortages of food, medicine and other basics, are spurring frustrations. 
In a rare moment of violence, demonstrators vandalized a provincial office of the Cuban Communist Party last weekend.
The new blackout occurred as an international aid convoy began to arrive in Cuba this week, bringing sorely-needed medical supplies, food, water and solar panels to the Caribbean island.
lt/md

diplomacy

Vietnam, Russia to sign energy deal: Hanoi

  • "During this visit, a series of important agreements related to nuclear power plant projects, as well as cooperation in energy and oil and gas will be signed," another statement from Hanoi said on Saturday.
  • Vietnam's prime minister left Sunday for an official visit to Russia during which the two nations will sign several agreements, including on oil and gas cooperation, Hanoi said.
  • "During this visit, a series of important agreements related to nuclear power plant projects, as well as cooperation in energy and oil and gas will be signed," another statement from Hanoi said on Saturday.
Vietnam's prime minister left Sunday for an official visit to Russia during which the two nations will sign several agreements, including on oil and gas cooperation, Hanoi said.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's trip to the major oil-producing nation from Sunday to Wednesday comes as Vietnam seeks to shore up its fuel reserves amid global supply disruptions due to the war in the Middle East.
His visit will focus on deepening ties with Russia and expanding cooperation in trade, investment and energy, Vietnam's government said in a statement on Sunday.
"During this visit, a series of important agreements related to nuclear power plant projects, as well as cooperation in energy and oil and gas will be signed," another statement from Hanoi said on Saturday.
"Cooperation in oil and gas energy will be reinforced in all fields of trade, exploration, extraction, and human resource training," it added.
Since the US-Israel war against Iran began in late February, sparking fuel price hikes and fears of shortages around the world, the cost of 95-octane petrol and diesel in Vietnam, a manufacturing hub, has soared by 50 percent and 70 percent, respectively.
Chinh held phone talks recently asking for fuel support from several countries, including Qatar, Kuwait, Algeria and Japan, according to Hanoi.
He is scheduled to meet with his Russian counterpart, Mikhail Mishustin, on Monday, Moscow said.
They will discuss "issues of Russian-Vietnamese trade", with a focus on implementing joint projects in the energy and other sectors, according to a Russian government statement released Thursday.
During a visit by Mishustin to Hanoi in January 2025, Russia said it was "ready to participate in building a national nuclear power industry in Vietnam", and the two nations would work together on joint oil and gas projects, according to a joint statement.
The two sides also signed a deal on nuclear energy at the time, with Chinh saying his country would aim to build a nuclear power plant within five years.
bur-sco/ane

US

War in the Middle East: latest developments

  • While Qatar has been targeted by several strikes since the start of the Middle East war, no connection has been made between this chopper and the conflict triggered by US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
  • Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war: - 92% of Iran missiles intercepted: Israel - Israel's military said that Iran had fired more than 400 ballistic missiles at Israel since the start of the Middle East war, with around 92 percent of them intercepted.
  • While Qatar has been targeted by several strikes since the start of the Middle East war, no connection has been made between this chopper and the conflict triggered by US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war:

92% of Iran missiles intercepted: Israel

Israel's military said that Iran had fired more than 400 ballistic missiles at Israel since the start of the Middle East war, with around 92 percent of them intercepted.

Qatar chopper crash kills 6

Three Turkish nationals including a serviceman were killed after a helicopter crashed in Qatar's territorial waters, alongside three Qatari servicemen, the Gulf country's defence ministry said.
While Qatar has been targeted by several strikes since the start of the Middle East war, no connection has been made between this chopper and the conflict triggered by US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

Iran attack on UK base 'fell short'

UK minister Steve Reed said one missile launched by Iran targeting a joint UK-US military base in the Indian Ocean "fell short" while another missile was "intercepted".
Diego Garcia, part of the Chagos Islands, is one of two bases which the UK has allowed the United States to use for what the British government insists are "defensive operations" in its war against Iran.

'Heavy' damage to Iran water, energy

Iran's critical water and energy infrastructure have suffered extensive damage due to US and Israeli strikes, the country's energy minister Abbas Aliabadi said.
"The attacks targeted dozens of water transmission and treatment facilities and destroyed parts of critical water supply networks," he noted, adding that efforts were underway to repair the damage.

US Baghdad centre attacked

At least six overnight attacks targeted a US diplomatic and logistics centre at Baghdad's International Airport, two Iraqi security officials told AFP.
"Eight separate attacks, carried out until dawn with rockets and drones targeted the US centre," a senior security official told AFP, while a second security official said there had been six strikes.

One killed in north Israel

Israel said rocket fire from Lebanon killed one person on Sunday as Hezbollah said it attacked soldiers in northern Israel, the first fatality there in fire from Lebanon since the latest war erupted.
Local firefighters said flames had engulfed two vehicles after a "direct hit" in the northern Israeli kibbutz community of Misgav Am.

Fresh blasts in Jerusalem

Blasts were heard and air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem early Sunday, AFP journalists said, after the Israeli military warned of incoming missile fire from Iran.
Israel's Magen David Adom emergency medical service said after the first warning that there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Iran targets Baghdad base

Iran's official IRNA news agency said that a drone attack targeted a military base near the Baghdad International Airport.
The "military base, located near Baghdad International Airport, has again been the target of drone strikes," the IRNA wrote, referring to a compound that was used in the past by the US military.

Missiles target Saudi, UAE

Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said three ballistic missiles were detected around the capital Riyadh, while its UAE counterpart said it was responding to Iranian missile and drone attacks.

Israel strikes Tehran

The Israeli military said its forces launched a wave of strikes on Tehran, hours after Iranian missile fire hit two cities in southern Israel.
Israeli forces were "currently conducting strikes on Iranian terror regime targets in the heart of Tehran", a statement said.

48-hour Hormuz deadline

"If Iran doesn't FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!" US President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. 

Iran vows retaliation

After Trump's ultimatum, Iran's military said it would retaliate by targeting "all energy, information technology and desalination infrastructure belonging to the US and the regime in the region".
burs-sbk/gv

RSF

'They beat us with whips': Sudan RSF detainees tell of horrors in El-Fasher

BY IBRAHIM ABDALLAH WITH MENNA FAROUK IN CAIRO

  • "When people died of thirst and hunger, we were beaten and forced to bury them outside," 42-year-old Noureldin said.
  • In the suffocating darkness of a sealed shipping container, every thud signalled to Ibrahim Noureldin that one more detainee had died in the crush as Sudanese paramilitary fighters kept forcing more men inside.
  • "When people died of thirst and hunger, we were beaten and forced to bury them outside," 42-year-old Noureldin said.
In the suffocating darkness of a sealed shipping container, every thud signalled to Ibrahim Noureldin that one more detainee had died in the crush as Sudanese paramilitary fighters kept forcing more men inside.
Thousands of people are estimated to have been detained in the Rapid Support Forces' (RSF) October takeover of North Darfur's El-Fasher, a battle that a UN investigation found bore the "hallmarks of genocide".
"When people died of thirst and hunger, we were beaten and forced to bury them outside," 42-year-old Noureldin said.
"We were put to work, lifting their luggage, materials, weapons. If we moved too slowly, they beat us with whips," he told AFP from Tawila -- an overwhelmed refugee town west of El-Fasher now sheltering hundreds of thousands of people.
In February, the United Nations' rights office and the London-based Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) said that the RSF had converted hospitals, schools, warehouses and shipping containers -- like the easy-to-lock, inescapable box that nearly killed Noureldin -- into a sprawling network of makeshift prisons.
The RSF, at war with Sudan's regular army for nearly three years, has an iron grip on El-Fasher, and has only allowed in a handful of humanitarians, who say the city is "a ghost town".
But in Tawila, an AFP journalist gathered rare testimonies from five former detainees, speaking to them inside fragile shelters of straw and tattered fabric.

'Sips of water'

Under one straw awning, Noureldin leaned on a crutch, still weak from his injuries.
On October 26, he and six others were fleeing the RSF's final assault on the city when they were "shot at, beaten and accused of fighting for the army".
He was loaded into a Land Cruiser and taken to al-Borsa market in the city's east, then locked with about 120 men in the airless container.
For over a month, they survived on "tiny sips of water" and "a little lentils".
Months of testimony, satellite imagery and verified videos analysed by the UN and CIR show that the detainees included government workers, doctors, journalists, teachers and aid staff.
Many were held for ransom, accused of army affiliation or based on tribal identity.
The RSF denies the abuses. A spokesman told AFP the reports were "propaganda", accusing the army of "using civilians as human shields".
Both warring sides have been accused of atrocities against civilians, including deliberate targeting and detention.

'Nails ripped with pliers'

One of the RSF's largest detention centres was El-Fasher Children's Hospital, where "more than 2,000 men" were held "without access to water and food", the UN said.
"They brought us to the children's hospital, said we were fighters and kept me there for a month," Abdullah Idris, 45, told AFP.
With nothing but saline solution to drink, he said he "could only watch" as dozens of people died every day.
The UN recorded up to 40 deaths a day during a cholera-like outbreak, killing 260 people in a single week.
Besides disease, "the torture was horrible, especially to the young men", he said.
"If you tried to speak, they'd kill you with a single shot."
Ahmed Aman, 45, another hospital detainee, said some detainees "had their fingernails ripped out with pliers".
After weeks at the hospital, he was moved to Garni, northwest of El-Fasher, where CIR-verified footage showed "at least 600 detainees" being forcibly marched, including women and children.

'Like animals'

Nedal Yasser, 27, was abducted the day after the RSF assault on the city.
For six weeks, she was shuttled with other women between detention sites, including al-Mina al-Bary, a bus depot near the market where the UN said hundreds were held in about 70 shipping containers.
"I was beaten, tied up, interrogated. When they found out my husband was a soldier, the torture got even worse," she told AFP.
"We were exploited and sexually harassed, only sometimes allowed to go to the bathroom."
She and the other women were ordered to pay $2,000 ransoms, but everything she owned had "already been looted".
Finally, she was brought to a house, "assaulted", then dumped in a remote area.
She walked dozens of kilometres to Tawila, suffering a miscarriage on the way.
The UN has documented widespread torture and "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment", including sexual violence, beatings with wooden rods, flogging and being suspended in painful positions from trees.
In the open fields of Tawila, survivors carry the scars.
Aman's back remains "torn apart" from beatings.
Yasser regularly faints when she tries to stand.
And mechanic Ahmed al-Sheikh, 43, walks with a limp and cannot see out of his right eye after being struck by an RSF fighter.
He reached safety only in February after four months in Shala prison, where the UN said the RSF held more than 2,000 detainees by January.
"They'd kill people right in front of us," he told AFP.
"They would select people randomly, killing us like animals."
According to the UN, at least 6,000 more detainees were transferred from El-Fasher to Tagris prison in the RSF's de facto capital, Nyala, where they maintain a complete communications blackout.
ibr-maf/bha/smw/amj

US

Iranian missiles sow panic, destruction in Israeli towns

BY ANOUK RIONDET

  • Franky rushed to shelter with his family as air raid sirens sounded, warning of an incoming attack.
  • Sheltering from an Iranian missile attack on his town in southern Israel on Saturday, 17-year-old Ido Franky heard "terrifying" blasts like nothing he had experienced before.
  • Franky rushed to shelter with his family as air raid sirens sounded, warning of an incoming attack.
Sheltering from an Iranian missile attack on his town in southern Israel on Saturday, 17-year-old Ido Franky heard "terrifying" blasts like nothing he had experienced before.
An Iranian missile hit Franky's town of Arad, hours after another struck Dimona -- home to a nuclear facility -- wounding dozens and leaving entire apartment blocks with heavy damage.
Franky rushed to shelter with his family as air raid sirens sounded, warning of an incoming attack.
"There was a 'boom, boom!', my mother was screaming," he said near the impact site, where an AFP correspondent saw three damaged buildings and firefighters reported a blaze.
"This was terrifying... this town had never seen anything like this," the teenager told AFP.
Israel's Magen David Adom emergency medical service said 84 wounded people were taken to hospitals from the Arad scene, including 10 in serious condition.
In the early hours of Sunday, dozens of people were still at the site, taking photos or calling friends and family to share details of the destruction, even as police warned residents on loudspeakers not to approach.
Security forces patrolled the streets with flashlights while rescuers searched the rubble to ensure all casualties had been recovered.
A crater around of around five metres (16 feet) was left amid the bombed-out buildings.
Police spokesman Dean Elsdunne told AFP that "the operation will take a few hours" before authorities can clear the scene and ensure all residents are accounted for.

Failed interception

An earlier missile attack hit the town of Dimona, about 25 kilometres (16 miles) southwest of Arad.
Dimona hosts a facility widely believed to possess the Middle East's sole nuclear arsenal, although Israel has never confirmed possessing nuclear weapons.
Israel has maintained a policy of ambiguity about its nuclear programme, and the plant officially focuses on research.
The missile fell about five kilometres away from the facility, leaving about 30 people wounded according to rescuers.
Online videos showed the missile engulfed in a ball of fire, crashing into the ground.
AFP footage showed heavy damage to an apartment building, next to a crater formed in the ground. Two structures have collapsed with debris including concrete blocks littering the area.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was "a very difficult evening in the battle for our future".
"We are determined to continue striking our enemies on all fronts," Netanyahu told Arad's mayor, according to a statement from the prime minister's office.
Military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin wrote on X that "air defence systems operated but did not intercept the missile, we will investigate the incident."
Israeli media have shared footage from Arad and Dimona, capturing scenes that have replayed across the country in attacks since the war began on February 28 with US-Israeli air raids on Iran.
In security camera footage aired by Israeli networks, people could be seen being thrown to the ground by the force of the blast as glass windows shatter.
Iranian missile attacks since the start of the war have killed 15 people in Israel as well as four Palestinian women in the occupied West Bank.
While not the deadliest, Saturday's hits on Dimona and Arad were among the Iranian attacks to have inflicted the greatest damage in Israel.
The launches came even as the United States and Israel keep pounding targets across Iran and say they have degraded the Islamic republic's capabilities.
bur-hba-anr/ami/lb

climate

Records shattered as US heatwave moves eastward

  • And in Phoenix, Arizona, one of the hottest cities in the United States, the daily low was a balmy 70F (21.1C) on Saturday, the earliest in the year such a level had been reached, the weather agency said.
  • A record-breaking heatwave afflicting the western half of the United States moved eastward Saturday toward the center of the country, bringing unseasonably warm temperatures to places that were at freezing or below just a week prior.
  • And in Phoenix, Arizona, one of the hottest cities in the United States, the daily low was a balmy 70F (21.1C) on Saturday, the earliest in the year such a level had been reached, the weather agency said.
A record-breaking heatwave afflicting the western half of the United States moved eastward Saturday toward the center of the country, bringing unseasonably warm temperatures to places that were at freezing or below just a week prior.
Dozens of cities from California to Colorado recorded their highest temperatures ever for the month of March, according to the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center. 
On Saturday, areas that saw new records for the highest temperatures in March included 92 Fahrenheit (33.3C) recorded in Kansas City, Missouri, and North Platte, Nebraska.
Topeka, the state capital of Kansas, broke its March record Saturday with a high of 95F (35C), weather officials said.
In Wyoming, the least populous US state, all-time March temperatures were set in capital Cheyenne at 83F (28.3C).
On top of the monthly all-time highs, the heatwave reached several other temperature milestones.
For instance, in Chanute, Kansas, temperatures went from a record low of 13F (-10.5C) on March 16 to a record high of 91F (32.8C) just four days later.
And in Phoenix, Arizona, one of the hottest cities in the United States, the daily low was a balmy 70F (21.1C) on Saturday, the earliest in the year such a level had been reached, the weather agency said.
Cities recording all-time daily highs Saturday included Denver (86F), Grand Island, Nebraska (98F) and Midland, Texas (98F).
On Friday the heatwave had brought temperatures up to 44.4C (112F) in several areas along the southern California-Arizona border, a national US record for March.
The National Weather Service issued an extreme heat warning for the same desert areas on Saturday, as well as a red flag warning -- indicating high wildfire risk -- for much of the central Plains states of Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.
Scientists say there is overwhelming evidence that current heatwaves are a clear marker of global warming, a process driven chiefly by the burning of fossil fuels.
With winter in the northern hemisphere officially ending on Friday -- the first day of astronomical spring -- the soaring temperatures were wreaking havoc on wildlife in the West.
Many plants and trees are already blooming, and vegetation is growing at a fantastic clip, fueled by heavy rains in December and January.
jgc/mjw

Russia

Damaged Russian tanker to be towed to Libya: state-owned company

  • "It will be towed safely to one of the Libyan ports following coordination with the relevant authorities."
  • A damaged Russian gas tanker that was abandoned in the Mediterranean will be towed to a Libyan port, according to a state-owned oil company in the north African country. 
  • "It will be towed safely to one of the Libyan ports following coordination with the relevant authorities."
A damaged Russian gas tanker that was abandoned in the Mediterranean will be towed to a Libyan port, according to a state-owned oil company in the north African country. 
The Arctic Metagaz was ferrying about 700 tonnes of fuel and a consignment of liquified natural gas (LNG) from Russia to Egypt when it was hit by a series of explosions on March 3. Russia accused Ukraine of trying to blow it up.
The 30 crew members were rescued, leaving the LNG-laden carrier to drift between Malta and Libya for nearly three weeks. 
Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced on Saturday that it would collaborate with Italian group Eni to fetch the wrecked vessel.
"Managing this environmental threat is fully achievable," NOC said in a statement. "It will be towed safely to one of the Libyan ports following coordination with the relevant authorities."
The company said it had already taken action to "reduce the risk of pollution".
AFP footage taken from a plane earlier this month showed the carrier listing to one side, parts of it blackened and seriously damaged by fire, with two holes on either side in the middle of the hull.
According to Italy's Civil Protection Department, the carrier is located in international waters, but within the Libyan search and rescue zone.
It said that towing the wreck would be a "complex operation" due to the "large breach along its side".
The WWF environmental group warned that any spill could cause long-lasting pollution in the area, among the most biodiverse in the Mediterranean basin.
The ship faced US and European Union sanctions as a suspected part of Russia's "shadow fleet" of vessels carrying Russian oil and gas in contravention of international sanctions.
bur-lb/tc

US

Iran missile strikes wound over 100 in two south Israel towns

  • The Israeli military said it would investigate the failed interception.
  • Iranian missile strikes on two southern Israeli towns wounded more than 100 people on Saturday, medics said, after Israeli air defence systems failed to intercept the projectiles.
  • The Israeli military said it would investigate the failed interception.
Iranian missile strikes on two southern Israeli towns wounded more than 100 people on Saturday, medics said, after Israeli air defence systems failed to intercept the projectiles.
The two direct hits tore open the fronts of residential buildings and carved craters into the ground. 
Magen David Adom first responders said 84 people were wounded in the town of Arad, 10 of them seriously, hours after 33 were wounded in nearby Dimona. 
Iranian state TV said the missile attack on Dimona, which houses a nuclear facility, was a "response" to an earlier strike on its own nuclear site at Natanz.
AFP footage from Arad showed rescue workers sifting through rubble for wounded people in a bombed-out building.
Fire engines with their lights flashing were at the scene along with dozens of members of the emergency services.
The Israeli military said it would investigate the failed interception.
"The air defence systems operated but did not intercept the missile, we will investigate the incident and learn from it," military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin wrote on X.
The local fire service said there was "extensive damage" in Arad, with three buildings affected and a blaze sparked in one of them.
Medic Riyad Abu Ajaj described "extensive destruction" at the site of the strike, in a statement from the organisation.
"There was a lot of chaos at the scene," he said.
The rescue operations came not long after similar scenes in Dimona, around 25 kilometres (15 miles) to the southwest.
AFPTV footage from the scene showed a large crater gouged into the ground next to piles of rubble and twisted metal.
Surrounding buildings had their windows blown out and facades heavily damaged as emergency workers combed through the site.
Medics said they treated 33 people injured in the town, including a boy with shrapnel wounds who was in serious condition but conscious.
Dimona hosts a facility widely believed to possess the Middle East's sole nuclear arsenal, although Israel has never admitted possessing nuclear weapons.
Israel has maintained a policy of ambiguity about its nuclear programme, and the plant officially focuses on research.
After the strikes in the south, Israel's education ministry ordered all classes to move online, scrapping in-person instruction in the few remaining places that still had it.
Iran has fired repeated barrages of missiles at Israel daily in retaliation for the US-Israeli attacks that started on February 28.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue striking Iran and its allies after what he called a "very difficult evening".
vid-glp-del/lb/ami

electricity

Cuba hit by second nationwide blackout in a week

BY LAURENT THOMET AND RIGOBERTO DIAZ

  • You can't live like this," Nilo Lopez, a 36-year-old taxi driver, told AFP. - US blockade - The country's electricity generation is sustained by a network of eight aging thermoelectric plants -- some in operation for over 40 years -- that suffer frequent breakdowns or must be shut down for maintenance cycles.
  • Cuba plunged into darkness for the second time in less than a week on Saturday after its national power network failed again, strained by aging infrastructure and a US oil blockade.
  • You can't live like this," Nilo Lopez, a 36-year-old taxi driver, told AFP. - US blockade - The country's electricity generation is sustained by a network of eight aging thermoelectric plants -- some in operation for over 40 years -- that suffer frequent breakdowns or must be shut down for maintenance cycles.
Cuba plunged into darkness for the second time in less than a week on Saturday after its national power network failed again, strained by aging infrastructure and a US oil blockade.
As night fell, Havana's streets were mostly pitch black, with people navigating using phone lights or flashlights, just five days after the previous blackout.
In the touristy old city, some restaurants were able to stay open thanks to generators, with musicians playing music, but the regular blackouts have made life more difficult for Cubans.
"This is becoming unbearable," Ofelia Oliva, a 64-year-old Havana resident, told AFP.
"It hasn't even been a week since we experienced a similar situation. It is getting tiresome," Oliva said as she returned home after giving up on plans to visit her daughter.
The "total disconnection" of the national electricity system was due to an outage in a power unit at one of the country's thermoelectric plants, causing a "cascading effect", the state-owned Cuban Electric Union said.
It said it was activating micro-grids to provide power to critical facilities, including hospitals and water treatment plants.
"I wonder if we're going to be like this our whole lives. You can't live like this," Nilo Lopez, a 36-year-old taxi driver, told AFP.

US blockade

The country's electricity generation is sustained by a network of eight aging thermoelectric plants -- some in operation for over 40 years -- that suffer frequent breakdowns or must be shut down for maintenance cycles.
Cubans face daily blackouts of up to 15 hours in Havana. In the interior of the island, these outages can exceed 40 hours.
The breakdowns have intensified since Cuba's main regional ally and oil supplier, Venezuela's socialist leader Nicolas Maduro, was captured in a US military operation in January.
And US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on countries that sell oil to Cuba.
No oil has been imported to the island since January 9, hitting the power sector while also forcing airlines to curtail flights to the island, a blow to the all-important tourism sector.
The blackout occurred as an international aid convoy began to arrive in Havana this week, bringing sorely-needed medical supplies, food, water and solar panels to the island.

'Honor of taking Cuba'

The crisis in the country of 9.6 million people comes as Trump has made no secret of his desire to see regime change in Havana.
"I do believe I'll be...having the honor of taking Cuba," he said. 
"Whether I free it, take it -- think I could do anything I want with it, you want to know the truth. They're a very weakened nation right now."
The next day, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel warned that "any external aggressor will encounter an unbreakable resistance."
Tanieris Dieguez, Cuba's deputy chief of mission in Washington, told AFP earlier this week that Havana was open to broad talks with Washington and allowing more investment.
But she said Cuba's political system would "never" be part of the negotiations.
The outages as well as regular shortages of food, medicine and other basics are spurring frustrations, with demonstrators vandalizing a provincial office of the Cuban Communist Party last weekend.
With Cuba in desperate need of fuel, maritime trackers reported this week that two tankers carrying Russian oil and diesel appeared to be on their way to the island, but their status remains unclear.
Some took the latest outage in stride.
Meiven Rodriguez, 40, kept working in a small shop, selling cigarettes and using her phone light to count money.
"You have to keep going, otherwise you won't bring money home," she said.
A few fishermen cast for sardines into the dark waters of the oceanfront city.
"What would we do at home?" said Leonsio Suarez, 50.
lt/jgc

US

Trump gives Iran 48 hours to open Hormuz as Tehran strikes Israel

BY AFP TEAMS IN TEHRAN, WASHINGTON, JERUSALEM, BEIRUT AND DUBAI

  • The United Arab Emirates said Saturday it faced aerial attacks after Iran warned it against allowing strikes from its territory on disputed islands near the Strait of Hormuz.
  • US President Donald Trump on Saturday gave Iran 48 hours to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping or face the destruction of its energy infrastructure, as Tehran launched its most destructive attack yet on Israel.
  • The United Arab Emirates said Saturday it faced aerial attacks after Iran warned it against allowing strikes from its territory on disputed islands near the Strait of Hormuz.
US President Donald Trump on Saturday gave Iran 48 hours to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping or face the destruction of its energy infrastructure, as Tehran launched its most destructive attack yet on Israel.
The ultimatum, made just a day after the US leader said he was considering "winding down" military operations after three weeks of war, came as the key oil passage remained effectively closed and thousands more American Marines headed to the Middle East.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that the US would "hit and obliterate" Iranian power plants -- "starting with the biggest one first" -- if Tehran did not fully reopen the strait within 48 hours, or 23:44 GMT on Monday according to the time of his post.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had imposed restrictions only on vessels from countries involved in attacks against Iran, and would assist others that stayed out of the conflict.
In response to Trump's threat, Iran's army said it will target energy, desalination infrastructure "belonging to the US and the regime in the region," according to the Fars news agency.
Trump's ultimatum Saturday landed hours after two Iranian missiles struck southern Israel, injuring more than 100 people in the most destructive attack since the war began. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate "on all fronts."
The strikes, which slipped through Israel's missile defence systems, tore open the facades of residential buildings and carved craters into the ground.
First responders said 84 people were injured in the town of Arad, 10 of them seriously. Hours earlier, 33 were wounded in nearby Dimona, where AFPTV footage showed a large hole gouged into the ground next to piles of rubble and twisted metal.
Dimona hosts a facility widely believed to be the site of the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, although Israel has never admitted to possessing nuclear weapons.
The Israeli army told AFP there had been a "direct missile hit on a building" in Dimona, with casualties reported at multiple sites, including a 10-year-old boy in serious condition with shrapnel wounds.
In Arad, emergency workers combed through the rubble of heavily damaged buildings.
Netanyahu vowed to continue striking Iran after what he called a "very difficult evening" and hours later, the Israeli military said its forces launched a wave of strikes on Tehran.
Iran said the targeting of Dimona was retaliation for Israeli strikes on its Natanz nuclear facility, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) saying forces also targeted other southern Israeli towns as well as military sites in Kuwait and the UAE.
Following the Natanz attack, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi reiterated his call for "military restraint to avoid any risk of a nuclear accident."
The Natanz facility hosts underground centrifuges used to enrich uranium for Iran's disputed nuclear programme and sustained damage in the June 2025 war.
The Israeli military denied it was behind the Natanz strike, but said it had struck a facility at a Tehran university that it claimed was being used to develop nuclear weapon components for Iran's ballistic missile programme.

Hormuz base

The destruction in Israel capped three weeks of heavy US-Israeli bombardment that appeared to have done little to blunt Iran's ability to retaliate with missile and drone attacks across the region.
Iran also launched an unsuccessful ballistic-missile attack on the US-UK base at Diego Garcia, around 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) away, a UK official told AFP -- which would have been the longest-range Iranian strike yet had it succeeded.
The United Arab Emirates said Saturday it faced aerial attacks after Iran warned it against allowing strikes from its territory on disputed islands near the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has choked off the vital waterway, which carries a fifth of global crude oil trade in peacetime.
The standoff has sent crude oil prices soaring, with North Sea Brent crude now trading above $105 a barrel, as long-term consequences for the global economy become an acute concern.
A joint statement from the leaders of several countries -- including the UK, France, Italy, Germany, South Korea, Australia, the UAE and Bahrain -- condemned the "de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces."
"We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait," they said.
Trump has slammed NATO allies as "cowards" and urged them to secure the strait.

Remarkable endurance?

Analysts say Iran's government has survived the loss of its top leaders and that its strike capacity is proving more durable than expected.
"They're showing a lot of resilience that we didn't perhaps expect, that the US didn't expect, when it took this on," Neil Quilliam of Chatham House told the think tank's podcast.
Tehran, meanwhile, marked the end of Ramadan as the war entered its fourth week.
Iran's supreme leader traditionally leads Eid al-Fitr prayers, but Mojtaba Khamenei -- who came to power earlier this month after his father Ali Khamenei was killed -- has remained out of the public eye.
Instead, the head of the judiciary, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, attended prayers at central Tehran's overflowing Imam Khomeini grand mosque.
"The atmosphere of the New Year was spreading through the city," said Farid, an advertising executive reached by AFP through an online message.
But "the thought that some people could be dying right at the New Year dinner table was painful," he added.
burs-arp/acb

US

War in the Middle East: latest developments

  • "If Iran doesn't FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!"
  • Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war: - 48 hour Hormuz deadline - US President Donald Trump on Saturday gave Iran a 48-hour deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic or face the destruction of its energy infrastructure.
  • "If Iran doesn't FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!"
Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war:

48 hour Hormuz deadline

US President Donald Trump on Saturday gave Iran a 48-hour deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic or face the destruction of its energy infrastructure.
"If Iran doesn't FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. 
Iran's de facto closure of the strait has slashed Gulf oil and gas supplies, sending prices skyrocketing and countries scrambling for alternatives.
In response, Iran's military said it would retaliate by targeting "all energy, information technology and desalination infrastructure belonging to the US and the regime in the region."

Israel strikes Tehran

The Israeli military said its forces launched a wave of strikes on Tehran early Sunday, hours after Iranian missile fire hit two cities in southern Israel.
Israeli forces were "currently conducting strikes on Iranian terror regime targets in the heart of Tehran", a statement said.

Israeli towns hit

Iranian missile strikes on two southern Israeli towns wounded more than 100 people on Saturday after Israeli air defence systems failed to intercept the projectiles.
First responders said 84 people were injured in the town of Arad, 10 of them seriously, hours after 33 were wounded in nearby Dimona. 
Iranian state TV said the missile attack on Dimona, which houses a nuclear facility, was a "response" to an earlier strike on its own nuclear site at Natanz. 

UAE targeted after islands warning

The United Arab Emirates said it faced aerial attacks from Iran after the Islamic republic warned its neighbour against allowing strikes from disputed islands near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The islands of Abu Musa and Greater Tunb, which are controlled by Iran but claimed by the UAE, have long been a source of dispute between the two countries.

G7 demands end to Iran attacks

Top envoys for the Group of Seven advanced economies and the European Union urged an "immediate and unconditional" end to Iran attacks against allies in the Middle East.
"We call for the immediate and unconditional cessation of all attacks by the Iranian regime," the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States as well as the EU foreign policy chief said in a statement.
"We support the right of the countries unjustifiably attacked by Iran or by Iranian proxies to defend their territories and protect their citizens," it said.

WHO aid to Beirut

The World Health Organization has sent a first overland convoy of 22 tonnes of medicines and medical equipment to Beirut from its global emergency logistics hub in Dubai.
Lebanon was pulled into the war when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei in the Israeli-US attacks.
Israel has responded with heavy strikes across Lebanon and ground incursions in the border area, killing more than 1,000 people, according to Lebanese authorities.

UAE closes hospital

UAE authorities have ordered an Iranian state-linked hospital in Dubai to close, three employees told AFP, another sign of the deteriorating ties between the Gulf neighbours.

Iran claims Israeli F-16 hit

The Revolutionary Guards said they "struck" an Israeli F-16 over central Iran. 
Israel's military said earlier a surface-to-air missile was launched at one of its warplanes in Iran, but it was not clear if the statements referred to the same incident.
Israel also said its forces struck Iranian factories making components for ballistic missiles.

Iran sites 'degraded'

The head of US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, said bunker-busting bombs were dropped on an underground Iranian coastal facility this week, and "Iran's ability to threaten freedom of navigation in and around the Strait of Hormuz is degraded as a result".

Hormuz closure condemned

Twenty-two countries, including Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Japan and South Korea, jointly condemned Iran's attacks on ships in the Gulf and effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
In a statement, the countries, which also included Gulf nations Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, expressed "our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait".
The United States was not among the signatories.

Nuclear site hit

Iran's atomic energy body said US-Israeli strikes hit the Natanz nuclear facility previously used for uranium enrichment, but "no leakage of radioactive materials" was reported.
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, called for "military restraint to avoid any risk of a nuclear accident", while Russia condemned the strikes, saying they risked "catastrophe" in the Middle East.
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Mueller

Robert Mueller, ex-FBI chief who led Trump-Russia probe, dead at 81

BY KATE BEDDALL

  • After his tenure at the FBI, he was tapped as a special counsel for the Justice Department to lead an investigation into whether Trump's presidential campaign conspired with Russia to get him elected.
  • Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who led a politically explosive investigation into Donald Trump's election campaign, has died aged 81, triggering a gloating response Saturday from the US president.
  • After his tenure at the FBI, he was tapped as a special counsel for the Justice Department to lead an investigation into whether Trump's presidential campaign conspired with Russia to get him elected.
Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who led a politically explosive investigation into Donald Trump's election campaign, has died aged 81, triggering a gloating response Saturday from the US president.
Mueller died late Friday, US media reported citing a family statement, without specifying a location or cause.
Trump responded quickly on Truth Social, writing: "Robert Mueller just died. Good, I'm glad he's dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!"
Mueller led the FBI for 12 years, starting just days before the September 11, 2001 Al-Qaeda attacks on the United States, during which time he built up the bureau's counterterror mission.
After his tenure at the FBI, he was tapped as a special counsel for the Justice Department to lead an investigation into whether Trump's presidential campaign conspired with Russia to get him elected.
Mueller operated for two years quietly behind the scenes, emerging in July 2019 to testify before Congress about the probe that Trump regularly denounced as a "witch hunt." 
For many Americans, the nationally televised hearing was the first close look at the patrician, grey-haired career prosecutor.
Mueller deflected questions from both Democrats and Republicans seeking to score political points by referring repeatedly to his voluminous report, which he said did not exonerate Trump.

A 'straight shooter'

That was in keeping with the career of a public servant who had spent four decades serving both Democratic and Republican presidents.
Before taking on the politically sensitive Russia investigation, Mueller, a former Marine who was wounded and decorated for heroism in Vietnam, enjoyed a sterling reputation in Washington.
Mueller is a "consummate professional and a straight shooter," then-FBI chief Christopher Wray, a Trump appointee, said in July 2019.
As a young prosecutor in San Francisco and Boston, Mueller took on cases involving grisly murders, organized crime, fraud by powerful banks and terror attacks -- winning some, losing some, but rarely drawing serious criticism for his work.
At the FBI, he gained a reputation of being an exacting taskmaster and, despite his early Republican political alignment, someone who was appreciated by politicians of both political parties.
Two of his most heralded prosecutions involved New York mobster John Gotti and General Manuel Noriega of Panama.
After retiring in 2013, he joined a private Washington law practice where he handled official arbiter missions.
Trump's May 2017 firing of Mueller's successor at the FBI, James Comey, resulted in Mueller being recalled to public service to lead the investigation into suspected Russia meddling.
Over 22 months, his investigators issued charges against 34 individuals, including six Trump associates, and three companies.

Righting the FBI

Born August 7, 1944, in New York City, Mueller grew up on Manhattan's tony upper East Side. He attended the elite, and at the time all-male, Princeton University where he earned his bachelor's degree in 1966.
After college, Mueller enlisted in the US Marines, and after one year as an enlisted man, entered officer candidate school. As a Marine, Mueller earned a Bronze Star for valor and a Purple Heart for wounds received in combat. 
In 2001, he took over an FBI beset by scandals, including the years-long deception by FBI mole Robert Hanssen and the agency's failure to turn over thousands of pages of investigative documents to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh's attorneys.
Then-president George W. Bush and legislators agreed that Mueller was the person to set the bureau right. 
Bush paid tribute to Mueller on Saturday, recalling his service in the Marines and stewardship of the FBI.
"Bob transitioned the agency mission to protecting the homeland after September 11. He led the agency effectively, helping prevent another terrorist attack on US soil," the Republican said in a statement.
Democrat Barack Obama, whose presidency overlapped with Mueller's tenure as FBI chief for five years, hailed him as "one of the most respected public servants of our time."
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X

French prosecutors suspect Musk encouraged deepfakes row to inflate X value

BY CLARA WRIGHT

  • French authorities are already investigating X over allegations that its algorithm was used to interfere in French politics, as well as Grok's dissemination of Holocaust denials and the sexualised deepfakes.
  • French prosecutors said Saturday they had alerted US authorities to a suspicion that tech tycoon Elon Musk had encouraged controversy over sexualised deepfakes on X to "artificially" increase the value of his company.
  • French authorities are already investigating X over allegations that its algorithm was used to interfere in French politics, as well as Grok's dissemination of Holocaust denials and the sexualised deepfakes.
French prosecutors said Saturday they had alerted US authorities to a suspicion that tech tycoon Elon Musk had encouraged controversy over sexualised deepfakes on X to "artificially" increase the value of his company.
The social media network's Grok AI chatbot stirred outrage earlier this year over it generating images of naked women and girls without their consent.
"The controversy sparked by sexually explicit deepfakes generated by Grok (X's AI) may have been deliberately generated in order to artificially boost the value of companies X and xAI," the Paris prosecutor's office said, confirming a report in Le Monde newspaper on Friday.
This could have been done towards "the planned June 2026 stock market listing of the new entity created by the merger" between SpaceX and xAI, it added.
The prosecutor's office said it had on Tuesday reached out to the US Department of Justice, as well as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a financial market regulation body, to share its concerns.
X's lawyer in France was not immediately available for comment.
Replying on X in French to a link to AFP's coverage of the story, Musk slammed French prosecutors as "mentally retarded."
French authorities are already investigating X over allegations that its algorithm was used to interfere in French politics, as well as Grok's dissemination of Holocaust denials and the sexualised deepfakes.
AI chatbot Grok has its own account on the X social network allowing users to interact with it.
For a period, users could tag the bot in posts to request image generation and editing, receiving the image in a reply from Grok. Many sent Grok photos of women or tagged the bot in replies to women's photo posts, giving it prompts such as "put her in a bikini" or "remove her clothes".

'Incitements'

It generated an estimated three million sexualised images -- mostly of women, though also 23,000 that appeared to depict children -- in 11 days, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit watchdog, said in late January.
Le Monde pointed to "several posts by Musk, published at the height of the controversy, which prosecutors interpret as incitements to generate non-consensual images". 
"The billionaire posted several messages in which he expressed delight, using numerous emojis, about his AI engine's 'undressing' capabilities, even sharing an image of himself in which his chatbot depicted him wearing a bikini," Le Monde reported.
Daily average app downloads for Grok worldwide soared by 72 percent from January 1 to January 19 compared to the same period in December, the Washington Post has cited market intelligence firm Sensor Tower as saying.
French authorities last month summoned Musk to a "voluntary interview" and searched the local offices of his social media network, in what Musk called a "political attack".
Both Britain and the European Union have also opened investigations into the creation of the sexualised deepfakes.
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