diplomacy

Pope calls worshippers 'saints of France' after AI warning

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

diplomacy

Pope calls worshippers 'saints of France' after AI warning

BY ERIN FLANAGAN, CLEMENT MELKI AND CLAIRE GALLEN

  • In a time of tense transatlantic ties and as Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine drags on in its fifth year, Pope Leo urged France to remain a "tireless champion of peace". 
  • Thousands of worshippers cheered Pope Leo XIV on Friday as he stepped up to pray and called those gathered at a stadium near Paris the "saints of France", after urging world peace and warning against an AI-driven "paradise of machines".
  • In a time of tense transatlantic ties and as Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine drags on in its fifth year, Pope Leo urged France to remain a "tireless champion of peace". 
Thousands of worshippers cheered Pope Leo XIV on Friday as he stepped up to pray and called those gathered at a stadium near Paris the "saints of France", after urging world peace and warning against an AI-driven "paradise of machines".
"The Church of France needs you," he told the worshippers, who were aged between 17 and 35. "Thank you for your courage, thank you for your presence, thank you for your faith."
"You are the saints of France," he added, after golden fireworks exploded above the Stade de France following a reenactment of the country's Christian history.
Only around five percent of France's 69 million residents go to Catholic church services regularly, a survey found last year.
But while the number of infants getting baptised has dwindled in recent years, more teenagers and adults are taking the plunge.
Earlier in the afternoon, the pope crossed central Paris in his popemobile on the first official papal visit to the European nation in 18 years.
Some balconies and pavements were decked out in the Vatican's yellow-and-white colours.
"He's here!" one person cried as the popemobile passed by, under a clear blue sky. "Look, it's the pope, this is crazy," said another.

'Feel it in my heart'

The Vatican estimated around 300,000 people had come out to see the pontiff.
Terry Spytek, 83, travelled all the way from the United States to see the pope for just three seconds -- but she said it was worth it.
"I feel it right here, in my heart," she told AFP. "I feel very touched even if it was a very quick glance."
People rushed forward to kiss the hand of the first US pontiff before he entered Notre Dame Cathedral, which only reopened in 2024 following a fire in 2019.
One million people are expected at events across Paris during the first two days of his trip, as he marks the first official trip by a head of the Vatican since Pope Benedict XVI in September 2008.
Leo's predecessor Francis visited France three times, but never officially.
The high point of the apostolic journey will be a Mass on Saturday led by the pontiff at Place de la Concorde and adjoining Champs-Elysees.
The leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics will also visit the pilgrimage site of Lourdes, where he will privately meet victims of sex abuse by clergy, and Metz near the German border, where he is to speak about peace in Europe.

'Authentic secularity'

The much-awaited parade came after Pope Leo spoke at the presidential palace on the need to safeguard humanity against artificial intelligence.
"If we are to avoid losing our humanity amid a paradise of machines invading and conditioning our daily lives, there is an urgent need for education in ethical discernment," he said beside President Emmanuel Macron.
In a time of tense transatlantic ties and as Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine drags on in its fifth year, Pope Leo urged France to remain a "tireless champion of peace". 
In a proudly secular country that has for more than a century separated church and state, Pope Leo stressed that "authentic secularity" should not exclude religion "from the public sphere or from education".
Politicians have in recent years often invoked France's brand of secularism to justify bans on religious symbols, including Muslim women's attire, in public spaces and schools.
After France passed legislation in June granting some adult patients the right to assisted dying, the pontiff warned against turning science "into profit-driven ventures promoting genetic manipulation, surrogacy, the trade in human organs or the possibility of arranging one's own death".
burs-ah/jxb

conflict

Daytime Russian attacks kill seven in Kyiv

BY SERGII VOLSKYI

  • Among the dead was a 14-year-old boy, said officials.
  • Russian strikes on Kyiv during the day killed seven people on Friday, including a 14-year-old boy, local authorities said, as Ukraine's leader disclosed that Donald Trump had approved licences for Patriot air-defence systems.
  • Among the dead was a 14-year-old boy, said officials.
Russian strikes on Kyiv during the day killed seven people on Friday, including a 14-year-old boy, local authorities said, as Ukraine's leader disclosed that Donald Trump had approved licences for Patriot air-defence systems.
Volodymyr Zelensky has made repeated calls on Ukraine's Western allies for better air-defence weaponry to combat the increasingly deadly barrage of drone and missile strikes, with hopes of producing the advanced Patriots under US licence.
With attacks in Kyiv intensifying, blasts again rang out across the capital in the early afternoon, sending some people running for shelter, while others walked by without reacting, an AFP journalist saw.
Hours afterwards, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Moscow was revisiting its stance on whether to resume peace talks with Kyiv following recent Ukrainian attacks on Russia.
"The death toll in the capital has risen to seven people," Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. "So far, 46 residents of Kyiv have been injured."
Among the dead was a 14-year-old boy, said officials. Israel's foreign ministry said the teenager was an Israeli citizen and his mother was among those wounded.
Zelensky condemned the strikes -- the latest hitting civilian targets, transport infrastructure, warehouses and residential areas -- calling it "absolutely savage and sickening" and "devoid of any military logic".
AFP journalists at the scene saw residents gathering around a multi-storey building, with apartments on the ninth and 10th floors left charred by the impact.
Russia used to target Kyiv mainly during hours of darkness but now often attacks in broad daylight, with jet-powered drones heard and even seen flying overhead.
Alisa Boyko, who lived in the high-rise struck on Friday morning, said the Kremlin's objectives were clear.
Russian forces were seeking to "torment" Kyiv residents, "so that everyone is affected, one way or another", she said.
Moscow has been increasingly firing at the capital with the newly developed jet-powered drones, which have succeeded in bypassing some of the drone interception systems developed by Ukraine.

'Searching for solutions'

Residents have expressed hope that Ukraine will soon find effective countermeasures against the new drones, which are deployed like missiles, travelling at high speed to strike cities and infrastructure.
"This is a technological race and a technological war," said Mykyta Sysoyev, smoking outside his damaged building.
"Unfortunately, people will suffer while we're searching for solutions."
Russia has also increased its attacks with powerful ballistic missiles, which the Ukrainian air force struggles to intercept. The US-designed Patriots remain the only reliable system capable of countering them, experts say.
Zelensky renewed his appeal for more air defences in the United States, where he addressed the UN General Assembly earlier this week.
"At our last meeting, President Trump emphasised to me that yes, I have made a final decision. Ukraine will receive licences for the production of Patriot missiles," Zelensky said in a voice note to journalists.
In July, Trump said it would be "pretty cool" to grant Ukraine the licences, before backtracking, saying the United States should be "very careful" before granting Ukraine authorisation.
Ukraine has reported an acute shortage of Patriot interceptors since the US and Israel went to war with Iran in February, diverting supplies of the advanced systems.
Even if the licences are granted, establishing industrial capacity would require more than a year and would not meet Kyiv's immediate needs.
In the southern region of Odesa, Zelensky said another person was killed in a double-tap strike on a postal facility -- when a second strike closely follows the first one, often after responders have arrived on the scene.
Firefighters and medical staff had to evacuate seven patients from a hospital in Zaporizhzhia when a Russian drone strike damaged the facility, sparking a fire on one ward. Two people were injured.
In Russia's Belgorod region, a Ukrainian drone strike on a car killed a married couple, local authorities said.
Peace talks in the four-and-a-half year conflict remain largely deadlocked.
In comments to reporters on Friday, Putin expressed uncertainty about the idea of resuming direct negotiations with Kyiv, citing a spate of recent Ukrainian strikes on Russia.
"After everything they've done, we will give careful thought to what steps we need to take in response," he said.
brw-phz/cad/jj

conflict

Russia not preparing for conflict with Europe, Putin says

  • "I want to emphasise once again: we are not preparing for any kind of hostilities with Europe," he added.
  • Russia is not preparing for "any kind" of conflict with Europe, President Vladimir Putin said Friday, following warnings from some European NATO members of potential Russian attacks on the alliance's territory.
  • "I want to emphasise once again: we are not preparing for any kind of hostilities with Europe," he added.
Russia is not preparing for "any kind" of conflict with Europe, President Vladimir Putin said Friday, following warnings from some European NATO members of potential Russian attacks on the alliance's territory.
The Kremlin chief added that Russia had "no real motive" to escalate tensions and criticised European countries that have suggested otherwise.
"Many in Europe talk about expecting an attack from Russia and therefore believe they must themselves prepare for hostilities, for a war with Russia," Putin told reporters in Saint Petersburg.
"I want to emphasise once again: we are not preparing for any kind of hostilities with Europe," he added.
Several of Ukraine's European allies have expressed concern about the potential for covert Russian attacks on their soil, as the Ukraine war grinds through its fifth year.
Earlier this month, Germany accused Moscow of planning a drone attack at Leipzig airport in August, while Poland has warned Russia could fire drones and missiles and countries supporting Ukraine.
Putin added that Russia was considering its stance on whether to resume peace talks with Ukraine following recent Ukrainian attacks on Russia.
"On proposals to resume negotiations, yes, they are all on the table, and it is all possible -- but after everything they've done, we will give careful thought to what steps we need to take in response," Putin said.
bur/

diplomacy

Trump, Xi end summit long on pomp, but short on progress

BY DANNY KEMP

  • - 'Strategic stability' - Trump has rolled out the red carpet throughout the visit, treating Xi to a state banquet full of US tech titans, plus military parades, a flyover and even a tour of his new White House helipad and ballroom.
  • US President Donald Trump took Chinese leader Xi Jinping to see the founding documents of American democracy on Friday, capping a state visit full of pomp and pageantry but with no major breakthroughs.
  • - 'Strategic stability' - Trump has rolled out the red carpet throughout the visit, treating Xi to a state banquet full of US tech titans, plus military parades, a flyover and even a tour of his new White House helipad and ballroom.
US President Donald Trump took Chinese leader Xi Jinping to see the founding documents of American democracy on Friday, capping a state visit full of pomp and pageantry but with no major breakthroughs.
Trump said he discussed the stalled Iran war with Xi, and the two leaders confirmed that they would meet for a third and fourth time this year at international summits in China and the United States.
But as Trump showed Xi around the National Archives in Washington -- home to the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution -- it underscored that the summit was more about spectacle than substance.
The summit produced no major policy announcements on flashpoints like artificial intelligence, Taiwan or trade, apart from a two-month extension of a tariff truce between the world's two largest economies.
The only other reveal was that two Chinese pandas would soon arrive at a US zoo.
The message from the US and Chinese sides was that the summit had nevertheless helped smooth tensions between the rival superpowers over a host of issues.
Trump said the meeting was "one of Friendship, Strength, and Success, for both China and the U.S.A." 
"We've made great strides, very positive for both countries," Trump told reporters as he had tea with Xi at the White House on Friday before the archives trip.

'Strategic stability'

Trump has rolled out the red carpet throughout the visit, treating Xi to a state banquet full of US tech titans, plus military parades, a flyover and even a tour of his new White House helipad and ballroom.
For his part, Xi said his Washington trip had added "new substance" to his summit with Trump in Beijing in May.
The Chinese leader added that they had agreed to "strategic stability on the basis of respect, fairness, and reciprocity."
The announcement that the two leaders would continue their dialogue was perhaps the biggest deliverable for both sides.
Both leaders confirmed they would meet again at the APEC summit in Shenzen, China, in November and the G20 forum at Trump's Doral resort in Miami in December.
On the final day of the authoritarian Chinese leader's trip, Trump and his wife Melania brought Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan to the imposing National Archives building.
There they inspected the Declaration of Independence, which marks its 250th anniversary this year and which set out the path for American independence from the "tyrant" British king.
Beneath the rotunda, Trump also showed Xi the US constitution, the document that set out the principles of the country's democratic government two and a half centuries ago.
"We're just comparing how this goes 250 years, theirs goes 6,000 years," Trump told reporters, referring to China's ancient roots, as he stood alongside Xi, chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, which has ruled China since 1949.

Iran talks

Trump confirmed during the archive visit that the two leaders had discussed the US-Israeli war in Iran, which is approaching its seven-month mark.
The Republican has faced pressure from Democrats and his own party to confront Xi over reports that Beijing has supplied Tehran with intelligence for attacks on US troops.
"We did, we did," Trump said at the National Archives when asked if they had talked about Iran. 
Asked if he thought there would be progress on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which is crucial for the flow of oil, Trump replied: "I think we're going to do great."
Trump's showcasing of US democracy at the National Archives comes a week after he banned three major US media outlets from the White House. They were readmitted on Thursday on the orders of a US judge.
The First Amendment of the US Constitution protects the freedom of the press.
Rights groups criticize China for its lack of press freedoms and the right of free expression.
Trump also publicly mocked his democratically elected predecessor Joe Biden as he gave Xi a tour of the White House on Thursday, showing him a picture of an "autopen" that he has mounted in a gallery of US presidents instead of Biden's portrait.
dk/mjf

conflict

Heavy fighting, telecoms disruption as Ethiopia conflict rages

  • A humanitarian source in Afar said there was "heavy fighting overnight", including drone strikes, around the town of Abala in the mountains on the border between Afar and Tigray, as "federal forces pushed the rebels from entering the town".
  • Heavy fighting took place on multiple fronts between Ethiopian forces and rebel groups on Friday, while a telecoms disruption raised fears in Tigray of a return to the devastating blockade the northern region experienced during the last civil war.
  • A humanitarian source in Afar said there was "heavy fighting overnight", including drone strikes, around the town of Abala in the mountains on the border between Afar and Tigray, as "federal forces pushed the rebels from entering the town".
Heavy fighting took place on multiple fronts between Ethiopian forces and rebel groups on Friday, while a telecoms disruption raised fears in Tigray of a return to the devastating blockade the northern region experienced during the last civil war.
The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) seized local airports and launched attacks into the neighbouring states of Afar and Amhara this week with the support of local armed groups, saying they were once again in a "full-blown war" with the federal government. 
Tigrayans rushed to buy alternative sim cards as phone networks and the internet experienced near-total disruption. 
Many are terrified of a repeat of the blockade imposed during the civil war in 2020-2022 -- one of the deadliest conflicts of recent times with an estimated death toll of more than 600,000 -- when electricity, banking, and almost all aid were cut off. 
A humanitarian source in Afar said there was "heavy fighting overnight", including drone strikes, around the town of Abala in the mountains on the border between Afar and Tigray, as "federal forces pushed the rebels from entering the town". They said hundreds of thousands of civilians could be displaced. 
"Heavy fighting" also broke out in western Tigray at May Gaba and Tselimo, according to conflict monitor ACLED, which said an unspecified number of TPLF fighters had surrendered but were replaced by reinforcements.
In Amhara, the army says it has killed more than 700 TPLF fighters but has given no numbers for army or civilian casualties. 
Clashes were reported in North Wollo Zone of Amhara on Thursday, including around the UNESCO World Heritage sites in Lalibela, home to Ethiopia's famed rock churches. 
The United Nations chief Antonio Guterres raised the alarm Friday, with his spokesman saying he was "particularly troubled by reports of the use of drones as well as incidents of harm to civilians".
Guterres had raised the deteriorating situation with world leaders gathering in New York.

No brakes

The TPLF has forged an alliance with six other armed groups around the country in a bid to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. An eighth group, the Sidama Liberation Front based in southern Ethiopia, said it had joined the alliance on Friday, though it has not been very active in recent years.
The TPLF appears to be repeating its strategy from the last war of pushing south through Amhara towards the capital, Addis Ababa, analysts say.
The offensive in Afar is likely aimed at cutting off supplies from Djibouti, which provides almost all of Ethiopia's international trade cargo, including fuel.
The government has a significant military advantage, however, with a large arsenal of drones, an army of some 500,000 troops, and the support of external actors, notably the United Arab Emirates. 
Clionadh Raleigh, head of ACLED, said in a report that while it was not yet all-out war, she could not see any "brakes in the system that prevent it from escalating further".
The conflict could also draw in neighbouring Eritrea on the side of the rebels, as it fears landlocked Ethiopia has been planning to invade and seize a direct access to the Red Sea.
"I don't expect this to go back to a quiet, low-intensity conflict. There are too many interests involved now," Raleigh said.
Washington only this month lifted sanctions on Ethiopia and Eritrea related to atrocities committed during the last civil war, saying the "national emergency... has expired". The US embassy sided with Ethiopia's government this week, saying it was "disappointed" with the TPLF offensive.

Panic buying

In Tigray, prices for basic goods have spiked as locals race to stock up on supplies.
"There is panic in the community," Samuel Gebreslassie, 37, who works in a spice shop in the Tigrayan capital, Mekelle, told AFP on Thursday.
"There is deep fear that banks, telecom networks, electricity and basic goods could be cut off again."
In a statement, UN rights chief Volker Turk warned that the "deeply troubling" internet and telecommunications interruptions were increasing the risks to Ethiopians posed by the conflict.
"I am deeply alarmed by the recent escalation in hostilities between Ethiopian Government forces and the Tigray People's Liberation Front and its allies, and the harmful impacts it is already having on civilians," said Turk, who called on all parties to "urgently de-escalate tensions and avoid a return to full-scale war".
The TPLF ruled the whole of Ethiopia from 1991 to 2018 before being sidelined with Abiy's rise, eventually triggering a civil war marked by widespread war crimes and sexual violence. 
The Pretoria Peace Agreement of 2022, brokered by African institutions and Washington, maintained an uneasy calm until last year but was never fully implemented, with around one million people still displaced.
Sporadic clashes then resumed, with the federal forces launching multiple drone strikes in Tigray in recent months and massing troops at the border.
Rights groups have accused the TPLF of a campaign of forced recruitment this year as it prepared for renewed conflict.
dyg-er-gw-sbk/ach 

US

UN Security Council condemns Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia

BY GREGORY WALTON

  • "The members of the Security Council condemned, in the strongest terms, continued Houthi attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including attacks impacting civilian and energy infrastructure, which have resulted in the injury of civilians, including women and children," said the rotating president of the council, French UN envoy Jerome Bonnafont, delivering a joint statement.
  • The United Nations Security Council on Friday condemned escalating attacks on Saudi Arabia by Yemeni Houthi fighters in a rare show of unity from the UN's top body.
  • "The members of the Security Council condemned, in the strongest terms, continued Houthi attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including attacks impacting civilian and energy infrastructure, which have resulted in the injury of civilians, including women and children," said the rotating president of the council, French UN envoy Jerome Bonnafont, delivering a joint statement.
The United Nations Security Council on Friday condemned escalating attacks on Saudi Arabia by Yemeni Houthi fighters in a rare show of unity from the UN's top body.
The Houthis have imposed a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, hitting its tankers, seizing swathes of Yemen's Red Sea coast vital for oil exports and causing energy prices to jump, while also raining missiles on the kingdom.
A ground campaign being waged by Houthi forces against Saudi-backed Yemeni forces is also threatening a humanitarian crisis, with 138,000 people displaced across Yemen since August, with 70,000 children among them, according to the UN. That is the highest level of displacement since a 2022 truce.
"The members of the Security Council condemned, in the strongest terms, continued Houthi attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including attacks impacting civilian and energy infrastructure, which have resulted in the injury of civilians, including women and children," said the rotating president of the council, French UN envoy Jerome Bonnafont, delivering a joint statement.

 Deepening humanitarian crisis

The council stressed the importance of upholding international law and freedom of navigation.
The body also "demanded the Houthis immediately cease their military escalation and their attacks impacting civilians and civilian objects," according to the statement.
Houthi gains in recent weeks cemented the hold of Iran and its allies on the two waterways that the wider Gulf, including top crude exporter Saudi Arabia, relies on to ship out oil and other fuel products.The other key waterway is the Strait of Hormuz.
The UN refugee agency chief, Barham Salih, warned Friday that "the latest escalation is also very disconcerting." 
"(In) Yemen's deepening humanitarian crisis, where civilians continue to bear the brunt of this conflict, tens of thousands of people have already been displaced by the recent escalation and hostilities, with thousands fleeing the conflict, looking for safety in Djibouti and elsewhere," he said.
"More crossings are reported to be underway." 
Over 3,500 people have made the dangerous journey across the water to the east African nation of Djibouti, the International Organization of Migration said.
The Security Council statement called for "full, safe, rapid, and unhindered humanitarian access to all civilians in need."
More than 2.2 million children under five across Yemen were acutely malnourished, the UN says, with over half a million suffering from severe acute malnutrition, the deadliest form.
Washington and its allies, including Saudi Arabia and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government, accuse Iran of backing the Houthi militant movement.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian denied the allegation on Thursday, saying "the Houthis are responsible for their own actions."
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan--which signed a joint defense agreement last month--will hold chief of staff talks to support the kingdom, Riyadh said in a statement on Friday, raising the prospect of a joint response to Houthi attacks.
gw/msp

WSahara

UN refugees chief warns conditions in W.Sahara 'deteriorating'

  • He added: "Today, conditions are deteriorating, and humanitarian needs remain significantly underfunded.
  • The United Nations' top official for refugees warned on Friday that conditions for long-displaced people in Western Sahara were getting worse and that their humanitarian needs were starkly underfunded.
  • He added: "Today, conditions are deteriorating, and humanitarian needs remain significantly underfunded.
The United Nations' top official for refugees warned on Friday that conditions for long-displaced people in Western Sahara were getting worse and that their humanitarian needs were starkly underfunded.
Western Sahara, a mineral-rich former Spanish colony, has been largely controlled by Morocco since 1975, but the United Nations considers it a non-self-governing territory.
Morocco has waged a decades-old conflict with the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which seeks independence for the Sahrawi people.
"In Western Sahara, displacement has persisted for more than half a century," the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Salih, himself a former refugee, told the UN Security Council. "Generations of Sahrawi refugees have grown up in Tindouf and camps nearby, facing uncertainty and limited prospects."
He added: "Today, conditions are deteriorating, and humanitarian needs remain significantly underfunded. But after more than 50 years, managing displacement indefinitely cannot be the measure of our collective ambition. The status quo is untenable, unsustainable."
In October 2025, UN Security Council members voted in favor of a US-backed resolution stating that Morocco's autonomy plan for Western Sahara was the "most feasible" solution for the disputed territory.
gw/md

Fiennes

Concerns over 'missing' UK explorer Ranulph Fiennes

BY JOE JACKSON

  • Meanwhile an old friend of Fiennes, Anton Bowring, claims he had contact with Buckingham Palace last year, when a staffer told him "the king was concerned for Fiennes", the Telegraph said.
  • Mystery has engulfed the fate of legendary British adventurer Ranulph Fiennes, after relatives and friends went public claiming he was missing and his wife was isolating him -- with one reportedly even asking King Charles for help.
  • Meanwhile an old friend of Fiennes, Anton Bowring, claims he had contact with Buckingham Palace last year, when a staffer told him "the king was concerned for Fiennes", the Telegraph said.
Mystery has engulfed the fate of legendary British adventurer Ranulph Fiennes, after relatives and friends went public claiming he was missing and his wife was isolating him -- with one reportedly even asking King Charles for help.
Fiennes, the first person to cross the Earth pole to pole in the early 1980s, was last seen publicly nearly two years ago, months after opening up about a Parkinson's diagnosis he received years earlier.
Last week, the Daily Telegraph reported the 82-year-old had been placed in a succession of care homes by his wife, Louise Millington-Cotes, who has allegedly put strict conditions on his care.
In a follow-up Friday in its months-long probe, the newspaper said a care sector watchdog in Wales had concluded he was "unlawfully deprived of his liberty" when housed at a facility there earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Fiennes's stepson, Alex Millington-Cotes, this week launched a crowdfunding campaign for legal fees to "locate and safeguard" him.
"You may have recently heard the deeply concerning news: Sir Ranulph Fiennes is missing," he wrote online, adding he had "tried multiple avenues to find" him.
Calling Fiennes "a national treasure", he described his stepfather as "a man of immense heart, kindness, and selflessness". 
Swiss-based ex-explorer and Fiennes collaborator Michael Kobold has joined the campaign to "help lift the veil of secrecy" around his whereabouts.
"My friend of almost 30 years has gone missing and nobody besides a tiny handful of individuals seems to want to do anything to change this disgraceful status quo," he wrote in a lengthy blogpost this month.

'Not well'

Fiennes has long been a towering figure in exploration, acclaimed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the "greatest living explorer".
His epic 1979-1982 Transglobe Expedition saw him proclaimed the first person to visit both north and south poles by surface means.
He later became the first to cross Antarctica completely on foot and also ran seven marathons on seven continents within a week.
Hailing from one of the most storied families in England -- which counts actors Joseph and Ralph Fiennes among its extended ranks -- he has been friends with King Charles for decades.
His 34-year marriage to first wife Virginia ended with her death in 2004, and he wed Millington-Cotes the following year. The couple have a daughter and stepson. 
In his last public appearance -- a pre-recorded video played at an October 2024 Royal Geographic Society event -- he read from an off-screen script apologising for not being "well enough" to attend, The Telegraph said.
The daily reports Millington-Cotes was granted lasting power of attorney that year and has become his legal guardian, placing Fiennes in care homes in London, Wales and then northwest England.
It claims she has refused to allow some friends to visit, while also insisting any visitors sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).

'King 'concerned'

Arabella McIntyre-Brown, Fiennes's former sister-in-law, last year checked herself into the London care home where he was living and made contact.
"He was lucid -- personality intact, memory clear," she told The Telegraph, adding he had stressed he wanted to see his friends.
However, after the visit Fiennes was moved and later placed in a Welsh home, according to the newspaper. 
"It's absurd," McIntyre-Brown told the Telegraph. "It's like we'd stumbled into a John Le Carre novel."
The Welsh care-home owner told the paper Millington-Cotes had failed to provide the legally required paperwork designed to protect vulnerable adults, so sought advice from the industry's regulator.
The Care Inspectorate of Wales responded in January that Fiennes was "being deprived of his liberty unlawfully" without the paperwork, it reported.
The Inspectorate told AFP "it would not be appropriate" to comment.
Meanwhile an old friend of Fiennes, Anton Bowring, claims he had contact with Buckingham Palace last year, when a staffer told him "the king was concerned for Fiennes", the Telegraph said.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment to AFP. Millington-Cotes could not be reached for comment.
"It's the extraordinary final chapter in a remarkable life," Bowring told The Telegraph. 
"I know he's still out there, alive. But I've grieved for him. I've said goodbye."
jj/jkb/giv

Argentina

Suspected Paris killer of Argentine rugby star begs forgiveness

BY NICOLAS GAUDICHET

  • The court in Paris is due to hand down its verdict later Friday evening.
  • The suspected killer of former Argentine rugby international Federico Martin Aramburu, who was gunned down after a dispute in a Paris brasserie in March 2022, on Friday asked forgiveness from the victim's family as the trial concluded.
  • The court in Paris is due to hand down its verdict later Friday evening.
The suspected killer of former Argentine rugby international Federico Martin Aramburu, who was gunned down after a dispute in a Paris brasserie in March 2022, on Friday asked forgiveness from the victim's family as the trial concluded.
Far-right activists Loik Le Priol, 32, and Romain Bouvier, 35, risked life in prison on charges of murder and attempted murder but prosectors have asked for Le Priol, who fired the fatal shots, and Bouvier, who opened fire initially, to be given 27 and 20 years in jail respectively.
Aramburu was killed aged 42 after a successful career which saw him play 22 times for Argentina and become a firm favourite in France's Basque Country following a stint with local southwestern side Biarritz where he later lived.
The court in Paris is due to hand down its verdict later Friday evening.
"I am a Christian, just like you," Le Priol said in his final words to Aramburu's family.
"The pope is in Paris today," he added, referring to Pope Leo XIV's visit to France. "I don't know if it's a sign, but I hope that one day they will find the strength to forgive me, and that I, too, will find the strength to forgive myself." 
The requested sentence of 27 years is "staggering -- it's the age I was at the time of the incident," he reflected, ashen-faced, while adding that during the three weeks of proceedings, "I've come to understand a lot about myself."

'Justice for Fede'

"I will never have the words" to address "the suffering and dignity of Mr Aramburu's family," added Bouvier, his voice choking with emotion as he faced them and supporters including prominent sports figures, such as rugby player Thomas Lievremont and former tennis star and now French Open director Amelie Mauresmo, who lives in the Basque Country.
The two men, who had fired ten rounds -- emptying their entire magazines -- maintained during the proceedings that they had been defending themselves against Aramburu and his friend and former teammate Shaun Hegarty.
While acknowledging the use of violence with weapons, the defence cited childhood trauma in Bouvier’s case and post-traumatic stress disorder for Le Priol.
Both defendants, former members of the now-dissolved far-right movement GUD, denied intending to kill Aramburu in their initial statements to the court.
But Hegarty in his testimony earlier this month angrily accused the pair of seeking to "evade responsibility" for their actions and said they should stay "in prison for as long as possible." 
Aramburu's widow Maria had asked the court for a verdict that would allow their three children "to build their lives as adults".
The trial has prompted calls for justice in Aramburu's native Argentina, with members of the Pumas wearing black T-shirts bearing the words "Justice for Fede" ahead of a match this month.
ng-sjw/cw

US

UN Security Council condemns Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia

  • "The members of the Security Council condemned, in the strongest terms, continued Houthi attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including attacks impacting civilian and energy infrastructure, which have resulted in the injury of civilians, including women and children," said the rotating president of the Council, French UN envoy Jerome Bonnafont, delivering a joint statement.
  • The United Nations Security Council on Friday condemned escalating attacks on Saudi Arabia by Yemeni Houthi rebels in a rare show of unity from the UN's top body.
  • "The members of the Security Council condemned, in the strongest terms, continued Houthi attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including attacks impacting civilian and energy infrastructure, which have resulted in the injury of civilians, including women and children," said the rotating president of the Council, French UN envoy Jerome Bonnafont, delivering a joint statement.
The United Nations Security Council on Friday condemned escalating attacks on Saudi Arabia by Yemeni Houthi rebels in a rare show of unity from the UN's top body.
The Houthis have imposed a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, hitting its tankers and territory and seizing swathes of Yemen's Red Sea coast, which is vital for Saudi oil exports, causing energy prices to jump.
"The members of the Security Council condemned, in the strongest terms, continued Houthi attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including attacks impacting civilian and energy infrastructure, which have resulted in the injury of civilians, including women and children," said the rotating president of the Council, French UN envoy Jerome Bonnafont, delivering a joint statement.
The Security Council "further stressed the importance of acting in accordance with international law, in particular the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and of upholding navigation rights and freedoms."
The body "demanded the Houthis immediately cease their military escalation and their attacks impacting civilians and civilian objects," according to the statement.
Houthi gains in recent weeks cemented the hold of Iran and its allies on the two waterways that the wider Gulf, including top crude exporter Saudi Arabia, relies on to ship out its oil and other fuel products.
Washington and its allies, including Saudi Arabia and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government, accuse Iran of backing the Houthi militant movement.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian denied that on Thursday, claiming "the Houthis are responsible for their own actions."
gw/md

US

US 'must choose' whether to end war: Iran president

  • It's America that must choose whether it wants to end this or not," he said in remarks translated by the broadcaster.
  • It is for the United States to choose whether to end its war in Iran as Tehran does not wish to continue fighting, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a US television interview aired Thursday.
  • It's America that must choose whether it wants to end this or not," he said in remarks translated by the broadcaster.
It is for the United States to choose whether to end its war in Iran as Tehran does not wish to continue fighting, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a US television interview aired Thursday.
Pezeshkian took a defiant stand at the UN Wednesday, for which he travelled to New York, telling the world that Iran would not "bend at the knee" to Washington -- even as US President Donald Trump acknowledged ongoing US-Iran talks.
"When we can resolve issues through dialog, we shouldn't resort to killing one another. But with the instigations conducted by Israel, they have imposed this war on us," he said on Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier."
"But we do not wish to continue. It's America that must choose whether it wants to end this or not," he said in remarks translated by the broadcaster.
Pezeshkian insisted Iran was ready to strike a deal with Trump to end the conflict.
"Why is it that within two weeks after the signing of an agreement, they chose to blow it up?" he said of the collapse of a shaky ceasefire.
"If the current American government, within international legal frameworks, wishes to reach an agreement, fine. If not, before the (US midterm) elections or after the elections, what difference does it make for us?"
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi took part in a meeting with Trump's roving envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. Their talks did not immediately yield a breakthrough.

Houthi backers?

As violence raged between Yemen's Houthi militant movement -- widely seen to be Iran-backed -- and Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni allies, Pezeshkian insisted the Houthis do not take direction from Tehran's government.
Washington and its allies including Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government, accuse Iran of backing the Houthi militant movement that is raining ballistic missiles on the kingdom, and battling Riyadh-backed forces for control of Yemen.
"The Houthis are responsible for their own actions. They don't take directions from us as those who are resisting in the region, based on the situations that have been imposed on them," Pezeshkian said, according to the broadcaster's translation of his remarks.
"We have contacts with them. There is no systematic relationship," he added.
Saudi Arabia intercepted Houthi ballistic missiles on Thursday after issuing warnings for several regions including Mecca.
The Houthis have imposed a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, hitting its tankers and territory and seizing swathes of Yemen's Red Sea coast, which is vital for Saudi oil exports, causing energy prices to jump.
Their gains cemented the hold of Iran and its allies on the two waterways that the wider Gulf, including top crude exporter Saudi Arabia, relies on to ship out its oil and other fuel products.
gw/mjf/sms

conflict

From FBI warning to literary acclaim: the Russian journalist who took on Putin

BY ANNA SMOLCHENKO

  • "They were the first FBI agents I'd ever met."
  • When two FBI agents showed up on the doorstep of Roman Badanin's California home in the autumn of 2025, they were smiling but the message they delivered was troubling.
  • "They were the first FBI agents I'd ever met."
When two FBI agents showed up on the doorstep of Roman Badanin's California home in the autumn of 2025, they were smiling but the message they delivered was troubling.
Badanin, an exiled Russian journalist who has spent more than two decades investigating President Vladimir Putin and his entourage, could become the target of an attack by a "foreign intelligence service", the agents warned. His wife and four children could be at risk, too.
"I wasn't scared but I was surprised," Badanin, 49, told AFP in an interview in Paris. "They were the first FBI agents I'd ever met."
Along with his colleague Mikhail Rubin, Badanin wrote a taboo-breaking book about the Russian leader's rise to power and private life, titled "The Tsar in Propria Persona: How Vladimir Putin Deceived Us All".
Last month, the French edition won the Grand Prix Strasbourg, a new literary award.
The jury said the 800-page tome reads "like a spy novel", describing the exhaustively researched account of the alleged web of lies, corruption, extramarital affairs and links to organised crime under Putin as both "fascinating and shocking".
"This book is exceptional in more ways than one," said the French publisher, Les Arenes, hailing "the true story of a man who places himself above morality and human laws".
- 'Putin is not stupid' - 
For the authors, the recognition is tinged with regret.
For years Badanin, founder of an investigative media outlet called Proekt, and his team chronicled abuses committed by Putin, his inner circle and Russian security services. 
Yet much of the world preferred to look the other way, the authors argue.
Then Putin invaded Ukraine and the West finally began paying attention.
"All the atrocities that the Kremlin routinely committed inside Russia began to spill beyond its borders, on a vastly different scale," they wrote.
Another source of frustration for Badanin is what he sees as the poor quality of some Western analysis on Russia. 
He also warned against underestimating 73-year-old Putin, who has been in power since 2000.
"He's become the subject of ridicule," Badanin said.
"But no, unfortunately, Putin is not stupid. And Putin is not, apparently, cowardly."
He estimated that most people around Putin wanted the fighting in Ukraine to stop, saying commanders on the ground understood "the price of war".
"No-one tells us that FSB officers come to Putin and say, 'Let's attack Lithuania' or 'Let's push on to Lviv'", Badanin said, referring to the western Ukrainian city near Poland.
But, in Badanin's view, Putin became a victim of his own ambitions.
"Initially, he wanted a quick victory to strengthen his position in every respect, both at home and abroad." 
Putin, he said, had wanted to prove he was a "real man" using the Russian word "muzhik" which carries strong macho connotations.
"Let's spell out some important things about Putin. He is deeply driven by basic impulses -- in the sense that these human passions are not foreign to him but rather very much a part of who he is."
- 'I can't back down' - 
Four-and-a-half years into what has become the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II, the fighting in Ukraine shows few signs of ending.
European nations fear the Kremlin is preparing to escalate the conflict further in response to Western support for Kyiv.
Putin has now dug his heels in, Badanin said.
"What's going through his mind now? 'Everyone is against me. I can't back down'."
The book is based on interviews with around 300 people including members of Putin's inner circle. 
While Badanin built his career exposing corruption in Russia, he was astonished by some of what he learnt during his research.
He travelled to a Caribbean island to meet a Russian lawmaker who arrived on a yacht. The encounter left him struck by the sheer scale of the corruption and the sense of impunity among Russia's political elite.
"We're either idealists or idiots," he told Rubin after the four-hour interview.
Both were driven into exile after FSB officers raided their homes in June 2021. 
The following month, Proekt became the first Russian media outlet to be designated an "undesirable organisation".
The team is now working on a documentary about the FSB, which Badanin argues must be dismantled if Russia is ever to have a chance at a democratic future.
As long as the successor to the Soviet-era KGB is around, he said, he will not move his family back to Russia.
"It's the greatest threat to everything that's alive there," he said of the FSB.
Does he have any advice for France's next president, who will succeed Emmanuel Macron next year?
"Remember that everything you do with Putin will, first and foremost, be used by Putin to strengthen his own grip on power in Russia," Badanin said. 
"In theory, that could eventually lead to another war."
as/sjw/gil

US

South Lebanon children return to school destroyed by Israel strike

BY SANDRA NOUJEIM

  • Earlier this month, UNICEF said that nearly 100,000 students in Lebanon were unable to return to their schools for the academic year due to "damage, destruction, insecurity, or displacement".
  • In southern Lebanon, eight-year-old Yara Ajami started the academic year this week in a doorless, windowless classroom after her school was destroyed by an Israeli strike.
  • Earlier this month, UNICEF said that nearly 100,000 students in Lebanon were unable to return to their schools for the academic year due to "damage, destruction, insecurity, or displacement".
In southern Lebanon, eight-year-old Yara Ajami started the academic year this week in a doorless, windowless classroom after her school was destroyed by an Israeli strike.
Well known in the area for its excellence, Ajami's elementary school in Burj Qalaway was struck by Israel in May, two months after Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the Middle East war by attacking its southern neighbour.
"We are happy to be back (to school), but we were happier before. We used to draw, play, but now there are no desks or chairs," the young girl with braided hair said as she climbed a bare concrete staircase.
Rather than go to their old school building, Ajami and the other students returning to classes after the summer break on Monday were diverted to a nearby structure still under construction that was being built to house preschoolers.
The sun shone through unglazed windows into unfinished classrooms as children followed their lessons, while outside clumps of twisted rebar jutted from the ground like dead bushes where walls used to stand.
The students come from areas heavily hit by Israeli attacks and most were displaced during the war, with some -- like Ajami -- returning to find their homes damaged or destroyed.

'Sadness in their eyes'

"There is sadness in their eyes, each one of them has a story," school principal May Mehdi told AFP from the courtyard.
"But I am happy they are here," she said, showing on her phone what the school, her pride, once looked like.
Mehdi does not have an office in the current building, which does not even have a teacher's lounge.
Around 250 students are registered in the 24-classroom school, which used to have at least 600 school-goers before the start of the latest war in March, when Hezbollah attacked Israel in support of Tehran, following US-Israeli attacks on the Islamic republic.
Israel responded with major airstrikes and a ground invasion that killed more than 4,300 people, including 261 children according to Lebanese authorities.
More than a million people were displaced, but more than 800,000 returned since June, when a US-Iran memorandum of understanding and a Lebanon-Israel framework agreement significantly reduced the violence.
In some schools in the south that have been converted into shelters, displaced people and students now share the space, with floors reserved for each group.
The Israeli army has repeatedly accused Hezbollah of using civilian buildings, including schools, to launch attacks or hide weapons.
Rights groups, however, have accused Israel of possible war crimes in its war with Hezbollah.
Lebanese authorities accuse Israel of systematically destroying villages in the south, including homes, schools, places of worship and water and electricity infrastructure.

'Destruction, insecurity, displacement'

Many of Burj Qalaway's children were unable to start the school year, being still displaced or fearing to return to the town, less than a kilometre (mile) away from Israeli troops occupying a swathe of the south.
On Thursday, an Israeli strike hit Qantara, a nearby village.
Earlier this month, UNICEF said that nearly 100,000 students in Lebanon were unable to return to their schools for the academic year due to "damage, destruction, insecurity, or displacement".
The UNICEF report also stated that 436 schools were damaged by the war, while 37 were completely destroyed.
The Burj Qalaway school previously boasted a laboratory, a computer room, and an interactive room. 
Government-funded prefabricated units are being installed on the school premises where rubble has not yet been cleared.

'Make my father proud'

Teacher Hoda Najdi gave her class while emphasising to her students the importance of continuing their education and achieving good results despite the difficult circumstances.
"My home was destroyed and so was my school... (but) the students give us the strength and will to continue," the 42-year-old told AFP.
Student Mohammed Mozannar, who was displaced from one place to another in Beirut during the war, said he was "very happy to be back to make up for" the lost year.
"I had no books, no phone and no internet" to follow lessons online, he said.
"I now want to make my father proud."
But the return to school also brought back painful memories for some, like 14-year-old Rawan Fakih.
"I remembered the activities we used to do, I remembered how stressful exams were... and I remembered my friend who was killed" by an Israeli strike, she said.
sno/nad/ris

Nations

Ireland's Gaza stance spills from Eurovision into football

BY PETER MURPHY

  • - 'Moral compromise' - Ireland has long been a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause, with sympathy often linked to the country's own history of British rule.
  • No Irish supporters in the stadium, no home match in Ireland and no pundits or Irish commentary on television: the country's strong support for the Palestinian cause is increasingly reshaping its sporting and cultural calendar.
  • - 'Moral compromise' - Ireland has long been a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause, with sympathy often linked to the country's own history of British rule.
No Irish supporters in the stadium, no home match in Ireland and no pundits or Irish commentary on television: the country's strong support for the Palestinian cause is increasingly reshaping its sporting and cultural calendar.
Ireland face Israel in football's Nations League in Hungary on Sunday before a designated Irish "home" game in Serbia on October 4, amid protests and calls for a boycott over Israel's war in Gaza.
Sunday's match comes days after national broadcaster RTE confirmed Ireland would again boycott the Eurovision Song Contest next year because of Israel's participation.
But contractual obligations mean it must show the football matches.
The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has, meanwhile, declined its ticket allocation for Irish supporters for Sunday's fixture.
The game is being staged in Debrecen, Hungary, because Israel cannot currently host international matches, while the reverse fixture was shifted from Dublin to Backa Topola, Serbia, and will be played behind closed doors.
"It is highly unusual for a state broadcaster to show a major international match while stripping away punditry" and the other usual elements, said Neil O'Boyle, an associate professor at Dublin City University specialising in sport and media.
RTE faced "a unique dilemma", he told AFP, between its contractual obligations and "intense pushback from the Irish public and some of its own staff".
"The 'silent' broadcast is intended as a kind of moral compromise," he said.

'Moral compromise'

Ireland has long been a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause, with sympathy often linked to the country's own history of British rule.
Research published this year by political scientist Liam Kneafsey and colleague Miceal Canavan found Ireland a clear outlier in western Europe.
Their study, based on a representative survey conducted in late 2023, found 53 percent of Irish adults sympathised more with Palestinians and 11 percent with Israel, compared with around 27 percent pro-Palestinian sympathy in the next-highest western European country.
"Ireland's history of colonisation, partition and displacement gives people a ready-made template for understanding a distant and complex conflict," Kneafsey told AFP.
Such attitudes were "rooted in history and identity, not just a reaction to headlines", he added.
Dublin formally recognised a Palestinian state in 2024 alongside Spain and Norway, and has repeatedly criticised Israel's conduct in Gaza.
More than 160 Irish sportspeople have signed a letter urging the national team to boycott the football games, while protests have targeted the FAI and players.
Manager Heimir Hallgrimsson has acknowledged players are uncomfortable about the fixtures, saying: "We're not playing with genocide. We're playing against genocide."
Israel's football federation accused him of "stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy", remarks Taoiseach (prime minister) Micheal Martin on Tuesday called "unacceptable".

'Outrage'

Amnesty International Ireland's executive director, Stephen Bowen, said UEFA should have suspended Israel, arguing that Israeli clubs operating in occupied Palestinian territory breached football's rules.
"It shocks the conscience that Ireland has to play these fixtures," he told AFP.
"Upset and outrage here in Ireland at these matches is palpable."
But former Irish justice minister Alan Shatter strongly rejected the boycott campaign.
"It's a scandal that a group of obsessed political activists have created a situation where our home game is now taking place behind closed doors in Serbia," he told AFP.
Shatter said the FAI should have staged the fixture in Dublin with police protection and accused campaigners of placing players under unacceptable pressure.
The FAI itself requested last year that UEFA suspend Israel but received insufficient support from European football's governing body.
It says refusing to play could bring sporting and financial sanctions.
Israel strongly rejects allegations that its conduct in Gaza amounts to genocide.
It launched war on Gaza in response to a Hamas attack inside Israel on October 7, 2023, that resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Its bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,900 people there, according to the occupied Palestinian territory's health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.
pmu/jdg/jkb/gl

China

US miner KoBold bets on AI to gain edge in DR Congo mineral hunt

BY CLAIRE DOYEN

  • The American company is still only at the exploration stage and hopes to move into production in a few years' time. 
  • Geologists from US mining company KoBold Metals are pushing deep into the Congolese bush, hoping a cutting-edge army of "explorers" directed by AI will help give them an edge in the race for critical minerals.
  • The American company is still only at the exploration stage and hopes to move into production in a few years' time. 
Geologists from US mining company KoBold Metals are pushing deep into the Congolese bush, hoping a cutting-edge army of "explorers" directed by AI will help give them an edge in the race for critical minerals.
Their gear includes high-precision GPS units and tablets connected to an AI system running in real time on servers thousands of kilometres away at the company's California base. 
The arrival in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) of the young company, founded in 2018 with backing from investors including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, is part of a US strategy to secure supplies of strategic minerals and reduce China's dominance in the sector. 
China has invested massively in the DRC since the 2000s and controls 70 to 80 percent of the Congolese copper and cobalt market. 
The central African country is the world’s second-largest producer of copper and the top producer of cobalt, which have become crucial for powering so-called clean energy, including rechargeable batteries.
Yet the subsoil of the vast country of more than 2.3 million square kilometres (888,000 square miles) remains largely unexplored. 
"The ideal conditions for major discoveries," says KoBold, which is betting on lithium, an essential component in the production of electric cars.
Global demand for lithium is expected to more than double by 2030, according to projections by the International Energy Agency. 
"We have very encouraging results," said Benjamin Katabuka, KoBold's managing director in the DRC, without giving more details. 
The American company is still only at the exploration stage and hopes to move into production in a few years' time. 
KoBold has set up its base in Manono, a remote town in the southeastern DRC, a region that is home to some of the world's most coveted deposits of critical minerals. 
- Waiting for investment - 
KoBold has obtained 14 exploration permits, covering an area of more than 3,000 square km, since 2025, prior to the signing in December of a strategic partnership agreement between Washington and Kinshasa.
The deal is the economic counterpart to US support aimed at trying -- so far unsuccessfully -- to restore peace in the eastern DRC, which has been torn by conflict for 30 years. 
To date, only one other American company, Virtus Minerals, holds assets in the DRC. 
"Almost a year since the agreement was signed, but American investment hasn't poured in," Katabuka said.
According to mining and diplomatic sources, talks are to be held to work out how to attract American investment to a Congolese mining sector riven with corruption and marred by financial and environmental scandals. 
KoBold plans to invest more than $50 million in the DRC by early 2027. 
Its teams have already been hard at work since April, collecting an average of 2,000 soil samples per week. 
At depths of just a few dozen centimetres, the analyses can detect a specific "geochemical signature" indicating the presence of pegmatite, the mineral from which lithium is extracted.
KoBold's AI system is then able, based on these data, to create predictive models. 
"Once we've determined the presence of lithium at very specific points, that allows us to target the drilling," Kevin Tambwe, the lab manager, said.
The AI system has ingested huge amounts of data: historical geological maps, old drill logs sometimes dating back to the colonial era, and satellite images.
KoBold hopes that its technology will enable it to compete with giants such as China's Zijin, which shipped its first tons of concentrate in June from a huge mine adjacent to the US company's permits. 

Holes left behind

In Manono, the arrival of the Americans is raising hopes, but in a region where mines have taken a toll on people for over a century, distrust remains. 
Vicar general Wilson Katende hopes that "competition" will force an improvement in working conditions. 
"Right now, you don't feel like people here have been fairly paid," he said, alluding to miners often earning less than $200 a month at the operations already extracting resources in the area. 
On the streets, activity is sluggish. Motorbike taxi drivers drop workers off at Chinese or Indian mines for a few dollars. The poverty rate in the region is 88 percent, according to official statistics. 
The Lukushi River, which runs through the territory, has been diverted to serve mining operations. 
Elders recall that in the past, this tributary of the mighty Congo River was teeming with fish and fed the town. 
Soldiers from the Congolese army are visible. The presence of Mai-Mai, local militias, has recently been reported in nearby villages. 
Manono was founded in the early 20th century with tin production by Belgian colonisers. 
But with plummeting commodity prices and years of turbulence following independence in 1960, the town fell into poverty. 
"Manono lacks drinking water. Manono is not electrified," territory administrator Cyprien Kitanga told AFP. 
In the past, mining companies "came, took the ore, and left holes behind for the children of Manono", he added. 
The recent discovery of lithium has shaken the town from its torpor. 
But the local workforce condemns inhumane working conditions. 
"We want to go and work for the Americans," said one man in his work clothes, who declined to give his name. 
Earlier that same morning, miners burned tyres at the entrance to the mine operated by China's Zijin to protest against meagre wages and endless workdays. 
Zijin told AFP in a statement it had "engaged with employee representatives" and agreed measures to address their concerns. 
cld/pdw/kjm

transport

Rebellious Afghan taxi drivers defy ban on music

BY QUBAD WALI

  • The ban on music in public places is imposed by the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (PVPV) Ministry, whose morality police roam the city wearing long white coats.
  • Taxi drivers in Afghanistan are turning on the tunes in their cars, defying a ban imposed by the Taliban government despite the fear of getting caught by morality police.
  • The ban on music in public places is imposed by the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (PVPV) Ministry, whose morality police roam the city wearing long white coats.
Taxi drivers in Afghanistan are turning on the tunes in their cars, defying a ban imposed by the Taliban government despite the fear of getting caught by morality police.
The music that used to flow constantly out of restaurants, cafes and shops in the capital Kabul has been muted for five years, replaced only by religious or patriotic songs supported by the Taliban authorities in power since 2021.
But taxi drivers such as Roeen have started playing Afghan and regional folk or pop music, which they quickly turn off when security forces may be around.
"At every checkpoint we pass, we lower the volume of the music or even turn it off completely... so I don't get into trouble with them," said Roeen, who gave only his first name for security reasons.
The ban on music in public places is imposed by the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (PVPV) Ministry, whose morality police roam the city wearing long white coats.
PVPV regulations state that "since music is forbidden and causes annoyance to passengers, drivers must refrain from playing or listening to it".
The ministry did not respond when asked to comment on punishments Afghans face for playing music, but those breaching their various other rules risk being jailed.
Roeen said PVPV officials have "a lot of authority".
"We're definitely too afraid of them to be able to listen to music at a higher volume," he told AFP in his sky blue-and-white taxi.
Driving through the heavy traffic and noisy roads of Kabul, Roeen said he has "become 10 times more interested in music" since the ban.
"I have to make sure that even if I can't listen in the early morning, by eight o'clock my music is on," he said.
In a country where various forms of entertainment including cinema are outlawed, listening to music constantly is a "form of protest" for the 28-year-old driver.

'Stress' and no headphones

Another taxi driver, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told AFP he only listens to music when he is alone in his car and surrounded by the noise of other vehicles.
"Before, whenever a person wanted, they could listen without any worry or stress. But now... personally I listen -- but with some stress," he said in his car that had a radio player with a USB slot.
The 32-year-old has been stopped twice at checkpoints for having a USB stick and a memory card.
"I didn't lie -- I said it has music, and they broke it," he said.
"Afghan culture should not vanish, and music is one of the cultures of our people. Personally, I don't want this culture to disappear."
As part of their crackdown on banned music, the PVPV's provincial departments occasionally report burning instruments. No figures are available on how many they have seized, according to ministry spokesman Saiful Islam Khyber.
Across the capital, residents use shared taxis as an affordable way to get around a city which lacks a proper public transport system.
Often, two passengers sit alongside the driver in the front, three are in the back, and sometimes someone rides in the open boot.
Shamsullah Ahmad, a master's student, spoke to AFP while waiting for a taxi near his university.
"I prefer to listen to music every day; whenever I go to any destination, I try to check if the taxi has a music player," said the 29-year-old.
"I prefer music in the car, because wearing headphones would be noticed, but in the car, even with lower volume is better than nothing," Ahmad said.
The morality police have been known to take headphones out of Afghans' ears to check if they are listening to music.
Roeen, the driver, misses the days when "we could listen to songs, dance, and celebrate, and no one would stop us".
But now the city is "shrouded in darkness -- a darkness devoid of any light", he said, above the din of growling engines.
qb/rsc/ami

diplomacy

Pope Leo in France: the issues on the table

BY CLAIRE GALLEN

  • Here are some of the key issues the pontiff is expected to face while on the first official visit to France by a head of the Roman Catholic Church in 18 years: - Clerical abuse - The Vatican announced in August that Pope Leo XIV will meet victims of clerical sexual abuse during his visit.
  • Pope Leo XIV is to begin an official visit to France on Friday, with several thorny issues hanging over the trip, from clerical sexual abuse to the country's new assisted dying law.
  • Here are some of the key issues the pontiff is expected to face while on the first official visit to France by a head of the Roman Catholic Church in 18 years: - Clerical abuse - The Vatican announced in August that Pope Leo XIV will meet victims of clerical sexual abuse during his visit.
Pope Leo XIV is to begin an official visit to France on Friday, with several thorny issues hanging over the trip, from clerical sexual abuse to the country's new assisted dying law.
Here are some of the key issues the pontiff is expected to face while on the first official visit to France by a head of the Roman Catholic Church in 18 years:

Clerical abuse

The Vatican announced in August that Pope Leo XIV will meet victims of clerical sexual abuse during his visit.
The leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics has promised to further efforts to reform the Church in the wake of the global sexual abuse scandal.
A 2021 inquiry found that clergy or lay members of the Church had abused about 330,000 people as minors in France, over the span of 70 years. 
The Church's reputation has since been hit by further scandals, including a raft of sexual abuse accusations against charity icon Abbe Pierre and widespread physical and sexual abuse at the Notre-Dame de Betharram boarding school in southwestern France.
The first pontiff from the United States is due to meet seven victims on Sunday in Lourdes, a town in southwestern France where the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared in a grotto in 1858.
Those to speak to the pope include a former student at Betharram who is now 80 years old.
The format is similar to one the pope used in Spain in June, where Pope Leo promised the Church would make "additional efforts" to change.
Mosaics that once adorned the Lourdes sanctuary have been covered up after accusations that the artist behind them, a Slovenian priest called Marko Rupnik, abused a community of adult religious women in the 1990s.

Assisted dying law

France's parliament passed legislation in June establishing a right to assisted dying for some adults suffering from an incurable condition. 
The move drew strong criticism from the Catholic Church in France, which denounced the bill as a serious "rupture".
Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, head of the French bishops' conference, said "the defence of the dignity of human life" was at the heart of the pope's message.
"How will he convey this in France? We shall see," he added.
Martin Dumont, the secretary-general of a religion research institute in France, said it was possible Pope Leo would raise the subject.
"But I would be very surprised if he took a confrontational stance," Dumont said, suggesting the pope could instead highlight the need to care for the elderly and vulnerable.

Presidential election

France is just seven months away from the first round of its presidential election to replace President Emmanuel Macron, making Pope Leo's visit unusual as pontiffs rarely travel to a country so close to a major vote.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen's anti-immigration National Rally party views next year's contest as its best chance yet to take power.
Migration, which is set to be a hot-button issue in the election, was a key focus on Pope Leo's trip to Spain in June, where he condemned "indifference" towards migrants.
In France, he is due to visit an association providing support for migrants, a "strong signal", according to Dumont. 

Europe's role

Pope Leo's trip will be the first papal state visit to France since Benedict XVI's in September 2008.
Coming after his visit to Spain, it highlights the pope's interest in engaging with historically Catholic but increasingly non-religious European countries that were largely overlooked by his predecessor, Francis.
Pope Leo is due to deliver several speeches, including at the UN culture agency UNESCO and in the northeastern city of Metz, near the German border.
His programme in Metz includes a meeting entitled "To the roots of Europe for peace and unity".
While he is unlikely to single out any political actors during his visit to France, his message will inevitably carry political weight, said Charles Mercier, a director at France's Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes.
"By choosing to defend European integration, the Pope is already giving his visit a political direction," said Mercier.
The pope also places considerable importance on multilateralism and sees Europe as a counterweight to global powers, said Francois Mabille, director of the Geopolitical Observatory on Religion.
That includes "Europe's role in relation to what he calls 'imperial logics' -- namely the United States, China and Russia," Mabille said.
cg-cmk/ekf/ah/pdw/cms

music

Dolly Parton's nephew ordered to stay away from estate staff, properties

  • Parton's longtime manager Danny Nozell requested the restraining order, accusing the artist's nephew, Bryan Seaver, of attempting to extort money from the estate, which includes an amusement park, a hotel and a soon-to-be-opened museum.
  • Dolly Parton's nephew has been ordered to stay away from employees and properties of her estate, US media reported, after the manager for the late country music legend alleged an "escalating campaign of threats" to extort money from the vast enterprise.
  • Parton's longtime manager Danny Nozell requested the restraining order, accusing the artist's nephew, Bryan Seaver, of attempting to extort money from the estate, which includes an amusement park, a hotel and a soon-to-be-opened museum.
Dolly Parton's nephew has been ordered to stay away from employees and properties of her estate, US media reported, after the manager for the late country music legend alleged an "escalating campaign of threats" to extort money from the vast enterprise.
Chancellor I'Ashea L. Myles of Nashville Chancery Court issued the temporary restraining order Wednesday, citing emails and other communications between the pair which involved "threats with demands for payment," Rolling Stone magazine reported.
Parton's longtime manager Danny Nozell requested the restraining order, accusing the artist's nephew, Bryan Seaver, of attempting to extort money from the estate, which includes an amusement park, a hotel and a soon-to-be-opened museum.
Myles ordered Seaver to stay at least 1,000 feet (300 meters) from estate employees and business partners, remain off private property owned by the estate, and refrain from disruptive or harassing conduct, Rolling Stone reported, citing the ruling.
Seaver's statements were significant "not merely because of their language in isolation, but also because they were made in conjunction with statements threatening specific individuals and business interests associated with Ms. Parton's professional property and estate," Myles wrote.
Myles has scheduled a hearing for October 7, according to the Davidson County Chancery Court website.
Seaver, who broke the news of the singer's death last month in an emotional video, had provided security for Parton for years but was abruptly fired last week, TMZ reported.
That caused Seaver to criticize Nozell, with the outlet quoting Seaver as saying he was "dismayed by the unexpected and, so far, unexplained actions."
Court papers filed Tuesday allege that Seaver sent threats including a text message warning he would become "the hand of retribution for my entire family," The New York Times reported.
The paper said the request for a restraining order was filed in Nashville -- Parton's longtime home -- by She's Alive, the organization run by Nozell that manages her business empire.
In a message sent to The New York Times, Seaver, who describes himself as a military contractor and international arms dealer, said he was carrying out his own probe into how his aunt's affairs were being managed at the time of her death.
Parton died last month aged 80, sparking mourning around the world for the singer who rose from grinding poverty to become a rhinestone-studded icon with hits like "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You." 
She also starred in Hollywood films and donated millions to charities. Her business empire is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and includes her popular Dollywood theme park, cosmetics, pet apparel, baking mixes and even a truck stop.
The Dollywood theme park in Tennessee attracts around four million visitors a year and employs 4,000 people.
bur-ane/acb/pnb

internet

Brazil candidates mount digital armies for fierce online campaign

BY MARIA CLARA PESTRE

  • Ahead of the October 4 first round vote, Flavio Bolsonaro -- the son of jailed former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro -- is neck-and-neck with leftist Lula, who is seeking a fourth term in office.
  • In a knife-edge election race, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and main rival Flavio Bolsonaro have deployed volunteer digital armies online to spread their messages and battle for voters.
  • Ahead of the October 4 first round vote, Flavio Bolsonaro -- the son of jailed former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro -- is neck-and-neck with leftist Lula, who is seeking a fourth term in office.
In a knife-edge election race, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and main rival Flavio Bolsonaro have deployed volunteer digital armies online to spread their messages and battle for voters.
These online campaigns, unprecedented in scale in Brazil, have highlighted the growing role of social media in the country's politics, while also raising questions about compliance with election rules.
"The cavalry has arrived. Come join this army that will change our country's history," urged Gustavo Gayer, a congressman and Bolsonaro ally.
He was promoting "Direta Ja" (Right Wing Now), a platform launched in July which consists of a website and WhatsApp group where supporters receive daily "visual ammunition" to share on their own social media feeds to boost Bolsonaro's campaign.
Ahead of the October 4 first round vote, Flavio Bolsonaro -- the son of jailed former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro -- is neck-and-neck with leftist Lula, who is seeking a fourth term in office.
The website contains ready-made posts, allowing users to filter content by their preferred social media platform or category. The largest of these categories, with around 200 items, features "criticism of the PT," Lula's Workers' Party.
These include accusations around public security, food prices and allegations of corruption.
A single video highlighting inconsistencies in a statement made by Lula was shared by over 500 supporters, according to an AFP investigation. 
The platform itself reports that the initiative has generated more than 50 million interactions.

Right 'often wins' online clashes

Lula has launched his own social-media initiative dubbed "Lula's Spokespersons," aimed at boosting voter engagement.
"Let's join the fight via computer and mobile phone," he urged during a livestream with supporters in September. 
"If you are part of this army, rest assured: on the 4th, we will win the election."
Through WhatsApp groups, over 140,000 people receive daily missions to share posts promoting Lula's policy proposals or criticize his main opponent.
The goal, explained Guilherme Boulos, secretary-general of the presidency, is to win the battle in an arena traditionally dominated by the right.
"We need the humility to acknowledge this. They often win these online clashes," he said at the launch of the initiative. 
"If they can unify their narrative and set the agenda for public debate, so can we."
Arthur Ituassu, a professor of political communication at the private Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, said that while the primary focus used to be on securing as much television airtime as possible, today "social media is fundamental."
"Encouraging this kind of mobilization aims to reach undecided voters, the ones who will ultimately decide the election," he told AFP.

'Doing nothing wrong'

Even smaller candidates are fighting hard online, such as Renan Santos, who is polling in the low single-digits but has built a following among younger voters.
Santos launched an app where supporters earn points and compete for rankings by sharing his content.
Currently ranked first on the candidate's leaderboard is Joao Victor, a 25-year-old university student.
"I do this because I want to help bring about change in the country," he told AFP.
AFP attempted to speak with Lula and Bolsonaro's digital activists, but they either did not respond or refused to comment, maintaining that they were "doing nothing wrong."
Both Lula and Bolsonaro filed lawsuits at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) complaining about the other's initiative.
They accused one another of trying to circumvent rules and drive negative campaigning in a coordinated manner.
Both campaigns told AFP they are complying with electoral laws. The cases are still pending.
Nahomi Helena de Santana, an election law attorney, said that organized digital mobilization could be deemed unlawful if there was an "economic advantage" in exchange for posts, or if content contained disinformation or slander.
She said that spreading such content via an "organized" network could bring greater punishment.
mcp/fb/des