US

Protests across globe mark one week of Iran war

US

As Iran conflict spills over, Iraq's Kurds say 'this war is not mine'

BY ANNE CHAON

  • The rumble of jets and hum of drones "come from everywhere.
  • On a deserted road not too far from the border between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan, Satar Barsirini looked up at the sky, now streaked with jets and drones.
  • The rumble of jets and hum of drones "come from everywhere.
On a deserted road not too far from the border between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan, Satar Barsirini looked up at the sky, now streaked with jets and drones.
Iraq's Kurdish region has found itself caught in the crossfire of a regional war triggered by US and Israeli attacks on the Islamic republic.
Dressed like the Kurdish fighters he once served alongside, Barsirini still wears the khaki shalwar, fitted jacket and scarf wrapped around his waist.
Though recently retired, he refuses to give up his peshmerga uniform as he tills his small plot of land.
The rumble of jets and hum of drones "come from everywhere. Especially at night", he told AFP in the hamlet of Barsirini, dozens of kilometres from the border.
He described the "shiver in our flesh" as the drones hit the ground outside.
"I feel bad for the people, because we have paid a lot in blood to liberate Kurdistan... We just want to live."
Erbil, the autonomous region's capital, and the valleys leading to the border have been targeted by Tehran and the Iraqi armed groups it supports.
American bases there have come under fire, as have positions held by Iranian Kurdish parties -- the same ones US President Donald Trump said it would be "wonderful" to see storm Iran.
But Iran warned on Friday it would target facilities in Iraqi Kurdistan if fighters crossed into its territory.
"This isn't my war," said 58-year-old Barsirini.
He recalled the brutal repression and flight into the snowy mountains after the 1991 Kurdish uprising that followed the first Gulf War.

'Dangerous people'

The uprising was repressed, leading to an exodus of two million Kurds to Iran and Turkey.
"When we fled the cities for our lives, we went to Iran. They helped us, they gave us shelter and food," he said.
The Kurds would not forget that, Barsirini stressed, adding that they could not just "turn against them" now to support the US and Israel.
"I don't trust (Americans). They are dangerous people," he said.
The Kurds, an ethnic minority with a distinct culture and language, are rooted in the mountainous region spread across Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran.
They have long fought for their own homeland, but for decades suffered defeats on the battlefield and massacres in their hometowns.
They make up one of Iran's most important non-Persian ethnic minority groups.
A week of war has gripped daily life in Iraqi Kurdistan, residents told AFP.
"People are afraid," said Nasr al-Din, a 42-year-old policeman who, as a child, lived through the 1991 exodus -- "thrown on a donkey's back with my sister".
"This generation is different from the older ones" that have seen "seen fighting".
Now, he said, you could be "sitting down in your home... and all of a sudden a drone hits your house".
"We may have to go into town or somewhere safer," said Issa Diayri, 31, a truck driver waiting in a roadside garage, his lorry idle for lack of deliveries from Iran.

'Shouldn't get involved'

Soran, a small town of 3,000 people about 65 kilometres (40 miles) from the border, was hit Thursday by a drone that fell in the middle of a street.
There, baker Yussef Ramazan, 42, and his three apprentices, hurriedly made bread before breaking their fast.
But, living so close to the Iranian border, he said "people are afraid to come and buy it".
He told AFP he did not think it was a good idea "for the Kurdish region to get involved in this war".
"We are not even an independent country yet. We would like to become one, but we are nothing for now, so we shouldn't get involved in these situations."
Across the street, Hajji watched from his empty dry cleaning shop as the road cleared.
Before the war, the town was crowded as evening fell, he said, declining to give his full name.
"But after the drone explosion, no one was here. In five minutes, everyone left the street and no one was out."
ach/rh/amj

US

Protests across globe mark one week of Iran war

  • "I support Pahlavi who is calling for a revolution," Masoud Ghanaatian, 35, a student, told AFP at a protest in southern Paris, where participants carried photos of the late shah's son and waved US, Israeli and pre-revolution Iran flags. 
  • Lion-emblazoned flags of pre-revolution Iran fluttered in cities across the world on Saturday as demonstrators took to the streets a week after the start of the war in the Middle East.
  • "I support Pahlavi who is calling for a revolution," Masoud Ghanaatian, 35, a student, told AFP at a protest in southern Paris, where participants carried photos of the late shah's son and waved US, Israeli and pre-revolution Iran flags. 
Lion-emblazoned flags of pre-revolution Iran fluttered in cities across the world on Saturday as demonstrators took to the streets a week after the start of the war in the Middle East.
Europe, Africa and the Americas saw demonstrations, with some protesting against Iran's Islamic regime, others railing against the war, and some in support of Iran's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the first US-Israeli strikes of the conflict.
Paris saw two demonstrations: one supporting the US-based Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late shah, to head up a transition, and another denouncing that scenario.
"I support Pahlavi who is calling for a revolution," Masoud Ghanaatian, 35, a student, told AFP at a protest in southern Paris, where participants carried photos of the late shah's son and waved US, Israeli and pre-revolution Iran flags. 
"He's a democrat. He can oversee a transition and promises to organise elections."
Hundreds of pro-Pahlavi demonstrations also gathered in Stockholm, holding up pictures of him and his late father.
But farther north, protesters wearing yellow vests reading "Free Iran" showed off stickers on their hands that read "No Shah, no Mullah".  
In Amsterdam protesters snaked along one of the city's canals, holding up Israeli, American and pre-revolution Iran flags, as they called on the government to invite Pahlavi to the country and to close the Iranian embassy.
In Israel, anti-war activists and police scuffled during a protest against eh war in HaBima Square in Tel Aviv.
Shortly after dawn in Britain, anti-war protesters gathered at the entrance of an air force base in Fairford, southwest of England, holding signs reading "Hands off Iran," "Peace" and "Yanks go home".

'Assassins'

A demonstrations against the war also took place in Cyprus.
Outside the US consulate in Mexico City, protesters carried a placard with pictures of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with blood-soaked palms over the word "Assassins" and kicked pinatas with images of the two leaders.
In the United States, protesters carried Iranian, Lebanese and Palestinian flags and signs "Iran is not our enemy" and "No war on Iran" in downtown Detroit, Michigan.
In Washington DC, demonstrators gathered at the National Mall carrying US, Israeli and Iranian flags, with some protesters painting the colours of the Iranian flags on their cheeks.
In Boston, Iranian Americans gathered at Copley Square to call for the fall of the Islamic republic.
In South Africa -- which has dragged Israel to International Court of Justice, accusing it of genocide during the Gaza war, a charge Israel denies -- dozens gathered in front of the US consulate in Johannesburg, holding up photos of Khamenei, the Islamic republic's flag and signs bashing Israel.
Protesters carried pictures of Khamenei and denounced the war in central Tunis in Tunisia.
In Cape Town, Iranian pro-democracy activists and supporters of Israel waved Israeli flags and chanted slogans in the Albert Waterfront shopping mall.
Several counter-protesters carried signs denouncing Israel and in support of the Palestinians.
burs/yad/jj

US

US starts using UK bases for 'defensive' Iran operations

  • UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer annoyed US President Donald Trump for initially refusing to have any role in the US-Israeli war with Iran, which started a week ago, on February 28.
  • The United States has started using British bases for certain operations against Iran during the Middle East war, the UK government announced on Saturday.
  • UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer annoyed US President Donald Trump for initially refusing to have any role in the US-Israeli war with Iran, which started a week ago, on February 28.
The United States has started using British bases for certain operations against Iran during the Middle East war, the UK government announced on Saturday.
Britain's defence ministry said the US had begun using the military sites for "specific defensive operations to prevent Iran firing missiles into the region".
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer annoyed US President Donald Trump for initially refusing to have any role in the US-Israeli war with Iran, which started a week ago, on February 28.
He later agreed to a US request to use two British military bases for a "specific and limited defensive purpose".
Those bases are Fairford in Gloucestershire, southwestern England, and the UK-US Diego Garcia base on the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean.
A US Air Force B-1 Lancer bomber landed at Fairford on Saturday, an AFP photographer saw.
An American C-5 Galaxy plane could also be seen on the runway of the base, as anti-war protesters demonstrated outside. 
Trump had said he was "not happy with the UK". He mocked Starmer, saying "this is not Winston Churchill that we're dealing with".

London protest

Starmer, a former human rights lawyer, has defended his initial decision by saying any UK action "must always have a lawful basis and a viable, thought-through plan".
He has also insisted that he was right to change that position because Iran's retaliation with missiles and drones to the US-Israeli strikes have threatened British interests and allies in the region.
Lawmakers in Starmer's ruling Labour party remain haunted by former prime minister Tony Blair's disastrous support for the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
A Survation poll of 1,045 Britons published on Friday found that 56 percent of respondents believed Starmer was right not to involve Britain in the initial strikes. Only 27 percent said he was wrong.
Several thousand people, many waving Iranian flags, marched through central London to the US embassy on Saturday to protest against the war.
Some demonstrators waved placards with slogans including "Stop Trump's Wars" and "Stop Arming Israel".
UK media speculated that HMS Prince of Wales, one of Britain's two aircraft carriers, could be deployed to the Mediterranean after the government said it was quickening its preparedness.
No decision has yet been taken, said the reports. 
"HMS Prince of Wales has always been on very high readiness and we are increasing the preparedness of the carrier, reducing the time it would take to set sail for any deployment," a defence ministry spokesperson said.
pdh/jj

US

Netanyahu vows to carry on war, 'eradicate Iranian regime'

BY AFP TEAMS IN TEHRAN, BEIRUT, JERUSALEM AND WASHINGTON

  • In his speech, Netanyahu declared that Israel had achieved almost total control of the skies over the Iranian capital.
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Saturday to carry on the war with Iran, saying Israel had a 'systematic plan to eradicate the Iranian regime', as Tehran insisted it would not surrender.
  • In his speech, Netanyahu declared that Israel had achieved almost total control of the skies over the Iranian capital.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Saturday to carry on the war with Iran, saying Israel had a 'systematic plan to eradicate the Iranian regime', as Tehran insisted it would not surrender.
The Israeli premier's pledge in a televised address to pursue the war "with all our force" came on a day when Iran launched wave after wave of missiles and drones at its Gulf neighbours.
Israel and the United States, meanwhile, pounded Iran again, with one air strike setting a Tehran airport ablaze and another hitting an oil depot, even as Tehran continued to retaliate.
Its Revolutionary Guards said they had struck America's Juffair base in Bahrain, adding that it had been used to attack an Iranian desalination plant earlier Saturday.
There were air raid warnings and blasts in Jerusalem in Israel and Doha in Qatar, and attacks on the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
The UAE said its air defences intercepted 15 missiles and 119 drones on Saturday morning and video footage showed one projectile crashing at Dubai airport.
AFP journalists heard blasts in Baghdad, Erbil and Dubai on Saturday evening, while Saudi Arabia also reported an attack.
"Evidence from Iran's armed forces shows that the geography of some countries in the region is openly and covertly at the disposal of the enemy," said Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, Iran's hardline judiciary chief.
"The heavy attacks on these targets will continue." 
Earlier, President Masoud Pezeshkian had issued an apology to Iran's neighbours, which host major US military bases.
Pezeshkian struck a defiant tone in a speech in which he also appeared to address Trump's demand for "unconditional surrender". 
Iran's enemies "must take their wish for the unconditional surrender of the Iranian people to their graves", the president said.

Air raids

Israel launched some of its biggest raids since the bombardment began last Saturday, with a military academy, an underground command centre and a missile storage facility named as targets.
Fire and smoke billowed from Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport after a predawn attack in which Israel said it had destroyed 16 aircraft and fighter jets.
In his speech, Netanyahu declared that Israel had achieved almost total control of the skies over the Iranian capital.
Meanwhile, his close partner in the war, Trump, had posted on his Truth Social platform earlier: "Today Iran will be hit very hard!"  
"Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran's bad behavior, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time."
Later, in Florida, he repeated his claim that Iran had been close to having a nuclear weapon, saying: "They're crazy and they would have used it. So we did the world a favour."
Now into a second week, the war was sparked by joint Israeli and US air strikes that killed Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei. 
The conflict has since widened to Lebanon, as well as Cyprus, Turkey and Azerbaijan, and reached as far as the seas off Sri Lanka where US forces sank an Iranian warship with a torpedo.
Inside Iran, damage to infrastructure and residential buildings is mounting, while residents of Tehran report growing anxiety and a heavy presence of security forces. 
"I don't think anyone who hasn't experienced war would understand it," a 26-year-old teacher told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"When you hear the bombs, you have no idea where they will hit."
The Iranian health ministry put the civilian death toll at 926 on Friday, with around 6,000 injured -- numbers that AFP could not independently verify.
Israel has intensified its air strikes on Lebanon, repeatedly bombing and ordering the evacuation of Beirut's southern suburbs and vast areas of the country's south, where the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah holds sway.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Saturday that his country would pay a "very heavy price" if it failed to disarm Hezbollah.
Israeli commandos launched an unsuccessful mission overnight to retrieve the remains of an air force navigator lost in 1986, killing 41 people in the process in the town of Nabi Sheet.
Lebanon's health ministry said at least 294 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes over the last week, while Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has warned of a "humanitarian disaster".

Stock markets slump

The consequences of the conflict reach far beyond those in the immediate firing line.
Global stock markets have slumped, while crude oil prices have surged, with analysts warning that there appears to be no clear path to ending a conflict that US and Israeli officials have suggested could last a month or more. 
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had hit two oil tankers with exploding drones in the Gulf on Saturday as they continue to paralyse oil and gas traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint for global energy shipments. 
Trump has promised to help rebuild Iran's economy if Tehran installs someone "acceptable" to him to replace its late supreme leader.
But Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, said the US would have no role in selecting Khamenei's successor.
"The selection of Iran's leadership will take place strictly in accordance with our constitutional procedures and solely by the will of the Iranian people, without any foreign interference," he added.
China and Russia have so far stayed largely out of the fray despite their ties to the Islamic republic, but there are reports that Moscow is providing intelligence to Iran on US troop positions and movements.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US was "not concerned" about the reports.
The war has killed six US service members and Trump was to attend a ceremony for the return of their bodies on Saturday.
burs-amj/dcp

US

Sri Lanka to treat Iranian sailors according to 'international law'

  • Reuters reported Friday that Washington was leaning on Sri Lanka not to repatriate the Iranian sailors, citing an internal State Department cable.
  • Sri Lanka will treat Iranian sailors rescued from a torpedoed frigate according to international law, a minister said Saturday, following reports that Washington was pressuring Colombo to not repatriate them.
  • Reuters reported Friday that Washington was leaning on Sri Lanka not to repatriate the Iranian sailors, citing an internal State Department cable.
Sri Lanka will treat Iranian sailors rescued from a torpedoed frigate according to international law, a minister said Saturday, following reports that Washington was pressuring Colombo to not repatriate them.
Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told a conference in New Delhi that Sri Lanka was caring for 32 sailors from the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena under Colombo's international treaty obligations.
The frigate was sunk by a US submarine on Wednesday just off Sri Lanka's southern coast.
Sri Lanka sent its navy to rescue survivors and recovered 84 bodies.
Asked if Colombo was under pressure from the United States to not repatriate the Iranians, Herath did not answer directly.
"We have taken all the steps according to international laws," Herath said.
Sri Lanka also provided safe haven to a second Iranian warship, the IRIS Bushehr, and evacuated its 219 crew members a day after the Dena was torpedoed.
The ship was taken to Trincomalee on Sri Lanka's northeast coast after reporting engine problems.
Reuters reported Friday that Washington was leaning on Sri Lanka not to repatriate the Iranian sailors, citing an internal State Department cable.
Asked about the report, a State Department spokesperson said the disposition of the IRIS Bushehr crew and Iranian sailors rescued at sea was up to Sri Lanka.
"The United States of course respects and recognizes Sri Lanka's sovereignty in the handling of this situation," the spokesperson told AFP.
India, meanwhile, said Saturday that it had allowed a third Iranian warship, the IRIS Lavan, to dock in one of its ports on "humane" grounds after it too reported operational problems.
The three ships were part of a multi-national fleet review held by India before the war in the Middle East started last Saturday.
"I think it was the humane thing to do and I think we were guided by that principle," Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said.
The Lavan docked in the southwest Indian port of Kochi on Wednesday.
"A lot of the people on board were young cadets. They have disembarked and are in a nearby facility," Jaishankar said.
Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said this week that Colombo would follow the Hague Convention, which requires a neutral state to hold combatants of a warring state until hostilities end.
A senior administration official said Colombo was in talks with the International Committee of the Red Cross to deal with the survivors of the torpedoed ship.
International humanitarian law applied to the survivors from the Dena, an official said, and the wounded could be repatriated at their request.
Iranian diplomats in Colombo said they have asked for the remains of the sailors killed in the US attack to be taken back to Iran.
aj-sai/fox/ksb/js

US

Sri Lanka to treat Iranian sailors according to 'international law'

  • Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told a conference in New Delhi that Sri Lanka was caring for 32 sailors from the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena under Colombo's international treaty obligations.
  • Sri Lanka will treat Iranian sailors rescued from a torpedoed frigate according to international law, a minister said Saturday, following reports Washington was pressuring Colombo to not repatriate them.
  • Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told a conference in New Delhi that Sri Lanka was caring for 32 sailors from the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena under Colombo's international treaty obligations.
Sri Lanka will treat Iranian sailors rescued from a torpedoed frigate according to international law, a minister said Saturday, following reports Washington was pressuring Colombo to not repatriate them.
Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told a conference in New Delhi that Sri Lanka was caring for 32 sailors from the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena under Colombo's international treaty obligations.
The frigate was sunk by a US submarine on Wednesday just off Sri Lanka's southern coast.
Sri Lanka sent its navy to rescue survivors and recover 84 bodies.
Asked if Colombo was under pressure from the US to not repatriate the Iranians, Herath did not answer directly.
"We have taken all the steps according to international laws," Herath said.
Sri Lanka also provided safe haven to a second Iranian warship, the IRIS Bushehr, and evacuated its 219 crew a day after the Dena was torpedoed.
The ship was taken to Trincomalee on Sri Lanka's northeast coast after reporting engine problems.
India, meanwhile, said Saturday it had allowed a third Iranian warship, the IRIS Lavan, to dock in one of its ports on "humane" grounds after it too reported operational problems.
The three ships were part of a multi-national fleet review held by India before the war in the Middle East started last Saturday.
"I think it was the humane thing to do and I think we were guided by that principle," Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said.
The Lavan docked in the southwest Indian port of Kochi on Wednesday.
"A lot of the people on board were young cadets. They have disembarked and are in a nearby facility," said Jaishankar.
Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said this week that Colombo would follow the Hague Convention, which requires a neutral state to hold combatants of a warring state until hostilities end.
A senior administration official said Colombo was in talks with the International Committee of the Red Cross to deal with the survivors of the torpedoed ship.
International humanitarian law applied to the survivors from the Dena, an official said, and the wounded could be repatriated at their request.
Iranian diplomats in Colombo said they have asked for the remains of 84 sailors killed in the US attack to be taken back to Iran.
aj-sai/fox

US

War in the Middle East: latest developments

  • - Israeli orders evacuation - Israel's military on Saturday warned the remaining residents of Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah holds sway, to evacuate immediately in an Arab-language post on X. Earlier Israel ordered residents in a district of Lebanon's southern city of Tyre to evacuate ahead of strikes, saying it would "soon" target Hezbollah sites there.
  • Here are the latest events in the Middle East war on Saturday: - Israel tallies strikes - Israel's military said Saturday it had carried out around 3,400 strikes on Iran since the start of the war a week ago. 
  • - Israeli orders evacuation - Israel's military on Saturday warned the remaining residents of Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah holds sway, to evacuate immediately in an Arab-language post on X. Earlier Israel ordered residents in a district of Lebanon's southern city of Tyre to evacuate ahead of strikes, saying it would "soon" target Hezbollah sites there.
Here are the latest events in the Middle East war on Saturday:

Israel tallies strikes

Israel's military said Saturday it had carried out around 3,400 strikes on Iran since the start of the war a week ago. 
Earlier Saturday evening, it announced a fresh wave of strikes on Tehran, and an AFP journalist there reported massive explosions in the south of the city.

Turkey warning

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned against efforts to spark a civil war in Iran. "This is the most dangerous scenario," he told journalists.
Fidan also warned Iran over the ballistic missile launched from Iran towards Turkey earlier the week and intercepted by NATO.
"If this was a missile that lost its way, that's one thing. But if this is going to continue... our advice is: be careful, don't let anyone in Iran embark on such an adventure," he said.

Explosions in Iraq

Explosions were heard on Saturday night in Iraq's capital Baghdad, AFP journalists reported, including rockets fired at the US embassy, which were intercepted.
AFP journalists also reported explosions in the city of Erbil.

Iran to choose new supreme leader

A member of Iran's Assembly of Experts said Saturday the body would meet within a day to choose the country's next supreme leader, Iranian media reported.

Trump hails war progress

US President Donald Trump told Latin American leaders at a Florida summit: "We're doing very well in Iran, and you see the result."
Repeating his claim that Iran had been close to having a nuclear weapon, he added: "They're crazy and they would have used it. So we did the world a favour."
Earlier, in a post on his Truth Social Platform, he warned the United States would hit Iran "very hard" and threatened to expand strikes to include new targets.

IRGC aircraft targeted

Israel said it hit 16 military aircraft belonging to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in overnight strikes on Mehrabad airport, in Tehran.
The airport was hit as part of a wave of Israeli strikes on the Iranian cities of Tehran and Isfahan. Israeli and US attacks around Isfahan killed at least eight people, a provincial official said.

Strike hits base near Mosul

A strike, thought to be American, hit a military base of the former paramilitary coalition Hashed al-Shaabi in northern Iraq Saturday, two Hashed sources told AFP.
The factions of the Hashed al-Shaabi, or the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), which include pro-Iranian elements, are now integrated into the regular army.

Qatar intercepts missile

Qatar's defence ministry said Saturday its forces intercepted a missile, shortly after AFP journalists heard explosions and sirens sounded in central Doha.

US uses UK bases

Britain's government said the US had started using UK bases -- one in England, the other the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean -- for operations against Iran.
Its defence ministry said the US flights from the bases were for "specific defensive operations to prevent Iran firing missiles into the region".

Iran targets Iraqi Kurdistan

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they were targeting "separatist groups" in Iraq's Kurdistan region, which hosts bases operated by several Iranian Kurdish militant groups and which lies across the border from Iran's own Kurdish region.

Israeli orders evacuation

Israel's military on Saturday warned the remaining residents of Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah holds sway, to evacuate immediately in an Arab-language post on X.
Earlier Israel ordered residents in a district of Lebanon's southern city of Tyre to evacuate ahead of strikes, saying it would "soon" target Hezbollah sites there.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah -- which has joined in Iran's retaliation against Israel -- or "pay a very heavy price". 

Saudi warning

Saudi Arabia's Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman urged Iran to "avoid miscalculation", following missile and drone launches against the kingdom.
In a series of statements, the Saudi defence ministry said it had thwarted repeated missile launches at an air base which houses US military personnel and drone attacks at a major oil field.

Iran apology

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country would not surrender to Israel and the United States and apologised to neighbouring countries for Iran's attacks.
"No more attacks will be made on neighbouring countries and no missiles will be fired unless an attack on Iran originates from those countries," he said.

Oil tanker targeted

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Saturday they had targeted another oil tanker in the Gulf with a drone. 
The Guards earlier said they were "waiting" for US forces to escort ships through the strait.
burs-jj/yad

summit

Trump offers LatAm leaders US missile strikes to hit drug cartels

BY AURELIA END, WITH MATTHEW PENNINGTON IN WASHINGTON

  • The strained security situation has contributed to the right wing's recent string of electoral victories in Latin America and means the trend of US intervention has received less pushback than in the past, Mia told AFP. Trump urged regional leaders to use military force to stamp out criminal organizations, which he likened to a cancer, saying: "We don't want it spreading."
  • US President Donald Trump on Saturday urged Latin American nations to use military power against the "cancer" of drug cartels and offered to support them with US missile strikes targeting narco kingpins.
  • The strained security situation has contributed to the right wing's recent string of electoral victories in Latin America and means the trend of US intervention has received less pushback than in the past, Mia told AFP. Trump urged regional leaders to use military force to stamp out criminal organizations, which he likened to a cancer, saying: "We don't want it spreading."
US President Donald Trump on Saturday urged Latin American nations to use military power against the "cancer" of drug cartels and offered to support them with US missile strikes targeting narco kingpins.
Trump, currently waging a war with Iran, laid out a muscular position for advancing Washington's interests in the Western hemisphere, pronouncing that communist-led Cuba was "in its last moments of life" and advocating tough action by allies against organized crime blighting the region.
He formally launched a 17-nation "counter cartel" coalition which the White House described as a pledge from governments in the region to use "hard power" against security threats.
"We're working with you to do whatever we have to do. We'll use missiles. You want us to use a missile? They're extremely accurate," Trump told a dozen right-wing leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean at his Doral golf club near Miami.
"'Piu,' right into the living room," he said, suggesting the sound of a missile in flight. "That's the end of that cartel person. But we'll do whatever you need."
Trump has already staked bold claims in Latin America with the ouster of Venezuela's authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro and working with his replacement, Delcy Rodriguez, to claim Venezuelan oil reserves for America.
Among the leaders attending the "Shield of the Americas" summit are Argentina's libertarian President Javier Milei, Ecuador's Daniel Noboa and El Salvador's Nayib Bukele, who has arrested tens of thousands of people in a crackdown on gangs.
All three leaders posted to social media photos of them standing beside Trump. Noboa wrote in Spanish: "For too long, organized crime believed that America was its territory. That they could cross borders, move drugs, weapons, and violence without consequences. That time is over for them."
Irene Mia, a Latin America expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said drug cartel violence has hit countries in the region that until recently were considered fairly safe such as Ecuador and Chile.
The strained security situation has contributed to the right wing's recent string of electoral victories in Latin America and means the trend of US intervention has received less pushback than in the past, Mia told AFP.
Trump urged regional leaders to use military force to stamp out criminal organizations, which he likened to a cancer, saying: "We don't want it spreading."
"The only way to defeat these enemies is by unleashing the power of our militaries. We have to use our military,” he said.

'They have no money'

Trump doubled down on his recent warnings toward Cuba, which he has implied could be "next" after taking out leaders in Venezuela and Iran.
"I'll take care of Cuba," Trump told leaders.
"They have no money, they have no oil. They have a bad philosophy, they have a bad regime that's been bad for a long time," the US president said, adding, "Cuba's in its last moments of life."
That warning comes a week after Trump, with Israel, launched devastating strikes against Iran, sparking a regional conflict and bringing chaos to usually peaceful areas of the Gulf.
Also this week, the United States and Ecuador announced joint operations to combat drug trafficking and on Friday released video of a house exploding in a forested area of Ecuador, calling it a successful blow against "narcoterrorists."
In addition to Milei, Bukele and Noboa, Trump hosted the leaders of Bolivia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago -- as well as Jose Antonio Kast, the president-elect of Chile.
The analyst, Mia, pointed to some glaring absences: Mexico and Brazil, which are currently led by leftists Claudia Sheinbaum and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
"Without Mexico and Brazil, it's not going to be very successful in tackling those issues" of narcotrafficking and counterterrorism, she said, given that Mexican cartels play a key role in the trafficking supply chain and Brazil's ports are critical narco-trafficking routes to Europe.
gma-aue/jgc/msp/mlm

conflict

Russian strikes kill 12 across Ukraine

  • The Moscow-installed authorities of Ukraine's occupied Kherson region said one person was killed and four were wounded in a Ukrainian drone strike.
  • Russia fired a volley of missiles and drones across Ukraine overnight on Friday to Saturday, killing 12 people and wounding more than a dozen, including children.
  • The Moscow-installed authorities of Ukraine's occupied Kherson region said one person was killed and four were wounded in a Ukrainian drone strike.
Russia fired a volley of missiles and drones across Ukraine overnight on Friday to Saturday, killing 12 people and wounding more than a dozen, including children.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched 29 missiles and 480 drones, several of which targeted energy and railway infrastructure.
Authorities in Kharkiv, the second-largest city, said a ballistic missile strike destroyed a five-storey apartment block, killing 10 people.  
AFP reporters saw rescuers sifting through the debris, where several people were believed to be trapped.
"Since last night, the rubble of a residential building in Kharkiv is being cleared following a Russian ballistic missile strike," Zelensky said on social media. 
"It was a horrible strike," a "massive strike against civilians" on  "an ordinary high-rise building" that killed at least 10 people, including a 13-year-old girl and a nine-year-old boy, he said, adding that rescue teams were scouring the rubble for bodies.
"Russia has not abandoned its attempts to destroy Ukraine's residential and critical infrastructure," Zelensky added, urging the country's allies to continue providing military support.
The Ukrainian leader said he informed French President Emmanuel Macron about the consequences of the attacks during a phone conversation. 
During the call, Zelensky said it was important that a 90 billion euro ($105-billion) EU aid package as well as the next round of sanctions against Russia, currently blocked by Hungary, "are implemented".
Russia said it had carried out a "massive high-precision strike" against military targets in Ukraine. It routinely denies targeting civilian infrastructure.
The Russian army said earlier it had intercepted over 120 Ukrainian drones overnight. 
The Moscow-installed authorities of Ukraine's occupied Kherson region said one person was killed and four were wounded in a Ukrainian drone strike.

Air defence supplies

An air raid alert was triggered during the night across the entire country.
The Polish air force said on X it had scrambled military aircraft to protect its airspace in regions bordering Ukraine, as it usually does in the event of large‑scale Russian strikes.
One person died in Ukraine's eastern region of Dnipropetrovsk and three were wounded in the capital Kyiv, authorities said. 
In the Sumy region bordering Russia, a 24-year-old man died in his car when it was hit by a Russian drone, according to local officials. 
The drone barrages from either side follow on the heels of an exchange between Moscow and Kyiv of 500 prisoners of war each, in line with accords reached during the latest round of peace talks in Geneva. 
Negotiations appeared to have stalled amid a lack of progress and since the eruption of war in the Middle East.
Zelensky earlier warned that a prolonged Middle East conflict could hinder deliveries of US-made air defence missiles.
Ukraine is facing a shortage of expensive US PAC-3 air defence ammunition.
Zelensky has offered to the United States an exchange of Ukraine's drone interceptors for the missiles. 
He has also suggested sending drone specialists to help shield Washington's Gulf allies from Iranian drones.  
A delay in US missile supplies during winter made Ukraine's civil infrastructure more vulnerable to widespread Russian airstrikes that left hundreds of thousands without heating in freezing temperatures.
bur-asy/yad

US

Tehran residents keep up semblance of normality amid destruction

  • The city is at times granted breaks of a few peaceful hours before another string of explosions shatters the air.
  • For a moment Tehran resembled a city at peace, with birdsong, joggers and tranquil views of the snow-capped Alborz mountains in the distance.
  • The city is at times granted breaks of a few peaceful hours before another string of explosions shatters the air.
For a moment Tehran resembled a city at peace, with birdsong, joggers and tranquil views of the snow-capped Alborz mountains in the distance. Then the sound of another explosion ripped through the air. 
A week ago, opening strikes by the US and Israel killed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, upended residents' lives and transformed the city streets into a battleground.
In Tehran's west, a block that belonged to the security forces had been blasted apart, and the entire surrounding area was choked with rubble.
Bizarrely, a green gate and fence enclosing the site stood untouched.
None were surprised by the war, and few had believed the nuclear talks then taking place between Iran and the US would avert it.
The broad-daylight strike at the country's power centre was nevertheless a shock.
Chaotic scenes followed of panicked passers-by, parents scrambling to retrieve their children from school, queues at bakeries and endless traffic jams.
A week on, the noise and energy have ebbed, giving way to a rare, disquieting calm in a capital usually thronging with 10 million people.
The city is at times granted breaks of a few peaceful hours before another string of explosions shatters the air.

Mushroom clouds

Another block, this one in the city centre, had also been gutted.
Men stood guard, some of them heavily armed despite their apparent youth.
The blast was powerful enough to sow chaos through a nearby primary school, breaking windows and carpeting the playground with rocks and rubble.
Dust coated a row of motorbikes parked nearby.
In another neighbourhood, only the steel framework of a bombed-out building had survived, still supporting a massive antenna on the roof.
Local people busied themselves with clearing away the rubble and recovering a few possessions.
They loaded salvageable sofas and home appliances onto decrepit blue pickup trucks in the unmistakable 1960s design of local brand Zamyad.
On the horizon, yet another black mushroom cloud reached skywards.

'Ramadan War'

In the first days of the war, Tehran could seem like a ghost town.
But pedestrians were again venturing outdoors: a father walking with his daughter on a scooter, children playing with a ball, or locals sunning themselves in a park.
Runners and cyclists resumed their exercise. More shops were open again.
But the semblance of normality is skin-deep.
Along major roads, armed men in plain clothes and others in military fatigues and body armour inspected random cars at checkpoints.
The blockades made for traffic jams on the avenues, where other traffic was mostly restricted to scooters and delivery riders.
Forbidding armoured vehicles appeared on high alert, one of them flying the banner of the Islamic republic.
At prayer time, armed Revolutionary Guards checked the faithful as they filed into a mosque.
One week after his death, posters and placards bearing Khamenei's image were everywhere on the streets.
Some walls bore street art-style portraits in his honour that appeared in recent days.
In a neighbourhood grocery shop, one employee was anxiously following the latest in what state TV had dubbed the "Ramadan War" across the Middle East.
bur/tgb/dcp

US

Failed Israeli commando operation to find airman remains kills 41 in Lebanon

BY DYLAN COLLINS

  • The strikes on Nabi Sheet and its surroundings killed 41 people and wounded 40, Lebanon's health ministry said.
  • An Israeli special forces operation that failed to find the remains of airman Ron Arad, captured in Lebanon in 1986, killed 41 people and wounded 40 in eastern Lebanon.
  • The strikes on Nabi Sheet and its surroundings killed 41 people and wounded 40, Lebanon's health ministry said.
An Israeli special forces operation that failed to find the remains of airman Ron Arad, captured in Lebanon in 1986, killed 41 people and wounded 40 in eastern Lebanon.
Gutted buildings, torn-off roofs, munitions scattered on the ground surrounded a large crater in Nabi Sheet, the town that witnessed the operation which involved air strikes and clashes.
"The sounds of the explosions were like something out of a movie," Nabi Sheet resident Mohammed Mussa, 55, told AFP during a media tour organised by the Iran-backed group Hezbollah.
"We later understood that there was a commando operation underway."
The operation was met with "resistance", he said, referring to Hezbollah fighters in the area, adding that it had "escalated into clashes and attacks against the Israelis".
The explosions were powerful enough to send a car onto a building's second floor.
Another damaged home showed the shredded remains of posters of Hezbollah leaders.
The strikes on Nabi Sheet and its surroundings killed 41 people and wounded 40, Lebanon's health ministry said.
The Israeli military had issued evacuation warnings for the area at noon on Friday.
"With this warning, we prepared and evacuated the children from the town to protect them," Nabi Sheet mayor Hani Moussawi said.
Israel's military said Saturday it had carried out an operation overnight in Lebanon to find Arad's remains but had failed to uncover any trace of the navigator missing since 1986.
"No findings related to him were located... No IDF (military) injuries were reported," the army said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said later that while the operation did not yield any traces of Arad, Israel's commitment to tracking down all its missing servicemen remained "absolute and permanent". 
Lebanese military chief Rodolphe Haykal said the Israeli soldiers wore military uniforms similar to those of the Lebanese army and used military vehicles and ambulances similar to those of the Hezbollah-linked Islamic Health Authority.
Haykal added that Israeli attacks targeting Lebanon were hindering the implementation of the army's plan to disarm Hezbollah.

'Infiltration'

Hezbollah said earlier Saturday it had confronted Israeli troops that infiltrated an east Lebanon town overnight by helicopter.
The group said its fighters had "observed the infiltration of four Israeli enemy army helicopters from the Syrian direction".
After landing and disembarking, the advancing troops "were engaged" by Hezbollah fighters as they reached a cemetery in Nabi Sheet, it added.
"The clash escalated after the enemy force was exposed," Hezbollah said, adding that Israeli troops launched strikes before evacuating.
An AFP correspondent in eastern Lebanon, where Hezbollah holds sway, heard warplanes and intense gunfire throughout the night.
Lebanon's military said it witnessed a commando operation by Israeli forces, adding that "three soldiers and a number of civilians were killed as a result of the violent enemy shelling" that accompanied the attack.
Arad has been missing since he was captured after he ejected from his combat jet over Lebanon in 1986 as the aircraft went down.  
He is presumed dead, though his remains have never been returned.
Arad's wife Tami thanked the military but said the lives of soldiers should not be put "at risk" in the hunt for traces of her husband, Israeli media reported. 

'Resist'

In the town's cemetery, an AFP journalist saw a hole that looked like a dug-up grave, surrounded by other tombstones.
Earlier on Saturday, a Hezbollah official in the Bekaa region, where Nabi Sheet is located, told AFP that the cemetery the Israelis raided belonged to the Shukr family.
Last month, Lebanese authorities charged four people with kidnapping Ahmad Shukr -- whose brother Hassan is suspected of involvement in Arad's capture -- on behalf of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency.
As the Israelis withdrew after the failed operation, mayor Moussawi said "the bombing became indiscriminate and very heavy, resulting in destruction in dozens of locations".
"It cost a great deal: infrastructure, destruction and the blood of our sons," he added, insisting however that "as long as Israel exists, we will continue to resist it".
Israel has launched numerous strikes and sent ground troops into Lebanon since Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel to avenge the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Lebanon's health ministry on Saturday said Israeli attacks on the country had killed nearly 300 people since Monday.
burs-del/lba/nad/amj/rh

vote

Rapper-turned-politician Shah unseats former Nepal PM in own constituency

BY AISHWARYA KUMAR WITH PAAVAN MATHEMA IN KATHAMANDU

  • The first-time parliamentary lawmaker toured the streets of his new constituency on Saturday evening, wearing his signature dark sunglasses and waving from the sunroof of a car in a victory parade through cheering crowds who chanted "Balen" -- as he is better known.
  • Nepal's rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah grinned and flashed a V-for-victory sign on Saturday as Election Commission officials confirmed he had beaten veteran leader KP Sharma Oli in their parliamentary constituency. 
  • The first-time parliamentary lawmaker toured the streets of his new constituency on Saturday evening, wearing his signature dark sunglasses and waving from the sunroof of a car in a victory parade through cheering crowds who chanted "Balen" -- as he is better known.
Nepal's rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah grinned and flashed a V-for-victory sign on Saturday as Election Commission officials confirmed he had beaten veteran leader KP Sharma Oli in their parliamentary constituency. 
The 35-year-old's party is also seemingly headed for a landslide victory nationally.
His win over the 74-year-old Marxist leader -- and his rise from the capital's mayor to potential prime minister -- is one of the most dramatic results in recent Nepali politics.
The first-time parliamentary lawmaker toured the streets of his new constituency on Saturday evening, wearing his signature dark sunglasses and waving from the sunroof of a car in a victory parade through cheering crowds who chanted "Balen" -- as he is better known.
Shah, who did not make a speech, won more than three times the votes than four-time prime minister.
The high-stakes election on Thursday came six months after deadly protests toppled the government led by Oli, with at least 77 people killed.
The September 2025 youth-led demonstrations, under a loose Gen Z banner, began over a brief social media ban but quickly tapped into broader grievances over corruption and a struggling economy.
Oli congratulated Balen on social media platform X later on Saturday, conceding defeat.
"Congratulations! Wish you a smooth and successful five-year tenure," Oli said. 
Nationwide, Shah's centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was on track to win a majority in the 275-member House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament, according to early trends issued by the Election Commission, although counting still has far to go.
"This is heading to a landslide victory -- this reflects the frustration that has been building up," said political analyst Chandra Dev Bhatta.
"It is actually the people's revolt against the established political parties," he said.
"The people understand that the new do not really have strong agendas, but it is a punishment to the parties for their decades-long poor governance."

'A day will come'

Shah leveraged his music fame and strong social media following to become Kathmandu's first independent mayor in 2022.
Rojan Bhattarai, 22, a student in Jhapa, said Shah was "a performer".
"I was 99.99 percent sure he will win, but the majority is shocking. That shows how much the people were upset with the previous government," Bhattarai told AFP.
"He has inspired us all."
There were 76 declared results by Saturday evening. RSP took 61, Nepali Congress won nine, and Oli's Marxist party was trailing with three.
Former Maoist guerrilla commander Pushpa Kamal Dahal's party has one.
Trends showed Shah's RSP was also leading in 61 of the remaining 89 constituencies in the direct elections.
It had secured comfortably more than half of the ballots counted so far in the proportional representation vote, which determines a further 110 seats through party lists.
Election Commission spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai said RSP has "taken the lead in many places", but that full results were still days away.
"According to our plan, it will take at least a week to count the proportional votes, after which the election will go through the official process," he said.    
He said the count was "going smoothly" across the Himalayan nation, from snowbound mountain regions to the hot plains bordering India.
Nepali Congress, the largest party in the past coalition government, also saw its new leader, Gagan Thapa, trailing in his constituency.
"This is even a bigger upset than we expected -- it underscores the level of public disenchantment with the old parties for under-performance, as well as anger over the events of September," said Kunda Dixit, publisher of the weekly Nepali Times.
The burnt-out ruins of Oli's home in Jhapa -- torched during the unrest, like hundreds of other buildings, including parliament -- served as a reminder of last year's deadly violence.
Dharmakala Gautam, 74, who watched the house burn, said she was tired of promises that never materialised.
"When the Maoists came to rule, we hoped for change -- but not much happened," she said. "I will keep some hope this time too."
ash-pm-pjm/pbt

conflict

Russia rains missiles and drones on Ukraine, killing six

  • An air‑raid alert was triggered during the night across all of Ukraine due to Russian raids.
  • Russia pummelled Ukraine with drone and missile attacks overnight, killing six people and triggering air alerts across the country, officials said Saturday.
  • An air‑raid alert was triggered during the night across all of Ukraine due to Russian raids.
Russia pummelled Ukraine with drone and missile attacks overnight, killing six people and triggering air alerts across the country, officials said Saturday.
The bodies of five people were found in the rubble of an apartment block in the eastern Kharkiv region, hit by a ballistic missile, while one person was killed in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
"Following the enemy attack, part of a five‑storey residential building in the Kyivsky district of Kharkiv was practically destroyed. A nearby house was also damaged," the head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, Oleg Synegubov, said on Telegram. 
Kharkiv mayor Igor Terekhov said five people died and 10 were injured, including two boys, aged six and 11, as well as a 17‑year‑old girl.
In Dnipropetrovsk, the head of the regional administration, Oleksandr Ganzha, said one person had been killed and another wounded in a Russian attack in the Nikopol district.
Ganzha said the Russian army targeted the area around 20 times using drones, artillery, and rockets.
In Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine, a Russian drone strike wounded a baby, the head of the regional administration, Ivan Fedorov, said.
In Chuguiv, in the Kharkiv region, Mayor Halyna Minayeva said two people were injured in a drone attack on a house in the city's centre.
An air‑raid alert was triggered during the night across all of Ukraine due to Russian raids.
The Polish air force said on X it had scrambled military aircraft to protect its airspace in regions bordering Ukraine, as it usually does in the event of large‑scale Russian strikes.
bur-roc/ach

Israel

Rising US fuel prices risk sparking domestic wildfire for Trump

BY ASAD HASHIM, WITH SARAH LAI IN LOS ANGELES

  • Robinson, the schoolteacher, said he will be watching gas prices every day now.
  • Sean Robinson, a 54-year-old schoolteacher in the US capital Washington, did not realize how high gas prices had gotten until he arrived at the pump on Friday.
  • Robinson, the schoolteacher, said he will be watching gas prices every day now.
Sean Robinson, a 54-year-old schoolteacher in the US capital Washington, did not realize how high gas prices had gotten until he arrived at the pump on Friday.
"That is a sizeable jump," he told AFP, pointing to a neon sign showing $3.27 for a gallon of regular gasoline. 
Robinson is among US consumers feeling the sting of a cost surge sparked by the US-Israel war on Iran, which sent oil prices soaring as Tehran effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz after being attacked.
But the price hike comes at a politically sensitive time for President Donald Trump as midterm elections approach, hitting voters hard.
Expensive gasoline could also prompt the independent central bank to put the brakes on the world's largest economy as it battles stubborn inflation.
Since last week, US average domestic fuel prices have risen 11 percent, according to the AAA's fuel price gauge.
It is the kind of move that Robinson said will have him cutting down on all but the essentials.
"It just determines what I'm going to do on a day-to-day basis," he said. "Pretty much start thinking about (watching) Netflix, staying in the house instead of burning gas."
Others at the gas station agreed.
"It impacts all areas of life," said Toloria Washington, 39. "We are in a state of survival mode."

'It's the basics'

Washington, who works in finance, said fuel expenses are non-negotiable for her. With prices rising at the pump, she had to make cuts elsewhere.
That, she said, is a problem for people already battered by years of high prices post-pandemic.
"That's the key thing, it's tapping into everybody's basics," she added. "It's the basics. Daily survival of food, water, housing."
US inflation hit a peak of 9.1 percent during the pandemic. While it has cooled since then, analysts warn of risks of another pick-up.
"Inflation showed signs of accelerating prior to the jump in energy prices," said KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk.
"That has left consumers in a sour mood," she added.
Swonk warned that rising fuel prices added "insult to injury" for low-income Americans, who are already seeing higher healthcare costs and a tightening of welfare benefits under Trump.
Trump, who has bragged about oil prices falling during his term, sought to address the political fallout on Friday, telling CNN he expected prices to come down quickly.
His Republican party holds only a slim majority in both the House and Senate.
With midterm elections due in November, he will be hoping that voters do not let tightening household budgets weaken his political position.

Fed's 'dueling mandate'

Trump could see further complications if inflation from gasoline price hikes pushes the Fed to respond by keeping interest rates at a higher level.
The central bank has a dual mandate of maintaining stable prices and maximum employment, but has one main tool to do so -- adjusting interest rates.
Raising them generally cools economic activity and reduces inflation while lowering them can spur activity, boosting the weakening employment market.
The prospect of more inflation due to oil prices raises the specter of what some analysts call a nightmare scenario.
"This could not come at a worse time for the Federal Reserve," said KPMG's Swonk. "It now has a dueling mandate with the risk that inflation not only lingers but accelerates."
Fed policymakers remain cautious.
Addressing higher domestic energy prices on Friday, Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller told Bloomberg TV he considered them "unlikely to cause sustained inflation."
But this is scant consolation for many Americans hit by even a temporary bout of price increases.
"One thing after another, it's chaos, you know, every day," said Lucas Tamaren, 32, at a gas pump in Los Angeles.
"Living in America feels unpredictable and chaotic and it's hard."
Robinson, the schoolteacher, said he will be watching gas prices every day now. He expects price pressures will be reflected at the voting booth in November.
"The more you pay higher gas, higher groceries (costs)," he said, voters will "start to see" that the middle class is shrinking.
aha-myl-sl/bys/sla

conflict

Russian strike on Kharkiv apartment block kills three

  • "Due to missile attacks by the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory, military aviation has begun operating in our airspace," the Operational Command of the Armed Forces posted on X. Ukraine issued a nationwide air alert.
  • Ukraine said three people were killed in Russian strikes on an apartment block early Saturday, triggering a nationwide air alert and prompting neighbouring Poland to scramble military planes.
  • "Due to missile attacks by the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory, military aviation has begun operating in our airspace," the Operational Command of the Armed Forces posted on X. Ukraine issued a nationwide air alert.
Ukraine said three people were killed in Russian strikes on an apartment block early Saturday, triggering a nationwide air alert and prompting neighbouring Poland to scramble military planes.
Kharkiv mayor Igor Terekhov said that rescuers had found the bodies of three people in the rubble of the residential building in the Kyivskyi district of Kharkiv.
Ten people were wounded in the attack, including two boys aged six and 11, and a 17-year-old girl, regional military chief Oleg Synegubov posted on Telegram.
It was not immediately clear whether the three dead were among those wounded.
He said rescuers were searching for up to 10 other people, including a child, who were feared trapped under the rubble of the five-story building, which was "practically destroyed" in the strikes.
NATO member Poland said it was scrambling military planes in response to the attack.
"Due to missile attacks by the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory, military aviation has begun operating in our airspace," the Operational Command of the Armed Forces posted on X.
Ukraine issued a nationwide air alert.
In the city of Chuhuiv in the Kharkiv region, Mayor Galyna Minaeva said two people were wounded in an "enemy drone attack" on a house.
bur-roc/lpa/cms/tc

Global Edition

Paralympics open with Russian athletes booed in ceremony

BY TAIMAZ SZIRNIKS WITH NEIL FULTON IN CORTINA D'AMPEZZO

  • With war now also raging in the Middle East, it was the third time in four editions that the Winter Paralympics have opened with a conflict having started in the days preceding the Games.
  • The Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics started on Friday with an opening ceremony marked by Russian athletes being booed as they paraded behind their national flag for the first time since 2014.
  • With war now also raging in the Middle East, it was the third time in four editions that the Winter Paralympics have opened with a conflict having started in the days preceding the Games.
The Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics started on Friday with an opening ceremony marked by Russian athletes being booed as they paraded behind their national flag for the first time since 2014.
Despite Russia's ongoing war with Ukraine, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has allowed six Russian athletes and four from their allies Belarus to represent their countries, accompanied by their national flags, rather than competing as neutrals.
The move sparked a major backlash with Ukraine, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland all boycotting the ceremony in the historic Verona Arena.
IPC president Andrew Parsons justified the decision by citing the vote taken by the organisation's General Assembly last September, in favour of Russia and Belarus returning under their flags for the first time since 2014.
With war now also raging in the Middle East, it was the third time in four editions that the Winter Paralympics have opened with a conflict having started in the days preceding the Games.
"Four years ago, I said I was horrified at what was happening in the world," Parsons said during the opening ceremony.
"Unfortunately, the situation has not changed. In a world where some countries are better known by the names of their leaders, I prefer to know countries by the names of their athletes."
In the presence of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Italian President Sergio Mattarella, the ceremony started with a drumming performance from Stewart Copeland of The Police.
After a stripped-back performance of the national anthem of Italy, the athletes parade got under way flanked by volunteers.
Most nations boasted no more than two athletes during the parade, while videos were also displayed on stage of some members of certain delegations that were unable to attend due to sporting action in the Games starting at 0830 GMT on Saturday.
The Russian delegation of four athletes was booed by sections of the spectators, as well as some volunteers in the arena.
The boycotting nations were represented by two volunteers carrying the countries' flags but no athletes or dignitaries paraded with them.
The sight of the Ukrainian flag was greeted by a long round of applause in the arena.

'Message of peace'

In his speech, the president of the local organising committee Giovanni Malago said: "The message of peace, inclusion, and solidarity at the heart of the Olympic and Paralympic movement is more meaningful and more important than ever."
The Paralympics follow the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics that closed on February 22.
As Russia returns to competition under its own colours and with the US and Israel beginning their war on Iran during the Olympic truce period, the fear of many is that the extraordinary feats and stories of over 600 athletes could be lost on the 50th anniversary of the Paralympics.
The IPC announced earlier on Friday that Iran's sole competitor, Aboulfazl Khatibi Mianaei, had been forced to pull out of the Games due to the ongoing war.
"It is really disappointing for world sport and especially for Aboulfazl that he is unable to travel safely to compete at his third Paralympic Winter Games," Parsons said in a statement.
Athletes will compete in six different sports spread across three sites, in the north of Italy, until March 15.
The Dolomite ski resort of Cortina will play host to most of the action as it welcomes the wheelchair curling, para alpine skiing and para snowboarding.
Milan's Santagiulia Arena will be the setting for the para ice hockey, while para biathlon and para cross-country skiing events will take place in Val di Fiemme.
Once the action starts, one star to watch will be British para snowboarder Davy Zyw, who will become the first snowsport athlete with motor neurone disease to compete in a Paralympics.
Double Summer Paralympic gold medallist Lauren Parker will make her Winter Games debut when she represents Australia in the biathlon and cross-country events.
El Salvador's cross-country skier David Chavez will make history when he becomes the first person from the Central American country to take part in a Winter Games -- either Olympics or Paralympics.
nf/gj

US

War in the Middle East: latest developments

  • - Israel launches 'broad-scale' strikes - The Israeli military said Saturday it had launched a "broad-scale wave of strikes" on targets in Tehran, as the Iranian state broadcaster reported an explosion in the western part of the capital. 
  • Here are the latest events in the Middle East war on Saturday: - Blasts in Dubai, Manama - AFP journalists heard explosions in Dubai and Bahrain's capital, Manama, on Saturday, one week into Iran's retaliatory attacks on targets around the Gulf.
  • - Israel launches 'broad-scale' strikes - The Israeli military said Saturday it had launched a "broad-scale wave of strikes" on targets in Tehran, as the Iranian state broadcaster reported an explosion in the western part of the capital. 
Here are the latest events in the Middle East war on Saturday:

Blasts in Dubai, Manama

AFP journalists heard explosions in Dubai and Bahrain's capital, Manama, on Saturday, one week into Iran's retaliatory attacks on targets around the Gulf.
A warning siren sounded in Manama, with Bahrain's interior ministry urging residents in an X post to "head to the nearest safe place".

US approves weapons to Israel

The US State Department approved the "emergency" sale of 12,000 bomb casings to Israel on Friday as the countries engage Iran in an escalating Middle East war. 
"The proposed sale will improve Israel's capability to meet current and future threats, strengthen its homeland defense, and serve as a deterrent to regional threats," the State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs said.

Israel responding to missile attacks

The Israeli military said that air defenses were responding to Iranian missile attacks on Saturday that sparked air raid alerts across the country.
Iran has been striking Israel in retaliation for the US-Israeli campaign that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and has pounded sites around the country.

Clashes on Lebanon-Syria border

Lebanese official media said on Saturday that clashes had erupted on the Lebanon-Syria border as Israel attempted a landing operation, with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah saying its fighters were involved.
Israel has sent troops into Lebanon since Tehran-backed Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on Monday to avenge the killing of Khamenei.

Saudi Arabia intercepts attacks

Saudi Arabia's defense ministry said Saturday it intercepted a ballistic missile fired at an air base which houses US military personnel, as Iran pressed attacks across the Gulf.
The oil-rich nation's state news agency said it thwarted a drone attack on an oilfield near the Emirati border, following at least two reported drone attacks earlier this week that targeted the Ras Tanura refinery in the east.

Israel launches 'broad-scale' strikes

The Israeli military said Saturday it had launched a "broad-scale wave of strikes" on targets in Tehran, as the Iranian state broadcaster reported an explosion in the western part of the capital. 
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said earlier it had detected another round of Iranian missiles headed towards Israel after a series of explosions were heard in the Israeli commercial hub of Tel Aviv following the Iranian launches. 

Israel says Iran using cluster bombs

Israel accused Iran on Friday of launching cluster munitions "multiple times" since the start of the war -- referring to bombs that explode in mid-air and scatter bomblets.
Iran and Israel are not party to a convention that prohibits the use, transfer, production and storage of cluster bombs -- which can cause casualties over time, particularly children, as some of them do not explode on impact.

Russia feeds Iran intel, US 'aware'

The White House downplayed a report Friday that Russia was helping Iran target US forces in the Middle East, with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth telling CBS News's "60 Minutes" program that "our commanders are aware of everything."
The Washington Post, citing officials familiar with the intelligence, said Russia has provided Iran with the locations of US military assets, including ships and aircraft. 

Iran rejects Trump's succession overtures

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations condemned US interference on Friday, after President Donald Trump insisted that he should be involved in selecting the successor of Khamenei.
"The selection of Iran's leadership will take place strictly in accordance with our constitutional procedures and solely by the will of the Iranian people, without any foreign interference," Amir Saeid Iravani told reporters in New York.

US to boost weapons production

Major US defense companies have agreed to quadruple production of advanced weapons, Trump said.
The United States struck more than 3,000 targets during the first week of the conflict, the military said.

Oil prices surge

Crude prices surged on mounting fears about oil supply disruption as the US-Israel strikes and Tehran's retaliatory attacks across the Gulf region upended the world's energy and transport sectors.
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 12 percent to $90.92 a barrel on Friday, topping off the biggest weekly gain on record.

Rockets target Baghdad airport complex

Rockets targeted the Baghdad airport complex that hosts a military base and a US diplomatic facility.
A shadowy group called Saraya Awliyaa al-Dam (Guardians of Blood), which claims to be part of the Tehran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq, said it was behind the attack on the base.

Trump to attend return of dead troops

Trump said Friday he will attend the arrival of the remains of six soldiers killed in an Iranian attack on Kuwait, the first US dead from the Middle East war.
The troops "returning home for the last time," as Trump put it, were killed when a drone struck in Kuwait's southern industrial hub of Port Shuaiba.

UN peacekeepers wounded in Lebanon

Several Ghanaian members of a United Nations peacekeeping were wounded when their base was hit in southern Lebanon, state media reported, without specifying the source of the attack.
Israel has been hitting southern Lebanon in its battle against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.

Trump demands 'unconditional surrender'

Trump demanded Iran's "unconditional surrender" as the only acceptable outcome to end the Middle East war, promising to help rebuild the country's economy if it complied.
His new stance appeared to be a major expansion of US aims for the war, which Washington has previously said was focused on Iran's missile program and naval forces.

UN chief slams 'unlawful attacks'

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned "unlawful attacks" across the Middle East and warned that the war could spiral out of control.
Guterres said the crisis was causing "tremendous suffering and harm" and posed a "grave risk" to the global economy.

Only nine commercial ships navigate Hormuz

Just nine oil tankers, cargo and container ships have been recorded passing through the Strait of Hormuz since Monday, according to MarineTraffic data analyzed by AFP.
Nearly 20 percent of the world's crude oil and about 20 percent of liquefied natural gas (LNG) usually transit the waterway, but the conflict has virtually shut it down.

France deploys helicopter carrier

France has sent a helicopter carrier to the Mediterranean in response to the war, the French military told AFP.
Paris decided to deploy its flagship aircraft carrier and a frigate earlier in the week.
burs-cms/jm/fox

US

Questions over AI capability as tech guides Iran strikes

BY TIPHAINE LE LIBOUX AND THOMAS URBAIN

  • Neither the United States nor Israel has acknowledged responsibility for the strike.
  • The latest bout of fighting between the United States, Israel and Iran has seen AI deployed as never before to sift intelligence and select targets, although the technology's use in war remains hotly debated.
  • Neither the United States nor Israel has acknowledged responsibility for the strike.
The latest bout of fighting between the United States, Israel and Iran has seen AI deployed as never before to sift intelligence and select targets, although the technology's use in war remains hotly debated.
Different forms of artificial intelligence have reportedly been used to guide the Israeli campaign in Gaza and the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in an American raid.
And experts believe the technology has helped select targets for the thousands of US and Israeli strikes on Iran since February 28 -- although exact uses have yet to be confirmed.
Today "every military power of any significance invests hugely in military applications of AI," said Laure de Roucy-Rochegonde of French think tank IFRI.
"Almost any military function can be boosted with AI," from "logistics to reconnaissance, observation, information warfare, electronic warfare and cybersecurity," she added.
AI tools can also be found built into semi-autonomous attack drones and other weapons.
But one of their best-known uses is in shortening the so-called "kill chain", the time and decision-making between detecting a target and striking it.
US forces use the Maven Smart System (MSS) built by Palantir, which the company says can identify and prioritise potential targets.
The Washington Post reported this week that Anthropic's Claude generative AI model has been integrated with Maven to boost the tool's detection and simulation capabilities.
Palantir and Anthropic did not respond to AFP's requests for comment.
AI algorithms "allow us to move much faster in handling information, and above all to be more comprehensive," said Bertrand Rondepierre, head of the French army's AI agency AMIAD.
The technology can sift through vast quantities of data, including "satellite images, radar, electromagnetic waves, sound, drone images and sometimes real-time video," he added.

Human control

AI's deployment in war poses a slew of moral and legal questions, notably on the extent of human control over their actions.
The debate was brought to the fore during the fighting in Gaza, where Israeli forces used a programme dubbed "Lavender" to identify targets -- within a certain margin of error.
That application worked "because it covered a very limited area", de Roucy-Rochegonde said.
Israel also has a "mass surveillance system" that could feed data about the enclave's inhabitants into Lavender.
"It seems less likely that such a system has been set up in Iran," she added.
"If something does go wrong, then who's responsible?" Peter Asaro, chair of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control (ICRAC), said in an interview with AFP.
The widely reported bombing of an Iranian school -- which authorities there say killed 150 people -- could be a case of mistaken AI targeting, he added.
Neither the United States nor Israel has acknowledged responsibility for the strike.
AFP was unable to reach the scene of the school to verify what happened there.
But the site was close to two facilities controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Tehran's powerful ideological elite.
"They didn't distinguish it from the military base as they should have, (but) who is they?" he asked -- human or machine?
If AI was used, he argued that the key question is "how old was the data" used for the targeting, and whether the misdirected strike stemmed from "a database error".

Step by step

Rondepierre said that AIs "operating without anyone being in control" are "science fiction".
In France, at least, "military commanders are at the heart of the action and the design of these systems," he insisted.
"No military decision-maker would agree to use an AI if he didn't have trust in and control over what it's doing," Rondepierre added.
"They know what the risks involved are, what the capabilities of these systems are and what contexts they can use them in, with what level of trust."
Today was just the "beginning" on use of AI by the world's armed forces, said Benjamin Jensen of Washington-based think tank CSIS, who has taken part in tests of AI in military decision-making over the past decade.
The world's armies "haven't fundamentally rethought how we plan, how we conduct operations, to take advantage" of AI's capabilities, he added.
"It's going to take a generation for us to really figure this out."
tu-tll/tgb/ah/pdw/cms

US

Vibes war? Trump pitches Iran conflict on 'feeling'

BY AURéLIA END

  • She replied that the president had acted because he "had a good feeling that the Iranian regime was going to strike United States assets and our personnel in the region."
  • Donald Trump has plunged the United States into its most significant conflict in decades over a "feeling."
  • She replied that the president had acted because he "had a good feeling that the Iranian regime was going to strike United States assets and our personnel in the region."
Donald Trump has plunged the United States into its most significant conflict in decades over a "feeling." It's not his political opponents saying this, but the White House itself. 
Throughout the first week of the war with Iran, the US president has prioritized impulse and emotion over explanations and reasoning.
"I hope you're impressed," Trump, a former reality TV host, told an ABC News reporter on Thursday. "How do you like the performance?"
Official government accounts are posting clips on social media that present the military operation like a video game, often with sharp captions that would suit a blockbuster war film. 
"This could be the first war ever launched based on vibes," joked American comedian and talk show host Jimmy Fallon this week. 
Journalists on Wednesday bombarded White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt with questions about what motivated US military intervention -- which Trump oversaw from his luxury Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. 
She replied that the president had acted because he "had a good feeling that the Iranian regime was going to strike United States assets and our personnel in the region."

'Incoherent, immoral, arrogant'

Experts said the Trump administration has taken a new approach in how it has sought to justify and communicate the military action to the public.
Sean Aday, a public relations professor at George Washington University, said he has "never seen worse messaging in wartime from a US administration."
"It's been a combination of incoherent, immoral, arrogant, amateurish, and at times trafficked in outright fabrication," he told AFP. 
Aday contrasted it with ex-president George W. Bush's attempts to justify the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, whose administration spent "nearly a year and a half trying to persuade the public it was necessary."
Richard Haass, a former US diplomat, pointed to how Trump has largely ignored formal national security processes, "having spent the better part of the last year hollowing out the national security apparatus."
The National Security Council, a body that helps the president shape his diplomatic and military strategy, has been significantly downsized since Trump returned to power in January 2025. 
Marco Rubio now combines the roles of secretary of state and national security adviser -- positions that were previously separate.

Contradictory comments

Trump has been vague about both the reason for entering a war with Iran and the objectives being pursued.
Instead of holding press conferences he has given several short phone interviews with reporters, producing a mosaic of contradictory comments. 
And while his cabinet members state Washington is not seeking regime change, the US president has insisted that he should be involved in choosing Iran's next supreme leader after the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Trump has also brushed aside economic concerns from the conflict which has driven up the price of gasoline -- a potential vulnerability for his Republican party ahead of midterm elections this year. 
A poll released Wednesday by NBC shows that 52 percent of US voters oppose the military action in Iran.
By contrast, the start of the war in Afghanistan in 2001 was met with strong approval, and the public initially supported the offensive launched in Iraq. 
But on both Afghanistan and Iraq, negative opinions grew as the conflicts dragged on.
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