Global Edition

Far right eyes comeback as Chile presidential polls close

politics

Hong Kong court to deliver verdicts on media mogul Jimmy Lai

  • He became a prime target after Beijing imposed the sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, a year after huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in the finance hub.
  • Long-awaited verdicts in Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai's national security trial will be delivered on Monday, one of the city's most closely watched rulings since its return to Chinese rule in 1997.
  • He became a prime target after Beijing imposed the sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, a year after huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in the finance hub.
Long-awaited verdicts in Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai's national security trial will be delivered on Monday, one of the city's most closely watched rulings since its return to Chinese rule in 1997.
Around 80 people queued outside the West Kowloon court building at dawn, some describing themselves as supporters anxious about Lai's wellbeing.
"I really want to see what's happening with 'the boss', to see if his health has deteriorated," said Tammy Cheung, who worked at Lai's newspaper for nearly two decades.
The case has grown into a wedge between Beijing and many Western nations, with US President Donald Trump reportedly calling for Lai's release during a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in October.
The Apple Daily founder has pleaded not guilty to two counts of "conspiracy to foreign collusion" under the security law, which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, as well as one count of "conspiracy to publish seditious publications".
Lai turned 78 last week and once described himself as a "born rebel". He defied the Chinese Communist Party for years while amassing millions from his clothing and media empires.
He became a prime target after Beijing imposed the sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, a year after huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in the finance hub.
High Court judges Esther Toh, Alex Lee and Susana D'Almada Remedios will begin delivering their verdicts at 10 am (0200 GMT).
If found guilty, Lai will likely be sentenced at a later date and can appeal.
Beijing said Friday it "firmly supports" Hong Kong in "safeguarding national security" from criminal acts.
Lai is a British citizen, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces pressure from rights groups to secure his release.
Before Monday's verdict, another former Apple Daily employee surnamed Chan recalled that Lai wished for a "free and democratic China".
"He loved the country a lot, he just didn't love the regime. (The situation) is absurd," Chan told AFP outside court.

Health concerns

Lai has been jailed since December 31, 2020, and the state of his health is contested by his family and authorities.
He last appeared in court in August, fitted with a heart rate monitor after lawyers said he had palpitations.
Lai gave spirited courtroom testimony and was quick to respond to, and even bicker with, prosecutors and judges.
His daughter Claire told AFP last week that Lai, a diabetic, had "lost a very significant amount of weight" and showed nail and teeth decay.
The Hong Kong government said Friday Lai has received "adequate and comprehensive" care and that "no complaints" had been raised.
Authorities also confirmed that Lai had been held in solitary confinement, but said that "has all along been made at his own request".

Sprawling trial

Prosecutors accused Lai of masterminding a conspiracy involving Apple Daily's senior management, citing 161 items the outlet published.
Those items, which included op-eds with Lai's byline and online talk shows he hosted, were deemed seditious under a colonial-era law because they "excited disaffection" against the government.
Some of the items also breached the later national security law by asking foreign countries to impose "sanctions or blockade" or take "hostile activities" against Hong Kong or China.
Lai was grilled for days over his political connections in the United States, Britain and Taiwan, including a 2019 meeting with then-US vice president Mike Pence.
Prosecutors also accused Lai of being the mastermind and financial backer of the protest group "Stand with Hong Kong, Fight for Freedom".
Lai countered that he had never sought to influence other countries' foreign policies through his overseas contacts. 
He also distanced himself from violence and separatism, saying Apple Daily represented Hongkongers' core values: "rule of law, freedom, pursuit of democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly".
Apple Daily was forced to close in 2021 after police raids and the arrests of senior editors.
Six top executives were charged as co-defendants and have already pleaded guilty.
bur/abs

Global Edition

Far-right candidate Kast wins Chile presidential election

BY ANDREW BEATTY

  • Jara called Kast to concede defeat, she said on X shortly after first results were released, adding that voters had spoken "loud and clear."
  • Chilean voters elected the most right-wing president in 35 years of democracy on Sunday, with official results showing arch-conservative Jose Antonio Kast with a thumping victory and his rival quickly conceding defeat.
  • Jara called Kast to concede defeat, she said on X shortly after first results were released, adding that voters had spoken "loud and clear."
Chilean voters elected the most right-wing president in 35 years of democracy on Sunday, with official results showing arch-conservative Jose Antonio Kast with a thumping victory and his rival quickly conceding defeat.
With about 80 percent of the votes counted, Kast had 58 percent of the vote, an unassailable lead over Jeannette Jara, a Communist Party member heading a broad leftist coalition.
In central Santiago, Kast supporters beeped car horns, waved flags and cheered a man who once openly defended the bloody dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
Kast campaigned on promises to expel hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, close the northern border, tackle high rates of violent crime and restart a stalled economy.
Once one of the safest and most prosperous countries in the Americas, Chile has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, violent social protests and an influx of organized crime groups.
"I have high expectations that he will fix the immigration issue," said 42-year-old social worker Maribel Saavedra.
It is the latest victory for Latin America's right, after winning elections in Argentina, Bolivia, Honduras, El Salvador and Ecuador.
For Kast, a 59-year-old father of nine, it was a lucky third attempt for the presidency.
Jara called Kast to concede defeat, she said on X shortly after first results were released, adding that voters had spoken "loud and clear."

'Extreme measures'

After casting his vote near Santiago and taking a selfie with supporters, Kast promised to seek unity after a sometimes bitter campaign: "The winner will have to be the president of all Chileans."
Kast is far to the right of most Chileans on many social issues, including abortion, which he opposes without exceptions.
But many Chileans fed up with high crime and slow growth during four years of leftist rule said they would vote for change, despite misgivings.
Santiago homemaker Ursula Villalobos, 44, said she planned to vote for Kast and was willing to accept some radical changes if they bring safety.
"What's important," she told AFP, "is that people can leave their homes without fear and return at night without worrying that something will happen to them on street corners."
Polls show more than 60 percent of Chileans thought security is the top issue facing the country -- far eclipsing issues like the economy, healthcare or education.
And while statistics show that violent crime -- fueled by Venezuelan, Peruvian, Colombian and Ecuadoran gangs -- has risen in the last 10 years, fears about crime have risen even faster.

'Pinochet out of uniform'

Kast's hardline positions have also raised fears that he will edge Chile back toward a dictatorship that killed or disappeared more than 3,000 of its own citizens and tortured many thousands more.
"I'm fearful because I think we are going to have a lot of repression," said 71-year-old retiree Cecilia Mora, who said that "under no circumstances" would she vote for Kast.
"The candidate of the right reminds me a lot of the dictatorship. I lived through the dictatorship. I was young, but I lived through it, suffered through it.
"I see him as a Pinochet out of uniform," she said.
Pinochet left power in 1990, after Chileans rejected a bid to extend his 17-year rule via referendum.
As a university student, Kast campaigned for the pro-Pinochet vote.
His family background has also raised questions. Media investigations have revealed that Kast's German-born father was a member of Adolf Hitler's Nazi party and a soldier during World War II.
Kast insists his father was a forced conscript and did not support the Nazis.

 Incumbent blues

Jara led the first round of voting in November, but right-wing candidates garnered a majority of the vote.
The 51-year-old's stint as labor minister under outgoing President Gabriel Boric has proven to be an Achilles' Heel.
Boric's term was crippled by repeated failed attempts to reform the Pinochet-era constitution.
Since 2010, Chileans have alternated between left- and right-wing governments at every presidential election.
In this election, voting is compulsory for the first time in more than a decade. Almost 16 million citizens are registered to vote.
bur-arb/des

Global Edition

Father and son gunmen kill 15 at Jewish festival on Australia's Bondi Beach

BY LAURA CHUNG AND STEVEN TRASK

  • The gunmen targeted an annual celebration that drew more than 1,000 people to the beach to mark the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
  • A father-and-son team toting long-barrelled guns shot and killed 15 people including a 10-year-old girl at Sydney's Bondi Beach, authorities said Monday, labelling it an antisemitic terrorist attack on a Jewish festival.
  • The gunmen targeted an annual celebration that drew more than 1,000 people to the beach to mark the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
A father-and-son team toting long-barrelled guns shot and killed 15 people including a 10-year-old girl at Sydney's Bondi Beach, authorities said Monday, labelling it an antisemitic terrorist attack on a Jewish festival.
The shooting at Australia's most famous surf beach on a blue-skied Sunday sent waves of panic through terrified crowds at a tourist hotspot that encapsulates the country's love of the sea.
The youngest victim was a 10-year-old girl who died in a children's hospital, police said. The oldest was 87.
Another 42 people were hospitalised, including two police officers.
The morning after the killing, a grassy hill overlooking Bondi Beach was still strewn with discarded items from people fleeing, including a camping table and blankets, an AFP journalist at the scene said.
People gathered other belongings including flip flops, sneakers, and thermos flasks and lined them up in the sand for collection.
The gunmen targeted an annual celebration that drew more than 1,000 people to the beach to mark the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
The killings sparked global condemnation.
Australia is mourning the dead by flying flags at half-mast Monday, said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who laid flowers at the entrance to Bondi Pavilion on the beach.

'Pure evil'

"What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores in an iconic Australian location, Bondi Beach, that is associated with joy, associated with families gathering, associated with celebrations," Albanese told a news conference.
"It is forever tarnished by what has occurred last evening."
Police said the 50-year-old father had six licensed firearms, which they believed were used in the shooting.  
His 24-year-old son was in hospital with critical injuries.
Officers raided two properties in Sydney, police said, reportedly the homes of the two gunmen.
"We want to get to the bottom of this. We want to understand the motives behind it. And we certainly want to understand the actions that have happened," New South Wales police commissioner Mal Lanyon said.
World leaders and governments expressed revulsion and condemnation of the shooting, including in the United States where President Donald Trump said it was a "purely antisemitic attack".

'Antisemitism is a cancer'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Australia's government of "pouring oil on the fire of antisemitism" in the period leading up to the shooting.
"Antisemitism is a cancer that spreads when leaders are silent and do not act," he said in a televised address in southern Israel.
Australian police said they were deploying their forces in Sydney to ensure a "highly visible" presence in Jewish communities and at Jewish places of worship.
Authorities have declared the shooting a "terrorist incident".
Rabbi Mendel Kastel, who runs crisis counselling centre Jewish House, said his brother-in-law was killed in the attack.
"I already knew that he had passed. I was together with his children. They didn't know at the time, so we needed to really hold together for them," Kastel said.
"It's unbelievable that this has happened here in Australia, but we need to hold strong. This is not the Australia that we know. This is not the Australia that we want."

'Everybody ran'

Tales of terror and heroism are still emerging from the mass shooting.
Footage on social media showed a man identified by local media as 43-year-old fruit seller Ahmed al Ahmed grabbing one of the gunmen as he fired on people who were out of view of the recording.
The man then wrestles the gun out of the attacker's hand, before pointing the weapon at the assailant who backs away.
Frenchman Alban Baton, 23, said he hid for several hours with other customers in the cool room of a Bondi Beach grocery store when the gunfire broke out.
"It was very fast," he told AFP at the beach early Monday.
"One girl said: 'There is one guy with a gun'. And from this moment, everybody ran, and it was like survival instinct, so we all run in the cool room," he said.
"Minute after minutes, we were starting to realize what was happening."

Antisemitism

The foreign ministry in Iran, which has supported the Palestinian militant group Hamas for years, denounced Sunday's "violent attack in Sydney."
A string of antisemitic attacks has spread fear among Jewish communities in Australia following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.
The Australian government has accused Iran of being behind two of the attacks, and expelled Tehran's ambassador nearly four months ago.
Tehran directed the torching of a kosher cafe in Sydney's Bondi suburb in October 2024, and a major arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in December 2024, the prime minister said in August, citing intelligence findings.
No injuries were reported in the two attacks.
In April 2024, a knife-wielding assailant killed six people at a shopping centre not far from Bondi Beach. The killer was found to have been suffering from schizophrenia but had stopped taking his medication, and no clear motive was identified.
djw-sft/mlm/abs

Global Edition

Far right eyes comeback as Chile presidential polls close

BY ANDREW BEATTY

  • Results are expected within hours, but hard-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast is the strong frontrunner, leading his rival Jeannette Jara by double digits according to pre-election polls.
  • Polls began closing across Chile on Sunday, with voters poised to elect as president the most right-wing candidate in 35 years of democracy or a Communist Party member who leads a broad leftist coalition.
  • Results are expected within hours, but hard-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast is the strong frontrunner, leading his rival Jeannette Jara by double digits according to pre-election polls.
Polls began closing across Chile on Sunday, with voters poised to elect as president the most right-wing candidate in 35 years of democracy or a Communist Party member who leads a broad leftist coalition.
Results are expected within hours, but hard-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast is the strong frontrunner, leading his rival Jeannette Jara by double digits according to pre-election polls.
The 59-year-old Kast is making his third attempt to win the presidency, running on a tough-on-crime and anti-migrant message.
After casting his vote near Santiago and taking a selfie with supporters, the veteran politico was greeted by a crowd chanting "Kast, president!" and breaking into applause. 
He promised to seek unity: "The winner will have to be the president of all Chileans."

'Extreme measures'

Once one of the safest and most prosperous countries in the Americas, Chile has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, violent social protests and an influx of organized crime.
Kast is far to the right of most Chileans on many issues.
But many Chileans fed up with high crime and slow growth during four years of leftist rule say they will vote for change, despite misgivings.
Kast has vowed to deport hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants, opposed abortion without exceptions, and voiced support for the bloody dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).
Santiago homemaker Ursula Villalobos, 44, said she planned to vote for Kast and was willing to accept some radical changes if they bring safety.
"What's important," she told AFP, "is that people can leave their homes without fear and return at night without worrying that something will happen to them on street corners."
Polls show more than 60 percent of Chileans think security is the top issue facing the country -- far eclipsing issues like the economy, healthcare or education.
And while statistics show that violent crime -- fueled by Venezuelan, Peruvian, Colombian and Ecuadoran gangs -- has risen in the last 10 years, fears about crime have risen even faster.

'Pinochet out of uniform'

Kast's hardline positions have also raised fears that he will edge Chile back toward the old days of a dictatorship that killed or disappeared more than 3,000 of its own citizens and tortured many thousands more.
"I'm fearful because I think we are going to have a lot of repression," said 71-year-old retiree Cecilia Mora, who said that "under no circumstances" would she vote for Kast.
"The candidate of the right reminds me a lot of the dictatorship. I lived through the dictatorship. I was young, but I lived through it, suffered through it.
"I see him as a Pinochet out of uniform," she said.
Pinochet left power in 1990, after Chileans rejected a bid to extend his 17-year rule via referendum.
As a university student, Kast campaigned for the pro-Pinochet vote.
His family background has also raised questions. Media investigations have revealed that Kast's German-born father was a member of Adolf Hitler's Nazi party and a soldier during World War II.
Kast insists his father was a forced conscript and did not support the Nazis.

 Incumbent blues

Jara led the first round of voting in November, but right-wing candidates garnered a majority of the vote.
The 51-year-old's stint as labor minister under outgoing President Gabriel Boric has proven to be an Achilles' Heel.
Boric's term was crippled by repeated failed attempts to reform the Pinochet-era constitution.
Since 2010, Chileans have alternated between left- and right-wing governments at every presidential election.
In this election, voting is compulsory for the first time in more than a decade. Almost 16 million citizens are registered to vote.
bur-arb/des

rights

Freed Belarus dissident Bialiatski vows to keep resisting regime from exile

BY OLA CICHOWLAS

  • - 'Freeing some while locking up others' - While Bialiatski was glad to be free -- his mind was with colleagues still in prison back home.  
  • Ales Bialiatski struggles to believe he is a free man and that he can -- after years in prison largely barred from outside contact -- speak to his wife in person. 
  • - 'Freeing some while locking up others' - While Bialiatski was glad to be free -- his mind was with colleagues still in prison back home.  
Ales Bialiatski struggles to believe he is a free man and that he can -- after years in prison largely barred from outside contact -- speak to his wife in person. 
Only hours ago, the 63-year-old Belarusian dissident and Nobel Prize winner was woken up in his cell at 4:00 am, put in a car and blindfolded as he was driven hundreds of kilometres into forced exile to Lithuania.
Bialiatski won the Nobel in 2022 for his decades-long work documenting rights abuses in Belarus. President Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994, considers him a personal enemy. 
The world barely got proof of life from Bialiatski in almost three years as he was kept incommunicado in Prison Colony Number 9 in Gorki, near the Russian border.
"I had to find a way to 'wave' to the outside world that I am alive," he told AFP in Lithuania's capital Vilnius. 
He would tell prisoners who were about to be freed to pass on the news that he was alive. 
Imprisoned in 2021 as Minsk waged a massive crackdown following the major 2020 protests, Bialiatski has a lot to catch up on.
In prison, he only received heavily censored information.  
The morning after being one of 123 political prisoners freed in a US-brokered deal, Bialiatski was being briefed by friends on the details of what he missed.
"After the (Russia-Ukraine) war, the situation with contact with the outside world got much worse," he said. 
He did not receive letters and only had access to highly controlled Russian and Belarusian TV. 
"I had to read between the lines," he said.

Nobel Prize 'saved' Bialiatski

Bialiatski is no stranger to censorship or prison, and he said his decades-long dissident career even helped him get through the latest ordeal.
"I was morally prepared," he said, while adding that the isolation in Belarusian prisons was incomparably worse than a decade ago.
He endured the "humiliation" political prisoners go through in Belarus -- including long stints in various types of punishment cells. 
He recalled being put in light clothing in freezing cells for days and other "inhumane" treatment. He struggled to talk about the hardships he lived through. 
But Bialiatski believed he was spared from the worst treatment because of his Nobel Prize -- which he said he shares with the "whole of Belarusian society".  
"The prize saved me from worse things, which my other colleagues went through," he said. 
He joked that the guards "understood that this person has some kind of prize and that probably we cannot beat him".

 'Freeing some while locking up others'

While Bialiatski was glad to be free -- his mind was with colleagues still in prison back home.  
His rights group Viasna says there are currently 1,110 political prisoners in Belarus. 
The dissident warned that while the regime had carried out a wave of releases, it was still regularly arresting others.  
"They are keeping up this level of fear," he said. "It is schizophrenic politics: they are liberating people with one hand and locking up people with the other." 
Bialiatski was freed as the US has pushed Minsk to release political prisoners in talks taking place as Washington pushes for an end to the war in Ukraine.  
But he called on the EU -- which has largely frozen relations with Minsk -- to also enter negotiations with the reclusive regime to get people out.  
"For European society and other democracies, we have to stop repressions in Belarus," he said.  
"The repressions are carried out by the regime, who else are you meant to talk to if not the regime?"  
Europe had to do so from a "position of pressure" and "force" as "the Belarusian regime only understands this language", he insisted.

 'Not put my hands down'

More than five years after Minsk suppressed the 2020 demonstrations, Bialiatski said protesters and the opposition had underestimated the extent of repression the regime would unleash.
"They basically repeated what happened 100 years ago in Belarus, in the 1920s and 1930s," he said, referring to the Stalin-era repression. 
Now in his 60s, he has to learn to live in exile like much of the Belarusian opposition and rights circles.
He joked that the last time he lived outside Belarus was in his childhood: Bialiatski was born in northern Russia, where his Belarusian parents were sent in the Soviet era.
He vowed "not to put my hands down" and continue his fight for democracy in Belarus from outside the country, accusing the regime of "suffocating" people with repression.
And with a smile, he added: "I am sure that sooner or later the situation in Belarus will change for the better."    
oc/jj

politics

ECOWAS threatens 'targeted sanctions' over Guinea Bissau coup

BY NICHOLAS ROLL

  • The twin disruptions of civilian rule -- last month in Guinea-Bissau and a week ago in Benin -- have rattled the Economic Community of West African States, which condemned both at Sunday's summit.
  • West African regional bloc ECOWAS on Sunday threatened "targeted sanctions" on anyone obstructing Guinea-Bissau's return to civilian rule following last month's coup.
  • The twin disruptions of civilian rule -- last month in Guinea-Bissau and a week ago in Benin -- have rattled the Economic Community of West African States, which condemned both at Sunday's summit.
West African regional bloc ECOWAS on Sunday threatened "targeted sanctions" on anyone obstructing Guinea-Bissau's return to civilian rule following last month's coup.
The announcement came as presidents from across the region met in Nigeria for a bi-annual meeting whose agenda was dominated by two recent coup attempts: a successful military takeover in Guinea-Bissau and a failed putsch in Benin.
"The authorities shall impose targeted sanctions on individuals or groups of persons that obstruct the transition process," ECOWAS commission president Omar Alieu Touray told reporters at the end of summit, held in the Nigerian capital Abuja.
Touray also said that the ECOWAS peacekeeping force deployed in Guinea-Bissau, a small, coup-prone west African country, since 2022, was "authorised... to provide protection to all political leaders and national institutions".
The twin disruptions of civilian rule -- last month in Guinea-Bissau and a week ago in Benin -- have rattled the Economic Community of West African States, which condemned both at Sunday's summit.
The failed putsch in Benin saw Nigeria deploy fighter jets and troops, alongside soldiers from Ivory Coast, to shore up the civilian government. ECOWAS has said more soldiers are on their way from Ghana and Sierra Leone.
ECOWAS was previously hit with a string of coups between 2020 and 2023 in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Niger -- all of whom are still under junta control.

Sahel security on agenda

Sunday's summit, held in a conference hall on the bucolic and highly secured campus surrounding the presidential villa at Aso Rock, was organised prior to the two recent coup attempts.
But both were high on the agenda, as were the December 28 elections in Guinea.
Junta leader Mamady Doumbouya ran for office there despite an earlier promise not to, and exiled opposition leader and former prime minister Cellou Dalein Diallo has been excluded from the polls.
Touray nevertheless said ECOWAS hailed Guinea's polls as "significant progress" in the "transition process".
When pressed on whether Guinea's vote will be credible, Touray told reporters: "We hope that the elections would be credible, transparent and fair."
Also under discussion was security in the Sahel region, where jihadist groups are waging insurgencies in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
Under junta rule the three countries left ECOWAS and formed their own group, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
Last week, Touray called for negotiations with the AES over shared security concerns as the conflict continues to spread south.
"No border can insulate us from violence," Sierra Leone President Julius Bio, who currently holds ECOWAS's rotating chairmanship, said during Sunday's summit.
Heads of state from Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, suspended after their military takeovers, were not present at the summit.
Nigerian president Bola Tinubu was not in attendance, and was instead represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima.
In addition to military takeovers, democratic backsliding has also dogged civilian governments in west Africa.
In October, Ivory Coast elected President Alassane Ouattara to a fourth term in an election that saw his rivals barred.
Both Bio and Tinubu's 2023 elections sparked complaints of irregularities.
nro/rlp

Brown

Person of interest in custody after deadly shooting at US university

BY BING GUAN

  • Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told an early Sunday press conference that a "person of interest" had been detained and the shelter-in-place order lifted.
  • US authorities on Sunday detained a person of interest in the mass shooting at Brown University that left two people dead and nine others wounded, the latest in a long line of school attacks nationwide.
  • Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told an early Sunday press conference that a "person of interest" had been detained and the shelter-in-place order lifted.
US authorities on Sunday detained a person of interest in the mass shooting at Brown University that left two people dead and nine others wounded, the latest in a long line of school attacks nationwide.
A shooter opened fire on Saturday at the elite Ivy League university in Providence, Rhode Island in a building where exams were taking place, triggering a campus lockdown and launching an hours-long hunt for the suspect.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told an early Sunday press conference that a "person of interest" had been detained and the shelter-in-place order lifted.
Police Colonel Oscar Perez added that authorities were "not at this point" looking for anyone else in relation to the attack.
Of the nine wounded, one was in critical condition, seven were in stable condition and one was discharged, Smiley said.
Joseph Oduro, a teaching assistant at Brown, said he was in a campus auditorium when the gunman entered.
"I was standing in the front of the auditorium, and he came through the back, so we pretty much directly made eye contact, and then as soon as that happened, I looked at my students and signaled them to come to the front, and then I just ducked," Oduro told CNN.
"He came in, pointed the gun and then screamed something... then he just started shooting right after that."
Police released 10 seconds of footage of the suspect, seen from behind, walking briskly down a deserted street after opening fire inside a first-floor classroom. 
"It is shocking and so terribly sad. I know the students here, many of whom were sheltering for many, many hours last night," Smiley said later on CNN. "They're all incredibly shaken up."
Final exams scheduled for Sunday were postponed, university officials said.

Latest mass shooting

Brown University President Christina Paxson confirmed in a letter to community members that all 11 victims were students.
The attack is the latest incident of mass shooting in a country where attempts to restrict access to firearms face political deadlock.
"This should not be normal," Smiley said on CNN. "This should not be the case that every community needs to prepare for something like this to happen. And I certainly never thought that it would actually happen in Providence, although we were well prepared for it."
There have been more than 300 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot.
During an event at the White House on Sunday afternoon, US President Donald Trump spoke briefly about the shooting at the Ivy League campus. 
"Great school... really one of the greatest schools anywhere in the world. Things can happen," the president said. 
"So to the nine injured, get well fast, and to the families of those two that are no longer with us, I pay my deepest regards and respects from the United States of America."

Emergency alert

Brown, which has a student body of about 11,000, sent an emergency alert at 4:22 pm (2122 GMT) on Saturday reporting "an active shooter near Barus and Holley Engineering," which is home to the engineering and physics departments. Two exams had been scheduled at the time.
"Lock doors, silence phones and stay hidden until further notice," the university said.
Law enforcement and first responders swarmed the scene, with local news station WPRI reporting "clothing and blood on the sidewalk."
The deadliest school shooting in US history took place at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, when South Korean student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and wounded 17 others before taking his own life.
bur/iv/des

conflict

Zelensky, US envoys to push on with Ukraine talks in Berlin on Monday

BY FEMKE COLBORNE

  • Trump has pushed for an end to the almost four-year-old war, but Kyiv and its allies in Europe are at pains to prevent any settlement that would strongly favour Russia.
  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was set to push on with talks in Berlin on Monday with US President Donald Trump's envoys on how to end the grinding war with Russia.
  • Trump has pushed for an end to the almost four-year-old war, but Kyiv and its allies in Europe are at pains to prevent any settlement that would strongly favour Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was set to push on with talks in Berlin on Monday with US President Donald Trump's envoys on how to end the grinding war with Russia.
As the conflict raged on, Zelensky's delegation huddled for over five hours on Sunday with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and the US president's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Witkoff said afterwards on X that "a lot of progress was made, and they will meet again tomorrow morning."
Their meeting was held under tight security in the chancellery in Berlin, where Germany's leader Friedrich Merz was Monday due to host a dinner with Zelensky, a group of European leaders and the NATO and EU chiefs.
An AFP photographer saw the Ukrainian leader leave the chancellery shortly before 9:00 pm (2000 GMT).
Trump has pushed for an end to the almost four-year-old war, but Kyiv and its allies in Europe are at pains to prevent any settlement that would strongly favour Russia.
Key questions remain on Ukrainian territorial concessions, future security guarantees for Kyiv, and whether Moscow would agree to any proposal hammered out by the Europeans and Americans.
"We want a lasting peace in Ukraine," Merz wrote on X. "Difficult questions lie ahead of us, but we are determined to move forward.
"Ukrainian interests are also European interests."
Zelensky, as he headed to Germany, said he was ready for "dialogue" on ending the war that started with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
He said he hoped Washington would back the idea of freezing the front line where it is, rather than Ukraine ceding the entire Donbas region as Moscow demands.
"The fairest possible option is to 'stay where we are'," Zelensky told reporters on his way to Berlin. 
"This is true because it is a ceasefire... I know that Russia does not view this positively, and I would like the Americans to support us on this issue."

'Very strong objections'

Trump has been stepping up pressure on Ukraine to reach an agreement since revealing a plan last month to end the war that was criticised as echoing Moscow's demands.
Kyiv officials later said they had sent Washington a revised version. Witkoff said "in-depth discussions" were held on Sunday about that plan, "economic agendas, and more".
Zelensky said on Sunday: "The most important thing is that the plan should be as fair as possible, first and foremost for Ukraine, because Russia started the war."
In Russia, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov cast strong doubt on the latest round of diplomacy.
"I think the contribution of both Ukrainians and Europeans to these documents is unlikely to be constructive, that's the problem," he said in a video message. 
Ushakov said Moscow had not seen the latest documents but added that "if there are any relevant amendments, we will have very strong objections, since we have very clearly stated our position, which, it seems, was quite clear to the Americans."
Europeans and Ukrainians have asked the United States to provide them with "security guarantees" before Ukraine negotiates any territorial concessions, France said Friday.
Under the latest US plan, Ukraine would be able join the EU as early as January 2027, a senior official familiar with the matter told AFP Friday on condition of anonymity.
The latest push in the efforts to put an end to the war came as Kyiv reported new aerial strikes on its territory.
According to its air force, Russia launched 138 drones and a ballistic missile overnight.
A Russian drone has hit "one of the hospitals in Kherson", wounding two people, including a nurse, the regional administration said on Telegram.
At least 11 people were wounded in strikes on the Zaporizhzhia region, governor Ivan Fedorov said.
burs-fz/rlp

world

World leaders express horror at Bondi beach shooting

  • "Antisemitism has no place in this world," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said on X. "Our prayers are with the victims of this horrific attack, the Jewish community, and the people of Australia."
  • World leaders voiced horror and revulsion at Sunday's mass shooting in which 11 people were killed at Sydney's Bondi Beach.
  • "Antisemitism has no place in this world," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said on X. "Our prayers are with the victims of this horrific attack, the Jewish community, and the people of Australia."
World leaders voiced horror and revulsion at Sunday's mass shooting in which 11 people were killed at Sydney's Bondi Beach.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the "shocking and distressing" attack, which Australian police are calling a "terrorist" incident, was "beyond comprehension", after assailants fired on a gathering celebrating the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.

Israel

President Isaac Herzog condemned what he called a "very cruel attack on Jews" by "vile terrorists".
In a speech in Jerusalem, he called on Australia to "fight against the enormous wave of antisemitism which is plaguing Australian society".

United States

US President Donald Trump branded it "a purely antisemitic attack".
"That was a terrible attack, 11 dead, 29 badly wounded. And that was an antisemitic attack, obviously," Trump said during a Christmas celebration at the White House.
"Antisemitism has no place in this world," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said on X.
"Our prayers are with the victims of this horrific attack, the Jewish community, and the people of Australia."

Britain

King Charles III, head of the 56 countries of the Commonwealth, of which Australia is a member, said he was "appalled" by "most dreadful antisemitic terrorist attack on Jewish people".
Prime Minister Keir Starmer called it "deeply distressing" and sent condolences to "everyone affected by the appalling attack".

United Nations

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on X he was "horrified" by the "heinous deadly attack".
"My heart is with the Jewish community worldwide on this first day of Hannukah, a festival celebrating the miracle of peace and light vanquishing darkness."

European Union

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a post to X she was "shocked" by what she condemned as an "appalling act of violence".
She added: "Europe stands with Australia and Jewish communities everywhere. We are united against violence, antisemitism and hatred."

Palestinian Authority

The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the shooting, saying it rejected "all forms of violence, terrorism and extremism, which contradict humanitarian values".
In a statement it voiced its "full solidarity" with "friendly Australia".

Iran

Israel's arch-enemy Iran joined in the condemnations.
"Terror and killing of human beings, wherever committed, is rejected and condemned," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on X.

France, Italy, Germany

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack and vowed that France would "fight relentlessly against antisemitic hatred".
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on X she felt "profound grief" at the attack.
"By once again firmly condemning all forms of violence and anti-semitism, Italy expresses its own condolences for the victims," she added.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said in a post on X: "I am deeply shocked by the terrorist attack in Sydney –- an act of hatred directed against all Jews worldwide on the first day of Hanukkah."

Canada

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was "horrified by the antisemitic terror attack" in a post to X.
"Canada stands with the people of Australia and Jewish people everywhere in sorrow, and determination never to bow to terrorism, violence, hatred and intimidation," he added.
bur/rlp/jj

politics

Freed Belarus protest leader Kolesnikova doesn't 'regret anything'

  • Kolesnikova thanked the United States, Ukraine and also Lukashenko himself.
  • Belarusian protest leader Maria Kolesnikova said she did not regret anything as she spoke to reporters Sunday after her surprise release brokered by the United States.
  • Kolesnikova thanked the United States, Ukraine and also Lukashenko himself.
Belarusian protest leader Maria Kolesnikova said she did not regret anything as she spoke to reporters Sunday after her surprise release brokered by the United States.
The 43-year-old was released on Saturday along with 122 other prisoners after more than five years in prison for opposing Belarus's President Alexander Lukashenko.
"I don't regret anything. I believe that there are times when we face such questions, difficult questions, and we must make difficult choices," she said during a news conference in Ukraine, where she was taken after her release.
"I made this difficult choice very easily because I was and remain absolutely confident that I supported the right idea."
Those freed also included Viktor Babariko, a former banker who sought to run against Lukashenko in the 2020 election but was arrested.
At the press conference, Babariko, 62, said detainees in Belarus had access only to state-controlled media and therefore had no objective view of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
"You only know what they show on Belarusian television. And they show almost nothing," he said.
The 123 people, who included prominent opposition figures and activists, were freed under a deal with US President Donald Trump that includes Washington lifting US economic sanctions on Minsk.
A total of 114 of those freed were transferred to Ukraine. 
Kolesnikova thanked the United States, Ukraine and also Lukashenko himself.
A trained musician, she was one of the leaders of protests against Lukashenko's disputed re-election in 2020.
In September that year, she was abducted by Belarusian security services and taken to the Ukrainian border for expulsion.
She tore up her passport, making her deportation legally impossible and turning herself into a symbol of resistance against the president, in power since 1994.
Babariko lost a lot of weight in prison and said his priority now was his health.
But he added: "Belarus needs me, I will try to do something."
He urged people not to forget the more than 1,200 political prisoners who rights group Viasna says are still held in Belarus, including his own son, Eduard.
"We must not forget those whose surnames we have never heard... That would be a great betrayal."
bur-rco/rlp/jj

Nobel

No contact with Iran Nobel winner since arrest: supporters

  • - 'Violently' arrested - Images of the memorial ceremony showed Mohammadi -- not wearing the headscarf that is obligatory for women in public in the Islamic republic -- climbing atop a car to address crowds of people who chanted slogans against the authorities.
  • There has been no contact with Iranian Nobel peace prize winner Narges Mohammadi since her arrest at the end of last week, her supporters said Sunday, urging the Islamic republic to release the campaigner and dozens of others arrested alongside her.
  • - 'Violently' arrested - Images of the memorial ceremony showed Mohammadi -- not wearing the headscarf that is obligatory for women in public in the Islamic republic -- climbing atop a car to address crowds of people who chanted slogans against the authorities.
There has been no contact with Iranian Nobel peace prize winner Narges Mohammadi since her arrest at the end of last week, her supporters said Sunday, urging the Islamic republic to release the campaigner and dozens of others arrested alongside her.
Mohammadi, who won the 2023 Nobel prize, was detained Friday after addressing a memorial ceremony in the eastern city of Mashhad for lawyer Khosrow Alikordi, who was found dead earlier this month.
According to Mashhad prosecutor Hassan Hemmatifar, 38 people were arrested at the ceremony including Mohammadi and fellow prominent activist Sepideh Gholian. Alikordi's brother Javad was arrested later the same day.
Mohammadi, who has spent much of the last decade in-and-out of jail, had been allowed out of prison on December 2024 on medical leave. Over the last year, she carried on campaigning.
No phone call has been made by been made by Mohammadi since her arrest and "only a limited number of those arrested have been able to contact their families", her foundation said in a statement.
It expressed "deep concern for the physical and psychological well-being of all detainees and calls for their immediate and unconditional release", the statement added.
It said the foundation had now learned that her case had been referred to the Mashhad revolutionary prosecutor and that she could be facing national security charges.
But the foundation said it had received no information over her "whereabouts or condition".

'Violently' arrested

Images of the memorial ceremony showed Mohammadi -- not wearing the headscarf that is obligatory for women in public in the Islamic republic -- climbing atop a car to address crowds of people who chanted slogans against the authorities.
She was then "violently" arrested, said the foundation, adding it believed that the number of people arrested alongside her may have exceeded 50. 
Prosecutor Hassan Hemmatifar, quoted by the IRNA news agency on Saturday, said investigations were ongoing.
He accused Javad Alikordi, Gholian and Mohammadi of making "provocative speeches, inciting the people present to disrupt the public order and chant slogans that violated the norms".
Alikordi, 45, a lawyer who had defended people arrested during 2022-2023 protests, was found dead in his office on December 5.
Hemmatifar said the lawyer had died of a "heart attack" and had a "natural death", but Mohammadi's foundation and other activists have described his death as "suspicious".
Activists say Iran remains in the throes of a deep crackdown more than five months after the end of the 12-day war against Israel, with over 1,400 people executed so far this year.
sjw/jj

Global Edition

Devastation at Sydney's Bondi beach after deadly shooting

BY STEVEN TRASK

  • Gunfire shattered the late afternoon fun on Bondi, Australia's most famous beach and emblematic of the country's love of sun, sea and good times.
  • Towels, bags and baby strollers littered Sydney's Bondi Beach Sunday -- the harrowing aftermath of the country's worst mass shooting in years.
  • Gunfire shattered the late afternoon fun on Bondi, Australia's most famous beach and emblematic of the country's love of sun, sea and good times.
Towels, bags and baby strollers littered Sydney's Bondi Beach Sunday -- the harrowing aftermath of the country's worst mass shooting in years.
Eleven people were killed and many more rushed to hospital in what Australian police are now calling a "terrorist" attack targeting the city's Jewish community during a celebration of Hanukkah.
One of the shooters was also killed, while another was in critical condition.
Gunfire shattered the late afternoon fun on Bondi, Australia's most famous beach and emblematic of the country's love of sun, sea and good times.
"People were dragging their kids away, there were something like 40 shots. It sounded like fireworks," said Sydney teacher Bianca, 26, who heard dozens of gunshots ring out across the beach.
"They looked shocked, traumatised, confused."
In the wake of the bloodshed, an AFP journalist saw an abandoned children's stroller and other items discarded by people who fled the bloodbath.
A witness who declined to be named said he saw six dead or wounded people lying on the beach.

Emergency sirens

As evening fell, the normally raucous party strip was swiftly cleared as armed police cordoned off busy streets, the pulsing lights of nightclubs replaced with strobing emergency sirens. 
French tourist Sam, 24, said he was struggling to comprehend what had unfolded. 
"I don't know what to think. I just feel sad for people," he said.
"At least I didn't get injured."
Another witness, Camilo Diaz, a 25-year-old student from Chile, told AFP the shots rang out for what felt like ten minutes.
"It was shocking... It seemed like a powerful weapon," she said.
Hours later, the beach was deserted.
Nearby, a woman clutched her baby tightly, and a few shellshocked witnesses were coming to grips with the horror that had unfolded.
A member of the Jewish community held his kippah -- a visible display of the faith authorities say came under attack on Sunday.
Some witnesses huddled under shop awnings, smoking and phoning worried relatives to let them know they had survived. 
A small crowd gathered on the footpath outside an apartment, watching the evening news through a window.
A British tourist told AFP he saw "two shooters in black" after the gunfire broke out.
"There was a shooting, two shooters in black with semi-automatic rifles," Timothy Brant-Coles said.
Video circulating on social media showed a man wrestling a gun out of the hands of one of those men.
He and others were hailed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as "heroes".
sft/oho/fox

politics

Hong Kong's oldest pro-democracy party announces dissolution

  • With the demise of Hong Kong's top pro-democracy parties, no candidate put forward a pro-democracy platform in the legislature election held this month -- which critics pointed to as another sign of the city's slide towards authoritarianism. 
  • Hong Kong's oldest pro-democracy party has decided to disband, the group announced Sunday, after its members formally voted to dissolve the organisation and enter liquidation.
  • With the demise of Hong Kong's top pro-democracy parties, no candidate put forward a pro-democracy platform in the legislature election held this month -- which critics pointed to as another sign of the city's slide towards authoritarianism. 
Hong Kong's oldest pro-democracy party has decided to disband, the group announced Sunday, after its members formally voted to dissolve the organisation and enter liquidation.
The Democratic Party was founded in 1994, near the end of British colonial rule, when Hong Kong's leading liberal groups merged.
"Over these thirty years, we have taken part in and borne witness to the development and transformation of Hong Kong society, watching its systems and environment undergo one profound change after another," the party said in a statement.
"Yet as the times have shifted, we now, with deep regret, must bring this chapter to a close," it added.
At Sunday's meeting, 117 out of 121 members voted for the group's liquidation, with the remaining four votes being blank ballots, Lo Kin-hei, the party's chair, told a news conference.
He said that it was a "collective decision" made by party members, adding that it is the best way forward for them.
"We are deeply grateful to all the citizens who have walked with the Democratic Party for the past 30 years," Lo said.
Former party leader Emily Lau reacted to the dissolution with dismay when leaving the meeting Sunday, telling reporters: "I don't understand why the Democratic Party would end up like this."
"I think Beijing needs to provide an explanation," she added.
Lo said the disbandment was due to Hong Kong's "political environment", but declined to provide details of the constraints the party was facing. 

'Regression'

The Democratic Party's top concern was determining how the city would eventually elect its own leader and lawmakers through universal suffrage under China's "One Country, Two Systems" model.
It said in its manifesto that "as part of the Chinese citizenry, we have the rights and obligations to participate in and comment on the affairs of China".
Following Hong Kong's handover to China in 1997, the party became the most influential voice of opposition in the city's legislature and led peaceful street demonstrations.
The disbandment decision indicated the regression of Hong Kong from being a liberal society into an "authoritarian society", said Yeung Sum, a former party leader who has served jail time.
With the demise of Hong Kong's top pro-democracy parties, no candidate put forward a pro-democracy platform in the legislature election held this month -- which critics pointed to as another sign of the city's slide towards authoritarianism. 
Yeung added that younger generations would feel frustrated if the political system went "backwards".
"I think this kind of fighting for democracy will carry on, even though we got ourselves disbanded today," the 78-year-old said. "We won't die away. We won't fade away."
Beijing tightened its grip on the Chinese finance hub after massive and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019. 
After the imposition of the national security law, the city's political opposition dwindled, with most democracy campaigners jailed or overseas. 
The party holds no elected seats after its lawmakers resigned en masse from the Legislative Council in 2020.
Four party lawmakers were jailed last year for subversion under a Beijing-imposed national security law.
Former party leader Albert Ho is behind bars pending trial for national security charges that could see him jailed for life.
Hong Kong's second-largest opposition group, the Civic Party, closed its doors in 2023.
Another party, the League of Social Democrats, announced its disbandment in June this year, citing "immense political pressure".
"The Hong Kong government should be more open, they should accept more different kinds of opinions, even though there may be some opposition," Lo said on Sunday.
"But that is how the society works and that is how things progress," he added.
bur/ceg/rsc

conflict

Zelensky says will seek US support to freeze front line at Berlin talks

  • "The most important thing is that the plan should be as fair as possible, first and foremost for Ukraine, because Russia started the war," Zelensky said on Sunday.
  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday he hoped the United States would back the idea of freezing the front line in Ukraine along its current shape at their meeting in Berlin.
  • "The most important thing is that the plan should be as fair as possible, first and foremost for Ukraine, because Russia started the war," Zelensky said on Sunday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday he hoped the United States would back the idea of freezing the front line in Ukraine along its current shape at their meeting in Berlin.
Zelensky said he was ready for "dialogue" at the latest round of high-stakes talks with US President Donald Trump's envoy and European leaders on ending the war with Russia.
"The fairest possible option is to 'stay where we are'. This is true because it is a ceasefire... I know that Russia does not view this positively, and I would like the Americans to support us on this issue," Zelensky told reporters shortly before arriving in Berlin.
Trump has been stepping up pressure on Kyiv to reach an agreement since revealing a plan to end the war last month that was criticised as echoing Moscow's demands, including that Ukraine cede crucial territory.
The proposal has triggered a flurry of diplomacy between the United States and Ukraine's European allies, with Kyiv officials recently saying they had sent Washington a revised version.
Zelensky said on Sunday he had not received a response from Washington on Ukraine's amendments, but added: "I am receiving all the signals and will be ready for the dialogue that will begin today."
"The summit in Berlin is important. We are meeting with both the Americans and the Europeans... And today these meetings are taking place in Berlin, today and tomorrow," Zelensky added.
A White House official confirmed to AFP on Friday that Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff would meet with Zelensky and European leaders over the weekend to discuss the status of peace negotiations.
"The most important thing is that the plan should be as fair as possible, first and foremost for Ukraine, because Russia started the war," Zelensky said on Sunday.
The latest push in the efforts to put an end to the war that has killed tens of thousands since Russia invaded in 2022 comes as Kyiv reported new aerial strikes.
According to its air force, Russia launched 138 drones and a ballistic missile overnight.
A Russian drone has hit "one of the hospitals in Kherson", the regional administration said on Telegram, wounding two people, including a nurse.
At least 11 people were wounded in the strikes on the Zaporizhzhia region, governor Ivan Fedorov said.
bur-mmp/gv

court

Man who ploughed car into Liverpool football parade to be sentenced

BY AKSHATA KAPOOR

  • He was due to collect his friend who had joined the hundreds of thousands of fans celebrating Liverpool's victory in claiming a record-equalling 20th English top-flight title.
  • The sentencing hearing for a British man who ploughed his car through crowds of fans celebrating Liverpool's Premier League victory, injuring over 100 people, is set to begin on Monday.
  • He was due to collect his friend who had joined the hundreds of thousands of fans celebrating Liverpool's victory in claiming a record-equalling 20th English top-flight title.
The sentencing hearing for a British man who ploughed his car through crowds of fans celebrating Liverpool's Premier League victory, injuring over 100 people, is set to begin on Monday.
Paul Doyle broke down in the dock and dramatically changed his plea during his trial in November, admitting to deliberately driving his car through the crowds in Liverpool city centre in May.
Doyle, who has been in custody since his arrest at the scene, is due to be sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court over two days on Monday and Tuesday.
He pleaded guilty to 31 criminal charges last month, including causing grievous bodily harm with intent, wounding with intent, affray and dangerous driving.
Judge Andrew Menary told Doyle to prepare for "a custodial sentence of some length".
The maximum sentence for the most serious offences is life imprisonment.
Doyle had previously denied the criminal charges against him, and prosecutors said he had planned to contest them by arguing that he drove into crowds after panicking.
But he made the unexpected u-turn on the second day of his trial, pleading guilty to each of the 31 counts, which relate to 29 victims aged between six months and 77 years old.
The 54-year-old left the cul-de-sac where he lived with his family in a Liverpool suburb on May 26 in his Ford Galaxy Titanium.
He was due to collect his friend who had joined the hundreds of thousands of fans celebrating Liverpool's victory in claiming a record-equalling 20th English top-flight title.
In what appears to be an extreme case of road rage, over the course of seven minutes, Doyle instead drove his nearly two-tonne vehicle seemingly indiscriminately into pedestrians, some of whom were thrown against the car's bonnet.
He injured 134, and although no one was killed, 50 people required hospital treatment, according to Merseyside Police.

'Celebration into mayhem'

His youngest victim was a six-month-old baby who was flung from his pram, but was miraculously unhurt.
Police swiftly declared that the incident was not terrorism. But the circumstances of the alleged attack had remained largely unclear until the trial.
The prosecution had planned to submit dashcam footage showing Doyle lose his temper, repeatedly swearing and blasting his horn at pedestrians as he grew angry at their presence on the roads.
"Rather than wait for them to pass, he deliberately drove at them, forcing his way through," Sarah Hammond from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said after Doyle entered the guilty pleas.
"This was not a momentary lapse by Paul Doyle -- it was a choice he made that day and it turned celebration into mayhem."
After hitting the first victims, he continued down another street and struck more people, reversing at one point and colliding with others as well as an ambulance.
The car eventually stopped after several people including children became trapped beneath it and a pedestrian jumped inside for the final 16 seconds of its ill-fated journey, according to prosecutors.
A man who got in the vehicle pushed the gear into park, helping bring it to a stop.
Onlookers described scenes of carnage, including hearing the car drive over people and seeing scores of victims lying on the street.
Merseyside Police Detective Chief Inspector John Fitzgerald said it was "hard to forget the shocking scenes from that day".
It was "only by sheer luck that nobody was killed because of Doyle's reckless actions", he added.
Doyle briefly joined the Royal Marines after school according to media reports, later working in IT and cyber security.
People who knew him told UK media he was a "family-man" interested in fitness and well-liked by his neighbours.
He was registered as the owner of a headwear business, FarOut Caps, and appeared to use the company's social media account to post about cryptocurrency and video games.
aks/jkb/har/cw

conflict

Thailand confirms first civilian killed in week of Cambodia fighting

BY SUY SE WITH CHAYANIT ITTHIPONGMAETEE IN BURIRAM, THAILAND AND THANAPORN PROMYAMYAI IN BANGKOK

  • In Thailand, officials said Sunday that nine civilians have died of non-combat-related causes after evacuating from their homes. 
  • Thailand on Sunday announced its first civilian death in a week of fighting with Cambodia, as international efforts fail to stop violence that has forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.
  • In Thailand, officials said Sunday that nine civilians have died of non-combat-related causes after evacuating from their homes. 
Thailand on Sunday announced its first civilian death in a week of fighting with Cambodia, as international efforts fail to stop violence that has forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.
The latest killing comes a day after Bangkok denied US President Donald Trump's claim that a truce had been agreed between the Southeast Asian neighbours.
The conflict, rooted in a colonial-era demarcation dispute along their 800-kilometre (500-mile) border, has displaced around 800,000 people, officials said.
"I have been here for six days and I feel sad that the fighting continues," 63-year-old Sean Leap told AFP at an evacuation centre in Cambodia's border province of Banteay Meanchey.
"I want it to stop," he said, adding he was worried about his home and livestock.
At least 27 people have been killed, including 15 Thai soldiers and 11 Cambodian civilians, officials said Sunday. 
A Thai civilian killed in Sisaket province was the first non-military death recorded in the country since the latest round of fighting began on December 7, health ministry spokesman Ekachai Piensriwatchara confirmed to AFP.
The Thai army said the 63-year-old man was killed by shrapnel after Cambodian forces fired rockets into a civilian area. 
Each side has blamed the other for instigating the clashes, claiming self-defence and trading accusations of attacks on civilians. 
Trump, who earlier backed a truce and follow-on agreement, said Friday the two countries had agreed to stop fighting.
But Thai leaders later said no ceasefire deal was made, and both governments said Sunday that clashes were ongoing.
Thai defence ministry spokesman Surasant Kongsiri said Cambodia shelled and bombed several border provinces overnight. 
The Thai military has imposed a curfew from 7:00 pm to 5:00 am (1200 to 2200 GMT) in parts of Sa Kaeo and Trat provinces.
Cambodia, which is outgunned and outspent by Thailand's military, said Thai forces had shelled and launched air strikes on Cambodian territory near the border on Sunday.

Closed border crossings

After Trump's promised truce did not come to pass, Cambodia shut its border crossings with Thailand on Saturday, leaving migrant workers stranded.
Under a makeshift tent at an evacuation site in Cambodia's Banteay Meanchey, Cheav Sokun told AFP her husband in Thailand wanted to return home. 
She and her son left Thailand alongside tens of thousands of other Cambodian migrant workers during deadly clashes in July, but her spouse stayed to work as a gardener with his "good Thai boss".
"He asked me to return first. After that, the border was closed so he cannot come back," the 38-year-old said.
In Thailand, officials said Sunday that nine civilians have died of non-combat-related causes after evacuating from their homes. 
The United States, China and Malaysia, as chair of the regional bloc ASEAN, brokered a ceasefire in late July. 
In October, Trump backed a follow-on joint declaration between Thailand and Cambodia, touting new trade deals after they agreed to prolong their truce. 
But Thailand suspended the agreement the following month, after Thai soldiers were wounded by landmines at the border.
Trump last week pledged he would "make a couple of phone calls" to get the earlier brokered truce back on track.
But Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told journalists on Saturday that Trump "didn't mention whether we should make a ceasefire" during their Friday phone call.
Anutin said there were "no signs" Trump would connect further US-Thailand trade talks with the border conflict, but also said the US president had guaranteed Thailand would get "better benefits than other countries".
Thailand and Cambodia were both facing eye-wateringly high tariffs on their exports to the United States earlier this year, but secured reduced levies of 19 percent after Trump intervened following the July clashes.
suy-tp-ci/sco/rsc

pollution

Islamabad puts drivers on notice as smog crisis worsens

BY SAMEER MANDHRO AND JOSEPH SCHMID

  • - 'Her basic right' - Announcing the crackdown on December 7, EPA chief Nazia Zaib Ali said over 300 fines were issued at checkpoints in the first week, with 80 vehicles impounded.
  • Truck driver Muhammad Afzal was not expecting to be stopped by police, let alone fined, as he drove into Islamabad this week because of the thick diesel fumes emanating from his exhaust pipe.
  • - 'Her basic right' - Announcing the crackdown on December 7, EPA chief Nazia Zaib Ali said over 300 fines were issued at checkpoints in the first week, with 80 vehicles impounded.
Truck driver Muhammad Afzal was not expecting to be stopped by police, let alone fined, as he drove into Islamabad this week because of the thick diesel fumes emanating from his exhaust pipe.
"This is unfair," he said after being told to pay 1,000 rupees ($3.60), with the threat of having his truck impounded if he did not "fix" the problem.
"I was coming from Lahore after getting my vehicle repaired. They pressed the accelerator to make it release smoke. It's an injustice," he told AFP.
Checkpoints set up this month are part of a crackdown by authorities to combat the city's soaring smog levels, with winter months the worst due to atmospheric inversions that trap pollutants at ground level.
"We have already warned the owners of stern action, and we will stop their entry into the city if they don't comply with the orders," said Dr Zaigham Abbas of Pakistan's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as he surveyed the checkpoint at the southeast edge of the capital.
For Waleed Ahmed, a technician inspecting the vehicles at the site, "just like a human being, a vehicle has a life cycle. Those that cross it release smoke that is dangerous to human health".

'Self-inflicted crisis'

While not yet at the extreme winter levels of Lahore or the megacity Karachi, where heavy industry and brick kilns spew tons of pollutants each year, Islamabad is steadily closing the gap.
So far in December it has already registered seven "very unhealthy" days for PM2.5 particulates of more than 150 microgrammes per cubic meter, according to the Swiss-based monitoring firm IQAir.
Intraday PM2.5 levels in Islamabad often exceed those in Karachi and Lahore, and in 2024 the city's average PM2.5 reading for the year was 52.3 microgrammes -- surpassing the 46.2 for Lahore.
Those annual readings are far beyond the safe level of five microgrammes recommended by the World Health Organization.
Built from scratch as Pakistan's capital in the 1960s, the city was envisioned as an urban model for the rapidly growing nation, with wide avenues and ample green spaces abutting the Himalayan foothills.
But the expansive layout discourages walking and public transport remains limited, meaning cars -- mostly older models -- are essential for residents to get around.
"The capital region is choked overwhelmingly by its transport sector," which produces 53 percent of its toxic PM2.5 particles, the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative, a research group, said in a recent report.
"The haze over Islamabad... is not the smoke of industry, but the exhaust of a million private journeys -- a self-inflicted crisis," it said.

'Her basic right'

Announcing the crackdown on December 7, EPA chief Nazia Zaib Ali said over 300 fines were issued at checkpoints in the first week, with 80 vehicles impounded.
"We cannot allow non-compliant vehicles at any cost to poison the city's air and endanger public health," she said in a statement.
The city has also begun setting up stations where drivers can have their emissions inspected, with those passing receiving a green sticker on their windshield.
"We were worried for Lahore, but now it's Islamabad. And that's all because of vehicles emitting pollution," said Iftikhar Sarwar, 51, as he had his car checked on a busy road near an Islamabad park.
"I never needed medicine before but now I get allergies if I don't take a tablet in the morning. The same is happening with my family," he added.
Other residents say they worry the government's measures will not be enough to counter the worsening winter smog. 
"This is not the Islamabad I came to 20 years ago," said Sulaman Ijaz, an anthropologist.
"I feel uneasy when I think about what I will say if my daughter asks for clean air -- that is her basic right."
sma/js/fox/abs

literature

Vietnam's 'Sorrow of War' sells out after viral controversy

BY TRAN THI MINH HA, LAM NGUYEN, TY MCCORMICK

  • The novel's inclusion in the 50-best list in late November touched off another round of recrimination even as it flew off shelves.
  • When "The Sorrow of War" was honoured by Vietnam's government as one of the 50 greatest works of literature and art since reunification, some conservative figures reacted with fury -- suggesting the novel's unvarnished depictions of the war diminished the victors' heroism.
  • The novel's inclusion in the 50-best list in late November touched off another round of recrimination even as it flew off shelves.
When "The Sorrow of War" was honoured by Vietnam's government as one of the 50 greatest works of literature and art since reunification, some conservative figures reacted with fury -- suggesting the novel's unvarnished depictions of the war diminished the victors' heroism.
But the controversy that exploded across social media has only sparked renewed interest in Bao Ninh's haunting classic and forced bookstores to scramble to keep pace with surging demand.
"I only knew about this novel because of these online discussions," said Le Hien, 25, who tried to buy the book at several bookstores in the capital Hanoi this week but found they were all out of stock. 
"I was very surprised the book was sold out that quickly. I couldn't believe its sales went crazy," he told AFP.
First published in 1987 as "The Destiny of Love", the novel is narrated by a young North Vietnamese soldier who, like Ninh himself, served in a battalion that was almost entirely wiped out.
He is stalked by memories of the "jungle of screaming souls" and tortured by thoughts of his girlfriend's rape by fellow North Vietnamese men. 
The book was met with instant acclaim abroad and controversy at home, where most war literature emphasised valour and sacrifice over cruelty and suffering.
The novel's inclusion in the 50-best list in late November touched off another round of recrimination even as it flew off shelves.
"This book has been debated for ages," said Nguyen, a bookseller on Hanoi's Nguyen Xi book street, who gave only his first name for fear of inviting backlash against his store.
"It has always sold steadily. It has never sold out like it did this time, though."

Deeper truth

Nguyen Thanh Tuan, a former head of the military's propaganda department, wrote on Facebook earlier this month that the novel "aimed to diminish the heroism of our army... fabricating and distorting the truth of the heroic struggle and immense sacrifices of millions of people".
Tuan's post calling for the honour to be revoked received thousands of likes and ricocheted across social media, garnering support especially from war veterans.
But many others defended the decision to honour the book.
"If we demand that a novel function like a battle report, we are forcing literature to perform the work of another profession," said literary critic Ha Thanh Van.
"The Sorrow of War" continues to move readers nearly 40 years after its publication because it "delves into the dark corners of memory, where war continues to exist as haunting memories, traumas, lingering regrets", she said.
Ngoc Tran, a 12th grade student in Hanoi, said she didn't think the work "tarnishes the image of Vietnamese soldiers from the past".
"It just reveals more truth about human nature," she told AFP.
But while the debate has opened up old societal rifts, it has also propelled the book to new heights of visibility, especially among young readers like Tran, born after its initial publication. 
"After the controversy about the award went viral online, more people became interested and started looking to buy (the book)," said bookseller Nguyen.
Another bookseller on the same street who declined to give his name said sales had been slow before the furore "but suddenly we're sold out".
AFP journalists found five copies of the book at Ngan Nga bookstore in the capital, but many other vendors had been cleared out.  
Nguyen Hai Dang, an editor at Tre Publishing House which has a lifetime agreement with Ninh, was quoted in state media as saying the controversy had prompted a flurry of orders, causing the central warehouse to fall behind.  
Dang said a planned reprinting was already underway, however, and that the publisher had run off 15,000 copies so far this year.
It has printed about 80,000 copies since its agreement began in 2011.
The novel is also an international bestseller and has been translated into more than 15 languages.
tmh-tym/fox/abs

manufacturing

China's smaller manufacturers look to catch the automation wave

BY JING XUAN TENG

  • In a closed-off room, workers assembled vehicles' "brains", testing their cameras and computer chips.
  • In a light-filled workshop in eastern China, a robotic arm moved a partially assembled autonomous vehicle as workers calibrated its cameras, typical of the incremental automation being adopted even across smaller factories in the world's manufacturing powerhouse.
  • In a closed-off room, workers assembled vehicles' "brains", testing their cameras and computer chips.
In a light-filled workshop in eastern China, a robotic arm moved a partially assembled autonomous vehicle as workers calibrated its cameras, typical of the incremental automation being adopted even across smaller factories in the world's manufacturing powerhouse.
China is already the world's largest market for industrial robots, and the government is pouring billions of dollars into robotics and artificial intelligence to boost its presence in the sector. 
The first essentially humanlessfactoriesare already in operation, even as widespread automation raises questions about job losses as well as the cost and difficulty of transition for smaller and medium-sized companies. 
The answer for many is a hybrid approach, experts and factory owners told AFP. 
At the autonomous vehicle workshop, manager Liu Jingyao told AFP that humans are still a crucial part of even technologically advanced manufacturing. 
"Many decisions require human judgement," said Liu, whose company Neolix produces small van-like vehicles that transport parcels across Chinese cities. 
"These decisions involve certain skill-based elements that still need to be handled by people."
At the Neolix factory, 300 kilometres (186 miles) north of Shanghai, newly built driverless vehicles zoomed around a testing track simulating obstacles including puddles and bridges.
In a closed-off room, workers assembled vehicles' "brains", testing their cameras and computer chips.
"Automation... primarily serve(s) to assist humans, reducing labour intensity rather than replacing them," Liu said.
But Ni Jun, a mechanical engineering expert at Shanghai's Jiaotong University, said China's strategy of focusing on industrial applications for AI means full automation is already feasible in many sectors.
Among others, tech giant Xiaomi operates a "dark factory" -- where the absence of people means no need for lights -- with robotic arms and sensors able to make smartphones without humans.

Digital divide

Ni described a "digital divide" between larger companies with the funds to invest heavily in modernisation, and smaller businesses struggling to keep up.
For Zhu Yefeng's Far East Precision Printing Company, part of China's vast network of small independent factories employing up to a few dozen people each, full automation is a distant dream.
At the company just outside Shanghai, workers in small rooms fed sheets of instruction manuals into folding machines and operated equipment that printed labels for electronic devices.
The company used pen and paper to track its workflow until two years ago, with managers having to run around the factory to communicate order information.
"Things were, to put it bluntly, a complete mess," Zhu told AFP.
The company has since adopted software that allows employees to scan QR codes that send updates to a factory-wide tracker.
On a screen in his office, Zhu can see detailed charts breaking down each order's completion level and individual employees' productivity statistics.
"This is a start," Zhu told AFP. "We will move toward more advanced technology like automation, in order to receive even bigger orders from clients."
Financial constraints are a major barrier though.  
"As a small company, we can't afford certain expenses," said Zhu. 
His team is trying to develop its own robotic quality testing machine, but for now humans continue to check final products.

Employment pressures 

The potential unemployment caused by widespread automation will be a challenge, said Jacob Gunter from the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies. 
"Companies will be quite happy to decrease their headcount... but the government will not like that and will be under a lot of pressure to navigate this," Gunter told AFP.
Beijing's push to develop industrial robots will "intersect with the need for maintaining high employment at a time when employment pressure is considerable", he added. 
Going forward, manufacturers must strike a balance "between the technical feasibility, social responsibility, and business necessity", Jiaotong University's Ni told AFP.
Zhou Yuxiang, the CEO of Black Lake Technologies -- the start-up that provided the software for Zhu's factory -- told AFP he thought factories would "always be hybrid". 
"If you ask every owner of a factory, is a dark factory the goal? No, that's just a superficial description," Zhou said. 
"The goal for factories is to optimise production, deliver things that their end customers want, and also make money."
tjx/reb/dan

Guatemala

For children of deported parents, lonely journeys to a new home

BY GERARD MARTINEZ

  • Andy was making the trip with six other children aged 3 to 15 -- three of them US citizens, the others Guatemalans who grew up in Florida.
  • One recent day at Miami's international airport, Andy, age 6, was getting ready to fly to Guatemala. 
  • Andy was making the trip with six other children aged 3 to 15 -- three of them US citizens, the others Guatemalans who grew up in Florida.
One recent day at Miami's international airport, Andy, age 6, was getting ready to fly to Guatemala. 
He was anxious, this was no year-end vacation to visit his relatives.
Andy was moving to his ancestral country to reunite with his father, recently deported as part of President Donald Trump's aggressive policy to expel undocumented migrants.
"They took my brother and I've had to take care of the little one," said Osvaldo, Andy's uncle who brought him to the airport but was not getting on the plane with him.
Andy was making the trip with six other children aged 3 to 15 -- three of them US citizens, the others Guatemalans who grew up in Florida. They were all moving to a country where they either had never been, or one which they barely remembered.
The sprawling city of Miami on Florida's east coast is about 70 percent Hispanic, and often called the Gateway to Latin America.
Across the United States, cities with large immigrant communities are primary targets of Trump's virulent anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric.
Trump's administration has deployed heavily armed and masked enforcement agents and onlookers have filmed them in various cities tackling people in the street or dragging them from cars.

'I worry about the child'

Born in the United States, Andy is a US citizen. Until November, he lived with his father Adiner, who had been in Florida for a decade. His mother hasn't been in his life since the parents separated.
One day, when Andy's father came to pick him up from school, a police officer stopped him. He had neither a visa nor a residency permit.
Andy -- who wore a backpack and a little cross necklace for the flight to Guatemala City -- was happy about being reunited with his father but also "a little nervous" about the trip, said Osvaldo, who did not want his full name published for fear of arrest.
"I keep thinking about my brother, about why they nabbed him. And I also worry about the child," he said.
The trip was organized by the Guatemalan-Maya Center, a nonprofit group serving "uprooted children and families" in the Miami area. 
Mariana Blanco, its director of operations, circulated among the children, checking they had everything needed for the trip.
She pointed out Franklin, 3, and his 6-year-old brother Garibaldi, both US citizens. The younger boy wore a Spider Man hoodie, a dinosaur backpack, and an anxious expression.
Like Andy, they were travelling to reunite with their deported father, because their mother works long hours in Miami and fears she too will be arrested. 

'Trampling on children's rights'

Two volunteers with the Guatemalan-Maya Center were accompanying the children on the trip.
One of them, Diego Serrato, accused the Trump administration of racism and "trampling on children's rights." 
"It's sad to see worry and fear on their little faces instead of the smiles they should have," Serrato said.
The group also included Mariela, 11, traveling to live with her mother because her father fears arrest; Alexis, 11, who had to stay for a few days with an aunt he'd never met after his father was arrested; and Enrique, 13, about to see his mother for the first time in eight years after his father ended up in an ICE lockup.
"No one should go through that, especially not a child," said Blanco.
The children, all of them Mayan, would have to adapt to life in Guatemala, where their families primarily live in impoverished rural areas, Blanco said. 
Most of the older ones would have to start working because middle school and high school in Guatemala come with expenses that their parents cannot cover, she added. 
As the group headed towards customs, Andy suddenly turned, hugged his uncle Osvaldo tightly, before rejoining the other children.
gma/eml-aem/ksb/md