politics

UK police search properties in Mandelson probe

politics

UK police search properties in Mandelson probe

BY MARTIN POLLARD

  • The searches came as Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces intense scrutiny over his decision to appoint Mandelson as the country's envoy to the United States despite his association with convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
  • UK police probing Britain's former ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson searched two properties on Friday, authorities said, following fresh revelations in the Epstein files.
  • The searches came as Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces intense scrutiny over his decision to appoint Mandelson as the country's envoy to the United States despite his association with convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
UK police probing Britain's former ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson searched two properties on Friday, authorities said, following fresh revelations in the Epstein files.
The searches came as Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces intense scrutiny over his decision to appoint Mandelson as the country's envoy to the United States despite his association with convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Earlier this week, London's Metropolitan Police confirmed it was investigating Mandelson, 72, over allegations of misconduct in a public office.
It came after newly released documents appeared to show him sharing confidential government information with Epstein when Mandelson was a UK government minister, including during the 2008 financial crisis.
On Friday, officers from the Met's specialist crime team were deployed at two addresses, one in the western English county of Wiltshire and another in London, according to Deputy Assistant Commissioner Hayley Sewart.
"The searches are related to an ongoing investigation into misconduct in public office offences, involving a 72-year-old man," she said.
"He has not been arrested and enquiries are ongoing."
Several people believed to be police officers arrived outside Mandelson's house in central London on Friday afternoon.
Mandelson, a pivotal figure for decades in British politics, stood down from parliament's unelected upper chamber, the House of Lords, earlier this week following the release of the latest batch of files.
He also faces being formally stripped of the title that allowed him to sit in parliament.

PM under pressure

Meanwhile Global Counsel, the lobbying firm Mandelson co-founded, announced in a statement Friday it had cut all ties with him, saying he no longer had a stake in or any influence over the business "in any capacity".
A day earlier, Starmer had apologised to Epstein's victims for appointing Mandelson as ambassador to Washington, but indicated he himself would not resign over the scandal.
Starmer fired the former UK minister and EU trade commissioner in September after Mandelson spending only seven months as ambassador in Washington, following an earlier release of Epstein documents.
The ex-envoy was one of numerous prominent figures again embarrassed by last week's latest revelations of ties to the late US financier, who died in jail in 2019 while facing charges of alleged sex trafficking. US officials ruled Epstein's death a suicide.
Email exchanges between Mandelson and Epstein showed an intimate friendship, financial dealings, private photos as well as evidence that Mandelson passed confidential and potentially market-sensitive information to Epstein nearly two decades ago.
Starmer reiterated on Thursday that Mandelson repeatedly lied to secure the post and that he had not previously known about the "depth and darkness" of his friendship with Epstein.
Documents relating to Mandelson's appointment are set to be published after MPs earlier this week voted for their release, though it remains unclear when that will begin.
Starmer, in a letter to the parliamentary committee examining which documents could be released, asked them to treat the matter "with the urgency and transparency it deserves".
mp/jj/jhb

Sports

Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics open with glittering ceremony

BY TERRY DALEY IN CORTINA D'AMPEZZO

  • There were also celebrations in Livigno and Predazzo elsewhere in the Italian Alps.
  • The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics opened on Friday with a glittering ceremony at the San Siro stadium echoed by celebrations at Games venues across the Italian Alps.
  • There were also celebrations in Livigno and Predazzo elsewhere in the Italian Alps.
The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics opened on Friday with a glittering ceremony at the San Siro stadium echoed by celebrations at Games venues across the Italian Alps.
The extravaganza reflected the most geographically widespread Games in history and in a first, the 2,900 athletes paraded in the venues closest to where they will compete, in a bid to minimise travel.
Under tight security, with helicopters buzzing over the San Siro, the curtain went up on the Games in a burst of colour and light.
Athletes also gathered in a more intimate ceremony in snow-covered Cortina, the chic resort 400 kilometres (250 miles) from Milan that is hosting the women's alpine skiing. 
There were also celebrations in Livigno and Predazzo elsewhere in the Italian Alps.
The San Siro show began with dancers from the famed Teatro alla Scala's academy taking centre stage, accompanied by symbols of Italian beauty and design.
The opening scenes also paid tribute to Italy's rich cultural heritage, with performers wearing outsized heads of the three great masters of Italian opera -- Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini and Gioachino Rossini.
American diva Mariah Carey took centre stage with the crowd singing along as she performed in a white sequined dress with feathers, singing "Volare" in Italian and "Nothing is Impossible".
The ceremony also paid tribute to the late Italian fashion icon Giorgio Armani, with dozens of models wearing red, green, and white suits honouring his legacy.
A video showed Italian President Sergio Mattarella arriving at the stadium on one of the city's traditional yellow trams driven by Italian MotoGP great Valentino Rossi.

Cauldrons

Two cauldrons will be lit simultaneously -- one at Milan's Arch of Peace and another in Cortina.
Organisers have tried to keep the identity of the final two torchbearers for the ceremony under wraps, but it has been reported that Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni, two of Italy's most decorated alpine skiers, have been chosen.
US Vice President JD Vance attended the ceremony in the VIP tribune with Mattarella and International Olympic Committee chief Kirsty Coventry.
Vance held talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday, praising the organisation of the Games.
There has been anger in Italy over the presence of agents from the US immigration enforcement agency ICE as part of security for the American delegation, even though the Italian government has said the agents will not have any operational role on its soil.
Hundreds of students from high schools and universities in Milan gathered to protest against ICE.

Remarkable Vonn

Earlier Friday, Lindsey Vonn, the biggest star at the Milan-Cortina Olympics, passed a crucial test of her injured knee. 
The American skier successfully completed her first training run for the women's downhill event, despite competing with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.
It kept alive the 41-year-old's hopes of medal glory in Italy. 
Vonn won her only Olympic gold at the Vancouver Games, 16 years ago, but also has two bronze medals.
A top-three placing in Sunday's final would cap a remarkable comeback from retirement that has been elevated to extraordinary by the injury she suffered in a pre-Olympics race.
Wearing a knee brace, Vonn completed the run at Cortina without apparent difficulty and before skiing she posted on Instagram: "Nothing makes me happier! No one would have believed I would be here... but I made it!!... I'm not going to waste this chance."
Asked by reporters after the race if everything was "all good", Vonn responded simply "yeah".
Competitive action in the figure skating has begun, with defending champions the United States taking an early lead in the team event thanks to world champion ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates.
The men's downhill race, one of the prestige events, kicks off the first full day of action on Saturday.
China's freestyle skier Eileen Gu, one of the faces of the 2022 Games in Beijing, launches her bid for triple gold as the women's slopestyle gets underway at Livigno Snow Park. 
ea-gj/jw

rights

A French yoga teacher's 'hell' in a Venezuelan jail

BY PATRICK FORT

  • The middle of the night brought interrogation and torture sessions, he said, describing the various ways in which prison guards tried "to break us."
  • A French yoga teacher who was held in a blood and feces-stained Venezuelan jail on suspicion of being a US spy described how guards put him "through hell" in an attempt to break him.
  • The middle of the night brought interrogation and torture sessions, he said, describing the various ways in which prison guards tried "to break us."
A French yoga teacher who was held in a blood and feces-stained Venezuelan jail on suspicion of being a US spy described how guards put him "through hell" in an attempt to break him.
Castro, who has Chilean origins, was detained on June 26, 2025 after crossing into Venezuela from neighboring Colombia, where he lived.
His plan was to renew his Colombian visa by exiting and immediately re-entering the South American country.
But he was pounced upon by masked agents from Venezuela's intelligence services, who whisked him away to an underground prison in the oil city of Maracaibo.
His ordeal there provides an insight into conditions suffered by hundreds of dissidents over three decades of repression under ousted leader Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez.
"They left me there all night, with damp walls, toilets in a deplorable state with hundreds of cockroaches and fecal matter that has built up over months," Castro recounted. 
Scanning the cell, he saw "several traces of blood on the walls" and a table "with different torture instruments."
The following day he was interrogated by a military intelligence agent, who told him he "didn't buy my story of a yoga teacher building a life for himself in Colombia. 
"He told me I was a spy and would spend several years in prison and that he had ways of 'opening me up' -- that that was his job," the 41-year-old said in a video interview from Paris. 

Propaganda on loop

From Maracaibo, the tall, soft-spoken Frenchman was transferred to Caracas, first to a military intelligence detention center and then to the Rodeo 1 prison east of Caracas, where dozens of political prisoners, including several foreigners, were held.
The Toulouse native said he was initially relieved to be separated from common-law prisoners, but that his conditions in detention remained grim.
Food was scarce and the prisoners kept getting sick.
"We had constant diarrhea, throat and lung infections. We had no real toilets and got water just twice a day," he said.
Propaganda blared from loudspeakers for up to five hours.
At other times, the soundtrack was "extremely loud" folk music.
The middle of the night brought interrogation and torture sessions, he said, describing the various ways in which prison guards tried "to break us."
"They made us come out in a line, hooded and cuffed, and insulted us," he said.
The prisoners were interrogated and subjected to mock trials.
Castro was accused of being an agent of the CIA or of the US Drug Enforcement Agency and subjected to polygraph tests, during which the same set of questions was put to him for hours.
All lived in fear of being punished, which entailed being sent to a torture cell, where prisoners were beaten, "suffocated with teargas" or had a plastic bag sprayed with insecticide tied around their heads.

Sodomized with tubes

Some prisoners were forcibly intubated, others sodomized with tubes, he said, adding that "soldiers and (prison) directors took part in these torture sessions with a certain relish."
Castro himself escaped such methods.
He said that he had considered mutinying over lack of access to books made available by French consular services but was advised against doing so by a fellow inmate who had spent over 20 years behind bars.
"He told me: 'They will torture you. Within a minute they will have destroyed your body and within five they will have destroyed your life. Forget the books, you'll read them some day in the future'."
Castro was freed in late November after strenuous diplomatic efforts by France and flown home to Paris, where his mother had been frantically awaiting news of his fate.
Paris said Brazil and Mexico assisted in the negotiations.
Castro wants to be officially recognized as a victim by the French state.
He began telling his story last month to shine a light on the hundreds of political prisoners still behind bars in Venezuela.
Despite all his "bad memories" he said he hopes to return one day to a country to which he now feels "inextricably tied."
pgf/esp/cb/md

justice

US says 'key participant' in 2012 attack on Benghazi mission arrested

  • "The FBI has arrested one of the key participants behind the Benghazi attack," Bondi said at a press conference.
  • One of the "key participants" behind the 2012 attack on the US mission in Benghazi that left the ambassador and three other Americans dead has been arrested, officials said Friday.
  • "The FBI has arrested one of the key participants behind the Benghazi attack," Bondi said at a press conference.
One of the "key participants" behind the 2012 attack on the US mission in Benghazi that left the ambassador and three other Americans dead has been arrested, officials said Friday.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the suspect, Zubayr al-Bakoush, has been brought to the United States and will face murder and other charges.
"The FBI has arrested one of the key participants behind the Benghazi attack," Bondi said at a press conference. "Bakoush will now face American justice on American soil."
The Justice Department said Bakoush has been charged with terrorism-related offenses, murder and arson in an eight-count indictment.
FBI Director Kash Patel declined to say where Bakoush was arrested, saying only that it was "overseas."
US ambassador Chris Stevens and three American staff were killed in the September 11, 2012 attack on the US consulate in Libya's second-largest city -- an assault blamed on an Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group.
Islamist militants armed with automatic weapons and grenades stormed the US compound at a time when the oil-rich North African country was torn by civil war.
They set the building ablaze, killing Stevens and IT specialist Sean Smith through smoke inhalation, and then also attacked a CIA annex where two contractors died, both former Navy SEALs.
According to the indictment, Bakoush was a member of Ansar al-Sharia and was among a group of more than 20 heavily armed men who launched the initial attack on the US mission in Benghazi. 
The assault, the first to claim the life of an American ambassador since 1979, deeply shocked the United States and caused a political storm for then-president Barack Obama's administration.
The State Department, then headed by Hillary Clinton, was accused by its political foes of deadly mistakes and negligence over the bloodshed, which came 11 years to the day after al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks.
Fox News broadcast what it said was exclusive footage of Bakoush's arrival at a military base in Virginia outside Washington.
In the footage, an elderly grey-haired man struggles to descend a flight of stairs from a plane and is then placed on a stretcher, where he lies shivering.
The United States has previously convicted two Libyans for involvement in the Benghazi attack.
Ahmed Abu Khatallah was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2018 and Mustafa al-Imam was sentenced to nearly 20 years in 2020.
cl/ksb

diplomacy

Iran expects more US talks after 'positive atmosphere' in Oman

BY AYA ISKANDARANI WITH STUART WILLIAMS IN PARIS

  • "In a very positive atmosphere, our arguments were exchanged and the views of the other side were shared with us," Araghchi told Iranian state TV, adding that the two sides had "agreed to continue negotiations, but we will decide on the modalities and timing at a later date".
  • Iran said Friday it expected to hold more negotiations with the United States, hailing a "positive atmosphere" during a day of talks in Oman but warning against threats after Washington raised the spectre of new military action.
  • "In a very positive atmosphere, our arguments were exchanged and the views of the other side were shared with us," Araghchi told Iranian state TV, adding that the two sides had "agreed to continue negotiations, but we will decide on the modalities and timing at a later date".
Iran said Friday it expected to hold more negotiations with the United States, hailing a "positive atmosphere" during a day of talks in Oman but warning against threats after Washington raised the spectre of new military action.
With an American naval group led by an aircraft carrier in Middle Eastern waters, US and Iranian delegations held talks in Muscat mediated by the Gulf sultanate without publicly meeting face-to-face.
Shortly after the talks concluded, the US announced new sanctions against shipping entities and vessels, aimed at curbing Iran's oil exports. But it was not clear if the move was linked to the talks.
The talks were the first between the two foes since the United States joined Israel's war with Iran in June with strikes on nuclear sites. 
They also come just under a month after Iranian authorities launched a crackdown on protests that left thousands dead, according to rights groups.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who led Iran's delegation in Muscat, said talks "focused exclusively" on the Iranian nuclear programme, which the West believes is aimed at making an atomic bomb but Tehran insists is peaceful.
The US delegation, led by Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's influential son-in-law Jared Kushner, had also wanted Tehran's backing for militant groups, its ballistic missile programme and treatment of protesters on the agenda.
According to US news website Axios, the talks featured a direct meeting between Witkoff, Kushner and Araghchi, but there was no official confirmation from either side.
"In a very positive atmosphere, our arguments were exchanged and the views of the other side were shared with us," Araghchi told Iranian state TV, adding that the two sides had "agreed to continue negotiations, but we will decide on the modalities and timing at a later date".
Speaking to the official IRNA news agency, he expressed hope that Washington would refrain from "threats and pressure" so that "the talks can continue".
There was no immediate comment from the American delegation in Muscat.

'Destabilising power'

In a symbol of the potential for US military action, Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of US Central Command, whose area of responsibility includes the Middle East, was present at the talks, according to images published by the Oman News Agency.
Multiple sessions of talks in the morning and afternoon saw both sides shuttling to and from the residence of Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, who said on X "we aim to reconvene in due course".
The foreign ministry of US ally Qatar expressed hope the talks would "lead to a comprehensive agreement that serves the interests of both parties and enhances security and stability in the region".
The White House has made clear it wants the talks to rein in Tehran's ability to make a nuclear bomb, an ambition the Islamic republic has always denied.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Friday that Iran should stop being a "destabilising power", citing its nuclear programme and support for "terrorist" groups.
Barrot also called on "groups supported by Iran" to exert "the utmost restraint" in the event of any military escalation involving the Islamic republic.

'Maximum pressure'

Trump initially threatened military action against Tehran over its crackdown on protesters last month and even told demonstrators "help is on its way".
Regional powers including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar urged the United States not to intervene, calling on Washington and Tehran to instead return to talks.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said that according to its latest toll 6,495 protesters were confirmed to have been killed, as well as 214 members of the security forces and 61 bystanders.
But it and other rights groups warn that the final toll risks being far higher, with the magnitude of the crackdown masked by the blanket internet shutdown imposed by the authorities for a fortnight. 
Almost 51,000 people are also confirmed to have been arrested, according to HRANA.
But Trump's rhetoric in recent days has focused on reining in the Iranian nuclear programme and the US has manoeuvered a naval group led by aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln into the region.
Iran has repeatedly vowed it will hit back at US bases in the region if attacked.
The new sanctions to curb Iran's oil exports come with Trump "committed to driving down the Iranian regime's illicit oil and petrochemical exports under the administration's maximum pressure campaign", State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement.
sjw/amj/jsa

unrest

Violence-ridden Haiti in limbo as transitional council wraps up

BY JEAN-DANIEL SENAT

  • - Fear of institutional vacuum - Charged with bringing stability to the Caribbean nation, the nine-member Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) has achieved little, plagued by infighting, scandals and accusations of corruption.
  • Nearly two years after it was created to restore order in impoverished, violence-ravaged Haiti, the transitional council is ending its work -- with no end to the crisis in sight.
  • - Fear of institutional vacuum - Charged with bringing stability to the Caribbean nation, the nine-member Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) has achieved little, plagued by infighting, scandals and accusations of corruption.
Nearly two years after it was created to restore order in impoverished, violence-ravaged Haiti, the transitional council is ending its work -- with no end to the crisis in sight.
"Once again, we have the impression of being back to square one," former Prime Minister Jean-Michel Lapin told AFP.
With the council's mandate expiring on Saturday, the current US-backed prime minister faces the monumental task of running parliamentary and presidential elections in August, the country's first elections in nearly a decade.
While he enjoys the support of Washington, premier Alix Fils-Aime faces deeply divided political elites, whose support he will need to hold the vote, and a traumatized population that has suffered from murders, rapes, looting, and kidnappings at the hands of gangs for years.
Currently, gangs control 90 percent of the capital Port-au-Prince, and they killed nearly 6,000 people and injured over 2,700 in 2025, according to the United Nations, with some 1.4 million, or 10 percent of the population, displaced by the violence.
And nearly half the population, or nearly 6 million people, face acute food insecurity, including 1.2 million children under the age of five. 

Fear of institutional vacuum

Charged with bringing stability to the Caribbean nation, the nine-member Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) has achieved little, plagued by infighting, scandals and accusations of corruption. Several members have tried to push Fils-Aime out.
In an interview with AFP, Ted Saint Dic, a member of the Montana Accord movement, a civil society group, described the body as a "complete failure."
Its members "have plunged the country further into crisis," he said.
"The current members of the CPT have clumsily attempted to remain in power beyond their mandate," former lawmaker Antoine Rodon Bien-Aime told AFP.
Meanwhile, Lapin, the former prime minister, has denounced the council members for being "incapable of freeing themselves from their personal interests."
Fearing an institutional vacuum, Washington threw its support behind Fils-Aime, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasizing "the importance of his continued tenure as Haiti's Prime Minister to combat terrorist gangs and stabilize the island."
It also sanctioned two members of the CPT and a minister, accusing them of supporting gangs, and this week sent three warships to Haiti.
The European Union and Canada have also warned against any political change at the helm of the country.
Meanwhile, over the past several weeks, Haitian police have been conducting a large-scale offensive against gangs in central Port-au-Prince that saw the destruction of the house of one of the most notorious gang leaders, Jimmy Cherizier, also known as "Barbecue."
The effort is supported by a UN anti-gang force and a private security company.
In a rare piece of good news for the country, the Haitian national football team has qualified for the 2026 World Cup this summer, the first time since 1974.
jds-ube/cyb/md/ksb

drugs

Suspect in murder of Colombian footballer Escobar killed in Mexico

  • Petro said on X that Gallon was killed Thursday in Mexico, and that he was responsible for Escobar's killing.
  • A drug trafficker linked to the 1994 murder of Colombian football star Andres Escobar has been killed in Mexico, President Gustavo Petro said Friday.
  • Petro said on X that Gallon was killed Thursday in Mexico, and that he was responsible for Escobar's killing.
A drug trafficker linked to the 1994 murder of Colombian football star Andres Escobar has been killed in Mexico, President Gustavo Petro said Friday.
Santiago Gallon Henao had been investigated in the death of Escobar, the Colombian national team's central defender, who was gunned down in Medellin days after scoring an own goal in a match against the United States at the 1994 World Cup.
The own goal contributed to Colombia's first-round elimination from the tournament.
The 27-year-old's murder shocked the world of football and Colombia, which at the time was plagued by violence. Medellin was controlled by drug traffickers, with a murder rate of 380 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Gallon and his brother allegedly confronted Escobar at a nightclub on July 2, 1994, just 10 days after the own goal.
The brothers' driver, Humberto Munoz Castro, admitted to shooting Escobar several times in the nightclub's parking lot. According to eyewitnesses, Munoz shouted "goal!" each time he fired. He later confessed to the killing and was sentenced to prison.
The men were thought to have lost heavily after betting on Colombia's performance at the World Cup.
Petro said on X that Gallon was killed Thursday in Mexico, and that he was responsible for Escobar's killing.
The footballer's murder "destroyed the country's international image," the leftist president said.
Gallon was shot dead in a restaurant in Huixquilucan, a municipality in the state of Mexico, a source from the Toluca prosecutor's office told AFP.
Gallon and his brother were investigated for obstruction of justice and spent 15 months in prison without being brought to trial. 
They were included in a 2015 US Treasury Department blacklist for drug trafficking, accused of being members of La Oficina de Envigado, a successor to Pablo Escobar's Medellin Cartel.
das/vd/dga/acb/md

US

France detects Russia-linked Epstein smear attempt against Macron

BY PIERRE MOUTOT AND TIPHAINE LE LIBOUX

  • France's Viginum agency, which tracks foreign disinformation campaigns, said it had on Wednesday detected a social media operation involving a fabricated video report alleging that "journalists had uncovered a compromising exchange implicating Emmanuel Macron".
  • France has detected a Russia-linked disinformation effort alleging President Emmanuel Macron's involvement with convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a government authority said Friday.
  • France's Viginum agency, which tracks foreign disinformation campaigns, said it had on Wednesday detected a social media operation involving a fabricated video report alleging that "journalists had uncovered a compromising exchange implicating Emmanuel Macron".
France has detected a Russia-linked disinformation effort alleging President Emmanuel Macron's involvement with convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a government authority said Friday.
Politicians, celebrities and royals have been caught up in the turmoil after the US Justice Department last week published a new cache of nearly three million documents related to the investigation of Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
France's Viginum agency, which tracks foreign disinformation campaigns, said it had on Wednesday detected a social media operation involving a fabricated video report alleging that "journalists had uncovered a compromising exchange implicating Emmanuel Macron".
The posts cite an alleged email exchange between Epstein and late French modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, who was found dead in his cell in a Paris prison in 2022 after being charged with raping minors.
According to the posts, Brunel allegedly told Epstein in May 2017 that he would take "a few boys" to a party that Macron was organising, allegations Viginum described as false.
The Department of Justice's files about Epstein do not contain the alleged email.
The story, allegedly by Le Parisien journalist Victor Cousin, was first posted on a website fraudulently using the identity of a French media organisation, France-Soir, Viginum said.
Writing for Le Parisien, Cousin, 26, said he had gone to a police station to file a complaint.
"I had to explain how pro-Russian individuals had stolen my identity to attack the French president," he wrote.
"The police officer in front of me stared at me with wide eyes, unable to comprehend what I was saying."

'Brand theft'

On Wednesday, France-Soir also sought to distance itself from the fabricated report.
"Warning: brand and content theft," it said. "The website http://france-soir.net has no connection with France-Soir."
According to the government agency, the disinformation effort was likely conducted by an information operation called Storm-1516 that is linked to Russian military intelligence.
The fake France-Soir website was linked "with a high degree of confidence to the CopyCop information operation", it said.
CopyCop is in turn linked to John Mark Dougan, an American fugitive living in Russia. The latter "maintains part of the digital infrastructure of the Storm-1516 information operation", Viginum said.
On X, the first account to share the fake video report was "@LoetitiaH, a frequent relay for Storm-1516 information operations", the agency added.
The video content was then "picked up and amplified by numerous other accounts monitored by Viginum", it said.
The posts targeting Macron began appearing online on Wednesday, shared simultaneously by several social media accounts identified as regular sources of pro-Russian disinformation. The accounts have a following of several thousand internet users.
Like previous disinformation operations on social media, they rely on a video with audio dubbed by artificial intelligence, screenshots of altered documents, and links to a website impersonating another media outlet to lend credibility to their narrative.
The posts share a link to the clone of the France-Soir media site, launched on Sunday, whose domain name is registered as .net, instead of the .fr of the authentic site.
The French government has repeatedly warned the public over Russian disinformation campaigns in Europe, which have grown in intensity since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Missing link

According to Antibot4Navalny, a collective that monitors pro-Kremlin bot networks, Storm-1516 and a disinformation campaign known as Matryoshka launched simultaneous operations targeting Macron in early February.
However, the group said there was no proven "direct link beyond the timing and topics" between the two operations.
"No strong connections between sites or distribution accounts can give us grounds to make that claim," Antibot4Navalny told AFP.
According to Viginum, Storm-1516 was behind at least 77 disinformation operations targeting Western countries between late 2023 and March 2025.
After the publication of the Epstein files, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was also targeted by false posts.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said this week the Epstein files demonstrate "how the Western elite treats children" and that such officials "stand behind the Kyiv regime".
tll-nl-am-pim-as/ah/jhb

Trump

Trump posts, then deletes, racist clip of Obamas as monkeys

BY DANNY KEMP

  • Billionaire Trump launched his own political career by pushing the racist and false "birther" conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was lying about being born in the United States.
  • President Donald Trump shared a post with a racist video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys, sparking outrage across the US political spectrum Friday before deleting it in a rare backtrack. 
  • Billionaire Trump launched his own political career by pushing the racist and false "birther" conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was lying about being born in the United States.
President Donald Trump shared a post with a racist video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys, sparking outrage across the US political spectrum Friday before deleting it in a rare backtrack. 
The White House initially rejected "fake outrage" over the video shared on Trump's Truth Social account late Thursday night, only to then blame the post on an error by a staff member.
Democrats had slammed Trump as "vile" over the post about the Obamas -- the first Black president and first lady in US history -- while a senior Republican senator said the video was blatantly racist.
Near the end of the one-minute-long video promoting conspiracies about Republican Trump's 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, the Obamas were shown with their faces on the bodies of monkeys for about one second.
The song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" plays in the background when the Obamas appear.
The video, uploaded at 11.44 pm Thursday (0445 GMT Friday) amid a flurry of other posts, repeated false allegations that ballot-counting company Dominion Voting Systems helped steal the election from Trump.
At first, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt played down the row, saying the images were "from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King."
"Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public," Leavitt said in a statement to AFP.
But almost exactly 12 hours after the post appeared on Trump's account there was an unusual concession from an administration that normally refuses to admit the slightest mistake.
"A White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down," a White House official told AFP.
There was no immediate comment from the Obamas.
While Democrats had pounced on the post, it was the outrage from some members of Trump's own Republican party that appeared to trigger the about-face.
Tim Scott, the only Black Republican senator and a contender for the 2024 presidential nomination, called the video "the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House."
Scott said he was "praying it was fake" and called for Trump to remove it.
Roger Wicker, another Republican senator, said the post was "totally unacceptable. The president should take it down and apologize."

'Disgusting bigotry'

The top Democrat in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, called Trump "vile, unhinged and malignant" and urged Republicans on X to "immediately denounce Donald Trump's disgusting bigotry."
During negotiations to avoid a US government shutdown last year Trump posted a video of Jeffries, who is Black, wearing a fake mustache and a sombrero. Jeffries called the image racist.
Billionaire Trump launched his own political career by pushing the racist and false "birther" conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was lying about being born in the United States.
Trump has long had a bitter rivalry with his Democratic predecessor, taking particular umbrage at his popularity and the fact that he won the Nobel peace prize.
In the first year of his second term in the White House, Trump has ramped up his use of hyper-realistic but fabricated AI visuals on Truth Social and other platforms, often glorifying himself while lampooning his critics.
He has used the provocative posts to rally his conservative base.
An AI-generated video in one of the posts, showing fighter jets dumping human waste on protesters, was created by the same X user who made the video showing the Obamas as monkeys.
Last year, Trump posted a video generated by artificial intelligence showing Barack Obama being arrested in the Oval Office and appearing behind bars in an orange jumpsuit.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has drawn criticism from his opponents for leading a crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
US federal anti-discrimination programs were born of the 1960s civil rights struggle, mainly led by Black Americans, for equality and justice after hundreds of years of slavery, whose abolition in 1865 saw other institutional forms of racism enforced.
burs-dk/bgs

nuclear

US says new nuclear deal should include China, accuses Beijing of secret tests

BY NINA LARSON WITH SHAUN TANDON IN WASHINGTON

  • DiNanno also accused Beijing of conducting secret "nuclear explosive tests, including preparing for tests with designated yields in the hundreds of tonnes".
  • The United States on Friday urged three-way talks with Russia and China to set new limits on nuclear weapons, as it accused Beijing of conducting secret nuclear tests and dramatically swelling its arsenal.
  • DiNanno also accused Beijing of conducting secret "nuclear explosive tests, including preparing for tests with designated yields in the hundreds of tonnes".
The United States on Friday urged three-way talks with Russia and China to set new limits on nuclear weapons, as it accused Beijing of conducting secret nuclear tests and dramatically swelling its arsenal.
A day after the expiration of New START -- the last treaty between top nuclear powers Washington and Moscow -- Beijing reiterated that it did not plan to join disarmament negotiations "at this stage".
Russia meanwhile suggested other nuclear-armed states such as Britain and France should be included in any talks.
"Arms control can no longer be a bilateral issue between the United States and Russia," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in an online essay.
"Other countries have a responsibility to help ensure strategic stability, none more so than China."
The expiration on Thursday of New START, which restricted the United States and Russia to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads each, marks the first time in decades that there is no treaty to curtail the positioning of the planet's most destructive weapons, sparking fears of a fresh arms race.
US President Donald Trump did not accept a proposal from Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to keep New START's restrictions in place for another year, and called Thursday for a "new, improved and modernised treaty".

Secret nuclear tests?

Thomas DiNanno, US under secretary of state for arms control, presented the new US plan Friday to the Conference on Disarmament at the United Nations in Geneva, charging that the lapsed New START treaty had "fundamental flaws".
He accused China of taking advantage of the "legally-binding US-Russian restraint to begin expanding its arsenal at a historic pace", maintaining that it was "on track to have over 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030".
"As we sit here today, China's entire nuclear arsenal has no limits, no transparency, no declarations, and no controls," he said.
DiNanno also accused Beijing of conducting secret "nuclear explosive tests, including preparing for tests with designated yields in the hundreds of tonnes".
He charged that one such test was conducted on June 22, 2020, and accused China of seeking "to conceal testing by obfuscating the nuclear explosions because it recognised these tests violate test ban commitments".
Trump hinted at similar accusations late last year but without providing the same level of detail.
He said Washington wanted to resume testing nuclear weapons for the first time in decades "on an equal basis" with Moscow and Beijing but without elaborating and so far without following through.

'Irresponsible'

China's ambassador Shen Jian slammed Washington on Friday for "making irresponsible remarks, for instance the threatening of making nuclear weapons tests".
He also reiterated Beijing's official position, insisting to the conference that "China would not participate in nuclear disarmament negotiations at this stage".
"States possessing the largest nuclear arsenals should continue to fulfil their special and primary responsibilities for nuclear disarmament," he added.
Russia and the United States together control more than 80 percent of the world's nuclear warheads.
But China's nuclear arsenal is growing faster than any other country, by about 100 new warheads a year since 2023, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Russia, which has said it no longer considers itself bound by New START limits, said any new nuclear talks should include other nuclear-armed states such as France and Britain, its ambassador Gennady Gatilov told Friday's conference.
Britain's ambassador, David Riley, appeared to dismiss the idea, saying "the United Kingdom maintains a minimum credible nuclear deterrent" and that arms control talks should focus on "those states with the largest nuclear arsenals -- China, Russia and the US".
French ambassador Anne Lazar-Sury meanwhile said Paris believed "credible measures capable of reducing the risk of nuclear weapons use" should be "the objective of all nuclear-armed states."
Trump has said New START was "badly negotiated" and "is being grossly violated".
Russia in 2023 rejected inspections of its nuclear sites under the treaty, as tensions rose with the United States over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
But Trump has resumed diplomacy with Putin's Russia. The two countries on Thursday announced a resumption of direct military dialogue to avert crises.
sct-nl/rjm/phz

mosque

Terror at Friday prayers: witnesses describe blast rocking Islamabad mosque

BY MUHAMMAD DAUD

  • "It was unclear whether it was a suicide bombing, but the explosion was extremely powerful and caused numerous casualties," Kazim said.
  • A worshipper at the Shiite mosque in Islamabad where dozens of people were killed in a suicide blast on Friday described an "extremely powerful" explosion ripping through the building just after prayers started.
  • "It was unclear whether it was a suicide bombing, but the explosion was extremely powerful and caused numerous casualties," Kazim said.
A worshipper at the Shiite mosque in Islamabad where dozens of people were killed in a suicide blast on Friday described an "extremely powerful" explosion ripping through the building just after prayers started.
Muhammad Kazim, 52, told AFP he arrived at the Imam Bargah Qasr-e-Khadijatul Kubra mosque shortly after 1:00 pm (0800 GMT) on Friday and took up a place around seven or eight rows from the Imam.
"During the first bow of the Namaz (prayer ritual), we heard gunfire," he told AFP outside the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital, where many of the wounded were brought for treatment.
"And while we were still in the bowing position, an explosion occurred," he said.
Kazim -- from Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan who currently lives in Islamabad -- escaped unharmed, but accompanied his wounded friend to the PIMS hospital for treatment. 
"It was unclear whether it was a suicide bombing, but the explosion was extremely powerful and caused numerous casualties," Kazim said.
"Debris fell from the roof, and windows were shattered," he added. "When I got outside, many bodies were scattered... Many people lost their lives."
Another worshipper, Imran Mahmood, described a gunfight between the suicide bomber, a possible accomplice and volunteer security personnel at the mosque. 
"The suicide attacker was trying to move forward, but one of our injured volunteers fired at him from behind, hitting him in the thigh," Mahmood, in his fifties, told AFP. 
"He fell but got up again. Another man accompanying him opened fire on our volunteers," he said, adding the attacker "then jumped onto the gate and detonated the explosives".
By nightfall on Friday, the death toll stood at 31, with 139 more wounded.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, although suspicion will likely fall on the Islamic State group or anti-Shiite militants.
The attack was the deadliest in the Pakistani capital since September 2008, when 60 people were killed in a suicide truck bomb blast that destroyed part of the five-star Marriott hotel.

Lax security

Describing the aftermath of the attack, Kazim said unhurt worshippers went to the aid of those wounded.
"People tried to help on their own, carrying two or three bodies in the trunks of their vehicles, while ambulances arrived about 20 to 25 minutes later," he told AFP. 
"No one was allowed near the mosque afterwards."
Kazim, who has performed Friday prayers at the mosque "for the past three to four weeks", said security had been lax.
"I have never seen proper security in place," he told AFP.
"Volunteers manage security on their own, but they lack the necessary equipment to do it effectively," he said.
"Shiite mosques are always under threat, and the government should take this seriously and provide adequate security," he added.
bur-je/ceg

Global Edition

Why bitcoin is losing its luster after stratospheric rise

BY ALEXANDRA BACON AND LUCIE LEQUIER

  • - End of Trump rally - Digital currencies soared after Trump's election victory as he was widely viewed as a strong supporter of the technology.  
  • Bitcoin, the world's biggest cryptocurrency, sank this week, wiping out gains sparked by Donald Trump's presidential election victory in November 2024. 
  • - End of Trump rally - Digital currencies soared after Trump's election victory as he was widely viewed as a strong supporter of the technology.  
Bitcoin, the world's biggest cryptocurrency, sank this week, wiping out gains sparked by Donald Trump's presidential election victory in November 2024. 
The digital currency slumped to $60,033.01 on Friday before trimming losses, and is down around half from its October peak above $120,000. 
AFP explains why prices have fallen.

End of Trump rally

Digital currencies soared after Trump's election victory as he was widely viewed as a strong supporter of the technology.  
He publicly celebrated bitcoin crossing $100,000 for the first time in December 2024.
But the rally suffered a sharp setback in April after Trump announced sweeping US tariffs, rattling markets worldwide. 
Bitcoin later resumed its march higher along with stocks and other markets, and hit a record of $126,251.31 six months later.
But enthusiasm has faded as investors grow impatient over regulatory uncertainty.
While the US Congress passed a law in July to regulate stablecoins -- a form of cryptocurrency backed by traditional assets -- a broader crypto bill, the Clarity Act, has stalled in the Senate.
"A key test for Bitcoin's ability to sustainably recover will be the passage of the Clarity Act," said Deutsche Bank analysts Marion Laboure and Camilla Siazon. 

Domino effect

The recent slide in precious metals like gold and silver -- as investors locked in profits after their meteoric rise -- was one of the main triggers for bitcoin's slump.
That pullback sent many investors rushing to sell cryptocurrencies and other risky assets to help raise cash.
"This break is not happening in a vacuum, but in a context of widespread mistrust," said John Plassard, head of investment strategy at Cite Gestion Private Bank.
"Volatility in technology and precious metals is fuelling a global movement to reduce risk."
The sell-off has been intensified by forced deleveraging, as investors who borrowed money to bet on bitcoin's rise are forced to sell when losses mount, pushing prices lower.

Tech contagion

Cryptocurrency declines gathered pace this week as investors sold tech stocks on renewed concerns over an artificial intelligence bubble.
Analysts noted that bitcoin and AI-related stocks often move in the same direction.  
"In recent years, liquidity has flowed across digital assets and advanced tech stocks at the same time," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB.
"This means that both asset classes share a tight financial link."
Michael Burry, the entrepreneur who gained fame for spotting the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis, fanned fears on Monday as he flagged a possible "death spiral" for bitcoin.

Crypto firms in focus

The downturn has raised questions about the viability of digital asset treasury firms, which stockpile cryptocurrencies in a bet that prices will keep rising. 
Many of these firms are "sitting on significant unrealised losses," said Charlie Sherry, head of finance at BTC Markets.
If these firms are forced to sell their bitcoin holdings to stay afloat, it could flood the market and amplify a downward spiral in prices.
Shares in Strategy, which holds more than 713,000 bitcoins, plunged more than 17 percent on Friday after it reported a $12.4 billion net loss linked to crypto declines.
And US cryptocurrency exchange Gemini announced Thursday that it would slash roughly a quarter of its workforce and withdraw from several international markets amid the downturn in digital assets.
lul-ajb/aks/js

conflict

Russia accuses Kyiv of gun attack on army general in Moscow

  • - 'Did not expect it' - On Friday, AFP reporters saw a forensic vehicle parked outside an apartment block in a northwestern Moscow suburb. 
  • A top Russian military intelligence general was shot and wounded in a Moscow apartment building on Friday, in what Russia called an assassination attempt orchestrated by Ukraine. 
  • - 'Did not expect it' - On Friday, AFP reporters saw a forensic vehicle parked outside an apartment block in a northwestern Moscow suburb. 
A top Russian military intelligence general was shot and wounded in a Moscow apartment building on Friday, in what Russia called an assassination attempt orchestrated by Ukraine. 
There was no comment from Kyiv, which has claimed responsibility for several of the high-ranking military officials that have been killed on Russian soil since Moscow launched its full-scale offensive in February 2022. 
Vladimir Alekseyev is the deputy head of Moscow's GRU military intelligence. He is under Western sanctions for his alleged role in cyberattacks and charges that he organised a nerve agent attack on a Russian defector in Britain.
Russian investigators said he was shot by an "unidentified individual" who fled the scene, and was subsequently admitted to hospital.
In televised comments, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of being behind the "terrorist act", saying Kyiv wanted to "disrupt the negotiation process" aimed at ending the four-year war.
Alekseyev is the top deputy of Moscow's main negotiator at trilateral talks with Ukraine and the United States, the latest round of which concluded Thursday in Abu Dhabi.
The Kremlin acknowledged its military leaders were under threat at home while its troops were fighting in Ukraine. 
"It is clear that such military leaders and high-level specialists are at risk during wartime," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"But it is not up to the Kremlin to decide how to ensure their safety. That is a matter for the special services." 
He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin was being kept aware of the incident and the Kremlin hoped the general would recover. 
Putin -- who did not comment on the shooting despite making public appearances on Friday -- has reprimanded his powerful FSB security services for missing assassination plots in the past.  

 'Did not expect it'

On Friday, AFP reporters saw a forensic vehicle parked outside an apartment block in a northwestern Moscow suburb. 
Investigators had cordoned off access to the red-brick residential complex.
Residents told AFP they were alarmed. 
Russia's almost four-year military campaign has killed thousands and forced millions to flee their homes in Ukraine but can appear distant in Moscow.
"We are all in shock," said sales manager Yelena Komissarova. "And in our block too." 
"How could this happen?" doctor Zalina Khutayeva, 33, said. "We did not expect anything like this."
Bar very few exceptions, top military figures behind Moscow's Ukraine campaign are not public figures in Russia, which presents an exclusively positive image of its offensive on highly controlled state media.
Denis Tsyrulin, a 21-year-old who lives in the complex, said he did not know who Alekseyev was until the shooting. 
"The fact that he lived in our complex surprised me even more," he told AFP. 

Skripal connection

A career military officer born in Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union, Alekseyev has been the first deputy chief of the GRU since 2011.  
He has been under Western sanctions over alleged cyberattacks and for what the West said was his role in organising the poisoning of Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal in the UK in 2018.
That attempted assassination left one member of the British public dead and severely strained ties between London and Moscow. 
Alekseyev also led intelligence operations during the Russian intervention in Syria on behalf of now-ousted leader Bashar al-Assad.
He was despatched to negotiate with Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin during his attempted mutiny against Russian military top brass in 2023.
At the time, Alekseyev was filmed sitting with Prigozhin in a Russian military compound taken over by Wagner, trying to convince the mercenary chief to call off his troops.
Prigozhin died months after the aborted rebellion when his plane exploded mid-air. 
Russia's Investigative Committee said on Friday that Alekseyev had been hit by "several shots". 
There was no update on his condition other than that he had been hospitalised. 
"Investigative actions and operational search measures are being carried out to identify the person or persons involved in committing the aforementioned crime," Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said.
bur/gil

conflict

Cambodia reveals damage to UNESCO-listed temple after Thailand clashes

BY SUY SE

  • The Preah Vihear temple, which has been a UNESCO heritage site since 2008, has been a point of contention between the neighbours.
  • Chunks of broken sandstone litter Cambodia's UNESCO-listed Preah Vihear temple, whose centuries-old sandstone facades are pocked with fresh shrapnel scars after weeks of deadly border clashes with neighbouring Thailand.
  • The Preah Vihear temple, which has been a UNESCO heritage site since 2008, has been a point of contention between the neighbours.
Chunks of broken sandstone litter Cambodia's UNESCO-listed Preah Vihear temple, whose centuries-old sandstone facades are pocked with fresh shrapnel scars after weeks of deadly border clashes with neighbouring Thailand.
Considered a masterpiece of Khmer architecture that looks out over the northern Cambodian plains, the temple became a war zone when a longstanding border dispute erupted into fighting with jets, artillery, tanks and ground troops last year.
Dozens of people were killed and more than a million displaced before the Southeast Asian neighbours agreed a ceasefire in December.
AFP was the first international media outlet to access the Preah Vihear temple since the clashes, documenting extensive damage to the ornate sandstone complex dating back to the 11th century.
Cambodian officials who escorted AFP said the destruction resulted from heavy artillery shelling and aerial bombardment carried out by the Thai army.
"The damage is very serious," said Ea Darith, director of conservation and archeology at the Preah Vihear Authority, which is charged with preserving the temple.
He said 420 parts of the complex were damaged in December, and another 142 in a previous round of violence in July.
"Some temple structures could collapse. We need urgent intervention," he said, adding that Cambodia will consult with UNESCO on how to make repairs.
The UN cultural agency told AFP in January that it would send a team to assess the damage following a Cambodian request. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
"Restoration will be difficult, take time and cost a lot," Ea Darith said.

'Damage everywhere'

The row between Cambodia and Thailand dates back to the drawing of their 800-kilometre (500-mile) frontier in the early 20th century during French colonial rule.
The Preah Vihear temple, which has been a UNESCO heritage site since 2008, has been a point of contention between the neighbours.
The International Court of Justice granted Cambodia sovereignty over Preah Vihear in 1962 and over a patch of land surrounding the temple in 2013, but Thailand does not recognise the tribunal's jurisdiction.
A contested area near the temple was also the site of military clashes in 2008, and sporadic violence for several years after led to the deaths of two dozen people.
Some of the damage inflicted during last year's fighting cannot be repaired, said Hem Sinath, deputy director of the Preah Vihear Authority.
He said that some affected areas may be preserved as "museum sites to show the damage from the firing from the Thai side".
AFP journalists saw several unexploded shells at the site.
Thailand in December accused Cambodian forces of deliberately using the ancient site as a military outpost, saying it therefore lost its protected status.
"The Thai army fired a lot at the temple on the last day," said a police officer stationed at the temple, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to media.
"The damage is everywhere... They wanted to destroy the temple."
suy/tym/ami

Epstein

Norway crown princess 'deeply regrets' Epstein friendship

  • "I deeply regret my friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
  • Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit said Friday she "deeply regretted" her friendship with convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the embarrassment it has caused the royal family.
  • "I deeply regret my friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit said Friday she "deeply regretted" her friendship with convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the embarrassment it has caused the royal family.
A commoner who married Crown Prince Haakon in 2001, Mette-Marit's name appears in new Epstein documents released a week ago by the US Justice Department. The documents revealed an unexpectedly close friendship between the two and raised questions in Norway about whether Mette-Marit can become queen.
"I deeply regret my friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. It is important for me to apologise to all of those whom I have disappointed ... I also regret the situation I have put the royal family in, especially the king and queen," she said in a statement from the palace.
It added that the crown princess, 52, wished to tell more and explain herself in detail.
"She can't do that now," it said, noting that she was in a "very demanding situation".
The mention of someone's name in the US files does not necessarily imply wrongdoing.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution and died in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
In 2011, Mette-Marit wrote to Epstein that she had "googled" him, adding "it didn't look too good" and ending the sentence with a smiling emoji.
In 2012, when Epstein told Mette-Marit he was in Paris "on (a) wife hunt", she replied that the French capital is "good for adultery" and "Scandis (are) better wife material".
A poll this week showed almost half of Norwegians said she should not become queen, and less than a third backed her.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store has urged the princess to explain the many emails she exchanged with the US business tycoon between 2011 and 2014 -- more than a decade after her marriage to Haakon.
The revelations have damaged her reputation, at a time when she is dealing with a trial against her 29-year-old son from a relationship before she married the crown prince.
Marius Borg Hoiby faces 38 charges, including raping four women and assaulting ex-girlfriends, and faces up to 16 years in prison.
The crown princess also suffers from an incurable lung disease and will likely need a lung transplant in the future. 
Other high-profile Norwegians have been caught up in the Epstein scandal, including the CEO of the World Economic Forum Borge Brende, and former prime minister Thorbjorn Jagland, who is being investigated for "aggravated corruption".
po-jll/tw

US

Greenland villagers focus on 'normal life' amid stress of US threat

BY NIOUCHA ZAKAVATI

  • "In Greenlandic tradition, our hunting places aren't owned.
  • Proudly showing off photographs on her tablet of her grandson's first hunt, Dorthe Olsen refuses to let the turmoil sparked by US president Donald Trump take over her life in a small hamlet nestled deep in a Greenland fjord.
  • "In Greenlandic tradition, our hunting places aren't owned.
Proudly showing off photographs on her tablet of her grandson's first hunt, Dorthe Olsen refuses to let the turmoil sparked by US president Donald Trump take over her life in a small hamlet nestled deep in a Greenland fjord.
Sarfannguit, founded in 1843, is located 36 kilometres (22 miles) east of Sisimiut, Greenland's second-biggest town, and is accessible by boat in summer and snowmobile or dogsled in winter if the ice freezes.
The settlement has just under 100 residents, most of whom live off from hunting and fishing.
On this February day, only the wind broke the deafening silence, whipping across the scattering of small colourful houses.
Most of them looked empty. At the end of a gravel road, a few children played outdoors, rosy-cheeked in the bitter cold, one wearing a Spiderman woolly hat. 
"Everything is very calm here in Sarfannguit," said Olsen, a 49-year-old teacher, welcoming AFP into her home for coffee and traditional homemade pastries and cakes. 
In the background, a giant flat screen showed a football match from England's Premier League. 
Olsen told AFP of the tears of pride she shed when her grandson killed his first caribou at age 11, preferring to talk about her family than about Trump.
The US president has repeatedly threatened to seize the mineral-rich island, an autonomous territory of Denmark, alleging that Copenhagen is not doing enough to protect it from Russia and China.
He nevertheless climbed down last month and agreed to negotiations.
Greenland's health and disability minister, Anna Wangenheim, recently advised Greenlanders to spend time with their families and focus on their traditions, as a means of coping with the psychological stress caused by Trump's persistent threats.
The US leader's rhetoric "has impacted a lot of people's emotions during many weeks", Wangenheim told AFP in Nuuk.

'Powerless'

Olsen insisted that the geopolitical crisis -- pitting NATO allies against each other in what is the military alliance's deepest crisis in years -- "doesn't really matter".
"I know that Greenlanders can survive this," she said.
Is she not worried about what would happen to her and her neighbours if the worst were to happen -- a US invasion -- especially given her settlement's remote location?
"Of course I worry about those who live in the settlements," she said.
"If there's going to be a war and you are on a settlement, of course you feel powerless about that."
The only thing to do is go on living as normally as possible, she said, displaying Greenland's spirit of resilience.
That's the message she tries to give her students, who get most of their news from TikTok. 
"We tell them to just live the normal life that we live in the settlement and tell them it's important to do that."
The door opened. It was her husband returning from the day's hunt, a large plastic bag in hand containing a skinned seal.
Olsen cut the liver into small pieces, offering it with bloodstained fingers to friends and family gathered around the table. 
"It's my granddaughter's favourite part," she explained. 
Fishing and hunting account for more than 90 percent of Greenland's exports.

No private property

Back in Sisimiut after a day out seal hunting on his boat, accompanied by AFP, Karl-Jorgen Enoksen stressed the importance of nature and his profession in Greenland. 
He still can't get over the fact that an ally like the United States could become so hostile towards his country.  
"It's worrying and I can't believe it's happening. We're just trying to live the way we always have," the 47-year-old said.
The notion of private property is alien to Inuit culture, characterised by communal sharing and a deep connection to the land.  
"In Greenlandic tradition, our hunting places aren't owned. And when there are other hunters on the land we are hunting on, they can just join the hunt," he explained.
"If the US ever bought us, I can for example imagine that our hunting places would be bought."
"I simply just can't imagine that," he said, recalling that his livelihood is already threatened by climate change.
He doesn't want to see his children "inherit a bad nature -- nature that we have loved being in -- if they are going to buy us".
"That's why it is we who are supposed to take care of OUR land."
nzg/ef/po/gil

conflict

Next in Putin's sights? Estonia town stuck between two worlds

BY ANNA SMOLCHENKO

  • People in cars used to queue up to cross the Narva River to go shopping and see relatives in Russia.
  • Two medieval fortresses face each other across the Narva River separating Estonia from Russia on Europe's eastern edge.
  • People in cars used to queue up to cross the Narva River to go shopping and see relatives in Russia.
Two medieval fortresses face each other across the Narva River separating Estonia from Russia on Europe's eastern edge.
Once a symbol of cooperation, the "Friendship Bridge" connecting the two snow-covered banks has been reinforced with rows of razor wire and "dragon's teeth" anti-tank obstacles on the Estonian side.
"The name is kind of ironic," Eerik Purgel, the regional border chief, told AFP in the Russian-speaking town of Narva.
Some fear the border town of over 50,000 people -- a mixture of Estonians, Russians and people left stateless after the fall of the Soviet Union -- could be Vladimir Putin's next target.
On the Estonian side of the bridge, the NATO flag flutters in the wind beside those of Estonia and the European Union.
People in cars used to queue up to cross the Narva River to go shopping and see relatives in Russia. But today the crossing is closed to traffic and travellers pull their luggage across on foot.
"Maybe there should not be a bridge at all," said Purgel.
As Moscow's war against Ukraine approaches its fourth anniversary, the mood in Narva is gloomy.
"Here at the edge of Europe the war feels different," said mayor Katri Raik. "We see Russia across the border every day.
"We're all thinking about what comes next," she added inside a freshly renovated 17th-century town hall, surrounded by drab Soviet-era buildings.

'Most difficult period'

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Estonia -- along with the fellow Baltic nations of Latvia and Lithuania -- has reinforced its defences.
Estonia's army is tiny. The defence ministry says a force of just under 44,000 people can be deployed to defend the country if necessary, alongside around 2,000 troops from allied NATO countries in the country.
The Estonian authorities have also sought to enhance national security with other measures. They have stripped Russians and stateless residents of the right to vote in local elections, and are switching to teaching in Estonian in dozens of schools.
Those reforms have hit Russian-speaking Narva hard.
The changes, combined with high unemployment, soaring energy bills, a collapse in ties with Russia and fear of conflict, have heightened tensions in the border town.
"This is the most difficult period in our history in about 40 years," said Mihhail Stalnuhhin, chairman of the town council, denouncing policies targeting Russian speakers. 
"It's compounded by the constant talk of war, war, war, war, war. People are going through a very difficult moral, economic and social situation."

Russian passports

In Narva, around half of all residents are Estonian, a third hold Russian citizenship, and roughly 7,000 people are stateless.
Strategically located, the town has in past centuries been ruled by the Danes, Germans, Russians, Swedes, and Estonians.
Much of the historic baroque Old Town was destroyed during World War II, and under Soviet rule Narva became predominantly Russian-speaking.
Thirty-five years after Estonia won independence, Narva is still struggling with its sense of identity.
Vladimir Aret, a 32-year-old hotel manager and member of the town council, said many in Narva felt caught between two worlds.
"I am European, but we sometimes joke that we do not understand what our homeland is," he said.
While many -- including Aret -- call themselves Estonian patriots, some praise Putin.
Some people in Narva speak only Russian. They watch Russian television and are nostalgic for the Soviet past.

'Russophobic madness'

Russia regularly rails against the Estonian government.
Russia's foreign ministry slammed "Estonia's growing Russophobic madness" and the authorities' "neo-Nazi" policies in a report released in December.
The ministry, in its report on the rights of Russians abroad, also said that the large number of stateless people in Estonia was a major problem. 
Some back the Moscow view.
"We, Russian speakers, are being discriminated against," a woman in her mid-50s said in Narva on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
Olga Kolesnikova, a stateless 64-year-old, disagreed.
"I don't feel disadvantaged," said the retired baker, adding that three of her four children were Estonian citizens.
Aleksandr Gruljov, a 59-year-old construction worker, said he was even considering giving up Russian citizenship.
"Nobody is oppressing anyone here," he added.

'Perfect gateway'

But German political scientist Carlo Masala said depriving Russian citizens in Estonia of the right to vote in local elections was "a perfect gateway for Russian propaganda".
As in Donbas in eastern Ukraine, "Russia can argue that the rights of its minorities living abroad are under threat, providing a reason to protect them, if necessary by military means," he told AFP.
In his best-selling book "If Russia Wins: A Scenario", he imagines Russian troops capturing Narva in 2028 in order to launch a broader attack on the Baltic States and trigger a possible collapse of NATO.
Under such a scenario, Russians troops would conquer Narva within hours, aided by "parts of the local civil population," who would be supplied with small arms and machine guns ahead of the assault.
Masala told AFP several other cities with sizable Russian communities including Kirkenes in Norway and Daugavpils in Latvia could also be vulnerable to a possible Russian attack.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has cast the political sympathies of Estonia's Russian-speaking population into the spotlight. 
"Will they support the state in the event of war, possibly against Russia?" asked a 2023 study of the country's Russian-speaking minority.
According to its findings, 65 percent of Estonia's Russian speakers said they were "rather or definitely patriots of Estonia," whereas 28 percent said that they were "rather or definitely not."

'We are ready'

Jelisei Solovjov knows where his loyalties lie.
The 18-year-old fatigue-clad member of the Kaitseliit, a voluntary national defence organisation, already knows how to dig trenches and shoot.
"We are ready to defend our country, we are not afraid," he said.
Masala, the analyst, said that Narva today resembled a "fortress."
"This would make military action much more difficult than it would have been a few years ago."
Estonian border chiefs dismiss the idea that Narva is particularly vulnerable to a Moscow assault. 
Egert Belitsev, the head of the country's border service, said Berlin also had a large Russian population.
With such a pretext, "you can also invade Berlin," he said.
Back at the Narva border crossing, Purgel was defiant.
"It's our town, we will protect it with our lives," he said.
as/ah/jj

mines

In Finland's forests, soldiers re-learn how to lay anti-personnel mines

BY MATHIEU RABECHAULT

  • A powerful drill is used to penetrate the frozen ground to bury training anti-tank mines, which were never banned.
  • Finland is barely out of the treaty banning them but the country's armed forces are already training soldiers to lay anti-personnel mines, citing a threat from neighbouring Russia.
  • A powerful drill is used to penetrate the frozen ground to bury training anti-tank mines, which were never banned.
Finland is barely out of the treaty banning them but the country's armed forces are already training soldiers to lay anti-personnel mines, citing a threat from neighbouring Russia.
Trudging through snow, a young Finnish conscript carefully draws a thin blue wire between two pine trees. The other end is attached to a hidden mine some 20 metres (65 feet) away.
"We are in the process of figuring out what's the most effective way to use them," said Lieutenant Joona Ratto, who teaches military service conscripts how to use the devices that Finland had banned in 2012.
Stationed with the Kainuu Brigade, which is responsible for defending 700 of the 1,340-kilometre (833-mile) border Finland shares with Russia, Ratto and his colleagues are gearing up to train the 500 active-duty soldiers, 2,500 conscripts, and 5,000 reservists who pass through the garrison each year.
Dropping decades of military non-alignment, Finland applied to join NATO in the wake of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine and became a member in 2023.
Like the nearby Baltic states and Poland, it also decided to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention, which prohibits the use, stockpiling, or production of anti-personnel mines.
No longer bound by the international treaty since January 10, Finland is now free to bury or conceal the small, inexpensive devices, which have been criticised for causing injuries to civilians long after conflicts end.
From a military perspective, antipersonnel mines are a necessary evil, according to Ratto.
"We can use them to either stop the enemy or maybe alarm our own troops in the defensive positions", giving troops time to prepare for "the firefight", he told AFP among the wintery landscape of pine and spruce trees.
While the war in Ukraine has cemented the role of drones, the trench war had demonstrated that, although old, "they are still effective and they have an important role on the battlefield", said Colonel Riku Mikkonen, inspector of engineering for the Finnish Army.
Nearby, other soldiers train on a road.
A warning sign has been put up reading "Miinoja, mines", depicting a skull in a downward-pointing red triangle -- the international symbol for a mined area.
A powerful drill is used to penetrate the frozen ground to bury training anti-tank mines, which were never banned.

One million mines

For now, the Finnish army has no caches of antipersonnel mines. It therefore trains with the directional Claymore mine, which projects shrapnel up to 50 metres.
Mikkonen believes the situation will be resolved within two years as Finland's defence industry needs to resume its domestic production of simple, low-cost mines.
Having them produced in Finland guarantees that they can be supplied "also in wartime", he explained.
With 162 states still party to the Ottawa Convention -- but not the United States or Russia -- there also are not enough sellers around internationally to satisfy Finland's needs, he added.
But what those needs are exactly has not yet been finalised.
"We used to have one million infantry mines before the Ottawa Convention in our stocks, that's a good amount, but let's see," he said.
Currently, Finland's army does not intend to deploy mines along its eastern border and it will be a decision for the government to make in a crisis.
Mikkonen hoped that the decision will be made months in advance of actual hostilities, ideally six months out.
Detailed minefield plans would then have to be drawn up, on paper and via a smartphone app which is in development.
With the risk of leftover mines posing a hazard after the end of fighting, some modern mines include a self-neutralising mechanism, but Mikkonen said he would "rather not have them".
"Because the war can last for a long time while the self-destruction happens after three to four months. It makes sense of the humanitarian side, not on the military side."
mra/ef/jll/phz

Bondi

Israeli president visits Australia after Bondi Beach attack

BY DAVID WILLIAMS

  • Critics have accused his centre-left government of moving too slowly to protect Jewish Australians despite a rise in antisemitic attacks since 2023.
  • Israel's President Isaac Herzog lands in Australia on Monday to honour victims of a mass shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach, the deadliest antisemitic attack since Hamas's assault of October 7, 2023.
  • Critics have accused his centre-left government of moving too slowly to protect Jewish Australians despite a rise in antisemitic attacks since 2023.
Israel's President Isaac Herzog lands in Australia on Monday to honour victims of a mass shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach, the deadliest antisemitic attack since Hamas's assault of October 7, 2023.
The head of state has said he will "express solidarity and offer strength" after gunmen opened fire on a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at the beach on December 14, killing 15 people.
Herzog's four-day trip has been welcomed by many Jewish Australians.
"His visit will lift the spirits of a pained community," said Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the community's peak body.
Pro-Palestinian activists have called for protests nationwide, including in central Sydney where police have refused to authorise demonstrations under new powers granted after the Bondi Beach attack.
Amnesty International Australia has urged supporters to rally for an end to "genocide" against Palestinians, and urged Herzog be investigated for alleged war crimes.
High-profile Australian human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti -- a member of a UN-established inquiry into rights abuses in Israel and the Palestinian territories -- called this week for Herzog's arrest.

'Full immunity'

The UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry found in 2025 that Herzog "incited the commission of genocide" by saying all Palestinians -- "an entire nation" -- were responsible for the Hamas attack.
Israel has "categorically" rejected the inquiry's report, describing it as "distorted and false" and calling for the body's abolition.
Australia's federal police have ruled out an arrest, with senior officials telling lawmakers this week that Herzog has "full immunity" covering civil and criminal matters, including genocide.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pleaded for protesters to remember the reason for Herzog's visit.
"President Herzog is coming particularly to engage with members of the Jewish community who are grieving the loss of 15 innocent lives," Albanese told reporters ahead of the visit.
"The nation needs to look towards uniting," said the prime minister.
Critics have accused his centre-left government of moving too slowly to protect Jewish Australians despite a rise in antisemitic attacks since 2023.

'Destruction of Gaza'

Alleged Bondi Beach shooter Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the attack.
An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998.
His 24-year-old son Naveed, an Australian-born citizen who remains in prison, has been charged with terrorism and 15 murders.
Among the victims were an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, a couple who confronted one of the gunmen, and a 10-year-old girl, Matilda, who was described at her funeral as a "ray of sunshine".
But some in the Jewish community disagree with the invitation to Herzog.
The progressive Jewish Council of Australia has written an open letter to say he is not welcome.
"We refuse to let our grief for the Bondi massacre be used to legitimise a leader who has played an active role in the ongoing destruction of Gaza, including the murder of tens of thousands of Palestinians, and the displacement of millions," it says.
djw/oho/lb