shark

Surfer hospitalised after shark attack in Western Australia

  • Three divers were also fatally mauled in separate incidents between May and June -- two in Western Australia and the third in Queensland.
  • A surfer in his fifties was rushed to hospital on Monday after being bitten by a shark in Western Australia, the state government and local ambulance service said.
  • Three divers were also fatally mauled in separate incidents between May and June -- two in Western Australia and the third in Queensland.
A surfer in his fifties was rushed to hospital on Monday after being bitten by a shark in Western Australia, the state government and local ambulance service said.
Authorities said they received a report of a "shark incident" around 9:45 am (0145 GMT) at Glenfield Beach, just over 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of Perth.
The man is in a "serious but stable condition", national broadcaster ABC said, citing local health authorities.
Locals were advised to take additional caution around the beach.
Australian scientists believe increasingly crowded waters and rising ocean temperatures are shifting sharks' migratory patterns, which may be contributing to a rise in attacks.
A 12-year-old boy died after he was bitten by a shark while swimming in Sydney Harbour in January.
Three divers were also fatally mauled in separate incidents between May and June -- two in Western Australia and the third in Queensland.
Also in June, a woman was mauled by a shark at one of Australia's most popular beaches in Sydney.
The woman -- a school teacher -- last month recalled swinging a "left hook" at the predator before it dragged her underwater.
She was placed in an induced coma and had part of her left arm amputated after the June 13 attack.
There have been around 1,300 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, of which more than 260 resulted in death, according to a database of their encounters with humans.
oho/fox

computers

South Korea aims to save seniors lost in digital age

BY HAWON JUNG

  • "The intergenerational digital divide (in South Korea) appears wider than elsewhere," said Kim Jeung-kun, professor of senior business at Kangnam University in Seoul.
  • A little cheer rose for 79-year-old Hwang Sun-hee after she managed to place an online order at a training session in South Korea, which has one of the world's starkest digital divides for seniors.
  • "The intergenerational digital divide (in South Korea) appears wider than elsewhere," said Kim Jeung-kun, professor of senior business at Kangnam University in Seoul.
A little cheer rose for 79-year-old Hwang Sun-hee after she managed to place an online order at a training session in South Korea, which has one of the world's starkest digital divides for seniors.
Age gaps in digital literacy are a global concern, yet the gulf has widened massively in the hyper-connected and fast-ageing country, prompting national campaigns to bridge it.
"You can't do anything without smartphone apps or a kiosk machine... It's too much for old folks," Hwang said at a senior community centre in Suwon, south of Seoul, during government-organised digital survival training.
The so-called grey digital divide has provided some striking examples in the nation of about 52 million, home to world-leading smartphone and memory chipmakers.
Last year, several baseball clubs began reserving a small number of tickets for on-site sales after reports that older fans, cash in hand, approached younger people at stadiums and pleaded with them to buy tickets from machines.
Nearly 90 percent of taxi drivers use ride-hailing apps, yet more than 80 percent of South Koreans over 60 still hail cabs by hand, a survey showed.
A 71-year-old retired public servant at the same training session as Hwang recalled spending over 30 minutes trying to flag down a taxi on a busy Seoul street.
The cabs kept passing him to pick up younger riders just metres away who were using smartphone apps to hail their rides.
"I felt utterly useless," the man, who gave only his surname, Park, told AFP.

South Korea's wide divide

The digital divide can also pose a real threat, leaving older people vulnerable to high-tech crimes such as online scams or limiting their access to medical services, experts say.
A state survey last year found that 60 percent of South Koreans over 60 struggle to use public and commercial services due to lack of digital skills -- compared with just six percent of those under 40.
"The intergenerational digital divide (in South Korea) appears wider than elsewhere," said Kim Jeung-kun, professor of senior business at Kangnam University in Seoul.
He noted that the nation's "intensely compressed" industrialisation happened in just a few decades, while it took centuries in many Western countries.
South Korea -- which had a GDP per capita below $100 in the wake of its 1950-1953 war -- is now the world's 15th largest economy, according to the IMF.
"Many of our elderly grew up at a time when many had no electricity, landline phones or proper schooling," Kim added.
The nation's older cohort is massive -- South Korea is what the UN calls a "super-aged society", where more than 20 percent of the population is over 65.
In response, South Korea's public tech training for the elderly began in 2020, when businesses and services turned online during the Covid-19 lockdown.

A wish to be 'born young'

Hwang, echoing others in the two-hour class, said she's made it this far by relying on her children for daily tasks she once managed herself -- including enrolling in her favourite dance class at the local community centre.
"Before, I could easily do all of these just by calling or showing up in person," Hwang said.
Officials now provide nationwide training for the "digitally vulnerable" for using mobile devices, apps, and AI. Vans packed with tech devices and mock kiosks drive to community centres and regional festivals popular among the elderly.
In 2025, over 65,000 sessions were held for some 650,000 people over 60.
Hwang gathered along with 30 neighbours for a session in August, practising how to pay hospital bills at mock kiosks, patting a prancing robot dog, or asking their phones: "Gemini, tell me about tomorrow's weather."
She has undergone similar training several times -- and said the lessons helped her confidence -- but noted she was "so envious of young people who can do all this so easily".
"I wish I had been born young in today's world," Hwang added.
jhw/jm/abs

Global Edition

Sweden's election too close to call as far right loses ground

BY PIA OHLIN

  • And if that is confirmed, Sweden will have a new government," 59-year-old Andersson, who was Sweden's first woman prime minister in 2021-2022, told her supporters.
  • Sweden's general election was too close to call early Monday, as the incumbent prime minister and the left-wing opposition leader both said they were ready to govern and the far right was seen losing ground.
  • And if that is confirmed, Sweden will have a new government," 59-year-old Andersson, who was Sweden's first woman prime minister in 2021-2022, told her supporters.
Sweden's general election was too close to call early Monday, as the incumbent prime minister and the left-wing opposition leader both said they were ready to govern and the far right was seen losing ground.
With more than 90 percent of votes counted, four opposition parties led by Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson, held a three-seat majority in the 349-seat parliament over Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's right-wing alliance, which includes the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats.
"For now, we are in the lead. And if that is confirmed, Sweden will have a new government," 59-year-old Andersson, who was Sweden's first woman prime minister in 2021-2022, told her supporters.
But her party -- which ruled the Scandinavian country for most of the 20th century and remains Sweden's largest -- also looked to be heading for its worst score in over a century with 28 percent of the vote.
Outgoing prime minister Kristersson, whose Moderate Party was credited with 19.9 percent of the counted votes, meanwhile said that if the result stood, he would respect Andersson's attempts to try to form a government with the three other parties on the left.
But he noted that the four had irreconcilable differences, primarily between the Left Party and the Centre Party, and were unlikely to agree on a government programme.
"I will therefore, even if tonight's result stands, examine whether there are any possibilities within this non-socialist parliamentary majority to find some workable government constellation," Kristersson told his supporters.
"Which government is going to govern Sweden in the coming years is still an open question," Kristersson declared.
In a big surprise, the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, which entered parliament in 2010, lost support for the first time, garnering 17.6 percent of the vote, down from 20.6 percent in 2022.
"We don't yet have the full election result, but it's obvious that we've lost a few percentage points compared with our result four years ago," party leader Jimmie Akesson told an election night watch party.

Now mainstream

But he said it was a success that supporters were no longer afraid to show their support for the party long seen as a political pariah. 
"There are now so many more people around our country who no longer find it difficult to say that they are Sweden Democrats," Akesson said. 
The final outcome might not be clear for a few days, several party leaders said.
Municipal election authorities will start counting votes on Wednesday that had not reached their destination on election night.
In Sweden, all votes are also automatically recounted by the regional county administrative boards, which establishes the final result. This process usually takes a week.
Kristersson has headed a minority coalition backed by the Sweden Democrats for four years, giving the far-right influence over policy in exchange for support in parliament.
Kristersson had promised the Sweden Democrats key cabinet posts if the right-wing won.
Throughout the campaign, opinion polls gave a comfortable lead to the left-wing opposition, but the gap narrowed to a dead heat in the final days.
Much of the campaign focused on healthcare and helping struggling households cope with rising costs.
Andersson, the first woman to head Sweden's government in 2021-2022, has pledged to raise taxes on banks and high incomes, cut healthcare queues, and improve declining school results.

'Make Sweden Great Again'

Kristersson meanwhile vowed to focus on improving Swedes' everyday lives now that his government's clampdown on organised crime and immigration was starting to show results.
Deadly shootings and bombings by organised crime networks have fallen sharply in recent years, while asylum applications are at a record low.
"We want to use our new and far better preconditions to improve the lives of ordinary people... to make Sweden great again," Kristersson told AFP before the vote, borrowing US President Donald Trump's trademark slogan.
Over the past two decades, far-right leader Jimmie Akesson has steered the party with neo-Nazi roots into the mainstream.
"Sweden is becoming safer, better, and more Swedish," Akesson told a campaign rally on Saturday, surrounded by blue-and-yellow "Make Sweden Sweden Again" posters.
At a polling station on Sunday, store manager Linda Eriksson, 48, told AFP she hoped for a change of government.
"Hopefully a lot of people will realise that we have to change course... so that everyone will feel included in society," she said.
bur-po/jll/ane/abs

conflict

Poland, Ukraine slam Russian strikes near border as 'escalation'

  • Poland and Ukraine said a Kyiv-Warsaw passenger train was struck just two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the Polish border, but reported no casualties.
  • Poland and Ukraine denounced on Sunday Russian strikes close to the Polish border that hit a Warsaw-bound train near a frontier checkpoint just after another train carrying several EU officials and British ex-PM Boris Johnson passed through.
  • Poland and Ukraine said a Kyiv-Warsaw passenger train was struck just two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the Polish border, but reported no casualties.
Poland and Ukraine denounced on Sunday Russian strikes close to the Polish border that hit a Warsaw-bound train near a frontier checkpoint just after another train carrying several EU officials and British ex-PM Boris Johnson passed through.
Ukraine's rail operator said Johnson and former US CIA director David Petraeus, who were in Kyiv for the annual Yalta European Strategy forum, had been travelling on two separate trains around the time the Warsaw-bound locomotive was hit.
Petraeus told the New York Times in a telephone interview on Sunday that he could hear Russian drones above followed by an explosion -- prompting passengers to be quickly evacuated.
"For those who have not been under fire, this was terrifying... This is the act of a truly barbaric leader trying to terrorise Ukrainian civilians," he added.
Johnson, who was travelling with several EU officials in a separate train, condemned the attack in a post on X.
"I don't know what warped logic drove Putin to blow up a stationary Ukrainian locomotive on the Polish border this morning," he said.
"What we can say for sure is that this is the kind of random and senseless attack Ukrainians are enduring every day -- even on civilian railways."
Poland and Ukraine said a Kyiv-Warsaw passenger train was struck just two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the Polish border, but reported no casualties.
Warsaw has been one of Kyiv's main allies and, with Ukrainian airspace closed, trains to Poland have been one of the main routes out of the war-torn country, used by refugees.
The Ukrzaliznytsia rail operator confirmed the attack on Sunday but did not say how far the officials were from the strike site.
"A diplomatic train was at Yagodyn station... among others, security advisers from several EU member states and former European leaders (were) on board, including former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson," the operator said.
"In another train that was at Yagodyn station at the very moment of the attack was former CIA Director David Petraeus."

Escalated attacks

The strikes came as US President Donald Trump called on Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky to halt attacks on Russian refineries, saying it was causing a shortage of diesel fuel and "there are plenty of other targets".
Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian oil refineries in a bid to hurt Russia's war effort.
Russia attacked western Ukraine with drones Sunday, just days after US envoys visited Kyiv and Moscow in a bid to revive talks to end the war.
Zelensky said Moscow "deliberately" struck the locomotive.
"It is precisely to prevent these strikes from spreading further into Europe that Ukrainian men and women fight every day, give their lives, and do not allow the aggression to expand," Zelensky said.
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk chaired an emergency meeting in Warsaw following the strikes, warning he expected Russia to escalate the war "in the coming weeks". 
He added: "We cannot exclude that the escalation will also affect our territory... I hope not."
Russia said it had hit "railway infrastructure used to transport military cargo" from European countries.

Russia 'knocking at Europe's door'

Speaking in Kyiv, Poland's foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said the "escalation" should lead to allies to "double" their support for Ukraine.
"This was just a few hundred meters from the Polish border, this affects the safety of my countrymen," Sikorski said. 
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said President Vladimir Putin considered Russia was "de facto" at war with Europe.  
"Putin's terror is literally knocking at the door of the European Union and NATO," Sybiga said.
Russian attacks killed at least two people on Sunday in the frontline city of Kramatorsk. 
Twenty people, including two children, were also wounded in a second day of attacks on the southern port city of Odesa, Ukrainian officials said. 

Three-way talks

The Kremlin, meanwhile, said negotiations with Ukraine and the United States on the war could take place in October.  
"We do not rule out such a possibility; we are talking about the foreseeable future," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, cited by Russia's Ria and Tass news agencies.
Several rounds of negotiations have failed, while US-led efforts stalled during the Middle East war. 
In an interview released on Saturday, Zelensky said he would be willing to meet Putin at the G20 summit in Miami in December.
But Peskov said that was "impossible", speaking to AFP in New Delhi on Saturday, repeating Moscow's demand that a meeting could only take place in the Russian capital.
bur/tw/ane/abs

US

Japan's Okinawa ousts anti-US base governor

  • The relocation plan was approved in 2013 by then Okinawa governor Hirokazu Nakaima, but the next year he lost to an opponent who opposed the move.
  • A candidate backed by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's ruling party won a gubernatorial election in Okinawa, bringing to power a leader who approves of a contentious US military base relocation plan for the first time in 12 years.
  • The relocation plan was approved in 2013 by then Okinawa governor Hirokazu Nakaima, but the next year he lost to an opponent who opposed the move.
A candidate backed by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's ruling party won a gubernatorial election in Okinawa, bringing to power a leader who approves of a contentious US military base relocation plan for the first time in 12 years.
In a landslide victory following Sunday's vote, Genta Koja beat incumbent Denny Tamaki, who has long pushed for a major US military base to be moved out of Okinawa, Japan's southernmost prefecture.
Koja, 42, accepts a central government plan to keep the US Marine Corps' Futenma air base on Okinawa's main island, but move it to a less populated location. 
The United States has around 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, mostly on Okinawa, but a string of incidents over the years, including sexual assault cases, have angered residents.
A litany of other base-related woes, from pollution to noise and helicopter crashes, has led to complaints that they bear the brunt of hosting troops.
Japan and the United States agreed to move the base from the town of Ginowan to another location within Okinawa in 1996 after a rape of a 12-year-old schoolgirl by US military servicemen that triggered strong anti-US military protests across the prefecture.
The relocation plan was approved in 2013 by then Okinawa governor Hirokazu Nakaima, but the next year he lost to an opponent who opposed the move.
Tamaki, 66, was seeking his third term Sunday.
Koja won 423,124 votes, while Tamaki received 276,060 votes, according to the Okinawa prefectural government.
kh/aph/fox

Russia

US hosts G20 'energy abundance' talks amid Iran war shock

  • One of Washington's stated priorities as G20 host is to expand access to affordable, reliable and secure energy, but supply has been dramatically impacted since the US and Israel attacked Iran in February.
  • The United States on Monday kicks off a set of G20 meetings touting "energy abundance," even as President Donald Trump's war against Iran continues to disrupt global fuel markets.
  • One of Washington's stated priorities as G20 host is to expand access to affordable, reliable and secure energy, but supply has been dramatically impacted since the US and Israel attacked Iran in February.
The United States on Monday kicks off a set of G20 meetings touting "energy abundance," even as President Donald Trump's war against Iran continues to disrupt global fuel markets.
The discussions are slated to run through Wednesday in Houston, in the oil-rich US state of Texas.
The meetings gather delegations from the world's largest economies -- including China, India, Japan and Germany -- with major oil producers set to attend, such as Canada and Saudi Arabia.
Russian diplomats indicated Saturday that Moscow would also send some officials.
The unexpected presence of Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov caused a stir at a previous G20 meeting two weeks ago.
Ukraine's European allies expressed disappointment in the US decision to invite Russia, which ran against efforts to exclude Moscow over the war on its neighbor.
The Houston meetings come as oil and gas prices surge over the Middle East war, with Europe struggling to fill its gas storage facilities ahead of winter.
One of Washington's stated priorities as G20 host is to expand access to affordable, reliable and secure energy, but supply has been dramatically impacted since the US and Israel attacked Iran in February.
Prices at the pump have skyrocketed in the United States, where the price of a gallon (3.78 liters) of diesel has hit a record high, and now runs an average $6.20, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).
Regular gasoline is also 44 percent more expensive than it was before the war.
The unpopular war and its consequences have Trump's Republican Party fearing a defeat in the November midterm elections.
The US president has accused Iran of extending the conflict to hurt him politically, claiming recently that the war would end "immediately" after the election.
Trump also accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of causing a diesel shortage with strikes on Russian refineries.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a key player in Washington's energy dealings with Venezuela, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are expected to attend the meetings in Houston.
tmc/ph/sla/des

unrest

Migrant workers flock to Indian Kashmir despite militant threats

BY PARVAIZ BUKHARI

  • But for workers like Sarwar, the rewards outweigh the risks.
  • Every spring, mason Mohammad Ghulam Sarwar boards a train to Indian Kashmir, seeking higher wages despite the risk of being targeted by militants in the disputed Himalayan region.
  • But for workers like Sarwar, the rewards outweigh the risks.
Every spring, mason Mohammad Ghulam Sarwar boards a train to Indian Kashmir, seeking higher wages despite the risk of being targeted by militants in the disputed Himalayan region.
Sarwar, 25, is one of an estimated half a million migrant workers who stream into the Himalayan region each year, forming the backbone of an economy increasingly reliant on labour from some of India's poorest states.
The dependence has endured despite decades of insurgency and a series of militant attacks that have made migrant workers vulnerable targets.
Since 2019, at least 24 migrant workers have been killed in militant attacks across the territory, according to local media reports.
More than 1500 people were killed in the same period, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, 219 of them civilians. 
The latest attack last month saw gunmen shoot dead two brick kiln workers from the central state of Chhattisgarh.
But for workers like Sarwar, the rewards outweigh the risks.
"Kashmir is real paradise. I will keep coming every year for as long as I have the strength to work," Sarwar, from the eastern state of Bihar, told AFP.
While millions of Indians seek jobs in the Gulf, some workers say Kashmir offers nearly comparable earnings without the costs and complications of overseas migration.
Sarwar earns 1,200 rupees ($12) a day in Kashmir, compared with about 700 rupees in Bihar for the same work, if he could find any at all.
The Muslim-majority region, battling some of India's highest unemployment rates, has become increasingly dependent on outsiders to perform jobs that many locals consider menial, including domestic work, agriculture and construction.
Local businesses say they struggle to find workers willing or able to take up many jobs.
"Outside the handicrafts sector there is not nearly enough local skilled labour available in Kashmir," said Mohammad Ashraf Mir of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
"We see a rising dependence on migrant workers, tending towards absolute dependence."

Waiting to be hired

Each morning, groups of labourers gather at prominent squares in the main city of Srinagar, waiting to be hired. 
Most stay for about eight months before departing ahead of Kashmir's harsh winter, when construction slows and agricultural activity dwindles.
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947, while an insurgency against Indian rule that erupted in 1989 has claimed tens of thousands of lives. 
Although the rebellion has been largely weakened in recent years, sporadic attacks continue.
Sarwar said he saw a barber from his home state shot dead by suspected rebels some years ago.
While he was saddened by the incident, it failed to deter him.
"Life and death are in the hands of God," he said.
"If I remain fearful, I will have nothing. But if I overcome, I will have everything."
Sarwar shares a building in Srinagar with around 200 other labourers. Some 7-10 workers squeeze into tiny rooms, sleeping and cooking in the same cramped space while paying little more than five dollars a month each.
Outside, security is conspicuous.
Paramilitary troops, armoured vehicles and police special operations units patrol streets. CCTV cameras monitor the compound around the clock.
"They have been soft targets for the terrorists in the past," a senior security official said on condition of anonymity.
"But security arrangements for them have become robust over time."

'Feels peaceful'

Police encourage labourers to live in clusters and avoid venturing out after dark.
A labourer from West Bengal said many Hindu workers adopt Muslim-sounding names while in Kashmir, fearing that displaying their religion could make them targets.
Rebel groups say they target migrant workers to avenge police harassment of their families.
Many labourers are reluctant to discuss security concerns publicly. 
"I face no troubles here," said Mohammad Iqbal, a 53-year-old painter from Uttar Pradesh state who has worked in Kashmir since before the insurgency began and is now accompanied by his son. 
"It feels peaceful."
Others are more candid.
"I am afraid of terrorists here," said Shahid Sofi, a 24-year-old mason from Bihar who previously worked in Delhi and Mumbai.
"But overall working conditions here are good, the weather is good, and I like working in the wide, open spaces of Kashmir."
pzb/abh/fox

diplomacy

Canada's Carney seeks closer Europe ties to counter hostile US

BY MATHIEU GORSE WITH UMBERTO BACCHI IN BRUSSELS

  • Canada became the first non-EU country to join its defence procurement program, and the prime minister was involved in Canada joining the pop culture extravaganza Eurovision.
  • Prime Minister Mark Carney calls Canada "the most European of non-European countries," and while formal EU membership may be tricky, he is pursuing unprecedented closeness with the bloc to reduce dependence on a hostile United States.
  • Canada became the first non-EU country to join its defence procurement program, and the prime minister was involved in Canada joining the pop culture extravaganza Eurovision.
Prime Minister Mark Carney calls Canada "the most European of non-European countries," and while formal EU membership may be tricky, he is pursuing unprecedented closeness with the bloc to reduce dependence on a hostile United States.
Carney heads to Strasbourg, France, this week, where he will become the first head of government to attend the "State of the European Union" address on Wednesday, before delivering his own speech at the European Parliament the following day.
He will also make a stop in Liverpool, where he will hold his first meeting with Britain's new prime minister, Andy Burnham.
His visit is a "tremendous symbol," said Tobias Cremer, a European lawmaker from Germany and the main sponsor of a March resolution calling for stronger EU-Canada cooperation.
"Canada has many of the resources that Europe is very much short of, whether it's in terms of energy, whether it's rare earths (and) raw minerals," Cremer told AFP.
Canada has been hit hard by US President Donald Trump's trade war given its close economic integration with its southern neighbor, and is urgently seeking new economic partners. 
The EU has also been shaken by Trump's return to office and, like Canada, is seeking to "diversify and de-risk" its foreign relations, Cremer said.

Future EU member?

Carney has already brought Canada closer to the bloc.
Canada became the first non-EU country to join its defence procurement program, and the prime minister was involved in Canada joining the pop culture extravaganza Eurovision.
Next month, Carney is hosting an EU-Canada summit in Montreal, where he said discussions will begin on building "a much stronger and deeper economic and security partnership."
Javier Moreno Sanchez, a Spanish EU lawmaker who heads a parliamentary delegation for relations with Canada, noted that Ottawa and Brussels see eye-to-eye on climate and AI, and a digital trade deal is already in the works.
That pact would build on an existing free trade agreement called CETA, which Sanchez said has unrealized potential as small and medium-sized firms are not yet taking advantage of its benefits.
Speculation about full EU membership for Canada has intensified during Trump's second term.
Carney was asked Thursday about the prospect of Canada joining the EU and delivered what he termed a "non-answer," declining to rule out the idea or endorse it.

Not 'realistic'

An April poll showed 57 percent of Canadians backed EU membership, but it's not clear whether Canada is even eligible.
Article 49 of the EU treaty states that "a European state" committed to "human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law (and) respect for human rights" can join the bloc.
The treaty does not specify the geographical criteria of a European state, but it's hard to imagine Canada qualifies.
"The idea of Canada becoming a member of the European Union, either on economic or political terms -- I don't really see that this is a realistic prospect," said Ignacio Garcia Bercero, an analyst at the Brussels think tank Bruegel.
In 1987, Morocco was denied membership on grounds that it was not a European state.
Sanchez joked that Canada "wasn't that far" geographically overall, given its proximity to the Danish autonomous territory of Greenland.
But close ties with the EU are possible without full membership, as is the case for Iceland and Switzerland, he said.
But unlike with Switzerland, shipping goods between Canada and the EU comes with substantial transport costs and Europe will never replace the American market for Canada. 
In July, 70 percent of Canadian exports went to the US, compared with just five percent to the EU. 
Still, "the closer we can cooperate, the better," Cremer said.
mg-ub/bs/mjf/des

politics

Polls open in Philippine Muslim enclave after deadly shooting

  • The polls are the culmination of an on-off peace process that began in the late 1990s and established the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in the country's far south. 
  • Voters across the Philippines' autonomous Muslim region began casting ballots for their first elected parliament Monday morning, hours after gun violence left at least three people dead outside a polling station.
  • The polls are the culmination of an on-off peace process that began in the late 1990s and established the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in the country's far south. 
Voters across the Philippines' autonomous Muslim region began casting ballots for their first elected parliament Monday morning, hours after gun violence left at least three people dead outside a polling station.
The polls are the culmination of an on-off peace process that began in the late 1990s and established the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in the country's far south. 
More than two million voters are eligible to vote for 80 parliament seats being contested by 13 parties. 
In Marawi, a city long-identified with a bloody showdown between government forces and jihadists, AFP journalists saw long lines of voters peacefully queued outside polling stations with tanks and security personnel standing watch. 
"We're excited, we came here early in the morning," said Mohammad Actar Macabada, 18, who had just cast his vote.
"I'm nervous because there might be chaos. Before there was chaos. Now it's peaceful," he added. "I'm excited for the results."
Given the region's long history of political violence and blood feuds between powerful families, a peaceful election would be considered a successful one, party leaders told AFP last week. 
But the fragile peace showed cracks in the early hours of Monday.
Three people were killed and 15 others wounded as gunfire erupted hours outside a school-turned-polling station in regional capital Cotabato just hours before polls opened.
Cotabato police chief Jibin Bongcayao said the shooting took place just before midnight as members of rival political factions jostled for the right to cast their votes first.
"It started as a struggle for position in the queue between two groups," Bongcayao said of the shooting outside a school being used as a polling station in the regional capital.
"It led to shoving, escalated into a fistfight, and eventually gunfire broke out in a crowded area." 
Bongcayao added that the men had belonged to rival parties that have emerged from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the group that spent decades fighting for regional autonomy in the predominantly Catholic country.
Security has been stepped up across the BARMM in recent days, with more than 20,000 security personnel fanning out in voting areas and quick response teams assembled to address potential violence. 
Last month, a motorcade carrying the region's interim chief minister -- an appointee of President Ferdinand Marcos -- was ambushed and peppered with bullets.
In a separate incident, a man died in hospital in the early hours of Monday following an explosion near another polling station. Police are still investigating the cause.
burs-cgm/abs

culture

DC's Kennedy Center faces bankruptcy, closure: media

  • A host of artists have canceled concerts at the venue in response to Trump's takeover, and US media reported that Kennedy Center ticket sales had plummeted to their lowest levels since the Covid pandemic.
  • Leaders of the Kennedy Center who have sought to add President Donald Trump's name to the storied institution say it is facing bankruptcy and possible closure in days, the Washington Post reported Sunday.
  • A host of artists have canceled concerts at the venue in response to Trump's takeover, and US media reported that Kennedy Center ticket sales had plummeted to their lowest levels since the Covid pandemic.
Leaders of the Kennedy Center who have sought to add President Donald Trump's name to the storied institution say it is facing bankruptcy and possible closure in days, the Washington Post reported Sunday.
According to documents obtained by the paper, the center's board of trustees is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to close the main building of Washington's performing arts center, due to financial and safety needs.
Officials warn in the documents that the center "could be unable to make payroll or pay routine maintenance contracts" within weeks, the Post reported.
Publicly recognizing Trump at the center, they argue in the 57-page pre-meeting packet, would help ensure fundraising help to keep it afloat.
"Trustees are being asked to choose among 10 texts that could be placed on the building's exterior beneath its name," to publicly credit Trump with the renovation, the Post reported.
Shortly after beginning his second term, Trump installed himself as chairman of the center, which is named in honor of late president John F. Kennedy, who championed civil rights before he was assassinated in 1963.
In December, Trump's hand-picked board voted to rename it the "Trump-Kennedy" center, a move that was later blocked in court.
A host of artists have canceled concerts at the venue in response to Trump's takeover, and US media reported that Kennedy Center ticket sales had plummeted to their lowest levels since the Covid pandemic.
The Post reported the center was slated to collect about $124 million of the projected $220 million in revenue that it had budgeted, "leaving a roughly $23 million deficit even after substantial spending cuts" this past fiscal year.
Additionally, the building itself was damaged in a severe storm earlier this month, when a "roughly four-by-five-foot section of ceiling plaster broke loose in the Grand Foyer and fell about 60 feet," the Post reported, among other needed repairs.
Asked about the Post's reporting, the Kennedy Center declined to comment and referred AFP to a recent statement from spokesperson Roma Daravi blaming "decades of neglect and deferred maintenance by the previous leadership."
"Adding Chairman President Trump's name to the building attracted new donors and was crucial to raising additional funds for the Center's renovation," a spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
sla/des

Congress

Is it possible to slow down the development of AI?

BY THOMAS URBAIN

  • However, the AI race and China's advances in the field create "the toughest dilemma" regarding whether or not to slow down AI development, he noted on CBS on Sunday.
  • Top AI executives say they want to slow the breakneck pace of artificial intelligence development, but competition, US government reluctance and geopolitical factors stand in the way.
  • However, the AI race and China's advances in the field create "the toughest dilemma" regarding whether or not to slow down AI development, he noted on CBS on Sunday.
Top AI executives say they want to slow the breakneck pace of artificial intelligence development, but competition, US government reluctance and geopolitical factors stand in the way.

What are AI leaders proposing?

On Saturday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei advocated for a coordinated slowdown of AI development to better understand the risks arising from the technology's capabilities.
He received public support from his counterpart at OpenAI, Sam Altman, as well as from Elon Musk and Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis.

Why now?

In recent months, OpenAI and Anthropic have reported several incidents in which AI systems spontaneously broke out of their confined environments to access the internet and attack websites and platforms.
These AI systems demonstrated the ability to coordinate, establish hierarchies among themselves, cheat and erase traces of their actions.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Jacob Coxon -- who resigned from Anthropic and previously worked at OpenAI -- publicly accused both startups of lax security standards and "gambling with our lives."

Will they slow down on their own?

Competition among the industry's leading players is so fierce, with hundreds of billions of dollars in investment at stake, that none of them is willing to risk easing off the accelerator alone. 
Amodei has expressed a willingness to coordinate with rivals, excluding China. 
When asked by AFP about potential discussions to this end, Anthropic, OpenAI and Google did not immediately respond. 
For now, the only concrete measure adopted by both Anthropic and OpenAI is the inclusion of independent observers who will internally verify the companies' work regarding AI safety. 

Is this a PR stunt?

While many in the industry welcomed Amodei's message, others questioned his motives. 
For Brian Roemmele, an entrepreneur and figure in the AI sector, it amounts to a sales pitch delivered just weeks before Anthropic is likely to take shares public. 
"That is the IPO story in essay form: we are the responsible firm; we are the cure; buy the safety premium," he posted on X, referring to widely expected initial public offering.
Several figures in tech private equity also accused Anthropic of "regulatory capture" -- seeking to have public authorities cement, through regulation, a hierarchy with the startup at the top.
"Stop pretending the motivation to slow down is purely altruistic," said David Sacks, a former AI advisor to President Donald Trump who remains influential at the White House.
"You face massive product-liability exposure if your products enable a truly damaging cyberattack," he said.

Can AI slow down without the Trump administration's support?

On Sunday, Trump dismissed the warnings from AI industry leaders as "negative forces." 
Several Republicans have expressed reluctance to actively regulate the technology, fearing it could stifle innovation and risk letting China win the AI race, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson.
On Sunday, Amodei reiterated the need for government oversight of AI. Like Altman and Hassabis, he believes that rules set by the industry itself would be insufficient.

Can the brakes be applied without China?

Anthropic's Amodei suggests limiting coordination to democratic countries, excluding China.
However, the AI race and China's advances in the field create "the toughest dilemma" regarding whether or not to slow down AI development, he noted on CBS on Sunday.
The United States plans to discuss AI safety on the sidelines of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's late September visit to Washington. But China is wary of any US attempt to impose its own regulatory framework, according to several media outlets.
This divergence is particularly pronounced given that China encourages the emergence of so-called "open" AI-systems that are freely accessible and modifiable -- in contrast to the "closed" models favored by major US companies.
Open AI models are, by definition, harder to control, as users can alter their parameters -- potentially for malicious purposes.
To allow leading non-Chinese companies to ease off the accelerator, Amodei urges stricter export controls on the most advanced US chips to China and better safeguards against the misappropriation of Western AI technology by Chinese laboratories.
tu/mjf/pnb

US

Houthis say Saudi Arabia launched over 50 strikes against them in 24 hours

  • Earlier in the day, the Houthis said they used drones and missiles to attack the Sharurah military base in southern Saudi Arabia.
  • Yemen's Houthis said Sunday that Saudi Arabia had launched more than 50 strikes against their positions in 24 hours, after the Iran-backed group claimed a rare drone and missile attack on a military base in the kingdom.
  • Earlier in the day, the Houthis said they used drones and missiles to attack the Sharurah military base in southern Saudi Arabia.
Yemen's Houthis said Sunday that Saudi Arabia had launched more than 50 strikes against their positions in 24 hours, after the Iran-backed group claimed a rare drone and missile attack on a military base in the kingdom.
The Houthis have been engaged in renewed fighting with Saudi-backed government forces since Yemen's civil war reignited in July, when the group declared a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia and began targeting its ships in the Red Sea.
The latest clashes follow a week-long Houthi offensive that culminated in the group capturing Yemen's Red Sea coast, cementing their hold on the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
The waterway is a vital artery for Saudi oil exports as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed amid the US-Iran war. 
Yayha Saree, the group's military spokesman, said "the criminal Saudi enemy has carried out 58 airstrikes in the past 24 hours" in a post on Telegram.
The Houthis carried out their heaviest missile and drone attack in years this week against Saudi Arabia, setting oil sites ablaze and wounding 73.
The group's Almasirah TV channel reported on Sunday that "Saudi aviation carried out two strikes" on Saada, a stronghold for the group.
It also reported artillery fire in the border district of Monabbih, in the same province. 
Later on Sunday, Almasirah reported two Saudi strikes on a market in the northern Al-Jawf province.
The Houthis have reported more than 100 strikes against their positions since Tuesday, with no confirmation from Riyadh so far.
Up to now, the strikes have mainly focused on the front lines, in support of Yemeni government forces, without targeting the Houthis' heart of power, including the capital Sanaa.
Yemen's civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital and forced out the internationally recognised government.
They then fought a Saudi-led coalition from 2015 until a UN-brokered ceasefire in 2022. The conflict had since been dormant before it roared back to life in July.

Tens of thousands displaced

Riyadh says little about the Houthi strikes on its territory, but issues brief alerts almost daily warning of potential attacks in southern regions near Yemen.
On Sunday, the Saudi civil defence agency sent alerts for the city of Abha and the region around Khamis Mushait, and again quickly lifted them. 
Earlier in the day, the Houthis said they used drones and missiles to attack the Sharurah military base in southern Saudi Arabia.
The attack targeted "weapons depots and command and control centres that are managing the aggression against our nation and people", Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree wrote on X.
Late on Saturday, the Saudi civil defence agency had said two people were injured after a projectile fired by the Houthis fell in the Jizan region, which also lies along the border.
The fighting in Yemen in recent weeks has displaced nearly 86,000 people, a UN agency said on Sunday, with the number surging by 10,000 from a day earlier.
The International Organization for Migration added that some of those displaced have begun fleeing Yemen altogether, saying that more than 2,000 people had reached Djibouti.
Yemen's civil war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and triggered a major humanitarian crisis.
The renewed hostilities kicked off in July when the Houthis let an Iranian plane land in defiance of Saudi control of Yemeni airspace.
The government retaliated by striking Sanaa airport, an attack the Houthis blamed on Saudi Arabia.
Yemen is the latest country to be drawn into the broader Middle East war, which began with US-Israeli strikes against Iran in late February.
US news site Axios reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman twice called US President Donald Trump to request strikes on the Houthis last week, but that the request was rejected.
bur-sar/amj/dcp

drugs

'Fed up': Thousands march against Sinaloa Cartel violence

BY MARCOS VIZCARRA

  • Since September 2024, the state has been gripped by a bitter war between rival factions loyal to the families of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman or Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, co-founders of the cartel who are both now serving life sentences in the United States.
  • Chanting and waving banners, thousands marched Sunday in the Mexican city of Culiacan to protest the deaths of people caught up in a war between two rival factions of the infamous Sinaloa Cartel.
  • Since September 2024, the state has been gripped by a bitter war between rival factions loyal to the families of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman or Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, co-founders of the cartel who are both now serving life sentences in the United States.
Chanting and waving banners, thousands marched Sunday in the Mexican city of Culiacan to protest the deaths of people caught up in a war between two rival factions of the infamous Sinaloa Cartel.
Dressed in white, the protesters released dozens of white balloons into the sky before marching to the cathedral in the capital of Sinaloa state, shouting, "We want peace," and carrying signs saying, "I'm fed up with living in fear."
Culiacan's bishop, Jesus Jose Herrera, called on the gang members to stop the violence: "No territory and no ambition is worth more than a human life." 
The protest was organized by the Catholic Church along with business leaders and families of missing persons.
Since September 2024, the state has been gripped by a bitter war between rival factions loyal to the families of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman or Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, co-founders of the cartel who are both now serving life sentences in the United States.
Internal accusations of betrayal sparked the violence between factions.
Daily shootouts and road blocks have led to closed businesses and the suspension of classes as Sinaloa became known as the most dangerous city in Mexico.
In two years, the death toll has surpassed 3,000, including many civilians caught in the crossfire.
Maricela Perez, 62, carried a portrait of her 36-year-old son, Miguel, who was shot to death in May on a volleyball court. 
"We don't want any more deaths like this, any more murders," she tearfully told AFP.
"It's terrible," said Marlene Leon, 33, another marcher. "We feel abandoned, and we believe this march is a way to express that, despite the passage of time, we have not normalized the violence and we want peace."
President Claudia Sheinbaum has deployed thousands of soldiers into the state, but despite increasing gun and drug seizures, it has so far failed to curb the violence.
On Saturday alone, at least seven people were killed. 
Protesters chanted slogans against Sheinbaum and a group burned a cardboard effigy of her.
The economy of the state, with 3 million inhabitants and significant corn and tomato crops, has declined due to the violence. 
"More than 5,000 businesses closed, that's the tragedy Sinaloa is experiencing," said Sergio Raul Esquer, a businessman and state leader of the center-left opposition party Movimiento Ciudadano. 
US President Donald Trump declared the Sinaloa Cartel a "foreign terrorist organization" and threatened to intervene against it on Mexican soil if Mexican authorities do not take action.
str-ai/acc/atm/mjf/des

left

Swedish left-wing cheers far-right decline amid tight election race

BY NIOUCHA ZAKAVATI

  • Then, thunderous applause and shrieks of joy erupted at the Swedish Social Democrats election party on Sunday as supporters celebrated the far-right's predicted drop in support from early counting.
  • Quiet enough to hear a pin drop.
  • Then, thunderous applause and shrieks of joy erupted at the Swedish Social Democrats election party on Sunday as supporters celebrated the far-right's predicted drop in support from early counting.
Quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Then, thunderous applause and shrieks of joy erupted at the Swedish Social Democrats election party on Sunday as supporters celebrated the far-right's predicted drop in support from early counting.
The election result was too close to call, but it looked increasingly clear that the far-right Sweden Democrats, which first entered parliament in 2010, were en route to lose ground for the first time.
"I find it very heartening," 24-year-old Magnus Bjerg Sturm told AFP at the Social Democrats party at a Stockholm conference centre.
"I have the impression that they peaked in the last election and now people are sort of tired of them," said the think tank employee.
A hubbub filled the room, bathed in pink-red light, mirroring the party's red rose emblem.
Roses are placed on the tables where supporters nibbled from snack plates, hugged, all smiles, and sipped from glasses of sparkling wine or beer. 
— 'Very close' —
"I feel like the winds have changed, especially among young men," Sturm said, noting that the far right's mistake was to "go so far on Islamophobia" in the election campaign. 
Far-right proposals to ban the veil in public, or claims -- as by party leader Jimmie Akesson in an interview with public broadcaster SVT -- that Swedish Muslims could not be both practising and Swedish, failed to resonate with voters. 
On the contrary: "That's where I think Sweden stands out. Swedes aren't particularly racist deep down," Sturm said.
But expressions turned to anxiety and caution reigned, as the vote count progressed and the left-wing bloc's lead began to shrink.
"I know very well it's likely to be extremely close," admitted Camila Salazar Atias, a 54-year-old criminologist whose work focuses on Sweden's organised crime networks and their grip on society.
She agreed that something had changed in the country over the past four years.
"Many people don't agree with deporting teenagers. This humanism that has made Sweden famous and is its core value," she explained. 
The joy faded as vote counting showed the left and right blocs neck-and-neck.
Some supporters tried to keep their spirits up by singing. 
Emilia Wikstrom Melin wanted to remain optimistic. 
Ultimately, the most important thing is to have a government "that shows more humanity", more "inclusive than the previous one, which was more divisive."
nzg/cjc/po/tw

diplomacy

Trump chastises Zelensky over Russian refinery strikes during Ireland visit

BY PETER HUTCHISON, WITH AURELIA END IN DUBLIN

  • Opposition Democrats have long complained that blurring the lines between his presidency and personal business interests is corrupt.
  • US President Donald Trump lashed out Sunday at Ukraine for targeting Russian oil refineries, vowed to end tariffs on Irish whiskey and played down the threat from Artificial Intelligence on a two-day trip to Ireland which again saw him mix diplomacy and personal business interests.
  • Opposition Democrats have long complained that blurring the lines between his presidency and personal business interests is corrupt.
US President Donald Trump lashed out Sunday at Ukraine for targeting Russian oil refineries, vowed to end tariffs on Irish whiskey and played down the threat from Artificial Intelligence on a two-day trip to Ireland which again saw him mix diplomacy and personal business interests.
Trump ended his stay by presenting Irish Open golf trophy to tournament winner Shane Lowry at his Doonbeg golf resort on Ireland's west coast.
The ever-unpredictable American leader said that Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky had to do "one thing" and "stop knocking out diesel fuel" refineries in Russia due to growing shortages. 
"Let him go after targets, but not diesel fuel, because he's causing a shortage of diesel," Trump said, insisting the Russia-Ukraine war -- not the US-Israel conflict with Iran -- was to blame.  
Oil prices have soared as attacks in the Middle East have intensified, raising American fuel costs and inflation and speculation the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates just weeks before crunch US midterm elections.
Trump also said he would lift tariffs on Irish whiskey following appeals by Ireland's Prime Minister Micheal Martin and golfer Lowry.
Whiskey exports to the key US market have suffered since Trump imposed tariffs of up to 15 percent on European Union products.
He also waded into the growing controversy over the safety of AI, saying that "negative" forces opposed its development.
On Saturday, he caught his Irish hosts and neighbouring Britain off-guard when he announced he would "love to see" a united Ireland.
 

'Not welcome here'

 
Breaking with Washington's traditional neutrality on the historically charged topic, Trump argued that reunification of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland -- after more than a century apart -- was "going to happen eventually".
"It may as well happen now," he said as he met Ireland's Prime Minister Micheal Martin in Dublin, prompting pushback from British loyalists in Northern Ireland and some leading UK politicians.
But he reaffirmed his remarks Sunday. 
"It would seem to me that one of the naturals of all time is to put them together," he added, insisting "many people agree".
Trump's arrival in Doonbeg on Saturday sparked road closures and police checkpoints. Around 30 people protested his visit in Doonbeg village Sunday.
"Donald Trump is not welcome in Ireland," William Hederman, 53, told AFP, accusing him of helping Israel commit genocide in Gaza.
Trump's attendance at the golf course he has owned since 2014 tournament added extra complexity to a security effort that is reportedly costing Ireland 20 million euros ($23 million).
Spectators cheered when he walked onto the first tee.
 

'Conflict of interest'

 
The former real estate magnate, who promotes his enterprises at every opportunity, was joined in the remote corner of Ireland by his sons, Eric and Don Jr.
They have managed the family business since their 80-year-old father returned to the White House last year.
The course -- set among dunes on the rugged County Clare coastline -- has twice been targeted by pro-Palestinian activists in the past 18 months.
Police said three women -- aged in their 20s, 30s and 40s -- had appeared in a western Irish court late Saturday after being arrested for separate trespass and public order offences there.
Around 4,000 Irish and US security personnel were involved in the weekend security operation, with anti-drone technology among the measures deployed.
The president plays golf most weekends at one of his family's US properties.
He is scheduled to host December's G20 summit at his Miami golfing resort.
Opposition Democrats have long complained that blurring the lines between his presidency and personal business interests is corrupt.
The White House has aggressively pushed back against claims of conflicts of interest and that Trump has been using his presidency to enrich himself, as his personal wealth has rocketed during his second term.
"Since the Civil War, we haven't had a president with a significant financial conflict of interest from a business enterprise," University of Minnesota Law School professor Richard Painter told AFP.
The former White House ethics lawyer warned Trump's conduct could send the message "that the way to curry a favour with the president is to patronise his properties, do business with his companies and so forth".
aue-pdh-jj/tw/yad

rights

Dozens arrested in major anti-LGBTQ raids in Turkey

BY RéMI BANET

  • In Istanbul, police raided several gay bars and a nightclub regarded as a haven for the LGBTQ community, according to video footage from pro-government media.
  • Turkish police on Sunday swooped on gay bars and the homes of LGBTQ activists, arresting at least 60 people in raids authorities said were aimed at boosting traditional family values, officials and activists said.
  • In Istanbul, police raided several gay bars and a nightclub regarded as a haven for the LGBTQ community, according to video footage from pro-government media.
Turkish police on Sunday swooped on gay bars and the homes of LGBTQ activists, arresting at least 60 people in raids authorities said were aimed at boosting traditional family values, officials and activists said.
Turkey's LGBTQ community has frequently been targeted by the government, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashing it as a "deviant movement" of "perverts" responsible for the falling birth rate.
Sunday's raid came a day after the accounts of more than a dozen Turkish LGBTQ organisations were blocked on X at the request of the authorities, according to a watchdog.
"As part of the 'My Family is Safe' operations... carried out in collaboration with our police and gendarmerie forces, legal proceedings have been initiated against 162 suspects, 9 organisations and 13 companies in ... a total of 15 provinces," Justice Minister Akin Gurlek posted on X. Many were around Istanbul and Ankara.
Gurlek said the raids were part of the "Decade of the Family" proclaimed by Erdogan, aimed at "protecting our children, the institution of the family and social order".
According to prosecutors in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir, quoted by the state news agency Anadolu, at least 63 people were detained.
LGBTQ and women's rights activists form one of the main centres of resistance to the Islamist-rooted conservative government in power since 2002.
In Istanbul, police raided several gay bars and a nightclub regarded as a haven for the LGBTQ community, according to video footage from pro-government media.
Also targeted was a men's hammam reputed to be a venue for prostitution.
LGBTQ rights organisation Kaos GL, whose offices were searched and whose leaders were taken into custody, earlier stated that "nearly 50 defenders of the rights of LGBTQ people (...) have been taken into custody or are subject to legal proceedings involving interrogations or detentions" across the country.
According to the group, judicial authorities in Ankara had alleged that Kaos GL made "posts containing obscenity" on its website and social media channels and that the content was accessible to children.
While same-sex relations are not a criminal offence in Turkey, homophobia is widespread.
- Blatant violation - 
The European Union parliament's rapporteur on Turkey condemned the arrests as "a shocking escalation in the repression" in the country Turkey. Turkey's efforts to join the EU have been frozen in recent years, but it remains a key trade and political partner.
"This imposition of a moral agenda is a blatant violation of fundamental rights & Turkey's international commitments taking the country down a dark path," Nacho Sanchez Amor wrote on X.
"Existence cannot be banned or restricted. LGBTI+ rights are human rights!" Ozgul Saki, an MP from the pro-Kurdish left-wing DEM party in Istanbul, said on X.
rba/cw/sbk/yad/tw

US

Iran's economic ties to Dubai hard to break despite war

BY SAHAR AL ATTAR

  • he said, gesturing at the Gulf separating the UAE from the coasts of southern Iran.
  • In the markets of old Dubai, saffron, cumin, pistachios and almonds from Iran still fill the stalls, as if the two shores of the Gulf were not separated by war.
  • he said, gesturing at the Gulf separating the UAE from the coasts of southern Iran.
In the markets of old Dubai, saffron, cumin, pistachios and almonds from Iran still fill the stalls, as if the two shores of the Gulf were not separated by war.
Last month, the United Arab Emirates announced the suspension of trade and financial exchanges with Tehran, which has responded to American attacks by targeting the US-allied country and tightening its grip on the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
But in old Dubai, where Iranian merchants are firmly established, they do not believe there will be a break in the ties forged over decades between the UAE's financial hub and southern Iran. 
Since the start of the war, certain Iranian products have become scarcer, and others have seen their prices soar, says Morteza Asaadi, who runs the grocery store his father founded in 1963. 
Most traditional foodstuffs, such as nuts or zereshk -- small red berries used in Persian cuisine -- remain available, however. 
"It's just coming. How? I don't know, but it's coming," he said.
Two wholesalers interviewed by AFP on condition of anonymity said they are still sourcing from Iran, notably via Omani ports. 
"We can't export from the Emirates anymore, but we can still bring in certain goods," one of them said. 
In Yasser's saffron shop, the precious spice arrives by air from Mashhad, in northeastern Iran, thanks to the resumption of air links after a brief interruption. 

Dubai's Iranian community

Dubai is home to a large Iranian community, estimated at several hundred thousand people, which has contributed to the emirate's commercial development and weathered the various periods of tension with Tehran. 
After the US tightened its sanctions against the Islamic republic in 2012, "those in Dubai managed to convince their partners in Abu Dhabi that the trade, regardless of the sanctions, needed to continue because it was contributing to the UAE economy," Mehran Haghirian of the London-based Bourse & Bazaar Foundation think tank told AFP.
In 2024, the UAE was the main entry point for goods into Iran, accounting for more than 30 percent of imports, worth $21 billion.
It was also Iran's third-largest customer, absorbing nearly 12 percent of its exports, worth more than $7 billion, according to the World Trade Organization. 
Dubai is an important financial hub for Iranian businesses, with Washington accusing it of being a key node in financial networks used to circumvent sanctions. 
As part of its policy of economic pressure on Iran, the United States announced new measures at the end of August targeting Iran's trading partners, and sanctioned the director of the Dubai branch of Iran's Bank Melli. 
The institution nonetheless continues to welcome clients. 
"We've been under sanctions for years," sighs an employee at one of two branches in Dubai. 

'Priorities change'

For Haghirian, Abu Dhabi's announcement of the suspension of relations with Iran is part of efforts to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table, and is meant to show the Gulf country's alignment with the United States.
But it will not necessarily cut informal flows or exchanges between private actors, which are deeply rooted on both sides of the Gulf. 
In the long run, a lasting rupture could even weigh on Dubai's economy. 
"It's difficult to just suddenly cut it off and not have an impact, leave a huge chunk. That chunk cannot easily be replaced," he stressed. 
But at a conference in Dubai, Emirati businessman and former senior official in the emirate, Nasser al-Shaikh, downplayed these concerns, saying that Iran is "no longer as important to the emirate's economy as it was a few years ago". 
"The relationship was mutually beneficial," he conceded, but "in times of war, priorities change... National security comes first". 
In his shop in Bur Dubai, Asaadi is convinced that trade will survive the current crisis. 
"You see the water there?" he said, gesturing at the Gulf separating the UAE from the coasts of southern Iran.
"Water can break a mountain."
saa/ris/jfx

US

Macron, Carney to visit French islands after Trump's map post

  • French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will make a symbolic visit to Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon to underscore that their countries share "the same values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for the sovereignty of nations", the Elysee said.
  • The leaders of France and Canada will next week visit France's North Atlantic territory of Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon to underscore their support for national borders in the face of Donald Trump's territorial ambitions, Paris said Sunday.
  • French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will make a symbolic visit to Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon to underscore that their countries share "the same values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for the sovereignty of nations", the Elysee said.
The leaders of France and Canada will next week visit France's North Atlantic territory of Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon to underscore their support for national borders in the face of Donald Trump's territorial ambitions, Paris said Sunday.
The US president on Monday posted an image to social media with a map of North America in which Canada, Greenland and Mexico, much of central America and the Caribbean, as well as Iceland, were coloured in with the US flag.
The image also encompassed several French overseas territories, such as Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon, Guadeloupe and Martinique.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will make a symbolic visit to Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon to underscore that their countries share "the same values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for the sovereignty of nations", the Elysee said.
Macron was set to visit the territory on September 19-21, with Carney joining the French leader on September 20. 
"In a world marked by the return of power politics, geopolitical tensions and new forms of dependency, France and Canada share a common ambition: to work together, and with all countries that share these values, to strengthen their capacity to make decisions and act independently," the Elysee said.
The three islands of the archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, located about 20 kilometres (12 miles) off Canada's Atlantic coast, is home to around 6,000 people. 
Macron will stop there on his way to New York, where he is due to attend the UN General Assembly.
It would be the first official visit by a Canadian prime minister to the archipelago, the French presidency said.
The territory has previously been the scene of tensions with the United States during World War II, when France was under German occupation.
In 1941, General Charles de Gaulle's Free French forces seized Saint-Pierre and Miquelon from the collaborationist Vichy regime, despite opposition from US President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration, which had sought to maintain existing arrangements with Marshal Philippe Petain's government.
The last visit by a French president to the strategically located islands, some 4,300 kilometres from mainland France, was by Francois Hollande in 2014.
Macron is also set to address climate change affecting the territory. 
The village of Miquelon has started moving inland to escape the growing threat of sea-level rise, in what is widely regarded as France's first climate-driven community relocation.
vl-as/sbk

Iran

China, Russia, India seek economic cooperation at BRICS

BY UZMI ATHAR AND BHUVAN BAGGA

  • "The power of BRICS lies in our diversity and cooperation," Modi told leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, on the final day of talks.
  • BRICS leaders including China, Russia and India concluded a second and final day of talks in New Delhi on Sunday, discussing "inclusive global growth", after reaching a rare agreement calling for calm in the Middle East.
  • "The power of BRICS lies in our diversity and cooperation," Modi told leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, on the final day of talks.
BRICS leaders including China, Russia and India concluded a second and final day of talks in New Delhi on Sunday, discussing "inclusive global growth", after reaching a rare agreement calling for calm in the Middle East.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for "cooperation" within the bloc, which he has said represents "50 percent of the world's population, 40 percent of global GDP and more than 25 percent of global trade".
"The power of BRICS lies in our diversity and cooperation," Modi told leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, on the final day of talks.
BRICS was created in 2009 as a forum for major emerging economies seeking greater influence in institutions dominated by Western powers. The group is seeking to bolster its global influence and address conflict, trade turbulence and energy security.
"We have tried to push inclusive global growth," Modi said.
"We may be rooted in different realities, but together we rise through cooperation and blossom for humanity," he said.
Putin said the bloc was working to create a "new, more just, multipolar world order".
Xi said that a "world without rules is like an intersection without traffic lights; chaos and disorder are inevitable".

'Maximum restraint'

The first day of the summit on Saturday was dominated by the conflict in the Middle East.
BRICS foreign ministers had failed to agree on a joint statement in New Delhi in May, with Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates divided over the war that began with US-Israeli strikes on February 28.
However, leaders -- who also included Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian -- issued a statement after intense diplomatic efforts by host India.
"We express deep concern over the continued escalation of tensions in Middle East/West Asia," the joint statement said, adding that the BRICS countries "call for exercising maximum restraint".
Modi maintains cordial relations with both Iran and US ally Israel, but is also careful to strike a delicate balance in India's ties with Washington.
India has navigated the energy crisis caused by the US-Iran war in part by turning to Russia, despite Moscow's war in Ukraine and pressure from Washington and other Western capitals.

'Advancing together'

Xi's participation in BRICS was also important because it was his first visit to neighbouring India since 2019, and the biggest step yet in a cautious thaw between the nuclear-armed rivals.
His visit came six years after a deadly military clash along the disputed Tibetan border between China and India, with ties gradually improving through restored flights, visas and high-level contacts.
"Although our two countries are different in many respects, they are fully capable of complementing each other's strengths, supporting one another, achieving mutual success and advancing together," Xi said as he met Modi, according to a video released by New Delhi.
The underlying territorial dispute remains unresolved, and both sides retain heavy military deployments along their roughly 3,500-kilometre (2,175-mile) high-altitude border.
India's foreign ministry said in a statement after the meeting that "the two leaders expressed commitment to a fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question".
Deep mistrust remains, with a widening trade deficit and strategic rivalry complicating ties.
"Both sides should... work hand-in-hand to promote high-quality major financial cooperation, advocate an equal and sustainable global order, and foster an economic globalisation that is open and inclusive," Xi said.
Xi's visit was the target of protests by dozens of Tibetans in New Delhi, exiles like their Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, who has lived in India since fleeing a Chinese crackdown in 1959.
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politics

Myanmar says UN envoy illegitimate ahead of credentials decision

  • Myanmar has been embroiled in civil war since a military coup in 2021 ousted the elected government of Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, ending the country's decade-long experiment with democracy. 
  • Myanmar's military-backed government said Sunday their UN ambassador -- loyal to ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi -- is occupying the office illegitimately, as the organisation prepares to weigh his replacement.
  • Myanmar has been embroiled in civil war since a military coup in 2021 ousted the elected government of Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, ending the country's decade-long experiment with democracy. 
Myanmar's military-backed government said Sunday their UN ambassador -- loyal to ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi -- is occupying the office illegitimately, as the organisation prepares to weigh his replacement.
Myanmar has been embroiled in civil war since a military coup in 2021 ousted the elected government of Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, ending the country's decade-long experiment with democracy. 
The United Nations formed a credentials committee this month to decide whether to accept Naypyidaw's candidate for UN ambassador or stick with Kyaw Moe Tun, who has rejected the coup and for more than five years ignored the government's claims that he no longer represents Myanmar.
Myanmar's foreign ministry said Kyaw Moe Tun was "dismissed from civil service" effective February 27, 2021 for not complying with state orders, committing treason and colluding with "terrorist organisations", according to a statement published in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
The day before his dismissal, he made an emotional plea during an address at the UN General Assembly for the "strongest possible action" against the military coup.
The ambassador, who was appointed by Suu Kyi's government, broke with his country's rulers weeks after their putsch.

Leaders sanctioned

The ministry also accused Kyaw Moe Tun of misusing state funds and property, including the premises of the UN Permanent Mission of Myanmar in New York, and working with the exiled opposition "National Unity Government" (NUG), which the government has branded a terrorist group.
"Kyaw Moe Tun's continued representation of Myanmar at the United Nations does not constitute formal recognition of his legitimacy," the ministry said.
"Rather, his continued status is merely a temporary arrangement, with the Credentials Committee's decision deferred annually."
The members of the UN committee -- who will weigh whether to replace Kyaw Moe Tun -- include the Bahamas, Belgium, Benin, China, Jamaica, Russia, Uganda, the United States and Vanuatu.
While China and Russia are cosy allies of the Myanmar government, supplying military arms, jets and diplomatic cover, the United States has sanctioned dozens of its leaders, including former junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.
The committee generally announces its annual credentials decisions around November.
After the military snatched power, Myanmar authorities were persona non grata in many foreign capitals, but Min Aung Hlaing is making a diplomatic drive for recognition since retiring as armed forces chief and taking over as civilian president in April.
Since 2021, the civil war between the military and various pro-democracy fighters and ethnic minority armed groups has killed more than 100,000 people on all sides, according to monitor ACLED.
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