Rwanda

DR Congo conflict advances as UN warns of regional escalation

USAID

Trump revokes Biden's security clearance, escalates foreign aid crackdown

BY SARAH TITTERTON

  • "There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information," Trump said on his Truth Social network, adding that he was "immediately" revoking the Democrat's security clearances and ending his daily intelligence briefings. 
  • President Donald Trump on Friday revoked his predecessor Joe Biden's security clearance in a blizzard of new orders, while escalating his campaign to dismantle the US humanitarian agency charged with helping the world's poorest and extending American influence around the globe. 
  • "There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information," Trump said on his Truth Social network, adding that he was "immediately" revoking the Democrat's security clearances and ending his daily intelligence briefings. 
President Donald Trump on Friday revoked his predecessor Joe Biden's security clearance in a blizzard of new orders, while escalating his campaign to dismantle the US humanitarian agency charged with helping the world's poorest and extending American influence around the globe. 
In a new series of rapid-fire power plays, the 78-year-old billionaire also froze aid to South Africa, where his top donor Elon Musk was born, and named himself head of one of Washington's premier cultural venues, the Kennedy Center. 
"There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information," Trump said on his Truth Social network, adding that he was "immediately" revoking the Democrat's security clearances and ending his daily intelligence briefings. 
"JOE, YOU'RE FIRED," he added in all caps. 
US presidents are traditionally given the right to receive intelligence briefings even after they step down. 
Trump also stepped up his assault on the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which distributes humanitarian aid globally.
"THE CORRUPTION IS AT LEVELS RARELY SEEN BEFORE. CLOSE IT DOWN!" he wrote on his Truth Social app about USAID, without offering evidence.
USAID has received the most concentrated fire since Trump launched a crusade led by Musk -- the world's richest person -- to downsize or dismantle swaths of the US government. 
On Friday, Musk -- who along with Trump has spread blatantly false information about USAID's finances -- reposted photos of the agency's signage being removed from its Washington headquarters.
The Trump administration has frozen foreign aid, ordered thousands of internationally-based staff to return to the United States, and begun slashing the USAID headcount of 10,000 employees to around only 300.
Labor unions are challenging the legality of the onslaught. A federal judge on Friday ordered a pause to the administration's plan to put 2,200 USAID workers on paid leave by the weekend.
Democrats say it would be unconstitutional for Trump to shut down government agencies without the legislature's green light.

Soft power

The United States' current budget allocates about $70 billion for international assistance, a tiny fraction of overall spending.
But it gets a big bang for its buck. USAID alone runs health and emergency programs in around 120 countries, including in the world's poorest regions, boosting Washington's battle for influence against rivals such as China.
"We are witnessing one of the worst and most costly foreign policy blunders in US history," Samantha Power, the USAID chief under former president Joe Biden, wrote in a scathing New York Times opinion piece.
Hard-right Republicans and libertarians have long questioned the need for USAID and criticized what they say is wasteful spending abroad.
Also Friday, Trump named himself as chairman of the Kennedy Center, suggesting that the stately white marble entertainment complex overlooking the Potomac River did not reflect his own values.
"Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth -- THIS WILL STOP," he wrote on Truth Social, without explaining what show he was referring to. 
Trump has repeatedly attacked gender-nonconforming people.
He also followed up Friday on a promise to freeze US aid to South Africa, citing a law in the country that he alleges allows farmland to be seized from white farmers, despite Johannesburg's denials.
Musk has frequently criticized the South African government.

Racist social posts

Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, have rampaged through agencies that most Americans have for decades taken for granted.
While Democrats have struggled to find footing to halt the budget-slashing moves, court challenges are slowly taking shape.
An attempt by Trump to overturn the constitutional guarantee to birthright citizenship has been blocked by a judge, and on Thursday another judge paused an attempt to offer mass buyouts to federal workers, pending arguments on Monday.
Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, ran into controversy last week with reports he and his team were accessing sensitive Treasury Department data and systems.
An internal assessment from the Treasury called the DOGE team's access to federal payment systems "the single biggest insider threat the Bureau of the Fiscal Service has ever faced," US media reported.
Adding to the drama, one member of the DOGE team resigned after it emerged that he had advocated racism and eugenics on social media.
On Friday, following backing for the sacked 25-year-old from Trump, Musk said he would reinstate the staffer.
Vice President JD Vance weighed in Friday saying he did not think "stupid social media activity should ruin a kid's life."
sms/nro/bgs/acb/st/nro

displacement

Syrians stuck in camps after finding homes destroyed

BY BAKR ALKASEM

  • "It was difficult with Bashar al-Assad and it's difficult" now, she told AFP, her six-month-old asleep beside her as she washed dishes in freezing water.
  • Mehdi al-Shayesh thought he would quickly resettle in his central Syrian home town after Bashar al-Assad was ousted, but like many others stuck in camps, he found his home uninhabitable.
  • "It was difficult with Bashar al-Assad and it's difficult" now, she told AFP, her six-month-old asleep beside her as she washed dishes in freezing water.
Mehdi al-Shayesh thought he would quickly resettle in his central Syrian home town after Bashar al-Assad was ousted, but like many others stuck in camps, he found his home uninhabitable.
"We were unbelievably happy when the regime fell," the 40-year-old said from his small, concrete-block house in Atme displacement camp, one of the largest and most crowded in the Idlib area in the northwest.
But "when we reached our village" in Hama province "we were disappointed", said the father of four, who has been displaced since 2012.
"Our home used to be like a small paradise... but it was hit by bombing." Now, after years of abandonment, it "is no longer habitable", he told AFP.
Assad's December 8 ouster sparked the hope of return to millions of displaced across Syria and refugees abroad. However, many now face the reality of finding their homes and basic infrastructure badly damaged or destroyed.
Syria's transitional authorities are counting on international support, particularly from wealthy Gulf Arab states, to rebuild the country after almost 14 years of devastating war.
Shayesh said he was happy to see relatives in formerly government-held areas after so many years, but he cannot afford to repair his home so has returned to the northwest.
In the icy winter weather, smoke rises from fuel heaters in the sprawling camp near the border with Turkey. It is home to tens of thousands of people living in close quarters in what were supposed to be temporary structures.

Homes 'razed'

Shayesh expressed the hope that reconstruction efforts would take into account that families may have changed significantly during years of displacement.
"If we go back to the village now... there will be no home for my five brothers" who are now all married, "and no land to build on", he said, as rain poured outside.
"Just as we held out hope that the regime would fall -- and thank God, it did -- we hope that supportive countries will help people to rebuild and return," he added.
Before Assad's overthrow, more than five million people were estimated to live in rebel-held areas in the northwestern Idlib and Aleppo provinces, most of them displaced from elsewhere in Syria.
David Carden, UN deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis, said that "over 71,000 people have departed camps in northwest Syria over the past two months".
"But that's a small fraction compared to the two million who remain and will continue to need life-saving aid," he told AFP.
"Many camp residents are unable to return as their homes are destroyed or lack electricity, running water or other basic services. Many are also afraid of getting caught in minefields left from former front lines," he added.
Mariam Aanbari, 30, who has lived in the Atme camp for seven years, said: "We all want to return to our homes, but there are no homes to return to.
"Our homes have been razed to the ground," added the mother of three who was displaced from Hama province.

'Pitch a tent'

Aanbari said her husband's daily income was just enough to buy bread and water.
"It was difficult with Bashar al-Assad and it's difficult" now, she told AFP, her six-month-old asleep beside her as she washed dishes in freezing water.
Most people in the camp depend on humanitarian aid in a country where the economy has been battered by the war and a majority of the population lives in poverty.
"I hope people will help us, for the little ones' sakes," Aanbari said.
"I hope they will save people from this situation -- that someone will come and rebuild our home and we can go back there in safety."
Motorbikes zip between homes and children play in the cold in the camp where Sabah al-Jaser, 52, and her husband Mohammed have a small corner shop.
"We were happy because the regime fell. And we're sad because we went back and our homes have been destroyed," said Jaser, who was displaced from elsewhere in Idlib province.
"It's heartbreaking... how things were and how they have become," said the mother of four, wearing a black abaya.
Still, she said she hoped to go back at the end of this school year.
"We used to dream of returning to our village," she said, emphasising that the camp was not their home.
"Thank God, we will return," she said determinedly.
"We will pitch a tent."
str-dco/lar/lg/srm

politics

EU's largest far-right bloc makes show of force in Madrid

BY VALENTIN BONTEMPS

  • "Liking Donald Trump's patriotism does not mean being the vassal of the United States," Jordan Bardella, leader of France's National Rally whose figurehead is Le Pen, said last month. vab-burs/imm/ds/bc
  • Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and France's Marine Le Pen headline a rally in Madrid on Saturday by Europe's biggest far-right bloc, buoyed by electoral gains and Donald Trump's return to power.
  • "Liking Donald Trump's patriotism does not mean being the vassal of the United States," Jordan Bardella, leader of France's National Rally whose figurehead is Le Pen, said last month. vab-burs/imm/ds/bc
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and France's Marine Le Pen headline a rally in Madrid on Saturday by Europe's biggest far-right bloc, buoyed by electoral gains and Donald Trump's return to power.
Patriots for Europe has realigned the EU far right and became the European Parliament's third-largest force after Orban helped launch it last year to shift Brussels rightwards.
Among the leading nationalist figures taking to the stage are Orban, Le Pen, Dutch anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and former Czech premier Andrej Babis.
They will outline their strategy to defend "national sovereignty, the defence of liberty and European identity" and reject "mass immigration that destabilises nations", said Spanish party Vox, which is hosting the rally.
Their vision is a "real alternative" to the coalition in Brussels between the European People's Party of European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and the Socialists and Democrats, Vox added.
Around 2,000 people are due to attend the event after a dinner on Friday for the participants and Kevin Roberts, head of influential conservative US think tank The Heritage Foundation.
After last year's EU elections in which far-right parties performed strongly in several countries, Saturday's gathering "is a show of force", said Steven Forti, a researcher at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
Those elections saw the group overtake the European Conservatives and Reformists, associated with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, while it also overshadows a smaller far-right bloc that includes Germany's ascendant AfD.
Patriots for Europe is therefore seeking to "show its central place in the competition" with rival far-right groups, Forti told AFP.

'Make Europe Great Again'

"They want to take advantage of the wave from Trump's victory and the shock in the European Union" as the US president roils allies with his measures, Forti added.
The summit in the Spanish capital has adopted the slogan "Make Europe Great Again", a nod to Trump's rallying cry "Make America Great Again".
Orban is seen as one of Trump's closest EU allies, while Vox leader Santiago Abascal has highlighted the ideological affinity between the group and Trump, especially on immigration.
In wanting a European Union that "takes care of defence, the economy up to a certain point, and especially borders... it would be a confederation of sovereign states" that aligns the group with Trump, said Forti.
But Trump's threats, from slapping prohibitive tariffs on European goods to annexing Denmark's gigantic Arctic territory of Greenland, may generate tensions within the far right.
"Liking Donald Trump's patriotism does not mean being the vassal of the United States," Jordan Bardella, leader of France's National Rally whose figurehead is Le Pen, said last month.
vab-burs/imm/ds/bc

security

A 50-year crisis -- Ecuador's next president faces a stern test

BY ANDREW BEATTY

  • Political analyst Laso said Noboa's penchant for using the military to tackle the drug problem has also hurt the country's image. 
  • In the throes of a bloody drug war, a shrinking economy and an acute energy crisis, Ecuadorans are remarkably optimistic about their country's future as they prepare to vote in Sunday election. 
  • Political analyst Laso said Noboa's penchant for using the military to tackle the drug problem has also hurt the country's image. 
In the throes of a bloody drug war, a shrinking economy and an acute energy crisis, Ecuadorans are remarkably optimistic about their country's future as they prepare to vote in Sunday election. 
The past few years have been brutal for Ecuador, a scenic Andean nation of about 18 million people once a bastion of stability in a troubled region.
But drought-fueled power cuts have plunged swaths of the country into darkness, and drug-fueled violence has seen a presidential candidate assassinated, prisons overrun by gangs and gunmen storming a television station while journalists were live on air. 
Yet a December survey by Comunicaliza, a local polling firm, showed more than 50 percent of voters think their country will be better off this time next year. 
"Why?" less cheery observers in Quito ask wryly. 
Whether hawkish President Daniel Noboa or leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez wins Sunday's election -- or an April runoff -- they will be bombarded by challenges, any one of which alone would be daunting.
"Ecuador is in a very difficult moment, I think in the worst crisis since we returned to democracy," said Leonardo Laso, a local political analyst, referring to a period of deep crisis almost half a century ago. 
The most acute challenge may be security. 
With a dollarized economy, blessed with excellent Pacific ports and wedged between the world's two largest cocaine producers -- Colombia and Peru -- Ecuador has become a paradise for narco-traffickers.  
"You have the Albanians and the Balkan mafias, you have the Ndrangheta from Italy, you have the Turkish mafias all operating in Ecuador," said Douglas Farah, a security consultant and Latin America analyst.  
"And you have now local gangs like Los Lobos, the Choneros, who are fighting for territory, to be able to move product through Ecuador to their new buyers in Europe and in Asia."
The result has been record levels of murder, extortion and kidnapping that have caught the authorities flatfooted.  
"They never had this type of violence," said Farah. "They are getting slammed by a whole new phenomenon for which they are totally unprepared." 
Noboa's response has been to deploy the military, arrest gang leaders and intercept cocaine shipments wherever possible. 
It has given Ecuadorans a sense that something is being done, but few experts believe it is a long-term strategy for success. 
The alternatives -- relying on intelligence, effective policing, prison reform and developing jobs and social services -- all cost time and money. Ecuador has little of either.   

  Economic woes

Driving around the capital Quito it is easy to spot roads and once gleaming infrastructure investments that were the envy of the region, but are now starting to look a little unkempt.  
"It's very likely that the economy contracted last year," said economist Albert Acosta Burneo, pointing in part to rolling blackouts in late 2024 that shuttered businesses for a chunk of December. 
The crisis was caused by a drought that hit hydropower generation, but experts also blame a lack of investment in electricity generation.  
After more than a decade of spending without the proceeds of a commodities boom that once padded treasury coffers, government debt now stands at about 57 percent of GDP. 
Noboa was recently forced to turn to the IMF to build up a financial war chest. 
But more cost cutting is likely as the country still struggles to borrow on bond markets cheaply -- thanks to low reserves and more than a dozen recent defaults. 
The security situation has made the country's economic woes all the worse, scaring away visitors and investors alike. 
"There are no tourists, there are no customers," said 58-year-old Maria Delfina Toaquiza Ughsa, an Indigenous artist who has a stall on a hill overlooking Quito's old town. 
Political analyst Laso said Noboa's penchant for using the military to tackle the drug problem has also hurt the country's image. 
"He goes out with a bulletproof vest and helmet, he declares a state of emergency, he closes land borders during the election for a potential threat that may occur, he says that we are at war, this negates any possibility of investment," he told AFP.
If that were not enough, the new president will also have to find a way to navigate US President Donald Trump's love of deportations and tariffs. 
Noboa has agreed to help with US deportations, even though Ecuadorans send about $6 billion back home every year, and any drop in remittances or emigration would be keenly felt.
"Migration was like a pressure valve for the economy, that is now blocked thanks to the policies of Trump," said Acosta Burneo. 
arb/acb

conflict

Rwandan and Congolese leaders to meet over eastern DRC conflict

  • Regional foreign ministers gathered on Friday for the first day of the summit in Tanzania ahead of their leaders on Saturday. 
  • Rwanda's President Paul Kagame was due to meet his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi in Tanzania on Saturday as regional leaders convene in a bid to defuse the conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo.
  • Regional foreign ministers gathered on Friday for the first day of the summit in Tanzania ahead of their leaders on Saturday. 
Rwanda's President Paul Kagame was due to meet his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi in Tanzania on Saturday as regional leaders convene in a bid to defuse the conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group has rapidly seized swathes of territory in the mineral-rich eastern DRC in an offensive that has left thousands dead and displaced vast numbers. 
The group took the strategic city of Goma last week and is pushing into the neighbouring South Kivu province in the latest episode of decades-long turmoil in the region.
Kagame and Tshisekedi are due to attend a joint summit in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam, bringing together the eight countries of the East African Community and 16-member South African Development Community. 
Since the M23 re-emerged in 2021, several peace talks hosted by Angola and Kenya have failed.
Rwanda denies military support for the M23 but a UN report said last year it had around 4,000 troops in DRC and profited from smuggling vast amounts of gold and coltan -- a mineral vital to phones and laptops -- out of the country. 
Rwanda accuses the DRC of sheltering the FDLR, an armed group created by ethnic Hutus who massacred Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Local fears

The summit comes as the M23 advances on the town of Kavumu, which hosts an airport critical to supplying Congolese troops.
Kavumu is the last barrier before the South Kivu provincial capital Bukavu on the Rwandan border, where panic has set in. 
A Bukavu resident said shops were barricading their fronts and emptying storerooms for fear of looting, while schools and universities suspended classes on Friday.
"The border with Rwanda is open but almost impassable because of the number of people trying to cross. It's total chaos," they said.
UN rights chief Volker Turk warned: "If nothing is done, the worst may be yet to come, for the people of the eastern DRC, but also beyond the country's borders."

'Gang rape, slavery'

Turk said nearly 3,000 people had been confirmed killed and 2,880 injured since M23 entered Goma on January 26, and that final tolls were likely much higher.
He also said his team was "currently verifying multiple allegations of rape, gang rape and sexual slavery".
The M23 has already installed its own mayor and local authorities in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. 
It has vowed to go all the way to the national capital Kinshasa, even though it lies about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometres) away across the vast country, which is roughly the size of Western Europe. 
The DRC army, which has a reputation for poor training and corruption, has been forced into multiple retreats.
The offensive has raised fears of regional war, given that several countries are engaged in supporting DRC militarily, including South Africa, Burundi and Malawi.
Regional foreign ministers gathered on Friday for the first day of the summit in Tanzania ahead of their leaders on Saturday. 
Kenyan foreign secretary Musalia Mudavadi said there was a "golden opportunity" to find a solution, calling for the previous peace processes hosted by Angola and Kenya to be merged into one. 
er/phz/lb

conflict

Hamas, Israel to begin fifth hostage-prisoner exchange

BY CALLUM PATON

  • Palestinian militants, led by Hamas, have so far freed 18 hostages in exchange for around 600 mostly Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails.
  • Hamas is set to release three Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for 183 prisoners held by Israel in the fifth exchange of a fragile Gaza ceasefire.
  • Palestinian militants, led by Hamas, have so far freed 18 hostages in exchange for around 600 mostly Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails.
Hamas is set to release three Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for 183 prisoners held by Israel in the fifth exchange of a fragile Gaza ceasefire.
The exchange comes despite uproar in the region over a proposal by US President Donald Trump to clear out the Gaza Strip of its inhabitants and for the United States to take over the Palestinian territory.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed to AFP on Friday it had received a list of hostages for release from Gaza after Hamas published three names of captives to be freed.
The three men set to be released on Saturday are Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami, according to Hamas. Their names were confirmed by Netanyahu's office.
Former hostage Yarden Bibas, who was freed last week by Hamas militants in Gaza, on Friday urged Netanyahu to help bring back his wife and two children from the Palestinian territory.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu, I'm now addressing you with my own words... bring my family back, bring my friends back, bring everyone home," Bibas said in his first public message following his release.
Hamas previously said his wife Shiri and his two sons Ariel and Kfir -- the youngest hostages -- were dead, but Israel has not confirmed their deaths.
Netanyahu, who is in Washington, will "monitor this phase of the hostages' release from the control centre of the delegation in the US", the premier's office said in a separate statement.

'Now is the time'

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum urged the government on Friday to stick with the Gaza truce, even as Trump's comments sparked uproar across the Middle East and beyond.
"An entire nation demands to see the hostages return home," the Israeli campaign group said in a statement.
"Now is the time to ensure the agreement is completed -- until the very last one," it added.
Israel and Hamas have completed four swaps under the first stage of the ceasefire agreement.
Palestinian militants, led by Hamas, have so far freed 18 hostages in exchange for around 600 mostly Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails.
The ceasefire, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, aims to secure the release of 33 hostages during the first 42-day phase of the agreement.
Negotiations on the second stage of the ceasefire were set to begin on Monday, but there have been no details on the status of the talks.
The second stage aims to secure the release of more hostages and pave the way for a permanent end to the war, which began on October 7, 2023 with Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel.
During the attack, militants took 251 hostages to Gaza. Seventy-six remain in captivity, including 34 whom the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's retaliation has killed at least 47,583 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.
bur-jsa/ysm/lb

migration

Handcuffs and beach clean-ups: a Cuban migrant's seven months in Guantanamo Bay

BY LETICIA PINEDA

  • Torres was picked up at sea by the US Coast Guard while fleeing Cuba in mid-2022 and held for seven months at Guantanamo Bay before being transferred to the United States, where she was eventually granted asylum.
  • Yeilis Torres, a 38-year-old Cuban woman, knows all too well the loneliness and anguish facing the migrants flown by the United States this week to its notorious military base in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
  • Torres was picked up at sea by the US Coast Guard while fleeing Cuba in mid-2022 and held for seven months at Guantanamo Bay before being transferred to the United States, where she was eventually granted asylum.
Yeilis Torres, a 38-year-old Cuban woman, knows all too well the loneliness and anguish facing the migrants flown by the United States this week to its notorious military base in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Torres was picked up at sea by the US Coast Guard while fleeing Cuba in mid-2022 and held for seven months at Guantanamo Bay before being transferred to the United States, where she was eventually granted asylum.
In a rare firsthand account of life at the base, Torres, who now lives in Miami, told AFP: "The hardest part...is the uncertainty and the wait for the long process" of seeking asylum.
For the past two decades Guantanamo Bay naval base, leased by Washington from Havana under a 1903 treaty, has been synonymous with the Pentagon prison, where the United States kept hundreds of people it suspected of being "terrorists" for years after the September 11, 2001 attacks by Al-Qaeda.
Some suffered waterboarding, sleep deprivation and other forms of torture. Fifteen people, including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, are still imprisoned there.
President Donald Trump's plans to detain up to 30,000 migrants at a separate center on the base has caused an outcry, with rights groups fearing they could be kept there indefinitely, far from public scrutiny.
The NGO Human Rights Watch warned that prolonged detention without proper oversight "violates human rights and may amount to torture."

No legal aid

During her seven months at Guantanamo Bay, surrounded by the sea on one side and a mined buffer zone separating the base from communist Cuba on the other three, Torres claims she was never given access to a lawyer.
She was allowed calls of just "five or six minutes every three days" with her two young children, who stayed behind with her parents in Havana.
She was part of a group of 17 Cubans that set sail across the Gulf of Mexico on a makeshift raft in mid-2022, fleeing Cuba's economic meltdown or, in her case, persecution by the authorities.
The group's raft had been adrift for days when they were picked up by a Coast Guard ship.
She was the only member of the group to be brought to Guantanamo Bay, which has for decades been used to hold Caribbean migrants intercepted at sea.

Handcuffs and black goggles

The other migrants were returned directly to Cuba -- a fate she avoided by pleading she was in danger in her homeland, where she was jailed on charges of assaulting a Communist Party grandee.
On arrival at Guantanamo Bay, she said migrants were handcuffed and forced to wear black goggles "so that we couldn't see anything" while being transferred around the site.
They were kept in isolation while waiting to be interviewed by State Department officials -- in her case for three days but "some people were confined to their rooms for around three, four months."
Of the 21 migrants who were held alongside her, 18 were Cubans, two were Haitian and one from the Dominican Republic. There were two families with children and one pregnant woman.
The children faced especially harsh conditions, Torres said, with no schooling provided for them and no interaction allowed with the children of US troops stationed at the base. 

'Opportunity to work'

Despite the grim conditions, Torres opposes calls to close the migrant center, fearing that without it, Caribbean migrants would never get a chance to make their case for asylum.
"They gave us the opportunity to work," she added, describing how she earned money by taking part in beach clean-ups.
After seven months at the base, Torres was transferred to a migrant detention center in Broward County, Florida where she was held for a further four months before being granted asylum.
The trained manicurist, who now works in a Florida cotton factory, was one of the few of the 21 migrants from her group in Guantanamo to gain entry to the United States, where she hopes to be reunited with her family.
The other migrants accepted asylum offers from third countries such as Canada and Australia.
lp/cb/st

diplomacy

Japan PM, Trump play nice despite tariff threat

BY DANNY KEMP

  • So far the US president has slapped tariffs on China and ordered them on Mexico and Canada before halting them for a month.
  • Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and US President Donald Trump struck a warm tone at their first meeting on Friday, with Tokyo avoiding tariffs that Trump has slapped on other allies -- for now.
  • So far the US president has slapped tariffs on China and ordered them on Mexico and Canada before halting them for a month.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and US President Donald Trump struck a warm tone at their first meeting on Friday, with Tokyo avoiding tariffs that Trump has slapped on other allies -- for now.
Heaping praise on each other at the White House, the two leaders pledged to stand together against Chinese "aggression" and said they found a solution for a blocked deal for troubled US Steel.
Trump however pressed Ishiba to cut the US trade deficit with Japan to zero, and warned that Tokyo could still face tariffs on exported goods if it fails to do so.
Ishiba, an avowed "geek" and model warship fan, has been under pressure to replicate Trump's close relationship with former premier and golf buddy Shinzo Abe. 
Both leaders insisted they had struck up a rapport during what was only the second visit by a foreign leader of Trump's new term.

'Frightening'

"I was so excited to see such a celebrity on television in person," Ishiba told their joint press conference -- while saying he was not trying to "suck up." 
"On television he is frightening and has a very strong personality. But when I met with him actually he was very sincere and very powerful."
As they exchanged photographs, Trump praised the 68-year-old Japanese premier as "good looking" -- typically one of the former reality TV star's highest orders of praise.
And the US president laughed and said "that's a very good answer" when Ishiba said he could not respond to a "theoretical question" about whether he would retaliate to any US tariffs.
Trump meanwhile said that Japan's Nippon Steel will make a major investment in US Steel, but not take over the troubled company as previously negotiated.
Trump said "they'll be looking at an investment rather than a purchase." His predecessor Joe Biden had blocked the deal.
The two leaders also doubled down on decades-old US ties in security and trade -- despite fears that Trump could turn on Tokyo as he has with other US allies.

 Chinese 'aggression'

Trump said they had agreed to fight "Chinese economic aggression" and in a joint statement they condemned Beijing for "provocative activities" in the contested South China Sea.
They also called for a denuclearized North Korea, although Trump -- who met its leader Kim Jong-un during his first term -- said he wanted to have "relations" with Pyongyang.
Behind Trump's expressions of support were Japan's promises of a 1 trillion dollar investment in the United States and to boost Japanese purchases of US defense equipment. 
Ishiba said his country was the biggest investor in the United States and would step up its spending.
The soft-spoken, cigarette-smoking Ishiba had rushed to Washington hoping to blunt the edge of Trump's "America First" policies.
Under Abe, Japan was shielded from some of Trump's more punishing tendencies, such as sudden trade wars and pressure to increase financial contributions towards hosting US soldiers.
Days after Trump's first election victory, Abe rushed to deliver to him a gold-plated golf club. Trump also hosted Abe's widow Akie for dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida this past December.
So far the US president has slapped tariffs on China and ordered them on Mexico and Canada before halting them for a month.
He has also pledged tariffs on the European Union and said Friday that he would announce unspecified "reciprocal tariffs" next week.
dk/bgs

diplomacy

Brazil receives second plane of deported migrants after row with US

  • According to federal police statistics, 94 flights carrying over 7,500 deportees arrived in Brazil from the United States between 2020 and 2024.
  • Brazil on Friday received a second plane of migrants deported from the United States, after a row between the countries last month over the treatment of a first group of people, who arrived cuffed and shackled.
  • According to federal police statistics, 94 flights carrying over 7,500 deportees arrived in Brazil from the United States between 2020 and 2024.
Brazil on Friday received a second plane of migrants deported from the United States, after a row between the countries last month over the treatment of a first group of people, who arrived cuffed and shackled.
A Brazilian government source told AFP that 111 passengers were on the civilian aircraft which left from Louisiana and arrived in northeastern Fortaleza -- confirmed by an AFP photographer on the scene.
"The information we have is that they are all Brazilian," the source said.
Shortly after taking office last month, US President Donald Trump ordered a battery of measures against undocumented immigrants, including mass raids and deportations, and the deployment of troops on the border with Mexico.
As observers attempt to separate fact from White House rhetoric, however, the Brazilian government source said that the flights that have arrived so far were a result of a 2017 deal with Washington which has resulted in multiple deportations over the years.
According to federal police statistics, 94 flights carrying over 7,500 deportees arrived in Brazil from the United States between 2020 and 2024.
However, the first flight under Trump saw 88 Brazilians arriving in handcuffs and with shackles on their feet, complaining they had not been given water or allowed to use the bathroom.
In response, Brazil summoned the top US envoy to explain what the government called the "flagrant disregard" for the migrants' rights.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva decided that when the latest flight enters Brazil it "has to land in the closest location so that Brazilians are not left handcuffed on the plane," the governor of Ceara state, Elmano de Freitas, told a press conference Thursday.
The passengers would then be transported from Fortaleza to southeastern Belo Horizonte by a Brazilian Air Force aircraft.
Brazil this week formed a working group with US representatives to "guarantee the humane reception" of deportees, authorities said.
ffb/fb/nro

conflict

International ire over Trump sanctions against ICC

  • Court president Tomoko Akane said: "Such threats and coercive measures constitute serious attacks against the court's states parties, the rule of law based international order and millions of victims."
  • The International Criminal Court and dozens of countries on Friday condemned sanctions imposed by US President Donald Trump over probes targeting America and Israel as a threat to "law based international order".
  • Court president Tomoko Akane said: "Such threats and coercive measures constitute serious attacks against the court's states parties, the rule of law based international order and millions of victims."
The International Criminal Court and dozens of countries on Friday condemned sanctions imposed by US President Donald Trump over probes targeting America and Israel as a threat to "law based international order".
The United Nations and the European Union urged Trump to reverse the asset freezes and travel bans against ICC officials, employees and their families and anyone deemed to have helped ICC investigations.
US allies, including Britain, France and Canada, were among 79 of the 125 ICC member states who said the US action "could jeopardize" the safety of victims, witnesses and court officials. 
Trump on Thursday signed an executive order saying that the court, which was founded in 2002 to investiate genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, had "abused its power" by issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who held talks with the US president on Tuesday.
The ICC, which is based in The Hague, said the sanctions sought to "harm its independent and impartial judicial work". It vowed to stand "firmly" with staff "providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world".
Court president Tomoko Akane said: "Such threats and coercive measures constitute serious attacks against the court's states parties, the rule of law based international order and millions of victims."

'Undermines' justice system

The United Nations urged Trump to reverse the move.
"The court should be fully able to undertake its independent work," OHCHR UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in an email statement.
"The rule of law remains essential to our collective peace and security. Seeking accountability globally makes the world a safer place for everyone."
Antonio Costa, who heads the European Council representing the EU's 27 member states, wrote on X that the move "undermines the international criminal justice system".
The European Commission expressed "regret" and stressed the ICC's "key importance in upholding international criminal justice and the fight against impunity".
The 79 ICC member countries said Trump's sanctions increased the "risk of impunity" for serious crimes and "threaten to erode the international rule of law".
That statement was led by Slovenia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Sierra Leone and Vanuatu but Brazil, Britain, Canada, France and Germany were among the signatories.
The court has pursued investigations in several conflict zones and Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy was quick to express concern over the sanctions.
"We hope that they will not affect the court's ability to achieve justice for the victims of Russian aggression," he said. The Kremlin only reaffirmed that it does not recognise the ICC.

 ICC 'illegitimate': Trump

The names of individuals affected by sanctions were not immediately released, but previous US sanctions under Trump targeted the court's prosecutor.
Trump's order said that the tribunal had engaged in "illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel", referring to ICC probes into alleged war crimes by US service members in Afghanistan and Israeli troops in Gaza.
Israel's foreign minister Gideon Saar strongly applauded Trump and called the court's actions against Israel "immoral" and without "legal basis".
Neither the United States nor Israel are members of the court.
Following a request by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, judges issued arrest warrants on November 21 for Netanyahu, his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas's military chief Mohammed Deif, who was killed last year.
The court said it had found "reasonable grounds" to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore "criminal responsibility" for the war crime of starvation in Gaza, as well as crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.
Netanyahu accused the court of anti-Semitism.
During his first term, Trump imposed financial sanctions and a visa ban on the ICC's then-prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, and other senior officials in 2020. 
His administration acted after Bensouda launched an investigation into allegations of war crimes against US soldiers in Afghanistan. She opened a probe into events in the Palestinian territories in 2019.
Current prosecutor Khan later effectively dropped the US from the Afghan investigation and focused on the Taliban instead.  
President Joe Biden lifted the US sanctions after taking office in 2021.
burs-tw/bc

conflict

Hamas to free three Israeli hostages in latest Gaza swap

BY CALLUM PATON

  • Palestinian militants have so far freed 18 hostages in exchange for around 600 Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails.
  • Hamas said it would release three Israelis on Saturday in the fifth hostage-prisoner swap between the militants and Israel as part of a Gaza ceasefire deal, in exchange for 183 prisoners to be freed from Israeli jails.
  • Palestinian militants have so far freed 18 hostages in exchange for around 600 Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails.
Hamas said it would release three Israelis on Saturday in the fifth hostage-prisoner swap between the militants and Israel as part of a Gaza ceasefire deal, in exchange for 183 prisoners to be freed from Israeli jails.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said that after completing the swap, an Israeli delegation will head to Doha for further negotiations on the ceasefire.
The latest exchange comes amid backlash over US President Donald Trump's proposal for a US takeover of Gaza, which has triggered an uproar across the region and beyond.
The three men set to be released on Saturday are Eli Sharabi, Or Levy, and Ohad Ben Ami, according to Hamas. Their names were confirmed by Netanyahu's office.
The Palestinian Prisoners' Club advocacy group said Israel will free 183 prisoners in Saturday's swap, 111 of whom were Gazans detained after Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war.
After sparking widespread condemnation with his comments earlier in the week, Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday that he was in no hurry to advance his controversial plan for Gaza.
The plan proposes relocating Gaza's Palestinian inhabitants out of the territory and placing the war-battered coastal region under US control.
"There's absolutely no rush," Trump said during his meeting with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
Since his initial declaration, Israel has ordered its military to prepare for the "voluntary" relocation of Gazans, while Hamas has rejected Trump's plan as "absolutely unacceptable."
Israel and Hamas have completed four swaps under the first stage of the ceasefire agreement.
Palestinian militants have so far freed 18 hostages in exchange for around 600 Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails.
The ceasefire, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, aims to secure the release of 33 hostages during the first 42-day phase of the agreement.

Backlash

Freed Israeli hostage, Yarden Bibas, issued a plea to Netanyahu, urging him to bring back his wife and two children still held in Gaza.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu, I'm now addressing you with my own words... bring my family back, bring my friends back, bring everyone home," Bibas said in his first public message following his release.
Hamas previously said his wife and two sons -- the youngest hostages -- were dead, but Israel has not confirmed their deaths.
In an interview given to Israeli broadcaster Channel 14, Netanyahu said that it was his "goal to realise" the first stage of the ceasefire.
"As for the next phase, it is much more complex but I am hopeful that we'll be able to achieve it," he said.
His office said later on Friday that an Israeli delegation will depart to Doha after completing Saturday's swap.
Despite an international backlash -- and initial backtracking by members of his administration -- Trump had doubled down on his statement earlier this week.
"The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting," he posted on his Truth Social platform on Thursday.
"No soldiers by the US would be needed! Stability for the region would reign!!!"
After Trump first floated the idea, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had ordered the military to prepare a plan to allow the "voluntary departure" of Gazans "to any country willing to accept them".
Israel's military said Friday the head of the US Central Command, General Michael Kurilla, met Israeli army chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi this week for talks on the "regional strategic situation".

'Unacceptable'

Netanyahu also voiced support for Trump's plan, announced at a joint press conference, calling it "the first original idea to be raised in years".
However, Hamas condemned the remarks as "absolutely unacceptable".
"Trump's remarks about Washington taking control of Gaza amount to an open declaration of intent to occupy the territory," Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said.
"Gaza is for its people and they will not leave."
Mediator Egypt has also warned that Israeli support for Trump's plan "weakens and destroys the negotiations on a ceasefire agreement and incites a return to fighting".
The second stage of the ceasefire aims to secure the release of more hostages and pave the way for a permanent end to the war, which began on October 7, 2023 with Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel.
During the attack, militants took 251 hostages to Gaza. Seventy-six remain in captivity, including 34 whom the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's retaliation has killed at least 47,583 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.
bur-jd/csp/jsa

Israel

'Red line': Arab-Americans oppose Trump's Gaza takeover plan

BY ISSAM AHMED

  • Bahbah chairs the group formerly known as "Arab Americans for Trump," recently renamed "Arab Americans for Peace" -- a change he says reflects the post-election shift rather than any reaction to Trump's policies.
  • In America's largest Arab enclave, where frustration with President Joe Biden's Gaza policy led many to back Donald Trump, anger is now growing over the president's explosive proposal to take control of the Palestinian territory.
  • Bahbah chairs the group formerly known as "Arab Americans for Trump," recently renamed "Arab Americans for Peace" -- a change he says reflects the post-election shift rather than any reaction to Trump's policies.
In America's largest Arab enclave, where frustration with President Joe Biden's Gaza policy led many to back Donald Trump, anger is now growing over the president's explosive proposal to take control of the Palestinian territory.
But Dearborn voters say their only viable option in 2024 was to punish Democrats, leveraging their influence as a minority community on their core issue.
"I do not regret my vote," said Samra'a Luqman, a political activist in this Detroit suburb of 110,000, where most residents have Middle Eastern or North African heritage.
Previously a Democratic stronghold, Dearborn saw Trump win 42.5 percent of the vote in November, followed by Kamala Harris at 36.3 percent and Green Party candidate Jill Stein at 18.3 percent.
Some Democratic critics claim the community helped deliver Michigan to Trump, despite his decisive 80,000-vote margin -- a gap too large to be attributed solely to shifts within the relatively small Arab and Muslim electorate. Moreover, Trump carried all seven swing states.
"We've seen the great march of return, emotions I can't even describe," said 42-year-old Luqman, describing the overwhelming joy of displaced Palestinians finally returning home despite the devastation. She credited Trump for making the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas possible.

Trump's promises

Yet Luqman and other Trump voters insist they strongly oppose the Republican's idea of displacing the nearly two million Gazans from their homeland and remain committed to holding both US political parties accountable in future elections.
"That's not something we will stand for," said Faye Nemer, 39, a prominent businesswoman who lost relatives in Israel's recent attacks on Lebanon. "Palestine is a red line for the community."
Nemer said the community met with high-level Democrats and Republicans before deciding whom to support.
Trump visited Dearborn, while Harris did not, touring the state instead with Liz Cheney, who many Americans consider a war hawk.
Nemer, who helped organize a lunch for Trump at a local restaurant, said he pledged support for peace and a two-state solution -- an assurance that swayed many voters. She remains "very optimistic" he will ultimately deliver.
Bishara Bahbah, a prominent Trump supporter celebrating in Dearborn on election night, is also confident in Trump's broader vision for Middle East diplomacy.
"The president wants to see peace in the Middle East that satisfies all parties," he told AFP, insisting Trump was speaking "hypothetically rather than realistically" about displacing Gazans.
Bahbah chairs the group formerly known as "Arab Americans for Trump," recently renamed "Arab Americans for Peace" -- a change he says reflects the post-election shift rather than any reaction to Trump's policies.

Silence from mayors

Trump also secured endorsements from Arab American mayors Bill Bazzi of Dearborn Heights and Amer Ghalib of Hamtramck, although neither responded to requests for comment. 
Bazzi did speak to AFP on election night, celebrating Trump's win.
For local news publisher Osama Siblani, 70, their silence may stem from embarrassment.
"They have nothing to say, but they have to answer to their constituents," he said, noting that both mayors face re-election in 2025.
"Trump came here and he lied. He said, 'I'm going to spread peace and love in the region and in the world.' And as soon as he got in, he wants to take Canada, he wants to take Greenland, he wants to take Panama, he wants to take Gaza."
Still, Siblani believes Democrats are to blame for their losses, pointing out that his newspaper, The Arab American News, endorsed neither candidate.
"We are not responsible for this outcome; our price was low," said comedian and lawyer Amer Zahr, 47, who voted for Stein.
Zahr argued that Harris could have secured Arab American support simply by signaling openness to an arms embargo on Israel.
Instead, Democrats' condemnation of Trump's proposals and newfound willingness to talk about "ethnic cleansing" only "validates" the community's choices by proving the party can be nudged in the right direction with the right incentives, he said.
Luqman, who leans strongly left on issues like the environment and abortion, acknowledged the difficult choice many faced.
"A lot of people held their nose and voted who did not want to vote Republican but did it anyway, and are now open to either party," she said.
ia/dw

trade

Trudeau says Trump's Canada annexation threat 'a real thing'

BY BEN SIMON

  • Asked about Trudeau's comments on the sidelines of the summit, and whether Ottawa was concerned Trump's annexation threat was genuine, Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told AFP "no one can question the sovereignty of Canada."
  • Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told an economic summit Friday that President Donald Trump is serious about annexing Canada to access its natural resources, as his government vowed the country's sovereignty was non-negotiable.
  • Asked about Trudeau's comments on the sidelines of the summit, and whether Ottawa was concerned Trump's annexation threat was genuine, Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told AFP "no one can question the sovereignty of Canada."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told an economic summit Friday that President Donald Trump is serious about annexing Canada to access its natural resources, as his government vowed the country's sovereignty was non-negotiable.
Trudeau called the summit of business and labor leaders to coordinate a response to Trump's looming threat of a 25 percent tariff on all Canadian imports, a penalty that could cripple Canada's economy.  
In closed-door remarks, Trudeau told a group of executives that for Trump, "absorbing Canada" is "a real thing," according to multiple Canadian media reports. 
"I suggest that not only does the Trump administration know how many critical minerals we have but that may be even why they keep talking about absorbing us and making us the 51st state," he said. 
The comments, made after media left the room, were audible on a speaker outside the hall and heard by the Toronto Star and public broadcaster CBC.
"They’re very aware of our resources, of what we have and they very much want to be able to benefit from those," he further said. 
"But Mr Trump has it in mind that one of the easiest ways of doing that is absorbing our country. And it is a real thing."
Asked about Trudeau's comments on the sidelines of the summit, and whether Ottawa was concerned Trump's annexation threat was genuine, Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told AFP "no one can question the sovereignty of Canada."
"Our American friends understand that they need Canada for their economic security, they need Canada for their energy security and they need Canada for their national security," he said. 
Responding to reporters questions about Trudeau's comments, Trade Minister Anita Anand said Canada was resolved to resist any US expansionism. 
"There will be no messing with the 49th parallel, period," she said, referring to the US-Canadian border. 
Trump has mocked Canadian sovereignty repeatedly since winning the November election. 
He regularly refers to Canada as the "51st state," and has demeaned Trudeau by calling him "governor," instead of prime minister. 
Trump has also characterized billions of dollars in daily bilateral trade as a US subsidy and claimed without evidence that Canada would not be "a viable country" without it.
His tariffs were set to come into force on Tuesday, but Trump granted Canada a 30 day reprieve for further negotiations. 
He has said tariffs are necessary to force Canadian action on the flow of the drug fentanyl and migrants -- neither of which are in fact prominent issues on the border -- but has also complained about trade deficits. 
In opening remarks at the summit, Trudeau said Ottawa would continue to work to address Trump's concerns about fentanyl and migrants, even if Canada was not a significant contributor to either problem in the United States. 
But beyond the immediate tariff threat, Trudeau said Canada should be prepared for "what may be a more challenging long-term political situation with the United States."
bs/amc/sms

summit

Macron says AI should not be 'Wild West'

  • "AI can't be the Wild West," Macron told French regional newspapers including Ouest-France and Le Parisien in advance of the gathering of global political and tech industry leaders on Monday and Tuesday.
  • Development of artificial intelligence (AI) should not be an unregulated "Wild West", French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday ahead of a global summit on the technology in Paris.
  • "AI can't be the Wild West," Macron told French regional newspapers including Ouest-France and Le Parisien in advance of the gathering of global political and tech industry leaders on Monday and Tuesday.
Development of artificial intelligence (AI) should not be an unregulated "Wild West", French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday ahead of a global summit on the technology in Paris.
The call to impose rules -- tempered with the pro-business president's fundamental optimism about the technology -- comes as France and Europe push to stay abreast of the AI race dominated by the US and China.
"AI can't be the Wild West," Macron told French regional newspapers including Ouest-France and Le Parisien in advance of the gathering of global political and tech industry leaders on Monday and Tuesday.
"There have to be rules" and "there are all kinds of fields where we don't want AI, because we don't want it creating discrimination or mass control in our society," he added.
Macron nevertheless insisted that "we shouldn't be afraid of innovation".
There is "a risk that some people don't set themselves any rules... but also the reverse, that Europe sets itself too many rules, parts ways with the others and therefore can't innovate," he warned.
The French leader's attempt to reconcile the two positions at the summit will be a "declaration open for any country to sign, on a completely voluntary basis, with strong principles on protecting rights, the environment, news integrity and intellectual property," Macron said.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen is one of the highest-profile political leaders to attend the summit in Paris, alongside figures like US Vice President JD Vance and Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing.
The EU must be "ready to fight to be fully autonomous and independent, or will we let the competition shrink to a battle between the USA and China?" Macron said.
"If Europe takes an interest in this subject, simplifies and speeds up, it has cards to play," he added.
Macron called for "European and economic patriotism" including buying locally developed AI services that he said promised boosts for the EU's competitiveness and productivity.
Von der Leyen is expected to announce plans to build around 10 public supercomputers for research and use by start-up firms, the president added.
pab/tgb/jhb

Global Edition

Campaigning ends as violence-weary Ecuadorans eye Sunday vote

BY ANDREW BEATTY

  • From Friday midday, a total alcohol ban entered into force, allowing fun-loving Ecuadorans a period of sober -- if slightly grumpy -- reflection.
  • Ecuador's dueling presidential campaigns fell silent Friday, as a ban on political rallies and advertising came into force ahead of Sunday's keenly fought election.
  • From Friday midday, a total alcohol ban entered into force, allowing fun-loving Ecuadorans a period of sober -- if slightly grumpy -- reflection.
Ecuador's dueling presidential campaigns fell silent Friday, as a ban on political rallies and advertising came into force ahead of Sunday's keenly fought election.
President Daniel Noboa and his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez held razzle-dazzle closing rallies Thursday ahead of a midnight campaign cutoff, promising to tackle soaring drug cartel violence, a lackluster economy and crumbling public services.
Incumbent Noboa, the 37-year-old telegenic tattooed scion of a banana empire, told supporters in Quito that his 14 months in power had changed the country.
Victory, he claimed, was all but assured.
"We are no longer a promise, we are a reality" he told about 13,000 fans in Quito's bull-fighting ring. 
"This country has already made up its mind. Now let's protect the votes, let's protect the will of the people."
Most polls have shown him with a sizable lead. But they have been wrong before, and he may struggle to gain enough votes to avoid an April runoff.
To win in the first round a candidate needs over 50 percent of the vote, or 40 percent with a ten-point lead over their nearest rival.
Noboa's brief term in office has been anything but smooth. The once-peaceful country of almost 18 million is in the crosshairs of international drug traffickers.
Organized crime groups from around the world are locked in a murderous battle for control of Ecuador's ports, a key launching point to send cocaine to Europe, the United States and Australia.
Noboa has staked his political fortunes on a hardline "mano dura" policy of tackling the powerful criminal gangs head on, and on his youthful "Action Man" image.
In affluent parts of Quito, shop owners peppered window fronts with life-sized cardboard cutouts of the youthful president in a tank top and shorts, or dressed-down with arms crossed.
On the campaign trail, he has strode shirt-unbuttoned shoulder-to-shoulder with heavily armed soldiers, and donned a bulletproof vest while leading spectacular ready-for-TV security operations.
The impact has been a surge in cocaine seizures, arrests -- and bloodshed, with the country witnessing its highest ever murder rates. 
Tourist numbers have dropped, tens of thousands of Ecuadorans have fled overseas and investors are jittery.
"We are surviving, not living," said 56-year-old Quito street vendor Jesus Chavez, summing up widespread discontent over insecurity and the country's anemic post-pandemic economic recovery.
"There are cruel deaths, assassinations, crimes, it is a daily reality," said Chavez, who has been robbed multiple times during his hour-long commute to and from Quito's picturesque colonial heart.

'Declarations of war'

Almost 14 million Ecuadorans are obliged to vote in Sunday's election. 
From Friday midday, a total alcohol ban entered into force, allowing fun-loving Ecuadorans a period of sober -- if slightly grumpy -- reflection.
Noboa's main rival is Luisa Gonzalez, a similarly telegenic tattooed single mother and heir to Ecuador's powerful leftist movement.
Gonzalez's campaign has focused on her coastal strongholds, and on mopping up votes in poorer neighborhoods where her political mentor, exiled ex-president Rafael Correa made his name.
During a final rally in the country's largest city Guayaquil she ripped Noboa as out-of-touch and vain, a "cardboard man" whose cash-strapped administration has neglected public services while issuing "declarations of war."
"There can be no peace without social justice, no peace without medicines in hospitals," she told supporters while flanked on stage by rifle-wielding special forces in full combat armor.
arb/dw

environment

Trump slams paper straws, vows 'back to plastic'

  • Trump pledged action against paper straws, which are unpopular with many consumers but create less plastic pollution.
  • President Donald Trump on Friday raged against eco-friendly paper straws promoted by his predecessor Joe Biden, and pledged that the United States would return to plastic ones.
  • Trump pledged action against paper straws, which are unpopular with many consumers but create less plastic pollution.
President Donald Trump on Friday raged against eco-friendly paper straws promoted by his predecessor Joe Biden, and pledged that the United States would return to plastic ones.
The move is his latest on green issues since returning to power, after pulling out of the Paris climate change agreement and ordering deregulations as part of a "drill, baby, drill" agenda.
On Thursday, the Republican's administration also sought to block funding for a network of electric-vehicle charging stations across the country, sparking fury from environmentalists.
Trump pledged action against paper straws, which are unpopular with many consumers but create less plastic pollution.
"I will be signing an Executive Order next week ending the ridiculous Biden push for Paper Straws, which don't work. BACK TO PLASTIC!" he said on social media.
Democrat Biden had announced a target to eliminate single-use plastic utensils like drinking straws by 2035 across government agencies.
The trend for paper drinking straws has long irritated Trump.
"They want to ban straws. Has anyone tried those paper straws? They're not working too good," he said during a campaign rally in the 2020 election against Biden.
"It disintegrates as you drink it, and if you have a nice tie like this tie, you've got no choice."
Trump's campaign team previously sold branded plastic straws with the slogan: "Liberal paper straws don't work."
The president, who calls climate change a scam, has also often targeted electric vehicles despite his close alliance with Tesla chief Elon Musk.
Halting rollout of the $5 billion national EV charging network would be a major setback to efforts to cut climate-changing emissions, according to green campaigners.
"His administration's move to block funding for a bipartisan effort to build out our national EV charging network is a blatant, illegal power grab," the Evergreen Action group said.
"This program is delivering real benefits to all 50 states -- creating jobs, boosting economic opportunities, and cutting pollution."
aue-dk-bgs/des

Rwanda

DR Congo conflict advances as UN warns of regional escalation

  • Thousands have died and huge numbers displaced as they have overtaken swathes of the mineral-rich region, routing DRC troops and their allies in the latest episode of decades-long turmoil in eastern DRC.  In an urgent session requested by DRC itself, the UN Human Rights Council adopted Friday a resolution urging M23 fighters to withdraw immediately from occupied areas, and triggering an investigation.
  • The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group was threatening another key town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday, as the United Nations top rights body said it would launch an investigation into alleged violations and abuses during the deadly clashes gripping the African nation.
  • Thousands have died and huge numbers displaced as they have overtaken swathes of the mineral-rich region, routing DRC troops and their allies in the latest episode of decades-long turmoil in eastern DRC.  In an urgent session requested by DRC itself, the UN Human Rights Council adopted Friday a resolution urging M23 fighters to withdraw immediately from occupied areas, and triggering an investigation.
The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group was threatening another key town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday, as the United Nations top rights body said it would launch an investigation into alleged violations and abuses during the deadly clashes gripping the African nation.
M23 fighters and Rwandan troops seized the city of Goma last week and are now pushing into the neighbouring South Kivu province.
Thousands have died and huge numbers displaced as they have overtaken swathes of the mineral-rich region, routing DRC troops and their allies in the latest episode of decades-long turmoil in eastern DRC. 
In an urgent session requested by DRC itself, the UN Human Rights Council adopted Friday a resolution urging M23 fighters to withdraw immediately from occupied areas, and triggering an investigation.

Worse to come

During the Human Rights Council meeting UN rights chief Volker Turk warned "the risk of violence escalating throughout the sub-region has never been higher".
"If nothing is done, the worst may be yet to come, for the people of the eastern DRC, but also beyond the country's borders," he added.
Turk said nearly 3,000 people had been confirmed killed and 2,880 injured since M23 entered Goma on January 26, and that final tolls would likely be much higher.
He also said his team is "currently verifying multiple allegations of rape, gang rape and sexual slavery".
Also on Friday, a Swiss NGO said three local staff were killed in the area this week.
Congolese forces were bracing Friday for an assault on the town of Kavumu, which hosts an airport critical to supplying its troops, according to security, humanitarian and local sources.
Kavumu is the last barrier before the South Kivu provincial capital Bukavu on the Rwandan border, where residents were also on edge. 
"We see some people starting to flee," resident Aganze Byamungu told AFP.
A local who spoke on condition of anonymity said shops were barricading their fronts and emptying storerooms for fear of looting, while schools and universities suspended classes.
"The border with Rwanda is open but almost impassable because of the number of people trying to cross. It's total chaos," they added.

'Go to Kinshasa'

In Goma, where the M23 has already installed its own mayor and authorities, the group convened tens of thousands of people on Thursday for a public meeting of the River Congo Alliance, a political-military coalition that includes the M23.
The head of the alliance, Corneille Nangaa, told the crowd that the group wants to "liberate all of the Congo".
Young people at the meeting in the city's packed stadium chanted "Go to Kinshasa!", the DRC's capital on the other side of the vast country, which is roughly the size of Western Europe.
The DRC issued an international arrest warrant for Nangaa on Wednesday.
Since the M23 resurfaced in late 2021, the DRC army, which has a reputation for poor training and corruption, has been forced into multiple retreats.
The offensive has raised fears of regional war, given that several countries are engaged in supporting DRC militarily, including South Africa, Burundi and Malawi. 
Burundi has sent an additional battalion to support the Congolese army, a security source told AFP on Friday.
Previous peace talks hosted by Angola and Kenya have failed. 
Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi are due to attend a summit in Tanzania on Saturday as regional powers try to defuse the crisis.
The latest peace summit brings together the eight-country East African Community and 16-member South African Development Community. 
It was set to start with a ministerial meeting on Friday, before the arrival of Kagame, Tshisekedi and other regional leaders on Saturday. 
"As we seek a joint resolution following numerous earlier initiatives, we need to understand that insecurity and conflicts in one region can escalate and destabilise the whole world," Kenyan foreign secretary Musalia Mudavadi, who is in Tanzania for the meeting, said in statement.
A UN expert report said last year that Rwanda has "de facto" control over the M23, alongside some 4,000 of its own troops in the conflict zone. 
The report also accused Kigali of profiting from smuggling minerals from the DRC -- particularly coltan used in phones and laptops, as well as gold.
Rwanda denies direct involvement and accuses the DRC of sheltering the FDLR, an armed group created by ethnic Hutus who massacred Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
burs-er/dl/keo/phz

diplomacy

India PM Modi to meet Trump in US visit next week: foreign ministry

  • But New Delhi's foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Thursday pointed out that  the "process of deportation is not a new one", and that the United States had expelled more than 15,000 Indians since 2009, almost half of them between 2019-2024.
  • Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet President Donald Trump during a trip to the United States next week, the foreign ministry in New Delhi said on Friday.
  • But New Delhi's foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Thursday pointed out that  the "process of deportation is not a new one", and that the United States had expelled more than 15,000 Indians since 2009, almost half of them between 2019-2024.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet President Donald Trump during a trip to the United States next week, the foreign ministry in New Delhi said on Friday.
Modi, who will visit Washington from February 12-13, will be "among the first few world leaders to visit the United States following the inauguration of President Trump", India's top career diplomat, Vikram Misri, told reporters.
Misri said there had been a "very close rapport" between the leaders, although their ties have so far failed to bring a breakthrough on a long-sought US-India trade deal.
"The visit will be a valuable opportunity to engage the new administration on all areas of mutual interest", he said, adding that Modi would hold a bilateral meeting with Trump.
"This has been one of our strongest international partnerships in recent years and the prime minister's visit is in line with our steady engagement with the new administration," Misri said.
Modi was among the first to congratulate his "dear friend" Trump on his inauguration last month, saying he wanted New Delhi and Washington to work closely together.
"I look forward to working closely together once again, to benefit both our countries, and to shape a better future for the world", Modi wrote on X in January.

'Very close rapport'

However, Trump pressed Modi for "fair" trading ties in a telephone call later that month, the White House said, as Trump pushed his hardline trade agenda with world leaders.
Trump and Modi also discussed strengthening the so-called Quad grouping with Australia and Japan, which is widely seen as a counterweight to China.
India is due to host the bloc's leaders later this year.
The Indian and US leaders, both of whom critics accuse of authoritarian tendencies, enjoyed warm relations when Trump was in the White House from 2017 to 2021.
Modi visited Trump in office in 2017 and 2019.
He also hosted Trump at a huge rally in his home state of Gujarat, while Trump returned the favour with a similar event in Houston, Texas.
"There is an obvious convergence of interests between the two countries," Misri said, which included "trade, investment, technology, defence cooperation, counter-terrorism (and) the security of the Indo-Pacific".
The meeting will come days after a US military airplane flew back 104 Indian migrants, part of Trump's overhaul of immigration.
India's foreign ministry said it was "firmly opposed to illegal migration, especially as it is linked to other forms of organised crime".
But New Delhi's foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Thursday pointed out that  the "process of deportation is not a new one", and that the United States had expelled more than 15,000 Indians since 2009, almost half of them between 2019-2024.
India is the world's fifth-largest economy and enjoys world-beating GDP growth, but hundreds of thousands of its citizens still leave the country each year seeking better opportunities abroad.
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Global Edition

2 dead after small plane crashes on busy Sao Paulo street, hits bus

  • Last August, Brazil suffered its worst air tragedy in 17 years, when a plane crashed in the city of Vinhedo in Sao Paulo state, killing all 62 on board. ll-fb/des
  • Two people were killed Friday when a small plane crashed on a major avenue in Brazil's economic capital Sao Paulo, narrowly escaping heavy traffic and skidding into a bus, authorities said.
  • Last August, Brazil suffered its worst air tragedy in 17 years, when a plane crashed in the city of Vinhedo in Sao Paulo state, killing all 62 on board. ll-fb/des
Two people were killed Friday when a small plane crashed on a major avenue in Brazil's economic capital Sao Paulo, narrowly escaping heavy traffic and skidding into a bus, authorities said.
The plane, carrying two people, slid hundreds of meters along the avenue, passing in front of a queue of dozens of vehicles waiting at a traffic light, according to images shown in local media.
It then hit a bus and exploded, firefighter chief Ronaldo Melo told journalists.
The pilot and a passenger were killed in the accident, which happened shortly after the King Air F90 took off from the Campo de Marte airport, which handles domestic flights.
Six people were injured, said Melo.
The passengers of the bus managed to escape, some of whom were left with "bruises." A passing motorcyclist also fell and received medical attention.
Images broadcast on local television showed thick plumes of smoke billowing into the air, however firefighters quickly got the blaze under control.
Investigators are at the scene "taking photos and interviewing people who witnessed the aircraft crash" to establish the circumstances of the accident, Melo said.
He said it was unclear if the plane had been attempting an emergency landing at the time of the accident.
Brazil has seen several dramatic small plane crashes in recent months.
According to statistics from the Center for Investigation and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents (CENIPA), there were 20 aircraft accidents in January, with eight people killed. 
These mainly involved agricultural aircraft and private planes.
In 2024, the country recorded the highest number of aircraft accidents in the last 10 years, with 175 crashes and 152 deaths.
Last August, Brazil suffered its worst air tragedy in 17 years, when a plane crashed in the city of Vinhedo in Sao Paulo state, killing all 62 on board.
ll-fb/des

diplomacy

Venezuela brands Rubio a 'thief' over US jet seizure

BY PATRICK FORT

  • Venezuela "denounces the brazen theft of a plane belonging to the Venezuelan nation," the foreign ministry said.
  • Venezuela on Friday slammed the US seizure of one of its government planes as "brazen theft" and branded President Donald Trump's top diplomat a "thief" as Washington renewed its hard line on Nicolas Maduro's regime.
  • Venezuela "denounces the brazen theft of a plane belonging to the Venezuelan nation," the foreign ministry said.
Venezuela on Friday slammed the US seizure of one of its government planes as "brazen theft" and branded President Donald Trump's top diplomat a "thief" as Washington renewed its hard line on Nicolas Maduro's regime.
On a visit to the Dominican Republic on Thursday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio supervised the second seizure by the United States of an aircraft belonging to Venezuela's socialist government in less than a year.
The plane was confiscated just six days after a visit to Caracas by Trump's special envoy, Richard Grenell.
Venezuela "denounces the brazen theft of a plane belonging to the Venezuelan nation," the foreign ministry said.
"Marco Rubio, from mercenary of hate to aircraft thief!" the ministry said, vowing to "take all necessary actions to denounce this theft and demand the immediate return of its aircraft."
Grenell had traveled to Venezuela on January 31 to demand that Maduro accept the return of deported Venezuelan migrants.
During his visit, he secured the release of six US prisoners.
Maduro, who is desperate to secure an easing of crippling US sanctions, had hailed the talks as marking a new beginning in relations with Washington.
But Rubio and other US officials insisted there was no change in the United States' refusal to recognize the 62-year-old autocrat as Venezuela's legitimate president.

Two planes in five months

Washington, its G7 allies and several Latin American countries have backed the opposition's claim that its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia was the rightful winner of elections last July, in which Maduro claimed a third term.
The Dassault Falcon 200 jet had been held by Dominican authorities at a military airstrip in Santo Domingo after the United States said it violated sanctions against Venezuela.
Venezuelan officials used the plane to fly to Greece, Turkey, Russia, Nicaragua and Cuba, and had taken it to the Dominican Republic for maintenance, according to the US State Department.
Maduro's oil minister also used the plane to attend a meeting of the OPEC oil cartel in the United Arab Emirates in 2019, according to the Treasury Department.
In September, then-US president Joe Biden announced the seizure of a first Venezuelan government plane in the Dominican Republic that had been used to transport Maduro on international trips.
Biden's move came amid an international furore over Maduro's crackdown on the protests that erupted over his disputed reelection claim.
More than 2,400 people were arrested, 28 killed and about 200 injured in the unrest.
Gonzalez Urrutia went into exile in Spain after a warrant was issued for his arrest and a bounty offered for his capture.

Maduro seeks 'new beginning'

Trump took a hard line on Venezuela during his first term in the White House, but his attempts to dislodge Maduro by recognizing a parallel opposition-led government and imposing crippling sanctions on Venezuela's key oil sector came to naught.
On starting his second term last month, Trump quickly stripped roughly 600,000 Venezuelans in the United States of protection from deportation.
But Maduro appeared hopeful of a reset in relations when Grenell visited Caracas, saying it marked a "new beginning."
Rubio this week appeared to downplay chances of a breakthrough, saying Venezuela remained a concern for US national security due to mass migration.
Seven million Venezuelans -- around a quarter of the population -- have fled the country's imploding economy over the past decade.
"It is about a government -- a regime -- that has harmed more than seven million Venezuelans, and all the neighboring countries that have had to face the reality of this massive migration," Rubio said on Wednesday in Guatemala.
Dominican Republic and Guatemala were among two of five Central American countries that Rubio visited on his first foreign trip as secretary of state over the past week.
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