vote

Far-right AfD claims crushing victory in east German state vote

landslide

Nepal holds day of mourning as families pray missing still alive

BY ABHAYA SRIVASTAVA

  • Hundreds of hydropower workers are among the missing, but the rescue of three of them from deep inside tunnels -- two Nepalis on Friday and a Chinese man on Saturday -- have buoyed hopes that more could still be alive.
  • Nepal held a national day of mourning on Monday for victims of devastating glacial floods, as families of missing hydropower workers feared trapped in tunnels prayed rescuers might yet find them alive.
  • Hundreds of hydropower workers are among the missing, but the rescue of three of them from deep inside tunnels -- two Nepalis on Friday and a Chinese man on Saturday -- have buoyed hopes that more could still be alive.
Nepal held a national day of mourning on Monday for victims of devastating glacial floods, as families of missing hydropower workers feared trapped in tunnels prayed rescuers might yet find them alive.
The August 26 glacial and mountain collapse on the China-Nepal border killed at least 1,398 people, with more than 5,500 missing, including around 800 foreigners.
Flags flew at half-mast, with candlelight vigils planned later in the day, as the nation marked the 13th day after death, following Hindu mourning rituals.
Hundreds of hydropower workers are among the missing, but the rescue of three of them from deep inside tunnels -- two Nepalis on Friday and a Chinese man on Saturday -- have buoyed hopes that more could still be alive.
Nepal Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet said rescue efforts were continuing at "the same tempo" to make sure "that no one is still stranded".
Entire communities have been swept away, roads destroyed and homes demolished.

'Hope'

But families of some of the missing workers who gathered in the capital Kathmandu said the government must move faster.
"We have a lot of hope," said Reena Amatya Shrestha, whose brother is among the missing.
"They say they are doing rescue. If the rescue is there, where's the result? We need the result."
Australian tunnel rescue expert Arnold Dix, who is advising Nepali teams, said the operation presented an unprecedented challenge.
"We are facing something I have never faced before," said Dix, president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, in a post on social media.
"Not one rescue, but multiple potential rescues, unfolding at the same time, in different places, each with its own dangers, uncertainties, and lives that may still be saved."
Foreign experts, including from China, India and South Korea, are aiding Nepali teams in rescue efforts.
"We are measured not only by the lives we save, but by the lives we refuse to abandon," said Dix.

'New life'

Nepal President Ram Chandra Paudel visited relief camps in Nuwakot district on Monday, speaking to those left homeless by the disaster "caused by the unprecedented flooding", his office said in a statement.
With mortuaries overflowing, Nepal has buried hundreds of bodies in mass graves after taking DNA samples for future identification, according to police.
Despite the gloom, there have been remarkable tales of survival.
Chandika Shrestha, a 64-year-old Nepali woman, was pulled out alive from her mud-covered home in Bidur on Saturday.
Shrestha's family had already held a symbolic funeral ceremony, believing her dead.
"Chandika has got a new life," her neighbour Buddhi Lal Dongol told AFP. "It would be so good if the others who are missing also came back."
While the exact cause of the glacial collapse is unclear, climate change is accelerating glacial melting worldwide, increasing the risk of such disasters.
Nepal, a largely rural nation of 30 million people that has contributed little to the greenhouse gas emissions driving global warming, says reconstruction could cost billions of dollars.
Its economy is already under pressure, with limited resources to respond to a disaster of this scale.
A UN preliminary assessment estimated building damage from Nepal's floods at $158 million alone, warning that total losses -- including damage to roads and bridges, agricultural land and humanitarian costs -- would be far higher.
The disaster has come just ahead of the anniversary of last year's September 8-9 mass anti-corruption protests that toppled the government.
In Nepal, rescuers have retrieved 1,355 bodies, while around 4,996 people are missing, according to the disaster agency. 
In China, the toll is 43 dead and 519 missing, according to state media.
pm-abh/pjm/lga

Shinjuku

Tokyo's Shinjuku to ban more than half of vacation rentals

BY KYOKO HASEGAWA

  • A Shinjuku official supervising holiday rentals told AFP that the district was "planning to revise the current ordinance... to ban private lodging" in residential zones and areas near schools.
  • Tokyo tourist hotspot Shinjuku will impose a ban on more than half of its holiday rentals including homes on Airbnb after a surge in complaints about visitors, an official said Monday.
  • A Shinjuku official supervising holiday rentals told AFP that the district was "planning to revise the current ordinance... to ban private lodging" in residential zones and areas near schools.
Tokyo tourist hotspot Shinjuku will impose a ban on more than half of its holiday rentals including homes on Airbnb after a surge in complaints about visitors, an official said Monday.
Known for its buzzing commercial and entertainment district, Shinjuku has around 4,000 short-term rentals, according to the ward's official website. That is nearly 10 percent of Japan's total.
But its large residential population has become increasingly exasperated with tourists who fail to properly dispose of rubbish, smoke where they are not supposed to and make too much noise.
A Shinjuku official supervising holiday rentals told AFP that the district was "planning to revise the current ordinance... to ban private lodging" in residential zones and areas near schools.
"As the number of private lodging businesses has risen, complaints and troubles around them have increased," the official said on customary condition of anonymity.
More than 50 percent of short-term rentals in Shinjuku face a ban under the new rules, he said, adding that the plan would formally be announced by the Shinjuku mayor on Tuesday.
The policy will only apply to existing rentals, the official said. It is likely to result in the closure of around 2,000 properties, including an unknown number on Airbnb.
Japan aims to attract 60 million foreign tourists by 2030, up from 42 million in 2025, but overtourism has emerged as a major challenge.
Residents of Japan's former imperial capital Kyoto and other hotspots have expressed annoyance at selfie-taking crowds as well as traffic congestion and soaring land prices.
In Shinjuku, the number of complaints over vacation rentals increased by around 40 percent in the fiscal year to March, the official said.
"Many complaints are about the violation of trash disposal rules while others include smoking and trespassing," he said.
American tourist Luke Jemison, 24, told AFP that the rules "make sense, because of noise".
Masaru Sato, a Shinjuku resident in his 70s, said "many foreigners, including operators of private lodgings, don't follow local rules".
"This area gets dirty because the way they dispose of trash is very messy," he told AFP.
AFP has contacted Airbnb for comment. Several hosts in Shinjuku declined interviews when contacted by AFP.
In July, the Japan Tourism Agency gave municipalities the right to regulate short-term lodgings if "a tranquil living and educational environment" is under threat or if they "hinder the maintenance of a permanent population and local community".
Kyoto is also considering a ban on short-term lodging, but only for new rentals within residential and industrial areas.
Other global cities have cracked down on private lodgings available through online rental platforms.
That is partly due to overtourism concerns, but also because some residents say home-sharing websites for tourists deprive locals of apartments for long-term rent and push up prices for homes remaining on the market.
Barcelona, one of Europe's most-visited cities, aims to ban apartment rentals to tourists by 2029 to ease a housing shortage.
Under rules introduced in 2023, New York prohibits rental periods of less than 30 days unless the host lives in the property.
kh/aph/nf/mjw

AfD

Germany's Merz under pressure from far-right election triumph

BY FRANK ZELLER

  • Political scientist Oliver Lembcke of Ruhr University Bochum agreed however that the election result is "more than a severe electoral defeat for the CDU". 
  • German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will huddle Monday with his CDU party to discuss and digest their thumping defeat at the hands of the far-right AfD party in a state election in the ex-communist east.
  • Political scientist Oliver Lembcke of Ruhr University Bochum agreed however that the election result is "more than a severe electoral defeat for the CDU". 
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will huddle Monday with his CDU party to discuss and digest their thumping defeat at the hands of the far-right AfD party in a state election in the ex-communist east.
The anti-immigration Alternative for Germany scored its biggest win yet Sunday with 44 percent of the vote in the Saxony-Anhalt, against about 18 percent for the centre-right CDU, according to broadcasters' projections.
The visibly dejected CDU state premier Sven Schulze said his campaign was not always helped by national government policies, saying that "we often faced headwinds, and that wasn't always easy". 
The ballot box triumph put the pro-Trump and Moscow-friendly AfD -- officially listed as "right-wing extremist" by Germany's domestic intelligence agency -- within reach of running its first-ever state government.
However, it appeared to have fallen just short of an absolute majority, setting the stage for lengthy haggling before a new government is formed in the state assembly in Magdeburg.
Nonetheless, the result sent shock waves through Germany, which in the post-war era had so far managed to keep extremist parties at bay.
"For the first time since the end of World War II, the AfD -- a party whose state branch is classified as right-wing extremist -- is close to securing an absolute majority," said Daniel Guenther, the CDU premier of Schleswig-Holstein state. "This is a shocking moment for our country."

AfD winner mocks Merz

For Merz -- who watched the results come in from Berlin party headquarters late Sunday, but did not speak in public -- the result is another blow at a time when his approval ratings have dipped sharply.
The AfD's triumphant lead candidate in the state election, 35-year-old Ulrich Siegmund, took pleasure in mocking 70-year-old Merz, calling him "a very good campaigner" for the AfD.
Siegmund said his party had "made history" and that voters had sent "a signal to Berlin". Every day with Merz in the chancellery was "one day too many", he added.
AfD national co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla urged the state branch to seek to take over the government, viewing it as a blueprint for national elections in 2029.
According to projections by German public broadcasters, the AfD fell just three seats short of an absolute majority of 42 seats in the regional parliament. 
In the other camp, but also without a clear majority, is a grouping of parties opposed to the AfD -- the CDU, centre-left SPD, Greens and the far-left Die Linke.
One option would be for the tiny BSW -- a leftist party that veers hard-right on immigration -- to act as kingmaker, provided it manages to cross the five-percent hurdle to enter parliament.
The AfD could also try to poach lawmakers from other parties who might want to defect and join its ranks.
Siegmund said his party stood ready to "extend a hand to all forces that want to bring about a fundamental political shift with us".

'Watershed moment'

Rumblings of discontent meanwhile came from within the CDU, which is ruling Germany in coalition with centre-left Social Democrats.
Dennis Radtke, chairman of the CDU's employee wing, called Sunday's vote a "watershed moment" and said that "the usual platitudes about a 'bitter evening' and the need for analysis won't cut it".
Thorsten Frei, leader of the centre-right parliamentary group, called for calm and noted that the chancellor was elected for a four-year term.
He therefore warned against drawing "wrong conclusions" from the result in Saxony-Anhalt. 
Political scientist Oliver Lembcke of Ruhr University Bochum agreed however that the election result is "more than a severe electoral defeat for the CDU". 
"We are witnessing a tectonic shift in the party system," he said.
"A protest and opposition party is transforming -- at least in parts of east Germany -- into a party with a realistic prospect of holding power."
The AfD, founded in 2013 as a eurosceptic protest party, soon transformed into an Islamophobic and anti-immigration party, railing against the open-door policy of former CDU chancellor Angela Merkel.
Merz has vowed to return the CDU to its conservative roots and launched a crackdown on irregular immigration while trying to reboot a stagnant economy.
Lembcke recalled that last year Merz "took office with the promise of pushing back the AfD -- yet instead, the party has grown even stronger, despite the Union's shift to a more conservative course.
"This confronts Merz with a question of renewed urgency: what strategy can the CDU use to reverse this trend?"
bur-fz/jj

volcano

Jakarta airport extends closure after volcano eruption

BY DESSY SAGITA

  • Eight airports had halted operations over the weekend after ash was detected in their airspace, disrupting thousands of flights and leaving more than 270,000 passengers stranded, the transport ministry reported Monday.
  • Jakarta's main airport and three others delayed reopening on Monday after halting operations due to a volcanic eruption and leaving hundreds of thousands stranded. 
  • Eight airports had halted operations over the weekend after ash was detected in their airspace, disrupting thousands of flights and leaving more than 270,000 passengers stranded, the transport ministry reported Monday.
Jakarta's main airport and three others delayed reopening on Monday after halting operations due to a volcanic eruption and leaving hundreds of thousands stranded. 
Mount Anak Krakatau, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) from Indonesia's capital, erupted on Saturday, spewing a fountain of lava and a plume of volcanic ash. 
Eight airports had halted operations over the weekend after ash was detected in their airspace, disrupting thousands of flights and leaving more than 270,000 passengers stranded, the transport ministry reported Monday.
"These figures are the cumulative operational impact since 5 September 2026 and cover flights that have been canceled, delayed, or diverted," the ministry said in a statement.
Italian tourist Michel Miegge was on holiday with his girlfriend and due to fly home in time for work on Tuesday, but their flight was cancelled.
"We don't have any news from the airline. We don't know if we stay another day in Jakarta or find another flight," the 32-year-old software engineer told AFP.  
 "I don't think it's possible now. We found a nearby hotel, but we saw that many hotels were fully booked. Fortunately, we booked a hotel last night, but it's a difficult situation."
Another tourist, French painter Carol Odile, said she came with a group of friends, excited to see Komodo dragons in Flores, when she was notified that her flight was cancelled. 
"We discovered our flight was delayed yesterday morning when we arrived at the airport because we didn’t know about the volcanic eruption. We are disappointed, but our group is optimistic, so we hope we can go to Flores Island very soon," the 60-year-old told AFP. 
At least four airports, including Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, extended their closure from Monday morning to 6:00 pm (1100 GMT), airport operator Angkasa Pura said in a social media post.
Halim Perdanakusuma, a smaller airport that caters to both civil and military flights, will also remain closed.
Another small airport in south Sumatra resumed operations as of Monday morning 9:00 am, the transport ministry said.

- Threat remains high -

More than 240 domestic and international flights had been cancelled or delayed due to volcanic ash on Monday morning alone, Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport said, adding that nearly 30,000 passengers were affected.  
"We understand that this situation affects passengers' travel plans. Therefore, from the start of the temporary closure, we have focused on ensuring that passengers' needs continue to be met," airport spokesman, Yudhistiawan, who like many Indonesians only has one name, said in a statement. 
The probability of an eruption remains high until Monday morning, the country's geology agency warned. 
"The threat from an eruption comes from the ejection of incandescent rocks accompanied by heavy ashfall. Another potential hazard arises from lava flows if the eruption resumes and continues," agency head Lana Saria said. 
Anak Krakatau, which means Child of Krakatau, sits in a strait that separates the islands of Java and Sumatra. 
The volcano has been sporadically active since it emerged from the sea at the beginning of last century in the caldera that formed after the 1883 eruption of Mount Krakatau. 
A 2018 tsunami triggered by a collapse of parts of Anak Krakatau killed 429 people and left thousands displaced.
str-dsa/tc

landslide

Nepal tunnel rescues face 'unprecedented' challenge

  • "Our focus is on search and rescue at three levels -- on ground, by air, and in the tunnels.
  • Nepal's flood disaster posed an unprecedented challenge, Australian rescue expert Arnold Dix said Monday, with multiple search operations underway in Himalayan hydropower tunnels.
  • "Our focus is on search and rescue at three levels -- on ground, by air, and in the tunnels.
Nepal's flood disaster posed an unprecedented challenge, Australian rescue expert Arnold Dix said Monday, with multiple search operations underway in Himalayan hydropower tunnels.
The August 26 glacial and mountain collapse on the China-Nepal border killed at least 1,385 people, with more than 5,500 missing across the two countries.
Hundreds of hydropower workers are among the missing, with rescue efforts now in their thirteenth day.
"We are facing something I have never faced before," said Dix, president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, in a post on social media.
"Not one rescue, but multiple potential rescues, unfolding at the same time, in different places, each with its own dangers, uncertainties, and lives that may still be saved."
Nepal is holding a national day of mourning on Monday in line with traditional Hindu rituals.
But rescue efforts continue "with the same tempo we had on day one", Nepal Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet told AFP on Monday.
"Our focus is on search and rescue at three levels -- on ground, by air, and in the tunnels. We are making sure that no one is still stranded."
The rescue of three workers from deep inside tunnels -- two Nepalis on Friday and a Chinese man on Saturday -- buoyed hopes of finding other survivors.
Foreign experts, including from China, India, and South Korea, are aiding Nepali teams in rescue efforts -- among them Dix.
"We are measured not only by the lives we save, but by the lives we refuse to abandon," said Dix, a key adviser during the Indian rescue of 41 men trapped for 17 days inside the collapsed Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand state in 2023.
"Silkyara taught me never to confuse unlikely with impossible," he said.
abh/pjm/fox

Miami

Five dead, five injured after Amazon cargo plane overshoots Miami runway

  • The plane operating as Prime Air Flight 7598 caught fire as a result of the "crash," fire officials said.
  • At least five people were killed when an Amazon cargo plane overshot a runway after it landed Sunday at Miami International Airport, crashed into vehicles and caught fire, officials said.
  • The plane operating as Prime Air Flight 7598 caught fire as a result of the "crash," fire officials said.
At least five people were killed when an Amazon cargo plane overshot a runway after it landed Sunday at Miami International Airport, crashed into vehicles and caught fire, officials said.
Miami-Dade County fire chief Ray Jadallah told reporters that in addition to five fatalities, three people were transported to trauma centers "in critical condition" and two more were treated at a local hospital.
"The airplane did strike a couple of vehicles," which left "a couple of victims that were actually trapped in the vehicles," Jadallah said.
"A complex extrication with our technical rescue team" was needed, "including a search and rescue of the pilot and co-pilot that were trapped in this aircraft." 
Jadallah did not clarify whether the pilot or co-pilot survived, and officials declined to answer questions after brief statements were made.
Video showed thick smoke billowing from the blue and white Boeing 767 after it arrived at 1:58 pm (1758 GMT) from Puerto Rico, as fire trucks raced to the scene.
The plane operating as Prime Air Flight 7598 caught fire as a result of the "crash," fire officials said.
"A total of 60 fire apparatuses arrived, just short, just shy of 200 men and women from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, to begin the actual search and rescue and firefighting," Jadallah said. 
"The actual cause of the incident will be determined by the FAA and the NTSB," he added, referring to the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board.
In a statement posted to X Sunday evening, fire officials said they used foam to extinguish a fire in the engine compartment.
"One person was trapped under one of the involved vehicles and had to be extricated by specialized technical rescue personnel. Specialized hazardous materials (HazMat) units safely shut down the aircraft's engine and worked to control a fuel leak," the statement said.

Investigation launched

The NTSB said in an X post on Sunday the B-767-300 cargo airplane was flying into Miami from San Juan, Puerto Rico and they have "launched a go team to investigate Sunday's runway excursion accident." 
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement the tech giant will cooperate with any investigation into the incident.
"We're heartbroken to learn that five people lost their lives in today's incident at Miami International Airport. Our deepest sympathies go out to the families, loved ones, and all those affected by this devastating loss," Nantel said.
Miami Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz told reporters Sunday that her officers encountered a "really tragic scene," but there was "no apparent threat to public safety." 
The airport closed all runways and taxiways because of the incident and posted an update to its website Sunday evening that travelers should check directly with their airline before heading to the airport.
After hours of holding all flights at the international airport Sunday, with numerous delays and canceled flights for commercial airline passengers, the Miami Herald newspaper reported that two of the airport's four runways had reopened Sunday.
In a statement on X, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava thanked first responders for their speedy response, saying "our fire rescue team was there within seconds of the crash, so we're deeply grateful."
bur/dw/sla/abs

navy

North Korea vows nuclear-armed navy as US ally drills open

  • "We should make sure that the diversified and effective operation of nuclear combat systems is conducted for an actual war through developing our navy into a nuclear armed force," Kim reportedly told the ceremony.
  • Leader Kim Jong Un vowed to build North Korea's navy into a nuclear-armed force, state media reported Monday as US allies' maritime drills kicked off. 
  • "We should make sure that the diversified and effective operation of nuclear combat systems is conducted for an actual war through developing our navy into a nuclear armed force," Kim reportedly told the ceremony.
Leader Kim Jong Un vowed to build North Korea's navy into a nuclear-armed force, state media reported Monday as US allies' maritime drills kicked off. 
This week's manoeuvres involving Japan, South Korea and the United States were established in 2023 in what officials called an effort to deter Pyongyang's missile and nuclear threats. 
Kim's comments came at the commissioning of the Kang Kon -- a warship that partially capsized when launched in May 2025 -- in the port city of Wonsan on Sunday, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
"We should make sure that the diversified and effective operation of nuclear combat systems is conducted for an actual war through developing our navy into a nuclear armed force," Kim reportedly told the ceremony.
"Once ordered anytime, the new-generation destroyer should deal a deadly retaliatory blow at the enemies as it is a force involved in the state nuclear counteraction system," he said. 
Photos released of Kim showed him accompanied by his daughter, Ju Ae, who is reportedly designated as a successor to her father.
Kim oversaw in July a test of the Kang Kon -- one of two 5,000-tonne class warships launched last year -- just over a year after it was damaged during its launch.
Kim's reference to a "nuclear-armed navy" suggests the vessels could serve as launch platforms for tactical nuclear-capable cruise missiles, said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University.
Kim also said North Korea was carrying out an "important plan" to strengthen its navy that would be demonstrated to the world "in eight months".
That could foreshadow the unveiling of a major strategic asset, such as a new submarine capable of carrying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), Lim said.
By deploying the Kang Kon in the East Sea, Pyongyang is also seeking to keep the joint maritime exercises and deployments of nuclear assets "directly and within range", Lim said.
This week's US allies' drills, dubbed Freedom Edge, are set to run to Friday in international waters east and south of South Korea's Jeju Island.
The manoeuvres have pushed ahead despite President Donald Trump curtailling another set of drills with South Korea as the US leader aims to reopen diplomacy with Pyongyang about its nuclear programme.
Despite Trump's overtures, North Korea has shown little sign of reciprocating, firing missiles and condemning the downsized drills as well as Washington's approval of arms sales to South Korea and plans to fund programmes documenting human rights abuses in the North.
hs/jm

US

Toll from Yemen clashes passes 300 as civilians flee homes

  • Two military officials with the Saudi-backed government forces told AFP that 84 of their troops were killed between midday Saturday and early Sunday morning, mostly in missile attacks.
  • The toll from days of fighting between government forces and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in southwest Yemen climbed past 300 on Sunday, as hundreds of families fled their homes to escape the violence.
  • Two military officials with the Saudi-backed government forces told AFP that 84 of their troops were killed between midday Saturday and early Sunday morning, mostly in missile attacks.
The toll from days of fighting between government forces and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in southwest Yemen climbed past 300 on Sunday, as hundreds of families fled their homes to escape the violence.
Two military officials with the Saudi-backed government forces told AFP that 84 of their troops were killed between midday Saturday and early Sunday morning, mostly in missile attacks. Four Houthi military sources said 57 rebel fighters were killed in the same period.
The two sides have been fighting for days over control of a gateway to the Red Sea, in the deadliest flare-up in the Arabian Peninsula's southernmost country since a 2022 ceasefire collapsed in July.
Families fleeing fighting in Maqbanah and Jabal Habashi in Taiz governorate in Yemen's southwest took refuge at Al-Bareen camp for the internally displaced on Saturday.
And on Sunday, AFP journalists saw displaced people with mattresses, livestock and other belongings setting up shelters in another camp in the area.
"The shooting came at us from above and from below," said Rawdhah Hasan, a woman displaced from Maqbanah.
"They surrounded us from every direction, we fled with our children without even putting on our shoes," she added.

'We are stranded here'

The Houthis launched an offensive on Thursday aiming to cut off the government-held port city of Mokha, under fire for weeks, and advance towards areas bordering the Bab al-Mandab strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.
A military official within the government told AFP that the rebels had succeeded on Saturday evening in "cutting off the road linking Taiz to Mokha".
According to an AFP tally compiled using various military and medical sources from both sides of the conflict, more than 300 combatants and some civilians have been killed since the start of the Houthi assault.
Nimah Saif, another woman displaced from the Jabal Habashi district, said that "some people were injured and others were killed. We saw them lying on the ground, but we could not help anyone."
"Now we are stranded here, hungry, with nothing to eat," she added.
The UN agency for humanitarian coordination OCHA said on Friday that an estimated 1,790 households had been displaced following "intense shelling and clashes" in Maqbanah and Jabal Habashi districts. 
A spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres said he was "deeply concerned by the ongoing military clashes", warning of "devastating political economic and security ramifications for Yemen and its people".
One military official with the internationally recognised government based in Aden said fighting had subsided in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The official said government "forces were able to establish positions for themselves north of Hays after advancing in the area", referring to a frontline district less than 30 kilometres (18.6 miles) inland from the Red Sea coast. 
But the official added the Houthis had advanced west of Taiz, south of Hays, in their push towards the Bab al-Mandab. 

Ceasefire shattered

Farea Al-Muslimi, a Middle East expert at the UK-based think tank Chatham House, said the Houthis were looking to exploit a weak front line at Mokha and "cut a lot of ties between Taiz and Bab al-Mandab and Mokha".
"If they have a chance to fully take over Bab al-Mandab, they won't hesitate for a second," he added.
Adam Baron, a fellow at US-based think tank New America, said the Houthi offensive since Thursday had "shattered much of what was left of Yemen's tenuous ceasefire".
"Things increasingly appear to be on a path to escalation with few potential off-ramps," he added. 
With Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz to commercial ships, the Bab al-Mandab chokepoint has gained importance as a transit route, connecting Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal.
In July, a fragile truce between the Houthis and Yemen's Saudi-backed government fell apart after the rebels welcomed an Iranian plane to the capital Sanaa, setting off a spate of attacks.
The Houthis have also announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and have begun targeting its ships and territory.
str-csp/smw/jj

internet

Australians could opt out of social media algorithms under new law

  • "A lot of Australians appreciate the algorithm, both for the enjoyment they get out of it or the utility they get out of it," Communications Minister Anika Wells told national broadcaster ABC. "A lot of Australians will want to choose the algorithm -- but we think that big tech should offer them the choice in the first place, and they should respect that choice."
  • Australians could be given the option of opting out of powerful social media algorithms under new legislation cracking down on big tech, a minister said Monday.
  • "A lot of Australians appreciate the algorithm, both for the enjoyment they get out of it or the utility they get out of it," Communications Minister Anika Wells told national broadcaster ABC. "A lot of Australians will want to choose the algorithm -- but we think that big tech should offer them the choice in the first place, and they should respect that choice."
Australians could be given the option of opting out of powerful social media algorithms under new legislation cracking down on big tech, a minister said Monday.
The draft law requiring a "digital duty of care" is expected to be introduced to Australia's parliament this week.
It would require firms like Meta to give users the option of turning off algorithms that tailor recommendations to their personal taste.
"A lot of Australians appreciate the algorithm, both for the enjoyment they get out of it or the utility they get out of it," Communications Minister Anika Wells told national broadcaster ABC.
"A lot of Australians will want to choose the algorithm -- but we think that big tech should offer them the choice in the first place, and they should respect that choice."
"We should give Australians more choice over what they should see on their feeds," she said.
Social media firms have long faced scrutiny over their use of allegedly addictive algorithms and stand accused of directing users to sensational or extreme content to keep them scrolling.
Australia implemented legislation barring children from social media platforms in December, part of a world-first crackdown designed to protect children from online bullying and "predatory algorithms".
The UK, France and others have followed suit.
Data last month found that under-16s in Australia were increasing their use of social media apps such as Instagram and TikTok despite the ban.
oho/sft/tc

conflict

US envoys have 'more effective proposals': Ukraine official

BY MYKOLA ZAVGORODNIY

  • But the senior Ukrainian official told AFP: "It's not the same as it was before.
  • Washington's envoys have brought new, "more effective" proposals on ending the war with Russia to Kyiv, a senior Ukrainian presidential official told AFP Sunday.
  • But the senior Ukrainian official told AFP: "It's not the same as it was before.
Washington's envoys have brought new, "more effective" proposals on ending the war with Russia to Kyiv, a senior Ukrainian presidential official told AFP Sunday.
Earlier Sunday, Zelensky had said the war with Russia looked likely to continue into the winter. 
While both he and the US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had given upbeat assessments of the talks, neither announced any breakthroughs on ending the conflict.
But the senior Ukrainian official told AFP: "It's not the same as it was before. This one now is more effective. They're still talking. This is actually the most important part."
Witkoff, who is President Donald Trump's business ally, and Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, travelled to Kyiv a day after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow -- the latest of several visits to the city.
Ukraine's rail operator announced their departure from Kyiv in a post on Telegram early Monday, accompanied by a photo of the two envoys' standing under a station sign announcing the "Peace Express".
Sunday's visit to Kyiv was their first to the Ukrainian capital, which has been enduring deadly Russian strikes for more than four years.
Zelensky said: "We very much hope that we will be able to reach agreements with our American partners, and we are counting on the support of our European partners if the war continues in winter -- and this is how it appears at the moment." 
Zelensky also said Ukraine would hold talks with the US, France and Germany, but did not elaborate. And he repeated his call that only a meeting between the two leaders could solve territorial issues.
Thanking the US envoys for their visit, Zelensky said on X: "The main thing is to achieve peace for Ukraine -- a dignified, reliable, and lasting peace. We are directing all our efforts toward this."

'On same side'

Moscow occupies large swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine and the Kremlin told the Americans on Saturday it was feeling "confident" it would advance more.
Moscow has said it wants not just the territories it occupies but the land it claims as Russian to be recognised as its own -- terms unacceptable to Kyiv.
Witkoff said both sides would need to compromise, adding: "We think we have the ingredients to get to that place.
"We've had a very meaningful discussion, substantive, important, and we are very encouraged and we look forward to continuing this as long as it takes."
Kushner added: "Hopefully this trip has come out with some new ways to advance forward. I think we've learned a lot from the trip."
Witkoff and Kushner travelled to the region hoping to revive the Trump administration's push for peace in Europe's worst conflict since World War II, after a summer of escalation.
British, French and German representatives attended a separate round of the talks.
Zelensky said he was grateful the Europeans were there, adding: "Here we are all on the same side."
Like all visiting officials, the US delegation had arrived by train, with "Peace Express" written on the platform at Kyiv Central Station.
Ukrainian airspace has been closed since Russia launched its invasion in 2022.
Russia and Ukraine vowed not to strike each other's capitals during the US envoys' trip.

'Substantive plans'

Moscow's invasion has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions.
A White House official said in a statement to AFP that in Moscow the envoys had "discussed substantive plans which will be announced in the coming weeks".
Without elaborating, the Kremlin said the Americans had "put forward a number of ideas on possible routes to a settlement".
Putin has repeatedly said Moscow intends to seize the rest of eastern Ukraine, and Russia increased deadly strikes this summer.
Since Putin launched the invasion in February 2022, the war has dragged on with no end in sight.
In Kyiv, few people appeared to believe in a breakthrough.
Nataliia Lipekh, 67, said it was "absolutely necessary (for them) to be here" and to see that "our land is already soaked with this blood and that we need some help".
"At the moment, I have no grounds for hope," said 29-year-old Yaroslav, saying he had seen "far too many of these negotiation processes".
bur-oc/jj/mjf

vote

Far-right AfD claims crushing victory in east German state vote

BY CELINE LE PRIOUX WITH FRANK ZELLER IN BERLIN

  • All major parties have agreed on a "firewall" of non-cooperation with the AfD, whose state branch is categorised as "right-wing extremist" by Germany's domestic intelligence agency.
  • Germany's far-right AfD won a landslide victory in a key regional election Sunday in the ex-communist east, a result seen as a stinging rebuke for Chancellor Friedrich Merz, but looked set to miss out on an absolute majority to govern alone.
  • All major parties have agreed on a "firewall" of non-cooperation with the AfD, whose state branch is categorised as "right-wing extremist" by Germany's domestic intelligence agency.
Germany's far-right AfD won a landslide victory in a key regional election Sunday in the ex-communist east, a result seen as a stinging rebuke for Chancellor Friedrich Merz, but looked set to miss out on an absolute majority to govern alone.
"We have made history today," said a jubilant Ulrich Siegmund, the 35-year-old lead candidate of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party in Saxony-Anhalt state, as the vote count continued.
The AfD won 44 percent, more than doubling its support, and far ahead of the around 18 percent for the centre-right CDU of Merz, according to projections by public broadcasters ARD and ZDF.
The CDU's state premier Sven Schulze called the outcome "a severe blow" but will stay on as caretaker leader during what could be a long and painful process toward a new state government.
All major parties have agreed on a "firewall" of non-cooperation with the AfD, whose state branch is categorised as "right-wing extremist" by Germany's domestic intelligence agency.
The AfD's national co-leader Alice Weidel -- who has long condemned the "firewall" concept as undemocratic -- praised her party's result as "sensational" and said the party had "received a very clear mandate to govern" in Saxony-Anhalt. 
However, it remains far from clear who will eventually rule, as the AfD gained just less than half of parliamentary seats.
The CDU had hoped to cobble together a multi-party coalition to cling to power, but would still lack a majority even if it teamed up with the centre-left SPD, Greens and the far-left Die Linke. 
The AfD meanwhile may hope to win the support of the small pro-Russian BSW party -- a leftist group that is tough on immigration, and which was expected to just scrape into parliament with five percent.
Weidel said that "naturally, a government scenario involving the BSW is very interesting for us".
A first-ever AfD state government would be a shock for many in Germany, which has been at pains to atone for its dark history of World War II and the Holocaust and so far kept extremist parties at bay.
"I am personally appalled by this election result," said Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews.
The spectre of a far-right state government drew thousands of the AfD's opponents to a rally on Saturday in the regional capital Magdeburg, with banners saying "life is better without Nazis".
"I'm very worried," demonstrator Laura Saalfeld told AFP, fearing a change in atmosphere. "Far-right sympathisers will show themselves more openly on the streets," she said.

Radical agenda

Siegmund has ambitions to become state premier and lead a political revolution from Saxony-Anhalt that would propel the party to national victory in 2029.
On the campaign trail, Siegmund -- a former entrepreneur with a huge social media following -- has been mobbed by fans, many wearing T-shirts bearing his likeness.
The party has tapped into a sense of nostalgia for communist East Germany as well as lingering resentment about an enduring wealth gap with the west decades after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.
In line with the sometimes defiant sense of local "Ossie pride", Siegmund has often ridden the iconic local Simson bike, including to the polling booth Sunday.
While he has been dubbed the friendly face of the AfD, Siegmund's campaign promises have been radical. He wants to target irregular migrants with a "remigration and deportation offensive" from day one.
The party's "anti-woke" agenda also includes vows to replace LGBTQ pride rainbow flags at public schools with the German standard, and to lessen the emphasis on the Third Reich in history teaching.
The German Economic Institute has warned the AfD's immigration policy would be "ruinous" for Saxony-Anhalt, which is highly reliant on foreign-born workers.
The AfD win heaps pressure on Merz, who has vowed to reboot a stagnant economy and restrict irregular immigration, but has seen his party beaten by the AfD in national surveys too.
bur-clp-fz/sr/jxb

US

Iran threatens greater force if US launches more attacks

BY AFP TEAMS IN TEHRAN, WASHINGTON AND DUBAI

  • Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has acted as chief negotiator in talks to end the war, said Sunday that "the era of proportionate responses has come to an end".
  • Iran's top negotiator on Sunday threatened a more forceful response to any further US attacks after Tehran targeted American warships in their latest round of clashes.
  • Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has acted as chief negotiator in talks to end the war, said Sunday that "the era of proportionate responses has come to an end".
Iran's top negotiator on Sunday threatened a more forceful response to any further US attacks after Tehran targeted American warships in their latest round of clashes.
The exchanges of fire, which began with US raids last week, come amid a deadlock in the six-month war between the two foes.
Iran has maintained its stranglehold on the strategic Strait of Hormuz while Washington continues a counter-blockade of Iranian ports.
Washington is also seeking to choke Iran's economy, rolling out sanctions on entities with financial links to the Islamic republic in a bid to force it into submission.
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has acted as chief negotiator in talks to end the war, said Sunday that "the era of proportionate responses has come to an end".
"Any aggression against Iran's interests and security will receive a faster, more intense and more painful response," he added, in a speech carried by state media.
Tehran's top security chief, meanwhile, said Iran would establish a "prohibited zone" near the Strait of Hormuz in coming days.
"This zone will start from the US Navy's blockade line and include areas of the Persian Gulf. Any ship entering this new zone will be placed on the sanctions list" of Iran, Mohsen Rezaei told state TV.

Vessels targeted

On Saturday, US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees American military operations in the region, said Iran had unsuccessfully fired at two American warships -- an aircraft carrier and a destroyer.
In response, the US struck three oil tankers it said were linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
Video posted by the military showed large fireballs and billowing flames after projectiles slammed into the ships.
The three vessels were "part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies", CENTCOM said.
Iran quickly retaliated, with the Guards saying their naval forces "targeted three oil tankers on the unauthorised route of the Strait of Hormuz and three vessels affiliated with the child-killing America in other areas".
It warned ships not to attempt to transit the key trade waterway via routes not approved by Tehran.
Early on Sunday Iran's Guards also said they attacked a US naval drone trying to enter the strait, according to a statement carried by state television.
CENTCOM spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins, however, called the claim "a complete lie". 

'Clinging on to power'

CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper had said after the exchange of strikes: "If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost -- taking out three of yours."
The Iranian foreign ministry condemned the attacks on its oil tankers as "illegal and aggressive actions".
The administration of US President Donald Trump has tried to downplay the significance of the six-month conflict, which has proven increasingly unpopular at home as midterm elections near.
US Vice President JD Vance has gone so far as to say that he "wouldn't call it a war".
Trump reiterated that view on Friday, calling the war "small potatoes" for Washington.
Iranian officials have maintained their defiant tone, but US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told ABC's "This Week" programme on Sunday that Iran was "doing everything they can to cling on to something".
"They know their nuclear programme's coming to an end. Their navy has come to an end. Their air force has come to an end. They're clinging on to power," he said.
A fragile ceasefire between the two sides collapsed in July after attacks on commercial ships in the Hormuz strait, through which one-fifth of world oil supplies previously flowed.
Trump has in recent weeks repeatedly threatened to claim sovereignty over the strait, even posting a map showing it as "new US territory".
Vance has insisted the US will not reopen talks with Iran until it ends attacks on commercial shipping in the strait.
bur/smw/ksb

vote

German AfD supporters jubilant at far right's thumping win

BY CéLINE LE PRIOUX

  • As exit polls put the Alternative for Germany's vote share at a thumping 44 percent, jubilant scenes erupted at a post-election party in Magdeburg, capital of the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
  • Letting out cries of joy and jumping into the air, supporters of Germany's far-right AfD celebrated as they realised the scale of their election triumph in an ex-communist eastern state on Sunday. 
  • As exit polls put the Alternative for Germany's vote share at a thumping 44 percent, jubilant scenes erupted at a post-election party in Magdeburg, capital of the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
Letting out cries of joy and jumping into the air, supporters of Germany's far-right AfD celebrated as they realised the scale of their election triumph in an ex-communist eastern state on Sunday. 
As exit polls put the Alternative for Germany's vote share at a thumping 44 percent, jubilant scenes erupted at a post-election party in Magdeburg, capital of the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
AfD state lawmaker Daniel Wald, 44, compared the unbridled happiness to the collective joy he remembers witnessing as a child on the day the Berlin Wall fell.
"That very feeling -- that emotion I experienced back in 1989, with tears in my eyes and all the people around me, my family, cheering -- that exact feeling welled up again when we stood up there and saw the result," he said. 
"And that is precisely what the people are feeling right now ... that this is a new beginning. And, of course, that spirit is meant to spread across the entire country."
Angela Maike, a retiree from the city, told AFP: "I thought the result would be around 41 percent, but it's higher."
"I always prefer to be a bit pessimistic beforehand so I can be pleasantly surprised afterwards. And that's what happened today," she added, ordering two beers and a glass of red wine for her friends to celebrate the victory.
The 65-year-old said she "gave it her all" during the election campaign, and had helped by putting up posters -- and by rehanging those that were torn down.

High turnout

Voters flocked to back the AfD's lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund, a telegenic 35-year-old with a huge following on social media, who is hoping to form the first far-right state government in Germany since the Nazi era, to the dismay of mainstream parties and members of minority groups. 
With votes still being counted, it was unclear whether the anti-immigration party would be able to win an absolute majority to govern.
Julian Schneider, a 29-year-old member of the AfD's youth organisation, was not surprised at the result -- which saw the AfD more than double its support, putting it far ahead of the centre-right CDU of Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
"I'm naturally optimistic, but I think it was predictable," he said. 
Pointing to the high turnout -- 78 percent, according to public broadcaster ZDF -- he welcomed the fact that "people who might not have gone to vote in the end mobilised to vote for the AfD" in the small state of 2.1 million.
Five years ago at the last state election in Saxony-Anhalt, turnout was around 60 percent.

'Chancellor of the heart'

Many men in suits and a few women in evening dress were standing around small tables listening to Bjoern Hoecke -- a senior AfD firebrand politician who has been convicted for using a banned Nazi slogan -- belt out a victory song.
Siegmund was set to join his supporters later in the evening at the venue, a theatre built in the 1930s that once served as a military drill hall before becoming a cinema for Soviet soldiers in communist East Germany.
Wearing sneakers in sky-blue -- the AfD's signature colour -- and a T-shirt bearing the slogan "AfD Vision," one 64-year-old, who asked to remain anonymous, said Siegmund could be the saviour of Saxony-Anhalt.
Something has to be done," said the retiree, who hoped to get a cardboard heart emblazoned with the words "chancellor of the heart" -- a hopeful reference to Alice Weidel, the AfD's national co-leader -- signed by her.
He listed a string of complaints about life now in the small state as reasons he has put his trust in the AfD. 
"People are leaving (the state), companies are being forced to close, companies are closing or relocating their activities abroad," he said. 
"The state continues to sink into decline. The municipalities are all bankrupt. We are overwhelmed by immigration, some of which is irregular."
clp/sr/fz/jj

film

Venice festival turns gaze on war reporters, media industry

BY ALEXANDRIA SAGE

  • "Citizen Osama" covers the killing of Al-Jazeera journalist Ismail al-Ghoul in an Israeli airstrike in July 2024, an incident that was internationally condemned.
  • An apartment building has just collapsed in an Israeli airstrike, hundreds are likely dead, and a cameraman runs towards the smoke and rubble in the opening scene of the Gaza documentary "Citizen Osama".
  • "Citizen Osama" covers the killing of Al-Jazeera journalist Ismail al-Ghoul in an Israeli airstrike in July 2024, an incident that was internationally condemned.
An apartment building has just collapsed in an Israeli airstrike, hundreds are likely dead, and a cameraman runs towards the smoke and rubble in the opening scene of the Gaza documentary "Citizen Osama".
Palestinian director Ahmed Hassouna's film is one of several at the Venice Film Festival this year about journalism, whether the high stakes faced by war correspondents, or the morally ambiguous methods used by certain media to gain viewers.
"Citizen Osama", chosen as the Palestinian entry to compete for best foreign film in the 2027 Academy Awards, lays bare the life of a Palestinian journalist "who suffers just like anyone else" in Gaza, said its director Hassouna.
"A journalist is not a soulless camera; he is a man struggling to find water, fighting to obtain food and constantly worrying about how to find milk for his newborn baby or how to feed his wife so she can breastfeed their child," Hassouna wrote in the film's liner notes.
The documentary powerfully captures the apocalyptic landscape of Gaza City, its streets reduced to rubble and mangled rebar, and the weighty sense of responsibility shouldered by the few remaining journalists on the ground.
"I wanted to show that the journalist who captures suffering for the world is himself living through that same tragedy behind the lens," wrote Hassouna, who remains in Gaza.
UN experts, rights groups and activists have accused Israel of deliberately targeting Palestinian journalists, with the Committee to Protect Journalists counting more than 200 killed in Gaza since October 2023.
"Citizen Osama" covers the killing of Al-Jazeera journalist Ismail al-Ghoul in an Israeli airstrike in July 2024, an incident that was internationally condemned.
In 2025, days after a film about Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassouna was selected to play at the Cannes Film Festival, she was killed in an airstrike.
Foreign reporters are still blocked from entering Gaza by Israeli authorities -- unless they are in tightly controlled tours organised by the military.
 

Freedom of the press

 
In a politically charged season at the Venice festival, conflicts feature prominently -- with films featuring variously the Vietnam War, Chile before Pinochet's military coup, Gaza and the West Bank.
Eagerly awaited next week is the premiere of "NAZA", a documentary from Oscar winners Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor about the Israeli military's killing of civilians in Gaza.
Another Venice film with the protagonist a war correspondent is "La Ragazza con la Leica" (Girl with the Leica), which reimagines real-life Spanish Civil War photographer Gerda Taro.
Long overlooked, Taro was the photographer partner and companion of legendary lensman Robert Capa and the first woman photojournalist to die on the battlefield.
The film's director, Alina Marazzi, said their work was part of the "golden age of photojournalism."
"If we think that at the time, probably the majority of the population was illiterate and couldn't read what was written in the newspapers, through photographs you could show what was happening in places of conflict, the effects of war on the civilian population, for example in the Spanish Civil War," she told a press conference earlier this week.
Today, in the age of artificial intelligence and with millions of people wielding cameras on their phones, the accuracy and transparency of published images are not necessarily guaranteed, Marazzi said.
"We must defend freedom of the press," she said.
The ongoing battle to protect independent journalism plays out in Russian-American director Julia Loktev's "My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile", the gripping continuation of her documentary that sees the journalists forced to flee Moscow after Russia's invasion of Ukraine now struggling to rebuild their lives.
And in the Fleet Street juggernaut "Ink", director Danny Boyle covers the meteoric rise of Rupert Murdoch's tabloid The Sun through an irresistible cocktail of sensationalism and sex, forever changing the face of British journalism.
A morally questionable reporter-turned TV host is the protagonist of Lance Oppenheim's "Primetime", based on the real-life NBC television show "To Catch a Predator" that unmasked paedophiles after luring them to staged meetings with minors.
ams/adp/jxb

AfD

Smiling face of Germany's far-right AfD: Ulrich Siegmund

  • But behind the buzz and the likes, his critics warn, is a man with radical positions.
  • When a news magazine recently branded him "Germany's most dangerous man", the far-right AfD's Ulrich Siegmund mocked the weekly by handing out signed copies of the publication to his fans.
  • But behind the buzz and the likes, his critics warn, is a man with radical positions.
When a news magazine recently branded him "Germany's most dangerous man", the far-right AfD's Ulrich Siegmund mocked the weekly by handing out signed copies of the publication to his fans.
It was a signature move for the 35-year-old with a neat undercut hairstyle and winning smile who has blitzed social media and rallied real-world crowds at campaign events and motorcycle outings.
On Sunday, Siegmund converted his crowd appeal into a historic election win, as his Alternative for Germany won at least 44 percent in Saxony-Anhalt state in Germany's ex-communist east, according to exit polls.
"We have made history today," said a jubilant Siegmund, even as it remained unclear whether his party can win an absolute majority to end up governing.
For the AfD, Siegmund has been a stroke of luck -- the smiling, youthful and beer glass-clinking face of a party better known for channelling anti-establishment anger.
In recent months, Siegmund has been mobbed by adoring supporters at AfD "family picnics" and campaign events across the small state. 
"He's like a good buddy," a 19-year-old fan told AFP as Siegmund was posing for selfies while stalls offered T-shirts and coffee mugs bearing his likeness.
Hundreds of thousands follow him on TikTok, Instagram and other platforms.
But behind the buzz and the likes, his critics warn, is a man with radical positions. His vow to deport irregular migrants "from minute one" has terrified many foreign-born residents.
Germany's domestic intelligence agency considers the AfD chapter he represents as "right-wing extremist" with links to ethno-nationalist groups and think-tanks.
Siegmund was present at a 2023 secret meeting near Berlin where extreme right-wing activists discussed a radical "remigration" plan to expel millions of people with a migration background.
At the time, the revelation cost Siegmund a committee chairmanship in the state parliament -- but he has since dismissed the meeting as a "Kaffee Klatsch" or casual social gathering.

Anti-'woke' and patriotic

Several of Siegmund's staffers and party colleagues are former members of the since-banned neo-Nazi group "Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend" (Patriotic German Youth).
Commenting to Welt daily, Siegmund defended his team: "They are excellent people. They have a completely clean record. I'm not interested in what happened 20 or 25 years ago." 
Siegmund, whose followers often feel fondly about life in the former communist East Germany, was born in Saxony-Anhalt on October 25, 1990 -- about three weeks after Germany's reunification.
He grew up in the picturesque town of Tangermuende, where he still lives with his wife and daughter.
He studied business psychology and administration before founding a small company that markets air fresheners. 
Politically, Siegmund's path first led him to the centre-right CDU, but in 2014 he joined the newly founded AfD. At the time, the party mainly railed against eurozone bailouts but it soon refocused on railing against Islam and immigration.
The AfD has since become the strongest party across the east, giving voice to those who feel like second-class citizens in a region that still lags the west in prosperity and jobs. 
Symbols of nostalgia for the past are common at AfD events, where some sport the compass and sickle symbol of what was the Moscow-backed German Democratic Republic.
In March 2016, Siegmund entered state parliament for the AfD. In 2021 he became co-leader of its parliamentary group and recently he was elected as top candidate with 97 percent support. 
If the AfD does come to power, Siegmund plans sweeping measures that would aim to make the state less multicultural, less "woke" and more pro-family and proudly patriotic.
Speaking to AFP last week, Siegmund said this would help lure back expatriate Germans who could help rebuild the stagnant economy and a country he sees as headed down the wrong path.
"Here in this country, the current government is relying solely on immigration," he argued. "We can see where that has got us. We no longer want things to continue this way."
bur-clp-fz/sr/jj

US

Lebanon president calls for US help as Israeli strikes kill 7

  • He called on the international community -- particularly the United States, which has sponsored direct Israel-Lebanon talks and a framework agreement between the sides in June -- "to urgently act to stop these violations".
  • Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged Washington and the international community to help stop Israeli attacks, which killed at least seven people on Sunday despite a truce and a framework deal aimed at halting the violence.
  • He called on the international community -- particularly the United States, which has sponsored direct Israel-Lebanon talks and a framework agreement between the sides in June -- "to urgently act to stop these violations".
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged Washington and the international community to help stop Israeli attacks, which killed at least seven people on Sunday despite a truce and a framework deal aimed at halting the violence.
Israel said it had targeted Hezbollah operatives and sites in response to a drone attack a day earlier by the Iran-backed group on its troops in the vicinity of a strategic south Lebanon ridge.
It reported no casualties but accused Hezbollah of a "blatant violation".
Israel this week said it had captured the Nabatieh-area Ali al-Taher ridge, which it considers part of its self-declared "security zone" in south Lebanon.
Hezbollah, which has not claimed any attacks for weeks, has not commented on Israel's declaration of control over the site.
Aoun said Sunday's strikes, which damaged government premises and destroyed an out-of-service hospital, were "a dangerous escalation... reaching Lebanese state institutions" and health facilities.
He called on the international community -- particularly the United States, which has sponsored direct Israel-Lebanon talks and a framework agreement between the sides in June -- "to urgently act to stop these violations".
Lebanon's health ministry said two people were killed in strikes on south Lebanon's Nabatieh al-Fawqa, with two women also killed in nearby Arab Salim.
It said 20 other people including several women and three children were wounded there, as well as in the city of Nabatieh and town of Kfar Rumman.
The ministry later reported that a strike on a parking lot near Nabatieh killed three more people.

Hospital hit

The ministry said one of the strikes in Nabatieh al-Fawqa "totally destroyed" the out-of-service Ghandour hospital, decrying "another grave violation of international humanitarian law".
Israel's army said it targeted Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure, including "weapons storage facilities and terrorist structures", as well as "a Hezbollah command centre that had been established inside a building previously used as a hospital".
It had earlier issued its first evacuation notice in Lebanon in a month, warning residents near a building it called a Hezbollah facility in Arab Salim to leave ahead of an attack on the site.
It did not issue warnings for other areas where strikes were reported.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) said that after the Israeli warning for Arab Salim, "enemy warplanes launched a strike on another house, destroying it" and killing the two women.
It said the Israeli military subsequently carried out a strike on the building threatened in the evacuation warning.
At the scene of the second strike, an AFP correspondent saw the ruins of a devastated villa, with large decorative columns laying on their side next to stairs littered with rubble.
Haidar Haidar, the brother of the building's owner, told AFP that nobody had been living inside.
At the other site in Arab Salim where the two women were killed, a mattress, furniture and other items including a Hezbollah flag were strewn among the rubble, while neighbouring buildings were also damaged.

'Take action'

The NNA also reported a strike on a motorcycle in the Nabatieh area, and said that another in the city itself targeted a historical building and damaged offices belonging to finance and agriculture authorities.
An AFP correspondent there saw rubble and extensive damage to adjacent buildings, shops and vehicles, as heavy machinery cleared the road. Dust and debris covered chairs and desks in the regional ministry offices.
Nabatieh Mayor Abbas Fakhreddine said "the Lebanese government must take action... and at the least defend its institutions", adding that it was the second time the official buildings had been damaged by strikes.
Lebanon was drawn into the wider Middle East war in March after Hezbollah attacked Israel in support of its backer Iran.
Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion of Lebanon that Beirut says have killed more than 4,300 people.
Violence has decreased since a US-Iran memorandum of understanding on the broader regional conflict in June and the Israel-Lebanon framework agreement later that month.
Israeli forces are operating inside a self-declared "security zone" around 10 kilometres (six miles) deep inside Lebanon along the border.
strs-lg/smw/jfx

film

Susan Sarandon says still losing roles over Gaza stance

  • The veteran star of "Dead Man Walking" has been one of Hollywood's most outspoken pro-Palestinian campaigners and critics of the Gaza war alongside others such as Marc Ruffalo, Richard Gere and Joaquin Phoenix.
  • US actress Susan Sarandon said Sunday she was still having roles "taken away" from her in Hollywood because of her outspoken criticism of Israel's war in Gaza.
  • The veteran star of "Dead Man Walking" has been one of Hollywood's most outspoken pro-Palestinian campaigners and critics of the Gaza war alongside others such as Marc Ruffalo, Richard Gere and Joaquin Phoenix.
US actress Susan Sarandon said Sunday she was still having roles "taken away" from her in Hollywood because of her outspoken criticism of Israel's war in Gaza.
The "Thelma & Louise" star was dropped by her agency UTA in November 2023 over controversial remarks at a pro-Palestinian rally which she later said she regretted.
Speaking at the Venice Film Festival, where she has a role in Italian film "The Echo Chamber", she claimed the "narrative" around the Gaza war and the United States' support for Israel had "completely changed".
"There's a lot of things that people are aware of now," the Oscar winner told a press conference, referring to the extent of US financial and military aid for Israel.
"I've still had movies taken away recently because there are agencies that are telling people not to hire me still. But that's the power structure," she added.
"I think there has been a change in terms of the understanding of the situation and the general public, but there are still very strongly held positions within my industry that are held by Zionists and who have not relaxed their feelings towards me. 
"But I found my family, I found my people, and I'm okay," she added to a round of applause. 
The veteran star of "Dead Man Walking" has been one of Hollywood's most outspoken pro-Palestinian campaigners and critics of the Gaza war alongside others such as Marc Ruffalo, Richard Gere and Joaquin Phoenix.
Many others have signed open letters criticising Israel's conduct of the war, which has left around 73,500 Palestinians dead and 174,500 injured since October 2023, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.
The premiere of "NAZA" -- about the killing of civilians in Gaza -- by two Israeli directors looks set to be one of the most emotionally charged moments of the Venice festival when it premieres on Thursday.
Directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor won an Oscar for 2024's "No Other Land", which documented the displacement of a Palestinian community in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers.
Sarandon was dropped by United Talent Agency for telling a rally that Jewish Americans were "getting a taste of what it is like to be Muslim in this country" because of rising anti-Semitic violence. 
She issued a public apology, saying her choice of words had been a "terrible mistake" because they implied "that until recently Jews have been strangers to persecution, when the opposite is true".
adp/ams/jxb

landslide

Nepali rescuers buoyed by miracle finds but tough conditions persist

BY PAAVAN MATHEMA

  • The United Nations chief in Nepal issued an emotional plea for aid, saying survivors of the catastrophic flooding had seen their lives transformed in just "one to two minutes".
  • Nepali rescuers faced challenging conditions on Sunday as search operations after catastrophic floods entered a 12th day, buoyed by the extraordinary rescues of four survivors.
  • The United Nations chief in Nepal issued an emotional plea for aid, saying survivors of the catastrophic flooding had seen their lives transformed in just "one to two minutes".
Nepali rescuers faced challenging conditions on Sunday as search operations after catastrophic floods entered a 12th day, buoyed by the extraordinary rescues of four survivors.
The glacial and mountain collapse on the China-Nepal border killed at least 1,385 peopleand left more than 5,500 missing across the two countries.
Rescuers found two more people alive on Saturday, joining two saved the day before in what have been described as miraculous tales of survival.
Three of those have been found in hydropower tunnels where the government initially said it believed more than 100 workers could be alive.
"Search and rescue is going on at the tunnels despite geography, adverse weather and lack of connectivity," Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha told AFP.
Rescue workers were experiencing "multiple challenges", he said.
The wall of icy water and debris tore through mountain districts on August 26, destroying roads, bridges and other infrastructure.
The United Nations chief in Nepal issued an emotional plea for aid, saying survivors of the catastrophic flooding had seen their lives transformed in just "one to two minutes".
"You lose your home, you lose your livelihood, you lose your loved one and you lose the breadwinner of your family," UN Resident Coordinator Lila Pieters Yahia told AFP in Kathmandu on Sunday.
On Saturday, rescuers pulled a Chinese man alive from deep inside a hydropower tunnel, and a 64-year-old Nepali woman, Chandrika Shrestha, from her mud-covered home.
Prime Minister Balendra Shah said Shrestha's rescue had "given hope to the entire nation".
A day earlier, two Nepali hydropower workers were rescued at the Trishuli 3A tunnel, where searches continue alongside multiple other sites, with at least 12 hydropower projects affected.
Other examples of remarkable fortitude have emerged from Nepal, including Rajendra Dawadi, a school principal who quickly ordered an evacuation as the torrent approached, saving hundreds of students' lives.
"If the information was wrong, we would lose a day of schooling," he told AFP.
"But if it was true, we were going to lose our lives."

Death tolls rise

Biraj Bhakta Shrestha, the energy minister, said work was continuing to restore electricity in several areas.
"Places that have been unreachable, we've tried to restore power with solar," he told AFP.
Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal has called the disaster a "Himalayan tsunami" and warned reconstruction costs could run into the billions of dollars.
The UN has said the magnitude of the destruction makes delivering aid an immense challenge. It launched a $50 million appeal to help more than 84,000 people.
With mortuaries overflowing, Nepal has buried hundreds of bodies in mass graves, after taking DNA samples for future identification, according to the police.
Only around 100 bodies have been identified and handed over to families.
Nepal will hold a national day of mourning on Monday, the 13th day since the disaster, in line with a traditional period of mourning in Hindu rituals.
While the exact cause of the glacial collapse is unclear, climate change is accelerating glacial melting worldwide, increasing the risk of such disasters.
In Nepal, rescuers have retrieved 1,342 bodies, while around 4,996 people remain missing, according to the disaster agency.
The death toll from the disaster in Tibet has risen from 31 to 43, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday.
A further 519 people are missing, it said.
Foreign journalists cannot travel freely in China's Tibet Autonomous Region and may only visit as part of strictly controlled trips organised by the authorities.
Chinese media have primarily focused their reporting on the scale of search and rescue operations, and have not broadcast footage showing the reactions of families.
The combined toll is 1,385 dead and more than 5,500 missing, including around 800 foreigners, among them tourists and pilgrims.
bur-pjm/abh/lga

conflict

With joy and grief, Palestinian football marks return

BY IMAD FREIJ

  • Palestinian professional sports were brought to a halt after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, in which 1,014 Palestinian athletes were killed, according to the Palestinian Football Association's tally.
  • Palestinian sports commentator Khalil Jadallah has spent the past three years mourning the athletes killed in the Gaza war.
  • Palestinian professional sports were brought to a halt after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, in which 1,014 Palestinian athletes were killed, according to the Palestinian Football Association's tally.
Palestinian sports commentator Khalil Jadallah has spent the past three years mourning the athletes killed in the Gaza war. As Palestinian football officially resumed this week, his return to the stadium proved bittersweet.
Palestinian professional sports were brought to a halt after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, in which 1,014 Palestinian athletes were killed, according to the Palestinian Football Association's tally.
On Friday, Jadallah was back at Faisal Al-Husseini Stadium in Al-Ram in the West Bank to call the opening match of the first tournament organised by the association in three years.
Though long awaited, the event was marked by contradicting emotions for Jadallah: "a feeling of joy at returning after such an absence, but also a feeling of loss."
"We lost players... fans, administrators and referees," Jadallah told AFP.

'1,000 Martyrs Cup'

The football association named the comeback tournament -- which includes over 200 teams from the occupied West Bank, Gaza, and refugee camps in Lebanon -- the "1,000 Martyrs Cup".
Throughout the war, Palestinian football authorities have accused Israel of killing football players and damaging Gaza's sporting infrastructure.
Israel has said 12 Palestinian football figures that it killed in Gaza, including a FIFA-registered referee, were members of militant groups, an allegation the football association has rejected.
Large numbers of Palestinian security forces were deployed for the event, an unusual sight in the town more accustomed to Israeli military raids.
Before the game, pitting Jabal Al-Mukaber Club against Shabab Al-Khaleel SC, children carried a Palestinian flag wrapped to resemble a dead body, before unfurling it across the centre circle as a band played the Palestinian national anthem.
The sport authority also unveiled a memorial bearing the names of the killed Palestinian athletes outside the stadium, which stands in Al-Ram, not far from the West Bank separation barrier.
Samir Issa,a prominent former player and veteran manager who had coached both teams, watched from the stands as the game kicked off.
"Football has become more important than politics today," he said. "The proof of that is the following the World Cup has had."
"Sport in general is the culture of the people," he added, saying that Palestinians had "the right to practice sport normally and in all its forms, not just football".
At the 10-minute, 14-second mark, the referee ordered the game to stop for a minute of silence for the dead before the crowd grew loud again.
"Football returns to Palestine," read electronic screens around the stadium.
Thousands of mainly young people attended the game, with families, women and children seated in a separate section.
Maysan Suleiman, a 35-year-old from Al-Ram, said she came to commemorate "the martyrs".

'Football returns to Palestine'

"I don't support either team," she said. "I came to support the idea (of the tournament) itself. After all, they're all sons of Palestine."
The tournament opened simultaneously in Gaza, where Israeli strikes have left much of the territory in ruins and some football fields have been turned into makeshift camps for those displaced by the war.
The opening match there was held in Deir al-Balah between Khadamat Rafah and Shabab Rafah as fans sat on plastic chairs around the small field lined with palm trees.
"Football represented life for us before the war, and after the war the lives of players stopped altogether," said Khalil Matar, a Khadamat Rafah player.
Matar said holding the cup simultaneously in the West Bank, Gaza and refugee camps in Lebanon reflected "national unity" for Palestinians.
But the West Bank teams are set to face major logistical hurdles as they travel between cities and Israeli military checkpoints in the occupied territory.
"Still, we're determined to continue sporting activities and developing our young people," said Abdullah Abu Ghassan of the Shabab Jaba team competing in the tournament.
if-vid/bou/ris

fire

'Truly scared': Blazes outpace firefighters in Indonesian Borneo

BY MARIëTTE LE ROUX

  • Smoke from the fires has also affected communities in the neighbouring Malaysian part of Borneo and beyond.
  • Toiling around the clock, haggard Indonesian firefighters on Borneo island cannot keep up with the blazes devouring landscapes and shrouding communities in a cloying haze.
  • Smoke from the fires has also affected communities in the neighbouring Malaysian part of Borneo and beyond.
Toiling around the clock, haggard Indonesian firefighters on Borneo island cannot keep up with the blazes devouring landscapes and shrouding communities in a cloying haze.
They are fighting a perilous battle with limited weapons against fires blamed in part on a stronger-than-usual episode of the El Nino climate phenomenon parching Southeast Asia.
Experts also blame climate change, decades of forest degradation and slash-and-burn land clearing practices that have changed the naturally fire-resistant landscape.
"We are exhausted. Sometimes we carry out firefighting until dawn. Sometimes we don't sleep," said Sampe Ritonga, fire chief for Sintang regency.
"Our facilities and infrastructure for firefighting are very limited," he told AFP, standing on the smouldering embers of a peatland fire separated from a residential settlement by a narrow dirt road.
Behind him, veiled by the haze, the sun appeared as an eerie, rust-coloured ball in the brown-grey sky.
Sampe's team only has two 6,000-litre fire engines, and deploys one at a time while the other refills. They also face a shortage of hoses.
The team has fought dozens of fires this month.
With river levels low, "we look for available water in ditches... (and) small rivers", some far from active burn sites, Sampe said.
"So there are difficulties because they have to first carry out firefighting with high intensity, and second look for water," he added.
"With the limitations we have, we try as hard as we can to extinguish the fires and also to reduce the smoke."
Nearby, locals gathered to observe the team's efforts, offering drinking water to first responders. 
"There are many houses here, and that is what we have to protect," said Sampe.

'Crackling sound'

Resident Sutrismi, 47, said she was at home on Saturday when she heard a "crackling sound", looked out of the window and saw smoke rising from the peatland across the road.
Peatland fires, common in the area, generally smoulder and spread under the soil for weeks or months, emitting huge quantities of smoke and only rarely causing surface blazes.
"First thing, I looked for help. I contacted the village head, asked for assistance," Sutrismi told AFP.
"I am scared. Truly scared."
Some 400 kilometres (250 miles) away in Pontianak -- the capital of West Kalimantan province -- people have been breathing foul air for weeks.
The haze can be smelled even indoors in the city of about 700,000 people.
At one point on Sunday, the level of PM2.5 pollution exceeded 500 micrograms per cubic metre, according to IQAir, a Switzerland-based monitor.
That is more than 100 times the World Health Organization's recommended safe limit for airborne particles so small they can enter deep into the lungs and even the bloodstream, with potentially dire consequences for health.
Hundreds of schools have been closed indefinitely in West Kalimantan due to air pollution, with about 200,000 pupils learning from home, according to the education ministry.
The province has also recorded a surge in respiratory ailments.
"We really hope there will be some assistance or grants for us, so we can be faster, more alert and more responsive," said Sampe.
West Kalimantan governor Ria Norsan said the province was doing its best.
"We do not want officers in the field to work with limitations," he said in a statement to AFP.
"Every report regarding shortages of personnel, equipment, water, or other needs must be conveyed immediately so that solutions can be found."
The provincial government has said it has nearly 14,500 fire-fighting personnel out in the field, with nine aircraft available for water-bombing, three for patrols and one for cloud-seeding operations trying to make rain.

Climate connection

Environmental campaigners say rapacious forest and peatland destruction is the root cause of the fires.
"The peat is drained by extractive plantations, monoculture plantations, whether oil palm or pulpwood," Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner Belgis Habiba told AFP in Pontianak.
"When the water is drained, the peat dries and becomes flammable."
According to Greenpeace estimates using government data, some 35 million people in Indonesia are exposed to toxic haze.
Smoke from the fires has also affected communities in the neighbouring Malaysian part of Borneo and beyond.
"The haze is massive and everywhere, and it's actually very unfit for people to breathe," Belgis said.
She urged the Indonesian government to declare the fires a national disaster, "so that all resources are mobilised... to build health access for residents, rescue wildlife and so on".
According to the Nusantara Atlas fire tracker, more than 285,000 hectares have burnt in Indonesia so far this year.
Official data show 38,000 hectares have burnt in West Kalimantan.
The current El Nino event, which will last into next year, is likely to be one of the strongest in decades, according to the United Nations.
mlr/mjw/lga