weather

Deadly storm sparks floods in Spain, raises calls to postpone Portugal vote

kidnapping

89 kidnapped Nigerian Christians released

  • They were snatched from three churches during Sunday services on January 18, in the Kurmin Wali village of the predominantly Christian district of Kajuru, Kaduna state, the latest in a wave of mass abductions targeting both Christians and Muslims in Nigeria.
  • The last 89 Christians held captive since criminal gangs attacked three churches in northern Nigeria in mid-January were released on Thursday, following a spate of mass kidnappings in the country.
  • They were snatched from three churches during Sunday services on January 18, in the Kurmin Wali village of the predominantly Christian district of Kajuru, Kaduna state, the latest in a wave of mass abductions targeting both Christians and Muslims in Nigeria.
The last 89 Christians held captive since criminal gangs attacked three churches in northern Nigeria in mid-January were released on Thursday, following a spate of mass kidnappings in the country.
The worshippers, dressed in yellow and including children, arrived on a bus escorted by security forces, and were received by the governor of Kaduna state, Uba Sani, who said 183 people were initially abducted.
They were snatched from three churches during Sunday services on January 18, in the Kurmin Wali village of the predominantly Christian district of Kajuru, Kaduna state, the latest in a wave of mass abductions targeting both Christians and Muslims in Nigeria.
The attacks have piled international scrutiny on insecurity in the country, including from US President Donald Trump.
"Here we have 172, but the numbers that were abducted at the beginning were 183," said the governor, adding that 11 had escaped.
He said 89 people were "rescued only yesterday, or early morning of today", adding that 83 "returned about three days ago".
But Ishaku Dan'azumi, a traditional chief of Kurmin Wali in northern Kaduna state, told AFP at the weekend that 80 people had returned home, having fled during the attack to hide in other villages.
The circumstances of the captives' release were not revealed. Paying ransom is illegal in Nigeria, but the government is suspected of resorting to it regularly.
The governor said he had been in regular contact with President Bola Tinubu over the kidnappings.
The president "has been with us from day one, working closely with me. He has called me more than 45 times since this incident happened," he said.

Ongoing violence

After a diplomatic offensive over what Trump claimed was the mass killing of Christians in particular, the United States on Christmas Day launched strikes in Nigeria targeting militants who authorities said were linked to the Islamic State group.
The United States has deployed a small military team as Washington aids Abuja in its fights against jihadist violence.
US Africa Command told AFP last month the US military would increase equipment deliveries and intelligence sharing.
But the December one-time strikes have done virtually nothing to rein in the rampant violence in Africa's most populous nation.
On Tuesday, gunmen slaughtered dozens of people in the predominantly Muslim village of Woro in west-central Kwara State, after the military recently carried out operations in the area against what it called "terrorist elements".
The attack prompted Tinubu to order the deployment of a battalion in the remote village.
No group claimed responsibility, but Tinubu blamed the attack on Boko Haram jihadists.
Parts of Nigeria are plagued by armed gangs who loot villages and kidnap for ransom, as well as intercommunal violence in central states and jihadist groups that are active in the north.
There, authorities also have to contend with farmer-herder conflicts over land and resources.
The mass kidnappings in Kaduna followed the mass abduction -- and subsequent release -- of hundreds of Catholic schoolchildren in neighbouring Niger State late last year. They have since been all released.
Kidnappings for ransom are a common way for armed groups to make quick cash in the conflict-hit west African nation of some 230 million.
str/ks-sn/rlp

diplomacy

Cuba willing to talk to US, 'without pressure'

  • "Cuba is willing to engage in dialogue with the United States, a dialogue on any topic... but without pressure or preconditions," Diaz-Canel said in an address to the nation on state TV and radio.
  • Cuba is prepared to hold dialogue with the United States but not under pressure, President Miguel Diaz-Canel insisted Thursday after months of threats from US President Donald Trump.
  • "Cuba is willing to engage in dialogue with the United States, a dialogue on any topic... but without pressure or preconditions," Diaz-Canel said in an address to the nation on state TV and radio.
Cuba is prepared to hold dialogue with the United States but not under pressure, President Miguel Diaz-Canel insisted Thursday after months of threats from US President Donald Trump.
"Cuba is willing to engage in dialogue with the United States, a dialogue on any topic... but without pressure or preconditions," Diaz-Canel said in an address to the nation on state TV and radio.
He said any talks must take place "from a position of equals, with respect for our sovereignty, our independence, and our self-determination" and without "interference in our internal affairs."
Trump has made repeated threats against communist-run Cuba in recent months, vowing to cut off its access to oil and stating the island was "ready to fall."
Cuba, in the grips of an economic crisis, had long relied on oil supplies from Venezuela, whose leader was ousted in a deadly US military operation last month.
Trump subsequently claimed to have taken control of Venezuelan oil, vowed to starve Cuba of the commodity, and threatened tariffs on any other nation stepping in to help US-sanctioned Havana.
The pressure tactics threaten to plunge Cuba into complete darkness as its power plants struggle to keep the lights on due to fuel shortages.
Earlier Thursday, hundreds of thousands of people in the country's east were left without electricity for hours after an electricity grid failure.
Diaz-Canel insisted his country still had friends, which he did not name, as it confronts what he described as an "acute fuel shortage."
"We cannot openly explain everything we are doing," he said, but "Cuba is not alone."
He said energy production from diesel- and oil-powered generators has been "zero" for weeks.
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum said this week that her country was using all available diplomatic channels to ensure a resumption of crude shipments to Cuba, but would not put itself at risk of punitive US tariffs.
Diaz-Canel said the pressure that Cuba found itself under highlighted the importance of its drive for greener energy and reducing reliance on others.
Cuban officials blame US sanctions for Cuba's worst economic crisis in decades, marked by shortages of fuel, food and medicine.
But observers say poor economic management and a tourism collapse following the Covid-19 pandemic have contributed to the island's woes.
Trump has repeatedly said Washington was in talks for "a deal" with Havana, which has denied any formal negotiations were under way. 
Trump has not specified the nature of the agreement he has floated.
lis-jb/mlr/iv

trade

Carney scraps Canada EV sales mandate, affirms auto sector's future is electric

BY BEN SIMON

  • Trudeau's government had mandated that 20 percent of vehicles sold this year be electric, with a 60-percent target by 2030 and the 100-percent target for 2035.
  • Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday cancelled a mandate for all vehicles sold in the country to be electric by 2035, while announcing major investments to support the auto industry's EV transition.
  • Trudeau's government had mandated that 20 percent of vehicles sold this year be electric, with a 60-percent target by 2030 and the 100-percent target for 2035.
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday cancelled a mandate for all vehicles sold in the country to be electric by 2035, while announcing major investments to support the auto industry's EV transition.
In unveiling his plan to transform the sector, Carney said Canada's auto industry needed to be ready for a future where EVs are dominant, and where US President Donald Trump's tariffs have made cross-border vehicle production unworkable. 
Carney's decision to scrap EV mandates also marked another departure from policies backed by Justin Trudeau, his climate-focused predecessor.
Trudeau's government had mandated that 20 percent of vehicles sold this year be electric, with a 60-percent target by 2030 and the 100-percent target for 2035.
Those goals were applauded by some environmental groups but faced criticism from automakers, as well as concern that Canada had nowhere near the charging infrastructure needed to support full electrification across a vast landmass.
Carney argued his new automotive strategy would prioritize "results and solutions."
His plan includes a CAN$5,000 (US$3,700) subsidy for individuals who choose to buy an electric vehicle, CAN$1.5 billion to improve charging infrastructure, and CAN$3 billion "to help the auto industry adapt, grow, and diversify to new markets," his office said.
"We know where the auto industry is headed. We're going to support that transition," Carney told reporters.
Progress in the global EV market has been patchy.
Trump scrapped tax credits for EV purchases last year, jarring automakers that invested heavily in electrification during Democrat Joe Biden's presidency.
The European Union in December also proposed scrapping a planned 2035 ban on new combustion-engine vehicles.
Carney said his goal was 75 percent EV sales by 2035, and 90 percent by 2040.
The Global Automakers of Canada, an industry group, praised Carney for providing "greater clarity" on the government's electrification plans, including "a commitment to aggressively build out the charging infrastructure."
The Canadian Climate Institute called Carney's auto strategy "a positive step toward a more affordable future powered by clean electricity."
Since taking office last year, Carney has also scrapped Trudeau's carbon tax on individual households and advanced plans to build a new oil pipeline from Alberta to the Pacific coast -- infuriating environmental groups.
Asked Thursday if he still considered Canada a leader in the fight against climate change, Carney said: "Absolutely."
– 'Serious liability' –
Canada's auto industry supports half a million jobs, and concern about its future has intensified since Trump returned to office last year.
The president's broad approach on trade with Canada has shifted, but his administration has maintained a fairly consistent message on autos, insisting it wants to see vehicles made exclusively inside the United States.
Carney on Thursday said "there's no greater symbol of how closely the Canadian and American economies have been intertwined than automobiles."
Parts cross the US-Canada border up to eight times during production, but Trump's auto tariffs are threatening the viability of such integration.
"That trade relationship that once was a great strength has now become a serious vulnerability," Carney said.
Since April, Canadian-made vehicles have faced a 25-percent tariff on their non-US components, a levy Canada insists violates the existing North American free trade agreement, known as the USMCA.
USMCA revision talks are set for this year.
"Our objective is to remove all tariffs in the auto sector," Carney said, but he stressed Canada's industry needed to start planning for an entirely domestic production chain.
Canada has large deposits of the critical minerals needed for EV batteries and says it wants to develop an end‑to‑end production chain, from mining to mineral processing to vehicle battery production.
bs/mlm

conflict

Venezuela amnesty bill excludes gross rights abuses under Chavez, Maduro

BY JAVIER TOVAR

  • The Amnesty Law for Democratic Coexistence, of which AFP obtained a copy, covers "treason," "terrorism" and spreading "hate" -- charges frequently used to lock up dissidents.
  • Venezuelan MPs on Thursday began debating an amnesty bill covering "treason" and other charges used to lock up dissidents, but not "serious violations" committed under ousted leader Nicolas Maduro or his predecessor Hugo Chavez.
  • The Amnesty Law for Democratic Coexistence, of which AFP obtained a copy, covers "treason," "terrorism" and spreading "hate" -- charges frequently used to lock up dissidents.
Venezuelan MPs on Thursday began debating an amnesty bill covering "treason" and other charges used to lock up dissidents, but not "serious violations" committed under ousted leader Nicolas Maduro or his predecessor Hugo Chavez.
The legislation, which aims to turn the page on nearly three decades of state repression, marks a milestone in the post-Maduro transition.
It is an initiative of interim president Delcy Rodriguez, who replaced Maduro after he was captured by US forces in Caracas last month and flown to New York to face trial.
Rodriguez has moved quickly to privatize the country's oil sector, in line with US demands, and to release large numbers of political prisoners.
The Amnesty Law for Democratic Coexistence, of which AFP obtained a copy, covers "treason," "terrorism" and spreading "hate" -- charges frequently used to lock up dissidents.
It lifts bans on several opposition members, including Nobel Peace laureate Maria Corina Machado, on running for office.
Emotions ran high in the National Assembly as it was debated, with "Chavista" (pro-Chavez and pro-Maduro) lawmakers and the opposition alike issuing impassioned appeals for reconciliation.
Opposition MP Tomas Guanipa, who has one brother in prison and another under house arrest, said the bill could mark a "new, historic chapter" for Venezuela, where people would no longer be "afraid to speak their minds for fear of being imprisoned."
Parliament chief Jorge Rodriguez -- brother of the acting president and also a former member of Maduro's inner circle -- apologized to Venezuelans for crimes committed by the state since Chavez took power in 1999.
"We ask for forgiveness and we too must forgive," Rodriguez said, holding up a photograph of Chavez clutching a crucifix.
Maduro's congressman son, Nicolas Maduro Guerra, added his voice to those calling for unity.
"Venezuela cannot endure any more acts of revenge," Maduro Guerra said, calling for "love," "reconciliation" and "consolidated peace."
The bill was unanimously backed by MPs during a first reading. 
A further debate is planned for Tuesday.

Crimes against humanity

The draft law covers events such as the failed 2002 coup against Chavez, various cycles of protests between 2004 and 2024, and criticism posted on social media or messaging services.
Crucially, it does not grant amnesty for serious rights abuses committed under the autocratic Maduro and his firebrand socialist predecessor and mentor, Chavez.
Under Venezuela's constitution, "serious violations of human rights, crimes against humanity, war crimes, intentional homicide, corruption, and drug trafficking" cannot be pardoned.
The bill does however cover unspecified "offenses" committed by judges, prosecutors and other officials.

Turning the page

The announcement last week of a general amnesty triggered scenes of rejoicing across Venezuela, fueling hopes for the speedy release of hundreds of political prisoners still behind bars a month after Maduro's ouster.
The director of the country's leading human rights NGO, Foro Penal, welcomed the draft law as a major step towards reconciling a deeply divided country.
"Amnesty is the framework that will ensure... that the past does not serve to halt or derail transition processes," Alfredo Romero told AFP.
Some Venezuelans have expressed hopes of seeing all of Maduro's inner circle brought to justice.
"A reconciliation, a transition, cannot be a process of persecution against those who previously held power," Romero warned.

'Forceful message'

The start of the parliamentary debate coincided with a new round of talks between the government and a faction of the Venezuelan opposition that has distanced itself from a majority wing led by Machado.
The opposition is seeking fresh elections to replace those held in July 2024, and which Maduro claimed to have won despite no official figures ever being released. 
Much of the world considers he stole the vote.
Maduro acolytes were left in power after American troops whisked him away in cuffs to stand trial on drug charges in New York.
Trump backed Maduro's former deputy Delcy Rodriguez to take over, making clear his priority was stability rather than democracy. 
Rodriguez has shown a willingness to cooperate.
Her government has released hundreds of political prisoners and taken steps towards restoring diplomatic ties with Washington, which were severed in 2019.
jt/mlr/cb/iv

diplomacy

Iran, US prepare for Oman talks after deadly protest crackdown

BY AYA ISKANDARANI WITH STUART WILLIAMS IN PARIS

  • "Iran continues to show inflexibility toward addressing US demands, which reduces the likelihood that Iran and the United States will be able to reach a diplomatic solution," the US-based Institute for the Study of War said.
  • Iran and the United States were preparing for talks on Friday in Oman, with Washington looking to see if there was any prospect of diplomatic progress on the Iranian nuclear programme and other issues while refusing to rule out military action.
  • "Iran continues to show inflexibility toward addressing US demands, which reduces the likelihood that Iran and the United States will be able to reach a diplomatic solution," the US-based Institute for the Study of War said.
Iran and the United States were preparing for talks on Friday in Oman, with Washington looking to see if there was any prospect of diplomatic progress on the Iranian nuclear programme and other issues while refusing to rule out military action.
The talks -- finally confirmed by both sides late Wednesday after uncertainty over the location, timing and format -- will be the first such encounter between the two foes since the United States joined Israel's war against the Islamic republic in June with strikes on nuclear sites.
President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi are due to lead their delegations at the negotiations in the discreet Gulf sultanate, which has periodically acted as a mediator between the countries.
Iran's foreign ministry said Thursday evening that it had a "responsibility not to miss any opportunity to use diplomacy" to preserve peace, adding it hoped Washington would participate in the discussions "with responsibility, realism and seriousness".
The meeting comes just under a month after the peak of a wave of nationwide protests in Iran against the clerical leadership, which rights groups say were repressed with an unprecedented crackdown that has left thousands dead.
"They're negotiating," Trump said of Iran on Thursday. 
"They don't want us to hit them, we have a big fleet going there," he added, referring to the aircraft carrier group he has repeatedly called an "armada".
Trump initially threatened military action against Tehran over its crackdown on protesters and even told demonstrators "help is on its way". 
But his rhetoric in recent days has focused on reining in the Iranian nuclear programme, which the West fears is aimed at making a bomb.
US Vice President JD Vance told SiriusXM in an interview broadcast Wednesday that Trump would "keep his options open, he is going to talk to everybody, he is going to try to accomplish what he can through non-military means and if he feels like the military is the only option then he is ultimately going to choose that".

'Inflexibility' towards US demands

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, speaking in the Qatari capital Doha, urged Iran's leadership to "truly enter talks", saying there was a "great fear of military escalation in the region".
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted by Turkish newspapers as saying that "so far, I see that the parties want to make room for diplomacy", adding that conflict was "not the solution".
There had been tensions in the run-up to the talks over whether the meeting should also include regional countries and address Tehran's support of proxies and its ballistic missile programmes, two US concerns that Iran resisted.
Citing unnamed Iranian officials, the New York Times said the United States agreed the talks would exclude regional actors, and while the meeting would focus on the nuclear file, it would also discuss missiles and militant groups "with the goal of coming up with a framework for a deal".
"Iran continues to show inflexibility toward addressing US demands, which reduces the likelihood that Iran and the United States will be able to reach a diplomatic solution," the US-based Institute for the Study of War said.

'Compromise or war'

With the American threats of military action still looming, the United States has maneuvered a naval group led by aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln into the region, while Iran has repeatedly vowed it will hit back at US bases if attacked.
"We are ready to defend and it is the US president who must choose between compromise or war," state television on Thursday quoted army spokesman General Mohammad Akraminia as saying, warning that Iran had "easy" access to US regional bases.
In a sign of the tensions, Iran's Revolutionary Guards have seized two oil tankers with their foreign crews in Gulf waters for "smuggling fuel", the Tasnim news agency reported Thursday.
It was not immediately clear what flags the tankers were carrying nor the nationalities of the crew.
"Iran is fully prepared to stand against any foreign threat and enemy," said former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, who remains an adviser to Khamenei, as quoted by the ISNA agency.
sjw/smw/md

famine

Famine spreading in Sudan's Darfur, UN-backed experts warn

  • Since April 2023, the conflict between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands, displaced 11 million and triggered what the United Nations calls one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
  • Famine is spreading in Sudan's western Darfur region, UN-backed experts warned on Thursday, as a grinding war between the army and paramilitary forces has left millions hungry, displaced and cut off from aid.
  • Since April 2023, the conflict between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands, displaced 11 million and triggered what the United Nations calls one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
Famine is spreading in Sudan's western Darfur region, UN-backed experts warned on Thursday, as a grinding war between the army and paramilitary forces has left millions hungry, displaced and cut off from aid.
Since April 2023, the conflict between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands, displaced 11 million and triggered what the United Nations calls one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
In an alert issued by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), global food security experts said that "famine thresholds for acute malnutrition have now been surpassed" in North Darfur's contested areas of Um Baru and Kernoi, near the border with Chad.
"These alarming rates suggest an increased risk of excess mortality and raise concern that nearby areas may be experiencing similar catastrophic conditions," the IPC experts said.
They added that the spread of famine came as the paramilitary takeover of North Darfur capital El-Fasher led to "massive displacement" of civilians into surrounding areas, "straining the resources" of local communities and "driving up acute food insecurity and malnutrition".
El-Fasher, long the Sudanese army's final stronghold in Darfur, fell to the RSF last October after 18 months of bombardment and starvation.
Its fall -- which was accompanied by reports of mass killings, rape and abductions -- pushed at least 127,000 people to flee to nearby towns already under strain, according to UN data.
Both warring sides have been accused of committing atrocities throughout the war.
The UK on Thursday sanctioned six people accused of carrying out atrocities or contributing to the violence by providing mercenaries and military equipment.
The measures targeted senior commanders in both the army and the RSF.
"Through these sanctions, we will seek to dismantle the war machine of those who perpetrate or profit from the brutal violence in Sudan," British foreign minister Yvette Cooper said in the statement.

Fragile areas

Thursday's alert, which is not a formal famine classification, signals severe food security and nutrition crises based on the latest data.
It comes nearly three months after the IPC confirmed famine conditions in El-Fasher and Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, about 800 kilometres (500 miles) to the east.
Kadugli endured a punishing RSF siege for much of the country's nearly three-year conflict before the army broke the blockade this week. 
Nearby Dilling, where the army also broke an RSF siege earlier this month, is believed to be experiencing similar famine conditions though lack of access and ongoing insecurity has prevented a formal declaration.
The IPC said that 20 more areas in Sudan's Darfur and neighbouring Kordofan were at risk of famine.
Across Darfur, access to lifesaving and nutrition services remains severely constrained, the IPC said.
In Um Baru, children with severe acute malnutrition have little access to treatment, while in Kernoi only 25 percent of affected children are enrolled in treatment programmes, it added.
Fighting between the army and the RSF in Kordofan -- now a key battleground -- has displaced about 88,000 people since October, the latest UN figures show.
The IPC experts said that prolonged displacement, conflict, and erosion of health, water and food systems "are expected to increase acute malnutrition and food insecurity".
Across Sudan, more than 21 million people -- almost half of the population -- are now facing acute food insecurity, with two-thirds of the population in urgent need of assistance, according to the UN.
bur-maf/smw

Global Edition

Congo-Brazzaville's veteran president declares re-election run

BY CLAIRE DOYEN

  • - Opposition alliance - If Sasso Nguesso wins a new five-year term, it will be his last under the current constitution, which sets a limit of three.
  • Congo-Brazzaville's 82-year-old President Denis Sassou Nguesso said Thursday he would run for a new term in elections next March, seeking to extend his more than four decades in power.
  • - Opposition alliance - If Sasso Nguesso wins a new five-year term, it will be his last under the current constitution, which sets a limit of three.
Congo-Brazzaville's 82-year-old President Denis Sassou Nguesso said Thursday he would run for a new term in elections next March, seeking to extend his more than four decades in power.
Sassou Nguesso's cumulative 42 years in power -- minus a five-year break -- make him one of Africa's longest-ruling leaders, after Paul Biya of Cameroon, in office since 1982, and Equatorial Guinea's Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who took power in a 1979 coup.
Congo-Brazzaville, an oil-rich central African country of six million people, is scheduled to hold presidential elections on March 15.
"I will stand as a candidate," Sassou Nguesso said in a statement issued by his staff.
He made the announcement before a crowd of several thousand people in the district of Ignie, in southern Congo-Brazzaville, according to the statement.
He promised the crowd, which was packed with farmers, to work to ensure food security, and vowed to "accompany" the nation's youth.
Just four percent of arable land is farmed in Congo-Brazzaville, which is largely covered in forest.
The country relies heavily on imported food, leaving the population vulnerable to international price fluctuations.
Rights groups say basic freedoms are heavily restricted in the country, and have condemned threats against opposition figures.

Opposition alliance

If Sasso Nguesso wins a new five-year term, it will be his last under the current constitution, which sets a limit of three.
Sassou Nguesso first ruled the country under a single-party system from 1979 to 1992, before losing the first multi-party elections to former prime minister Pascal Lissouba.
Sassou Nguesso overthrew Lissouba in a civil war to return to power in 1997, and has remained in office since, winning election in 2002 and 2009, then again under an amended constitution in 2016 and 2021.
He introduced a constitutional amendment in 2015 that eliminated the previous limit of two presidential terms and the age restriction on candidates over 70.
The president's party, the Congolese Labour Party (PCT), named him its candidate in December, calling him the "natural" choice.
The opposition has accused Sassou Nguesso of stealing every election since 2002.
Two former opposition presidential candidates, General Jean‑Marie Michel Mokoko and Andre Okombi Salissa, are currently serving 20-year prison sentences.
They were convicted on charges of "attacking internal security" after contesting Sassou Nguesso's victory in 2016, when he claimed a reported 60 percent of the vote.
Three opposition parties have joined forces in an alliance in a bid to defeat Sassou Nguesso in this year's elections.
The president's family also faces the threat of an embezzlement investigation in France, the country's former colonial ruler, where they have extensive property holdings.
cld/jhb/rlp

diplomacy

Iran filmmaker Panahi fears Iranians' interests will be 'sacrificed' in US talks

BY ADAM PLOWRIGHT

  • "They are okay, but all of them are in shock -- a shock that, like the rest of the people of Iran, has put everyone in a state of mourning," Panahi said.
  • Dissident Iranian film director Jafar Panahi told AFP he believes ordinary Iranians risk being "sacrificed" in talks between Iran and the United States on Friday, with his country still "in shock" over a deadly crackdown on protests.
  • "They are okay, but all of them are in shock -- a shock that, like the rest of the people of Iran, has put everyone in a state of mourning," Panahi said.
Dissident Iranian film director Jafar Panahi told AFP he believes ordinary Iranians risk being "sacrificed" in talks between Iran and the United States on Friday, with his country still "in shock" over a deadly crackdown on protests.
Panahi, Iran's best-known director, offered support for anti-government protests last month in which thousands of people were killed by security forces, according to rights groups.
US President Donald Trump, having initially encouraged the demonstrations, has since focused his attention on making a deal with Iran's clerical leadership over the country's nuclear and missile programmes.
In an interview in Paris on Wednesday, Panahi told AFP that "whatever happens in these negotiations they will not be in the people's favour".
"The people have no representative in these negotiations, and their interests are never taken into account. They can easily be sacrificed in these exchanges," he added.
Panahi's comments reflect concerns that the talks between US and Iranian officials scheduled for Friday in Muscat could help consolidate the power of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Panahi has been out of Iran for the last few months and his latest film "It Was Just an Accident" is in the running for Best International Feature at the Oscars.
The 65-year-old has been sentenced to a year in jail during his absence for "propaganda activities" against the state, but insisted to AFP he planned to return home.

Detention

The director is still absorbing the news that Mehdi Mahmoudian, who worked on the script of his latest film, was detained at the weekend in a sweep that also saw student leader Abdollah Momeni and journalist Vida Rabbani arrested.
"Friends told us that Mehdi Mahmoudian and Abdollah Momeni were each able to make a one-minute phone call to say they are okay and that they are in detention," Panahi said.
He met Mahmoudian, a human rights campaigner, while the two men were in jail during the second of Panahi's stints behind bars.
Iranian filmmaker Javad Ganji was shot dead during the protests in early January in Tehran, according to reports.
Despite his previous convictions, Panahi was one of several leading film figures to sign a statement supporting the latest anti-government demonstrations. 
Panahi's son and other family members have remained in Iran during his foreign travels and talking candidly about recent events is impossible over unsecure phone lines.
"They are okay, but all of them are in shock -- a shock that, like the rest of the people of Iran, has put everyone in a state of mourning," Panahi said.
Rights groups and witness statements point to an unprecedented mass killing by Iranian security forces last month under the cover of a weeks-long internet blackout.
Tehran has acknowledged more than 3,000 deaths during the unrest, while some rights groups think the final toll could be as high as 30,000.
"This number is beyond imagination. This shows that the regime has reached a point where it knows it has no legitimacy left. It lost legitimacy long ago, and this massacre is the final confirmation," Panahi said.
"As we've seen in other places -- India, South Africa -- when people emerge from mourning, when they rediscover themselves, they find ways to continue their struggle," he added.

'I will return'

"It Was Just an Accident" has won over critics and filmgoers as a wry and humane thriller that spotlights the dilemmas of a group of ordinary Iranians as they confront a man they believe to have tortured them in jail.
After being released from a travel ban last year, Panahi travelled to the Cannes Film Festival in France in May to present "It Was Just an Accident", which went on to scoop the top prize.
The feature is clearly allegorical, imagining what might happen to the country if the current clerical system headed by Khamenei falls.
"I have always felt that our people are non-violent, and this regime has always tried to inject violence into them," Panahi said.
Despite a prison sentence and a two-year travel ban hanging over him, he insisted he would return home after the Oscars ceremony on March 15.
"It is my home and I will return to my country," he told AFP.
adp/amj

weather

Deadly storm sparks floods in Spain, raises calls to postpone Portugal vote

BY PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA

  • Portuguese officials issued their highest flood alert for the Tagus in the central Santarem region on Thursday and evacuated people from homes near the river.
  • A deadly storm that triggered floods and thousands of evacuations in the Iberian Peninsula sparked calls on Thursday for Portugal's presidential run-off to be postponed, but electoral officials insisted it would go ahead.
  • Portuguese officials issued their highest flood alert for the Tagus in the central Santarem region on Thursday and evacuated people from homes near the river.
A deadly storm that triggered floods and thousands of evacuations in the Iberian Peninsula sparked calls on Thursday for Portugal's presidential run-off to be postponed, but electoral officials insisted it would go ahead.
The country of around 10 million people had barely recovered from last week's battering by rain and winds that killed five people, injured hundreds and left tens of thousands without power.
This week's Storm Leonardo has left one dead in Portugal and lashed the southern Spanish region of Andalusia, where rescuers were searching for a missing woman and evacuated thousands of people.
Scientists say human-driven climate change is increasing the length, intensity and frequency of extreme weather events such as the floods and heatwaves that have struck both countries in recent years.
Portuguese officials issued their highest flood alert for the Tagus in the central Santarem region on Thursday and evacuated people from homes near the river.
Civil Protection chief Mario Silvestre said it was the worst flood threat along the Tagus in nearly three decades.
Local media quoted far-right presidential candidate Andre Ventura as saying he would ask for Sunday's second-round vote to be pushed back a week due to the emergency, as "a matter of equality among all Portuguese".
But the national electoral authority said in a statement the vote would go ahead Sunday as scheduled.
"A state of emergency, weather alerts or overall unfavourable situations are not in themselves a sufficient reason to postpone voting in a town or region," it said.
Ventura is due to face the Socialist favourite Antonio Jose Seguro, who won the January 18 first round, for the mostly ceremonial position.
Seguro told local media: "It is up to the authorities to hold the election in each municipality... I call on the Portuguese people who are able to vote to do so on Sunday."

'Everything is ruined'

In Alcacer do Sal, south of Lisbon, mayor Clarisse Campos told national news agency Lusa that the municipality of around 10,000 electors had decided to postpone voting day by a week.
"The conditions are not in place. We have several isolated localities, and the town centre is completely flooded," she said.
Firefighters waded through the water and used inflatable boats to rescue trapped residents, AFP journalists saw.
Deolinda Guerra, a 78-year-old pensioner evacuated by the rescuers, said: "My house is full of water, everything is ruined: my washing machine, the fridge, everything."
A man in his 60s died in the southeast on Wednesday after being swept away by the current while attempting to drive across a flooded area.
The IPMA weather agency said last month, marked by a string of storms, was Portugal's second-wettest January this century.

'We never imagined this'

Across the border in Spain, Andalusian emergency services said they had dealt with more than 3,200 incidents linked to the storm since Monday as the rain and wind triggered floods, landslides and building collapses.
Rescuers were searching for a woman swept away by a river in the Sayalonga municipality on Wednesday as she tried to rescue her dog from the current.
Authorities were evacuating around 1,500 people from the mountainous municipality of Grazalema, which on Wednesday soaked in as much rain as Madrid usually receives in a year.
Lara Olivar, a 25-year-old actress, told AFP in the village: "We never imagined that this would happen here," as water seeped into garages and homes.
Schools reopened in most of Andalusia after the lifting of the highest weather alert but remained suspended in the worst-hit areas, with road and rail transport still heavily disrupted.
The region's leader Juanma Moreno told reporters that 15 municipalities had been cut off as more than 80 roads were shut.
burs-imm/rlp/yad

China

Trump urges new nuclear treaty after Russia agreement ends

BY SHAUN TANDON

  • - 'Unconstrained nuclear competition' - Campaigners have warned that the end of the New START treaty could trigger a global arms race, and urged nuclear powers to enter negotiations.
  • US President Donald Trump on Thursday called for a brand new nuclear treaty after the last agreement with Russia expired, prompting fears of a new global arms race.
  • - 'Unconstrained nuclear competition' - Campaigners have warned that the end of the New START treaty could trigger a global arms race, and urged nuclear powers to enter negotiations.
US President Donald Trump on Thursday called for a brand new nuclear treaty after the last agreement with Russia expired, prompting fears of a new global arms race.
The Trump administration has repeatedly pressed for a new treaty to include China, whose arsenal is growing but still significantly smaller than those of Russia and the United States, but Beijing has publicly rejected the pressure.
Trump had been mostly mum on Russian calls to extend New START, the 2010 treaty that imposed the last restrictions on the two largest nuclear powers after decades of agreements dating from the Cold War.
But hours after it expired, Trump said that the treaty, signed by predecessor Barack Obama and extended by Joe Biden, was "badly negotiated" and "is being grossly violated."
"We should have our Nuclear Experts work on a new, improved, and modernized Treaty that can last long into the future," he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Asked if Washington and Moscow had agreed to stick to the terms of the expired START treaty while negotiations on a new accord are ongoing, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said: "Not to my knowledge."
Russia had refused inspections under New START as relations deteriorated with the Biden administration. 
It said Wednesday that it no longer considered itself bound on the number of nuclear warheads due to the expiration of New START.
Despite the stalemate on New START, Trump has enthusiastically restarted diplomacy with Russia and invited President Vladimir Putin to Alaska last August.
The United States announced Thursday that it was resuming military dialogue with Russia after three-way talks in Abu Dhabi on the Ukraine war.

'Unconstrained nuclear competition'

Campaigners have warned that the end of the New START treaty could trigger a global arms race, and urged nuclear powers to enter negotiations.
A group of former senior arms control officials from around the world, in a joint statement Thursday, called on the United States and Russia to agree to keep observing New START's limits as a first step.
The end of New START "will reduce nuclear stability and predictability, threaten global security, and increase the risk of a new era of unconstrained nuclear competition," they wrote.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the nuclear treaties between the United States and Russia after more than half a century were at a "grave moment."
"This dissolution of decades of achievement could not come at a worse time -- the risk of a nuclear weapon being used is the highest in decades," Guterres said, after Russian suggestions of using tactical nuclear weapons early in the Ukraine war.
A NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity, called for "restraint and responsibility" and said that the US-led military alliance "will continue to take steps necessary" to ensure its defense.
The official condemned "Russia's irresponsible nuclear rhetoric."

China rejects pressure

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that arms control was "impossible" without including China.
China's foreign ministry expressed regret Thursday over New START's demise but said Beijing "will not participate in nuclear disarmament negotiations at this stage." 
"China's nuclear capabilities are of a totally different scale as those of the United States and Russia," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news conference.
Russia and the United States together control more than 80 percent of the world's nuclear warheads.
China's nuclear arsenal is growing faster than any country's, by about 100 new warheads a year since 2023, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
China is estimated to have at least 600 nuclear warheads, the institute says -- well below the 800 each at which Russia and the United States were capped under New START.
France and Britain, treaty-bound US allies, together have another 100.
Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, which warns of nuclear risks, agreed that China should engage.
But "there is no indication that Trump or his team have taken the time to propose risk reduction or arms control talks with China since returning to office in 2025," Kimball said.
bur-sct/iv

attack

'Burned in their houses': Nigerians recount horror of massacre

BY JOHN OKUNYOMIH IN WORO, WITH LESLIE FAUVEL IN LAGOS

  • It is a Muslim community, but its residents want nothing to do with radicalised jihadist groups, said Salihu, the village chief.
  • First, the jihadists sent a letter saying they were coming to the village to preach, said Nigerian chief Umar Bio Salihu.
  • It is a Muslim community, but its residents want nothing to do with radicalised jihadist groups, said Salihu, the village chief.
First, the jihadists sent a letter saying they were coming to the village to preach, said Nigerian chief Umar Bio Salihu.
When no one attended, they went on a rampage, killing people and torching houses, he said.
Salihu is the traditional chief of Woro, a small, Muslim-majority village in west-central Nigeria where alleged jihadist gunmen are reported to have perpetrated a massacre late Tuesday.
Details are still emerging from the attack, but it is one of the country's deadliest in recent months. According to the Red Cross, the death toll stands at 162 people, and the search for bodies is ongoing.
Badly shaken, Salihu recounted the night of terror he survived as the attackers killed two of his sons and kidnapped his wife and three daughters.
Around 5:00 pm, the gunmen "just came in and started shooting", the 53-year-old chief told AFP Thursday, clutching his Muslim prayer beads in his hand.
"All those shops that are within the road, they burnt them... Some people have been burned inside their houses," he said.
Salihu survived by hiding in a house, then fled to the neighbouring town of Kaiama.
The attack lasted until 3:00 am, he said.
"When the day breaks, the corpses we see, it's too much," he said.

'Don't want their ideology'

AFP reporters who visited Woro found it deserted except for a handful of men searching for bodies and burying the dead.
Large parts of the village had been reduced to piles of ash and rubble, with the remains of burned-out vehicles strewn across its dirt roads.
Resident Muhammed Abdulkarim said he had been standing by the road when he saw a group of what looked like soldiers in uniform approaching.
Then he realised they were "bandits", he said.
"They started chasing people, catching people, tied them by their back," he told AFP.
"We just hear, pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa. They are shooting them (in) their heads."
Abdulkarim, 60, lost 12 family members in the attack, and his two-year-old son was abducted, he said.
Woro, a village of several thousand people, sits near a forest region known to serve as a hideout for jihadist fighters and armed gangs, groups that have fuelled nearly two decades of violence in Africa's most populous country.
It is a Muslim community, but its residents want nothing to do with radicalised jihadist groups, said Salihu, the village chief.
"People don't want to follow their ideology," he said.
When a radical group sent a letter saying they planned to come to Woro to preach, no one attended, he said.
Salihu alerted the local security services.
"I think that is what brought the anger to come and just kill people like that in the community," he said.
The governor of Kwara State gave the death toll from the attack as 75.
But residents reported burying upwards of 165 bodies.
The attackers kidnapped another 38 people, mostly women and children, said local assembly member Sa'idu Baba Ahmed.

'Beastly attack'

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu condemned the "beastly attack", deploying an army battalion to the troubled region and blaming Islamist movement Boko Haram -- though the name is often used generically for jihadist groups in Nigeria.
Kwara State is racked by violence by armed "bandit" gangs and jihadist groups that have been extending their range from northwestern Nigeria farther south.
In October, the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) claimed its first attack on Nigerian soil in the state, near Woro.
Nigeria's northeast is meanwhile the scene of long-running violence by Boko Haram and a rival offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
Nigeria is broadly split between a Christian-majority south and Muslim-majority north.
US President Donald Trump has alleged there is a "genocide" of Christians in Nigeria -- a claim rejected by the Nigerian government and many independent experts, who say the country's security crises claim the lives of both Christians and Muslims, often without distinction.
Washington has alternately pressured and aided the Nigerian government in its fight against jihadist violence.
On Christmas Day, the United States launched strikes targeting jihadist militants in northwestern Nigeria.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned the massacre in Woro as a "terrorist attack", and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. 
bur-fvl/jhb/yad

conflict

Emotional reunions, dashed hopes as Ukraine soldiers released

BY CéCILE FEUILLATRE

  • These grieving mothers, fathers, husbands and wives never received a notification from the army, and instead came in a desperate attempt to get news of their loved ones from the released prisoners.
  • Not even the bitter cold could stifle Ivan Roman's joy when he received news of his child from the Ukrainian army at noon on Thursday: "Congratulations.
  • These grieving mothers, fathers, husbands and wives never received a notification from the army, and instead came in a desperate attempt to get news of their loved ones from the released prisoners.
Not even the bitter cold could stifle Ivan Roman's joy when he received news of his child from the Ukrainian army at noon on Thursday: "Congratulations. Your son has been released," the message read, two years after Russia captured the young soldier.
"I have good news! He's been released!" the jubilant father shouted down the phone to his son's friend.
"I yelled with joy!" he told reporters. "He's coming back! I even spoke to him for a few minutes."
Russia and Ukraine exchanged 157 respective prisoners of war on Thursday, the first such swap between the two warring countries since October.
Ivan, who shares his father's first name, was captured by the Russian army in November 2022 in Vuhledar, in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.
Since then, his father has attended practically every prisoner exchange  -- one of the rare areas of direct cooperation between Ukraine and Russia throughout the four-year war.
In the crowd that spent hours waiting outside the hospital where the prisoners were due to arrive, Olga Kurk-Malayeva beamed radiantly.
After "three years and 10 months", the 26-year-old would finally be reunited with her husband Ruslan, a member of the 501st Marine Battalion who was taken prisoner in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, besieged by Russia at the start of the war.
"I am overwhelmed with emotion," said the young woman, wrapped in a flag bearing her husband's army corps insignia and surrounded by friends who saw her through the final hours of an agonisingly long wait.
She staggered and began to cry, but straightened up and adjusted her coat to welcome her partner.

A desperate search

Night was falling when the three buses carrying the liberated prisoners finally arrived. Their haggard faces appeared behind the windows as the crowd outside readied to greet their loved ones.
The mass of people surged with anticipation, but Kurk-Malayeva managed to reach the bus's door, embracing her husband as he disembarked.
The pair walked away and shared their first kiss in years.
A disorderly guard of honour hastily formed to greet the men, while some people called out names in the hopes that their relatives, missing or imprisoned for years and with whom they have had no contact, might have been included in the release.
These grieving mothers, fathers, husbands and wives never received a notification from the army, and instead came in a desperate attempt to get news of their loved ones from the released prisoners.
After the emotional reunions, those freed were immediately sent for medical checkups in one of the hospital's buildings.
Once inside, they were still visible through a window. Some of the women outside pressed photos of missing soldiers up against it. One of the former prisoners stepped forward to examine them, shaking his head in front of each one.
cf-sd/pop/lpt/cc/rlp

conflict

Russia, US agree to resume military contacts at Ukraine talks

  • "The U.S. and Russian Federation agreed today in Abu Dhabi to reestablish high level military-to-military dialogue," the US military's European Command said in a statement, adding that "the parties continue to work towards a lasting peace."
  • Russia and the United States agreed to resume high-level military contacts, in a major step of rapprochement between the world's top nuclear powers at Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
  • "The U.S. and Russian Federation agreed today in Abu Dhabi to reestablish high level military-to-military dialogue," the US military's European Command said in a statement, adding that "the parties continue to work towards a lasting peace."
Russia and the United States agreed to resume high-level military contacts, in a major step of rapprochement between the world's top nuclear powers at Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
Moscow and Washington suspended senior military dialogue shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, with then US President Joe Biden severing almost all contact with Russia.
But US President Donald Trump has restored communications with Moscow since he returned to the White House last year, holding several talks and a summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
The agreement to restore military contacts came after two days of talks between US, Russian and Ukrainian delegates in Abu Dhabi, searching for a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
Those negotiations resulted in the first prisoner exchange in four months, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the discussions complicated and urged faster progress.
Kyiv's lead negotiator later said the talks would continue in coming weeks.
The US-Russia agreement was also announced hours after the New START treaty -- the last nuclear agreement between Moscow and Washington -- expired, triggering fears of a global arms race.
"The U.S. and Russian Federation agreed today in Abu Dhabi to reestablish high level military-to-military dialogue," the US military's European Command said in a statement, adding that "the parties continue to work towards a lasting peace."
"Maintaining dialogue between militaries is an important factor in global stability and peace, which can only be achieved through strength, and provides a means for increased transparency and de-escalation," it added.
Moscow had not commented on the announcement. 

'Not easy'

Moscow and Kyiv agreed at the talks in Abu Dhabi to swap more than 300 prisoners, but there were no immediate signs of progress on the thornier issue of territory.
"It is certainly not easy, but Ukraine has been and will remain as constructive as possible," Zelensky said of the talks.
Kyiv's lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said on social media that "the delegations agreed to inform their capitals and continue trilateral talks in the coming weeks."
US mediator Steve Witkoff conceded that "significant" work still lay ahead. 
The negotiations are the latest bid in diplomatic efforts to halt the fighting -- Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II, with hundreds of thousands killed, millions forced to flee their homes and much of eastern and southern Ukraine devastated.
As talks were underway, large swathes of the Ukrainian capital were still without heating in sub-zero temperatures, after successive Russian strikes knocked out energy supplies to hundreds of apartment blocks.
Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko warned that more than 1,000 apartment blocks could be without heating for two months after a Russian strike earlier this week destroyed a critical power station.

Territory deadlock

The main sticking point in the negotiations is the long-term fate of territory in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow is demanding that Kyiv pull its troops out of swathes of the Donbas, including heavily fortified cities atop vast natural resources, before any deal.
It also wants international recognition that land seized in the invasion belongs to Russia.
Kyiv has said the conflict should be frozen along the current front line and has rejected a pull-back of forces.
Zelensky said the role of the US president was crucial, telling French television in an interview broadcast Wednesday: "Putin is only scared of Trump."
In a rare official admission of battlefield losses, Zelensky said Wednesday that at least 55,000 of his country's troops had been killed since Russia invaded in February 2022 -- a figure lower than many independent estimates.
Russia has not disclosed how many of its soldiers have been killed. Tracking of obituaries and family announcements by the BBC and independent outlet Mediazona has found the names of more than 160,000 Russian soldiers killed in the conflict.
Russia occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine. It claims the Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions as its own, and holds pockets of territory in at least three other Ukrainian regions in the east.
Kyiv still controls around one-fifth of the Donetsk region that Moscow demands it withdraw from. Ukraine has warned that ceding ground will embolden Moscow, and that it will not sign a deal that fails to deter Russia from invading again.
burs-asy/oc/jc/yad/rlp

online

EU defends Spain after Telegram founder criticism

  • The Spanish plan comes after France's lower house of parliament passed a bill last month that would ban social media use by under-15s.
  • The EU executive on Thursday expressed support for Spain after Telegram founder Pavel Durov slammed Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez over his plan to ban social media for children.
  • The Spanish plan comes after France's lower house of parliament passed a bill last month that would ban social media use by under-15s.
The EU executive on Thursday expressed support for Spain after Telegram founder Pavel Durov slammed Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez over his plan to ban social media for children.
"We stand in solidarity with the member states trying to hold online platforms accountable," European Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier told AFP.
"This is a top priority for the commission as well," Regnier added in a statement.
"Online platforms offer a lot of benefits, which our citizens can best enjoy when we mitigate certain risks," he said.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov joined fellow tech tycoon Elon Musk in criticising Sanchez, speaking of "dangerous new regulations that threaten your internet freedoms" in a post on his Telegram messaging app on Wednesday.
Sanchez pushed back on Thursday. 
"Do we want a technology that normalises and amplifies deception? That transforms privacy into a commodity? A society where a techno-oligarch can interfere, as one of them did yesterday, in the mobile phones of millions of citizens to tell them lies?" he asked.
"The answer must be a clear no, and we will not give in," Sanchez said.
Telegram has an estimated billion users and is known for its privacy features.
Musk had reacted to Sanchez's announcement with a string of posts on his social media platform X on Tuesday, calling him "the true fascist totalitarian".
The Spanish plan comes after France's lower house of parliament passed a bill last month that would ban social media use by under-15s.
It still needs senate approval to become law.
Brussels is mulling an EU-wide ban after pressure from member states but first wants to hear from an expert panel currently being set up.
Regnier, however, insisted the EU held "online platforms accountable" and "we protect our children" with its content law known as the Digital Services Act.
"We will keep working closely with our member states to make the online environment in Europe safe, transparent and trustworthy," the spokesman said.
raz/jj

NovoNordisk

Novo Nordisk vows legal action to protect Wegovy pill

  • "Novo Nordisk will take legal and regulatory action to protect patients, our intellectual property and the integrity of the US gold-standard drug approval framework," it added.
  • Novo Nordisk said Thursday it would take legal action against a US chain offering a copycat of the new pill version of its Wegovy weight-loss drug.
  • "Novo Nordisk will take legal and regulatory action to protect patients, our intellectual property and the integrity of the US gold-standard drug approval framework," it added.
Novo Nordisk said Thursday it would take legal action against a US chain offering a copycat of the new pill version of its Wegovy weight-loss drug.
The Danish company only began selling Wegovy in pill form last month after having received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, but the telehealth company Hims & Hers has begun advertising cheaper versions.
"This is another example of Hims & Hers' historic behaviour of duping the American public with knock-off GLP-1 products," said Novo Nordisk in a statement, referring to the hormone in Wegovy that regulates blood glucose levels and appetite.
"Novo Nordisk will take legal and regulatory action to protect patients, our intellectual property and the integrity of the US gold-standard drug approval framework," it added.
Limited production capacity for the blockbuster drug led the FDA to temporarily allow pharmacies to create so-called "compound" or copycat versions of Wegovy and Ozempic, an analogue used to treat diabetes.
That authorisation expired last May 22 but Novo Nordisk has complained of copycat versions of its drugs still being available.
Shares in Novo Nordisk have taken a beating this week after it warned of lower sales revenue in the United States as intensified competition pushes down prices.
ef/rl/jj

banking

ECB warns of stronger euro impact, holds rates

BY SAM REEVES

  • - Currency concerns - A stronger currency makes imports cheaper, which tends to push inflation down -- potentially leading consumers to delay purchases, with negative ripple effects across the economy.
  • The European Central Bank warned Thursday a stronger euro could push inflation down too far after recent gains in the single currency, but sought to downplay any immediate threat to the eurozone economy.
  • - Currency concerns - A stronger currency makes imports cheaper, which tends to push inflation down -- potentially leading consumers to delay purchases, with negative ripple effects across the economy.
The European Central Bank warned Thursday a stronger euro could push inflation down too far after recent gains in the single currency, but sought to downplay any immediate threat to the eurozone economy.
As expected, the central bank for the 21-nation single-currency area kept its benchmark interest rate on hold at two percent, where it has been since June last year.
ECB President Christine Lagarde stressed the eurozone economy, which has been picking up speed recently, remained "resilient" and officials were confident inflation would settle around the central bank's two-percent target.
But much attention at her press conference focused on the recent gains of the euro, which jumped above the $1.20 threshold last week as the dollar weakened on renewed worries about US economic policy under President Donald Trump. 
Combined with news that inflation had dropped below the ECB's target in January, speculation had mounted that the central bank might start mulling if and when to cut rates.
Lagarde made a nod to these concerns, warning that "a stronger euro could bring inflation down beyond current expectations", and noted the issue had been discussed by ECB officials at Thursday's meeting.

Currency concerns

A stronger currency makes imports cheaper, which tends to push inflation down -- potentially leading consumers to delay purchases, with negative ripple effects across the economy.
A strong euro can also weigh on the eurozone's crucial exporters, particularly Germany, as it makes the cost of companies' goods pricier overseas.
But despite the gains last week, Lagarde pointed out that the euro had been steadily strengthening against the dollar since shortly after Trump took power last year.
And the current exchange rate was "very much in line with the overall average" since the euro was introduced, she stressed.
She also reiterated that the ECB feels it is in a "good place"  -- phrasing which has been taken to mean the central bank is happy with the current level of rates.
The euro was barely changed against the dollar after Thursday's meeting at $1.18.
However Frederik Ducrozet, an economist at Pictet Wealth Management, said some of the central bank's language appeared to signal "the ECB's growing discomfort with regard to the stronger euro".
Lagarde's comments indicate "that further currency appreciation would bring us closer to a pain threshold", he added. 

'Uncertain outlook'

As usual, the ECB chief gave no signal about the central bank's next move on rates.
But, given the movements in currencies and inflation, some analysts are now raising their bets on rate cuts in the second half of the year.
The Bank of England also left its benchmark interest rate unchanged Thursday, at 3.75 percent, while cutting its forecasts for UK growth this year and next.
Lagarde also said the global environment remained "challenging". 
"The outlook is still uncertain, owing particularly to ongoing global trade policy uncertainty and geopolitical tensions," she said.
Trump's volatile trade policies in particular have unnerved Europe. 
There was another flare-up last month when Trump threatened to hit eight European countries with new tariffs over their opposition to his desire to annex Greenland, but he later climbed down.
Central bankers around the world have been especially worried by Trump's targeting of US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, whom he has criticised for not cutting rates faster. 
On Thursday however Lagarde welcomed Trump's nomination of Kevin Warsh, a former Fed official, to be the next chief of the US central bank, a move that has broadly reassured markets.
"We go back a long way and I very much welcome (the) announcement of his appointment," said Lagarde.
bur-sr/vbw/yad

diplomacy

Iran, US prepare for Oman talks after deadly protest crackdown

BY STUART WILLIAMS

  • "Iran continues to show inflexibility toward addressing US demands, which reduces the likelihood that Iran and the United States will be able to reach a diplomatic solution," the US-based Institute for the Study of War said.
  • Iran and the United States were preparing for talks on Friday in Oman, with Washington looking to see if there is any prospect of diplomatic progress on the Iranian nuclear programme and other issues while refusing to rule out military action.
  • "Iran continues to show inflexibility toward addressing US demands, which reduces the likelihood that Iran and the United States will be able to reach a diplomatic solution," the US-based Institute for the Study of War said.
Iran and the United States were preparing for talks on Friday in Oman, with Washington looking to see if there is any prospect of diplomatic progress on the Iranian nuclear programme and other issues while refusing to rule out military action.
The talks, which were finally confirmed by both sides late Wednesday after hours of doubt over the location, timing and format, will be the first such encounter between the two foes since the US joined Israel's war against the Islamic republic in June with strikes on nuclear sites.
President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi are due to lead their delegations at the talks in the discreet Gulf sultanate, which has periodically acted as a low-profile mediator between the countries.
The meeting comes just under a month after the peak of a wave of protests nationwide in Iran against the clerical leadership, which rights groups say were repressed with an unprecedented crackdown that has left thousands dead.
"They're negotiating," Trump said at the National Prayer Breakfast. "They don't want us to hit them, we have a big fleet going there," he added, referring to the aircraft carrier group he has repeatedly called an "armada".
Trump initially threatened military action against Tehran over its crackdown on protesters and even told demonstrators "help is on its way". But his rhetoric in recent days has focused on reining in the Iranian nuclear programme that the West fears is aimed at making a bomb.
"He (Trump) is going to do is he is going to keep his options open, he is going to talk to everybody, he is going to try to accomplish what he can through non-military means and if he feels like the military is the only option then he is ultimately going to choose that option," US Vice President JD Vance told SiriusXM in an interview broadcast Wednesday.
Vance also expressed frustration with the fact that Trump could not deal directly with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying "it's a very weird country to conduct diplomacy with when you can't even talk to the person who's in charge of the country". 

'Inflexibility towards US demands'

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, speaking in the Qatari capital Doha, urged Iran's leadership to "truly enter talks", saying there was a "great fear of military escalation in the region".
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted by Turkish newspapers as saying that "so far, I see that the parties want to make room for diplomacy", adding that conflict was "not the solution".
There had been tensions in the run up to the talks over whether the meeting should also include regional countries and address Tehran's support of proxies and ballistic missile programmes, two US concerns that Iran resisted.
Citing unnamed Iranian officials, the New York Times said the United States agreed the talks would exclude regional actors, and while the meeting would focus on the nuclear file it would also discuss missiles and militant groups, "with the goal of coming up with a framework for a deal".
"Iran continues to show inflexibility toward addressing US demands, which reduces the likelihood that Iran and the United States will be able to reach a diplomatic solution," the US-based Institute for the Study of War said.

'Compromise or war'

With the American threats of military action still looming, the United States has manoeuvred a naval group led by aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln into the region while Iran has repeatedly vowed it will hit back at US bases in the region if attacked.
"We are ready to defend and it is the US president who must choose between compromise or war," state television on Thursday quoted army spokesman General Mohammad Akraminia as saying, warning that Iran had "easy" access to US bases.
In a sign of the tensions, Iran's Revolutionary Guards have seized two oil tankers with their foreign crews in Gulf waters for "smuggling fuel", the Tasnim news agency reported Thursday.
It was not immediately clear what flags the tankers were carrying nor the nationalities of the crew.
"Iran is fully prepared to stand against any foreign threat and enemy," said former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, who remains an advisor to Khamenei, quoted by the ISNA agency.
sjw/amj

Global Edition

Lights back on in eastern Cuba after widespread blackout

BY JORDANE BERTRAND

  • In the early hours of Thursday, the provinces of Holguin, Granma, Santiago de Cuba, and Guantanamo "were synchronized to the national power grid," said Felix Estrada of the ministry of energy and mines said on state television.
  • Power was restored Thursday to eastern Cuba after an electricity grid failure plunged three provinces and part of a fourth into darkness the previous evening, authorities said.
  • In the early hours of Thursday, the provinces of Holguin, Granma, Santiago de Cuba, and Guantanamo "were synchronized to the national power grid," said Felix Estrada of the ministry of energy and mines said on state television.
Power was restored Thursday to eastern Cuba after an electricity grid failure plunged three provinces and part of a fourth into darkness the previous evening, authorities said.
In the early hours of Thursday, the provinces of Holguin, Granma, Santiago de Cuba, and Guantanamo "were synchronized to the national power grid," said Felix Estrada of the ministry of energy and mines said on state television.
He added that scheduled power cuts however remain in place in the four provinces despite the reconnection, due to the country's "capacity deficit" beyond the latest outage, which left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity.
After six decades under a US trade embargo, the communist island's electricity system is in shambles, with frequent and prolonged outages.
To make matters worse, US President Donald Trump threatened last month to cut off Cuba's heavily subsidized oil supplies from Venezuela.
The state-owned Union Electrica de Cuba said on X that a problem at a substation in Holguin Wednesday night caused an electrical system disconnect that impacted the four provinces.
Cuba's second-largest city, Santiago de Cuba, home to more than 400,000 people, was hit by the blackout.
One resident said her power went out about 5:00 pm (2200 GMT).
"Since it goes out all the time, I didn't even realize it was a widespread outage," Isabel, 28, who did not want to give her last name, told AFP.
Cuba has endured several national blackouts since late 2024, some of them lasting days. 
An AFP analysis of official statistics found that the island generated only half the electricity it needed last year.
Officials blame tight US sanctions for the crisis, which includes food and medicine shortages. But poor economic management and a tourism collapse following the Covid-19 pandemic contributed to the island's woes.
Despite imposition of the US trade embargo in 1962, Cuba had eight power plants built in the 1980s and 1990s. Thirty solar plants constructed with help from China have failed to stem the blackouts.
Since toppling Venezuela's autocratic leader Nicolas Maduro last month, Trump has threatened to slap tariffs on countries that give oil to Cuba -- even as the United Nations chief warned Wednesday that an oil shortage could lead to a humanitarian "collapse" on the island.
Trump has said he wants to "make a deal" with leaders in Cuba -- an island barely 90 miles (145 kilometers) from Florida -- without saying what that deal might look like.
In December, a massive outage in western Cuba left millions of people without electricity -- including in the capital Havana, a city of 1.7 million.
jb/lpa/thm/mlm/dw

trade

EU close to sealing trade deal with Australia

  • But with Trump's tariffs upending the global trading order, the EU is ramping up efforts to build closer trade and security ties with other allies.
  • The European Union is close to concluding a long-sought trade agreement with Australia, as US President Donald Trump's tariffs accelerate Europe's push to seal deals with other global partners.
  • But with Trump's tariffs upending the global trading order, the EU is ramping up efforts to build closer trade and security ties with other allies.
The European Union is close to concluding a long-sought trade agreement with Australia, as US President Donald Trump's tariffs accelerate Europe's push to seal deals with other global partners.
Negotiations between Brussels and Canberra collapsed in 2023 after five years of painstaking discussions over a wide array of issues.
The stumbling block had been over products like beef and lamb.
This time around, talks are zeroing in on duty-free quotas for imported Australian beef, which the EU hopes to cap at around 30,000 tonnes per year, while Canberra wants access for 40,000 tonnes.
The EU's top trade negotiator Maros Sefcovic and agriculture chief Christophe Hansen will hold talks with Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell next Thursday, the EU executive said.
"The EU is committed to strengthening relations with Australia, a strategic and like-minded partner. As always, progress in the sensitive phase of negotiations will depend on substance," EU trade spokesman Olof Gill said.
Negotiations hit a wall in 2023 over Australia's push for significant access to the European market for its agricultural products.
But with Trump's tariffs upending the global trading order, the EU is ramping up efforts to build closer trade and security ties with other allies.
Brussels has recently clinched two deals that had been two decades in the making: the first with the South American Mercosur bloc, and then with India.
The EU is treading carefully to avoid a major new backlash from farmers, who are angry at the Mercosur deal because they fear it will cause an influx of cheaper goods produced with lower standards and banned pesticides.
European agricultural lobby groups will be paying close attention to the quotas for lamb, mutton and beef as well as sugar and rice, with the umbrella farm group Copa-Cogeca already warning against "any additional pressure" in sensitive sectors.
Supporters in the EU say a deal with Australia offers a range of opportunities.
The EU wants to cut its reliance on China for critical raw materials -- needed for clean technologies like wind turbines and electric car batteries -- and Australia's rich deposits would help Brussels diversify imports.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul reiterated that during a visit to Australia on Thursday, saying Europe was "very interested in expanding further our cooperation in the raw materials sector".
He added that he hoped the broader trade deal would be signed "as soon as possible".
If the talks are fruitful, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen could visit Australia later this month.
The EU is Australia's third-biggest trading partner, after China and Japan, while Australia is the bloc's 20th-biggest trading partner.
adc-jhm-raz/ec/js

diplomacy

What does Iran want from talks with the US?

BY SéBASTIEN RICCI

  • The two foes had held several rounds of Oman-mediated nuclear talks in 2025, but the Iran-Israel war, which saw the United States conduct strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, derailed diplomacy days before a meeting was due.
  • Iran and the United States are holding talks on Friday in Oman, with Tehran pushing to focus squarely on its nuclear programme, while Washington's demands go beyond that.
  • The two foes had held several rounds of Oman-mediated nuclear talks in 2025, but the Iran-Israel war, which saw the United States conduct strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, derailed diplomacy days before a meeting was due.
Iran and the United States are holding talks on Friday in Oman, with Tehran pushing to focus squarely on its nuclear programme, while Washington's demands go beyond that.
The two foes had held several rounds of Oman-mediated nuclear talks in 2025, but the Iran-Israel war, which saw the United States conduct strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, derailed diplomacy days before a meeting was due.
US President Donald Trump has threatened renewed military action against Iran following its deadly crackdown on mass anti-government protests, but has also said he thinks Tehran is open to a deal.
The United States has said talks must cover Tehran's missile programme and its support for militant groups in the region.
AFP takes stock of the thorny issues on the table:

Uranium enrichment

The main dispute between Iran and the US concerns uranium enrichment. 
Western countries and Israel, thought to be the Middle East's only country with nuclear weapons, say Iran is seeking to acquire a bomb, which the Islamic republic denies.
During the Iran-Israel war last June, the United States bombed three nuclear sites in Iran (Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan), with Trump later claiming the strikes "obliterated" the nuclear programme, although the extent of the damage remains unknown.
Experts say uranium enriched above 20 percent can have potential military applications but that enrichment must reach 90 percent to make a bomb.
Before the war, Iran was enriching uranium to 60 percent, according to the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, far exceeding a 3.67 percent cap allowed under a now-defunct nuclear agreement that Iran reached with world powers in 2015.
The United States withdrew from that deal in 2018 and Iran subsequently abandoned its commitments under the agreement in retaliation.
Trump has repeatedly called for a complete end to enrichment, a condition much stricter than the 2015 deal. 
Iran, which says it has a right to civilian nuclear power, deems this demand a "red line" and contrary to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to which it and 190 other nations are signatories. 

Stockpile

The location of Iran's reserves of more than 400 kilogrammes of highly enriched uranium is unclear after the US bombings last year. The stocks were last seen by IAEA inspectors on June 10. 
"The materials are under the rubble (of bombed nuclear sites) and we have made no attempt to extract them... because it is dangerous," Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader, told Lebanese media this week. 
"We are discussing this issue with the IAEA in order to find a solution while ensuring safety," he added. 
Iran suspended all cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog at the end of September, justifying its decision as retaliation after UN sanctions were reinstated over its nuclear programme. 
Several countries, including Russia, have offered to house Tehran's stockpile of enriched uranium as a safeguard, but Iran has refused. 
"There is no reason to move the materials abroad when we can eliminate the sources of concern" about their end use, Shamkhani insisted. 
"We have no plan to militarise our nuclear programme" and "we can therefore dilute the material from 60 to, say, 20 percent", he added. 
"But in exchange, something must be paid," Shamkhani said, alluding to Iran's demand that sanctions be lifted.

Nuclear and nothing else

Tehran is adamant that the talks be strictly limited to the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions, and considers this demand non-negotiable. 
But Washington and its ally Israel are pushing for other grievances against the Islamic republic to be included.
In 2018, the United States' withdrawal from the previous nuclear deal was partly motivated by the absence of curbs in the agreement on Iran's ballistic missile programme, perceived as a threat to Israel.
According to media reports, Israel is now pushing to put this issue on the negotiating table, along with Iran's policy of financing militant groups across the Middle East, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen.
bur/axn/ser/dc