politics

Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong media 'troublemaker' in Beijing's crosshairs

  • - Tiananmen watershed - Lai rose from poverty, like many Hong Kong tycoons.
  • A rags-to-riches tycoon, Hong Kong media boss Jimmy Lai is a self-styled "troublemaker" who has long been a thorn in Beijing's side with his caustic tabloids and unapologetic support for democracy.
  • - Tiananmen watershed - Lai rose from poverty, like many Hong Kong tycoons.
A rags-to-riches tycoon, Hong Kong media boss Jimmy Lai is a self-styled "troublemaker" who has long been a thorn in Beijing's side with his caustic tabloids and unapologetic support for democracy.
Verdicts in the 78-year-old's national security trial are set to be delivered on Monday, a case widely condemned by Western nations as an attack on political liberties and the free press.
Lai told AFP in June 2020 he was "prepared for prison", where he has been since late that year.
Those remarks came two weeks before Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the finance hub after huge, and sometimes violent, pro-democracy protests the previous year.
He was arrested under the new security law that August, fulfilling his prediction that he was a prime target for prosecution.
"If (prison) comes, I will have the opportunity to read books I haven't read. The only thing I can do is to be positive," he said at the time.
Few Hong Kongers generate the same level of vitriol from Beijing as Lai.
He is an unlikely hero for many residents of the semi-autonomous city, a pugnacious, self-made tabloid owner and the only tycoon willing to lampoon Beijing.
But to China's state media he is a "traitor", the biggest "black hand" behind the pro-democracy protests and the head of a new "Gang of Four" conspiring with foreign nations to undermine the motherland.

Tiananmen watershed

Lai rose from poverty, like many Hong Kong tycoons.
He was born into a wealthy family in mainland China's Guangdong province, but they lost it all when the communists took power in 1949.
Smuggled into Hong Kong aged 12, Lai toiled in sweatshops, taught himself English and eventually founded the hugely successful Giordano clothing empire.
However, his path diverged from his contemporaries when China sent tanks to crush pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989.
He founded his first publication shortly after and wrote columns critical of senior Chinese leaders.
Authorities began closing his mainland clothing stores, so Lai sold up and ploughed the money into a tabloid empire.
Lai was the subject of other lawsuits, including one where he was acquitted of intimidating a journalist from a rival newspaper.
But his embrace of 2019's pro-democracy movement landed him in deeper trouble and he was jailed for 20 months over his participation in some rallies.
An additional fraud case over an office lease added almost six more years to his sentence.
Those cases pale in comparison to Monday's verdicts.
Lai is charged with two counts of "conspiracy to foreign collusion" under the security law that carry a maximum penalty of life in prison. He is also charged with one count of "conspiracy to publish seditious publications".
He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Asked why he didn't keep quiet and enjoy his wealth like Hong Kong's other tycoons, Lai said in 2020 he "just fell into it, but it feels right doing it".
"Maybe I'm a born rebel, maybe I'm someone who needs a lot of meaning to live my life besides money," he said.

'Delivering freedom'

Lai also said then he had no plans to leave Hong Kong despite his wealth and the risks he faced.
"I'm a troublemaker. I came here with nothing, the freedom of this place has given me everything. Maybe it's time I paid back for that freedom by fighting for it," he said.
Lai's two primary publications -- the Apple Daily newspaper and the digital-only Next magazine -- openly backed democracy protests in a city where competitors either support Beijing or tread a far more cautious line.
The two publications were largely devoid of advertisements for years as brands steered clear of incurring Beijing's wrath, and Lai plugged the losses with his own cash.
They were popular, offering a heady mix of celebrity news, sex scandals and genuine investigations.
Apple Daily was forced to close in 2021 after police raids and the arrests of senior editors. Next also closed. 
Lai defended his paper during more than 40 days of spirited courtroom testimony.
"The core values of Apple Daily are actually the core values of the people of Hong Kong... (including) rule of law, freedom, pursuit of democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly," he told the court in November 2024.
"To participate in delivering freedom is a very good idea for me," Lai said. 
"The more you are in the know, the more you are free."
bur/pbt

health

French PM urged to intervene over cow slaughter protests

  • "We must do everything we can to avoid escalation and confrontation."
  • Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu was urged on Sunday by local officials to intervene to avoid an escalation as French farmers protested the use of police force and the culling of cows due to a skin disease.
  • "We must do everything we can to avoid escalation and confrontation."
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu was urged on Sunday by local officials to intervene to avoid an escalation as French farmers protested the use of police force and the culling of cows due to a skin disease.
Farmers in southern France have been incensed by what they see as the government's heavy-handed response to an outbreak of nodular dermatitis, widely known as lumpy skin disease.
They have blocked roads and dumped manure in protest after veterinarians this week slaughtered a herd of more than 200 cows in a village near the Spanish border after discovering a single case of the disease. Police had used tear gas to clear away angry demonstrators protecting the cattle.
"With each passing hour, indignation and anger are rising inexorably in the face of people's despair," said Carole Delga, head of the southern region of Occitanie, which has emerged as the epicentre of the outbreak.
"It is time for you to intervene to ensure, as soon as possible, a frank and sincere dialogue with the farmers," she said in an open letter to Lecornu.
Delga said that many French people were "shocked" by the images of animals being slaughtered.
"They do not understand the massive use of force by the police," she said, referring to the culling of the entire herd in the village of Les Bordes-sur-Arize.
"We must do everything we can to avoid escalation and confrontation."
Since Friday evening, activists have set up roadblocks, particularly in the southwest of the country.
Not far from Spain, the A64 motorway was still closed for more than 100 kilometres. 
Between the southwestern towns of Briscous and Urt, farmers have set up two marquees, a grill, and a Christmas tree, an AFP journalist saw. 
According to local officials, dozens of tractors and trucks were also parked near the town of Carbonne southwest of Toulouse.
"We're here to spend the holidays," Cedric Baron, a cattle farmer, told AFP. 
Near the southern town of Albi, around 50 farmers blocked the N88 freeway, dumping manure at the entrance to the town's ring road.
Lumpy skin disease, which cannot be passed to humans but can be fatal for cattle, first appeared in France in June. 
kal-mla-gm-chv-vgr-cor-as/gv

flight

Tokyo-bound United plane returns to Washington after engine fails

  • The engine failed as the 777-200ER departed for Tokyo's Haneda Airport at around 12:20 pm (1720 GMT) Saturday, sources told AFP.  Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X that a piece of the engine cover "separated and caught fire, sparking a brush fire on the ground."
  • A United Airlines Boeing 777 bound for Tokyo had to turn back to Washington's Dulles International Airport on Saturday after an engine failed during takeoff, igniting a brush fire near the runway, officials said.
  • The engine failed as the 777-200ER departed for Tokyo's Haneda Airport at around 12:20 pm (1720 GMT) Saturday, sources told AFP.  Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X that a piece of the engine cover "separated and caught fire, sparking a brush fire on the ground."
A United Airlines Boeing 777 bound for Tokyo had to turn back to Washington's Dulles International Airport on Saturday after an engine failed during takeoff, igniting a brush fire near the runway, officials said.
No injuries were reported among the 275 passengers and 15 crew members aboard the wide-bodied jet, which had to make an emergency landing.
"Shortly after takeoff, United Flight 803 returned to Washington Dulles and landed safely to address a power loss issue with one of its engines," the airline said.
The engine failed as the 777-200ER departed for Tokyo's Haneda Airport at around 12:20 pm (1720 GMT) Saturday, sources told AFP. 
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X that a piece of the engine cover "separated and caught fire, sparking a brush fire on the ground."
"The fire was extinguished and the flight returned to Dulles, landing safely at about 1:30 pm, when it was checked by airport fire responders," an airport spokesperson said.
According to the official, the affected runway had to be closed for a short time, "but Dulles has multiple runways and other flight operations were not impacted."
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it would investigate the incident.
Aircraft manufacturer Boeing referred questions to United Airlines. 
According to specialist site AirLive, the plane dumped its fuel over the city of Fredericksburg in Virginia, "a critical safety procedure used to reduce the plane's weight to a safe level before attempting an emergency landing."
According to registration information provided by the site, the 777 in Saturday's incident was delivered in November 1998 to Continental Airlines, which was later absorbed in a corporate takeover by United Airlines. The plane is equipped with two General Electric engines -- now known as GE Aerospace.
United Flight 803 took off in a different plane later Saturday, six-and-a-half hours after its original departure time, bound for Haneda.
elm/iv/acb/ksb

manufacturing

China's smaller manufacturers look to catch the automation wave

BY JING XUAN TENG

  • In a closed-off room, workers assembled vehicles' "brains", testing their cameras and computer chips.
  • In a light-filled workshop in eastern China, a robotic arm moved a partially assembled autonomous vehicle as workers calibrated its cameras, typical of the incremental automation being adopted even across smaller factories in the world's manufacturing powerhouse.
  • In a closed-off room, workers assembled vehicles' "brains", testing their cameras and computer chips.
In a light-filled workshop in eastern China, a robotic arm moved a partially assembled autonomous vehicle as workers calibrated its cameras, typical of the incremental automation being adopted even across smaller factories in the world's manufacturing powerhouse.
China is already the world's largest market for industrial robots, and the government is pouring billions of dollars into robotics and artificial intelligence to boost its presence in the sector. 
The first essentially humanlessfactoriesare already in operation, even as widespread automation raises questions about job losses as well as the cost and difficulty of transition for smaller and medium-sized companies. 
The answer for many is a hybrid approach, experts and factory owners told AFP. 
At the autonomous vehicle workshop, manager Liu Jingyao told AFP that humans are still a crucial part of even technologically advanced manufacturing. 
"Many decisions require human judgement," said Liu, whose company Neolix produces small van-like vehicles that transport parcels across Chinese cities. 
"These decisions involve certain skill-based elements that still need to be handled by people."
At the Neolix factory, 300 kilometres (186 miles) north of Shanghai, newly built driverless vehicles zoomed around a testing track simulating obstacles including puddles and bridges.
In a closed-off room, workers assembled vehicles' "brains", testing their cameras and computer chips.
"Automation... primarily serve(s) to assist humans, reducing labour intensity rather than replacing them," Liu said.
But Ni Jun, a mechanical engineering expert at Shanghai's Jiaotong University, said China's strategy of focusing on industrial applications for AI means full automation is already feasible in many sectors.
Among others, tech giant Xiaomi operates a "dark factory" -- where the absence of people means no need for lights -- with robotic arms and sensors able to make smartphones without humans.

Digital divide

Ni described a "digital divide" between larger companies with the funds to invest heavily in modernisation, and smaller businesses struggling to keep up.
For Zhu Yefeng's Far East Precision Printing Company, part of China's vast network of small independent factories employing up to a few dozen people each, full automation is a distant dream.
At the company just outside Shanghai, workers in small rooms fed sheets of instruction manuals into folding machines and operated equipment that printed labels for electronic devices.
The company used pen and paper to track its workflow until two years ago, with managers having to run around the factory to communicate order information.
"Things were, to put it bluntly, a complete mess," Zhu told AFP.
The company has since adopted software that allows employees to scan QR codes that send updates to a factory-wide tracker.
On a screen in his office, Zhu can see detailed charts breaking down each order's completion level and individual employees' productivity statistics.
"This is a start," Zhu told AFP. "We will move toward more advanced technology like automation, in order to receive even bigger orders from clients."
Financial constraints are a major barrier though.  
"As a small company, we can't afford certain expenses," said Zhu. 
His team is trying to develop its own robotic quality testing machine, but for now humans continue to check final products.

Employment pressures 

The potential unemployment caused by widespread automation will be a challenge, said Jacob Gunter from the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies. 
"Companies will be quite happy to decrease their headcount... but the government will not like that and will be under a lot of pressure to navigate this," Gunter told AFP.
Beijing's push to develop industrial robots will "intersect with the need for maintaining high employment at a time when employment pressure is considerable", he added. 
Going forward, manufacturers must strike a balance "between the technical feasibility, social responsibility, and business necessity", Jiaotong University's Ni told AFP.
Zhou Yuxiang, the CEO of Black Lake Technologies -- the start-up that provided the software for Zhu's factory -- told AFP he thought factories would "always be hybrid". 
"If you ask every owner of a factory, is a dark factory the goal? No, that's just a superficial description," Zhou said. 
"The goal for factories is to optimise production, deliver things that their end customers want, and also make money."
tjx/reb/dan

wine

Hungary winemakers fear disease may 'wipe out' industry

BY ANDRAS ROSTOVANYI

  • Flavescence doree (FD) is "one of the most dangerous diseases" threatening vineyards today, according to OIV. FD is transmitted primarily by the American grapevine leafhopper insect, a pest that has spread across central Europe in recent years.
  • Hungarian winemaker Viktor Keszler had to rip out young vines after only three harvests -- when they should last at least 25 years -- after they were infected by flavescence doree disease that is threatening Europe's wine regions.
  • Flavescence doree (FD) is "one of the most dangerous diseases" threatening vineyards today, according to OIV. FD is transmitted primarily by the American grapevine leafhopper insect, a pest that has spread across central Europe in recent years.
Hungarian winemaker Viktor Keszler had to rip out young vines after only three harvests -- when they should last at least 25 years -- after they were infected by flavescence doree disease that is threatening Europe's wine regions.
"We spray our vineyard to protect it, but it is futile: the leafhoppers carrying the disease move to untreated vineyards or wild vines nearby and return infected," the 45-year-old told AFP.
Hungary, the world's 14th-largest wine producer, according to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), is renowned for such regions as the UNESCO-recognised Tokaj.
Flavescence doree (FD) is "one of the most dangerous diseases" threatening vineyards today, according to OIV.
FD is transmitted primarily by the American grapevine leafhopper insect, a pest that has spread across central Europe in recent years.
Experts blame neglected vines, warmer winters due to climate change, and the discontinuation of hazardous pesticides in the EU for its proliferation.
Infection -- usually indicated by discoloured leaves -- greatly reduces vine productivity, and there is no known cure, although it is not harmful to humans.
In Hungary, the disease was first detected in 2013.
But critics say most winemakers and the government have not taken FD seriously enough until this year, when it was detected in 21 out of 22 of the country's wine regions.

'Not alarmed enough'

The latest outbreak especially hurts smaller producers like Keszler, who turned his family's vineyards on the rolling hills of the town of Zalaszentgrot into a business supplying other winemakers with young vines in 2010.
He was forced to uproot half a hectare in his four-hectare vineyard this year due to the high infection rate.
Keszler and fellow winemakers united this summer to raise the alarm.
"If we don't take this seriously, it could effectively wipe out Hungarian grape production," Janos Frittmann, head of the National Council of Wine Communities representing producers, warned at last month's annual conference of winemakers.
According to him, the outbreak caught the industry off-guard.
"Previously winemakers were probably not alarmed enough, many did not even know the symptoms," he told AFP.
The government allocated about 10 million euros ($12 million) in September to detect and protect against the disease's spread.
In recent months, inspectors have checked close to 8,700 hectares of vineyards and collected thousands of samples, the agriculture ministry told AFP.
The ministry insisted that faced with an "escalating epidemic", the government responded quickly, while measures already in place "slowed down" the spread of the disease over the past 12 years.

'Too late to eradicate it'

But some claim the government did not provide enough resources for prevention, leaving the food safety authority NEBIH's plant protection department "understaffed and underfunded", according to plant protection specialist Gergely Gaspar.
Around Monor, a town close to Budapest, the authorities did not carry out random inspections in vineyards for six years, while evaluation of samples can drag on due to the lack of laboratory capacity, Gaspar told AFP.
A lack of scientific groundwork also led to "disastrous consequences", said Gaspar, who produces grapevines himself and lost all his vines to FD.
"Popular grape varieties in Hungary do not show textbook symptoms," added the expert, who also works for a company specialising in the development and distribution of fertilisers and other products.
"My biggest gripe is that we just learned this now in the midst of the crisis... What were researchers doing for the past 12 years?"
Hungary's wineries need to learn how to live with FD, just like their peers in France and Italy, Elisa Angelini, a researcher at the Italian Centre for Research in Viticulture and Enology, told AFP.
Angelini said outbreaks have mainly to be controlled rather than prevented.
"The disease is usually discovered in a new area four years after the infection on average, when it is already too late to eradicate it," she said.
Winemaker Keszler said at times he feels combating the disease is "hopeless".
"But if the state and local municipalities become involved, then we can be successful," he said.
ros/jza/fg/mjw

economy

German defence giants battle over military spending ramp-up

BY SAM REEVES WITH FEMKE COLBORNE IN BERLIN

  • A crop of German tech defence start-ups argue the Ukraine war -- much of it now contested in the skies with unmanned aerial vehicles -- has shown that relatively inexpensive, mass-producible equipment like drones powered by artificial intelligence will be key for future conflicts.
  • Defence giants are drawing battle lines as Germany rearms, with the old guard arguing for traditional heavy weaponry while start-ups push for more modern kit such as AI-enabled drones.
  • A crop of German tech defence start-ups argue the Ukraine war -- much of it now contested in the skies with unmanned aerial vehicles -- has shown that relatively inexpensive, mass-producible equipment like drones powered by artificial intelligence will be key for future conflicts.
Defence giants are drawing battle lines as Germany rearms, with the old guard arguing for traditional heavy weaponry while start-ups push for more modern kit such as AI-enabled drones.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has vowed to create Europe's strongest conventional army with outlays of hundreds of billions of euros, accelerating a build-up that began after Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The rush to rearm, mirrored across Europe, has been fuelled by pressure from US President Donald Trump for NATO allies to spend more on defence as well as worries about American commitment to the continent's security.
But where these funds should flow is hotly debated. 
A crop of German tech defence start-ups argue the Ukraine war -- much of it now contested in the skies with unmanned aerial vehicles -- has shown that relatively inexpensive, mass-producible equipment like drones powered by artificial intelligence will be key for future conflicts.
So far, some argue, too much spending has focused on time-tested but expensive weaponry such as tanks and armoured vehicles, which are vulnerable to being targeted by the new, cheaper airborne armaments.
"Clearly there's been an overly strong focus on traditional platforms," Gundbert Scherf, one of the heads and founders of German defence technology company Helsing, told AFP.
"Spending patterns have to change as the world around us changes."
Scherf, whose Munich-headquartered start-up was founded in 2021 and supplies strike drones to the Ukraine military, sees signs that attitudes are shifting.
"I am hoping we are going to see the spending pattern change from a 99 percent focus on traditional systems and one percent on autonomous systems, to a more even balance."
Helsing, backed by Spotify founder Daniel Ek's investment firm and reportedly worth 12 billion euros ($14 billion), recently carried out successful tests with the German military, striking targets multiple times.

Pressure to 'keep pace'

German tech defence start-up Stark -- which was founded just 18 months ago and has also had its drones tested with the German military -- echoed Helsing's cautious optimism.
"Procurement in Germany is changing, and that is really positive," said Josef Kranawetvogl, a senior executive at the firm, which counts among its investors Silicon Valley tech billionaire Peter Thiel.
But he worried that the shift was not moving fast enough.
"We are really good in Europe at writing strategic papers -- but we have to execute more. We have to keep pace, we have to be fast," he said.
On the other side of the debate is Rheinmetall, Germany's biggest weapons manufacturer and a key supplier of military vehicles and ammunition whose sales have been dramatically boosted by the Ukraine war.
CEO Armin Papperger recognises drones are increasingly important -- Rheinmetall also makes them and is investing more -- but argues they are just one of many systems that will be vital in future.
"Without armoured vehicles, it would not be possible to defend a country or repel an aggressor if they invade," Papperger, whose company is valued at around 70 billion euros, recently told a media briefing.
"If there were a war involving NATO, it would look very different from what we currently see in Ukraine," he said.
"Drones would play a less significant role than they do now."

'Lagging behind'

Drones also figure in the government's planning, with Defence Minister Boris Pistorius saying in October that Berlin was planning to invest 10 billion euros in the technology in the coming years.
But there are indications of a continued focus on time-honoured war gear.
News outlet Politico recently reported the government had laid out 377 billion euros worth of desired arms purchases -- much of it earmarked to go to establishment defence titans.
A defence ministry spokesman declined to comment on the report while stressing that drones had been part of military operations for some time.
But the spokesman, who declined to be named in line with standard German government practice, added that "battle tanks, armoured personnel carriers and combat aircraft will continue to be needed in the future", working in combination with unmanned systems.
Germany's rearmament marks a major transformation for a country with a long-standing pacifist tradition shaped by its painful World War II history.
But like the start-ups, some observers worry the build-up is moving too slowly -- and at serious risk of misfiring.
The military's "planning is lagging behind the inexorable rise of unmanned and autonomous systems", prominent British historian Niall Ferguson and Moritz Schularick, President of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, wrote in a blistering critique recently.
They warned those in charge were too focused on "the weapons of the last war -- not the next".
fec-sr/fz/phz/mjw

health

'Stop the slaughter': French farmers block roads over cow disease cull

BY THOMAS BERNARDI WITH KARINE ALBERTAZZI IN BORDEAUX AND CHANTAL VALERY IN CARBONNE

  • On Saturday, dozens of tractors blocked traffic, while others parked in front of public buildings, as farmers set fire to bales of straw and tyres.
  • Thousands of farmers in southwestern France blocked roads and set fire to bales of hay Saturday to protest the culling of cows due to a skin disease, as the government said one million cattle would be vaccinated.
  • On Saturday, dozens of tractors blocked traffic, while others parked in front of public buildings, as farmers set fire to bales of straw and tyres.
Thousands of farmers in southwestern France blocked roads and set fire to bales of hay Saturday to protest the culling of cows due to a skin disease, as the government said one million cattle would be vaccinated.
French farmers have been angry over what they see as the government's heavy-handed response to an outbreak of nodular dermatitis, widely known as lumpy skin disease.
On Friday, veterinarians slaughtered a herd of more than 200 cows in the village of Les Bordes-sur-Arize near the Spanish border after discovering a single case of the sickness. Police had to disperse angry farmers as they escorted in a team to carry out the culling.
Several unions have said that slaughtering whole herds is ineffective, calling for blockades across France "to put an end to this madness".
On Saturday, dozens of tractors blocked traffic, while others parked in front of public buildings, as farmers set fire to bales of straw and tyres.
Nearly 150 kilometres of the A64 motorway between Bayonne and Tarbes were closed to traffic due to blockades that began late Friday.
The authorities recorded 43 demonstrations or incidents across the country, bringing together 2,000 protesters, with some of them marked by clashes.
Lumpy skin disease, which cannot be passed to humans but can be fatal for cattle, first appeared in France in June.
- 'Lifetime of work' - 
The official strategy to stamp out what the authorities describe as a very contagious disease has been to slaughter all animals in affected herds, and carry out "emergency vaccination" of all cattle within a 50-kilometre (30-mile) radius. 
"It's the extermination of cows and farmers," said Leon Thierry of hard-line farmers' union Coordination Rurale (CR), who protested in the town of Briscous with more than a dozen farmers and around 40 tractors. 
"It is out of the question that in the Pyrenees we should slaughter animals that are not sick, that are healthy, because they belong to a herd from which, supposedly, a sick animal has emerged," he said.
Around a hundred farmers gathered in Carbonne located some 40 kilometres southwest of Toulouse, setting up camp on the A64 highway.
"They deploy riot police to kill 200 cows, but you don't see them at the drug-dealing spots!" said Benjamin Kalanquin, 24, who works not far from the farm where the entire herd was slaughtered.
"Total slaughter is not the solution," he said, vowing to camp on the motorway until Christmas "if there is no convincing response".
"People are fed up," added Benjamin Roquebert, 37.
"You can't build up a herd in five minutes," added the cattle breeder and grain producer. "It's a lifetime of work, spanning several generations."
The protesters also say the government is not doing enough to protect them.
The European Union next week expected to sign on to a trade deal with South America that farmers say will flood the market with cheap agricultural products that will outcompete them.
"We're struggling, we can't eat, we can't even make 1,000 euros a month," said another protester, Aurelien Marti.
- Vaccination  - 
Around 70 farmers sounded their horns and set off firecrackers and smoke bombs in front of the agriculture minister's former parliamentary office in the eastern town of Pontarlier. They hung a dead calf from a tree with a sign saying "Our Animals, Our Life."
Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard said on Saturday the government planned to vaccinate one million head of cattle in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie regions.
"In the coming weeks, we will vaccinate nearly one million animals, thereby protecting farmers," she told Ici Occitanie radio.
Those vaccinations would be in addition to the million head of cattle already vaccinated since July, the agriculture ministry told AFP.
The culls have divided farmers' unions.
Coordination Rurale and Confederation Paysanne are united against the widespread cullings and have called for a vaccination campaign. 
The leading FNSEA farming union supports the total culling of affected herds.
burs/as/jj

wine

Women sommeliers are cracking male-dominated wine world open

BY MARINE DO-VALE

  • - 'Doesn't matter' - If the 1970s-1980s saw a few pioneering female sommeliers emerge, the real opening of the profession came "about 20 years ago", according to Fabrice Sommier, president of the French Sommeliers Union (UDSF).
  • Women who have fought their way to the top of the male-dominated wine sommelier world say their profession is becoming less sexist and more open -- even if men continue to win all the prizes.
  • - 'Doesn't matter' - If the 1970s-1980s saw a few pioneering female sommeliers emerge, the real opening of the profession came "about 20 years ago", according to Fabrice Sommier, president of the French Sommeliers Union (UDSF).
Women who have fought their way to the top of the male-dominated wine sommelier world say their profession is becoming less sexist and more open -- even if men continue to win all the prizes.
Now an established figure as resident wine advisor at Chambers restaurant in New York, Pascaline Lepeltier told AFP that when she first started out "a certain male clientele of a certain age didn't trust me" -- or would ask to see the real sommelier.
Argentina's Paz Levinson, who is in charge of wine at renowned French chef Anne-Sophie Pic's eateries, said she faced similar experiences in France.
"When I arrived in France, there were clients who tended to prefer a male sommelier, and a French one," the 47-year-old explained.
But now, more than 20 years into their professional careers, both women say the landscape has become more welcoming for women like them.
"Things have evolved in terms of gender balance. It’s not parity, but we're getting there," said Lepeltier, 44.
She remains the only woman to have been named Best Sommelier of France and she came fourth at the World's Best Sommelier competition in 2023.
But fewer than 10 percent of candidates at the latter competition are women, echoing the way men still pick up the vast majority of gastronomic awards such as Michelin stars or the top positions in "Best Of" lists.
Some women have broken through in the World’s Best Sommelier, with Canadian Veronique Rivest finishing second in 2013, Denmark's Nina Jensen ending runner up in 2019 and 2023, and Frenchwoman Julie Dupouy clinching third in 2016.
But none has yet won the title, which will be handed out next October in Lisbon.
"We still have the top spot to claim as the world's best sommeliers. We're keeping a lot of hope," said Levinson.

'Doesn't matter'

If the 1970s-1980s saw a few pioneering female sommeliers emerge, the real opening of the profession came "about 20 years ago", according to Fabrice Sommier, president of the French Sommeliers Union (UDSF).
Today, women account for nearly half of those in training in France and a new generation of female sommeliers is rising in top restaurants, spurred by sweeping societal changes that have broken down gender barriers.
"I've always behaved as if being a man or a woman didn't matter. It's passion that brings us together," said Agnese Morandi, sommelier at the two-star Table in Paris.
The 28-year-old Italian trained with Levinson, who "opened her mind" to non-alcoholic pairings -- a field she had never explored with her male supervisors.
It's an approach that still inspires her today, notably through the tea list she offers at Table.

Real difference?

There remains the question of whether gender differences lead men and women to perform the role differently.
For Alexandre Lesieur, a teacher at the Ecole de Paris des Métiers de la Table (EPMT), an elite catering school, the answer is yes.
Women "venture more into regions or products that are more niche" and suggest pairings that are "a bit gentler", he claims.
"I wouldn't say we have a different approach," counters Pauline Monclus, one of his apprentices, 25. "Everyone truly has their own personality, men and women alike."
After finishing fourth two years ago, Lepeltier is hoping she can do better at the World's Best Sommelier competition next year.
"Equality isn't here yet, and there are still unacceptable behaviours. But we're also much more supported and surrounded today than 20 years ago," she concludes, choosing to see the glass as half full.
mdv-adp/gv

markets

Why SpaceX IPO plan is generating so much buzz

BY CHARLOTTE CAUSIT

  • - SpaceX is owned by Elon Musk alongside several investment funds.
  • More than 20 years after founding SpaceX, the record-breaking company that transformed the global space industry, Elon Musk is planning to take the enterprise public.
  • - SpaceX is owned by Elon Musk alongside several investment funds.
More than 20 years after founding SpaceX, the record-breaking company that transformed the global space industry, Elon Musk is planning to take the enterprise public.
Here is a look at what is expected to be the largest IPO in history.

What's at stake?

SpaceX is owned by Elon Musk alongside several investment funds. Tech giant Alphabet, Google's parent company, is also among the space company's shareholders.
A public listing would open SpaceX to a broader and more diverse pool of investors, including individual buyers, while giving existing shareholders an easier path to cash out and realize substantial capital gains.
"This is a capital intensive business," Matthew Kennedy of Renaissance Capital investment management firm told AFP. 
"SpaceX has never had any difficulty raising funds in the private market, but public markets are undoubtedly larger. Liquidity is important as well, it can help with making acquisitions."
According to Bloomberg and the financial data platform PitchBook, the IPO could raise more than $30 billion, an unprecedented sum for a deal of this kind and far more than the $10 billion the company has raised since its inception.
This would bring its total valuation to $1.5 trillion.

Why so much money?

The IPO comes amid a boom in the space industry.
Worth $630 billion in 2023, the sector is expected to triple in size by 2035, according to the consulting firm McKinsey and the World Economic Forum.
And SpaceX, which dominates the space launch market with its reusable rockets and owns the largest satellite constellation through Starlink, has a unique appeal.
It's "kind of a black swan event and unique so that we can't draw too many parallels across the whole space economy," Clayton Swope of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) told AFP.
Its unique status is also tied to its CEO Musk, the world's richest person, who is also the CEO of Tesla and xAI. 
Musk has already pushed Tesla's valuation far beyond that of Toyota and Volkswagen despite selling five to six times fewer vehicles.

Why now?

This is the question on everyone's mind, as the billionaire had long dismissed such a possibility. Since its founding in 2002, SpaceX has held a special place for the billionaire, given his ambition to colonize Mars.
This goal reflects the company's priorities, which include developing Starship, the largest rocket ever built for missions to the Moon and Mars, as well as plans to build space-based data centers for artificial intelligence (AI).
A stock market listing could provide new liquidity that would support all of these projects.
"The answer is pretty straightforward," said Swope. "He wants to accelerate the flywheel for his vision of humanity on Mars."

What next?

The influx of capital from an IPO will come at a price: going public will require SpaceX and Elon Musk to maintain greater transparency, particularly about its revenues, and could increase pressure to deliver profits.
"I speculate that would ground SpaceX somewhat in the near term," said Mason Peck, an astronautical engineering professor at Cornell University.
The company's risk-taking approach of experimenting with unproven technologies and frequent prototype launches to learn from mistakes could be constrained by the expectations of new shareholders.
"Will they become the same as any other aerospace company and ultimately mired in conservatism and legacy solutions?" Peck said. "That's entirely possible. I hope it doesn't happen."
Swope, however, sees such a scenario as unlikely.
"I think they are willing to take that risk and willing to let Elon Musk and SpaceX have this vision, because that is integral to what makes SpaceX also a successful business," he said.
tmc-cha/pno/md/jgc/ane

Global Edition

World stocks mostly slide, consolidating Fed-fuelled gains

  • Investors kept away from any big bets on the future direction of US interest rates while the inflation and employment pictures remain cloudy, analysts said.
  • Stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic pulled back Friday as profit-taking trimmed some of the gains seen after the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut this week.
  • Investors kept away from any big bets on the future direction of US interest rates while the inflation and employment pictures remain cloudy, analysts said.
Stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic pulled back Friday as profit-taking trimmed some of the gains seen after the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut this week.
Investors kept away from any big bets on the future direction of US interest rates while the inflation and employment pictures remain cloudy, analysts said.
European and Asian equity markets initially tracked Thursday's record performance on Wall Street but then turned negative as the mood in New York shifted. This change was partly motivated by unease about potentially excessive stock valuations in the tech sector.
Focus for global investors is switching to next week's release of US jobs data, which could provide insights into the Fed's plans for the coming year.
Partial data released Thursday showed US jobless claims rose more than expected in the week ending December 6, marking their biggest increase for five and a half years and reinforcing the view of a softening labor market.
Traders welcomed Fed boss Jerome Powell's post-meeting comments Wednesday -- seen as less hawkish than feared -- but the policy board's statement suggested it could hold off from a fourth straight cut in January.
There was some concern about sector valuations after disappointing earnings from sector giants Oracle and Broadcom.
"Oracle and Broadcom reminded the market that while AI demand remains strong, leveraged investments and uncertain monetisation paths are preventing investors from adding exposure at current valuations," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote.
All three major US indexes slumped on Friday, with the Nasdaq Composite Index falling 1.7 percent.
London stock prices underperformed their European peers after official data showed that the UK economy unexpectedly contracted in October.

Key figures at around 2145 GMT

New York - Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 48,458.05 points (close)
New York - NASDAQ: DOWN 1.7 percent at 23,195.17 (close)
New York: S&P 500: DOWN 1.1 percent at 6,827.41 (close)
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.6 percent at 9,649.03 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.2 percent at 8,068.62 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.5 percent at 24,186.49 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.4 percent at 50,836.55 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.8 percent at 25,976.79 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.4 percent at 3,889.35 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1742 from $1.1741 on Thursday
Dollar/yen: UP at 155.83 yen from 155.58
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3368 from $1.3394
Euro/pound: UP at 87.83 pence from 87.65
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.3 percent at $61.12 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.3 percent at $57.44 per barrel
burs-jh-bys/ksb

diplomacy

Can Venezuela survive US targeting its oil tankers?

BY PATRICK FORT WITH POL-MALO LE BRIS IN LONDON

  • Since Trump threatened an export tariff of 25 percent on any country buying Venezuelan oil, the country has had to slash its black market prices by as much as 20 percent.
  • Venezuela has been sidestepping a US oil export embargo for years, selling crude at a discounted price mainly to China.
  • Since Trump threatened an export tariff of 25 percent on any country buying Venezuelan oil, the country has had to slash its black market prices by as much as 20 percent.
Venezuela has been sidestepping a US oil export embargo for years, selling crude at a discounted price mainly to China. But even this limited income stream is now under threat after the United States seized a Cuba-bound tanker. 
In one fell swoop, Venezuela lost 1.9 million barrels of oil, according to sanctioned President Nicolas Maduro, who denounced an act of "naval piracy." According to ship tracking platform MarineTraffic, it was closer to 1.1 million barrels.
The estimated value of the oil seized, and which the United States has said it intends to keep, ranges between $50 million and $100 million.
Venezuelan so-called "ghost" tankers had until now been left untouched despite a mighty US naval presence in the Caribbean Sea since September.
In a follow-up move on Thursday, the US Treasury announced sanctions on six companies it said were shipping the South American country's oil, and identified six vessels as "blocked property."
Such actions "would make the fleet operating on the black market afraid to come to Venezuela. That would increase the risk premium and therefore the discounts... (to buyers), which would be very steep," Francisco Monaldi of the Baker Institute, a Houston-based think tank, told AFP.
Maduro has claimed the massive US military deployment within striking distance of his country is part of a plan to overthrow him and "steal" Venezuela's abundant oil under the ruse of an anti-drug operation.
The targeting of ships transporting Venezuela's only valuable commodity could indeed imperil Maduro's political fortunes.
"If there are no oil exports, it will affect the foreign exchange market, the country’s imports... There could be an economic crisis," Elias Ferrer of Orinoco Research, a Venezuelan advisory firm, told AFP.
"Not just a recession, but also shortages of food and medicine, because we wouldn’t be able to import." 

 Black market

Venezuela is estimated to have oil reserves of some 303 billion barrels, according to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) -- more than any other nation.
But years of mismanagement and corruption slashed production from a peak of more than three million barrels per day (bpd) in the early 2000s to an historic low of 350,000 bpd by 2020.
Back on track to reach a million bpd this year, analysts say it will be hard to boost production beyond that, given the shortage of foreign currency needed to improve infrastructure.
Caracas has been scraping by under a regime of economic sanctions and a US oil embargo in place since 2019, tightened in 2025.
It adapted, using a fleet of "ghost" tankers that sail under false flags, declare fake routes or switch off their transponders to avoid detection.
Since Trump threatened an export tariff of 25 percent on any country buying Venezuelan oil, the country has had to slash its black market prices by as much as 20 percent.
Moreover, Chevron, which operates under a special license and accounts for roughly 10 percent of Venezuelan production, is no longer allowed to transfer money to the state and therefore pays taxes and other dues in crude.

Help coming?

It is estimated that China buys 80 percent of Venezuelan production. 
To avoid sanctions, clients pay in cryptocurrency, including asset-pegged stablecoins, mainly USDT.
This has contributed to a shortage of greenbacks in Venezuela's partly dollarized economy -- and a deep gap between the official exchange rate and the black-market one.
A surge in product prices has raised fears of a return to hyperinflation in a country still smarting from a million percent rise in prices recorded in 2018 -- the peak of a four-year hyperinflationary period that pushed millions to emigrate.
"Now we’ll see to what extent countries like China, Iran, and Russia are willing to take risks to prop up Venezuela," said Ferrer.
The tanker seized by US forces this week, The Skipper, was sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2022 for alleged links to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah, according to MarineTraffic.
Iran is one of Venezuela’s main allies along with Russia, whose President Vladimir Putin this week reaffirmed his support for Maduro but is tied down in a grinding war in Ukraine.
Ferrer pointed out that Maduro has already survived years of US sanctions and political pressure, even at a time when "oil production was at 300,000 barrels and inflation at one million percent."
pgf/lab/roc/mlr/ksb

politics

EU agrees three-euro small parcel tax to tackle China flood

  • Starting at three euros, the new fee will apply once per item in cases where packages contain different products, but only once if they contain multiples of the same item, a spokesperson for the European Council told AFP. The move comes a month after the EU agreed to scrap a duty exemption for parcels worth less than 150 euros ($174) imported directly to consumers in the 27-nation bloc, in many cases via Chinese-founded platforms.
  • EU finance ministers agreed Friday to impose a three-euro duty on low-value imports into the bloc from July 2026 to help tackle a flood of small parcels ordered via the likes of Shein and Temu.
  • Starting at three euros, the new fee will apply once per item in cases where packages contain different products, but only once if they contain multiples of the same item, a spokesperson for the European Council told AFP. The move comes a month after the EU agreed to scrap a duty exemption for parcels worth less than 150 euros ($174) imported directly to consumers in the 27-nation bloc, in many cases via Chinese-founded platforms.
EU finance ministers agreed Friday to impose a three-euro duty on low-value imports into the bloc from July 2026 to help tackle a flood of small parcels ordered via the likes of Shein and Temu.
Last year, 4.6 billion small retail packages entered the European Union -- more than 145 per second -- with 91 percent originating in China and their numbers expected to keep rising.
Starting at three euros, the new fee will apply once per item in cases where packages contain different products, but only once if they contain multiples of the same item, a spokesperson for the European Council told AFP.
The move comes a month after the EU agreed to scrap a duty exemption for parcels worth less than 150 euros ($174) imported directly to consumers in the 27-nation bloc, in many cases via Chinese-founded platforms.
The levy will be introduced on a temporary basis starting July 1, staying in place until the bloc can settle on a permanent solution for taxing such imports.
"This temporary measure responds to the fact that such parcels currently enter the EU duty free, leading to unfair competition for EU sellers, health and safety risks for consumers, high levels of fraud and environmental concerns," the Council, which represents EU member states, said in a statement.

'Major victory'

European retailers argue they face unfair competition from overseas platforms, such as AliExpress, Shein and Temu, which they claim do not always comply with the EU's stringent rules on products.
Key EU power France has made the matter a priority, given the around 800 million such packages shipped to the country last year and strong domestic pressure to take action.
French Finance Minister Roland Lescure welcomed the flat tax as "a major victory for the European Union".
"Europe is taking concrete steps to protect its single market, its consumers and its sovereignty," he said.
The move comes as the EU strives to bolster the continent's competitiveness by making the lives of European businesses easier through slashing red tape.
Alongside ending the duty exemption, the EU executive in May proposed a small package handling fee worth two euros. EU member states have yet to agree on the level of that fee, but hope it will apply from late 2026.
Fed up with waiting, some states have already moved forward with their own plans, including Romania, which has imposed a five-euro fee on small parcels.
fpo-ec/ub/sbk

climate

EU 2035 combustion-engine ban review: what's at stake

BY FRéDéRIQUE PRIS

  • - In 2023, despite the reluctance of Germany, the commission announced a ban on sales of new vehicles powered by internal combustion engines from 2035.
  • The European Commission is expected to announce on Tuesday measures relaxing a 2035 ban on new petrol and diesel car sales.
  • - In 2023, despite the reluctance of Germany, the commission announced a ban on sales of new vehicles powered by internal combustion engines from 2035.
The European Commission is expected to announce on Tuesday measures relaxing a 2035 ban on new petrol and diesel car sales.
While Europe's embattled auto industry and its backers have lobbied hard for Brussels to relax the ban, they are divided on exactly what measures to take.

Why the 2035 target date?

In 2023, despite the reluctance of Germany, the commission announced a ban on sales of new vehicles powered by internal combustion engines from 2035. Hybrids that use a combination of combustion engines and battery power are also included. 
The ban is a key measure to help attain the EU's target of carbon neutrality by 2050.
The date is important as vehicles spend an average of 15 years on the road in the EU and thus would be expected to have largely stopped spewing planet-warming emissions by around 2050.
The 2023 announcement included a provision for a review in 2026 but, under pressure from carmakers and governments, the commission pushed forward announcing proposed adjustments to the end of 2025.
The proposals will go to the European Parliament for review.

What adjustments are possible?

For those against the ban, it's no longer just a question of shifting the 2035 date, but of relaxing certain provisions.
Carmakers would like to see continued sales authorised for hybrids with rechargeable batteries or those equipped with range extenders (small combustion engines which recharge the battery instead of powering the wheels).
Germany supports this option as do eastern European nations where German carmakers have set up factories.
The ACEA association of European carmakers doesn't criticise the goal of electrification, but it said "the 2035 CO2 targets for cars and vans are no longer realistic".
Another possible means to add some flexibility would be boosting the use of alternative fuels such as those derived from agricultural crops and waste products.
Italy supports this option.
But environmental groups are opposed to any massive turn to crop-based biofuels as it would likely boost the use of pesticides and aggravate soil depletion, and they are also sceptical about what emissions reductions can actually be achieved. 
Moreover, as a majority of biofuels are imported, the EU wouldn't gain in autonomy, another objective of the shift to electric vehicles.

Carmakers out of alignment?

European carmakers -- BMW, Mercedes, Renault, Stellantis and VW -- are not always on the same page even if they all want the rules to be relaxed.
This is principally due to their varying progress in shifting to electric models.
The industry that has grown up around the electric car sector -- such as battery manufacturers, recharge stations and electricity companies -- wants to keep the 2035 target with no adjustments.
"Rolling back these objectives would undermine the EU’s energy sovereignty, industrial leadership, and climate credibility," said the UFE, a trade group for French electricity industry firms.
France, along with Spain and the Nordic countries, has long called for keeping to the trajectory to shift to electric vehicles in order to not harm firms that have made investments in the transition.
Paris has indicated it is open to some flexibility on the condition of local content being favoured, which pleases suppliers which have also come under intense pressure from cheaper Chinese competition.

Is there a risk in backsliding?

Yes, according to experts.
"What is considered a short-term advantage may not be one in the long term," said Jean-Philippe Hermine at the IDDRI think tank that focuses on the transition in the transport sector.
Bernard Jullien, an economist at the University of Bordeaux, said keeping several different technologies imposes extra costs for companies. 
It can also create uncertainty for them if consumers adopt a wait-and-see attitude, he added.
"Between China and its electric vehicles and the oil that Saudi Arabia and the United States wants to sell us, is the right choice to stick with our old technology?" asked Diane Strauss, head of the French office of T&E, an advocacy group for clean transport and energy.
fmp/rl/jh

waste

EU agrees recycled plastic targets for cars

  • Vehicle manufacturing accounts for 10 percent of the EU's overall consumption of plastics, and is responsible for 19 percent of demand for the bloc's steel industry, according to Brussels.
  • Car manufacturers in Europe will have to include more recycled plastics in new vehicles under new EU rules agreed on by the bloc's countries and lawmakers on Friday.
  • Vehicle manufacturing accounts for 10 percent of the EU's overall consumption of plastics, and is responsible for 19 percent of demand for the bloc's steel industry, according to Brussels.
Car manufacturers in Europe will have to include more recycled plastics in new vehicles under new EU rules agreed on by the bloc's countries and lawmakers on Friday.
European Union governments and parliament representatives reached an early morning deal to mandate that at least 25 percent of plastics used in cars, trucks and motorcycles has been recycled.
Carmakers will have to meet the mandatory target in 10 years, with an intermediate 15 percent goal in six years, according to the European Council representing member states.
At least 20 percent of the recycled materials will have to be sourced from old, scrap vehicles.
"This provisional agreement marks a significant step towards a circular economy for the European automotive sector," said Magnus Heunicke, environment minister for Denmark, which holds the EU's rotating presidency.
Vehicle manufacturing accounts for 10 percent of the EU's overall consumption of plastics, and is responsible for 19 percent of demand for the bloc's steel industry, according to Brussels.
The deal is provisional and needs to be officially endorsed by the European Council representing member states and the parliament before it is formally adopted.
It also instructs the European Commission to set future targets for recycled steel, aluminium, magnesium and critical raw materials and bans the export of old vehicles that are no longer roadworthy.
Around 3.5 million vehicles "disappear without trace from EU roads" every year and are exported, dismantled or disposed of illegally, according to the council. 
The commission had initially proposed a much speedier implementation of the targets -- pushing for 25-percent recycled plastic within six years -- but member states and parliament won a delay during negotiations.
Concerns about sluggish European growth have taken precedence over green ambitions in Brussels over the past year, leading to a business-friendly drive to slash EU red tape and pare back a slew of laws.
"This deal is a textbook case of political backsliding under industry pressure," said Fynn Hauschke, of environmental group EEB.
The agreement comes just days before the commission is set to review a landmark 2035 ban on new petrol and diesel car sales. 
On Thursday, Manfred Weber, a German EU lawmaker and the head of parliament's largest group, the EPP, said the ban would be discarded in favour of a 90 percent emission reduction target. 
"For new registrations from 2035 onwards, a 90 percent reduction in CO2 emissions will now be mandatory for car manufacturers' fleet targets, instead of 100 percent," he told German tabloid Bild, after a meeting with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen. 
"This means that the technology ban on combustion engines is off the table. All engines currently built in Germany can therefore continue to be produced and sold."
Commission officials stressed however that no final decision had been made.
ub/ec/rl

conflict

Russian central bank says suing Euroclear over frozen assets

  • On Friday, Russia's central bank said it was filing "a lawsuit against Euroclear in the Moscow Arbitration Court" due to what it called "the illegal actions" of the institution.
  • Russia's central bank on Friday said it was suing the Belgium-based Euroclear financial group, which holds Moscow's frozen international reserves, as the EU moves closer to using the funds to support Ukraine.
  • On Friday, Russia's central bank said it was filing "a lawsuit against Euroclear in the Moscow Arbitration Court" due to what it called "the illegal actions" of the institution.
Russia's central bank on Friday said it was suing the Belgium-based Euroclear financial group, which holds Moscow's frozen international reserves, as the EU moves closer to using the funds to support Ukraine.
The European Commission is pushing to tap some 200 billion euros ($232 billion) of the Russian central bank's assets that the bloc immobilised after Moscow's 2022 assault on Ukraine, in order to provide Kyiv a financial lifeline.
The EU is determined to reach a final deal at a summit next week, but faces resistance from Belgium, which as the home of Euroclear fears retribution from Moscow.
On Friday, Russia's central bank said it was filing "a lawsuit against Euroclear in the Moscow Arbitration Court" due to what it called "the illegal actions" of the institution.
"The actions of Euroclear depository caused damage to the Bank of Russia due to the inability to manage funds and securities belonging to the Bank of Russia," the bank said in a statement.
It did not say if the lawsuit has already been filed nor elaborate on the nature of the damages.
It was also unclear what the implications of any Russian-based legal claim would be.
G7 countries have already used the interest earned on the frozen assets to fund a $50-billion loan for Ukraine.
Russia has long decried the freezing of the assets as illegal and said any further steps to directly use the money would be theft.
Euroclear declined to comment directly on the lawsuit announced Friday.
A spokesman for the clearing house noted however that Euroclear is "currently fighting more than 100 legal claims in Russia."
EU leaders have already pledged to keep Kyiv afloat next year, and officials are determined to reach an agreement on where the money should come from at their December 18-19 summit.
Under the complex scheme proposed by the EU, Euroclear would loan the money to the EU, which in turn loans it to Kyiv.
The funds would only be paid back by Ukraine if and when Russia compensates Kyiv for the destruction it has wrought.
On Thursday, the bloc's member states lifted a key hurdle by agreeing on a way to keep the funds frozen as long as required, without need for renewal every six months.
bur/rl

AI

Make your own Mickey Mouse clip - Disney embraces AI

  • Disney shares rose more than 2% Thursday after the announcement.
  • Walt Disney and OpenAI announced a three-year licensing deal Thursday that will allow users to create short videos featuring beloved Disney characters through artificial intelligence.
  • Disney shares rose more than 2% Thursday after the announcement.
Walt Disney and OpenAI announced a three-year licensing deal Thursday that will allow users to create short videos featuring beloved Disney characters through artificial intelligence.
The deal marks the first time a major entertainment company has embraced generative AI at this scale, licensing its fiercely protected characters—from Mickey Mouse to Marvel superheroes and Star Wars's Darth Vader—for AI content creation.
The partnership represents a dramatic shift for an industry that has largely been battling AI companies in court.
Disney and other creative industry giants have been suing AI firms like OpenAI, Perplexity and Anthropic, accusing them of illegally using their content to train their technology.
The entertainment giant continued that legal campaign on Wednesday, separately sending a cease-and-desist letter to Google over the illegal use of its intellectual property to train the search engine giant's AI models.
For OpenAI, the deal comes as it faces increasing questions about the sustainability of its business model, with costs skyrocketing far faster than revenue—despite nearing one billion users worldwide.
Under the agreement, fans will be able to produce and share AI-generated content featuring more than 200 characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars franchises on OpenAI's Sora video generation platform and ChatGPT.
Launched at the end of September, Sora aims to be a TikTok-like social network where only AI-generated videos can be posted.
From the outset, many videos have included characters directly inspired by real cartoons and video games, from South Park to Pokémon.
Facing license-holder anger, CEO Sam Altman promised OpenAI would offer rights holders more control to put a stop to these AI copies.
The partnership includes a $1 billion equity investment by Disney in OpenAI, along with warrants to purchase additional shares in the ChatGPT maker.
Disney shares rose more than 2% Thursday after the announcement.
Disney CEO Robert Iger said the collaboration would "thoughtfully and responsibly extend the reach of our storytelling."
Characters available for fan creations will include Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Elsa from Frozen, and Marvel heroes like Iron Man and Captain America, as well as Star Wars icons including Darth Vader and Yoda.
The agreement excludes talent likenesses and voices from actors amid deep concern in Hollywood about the impact of AI.
"This does not in any way represent a threat to the creators at all—in fact the opposite. I think it honors them and respects them, in part because there's a license fee associated with it," Iger told CNBC.
Hollywood's leading actors union, SAG-AFTRA, said it would "closely monitor" the deal's implementation, while the Writers Guild of America said it will meet with Disney to probe the terms and underlined that OpenAI had stolen "vast libraries" of studio content to train its technology.

30 seconds

Iger, in a joint interview with Altman on CNBC, insisted the deal only includes videos no longer than 30 seconds and the technology wouldn't be used for longer-form productions.
Beyond licensing, Disney will deploy OpenAI's technology to build new products and experiences for Disney+, the streaming platform.
"Disney is the global gold standard for storytelling," Altman said. "This agreement shows how AI companies and creative leaders can work together responsibly."
Both companies emphasized their commitment to responsible AI use, with OpenAI pledging age-appropriate policies and controls to prevent illegal or harmful content generation.
In Disney's complaint against Google, OpenAI's biggest rival in the AI space, the entertainment giant accuses Google of infringing Disney's copyrights on a massive scale by copying a large corpus of content without authorization to train and develop AI models and services.
"We've been aggressive at protecting our IP, and we've gone after other companies that have not valued it, and this is another example of us doing just that," Iger told CNBC.
arp/sla

crime

Crypto mogul Do Kwon sentenced to 15 years for fraud

BY BEN TURNER

  • Kwon successfully marketed them as the next big thing in crypto, attracting billions in investments and global hype.
  • A US court sentenced cryptocurrency tycoon Do Kwon to 15 years in prison Thursday over fraud linked to his company's failure, which wiped out $40 billion of investors' money and shook global crypto markets.
  • Kwon successfully marketed them as the next big thing in crypto, attracting billions in investments and global hype.
A US court sentenced cryptocurrency tycoon Do Kwon to 15 years in prison Thursday over fraud linked to his company's failure, which wiped out $40 billion of investors' money and shook global crypto markets.
Kwon, who nurtured two digital currencies central to the bankruptcy, was sentenced at the New York court where he pleaded guilty in August after an international manhunt spanning Asia and Europe.
He still faces fraud charges in his native South Korea.
The 34-year-old's Terraform Labs created a cryptocurrency called TerraUSD that was marketed as a "stablecoin," a token that is pegged to stable assets such as the US dollar to prevent drastic fluctuations.
Kwon successfully marketed them as the next big thing in crypto, attracting billions in investments and global hype.
He was flooded with praise in South Korean media, which described him as a "genius" as thousands of private investors lined up to pour cash into his company.
And in 2019, Kwon featured in Forbes magazine's 30 under 30 Asia list.
But despite billions in investments, TerraUSD and its sister token Luna went into a death spiral in May 2022.
Experts said Kwon had set up a glorified pyramid scheme, in which many investors lost their life savings.
He left South Korea before the crash and spent months on the run.
The crypto tycoon was arrested in March 2023 at the airport in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital, while preparing to board a flight to Dubai, in possession of a fake Costa Rican passport.
He was extradited last year from Montenegro to the United States. 

'Elaborate schemes'

After Kwon's sentencing Thursday, US prosecutors detailed how he made fraudulent claims about his business to lure in buyers, including American investment firms. 
At its peak in the spring of 2022, the total market value of TerraUSD and Luna exceeded $50 billion. 
"Do Kwon devised elaborate schemes to mislead investors and inflate the value of Terraform's cryptocurrencies for his own benefit," US Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement.
When it all came crashing down, Clayton's office said in a press release, Kwon sought to obtain "political protection" from several countries.
It cited a recorded conversation in which he told an associate that his strategy of dealing with authorities investigating the collapse was to "tell them to fuck off." 
Alongside his prison term, Kwon was ordered to forfeit over $19 million in proceeds from his illegal schemes.
The US Justice Department said in a court filing that he could be allowed to complete his sentence in South Korea, provided at least half of it is served in the United States.
Cryptocurrencies have come under increasing scrutiny from regulators after a string of controversies in recent years, including the high-profile collapses of exchanges.
Kwon's impressive rise and precipitous fall has been compared to convicted American fraudster Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of the medical technology startup Theranos.
rh-bjt/mlm

EU

Windswept Kazakh rail hub at the heart of China-Europe trade

BY BRUNO KALOUAZ

  • Though Kazakhstan and China share a 1,800-kilometre border, the first container trains to Europe only launched in 2013, said railway official Utegulov.
  • Operating a huge cargo lifter, Zhandos Nurmagambetov was stacking containers onto a train before it headed across the steppe of Kazakhstan on a new railway route vital for China-Europe trade.
  • Though Kazakhstan and China share a 1,800-kilometre border, the first container trains to Europe only launched in 2013, said railway official Utegulov.
Operating a huge cargo lifter, Zhandos Nurmagambetov was stacking containers onto a train before it headed across the steppe of Kazakhstan on a new railway route vital for China-Europe trade.
Central Asia is in the midst of a logistics boom, as Beijing invests heavily in the New Silk Road -- a vast overland transport network linking China to Europe that can help bypass Russia and shorten freight routes.
On Kazakhstan's border with China, the once-sleepy small town of Dostyk, whose name translates as "friendship", has become a surprisingly vital hub in global trade.
"We receive and ship goods mainly from Europe, Asia and Russia," Nurmagambetov told AFP, as he moved 20-tonne containers using the industrial forklift.
"A 39-car train is about 900 metres (0.6 miles) long. We carry out this operation in 40 minutes," Nurmagambetov told AFP as wind swept through the cargo terminal.
On the side of the metal boxes, the names of major Chinese logistics hubs -- Xi'an and Zhengzhou -- reveal the thousands of kilometres the goods have already travelled. Europe is another 4,000-plus kilometres away.
Located in the Dzungarian gate, a mountain pass that connects Kazakhstan to China's Xinjiang region, Dostyk is near the "continental pole of inaccessibility" -- the place on Earth furthest from the ocean, which is around 2,500 kilometres away.
Despite its geographic isolation, strong winds and frequent dust storms, Dostyk is the largest freight station in the country and a "hub for export and import trade," according to Zhanat Utegulov of Kazakhstan Railways.

Bypassing Russia

Container trains going through Dostyk and Alashankou, the Chinese city on the other side of the border, have two options to reach Europe: the traditional route via Russia, or the new Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) through Central Asia.
Europe is backing the second, which bypasses Russia and has seen "increased interest since the Russian invasion of Ukraine", the World Bank said in a report.
For landlocked Kazakhstan, an enormous country spanning almost 3,000 kilometres from east to west, the new route presents a huge economic opportunity.
Some 85 percent of all rail cargo between China and Europe passes through Kazakhstan, and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has said he wants the country to be "a golden bridge between China and Europe".
The initiative demonstrates the strategic importance of Central Asia, where Europe and the United States also compete for influence.
Development of the route, which can cut delivery times and also avoids the Suez Canal, has been rapid.
Though Kazakhstan and China share a 1,800-kilometre border, the first container trains to Europe only launched in 2013, said railway official Utegulov.
Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine and imposition of Western sanctions were a major boost for the TITR.
Trade volume jumped more than six-fold between 2021 and 2024, according to official Kazakh data.
At Dostyk, the recent opening of a double track could increase freight loads five-fold -- from 12 to 60 daily train pairs with the Chinese side, Kazakhstan says.
On a platform currently under construction, a giant steel plate is set to bear the slogan "One Belt, One Road", China's official name for the New Silk Road, a favoured initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

'Volume is increasing'

At the previously neglected outpost of Dostyk, westward-bound cargo is hoisted onto the wider-track gauges used across the former Soviet Union.
"Trains arrive from China to Europe. We transfer them onto the wider track, put them on the rails and send them on, the same for trains arriving from Europe," Erlan Kazhibekov, a railway dispatcher, told AFP.
In front of him stood a huge screen where red, yellow and green traffic lights coordinate the flow of trains amid increasing volumes.
Serik Naymanchalov, a driver who remembers the quiet railway of the 1990s and now makes frequent journeys to China, hailed the progress.
"Upon arrival in Alashankou, we hand over the cargo documents. We uncouple the locomotive and leave the cargo. We are then given other cars to continue our journey (back) to Kazakhstan," he said.
Amid the logistics boom, Tokayev has warned Kazakh citizens and businesses against "resting on their laurels".
There is little sign of that along the route. As well as the expansion of Dostyk, an entirely new railway border crossing to the north is set to open in 2027.
bk/blb-mmp/jc/yad/mjw

Trump

Kushner returns to team Trump, as ethical questions swirl

BY DANNY KEMP

  • As Trump sought a Gaza ceasefire in his second term, he turned again to his son-in-law.
  • His only official job title at the White House is son-in-law.
  • As Trump sought a Gaza ceasefire in his second term, he turned again to his son-in-law.
His only official job title at the White House is son-in-law. But Jared Kushner has staged a remarkable -- and sometimes controversial -- comeback to President Donald Trump's inner circle.
Four years after Kushner left the White House, Trump has handed the husband of his daughter Ivanka a key role in the Gaza and Ukraine peace talks.
This week, the 44-year-old also emerged as an investor in a bid by Paramount to buy Hollywood giant Warner Bros., which if successful could mean the Trump family partially owning CNN, the president's most-hated news channel.
Kushner and Ivanka served as special advisors in Trump's first term. But after his 2020 election loss they decamped to Florida and Kushner vanished into the private sector, insisting he would not return for a second administration.
Since then, Kushner has founded an investment company largely funded by the same Middle Eastern countries that he dealt with in the first Trump term -- and has become a billionaire, according to Forbes.
That has raised ethical questions about possible conflicts of interest, which Kushner has denied and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has branded "frankly despicable." 
But it has not stopped Trump, who has long mixed business and politics with family, from bringing him back in from the cold. 
"We called in Jared," Trump told the Israeli parliament in October after the Gaza ceasefire deal. "We need that brain on occasion. We gotta get Jared in here."

 'Trusted family member'

The White House said that Kushner was giving "valuable expertise" while stressing that he working as an "informal, unpaid advisor."
"President Trump has a trusted family member and talented advisor in Jared Kushner," Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to AFP, citing Kushner's "record of success" in the Middle East.
Trump and his roving global envoy, businessman Steve Witkoff, "often seek Mr. Kushner's input given his experience with complex negotiations, and Mr. Kushner has been generous in lending his valuable expertise when asked."
The slim, softly-spoken scion of a property empire -- whose father was jailed for tax evasion and later pardoned by Trump -- Kushner faced accusations of inexperience when he joined Trump's first team.
But he ended up playing a key role in Trump's signature diplomatic achievement, the Abraham Accords that saw several Muslim nations recognize Israel.
During that time Kushner, who is Jewish, built enduring relationships with Gulf states like Saudi Arabia.
As Trump sought a Gaza ceasefire in his second term, he turned again to his son-in-law.
Kushner began to be seen around the White House again, and Trump dispatched him and Witkoff to negotiate with Israel, Hamas and Middle Eastern powers.
After the Gaza deal, Kushner said his role was only temporary -- and joked that he was worried Ivanka would change the locks of their Florida mansion and not let him back in if he stayed on.
Yet the following month, Kushner turned up at the Kremlin with Witkoff to meet President Vladimir Putin. Top Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Kushner "turned out to be very useful."

 Paramount bid role

Kushner's business interests hit the headlines again this week when it emerged that his private equity firm, Affinity Partners, was among the investors backing Paramount's battle with Netflix to buy Warner Bros.
It added a political twist to the story, as not only has his father-in-law said he would get "involved" in approving any deal, but Trump also appears determined to clamp down on CNN, which is part of Warner.
Kushner founded Florida-based Affinity in 2021, with much of its funding coming from foreign sources, particularly the Middle Eastern governments he'd done business with.
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) gave $2 billion in 2022, the New York Times reported. The Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi-based Lunate Capital together gave around $1.5 billion in 2024, Kushner said in a podcast last year.
Kushner's firm now manages $5.4 billion, according to a press release in September.
A US Senate finance committee launched an inquiry last year into whether Affinity was effectively being used as a foreign influence-buying operation with the Trump family ahead of the 2024 election, saying it had won millions in fees from foreign clients without returning any profits.
Affinity Partners did not reply when contacted by AFP.
Kushner hasn't commented on the Paramount deal, but he has previously rejected any suggestions of ethical breaches, particularly regarding his Gulf ties.
"What people call conflicts of interest, Steve and I call experience and trusted relationships," he told the CBS program "60 Minutes" when it interviewed him and Witkoff in October on the Gaza deal.
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